Japan 2014 Holiday Photos

Here are some of my photos from my holiday to Japan, we had an amazing time and I can't wait to go back. My sister currently lives there so it was great to see the life she has now and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to go. 

YSL Rouge pur Couture Glossy Lip Stain (9)

I am in love with red lips at the moment and have a growing collection of red lip glosses, lipsticks, lip stains and balms. I decided to treat myself and buy a YSL Glossy Lip Stain, I have wanted one of these for a while but never knew what colour I wanted, there's too many to choose from, but I finally just went for number 9. You can view the whole range HERE. I bought mine from Debenhams for £25.00, I also have my Debenhams Beauty Club Card so I get points every time I make a purchase.

YSL Glossy Stain in 9

I know some people think that £25.00 is a lot of money for a lip gloss/stain, but I love buying premium beauty products and I love designers. I also love some of the other YSL products and think they are all great quality and are worth it. This product gives me beautiful red, glossy (but not too glossy) lips which lasts until I eat a meal or take it off. 

The applicator is a really good shape, it's just perfect for applying it evenly and symmetrically to the lips, it also holds enough product and doesn't give an uneven finish. When I wear this I just feel glam, I really love the look it gives me and I love taking it out of my bag to apply it, the packaging is just beautiful. The colour 9 is a lovely bright true red, the kind of colour and tone that suits me best. They have so many colours though that you are sure to find one to suit you. If you don't want to pay the £25.00 price tag for this product a good dupe for these YSL Glossy Lip Stains is the L'Oreal Paris Glam Shine Stain Splash at just £7.99, you can see the full range of colours HERE.

I would say that the L'Oreal ones have less colours to choose from and don't last as long and aren't as pigmented, but I now have a few of these L'Oreal lip stains and I love them, they are so easy and probably do a better job of actually staining the lips so when anything does come off you still have the lovely colour underneath. Although I'm a big fan of the L'Oreal Glam Shine Stain Splash range, I really do like a little bit of luxury and feel that the YSL Glossy Lip Stains delivers just that. The colour is so rich, pigmented and think so it really gives a great colour payoff.

I want to buy more of these now in different colours!

Bourjois: Rouge Edtion Lipstick Rose Neon

In a recent three for two offer in Boots, I bought this lovely Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in Rose Neon which is a lovely bright Barbie pink colour. It was £7.99 and there is a good range of colours to choose from HERE. I bought this because I just loved the colour, I really love pink and I didn't own a lipstick this shade of pink.

Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in Rose Neon

The pigmentation is good, it feels just like a standard lipstick but looks just a bit more natural and not as thick as other lipsticks. I wear this with more day time looks and think its a perfect colour for spring/summer. It is actually quite moisturizing and claims it provides 10 hour hydration, I don't think they hydration lasts 10 hours but it really depends on how often you apply it. It does come off after eating which most lipsticks do so that doesn't bother me at all.

I own a lot of matte lipsticks because I love the effect but I thought I would branch out and try something different, this lipstick isn't too shiny but gives a soft sheen to the lips. I really like the packaging, its easy to find in my drawer as it has the colour on the bottom and I like the square shape to the bottle. I do find that the actual cut of the lipstick is a little too wide and doesn't really have that point that most lipsticks tend to have, this makes it a bit more difficult to apply a crisp line.

Overall I like this lipstick and I love the colour, I think I would like to try some of the other colours in this range as I love the more natural effect they give to my lips.

The Body Shop: Mint and Watermelon Lip Gloss

I recently purchased a couple of The Body Shop's lip glosses. It's been a while since I used a squishy tube of lip gloss and I wanted to give these a go, just for day time natural looks that I can apply with no mirror. The Body Shop has a huge range of lip glosses in all different flavours, click HERE if you want to see them. They are £7.00 each which I think is a fair price because lip glosses last ages.

Mint and Watermelon Lip Gloss by The Body Shop

I choose the mint and watermelon flavours because I love watermelon products and I fancied trying the mint one because it was clear and thought it would be more refreshing. Firstly, the mint one doesn't taste as nice as I had hoped its a more natural mint than what I am used to but at the same time I don't mind this because I do love more natural products. It gives a nice glossy sheen to the lips, it doesn't last long but these kind of lip glosses never really do and I don't mind that because I don't want them to be sticky and thick. 

I prefer the smell of the watermelon one, surprise surprise! I already love everything watermelon, and this has a nice sweet taste to it without tasting full of chemicals. Although it has a peachy pink colour in the tube the colour isn't as strong when you apply it to your lips, it does have a faint colour though and this was the look I was after, something natural and wearable for every day. Again this doesn't last long on the lips but they are both handy for applying over the top of lipstick if you want that extra glossy sheen. You don't need a mirror to apply them either which make it so much easier and quicker.

I like these lip glosses, I want to purchase some of the other flavours as the have a huge range, I think the Raspberry one will be next. It's nice to have this style of lip gloss again, it reminds me of being back in high school!

