Bambi's Blogs: Don't Bother

Saturday, 21 December 2013

Festive Favourites | Lush - Christmas Edition!

Roll up, Roll up, get your stereotypes here! Yes, it's no surprise that I, much like every other beauty blogger is obsessed with lush products. They smell great, don't test on animals are environmentally friendly and are amazing for your skin... need I say more?

Festive Favourites | Perfume | Roberto Cavalli Eau de Parfum

This winter, I am going to be doing a series of 'Festive Favourites' these reviews will range from skincare, haircare, makeup, food, films, books pretty much anything that I love in winter!

Today's festive favourite is my adored Roberto Cavalli Eau de Parfum.

December Glossybox... Festive Treasures

Finally, I am bringing you a Glossybox review in the month it was sent to me!! Hallelujah they shout!

This months box is the Festive Treasures and this is apparent in the stunning red Christmas box!! However, the products are not quite as christmassy as I had hoped for!!!

Elemis FreshSkin Review | Skin Clear Face Wash & Treatment Gel, Deep Clean Face Mask & Magical Moisture Face Mask

Hi Guys!!

Firstly, let me apologise for one of the longest blog post titles ever!

Before I get into the post just a quick reminder that I'm running a Christmas Giveaway where you can get your hands on some Elemis freshskin Goodies and more! Be sure to join! ENTER HERE!!

A little while back, I was lucky enough to receive some Elemis FreshSkin** goodies from the wonderful PR team at Elemis to try out and review, sadly because of the hectic time I've had at uni I just haven't had the time to sit down and write a full review of them until now! It does mean however, that I have thoroughly tried and tested these products and I'm able to give you an accurate account of my experience with these products!

First up we've got the Skin Clear Purifying Face Wash.
It claims to help refresh and clear your complexion leaving your skin looking fresh and bright all day long!
Ingredients to note are Vitamin A, Zinc, Iris, White Willow Bark, Bergamot, Juniper, Lime, Cucumber, Cedar, Witch Hazel.
It is free from Parabens, SLS, SLES, DEA, Mineral Oils, Artificial Colours & Silicones.
I think this is absolutely brilliant! Whenever I have a breakout or my skin is feeling particularly oily, I reach to this and it cuts through all the oil without stripping your skin and making it dry. It smells super fresh and to really prove how amazing this is my boyfriend will steal it whenever he comes to visit as even he loves it! It visibly improves the appearance of breakouts in just one use and it genuinely does work in clearing up your skin! I honestly cannot fault this product.

To use along side the Face Wash we have the Skin Clear Treatment Gel.
It claims to help reduce blemishes without over drying the skin.
Ingredients to note are Salicylic Acid, Zinc, Vitamin A, Witch Hazel, Iris, Bergamot, Cedar, Lime, Cucumber, Juniper.
It is free from Parabens, SLS, SLES, DEA, Mineral Oils, Artificial Colours & Silicones.
I think this is pretty good, I would probably give it a 7 out of 10 as I actually find the face wash better at preventing spots, but I do enjoy using this when I've got a particularly nasty blemish as when it is used before bed by the time you wake up in the morning the blemish is visibly reduced. The one downside to this is that its pretty strong stuff and if you get it to near to your eyes the vapours do start to make your eyes water, so this may not be ideal for sensitive skin types!

Finally, we have the FreshSkin Face Mask Duo- Purifying Face Mask (PF) & Quenching Face Mask (QF).
It claims PF helps to draw out impurities and refine your skin, whilst the QF delivers instant moisture boost to dry skin and helps to soothe.
Ingredients to note PF: Natural Clay, Vitamin E, Frankincense, Goji berry. QF: Plum, Sweet Almond, Aloe Vera, Cranberry, Apple, White Lupin.
It is free from Parabens, SLS, SLES, DEA, Mineral Oils, Artificial Colours & Silicones.
I think that firstly these are both really lovely face masks for what they do. The Purifying Face Mask is a thick clay mask that is a little scary at first but once you've applied your generous sachet, left it for 10 -15 minutes and washed it off (no harsh scrubbing required this comes off easily with a wet warm flannel) it leaves your skin feeling soft, supple, and really clean. The Quenching Face Mask, is another thick creamy mask that smells fruity and has the consistency of a super thick body lotion. I can't say it really makes a noticeable difference to my skin but it does leave my face feeling super nourished and is a lovely treat once and awhile. One qualm I do have with this product is however, that at this current time you cannot buy these masks individually, which is such a shame as I do love the Deep Clean Purifying Face Mask and would love to have it in a nice tube rather than the sachets which I tend to waste about 1/4 of the product as I don't need the whole sachet to cover my face.

Let's hope Elemis sort out the Face Mask dilemma and continue to produce these truly effective products for the Teens to 20's market!

I hope you enjoyed today's post and liked the new style of review, I shall be sticking with this format from now on in as I feel it gives you guys a more accurate description of the product other than "the packaging is pretty and it smells nice!"

Thanks for reading!

** These products were sent to me by Elemis PR for consideration of review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

November Glossybox... the Glossy Wishlist!

Hi guys!!

Today I'm back with a the long overdue November Glossybox post!

I was meant to upload this ... well, ages ago! But Uni life gets in the way sometimes and having 3 assignments for English Lit to be in this month sadly blogging had to be put on hold!

But life should be calming down now and I hope to be back in full force on the blog front for the time being!

Before I get into the post just a quick reminder that I'm running a Christmas Giveaway where you can get your hands on some Elemis freshskin Goodies and more! Be sure to join! ENTER HERE!!

Now onto Novembers Glossybox! The one benefit of having such a delayed glossybox review is that its given me the chance to properly try out all the products and form an opinion on them!

This months box ran with the theme "the Glossy Wishlist" the concept behind this box was to include all the products that the 'glossy team' have been lusting over for Christmas.

First off, we have the Yves Rocher France Hand Cream in Cocoa and Orange! I kid you not this stuff is essentially Terry's chocolate orange in a tube, it smells A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Not only does it smell good enough to eat, it also is super nourishing and sinks straight into your skin without leaving that annoying greasy residue you get with some hand creams.

This is a full size product worth £1.95 for 75ml

Next, we have the Agese Oils Face Glow, which I must admit is the only product that I am yet to try from this box, purely because I am a little scared about putting a oil onto my already oily skin. I will give this ago but probably once my skin starts to suffer from the cold winter days and could do with abit of extra nourishment.

The concept behind this oil is to improve your skins texture and promote cell rejuvenation; it also claims to maintain its natural effectiveness for up to 12 months! Which is pretty amazing if it does!

This was a 2ml sample worth £3.80. FULL SIZE £29 for 15ml

Next is the staple product for this month that everyone received (if im not mistaken). The Vichy Idealia Life Serum this is another one of those products that just smells like a spa, it smells so relaxing and is really lovely to apply. A little goes a long way with this and I would probably consider repurchasing this in the future. The concept behind the Idealia Life serum is to transform the appearance of skins quality and to help to protect your skin from the visible effects of stress, pollution, smoke or an unbalanced diet. Which as you can imagine is amazing for me at the moment with my hectic assignments, house hunting for next year, living in a city and having a diet that for the past week has been roughly 70% subway. I've really been enjoying using this and there is definately an improvement in the appearance of my skin, so far. They have also included a sample of the Idealia Smoothing and Illuminating cream but I am yet to try this, so I have high hopes!

This included:

Two 3ml samples of the Idealia Life Serum worth £5.90, FULL SIZE £29.50 for 30ml

One 3ml sample of Idealia smoothing and illuminating cream worth £1.32, FULL SIZE £22 for 50ml

Next up is a familiar name from the August Glossybox, its the Emite Make Up Micronized Eyeshadow - Dams. In August we received a pretty good eyelash curler and this month we have a Eyeshadow. I was happy to receive this but if I'm being honest I was disappointed I received black as I know I wont be getting a whole lot of use for it. I have however used it to set my eyeliner and it really is a super pigmented black and is perfect for the job, so every cloud an all that!

This was a full size product worth £16.80 for 1.48g

Finally, we have the Elegant Touch Rapid Dry for Nails now this does what it says on the tin to an extent but it doesn't dry your nails instantly and does leave a slightly oily residue on your nails after you have used it. I do like this but I most probably wouldn't be purchasing this again!

This was a full size product worth £3 for 125ml

There you have it, Novembers Glossybox! In total this box was worth a whopping £32.77!! Which is AMAZING value for money!

Glossybox is a monthly subscription service costing £10pm + pp for at least 5 luxe beauty samples.

Sorry this one was late but in mid Decemeber you will be getting 2 Glossybox reviews to make up for it!!

Hope you have enjoyed!

Christmas Giveaway!!!

Hi Guys!!!

It's that time of year again, the leaves have fallen, the air is crisp and town centres are covered in twinkling lights and happy faces. It is of course Christmas!

As a way of me giving back to my wonderful readers, I have decided to organise a giveaway on my humble little blog in the hope that some of you will enter and I get to give a small something back to the blogging community!

The one lucky winner will receive some Elemis freshskin goodies* along with a few little hand-picked beauty surprises from my favourite brands!

\/ All you have to do to enter is to follow the rafflecopter below \/

You must be at least 18 or have the permission of a parent or guardian to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm so excited to be running my first giveaway and I hope it will be the first of many more to come!

*Elemis gift set gratefully supplied by Elemis PR.

Oops I did it again! Another HAUL!

Hi Guys!

Well, what can I say, I had abit of a shopping frenzy over the weekend! This is Sunday's haul.

The first thing I picked up was a Topshop nail polish, I have wanted to try the Topshop polish for so long now as they are so highly talked about. I love matte effect polish and I thought the black matte called "Croupier" would look really cool on in the winter. You can purchase this here for £6

I then wondered down to Superdrug and found the essie stall, which just so happened to have this nifty little duo of two of the most beautiful autumnal shades! I cannot wait to try these out as I just adore the essie polishes! You can purchase these colours individually from here for £7.99 each

This is something that is so raved about in the blogging community, the Bourjois magic nail polish remover! I just had to try it out for myself. The ravers were right. This stuff is brilliant, It got my gold nail varnish off in just a few seconds (which is great considering it takes alot of scrubbing with my normal polish remover. It also leaves your nails feeling moisturised and smelling of vanilla and berries and (what I thought was best) is it doesn't leave a horrible transferable bitter taste on your fingers that ends up ruining everything you pick up to eat like the older cheaper versions. I happily give this a 9/10 for nail varnish remover! The only downside for me is the price at £4.99 each and personally after using it I now want 3, one for lights, one for darks and one for glitter and effects! You can purchase this from here.

This was my outfit for the day, with a added little extra my new bag from Zara! I love living near a Zara so much but I'm sure my bank account doesn't! Sadly I cannot find a link anywhere to my bag but it was £25 and is absolutely lovely.

That is it for today's post but I hope you enjoyed reading!

Next post will be back to my usual reviews, expect to be reading about some Elemis goodies and a CHRISTMAS GIVE AWAY! All will be revealed soon!

Autumn Haul! MAC, Zara, H&M & Boots!

Hi Guys!!

After a pretty stressful week, I really needed myself some retail therapy! I may have gone a little over board...

First things first, I FINALLY caved in and brought my first MAC lipstick. I wanted a nice autumnal shade that didn't make me look like a drag act, and the lovely MAC girl suggested "Party Line" as it wouldn't look to much on my skin and is a colour you can built on to make it as vivid as you like. It's also a Cremesheen formula so it applies like a dream and lasts for ages!

/\ I think its a lovely Autumnal shade for paler girls who struggle to pull off the real dark colours! /\

Now onto my Boots haul, Boots are currently doing a 3 for 2 on the majority of their cosmetics (take advantage ladies!).

I took this as an opportunity to buy a couple of Bourjois Paris nail polishes (not that I need them!) in number 01 transparent gloss and 18, and a new mascara.

I had recently brought the Rimmel Scandaleyes flex but I feel that it does nothing for my lashes other than clump them up which is a shame as I loved their Lash accelerator Endless, due to this I thought it was about time that I tried a different brand of mascara and so I picked up Queen Attitude Mascara from Bourjois Paris also. My first impressions of the mascara are good so hopefully that holds up!!

I'm honestly not sure why I picked this up. I have loads of Body Shop Body Butter but I couldn't help myself with the £2.50 price so I picked up Soap & Glory's The Righteous Butter. It has their signature "pink" scent and is wonderfully creamy so I'm looking forward to using this!

I'm not sure if I can really count these in my Haul as I didn't actually purchase them. I'm looking for a new Cleanser and Toner to replace my Decleor that is running out. I have heard numerous recommendations of the Clarins skincare and so I thought I would have a look at the counter in boots and see what I found.

Thankfully there was a Clarins girl there to help me decide what would suit my skin and she gave me a couple of samples to test out to see if I like it! After all £18 per bottle is a pretty heavy investment for a student! I will be sure to write up a review once they have been used up and let you know how I get on with them!

Now we go onto the splurge in H&M, Accessorize and Zara. I generally don't find anything in the H&M at home but the one in Canterbury is so much better organised and I actually found so much I loved! I picked up these socks from H&M, I always need new socks and these were particularly cute and £6.99

This Elephant necklace was £10 from Accessorize, I'm obsessed with Elephants and this is just beautiful.

Next we have an outfit post (hurrah!). Please be aware, I hate posing for photos as I look awkward in all of them, I tried my best for you guys though!

What I'm Wearing:

Jumper Dress: H&M £14.99
Scarf: H&M £6.99

Basics Leggings: Zara £19.99

Necklace: See above

Socks: See above

Basics Casual Dress: H&M £12.99

Basic Leggings: See above

Socks: See above

That's it for today's haul! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I definately have!

Love to hear your views so please comment below or tweet me @bambisblogs

October Glossybox... Dark Romance

Hi Guys!

So this month my post is a little late! My Glossybox is sent to home and not university so sadly I have to wait until I can come home to open my box but better late than never!

This months box is themed on Dark Romance which is to get us into the mood for Halloween and the autumn season focusing on illuminated skin and berry lips!

Going with the trend of berry lips the first item I picked up was the MeMeMe Cherub's Blush Cheek & Lip Tint. This is a dual purpose tint very similar to the benetint from benefit, but a fraction of the price!

This is a full size product worth £5.50 for 12ml

Next my attention drew to a familiar label; I have already received a Premae product in my first Glossybox and it fast became a staple in my routine, when I saw the bright yellow sticker I was filled with excitement! This month we have the Premae Multi-Vit Smoothie Serum its purpose is to soothe redness and hydrate combination skin whilst keeping it matte and shine-free! I have high hopes for this so I hope it delivers!

This is a 20ml sample worth £9

FULL SIZE: £22.50 for 50ml

Then I came to another familiar name Monu, I haven't received any Monu yet so I was really happy to see that I had got some this month to try. Here we have the Monu Illuminating Primer it is designed to be paraben free, brighten the complexion and add instant sheen to enhance natural radiance, sounds brilliant doesn't it? I again have high hopes for this one!

This is a 20ml Sample worth £9.98

FULL SIZE: £24.95 for 50ml

Next I reached for the thing I was actually the most excited for Katy Perry's Killer Queen Fragrance. I love receiving fragrance samples and after seeing this one advertised so much I was really excited to smell it. The top notes of the scent are Dark Plum, Wild Berry and Bergamot creating a "Floriental" fragrance. I sadly do not really like this scent and that disappointed me, it smells like a much older scent and just isn't for me.

I was also disappointed by the little vial it came in, holding a pathetic 1.5ml, which is about enough for 4 sprays (if your lucky). Its a shame considering last month Glossybox outdid themselves with their adorable 20ml mini bottle of Elizabeth Ardens new perfume Untold (which is an addictive scent!)

This was a 1.5ml Sample worth £0.88

FULL SIZE: £29.50 for 50ml

Lastly, we have a product that I've been wanting to try for quite awhile, Argan oil. This Argan oil is Eva Cosmetics Mystic Diamond Argonoil the idea behind it is to nourish and regenerate your hair giving volume and preventing frizz whilst the Diamond powder it is infused with gives your hair a super shine. I've yet to use this but I'm looking forward to treating my hair with it!
This is a 6ml Sample worth £1.36
FULL SIZE: £22.70 for 100ml

Overall I wasn't taken aback by this box, it wasn't awful but it certainly didn't match last months standard of box!

The total worth of this months box is £26.72

For those that do not know, GlossyBox is a monthly subscription beauty box that sends luxe samples for £10 a month (+ P&P) You can check it out here: http://www.glossybox.co.uk/

I hope you enjoyed today's post and I hope to be posting much more frequently from now on!

It's been awhile but I'm back!

Hi Guys!!

First off, I am so sorry for the lack of blogging and I am so so thankful to any of you that are still interested enough in my blog to be reading this right now.

As some of you may know (those that follow me on twitter at least!) I moved to University on the 21st of September and wow did I underestimate the effect it would have on me!

I now study a combined hons English Literature with Psychology degree, it requires so much attention and work that any spare time I've had recently I have just been either sleeping or watching movies with my flatmates (who are all lovely, THANKGOD!).

I don't know how its come about that I've gone a entire month without blogging but my life has definately had a big hole in it and I have been eagerly awaiting the time when I would be able to sit down and type away!

Thankfully that time is now and I WILL be making a concerted effort to keep blogging throughout the weeks as I can honestly say life has been so dull without it.

Since I've been gone though I have made lots of brilliant friends, attended some fascinating lectures, managed to overcome crippling homesickness and have finally settled in to university life, although that being said I am so excited to go home for reading week this weekend.

I would love to share loads of pictures of my experience but I honestly haven't taken a single photo as of yet but I will be back with some at a later date!

You can expect to see many beauty posts coming up in the next few days but please be patient and realise that it wont be everyday blogging any more, I am however aiming for 3 posts a week :)

That's it for today's post, normal beauty blogging will resume in the next few days.

Thank-you so much for reading, you guys are amazing!

Face Wipes... A Beauty Blogger's Marmite?!

Hi Guys!!

Love them or Hate them?

Since becoming a Beauty Blogger, I have read, heard and seen so many mixed opinions on Face Wipes, with the majority of skincare guru's shunning the little pieces of damp cloth to fingers, late drunken evenings and festivals!

However, the shops keep selling them, the skincare brands keep releasing their own version and SO many of my friends only use face wipes to remove their makeup on a daily basis.

Me personally, I choose to use face wipes on a daily basis which may seem strange considering I am a skincare addict, but do not fear, my precious cleansing milk and toner does not get neglected at all.

So now your probably confused right?

I use my face wipes to get off as much make-up as I possibly can before using either my miscellar water by Caudalie (if I'm wearing alot of make-up) or I will go straight to my Decleor cleansing milk and tonifying lotion. I realised that when I was only using my cleanser and toner I was using alot of product, it takes quite alot of cleansing milk to get mascara off and to make sure all that make-up is gone I usually had to repeat the process so one evening after being fed up of this never ending routine I decided that I was going to commit a beauty blogger crime and use my face wipes. This way I get off a good 60% of my makeup, so the majority of my foundation and eye shadow and it softens my mascara. This means that when I come to use the cleansing milk it takes half as much product and half as much time to remove the entirety of my makeup.

So don't feel guilty if you use face wipes, we all do it from time to time, but do be aware that no matter how hard you scrub your skin with those things you won't remove all of your make-up.

My favourite face wipes have been pictured above, I have tried Elemis face wipes for £5.95, I've tried the Nivea face wipes at a more reasonable £2 but these bad boys are actually from Savers and are 99p.

I don't know why but these wipes are the best I've tried and I go back to them time and time again. The wipe itself is soft, they are actually wet rather than vaguely damp so they do get manage to get some (if not most) of my makeup off in one go. They are formulated for sensitive skin so they don't sting my eyes like some do AND they are enriched with Pro-Vitamin B5 and Vitamin E.

What do you think of face wipes? Do you have any particular favourites?

Let me know!

September GlossyBox... LONDON EDITION!

Hi Guys!!

The other day I finally received my September GlossyBox, I was very anxious in opening it as I wasn't particularly impressed with August's GlossyBox, so I was so hoping for a good box... and boy Glossybox, did you deliver!

So the thing that immediately drew my attention was this little gold box, that held this beautiful little bottle of Elizabeth Arden's new perfume Untold. The perfume holds notes of Pink Pepper, Pear, Jasmine, Sandalwood and Musk which all create a fruity light and ever so slightly floral perfume that is fast becoming addictive to smell! Also can I note how happy I am that this sample is in a little bottle and not one of those annoying little vial's that only holds enough perfume for 3 sprays!

This is a 5ml Sample worth £4.80

FULL SIZE: £48 for 50ml, £69 for 100ml

Next I noticed the set of Eylure Pre-Glued Lashes, now I have tried to use false eyelashes in the past and have failed miserably due to poor glue application, so now that I have a set of Pre-Glued Lashes I shall be sure to try these out on fresher's week!

This is a Full Size product worth £5.06

Then we have the TONI&GUY HairMeet Wardrobe Classic Shine & Gloss Serum this product controls frizz with a lightweight shine. My hair does tend to get out of control with frizz and flyaway's and can quite often look abit dull, so if this can solve that then I'm happy.

This is a Full Size product worth £7.19 for 30ml

Next is Be A Bombshell Cosmetics Onyx Eyeliner. When I saw this in the box I was disappointed as I has presumed it was another pencil eye-liner and quite frankly I have loads of them floating about at the moment. But after opening the little black box, I saw that it is a felt liner and immediately I was over the moon as my current felt eye-liner is soon to run out. This has a really thick nib that draws with precision and literally dries within an instant!

This is a Full Size product worth $14 (approx £8.82)

Finally we come to a product that I couldn't help but be pleased to see, the Rimmel Stay Blushed Blusher I received this in 001 Pop of Pink and as a huge Rimmel fan, I cannot wait to see what this little beaut is like! I've never tried Liquid cheek tint before because I'm paranoid of not applying it correctly and ending up looking like a clown!

This is a Full Size product worth £4.49

Overall I was delighted with with months box! I was hoping to receive some products to take with me to uni and I feel that I can take all of these to uni with me.

The total worth of this months box is £30.36

For those that do not know, GlossyBox is a monthly subscription beauty box that sends luxe samples for £10 a month (+ P&P) You can check it out here: http://www.glossybox.co.uk/

I hope you enjoyed today's post!

Cohorted... A Shopping Revolution?

Hi Guys!!

So today I have a slightly different post from usual, but nevertheless I thought it was such an interesting idea, that I felt compelled to share it with you.

A few days ago, the team at Cohorted Social Shopping contacted me to tell me about their new shopping initiative that is to be launched later this year. Social shopping!

Confused? So was I, but after reading into their concept it started to make more and more sense. You can buy high-end products for low prices and not pay a penny for delivery!

They take high-end products, group shoppers together with other shoppers that want the same products (in real time) and then everyone shares via either twitter or facebook and then even more people can join in which reduces the price even more so you end up paying way less for the product than you would if you were to buy it from the retailer.

So you get your product, but for less!

You may be thinking, “This is all well Emily but what brands will be involved? And is there any real proof of savings?”

Just some of the brands that Cohorted will be offering are:

-MAC

-Dior

-Estee Lauder

-Lancôme

-Tigi hair care

- AND MORE!

Now I don’t know about you ladies, but I think that this is a win win situation. I get a product I want but usually can’t afford (student budgets are tight!) and I don’t have to pay the full price for it!!

Can you imagine how low a MAC product could get to if you told #bbloggers on twitter!

And if your still not convinced, they are already running a Mini Cohort project exclusive to Facebook.

This week you can get your hands on Macadamia 30ml Deep Repair Masque with the lowest cohort price being a minute £1.05 with delivery included!!

If you STILL don't believe me, then take a look below on the savings that were made on Lancôme Hypnose Mascara (RRP: £21) and Tigi Bed Head Dumb Blonde Shampoo 250ml (RRP: £10.95)