Seche Fast Dry One Coat NOTD - Signature

If you are a nail polish enthusiasts, you are bound to know about Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. If not, please familiarise yourself because it is one of the bestselling top coats on the market. Now it was really only a matter of time until Seche would enter the world of nail colour. And, ta-da, in October 2012 Seche launched their very own collection of Seche Nail Lacquers in 33 beautiful colour options. The Fast Dry One Coat polishes promise to deliver full colour opacity in just one coat and to dry quickly and down to a naturally shiny finish.

Lucky me received aSeche - The Fast Dry One Coat nail polish in the shade Signature as part of my December Glossybox. Here is my recent NOTD:

Signature is described as a True Red Crème - £9.95 (14ml). I really liked the formula of this nail polish, smooth and it did dry quite fast. It definitely leaves a nice shiny finish which meant I skipped on a top coat – easy peasy! :) The shade is very much a true red which is vibrant yet classic and elegant.

Have you tried one of the Seche - Fast Dry One Coat Nail Lacquers yet?

VICHY Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Stick

One of the items that was in my June GlossyBox was a small starter kit for the VICHY Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Foundation Cream stick.  The handy little kit contained 6 sample shades so you could find out what shade would provide you with perfect coverage.

The VICHY Dermablend stick is marketed as a ‘corrective foundation’ to provide the most complete, natural looking coverage for face and body imperfections. It contains 40% pigment concentration which makes it ideal for camouflage of skin concerns such as dark circles, acne marks, scarring, bruising, redness and dark spots. It promises to be long lasting (up to eight hours) and it is fragrance-free, waterproof and smudge resistant.

I think this would be a great foundation for someone with problem skin or if you prefer quite heavy coverage to block out any redness or pigmentation on your face. However for my complexion it seemed a little too heavy and creamy to apply all over my face so I decided to start using it as a concealer instead. And boy am I glad I did, this immediately became my favourite concealer! After trying a few of the shades I found that Nude (14) and Light (13) were most suited for me as a concealer to cover under eyes dark circles, spots and pigmentation; which I (unfortunately) get a lot more of during summer time.

So once my sample kit started running low I decided to buy the full VICHY Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Foundation Cream stick in Nude. It retails for £19 which is a bit more expensive than my usual MAC Studio Finish concealer (£14.50) but the Vichy stick is 12grams in comparison to 7grams for the MAC one so it will last me a lot longer!

It retails for £19 which is a bit more expensive than my usual MAC Studio Finish concealer (£14.50) but the Vichy stick is 12grams in comparison to 7grams for the MAC one so it will last me a lot longer!

Swatched and below blended out on my hand...

I normally just glide the stick under my eye and dab it in gently with my finger (you should never rub too much on the delicate skin area under your eyes) plus I apply it to any other small spots I might have and around the side of my nostrils. I am really happy I found this product so this does show the benefit of beauty box subscriptions like GlossyBox because otherwise I probably would never have tried the VICHY Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Stick.

VICHY products are available online here or you can find it at your local Boots store or Boots.com.
If you want to try the sample kit first to play with the product and to find your perfect shade you can actually buy the little starter kit for £4.99 online, which I think is super handy! (link).

Have you ever tried any other VICHY products that you'd recommend?

Burberry lipcover in Rosewood

I am currently loving my Burberry lipstick in the shade Rosewood; seriously how gorgeous is this lippy?

I discovered this lipstick because it was one of the items in my March 'The Harrods Edition' Glossybox. 

I have to say the March Glossybox was filled with some amazing products:

♥ Ojon Restorative Hair Serum

♥ Clarins Extra firming body cream

♥ 4ml Eau De Toilette of Fendi's new Fandi fragrance

♥ Erno Laszlo - 5 piece cream gift set

..but this mini Burberry lipstick was definitely my favourite! 

Isn't this the cutest and tiniest lipstick you have ever seen? 

The packaging of the mini version is exactly the same as their full sized lipsticks with its polished gunmetal case and Burberry check embossed lipstick bullet.

It's a rosy brown shade that I think would suit most skin-tones. It's a quite a natural look but it does give a nice touch of elegant colour to your lips. The formula is 'soft satin' which feels very light whilst being creamy and moisturizing.  The lasting power is really good and it has a pretty satin/glossy finish to it.

Other products I used for this look: 

CID i-Perfect Foundation

MAC Peachykeen blush

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder

MAC Belightful highlighter

Estee Lauder stay-in-place shadowcreme in Golden Sands

Urban Decay NAKED2 Palette (Suspect & Snakeskin)

Estee Lauder Pure color Kajal eyeliner in Pure Black

Blink+Go Mascara

What do you think of the Burberry lipcover in Rosewood? A full sized version of this lipstick retails for £23 (link) which isn't cheap but this is a shade that is very timeless so probably worth the investment!

I always love the makeup looks as seen on the models on the Burberry runways or in their advertising campaigns so this lipstick has got me excited about trying more from their beauty collection. Do you have any Burberry beauty products that you would recommend? xoxo

Happy Valentine's Day with GlossyBox!

