NOTD: Birds in the Sky

Late last night, I had a sudden nail art idea. I wanted to try out some more of my Skin Art Nail Tattoos and thought up a cute idea, using the bird tattoos and some old nail polishes that I haven't used in a while, Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream and 17's Mini Skirt.

This is such a simple, yet great nail art design to do.

Firstly, apply the blue base, I used Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream (which is the same colour as my car! Pretty cool.).

Once the base is dry, get a small piece of sponge, I tore a little piece off a bath sponge that I bought especially for nail art. Paint the white polish on to the sponge, I used 17's (now known as Seventeen) Mini Skirt. Then simply dab the sponge over the nails.

When the white has dried, clear up any mess around the nails. I used a cotton bud with a little nail polish remover to clear up the white that had gone beyond my nails.

Next, apply the birds. (If you have patience and a steady hand, you can create birds using nail polish or a nail art pen!). I used Skin Art's Nail Tattoos, which were in my goodie bag from the #NorthMeetUp. I used my tweezers to pick the tattoos from the backing sheet, then applied them to my nails, pressing firmly to secure.

Finally, apply a top coat to finish and seal. I used Barry M's All in One.

I found that the top coat improved the look of the sponged white polish, giving it a smoother, more cloud-like look.

Here's what the clouds looked like before applying a top coat.

and here's everything I used:

I'm really impressed with how well this nail art came out and I love Skin Art's Nail Tattoos! I have many more to use, so expect to see more nail art very soon.

xXx

Disclaimer: The Skin Art Nail Tattoos were in the goodie bag from the #NorthMeetUp. Everything else was purchased by me.

Beautiful Bargains: Dainty Doll Blusher

Dainty Doll is a brand that I have been wanting to try for a long time, so I was very excited when I found a whole selection of Dainty Doll cosmetics at bargain prices, on a stall in the Metrocentre, during last month's Newcastle trip. I instantly fell in love with the blushers!

Dainty Doll is Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud's cosmetic brand, aimed at pale-skinned beauties. I've never been a fan on Girls Aloud, but I love how Nicola has become a style and beauty icon, ditching the fake tan and embracing the pale! She always looks beautiful.

I picked up 2 products, 2 Dainty Doll powder blushers.

I chose 002 My Girl and 004 You Are My Sunshine.

My Girl is a lovely light pink shade with a subtle shimmer, whilst You Are My Sunshine is a gorgeous shimmery summer coral.

How much did they cost? Well, I picked these up for the bargain price of just £2.99 each! They retail at £13.50!

I first picked up just My Girl, but returned to the stall after trying You Are My Sunshine in Boots and seeing how gorgeous it was! The fact that it was £13.50 in Boots and £2.99 on the stall also made me NEED to go buy it from the stall.

I'm not 100% sure whether these are real or not...

There are a few things that made me question it, the main being how cheap they are being sold for!

One box was slightly larger than the other, 1 says 'Powder Blusher', 1 says just 'Blusher',  1 says Made in UK (with a sticker saying Packed in China), 1 says Made in China.

Regardless, the blushers are absolutely amazing! Application is great, they last ages and have a gorgeous finish. The blushers have a built in mirror, which is always handy.

The blush even contains vitamins A, C and E.

Fragrance Direct are currently selling Dainty Doll cosmetics, including these blushers, at an even more bargainous price of £1.99 each!!

I would definitely like to try more Dainty Doll products :)

Have you tried Dainty Doll?

Any recommendations?

xXx

Back to Blonde: Colour B4 Review

This is my second review of Colour B4 Hair Colour Remover (Extra Strength), so it will be a short one. If you'd like to read my full review, you can find my first Colour B4 review on my blog.

Last time, my hair went from a faded-out purple mix, to a strawberry blonde shade.

This time, my hair went from a faded-out reddish mix, to a strawberry blonde again.

I was pleasantly surprised with the end result of my second Colour B4 experience.

Before and After photos:

As you can see, Colour B4 worked really well and completely removed the reddish shade that my hair was.

Note - the darker top bit is my roots. My roots even have roots... I have a bad habit of letting my hair grow out whilst colours fade out!

I am currently using John Frieda Blonde shampoo and conditioner, in hope that this will lighten my hair a little, then I plan to dye it with the blonde John Frieda hair dye I won at the #NorthMeetUp.

