Mini Reviews: A few products I don't like.

I think I like reading about products people don't like almost as much as I like reading about products they do, but I don't think I've ever done one of these posts of my own. Sometimes it's really great to know which products you think you won't like based on other people's experiences so you can avoid them and perhaps save yourself a few pennies in the process!

These are a just a few products that I'm not all that fond of, that's not to say that I think they're completely terrible or that you won't like them and absolutely shouldn't try them ever, they just don't work that well for me and these are just my opinions. 

Lee Stafford Sun Kissed Lightening Spray

I had just run out of my John Frieda Go Blonder Lightening Spray and I was going to repurchase that one but since I usually love Lee Stafford hair products I thought I would try this out instead. I actually don't think this is a bad product at all, in fact I think it smells much nicer, it's just very subtle and it definitely doesn't lighten as much as the John Frieda version that I love so much. This could be one to try if you're looking to achieve a slightly lighter hair colour or perhaps a subtle ombre for the summertime, but if you're wanting something I little more dramatic I would definitely go for the John Frieda instead. For comparison I would say the John Frieda has lightened my natural dark blonde hair colour by about 3 or 4 shades and the Lee Stafford would probably only manage to lighten by 1 or 2 shades.
Retail Price: £7.99

Cosmopolitan Eyebrow Styling Kit♦

I was really excited about this because I love the concept with the addition of tweezers, a brush, stencils and a highlighter pencil. It has the potential to be a really handy little eyebrow kit, there's everything you need in there but unfortunately it just didn't really live up to my expectations. I assumed that the two brown shades were to fill in the brows but since they're packed full of glitter I'm thinking they're maybe supposed to be eyeshadows? I'm not really sure but I definitely don't think glittery eyebrows are a good look. The wax doesn't do much to hold my brows in place and the mini brush isn't as precise as I would like. The tweezers are actually super handy, the stencils are a really nice addition and I think the highlighter pencil is a lovely colour that blends nicely, so it's certainly not all bad but I do think there are better affordable brow kits out there, like this one from Eyes Lips Face for example.
Retail Price: £7.99

Benefit Watt's Up Highlighter

This is something I'm not entirely sure if I like or not, which sounds completely bizarre but I shall explain. Firstly, I love that this is in stick form because it makes application super easy and I think the formula itself is lovely - it's easy to blend and lasts really well on the skin. It's the colour itself I'm not sure I love because think it's a little dark for me (keep in mind I am super fair). If by some miracle summer ever arrives in the UK and I get a bit of colour on my face I'll try it again because I think this is one of those products that looks incredible on skintones darker than my own and at the moment it's just a little too golden on me.
Retail Price: £24.50 (Mine is just a little sample size)

Benefit They're Real Mascara
This is a product I'm actually sort of sad I don't like because it makes my lashes look amazing. It lengthens, adds volume and holds a curl really well throughout the day BUT it smudges on me like crazy and it really really really stings my eyes. It's also on the pricey side and I definitely don't think it's so much better than some of the more affordable mascaras. I'm currently using Maybelline The Falsies and although it doesn't lengthen or volumise quite as much, it's pretty close! And at least by opting for more affordable mascaras I'm saving quite a lot of pennies in the long run, which is always a good thing!
Retail Price: £19.50

Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara♦

I've tried a couple of Jelly Pong Pong products via GlossyBox in recent months and although I don't think they're completely awful, I do think they're much too expensive for what they are. I thought I would really like this mascara, the small wand is perfect for really coating even the smallest of lashes but unfortunately this doesn't give a great deal of volume or length. It's super natural, which can be nice, perhaps if you don't like to wear a lot of make up or if you're still at school and aren't allowed to, I just think this is a few pounds too expensive for what it is.
Retail Price: £15

