Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue

Hi there! Today’s post is about one of my favourite summer fragrances, Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue. Yes, summer is over, but that won’t stop me from dousing myself in Light Blue for at least a few more weeks. 🙂

OK, Light Blue contains fragrant notes of lemon, apple and cedar (top notes), jasmin, bamboo and white rose (heart notes), and musk, cedar wood and amber (base notes).

In my opinion, Light Blue is all about lemons and cedar. I love the fresh, cool and crisp lemon scent with its dry cedar base. Light Blue is a modern classic that’s perfect for hot summer days.

I also love that Light Blue can be worn by men. I think it’s a perfect example of a true unisex fragrance, and it’s so much sexier than Light Blue For Men.

For as long as D&G continues to make Light Blue, I will definitely have it in my fragrance stash.

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue is available as 25, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Toilette spray. Prices vary from about £22 for the smallest bottle to £70 for the largest bottle.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Brand Of The Month: Pacifica – 100% Vegan & Cruelty-Free

Hi there! I read a fantastic post about a Pacifica make-up palette on Vegan Needs a couple of days ago, so I thought it would be a good idea to check which of my Pacifica products look presentable enough to be photographed. 🙂 Here’s what I deemed to look good enough to show off:

These little beauties above are body washes. From left to right: Tuscan Blood Orange, Indian Coconut Nectar, Tahitian Gardenia and Hawaiian Ruby Guava. And below you can check out the matching body butters:

Now on to my favourite Pacifica products: Fragrances! My love for Pacifica started to blossom when I discovered their wonderful fragrances about 5 or 6 years ago. At the moment I have at least 10 perfume sprays and roll-on perfumes; some of them are in the photo below.

I will review the different products in more detail soon. If you’re interested in Pacifica products, you can buy them online from their web site pacificabeauty.com. If you’re UK-based, you can purchase Pacifica products from Holland & Barrett and shopvegan.co.uk.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Imperial Leather Blissful Butterfly Lily & Amber Bath Cream, Sublime Star Flower & Pomegranate Bath Cream

Hi there! Today’s post is about two limited edition bath creams: Imperial Leather Blissful Butterfly Lily & Amber and Sublime Star Flower & Pomegranate. I’m not sure when I bought these two products, but it must have been ages ago. Anyway, they’re both used up now (Success!) so let’s get to the review.

Imperial Leather Blissful Butterfly Lily & Amber is not a product I would have bought more than once. I don’t really like white floral scents so the lily fragrance of this bath cream didn’t appeal to me at all. Most of the product ended up in the hand soap dispenser in the kitchen.

Imperial Leather Sublime Star Flower & Pomegranate on the other hand smells fairly nice. It smells rather generic from the bottle, but once it touches water, it smells very elegant and feminine – almost like an expensive high end product.

Imperial Leather discontinued these two bath creams quite a while ago so you won’t find them in regular stores anymore. I’m not too sad about this because I didn’t find these bath creams to be particularly moisturising; actually I thought they were a bit drying. However, they’re both used up now, so I’ll move on to the next product from my seemingly bottomless toiletries stash.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Garnier Pure Active Fruit Energy Daily Energising Gel Wash

Hi there! Most of the time I use Olay products on my face, but occasionally I pick up products from other brands for a change, like this Garnier Pure Active Fruit Energy Daily Energising Gel Wash which I bought for half price at the drugstore.

This face wash is aimed at people with oily skin that’s prone to imperfections, and it claims to target these imperfections, to awaken skin and to tighten pores.

OK, I’ve got dry skin, so this product isn’t really aimed at me. However, my pores could do with a little tightening and I wouldn’t say no to my skin being awakened, so I’ve been using this face wash twice daily for just over a week now.

To be honest, I didn’t notice any difference at all. My pores are exactly as they were a week ago and my skin does not look any fresher or more awakened. I’m also not loving the scent; it’s a tad too sweet for my taste.

However, I think this face wash is really great at removing make-up, so I’ll be using it up for sure.

Garnier Pure Active Fruit Energy Daily Energising Gel Wash is available as 200 ml. It’s usually £4.99, but at the moment it’s on special offer at the two big drugstores.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Yves Rocher Youthful Glow Foundation

Hi there! I received a sample of Yves Rocher’s Youthful Glow Foundation Beige 200 Teint Clair.  This foundation contains smoothing pearls wrapped in rose extracts which are said to have an ‘optical correction’ effect for smoother and more radiant skin.

I have to say that this foundation feels incredibly smooth and silky. The foundation is buildable, provides medium coverage and does not gather in fine lines. The shade is a natural beige with yellow undertones. Whilst this shade is way too dark for my skin tone, I cannot find any faults with this foundation and would strongly recommend it, especially if you’re looking for a foundation that does not highlight fine lines or wrinkles.

If you would like to give Yves Rocher’s Youthful Glow Foundation a try, it is available as 30 ml for £29. It’s rather expensive, but Yves Rocher does half price and BOGOF offers all the time. 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Poundworld Make-Up: Miss Beauty London Smooth Coverage Lipstick 360 Heather

Hi there! If you saw yesterday’s post, you know that I picked up two items from Poundworld’s new make-up range. Yesterday I reviewed the face powder, and now’s the time to tell you what I think of Miss Beauty London Smooth Coverage Lipstick 360 Heather.

