Category: Beauty

New Nail Polish Review || samanthalalaa

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My friend Emma has just started making her own nail polishes! All of her polishes meet EU standards for cosmetics and she has a CSPR for all the ingredients. Also they are all 5-free so they don’t contain any of the usual nasty chemicals found in nail polishes.

 
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Flipping Your Fins 

 
The first shade I tried was this really pretty green colour that’s totally inspired by Ariel (The Little Mermaid). I’m wearing two coats with no top coat and the shine from it is really intense. It went on really well and dried fairly quickly. Out of the bunch this one is probably my favouite, purely because of that iridescent gliter through the polish.

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Unnamed Purple

This currently unnamed shade is a really deep royal purple. This shade is so pigmented that the above photos show me only wearing one coat. This shade is a really high gloss that gave me rich Willy Wonka/Cadbury’s chocolate vibes.

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Unnamed Dark Blue 

The last colour I tried out was this dark, high gloss blue. This one, in contrast to the purple before went on a lot more transparent. The first coat lay the base colour and the second was wear the colour really began to pop. It’s really lightweight and buildable, and has such a shine that I’m not even wearing a top coat.

 
These colours are really pretty, unique and you can actually sense that someone has worked hard to get to these exact shades. They are of a really high quality for an indie brand and I am so looking forward to trying out all the other shades!

This Week I’m… | samanthalalaa

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After a much welcomed and much unneeded hiatus, I’m back baby! To be quite honest with you all, I was bored with what I was doing on the blog. Who hasn’t seen a thousand Lush Reviews? Also who even cares? Not me… anymore.

This week I’ve decided I want to talk a bit about the things I’ve been obsessing over this week, let you know what I’m hooked on, what floats my boat and so on. So without further ado, WELCOME BACK!

THIS WEEK I’M…

Watching… GAME OF THRONES

I know right? Lured you in above thinking I was bringing fresh content, but here I am talking about a show that came out seven years ago. Expect the unexpected people.

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My boyfriend is very much into Game of Thrones, and after much persuasion he finally got me to watch it with him. This was mostly due to the fact he took it upon himself to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race with me. I’d watched Season 1 with him about a year ago, and thought meh, that’s okay. It was a bit meaty for me, too many characters, too much to remember, too much history for a TV show. Then about last week I started watching Season Two, which again felt so slow… so drawn out… and by Season 3 I was hooked. For me, that’s when the show got insane. I then watched a season a day until I was caught up, the new season is out on Monday the 17th, and I’ll probably sitting up till two am, watching in in my Daenerys wig with my pet dragon ready to take back the Seven Kingdoms.

Wearing… TOPSHOP GREEN JUMPER 

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I haven’t had this jumper off since I bought it really. It’s my favourite thing to throw over literally anything. In Scotland, we’re not having too great a summer, sure we get days here and there, but more often than not it’s the same grey weather we always have. It sounds insane, but this jumper is a perfect Scottish Summer staple. It’s warm, but it’s casual and bright. I also love the sleeves because they make me feel like that bit in Back to the Future part 2 where Marty puts on the future jacket and the sleeves don’t fit. In fact, that’s probably why I bought it. It was on sale for £16 in Topshop!

Listening to… ALTERNATIVE EIGHTIES 

This playlist by Spotify, Alternative 80s  is constantly on in my car. As a wannabe child of the eighties, and a wannabe nu wave, punk, indie cindy – this playlist is right up my street. It’s got Blondie and Bowie, The Cure and The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Simple Minds,  Siouxsie and the Banshees… the list goes on.

Wearing  (On My Face Edition)… KYLIE COSMETICS – IN LOVE WITH THE KOKO – DOLL 

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This shade is the most poppin’ colour I have ever put on my face and I am infatuated with it. It keeps even the most basic of my make up looks (which are pretty much all basic) and turns them up to 11. I got the In Love With The KoKo collection from my lovely boyfriend on my birthday and all the shades in it are really beautiful and wearable, but Doll is the winner for me.

Reading… TWIN PEAKS FAN THEORIES 

Since the return of one of my all time favourite TV shows, I’ve been obsessed with finding out exactly what the fuck is going on. Week after week I feel like nothing happens and then I go onto reddit and apparently so much has happened. I feel like Twin Peaks: The Revival is akin to sitting on a plane waiting to sky dive and you keep thinking it’s about to happen… and then it doesn’t and you’re still on the plane waiting. That’s my feelings. So /r/twinpeaks is really seeing me though the weeks in between episodes.

That’s all for this week guys! I hope to be back next week with some more of my disjointed thoughts and ramblings.

Lots of love,

Sam xoxo

 

‘Better Than Sex’ – Too Faced Mascara | samanthalalaa

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For the past few years I’ve been a huge fan of Benefit ‘They’re Real!’ mascara, but I’ve recently had just about enough of it. I love the mascara itself, but as with my Benefit ‘Gimme Brow’ it dries out so quickly.

I’ve tried everything to prevent this, screwing it closed as tight as I can get it, yet after a couple of weeks it still dries out and I have to buy a new one, and at £19.50 a tube, I can hardly afford to do that.

So today I found myself in Debenhams, Benefit ‘Roller Lash’ in one hand, Too Faced ‘Better Than Sex’ in the other. I’ve heard good things about both of these, ‘Better Than Sex’ being a big hit amongst bloggers and ‘Roller Lash’ being a hit with… Well, everyone except my friend Aimee. But it was the fact I’ve had enough of Benefit mascara drying out on me that made me go for Too Faced.

