DHC Deep Cleansing Oil Review

I can't help but smile - this baby retails at £21.50 but after buying it, it came up on my receipt as £4.50! Bargain. I just noticed that the sticker and price on the box is for something else entirely. I'm not going to complain.

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

I've always been intrigued by oil cleansers and have tried my own concoctions as well as ones from Shu Uemura, Muji (hello parabens) and Origins but I can't say I've been impressed enough to repurchase at those kinds of prices. I'd heard so many great things about DHC's Deep Cleansing Oil but never saw it in shops in the UK so this oil wasn't really on my radar until I saw it in Topshop.

Wilko Makeup Brush Review

Who'd have thought it? Wilko doing decent makeup brushes? I know I was surprised.

I find myself perusing Wilko's aisles more and more recently what with the new store designs and more appealing stock. I'd been on the hunt for quite some time for a new powder brush seeing as I wear powder foundation frequently and can't keep applying it with my blusher brush. I'm not going to lie, whilst I love Boots and their No7 vouchers that come out every few months, I just am not prepared to spend £17 on a No7 powder brush. Whilst I didn't want a bottom of the range scratchy one, I wanted something that was good value and ended up looking elsewhere for a brush (sorrynotsorry, Boots).

Wilko Powder Brush

This brought me to Wilko where I was apprehensive whilst looking at their range of brushes. Most of mine are e.l.f brushes so I'm used to spending under £5 without compromising on great quality. My main worry was buying it and being disappointed if it didn't pick up product or was horribly rough. I decided to go for it and I have to say I'm really happy about my little leap of faith! It is so incredibly dense and soft that I would liken it to a kabuki brush. One of my biggest gripes with kabukis though are the impractical short handles so this is almost an improved version. It buffs powder makeup effortlessly and quickly thanks to its size. Much better than using my blusher brush!

Boots Skincare Haul

I love me some good Boots offers! Over the weekend I managed to pick up some decent deals in Boots (which doesn't always happen). Overall, I'm very happy with them!

Boots Skincare and Makeup Haul

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water - in my opinion this is a must have for all those who don't like applying thick, greasy makeup removing lotions onto their skin. I prefer using something light to remove makeup as I hate the idea of residue and this does it in a pinch. I got it for £3.32 (reduced from £4.99) which I think is fantastic value. The 400ml bottle claims to provide 200 uses which is probably not realistic seeing no one is going to precisely dispense 2ml to their cotton pad each use but from experience, this bottle is capable of lasting months! I love the simple packaging but I have noticed it leak slightly when on its side, which could be an error on my part if I didn't close the lid properly.

My Project 10 Pan

Project 10 Pan tldr - gathering 10 products you want to use up (or at least hit pan on) before you buy any more!

In reality this is probably my 3rd attempt at this challenge. I get bored easily and I'm at the point now where having hundreds of products open without the likelihood of finishing them is getting to me! It's starting to feel like a waste :( Must. Use. Them.

Victims of my project 10 Pan

3 Sisters of Nature Review

Once again, I spent way too long in my local Pak Cosmetics hair shop. Is it just me or does the air in there feel like the smoky skies of Mordor once it's in your lungs? Not that I've ever been to Mordor but no word of a lie, I came out coughing because of the nasty plastic smell.

As usual when I visit Pak's, I have no idea what I'm after. There are certain brands I keep returning to in order to sniff and drool over them (Curly Kinky, Design Essentials, CURLS and Nene's Secret) but I've yet to try any, mainly because of the ridiculous prices for some of them. One day I will suck it up and try these products *crosses fingers* but for now I'll sample some of the cheaper offerings in an attempt to find something halfway decent. These are the products I picked up from 3 Sisters of Nature - the Stretch it Out Creme (AKA Natural Lengthening Creme) and Sweet Bounce Back (which is now called Sweet Honeyrose Treatment?).

Despite the possibility that these products could both have an ungodly stench, I bought them without smelling either. Talk about living life on the edge. Okay, in reality I couldn't smell them if I wanted to because it they were wrapped in plastic but yes, things could have gone wildly wrong smell wise. And they did. Both products smell very strongly of the most artificial cherries you could imagine. I think the Sweet Bounce Back tub has a stronger scent than the Stretch it Out Creme. The smell is much too powerful for my liking. Why on earth would they make it smell like cherries?

3 Sisters of Nature Stretch it Out Creme and Sweet Bounce Back

3 Sisters of Nature Stretch it Out Creme (click the photo for closer inspection)

Marc Jacobs Daisy Review

I'd wanted this fragrance for the past two months and painfully patiently waited for the Boots sale to buy it.

Marc Jacobs Daisy

It came in a gift set which was £47.50 before the sale but was reduced to £31.67 after Christmas. Perfect. Being a small time perfume snob, I wanted the eau de parfum but a comparison of prices (£53.50 vs £31.67) threw that out of the window. Daisy was accompanied by a luminous body cream and a shower gel. I don't think the body cream is something I'll use regularly as it is laced with large chunks of glitter (and I'm not 10) but shower gel will never be redundant. I'm quite shocked that separately, the shower gel and body cream retail for £20-something each. Whaaaat?

Daisy is so very fresh, sunny, and floral, featuring notes of strawberry, jasmine, violet and vanilla. It quickly became one of my favourite perfumes along with Amani Si, Wish by Chopard, Stella McCartney STELLA, and Miss Dior by... Well, Dior.

Charles Worthington Takeaways

After spending way too long in the haircare aisle in Boots, I had seen so many people pick these (and the full size bottles) up and escort them to the till. So being the fluffy sheep that I can be when it comes to trying haircare, I followed suit. I can tell from the price that Charles Worthington is a top high street brand but I haven't tried anything from his range, probably because it's never fully appealed to me.

I thought the packaging on these was interesting and different. Part of the reason I bought them was because I thought the lid was a miniature screw top which looked really cute. It's actually a twist and snap deal which when opened, rendered the hole in the sachets tiny because they were blocked by twisted plastic. This made the product annoying and time consuming to dispense because it shot out in a thin stream. However, it's much easier to save product that's left over in the Charles Worthington sachet because of the tiny opening. This is great when compared to normal sachets which can rip in the most unsuspecting directions, making them difficult to deal with. 

Not Strictly Brixton

Having never been to Brixton (and having discovered a love for markets) I thought it was about time I went. Cue the mad crowds.

Brixton's Ms Cupcake Cupcakes

Ms. Cupcake of Brixton has been on my radar for a while now and I finally had the chance to go there. The shop was really not what I expected and actually looked quite run down and in disrepair. It was barely decorated and a bit on the shabby side, so much so that when he spotted it Din said 'we are going in here?'. Cakes were £2.40 each and they did look beautiful. There were some really odd flavour combinations and the only ones that ticked my boxes were Lemon and the Ferrero Rocher one (I got Lemon to stay on the safe side), whilst Din got Triple Chocolate. The cupcake was nice, a little rubbery but the icing was fantastic, none of that greasy margarine style icing here. Don't be fooled though, although the cakes look huge the actual the icing to cake ratio is crazy. There's about 1 inch high of cake and three of icing.

We then went to Kingly Court to have tea at Camellia's Tea House (only to be told that the minimum spend on Saturdays is £5 per person with a maximum stay of an hour)... No one goes to a tea house to rush, guys. We left, even though the candle was so cute.