Gardening and review!

Hello from a mighty cold May Day weekend in Scotland! I've been busy so far with outdoor pursuits including planting pots for the garden! I've got a nice grow house set up now for all my little seedlings! I am hoping I can bring you some lovely NOTDs with my home-seeded plants in the backround! I've got terrible nails at the moment and very scaly, dry hands. Nothing's working for me. Therefor I've not done my nails as of yet this weekend.. I will do a nice new green shimmer for you all tomorrow!

I am currently road testing Makebelieve Night Time Facial Moisturiser, and I have to say I am in love! It is a gradual tan for your face, you put it on as a night crem. It hardly smells, and doesn't rub off nasty brown colour on your pillow! I also tried the gradual tan and self tan from the same line, they both smell very little and don't leave dirty marks; however I didn't think that the Self Tan left a deep enough colour for my taste... They're all mega-moisturising too so its for once good for your skin to tan!

Night Time product was the No 1 in Gok Wan's "How to look good naked" programme! As it is a gradual tanner, it'll be enough if you swap your regular night time moisturiser for this ever 3 days to get a nice healthy glow as opposed to a deep fake tan. I love Night Time, but it is very expensive, £25 for 75ml, a bit much, but for me it's worth it! You can buy the trial pack for £15 in Boots so you can test the stuff for yourself for less!

I'm off to deal with some dishes, but I will see you all soon with more reviews and NOTDs!

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FOLLOW-UP: Imju Fiberwig Before&After Pix

This is a before and after with Imju Fiberwig, especially for reader Lizzz262 :)

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REVIEW: Imju Fiberwig Mascara ♥ ♥ +

This mascara has the most unflattering name in the history of makeup :) I bought this new on eBay from Hong Kong for less than you buy a drugstore mascara in the UK (between £7-15), and that includes the shipping. This sells for a staggering $22 at Sephora!

Apparently, Imju Fiberwig is 'Japan’s best selling mascara'. I have read mixed reviews on this product, some which were praising it as a Holy Grail and some not liking it at all. It has emerged as somewhat of a cult item among beauty fanatics, so I thought it needs to be rigorously tested by myself to ee if it passes the Pretty Perfect Beauty tests! :)

First off it needs to deliver on its' promises - long 'false lash' effect lashes. Secondly it needs to be smudge and fall-out proof. Thirdly, it needs to pass the removal test (no harsh scrubbing, no panda eyes the next morning).

Firstly, problem number 1 was the instructions. As I don't read Japanese, I was lost as to if there was any specific instructions on how to use this product! But I suppose that what you get for buying direct from overseas... :P

The formula is very runny and messy. You can see the tiny filamentous fibers in the formula already on the brush.

Some reviewers used Fiberwig over their normal mascara to add lenght to just the tips of the lashes (to avoid the curl sagging, as seems to be the problem with this formula). I did this too as it was so messy on its own I kept smearing it around my eyes... So this is before and after shots of Fiberwig over Chanel Inimitable (lashes curled with curler). Yeah, no false lash effect here, it's still pretty spindly with just slightly longer lashes. I think the lashes look fatter with only the normal mascara...

It does however come off easily and it doesn't smudge or flake! Always something!

So in the end, I think what I paid for it was probably worth it just for testing and occassional use, but I would never fork out $22 for this product. I have used other 'false lash' effect mascaras in the past (Dior Show, Max Factor False Lash Effect) which are cheaper/ just as expensive or more accessible than this brand. Don't believe the hype, just because it's big in Japan, doesn't mean it's worth spending a small fortune for it. If you still want to try it for yourself, get it cheap on eBay!

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:
♥ ♥ +

http://www.fiberwig.com/

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REVIEW: ♥ Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Multi-Repair Cream ♥

This has become my holy grail of skin cream. It doesn't smell of anything in particular, just that light chemical scent of fragrance free products. I like that. I have a lot of natural and organic products right now, so I am becoming even more sensitive to fragrance (I should wear face mask for doing my nails, it's actually starting to get to me).

This cream comes in a handy pump dispenser with a lid so I can put it in my handbag and it will still be ok. It goes on easy, sinks in really quickly and is not sticky or slippy. It has transformed my scaly hands overnight! And it's not very expensive: £3.50. I use it for my hands and my dry skin in top of my arms and my dry elbows. It's truly a multi-repair cream :)

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiiis Much!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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REVIEW: Boots Original Beauty Formula Lavender Hand Cream

The larger Boots stores is a Mecca for beauty fanatics in the UK. In Aberdeen, we are blessed with a rather good one that carries most of the large brands, and also a load of the new breed of brands like Bliss Labs, Urban Decay, Benefit and Origins. Anyway, cruising Boots in a vain attempt to find a foot spa for my poor fractured foot, I came across the shelf for the recently launched Boots Original Beauty Formula. This range feature old Boots pharmacy beauty products in retro-styled packaging in blue and pink. My hands have been giving me a hard time lately, due to the snow and cold. So I chose this hand cream to try the range.

So what was it like? It goes on with a nice fresh lavender scent, sinks in quickly and my hands feel very smooth and not sticky. The packaging is so cute as well and I think it will travel well in my handbag. I like! :) 4 0f 5 stars, missing out that last star because of it's rather ridiculous £4.89 price tag for 45ml ($5+ for 1.5 US fl.oz)...

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OOH WHAT'S THIS... : Karpati Dito Nail Polish

I was just surfing the internet one night when I stumbled across this innovation! Apparently, its a 3 Free nail polish in a bottle you put between your fingers to keep it handy when you paint your nails. Clever! No reviews of this on MUA. I immediately saw an opening to be the first to review this brand.

Colour I got was called "Crispy Apple", apparently part of the Refract collection described as "a shimmering, glittering range of colours". The colour selection is pretty good, but sadly, no greens. I avoided the blues cause I have a load of them already, but then again I got about a million reds :P This colour is gold-shimmering bright red, very summery and looks fresh, like a nice Red Delicious apple :)

I have to say, the bottle is ok, it's the "bottle top" and the brush that's the problem. Only one word for it, awkward. My boyfriend snapped a pic of me applying it, as you can see. It's not easier than a normal bottle, quite the opposite. But the formula is great. Flows on smoothly and opaque in 2 coats, and dries lightning fast. Dries nice and glossy but I am addicted to my Poshe quick dry T/C :P

Overall a great polish in an awkward bottle. Suppose any sales quip is needed nowadays to stand out on the market, but the label should go to normal bottles and just sell it that way as it has a a fantastic formula and a great colour selection, the photo doesn't do this colour justice, it just glimmers :)

Read more here:
http://www.beautyexpert.co.uk/src/google2urbandecay/shop-karpati/

http://www.look.co.uk/news/details.cfm?articleid=af37693981ce4a63b70fff4e3d2d1993%26pageref=beauty

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Battle Of The Handcreams

Contenders:

• Avojuice Pear Juicie
• Seche Silk
• Vaseline Intensive Rescue Soothing Hand Cream
• Body Shop Coconut Body Butter
• Molton Brown Rose Granati hand lotion

Avojuice Pear Juicie 3 of 5 stars
+ Smells nice and juicy, non-sticky velvet feel
- Doesn't actually feel or look very moisturised, pricey

Seche Silk 4 of 5 stars
+ Gorgeous natural aromatherapy lotion, non-sticky, soothing lavender smell, cuticles doesn't look so dry
- Pricey, hard to source

Vaseline Intensive Rescue Soothing Hand Cream 5 of 5 stars
+ Feels moisturised for longer, purse-friendly price, easily come by, non-sticky and quickly sinks into skin
- Slight chemical non-perfumed smell

Body Shop Coconut Body Butter 4 of 5 stars
+ Gorgeous coconutty smell, very rich so good moisturisation and cuticle work
- Takes a while to sink into the skin so better for night time

Molton Brown Rose Granati hand lotion 2 of 5 stars
+ Nice smell of fruity roses
- Severely overpriced, takes about 10 mins to sink into the skin

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