If you’re like us then you might be a bit sceptical about the benefits of so-called ‘deep conditioning’ hair treatments.  Do they really work?  Are they worth the cost?  What sort of ingredients are the conditioners made out of?  And is there anything that does the same thing for much cheaper?

We asked ourselves the same questions while we were testing a wide range of deep conditioning hair treatments – they included masks, pre-shampoo treatments and apply-and-rinse conditioners – and these are the results:

Burt’s Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo Wash (shown above, A, £11.26 GBP for 123 grams available at Boots).

This gorgeous pre-shampoo treatment should be applied to wet hair prior to shampooing.  Use it once a week (or more regularly if you think you need it) and leave in your hair for 5-20 minutes depending on the dryness of your hair.  After rinsing and then washing your hair, you should find your locks are much shinier and smoother.  Why?  The avocado butter is a natural conditioner that helps to lock in moisture, while the nettle and rosemary extracts in the treatment help to give shine.  The best part is that Burt’s Bees aims to use as many natural ingredients as possible – this pre-wash is 99.33% natural, which we think is good enough for us! Read the rest of this entry »

We’d never heard of Stargazer cosmetics until a few days ago.  Having started up selling their wares in the seventies in Great Gear Market in London, Stargazer was at the forefront of the British punk movement, providing bold, bright colours to match the outrageous outfits of their customers.  Given their heritage, and their importance as a British cosmetics supplier, we jumped at the chance to have a play with their modern ranges.

We stuck with a colour theme of blue, red and white (given their punky British heritage we thought this was apt!), but their range extends to include the entire rainbow – and not only in punk worthy colours, but more staid, conservative shades too.  The Stargazer ranges and shades used for to create our soft Punk Britannia look above were:

A: Eye Dust, £3.00 GBP ea

B: False Eyelashes, £4.50 GBP

C: Lipstick, £3.00 GBP

D: Nail Polish, £2.00 GBP ea

E: Glitter Shakers, £3.00 GBP Read the rest of this entry »

My mum raised my sister and I on Olay moisturising cream (pictured below, A), and it was a mark of maturity to be finally be given your own magic white bottle with the screw top black lid.  Having used it for years and valued it for it’s SPF qualities, my mum continues to swear by the brand – and now I do too, but for slightly different reasons.

What originally attracted me to Olay was it’s associations with the ‘grown up’ beauty routine of my mum, and I think my loyalty to the brand still relates back to my memories of stealing a bit of moisturiser from my mum’s bathroom as a kid.  What really wins me now, though, is the continued innovations Olay makes with its ranges.  Seemingly not content with just the one ’scientifically proven’ formula, Olay has introduced several very different groups of products over the last few years, all with very intriguing selling points.

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Our beauty reviewer has been a busy bee, testing all the new products available to give you the inside scoop:

Dove Heat Defense Therapy Shine Mist: This lightweight product is great at keeping split ends at bay, the barnet bare of many!  Not only does it help protect hair from heat damage but it also has a shine mist which leaves hair with a beautiful glow.  Use the mist sparingly especially on thin hair to get best results and get condition perfect hair everyday!  Pictured above, A: available from Boots, £2.99 GBP (but currently on sale for £1.00!!).

Dove Bodywash Cream Oil: Dove’s latest luxurious line of ‘must haves’ include these beautifully fragranced body washes… well every woman deserves a little treat each morning!  The cream oil combo works perfectly to help keep skin moisturised, a winter necessity! They are also available in travel size making them ideal for every occasion!  Pictured above, B: available from Superdrug, £3.37 GBP.

Collection 2000 Glam Metallics and Glam Glitter Eyeliner/Eye Creme Wands: Sparkle this Christmas with Collection 2000’s range of glitteringly gorgeous eye liner wands.  They are the ideal size for popping in your party purse and are so easy to apply! To get a subtle hint go for gold! Apply to the lower lid to give an effortless glow.  For those more daring try the Glam Glitter wand in blue ‘Gossip’ – proving baby blues create a party princess.  Glam Metallics pictured above, D: available from Boots, £2.93 GBP.  Glam Glitter pictured above, C: available from Boots, £2.93 GBP.

The weather is getting colder, lips are getting chapped, hair is forming split ends, and skin is drying up.  All this, and the party season drawing perilously close – the last thing you want is to turn up to your work Christmas do looking like you’ve been living rough for the last few months.  Our solution?  The Desirable Winter Beauty Special, aimed to sooth all manner of ills.

A: Naughty But Nice Take-Away Gift Pack of Four Lip-Glosses,* £9.95 GBP from Prezzy Box.  These super creamy lip-glosses are great for dry lips, look cute sitting on your dressing table and fit neatly into even the smallest of purses.  The best part? You can keep one and give three to your best mates!

B: Fabulous Figwort Organic Body Butter, £10.00 GBP from Napiers.  This body butter soaks in like a dream, is super nourishing (thanks to its hempseed oil) and smells incredible.  With layers of grapefruit and figwort, you’ll feel rejuvenated and soft-skinned in no time.  We cannot recommend this enough!

