Beauty Blog - Beauty Geek UK

Beauty on the Go

There once was a time when anything salon related was perceived as a pampering and indulgent experience, where we’d put aside a few hours to take the weight off our feet and enjoy a bit of time out. However, life has become increasingly busier (studying, working, having a social life, keeping a blog) and suddenly we’re expected to do it all and still look amazing whilst we do it, but how are we supposed to find the time?

Thankfully there are ways to beat time restraints so we can organise our lives at a rate that suits us. Instead of having to work around salon opening hours, there are online booking systems and salon software that allow us to plan our schedule and book appointments for everything from pedicures, to tan appointments, to hair cuts. These simple and easy to use software programs allow you to search for whatever treatment you want, find a suitable appointment and book your slot accordingly. The best part is that you can do this at a time that suits you. If you’re like me (read: disorganised) then this approach to appointment making is ideal; as soon as you remember that your roots need doing or your tan has started to fade, a quick search for a treatment and your appointment is made.

One of the great things about these types of sites is that they allow you to try out new salons and hopefully find new favourites. You can log on and find out about other customer experiences and read both positive and negative reviews, so you don’t need to risk visiting a salon that might not be a good fit and you may even find a new favourite.

Being a London girl, I’ve lived all my life in this bustling city and I’m aware of how busy the best salons are, and as is inevitably the case, the better the salon, the longer the waiting list, especially when it comes to hair salons. Another benefit of using salon software is that you can find salons that are similar to your favourites and that are recommended by other customers, making it much easier to find out more about the best hair salons in London.

The fact that salon sites have paved the way in convenience for booking treatments is a massive positive alone, but the last important point to mention is how many deals are available through these types of sites. So if you’re trying to save a few pounds, then try searching for a deal in relation to the treatment you’re looking for as there are plenty to be found! It really is as simple as picking a treatment, picking an area and picking a date before you’re faced with a wealth of choices covering every price range.

*Sponsored Post*

Penhaligon's Artemisia EDP

I'm very lucky to be currently working my way through a couple of fragrances that I'm absolutely loving, and the first one I'd like to share with you is Penhaligon's Artemisia*. When I was given the opportunity to try a scent from Penhaligon, I decided it would be best if I headed down to one of their London stores to select a fragrance rather than blind-choosing as I'm very fussy about what I like!

Apologies for the make-up smear on the box; I kept it in pristine condition until I swatched make-up for pictures and ended up smearing the box :(

I ended up going to their Mayfair branch on Brook Street. I really recommend visiting a Penhaligon store if you're looking for a new fragrance as it's a very positive experience for fragrance selection. All the fragrances are set-up in a circle and you sit next it to it with one of the store experts to discuss what sort of scents you like. Then, through a process of elimination, you eventually settle on a few you like, which you can take away on scent sticks to explore further.

I narrowed it down to a fragrance from their Anthology collection and Artemisia, before deciding to go ahead with Artemisia. What's most interesting about this is that I was pretty confident I knew which scents I would like (by reading up on the notes of their various fragrances online) but my choices turned out to be completely different, thus proving how important it is to familiarise yourself with a scent beforehand.

Artemisia is one of Penhaligon's most popular fragrances and the notes are as follows:

Head Notes

Nectarine and Green Foliage

Heart Notes

Green Apple, Lily of the Valley, Jasmine Tea, Violet and Vanilla

Base Notes

Oakmoss, Sandalwood, Musk, Amber and Vanilla

Considering that both the heart and base notes contain vanilla, it was inevitable that I would like this fragrance. However, the vanilla really doesn't dominate the fragrance as you might expect, but instead merges well with the other fragrance notes.

Artemisia is a scent that I would refer to as "grown-up girly" as it's incredibly feminine, but it manages to avoid the typical traits of overtly girly scents and isn't too sickly or too floral. It dries down to a very gentle, powdery finish that's a little musky with a hint of vanilla. Interestingly, even though there's a few fruity elements, I wouldn't say there's a particularly fruity finish at any point and instead the fruit blends with the other scents and keeps them all fresh.

