Hi there My Lovelies!

First I'd like to congratulate the lovely @wordsfromsarah over on Twitter for being the winner in my 4,444 follower Giveaway (previous post)! There will be a rather mouthwateringly cute cream blush on its way to her shortly! And thank you so much to all my followers for following me and for entering my comps! Keep your eyes open for more Christmas run up comps and giveaways!

Second, we come to this post! I had a small amount in my PayPal account so I challenged myself to order some essential only items, and get at least 3 items for under £22 including P&P! As I'm, shall we say, fonder of the higher end beauty goodies, this is a challenge! Essential, quality, at least 3, under £22.
 
So, off I toddled to my favourite online beauty retailer Escentual.com to see what I could come up with, but still needing the excitement of something cute! That's just all part of the fun isn't it?

So within 10 minutes, I'd met my challenge (far too easily I must say!) and stocked up on my Bioderma Micellar water at £6.66 each (oh yes, they had my beloved 1/3 off French Pharmacy goods!), I had to get two of these because they go out of stock so quickly, and my most favourite lip balm EVER, which feels so good, its a perfect rival to my previously favoured Sisley lip balm at the mad, but justified, price of £40! But no, my Nuxe Reve De Miel Honey nourishing lip balm is of equal quality, although at a usual RRP of no less than £9, its still something I don't buy too often. So with the 1/3 off, giving a sale price of £6.33 it was perfect! And to add to the treat factor, it was in limited edition colours to celebrate 20 years of this nourishing and famed lip balm! You could choose the colour too, so I went for this lovely green, just because it made it look very vintage, much like its original jar.

I can't begin to tell you how much you must try this lip balm, it really IS an essential, albeit more on the luxury rather than budget side! And Bioderma, well, I can't live without my Bioderma, its just perfect for my combination skin!

I will have to leave you there, with a pretty picture as my 8 week old kitten has decided to fall asleep on my iPad which is making typing rather difficult!

Take care my lovelies!

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies! 

Right, as promised, I've decided to do a little mini Twitter giveaway! 

The prize is the pictured cream blush by the amazing Paul and Joe Cosmetics, and its just the cutest thing ever! Cream blush is so much better in the winter, cream products fair better with the cold winter air, they help your skin stay hydrated in cold conditions! Hydration is our skins best friend!

Anyway, this is easy peasy to enter! First you need to pop on over to Twitter.com and follow me at @BLBeautyLoves ; then find my Tweet with the hash tag #Giveaway in it and RT that Tweet! That's all you have to do, its that simple! 

This giveaway is only open to UK I'm afraid, purely because of postal costs (sorry to any Lovelies over the pond😔), anyone who follows then unfollows purely for giveaways or competitions WILL be disqualified - this is to benefit my lovely readers and followers, not professional competition players! 

So Follow and RT and that's you, entered! Once I reach 4,444 followers I shall close the giveaway and pick a winner, using random methods as usual!

Thank you Lovelies and thank you for following me!

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

Firstly, welcome to my new look site!  I still need some tweaks until I'm really happy with it, but that's all the fun of the fair isn't it?

Anyway, I'm late (as usual) to the party with this review, namely because I've been suffering from the cold from hell, and I mean this is the worst one I've had since I had my Septic Pneumonia a couple of years ago! So I've been neglecting everything and just sat around exhausted, constantly blowing my nose...

Still, enough of the doom and gloom and onto the product!

I'm assuming people know the lovely Ruth Crilly, but if you somehow have overlooked this lovely, funny, down to earth lady, she is not only a model, but a huge YouTube celeb as A Model Recommends - click HERE to pop over to her channel - she does reviews, skincare, makeup tutorials etc., always in her own style and if it wasn't for her model status, I would be using the term "girl next door".  In other words, she seems to me like she'd be a good laugh on a girls night! 

Onto the items! 

The items are currently available with a third off on Superdrug.com for the price of £1.32 for the super cute handbag sized 50ml, and £2.32 for a large 200ml sized can.  I think this is a really good price and its nice to see a quality item but one that isn't overpriced!  They are available in 5 fragrances, the two that I'm reviewing which are New York and London, plus Tokyo, Paris and Rio.  New York is described as a fruity fragrance, London a classic yet contemporary fragrance, Tokyo an oriental fragrance, Paris a floral fragrance and Rio a tropical fragrance.

First thing that is obvious is that the packaging is spot on.  It looks and feels high quality and the colour coordinated top which changes along with the design for each fragrance just really makes them look good on a shelf.  It's discreet too, in that although its obvious that its a dry shampoo, it doesn't shout it out - not everyone wants people to know they're using dry shampoo!  Here's a pic of the two fragrances I bought to try, based on the fragrances I usually prefer:

The fragrance on the London dry shampoo is quite hard to describe, there's definitely a musk to the scent, but to me, it smells just like a really top quality hair shampoo, really clean and expensive.  I'm all for making out that I spent £26 on my shampoo while only spending a couple of pounds on getting an extra day or two out of my locks!  I really like this fragrance, its not over the top so if you're buying online and are unsure which one to try, I'd say go with this, I can't see it really offending anyone to be honest, this seems to be the fragrance with the widest target demographic.  The New York fragrance however, is also lovely.  You can definitely smell a light fruity fragrance, its not overpowering but very subtle, and again smells like one of the higher end shampoos that have a fruity fragrance.  Its a very refreshing.

So the most important bit - does it do what it says on the tin??

This is described as having "sheer invisible formula", but does it?  Now, I'm not a fan normally of dry shampoos.  I'm blonde and have coarse, curly hair, and I have to work hard to make my mop look soft and shiny.  So there's nothing worse for me than trying a dry shampoo to see my hair instantly go dull and matte, and sometimes downright dusty looking!  I followed the directions which tell you to spray 20cms from your hair, which is somewhat further than some other dry shampoos recommend.  Some may say "ah! That's why its invisible, its further away so you don't get as much product", BUT this is where I'd point out that using other dry shampoos at a further distance means they don't actually work on your hair, the spray is too far to do anything!  

This DOES do what it says on the tin, spraying from 20cms distinctly freshened my hair and removed the greasy looking areas, whilst still leaving the hard worked for shine on my hair, and making me smell like I'd just popped into the hairdresser for a wash and blow dry!  Not a dull, matte stray in sight, and no white dusty look!  So after a lifetime of trying dry shampoos just to be disappointed by their effect,  or left looking like an extra in a Halloween film with my dusty white locks, I'm now convinced!  My hair is very dry naturally, so trying to squeeze extra time between washes is vital in order to stop my hair looking like straw, and to keep the shine.  With COLAB dry shampoo I feel like I'm keeping the shine but getting rid of grease, and that's what a good dry shampoo does! 

So I'm popping over to stock up on the large size, I'm a convert and I can't run the risk of running out!  If I were you, I'd do the same as I can see these selling out on a regular basis.

Take care my Lovelies!

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

Just incase you've missed it over on Twitter, the winner of the competition is Liz Hardie! 

Congratulations Liz, I hope you enjoy it!

Keep posted for Mini Giveaways in the run up to Christmas!

Take care my Lovelies!

Loz 😘 X x X

Hi my Lovelies!

Well, as promised, here is a little competition for you!  Its a collab to celebrate my new blog Slummy Mummy publishing, and all the terms and conditions of how to enter the competition are HERE - you need to comment on the post, and follow both sites on Twitter.  The winner will be announced on Twitter and will close at midnight on Friday 17th October, with the winner being chosen and announced on Saturday 18th October!  Remember to enter the competition and see any terms and conditions by clicking HERE! 

The prize is as seen below & comprises of:
My Little Box 15 inch laptop sleeve, Korres Citrus Little Body Milk 50ml, Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser 30ml with cloth, Moa the Green Balm 15ml, Bourjois Volume 1 seconde Mascara in 61 Black, James Read Sleep Mask Tan 25ml, Rimmel Space Dust Nail Polish in Aurora, Burts Bees Lip Balm, The Green People sun lotion 15 SPF 20ml, sample sized Dermalogica cleanser and serum AND not pictured (oops!), 2 Makeup Revolution Lipsticks, in colours Crime and Depraved!

