Liz Earle product launch

Not many things are more exciting than check out new products. Especially if they come from a brand that has delivered many great ones before. No wonder I was excited to attend the Liz Earle product launch in London.

The main launch was for their brand new Indulgent Bath & Body collection, which promises to help you “immerse yourself in a world of relaxation”. Basically, this range tells you that you should be allowed to bombard your senses with exquisite fragrances and sensations to treat your body and mind on a daily basis. And this should be affordable.

So this is exactly what they delivered: three exotic fragrances developed in partnership with top perfumers, available in March 2014.

In separate thematic rooms, we were expertly guided through the sensorial world of the fantastic blends:

Tiare & Jasmine, a floral blend of the exotic Tahitian tiare flower (which only flowers once a year) and the well known jasmine, neroli, orange blossom, almond milk and sandalwood, developed with master perfumer Oliver Cresp. I found this lovely and sweet, in the right amount.

Bergamot & Ginger, a zingy and fresh mix of citrus-y bergamots and ginger with flowery freesia, lily, jasmine petals and lemon blossom, created with Sabine de Tscharner.  This is a refreshing fragrance, almost masculine, but very summery. My personal preference is for sweeter scents, so although it is a very pleasant scent, this one is not really for me.

Vanilla & Saffron, an exquisite blend of Madagascan vanilla with spicy saffron create a fragrance almost as good to eat. It also counts with water lotus, honeydew, gardenia, lily of the valley and white orchid, tonka bean and musk notes. Needless to say, this was my favourite, I feel warmly hugged and wrapped by it. I just love it and could be doused on it 24/7. It was developed with Harry Freemont.

Liz Earle Bath & Body collection lau

Each fragrance has four products: Creamy Shower Nectar (£12.50) with a lusciously thick and pearly consistency; Melting Sugar Body Scrub (£14.50), which feels divine against the skin and leaves it oh-so-soft; Silky Body Lotion (£14.50), which glides, perfumes and moisturises beautifully and the Indulgent Body Butter (£16.50) which is absorbed quickly by the skin but offers that extra rich moisture touch.

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You can see I am sold – they offered an amazing hand massage using the products and I could not stop smelling my hand for the rest of the day. The scents linger in a very discreet and comfortable way and I keep catching a whiff of the deliciousness of Vanilla & Saffron all day long.

In addition to that, they were also showing off their new nail colours for Spring/Summer 14, Moonlight, a pale grey and Awakening, a pretty coral, as well as their beautiful Radiant Glow Bronzer, a quad-shade bronzer which delivers a warm gold colour with discreet shimmer, really giving the skin a gorgeous glow!

A lot to look forward to come March next year!!!

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You can also purchase and get more information on the current Liz Earle fabulous skincare and makeup ranges on their website!

Beautiful christmas: my selection of beauty gifts

Ho ho ho. It is December and I feel I am officially allowed to say the C word without attracting some dirty looks (and the “already?!” expression n their faces). Obviously, I am talking about CHRISTMAS, silly.

Most people know someone who is a beauty fanatic and if you are not one yourself, choosing the right thing can be quite difficult. But fear not, So Many Lovely Things will give you an easy solution that is certain to cause a good impression.

I went through my favourite places for beauty buys and here are my picks:

Up to £25

studio_smokey_eyesA good all rounder for a great price. Studio products are great value for money. This Smokey eye kit, for £6, is certain to please. New Years eve eyes, sorted!

eyeko_liner

I love the Eyeko Skinny liner – it is my favourite and I use everyday. This double pack from QVC is excellent value for £14 and after trying you will certainly need a second (and a third – you won’t live without it, ever!)

nivea_kitClassic skin care brand Nivea pulled together a lovely pampering selection with Honey Face Masks, Body lotion, Pearly Shine Lip, Cleansing Wipes, Moisturising Day Cream, amongst others. For £15, this gift goes a long way. Available at Boots.

loreal_sos

Post Chirstmas excesses will show on your face. Pull yourself together with this L’Oréal Port-Party Beauty SOS and be ready for the next one in no time! £10 from Boots.

rodial_bauble

A pretty bauble from Rodial, with its lovely Glam Balm inside. A tiny bit of luxury to plump those lips for that all important unde the mistletoe action! £14 from Harrods.

rae_morris

I love this book. Rae Morris’ classic Makeup: The Ultimate Guide will help you get the grips with makeup and look even more fabulous! Only £12.50 from Amazon.

sanctuary

The Sanctuary’s Best Sellers Collection is a great body indulgence kit with their classic scent. £15 from Debenhams.