When I applied the listick I was surprised how creamy and moisturising it was. But despite the smooth texture the colour payoff was incredibly intense. I didn’t expect that at all. However, due to its creaminess I think this lipstick is best applied with a brush to get the right amount of colour onto the lips.

There’s one thing I didn’t like: When I removed the barcode sticker (which sealed the lippie), the sticky goo from underneath the sticker didn’t come off as easily as I had hoped. As I had done my nails only a few hours earlier, my poor husband had to remove the goo with nail polish remover… 😀

Anyway, I think that this lipstick is quite reasonable, especially as it’s £1 only. I didn’t like any of the other shades, but I can see myself wearing this shade.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Poundworld Make-Up: Miss Beauty London Pressed Powder 18 Ivory

Hi there! About two months ago Poundworld launched its own make-up range, Miss Beauty London. The products are made in the UK by the same company that also manufactures 2True products, so I was interested to see how Miss Beauty London would hold up.

When I had a look at what was on sale, I wasn’t too impressed. They had lots of lip and nail products, but only a handful of eyeshadows. The nail colours didn’t look bad at all, but the shades were fairly standard so I didn’t pick up any nail polish. In the end I bought two products – a lipstick (to be reviewed shortly) and this Miss Beauty London Pressed Powder (18 Ivory).

This shade, 18 Ivory, is really nice for pale girls. It’s certainly the perfect shade for me because it’s a perfect match for my skin tone. This is also the reason why I didn’t take a photo of the powder on my skin – you wouldn’t see anything.

Another bonus: The powder has sunscreen and vitamin E added to it.  I don’t think that I need the extra sunscreen from the powder because my Olay moisturiser protects me from the sun. I also don’t think that the vitamin E reaches my skin because I use Max Factor’s Pan Stik. 🙂 But it’s nice to know the manufacturer thought of adding sunscreen and vitamin E – just in case.

In terms of quallity, this product is average. I’ve had better and worse face powders. It does what it’s supposed to do – it controls shine and sets make-up, but it needs a touch up every couple of hours. But then again, it’s £1 only so you can’t really go wrong. I’ll definitely keep this powder in my make-up bag!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Rock Star Glitter

Hi there! At first let me apologise, I haven’t been up to much this week because I’ve got a chest infection and have coughing fits every couple of minutes. But I’m on the mend, so I’ll catch up with everyone’s posts and comments soon.

In the meantime, let me show you the cute mani I did last week. I knew I wanted glitter, but I didn’t know what base colour to chose so I opted for three different ones: mint green (Color Club), greyish blue (Revlon Colorstay 280 Blue Slate) and lilac (Fashionista).

The next step was choosing the right glitter. I picked a colourful glitter mix consisting of small, medium and large hex glitter in pink, yellow, orange, blue and black with lime green glitter stars. Honestly, is this the ultimate rock star glitter mix? Well, I  think it definitely is!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

MUA MakeUp Academy Eye Shadow 13 Pearl, 23 Pearl, 14 Pearl, 18 Matt

Hi there! Today’s post is about a couple of single eyeshadows I treated myself to during MUA’s last winter sale. Just like MUA’s basic blushes, these eyeshadows were 50p each! So what have we got… from left to right: Shade 13 Pearl, Shade 23 Pearl, Shade 14 Pearl and Shade 18 Matt.

Shade 13 Pearl is a deep purple with a chrome-like shimmer. The same shade is also featured in I Heart MakeUp’s Passion palette. Shade 23 Pearl is a vivid and sparkly light blue. I don’t think this shade will look good on me, but I’ll give it a try.

Up next is Shade 14 Pearl, a dark grey with plenty of green shimmer which makes me think of a forest at night time. 🙂 And then there’s Shade 18 Matt, a fresh and bright lilac with great colour payoff.

The eyeshadows are of good quality. Well, they’re MUA, of course they’re good. Now all I have to do is use them every once in a while. 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Imperial Leather Mouthwatering Fruit Salad and Comforting Marshmallow

Hi there! When I spotted these fun shower creams for half price at Tesco’s the other day, I had to have them. Fast forward – they’re absolutely brilliant and I think everyone should give them a try. Now here’s what I think:

Imperial Leather Mouthwatering Fruit Salad is a sweet and fruity concoction which takes me back to my childhood. This is the scent of happy summer days and sugary post-dinner treats. This shower cream really puts a smile on my face.

Imperial Leather Comforting Marshmallow smells like perfumed marshamallows. I love the dense and sweet scent of this shower cream. I’ve never roasted a marshmallow in my life, but this scent reminds me of at least a dozen movie scenes in which a bunch of kids roast marshmallows over a camp fire. 🙂

If you want to try Imperial Leather Mouthwatering Fruit Salad and Comforting Marshmallow, Tesco does a special promotion at the moment, so Fruit Salad and Marshmallow can be yours for 79p each only.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde