Shopping The Stash

I have been trying to limit myself and not buy any make up as I really want to save money. It's going well (as long as I stay out of Boots!) and recently I realised that a good way to relieve my 'cravings' for new products is to use make up that I haven't touched for a while! This way, it will feel like I'm using something new (Am I making sense?)

The Benefit Coralista blusher is my favourite, and for some reason I never want to use it. I think I'm scared of running out. But I have vowed to use it for this week. The Benefit BadGal eyeliner isn't a favourite of mine, but it's perfect for smudging, so I'll have a play around with it. The Topshop lipstick is Pillow Talk and used to be a favourite of mine until I started buying MAC (I now own three MAC lipsticks oo-err) so I'm looking forward to sporting this. The mascara is a Barbara Daly mascara* from Tesco and it doesn't give as much volume as I like, but I can always try building it up. Finally, I have a few Clinique samples that I plan to use up. I'm not sure if they're the right shade or anything, but it's worth a try!

What products will you be using this week?

MAC Haul

When it comes to MAC, I often have a wishlist as long as my arm. However, when my amazing, amazing boyfriend gave me a £50 voucher to spend there, I had no clue what to get.

I visited the store in Carnaby Street and I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed with the staff. They all just stood around chatting and ignoring the customers, and when I asked for help choosing products to buy, he said something along the lines of "just buy what you want".

I purchased Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Plus, Select Moisturecover in NW20, Passionate Eye shadow, and Cremesheen Creme Cup lipstick.

Eventually, I chose a few things, and I'm really happy with my purchases. This came to a total of £59.50. I'm thinking of doing individual reviews of these, any you particularly want to see?

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Review | GHD Straight and Smooth Spray

I say this a million times, but my hair is horrible. It is the one thing I wish I could change about myself as it is so difficult to manage. Everyone I know tells me I should love my naturally curly wild hair, but I just can't. I never wear it naturally and my hair straighteners are my best friend.

I will try any spray, serum or mousse that claims to help tame frizzy, unruly hair and make straightening it a better experience. I have a whole shelf full of hair products that all claim to do different things. A lot work, some don't.

This is why I was super excited when I received ghd's Straight & Smooth Spray*. My first impression was that it looks so professional, and it now was a firm spot at the front of my haircare shelf (I like it to look pretty). It reminds me of the bottles that you see in the hairdressers that you don't even ask the price because you're certain you won't be able to afford it.

After washing my hair, I sprayed this all over my hair. I only needed about 6 sprays. It has a slight perfumed smell, but it isn't too overpowering which I liked. I then blow dried and straightened my hair, and I loved the transformation. My hair felt completely different - as I straighten my hair a lot, the ends are dead and dry, but this made that feeling go away completely. My hair looked, smelt and felt amazing. It was like I'd been to the hairdressers. (You know you never feel like you can get the same feeling at home, well now you can! It's not exactly the same - I'm not a professional! - but it was close).

My hair was a lot less frizzy after using this, but it wasn't flat. It still looked like there was some life in it, and it also took me less time to straighten it as it was much more tamed. It also has heat protection in it, which we all need. I prefer hair products that do more than one thing, as it saves me overloading my hair with lots of different products.

The Straight and Smooth spray costs just £12.95 which I think is a really good price considering you don't need that many sprays and therefore it will last a long time. Will I repurchase? Definitely.
here.

(I honestly feel like I have rambled in this post - when I love a product so much I find it hard to explain without sounding like I have gone mad. I do hope it makes sense to you, and I hope you like the review)

Have you tried any products from the ghd range before?

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*product sent to me for review

New Layout!

You may or may not notice that I've had a little play around with both of my blogs. I get bored easily and really like this new layout. It feels cleaner. I've got rid of a lot of junk that was building up in my sidebar, and I've left just the important bits. I've made the font a bit smaller, and the blog title is new (although very similar to the one before). I'm also going to start taking a lot more photos and do a few more 'update' posts.

On my other blog, I've made it less 'childish' and again given it a smaller font and a bit of a clean up. It may not make any difference to any of you, but to me I feel a lot better. I've been unhappy with both of my blog layouts for a while and a change is always good, right?

Do let me know what you think, and do take a look at my other blog - I've got lots of posts coming up helping you to save money without changing your lifestyle drastically.

Happy Wednesday!

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July Sponsors!

Every month I offer advertising spots on my blog for a very small fee. I know some people don't agree with this, and some people may even think it's a money making scheme, but for me it isn't. I charge £5 for one month, or £8 for two. I'm hardly going to be a millionaire, especially when I have a limit of 5 per month (I think that way it's not overloading my blog with sponsors). Also, this money will go back into my blog, whether it's advertising my own blog, or buying things to blog about. I really hope no one minds it too much, and I'll be sure to make sure it is worth the money.

One of the things I do each month, is a blog post on anyone who is sponsoring my blog for the month. This month is the lovely Katrina from http://www.hellogorgeousx.co.uk/ Before she messaged me on Twitter, I had never seen her blog before - but I would definitely recommend it. She writes lots of reviews of a range of products and most of them are products I would consider trying. I especially loved her seperating fact from fiction post as there are so many myths and the beauty world, and of course I love learning something new. She also sells jewellery (does anyone else always struggle to spell that?) I really hope you all pop over and check out her blog, she deserves it. :)

If you would like to sponsor my blog next month, please e-mail me (jesswd18@hotmail.com) or tweet me (@ditzyglamour). As mentioned before I charge £5 for one month, or £8 for two, and I will always do a blog post about you, as well as at least one mention on Twitter. I look forward to hearing from any of you. :)

Review | Boots 200 Clear Nails

As you all know, I bite my nails. I've done everything I can to stop, and the best way for me is to wear false nails so that it is physically impossible for me to bite them. This can be a quite expensive thing, so I avoid going to salons, and I've tried plenty of home kits.

