Trilogy rosehip oil

Lately I've found myself really getting into using face oils at night instead of a traditional moisturiser. 

I was given the Trilogy rosehip oil in my Latest in Beauty advent calendar and have been using it for the last week. A certified organic oil, it contains essential fatty acids and antioxidants to help boost your skin. 

You use about 3 drops of the oil and massage it into your face, letting it sink in. The oil has a very slight scent, but this isn't noticeable once it's been absorbed  I find that I need about 4 drops for my whole face, paying special attention to my cheeks as they get drier than everywhere else. 

The oil sinks in quite quickly, and when I wake up in the morning, my face looks really refreshed and smooth, but without any greasy residue. 

I've been really impressed with this oil. On the box they state that you can use this day and night, but I prefer a lighter moisturiser in the daytime as I don't always have much (any, in fact) time to wait for an oil to sink in when I'm dashing around trying to catch my daily train.

I would definitely buy the full size of this. My tiny 2.5ml sample is still half full after a week's use. A 20ml bottle retails for £16.50, not bad considering that it would last almost 3 months. 

Have you tried anything from Trilogy before?  

Entering the magical land of Harry Potter

Earlier this week I paid a visit to the Harry Potter studio tour just outside London with my friend Marcella . 

As both of us are quite big Harry Potter fans, we'd been looking forward to this trip for quite some time and we like kids at Christmas on the train ride to Watford. 

There are no 'rides', instead the studio tour features huge amounts of props, sets, costumes and special effects from all of the 8 Harry Potter films.

The potions classroom with one of Alan Rickman's costumes.

You get to see sets such as the potions classroom, the Great Hall (including the real stone floor that they used), Diagon Alley, Hagrid's Hut, and many more. 

The Great Hall

There's also an outside area which features the Knight Bus and a little hut where you can buy your very own Butterbeer! (It tastes extremely sweet!)

Butterbeer

I really enjoyed the costume and makeup section that they had. Apparently a lot of the wigs were all handmade, with each hair threaded in by hand. Can you imagine how long that must have taken?! There was also a makeup artist's station mocked up showing some of the products they had used on set - hello MAC, Laura Mercier, Dermalogica and even Simple!

The makeup station

Harry, Ron and Hermione's wigs

I think this trip is a must for any Harry Potter fan. I'm so pleased that I went and it was really interesting to find out how they made certain aspects of the films. It might ruin some of the magic if you have kids though, so beware!

The gift shop (as with all these sorts of places) is expensive. I bought a chocolate frog and a keyring and it came to just over *cough* £15 *cough*. Still, I won't be going again in a hurry, so thought I'd better make the most of it! 

And now, a few more pictures for anyone still reading...

All aboard the Knight Bus!

In front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon Alley

Some of the amazing anamatronics/creature parts they developed.

Diagon Alley.

Some of the many wands...

The most amazing model of Hogwarts.

The Quidditch robes

Making your own rules

Today I was struck by the thought that sometimes we all need to make our own rules. I think that it's all too easy to do what you feel you 'should' do, rather than what you really 'want' to do.

I'm not talking about giving up the rules of society here, but making small changes that really make you happy. This could be anything from spending your Sundays relaxing in your pyjamas because you love it, or trying new foods as a bit of an experiment.

It's often all too easy to get stuck in our own little rut and stick to what we know because we're worried that if we don't stick to 'the norm', we will be judged.

So I say if you fancy wearing bold lips with a strong eye, go for it! Love bright colours, wear them! Don't let anyone dictate to you about these sorts of things. Life should be one long experiment.

I know that I am guilty of sticking to what I know and I'm making it my mission to live a little and be more daring. I love vintage clothes and have a big collection, but of late I've found myself snubbing them for more modern stuff. I want to revisit all those fab 60's dresses I own because they make up part of me. And you know what, if I get told I look like an extra from Heartbeat, I'll take it as a compliment!

I also want to encourage sharing in the blogging community. There is such a great amount of lovely people out there and it's my aim to share these with my readers. Not just via the usual Friday #ff on Twitter, but all of the time. I love reading blogs because of the wealth of knowledge and opinion there is put there. Each one is a little representation of a person and I love getting to know them via their content.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Don't be afraid. Be you. Make your own rules.

NOTD: Shazam!

I decided to try to create a 'magical' nail effect for my trip to the Harry Potter Studio Tour this week (post on this coming soon). I wanted a bit of sparkle, but with a twist.

For this, I used Essie's 'Where's my Chauffeur"  and then applied Topshop's '3D', a multi-tonal turquoise glitter in varying amounts of the tips.

It didn't come out quite how I intended it too, and I was a bit worried it looked a little 'Pageant Queen', but as my friend very kindly pointed out, I wasn't wearing a matching spangly dress, so it actually looked fine!

I have to say, I love the colour of the Essie polish, despite it taking three coats to get the opacity I wanted. The Topshop glitter was also so pretty - I will be trying this out on another colour in the future. I think Topshop polishes are such great quality for the price - if you haven't tried one, do - it will be well worth the £6.

What are your thoughts on these nails?

Spending ban update

So, I've now officially been on a ban for 2 weeks. I'm not going to lie -  it's been hard and I may have had a minor slip up.

I got over excited last week and decided to order some Real Techniques brushes from the US as they were about half the price of the UK. I can't show you any photos as they haven't arrived yet, but when they do (fingers crossed they do!) I will definitely share.

That aside, I haven't bought any magazines, which are a personal downfall, so I'm very pleased with that. I actually have an awful habit of buying magazines, then if I don't read them immediately, I forget about them, which is a total waste of money.

At the moment, my 'lust list' is pretty small. I'm trying to keep it that way so I don't get tempted and go crazy!  I'm running out of my favourite REN moisturiser so I will decide whether to repurchase this once I assess what alternatives I already have in my stash.

I was in Topshop earlier today and despite gazing at all the nail varnishes, I walked out without anything, which I'm so pleased about.

I'm aiming to continue my spending ban for the next few weeks, so I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Are you on a spending ban? How are you getting on?

Lush Mint Julips lip scrub review

Lush make some amazing products, but this little puppy has helped see my poor lips through the past few months after being ravaged by winter. 

Mint Julips is a sugar based lip scrub that smells like minty chocolate (yum). You rub a small amount into dry lips to exfoliate and then either wash or lick off (it's completely edible!).

I normally use this just before bed and slather on a load of lip balm and wake up with super soft lips.

As well as the mint chocolate flavour, they also sell bubblegum and popcorn, which both smell divine. The pots sell for £5.25, which isn't cheap, but they will last for ages. I've used my every few days for a month and have barely scratched the surface. When it finally runs out, I will definitely be repurchasing!

Have you tried any of these lip scrubs from Lush? 

Macadamia healing oil treatment review

Macadamia healing oil treatment is a leave in oil treatment for hair. I received this as part of the goodie bag from December's #BbloggersXmas event in London and was really excited to try it having heard a lot of good things about the brand.

The oil smells wonderful - slightly nutty, but not too strong. You apply a small amount to you hands, and work through damp hair. You can also use it as a finishing treatment to dry hair to control frizz.

I was a little worried that this might be too heavy for my fine hair, but I needn't have worried. The oil leaves my hair looking healthy and shiny, but without weighing it down. 

You can just about see the oil here! 

I've also used the oil as an overnight treatment by applying about a 10p's worth of oil to dry hair and letting it sink in overnight. when I was my hair in the morning, it's super soft and really manageable. For an alternative hair treatment, there is also an intensive hair mask which I reviewed here. 

The oil comes in several sizes, ranging from 10ml (approx £3.75) to 125ml (approx £29). 

This is my new favourite hair product and I will definitely be re-buying once it runs out. 

Have you tried anything from the Macadamia hair range? 

Blog sale

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm having a little blog sale. You can find all the details on my blog sale page. Come and grab a bargain - offers welcome!

Rimmel Apocalips review

This week saw the launch of the new 'Apocalips' from Rimmel. A mix between a lipstick and a lip gloss, these liquid lipsticks have been causing a sensation among beauty bloggers.

I have to thank the wonderful Charl for sending me two of these beauties as for reasons unknown, her local Boots put them out early and knowing how desperate I was to try them, she sent me the shades ‘Big Bang’ and ‘Apocaliptic’.

The shades:

Big Bang is a classic red colour. Aside from the glossy finish, it’s what I’d describe as ‘vintage red’.

Apocaliptic is what I like to call a ‘power pink’. It’s bright pink, blue based and I think it will look good on most skin tones (even my pasty white).

Left - Apocaliptic, right - Big Bang

The application:

Apocalips come in what looks like a funkily shaped lip gloss tube. The bottom of the tube is clear, so you can get a really good idea of what the shade is, without having to open it up.

There is a doe-foot style applicator which make application really easy, although if you have a thin upper lip like me, be careful with the bright shades, as if you go outside of your lip, it really shows! One dip in the tube was enough to do both my lips.

I did go for the traditional lipstick application method of ‘apply, blot, reapply’ as for me, I find this gives the best staying power (and also stops any product going on my teeth).

The test:

I decided to give these a good trial as I was intrigued about their staying power. So, I ate and drank and to be fair, they stayed on pretty well. The glossy finish wore off, but a nice stain was left behind.

I also tested them a bit more by wearing them to my exercise class (yes, I was the idiot wearing bright lippie whilst sweating it out). Surprisingly, they stayed put, aside from one small incident where I hit my face with my hand and smudged it (my bad).

Me wearing Apocaliptic

The verdict:

I love them. They are long-lasting, non-drying and have a great variety of shades (8 in fact). For £5.99, they are a total bargain and remind me of a more creamy version of a YSL glossy stain.

You can find them at Boots and Superdrug. Run and get yours fast! 

All about me

I've been nominated by a few people lately for some blogger tags/awards (thank you!), so rather than performing multiple posts, I though I would take time out to do a post of random (and hopefully interesting) facts about myself.

1. I'm a rubbish cook. I can make you a cake with my eyes closed but give me savoury food and it all goes wrong. If you eat at my house, the likelihood is my boyfriend made it!

2. I love reading really trashy thrillers. My kindle now means I can pretend to be reading high brow fiction when I'm really reading the latest thriller.

3. Without pencil, my eyebrows are virtually invisible. The same goes for my eye lashes which is why I don't go out without mascara.

4. Given the option, I would choose eye make up over lipstick every time.

5. I really want a pet tortoise.

6. I have a seriously short attention span. Never play a board game with me as I lose interest half way through.

7. Music is my big love (after beauty). I've sung in a few bands and love old music from the 60s and 70s.

8. As a child, I memorised the entire Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat soundtrack. Under pressure I reckon I could still remember it now.

9. A week long trip to New York a few years ago was the best holiday I've ever been on.

10. I love dark chocolate. The darker the better. Green and Blacks 85% is my favourite.

And hopefully a funny story about why I don't use fake tan...

I once had a mega fake tan disaster as a teenager. My friend's mum was helping us get ready before an evening out and offered to tan me. Her dad ran the local boys football team and as they were having their annual awards ceremony, I though it would be a great idea to look my best. TWO (yes, two) coats of pump action tan later (this was before the days of  St. Tropez) I left looking mighty bronzed (read, orange). Only issue was, we forgot my armpit area, so I had giant, white, glowing armpits. Needless to say, the boys at the football club found this more than slightly hilarious, and I have avoided fake tan pretty much since that day.

I hope that you enjoyed this post - thank you again to everyone who nominated me.

Liner wars #3: Inika organic eye liner

Inika are an organic makeup brand offering a wide range of products.

I was lucky enough to receive an eye liner of theirs in the #Bbloggersxmas goody bag in black caviar, which is definitely my shade!

As a bit of an eye liner addict, I've tested lots of liners over the years and have often found pencil liners to be a bit hit and miss. They can be too hard, drag on your eyes and don't seem to last very long.

forgive the stubby end, I've been using this for a few days!

This one is actually everything I want a pencil liner to be. It goes on easily with no dragging, has it's own pencil sharpener attached, and most importantly lasts over 8 hours on my waterline. It also smudges nicely if you want to create a smoky eye. 

Why doesn't every liner have one of these?

I've been so impressed with this liner, I'm considering buying more from their range (there are 8 shades). They retail for £13.50, which isn't cheap, but I think that one pencil will last a very long time, even with an eye liner addict like me! As far as pencils go, this one gets a firm 10 out of 10 from me.

Nails Inc concrete polish - London Wall

Nails Inc have been releasing a lot of different polish finishes lately. As well as the leather look polish that I reviewed recently, I also picked up a pot of the concrete finish to trial.

I decided to go for the shade 'London Wall' which is a neutral 'griege' colour. The others in the concrete range are quite bright - red, yellow and blue - so I thought this would be a more subtle way to try it out.

The polish went on smoothly, although I was surprised to see tiny little lumps in it. It turns out that these are the concrete effect and build up as you add more coats of polish. This is completely different to the leather look polish which goes on shiny and dries out to a matte finish.

Two coats gave a really opaque finish and I was pleasantly surprised at how the effect looked. It feels rough to the touch, and is matte, living up to it's concrete name.

I was a little worried about how this would wear given that the leather finish polish only just made 24 hours, but this lasted 3 days before showing any signs of wear, and even then it was only to the tips, no actual chips.

The effect is quite similar to the leather look polish, so I wouldn't recommend buying both.

The concrete polish retails at £12 from Nails Inc retailers. Not a cheap polish, but I do like the effect.

Macadamia intensive hair masque

Macadamia intensive hair masque is designed as a weekly hair treatment to add moisture and shine back into hair.

I received a sachet of this as part of the amazing goody bag at #Bbloggersxmas last year and was really looking forward to giving it as try after reading great reviews.

The mask has a thick and creamy texture with a sweet, slightly nutty smell to it.

I worked it through towel dried hair and left it on for the recommended 7 minutes. As the product is quite thick, it needed a good rinsing to make sure all traces were washed out.

I dried and straightened my hair as usual and was left with super soft, glossy hair. I met a friend for dinner that evening and she actually asked if I'd had my hair done! Result!

They advise on the packaging not to use more than twice weekly in order to see maximum benefits. As my hair is quite fine, I would probably only use this once a week to avoid weighing it down.

I loved this product and will definitely look to buy the full size tub. It retails at around £20 for 250ml and can be found mostly online (Beauty Bay, Feel Unique etc).

I also have a pot of the hair oil which I am trialling at the moment, so look our for a review of that very soon.

100 follower giveaway winner

A big thank you to everyone who entered my first giveaway.

I drew the winner late last night and the winner is...

Rachel from Sweetpea London!

Congratulations Rachel. I'll be posting your goodies to you next week.

Thank you again to everyone who entered.

Applying nail wraps: a quick tutorial

I love nail wraps. They can give you fantastically patterned nails with no need for any sort of nail art skills (a bonus for someone like me with no patience!). They can however, be a bit of a pain to apply, so I've developed a little tutorial on the best way I've found to apply nail wraps. 

You'll need:

Nails wraps
Acetone wipe (normally included with Nail Rock wraps) or a non-conditioning varnish remover

Buffer
Nail file
Cuticle stick

Step 1:

Prepare your nails for application by pushing back cuticles with the cuticle stick. Wipe nails with acetone wipe/varnish remover to remove any oils/old polish. 

Step 2:

Buff the surface of your nails very gently to remove any shine that might be on there. Your nails are now ready to start applying the nail wraps.

Step 3:

Decide on a nail to start with and select the wrap closest in size. 

Step 4: 

Trim nail wrap if necessary (whilst still stuck to backing paper).

Step 5:

Peel off the nail wrap using the straight edge of the wrap. Avoid touching the wrap further down towards the curved part as much as possible to avoid losing any of the stickiness.

Step 6:

Very carefully position the curved part of the nail wrap at the base of your nail. With firm pressure, push down the rest of the nail wrap bit by bit up the nail, until your whole nail is covered.

Step 7:

If you see any bumps in the wrap (you'll normally get a few), you can remove these by pulling up the nail wrap very gently and re-stretching across your nail. At this point, the nail wrap will be longer than your nail under it.

Step 8:

Once you're happy with the position of the wrap, push it underneath the end of your nail slightly to secure. Take your nail file, and in downward strokes, gently file off the excess that's overhanging your nail underneath.

Step 9:

You should now have a finished nail! 

Step 10:
Repeat for the other 9 nails, trimming wraps to fit as necessary. 

You'll be left with a pile of little trimmings and also approximately 6 nails wraps from your kit (depending on wrap brand). Discard the trimmings and save your left over wraps for another day - I sometimes use one as a feature nail, or mix and match similar patterns from two left over packs. 

I find my nail wraps usually last between 2 and 4 days with no real signs of wear. It does vary a little depending on how well they were applied and also if you're doing anything strenuous with your hands, but that's a good estimation!

To remove, I peel them off gently from left to right, and then add lots of hand and nail cream to help remove any last traces of the glue. 

I hope that this has helped. Some brands also require the use of heat in their nail wraps, so please do check your instructions first. This tutorial should work with Nail Rock wraps and certain other brands which don't require the use of heat in application. 

Use it up challenge update

A few weeks ago, I announced that I would be trying to work my way through my stash and rewarding myself for each product that I completely used up.

I'm not going to lie, I've bought new products in this time - you can see my most recent haul here.

What I have managed to do though is make myself use a few things up I would have ordinarily discarded whilst semi-full just to move on to the next thing I had my eye on.

I've saved about £14 so far, not bad for a few weeks.

I'm now increasing my challenge to a beauty related spending ban for the next 4 weeks, as I am desperate to save my funds for the Pro Beauty show weekender I have planned with the lovely Miss Charl.

I'll still be saving each time I use up a product, but on top of this, I won't be buying anything new (deodrant/cotton wool aside) unless it's vital and runs out. I have plenty stashed away to keep me going, so this should surely be easy, right?

I'll be reading lots of spending ban posts to keep me motivated, so if you have an update on how you're doing, please share it in the comments or tweet it to me!

Green People gentle make up remover review

Green People gentle cleanse and makeup remover* is a gentle, creamy remover designed to take off both eye and facial makeup.

As a fan of natural skincare, I was delighted to test this out as part of a new website launch from Nature's Healthbox - a new site dedicated to natural, organic and eco-friendly products.

One of the largest certified organic skincare brands, Green People produce all sorts of products from shampoos to skincare. This products was perfect for me as I wear a lot of heavy eye-makeup, so I thought I would be able to give it a really good test.

The remover comes in a pump style bottle, making it easy to dispense the right amount. You apply using fingertips, massaging into the skin and then removing either with cotton wool or rinsing off with water.

I found this really effective in removing my makeup, even the heavy black liner I like to wear. It didn't leave my lids feeling greasy, despite the creamy texture and didn't irritate my somewhat sensitive skin.

The only thing I wasn't overly keen on was that the product was scented. It smells like roses, which normally I love, but I prefer any products that are going near my eyes to be as unscented as possible.

You can buy this product in different sizes, and for a 50ml (the smallest) bottle, it retails at £9.89.

Special offer

As part of their launch, Natures Healthbox are offering all Tales of a Pale Face readers 10% off all products until 31st January. Just enter the code BLOGTASTIC2013 to receive the discount on your order.

(* PR sample - views are still all my own)

Mac Russian Red lipstick review

As part of my recent haul, and at the ripe old age of 28, I purchased my first ever (yes, I know) MAC lipstick. 

I'd been thinking about what shade I wanted for a long time as when I wear lipstick, I tend to go for either a really strong look, or something barely there. After a few hours of googling, and some swatching in store, I bit the bullet and decided to go for Russian Red.

Russian Red is a blue based, matte, classic red lipstick. It has a slightly vintage feel to it, and from what I've seen, suits most skin tones beautifully. 

The formula is matte, but is still quite creamy on application. It's a tiny bit drying after a few hours wear, but nothing a slick of lip balm doesn't sort out. 

Russian Red swatched

This lipstick has been compared a lot to Ruby Woo, another matte red. I would say that the two are very similar in colour, but do vary in texture. Ruby Woo felt a lot drier and had no sheen whatsoever, whereas Russian Red feels more creamy and has a slight sheen to it on the lips. 

Russian Red on the lips...

I really love this lipstick. I think it's a classic shade that won't date, and I'm pleased it was my first MAC lipstick purchase. 

Russian Red retails at £14 and can be purchased from MAC counters or online.