Things I've Been Loving This Week

It's been a great week all in all, culminating in a really fun weekend away in Birmingham for the Top Gear Live event at the N.E.C. This week as I'm on annual leave from work I've just been doing the things I love, relaxing and pampering. I had my hair cut with a new hairdresser at HOB salons (nothing drastic just a trim as I'm trying to grow my hair again now), managed to fit some gym sessions in, been shopping & had coffee with friends.



So I thought I'd share some photos I've taken through the week.



Product wise these items are staples for me at the mo.

The Topshop nail polish on the left in Hidden Treasure looks beaut with the Ice Crush glitter polish on top. Hidden Treasure is a duochrome polish that reminds me of petrol when you see it on the ground in fuel station forecourts. Its like a greeny gold. Love it. 

I've been removing my nail polish with NPW Nail Polish Remover Pads. Since I picked these up from Selfridges in the beauty workshop I haven't bought any other type of nail polish remover. These are seriously good and even remove glitter relatively easily. They are around the £2 mark for one pot and if you can't get to Selfridges you can find them here. They are also highly moisturising on the nails.

The two lipsticks are from Tom Ford. I am in love with these. They are the best lipsticks I've used. The ones I have are Scarlet Rouge and Nude Vanille. Black Orchid is next on my list.

More beauty products I've been raving about are these.

I always find mud/clay masks are the best for really making a difference to my complexion and recently purchased the Origins Clear Improvment Charcoal mask which is a good one, but to be honest I've found the 99p mud mask sachets from Superdrug much better. My skin seriously looks glowy, revitalised and really clear after using these. I'm not kidding they are amazing.

I've also been really taking care of my hair over the last few months. I stopped using any form of heat on it for almost three months and have been deep conditioning it frequently. I like to put an intensive conditioning treatment or oil on it and leave it to sink in for half hour to forty five minutes. I've noticed a huge difference in the softness of my hair from doing this and am hoping it will help it to grow longer quicker too. The conditioning oil I'm using at the moment for the treatments is Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse which I received in a glossy box. I would definitely purchase this product once my sample runs out and am also keen to try other products by the brand.

This week I have turned into a bath convert. I'm definitely a shower girl and can honestly say that before this week I hadn't had a bath in years. But seeing all the pictures that you guys Instagram of your Lush baths has got me lemming some Lush bath bomb action. So to celebrate this I treated myself to a couple of Lush products.

I love the fact you can actually shake Golden Wonder like a present and am hooked on the smell of the Comforter. For me it's the ultimate bathtime scent. I can't wait to chuck Golden Wonder into my bath. Hehe.

Food wise I've been enjoying chowing down on this little lot. 

Gutted the Mars Caramel are just limited edition :(

                          

The Heston Blumental for Waitrose meals are seriously tasty and the quality of them is lovely. They are around £5 each I think and I really recommend them. The lasagne is yum too.

I'm really into burning candles at the moment and feel at this time of year they add a bit of cosiness. My favourite one right now is Peony by Archipelago which I purchased from Selfridges.

                         

I love this scent. It has a clean but musky, herbal fragrance. It is strong in a really nice way and kinda reminds me of men's aftershave, which is good for me as I don't really like floral scents. The only gripe I have about this candle is that it really needs two wicks. You can see how unevenly it has burnt and this is a real let down, especially since the price is £25. It's such a shame about the wick because due to this I will not be purchasing anymore of these candles. The other scents available are also amazing so this is disappointing :(

So like I said at the start I went to Top Gear Live this weekend. I'm a bit of a petrolhead and absolutely love the three guys from Top Gear. They are hilarious and Jeremy Clarkson is just outstanding.

                        

I found the tickets to be slightly overpriced at £75 each but we did have the Gold passes. You could also buy Silver which were around £50 I think. The main part of the show was the stunt show and Top Gear show in the Live Action Arena. This made the £75 worth it to be honest as it was utterly brilliant. It included incredible stunts with things like cars and fire. It also included a live episode of Top Gear and basically a lot of fast cars doing donuts all over the place. My idea of heaven.

Here's a few pics of what I saw. If you're not a petrolhead sorry for the next few photos :-)

 

Yes, I do like grey cars.

A Porsche on fire. This was amazing in real life.

And a little video of one of the stunts.

Goose bump central.

The following day after Top Gear, I went to the Bullring in Birmingham for some shopping. I didn't buy too much but was impressed by the twice life size sculpture of the bull. He is gorgeous.

The photographer apologises for chopping off your horn Mr.Bull. Sorry :-)

For accommodation in Birmingham I stayed at the NEC Crowne Plaza. I have stayed here before, but that was years ago. This time around it was even better. If you want a lovely, clean, classy hotel with great service this is the one to go to. I love it.

A Standard Room

I was also rather excited when I saw this on my pillow.

I don't know if this has anything to do with the fact that today is National Sleep Day but I thought it was a really cute little touch. I've never tried anything by This Works but I am curious about it. This little set retails at £10 and so far I have tried the 'breathe in' roll on. It does have a very calming scent of chamomile and lavender but I wouldn't say it makes me go to sleep any sooner. It does smell really pleasant though and I enjoy using it. I will try the pillow spray.

What a fab week. How was yours?

A Couple of Product Raves - REN and Origins

I feel the need to tell you about some great products I've discovered recently and have been loving using.



First up, REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask.

Glycolic/glycolatic seems to be the word on us bloggers' highly glossed lips at the moment. And I would imagine most of us own the Alpha-H Liquid Gold Glycolic Acid. 

This 'peel' mask (as in it kinda emulates a facial peel I guess) works in the same way as the Alpha H to brighten up our complexion, by getting rid of all the dead skin cells, combatting spots and blemishes and reducing the appearance of fine lines.

I'm all for products that will brighten my skin and also reduce fine lines. Being in my 30's has turned me into a bit of an anti-aging obsessive. I'll try anything, lol.

So I've used this a few times and I'm really quite happy with it. It has a thick gel consistency and has what I think is supposed to be a fruity apricot-y maybe papaya kind of scent. It's neither unpleasant nor particularly pleasant in my opinion. It also comes with a muslin cloth that you are supposed to use to rinse it off with. I don't use it though, as I prefer to use the Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask Sponges to remove face masks.

The directions say to apply the glycolactic mask to clean skin on the face and neck and leave for 10 minutes. I always leave masks on for longer than this (like 20 minutes) as I just feel it gives them more time to work, but it's not necessary.

After I've rinsed off the mask my skin feels soooooo smooth, it's incredible. And after I've applied my Hydraluron serum and Antipodes moisturiser my skin just seems to glow underneath them. 

Apparently it's normal to get a tingling sensation from this mask. And although I get this with the Alpha H, I don't experience it at all with the REN. But then Alpha H is pure acid and this mask isn't.

I can't say I've noticed an improvement with my blemishes from using this but then I do tend to chop and change my face masks so I guess more constant use would be more accurate for a review of the spots and blemishes aspect of it.

However, as far as immediate results go, I cannot fault this product and will repurchase for sure. The fact that there are no parabens, mineral oils and other nasties in this product is also a bonus.

This retails at £30 for 50 ml. 

Ok, onto Origins, a brand I cannot get enough of.

I have been enjoying the All-Purpose High-Elevation Cream for dry skin relief.

The fact I use a cream for 'dry skin relief' makes it seem like my skin is massively dry. This is not the case but I have definitely noticed more dryness in the last couple of years so I must admit I do enjoy slapping on quite rich creams. I like my skin to look glowy and radiant, and I feel this is more likely to happen if I use thicker creams to keep it quenched with moisture.

This is a bit of a multi purpose cream which I really like. It can be used anywhere from your tummy to your face to your hands. Sunflower oil and Shea butter are some of the nourishing ingredients. The smell of this cream is nothing to shout about, I think the oils in it are what comprise most of the scent. I can't really describe it but it's not sweet at all, just basic but not too unpleasant. Although it might not be everyone's cup of tea so I would recommend having a sniff before buying to be honest.

In texture, the cream is quite thick, not runny at all but it sinks in effortlessly, leaving no residue. Although on the face, unless you have seriously, seriously dry skin you may notice a slight dewy film but I don't mind that in this cream as I only use it at night so it doesn't matter if my skin looks a bit shiny. I actually quite like using creams at night that leave a bit of residue. It makes me feel like they are doing something. I know that's probably wrong but I enjoy it. 

Sorry if I'm being dumb but one thing that confused me on the packaging is that it says 'this hydrator is specifically created for the mile-high moisture needs of our customers in Denver, Colorado'. I haven't noticed anything like this written on a cream before and I found it a bit strange, almost like the cream isn't for me as I don't live in Denver, lol?!

What does this mean Origins? 

I've also been taking this out with me in my handbag to use as a hand cream. It's such a great multi tasker and a product I will buy time and time again.

This retails for £23 for 75 ml.

Have you tried either of these products? What are your opinions on them?