Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat

In one of my previous ASOS hauls, I managed to pick myself up a Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat for less than the cost of one bottle!  It was a huge bargain and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

The Kensington Caviar Base Coat (left) was one that I had never tried before.  It is a pink base coat, which dries semi matte with a pink sheen...yep, a pink sheen.  It's such a shame, because the caviar extract in the base coat is both strengthening and nourishing, and I did notice some strengthening to my horrendously weak nails.  But the sheer pink can alter the shades of some of my lighter nail polishes, which I've been reaching for more now it's getting into the warmer months.  I don't think you could even get away with wearing just the base coat either, because the colouring applies quite unevenly and is obvious against the natural nail.

I'd tried the Kensington Caviar Top Coat (right) before, as I had a small sample in a Glossybox and really liked it.  I do still love the top coat, and it gives a really nice, high gloss finish and dries to touch dry quite quickly!  I have found that, like the base coat, if you apply this in too thick of a layer there is a pink tinge to lighter shades so thin coats are the way to go.  I feel like this works better without the base coat.  Since using the base coat alongside the top coat, my nail polish chips really easily in large chunks, or just peels up completely.  It's almost like the base coat is a bit like PVA glue, and it just peels up in one big sheet of nail polish which is actually damaging my weak nails and leaving them flakey and peeling.  Wearing the top coat without the matching base coat, I found that my nail polish lasted really well!

I think that next time, I'll just repurchase the top coat as a single, unless I can get the duo for cheaper than one like this time!  But I still don't think I can beat my Nail Envy...

Have you tried the Nails Inc Kensington Caviar set?

Converted to Reverse Hair Washing

I have seen the word 'co-washing' thrown around the internet for a while now.  I first read about products specifically appearing for the purpose of co-washing - conditioner washing, in which you ditch your shampoo once or twice a week and just cleanse with a nourishing conditioner.  But I've more recently read about reverse washing - washing your hair with conditioner before you use shampoo.  Co-washing didn't appeal to me at all.  I have fine hair, which is pretty thin, it's naturally straight, a bit flat and does get greasy ridiculously quickly.  The idea of washing my hair in a rich conditioner just didn't make me think clean hair, it made me imagine grease, and lots of it.

A few weeks ago, I was feeling particularly daring and decided to reverse wash my hair.  I applied my conditioner, concentrating on the mid lengths and ends, rinsed and then worked my hair into a nice lather with my shampoo.  On drying I was actually really surprised.  My hair didn't feel dry at all and felt super clean.  I felt like I could see every hair strand where as normally it all blends together.  My hair felt totally smooth, and normally I have a bit of frizz but everything was smoothed into place!  I didn't notice any extra volume on my roots, but my mid lengths and ends, which are normally weighed down with conditioner residue, definitely had a lot more body.  My flat roots were easily fixed with some volumising hair mousse.

I'm completely a reverse hair wash convert, and have been reverse washing every single time!  My hair is getting all the nourishment from the conditioner still, but it's not being weighed down with any residue because shampooing after completely cleanses the hair.  If you have fine hair like me, or if you find conditioner too heavy, I'd completely recommend trying this because I think you'll be surprised!

Have you tried reverse washing?  What's your top hair care tip?

Benefit Coralista Lip Gloss

I am not a major fan of lip gloss, so it has come as a surprise to me that I have found one that I really, really love.  Back in January, you might remember that I bought a bargain Benefit tin, which was the It's a Love Fest, set and inside was a miniature Benefit Coralista Lip Gloss!

The reason behind my long hatred for lip glosses is obviously the horrendous sticky feeling that you are more often than not left with.  The Benefit gloss gives super shine, with the smooth feeling of a balm!

The colour of this gloss is quite sheer, and gives me a gorgeous, natural shade to my lips with an ever so slight hint of coral.  I've been wearing this shade so much lately, especially on the days that I just can't be bothered with a face of make up.  It's so pretty for Spring and Summer make up looks.

I love the miniature size of this, and it has accompanied me on both days and nights out.  I honestly think that I will be buying a full size version of this when this runs out, and will definitely be looking into the other shades!  Who knows, I might even have to treat myself to the matching blush...

Have you tried any of the Benefit Lip Glosses?  What's your favourite?

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer

You've probably seen this all over by now, so sorry if you're sick of seeing it, but I thought it was about time I threw in my opinion on this much loved concealer by Soap and Glory.  This is the Kick Ass Concealer, which is a small compact concealer kit that comes with two different shades of concealer and a setting powder.

I'm in two minds about this.  I half love it, but half of me just uses it because it's the only concealer I have, and I'm too skint to buy a replacement just for the fun of it.  I was so excited to try this when I first got it.  I'd heard so many people banging on about how amazing it was, and to be honest, I am left a little disappointed.  I just don't think that I'm destined for concealers.  The Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer everyone raved about?  Not a fan...it was way too cakey for my liking (below, swatched left).  The Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer?  Well this just might be too creamy for me (below, swatched centre and right).

I absolutely love the idea of this though...two concealers, and a setting powder in one neat, nifty little compact?  Well that's just my idea of a beauty bargain.  A three in one product, a handbag wonder, what else could you need for the day?  Let me tell you...you'll need a bloody good blending brush.

I don't know if it's just my skin type, or if I'm just such a greasy cow that this will mostly not stay in place!  The formula is so creamy; I apply this with my finger, and when I dab my finger in the compact, it practically melts under the heat of my finger tip.  I've had this for two months now, using it daily, and I've hit pan pretty badly on the left side.  It blends nicely into my skin, and the medium shade seems a pretty nice match for my skin.  In the swatches above, I have used the Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light, and the Kick Ass Concealer in Medium.  I think the under eye concealer from KA, central, is a very close match the the LP in light.  It conceals averagely well for me - I can still see some amount of shadow under my eyes, and I don't think I have particularly bad dark circles.  I'd say it's just a natural coverage, and I think some people will prefer a higher coverage concealer.  Because it's so creamy, I often find that the concealer sits in my fine lines, or full on shifts itself where ever it fancies.

The setting powder is really fine, and actually really nice - but in all honesty, I often forget about it all together, which is probably why it shifts sometimes.  I want a concealer that I can just apply and leave to do its thing.  Something long wearing, but not cakey!  I initially applied the setting powder using the pad that it came with - don't bother, it's so sharp on the under eye area and I didn't enjoy using that at all, so I switched it for the Real Techniques Setting Brush.  It's the perfect size for a quick swirl around, and the flat brush makes it nice to gently pat the powder into place, when I remember...

And there we have it!  I feel a bit bad for being a bit negative about Soap and Glory, because I absolutely love them!  But I just don't know about this concealer on me.  I feel like it's great for a night out, or would be amazing in the colder months, but now it's getting warmer, and my skin is getting shinier, I just need something that's going to be sticking around and not moving.  If I buy another, I think I'll wait until September!

Have you tried the Kick Ass Concealer?  What's your favourite concealer?

MAC Relentlessly Red

Hurrah for new lipsticks!  Even more of a celebration when they are a prize!  I was lucky enough to win a MAC lipstick of my choice on Danielle's blog The Imperfect Beauty, and as I couldn't make a decision between Lady Danger or Relentlessly Red, I left it up to Danielle to decide my lipstick fate!

She chose Relentlessly Red, which I was so pleased about.  I actually thought that when these first came out, they were part of a limited collection, so I was really surprised and pleased to see Relentlessly Red in stock across MAC stores!

The formula is a Retro Matte, and MAC mattes aren't a formulation that I have tried before, so I was a little nervous to try as I've heard mixed reviews about this finish.  As with all mattes, your lips do need to be in pretty good condition so that dryness isn't emphasised when the lipstick is applied.  I couldn't wait to try this, and applied it over non-exfoliated lips and didn't find it drew too much attention to any dry patches.  It applied evenly, but did feel a little chalky on the lips without a quick slick of lip balm underneath.

The colour is like nothing I own already; it's a bright red which definitely pulls a bright fuschia within it.  The matte formula is absolutely gorgeous, and provides opaque lips in one swipe.  I say swipe...the matte lipstick does drag a fair bit, but not enough to bother me!  The finish is beautiful, and I feel very pin up when I have this shade on!  I've tried this with the MAC Cherry Lip Liner underneath, and it's great for really defining the lips for a lip this bright.  (The swatches shown don't have Cherry underneath, so you can see the true colour of Relentlessly Red, but keep an eye out on my Instagram - I'll be sure to show it there next time!)  The colour is so bold, and I definitely would recommend a liner underneath to get a nice lip shape - you can see in my swatches that the colour has bled slightly outside of the lip, so apply carefully over a lip liner with a lip brush for perfect definition!

The wear time on this shade is literally amazing.  I intended on wearing this all day in Milan, but plans changed and I worried that my tiredness could leave me with horrific looking lips if I didn't keep up with applications.  I wore this shade all day this week, and the wear time was literally all day.  The shade didn't disappear during or after eating or drinking, and it just started to fade on me at the end of my working day.  But the fade still packed a pretty decent colour punch.  Getting this off my lips was way more of a challenge than applying it!

