Body shop lip & cheek tint review

Normally I would never trust Body Shop to do good makeup products, as they're most well-known as a bodycare brand, so I'd assume they'd be best at those kinda products. So, I was slightly sceptical when my aunt gave me this cheek & lip stain in 02 (they couldn't even come up with a good name!). However, when I tried this out I was pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous rose-gold/bronze colour that came out of the tube!

 The stain has the same effect and is quite a similar colour to a couple of the stila cheek stains (like coconut crush), but for a good deal cheaper at only £10! A nice side effect was that when I removed the bronze colour, the product left a deep raspberry hue behind, which made my lips look so nice, making it 2 products for the price of one! There is a beautiful gold shimmer run through the tint, meaning it almost reflects and is super eye-catching. 
 

 I would rate this product a 3.5/5, because apart from the actual colour (which I guess IS the main part), it's pretty unremarkable - the packaging is boring, the name is boring etc. 
I guess I'm kinda a sucker for cute names! However, for the price this is a top-quality product and I would definitely buy it again.

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

P.S. hope you're all having a wonderful day, unlike me feeling sick and skipping my play rehearsals... :(

LA colors - Tropical Storm nail polish review

For 99p, it is totally worth taking a chance on this polish. Luckily, my instincts were right, and this is perfect! I had used LA colors before and was surprised by how good the outcome was, because cheap polishes normally aren't up to scratch. However, I have almost no qualms with this product. The packaging was fairly standard, not particularly exciting, with a similar resemblance to the OPI products - and the quality was just as good.

 Tropical Storm is mainly a deep gunmetal/chrome grey metallic colour, with a little shimmer and a streak of green added in the mix. With just one coat, the polish glided on excellently, wasn't watery or thin and definitely didn't take long to dry! After about 5 mins my nails were touchably dry and the finish was gorgeous. 

From a distance the colour looks quite ordinary, but up close the effect has hues of green-blue in it! The brush was really great, and I was able to apply the product in 1-2 strokes! However, the lid is a slightly inconvenient shape and I felt I was struggling to grip it (as with OPI). 

I

 I would really recommend popping to Beauty Base and having your own polish spree, as they have a gigantic range of colours, it was difficult to leave with just three...
Despite one teensy and insignificant flaw, this product is amazing - I give it a 4.5/5!

Kisses, 
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

Gilly Hicks, H&M, Topshop and Beauty Base haul!

Today I went to the Westfield in Shepherd's Bush (for the first time in FOREVER!), and was really pleased with all the things I bought. Firstly, I got the softest, fluffiest pair of white slipper boots with a bow on the side from Topshop for only £5 in the last dregs of the sale - bargain!

I can honestly say I'll wear these every day! I decided to get a size bigger than I normally am so they'd be all slouchy (i.e. comfortable).
 Next, we went to H & M, where I saw my next steal - a pair of aviators for £4.99. I've had my EYE (glasses joke...sorry that was actually not funny at all) on these for a while but was reluctant to buy sunglasses in January... In the end I decided I didn't want to leave the store without them!

I realised a while ago that I am obsessed with anything vaguely rose gold; I subconsciously pick up anything that's slightly pinky-gold! 
 Anyway, then we went in to Beauty Base, which (for those of you that don't know) is a cheap beauty products store - it has fragrances, nail polish, makeup etc. Their nail polish range is so unbelievably cheap for the quality, so I picked up 3 different shades instead of the 7 I originally picked up - my friend Lucy restrained me!

Across from left: Twilight, Lovely, Tropical Storm

 The brand is called LA colors, and the 2 color craze polishes were each 99p, with the Nail Lacquer range one coming in at £1.99 (still incredibly cheap). A full review of the Tropical Storm colour will be coming your way very shortly! I was really happy with these three purchases, as I've been wanting a few metallic shades for a while now, as well as a deep nude-peach colour.
Whilst I was in Beauty Base, I fell in LOVE with this perfume:

This scent is literally made for me! The packaging is so simple and elegant, the name is perfect as I am such a hopeless romantic, and not to mention the divine fragrance! The Ralph Lauren website describes it as "The women's fragrance that evokes the timeless essence of falling in love. Discover the sensual essence of velvety woods, extravagant florals and seductive musk". The retail price is around £44, however if you go to www.theperfumeshop.com then it is available for £35. This is definitely going on my "scents-to-get" list.
 Finally we arrived at Gilly Hicks, a fairly new sister brand of Abercrombie and Hollister. I would say the obvious difference is that currently the store is a lot more feminine than the previously mentioned. I got some underwear (which I won't be posting!), but this bag is just too cute:

They come out with a new bag each season, and I'm currently collecting because the designs are gorgeous!


Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

Quote of the day!

I'm so upset that I haven't been able to post recently... Had ridiculous amounts of work these past few weeks! For all of you who have had a stressful week - this made me think:

Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it - Hans Selye

 In response to this, I have decided to be very relaxed about my workload, and not complain at all. Surprisingly, this is going swimmingly well and I advise it to all!

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

P.S. exercise is a well-known stress reliever! 

Apple sharlotka!

Today I've had quite a lazy day, mainly reading Midsummer Night's Dream (one of my favourite Shakespeare plays), because I'm seeing it in a few weeks time and need to recap! So, I decided to try out this recipe I saw on another blog for an apple sharlotka. This is a delicious Russian pudding with layered thin slices of apple covered in a batter and topped with ground cinnamon and powdered sugar. I adore any kind of cinnamon or nutmeg flavour, so applied this liberally and it was divine! The batter goes all crispy and is dee-lish!

I just got a nice surprise this evening when I realised I still smelt of my delicious Neal's Yard Geranium & Orange Body Lotion, which I had applied more than 8hrs ago! The smell is amazing and its only £5 for a 100ml bottle, available in most Neal's Yard stores across the UK. The lotion is described as uplifting, nourishing, and it contains vitamin-rich pumpkin seed oil to leave your skin velvety soft!

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo 

thanks mama pixie

My mama got home 20 mins ago from the languages course she's just started, and I was super excited to see she'd hit the Accessorize sales and picked me up something... Only just tried it on but couldn't wait to share it!

A gorgeous new infinity scarf! It is a wool, oatmeal coloured material patterned in a cute take on the classic fair isle print. For example, it has cute little pink woolly owls, bright flowers and even some argyle print on the scarf, which I haven't seen before anywhere!
Unfortunately they don't have them in stock online anymore, but I'm sure if you hurry to your nearest Accessorize store they might have a couple left!

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

Quote of the day!

In honour of Etta James, one of the greatest soul singers who lived:

My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that - Etta James, 1973-2012

I like to think that this is true for every field, whether it be music sport, academics, drama, art; you can always add some of you to it, even if somebody has done the same thing already.

ahhhhhh

Just a general post that's easy to read on a Friday afternoon! So, when I got home today I was about to reach for a regular (boring) tea bag, when I remembered the new box of my fave tea of the moment that was lurking in the drawer below.... And boy am I glad I did remember it! It is deliciously relaxing, and perfect to calm your mood. The flavours are perfect together, complementing each other to create a delicious brew! For that Friday feeling, I recommend Twinings Nettle & Sweet Fennel tea. Feel like I'm radiating love now!

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

Quote of the day!

After a long, dull and awful play rehearsal, I realised how honest the production was. Sadly, this is a depressingly truthful quote:

"Mayor: Justice can't be bought.
Claire Zachanassian: Everything can be bought." 
p. 36 - The Visit, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Quote of YESTERDAY!

I had absolutely no time whatsoever to post yesterday, because I was at my best friend's birthday party, which was fantastic! We all went to see War Horse by Steven Spielberg (which, coincidentally, my Dad was in), and this quote really stuck out for me:

Can you imagine flying over a war and you know you can never look down. You have to look forward, or you'll never get home. I ask him, what could be braver than that - Emilie's grandfather

I also totally fell in love with Joey from the second we saw him, and quite literally was weeping all the way through! Despite this, (or maybe because!) I would give this movie a resolute top score - 9/10

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie 
xoxo

Sombrero tower!

What a thing to wake up to! This is one of the joys of having a 9 year old brother ❤
My brother got an electric juicer for Christmas, and every morning he has to squeeze out an entire fruit bowl to even make enough juice for one person. Slightly wasteful, but he loves it! His creative juices (sorry for the pun) soon kicked in and he decided to make an artistic tower of empty citrus shells, draw a face on it and put the top of the juicer on his 'head' so he looks like a Mexican... fruit person? The juice was delicious though!

Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

P.S. Just realised the squiggle on his face is a Mexican moustache, not a smile!

Christmas exchange!

Yesterday my two best friends and I did our very belated Christmas exchange! I got THE MOST lovely gifts which I will treasure forever ❤ 
Firstly I opened my presents from Hannah (ditziedoll.blogspot.com), and they were:


The most gorgeous pair of Jack Wills gloves! These are super cosy and leave your fingers free to blog too, which obviously is a necessity.

Annnnndddd a gorgeous eyeshadow palette from Revlon. 

This is a Revlon colourstay 12hr palette in Blushed Wines. All of these colours are totally versatile and are genuinely ones I would wear everyday!

You get given 4 colours in the palette; A deep, chocolate brown with hints of maroon, a taupe colour, a pinky-brown shade with silver shimmer, and a pale pink shimmery colour. 

These colours all gave a perfect shade without more than one application! I definitely will be using these everyday.

Finally, a lip stain & balm. I've had my eye on one of these for a while now, and was super  excited to try it out as soon as I got home!

This particular shade was "Just Bitten", and I immediately put some on. Here's the immediate effect!

The effect was DIVINE, and the balm is a great feature as it totally nourishes your lips, whereas some tints tend to leave your lips feeling dry.


So, moving on to my presents from Bex: I got a vintage 1960s handbag and some lovely Uniqlo leggings patterned with fair isle.

The handbag is absolutely perfect, it totally reminds me of something Audrey Hepburn would carry (my main inspiration), and I adore it!

The inside is very spacious and just the right size for me. This made my Dad reminisce about when he was growing up, and his mum used to carry one exactly like this around with her all the time! He keeps doing a double take whenever he sees it ❤.

I was actually there when Bex bought me these, but I told her she wasn't to give them to me until I'd bought her present! They look like they'd be super warm and perfect for these gloomy January days...
Thanks so much for my brilliant presents you guys, love you to the moon!




Kisses,
The Polished Pixie
xoxo

LOVE ❤

I never really believed in love at first sight, but now I totally understand! Slightly tragic that I'm talking about a nail polish... But this is no ordinary polish! The shade is so divine that I'm just sitting at my computer, transfixed by  the screen. First on the list for my next shopping trip! 

The colour itself is a metallic lilac shade, varying from pale purple to a slightly deeper maroon-tinted colour. It is quite a shimmery shade, and kind of looks like it's from outer space! If aliens came to Earth, they'd be wearing NARS Diamond Life.

Kisses,

The Polished Pixie

xoxo

Quote of the day!

In honor of today being Martin Luther King day (you lucking Americans getting a day off!), here is a message from the man himself, and one of my favorite quotes of all time:

The time is always right to do what is right - Martin Luther King

If anyone has a particular favorite quote, feel free to comment, and I might make it the quote of the day!

Maybelline Eyestudio Mono

On Thursday I went to my local supermarket with my two best friends to rifle through the bargain buckets and pick up my soya-spiced-vanilla-latte-with-no-whipped-cream, which is officially my favourite January drink! I managed to snag the last Maybelline eyeshadow in shade 720 - Iced Fudge (or Marron Glacé, which I think is a MUCH better name). I fell in love with this shimmery rose-silver shade as soon as I saw it, and was very pleased with the low price of £4.09 I payed for it! As you can see below, the packaging is quite basic, which I like, because it's sort of a "classic" Maybelline product. It also comes with a regular foam eyeshadow applicator, which I probably could've done without, considering I own a good quality eyeshadow brush which I find much easier to use, aswell as giving a far more satisfactory finish. 

                                           

I was super excited to try this out, so the next morning I applied it, and unfortunately it was one of those cases where the colour looks gorgeous in the packaging, yet once you put it on, it disappoints you. The colour was far more sheer than I would have expected, and I had to use more than one layer for the shadow to achieve what I had hoped it would with just the one coat. 

The colour also came out differently to how it looked in the packet, with less strong hints of silver and more a taupe-pink kind of colour.

However, the product did last a long time, especially considering I hadn't applied primer underneath! The shade was definitely still gorgeous, just a different one to what I expected. I would recommend this product to anyone wanting an everyday shade that isn't too boring, because this is still on the daring side, yet not so bold that it'll dazzle people. It is a very handy package to carry around with you, although seeing as it has a clear lid, you would have to keep a mirror handy! This product is available from local supermarkets in the UK - such as ASDA, Sainsburys, Waitrose and Boots - with prices ranging between £4.06-£4.09.

For a drugstore brand like Maybelline, I would say you're definitely getting value for money if you buy this product, and I would rate it a 3.5/5

-Kisses

The Polished Pixie

xoxo

Quote of the day!

I've decided that each day I do a blog post, I'll post a quote that has either inspired me, made me laugh, made me think, made me believe or just made me smile.

So here's the first one, from the most wonderful woman, and a real inspiration.

Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world - Marilyn Monroe

Rise and shine

Morning! Not even 24 hours and I'm already thinking about blogging all the time... Look out for my first review coming your way this afternoon, I will give my full and honest opinion so be sure to check it out, aswell as two darling blogs created by the sweetest girls:

http://backtothefuchsia.blogspot.com/

http://ditziedoll.blogspot.com/

They are both new to the world of blog, so their blogs are still developing (as is mine), but just the names are cute enough!

Kisses,

The Polished Pixie

xoxo

blogblogblog!

I've been struggling to come up with a new year's resolution, and it looks like I've finally found one - to make this blog as amazing as possible! This year I'll be giving my opinions on beauty products and fashion items I try & buy, and rating them. I'll also just be giving a general peek into my far-from-glamorous life, to see what other people make of it! I am totally excited to begin my resolution of a fun journey into the blogging world... Who knows what could come out of it?

After all, anything is possible! 

Kisses,

The Polished Pixie

xoxo