Navilicious Beauty

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

Happy March! :D

I cant' believe it's March already! Wow! I remember my New Year's Eve like it was yesterday...

Time goes really quickly and soon it'll have been a year on this blog! I know that I don't update as regularly as I would like to but I don't feel obliged to blog; I like to post when I feel like it and out of my own will. It's also very relaxing so I usually blog in the evenings or at night, this post being the odd one out of course.

I haven't had many giveaways yet because it's quite difficult to afford such expensive beauty products regularly, I know I'd like to have a lot more because they seem fun, please don't forget to enter my current one until 10th March here. Take a look at the prizes here.

I've also started using my makeup a lot more as opposed to hunting it down or certain items and just sticking it in a draw so that I have it and it looks pretty and organised. I think this is a major thing for me because I don't even have 5 seconds to spare in the morning and am constantly in a rush. I think this could be due to how little sleep I get and because of my love of staying awake at night, I don't actually think I'm an insomniac anymore - if I turned everything off I'm pretty sure I'd knock out soon.

I'm glad that I started my makeup ban on 1st February but unfortunately I haven't stuck to it in its entire form, I managed to haul some really pretty nail colours and a Clinique chubby stick, but I'm going to wait until I do finsih products until I can use them. I've finished a body butter at the moment, so still about 20 items to finish yet. The reason I wanted to finish them is so that I can try new things, I don't like to have a backlog of items and having such a large selection would mean that I wouldn't use all the items within the safe expiry dates and I dislike wasting things! I also hardly ever purchase the same product again unless I absolutely love it because I don't think the beauty industry allows for repurchasing to take place, because there are so many beauty products that I want to try everything.

The ban has also been a factor in me using up my products and making sure I put lotion on after my shower everyday and using my face cream at night because I know that if I finish it I'm allowed a new item, so my skin seems to have improved a little too!

I'm actually enjoying and hating the ban at the same time!

Anyway, thank you for following my blog, I really appreciate it, and it makes me feel appreciated too :)

Thank you for reading,

Nav x

Monday, 28 February 2011

Boots No7 Skincare Giveaway! - CLOSED

If you haven't done so already please don't forget to enter my giveaway here which has now been extended to 10th March!

Items to win are:

Good Luck! :)

Review: Lush Lip Scrub in "Sweet Lips"

I love this lip scrub! The taste/smell is very yummy and luxurious, it was my favourite out of all their available lip scrubs, this one is called "Sweet Lips" and contains vanilla extract and cocoa absolute - YUMMY! It also has jojoba oil and flavouring.

In terms of effectiveness as a product to be honest I don't think it's a miracle worker, I try and use it as much as possible and there's still so much left, I love that it's all natural and suitable for vegans, and I really enjoy licking off the scrub after I'm done with it, although initially I struggled with it, (I thought it was really weird...).

The only issue I have with it, is that as opposed to scrubbing my lips I find that it softens them so much that any scrubbing of flakiness or dry bits doesn't occur, but I'm not complaining about the softening properties...

I give this scrub 8/10 :)

Thank you for reading! (Scroll down for more pictures)

Friday, 25 February 2011

Review: Soap and Glory The Fab Pore 15 Minute Facial Peel

This facial mask/exfoliator/peel is really effective in terms of what it says it will do. It is available at Boots and other retailers for £7.15.

Soap and Glory say that this is best for "greasy, spot prone or problem skin, or for a strategic attack on a misbehaving T-Zone." They also add details about their "Poreshrink-R Complex", which contains the following:

"Fomes Officinalis Extract: A mushroom extract to tighten pores.
Salicylic Acid: which loosens up the dead cells that contribute to pore clogging
Kaolin: That’s ‘cosmetic’ for clay. It sops up extra oil on your skin and smooths your skin’s surface!
Vitamins E & C: Antioxidants. Just because you’re oily, doesn’t mean you’re not aging"

My opinion:

This is an effective scrub/mask/everything to do with your face, the formula/texture is soft and creamy and has little blue/green beads that you rub into your skin while applying the mask and they burst. This is a fun process - burst every bead or you can't start timing the entire 5/15 minutes for the mask, depending on which you choose.

When the mask is on, it doesn't dry so you can still move your face fortunately - woo! I usually keep it on for 15 minutes because I feel it does a slightly better job than leaving it on for only 5 minutes.

After you take the peel off I've always found that it leaves a white-ish residue on my skin and all of a sudden I have a lot of skin sort of "peeling" off, especially around my T-zone. I think this is what they mean by the "peel" but I really don't like that part and scrub especially hard to get the flaky skin off and moisturise loads too. The positive points are that it's effective, it does what it says, peels my skin...it also evens out my complexion really well which is something I hadn't found in a mask/scrub/peel before, and it looks like I have fewer blemishes. These are the immediate effects only though.

After a few months of using it, (I'd say 3 months, I didn't use it 2-3 times a week, probably 1-2 times) I found my skin to look more even in tone but I didn't notice any other majorly favourable changes. My T-zone remains as oily as it chooses to be and my blemishes are still present sadly, but generally, overall skin does look better.

I found picking a rating quite difficult as it does a useful job but not exactly what it claims or what I expected and it's slightly more in price than I'd like to pay...probably a 7/10.

Thank you for reading, please leave your comments below, have you tried this? PASS/FAIL? :)

Monday, 21 February 2011

The Makeup Ban - Exchange No1

Hi!

I have finally finished 3 products so I was fortunately authorised to purchase another beauty item (thank goodness! I've been struggling!), to read about my makeup ban please click here.

The 3 I finished:

This magically resulted in the following appearing! :o

BeautyUK's Glam Nails Nail Polish in Smokey Lilac - No51 for £1.99 at Superdrug, I have yet to try it but hopefully it'll be good! :)

Thank you for reading, nav x

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Question: Do you use Eye Cream?

I don't...but I probably should! I'm really worried about messing up the skina round my eyes though and as an 18 yr old at the moment I don't think I need it...

What about you? :)

Review: E.L.F Cosmetics Studio Blush in "Mellow Mauve"

An e.l.f studio blush costs £3.50 for 4.75g/0.168oz and is most definitely one of the greatest blushes I have used to date.

The Packaging: The packaging is very sturdy and I love the compact styling, I think it's similar to Nars - but I haven't tried any of their blushes yet. I kept it in my handbag for days (I forgot it was there!) And the little pocket was completely fine afterwards, no extra powder anywhere either. It also has a tiny horizontal mirror in it which I think is quite handy albeit small.

The Colour: The colour I chose is "mellow mauve" which is a deep pinky colour, (sorry for the not great picture!) It's very pigmented because I always manage to get too much on my face and have to blend for about 2 minutes! It does have a bit of shimmer in it which is pleasant but not overwhelming, and only shows up very clearly if you decide to put a ton of it on. I would also think that this would suit all skin tones, depending on how much you layer on.