February Beauty Awards

Hi there! It’s the end of the month, so it’s time for my monthly favourites. As always, I picked three favourites of all the products I reviewed this month. But since I loved more than three products, I have a few honourable mentions as well. So let’s get to my favourites!

3rd place – Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner 038 Allure

I love this lipliner. Whilst it’s not my all-time favourite, it’s definitely one of my favourite lipliners. If you’d like to read the review, click here.

Runner-Up – L’Oréal Youth Code Luminizer Serum

I’m glad that I bought this serum when I found it at my local B&M Bargains store. It’s so good! I reviewed this serum a few days ago. If you’d like to read my review, click here.

WINNER – Flower Pharm Wild Rose Body Products

I know the winner should be 1 product – but I don’t think it would have made sense to have these 3 Flower Pharm products take gold, silver and bronze. So I decided that Flower Pharm’s entire Wild Rose collection would be my number 1. Hey, it’s my blog, and I can do whatever I want with it! 😉 I reviewed these fantastic products earlier this month. If you’d like to read my review, click here.

Now onto the honourable mentions! I really enjoyed Superdrug’s Orange & Black Lava Face Mask and Montagne Jeunesse’s Glacial Spa Face Mask. These two masks were new to me, and I’m glad I finally tried them! I also need to say that I fell in love with Madly Kenzo again. This fragrance is just lovely!

Have you tried any of these products? Which products did you like best this month? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Small Haul – New Products!

Hi there! If you’ve read some of my posts from January, you may remember that I’ve implemented a 3 out / 1 in policy. In summary, my beauty and toiletries stash seemed to take over our place (Help!). And I knew I had to do something. So I thought about my options… I’m not someone who’d bin perfectly good products. And I also knew that 1 in / 1 out wouldn’t be good enough. So I decided that a 3 out / 1 in policy would be my best option – because I would be able to (slowly) reduce my stash, and at the same time I’d get a reward for every 3 products I’d finish. 🙂

By the end of January I had 21 products on my ‘finished’ list. Yes, I had less than 21 product in my Empties post. That’s because I don’t keep track of single-use face masks for my Empties posts. However, every single face mask I use goes on the ‘out’ list. Hey, a face mask is a beauty product too! Oh, and I get half a point for every part-used shampoo I pass on to my husband. Anyway, since I finished 21 products, I was allowed to buy 7 new products! So my husband and I went to Boots…

A few weeks ago Boots’ Ingredients sheet masks were on special. They’re usually £2.50 each, but there was a 2 for £3 promotion. Whilst there are 5 different sheet masks in Boots’ Ingredients collection, my local store only had 4 of the 5 masks in stock. But that was actually great because I didn’t have to think about which one I’d leave behind. 🙂

I also bought another I Love… Pamper Me Essentials set. This set was £5 (post-Christmas half price sale on Christmas-themed gift sets). And it was the last of its kind. And I wanted it! If you’re thinking “Didn’t she already buy one of these?” – you’re right. But hey, this set contains a Chocolate Truffle Body Butter and a Chocolate Truffle Body Mist! Chocolate Truffle!!!

Sure, there’s also a Blackberry & Raspberry hand cream and a Blackberry & Raspberry shower gel in this set. So this set actually contains 4 products – which means that I’ve gone over my allowance. However, I’ll pass the hand cream on to my teenage relative (I have two more of these hand creams anyway), so I’ve only bought 7 products for myself. 🙂 Job done!

At this point I’d have to make it clear that I bought these products a few weeks ago (I bet the half price gift sets are long gone by now). But I misfiled the photos, and then I used one of the sheet masks – so I couldn’t take ‘new’ pics… But today I found the photos! Yay! Anyway, I’m still happy to report that, so far, I managed to stick to my 3 out / 1 in policy!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Weekly Recap 20 – 26 Feb 2017

Hi there! I hope everyone had a good week. 🙂 Today’s post is my weekly recap. So let me tell you what I’ve been up to on my blog this week…

Monday 20 Feb – Beauty Hoarder Problems / Countless Back-Ups

Monday’s post was about another problem that beauty hoarders have to deal with – countless back-ups! Click here if you want to read the post.