For me, this was a bit of a grower fragrance and I didn't fall in love with it immediately as it's quite different to my usual scents, even though it contains a lot of the same notes that I usually enjoy. However, I wore it every day for about a week before it started to really appeal, and now it's something I really love wearing as it's such a pretty, gentle and unique scent; one thing I love is that it isn't something I've smelt on others so it isn't generic and instead I get to feel as if it's my scent rather than something that everyone smells of. This is now a firm favourite in my scent wardrobe that I happily wear regularly and have received many compliments on, including from a random stranger in a lift who got out their phone to make a note of it. If you like your scents to be gentle yet present, feminine without being too girly and pretty without a hint of sickliness then I recommend checking out Penhaligon's Artemisia.

Available now from Penhaligon's starting at £68 for 50ml. It also features in Penhaligon's Scent Library which is a great way of trying out Penhaligon's 10 most popular fragrances for £16, which would make such an amazing gift!

Lucris Washi Cloths

So rarely does a product come along that you know is immediately going to become a staple and leaves you wondering how you didn't know about it sooner! Lucris Washi Cloths* are a range of essential cleansing basics which include the key product - the Washi Cloths - as well as two further products; the Skin Polishing Towel and the Spiral Cotton Buds. This review will focus on the Washi Cloths.

The Washi Cloths are small, cotton cloths that are used to remove cleanser and very gently buff skin; both incredibly basic functions that I'm sure most people do regularly. One of the many differences these cloths offer is that they are brilliantly produced; so they hold water and heat well, are soft and very kind to skin and are so easy to use.

The buffing element is perfect for my skin type as I've really tried to avoid anything too exfoliating ever since I started my new skin regime, yet I still love that 'buffed skin' feel that you can only really get from manual exfoliation. Washi Cloths are far more gentle than a flannel or even a muslin cloth (the latter of which I always find a little too tough on spots; especially if they're infected) so the result is that skin is left feeling well polished without feeling overly exfoliated. The balance is absolutely perfect.

Another great thing about these cloths is that they're so incredibly cheap, so you can buy a pack of 10 for £7.95 and I'd say each cloth can be used 4-7 times before it needs a wash...it's worth pointing out that up until writing this review I thought they were disposable, but having read through the site they're actually washable. I've been using mine and chucking them away so I'm now really pleased (and slightly miffed that I've thrown a few away) that they can be reused!

They come in a multitude of designs (although this relates to the packaging and not the product; all the cloths are pure white) and can be purchased in various amounts, for example you can pick a selection of individual designs or packs in different quantities and they arrive in lovely pink packaging that's oh-so-pretty and would make a gorgeous gift.

These are total bargain wash clothes that I recommend if you do any kind of water-based cleansing (they're great around the eye area too) and if you use any AHA or BHA products then these are ideal due to how gentle they are. Have a look at the Washi Cloth site here where you can check out the various designs available.

NOTD: Nails Inc Concrete in Stonehenge and London Wall

I've been meaning to try these new Nails Inc Concrete varnishes for a while, but to be honest I kept putting them off as I wasn't sure I'd like them! The two colours I have are Stonehenge* (blue) and London Wall* (grey-tinged nude).

I've spoken to a few people who have the Concrete polishes in their collection and the general census has been that the whole "anti-smooth" finish of them is rather off-putting. My main fear was that nails would look like you've painted them and then not been careful afterwards, resulting in lots of pulls and smudges.

I actually really like the shade of London Wall even though it isn't a colour I'd normally seek out. The reason I chose it was because I figured it was the one that looked most like the colour of concrete...if you're going to do something different you may as well do it properly.

Sadly, even though I like London Wall as a colour, it doesn't really suit my skin tone and tends to bring out ruddiness on my hands that I wasn't aware I had. I think this is a shade that'd really suit olive or dark skin tones.

Stonehenge is pretty much a Concrete version of Baker Street; a brilliant, bright blue that manages to stay slightly shy of neon; it's an all-round flattering shade that I would say would suit most skin tones.

In all pictures there's just one coat; I wasn't sure if additional coats would spoil the effect so I thought I'd better err on the side of caution. I'm still very undecided on these Concrete textures as I quite like them, but I'm not completely taken with them. They do look interesting and thankfully they don't look like a botched paint job, but I think out of all the upcoming Nails Inc textures these are probably my least favourite.

Available now in four different shades priced at £12 a pop at Nails Inc.

New Skin: N-Lite Review and Picture Update

I'll start by apologising for the gory close-ups of my horrid skin but I thought it was necessary!! The pictures well all taken about 4-6 weeks apart to give you an idea of the changes occurring.

