As Fresh As A Cucumber - A Review For My Pure

I have to be honest and say that this probably isn't the most apt review for this time of year as you'll see but we still need to keep ourselves fresh and clean.

A few months ago now as part of my monthly My Pure I tried a couple of shower gels from the Yes To stable. I tried both the Yes To Tomatoes Purifying Shower Gel and the Yes To Carrots Hydrating Shower Gel and I loved them both. Unfortunately the Yes To Blueberries line doesn't contain a shower product but the Yes To Cucumbers line does, so I decided to give that one a go too.

The Yes To Cucumbers Calming Shower Gel is specifically designed  for sensitive skin. As you would expect it contains organic cucumber which lots of rejuvenating vitamins with smooth and soothe the skin, and leave it fresh. It also contains green tea, which has anti inflammatory and healing properties, as well as Aloe Vera, again known for it soothing and calming properties, and olive, jojoba, and sweet almond oils to moisturise. As you would from a product sold on My Pure it is also free from sulfates and parabens.

Packaged in the same huge chunky bottle as the other shower product in the Yes To line. It has a slightly runny gel texture, which is a light opaque green in colour.

You just need to add a tiny little bit of water to produce a gentle, creamy foam, that has a really fresh clean scent, which unsurprisingly smells a lot like fresh juicy cucumbers.

As you know I love my baths too, so I couldn't resist trying this out in the bath too. Again it was really successful and filled the bath with lovely, soft creamy bubbles.

After using this product both in the bath and shower my skin felt really clean, but not tight, dry or uncomfortable, even after having the bath and shower slightly too hot - I love hot baths and showers!

This product to me screams summer, the fresh clean scent, and the calming properties make it ideal for use after a day in the sun or at the beach, or on a hot day. I also think that this would be a fab morning shower gel all year round to give you a nice fresh feel at the start of the day. I personally think I'll keep this product for the summer and warmer months but if you have sensitive or drier skin because of the cold weather this could be a perfect purchase for now. The Yes To Cucumbers Calming Shower Gel retails at £7.99 for 500ml from My Pure. If you have any questions please leave me a comment xx

(The Yes To Cucumbers Calming Shower Gel 500ml Was Provided By My Pure For Review Purposes)

November Buys And Gifts - Nail Polish, Jewellery, Clothes And IKEA

Where on earth has this month gone? It doesn't seem like two minutes since I was putting together my October buys, but now here I am with my November acquisitions! As per usual I bought a few things myself,  and my mum bought me a few things, but this month my lovely godmother bought me a few things too to try and cheer me up which shows what an amazing person she actually is.

We'll start off with the things that my godmother bought me :) Earlier this month me, my mum and my godmother took a little trip to IKEA, and my godmother kindly bought me a few candles and things including this candle in a lilac / blue glass holder

and this vintage trinket dish in a clear, crystal glass

These little bits really go with the decor of my room, I love candles, and I love little pots and dishes to put my bits and bobs in.

She also bought me this months Glamour magazine, while we were in Lidl, which came with a free full sized Nails Inc nail polish. The colour I went for was Glamour Glitter, which is a clear polish infused with tiny particles of gold and silver glitter. I don't think you could wear this colour on it's own but it will make a really pretty top coat.

Mummy Lou also bought me a few nail polishes this week, she bought me two of the Rimmel Metal Rush nail polishes in 60 Royal Blue and 70 Gold Save The Queen. I love duo chrome polishes so I can't wait to give these a go.

She also bought me a magazine this month, Marie Claire which came with a 10ml tube of Jemma Kidd Instant Lift Skin Perfecting Primer.

I haven't tried this yet but I love my primers so it will be interesting to try this one out.

If you follow me on twitter you'll know that Mummy Lou also bought me a lipstick, she kindly bought me one of the new Rimmel Matte Kate Moss lipsticks in 101

This is such a nice lipstick I love shades like this but look what happened when I opened it,

Yup it was snapped in two and half of it hit the floor and was ruined sad times but it is a nice lipstick never the less and I'll just use the remaining half with a brush.

The lovely Momma Lou also paid for our Avon order this month, I only got a few bits including a couple of bits from Colortrend - first up the Dazzlers Nail Top Coat in Fuchsia Dazzle.

The colours of glitter in this remind me a bit of Revlon Facets Of Fuchsia so I'm hoping I might be able to recreate that with this polish. I also got the Colortrend Star Nail Decals, These nail stickers are so cute, you get a sheet of black stickers and a sheet of silver stickers all in a star design :)

The final thing she got me from Avon was this cute silver tone heart bracelet, there was a choice of three charm colours silver, rose gold and one I got the gold. I think this was £4 and it is so cute I think I might try and get the other shades to layer them :)

As I kind of hinted I've had a bit of a rough month so the lovely Mummy Lou took me clothes shopping, and bought me a few bits - first up some bits from Asda including these gold stud details t-shirts which were £10 each.

and this stud detail short sleeve, long line jumper which unfortunately I can't remember the price of x

The final thing she bought me this month was my Christmas dress :) We always dress up for Christmas day in my family, and despite me not being 100% about what's happening this year for Christmas we thought we'd better be prepared. Mummy Lou has gone with a gold and ivory theme and I'm thinking black and gold. This dress was £35 from Bon Marche - the pic isn't great so you can see it better here x

I love sun ray pleats and this dress is just so flattering what ever your shaped. It accentuates my good bits and hides my bad bits, you couldn't ask for more really.

OK now to the things I've purchased for myself this month :) I have tried to be good this month and the majority of my expenditure has gone on Christmas pressies but I still managed to pick a few things up including this skirt from good old ebay

I love this skirt, it is fully lined and has an elasticated waist I think it will be great dressed down with a jumper or even dressed up for family occasions. Oh and did I mention I only paid £7.48 from Hong Kong ebay - bargain! I purchased it from this seller and it came in less than 2 weeks - result!!

The rest of my ebay purchases bar 1 have all been jewellery related this month, first up this super cute heart charm necklace.

I bought the bow version a few months ago now and I love so I thought I'd get the heart one too, at just 99p including postage from this seller it would've been rude not too :). This seller doesn't appear to be selling these or anything else at the moment but just do an ebay search and similar items should comes up x

Next up some more bracelets, I'm building up quite a collection of these ones now I already have the blue, and the turquoise, so I thought I'd add the red version to my collection - this was only £1.20 including postage from this seller x

OK more bracelets, this time I picked up two of these gold tone elasticated spike design bracelets.

These also come in a silver and in a gunmetal shade and these were 99p each including postage from this seller.

The final kind of jewellery ebay purchase that I made was one of these, a Bracelet Buddy

I've seen these advertised in some of those catalogues through the post and even with my mums mobility magazine, and the idea is that they help you to fasten your bracelets more easily. I love the magnetic fasteners on my necklaces but they seem to make some of my bracelets too long so I thought this might help a bit. I have to say I'm not that impressed with this so far, it certainly isn't as easy as the packaging makes out but it might take a bit more practise so I'll keep at it x This was £5.38 with postage from this seller.

My final ebay purchase of the month was something which to be honest I could of got from a make up counter, if I'd been anyway that had one. It's a sample vial of Givenchy Dahlia Noir EDT. I've has a few scratch and sniff samples of this which I really loved but I wanted to try it properly before I put it on my Christmas list. It smells completely different when you first apply it but I love the fragrance on me when it's had a chance to settle. I paid £1.39 including postage for it from this seller.

So that was my ebay haul, I've also bought a few bits from elsewhere including this earring set from New Look.

I've had this on my wishlist for ages now, you get 6 pairs of studs including black, and cream flowers, gold ball studs, little handbags,lipstick and red lips. This set was £4.99 so your paying less than £1 a pair, which is great value especially when you see the details on the handbags :)

My last purchases of November are all nail polish, first up two polishes that I got from Boots and more specifically the Collection Dazzled Nail Effects range.

On the left is 1 Razzle Dazzle and on the right is 2 Tea At The Glitz. Razzle Dazzle is a silver and green glitter and Tea At The Glitz is black and gold glitter. These were on buy one get one half price so I paid £4.48 for the 2 :)

Sticking with the glitter theme I also managed to get my hands on Technic - Carnival - which is a mass of multi coloured glitter and sparkle.

I paid just £1 for this in one of my favourite haunts The Original FactoryShop :).

My final purchase of the month came from Tesco - I recently found myself at the huge Tesco Extra store near Durham, and I had a lot of fun swatching things of the Barbara Daly and VIVO stands. Alas Project 10 Pan meant that I couldn't buy any make up but I did buy a nail polish from VIVO. Whilst they have nail polishes online, they don't have these ones that were just £1.00.

I was really good and only picked up one colour, Take Time, a gorgeous sky blue shade. The packaging reminds me very much of the MUA polishes which doesn't really surprise me because they are after all the same company!

So they were my gifts and purchases for November - I did pick up one more thing, but it's not really a purchase, it's more the product of a charitable donation. If you go into any Boots store, on the counter they currently have a box, with the cutest star keyrings in it. You can pick up one these keyrings for a suggested donation of just £2, which is donated to a charity which is now quite close to my own heart, Macmillan Cancer Support.

I am a huge fan of stars anyways so I got a gold one. A super cute item for yourself or for a gift and you're contributing to an amazing cause at the same time x If you have any questions on my haul or anything in this post please let me know xx

AnarKitty In LouLouLand - A Review Of The Denman AnarKitty Sassy Styling Brush

If you've been reading my blog for a long time you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Denman hairbrushes. I bought my first Denman D3 Classic Styling Brush in the traditional red, white and black about 5 years ago and I've never looked back. Since then I've acquired a few more of Denman's more quirky D3 designs including the Wild Dewberry Fragranced brush and the pink sparkle Kiss Me Quick brush and I have to say I love them all, the different colours and designs don't alter what is a brilliant all round hairbrush.

A couple of weeks ago I kindly sent one the latest releases in Denman's Classic D3 Styling Brush range,  the AnarKitty "Sassy".

For this brush Denman have teamed up with British artist Emma Geary aka AnarKitty to create a special limited edition hairbrush which features one of her drawings.

AnarKitty is famous for her strong, individual female characters which work perfectly with Denman as a brand. The design features the traditional Denman crown logo, combined with a rococo swirl design, and the illustration of a glamorous almost art deco style lady, with the signature and classic bobbed haircut. The use of the bob hairstyle is a tribute to the great hairdresser Vidal Sassoon who died earlier this year, and was famous for not only his creation of the iconic Mary Quant bob but also for his use of Denman hair styling tools. This brush is named the "Sassy" in his honour.

The brush itself is exactly what you would expect from the classic D3, the main brush is made from a black plastic, and it features the AnarKitty design and signature on the back in shades of white, black and gold.

The brush features white rubber cushioning, and the traditional  7 rows of nylon bristles, which in this case are black.

This brush is perfect for my hair and I can use it on both wet and dry hair with no problems whatsoever. I think these brushes make a great stocking filler, and the AnarKitty "Sassy" design will be a great gift for anyone into art, art deco, or anyone who appreciates the contribution that Vidal Sassoon made to the world of hairdressing. If you want to get your hands on this brush you better get one quick, as I sat this brush is a limited edition and is expected  to sell quickly. This brush retails at £7.50 from the Denman Website, but they currently have a 3 for 2 on certain products on the site so you can bag a bargain. I would also recommend that you check out the official Anarkitty website where you can some more of her work and even buy prints and one off pieces. What do you think of Denman hairbrushes? Do you love them as much as me? Let me know in the comments?

(The Denman Anarkitty "Sassy" D3 Styling Brush Was Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)

Getting Fast And Fruity With A Bargain Nail Polish Remover

Way, way back in May I reviewed the much talked about Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover (read my review here). I have to admit I was on the the fence about it but I'm honest enough to admit that I may have been wrong. I'll stand by the fact that it doesn't remove nail polish in the 1 second that it promises and no I still haven't worked out how to use it to remove my toe polish and yes I still think it's expensive, but I have to admit that I have warmed to it. It super quick and easy and it saves having to sort out cotton wool and the polish remover, which are never in the same place, so yeah despite its faults I do like it a lot more than I did.

The price still gets me though so a few months ago I picked up one of the budget alternatives the Easy Nails Fast & Fruity Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover - Peach Fragrance, which I picked up from Home Bargains for the princely sum of just 85p!!!

The idea is exactly the same as the Bourjois one, the screw top tub contains a sponge which is soaked in nail polish remover.

The sponge is this case is off white and doesn't seem quite as sturdy as the Bourjois alternative. Whilst the colour of the sponge doesn't alter the effectiveness of the remover, the off white sponge does start to look grubby quite quickly compared to the black sponge in the Bourjois product.

The idea is still the same though just stick your finger in the pot and give it a wiggle until the polish comes off. The smell is this remover is initially quite strong, but it gradually fades down to a slightly synthetic peaches and cream type fragrance. I thought I'd do a few before and after pics just to give you an idea of how this polish remover performs - In all cases I've just used this product to remove the polish, and I haven't touched it up with cotton buds etc.

Before

This is 2 coats Barry M - Chameleon Blue NP331, 1 coat of Perfect Formula Clear Gel Coat, and 1 Coat of Perfect Formula My Perfect Top Coat - You can see a full NOTD here.

After

Before

This is 1 coat of Eye Candy London Graphite - What A Steal, and 1 coat of Perfect Formula Clear Gel Coat. You can see a full review of this polish here x

After

I hope you can see from these how well this remover worked on the nail colour itself. It took about the same amount of time as the Bourjois to remove the polish so no real problems there, it tackled the top coat, the colour, and glittery polish with very little problem. However, when it came to the base coat layer this product did struggle slightly, it removed 90% of it but there was some evidence of base coat on the nails. It did comes off eventually but you can probably see some white patches on the nails. Unlike the Bourjois remover this one left my already dry nails and cuticles feeling very dry and almost flaky

I don't really feel I can criticise this for the price that it is. It does the job to some degree but I just can't deal with dryness and the fact that it need so much effort to remove my nail strengthener, so in the battle of the super cheap versus the drugstore, the Bourjois wins hands down. Have you tried a product like this? let me know in the comments xx