Tuesday 21 Feb – Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner 038 Allure

On Tuesday I reviewed one of the lipliners that I have several back-ups of – Rimmel’s Allure lipliner. If you’d like to read the post, click here.

Wednesday 22 Feb – John Frieda Frizz Ease Forever Smooth Samples

Wednesday’s post was about the John Frieda Frizz Ease Forever Smooth hair products (shampoo, conditioner, anti-frizz primer) which I had samples of. Click here if you’d like to read my review.

Thursday 23 Feb – Nail Of The Day
Friday 24 Feb – Superdrug Orange & Black Lava Exfoliating Face Mask

Thursday’s post was another nail post. I did a colourful foil mani. Click here to read the post. And on Friday I reviewed Superdrug’s (fairly new) Orange & Black Lava Exfoliating Mask. If you’d like to read this post, click here.

Oh, and I’d like to give you an update on the progress I’ve made with my Sleek Au Naturel palette. A little while back I told you that I’m trying to finish this eye palette. If you’d like to read the post, click here. Anyway, I’ve now emptied 5 of the 12 pans, I’ll be emptying 2 more pans soon (pans 3 and 6, top row), and I’m also concentrating on the dark matte shades (pans 3 and 5, bottom row). Not bad, eh? Feel free to let me know what you think! 🙂

And this is it for this week. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

100% Vegan & Cruelty-Free – Superdrug Orange And Black Lava Exfoliating Mask

Hi there! Today I’m reviewing Superdrug’s (fairly new) Orange And Black Lava Exfoliating Mask. 🙂

This mask contains black lava pumice, orange peel and orange oil.

And it promises to… help eliminate dead skin cells and impurities, tighten pores and brighten the complexion… that’s exactly what it says on the back of the sachet.

This mask is like any other clay mask – apply, let dry, rinse. Easy!

Is the mask any good? Yes! But that’s not surprising. It’s a clay mask after all. I also like the pumice in this mask. It’s not too harsh, and it feels really good.

And I like the orange fragrance. It’s not a fruity orange, but more of a candied orange fragrance. It’s quite nice!

I would definitely recommend this face mask to anyone who’s looking for a clarifying face mask that exfoliates the skin gently. I will buy this face mask again, no doubt!

Superdrug’s Orange And Black Lava Exfoliating Mask is 100% vegan and cruelty-free (it carries the Leaping Bunny logo). It’s 99p at Superdrug – and Superdrug often runs 3 for 2 or buy 1 get 1 half price promotions on face masks.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Rimmel 60 Seconds 820 Hot Black To Go & Foils

Hi there! Today’s post is another Nail Of The Day post. 🙂

For this mani I painted my nails with Rimmel 60 Seconds 820 Hot Black To Go. Whilst this polish doesn’t dry in 60 seconds (or 120, or 180…), I do like it!

Hot Black To Go is almost a one-coater (I need to try if it stamps!), and it’s perfect for foil manis! 🙂 But let’s move on… for this mani I used a colourful foil (with a somewhat psychedelic pattern) which I applied several ‘layers’ of.

How does this work? It’s super easy. All you have to do is press the foils onto the near-dry-yet-still-tacky nail polish and peel them off again – it’s almost like ripping off a band aid! 😀

I think this mani turned out alright. It’s considerably more colourful than intended, but I couldn’t help myself. I just kept adding to it! Also, many apologies for the so-so picture. Foil manis can be difficult to capture on camera, and they can look ‘rough’ in pictures – but they’ll always look better in real life.

I’ll do a tutorial on foils shortly! It’s going to be fun, I promise. And it’s super easy to do! Feel free to comment. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Reducing My Samples Stash – John Frieda Frizz Ease Forever Smooth Shampoo, Conditioner & Anti-Frizz Primer

Hi there! Today’s post is about John Frieda Frizz Ease Forever Smooth Shampoo, Conditioner & Anti-Frizz Primer. I received these products as samples (2 x 8ml shampoo, 2 x 8ml conditioner and 2 x 3ml anti-frizz primer) some time ago, but I’ve only tried them now. That’s because, just like every other person, I hate having to cut open sachets while I’m in the shower…

But I wanted to see if these John Frieda products were any good. So I tried the shampoo and the conditioner (and nothing else) on day 1, and I used the anti-frizz primer (after a different shampoo and conditioner combo) on day 2. Yes, I wash my hair every morning! But now, let’s get to the actual product reviews!