I've now completed my course of N-Lite and I'm still using the Jan Marini products as mentioned here. As a blogger, I believe it's my job to try and give my readers as much information as possible so they can assess the product/treatment themselves and decide accordingly whether it's something they'd be interested in pursuing, so that's what I'm going to try and do today.

I'll start with the N-Lite review. Firstly I'll say that after months of moaning about my spots, I've *finally* reached a point where I'm not really getting many any more which is great. I had three treatments in total and pain wise they were quite uncomfortable; the first one I had wasn't too bad, but the following two were done using a stronger level on the laser and boy did they smart. However, it's not unbearable and definitely worth tolerating to get the final outcome which appears to currently be clearer skin. Thankfully the treatments are quick - 10 to 15 minutes tops - and there's no real downtime so you can get on with your plans straight afterwards.

Now on to the results. I've really thought long and hard about what's been going on with my skin lately so I could try and make an informed conclusion on the results provided by both the Jan Marini products and the N-Lite. I'm definitely at a point where I'm getting virtually no spots; certainly none of those horrid, cystic types that form to a giant infection - I haven't had for I'd say probably about 4 weeks now - and the spots I do get are tiny - either on the surface or just beneath - and disappear quickly without causing any drama, but this has all come at a price.

When I watched my original video talking about my bad skin, I was quite surprised to see the texture and finish of my skin. Yes I had some pretty nasty breakouts, but they were mostly confined to my jawline and chin and the scarring was pretty minimal. I was diagnosed with mild to moderate acne, yet once I started treatments this progressed to what I would deem moderate to severe acne as there were lots of angry, infected spots (including on my holiday where there appeared to be one growing on top of two which is as lovely as it sounds) and this lasted for quite some time; a good 4-5 months I'd say. So whilst my skin is now virtually clear, I'm left with pretty severe scarring and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

Now, there are a few arguments to be made here; firstly, am I better off with PIH than spots? In a way, yes. It's a hell of a lot easier to cover, doesn't hurt and in theory should fade, and of course I could be just being a big drama queen moaning about them as they may all have faded within a few months. If that's the case then I will be shouting from the rooftops as this really will be the perfect treatment plan for skin like mine. I would be MORE than happy to recommend this treatment if it was a case of a few months with terrible skin, followed by a few months with terrible scarring before skin started looking half normal, so I really hope that's the case with me and obviously I'll definitely keep you updated as to what happens. It is worth pointing out though that the scarring does appear to be easing up and fading quite rapidly, so I'm hoping this will continue. I will also be starting a course of peels soon to speed up the process even further.

I'm very lucky to have had an amazing rep at Jan Marini who appears to be on a one-woman mission to give me perfect skin (partly because she's lovely and incredibly sympathetic and partly because she had skin exactly like mine for a really long time before she started using Jan Marini products) and the next phase will be focussed on repairing my scars (which thankfully are mostly surface scars) so as soon as any progress has been made with that, I shall let you know.

So in conclusion, if it isn't obvious, I'm still very undecided about it all and I don't think I can form a confident conclusion until a few months from now, where I'll be able to assess how the scarring is fairing and, more importantly, if my skin has stayed clear. In the meantime I'd say I'm probably leaning towards saying that it is worth it as it's certainly great to have so few spots, but again I'll have to wait a little longer to give a definite yes or no on my treatments. One thing I will say at this point is that my overall skin tone and finish has definitely improved and I really enjoy using the Jan Marini products. Therefore, I'll shortly be writing up a post designated to my thoughts on the Jan Marini products I'm using to give you an idea of what's worked so far.

More info about N-Lite at The Private Clinic can be found here and more info about Jan Marini can be found here.

So what do you think; can you see the improvement?

Do you think the pros outweigh the cons so far?

Disclosure: treatments and products provided for the purpose of this review.

Remington Easy Curl Styler

At the end of the year, I attended a Remington event at Lucy in Disguise to have a good nose at the Remington range and their upcoming releases. I was allowed to choose a few products to try out at home, and the one that excited me most was the Easy Curl Styler*.

I am absolutely rubbish with styling tools as I always manage to burn myself or end up with strangely angular hair shapes which I try to pull off as post-modern, but it rarely works...however, my initial excitement for the Easy Curl styler was thankfully well placed, as this is an absolutely brilliant tool that's easy to use and really works!

