Nail polish time

Hello!

I hope you're having a nice December.  I'm glad it's not been as cold here as it usually is at this time of year but I am really missing sunlight.  The daytime is so short and the weather is cloudy and grey more often than not.
I've hurt my rib and it is quite sore to dance with so I'm hoping that will heal up fast.  Luckily I only have one show to get through before I can rest up a bit for Christmas.

The other day I decided to experiment with my nail varnish as I hadn't worn any for ages.  I couldn't decide between pink or dark blue so I decided to wear both and then added some glitter to the last two nails.

 The dark blue and glitter polish were both China Glaze and the pink shade was by Misslyn.  The glitter polish is called Bad Kitty which is an awesome name for a varnish!

I think it's such a fun way to wear nail varnish.  For performances I can't wear anything so colourful but I've been doing something similar using pale pink polish and just some glitter on the ring finger.  I definitely want to experiment more and make use of the many varnishes I own!

I think I need to have a little bath to beat the chill I'm feeling right now in my flat!  I think an evening of bathing and nail painting are in order.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Clinique High Impact Lashes gift set review

Hi there!

I hope your week is going well.  There has been such little sunlight around here recently that apart from taking vitamin D I've also started hoarding body and beauty products as if they contained the suns rays themselves.  One such item which I bought on a massive whim (so unlike me, normally I ponder over purchases for weeks!) was the Clinique High Impact Lashes gift set.

 To be fair I had been wanting to buy a new mascara for weeks already.  I've lost my The Balm one somewhere during the move (grrrr...) and my Bourjois one was starting to dry up a bit.  I was planning on trying out a L'oreal one as I keep reading that the Telescopic one is meant to be popular but when I realised I could get this Clinique set for the same price as the mascara on it's own I purchased on straight away!

The set contains the Clinique High Impact Mascara, a Clinique Cream Shaper for eyes in Black Diamond, and a small sample of the all about eyes serum.

Also contained is a little mini see through make-up bag in shades of neon pink and orange.  Not my favourite shades but it's not what I purchased this for anyway.  It is currently storing small change and making itself useful!

For some reason I was expecting the brush to be a bit thicker because I thought it was the same as a sample size Clinique mascara I own from a set.  Maybe I'm confused, I'll have to check it later.
So how was the mascara?  It's different from what I expected as I seem to get more length from this mascara wand than thickness on my lashes.  The formula seems quite wet compared to the Bourjois one I've been using so I have to be careful not to push down on the lashes with an eyeliner pencil or anything until it's dried.  I feel like after quite a few strokes I end up with quite doll-like looking lashes but with still quite a natural feel.  I really like this effect.

The cream shaper for eyes is quite a soft liner in more of a grey/black than black black.  It is quite creamy and it has some subtle shimmer particles in it which I personally like.  If you want to smudge your eyeliner for a softer look I can imagine this would be quite smudge-able.  Because it's quite a soft formula it applies really easily to the water line.

In this picture I'm wearing both the eyeliner and mascara.

I need to use the eye serum a bit more before I review it.  Also I'm getting quite sleepy so I think that post can wait for another day.
Don't forget to follow this blog using one of the options in the right hand column for future reviews of my purchases!
Ultimately I'm glad I bought this gift set as I think I'll get a lot of use from these products!
Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Tea time

Hello!

it's been a little while.  I've been quite busy moving and getting this years production of the Nutcracker underway at work.  I thought I would write a little post about my current favourite teas.

I've been drinking rosehip tea since I was given some at work because it was high in vitamin C.    Apparently it's quite good for warding off colds so now is the perfect time to be drinking it.  I love drinking coffee and normal English breakfast tea but I find that caffeine really affects me so I have to stop drinking anything caffeinated after about 4pm....did I mention that this tea is a deep pink colour too!!

Yay!  Pink tea in my favourite mug.  I know it says coffee but you know, I don't have a tea one yet!  You can brew this tea for 3-5 minutes and I tend to brew it for less time because otherwise it has a bit too much bite for me.

The other tea I've been enjoying recently is this gunpowder tea

This is a form of green tea that I've been trying.  It's still a bit caffeinated so I tend to stick to drinking this earlier in the day but it makes a nice lighter change from my usual black tea with milk.  Also I'm always reading that green tea is supposed to be really good for your health because it contains strong anti-oxidants.  I usually brew it for about 2 minutes or I find the taste becomes too bitter.

