Beauty Bites

Last night I decided to do a little post on some “beauty” stuff I love and I feel is pretty affordable. I got my favs out to do a little photo shoot and tonight I was ready to roll. HAH!! There about five minutes ago, I confirmed to myself exactly why I’m not a beauty blogger…one of the items, I lovvvve to bits is discontinued and the other, well I seen it in the shop last week so either their website is very poor or I’m seriously slow on the beauty scene. Actually, I am….I am reeeeeally slow on the beauty scene. Up until Christmas, I had make up circa 2000 lurking in my bathroom. I know, I know…ugh! It’s gone now though, I never used it anyway. Anyway, shur listen, I’m still gonna tell ye about this stuff, ye might fancy it yerselves……………

Numero uno! Nivea Daily Essentials Tinted Moisturising Day Cream. Aggggh! Ooooh! As I write this and go to attach a link, it’s gone down in price!! Wooo! Bargain at the minute! Anywho…I don’t wear make up everyday, mascara if I remember it and sometimes if I’m going out and it’s not “Out, Out” I don’t want to use my MAC foundation, it makes me feel like my face is overdressed and so my bestie recommended this to me. It’s Nivea too, a brand I really like and it goes on so easy, just like you’d expect a moisturiser to BUT it gives a really nice light coverage to your face. For me, I feel like I’m still everyday me but with a nice light filter over me. So if you’re looking for something for light daily use with an economical price tag, I’d recommend giving this product a try…..it’s down to £1.79 in Superdrug at the min…go, go, go!!

Next up St. Ives Apricot Body Scrub. I. LOVE. THIS! I love the smell of it, I love the consistency of it, it really is one of the best body scrubs I’ve used. My legs can go really dry during the winter and this is just the stuff to pep them up, it just works so well from the first go, my skin feels like new! It’s also really good to use in preparation for tanning. The tub is pretty big too and although I do quite like the tub, it’s a bit annoying trying to use it and keep water out of it whilst in the shower…but then where there’s a will there’s a way! I think the price is pretty reasonable too for what it does.

I stole this pic off the Boots website.

(Unfortunately for me, when I went shopping for it last, neither Superdrug or Boots had it so I’ve picked up Superdrugs own Sugar and Oil Body scrub to try but it has big shoes to fill for me on this….I’ll let ye know what I think.)

I use this lad, pretty much every day; Superdrug Deep Action Exfoliating Daily Wash. I have pretty porous skin and I find around my nose area is really prone to blackheads, using this wash though really makes a difference. It feels a bit sticky but has just the right amount of grittiness to clean your delicate facial skin. I see results straight away and my face just feels so clean, like the grime of the day has been lifted off and I can breath again. I’ve tried the more expensive products too but I feel Superdrug have done really well here with their skincare products so I’ll stick with them…the also do a really good Blackhead Clearing Scrub as well.

Pic stolen from Superdrug website.

The odd time, when I’m feeling like a proper beauty queen, I actually take the time to slap on a face mask. At the minute I really like Superdrugs Purifying Witch Hazel Face Mask…this is also the item I can’t find on their website but obviously did in store. I picked it up for the witch hazel element as my face can be a right bitch at times and is prone to spots. Witch Hazel is a natural cleanser and soothes irritated areas. The mask doesn’t dry super hard, but does “tighten”, I don’t know if it’s the smell of this alone or what it is but my skin instantly feels “lighter” as soon as I put it on. I’ll post a link to another from the range here.

I’m a bit sad as I write this piece…These little L’oreal Glam Shines have been discontinued. (You can still buy them off Amazon but still, if you were in a hurry like….) A friend of mine introduced me to these a few years ago and also gave me a few bottles supply (of which is coming to an end) and I just love them. They have great staying power and have a cute little heart shaped wand for application, which works well with your lip shape. The darker one is my absolute favourite, I wear it rather than lippy sometimes and it’s glittery…like why? Why would you discontinue this??

I looked on the L’oreal site and it suggested these as an alternative so we shall see….

Now last but not least….hand cream! I have a bit of a thing for hand cream at the minute as me hands are in absolute bits for some reason lately. At the top end of the price scale is L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream, (£8 for 30ml) I actually got this free with a magazine, granted it has lasted me ages as you only need to use a little but if I went into a shop and seen the price I’d be scared off a little. As a treat though, this is really nice and pretty good cream. It’s quite thick so as I said you only need a little but it is very moisturising and it smells nice too. Mid price band (£4 for 30ml) are the Body Shop hand creams which I treated myself to at Christmas. Again with these creams,  they are quite thick and a little goes a long way, they absorb really well too. They both smell amazing especially the strawberry one, I just want to lick my hands every time I apply that one. Last but not least, my bargain Nivea Soft hand cream (75ml) which I picked up in Poundland. I love Nivea creams anyway and this hand cream doesn’t disappoint me. It’s pretty light and compared to the others will seem watery in consistency but it does a good job and my hands feel much better after applying it.