So if this is my fourth MAC lipstick...which do I need to try next?  Have you tried Relentlessly Red?

The Uniquely You Challenge

The Uniquely You challenge is a blogger challenge set up by Mod Cloth.  Each week, an item from their website is selected as the item of the week, and bloggers have to style it with their own personal twist!  I have heard of Mod Cloth, but honestly it's not a site that I had visited prior to the challenge because it is based in America.  But, since carrying out the challenge, I've found that shipping to the UK is easy peasy, and they have some really nice bits in a huge range of sizes!  (My favourites are the graphic tees, but lordy they have some nice things!)

So this week, the chosen item was Bouquet of the Season dress.  In all honesty, when I saw this I was a little worried how I would style this to make it more me.  I'm not a major lover of pink or florals, and this is very girly with pink and florals.  Looking at the dress, I first thought it would be nice for a Wedding or maybe a day at the races - not something I go to, and Weddings I tend to stick to plain dresses.  But when I thought about how I would wear it...well I think it'd be the perfect base item for festival wearing.

The fitted bust, but floaty bottom is perfect for festival style and the colours are beautifully suited to beach sunsets, or lazing on the field.  I chose to team this dress with the Totally Boss Jacket, which is a light acid wash denim to give a girly dress a bit of an edge.  I really love this jacket, and it seems to have a slight crop to it which I think is perfect for a dress of this style - I wouldn't want the jacket to swamp over the dress.

Festival shoes are a tough one...for a casual day in a pub garden, I might put this outfit with some nice sandals or flip flops.  But festivals in England, where the weather is really unpredictable, I'd need a closed toe.  I've chosen some pretty grungey boots, which are the Long Strides Forward Boots, and would slip these over a nice pair of girly, frilly socks like the Dancing on Flair Socks.  I've not seen frilly socks this frilly in the UK - I really, really love the huge frill!  (Doesn't 'frill' look weird when it's been written so many times...frill...frilly...)

I love a good necklace, so when I spied the Bead Still My Heart Necklace, I needed to fit it into this outfit!  I was a bit unsure at first, but you know what, festival style is almost an anything goes.  I want to wear this necklace with this outfit, and I want to clash the cobalt blue with this dress.  I love how chunky it is, and the cord gives it an amazing boho feel.  To really finish the festival vibes, I've chosen the Safari Finesse Hat!  I probably prefer hats to sunglasses, because I find sunglasses that actually suit me really difficult to find, but hats...well I really love this big rim hat!

So that's my outfit!  I hope you like it; it's been fun doing a challenge!  You can find my outfit on Wanelo here!

How would you have styled the Bouquet of the Season dress?

Avène Extremely Gentle Cleanser & Soothing Hydrating Serum

I am always on the look out for new bits to try, and a few months ago I was given the opportunity to try something from Avène - the Extremely Gentle Cleanser*.  It sat in my draw of spares waiting to be used, and when the Avène Soothing Hydrating Serum* made its way into my mitts, I decided to pair the duo up and finally give them some attention.

I have been using the Extremely Gentle Cleanser in the evening to remove my make up as my pre-cleanse.  It says you can use this both morning and night, but I don't feel comfortable, or clean, using a formulation like this to clean all my night grime from my face in the morning.  It is a gel like texture which you apply with your fingers, and wipe off any excess using a cotton pad.  I found that the cleanser often just disappeared into my skin, so I never found that there was too much to wipe off which is probably why I never felt particularly clean.  The gel itself though is really soothing, and does leave skin feeling really soft but it doesn't effectively clean eye make up and I'm often left with under eye smudges.

The Soothing Hydrating Serum on the other hand...well, that was amazing.  It absorbed ridiculously quickly into my skin, and left practically no residue.  My skin has been feeling a little dehydrated lately, and I really felt my skin was drinking this up.  I mainly used this in the evening over the top of my Effaclar Duo+ and underneath my chosen moisturiser.  If my skin was feeling particularly dry, I did a couple of layers of the Hydrating Serum to ensure my skin was properly hydrated!  What I really loved about the serum was being able to use it in the morning - it provided a perfect, even base for the days make up.  It isn't heavy, but leaves my skin feeling perfectly smooth.

I don't know if I would personally recommend the Cleanser, but I'd one hundred percent recommend trying the serum!  If you did want to try them, the entire Avène range is currently on offer at Escentual.

Have you tried any Avène?  Will you be trying the Cleanser or the Serum?
*PR Sample.  These Avène products were sent to me for review.