Boots 200 Clear Nails is by far my favourite. For £8.50, you get 200 nails and a 3.25ml clear nail glue. The nails fit perfectly (although I can't use them all as some don't fit - there are 10 sizes) and they aren't too long so they are easy to wear on a daily basis. All you need to do is apply a small amount of nail glue to the nail and press it onto your nail. Simple!

I'm not a big fan of the nail glue, it isn't as strong as others, but I do use it up and my nails will normally start falling off after a few days (depending on how often you use your hands) but you can easily just stick them back on.

The nails look very real and you can wear them without any polish, but I prefer to paint them. No matter what nail polish I use, it never ever chips. And that's without a top coat. To remove the nails, you just need to soak them in Acetone-based nail polish, but I've never needed to as they normally fall off in time.

I would definitely recommend this kit for anyone who regularly buys false nails, as it is a lot cheaper than going to the salon. You can purchase them here and if you'd like to get cashback on any Boots online sale, then I would recommend Quidco* - definitely worth a look!

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*This link is a referral link. If you sign up, I will get a small amount but this will have no effect on the amount you earn at all.

NOTD | Juicy Jules

In a previous post, I talked about the false nails that I use. I thought I'd mention now that these are the nails that I have on in every NOTD post. I don't do many (although that may change!).

I did two coats of Nails Inc Denim which was free as part of their campaign with Diet Coke a while ago. They do these quite often so do keep an eye out because nails inc polishes are lovely, and although I would never pay £11 for one, I don't mind getting them on deals like that.

I then applied two coats of Juicy Jules. What I love most about this polish is that you can determnine yourself how much glitter you want. If you want something subtle, you can do one or two coats. If you want full on, in your face, glitter then keep applying coats until you get the amount you want.

Juicy Jules costs just £5, which I think is a pretty good price for the size. I don't think I'll be running out anytime soon.

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Weekend Update

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend, despite the horrible weather! I've got caught in the rain endless times this weekend and the drowned rat look is not good. I thought I'd do a little update post as they are always popular, and well, I thought I'd update you!

Over the next few weeks I have a lot of hours (full time actually). It will probably be like this until after the Olympics. Although I'll be happy when payday arrives, I'm not sure how I'm going to find time to fit in everything else. I have a lot of posts scheduled for my other blog but none for this one, so if you have any ideas for some posts I could do that don't take as much time then do let me know as I really don't want to abandon my blog again.

Speaking of having no time, I am going to withdraw from the Open University in October. I thought a degree was for me, but it really isn't. I prefer on-the-job learning, and I haven't lost out as I will still have gained a Certificate in Business Studies (considering I pass!)

I've really got back into reading other blogs and commenting lately. I kind of stopped for a while, but I have really enjoyed it. Feel free to leave your blog links below as I'm looking for new blogs to follow. :)

PS. I'm going to have a giveaway soon, that will be held on my Facebook page. Anyone who has already liked the page before the giveaway will get an extra entry straight away. If you are interested, head over and like the page.

x

Beauty Books | Jemma Kidd Make Up Masterclass

The final (for now) of my beauty books reviews (see one and two here and here). I really have enjoyed writing these, as it's something a little bit different from the norm. Today's blog post (if you haven't already guessed) is on the Jemma Kidd Make Up Masterclass which is the only beauty book that I have purchased myself (the others were birthday gifts). I'm not too sure why I purchased it as I'd never seen any reviews or anything - I just thought I'd buy it and see how it went.

When it arrived I was quite shocked at the size of it - it's pretty big! Flicking through it, it is full of big, clear images and simple short paragraphs and bullet points so it's very easy to follow.

Going into more detail, it contains three main sections: beauty basics, make up masterclass and get the look. Beauty basics teaches you about different skin tones, looking after your skin etc. Make up masterclass teaches you how to do all of the beauty tricks, including how to contour and highlight (my favourite bit of the book!). Get the look teaches you how to create looks for different occasions, including daytime, night time and even on holiday.

This book taught me that I don't know half as much as I should about make up, especially when it comes to prepping the skin beforehand. This taught me that having good skin is the biggest step to take, and what you do before you put on make up is just as important as applying make up itself.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you want to practice! I bought mine on Amazon for around £13 (I can't remember exactly).

What beauty books would you recommend?

June Favourites

I haven't done a favourites post since January and considering I'm on a bit of a spending ban (not officially, I'm just restricting myself) it's quite difficult to think of things to blog about when I haven't really purchased new products. As I'm focusing on using up products, I thought I'd blog about what I'm really loving at the moment.

Models Own Nude Beige

This is one of my favourite nail polishes ever, and I recently found myself sporting it again. The colour is perfect, and two coats leaves a wonderful finish.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

A while back I tweeted asking about this foundation and heard many positive reviews. I purchased Shade 52 which is perfect for me, and as you can see by the photo, I've nearly finished it! I will definitely be purchasing it again, as I love how it looks . It provides excellent coverage, but doesn't look too fake.

Benefit Porefessional

Before this came free with Glamour magazine, I never really thought much of it. However, now I really wish I stocked up as I love it! It provides a perfect base for make up and leaves my skin feeling super soft.

MUA lipstick

I actually purchased two of these recently, and they are always in my bag now. I've reviewed them both here, but I love the colours (shades 15 and 16) and they are very worth the money!

What are your monthly favourites, feel free to leave links below and I'll have a read. :)

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