Good Luck my Lovelies!
Loz 😘 X x X

Hi there my Lovelies!

I'm so sorry for lack of posts lately, I've been setting up my just-for-fun website www.slummymummy.co.uk which is basically about my failings as a parent, or as I like to call it, real life!

Moving swiftly on!  As you may be able to tell from the pictures, I've just recieved my latest box, not a beauty box you'll note, although it does have some beauty items in it, but its also a fashion, lifestyle and accessory box according to the company
My Little Box.

When you open the gorgeous, high end box, it literally is a box of delights!  You're greeted with a ribbon wrapped package, and it just oozes quality and luxury.  The first thing is an A5 sized print which I'll be popping onto my "pretty board" - it could easily be framed to make a lovely print for the wall.  The next thing to come out of the box is what looks like a little Paris scene, but actually contains little 3D stickers, which would look gorgeous on a scrapbook or for decorating whatever things you like to decorate really! 

Underneath that, we come to a little package which, when taken out of it's brown cardboard holder turns out to be a lovely, and very high quality, laptop sleeve.  It's too big for an iPad, but measures approx. 33cm x 25cm and is suitable for a 15 inch screen.  I only have an iPad and a much bigger laptop which is why this gorgeous sleeve will be part of a competition which will be announced in the coming days (I'll pop a picture of the goodies on offer below!).

Then we come to the again, high quality, drawstring bag, which is so perfect for so many things I'm not quite sure what I'm going to use it for just yet.  But it will be used, its design of little bows and "My Little Box" all over it is just too cute!  In the bag are the beauty items.  This month there was a Laura Mercier Primer, very decent sized tube I have to say! Also a jar of the well known and loved Nuxe dry oil, which is one of my basic essential items, used on my hair, skin, just about anywhere I need moisture and where I want the gorgeous scent!  The last beauty item is made by the beauty brand owned by the My Little Box company, especially to put into their boxes, called My Little Beauty.  This months item is a highlighting concealer, along the Touché Éclat style.  It only comes in one colour so it's more a highlighter than a concealer.  I haven't actually tried it yet, so I'll keep you updated on that! 

The last item, and the one I love best actually, is the cutest of cutes notebook!  It's a good A5 size and has a red elasticated holder around it to hold any bits and pieces in it, or to keep your page for you.  The first few pages tell you a bit about the company, and even this is done in the prettiest way, and using the same style illustrations that are on everything else.  The rest of the notebook is plain pages so great for artists who want to sketch, aswell as for notes.  I'll be using mine for my post ideas.  Again, the quality is amazing and screams luxury and high end.

The price for this little lot of loveliness is £14.95 per month including postage, and like Birchbox, you can pay monthly and just stop when you want to stop.  I'm not sure yet which day of the month they start to send out the current months as I got in right at the end of September.  It seems as though each month has a different theme - such as this months Paris theme.  I don't know about you, but I happen to think that is a really good price for what you get, plus its so nice to see something totally different out there!  I am a HUGE stationary geek aswell as beauty addict so its perfect for me and I literally can't wait for the October box! Literally cannot wait! Would I recommend it?? Oh yes, most definitely! I think it would take a really big fail for me to ever dislike this company, and I'm usually quite cynical about repeat quality, but I just know there is no way this company would send out anything inferior!  Fingers crossed! 

Last but not least - as I said, unfortunately for me, I don't have need of a 15inch laptop sleeve, so I'll be giving it away in a competition.  I'm still working in the terms of the comp, but will pop a picture below of the lovely goodies that are going to come with your laptop sleeve.  I've put some of my most favourite items in there, but will go into detail more on the competition post!  Keep your eyes open on Twitter for the announcement and terms!  And it will be some time this week but I think I'm just going to leave you hanging there....(just incase my life goes a bit pear shaped and I'm late again! 😉).

Take care my lovelies!
Loz 😘 X x X

Competition prizes: