Magazine Freebies!

Now call me cheap, but I love a good mag freebie :) sometimes you can get some fab free products for just over £3 as well as a decent beauty mag to read.

I picked up a copy of July's Marie Claire when the free Ciate paint pot caught my eye... Love Ciate! The magazine costs £3.70 and the polish is worth £9 so it's a no-brainer really... There were 3 shades to choose from but I went for Jelly Bean which is a bright pink :)
Whilst perusing the magazine stand I also came across In Style (who last month were giving away Nails Inc polishes) with the July issue there's a full size Body Shop big and curvy mascara worth £10. They were giving away another Body Shop product but I don't remember what it was...I want to say 2 eyeliners? But don't quote me on that. In Style costs £3.80.

So £19 worth of products for £7.50, you'd be a fool not to! :)

x Daniella Beauty Junkie x

Milkshake For Your Hair

Sometimes I come across a product that I expect to be pretty average, something that 'does the job' but isn't anything particularly amazing... Something that then surprises me in the best way and makes me want to share it with the world! (or my blog followers) Milkshake is one of these things :)

I've been using their Hair Emergency Kit for a couple of weeks and in all honesty, I'm so impressed, their products will be replacing Aussie in my normal hair routine. The kit includes a colour repair shampoo, a conditioning mask and their whipped cream leave in conditioner. Firstly I need to express how utterly amazing these products smell. I know I have a slight tendency to exaggerate, but seriously if someone invented a smell-a-blog (not sure that would be the greatest name for it?) but if that existed you'd be reading this and doing that wide-eyed, open-mouthed 'wow' look when you smell something that's so yummy you can't believe it isn't edible.. All 3 of these fab products smell EXACTLY like chocolate milkshake. And even better, once your hair has been blow dried, styled and generally messed with, it STILL smells delish!

The shampoo lathers up nicely and creates the first layer of chocolatey goodness, then the conditioning mask (which stays on for a few minutes) leaves my hair feeling super smooth and creamy.... Then, I've saved the best and most exciting product till last. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the whipped cream is probably one of the best things I've ever used in my hair. I very rarely (almost never) use leave in conditioner, it just never appeals to me but after using this once I fell in love with it. It looks just like whipped cream and smells amazing (please fight the overwhelming urge to eat it). You only need a small amount, it glides through your hair and immediately adds to the softness left from the mask.

After running some argan oil through my ends and spraying on some heat protectant (I use VO5 elixir and Schwartzkopf Got2be heat protection spray) I blow dry my hair straight and at this point it's usually looking reasonably smooth but still feels slightly dry... I've reverted back to blonde during the past few months so my hair is noticeably dryer and more damaged then when it was dark. But after using Milkshake my hair was so soft, I've never had such soft hair whilst blonde!

I'd recommend Milkshake immensely! They're such a lovely, friendly company and the Hair Emergency Kit is just the tip of the iceberg, they have so many products to try. I really want to try more of their masks and their volumising spray to use with my Sleeprollers :) Check out their website www.milkshakehairproducts.co.uk and follow them on twitter @milk_shakeessex

x Daniella Beauty Junkie x

Jinkksy Summer Treats & Fondant Blazers

I've not done a Friday Faves post in a while but today it's making a comeback!
In Cornwall the weather has been shocking as per... It's quite frustrating when you wake up, see the glorious sunshine streaming through the window, drag out your sandals and toss aside your jackets only to be greeted the next day by rain, wind, cold temperatures and general depression :( This said, I've still been feeling summery! I'm optimistic (or in denial) that we WILL have an amazing summer weather wise. So my favourites this week are slightly summer themed.

Jinkksy Summer Stackers

I've been following Jinkksy on twitter for some time now (a company owned by the lovely Debbie Georgiou) and she is literally taking over the world with her glamourous array of bling bracelets and sparkly anklets. Loved by celebrities and us mere mortals, there's something for everyone. Jinkksy have just launched a range of summer stackers and as soon as I saw them I fell in love! (I'm a sucker for anything pretty and chic), I have officially added it to my wish list but the only problem is I can't decide which colour is my favourite! I'm leaning towards the mint. Or bubblegum. Ok, sherbet mix... Arghh it's too hard to choose!

 Bubblegum

 Mint Candy

 Ocean Spray

Sherbet Mix
 

Summer Stackers £42.00 from www.jinkksy.com

YSL Touché Éclat Foundation

I'm sure everyone's heard of the miracle product that is the Touché Éclat highlighter. It's earnt its status as a cult classic in the cosmetic world over the years (apparently they sell one every 10 seconds!) and is a staple in most women's make up bags. Well the geniuses behind the instant eye brightener are now launching a foundation. I'd love to try this product simply because of the rep YSL have for the highlighter, I have very high expectations for this one! Le Teint Touché Éclat will be available nationwide from July 9 in 22 shades (love this!)

Fondant & Neon Blazers

Fondant is a big trend this summer (think fondant fancies and other sugary treats) and I absolutely adore it. The girly pastel shades are totally my thing and I'll be buying into it for sure :)
Im a lover of blazers and have been for some time... I like how throwing on a well-tailored blazer can add instant sophistication to an outfit and you can pick one up for £20 and yet look like you spent £100. You can wear them with jeans and a baggy vest, or over a cocktail dress to add another dimension to your outfit. So a blazer in a sugary sweet colour is my idea of perfect... I also love the neon yellows, pinks and oranges around at the moment.

This lapel-less blazer from Zara is just gorgeous, I love the zip detail.

Topshop

Miss Selfridge

Bourjois 1 second nail polish remover

I know there's quite a few reviews about this product in the beauty blogging world, so I didn't want to over do it and dedicate a whole post to it, but it definitely deserves a mention! It's a great product for those of us that can't be bothered to spend ages scrubbing away at our nails with regular polish remover... You literally have to dip your finger in the little pot, wait a couple of seconds and viola! Polish free nails :) I love this product simply for its time saving aspect and I've been using it for a couple of weeks now. I change my nail polish colour a lot so it's a must-have for me and at £3.99 from Boots or Superdrug you can't go wrong.

x Daniella Beauty Junkie x

Revlon Lip Butters Competition

Quick post to share my excitement! I entered a random competition on twitter the other day with Revlon... To cut a long story short I won a full set of the infamous lip butters and a Hummingbird Bakery cook book (Seriously excited as I love baking and I've been wanting to try the lip butters for ages!)
I've seen a few beauty bloggers give away products to their followers who leave comments a lot and that kind of thing, so I thought I'd do the same! Besides its pretty greedy to have all 14 lip butters...
I've decided to give one to the really lovely girls at http://pretty-little-obsessions.blogspot.co.uk Melissa and Rebekah have been so lovely and commented on some of my posts (Melissa also helped me when I had a couple of questions at the start of my blog) and they nominated me for the versatile blogger award which was very sweet! So I'll be sending them 'Lollipop' which is a gorgeous dark pink :) Haven't swatched it as I don't want to use it but I hope you like it! I did try to take a photo of it but the light was rubbish :(

As mentioned in a previous post I'm doing a giveaway at 25 followers and a lip butter will be included in that, aswell as an MUA pastel eyeshadow palette so get following!

Will do a detailed post of the other lip butters in the near future so you can see which colours you like and perhaps it'll help you in making a decision of which shade to go for!

x Daniella Beauty Junkie x

My Birthday In Celeb Boutique

It was my 25th birthday last week :) and on Saturday I dragged my stilettos out, dusted off my fake tan mitt (not literally, it was clean...honest) and prepared to celebrate with my lovely besties :) one slight problem. The flu threatened to kill me! (again, not literally. I have a tendency to dramatise things) but for the sake of my friends, the fact it was my birthday and my new Celeb Boutique dress I soldiered on!

You may or may not have heard of Celeb Boutique - if not, it must mean you live on a planet not called Earth. They're pretty much famous for their bandage dresses which are exact replicas of those amazing designs by Herve Leger, but with an affordable, 'normal folk' price tag... If you haven't already come across their website you must check it out! And follow them on twitter for photos and details of new arrivals :)

I received my gorgeous CB bandage dress from the very generous man in my life for my birthday :) I had already chosen the dress after much deliberation.
I decided to go with 'Rosie' a mix of greens, yellows, creams and slate which is a colour combination I wouldn't usually go for, but they work so well together :) The reason this style of dress will suit any shape and size is due to the heavy bandage material. These babies will pull you in and show off your curves, whilst hiding the dreaded lumps and bumps (just about) that most of us have in some form or another.
I was reasonably dubious to blog about this dress as I personally still think I look a bit on the big side (not due to the dress, totally my personal issue).

Before having my son a year ago I had always been quite a toned size 10 and although I've dropped a dress size since having him I'm still a size 12. I'm a big believer in women embracing their curves and to be honest, as long as your happy with your size then you're sexy and amazing! But the whole point is I'm not happy... So today marks the start of my mission to get back into my size 10 jeans! (Wanted to document it all on here so there's more chance of me sticking to it!)
Anyway here's some photos of the fabulous CB dress, and a photo of my make up just before I applied my lashes (excuse the dressing gown, apart from the dress this is my favourite item of clothing) ha! Let me know your thoughts on Celeb Boutique :)
Also, sorry about the layout of some of my posts, they're sometimes compiled on my phone so it results in a block of writing, then photos at the bottom.

'Rosie' dress £109.99
Shoes (AX Paris) £38.99
www.celebboutique.com
@celebboutique

Caviar Darling...

So I've gone all posh and taken a liking to caviar... But not that kind! The gorgeous Ciate Caviar Manicure set :)
I blogged about it in my very 1st post (oh how long ago that seems!) but just to jog your memory, it's the newly launched manicure set from Ciate that includes tiny pearls to create a 'caviar effect' on your nails. It comes in 3 colours - white, black and rainbow and it was so hard to choose! I went for the white as I thought it'd look extra glam and I don't normally wear white nail polish so why not be different!?

It arrived yesterday in a lovely little box with a white base colour, a pot of caviar, a little funnel (making it easier to get any left over pearls back into the pot) and an instruction booklet...

Applying the product is super easy! You apply 2 coats of the base colour and as soon as you've applied the second you pour on your pearls, gently press them onto the nail and voila :) takes about 15-20 minutes for them to fully dry and the results are fabulous! I only applied the caviar to my ring finger as a first attempt.

I love this product and I'll definitely be getting the black... Oh go on then, I'll get the 'rainbow' too :)

Have you tried this yet? If so, do let me know your thoughts, would love to see the black and rainbow shades in action!

May Wishlist

It has literally taken me ages to whittle down my wish list items for May! If I shared them all with you, your computer would probably crash under the pressure of all the photos! So Ive picked 5. A pretty little mixture of beauty/fashion items that I've got my eye on (much to my credit card's fear...)

Sleek's Sunset Palette £6.49

 

This is quite a daring collection of colours...I must admit I usually stick to the regular smokey eye but I love the orange and red shades in this palette and with summer coming, it's the perfect time to experiment with bright, funky colours. I have a couple of other Sleek palettes and I love them, they're really highly pigmented.

AX Paris Shoeboots £39.99

Weve all seen the gorgeous Jeffrey Campbell Litas and we all know how pricey they are! But there's some great cheaper versions on the high street in a variety of colours and heel heights... These would be perfect with ankle grazer jeans, a cropped baggy t shirt and natural wavy hair :)

Rio Sonicleanse £40

Even though this is reasonably cheap compared to the Clarasonic, I still haven't had a spare £40 to spend on it. But this is the month I'll be splurging! I've heard some brilliant things said about this cleansing brush and I'm sure a lot of you have seen the YouTube or online reviews about this or the Clarasonic.

I'm really into skincare (maybe more so at the moment than makeup), as I'm a strong believer in looking after your skin 100%. It's so important to have clean, smooth, healthy skin. If you're looking after your face and using the best (not necessarily the most expensive) products for your skin type, then you have a much better base for your foundation - making it look so much smoother and flawless! This said, I really have high hopes for this product improving my skin even more.

Laura Mercier Oil Free Primer £28

I've been using MAC's prep and prime under liquid foundation for about 3 years now and I have no complaints, it does the job and I'm perfectly happy with it, but typically for me, I'm getting bored and I want to try something different. I've heard so many great things about this primer that I need to try it out for myself :)

H&M Satchel £14.99

This looks so much more expensive than it is! Really love the style and in white it's gorgeous for summer :) I'm a big fan of 'hands free' handbags as I've usually got a toddler and a changing bag to carry so this one is perfect. Purse friendly too!

What's on your wish list for May? And if you've tried the Rio Sonicleanse or the LM primer what's your feedback?

Remember to follow me on twitter @daniellacha :)

x Daniella Beauty Junkie x