What about you.  Are there any particular teas you're enjoying lately?  I've done a bit of naughty shopping this past weekend so I'll be hopefully getting some more posts up of those items soon!

Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)
xxx

Fantasy shop at Miss Selfridge, Zara and Mango

Hi there!

The sun is almost set and the cold wind is blowing.  I can hear it as I sit in my living room, rocking through the cracks of the old apartment building I live in (for one more week anyway).  Today I slept in until 10 am and it was absolute bliss.  However I still have been feeling low on energy and am struggling to find the will power to pack and clean for the big flat move.  Last weekend I told myself I was going to clean one thing an hour and that lasted for about....oh.... one hour.
Instead I have decided to procrastinate with a fantasy shopping post.  I recently had a look at the Miss Selfridge website, a store I normally never buy anything from for some reason and came across this beauty.

If I was on the lookout for a nicely priced wedding dress I would definitely be heading to the store to try this on.  I love the Jenny Packham beaded dresses but they're so expensive and this really reminds me of them.  It's on sale right now and really wish I had a reason to buy it!  It also has a lovely low scooped back.

There's a Mango shop in the small town I live in and I pop in pretty much once a week waiting for my favourite things to go in the sale!  No luck so far so here are the things I've been coveting.

This jumper is so cute.  I love the floral pattern.  I'd wear it with plain skinny jeans. Pretty and comfy, such a nice combination.  There's also a gorgeous dressing gown style wool blend grey coat that I can't find on the website that I can't stop looking at.  At 149 euros it's definitely out of my budget right now.
In it's place I'll put this super fluffy Zara coat I tried on in the store when I went to the capital a couple of weeks ago.

Mmmm snuggly. I was very tempted to part with 100 euros for this.  Which says a lot about how much I liked it as I'm so budget concious!  It's not real fur of course and it feels soooo soft.  I really would like to get the chance to pick this up in the sale.

Do you have your eye out on anything at the moment?  Do you buy full price if you love something or wait for the sales and risk missing out?  Follow my blog using one of the buttons in the right side bar to find out if I ever manage to purchase any of these items ;)

Till next time.

Twirlybirdie :) xxx

Eyebrows with Art Deco powder and Lumene brow gel

Hello!

It's my weekend.  I've got a slightly more extended weekend than I was supposed to have because one of the guys in our company hurt his foot so the show we were meant to be performing on Sunday was cancelled.  It's a relief in a way as this is the only weekend we have to move out of our apartment.

Asides from that it is a very grey day today.  It was dark by about 4.30 pm which I found pretty depressing.  I managed to have a nap as I was super sleepy and now I feel a bit brighter.  I really fancy a bit of reading and chilling and just general snuggling.  Today I popped in to the shops and sprayed myself with the tester for the Prada Candy perfume which I'm in love with right now.  It's a very rich warm and sweet scent which I love for winter time.  I wouldn't wear it in the summer when I prefer a fresher scent like Lacoste Pour Femme but for winter time this sweet scent is warming and perfect.  I can't really afford to buy it right now though so I guess spraying the tester in the shops every now and then will have to do for now!

I thought that I would write about some more new make-up products I recently purchased.  I find it quite strange that I love make-up products so much when most of the time I actually hardly wear any.  I find that as my job involves me sweating and exercising there's not much point dolling myself up for that.  I'm so used to not wearing a lot that I feel self concious if I wear more than usual at work in the day.  I try to wear more at the weekends but even then more than a little feels strange.  One area I quite like to wear make-up on though is my eyebrows.  I find doing them really makes my face look more alive and I still feel quite natural.  I think it makes a real difference to my face more than doing any other one area.

Normally I use an eye pencil and just pencil them in a bit.  I decided to have a go with some eyebrow powder and found this Art Deco eyebrow powder on offer recently so I decided to give it a go.  It's quite a dark shade but my eyebrows are naturally quite dark and prefer to use a slightly darker colour on them.

This eyebrow powder comes with a little angled brush which is useful for applying the powder.  I found it quite strange to use at first though as the bristles on the brush are really stiff.  I ended up just having to dab the tip of the brush on the top of the powder to not take too much powder on the brush and then stroke it through my brows.

You can see in the pictures that the shadow is quite dark.  There were three shades in the shop and I went for the one that was in the middle in terms of darkness.  I quite like dark brows at the moment though,it suits my winter mood.

