12 Days of Beauty | Feel Unique Advent Calendar Review

Today as promised, I'm going to be sharing with you what I received in the Feel Unique Beauty Advent Calendar. The calendar was actually 12 days, however I was impatient as this is the first time I've had a beauty advent calendar so I opened it on the 1st of December then every other day up until the 23rd. I was so excited to see what gifts lay beneath each door as I'd not seen any reviews on this calendar, so I couldn't wait to get it open. I'm going to get straight into what I received and let you know my thoughts as well!

Monu Illuminating Primer SPF 15

I'd not heard of this brand before I received it in this calendar, though I was pretty chuffed to receive a new primer as my Porefessional Deluxe Sample was on its way out. I've used this a good few times and on first impression I loved how this primer felt, silky, creamy and easy to apply onto the skin. I must admit it did create a perfect canvas to apply foundation and I did like the way my foundation looked as a result of using this primer, however I didn't notice a difference in the longevity of my makeup. A nice primer all in all but I won't be purchasing the full size!

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer 

This is a treatment you can use on wet hair before shampooing. I had heard lots of great things about this so was excited to give it a go. It's supposed to add more bounce to your hair and prevent it from snapping. I've only used this a couple of times but so far I've noticed my hair has looked and felt a lot healthier, so soft too! I've been really liking this so far so I may have to repurchase this!

Grown Alchemist Hydra Repair Day Cream

On Day 3 I received this moisturiser from a brand again, I've not heard much about so I was looking forward to try this as it contains natural and organic ingredients. The main ingredients are Camellia and Geranium so this has a botanical scent which I really liked as it felt spa-like and relaxing. It was a really lovely moisturiser, I actually finished the whole tube though I did find I still had dry patches whilst using it so it couldn't have been that hydrating. I did like this, though for the price I wouldn't repurchase.

Roger & Gallet Fleur De Figuier Shower Gel

At first, I wasn't too thrilled to be receiving a shower gel if I'm honest. Though I was pleasantly surprised when I first smelt it, it has a subtle fruity kinda scent so I gave it a whirl that evening. It lathered nicely and left a lovely scent on me which I was pleased with. It's the perfect size for travelling, neither too big nor small so I've saved it for when I next travel. This is around £10 for the full size so for that reason I won't be repurchasing.

Fleur De Force Eye Shadow Palette in Cosmic Bronze 

I was most excited to receive this as I very nearly purchased this palette before I decided I had enough eye shadow. I had heard amazing things about these palettes, they're super pigmented and apparently this is similar to another high end palette. It has a light cream with a little shimmer which is perfect for highlighting, the next is a medium matte brown which I've had the most wear out of as its perfect for a natural everyday look. The other two are a super shimmery mink colour and a dark matte brown. All perfect to create a day to night look, so this would be ideal for travel as its compact and versatile. I love this palette so I will be looking to purchase the pink toned palette!

Phyto Subtil Elixir Hair Oil

Another hair treatment which I was happy about as I'm hoping to take better care of my hair. This is to be used before shampooing for about 10 minutes which can then be rinsed with shampoo as normal. This oil contains egg white which is great for treating hair and adding shine. Again my hair felt soft and healthy once using this and the product didn't have a horrible egg scent which was a bonus. This isn't a product I would rush out to repurchase as there is another I would like to.

Redken Extreme Length Primer

I was really pleased to receive such a large sample of this beneath door 7 as I had heard good things about Redken. The first thing I noticed was the scent, I can't quite work it out however it makes my hair smell amazing and I miss it! Despite having the word primer in its name, this is actually a conditioning treatment that you should leave on for about five minutes- quick, fuss-free so was perfect for when I was having quick showers as I was busy over the Christmas period. I've now run out of this and it made my hair feel soft, silky, healthy and made it smell gorgeous. I have a feeling I'm going to be picking this up again!

This Works Sleep Plus Pillow Spray

I was slightly annoyed but pleased to receive this. Annoyed because I had already purchased a sample gift set as my mum wanted to try this out so I could've saved myself and gave her this instead. Pleased as I also wanted to give this a go myself. You're supposed to just spritz this calming lavender scented spray over your pillow before sleeping and it's proven to give you a better nights sleep. In all honesty, I did sleep better but I think it's just a placebo affect. I don't have trouble sleeping so I won't repurchase this but my mum may!

Gatineau Collagene Expert Ultimate Smoothing Serum

This was a brand I had never come across so I was intrigued to give it a go. I've now used this sample up and it felt lovely on the skin. In terms of hydration, I still found I had dry patches so I wasn't overly impressed with this serum. I did use it up to fully test it out but I won't be buying this again.

POPBAND London Hair Band

Another one I wasn't overly pleased to receive. Hair bands aren't that interesting are they? This one is supposed to leave no kinks and be kind to your hair by preventing any breakage. I actually received a couple of these in a beauty box and I've used them a lot. I don't know about it not leaving any kinks in my hair but it's definitely kinder and doesn't pull resulting in a headache which is great.

Salcura Winter Skin Hand Therapy

As I made my way to the end of the calendar, the products seemed to get bigger. I believe this is a full-size product at 80ml which is worth £12.99! Hand creams are not something I buy for myself, I don't love the Soap and Glory Hand Food so I was pleased to receive this to try. The scent is very spa-like so it feels like a real treat when applying, I pop this on before bed and my hands are left looking less dry and feeling super soft. It'll take me ages to use this up so I'm not sure whether I'll be buying this again in the future.

Nuxe Rêve De Miel Lip Balm

I was so happy to receive this, lots of beauty bloggers love this! This is an amazing hydrating lip balm with honey and precious oils to nourish dry and damaged lips, so this is ideal for the winter. My lips get so dry which is not cute when I want to wear lipstick so I pop this on morning and night to ensure my lips are prepped for lipstick. I've been loving this so far and I think it will last me a while so at £8 this is a good deal!

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I received in this calendar and what I thought of each of the products. Hopefully this will give you an insight to what's worth giving a go if you're unsure whether to splurge on some of these products. Overall, I'm really happy with what I received. Most products were something I'd never give a second look when browsing online for new beauty products so I think the idea of this calendar is great. I'll definitely be looking into purchasing another next December, but for now that is a long while away!




I hope you're having a lovely week so far, apologies this post is a little late than I would've liked it to be. 




Let me know whether you've tried any of these products and what you thought of them!




♥   ♥   ♥

Winter Pamper Routine | Hair, Skin and Nails

Today I thought it was about time I shared an updated pamper routine with you guys. It's been a while since I last shared what I use to pamper myself and I like to change up my products quite regularly in order to try new ones out, however some remain the same which you will see throughout this post. If you'd like to see my last pamper routine, you can find it here. Also, this post is a collab with the lovely Megan from Floral Chummys so be sure to go check her post out too! Enough with the rambling, lets get into it!

First up i'll start with a hair mask, i'd usually go for an Argan Oil one which you can pick up in bargain shops. However, I recently discovered the Philip Kingsley Elastizer in my beauty advent calendar so I tried it out as soon as I could. The directions tell you to pop it on before shampooing, leave it on for about 20 mins then rinse with shampoo and condition as normal. It's supposed to leave you with healthier hair that shines- so far I couldn't say but bloggers rave about this so i'm hoping it'll serve my hair well!

Next i'll jump in the shower and rinse my hair with shampoo as instructed by the hair mask. I don't have any particular shampoo and conditioner that I use during a pamper night so i'll just use my everyday products which happen to be the Tresemme Salon Silk Shampoo and Conditioner. I love Tresemme hair products so i'll always run back to them, time and time again.

Once my hair is washed and conditioned, it's time to move on to my body. First of all, I'll go in with the Soap and Glory Scrub Of Your Life which I have sadly ran out of at the moment. It's my favourite body scrub, I love the classic Soap and Glory scent and this really gets to work an leaves me with super soft skin paired with the Clean On Me Shower Gel and the body butter which i'll talk about shortly.

Now i'm all clean and my pores have opened from the steam of the shower, i'll pop on a face mask. This is currently my go-to face mask, it's the Lush Mask of Magnaminty- I actually did a review on it here. It also doubles up as a scrub when applying and removing as there are little grains in it- the perfect two-in-one! This leaves my face feeling super clean, soft and tackles any blemishes I may have on their way/on my face. I'll leave this on whilst i'm moisturising my body.

The body butter I most often opt for is the Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter. Again, it has the classic Soap and Glory scent and is super thick but sinks in quickly to leave the skin feeling soft and smelling lovely. I've almost run out of this too so i'm hoping Santa will pop it under the tree along side with the scrub.

Another Soap and Glory product I like to use(#NotAnAd, lol) is The Heel Genius Foot Cream. Feet isn't usually something I focus on here on my blog but I put quite a lot of this on, put socks on and leave it to do it's work overnight and by the morning I have super moisturised and soft feet.

Once these are done, i'm pretty sure it's time to remove my face mask so once that's done i'll apply whatever moisturiser i'm using at the time. At the moment i'm using the Grown Alchemist Hydra-Repair Cream morning and night, it leaves my skin feeling hydrated and plump and I also really like the botanical scent- it's so relaxing when applied just before bed. Now it's time to light some candles and pop on some YouTube vidoes whilst I paint my nails.

As i'm not supposed to wear nail polish during the week because of my job, I tend not to bother on the weekends. However, I'll definitely be whipping out my festive polishes once I finish work for Christmas. I recently picked up these from Avon which are perfect for the Christmas season. The left is one of the Magic Effects Molten Metals in the shade Copper and the other is one of the Gel Finish Polishes in Roses Are Red.

Whilst my nails are drying, i'll try to convince my Dad to make me a Lemon Green Tea because ya'know my nails aren't dry! Usually, it doesn't work so i'll have to strategically make a cup of tea without getting smudging my nails. Then again, i'll watch a bunch of YouTube videos whilst sipping my cup of tea, waiting for my nails to dry, loving life!

Last but not least, once it's time to call it a day i'll pop on some hand cream- usually one by The Body Shop or Soap and Glory, blow the candles out and hit the hay. Zzz!

There you have it, my winter pamper routine. I hope you enjoyed this post, make sure you go check out Megan's post, here to see what products she loves using during a pamper routine. I hope you've had a lovely week, only twelve sleeps til Christmas!

WHAT PRODUCTS DO YOU USE WHILST HAVING A PAMPER?

♥   ♥   ♥

July 2015 Empties | Shower, Skincare and More!

Empties posts are a bit of a weird one, it's essentially me routing through my rubbish and reviewing it. However, I find empties post really interesting as you basically get a full review on a product, whether its worth repurchasing and the bottom line of whether to try it or not. So yes, recently I have been hoarding my rubbish in order to share with you my thoughts.

Shower products seem to be the things that get used up the quickest as obviously I wash every day. 

First up I have samples of the Philip Kingsley Moisture Balancing Shampoo and Conditioner. I must admit, these were nothing to shout about, they felt a little rubbery when applying and didn't do anything spectacular to my hair- so these are not something i'd pick up again. 

Lush American Cream Conditioner

Lush is well-known for being cruelty-free, most products suitable for vegans and of course their amazing range of products. I hadn't tried a Lush conditioner before this one, I liked this but again it didn't do anything amazing to my hair. I mean it felt soft after washing once dry but I didn't see any dramatic changes. If I bought this again, it would be for the scent but there are lots of other conditioners I've heard that are great from Lush so this doesn't put me off.