clinique_candy

Clinique’s Chubby stick Whole Lotta Candy collection means you will have three beautiful shades to choose from for the New Year’s party! £20 from House of Fraser.

babydoll

Pretty doll eyes with YSL Baby Doll Mascara Set – to put it on and remove later! Find it at Boots for £24.50.

nailsinc_minis

Must Have minis from Nails Inc – lots of shades to start well the year – fro nudes to neons – this will keep your talons colour going for a while! Great value of £23.52 from QVC!

clinique_party_tips

Festive talons courtesy of Clinique’s Party Tips nail polish set.. Three pretty shades for sensitive skin for £20 from House of Fraser.

elemis

Discover Elemis’ great Tri-enzime kit with this 4 piece set, for only £24.12 from QVC.


opi_fullytied

OPI’s Fit to be Tied #2 has two beautiful nail shades and delivers glitter in the right amount. £18.55 from QVC.

clinique_3step

Clinique’s classic 3 step kit is one of my favourites cleanse, tone and moisturise sets. Have a go with this intro collection and see for yourself. £20 from Debenhams.

liz_earle

The Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser is a classic – and is has a special edition for Christmas – £26.25 for 200ml cleaner and 2 muslim cloths!

Over £26

naked3

I couldn’t leave out the Naked 3 palette from Urban Decay, coming out on the 12 December for £37. Hurry!!!

mac_stoke_midnight

Beautifully packaged MAC’s Stroke of Midnight eye kit in Smoky got me hooked. Smokey eyes paradise with Chillproof, Retrospeck, Gaelic Gold, Well Put Together and Carbon (my fave matte black eyeshadow). At £32, exceptional value for money.

 

benefit

Benefit’s Groovy Kinda Love gift set has their best sellers to keep you pretty – and all for £29.50 from Boots.

ud_glitter

Sparkle! The Urban Decay Starlight Glitter set can help with that! £30 from House of Fraser.

Damsel-in-De-stress

Guinot has brought some lovely gift boxes this year, each one looking to fix a “problem” in a girl’s life.

Ready Set Glow will deliver complexion brightening tools; Damsel in De-Stress will pamper and help relief stress; Supercharged Youth Boost delivers a boost for ageing skin. They also have a male grooming gift set called Tied up, with a face wash, after shave and shaving brush! They are priced between £46 and £64 and can be found at your nearest salon using Guinot products or at the Salon Skincare website, amongst others. website

ysl_youthliberator

Reveal a younger you with YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum set, £64 from Boots.

lancome_visionnaire

Lancôme’s Visionnaire is of my favourite serums – and this set has lots of amazing goodies to accompany it! It costs £82 from Boots.

mac_brushes

This classic selection of half size MAC brushes is amazing – and a fantastic value too at £42.

lancome_alber

And finally, a girl can dream…. fro £300 you can get the WHOLE Alber Elbaz collection for Lancôme at Harrods. Sigh…

Product Review: L’Oréal Studio Line #TXT Wave Creating Spray

studio line txt wave creating spray

Fine, flat hair. One of my beauty curses. Any help to fight it is more than welcome, so I was delighted to try the new L’Oréal Studio Line #TXT Wave Creating Spray.

Packaging is simple and effective, with bright colours – I personally like the purple/coral combination. The spray diffuses well delivering the right amount of product to the hair.

What I really like it is that it doesn’t feel like you applied anything to the hair – it doesn’t crunch or weigh down the hair.

L’Oréal says that the spray is to create texturised waves on straight hair and is specially formulated to help protect hair against heat.  This last part is very important for me!

After applying to the tips of my hair, I used a curling wand to style. I then brushed and ended up with soft tousled waves. And an extra bonus: volume!!!

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It also lasted all day – and when I woke up the next morning, they were still there!

This had to become a go-to product, which I am not surprised, as my previous one for curls was L’Oréal’s Hot Curl, also part of their Studio Line range.

It is priced at £3.79 for 150ml and you can find the Studio Line #TXT Wave Creating Spray at retailers country wide. More information on this product and others on the #TXT line at the L’Oréal website.

This post contains PR samples. This review, however, is based on my own true experience with the products and reflects my honest opinion on them.

Nails of the week: blues and purples with silver

blue, purple and silver nails - somanylovelythings

This post is a bit different, as I have no idea what base polishes were used.

I’ve been to Brazil and my lovely manicurist Irma looked after my talons for two weeks. She is the only person I will let touch my nails. Although I enjoy doing my own manicure, there is something lovely about sitting there and letting the professional her do her job, while I rummage through boxes of nail polish so she can make my crazy (in her view – but quite tame in mine!) ideas come true.

blue, purple and silver nails - somanylovelythings

So I went frantically picking all blues and purples that tickled my fancy and ended up with this lovely selection. The common element: the silver foil string topcoat from Impala, called Atitude Pop, from their Rebelde collection.

The topcoat has a decent saturation of fine silver tinsel like strings suspended on a clear base. I just love the effect, really brings all the colours together beautifully!!!

Rating:

4_star

Product review: Liz Earle Healthy Glow Cream blush

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Although I have a few other shades, coral/peach is my favourite colour for blusher – it goes well with most skin tones and makeup colours. I was very happy to try the Liz Earle healthy glow cream blush in Coral, 05.

Packaging is lovely – simple, elegant and most importantly, extremely compact. It also has a little mirror on the lid.

Now, I might have mentioned before that I avoid using cream makeup products as my skin is prone to oiliness and it all melts and also because of my scarring – these products tend to sink on them. Not pretty to look at.

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I am delighted to say I was pleasantly surprised with this Liz Earle blush. It looks darker in the pot than it is on the skin – but it is highly pigmented, so you only need a little.

It has a lovely creamy consistency that applies and blends extremely well and a matte-ish finish to die for. And somehow it delivers a lovely glowy flush of colour. I don’t quite get how it does it, but I love it.  Most importantly, it does not sink into my scars after a few hours of use. Score!

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The Healthy Glow Cream blush is available in seven beautiful shades, retails for 16.50 and can be purchased at the Liz Earle website  where you can also find a fantastic line of cosmetics and makeup!

This post contains PR samples.

Nails of the week: blue and silver leopard print

blue and silver leopard print manicure - somanylovelythings

You know when I obsess about a nail design I just can’t stop. I am actually surprised it took me this long to be at the leopard spots again…

This time, I went for a blue base with the beautiful L’Oréal’s colour riche in Rebel Blue.

Then I used Barry M Foil Effects in silver to add the spots and the super handy Barry M’s Nail art pen to add the black outlines and small spots, using the same tools as  previously on this colourful leopard print manicure.

blue and silver leopard print manicure - somanylovelythings

I am very pleased with the result; this design is very straight forward and has a great effect!

Rating:

4_star

Review: LashPerfect Lash Bar Hi Brow treatment

It is no secret that I love a well groomed pair of eyebrows and cannot live without plucking and filling mine. After trying the LashPerfect Hi Brow filling powder and wax pencil and attending their eyebrow event where they launched their brow extensions Brow Perfect, I was delighted to actually try their full eyebrow treatment called Hi Brow.

Their salon, just by Carnaby Street in London, is lovely. I went in 24 hours before my appointment for a patch test (this is very important, as they won’t tint your brows without it!). They were also very lovely changing the date of my treatment when I forgot to pop in for a patch test. Do-oooh!!!

lashperfect hibrow treatment

Before

lashperfect hibrow treatment

After

Upon arrival, the lovely Liga asked me to fill out a form (I had filled one for the patch test already) and took me down to the treatment area. Then she cleansed my eyebrows, gave me a mirror and asked me what I didn’t like about my eyebrows.

I do like them, so I mentioned I would like to keep them quite thick as they are, get more definition, a general tidy and a bit more of an arch.

First, she measured my brow in three points: inner corner, highest point and end, marking the spots. She asked what shade I’d be more comfortable with for the tint – I said not too dark! She applied the wax pencil around my brows and then the tint, removing the excess with a cotton bud and already defining the shape.

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The tint is ON

After a few minutes, she cleaned the dye and started the shaping process, first by waxing. They use an amazing wax which is has a low melting point so it is not too hot – it is in fact very pleasantly lukewarm, and feels very soft and gentle on the skin. Just what you need for your face! She removed hair from the top, bottom and middle of brows!

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Shaping already started on left brow!

She also used tweezers to fine tune the shape and threading to remove the fluff towards the hair line – a multi-technique operation going on!

She then gave me back the mirror and wow – they looked amazing. But she wasn’t done. Oooh no! There was filling to be done. She filled with the lovely Hi Brow powder (reviewed here), teaching me how to do it best. That is no harsh lines at the top, starting from the middle bottom, make a defined line and blend upwards so you can still see skin and it is not too dark! Now I know! Then she applied the highlighter on the brow bone.

lashperfect hibrow treatment

After shaping

Finally – and I found this a lovely touch – she concealed the redness (although I didn’t even go too red, slightly pink, more like!) so I could return to the office, as I had the treatment, which lasts about 30 minutes inclusive of consultation, on my lunch break!