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer

The Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation is easily in my top 5 foundations of all time so I automatically assumed I would love the concealer too, but unfortunately I really don't. The colour match is perfect, it blends nicely just like the foundation but this just clings so badly to any areas of my face that are even remotely dry and makes them look terrible! It's okay under the eyes, perhaps a little heavy but I'm going to hold on to this for days where my skin is a little less dry because it does a really lovely job of concealing absolutely every imperfection I'd like to hide.
Retail Price: £7.49

Sienna X Cream to Powder Bronzer & Illuminator♦
Cream products are my absolute favourite so I was really excited to try this bronzer & highlighter duo out from Sienna X, especially because I love their powder bronzer a lot. The cream bronzer in this duo is really nice, it's creamy, blends seamlessly into the skin and gives a really pretty colour that can be built up or applied slightly more sheerly. Unfortunately the cream highlight isn't as smooth or creamy and isn't as easy to blend. If you take time to really warm the product up it's a little easier to apply but it's not my favourite highlighter by any means, which is a shame because this could have been a really amazing little duo. 
Retail Price: £25

Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer in The Shining Moment♦

Finally, another highlight product - it seems I'm really picky about these! I honestly can't say anything bad about this, the packaging is lovely, it's a beautiful colour, it blends perfectly - the colour just doesn't suit me. It's a little too much of a warm golden colour for my fair skin, which I'm really sad about but I know it would look amazing on other people. I've literally only used this once and it seems such a shame to keep this in my collection sitting unused and unloved so if you think you would like this (& you perhaps have your own blog where you would like to review it once you've used it a little), pop me over a quick email (sailorjennie@googlemail.com) and I'll post it out to the first person at some point this week!
Retail Price: £21ish

Have you tried any of these products and loved them? 

I'd love to know!

xoxo

A little story & hello new layout!

You know when you start something you've been meaning to do for a little while and you're really excited to start but you get a little more than half way through and you realise it's taking far longer that you thought it would. And then something goes wrong and it takes a really bloody long time to figure out where you went wrong and learn how to fix it. At a crucial point in the saving process your internet decides it would be so hilarious to flash on and off constantly for at least twenty minutes. It's around here that all excitement you had at the start has collected its coat, said goodbye and left the room.

Then, because you were silly and started really late at night, 5am rolls around and although you really would like to go to sleep and you're longing for a comfortable bed with a super warm duvet, you know you won't be able to drop off until you're finished. It's too late to go back so you reach for the coffee (and a few hobnobs) and power through. Things look up a little when you finally figure out where you messed up and you know how to fix it, a little happy dance is entirely appropriate at this point. Then a small furry little guy notices you're actually awake and starts stomping in his hutch threatening to wake up everyone within a 10 mile radius and give you a migraine unless you promptly let him out and supply him with lots of treats. That's Ralphie by the way, I'm not caging small hairy humans or anything. So you have to get up from your comfortable spot knowing you'll probably never be that comfortable ever again, well at least not tonight. And your suspicions were correct but when you do get regain some of that comfort, you realise you have to get up again because you need a wee. And when all the distractions are over and you finally finish said task, the sun has come up, it's almost 9am and there's probably not much point in going to bed because you'll just end up sleeping for the whole day and wasting it. 

Well, that all happened. And although I will probably need to prop my eyes open with match sticks for the whole of today and drink more than my body weight in coffee - this is my new layout - what do you think? I needed some kind of change, something a little less circle-y and I'm really happy with it. There wasn't really a specific plan I had in mind, the only thing I knew was that I wanted to incorporate as many of my photographs as I could while keeping it simple. There are a few little tweaks that need to be made but they're going to have to wait until I'm a little less sleepy!

Anyway, I won't keep you any longer, my tummy is doing some serious growling right now, it's demanding toast & jam and who am I to refuse? It's Sunday afterall & since I've been a little absent from the bloggersphere for a few days I'm super excited to catch up on some blogs & reply to comments later today. Please leave your blog links in the comments below so I can have a little read, I would love that!

Have you had a nice week? I hope so! 

If you'd like, let me know one good thing that happened to you over the past week! 

xoxo

P.S. I've also rejigged my advertising space - from July there will be one 400px x 200px spot and up to eight 200px x 200px spots each month that will sit over in the sidebar just above the Google Friend Connect widget. If you would like to reserve one pop me over a quick email any time before the end of this month!

June 2013 GlossyBox: Summer Looks!

Hello! It feels like forever since I sat down to write a blog post, I've been chained to my laptop for the past week with a looming essay deadline but that's all done and dusted now and I'm excited to get back into the swing of blogging!

I can't believe it's June already, they're completely right when they say that time really does fly! I hope you're having a lovely month so far and are enjoying some summer sunshine! It seems the guys over at GlossyBox are as excited about the arrival of the sunshine (finally!) as we are and the June 2013 GlossyBox♦ is the summer looks edition aiming to help us transition into summer as seamlessly as possible! On first impressions I'm really impressed, every single product is a full size! Here's what's in my box this month...

MONU SPA HAND AND NAIL CREAM.
I'll start with my least favourite product in my box, which is the Monu Spa Hand and Nail Cream. Hand creams aren't something I generally get excited about, I really like Soap & Glory Hand Food and L'Occitane hand creams which I don't really tend to deviate from, but this is in no way a bad product or a disappointing sample. I've given this a little try and I think it's quite nice. It didn't feel too thick, it seemed to sink in fairly quickly and my hands were left feeling super soft. I've passed this on to my mama because she loves hand creams and so far she's been absolutely loving it - thumbs up! This is a full sized 50ml product and retails for £10.95.

ORGANIC SURGE SHINE BOOST CONDITIONER.

Organic Surge is a brand I'm really familiar with so I was really happy to see a product from them nestled inside this box. This is the Shine Boost Conditioner which promises to detangle and add gloss to the hair with organic grapefruit and citrus essential oils. I'm super excited to try this, shine is something I always struggle to achieve without weighing my hair down and making it look greasy so I'm looking forward to seeing if this works for me. This is a full sized 200ml product that retails for £5.99.

MEMEME COSMETICS LONG LASTING NAIL GLOSS. 

Minty nail polish colours are my absolute favourites and although I probably already own one to many, I'm always happy to add to my collection. This is the MeMeMe Cosmetics Long Lasting Gloss Nail Polish in the shade Pensive. I've tried a few MeMeMe polishes before, I've always been impressed by the lasting power and they usually apply really well with one or two coats. I'll definitely be wearing this shade a lot this summer time! This is a full sized product and retails for £5.

FIGS & ROUGE CHERRY BLOSSOM TINTED LIP BALM.

Figs & Rouge is a brand that GlossyBox introduced me to a little while ago. I've been through two of their lip balms that come in the little tins and I absolutely love them so I was excited to see the Cherry blossom Tinted Lip Balm. A relaxed make up look in the warmer months is something I'm all about and tinted balms epitomise easy-going for me. So far I am absolutely loving this, it's really moisturising and it gives a really pretty sheer rosy tint to the lips, which I think is lovely! The packaging is also super adorable. This is a full sized product and retails for £4.95.

GOSH GROWTH MASCARA.
Finally, the last product in my box this month is the GOSH Growth Mascara. I'm very intruiged by this, I would very much like longer lashes because mine are a little on the short side and this promises results after just 2 weeks of use. I think I'll take some pictures of my lashes now and then again after using this for 2 weeks to see if there's any difference. The mascara itself is quite nice, I really like the small plastic brush because you can really get in and coat even the smallest lashes and it seems to add a nice amount of volume. The formula doesn't really lengthen all that much and it seems to clump if you add a little too much product, but I've only used it once so far. This is another full sized product and retails for £8.49.

Are you subscribed to GlossyBox? 

What do you think of this months box? 

xoxo