Saying Bye Bye To March and Springing Forward Into April

Well how had your March been mine was a bit hitty missy if I'm being honest I  haven't felt quite with it for most of the month, physically, mentally or emotionally, never mind brighter days and lighter nights are sure to lift the spirits We'll ignore the fact that snow is forecast for Tuesday typical the one day I I have something planned, still I'm not going to let a bit of miserable weather ruin my shopping trip

I guess that's a good place to start with my monthly spends I haven't done as well as I'd hoped this month, a few ebay purchases and a pretty large Boots order - has all lead to a bit of a fail in March.

Models Own Indian Ocean
Wet N Wild Palete - ebay - £9.76
Avon Order - £19.00
Boots Order - £35.93
Catherine Arley Nail Polish - Ebay - £7.03
Nails Wheels - Ebay - £1.99
Total So Far - £81.66

  Yeah so it was a bit of a fail, I did actually make a lot of this back through ebay sales so it probably wasn't as bad as it looks. Again I'm going to try my best in April but my trip to York on Tuesday will be a good indicator as to how it's well I'm going to throughout the month, as I say I have been given some money for my trip, so I'm going to try and set myself a mini limit on how much I spend of my own money.

   I've been thinking hard about doing Project 10 Pan again and I've made the decision that April is going to be the month when I take the plunge and start again. It will definitely be after the York trip (obviously lol) but  I'll do a post and maybe a video and let you know when x My ebaying is going to continue I have a vat of new items up and another couple of batches to list (click here to check out my listings). I'm also going to be updating my blog sale page in the next week or so too, I've got a pile of backups and things that I'm just not using - In the past I've made some big purchasing mistakes used something twice loved it bought a back up and then realised it wasn't for me after all (HD Brow kit anyone :) I'm also going to be listing a few books and things too just to try and clear some space as much as anything. Again I'll do some posts and some tweets when I've updated the page.

   

    Talking of clearing my space, what about trimming my stash?

• Lush Potion Exquisitely Perfumed Body Lotion 250g
• Sally Hansen Kwik Off Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover 150.8ml
• Denise McAdam Moisture Master Shampoo 250ml
• Primark Beauty 9 1/2 Winks Extreme False Lash Mascara 9ml
• Avene Eau Thermale Spray 50ml
• The Body Shop Rich Plum Shimmering Bath Bubbles 400ml
• Superdrug 20 Nourishing Nail Polish Remover Pads
• Aldi Lacura 3 In 1 Facial Cleansing Wipes - 30 Wipes x 2
• Soap & Glory Off Your Face Cleansing Cloths - 25 Wipes
• 
  

   Well it went pretty well this month, I finished 10 items including 1 make up item, some nail polish removers,

   and 3 packets of cleansing wipes - I only use wipes if I'm being really, really lazy or if I'm not feeling well and having a duvet day - but the nice weather and the sunshine's meant that I've been taking a lot of photographs for the blog, including lots and lots of swatches, and wipes are a really quick clean up tool.

   Again this is something I am going to continue with in April I really am starting to see my stash pile (crate, basket, etc, etc.) go down, I've also been attacking my Lush stash in March and I'm pleased to say I don't have too much left now in fact I'm even on my last Ruby Red Slippers Bubble Bar, sniff I love this and it was discontinued last year :( I have a Lush discount voucher which I think I'll use to treat myself next month for my birthday.

   So that was my March, in April I have loads of exciting things coming up on LouLouLand including updates to my MAC and Nail Polish Collection posts, some skincare reviews, some haircare, and bodycare reviews, and lots of pretty nails of the days, and I may even sneak in recipe for you. I hope you had a great March if not I hope April is better. Thanks again for following and thanks for being there x

   

As You Lilac It - Nails Of The Day and A Mummy Lou Update

Hi Guys -I know I've done a lot of these lately but believe it or not I've go another nails of the day post for you :) I was going to leave yesterdays lovely green on for a little bit longer but since I was up so early and was a bit bored I decided to repaint them :)

The reason I was up so early was that my mum had an appointment to see her surgeon. The good news is the operation went really well, everything is healing normally, and she can start to drive again in the next week or so - hurrah :) She also found out that she doesn't have the metal hip joints so we're both feeling a lot happier now about the whole thing, she has to go back in September but touch wood everything is fine :)

Anyways nail polish - I decided to delve a little bit further into my MUA stash and I pulled out this beauty

Shade 24 is me to a tee, it a gorgeous creamy lilac shade, no it's not that original in fact I had to double check to make sure I hadn't done a NOTD with it before, but again for just £1 it can't be sniffed at. The first coat was a bit streaky so it does probably need 2

It's a really great trend colour, everywhere you look there are pastels so this beauty fits right in. If you love MUA nail polishes please check out my blog next week when I'll be doing a nail polish collection post all about Make Up Academy nail polishes. Thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow with another nails of the day, lol only joking I will be back tomorrow with a make up review xx

The Green Green Grass - Nails Of The Day

As I said in my last post it's really is feeling like Spring this week, it really makes you want to dig out your bright colours and make yourself feel happy all over, I started small though and went with some brights on my nails.

MUA Shade 13 isn't a conventional bright really is it, how often does anyone really wear green nail polish? Not often I guess but this colour screams Spring to me, everything is starting to grow again after the cold and dark winter months, new buds are appearing on the trees, the flowers are starting to appear, and the grass is regaining it beautiful green colour after months of been muddy and waterlogged.

MUA Shade 13  is a beautiful slightly pearlised bright green. This is two coats which is all it needs for flawless coverage

What do you think of green nail polish?

Press Sample - Getting Those Tootsies Ready For Spring With Gwdihw - A Review For My Pure*

Well it looks as though spring had arrived with a vengeance, or should that be summer? Temperatures in my little part of Co Durham reached a fabulous 20° C this week, way above the March average. What does that mean yup we start exposing our bodies and of course out feet to the sun. It might be just me but personally I wouldn't dream of my exposing dry crusty feet in my sandals some people don't have a problem with this and that's fine but it's not for me. Like a lot of people out there I am really not a fan of feet, touching anyone elses bar my own brings me out in dry heaves, but I have to say I always try to keep my own feet looking the best they can, I don't always wear nail polish on my toes, but I always make sure that I exfoliate and moisturise them on a regular basis. Normal body or hand cream does the trick but more often than not I tend to go for a product specifically designed for the feet, so when I saw a new foot care product on the My Pure inventory I knew I had to give it ago.

My previous experience with Welsh brand Gwdihw - Good Hoo was a good one, their Nail Wizard Balm is definitely right up there in my products of the year so far ( click here to read my review), so I decided to see what else the brand had to offer, and low and behold they produce a foot balm.

Like the rest of their products the Twinkle Toes Foot Balm, is handmade in Wales using only local and natural ingredients. Again the ingredients list is a small one - it contains just five ingredients, Marigold Flowers, Coconut and Olive Oils, Beeswax and Lavender Essential.

There's something missing I hear you cry, where's the peppermint? where's the menthol? As much as I love foot creams and balms 90% of them smell of mint or menthol don't get me wrong I don't hate these fragrances and they can be really refreshing on the feet, I just prefer my foot cream to smell of something else, and this one does. It has an amazing fresh lavender aroma, don't think old lady lavender, think a fresh, zingy almost antiseptic lavender fragrance.

Packaged in a cute metal tin, it has quite a solid texture, that actually makes it quite hard to get any product out, so what I've been doing is putting the pot on the top of the radiator while I've been having my bath or my shower. This makes the balm a lot of softer and a lot easier to use.

I've then been rubbing it all over the soles of my feet, concentrating on the driest parts such as the balls of my feet and my heels. You can just leave it as it is, it does soak in pretty quickly but I've been putting a pair of socks on to give my feet a more intense treatment.

Has it made a difference? yes I think it has my heels don't feel as rough or look as chalky as they did before I started using it, the lavender also seems to really make my feet feel invigorated, and strange as it sounds more relaxed. I love this product an awful lot but like always there is a drawback, not the texture that can be easily remedied, it's the size of the pot. You get just 25g of product, I've been using this about twice a week  for around 3 weeks now and I'll be lucky if I have a quarter of the tub left. Maybe I'm over using it but it just doesn't seem to last that long when you use it on a regular basis, in it's current size despite the relatively reasonable price I can't really justify the purchase, put it in a bigger tin and my name will be at the top of the list. If you have any questions please leave me a comment. As of 2021 Gwdihw Goody Hoo Twinkle Toes Foot Balm retails at £4.49 for 25g from My Pure x

*Press Sample

Sailing Away On The Crest Of A Wave - Nails Of The Day

In a recent mini haul you may have spotted one of the beautiful polishes from the new range of Beetlejuice polishes by Models Own - Indian Ocean.

I saw this colour and I needed it in my life - on We Heart It search for Indian Ocean and this gorgeous picture comes up

I wonder if this was one of the pictures that influenced Models Own, Indian Ocean looks amazing in the bottle a gorgeous blue with pink iridescence but how did it translate onto the nails

Well dare I say it I think it I think it looks even better! as per usual it's not translating that well in the photographs but it looks amazing a light blue base with pink, and gold sparkle and iridescence, constantly changing every time you move your fingers, in some lights it even looks like a holograph. The only downside is I needed 4 coats to achieve this level of coverage. However I do think this would look amazing layered over another colour, especially over a pale blue in a cream polish or even over a pink, and I'll definitely by trying that out in an upcoming post on colour cocktailing.

What do you think of Indian Ocean? and have you tried any of the new Beetlejuice colours?

Like Water In Colour and In Texture - Nails Of The Day

I recently received this polish in one of the beauty boxes, I forget which one, they all seem to be much of a muchness don't they especially with the recent Carmine / Glossybox merger. Anyways this was one of the items that I was really happy to have received. I'd seen the Andrea Fulerton stands in Superdrug on many occasions and I'd even purchased a few things including nail glitters, striping pens, and her fabulous Cuticle Eraser, but I'd never purchased a basic polish from the line, I really don't  know why the colours always looked good maybe it was the price - they retail at around £5, maybe I thought this was a bit high compared to say MUA, and even Rimmel, but I was happy enough when the beauty box fad gave me a chance to try one

The colour I received was Eliza, a gorgeous shimmery aqua, sea, blue-green. It looking very green in the photos but as I look at it on my nails now it's very blue toned. It's definitely one of those colours that alters depending on the light conditions. This is two coats which I think it probably needs - a little word of warning though this is a very runny nail polish I managed to drip it on my trousers, my laptop, and my hands whilst I was doing my nails not good.

I love the colour of this polish, but I have to say the formula's really put me off buying from the range in future . I'm just wondering if this was a one off - have you tried any of the other Andrea Fulerton polishes? and if so were they all as runny as this one?

Budget Beauty Series - MUA Love Hearts

As predicted the MUA stable continues to expand at an amazing speed, as well as the super successful £1.00 basic line (click here and here for an overview), the equally successful MUA Professional range has continued to expand with new products continuously been added almost on a monthly basis. When I contacted MUA to ask a bit more about their line and their inspirations, they told me of their intention to release a series of seasonal, or themed smaller collections, to run alongside their two main stay lines. The first of which came out earlier this year and was of course the Love Hearts collaboration.

Who doesn't remember those cute little sweets from their childhood ? well their still going strong despite the fact some of the more traditional messages have been replaced with things like Text Me. You can get Love Heart Mugs, stationary, jewellery, candles and now cosmetic items from MUA Make Up Academy :)

Not the biggest of collections it comprises of  just 6 nails polishes and 5 tinted lip balms but the colours and packaging are heavily influences by those tiny little sweets.

Purely in the names of research you understand I had to get my hands on some of these products - The amazing Mummy Lou kindly obliged and I picked up 3 products from the line first up one of the nail polishes.

The Love Hearts line comprises of 6 nail polishes all in pastel and bright shades which are spot on for Spring / Summer 2012. I bypassed the yellow, the orange, the blues and the nudes and went for the shade U ROK

I have to say this colour is beautiful it's not quite lilac it's not quite blue, it's a combination of the two a sort of forget me not colour. The application I have to say wasn't the best being a cream formulation it did have a tendency to streak but two coats was more than enough for even coverage.

I've seen the other shades floating around in the blogosphere and I definitely think U Rok is the highlight its a lovely shade that I'm happy to have in my collection and for only £2.00 for 6.8ml you can't really argue x

Despite the fact that the nail varnishes are super pretty the hype surrounding the Love Hearts range has been all about the lips. Not lipsticks, not lipglosses but tinted lip balms. There seems to have been a flurry of products like this hitting the market lately, Sleek Pout Polishes, ELF Studio Conditioning Lip Balm, and of course MAC Tinted Lip Conditioners, have all proven super popular with the consumer, so it's no surprise that another budget brand decided to get involved.

The MUA Love Hearts Tinted Lip Balms come in 5 shades ranging from pinks to neutrals, to darker brighter and stronger tones. They come in little 10g screw top pots, similar to those used in the Sleek Pout Polishes, and each lid features the products name in a Love Heart design. I picked up two of the more subtle toned balms - first up Sugar Lips

Sugar Lips as a gorgeous blue toned pale pink shade, it isn't that pigmented but it just gives a hint of colour and gloss to the lips

I also got Sweet Kiss which is much more of a peach, coral pink shade x

Again it's doesn't look that pigmented on the lips, but it still gives a lovely hint of colour and again lots of shine x

I have to say I really like these balms - they have a much softer more yielding texture than the MAC TLC's, and a much more subtle flavour than some of the other balms on the market- yes the they do have a slight vanilla / coconut taste but it doesn't linger on the lips. The colours I chose weren't that strong or bright so I can't really comment on the pigmentation levels of the rest of the shades, but the ones I purchase were great for just giving a tiny hint of colour and shine to the lips without providing an out and out block colour. My lips felt pretty moisturised with these balms and they certainly didn't leave them any drier. I personally would still use a lip balm at night but these were fine for during the day x Again for just £2.00 each you can't really argue.

I have to say despite my love for the MUA range in general there was always the feeling that this collection could be a bit gimmicky, but it's not, for the prices the products do the business just as well as items retailing at  more than double the price. The Love Hearts range is available in selected Superdrug stores and online - get a move on though the range is only on sale till the end of the summer x  Next up in my Budget Beauty Series an overview of MUA Professional Eye Shadows and Mascaras x Have you tried any of the MUA Love Heats products and what do you think of them ?

I'm Blue Da Ba Dee Dabba Da-ee - Nails Of The Day

I was thinking about post titles when I remembered this song, so it's no surprise that the polish in this nails of the day is Blue :)

Like my previous nails of the day this colour is also by MUA, Shade 9 is a lovely dark sky blue shade, again this is two coats

I love, love, love this colour in fact I love all blue nail polishes x What do you think of Shade 9?

A Prize From A Fabulous Blogger, A Little Purchase and An Update x

Hi Guys
I hope you've all had a great day - for once the weather was amazing up north, with the clocks going forward at the weekend, it's really starting to feel like spring again :)
Monday was a really bad day for me I wonder why ? ;) but one thing did cheer me up I got a tweet and email from the lovely Ms Red telling me that I'd won her one year blog anniversary giveaway :) Well my prize came this morning and I have to say I'm thrilled :) First up something you've seen before

Yes, Max Factor Fantasy Fire - I'd been debating whether to buy a back up because my mum seems to be hogging my bottle lol but my problem has been solved :) I can't wait to have a proper play with this colour and to use it layered up over some other colours

Finally I received something if I'm being honest I would never have purchased of my own accord, but only now have I realised how blinkered I was

MAC Viva Glam Nicki :) - this colour certainly isn't a one for shrinking violets, it is bright yellow based pink but do you know what I like it :)

It's much brighter than anything I would normally wear, but to be honest I think it really works on me, it brightens my face up and makes my look well.. more alive. I really need to back away from the nudes sometimes and take a step out of my comfort zone, thanks to Ms Red I know that sometimes it good to have a change :)

In the tittle I mentioned I'd made a lickle purchase (battens down the hatches just in case ;) but it really was just a little purchase I made with some spare paypal funds ( I've listed a few more things on ebay this week - please click here to check out my listings ;) - can you guess what it was that I bought?

Yeah no surprise it was a nail polish - the amazing Indian Oceans from Models Own's new Beetlejuice polishes. It look amazing in the bottle light iridescent blue with all sorts of pink rainbow shimmer shot through I am really hoping it looks like that on the nails :)

So that was it a gift and a mini purchase - I really am going to have to reign in my spending though, because my amazing godmother has booked me a seat on a trip with her pensioners group to go to McArthur Glen and to York on the 2nd April :) You know what that means CCO :) Yes McArthur Glen is home to a Cosmetics Company Outlet store :) - discount goodies from Estee Lauder group companies, including MAC, Bobbi Brown and more :) I won't have a lot to spend on the day but we'll be treating this as the shopping trip that we normally have before my birthday, so not only are her and my godfather paying from my trip and my lunch, she's also going to help me find some goodies to go towards my birthday pressie :) My mums a bit gutted she isn't able to go but she's going to give me some money to play birthday pressie hunting too :) It will be just my luck if I see nothing I want lol. So over the next week and a bit I'm going to be resting as much as possible to make sure I'm fit and raring to go - as my Godmother said though "don't worry pet half the ladies have walking sticks or can't really walk far anyway so you'll be fit right in" lol I guess I should take that as a compliment - I really have the best family ever I may not be lucky in some respects but I certainly am in others x

So that was one little purchase, a fabulous prize from a lovely lady, and some exciting news. Just when your feeling at your lowest it's strange how things work out all thanks to an amazing family, and some amazing people in the online community - I is a happy LouLou once again xx As per usual any questions please leave me a comment, Oh and if any one has been to McArthur Glen York lately what goodies and what stores should I look out for ? - I haven't been for years xxx