My Skincare Routine

I have very sensitive, oily, acne-prone skin and these are the facial products I use on a daily/weekly basis:

As you can see, all the products I use are available from drugstores. Personally, I don't think there's anything spectacular about high-end branded skin care apart from the price tag. I don't see anything wrong with drugstore products and I think they work just as well as high-end products at a fraction of the price!

• Face wash: Clean & Clear deep action cream wash - Sensitive Skin £3.52

I use this to wash my face in the morning and night. Out of all the face washes I've used in my life (there have been many!) this has worked the best for my skin. An I love the tingly feeling it leaves on my skin after using it!

• Exfoliating scrub: St. Ives Apricot Scrub - Invigorating £4.38

I use this scrub to exfoliate my skin twice a week. It's not good to exfoliate too often as it can be really harsh on the skin. I love St. Ives scrub, especially as it's gentle on the skin as it's made from a lot of natural ingredients (contains more than 90% naturally derived ingredients). I prefer the "Invigorating" formula as opposed to the "Sensitive" one because the particles are rougher so I can really feel it removing the dead skin.

• Eye Make-up Remover: Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Make-up Remover £1.23

I use this product on a cotton pad to remove my eye make-up when I'm not wearing foundation. It's not harsh  and it doesn't sting the skin around my eyes. And it generally removes my eye-make up well. I don't use this product very much as I usually do have make-up on the rest of my face, which brings me to the next product.

• Face Make-up Remover: Simple Kind To Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes £3.01

They're the best make-up wipes I've used so I tend to stock up on them when they're on promotion. They remove a full face of make-up with one sheet and again, they aren't harsh on my skin, they don't make the skin around my eyes sting, and they are nice and gentle. I've used other brands such as St. Ives and Johnson & Johnson wipes, but they've been really harsh and stung the skin around my eyes so I tend to avoid wipes that are perfumed and contain alcohol.

• SPF Moisturiser: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 85+ £8.00-9.00

This SPF moisturiser is nice because it is lightweight and it's easy to blend into the skin unlike usual SPF creams. I tend to use this more during spring/summer, and yes I know I should use it all year round but it does tend to make my skin a little oiler than usual so I try to use it when I really need to. Even so, this is the best sunblock I've come across so far.

• Facial Moisturiser: Simple Spotless Skin Anti-blemish Moisturiser £4.07

I use this product twice a day after washing my face with my Clean & Clear cream wash. Again, it's by Simple so it's nice and gentle on the skin. It doesn't break me out in a rash or spots, and it is oil free but it still moisturises my skin well which some oil free moisturisers neglect.

• Eye Serum: The Body Shop Vitamin C Eye Reviver £9.00

I don't use this as often as I should but when I do when I can be bothered/remember to. (I know, very bad!) It's a light serum I use around my eyes as the skin there is very thin and can get easily damaged with all the make-up usage and lack of sleep! I don't know if it works, but it makes me feel better to use something now and again!

That's about it! I don't use tonnes of products because I don't feel the need to attack my skin with unnecessary chemicals. As you can see I do use a lot of Simple products just because they work well with my sensitive skin, and they do not contain perfume/colour/oil and no unnecessary or harsh chemicals.

 Let me know if you've used any of these products and how they've worked for you!

xoxo

Beauty Tip: Lemon = Nail Whitening!

Constant wearing of nail polish can give you seriously discoloured nails. I got to the point where I just felt embarrassed to have bare nails because they were stained yellow, so I kept them constantly painted. I decided today that enough was enough and that I needed to deal with this problem and this simple technique really worked for me!

All you need is:
Half a lemon
Small bowl

Remove any nail polish on your nails using thoroughly and wash hands. Lightly use a buffer on your nails if you have one to remove the top layer of your stained nails.

Squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl and soak your fingernails in it for around 15 minutes. If the juice is too harsh for your skin, you can water it down.

Take the lemon half and rub it onto your nails for around 20mins. Alternatively, you can use a nail/tooth brush dipped in lemon juice. Adjust the time depending on how badly stained your nails are. Then rinse with soap and warm water. As long as you're patient you should see immediate results after rinsing your hands. (Remember that nails aren't naturally as white as paper so don't expect magic french tips!)

Tips to avoid staining your nails in the future:

• Remember to moisturise your hands and nails consistently, use cuticle oil and always use a good clear base coat when painting your nails any colour!

• Try to give your nails a break from nail polish now and again.  

This really worked for me so give it a shot!

xoxo

What's in my bag?

A specially requested blog post!

Bag: h&m

I bought this bag about a week ago. It's a reasonably sized taupe coloured bag, with silver studded detailing, made from imitation leather, with 2 short handle/straps and one long adjustable one. Now, what's inside?

Apologies about the bad lighting and picture quality!

Firstly, my aubergine coloured beret and black leather gloves (as it's winter and freezing in London!) are essentials for this time of the year for me. Because I live in London, there is always an umbrella in my bag. Always. Then I've got my wallet (from accessorize), my work locker keys, a mirror, a bar of Kit Kat, a couple of pens, a cute little box of Moxie sanitary towels, a hair clip, a strawberry chapstick, 2 lipsticks and a little zippy cosmetics bag. Those are the usual and essential bits I have in my bag (plus my phone and keys ofcourse!).

Then I have the random bits! A gold draw-string pouch with an Indian sweet and a piece of coconut inside and a religious book lol (both things were given to me the other day from a religious event and I'd forgotten I'd put them in my bag!). I also pulled out a couple of old food receipts, a sweet wrapper, Starbucks tissues and cinema vouchers!

Inside the little zippy bag (from h&m): Sweet Snuggles hand cream (superdrug), Compeed Anti-Blister Stick, Carex hand sanitiser, a sanitary towel, 2 hair grips, paracetamol tablets, Blistex Intensive Moisturiser, Kleenex tissues, e.l.f. oil blotting sheets, MAC select sheer pressed powder and an e.l.f. kabuki brush. These are the general cosmetic essentials I keep with me.

Hope you enjoyed the "What's in my bag" blog!

xoxo

Film Review: Black Swan

SPOILER ALERT!

A psychological thriller starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel. The film is based on ambitious ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) who wins the lead role in "Swan Lake". She's the perfect white swan, but not daring and sensual enough for the role of the black swan. She feels the pressure to play the role of both swans perfectly from sleazy director Thomas (Vincent Cassel), and also from herself as she becomes increasingly worried that her rival Lily (Mila Kunis) is after her lead role, being the perfect candidate for the black swan. She tries her hardest to be more like the black swan but slowly, she loses her mind in doing so. Throughout the film, Nina and Lily form a twisted friendship until the end when Nina accidentally stabs herself whilst hallucinating, thinking she was stopping Lily from stealing her role. She dances the black swan perfectly, before she falls to her "death" and is found by the cast, Lily and Thomas wounded and possibly dying.

Natalie Portman plays the role of Nina faultlessly. She appears in pretty much every scene, and every second of it is intense and captivating.

Definately worth watching (for women more than men) but be warned, many disturbing scenes that'll make you "eek" and cringe and jump at times!

xoxo

Product Review: Batiste Dry Shampoo

We all have those days where our hair needs a bit of refreshing, but when you reallyy can't be bothered to spend so much precious time in the morning washing it (that extra 30mins sleep is a lifesaver)! So what's the answer? Dry Shampoo!

I've tried a couple of brands over the last 3 years, Samy Salon Systems Dry Shampoo and Batiste Dry Shampoo. Samy's was okay, it did the job but it was very white in colour which made my naturally dark hair look really dusty at times, regardless of how much I combed it out/rubbed it into my hair. It also made my scalp quite itchy, which was really uncomfortable.

Then I went on to try out Batiste coloured Dry Shampoo in Black which was fab! It sprayed out in a slightly darker colour so that it didn't look like white dust in my hair. It smelt good, blended into my hair well and didn't cause my scalp to itch. After finishing that bottle, I purchased Batiste's dry shampoo in "Boho", which is just the same as the previous Batiste dry shampoo but without the darker coloured shampoo formula and with a different scent.

So far, I prefer the Boho dry shampoo because in my opinion, it smells nicer and essentially does the same thing as the coloured one but for a slightly lower cost.

Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoo: £3.05
Batiste Dry Shampoo Boho: £2.35 (Boots) / £2.13 (Superdrug)

This is definately one of my holy grail hair products! I would recommend it to anyone who has a fringe that gets greasy easily, anyone who is trying to cut down the amount that they wash their hair or just anyone who likes to freshen their hair up and give it a bit of volume on the second or third day after washing it.

Have a good hair day!
xoxo

Andy Gray SACKED!

Today it was announced that football co-commentator Andy Gray has been sacked by Sky Sports for his off-air sexist comments about assistant referee Sian Massey. Gray made comments to Richard Keys regarding female officials, claiming that they are "hopeless" and that they "don't know the offside rule", not knowing that the microphones were still on. His comments have been deemed as "unacceptable and offensive behaviour" by Sky Sports.

This is what was said:

“Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her,” said Keys.

“Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don’t know the offside rule,” said Gray.

Keys replied “Course they don’t. I can guarantee you there will be a big one today. Kenny (Dalglish) will go potty. This isn’t the first time, is it? Didn’t we have one before?” And then he added “The game’s gone mad. Did you hear charming [West Ham vice-chairwoman] Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Do me a favour, love.”

These off-air comments between Gray and Keys have caused major controversy in the media for the last few days, but let's get to the point here.

Was it wrong for Gray and Keys to make such sexist comments? Yes. Regardless of how "old" the joke is about women not being able to understand the off-side rule, sexism is in my books just as serious and bad as racism. It's unacceptable and is definately something that needs to change, especially in regards to football.

Should Gray have got sacked for his remarks? On one hand, No. Although I agree that his comments were totally unacceptable, I do not believe that they were meant maliciously. To end his career over a bad mistake is a bit harsh. On the other hand, if no serious action was taken, would sexist men ever learn? So Yes.

Should Gray and Keys make a public apology to Sian Massey? No. I don't think it's necessary to drag her into the spotlight any more than she already has been. Massey is believed to have received a private apology from Keys which was accepted. Mike Riley, the general manager for PGMO said, "Sian is an excellent professional who has unwittingly found herself in the middle of a story that has nothing to do with her competence as a match official. Sian only wants to be notable for her performance as an assistant referee and is keen for things to get back to normal so she can return to officiating as soon as possible."

These are my opinions, but what are yours?

Three cheers for England captain Rio Ferdinand, who responded to the sexist comments as "prehistoric". The message has been broadcasted loud and clear:

SEXISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! (Here here!)

With Peace, Love & Equality

Miss S.

xoxo

My Favourite Nail Polish Colour

 

(Apologies about the poor picture quality- I had lighting problems!)

I am LOVING this colour on my nails and you'd never guess who it's by... H&M! Who'd have thought?! It's a tiny little 3.2ml bottle of nail polish that I picked up near the till as an impulse buy and I'm so glad I did because it's a gorgeous colour. It's called Grey Sky and it's a lovely taupe/dirty light mauve colour. I've found that it goes with anything I'm wearing which is always a problem I have when I'm wearing brighter colours on my nails.

The colour payoff is true to what it looks like in the bottle and in the pictures above I only have one coat of it on showing that it's nice and opaque and not one of those annoying nail polishes that you need five coats of to get the right shade. It's also not streaky, which is fantastic taking into account it's from H&M! I really am impressed with the quality of it. Usually I'd put on two coats of it just to even it out and so that it would last as longer on my nails but unfortunately my bottle has nearly run out so I couldn't! :( I only hope H&M are still stocking this colour because I did buy it about 4 months ago so fingers crossed. If not I'm going to have to find a dupe so any recommendations are welcome!

:) xoxo

My Favourite Perfumes

I love love LOVE perfumes! But unfortunately, I'm quite rubbish at detecting the many different "notes" in them, so I'm going to do my best! As I have so many favourites, I've divided them into three groups:

D&G - 3 L'Impératrice

Dolce & Gabbana - Rose The One

Valentino - Rock 'n' Rose

Dior - Miss Dior Cherie

These are THE FRESH FLORALS. They all have quite sweet, light, airy and obviously floral scents to them. D&G 3 is in my opinion very fresh and sweet which I love to put on straight after showering as a daytime perfume because it makes me feel and smell lovely and clean. Dolce & Gabbana Rose The One smells (obviously) like roses but has a strong base of vanilla to it which is a gorgeous day or night scent. Valentino's Rock 'n' Rose has more of a Rosy-musky smell to it which is lovely for the night. I can't put my finger on what Miss Dior Cherie smells like but the Boots website describes it as "all the charm of Dior in a fruity chypre fragrance. A fresh floral fragrance that dazzles with joie de vivre", which makes no sense to me but sounds cool! It is a little bit musky so I would wear it as a day or night fragrance.

Armani - Diamonds

Calvin Klein - Euphoria

Giorgio Armani - Armani Code

These are THE STRONG FLORALS. They're all fragrances that I'd wear in the evening/night because they have quite strong scents. Armani Diamonds is a floral vanilla based fragrance which is very distinctive. I can always tell when someone's wearing this perfume. Armani Code is similarly a strong oriental floral fragrance perfect for wearing on a night out. Calvin Clein Euphoria is a love or hate. I know lots of people who don't like it because it's too strong but I love it! It has a delicious and sexy floral scent with black orchid as the "heart note" (according to www.theperfumeshop.com).

Chanel - Allure

Gucci - Envy

Dolce & Gabbana - The One

Paco Rabanne - Lady Million

These are THE WARM FLORALS. Dolce & Gabbana The One is probably one of my favourites out of the favourites (if that makes any sense at all!). I absolutely adore it! It smells gorgeous and I've never ever come across anything at all that smells anything like it. I can definitely pick up a vanilla base in it and some jasmine floral scents. The perfect word to sum up this fragrance is warm. Chanel Allure is lovely and floral with more vanilla tones (I feel like everything seems to have vanilla in it!) and it smells really rich on the skin. Lady Million is a flamboyant floral fragrance which is perfect for the evening and just a really glamorous perfume. Lastly, Gucci Envy is a spicy musky fragrance which I tend to wear in the daytime.

I specifically like the bottles for Miss Dior Cherie, the Rock 'n' Rose and Lady Million. MDC is very girly and cute with the bow on the lid and the Rock 'n' Rose bottle is probably the reason I was drawn to it at first. It's very sexy with the black lace and the black rose. The Lady Million bottle is very unique- in the shape of a jewel with a large gold lid.

Let me know of your favourite perfumes. I'm always willing to add more to my collection :)

Keep smelling gorgeous!

Miss. S.
xoxo

PRODUCT REVIEW: Lee Stafford Treatment for Hair that Never Grows Past a Certain Length

Hello Beautiful Hair-Growers!

For those who don't know me, I currently have long hair that reaches about half way down my back if not a tiny bit further. I'm looking to grow another 3 inches and that will be my ideal hair length! But my problem (as well as tonnes of other people's) is that my hair tends to grow well until it hits a certain length and then POW! It doesn't seem to get any longer!

I was recommended Lee Stafford's treatment for hair that never grows past a certain length (what a mouthful!) by a friend from work. She said she used it and it really made a difference to the growth and thickness to her hair, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's available at Boots for £6.99 which is quite a reasonable price. On the tub, the description says:

"Hair Growth Treatment with Pro-Growth™ complex for strength from within. Protein based complex to fertilize your follicles, creating a healthy environment on the scalp to help hair grow faster and reach it's maximum potential length." 

Firstly, if you've ever used Lee Stafford's products before, you know they have a trademark smell to them and this one's no different! It's got a very strong sweet and musky fragrance which I like because the smell lingers in my hair even till the day after washing it.

The product itself is a thick creamy consistency and it's filled pretty much to the top of the tub (200ml) so you're getting a good amount! After my first use, my hair instantly felt a lot softer, smoother, less frizzy and not as tangled as it usually would feel after washing it which was great! I generally wash my hair twice a week so I used it every time after shampooing and before conditioning. It says to use a scoop the size of an egg but I thought that was too much so I just took half that amount. One thing I did find was that when I massaged a lot of the product into my scalp and roots, my hair lost its volume when dry so it felt smooth and sleek but flat and without body. That's why I don't recommend using a scoop the size of an egg (unless your head has a large surface area!)

In terms of making my hair grow past a certain length, I think it did help to a certain extent. It may have contributed with all the "Pro-Growth™ protein based complex" in it, but I didn't see a major growth spurt in my hair length or anything. It grew like it normally would, if not a bit faster which was around 1 inch over 2 months (which is how long 1 tub lasted me). Then again it is scientifically proven that hair grows slower in the winter months because it has less exposure to vit D (sunlight) so this product may be doing its job!

Overall I do recommend trying it out because even if it doesn't make your hair grow any faster, it definitely feels like it's a good treatment for your hair. I'm on my second tub now and my hair feels SO much more manageable and softer when I'm using it.

Hope this helped anyone looking to grow their hair!

Miss. S.

xoxo

BOOK REVIEW: Night World Vol 1-3 by L. J . Smith

I've just finished reading volumes 1-3 of Night World by L. J. Smith. Each book is divided into three stories and as you read on, you realised that slowly they all link up. The general concept of the story is that there is a secret society called "The Night World" which consists of witches, vampires, werewolves and shape shifters who live alongside humans secretly. The two main Night World laws are that humans are never to find out that it exists and never fall in love with a human.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Volume One 

Secret Vampire

Daughters of Darkness

Enchantress

 
Volume one was probably my least favourite, but that's probably because most of the stories were introductions to the Night World so there wasn't enough depth in the story lines. For example, Secret Vampire didn't have much to it in my eyes. I found it took me a very long time to get into it. James breaks the NW law and turns Poppy into a vampire and Ash takes Poppy to expose her to an elder, and then we find out it was all a big joke and he wasn't going to do anything. Major anti-climax!

I know that a lot of people didn't really like the fact that there are so many short stories and to an extent, I felt the same because as soon as I was getting into a story, it ended. Daughters of Darkness is an example of that because I really wanted to know more about Rowan, Kestral and Jade and I don't think L. J. Smith had enough time to build on some of the characters. Although I understand that with the sheer amount of characters that we are introduced to in the NW series, it would be near impossible to expand on each one. But in terms of the Redfern sisters, I wish I could have known more. In that way, I don't think I had enough time to connect with the characters because of the length of each story. And if at all I did manage to connect, it was suddenly cut off because the story is so short.

By the time I got to Enchantress, I was actually glad to be introduced to witches and not vampires. I wanted to know more about these magical people and I had had enough of vampires for now. But as I read on, I wasn't too impressed with the story and I didn't like how it ended. These witch elders, like grandma Harman are, I'm sure, supposed to be pretty clever and wise hence they are "elders". How could Blaise have just switched the potion to watered-down ice tea without any of them noticing? Would none of them want to check it? Especially as Blaise fetched it. Blaise. The bad girl. The troublemaker. I think the most reasonable answer to this would be that they probably knew what had happened, but wanted to let Thea go with Eric. Otherwise these witch elders are just plain stupid! Any thoughts?

On a positive note, once I managed to get into the rhythm of Secret Vampire, I did enjoy it and I was able to read the rest of the books consistently. I did like the whole concept of the soulmate principle and I was looking forward to seeing how that would develop as I read on.

Volume Two

Dark Angel

The Chosen

Soulmate

Dark Angel was by far my least favourite story of all. I didn't like the whole concept of Angel being in Gillian's head. It seriously creeped me out! And in a way, L. J. Smith did what she was supposed to, because I was actually scared. She conveyed the dark angel character well. But that doesn't change the fact that I didn't enjoy it. I really disliked the way the story started and I felt it took way too long to understand what on Earth was going on. One minute Gillian's going home and suddenly she's dead and all these weird lights and tunnels and meadows. Honestly, I just did not enjoy it.

On a better note, The Chosen and Soulmate were a thumbs up! I really liked Rashel as a character, and I felt like I got to know her a lot more than some of the other characters. It was also a nice change to have a vampire hunter introduced to the story and then to have her fall in love with a ruthless vampire was brilliant. I think the reason I really liked Soulmate was because of Thierry. To have a vampire Lord fall in love with a human was great because he wasn't just any old vampire... he was a Lord! And then to have Maya enter the story, the very first vampire. Although it was based around the strength of the soulmate principle, there was more depth to the story, and more action which is always a plus! The end of Soulmate also bought a lot of the previous characters together, which started to reel in the different stories and give them all more meaning.

Volume Three

Huntress

Black Dawn

Witchlight

Volume Three is definitely my favourite out of the three. Huntress was brilliant and I loved the action in it. It made the story a lot more exciting (also like The Chosen). I also think that the introduction of the prophecies and the Wild Powers was really important to the storyline because it gave the story a lot more to focus on aside from the ongoing (and now very repetitive) soulmate principle saga. There were so many little stories here and there, vaguely linked by characters and the main story was dying for something to bring it all together. After reading 6 or so odd stories mainly about the soulmate principle, I was beginning to wonder what on earth the point of this was? By the fourth story I felt like it was getting quite repetitive. "Yes, I understand they are soulmates and they love each other deeply etc etc, but so what?" was ringing in my head. INCOMING: Wild Powers. End of the world. Yes! Beef it up! The story was finally expanding, and I was so grateful.

Black Dawn was another great story in my opinion as the reader gets an insight into an actual secret Night World place. It's different to the usual night world person meets human and BANG soulmate principle happens storyline. And then we've got the whole Prince of vamps introduced and then more about the Wild Powers. It finally felt like there was a backbone coming to light.

Lastly, we are FINALLY introduced to shapeshifters properly in Witchlight . I was really wondering whether or not the even existed by this point. Witchlight was brilliant in my opinion because Keller again, felt like a similar character to Jez and Rashel who I really took a liking to. Oh and thumbs up to L. J. Lewis for introducing a Dragon into the storyline! Really didn't expect that, but it was really great! I think it was about time that some serious things started happening and Volume Three definitely made sure that happened.  

So overall, even though I didn't start the series with great thoughts, I truly enjoyed Volumes Two and Three (minus Dark Angel) and I am looking forward to reading the last book Night World: Strange Fate which is out in April 2011!

I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys vampire action and love stories. Hope you enjoyed this l-o-n-g review! (In my defence, I am talking about 3 volumes and 9 different stories!)

Peace and Love
Miss. S
(Circle Daybreaker)
xoxo

Happy New Year!

Well done for surviving another decade of life! Trust me, with the world that we're living in it's an achievement just doing that!

This NYE was pretty low key. Started with having dinner at Ping Pong in Soho which was different as it was my first time trying dim sum. Interesting experience. Not too sure if I would go back. Being a vegetarian, there was a decent variety of dishes on the menu (which is a plus point), but in terms of taste I wasn't entirely impressed. But then again I can appreciate that not everything is as spectacularly explosive with flavour as I'm used to being Indian! The decor of the restaurant was really nice- modern contemporary with round shared tables and the atmosphere was quite upmarket yet chilled out.

We then moved on to walking the streets of London following the hauds of people towards the riverside. I can definately say that NYE brings out the crazyness in some people! After enduring much screaming, shouting, drinking, conga-lineing in the cold, we managed to see the spectacular fireworks next to the London Eye. It really was worth the wait!

2011 London firework display behind Big Ben

2011 London firework display around The London Eye

(pictures obtained from Daily Mail)

Happy New Year! :)

Peace and Love

Miss S.
xoxo