 
The mascara comes in at £19, and I fell in love with the packaging. It’s sort of a dusty pink metal tube that feels nice and looks high end and luxurious.

 

 
The brush was also a big selling point for me. I love a proper brush on a mascara, as I don’t think the plastic brushes separate my eyelashes properly and make them look clumpy. The brush on this mascara has an hourglass shape, which is really good for getting right into the little eyelashes in the corners of your eye and enhancing your natural shape.

One Coat 

   

If you ignore the bags under my eyes you can already see a difference between the lashes on the right and the lashes on the left. With just one coat they’re already nice and long and are already making my eyes pop.

Two Coats 

   

I only put two coats on, purely because I was so happy with the results I have here. I have naturally quite long lashes, but this mascara really enhances my natural lash and makes them looks really nice and even. The mascara almost gives a false lash look without mucking about with any glue or fake lashes.

I really enjoy the initial results I’ve got from this mascara, and I’ve got high hopes for it. Fingers crossed it doesn’t dry out on me.

Sam xoxo

Lush Review – ‘Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment’ | samanthalalaa

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The second of my bath luxuries I used was the Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment (£3.95), which is a bath melt. First of all; I’m going to say how strong this product smells. It’s so sweet, and it makes your bathroom smell like a sweet shop, so it’s definitely something you need to be in the mood for.

The bath melt reminded me of the Snow Fairy shower gel and The Comforter bubble bar, having the same sickly sweet smell, and it turns the water a really pretty pinky colour. I put the melt in my bath, went to take off my make up, then by the time I went back the bathroom the smell of the melt had taken over my entire house. 

  

The melt dissolves really slowly, unlike the bath bombs, which I’ve seen a lot of complaints about. When it comes to a bath melt, I think you get what it says on the tin when it takes longer to dissolve than a bomb. It’s a LUXURY product, it’s meant for relaxing and chilling and taking it easy. For some reason I found it a lot nicer than a bomb for that reason. 

This product left my skin so soft and creamy and I really enjoyed my bath with this. It’s definitely a luxury product, good for relaxing, but not something you want to use in a quick bath. This is a product to definitely make time for. 

Sam xoxo 

Lush Review – ‘Sunnyside’ | samanthalalaa 

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I get paid weekly, and I get paid minimum wage. I don’t really have a lot of money, because as soon as I get it on a Monday it’s as though I have to spend it as soon as possible. On such a Monday, with various notes crammed in my small purse, I found myself in Lush.

I tried to limit myself, I prevented myself from buying anything over a fiver, or any thing from the same family. After an eternity of sniffing and wandering, I purchased three things, a bath bomb, a bath melt and a bubble bar.

 
The first thing I used, that night, was the Sunnyside bubble bar. I’ve only bought one bubble bar before this, The Comforter. I love the smell of The Comforter, it’s the same, if not similar, as Snow Fairy (the Christmas shower gel) so I had high hopes. The Comforter if a firm fan favourite, but I just didn’t like it.

The girl in the shop explained to me that with bubble bars you could break them off and use as much or as little as you wanted with each bath, but to be honest I don’t think I was using it right. I was kind of rubbing it in my hands like a bar of soap. THIS IS WRONG, and perhaps part of the reason I didn’t like it.

 
Using the handy ‘how to use a bubble bar’ article on the Lush website, I used Sunnyside bubble bar by running it under the tap and letting all the bubbles spread across the tub. Unlike the comforter, the bar itself is exactly enough for one bath,  which I found a lot easier to use. The Sunnyside bubble bar smells amazing, really citrusy, probably due to the fact it contains oils from oranges, lemons and tangerines. The smells are really summery and fresh and ideal for a bath at this time of year.

The bar itself turns your bath water a quite horrible yellow colour that reminded me of pee, but when I looked a little closer I noticed all the glitter swirling beneath the surface. The glittery looked so ethereal and magical that it reminded me of a potion from Harry Potter (Felix Felicis to be precise).

Overall my second attempt at using a bubble bar was much better than my first and I feel more open to exploring all the different possibilities that my new found love can lead me to. The only downside to this bubble bar is the colour and the fact it leads a sort of yellow ring around the bath, although that comes off quite easily.

I’d definitely try this bomb again, and at only £3.75 it’s an absolute steal.

Sam xoxo

Lush Review – ‘Twilight’ | samanthalalaa 

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Tonight I tried the Lush bath bomb ‘Twilight’. I spent about half an hour in Lush smelling every bath bomb I haven’t tried before finally settling on this one, mostly due to the amazing smell.

I’m not usually a huge fan of lavender scented things but the smell of this bomb won me over almost instantly. The ‘Twilight’ bath bomb is designed to de-stress and relax you using a combination of essential oils. This bomb would be ideal for anyone who struggles with getting to sleep, suffers from anxiety or is just leading a stressful lifestyle.

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The bomb its self starts off pink and as it dissolves it reveals yellow and blue underneath. The blue kind of looks like liquid in the middle of the bomb. The water turns a deep purple underneath pink and blue foam and mine sort of dissolved in this really pretty spiral pattern.

The ‘Twilight’ bomb leaves you smelling amazing and feeling sleepy and relaxed. My skin feels really soft and smooth and I feel altogether more relaxed.

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Sam xoxo