Argan Oil Hydrating Hair Mask

I picked this up in a bargain shop, B&M or something but i'm almost sure they also do these in pound stores. I bought this when I felt my hair could do with treating, my hair was dry and probably quite damaged from not using heat protector(don't worry, I use it now). It is suggested you leave this on for 7-10 minutes but if i'm honest, I didn't. I used this once a week after shampooing instead of a conditioner and it definitely made my hair feel softer and look smooth. I probably would've got much better results if I left it on for the suggested amount of time, so i'd definitely give this a whirl again.

Soap and Glory Scrub of your Life and Clean on Me Shower Gel

Both of these are repurchases so need I say more? I believe I've spoken about both of these here on my blog and the scrub is my favourite, the shower gel lasted me a little over a year so you're definitely getting your moneys worth!

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel

I didn't think i'd find a shower gel that I love equally as much as Clean on Me but I have. I hate the taste of grapefruit but I love the scent. This shower gel is perfect for morning showers as it smells so fresh and invigorating, it'll definitely wake you up!

It usually takes me a good while to use up skincare, most of it gets used twice a day but you don't need a lot.

Another one I've mentioned previously on my blog and was in my last empties, here. It's the Garnier Micellar Water, I've not tried that many micellar waters but this was the first I tried and loved so I've always gone back to it. It's so affordable and you get a lot in the bottle.

Vichy Purete Thermale 3 in 1 One Step Cleanser (1. Cleansing Milk 2. Toner 3. Eye Makeup Remover)

Here I've got another sample which lasted me about six months, not bad going huh? I didn't use this daily but I did use this when I couldn't be bothered to first use micellar cleansing water and then cleanse again. This is quite a liquid-y cream formula which can be applied all over the face to remove face and eye makeup and it did a good job! Though this is considered high-end, it isn't the most expensive therefore I would repurchase it as it'd be good for travelling rather than taking three separate products.

Aveeno Cream with Natural Colloidal Oatmeal

Towards the end of last year, I started to suffer with extremely dry, itchy and flaky skin around my eyes. Still to this day I have no idea how it came about but I was starting to feel so self-conscious about it, my eyes were always pinky/red and I could barely apply any concealer as it clung on to the dryness/flakes. Nice, not.

I decided to pop into Boots and ask at the pharmacy if they had any suggestions, I was convinced it was a form of eczema so she suggested this and gave me a free sample. If I could remember her name and what she looked like i'd go back and thank her because my eyes were back to normal within a few days. I'm scared to be without this now so I've repurchased the full-size. I'd recommend it to anyone that suffers with dry skin or eczema.

I Love...Coconut and Cream Body Butter

This came in a gift set I had for my birthday. I'd seen a lot of I Love... products but had never actually tried any myself so I was excited to give this again. It smelt amazing though I think it would be a little sickly for some people. I did manage to use all this up and I didn't love it nor hate it. I wouldn't rush back to repurchase this again but I definitely wouldn't write it off.

Lip balms

I don't think i've every fully used up a lip balm, I always used to loose them so to finish three in such a short space of time was weird. None of these have brands so I believe they may have again been from a bargain store, they were alright but nothing to shout about.

Other

Sanex Dermo Invisible Roll On and Sure Compressed Aloe Vera Deodorant

I've definitely gone through more deodorants but if I showed them all they'd probably make up half of the post themselves. I decided to opt for something more eco-friendly this time, both of them are actually. I've come to the conclusion that I much prefer roll-ons FYI.

And last but not least, Avon Anti-Rub Stick

This thing has saved my feet from the crippling blisters that come from wearing new shoes. I simply pop this on where I find shoes tend to rub, put my shoes on and most of the time i'm blister free. This helped me break in my Topshop Skater Shoes that killed my feet the first time wearing them. I recently ran out of this and I've already got my repurchase on the go.

That's it for my empties! To save or not to save my rubbish next time? Haha!

Have you got any product recommendations?

Let me know!

♥   ♥   ♥