It was a lovely surprise to find this month’s Glossy Box was a hot pink colour, instead of their usual dusty pink and black, all in the name of Valentine’s Day! Who needs a secret admirer when you have GlossyBox right? ;) 

My special 2012 Valentine’s Day Edition contained:

♥ Clarins extra-firming day cream

♥ Clarins extra-firming night cream

♥ Murad Skin Perfecting Primer

♥ Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner

♥ First Aid Beauty Body MoisturiserA great line up of products once again this month!

One of my favourites in the box was definitely the Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner (RRP £9.50 Link!)
I was excited to see that Eyeko has re-branded their makeup range to more ‘elegant’ and ‘grown up’ packaging. I really like the new look!

The eyeliner was the only full sized product in this month’s box and comes with a long metal holder so that even when you get to the last bit of eyeliner, you can still hold it easily. Clever thinking Eyeko! The eyeliner comes in 6 shades and I received the colour ‘Emerald Green’ which makes a lovely addition to my makeup collection. The eyeliner is highly pigmented, has a lovely soft and creamy texture and is long lasting. Think this will look great as a POP of colour to my waterline, or smudged in my lash-line with a golden or bronzed lid. For some ideas on how to wear a pop of colour on your lids, check out some of my previous looks here, here, here and here. 

I have been using the First Aid Beauty Body Moisturiser on my dry and flaky winter legs since I got it and they are definitely not complaining about some extra moisture :)

It’s light weight, oil free and non-comedogenic which is supposed to be perfect for oily, combination, or acne-prone skin.

I was also one of the lucky ones to receive the Clarins Day & Night creams in my GlossyBox this month. I did hear some people were a little disappointed when they opened their box to realise they didn’t get them; this is because not every Box comes with the exact same products!

I haven’t used Clarins that much in my lifetime up until now but have to say I am enjoying using the extra-firming day cream. It’s quite rich but leaves my face feeling super soft without feeling greasy.

What did you get in your Valentines GlossyBox and did you like your pamper treats?

Glossybox is a subscription package that sends you a box of five luxury beauty samples beautifully wrapped to your door to try out every month for the price of £10 per month + postage & packaging then if you like them you are able to buy the full size product discounted. You can read my reviews on previous boxes here and here.

Have you got any plans for Valentine’s Day? I loved a recent post by Gwyneth Palthrow on her website GOOP which was full of great (and simple) ideas for your other half; you can check it out here. 

I hope you all have a fabulous Valentine’s Day and have something lovely planned- be it with that someone special in your life or just with friends or a nice treat for yourself!! Tonight me and some friends are cooking up an Ottolenghi feast for dinner and then we'll be sitting down for a romantic session of watching the Notebook which is one of my all-time favourite movies!

Happy V-Day ♥ xoxo

December Glossy Box =

Only one week until Christmas! I however felt like it was Christmas already when my December GlossyBox arrived at my desk a few days ago! Seems the Glossy Box team are feeling the Christmas cheer because their last box of 2011 is a beautiful red instead of the usual soft pink and is packed full with lovely Christmas goodies. Think this is my favourite box so far!

This month everyone received a Rituals foaming shower gel, a Deborah Lippmann nail polish (plus nail polish remover mits) and a lipgloss by Cargo. The remaining two items were different in everyone’s box. I got the Blink+Go Hi Definition mascara and the MeMeMe Seventh Heaven FaceBase.

Here is an outline of the products I got:
♥ Rituals – Yogi Flow Foaming Shower Gel, 200ml £6.50
♥ Deborah Lippman "Razzle Dazzle" Mini (8ml) Nail Varnish
♥ Stripped To Go nail polish remover mitt (retails at £14 for pack of six)
♥ Blink + Go Hi-Definition Mascara
♥ Cargo Cosmetics Classic Lip Gloss (mini)
♥ MeMeMe Seventh Heaven Moisturising Facebase

I was very excited to find the Rituals foaming shower gel in this box because my brother and his fiancé seem to be addicted to the stuff. They’ve raved to me about it many times and every year when one of the big department stores in Holland has their annual sale, they stock up on buying the Rituals foaming gels in bulk! So I was very keen to give this product a go and see what the fuss was all about. Now having tried it, I completely understand their love for this product. The foaming gel is just delicious!

It has a gel-to-soft foam formula which makes it feel like you are having a bubble bath in the shower. Very soft and creamy plus the Yogi Flow smells amazing. It has ingredients like Sweet Almond Oil and Indian rose which not only make your skin smell divine but also make it feel moisturised and luxurious.

Once this bottle runs out I am definitely buying more because am keen to try the other varieties. My brother seems to swear by the Hammam Delight!

I also love the Cargo Cosmetics Lipgloss. I hadn't really heard of this brand before so that does show the advantage of the GlossyBox concept, exposing you to great products you might otherwise not find.

The classic lipgloss (travel size) I got was in the shade 'Serengiti' which is a iridescent peach colour. It has a lovely shiny, sheer non-sticky formula and the colour is so pretttty!

The Razzle Dazzle raspberry glittery nail polish by Deborah Lippman also looks perfect for the festive season, cant wait to have a play with it :)

Did you get your December GlossyBox or do you spot some products in here you'd like to have??
A GlossyBox subscription is £10 per month (plus V.A.T and p&p) from Glossybox.co.uk.
You find my previous review of the Glossy Box Experience here.