I had never had my eyebrows tinted before and I really liked the effect. It lasts for about a month, Liga told me. Overall, the service was very friendly, extremely professional and I felt very confident in totally trusting my brows (such an important feature of my face!) to them.

More than a week on, the tint has faded a bit, but the shape is still looking fantastic and the eyebrows are still looking very sharp!

lashperfect hibrow treatment

And voilá – beautifully tinted, shaped and filled eyebrows!

You can book the Hi Brow treatment, a great lunchtime treat, by calling the LashBar (35 Marshall Street, London W1F 7EX – behind Carnaby Street) on 020 7434 4554. It costs £35.

They offer a great range of lashes and brows treatments. All info, including prices, can be found on the LashBar website and you can also follow them on Twitter @LashBar@LashPerfect@Hi_Brow and@BrowPerfect_ for news and promotions.

This post contains PR samples. This review, however, is based on my own true experience with the products and reflects my honest opinion on them.

Product review: L’Oréal Ever Riche Oil Precieux

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I started using hair oils a little while ago and the Ever Riche Oil Precieux hit the spot!it

To start, it smell amazing. Really amazing. The very light oriental jasmine, gardenia and ylang-ylang aroma really sticks to the hair.

L’Oréal’s fine oil mist for dry hair is part of the Ever Riche line and is sulphate free.

It doesn’t weigh the hair down (even for fine hair like mine) and I felt an improvement on the condition- it did feel more nourished and shiny.

Personally, I prefer using it on wet hair, after washing, but it can be used on dry hair. I also think the spray nozzle could produce a finer mist- that would make this product just perfect.

The L’Oréal Ever Riche Oil Precieux RRP is £11.99

This post contains PR samples. This review, however, is based on my own true experience with the products and reflects my honest opinion on them.

What I’ve been wearing – 21/11/13

It is all about the jumpers… I went a bit crazy and bought loads to make sure I stay warm …. and they are so cosy!

Also featuring quite heavily are the H&M leather ankle boots – they are shiny, have a considerable heel thus making me feel a bit more dressed up and are comfortable enough to wear all day. And it was only £69.00!

And without further ado, here are my latest picks!

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Teal jumper, black skater skirt and black leather ankle boots from H&M, necklace from Miss Selfridge, bracelet from Primark, rings from H&M, Primark and Forever 21.

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Black jumper from H&M, burgundy shorts from Primark, black leather ankle boots from H&M, necklace from Primark, rings from Primark, Miss Selfridge, Topshop and New Look.

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Snow leopard print jumper from H&M, faux leather skirt from Primark, black leather ankle boots from H&M, snow leopard print socks from New Look, necklace from Primark, rings from New Look, H&M and Primark.

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Grey trousers from Topshop, white crop shirt from Miss Selfridge, tricolour court shoes from Zara, necklace from Primark, rings from Forever 21, Zena & Me, Miss Selfridge,  Topshop  and Primark.

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Black trousers from H&M, leopard print top from Topshop, brown and orange high heels from Viviela (Barnes style), necklace from Primark, rings from H&M and Primark.

Nails of the week: purple and blue

This week I went back to a design I really loved: the vintage inspired heart tip. But with with the twist of less vintage-y colours.

purple and blue nails -somanylovelythings

I selected the stunning OPI Purple-iscious, which is a special edition polish to celebrate the 20th birthday of QVC – purple is the brand colour!

OPI Purple-iscious for QVC 20th birthday

OPI Purple-iscious for QVC 20th birthday

This is a metallic purple, shimmery with extremely fine glitter. It has a very subtle orangey-reddish pearlescence; it doesn’t colour-shift but gives this polish an amazing dimension. However, in essence, Purple-iscious is a fabulous (and delicious) purple. Application was great, as with any OPI polish and durability was also ace. Happy birthday QVC and thank you for bringing this gem of a polish out!

The blue at the tip is L’Oréal’s colour riche in Rebel Blue, an amazing royal blue with a fantastic sheen to it.

I followed the same process as on the nude and red manicure I did before and achieved the same results.

purple and blue nails - somanylovelythings

I really like it, although I don’t think it beats the nude and red one… As for the purple, I will definitely use it alone! It is gorgeous!

You can get the amazing Purple-iscious celebrating QVC’s 20th birthday at the QVC website; it comes in a special kit with the amazing Nail Envy base coat and it costs  £20.16 plus P&P.

Rating:

4_star

This post contains PR samples. This review, however, is based on my own true experience with the products and reflects my honest opinion on them.