Once again, the only downside is the smell. It really is quite an overpowering eggy smell, though this hasn't stayed in my hair as long this time round, phew!

Despite the smell, I would definitely recommend Colour B4 to anyone looking to remove hair dye/colour build up.

I always recommend it to people who ask about hair dye and removing colour from hair. Colour B4 is a fantastic product. It doesn't damage hair, contains no bleach or ammonia and works wonders!

Colour B4 is priced at £11.99 but can sometimes be found on offer. (I got 2 for 1 at Superdrug last year!). Colour B4 can be purchased at Boots, Superdrug, selected supermarkets, pharmacies and online.

Have you tried Colour B4?

xXx

Disclaimer: Product purchased with my own money during Superdrug's 2 for 1 offer last summer. However, I do have a box that Colour B4 (Medichem) kindly sent me, which I will use in the near future, as I have lots of exciting plans for my hair, so Colour B4 will come in handy :)

My Batiste Dry Shampoo Collection

Yes, I have a Batiste dry shampoo 'collection'...

Over the past year or so, I have gathered quite the collection of Batiste cans.

I love Batiste!
Seriously, dry shampoo is one of the best beauty product inventions, ever.

Batiste is a saviour.

No more bad hair days, just Batiste Hair Days!

#BatisteHairDay

Batiste is my favourite dry shampoo. I've tried others and none have lived up to Batiste's standards! Batiste is cheaper, the product works better, it does not leave hair heavy or chalky and the can designs are so pretty. Batiste have 3 sizes: mini, regular and large.

They come in handy.

They last so long.

The bottles are pretty.

The above being main reasons for which I have such a large collection! I can't get rid of them and I often pick up cans if they are on offer, or when new variants are released.

I'm a hoarder and I hoard Batiste...

I use my Batiste, not only on days where I haven't had time to wash my hair, or my hair is feeling like it needs a freshen up, but also, when I want some volume or matt-look hair.
Having long hair, I do find that smells cling to it, like the greasy spoon deli where I would return from the milk run, to then sit in the office with hair smelling of grease (nothing really worse than that, yuck!). Luckily, I always have a can of Batiste in my office drawer, or in my handbag, so I use it to freshen my hair and rid me of horrendous smells.

It is a complete essential when I rock out at Download Festival every summer. I always have a can of Batiste in my tent. Gotta keep fresh whilst I'm rocking out and partying in fields :) I met a guy at Download last year, who had a large can of Batiste Tropical in his tent, I thought that was quite cool. Guys love Batiste too.

Even when I had crazy Cyber Purple hair, Batiste worked a treat! Unlike another dry shampoo, which looked hideously chalky on my purple locks!

Where do I store all these cans?

Well, I keep them in the goodie bag that I got at the Batiste Lace launch last year. I like to find ways to re-use, rather than throw things away and the Batiste bag has really come in handy.

A while back, I had some nail art inspiration from the Batiste Cherry, when it first came out in stores. My Batiste Cherry inspired nail art went down a storm, which was great and Batiste loved it :)

I would recommend Batiste and often recommend it to friends, family and fellow bloggers.

I'm always shocked when people tell me they have not tried it, or not heard of Batiste before!

There are so many variants now, different looks, different scents, XXL Volume. I'm not sure I could pick a favourite, though I have always been fond of Wild.

My collection includes:

Shimmer x2, Boho, XXL x2, Blush large, Limited Edition Hershesons, Graffiti, Paisley

Lace x2, Cherry x2, Wild, Tropical regular and mini, Blush mini x2

 A closer look...

Paisley and Graffiti, the most recent variants*:

Click here for my review.

Hershesons, the Limited Edition can*:

Click here for my review.

 Blush, Tropical and Boho:

I have the original Blush mini and the new, improved design, along with a regular size.

Tropical mini and regular.

Boho, I actually didn't realise I had, until I found it in my 'box of unused products'.

XXL Volume:

1 purchased and 1* from the #NorthMeetUp goodie bag.

Read about the event here and the goodie bag here.

Silver Shimmer:

I got these on offer in Boots clearance.

Glittery dry shampoo!

I have also reviewed:

Batiste Lace and you can read about the fabulous Batiste Lace launch event here.

Batiste Cherry - you can check out my cherry nail art there too...

and Batiste Wild.

I remember when there was just 1 Batiste, Original. It's great to see how many they have since released!

For more information on Batiste variants, click here.

There are a couple not on here, including the Wild Party Trio of minis, which was released around Christmas. I haven't tried those!

More recently, Batiste have introduced coloured dry shampoo to the collection.

I can't wait for Batiste to bring out their next variant and I'm excited to find out what the next one will be!

Batiste can be found in Boots, Superdrug, Bodycare, supermarkets, pharmacies, online.

Are you a Batiste fan?
Have you tried Batiste?

Just call me Zoe, the Batiste Queen...

xXx

Disclaimer: This post was written by me, out of my own love for the brand. This is not a sponsored post and I have not been asked to write this. I just love Batiste dry shampoo and want to share/product rave about them! A couple of the bottles in this post were gifted to me, or included in goodie bags from events, but the majority were purchased by me, with my own money. As always, all opinions are my own and reviews are 100% honest.

Primark Mini OPI Minnie Mouse Dupes

Remember OPI's Minnie Mouse collection? How about dupes at just £2 for 4 polishes?!

During my 18 polish spree in Newcastle last month, I was rather excited to find these super-cute nail polish minis in Primark. I had to have them. I also got another set, which I am about to try out.

The set includes 4 polishes: a bright Barbie pink, a shimmery darker pink, a reddish pink and a light pink glitter filled with hearts.

Primark's mini sets are a bargain, at only £2 for 4 polishes, you can't really go wrong. I never imagined they would be so good though, very impressed!

I decided to use all 4 polishes and created a lovely, cute look:

I will say, the hearts were a 'mare to apply! They just would not stay on the brush, so were difficult to get out. That is my only issue with the set.

Quick drying, with a great finish and just 2 coats used!

This is my second set of Primark mini polishes and both have been really really surprising in how good the polishes are, especially at such a bargain price.

£2 for 4 mini (6ml) polishes

xXx

Revlon Girly Nail Polish

Yes, I've bought another nail polish.

On Saturday, I went to Birmingham with my work friend, Erika. I'll be honest, we made the 1 hour journey to Birmingham, mainly to admire Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond The Pines! (which was great, btw) Birmingham was the nearest showing, shocking. We'd already been sad about missing Zac Efron in The Paperboy, due to there being NO showings anywhere near Shropshire...

So, we decided to make a day of it! We had a lush lunch at Revs on Broad Street, then watched the film, before heading to the Bullring for some shop browsing. I was very good and resisted breaking in to my savings to buy anything, only purchasing Revlon's Girly nail polish, as a little treat. I'd wanted it for a while and when I saw £2 off, I couldn't resist.

Girly is a gorgeous, well, girly, pink/lilac base with different shades and sizes of glitter.

I used 2 coats.

1 was a little too sheer, the base colour didn't really show.

A second coat added that extra colour and glitter.

This would be nice layered over a lilac or pale pink polish.

Removal was awful, as expected from such a glitter-filled polish. (A lot of effort when I'd only had it on my nails for just 24 hours! - I removed it to try out another recently purchased polish.)

This is my first Revlon polish but there are more that I have lusted after for a while, I just never buy from Revlon, not sure why...

Currently on offer, £2 off at Boots, priced at £4.49

Have you tried Revlon nail polish? What is your favourite?

xXx

#NorthMeetUp Goodie Bag

If you read my last post, you will have heard about the fantastic #NorthMeetUp blogger event that I attended on Sunday (7th April).

The wonderful host, Em, from Em Talks and the brands that got involved completely spoilt us bloggers with amazing goodies.

I thought I'd share what was in the bags and given to us on the day of the event.

I was overwhelmed by the amount of products and the products included. There were brands that I have never heard of, exciting new products and also, some things which I have been wanting to try for a while!

So, here's what I received:

So many goodies! This was the whole lot.

The boot of my 500 was almost filled with the goodies!

The Main Bag:

I don't have pierced ears, so I gave these cute earrings to my sister :)

So In Fashion:

Anne Semonin:

Arbonne:

ILAH and Cailyn:

My Chosen Raffle Prize: John Frieda Goodie Box

and some offers, flyers and business cards from the event, along with my own DIY business card:

That's everything!

No doubt I will be reviewing some of my favourite products from the goodie bags very soon, so keep a look out for those posts. If you want to know how I get on with anything, just ask.

Thank you, once again, to Em and all the companies who got involved :)

xXx