So there ya go…my little stab at helping to “beautify” the world, I hope you found it helpful and let me know if you’ve tried any of the products or what you think…any recommendations of your own?

Stay clean, stay soft,

Love Donna x

P.S You can also check out my reviews for Cocoa Brown Tan here and Dove Hair oil here.

 

3 meltdowns, 13 minutes!

I’ve just sat down to have a wee and I hear “Mammy, where are you?”. “In the bathroom sweet, what’s up?… What you doing?”….I raise my eyebrows…”having a wee”. “I have wee too” and the door flings open. Ugh! The three minutes of me (wee) time is gone, but he is the cutest thing I ever seen so I don’t mind sharing my bathroom time to much. “Look Mammy, look what I got” as he holds his little hand up to me. I can see he has something tiny between his thumb and index finger. “What ya got Baby?”. He smiles at me….a boogie he says! “Ah for Gods sake, Monkey will ya stop picking your nose, it’s disgusting!” “NO!” I’m still sitting on the loo…in real life the time that all this has elapsed in is much quicker than how it might seem now…don’t forget I’m using a lot of descriptive words and such. 🙂 “C’mere! Give me that now ” and I make a lunge at him, knickers still round me ankles. He tries to make a dash out the door but I catch him and grab the boogie out of his fingers.

“IT’S MY BOOGIEEEE, I WANT IIIIT! IT’S MY BOOGIEEEEEE! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!” Small Monkey wails. Lord God!! It’s a snot for God’s sake! So of course I ask him what is he going to do with it, carry it round with him all day? YES, he says! Jeezus! There are real tears now and feet stamping over a BOOGIE! The poor child will have a complete meltdown when he’s 21 and the bouncer in the pub tells him he’s had at least 40 mins drinking up and takes his drink!! “IT’SSSS MYYY BOOOGIEEEEE! I WANNNNT IT!”. God almighty, I sort meself out and stand up mumbling about getting no peace and stop being annoying. He’s regained some sort of composure and pipes up “YOU annoy ME!” . By jayzus! I’m smirking all the same.

We’ve progressed to the kitchen now and agreed that I should make dinner. “Right Sausage, what will we have for dinner?”. He still hasn’t forgiven me for thiefing his precious boogie, “I NOT sausage, I *Small Monkey* Ikel Eldridge Monkey Beans”. I smile, to which I’m told it’s not funny. Anyway he climbs up on the chair and says he wants an orange. I tell him no, dinner will only be a few minutes, he says ok. It’s all gravy and I naively head out to get dinner out of the back fridge. Yep! As you might have guessed, in the two seconds I was gone, he’s bored a hole into an orange trying to peel it. “Oi you farty bum, I said no oranges ’til after dinner” and I take the orange off of him. He didn’t give in easy and wailing ensued again…..ugggggh!! “I WANT A ORANGE! I WANT A ORANGE!”. “Your dinner is nearly ready” (it’s not, it’s about 20mins away but he’s not starving, he’d ate a packet of Wotsits and half an apple about 10mins before “Boogiegate”…..I might hashtag that…#boogiegate…hee hee hee….anywho….) “I DON’T WANT DINNER, I WANT ORANGE! I WANT ORANGE! I. WANT. A. ORANGE!” “Look, your dinner won’t be long ok and then you can have an orange ok?”. Ugh…Gawwwd! He’s killing me with these demands so I try a slightly harder approach….”Monkey, who’s the boss?” ME he says with a little stamp. I give him the eye…ya know like “The Rock” eye and ask him in a slightly sterner voice…”MAMMY the boss”. He’s not impressed as I say yeah Mammy’s the boss and this is not a democracy, “it is a ‘mocracy” was his reply. Aah this kid he kills me.

We’ve reached a moment of peace now, and when I say a moment I mean a moment ‘cos at the very mention of “your dinosaurs are nearly done” the third meltdown follows. Apparently he doesn’t like them, of course he informs me of this in the now customary wailing fashion. ( I really wonder where he gets the “anger” from. Myself and hubster don’t really argue and if we do it’s more a case of us both walking round tick and not talking.) Anyway dinner has eventually appeared (20mins must be 2hrs in toddler time, like in real time, those three arguments were within minutes of each other, possibly less!) we sit there, eating our dinner…yep he’s eating the dinosaurs and I ask the little monkey if he’s calmed down now to which I’m informed he’s not talking to me!!! I reply back with “fine, I’m not talking to you” and we both eat our peas, him looking out at me from under his curly wurly fringe.

“Mammy, can we play snaps now?”

“Of course we can sweetheart”.

 

Aaaah the joys! ❤ ❤