Boots Haul (Soap&Glory Inspired)

Back at Christmas I got a lovely Soap&Glory set - the one that was the big boxes on special offer one of the weeks? And inside it had a voucher for €4 off once you spent over €15, which is no bother to someone like myself who is a big fan of the brand and going into Boots to spend in general! The voucher was expiring on April 1st so I couldn't let it go as it was a decent (enabling) amount of money off. Boots had a lot of stuff on offer and 3 for 2 on nearly all their make up too, so I'm going to give their normal prices first and then their on offer price. Just so you know what they currently are verses what they are now!

As you can see above I got myself a lovely big bottle of Smoothie Star Body Milk (€13.99) as I love their almond scents the most and really wanted something that I hadn't tried from the range before. I also got a repurchase of Hand Maid Hand Sanitizer (€3.49) as I'd almost run out of the one I keep in my hand bag. For years I never got why people raved about it, but now that I've become more almost overly aware of making sure my hands are clean, I use these a lot when I'm out for the day. 

I ran out of all my makeup removing skincare at the same time so I've been stocking up on it a lot. I always need backups of my backups! Garniers regular eye make up remover (€2.99) always keeps me happy so I picked up one. I find it never stings my eyeballs and gets rid of heavy eyeliner and mascara without having to rub the eyelids off myself. 

I also picked up some Boots own brand cleansing milk (€3.79 - €1.90) and a toner (€3.79 - €1.90) that both have aloe vera in them for sensitive skin. I got some face wipes from the same range (€3.99 - €1.99). I never use face wipes but their handy for taking off lipstick to eat or wiping away make up from the back of your hand. I've not used this range before as far as I can remember, or if I have they weren't in as nice looking packaging. I'll report back how they are on my skin once I get around to trying them out. 

This is the essentials pile of bits. Who doesn't need a few good razors (€6.99) to keep away the crazy forest like legs! I have been hairing (- see what I did there!?) my way through nail varnish remover recently as I've been redoing my nails loads, so I got a bottle of Cutex (€2.25). I think this is one of the best brands on the market as they take way less time to totally get rid of the product then other ones I've used. I can't speak much for them being nail strengthening or whatever claims they have but there good at the physical getting rid of bit.

Also got some Nivea rolls ons that were 2 for €4, normally €2.99 each. I'm a big fan of roll ons in recent times as they don't clog up air if you want to freshen up before bed and they also don't effect my asthma. Saying that, I picked up my favourite Impulse (€2.79 - €1.39) too as I'm a fan of having a body spray in my handbag if I'm out and about.  

Lastly I couldn't go into Boots and not pick up at least a few make up bits! I was on a mission for a cheap eyeliner as I had only earlier lost my own to my sisters clutch in the car. I got a Collection one (€2.49) in black that does the job grand. 

I was on the hunt for a Barry M (€5.99) light blue nail varnish after I saw it on Instagram. I think this is called Green Apple but I could be wrong! I've misplaced my bottle so I can't double check, but no doubt I'll put it up on Instagram or twitter soon enough!  

And I've saved the best for last. Just look at that Sleek lipstick!! (€5.99) its in the shade Mystic and it was made for me. I haven't even swatched it yet as I wanted to take photos of it in perfect condition for this post. Man I'm so restrained! It is just beautiful and even before I try it I want everyone to have it. It just makes me happy.

Well thats all of it! I actually saved €16 and got triple points on my Boots card too so I'm extra delighted! At the til I came across the most lovely lady called Cathy who recommend products to me (which I picked up!) and talked about the things I was buying. She gave me some baby wipes as I had a lot of swatches on my hand and gave me loads of brilliant vouchers for things in the shop (and some handy tips too!). I've come across some lovely staff in the Boots at Liffey Valley in the past, but this lady went above and beyond. Just had to give her a mention, she was so friendly and I left the shop feeling extra happy after such a nice chat.

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine A/W Collection

Its been a while since my last nail varnish post. To be honest if I find a colour I like I wear it until I'm sick of the sight of it. Only then do I stop covering the cracks and reapplying more coats over it instead of taking it off and starting over. Lazy is my middle name, but I'm thinking of changing it to my first. When I saw that all the new A/W colours were coming out, I couldn't help but pick up a few Barry M ones and I've been wearing them since. I've been meaning to go and get more as there are some gorgeous shades out, but I'm forever forgetting when I go into Boots. Isn't it always the way, you go into Boots for just one thing and come out with a bag full of things you never knew you needed, but do.

This isn't the first time I've used Gelly Hi-Shine, you can see a beautiful light green shade that I've blogged about over here. Some aren't too sure if the this makes a big difference to the bog standard nail varnish Barry M has, but personally I can see a big difference. Its shiner, more vibrant and looks slightly like you got a shellac set done. Perfect, and for more then half the price of what a shellac would cost. 

I didn't think I would like these colours on my nails as much as in the bottle, but they look just the same. These are both totally different to anything else that I have in my every expanding collection. I'm a massive fan of both the mustard yellow and the warm toned grey. They only need one coat (in all the photos I've only one coat on too) and they are opaque. Barry M always lasts me 3 days or more before any chipping happens. This is almost unheard of when it comes to my claws as I normally get about 15 minutes out of a new polish before they start chipping. Another reason why I am in love with these. The nail varnish is also a breeze to remove and as far as I've seen, doesn't stain the nails after being on for over a week.

At the moment they are €5.99 in Boots and have an offer of by one, get one half price. So it would be rude not to take up the offer. 

What do you think of Barry M's latest offerings?

April Favourites

Normally I'm banging on about how fast the month went but I think this month went on forever. Not that it was a particularly bad month or anything, but don't you just hate it when you feel like something is dragging on? April was lots of fun though, I got to meet some new and old lovely blogger girls at the #llameetup that Hannah organised all by herself, some woman! (check out Instagram for even more photos!) Ugh I just wanna squeeze these people! *pauses to send out love vibes across the internet*. Have a look below at us all and my eh, attractive duck faces? Oh dear.

April also meant lots of moisturising and scrubbing the life out of myself. Below is my trusty and nearly all gone bottle of Spray and Go Vaseline. This is the best thing since sliced bread if you ask me. I did a big old review of it over here if you fancy having a look. Its easy to use and your not doing the flappy dry-yourself-quick-its-freezing dance either. Winning. 

Next up is a new one that I've not talked about before, Bio-Oil. This jazzy little bottle has been floating round my room for years. I got it on offer way back and then put it in the back of my draw never to be seen again. That was until I went looking for something to help fade some scars I have. I will admit, its pretty feckin' amazing when you find a product that works before your eyes in just a few weeks. My scars are fading by the day and I know once this bottle is used up my scars will hopefully be hard to see! This is a pricey bottle at €20 a pop which I was shocked at when I saw it in Boots the other day, but its well worth it.

With moisturising and keeping silky comes another new one for me, Anatomicals Don't just clean it woman, scrub it body wash - what a mouthful! Over the past two or so months I have been trying out a lot of  different tanning products and my god, that stuff is a full on bitch to get off your skin! But I've been using this and I think don't just scrub it is the bees knees. I got mine from Cloud10Beauty for €4.50. Its lasted me ages and has all the good exfoliating scrubby bits that a good body scrub should have. 

Last in the beauty department, I give you my very pretty shiny love that is Barry M gelly hi-shine nail varnish in key lime. Its not only a beautiful summery colour but the general collection is something of utter magical things. Its clear Barry m employs fairies to do all the work and taa dahh! Look what they come up with! You can read my full review of it here. I think the gorgeous colour is making me bias here...

In other non beauty related stuff this month I have been planting lots of lovely veg that will hopefully grow (grow, sweet baby jayjay PLEASE just one sprout!!) I'm very excited by all this. I haven't got green fingers at all, I either over water or forget about them altogether. But mostly over enthusiastically over water (I'd over water and kill a fish, thats how bad I am).  But none the less its been a few years since I've taken to planting little things and hoping for the best, so its very exciting. That and the fact that my best friend has also gone seed growing mad, so all her giddyness for her sprouting little green yokes is contagious. 

Lastly, I am in love with all the comics that have been coming out lately. I'm a massive Buffy fan and season 11 is deadly so far. I got way over excited by the fact that I got a variant copy of issue two and I also picked up the Hulk. I know issue two is out and I will pick it up asap! As you can see from the very first photo of this post, I got a Spock Funko Pop after swearing them off as creepy, ugly figures that are too scary to have in your room. But this is my only one, promise. (I hope). And I picked up one of the 'good guys' from plants .v. zombies. I think hes cute and a little funny. He looks like a few people I could mention when they first get out of bed or are in a grumpy mood!

Thats all from me for this months favourites, not my normal post just about beauty and products but last month I got super excited for loads of things! Has anything here caught your eye? Do you collect comics?

You Pure Beauty! Barry M Gelly Hi - Shine

I popped into Boots the other day for hair dye and I saw the most beautiful site on earth - 3 for 2 across all make up. I know thats a bit dramatic, but to me its honestly in my top 10 best things ever to see. I clearly have a very sad life! Anyway, I might have picked up a few bits. Heres one of them.

Barry M nail varnish has always been a favourite of mine. When I was younger I got a few of their more colourful, 'out there' lip sticks and eye shadows too. But the one thing I always go back for is the beautiful polishes. Shockingly enough though, I didn't own a single one of their gelly hi-shine polishes until now, isn't that just woeful? I thought it was, so I picked up a colour I would never normally wear to celebrate my first purchase of the line (and hopefully many more to come, oh hello there Boots points you little beauts!!)

Key Lime is a gorgeous Spring/Summer colour and just makes me want to go pick flowers. Its bright green but not in an in your face way. Two coats of this and your ready to rock 'n' roll. It lasted roughly 3 days on me, with only little chips but I'm a devil for chipping nail varnish minutes after its applied so this was impressive! Taking it off is as easy as putting it on and it doesn't leave any stains on your nails like some polishes can. 

As for the gelly hi-shine part in comparison to normal nail varnishes? When I was applying it I did definitely notice that the polish was spreading differently and that the consistency was thicker then others I have used. But once it drys I'm not sure if I can really notice a difference, it might be a little shiner then normal but that might be because I have read it on the bottle so I expect it to be. 

But either way, I really love this colour and will be wearing it lots this Summer. I'm making small steps to get away from black and throw a bit of colour in! I might have my eye on about 7 more of these Barry M nail varnishes too, just in case your wondering why theres none in Boots next time your in!! Theres 21 colours in the hi-shine range and they wont break the bank at 5.99 each.

Have you tried any Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine polishes?

Things I've Used Up #1

These posts are all over the place and I also love watching them on YouTube. There is something so satisfying about finishing a product and being able to replace it with new and exciting things. I have been trying to be very good and not buy anything until I have used up bits of half used products and bottles of fun. So now that I am going use-up-old-things mad, expect more of these types of posts in the near future! You'll have noticed I went a bit wild with taking photos outside while the few days of sun shine graced us, unlike the rain I'm looking out at now..

First off is my new favourite cleanser, Botanics All Bright Gentle Cleansing Cream. It smells wonderful and is really soft and gentle on my skin without drying it out at the same time. It has hibiscus which is a brightness booster and natural AHA's from the flower act as mild exfoiliators that leave your skin feeling very loved. It has no nasty parabens, basically does what it says in the bottle! I will definitely be repurchasing this little beauty again really soon once I finish using up one or two half bottles of cleansers I have floating about. Normally it costs a little over €6 but right now Boots is having a 3 for 2 1/3 off sale, so grab one for a bargain! 

My lovely 500ml bottle of Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo for dry and damaged hair that has lasted me nearly 3 months! I wash my hair everyday and I really loved the smell of this shampoo, so I picked it up just to try it out. I have used Aussies conditioners before and have always noticed how shiny and soft they left my hair. This shampoo was no different. Its €7.59 but sometimes you can get these on offer, right now in Boots they are doing a 3 for €13 on selected Aussie products. I'll get this again for sure, but first I want to try out some other brands to see if they are as good.

I think its fair to say I am a lover of Nivea deodorants in general (see here) so I got a massive 250ml Nivea Invisible Black and White Pure 48hr Anti-Perspiration . It smells nice, works well and the best part is that there are no marks left on clothes at all. I always have a little bottle of this kept in my handbag too for when I'm out and about just in case. Nivea can do no wrong in my books.

Picture on the right is not my own. Source: lush.co.uk

Hmm, LUSH's The Joy Of Jelly shower jelly. I wasn't mad about this scent by the end of the pot, but it did make an amazing bubbly bath for me several times and was fun to play with and poke at too! It kind of reminds me of the sex bomb bath bomb smell, but a little stronger. Its a lovely purple colour that has rose, jasmine and ylang ylang packed into it. Like all shower jellies can be broken up and frozen or used all at once. You can use this in the shower on your body and hair or in the bath. Not sure if I will be getting this again and it doesn't seem available on their site anymore. Here are some other jellies instead. At least its one more pot to add to my pile of pots to return and get a free face mask from! Read my Love Lettuce Face Mask review if you don't know about the LUSH recycle programme. 

Next comes Rimmels Hide The Blemish Concealer in Ivory. I have gone through tonnes of these little sticks and still think they are the best long lasting concealer out there. It has such amazing coverage that really hides both blemishes and dark circles. I couldn't ask for more. This costs just over €5. You can find it on the Rimmel stand in Boots, but they don't seem to have it online. Oh dear. You can also see it here in my whats in my makeup bag post.

And lastly my go to colour of the summer was Barry M's Blueberry. Its a gorgeous light blue that just screams sunshine and ice cream! Its all used up and you wont be seeing that colour on my nails again this year since were now in Autum, but you can be sure I will be getting this again in time for next summer. You can read my full NOTD review here.

NOTD: Barry M Blueberry

Would you look at that, two posts up in one day? My oh my, I'm making up for my lack of posting now! If you read my Facebook post earlier, you'll know I was hoping my nail varnish would pop up. It heard my pleas and wondered out from its hiding place. And people give me weird looks when I talk to objects. 

Today I have the lovely Barry M's Blueberry in number 306. I am dying to get back into wearing bright, warm, summer colours again after a long winter and dark, colder tones. And this is just the colour to make you happy when you look at it! Its a stand out light blue and its one of my all time favourite colours that I wore to death last summer along with Barry M's Fuchsia as you can see in the picture above. And before you get your hopes up seeing sun and flowers, no it wasn't taken recently it was last summer I'm sorry to say. I love using two colours on my nails to make it more interesting and to my make nails match more outfits - which never work out let me just mention! 

This colourful treat is just under €6 and I really like Barry M's nail polishes. They have some really different shades and as you know from my last NOTD, I am in love with the glitter nail paint in Amethyst Glitter. You can nearly always pick up a deal of buy one get one half price and I have my fingers crossed that will happen soon for Blueberry, because I have just found out my bottle is almost empty! I have never finished an entire nail varnish before, so I have a feeling last summer was the cause. The bottles themselves are gorgeous and something I like to display instead of hiding it in a drawer with the other ugly looking bottles of varnish. 

This only needs one coat and maybe a top coat but I tend to leave it off because I find that it stays the same length either way. The brush is fine, but I don't think I will ever love another nail varnish brush as much as I do the L'oreal Colour Riche ones. It takes about 2 to 3 minutes to dry which can be a bother if your in a hurry (or need to put your hand in your pocket to take out your bus fair - yes I do my nails waiting on the bus. Time saving and all that!) but stays about 3 days before chipping. Removing it is no problem, it only needs a tiny scrub for the stubborn corners. 

What have you got on your nails today?

  

NOTD: L'oreal Sublime Platine

I had to do a NOTD to tell you all about a nail varnish I picked up on sale in Boots a few weeks ago for only €4, but I think its normally at the €6 mark. Its L'oreal Colour Riche in Sublime Platine 819 and as you can see, its a gorgeous silver that is so eye catching. 

The first time I used it I could not get over how much I kept looking at it and how beautiful it looks on. You will only need one coat of this as it is a more high end product (then what I normally use!) that deserves the name. The brush is wide and easy to use, none of this blobs and painting one nail for 5 minutes business.  This will stay on your nails for about 2 days before it starts chipping. The second time I used it I put on a finishing coat and it lasted me nearly 3 days but I accidentally bit my nail and it started chipping, oh dear. Taking it off is really easy too with one cotton pad soaked in nail varnish remover doing all my nails in one go. 

I have also been eyeing up Barry M's glitter nail paint in Amethyst Glitter that I think would go so well as a top layer with this. I may just pick it up! I would highly recommend having a look through L'oreal's massive nail colour collection and see if anything takes your fancy as these are amazing varnishes and I know I will be getting more of in the future. 

Whats on your nails today?