This is pretty much a styling tong for dummies (so it's got my name written all over it) and the way you use it is by clipping a small amount of hair into the clip at the bottom, then just rolling it up the hair tong. The spiral around the tong itself (which doesn't heat up so it'd be quite tricky to burn yourself with) then captures the hair and works as a guide so the hair is evenly placed all the way up, the result being perfectly formed spiral curls.

Remington Easy Curl: clip closed to the left and open to the right.

The two reasons this is virtually foolproof is due the guide as mentioned above, but also the clip which will only take in a certain amount of hair. Therefore, you can't use too much hair (otherwise the clip won't hold) and the hair is heated evenly and accurately; it's just a brilliant design, so if you've ever tried tonging hair and not quite ended up with the desired results, this is most-definitely one for you to try.

The pictures I've used were taken after the first time I used this before a night out (sadly my skin was still rather spotty then!) and on the night out, two different girls stopped me to ask how I got my hair to look that way. I never get asked about my hair styles so this was quite exciting for me!

100% huge rave from me for this amazing styling tool. It costs a very purse-friendly £30, but Debenhams currently have it on a promotion for £20 here.

Have you ever used a tong with disastrous results?

Any tips for styling hair with tongs?

January Sale Binge featuring SpaceNK and Nails Inc

Can I ever be accused of doing things by half when it comes to spending money on beauty-related products? Sadly not, which is why judgemental Pug is judging me:

"I don't think you really needed all those nail varnishes, did you mum?"

Even though there's quite a bit here, I didn't actually spend that much...it's all relative really isn't it? Yes, yes it is.

Space NK

I bought four things in total from Space NK, 2 palettes and 2 single items.

Here is the first of the two Laura Mercier palettes I got which is the Shimmer Neutrals Eye Trio as, let's face it, I don't have enough neutral eye shades in my collection. There are two variants in the Laura Mercier Trios and it appears every blogger I follow bought one or the other. The other one contained cooler shades and leaned towards purples and burgundy shades. It was difficult to pick which one I wanted, but I have a few similar shades to the cooler one in my Colour Luxe palette, so it had to be this one. It was £10 and is sadly sold out, but there are a few other shops who are still stocking it (I believe Harrods is one) for £20 which is still a bargain considering you get three individual and full-sized shades.

The next palette is the Laura Mercier (yeah, her again) Bonne Mine Face & Cheeks Colour Palette which contains five cream shades for contouring and sculpting. I took a risk on this as, due to dodgy skin, I can't really get away with cream finishes as creams don't blend well with the high coverage powders I use. However, as my skin has recently showed signs of easing up, I'm optimistic that I'll be getting plenty of use out of this soon. Apologies for the rubbish shots, unfortunately the palette refused to stay open so I had to hold it in position. This is quite a palette as it contains little sculpting guides that you slide out from the lid, plus a decent sized mirror. An absolute bargain at £8.50.

Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimted Supreme Shine in 326 was a bit of a punt for me, as the shade swatch on the site came up as black for some reason; so I thought I'd risk it and see what shade it turned out to be. Thankfully it was a risk that paid off as this shade is a brilliant, glossy, baby pink that is right up my street and has been getting plenty of use since it arrived. I thought I'd risk it as I have a red variant of this lipstick which has a wonderful finish and formula and I've wanted to add to my collection for a while. Is it just me, or are the shade numbers really confusing with Shu Uemura lipsticks?! I remember finding the red one difficult to work out and I had the same issue with this one. I dig these lipsticks though so it's no biggy.

I've never tried anything from Chantecaille so I thought this would be a good opportunity to sample their range without spending a fortune. I opted for the Poudre de Perle because I've been hunting for a new highlighting product (for no real reason other than boredom as my Mac MSF is still doing a great job) and I hoped this would be a great and easy to use highlighting product that would add some pinky warmth along with light in the right places. So far, I'm not blown away as it appears to just be a load of powdery glitter that's difficult to use and I can't believe that this originally costs £48. This was half price for £24 and not the best introduction to the range, but there you go. Sometimes products land in sale lines for a reason...

Total SpaceNK spend: £50.

Nails Inc

I was immediately wooed by the products in the Nails Inc sale so it was inevitably that I'd have a little binge. I opted for 2 colour sets plus a corrector pen. I also joined the VIP club which I'll explain more of below.

Two things I'm loving at the moment are metallics and pastels, so I bought colour sets that fit in both of those themes. The first is the Winter Metallics Collection which contains 3 autumnal, moody shades and 1 bright pink. I haven't swatched it yet, but the pink doesn't appear to be particularly metallic so I'm not sure why it was included, but any pink shade is always welcome in my collection. This was £10.

