Review: Barry M Foil Effects

So I bought this back in October and I'm finally getting around to reviewing it! Barry M Foil Effects are part of their amazing Nail Effects range - every girl I know is obsessed with them! When I saw the gold shade it immediately brought to mind my favourite Trendy Nail Wraps style so I just had to pick up a bottle.

To state the obvious: Foil Effects mimic the effect of nail foils (duh) and give a gorgeous metallic nail colour. This is great if (like me) you've spent years looking for a good, affordable true gold nail colour. I've tried this out once before and got quite a few air bubbles so I would be extra vigilant in your application of this - make sure your nails are clean first and don't shake the bottle, just roll it between your hands. The lasting power was good, it lasted a few days before I got so sick of the air bubbles I had to take it off. I've been super careful in applying it tonight, so if any air bubbles appear this time around you will definitely be hearing about it!

Barry M Foil Effects are available in 3 shades - Gold (shown here), Lilac and Silver (my friend loves to layer the silver foil with Crackle Effect in Purple Rain and I have to say, it looks gorgeous!). All available from Superdrug for £3.99.

The Best Products For Your New Year's Detox

Well, we are officially into the second week of January, and I'm betting plenty of you are ready to leave your New Year's resoloutions at the door! If you're trying to detox, tone or slim down this year, this is for you - the best products and treatments available to help you on your way. Hopefully it will inspire you to keep up the good work!

Caudalie's Detoxing Treats

 I've mentioned Caudalie's Spa In A Bag: Body of Your Dreams briefly before, but it's definitely worth mentioning again. This bag of goodies contains their Crushed Cabernet Scrub, a body scrub containing 6 essential oils to fight cellulite and drain toxins, Caudalie's Contouring Concentrate, which can be used neat or mixed with your body lotion to tone skin and reduce the appearance of cellulite, and organic herbal tea, to eliminate toxins. Who says you can't enjoy detoxing?

Caudalie Spa In A Bag: Body of Your Dreams is available from Boots for £39.00.

Wrap Yourself Thin

Slimming and contouring body wraps (available from most spas and some salons - phone your locals and see what they have to offer) are great quick fixes for special occasions, but if you get regular treatments and combine them with a healthy diet and exercise, you can achieve lasting results. For most slimming wraps, your therapist will measure you before and after your treatment and tell you how much you've lost. Many also have a guarantee of how many inches you'll lose in total (such as the Universal Contour Wrap). There are so many options out there, so do a bit of research and decide what's best for you.

Spa treatments can get pricey though, so if you're on a budget, why not try Sanctuary's Trim and Tone Wrap? This DIY wrap is great for toning and eliminating toxins and in clinical trials, women lost an average of 5cm after one application. 

Sanctuary Trim and Tone Body Wrap is available from Debenhams for £25.50.

Tone Up With Soap & Glory

 If your main problem area is your thighs, this will make a great addition to your regime. Sit Tight improves circulation which speeds up the elimination of toxins and leaves you with firmer, toned thighs. Apply daily, sit down and leave it for 30 - 60 seconds - you'll feel a brief tingly, heating sensation (some have said they found this uncomfortable, but I love products like this - it lets you know it's working!). So quick and easy, it'll make a valuable contribution to your diet.

Soap & Glory Sit Tight is available from Boots for £14.30.

Take A Break

If you've got a larger budget to work with, why not consider a detoxing spa break? There are so many options out there, from a weekend to several weeks, most including healthy meals, an exercise regime and detoxing spa treatments, among plenty of other things. A great boost to your diet and a little bit of luxury, all in one. Checkout the Wellbeing Breaks offered by Champneys Spas to give you some inspiration.

If you're still looking for ideas, ASOS have a wonderful selection of detoxing products from their beauty ranges - I've spent all week lusting after them! And if you've got any great tips or HG detox products, share them in the comments!

All opinions expressed in this article are my own - I am not associated with any of the brands mentioned.

Bargain Hunting: January Sales Edition!

January - rubbish weather, lack of cash and Christmas weight gain. The only good thing about January is the sales! Here's my rundown of the best beauty offers and discounts out there at the moment, with January sales featuring heavily...

•  Too Faced, Soap & Glory, Elemis & £5 OPI - Up to 70% off in the ASOS sale - I want everything!
• Shed the Christmas pounds! - Sign up for their 3 month plan and Weight Watchers Online will waive their sign-up fee, saving you £29.95.
• Benefit, Aveda, Bliss, Lancome & more - Up to 70% off in House of Fraser's winter sale.
• Up to 50% off Fake Bake - Fake Bake's online store have up to 50% off - including Flawless tanning liquid (constantly sold out in my salon!) for just £16.00.
• Cheap perfume gift sets - Diesel Loverdose, Boss Orange and Britney Spears Fantasy, all featured in The Perfume Shop's January sale. 
• Lots of Body Shop deals - Up to 60% off body butter and up to 50% off gifts and winter essentials, in-store and online.
• Mega make up palettes & bejewelled compacts - Up to 50% off in the ELF sale.

Think I missed something? Let me know in the comments!

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Quick Reviews: MeMeMe, The Body Shop & Rimmel

Clockwise: MeMeMe Blush Me! in Pink, MeMeMe Beat The Blues in Moonbeam, Rimmel Lasting Finish Nail Polish in Purple Pulse and The Body Shop Vitamin C Facial Radiance Capsules.

 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year! I'm back at work tomorrow so I'm using today for some last minute pampering & relaxation before the chaos returns! Just thought I'd take a few minutes to give you some 'mini reviews' on some of my Christmas gifts.

 A while back, I got a sample of these from a Body Shop at Home consultant and fell in love. Vitamin C Facial Radiance Capsules are filled with orange scented serum. Each capsule is exactly the right amount you need, so no risk of not getting the full benefits by applying too much or too little. As you apply the serum, the texture changes to a sort of light oil (but don't worry to much if you have combo skin like me, I haven't seen any negative effects from it). This stuff is great for dull, dehydrated skin - I saw a difference right away, my skin was beautifully bright and soft. Downside - the tiny jar contains just 28 capsules, so it'll only last you around a month if you use it everyday.

Rimmel's Lasting Finish nail polish in Purple Pulse is a gorgeous dark purple shade - I have to apologise as you can't really tell by the quality of this picture! I was a little disappointed with this, it looks like a bright, bold purple in the bottle but on my nails it's much darker, even like a red wine colour in some lights. I'm wearing this with a layer of sheer glitter over it, but the actual polish is a block colour. As for lasting power, combined with a base and top coat, it's lasting okay - I applied this on New Year's Eve and as of today I have a couple of tiny chips but nothing noticable.

MeMeMe Blush Me! in Pink is a sheer and shimmery baby pink shade. Packaging look familiar to you? Yep, once again, MeMeMe are taking some inspiration from Benefit, this time in the form of their famous blush boxes. As far as I know, Pink isn't a direct shade dupe but I've heard Blush Me! in Rouge is very similair to Benefit's Coralista. Anyway, this shade gives a subtle, girly glow and has decent lasting power, but isn't much to write home about.

If you're a regular reader, you'll know I've been coveting this for some time - again, MeMeMe pull it out of the bag with Beat The Blues in Moonbeam, a spot on dupe of Benefit's pricey but delightful High Beam. This pearly pink highlighter is great for illuminating pale, dull skin (like mine!). Compared to Benefit, this is a little watery and the brush is definitely much lower quality, but still usable. The shade, I think, is a little 'harder' (if that makes sense) and less pearly than High Beam, but once it's blended you can't really see the difference. I forgot to get a photo of Moonbeam and High Beam side-by-side but here's a swatch of Moonbeam alone:

(Click to enlarge) Left: MeMeMe's Moonbeam, unblended. Right: Moonbeam, blended in.

And that's everything! What Christmas goodies did you all get this year?