I then use the Lumene Brow Gel to keep my eyebrows in place.  I like this because it's a brown gel which adds a little bit of colour when I use it on it's own.  Also it doesn't start to look manky like a clear gel does when powder from the eyebrows gets on the mascara wand when you use it over the powder.

I like the dark brows with neutral make-up.  I think they make my eyes stand out more.
Do you have a particular area of your face you like to wear make-up on more than any other?

I think a warm snuggly bath is in order!

Until next time

Twirlybirdie :) xxx

Body Shop Blueberry Body Butter: Review

Hello there!

This blog is fast becoming a beauty product review blog.  It's just the way things have been going lately with me having to try to find new products for my skin.  I love the Body Shop Body Butters but don't often buy them because of the price.  I spotted the blueberry one on sale at half price.and as it was paraben free (not all of them are)  I decided to get it.

Yum yum yum!  It smells amazing.  By the time I bought this I was too scared to use anything with fragrance added to it on my arms where my eczema was, especially now that I had discovered the natural Shea Oil.  I used this on other parts of my body instead.  It is in my opinion quite a light body butter.  It has a light fruity scent that's not too heavy but definitely yummy.  I like fruity scents.  Maybe it's my imagination but it feels cool on the skin and absorbs pretty quickly.  I have no complaints, I really like using this.

I really like the colour of the tub too!  Very wintery.

Do you have a favourite Body Shop Body Butter?  I'm also enjoying trying out my Virgin Coconut Oil which I recently bought.  I'm trying to use it on my scalp which has also been a bit irritated recently.  I will let you know the results further down the line!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Natural Moisturisers, Burt's Bees Body Lotion and Pure Shea Oil

Hello!

I hope your week has started well.  Mine has started with a new apartment to move in to.  We have the keys to the new place and are in the process of moving.  It is a lovely but much smaller flat so we have a lot of sorting and figuring out what to do with our things.

My skin has calmed down loads since my eczema flared up and the eczema is pretty much gone now although the skin still looks a bit red.  I was in such discomfort and such a panic about it when it was bad that I threw money at plenty of different products in the hope that something would calm it down.  I discovered some great moisturisers and some that really didn't work for me in the process so now it's all calmed down I'm going to blog about some of my experiences.

Two moisturisers that really were great were these ones by Burt's Bees .  The first one I bought was the fragrance free body lotion with Shea Butter and Vitamin E.  It was great to use because it was the first moisturiser I bought which didn't sting my inflamed skin when I put it on.  It is a lotion so it was lighter than a body butter but it still left a bit of a waxy covering on the skin after I used it which is a good thing when you have to try to keep skin constantly moist.
The second one I bought was the soothingly sensitive lotion with Aloe and Buttermilk.  I bought this because I read someone's review on-line which said it was good for their eczema.  It was a milkier consistency than the fragrance free one but seemed to absorb in to the skin faster without leaving a greasy coating.  I really enjoy using this as well.  My skin seemed to soak it up.  I found the milky fragrance quite pleasant as well.
These moisturisers were more expensive than I would normally pay for body lotion but I've really enjoyed using them and they were very good for my skin when it was so sensitised.
I did also feel like I needed something heavier than a lotion to use when I was at home or during the night.  Anything less than 100% natural seemed to sting my skin like crazy so I was excited to come across this 100% natural Shea oil in the shops.

I was right to be excited.  This pure oil felt amazing to use on my skin.  I felt absolutely no irritation what so ever.  I wanted to use it on everything and reading up on it on the company website it sounds like it can be used for anything.  It was slightly thicker than normal oil which made it slightly hard to get out of the pump but it was worth the effort.  After using this it made me want to try everything else from this brands range of 100% natural products.  I'm not sure this brand is readily available abroad but I'm sure any range of 100% natural products would be the same.

Now I wonder why I would pay money to use anything else when the product in it's pure natural form seems to be so effective.  I don't have to worry about parabens or any other irritants hidden within.  I want to try out other pure oils such as jojoba and sweet almond oil on my skin.  It reminds me of the Body Shop's sweet lemon body oil which I loved using in the summer but was put off buying again because it was so expensive.  I loved that you could use it on body, face and hair and I feel the same way about the natural Shea oil I bought.  I want to use it everywhere!
This inspired me to buy the Virgin Coconut Oil that recently went on sale in the food stores here and I plan to review it soon.

As promised here is a clearer picture of the Lumene Lip Sorbet I reviewed earlier this week in action.

Nice and bright for winter!

It's time to get back to my herbal tea.  I need to try to get to bed a bit earlier these days as I feel I'm looking a bit tired!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Lumene Rasberry Miracle Lip Sorbet and Wild Rose Moist Lipstick

Hello!

It's been a few days since my last post.  I've been so busy with work, struggling to fit in doctor appointments to control my eczema and trying to find a new flat since being kicked out of the one I'm currently living in!

Luckily my skin is now under control thanks to a bit of steroid cream.  I hate having to resort to using these creams as I know it's bad for my health but if I've had a really bad flare up I find I have to use it to make it go away, especially if I have performances coming up.  Luckily it's been about 8 years since I had to use it last.

Other than that my bf and I were recently told that we had to be out of our flat in three weeks and we've been on the hunt for somewhere to live since then.  Somewhere has turned up so we are just waiting for the final details to be sorted out and then we should be on our way.  I'm looking forward to being settled again soon.

Amidst all of this I did manage to do a little make-up shopping.  I was on the look out for a new face powder as my No 7 one from Boots's life was almost up.  I came across the Lumene range as I was searching for a paraben free one and this was the first one I found.  I really like it and hope to write a blog post on it soon.  I also picked up one of their Miracle Lip Sorbet crayons whilst there.  I had a couple of Clinique ones which had run out and really wanted to try out one of the many cheaper alternatives that have come out recently.  I went for the brightest one I could see and couldn't wait to try it out straight away.

I love these crayon style lipsticks, they are so fun and easy to use.  The colour pigment is rich and bright and the texture is more lipstick than gloss.  One coat of this is enough and it has quite good staying power although I did need to re-apply it straight after eating or drinking.  It says 'Moisture rich sheer colour for glossy lips' on the packaging but I wouldn't say that the colour of this particular one was sheer.  It's also not very moisturising so you might want to add a dab of gloss on top or some balm underneath.  

I really like this, particularly this colour.  Perhaps it could be more moisturising but I expect the fact that it isn't is why the colour grabs on so well to the lips.  I can imagine taking it on a night out with me when I tend to wear brighter lipstick.  

This picture of me wearing it is a bit blurry but hopefully gives you some idea of the colour.  I will have to take another one in the future!

There was a deal on at the shops where when you bought two items from the Lumene range you got a free Wild Rose Moist Lipstick in the colour Beach Life.

The shade of this lipstick is quite nude which was lucky as I don't have any nude lipsticks at the moment.  I always tend to go for brighter pinks or reds although I have been really intrigued recently by the new L'oreal collection of nudes but had no idea which sort of nude lipstick would work for me (even though the idea of them is that you would chose the celebrity nude who is most similar to you, but I never trust it!).  So I was really interested to test this lipstick out.

I really like this colour even though I would never have chosen it myself.  I feel that my natural lip shade is a bit washed out and have been trying to find products that make them look fresher but still natural for when I don't want to look too dolled up.

The texture of this lipstick is glossier and more moisturising than the lip sorbet crayon.  I wore it out for dinner the other night and even after eating I still felt the colour was there on the lip.

All in all a useful free gift for me!  I don't really have many products from this range of make-up but will be willing to try more after testing these out.  I also like that they seem to have a lot of paraben free products to choose from.  The Lip Sorbet is stated as being paraben free on their website.

I have a few more new products to write about but this post is quite long and it is late.  Hopefully it wont take me as long until I write my next post this time!

Twirlybirdie :)

Candles and grey eye shadow

Hi there!

Sorry I've been quiet for a week or so.  I was feeling run down for days!  My brain was sooo foggy.  In the end I just had to be nice to myself and do as little as possible apart from the dancing that I had to do for my job.  Luckily I managed to feel much better by the time I had to do a show last Thursday but after that I had a little crash again.  So I'm taking it easy once more.  I've been preoccupied with trying to calm down my system and stop it reacting so sensitively to everything.  I've been drinking lots of tea, lighting lots of candles and having a few baths.

These pictures were taken last Sunday morning when the weather was much brighter than it has been this weekend.  It's horribly grey and overcast.  I've been keeping up trying to drink probiotic yoghurt drinks in the morning.

I had some of my home made banana bread for breakfast.  This time I had smaller bananas which made the bread slightly less moist.  I also added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon but I didn't notice any difference in the taste so next time I might try adding 1/2 teaspoon.

I thought it would be nice to see some more of the Too Faced eye shadows in action.  I used the two darkest shadows in my Too Faced Palette; the darkest grey all over the lid and the black shadow a little bit on the outside edge of the top lash line.

I kept the rest of my face natural apart from some blusher and mascara.  I'm obsessed with make-up being relatively subtle and natural at the moment.  I've always gone through fazes, not so long ago it was a black eye liner obsession which I would do every day.  Then I got sick of that and now I like to do something quite subtle and natural for the day time.

I hope you're having a lovely autumn.  I've been gathering up any candles I can find lying around the flat to cosy up the evenings!  I need to go and get myself some scented ones for that extra luxurious feel.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Hair repair products for a grey autumn day of rest

Hello

How has your weekend been?  I've been resting resting resting.   Trying so hard to feel healthy again.  I started my morning off with a probiotic drink and some tea.  Actually I started off my morning with a lie-in which already made me feel much better.  Then after some tea I stared at my computer for a while before I decided that a hot bath would be the next thing to do to make me feel rested.

I snuck some Body Shop Shea Butter bubble bath in to the water and decided it was time to take care of my hair.  I've been getting really irritated with my knotted hair which seems to be falling out all over the place and generally not in the best condition.  I decided to use all my hair products which I've purchased recently especially with hair repair in mind.

I bought the L'oreal extraordinary hair oil a while ago and just haven't really got into using it yet.  Actually I was a bit put off by the mixed online reviews I read that said it could be drying if used too often and that it has alcohol in it which is drying?  I decided to give it a go today to find out for myself and put a couple of drops in my hair before shampooing and left it on for ten minutes or so.  I quite like the feel and smell of this product but I think next time I might try a more expensive hair oil with purer ingredients?

Then I shampooed my hair with the Schwarzkopf Gliss Kur shampoo which I bought because it was on offer and didn't have any parabens in it.  I was also attracted to the fact it had keratin in it.  It's not my favourite formula to use as I'm not keen on the smell but it cleans my hair just fine.  Normally I go for the Garnier colour protect shampoo which feels very moisturising but as this one was cheaper I thought I would give it a go.

Then I used the Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage hair mask which you only need to leave on for 3 minutes which is nice as I get impatient if I have to leave anything on for longer than 5!  I bought the shampoo version of this not long ago and was impressed with it and how my hair felt afterwards.  It says it's for 'very damaged, lifeless hair' which is exactly what mine feels like. I also bought this because it seemed like good value for money and I had run out of a more expensive hair mask I had but money is a bit tight lately!

Once I had washed it all out and towel dried my hair I squirted lots of the Garnier fructis nutri repair 3 oils leave in conditioner and rubbed it in a bit with my hands.

I let my hair dry naturally for as long as possible until we were going to go out (for coffee and sushi!) and then I used my hair dryer from as far away from my hair as possible to avoid heat damage.

Overall my hair does feel in better condition and I'm not sure which product exactly has made the difference.  Maybe it was the l'oreal hair oil as that is one that I really haven't been using recently.  Normally I use just one conditioning product at a time so maybe I need to do a hair pampering session where I use everything more frequently.  My hair doesn't feel amazing yet but hopefully it will get there as there is definitely a difference.  It actually smells really nice too.

I will let you know how I get on in the future with these hair products!

I was also inspired take photos of my eye make up today.  I used the gold shadow from my Too Faced palette so you can see what it looks like on .  It's quite an autumnal shade.

A very easy to wear shade of gold I think.  These pictures were taken a few hours after application so I think the shadow held up pretty well!  I hadn't used any primer so it really was the shadow all on it's own.  I also used my Maybelline Gel eyeliner and my Bourjous Beauty Full Volume mascara which I reviewed ages ago and since then has become my favourite.  Other than that I went pretty natural except for some Clinique blusher which I think had worn off by the time I took these photos!  Oh and I had also used some Art Deco Perfect Teint Concealer for under my eyes and the inner corner.  I bought this very recently and am liking it quite a lot.

I hope you're having a nice autumn day.  I'm thinking of baking some banana bread (again!) and maybe this time I'll go crazy and add some cinnamon or something, ooooo!  If you enjoyed this post please subscribe to my blog using one of the links in the right side bar of my blog.  I'd love to hear from you too if you have any tips for repairing stressed out hair!

Till next time :)  Stay rested and warm

Twirlybirdie x