Next up are the pastels, otherwise known as The Candy Shop which contained a pink, a blue, a yellow and a purple. I like all these shades so I'm looking forward to giving them a go, and I think they'll be perfect for SS13 with it's inevitable, yearly popularity of pastel shades. This was also £10.

The Nails Inc VIP club costs a one off payment of £5 and comes with some fairly decent perks, such as 10% off every time you shop, a free nail varnish on joining and a birthday present. There's also a rewards scheme; you get points for every order which you can eventually redeem. I thought this was quite a sensible £5 investment, although I'm not too sure on the free shade (which I believe is the same for everyone - Ledbury Road) so I'll try and swatch it soon to give you an idea of what it's like.

I was very close to ordering the Corrector Pen a while ago, then I decided to just pick one up from Boots. I ended up buying the OPI one before losing it...so I went ahead and bought this, making use of both the VIP discount and the first order discount of 20% (which you get when you join their newsletter) meaning that this ended up costing £7.20. After a pretty high level of commitment to nail polish for well over a year, it seems my application technique has shown no signs of improving, so I definitely need this!

Total Nails Inc spend: £32.20

So quite a binge for January! I actually thought this would be a nice, quick post about my little buys, but it's turned into an essay it seems. In my defence, I didn't go out on NYE so I saved quite a bit from that; there's my justification and I'm sticking to it. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to review.

Did you buy anything good in the January sales?

Or did you miss out on something you've been lusting after for a while?

Online Sales Still Worth Checking Out

I don't know about you, but it already feels like the Christmas season ended ages ago...or maybe that's just my wishful thinking? Thankfully there are still ways to carry on the Christmas spirit and fight away the New Year blues by having a little splurge and grabbing a bargain.

A lot of people tend to visit the sale pages of sites when the sales first launch, but it's worth remembering that not all sale stock is put on the site immediately, plus as time goes on, further reductions are made.

Therefore, I thought I'd put a quick list together of some of the sales that still have plenty of bargains remaining, and later on I'll be showing you what I picked up.

All links will take you directly to the beauty-related sales page:

Nails Inc

SpaceNK

Harrods - Make-up Sale

Harrods - Skincare Sale

John Lewis

In the image above, 1 and 3 are from the Harrods sale, 2 and 4 are from the John Lewis sale, 5 is from the Nails Inc sale and 6,7 and 8 are from the Space NK sale.

Sk:n Laser Hair Removal: Final Assessment

This week I visited Sk:n for my final, post-laser hair removal* assessment. I've had six treatments in total, spaced six weeks apart, and I then came in for the assessment eight weeks after my final treatment. The point of the assessment was to assess (no, really) the effectiveness of my laser hair removal treatments and we concluded that there was roughly 80% reduction on one underarm and about 60% on the other underarm. It's worth noting that they tend to recommend 6-8 treatments to really finish off the job, and having seen how much of an impact the six treatments had, I'm fairly confident that one or two more would've reduced the hair growth to virtually nothing.

So there's still a bit of hair coming through, but it's a lot finer, a lot lighter and a lot softer; it's virtually invisible unless you're really looking for it and I don't need to shave more than once a month, if that.

It's definitely a treatment I would recommend if you want a considerable reduction in hair growth, and whilst it's difficult to tell whether it could completely and permanently remove hair, it's certainly had a significant enough impact on my underarm hair for me to be very happy with the treatment.

I won't go into too much detail about the individual treatments, instead I'll list links to them so you can read about them all in more detail:

I had my treatments at the East Finchley branch and you can find out more about the treatments available here.

Top 12 of 2012

It's finally 2013! I hope everyone's year has started well and you're happy to be back to normality. If not, it won't be too long before the snow starts and we'll all be stuck at home again so just hold on for that!

I've spent the last couple of hours going through all the products I've used throughout the past year and working out which I think deserve to be in my best of 2012 list. The ones I've included are things that have really impressed me, become firm favourites and are all things I'll replace when I run out. So without further ado, here are my top 12 of 2012.

Clarisonic

I've had the Clarisonic for quite a while now and I keep stopping using it, then start again and wonder why I stopped! This is such a great product for me as I love to deep cleanse, yet as my skin is no longer young enough for deep exfoliation, I'm trying to avoid anything too stripping or scrubby. Since I purchased the new acne brush head, I've been really enjoying using the Clarisonic again so I'm definitely going to try and keep at it from now on.

Ginvera Green Tea BB Cream*

I was sent this back in February and fell in love with it's amazing coverage and flatteringly dewy finish. There are soooo many BB Creams on the market now but Ginvera's offering, in my mind, is still one of the best, especially for my type of skin.

17 Mirror Shine Lipsticks*

I've converted several people on to these - including my mum who really isn't someone who gets excited about make-up, yet she visited Boots on three separate occasions to replace her shade when she ran out - and I keep the Belle shade on me at all times. They're the perfect lip product; the finish is glossy, the texture is balm-like, the colour range is brilliant, the price is extremely affordable and the packaging is both functional and attractive, so they really do tick all the boxes.

Illamasqua Freak EDP

I've worked my way through quite a few fragrances over the past year, but I keep going back to Freak because it's the most perfect balance of pretty girliness with modern, sophisticated strength. I love the bottle too!

Nails Inc Victoria*

This is the first of two nail shades I'm including in this list. This one is one of those shades that you really have to have on to fully appreciate; it's Nails Inc's take on the always popular Rouge Noir which leaves nails with a glossy, deep, dark, blackened red. Absolutely beautiful and suits both long and short nails.

L'Oreal INOA Hair Care range*

I've had these three (shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner) for quite a few months now and I'm still using them religiously. They keep my hair happy by ensuring it's well-conditioned without weighing it down. It maintains my colour and the deep conditioner is especially fabulous. I've tried a few different things on my hair since I started on these products and nothing comes close.

Laura Mercier Colour Luxe Palette

I think I've banged on about this palette enough, but I couldn't leave it out of the 2012 list because I've used it so many times! I've become a real Laura Mercier convert over the past year (I purchased a couple of goodies in the SpaceNK sale which I'll show you soon) and it all started with my love for this palette. I usually end up using about 50% of a palette but everything in this has been used, from the blushes to the eyeshadows to the brushes and liners cakes; total love!

The Chapel Haircut*

Not technically a product, but it needed to be featured nonetheless as it was such a drastic change that has completely revolutionised the way I see my hair (I know a few other bloggers who feel the same about The Chapel!) and has allowed me a lot more freedom with styling and gave me a fringe that I actually love! I've had a few fringes in the past and I've always got fed up with them; I found them hard work and they always swamped my face, but I love this fringe, along with the colour and the cut. My hair has grown a bit since the initial chop, so I'm undecided whether to get it cut to the original length or grow it long as I've always wanted long hair with a fringe...so we'll see!

Jan Marini Factor-A Plus Face Mask*

This is one of my favourites from the Jan Marini line and I use it 3-4 times a week. It's a bit of a Goldilocks mask as it's not too drying, not too moisturising, doesn't cake but still sets and is very comfortable and easy to use. The packaging is a bit of a pain as the opening is tiny and gets clogged, but it's a small price to pay for such a great treatment that leaves skin feeling thoroughly cleansed, firm, clear and just brilliant.

Popup Paris Candles*

I'm still loving this brilliant candle company which places a diamond in one of every fifty candles they create. The packaging is oh-so-pretty, the fragrance is lovely (my Grenadine-scented reminds me of Strawberry Hubba Bubba) and the minute I use mine up (which, alas, appears to contain no diamond) I'll be replacing.

Maybelline Forever Strong in Lilac Charm

I have a real thing for pastel shades on the nails; sometimes I like to experiment with other shades (that I equally love) but I always end up craving a good pastel. I think it's because they can easily make hands look pretty, feminine and delicate, none of which my hands naturally are, sadly! This is a particularly good shade as I love pastel purple shades and this one is a rich, creamy lilac that is incredibly flattering. I've just purchased a Models Own lilac so I'll be reviewing that soon too.

Butter London Cuticle Miracle Kit*

I've worked my way through so many cuticle products to try and deal with my severely unruly cuticles, but nothing has ever really worked as quickly or effectively as this kit. The oil is pretty standard, but the remover is just brilliant; I now try and put aside a couple of hours a week where I really work at my nails and cuticles and I use copious amounts of both these treatments. I also use a really good kit I picked up by Leighton Denny and I'll be posting about my weekly nail indulgence soon.

So there it is, my top 12 of 2012 and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what 2013 brings is in the exciting world of beauty!

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