C: Dove Intensive Cream for Extra Dry Hands,* £2.24 GBP from Lloyds Pharmacy.  This hand cream soaks in straight away, leaving no greasy or chalky residue and making your hands feel refreshed and moisturised.  It also helped our flaking nails!

D: Vaseline Cocoa Butter Vitalising Gel Body Oil,* £4.89 GBP from Superdrug.  This body oil, to be used after a bath or shower, smells like a summer holiday and nourishes like a full-body mud treatment.  Containing almond and brazil nut oil, this lovely stuff gives skin a healthy, moisturized glow.

E: Spa Paradisa Love Your Skin Scrub,* £7.79 GBP from Superdrug.  With a passionfruit scent, awesome retro packaging and a scrub that actually works, what more could a girl ask for?  This skin scrub is made up of sea salts, sugar and coconut shell fragments which means that there aren’t any harmful plastic beads to be left floating around in our precious environment.  We say two thumbs up to getting rid of dry skin with such a lovely smelling product!

F: Korres Thyme & Honey Mask,* £15.66 GBP at Zuneta.  This face mask is the perfect combination of delicious scent, silky-smooth product and a result that is actually pretty satisfying.  It’s ultra-hydrating and doesn’t damage, stretch or scratch the skin – perfect after a cold, windy day.

G: Clarins Moisture-Rich Body Lotion,* £24.96 GBP at Rowlands Pharmacy.  This super moisturizing body lotion soaks in without any oily residue and is specially made for very dry skin – ideal for winter!

H: L’Occitane Shea Butter Foot Cream,* £17.00 GBP at Garden Pharmacy.  Cracked, tired, swollen or party-pooped feet?  Let L’Occitane soothe all your aches and pains.  This shea butter foot cream is ultra moisturizing, soaks in quickly and leaves your feet feeling fresh, cared for and deliciously scented!

I: Rosebud Minted Rose Lip Balm,* £5.88 GBP at Zuneta.  This lush lip balm will sooth chapped lips, give a hint of colour and will seal in moisture.  Plus it comes in a really cool retro tin.  What mroe could you ask for?

J: MOP Extreme Moisture Treatment,* £12.00 GBP at Garden Pharmacy.  Treat your dried locks to some extreme moisture with this lovely treatment from MOP.  Designed to tame split-ends, soothe dry scalps and get rid of frizz, this conditioner is top of our list for hair treatments during winter.

K: Korres Shea Butter & Vitamin Hair Mask,* £12.00 GBP at Garden Pharmacy.  Korres are kings of the beauty treatment industry, and this hair mask demonstrates why – it combines a variety of hair-loving nutrients and vitamins, adds in shea butter for gloss and moisture, and packages it in an easy-to-use dispenser.  Bravo!  No more split-ends, dried locks or lack-lustre colour.

L: Burt’s Bees Lip Balm (Tube),* £3.50 GBP at Garden Pharmacy.  Cracked, chapped, sore or dry lips?  Perhaps all four conditions in one? Sounds like you’ve been out in the cold, windy weather without your Burt’s Bees lip balm!  This affordable and deliciously scented lip balm is our absolute beauty must for winter – don’t leave home without it.

M: Crabtree & Evelyn Cocoa Butter, Nutmeg & Cardamom Creamy Body Wash,* £11.00 GBP at Crabtree & Evelyn.  This lush, warm, spicy smelling body wash is perfect for a cold winter’s day – revive yourself after a long day’s work and treat your skin to some conditioning body wash at the same time!

Any beauty addict worth their weight in night cream knows that when you find a good nail varnish you should stick with it.  The sad fact is that the majority of the decent nail polishes out there are incredibly expensive (Chanel, we are looking at you), and with the speed with which fashionable colours change sometimes you have to take the budget option.  Two of those are the subjects of our review today – Barry M Nail Paint and Miss Sporty ‘Clubbing Colours’ Varnish.

Barry M Nail Paint,* £2.89 GBP each, available at Superdrug

Miss Sporty ‘Clubbing Colours’ Nail Varnish,* £1.95 GBP each, available at Superdrug

After many, many moons of applying nail varnish (and cheap nail varnish at that), we can safely say we have never used a polish that chipped so fast and took so many coats to look ‘right’ as the Miss Sporty ‘Clubbing Colours’ range.  Harsh words from people who would usually see a chipped nail as an excuse to paint on a new colour, but it’s true – the Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours range fell far below even the lowest of expectations we had for such a cheap nail polish. Read the rest of this entry »

Stop press!!  Throw away your sticky, crusty bottles of anti-ageing creams!  We have actually found the equivalent of youth in a bottle, and it smells surprisingly nice too (for some reason we always thought the fountain of youth would smell like freshly turned soil and cut grass, but having discovered the real-life equivalent in Barefoot Botanicals Youth Serum we can confirm it smells more like roses and geraniums).  Barefoot Botanicals Rosa Fina Supernatural Instant Youth Serum is actually incredibly good stuff and we can confirm having tested it ourselves – it does work.

Barefoot Botanicals Rosa Fina Supernatural Instant Youth Serum, £34.21 GBP for 15mL from Barefoot Botanicals

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