The Body Shop: Chocomania Body Scrub

Chocomaina Body Scrub

I have been obsessed with The Body Shop recently and I have been discovering loads of new products, one of them has been the Chocomaina range, I currently have the lip balm, soap and the body butter and now I have the body scrub as well.

Chocomania Body Scrub by The Body Shop

This body scrub smells AMAZING, that's actually what made me buy it, you can find out more about this amazing product here. I bought it for £12.50 but I also got 20% off as there was an in-store promotion for Love Your Body members.

"This exfoliating body scrub has a decadently chocolatey scent and leaves skin feeling softer and smoother. It contains real cocoa butter and organic cane sugar."

This is quite a thick body scrub and does leave a slight residue on the skin so I wouldn't use this before fake tanning, however the residue it leaves isn't oily or dirty feeling, it just feels like a sort of moisturising barrier. My skin is generally quite soft but after I use this I can really feel the difference, and when you are using it, it feels really invigorating on the skin. The chocolate scent doesn't last on your skin throughout then day, but for me I'm not really looking for that in a body scrub.

I have been using this once a week, although during summer I think I will start using it twice a week, I prefer to use this one at night before using some body butter and I save my Coconut Body Scrub (also by The Body Shop) for before fake tanning.

I just love the Chocomania range, they all smell fantastic and every product I have used has lived up to my expectations.

MUA Lip Liners

I have never bothered with lip liners before now, but when I saw they were only £1 at the MUA display I thought I could buy a couple of colour and see how I get on. There were four colours to choose from, you can view them all HERE.

The colours I choose were, Red Drama because I wear red lips a lot, and Softly Lined because I thought it would be nice for natural pink toned looks.

Red Drama and Softly Lined

Red Drama

Softly Lined

First of all, I really like a lot of the MUA products and buy and use loads of them, but for me I really didn't like the Softly Lined colour, it just gave a shimmer to the outsides of my lips which I wasn't really looking for, I guess when you swatch something onto your hands the colour comes up pure but when it actually applies to the lips your natural lip colour is darker and so the colour wont show up the same. I don't see how I can use this one and I know it looks nice in the swatch above but it really doesn't show up at all on my lips.

I do love the Red Drama colour though, as a big fan of red lips I think lip liner is essential in creating the cleanest, smoothest effect and before now I never even bothered with it. Whenever I'm going to wear a red lip now I will take an extra minute to line my lips with this MUA Red Drama lip liner. They are so easy to apply and liners themselves are soft and pigmented and come with a sharpener in the lid which is handy, they are such great value at only £1. Next time I'm in Superdrug I think I will buy the darker pink colour and hope that it will show up better on my lips.

Batiste XXL Volume Dry Shampoo

I bought this Batiste XXL Volume Dry Shampoo the other day and have used it a couple of times since, I wanted to try it as I'm always on the search for volumising products as I have such fine hair. I usually have to wash my hair everyday anyway so I wasn't buying this as a dry shampoo just as a product I can use for volumising my hair day to day. I bought it for £3.99 from Boots, click HERE to find out more.

"Batiste Dry Shampoo Big and Bouncy XXL Volume revitalises hair, banishes oily roots and gives you so much body and texture, your Up-Do takes no time. A quick burst with our unique formula gives dull, lifeless hair the volumising makeover it needs. No water and no backcombing - just big-style glamour and a great clean, fresh feeling. No need to worry about skipping a shampoo."

Batiste XXL Volume Dry Shampoo

Because I'm blonde this product isn't noticeable in my hair but I think if your hair is darker you will notice it more, I actually really like it because it brightens my hair a bit especially my dull blonde roots. Overall I do like this product, it does give my hair more volume and lasts all day when you fluff it up occasionally or scrunch it a bit. It smells nice, just a clean sort of smell which I don't mind having in my hair, plus it fades quickly. The only thing I don't like is that it leaves my hair looking a little dry and frazzled (without actually being or feeling dry), it's not too bad and I can put up with it if I'm going for that fluffy look, I will try and condition before using this and see if it makes a difference, but its' not too bad and would rather use this than back combing my hair.

It does leave a funny feel in my hair, obviously it is the product and that's how it adds volume, but when I try brushing my hair it just has a horrible feeling, sort of sticky but dry if that makes sense. The volume it gives my hair makes the texture bearable, it still feels soft and smooth its only when your brushing your hair you feel it. I found it also separated my fringe into small sections which I hate but I think when I use it next I would put it in my fringe. I have to take into account the fact that I don't actually use this as a proper dry shampoo as I don't think it would make my hair look as dry if I did. I'm going to use up the bottle and if I get used to the feeling in my hair and maybe play about with moisturizing conditioners to help with the dry look, but overall I like it. For someone who has fine flat hair to get some nice bouncy volume for a change, I guess I can't complain.