I found the Frizz Ease Forever Smooth shampoo OK. It lathered up well, but it didn’t feel very clarifying. I guess it’s OK if you wash your hair very frequently (like my husband who showers and washes his hair first thing in the morning – and he showers and washes his hair again in the evening when he comes back from the gym).

The Frizz Ease Forever Smooth conditioner was disappointing. It wasn’t very conditioning, and because of this it took me quite a while to detangle my hair in the shower. I used both sachets, but I think I would have needed at least another two sachets (that would be 32ml for a single use!) to get any conditioning ‘benefits’ from this product.

Whilst the Frizz Ease Forever Smooth conditioner isn’t as bad as Naked’s Colour Conditioner or Naturtint’s ‘Protective’ Cream, it’s definitely the worst conditioner I’ve had in quite a while. I’m pretty sure that if I had a full-size bottle or tube of this Frizz Ease Forever Smooth conditioner, I’d complain about having to double-condition!

What else? I also didn’t like how my hair felt and looked. My scalp started to grease up after less than 12 hours (Yuck!) whilst my ends felt and looked ratty. Forever Smooth? Absolutely not! I even wore my hair up for the evening because I didn’t want to scare my husband!

Now onto the anti-frizz primer! My initial review (which I rewrote a few times – and then I deleted it) contained many words – many words of disbelief, anger and disgust. But in the spirit of keeping things positive and funny, I’ve decided to share a few “highlights” only. 🙂

First of all, the anti-frizz primer feels gross and sticky. After I had blow-dried my hair, I had to wash my hands twice – because the tacky anti-frizz primer residue wouldn’t budge! And right after that I had to wipe down my hair-dryer. The handle was covered with icky anti-frizz primer residue and it bothered me that much that I couldn’t even leave it for later.

Once the hair-dryer was taken care of, I went back to the bathroom to check my hair. Since I knew that my hair felt very greasy, I knew it wouldn’t look great. However, when I actually looked at my hair, I was shocked. It looked… sensationally greasy and sweaty, dull, flat and lifeless. I’d describe the look of my post-anti-frizz primer hair as that of a tennis player after a three-hour match in sweltering conditions.

I was lucky that it was a home-working day, and that I didn’t have to leave the house. So I spent the first few hours wearing my hair up and trying not to think about it. However, the next time I looked in the mirror, I decided to take action. What did I do? I had another shower and I washed my hair again! And then I threw the (unused) 2nd anti-frizz primer sample in the bin. Life was good again! 🙂

John Frieda Frizz Ease Forever Smooth Shampoo & Conditioner are available as 250ml for £7.99 each. The Anti-Frizz Primer is available as 100ml for £9.99. I think these products are completely useless and I wouldn’t use them again – not even if you paid me. And I wouldn’t recommend them either.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner 038 Allure

Hi there! If you’ve read yesterday’s post, you know that there are quite a few beauty products that I have several back-ups of. So I thought it would be very fitting to make today’s post about one of these products. 😀 Now meet Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner 038 Allure.

Allure is one of my favourite lipliners. It’s a true full-colour lipliner that doubles up as a (matte) nude lipstick. This lipliner is on the softer side, so it’s quick and easy to apply. However, lipliners can be drying, so I always use a bit of lip balm (for a demi-matte look) or lip gloss (for a slightly glossy look – like in the picture above) before I apply any lipliner.

Whilst the lip balm (or gloss) underneath the lipliner will lose its sheen within a few hours, the colour (= the actual lipliner) will stay put all day. Sure, if I eat fatty and greasy foods for lunch, the lipliner will suffer. However, when I’m at work I don’t eat junk food for lunch, so I’m pretty safe! 🙂

What I actually wanted to say is… I think this lipliner is great. Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liners are available in several colours. This shade, 038 Allure, seems to have been discontinued. However, I just had a look at Rimmel’s web site, and it appears they’re still doing two brownish nude shades.

What do you think of using lipliners instead of lipsticks? Feel free to let me know. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Beauty Hoarder Problems – Part 4: Countless Back-Ups

Hi there! If you read my blog, you know I’m a beauty and toiletries hoarder. I have too much of everything. I have boxes under the bed, boxes next to bed, the bathroom cabinets are full (and I doubt the stuff in there accounts for even 0.5% of what I have), two of the kitchen cupboards are filled with beauty products and toiletries, and I have more stuff in bags in my closet. If you think I have a few hundred products, think again. I have about 1,400 nail polishes alone! But the craziness doesn’t end here…

Like every other beauty hoarder who’s serious about beauty hoarding, I’ve accumulated an impressive stash of back-ups. I know, lots of people buy back-ups of products they like. But only true beauty hoarders buy back-ups of untested products that they might like. And only true beauty boarders buy their cosmetics in bulk!

The pic above shows 6 Sally Hansen flakie toppers. I found these at one of the Poundstores (probably Poundworld), and I liked them so much that I bought all the bottles I could find that day. I think I may have more of these flakie toppers – but I couldn’t be bothered to go through my entire stash…

The 6 lipliners in the pic above are Rimmel lipliners – and they’re all the same colour – ‘Allure’ (I’ll review this one tomorrow). I like brownish lip colours (not too dark, though) so I bought these lipliners from a trustworthy end-of-line retailer who offered 10 lipliners for £5.99. Where are the other 4 lipliners? I’ve got one in my handbag, and the remaining three are most likely in one of the bags in the closet…

But I don’t just have lots of small make-up items. No! I also hoard big and bulky toiletries. The body butters in the pic above are full-size products. The Boots Extracts Rosehip butters are 200ml each, the Mela body butters are 300ml each. I have many more body butters and many more back-ups. And don’t get me started on shower gels or on my insane stash of Herbal Essences Classics hair products…

So yeah, having multiple back-ups of multiple products can be a problem. We moved house once because it felt like our place was shrinking – when in fact the back-up products took over… It was that bad that, at times, I was wondering whether the products were breeding! 😀

The big question is… how can I get on top of the back-ups? Well, I have to stop buying back-ups! I haven’t bought much over the past few weeks – and I don’t intend to let things spiral out of control again. At the moment I’m enjoying the products I have – and I hope it’ll stay this way. Wish me luck!

Are you a beauty and / or toiletries hoarder too? Kathy, Stashy and Chris, I know you’re with me. But is there anyone else who’d like to confess? Feel free to comment if you want to. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Revlon 260 Bold Sangria & Stamping With Pueen 51

Hi there! Today’s post is the last post this week – so it’s the last post this nail week.

For this mani I painted my nails with Revlon 260 Bold Sangria (2 coats). I think Bold Sangria is one of the best dark purple polishes out there. Great quality, lovely shade! Thanks, Revlon!

And I used Essence’s white stamping polish and Pueen’s 51 plate (which is part of Pueen’s Stamping Buffet collection) to stamp floral images onto my nails.

I didn’t like this mani because I managed to smudge all the images on my right hand. I think I moisturised my hands too soon after cleaning up around the nails with nail polish remover…

However, in real life the mistakes were hardly visible. Well, in real life no one stares at my nails and no one’s looking for mistakes. 😉 And I did get a few compliments on this mani, so it wasn’t too bad.

Like I said, this is the last nail post this nail week. I haven’t done a weekly recap post today, so if you think you’ve missed a post or if you’d like to see the other manis I’ve written about this week (or ever…), click here and scroll down. I’m back with a “regular” post tomorrow. So in the meantime… Happy Sunday!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Manhattan Lotus Effect 67N & Barry M Treasure Chest

Hi there! Today’s nail post is about another mani I did some time ago.

For this mani I painted my nails with Manhattan Lotus Effect 67N. I love the purple colour! If only Manhattan had given this polish a cooler name than “67N”… Ah well, it is what it is. 😉

The gold glitter topper is Barry M’s Treasure Chest which is part of Barry M’s Aquarium collection. I think this glitter topper is no longer available, but I’m sure there are other gold flakie toppers out there.

I didn’t like this mani as much as I hoped I would. I usually love gold and purple, but I think I applied too much glitter this time.

What do you think? Feel free to get in touch if you want to. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde