My Handbag Essentials

As I've just posted another 'what's in my bag video', I thought I'd also share what I deem my essentials in my daily handbag (This may seem excessive but I'm always the 'what if' gal).

Not necessarily both, but a diary/ notebook and a pen. 

A compact mirror, hand sanitizer, deodorant (extras - hand cream and make up refreshing spray)

Compact powder, retractable face brush, a lip product or two and a perfume sample/ travello.

Pain killers, tictacs, hair clips and tangle teezer.

Some little extras..

A separate coin purse (making my normal purse stretch less)

A little pouch for my headphones so they don't get all tangled or caught on anything.

Tissues, my bus key card/ ticket holder and my portable phone charger.

Vicki xo

New years positivity #2

Don't give up!!

Vicki xo

No7 Micro-dermabrasion Body Exfoliator Review

Never know what to get with your No7 skincare voucher? Then look no further. This is the third product I've bought with said voucher that hasn't been their 'quick thinking wipes'.. It's always a gamble trying something but that's the idea behind them giving you a fiver off really.

The review.. 

Availability & Price - As we all know, No7 is a Boots own brand therefore only available there. Retailing for £11.50 (£6.50 with skincare £5 off voucher - win!)

Pro's - Very gritty (salt I believe), giving a high level of exfoliation.

            Un-scented.

            Doesn't leave any oily-ness behind.

            

Con's - Expenisve for size (150ml) - Compared to my other love.. S&G The scrub of your life (£7 for 200ml).

         

The price is the only con I can find, but used only once a week (full body) it should still last a fairly long time. The bottle only suggests you use it on you upper body (arms, shoulders, chest etc), but I would guess that's only so it lasts longer. But it depends what you need to exfoliate.

I found it excellent of the little bumps I had on my upper arms and shoulders, completely smoothed them over within the first use. 

I feel I can get away with just exfoliating gloves on the rest of my body with the odd occasion using a scrub to give a nice deep level of exfoliation you just don't really get with gloves. 

It also leaves my skin feeling really soft without feeling at all oily, and makes it absorb moisturisers so much better. 

I'm so glad I picked this up, I've only used it twice now and I'm in love and think I would even pay the full £11.50 for it :)

Vicki xo

New years positivity #1

It's random quote's like these that make my day, I hope this can help spread some positivity. 

Don't give up!!

Vicki xo

Sales etc haul..

This is a little late going up, but I still wanted to show you what I picked up on boxing day and in the last couple of days..

ColourB4 - £6.99 (Savers). Schwarzkopf Hair colour - £4.99 (Savers).

No7 Micro-dermabrasion body - £4.50 (On offer and with No7 voucher)

Benefit SugarGlam Fairies giftset - £29.66

Magic wand bubble bar, Candy mountain & Butter bear - All 50% off, prices unknown.

Maybelline Instant anti-age eraser eye - £7.99

Max Factor colour elixir lipstick in 'Ruby Tuesday' - £7.99

China Glazes polishes - £3.99 (trade price from Sally's). Mini CG and OPI - Less than £1 each. 

I think it'll be a while again before I do another haul, but I really don't need to do anymore shopping do i?!... 

Vicki xo

ColourB4 - Before, after and review.

The joys of being a girl eh.. wanting to change up your hair colour every few months (or is that just me?!)

It was only a few months ago I decided on a drastic change of my kind of dirty blonde to a dark purple/ red.. it took me probably a few weeks before I got bored and wanted to change it back. It wasn't it didn't suit me, but it didn't suit my lipstick choices!

Before

During

If you do pick this product to use, I warn you now.. do it when you have a cold! It's the worst smelling thing I've ever smelt! If you've ever smelt that burning hair smell.. it's like that mixed with a little rotten egg. Not nice.

Straight after rinsing

After first proper wash (It's a little darker than this)

Minus the smell, this product worked really well for me as you should be able to tell by the above photo.. It's a little on the orangey side as I fully expected, but I can work with it.


Review:


Availability + Price - It's very readily available in places such as Boots, Superdrug, Tesco, Savers etc.. and if your unfortunate enough to not be able to find it in those stores I believe you can even get it on Amazon. As for price, it's reasonable.. it's at the £10 mark but can be found on offer. I picked mine up for £6.99 per box, in Savers. It does say on the box if you have longer than shoulder length hair and/or hair that's on the thicker side.. to use two boxes.. alas.. I have both and only needed one box and still had a little left over.

Application - I got my sister to do mine for me just to make sure I got my whole head, but I don't think I really needed her to do it.. it's a very liquidy product, a lot thinner than the hair dye consistency I was expecting, making it much easier to evenly distribute (and get all of your hair :)).

Removal - This stage was an utter pain in the arse! Depending on the thickness of your hair it suggests you rinse your hair under water for 5-10 minutes (I think I managed about 6-7 as I was doing it over the side of the bath and got bored very quickly of massaging my own head!). After the initial rinse, you have to use part 3 - the 'buffer' , apply like shampoo, lather it up and wait 1 minute then further rinse for 5 minutes! (I'd suggest you had a shower at the same time for all of this, rather than doing it how I did). Last step, apply the other half of buffer, lather and just rinse.. once it's out.. it's done (no more waiting under the water!)


All in all, I really liked what this product did. I'm not 100% happy with the colour, but It's not as orange as I thought it would go so I don't mind. It caused 0 damage, it smelt pretty funky and took a few hours between application and final rinse.. but it worked and was cheaper than buying multiple bottle of hair dye and gradually taking it lighter!! (Yawn!)

Would I use this again?  If I needed to, I definitely would. But I'm hoping I won't make sure drastic changes in future.. I think I definitely suit blonde better.. so It's gonna stick around for another year or so :)

Vicki xo

Happy new year

So we've gone and made it through another year! 2014 was a crazy year for me, none of which I want to go into. 

This is not going to be a 'new year, new me' post or a general new years resolutions shabang.. Personally I think that's all a bunch of bullshit. If you wanted to change any aspect of your life, you could of started that Wednesday in October when you first thought about it!

Anyway, less of the negativity..  It's now the 4th of January and it's time to pick up that positivity brush and dust yourself over. 

Yes, the majority of us would like to make certain changes to our lives.. and by all means.. start now.. but don't give up! Don't be that person who goes to the gym every other day for a month then think 'fuck it, it's not working' .. If you wanna loose weight/ get healthy.. stick to it! If you wanna move up in your job, keep pushing it!  

Just don't give up!  

I'm going to try and compile a positive post once a fortnight full of quotes and general positivity.. I keep getting told not to let things get to me and to cheer up.. so if you're like me, tell the Adam Redwood in your life to shut the hell up and kiss you. You'll both smile & positivity will just ooze!

Don't make it a 'resolution', but make sure this year.. you do something you really want to do & make sure everything you do makes you smile! 

You're beautiful!!

Vicki

(Note - This post wasn't made to make any real sense, make of it what you will)