Elemis Pro-Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm*

I recently received a sample of the Elemis Pro-Radiance Illuminating flash balm to review, I'm a big fan of Elemis products but had never tried this particular one, so I was really excited to give it a go. This skin radiance flash balm promises to brighten, smooth and rejuvenate the skin to give you a more youthful and healthy looking complexion.

Although I'm only 20 I do worry about wrinkles and having old looking skin, so a product that promises to give me a 'smooth and even complexion' and 'dewy luminosity' was one that I couldn't miss out on!

Elemis state that the product will: "Instantly brighten the complexion and exude health and vitality". The balm is formulated with a powerful vitamin complex that protects against moisture loss, whilst the Purple Orchid, Noni and Acai used in the formula help to defend the skin against early signs of aging e.g. the stress lines I'm starting to get on my forehead and under my eyes!

Ultimately Elemis promise that the flash balm will reveal a smooth, even and dewy luminosity that you never even knew was achievable! But did it do everything it said on the tin?

My first impressions of the moisturiser were good, it's a light product so it doesn't feel cloggy when you apply it to your face. I used it for a week straight to see the full result and I have to say I was slightly disappointed.

Now I wasn't expecting to see my face completely crease and flaw free however I did expect to see some change. The dewy look that was promised looked more like greasy skin and the most significant improvement to my face was that the dry skin around my nose had gone - achievable by using Asda's own smart price moisturiser.

That was about all I got from this product. Does it make a good moisturiser? Yes it does keep your skin fresh and moisturised. Does it give everything it promises? No it doesn't. Is it worth the price? Definitely not.

At £32 for 50ml this product really isn't worth the price as you can get the same results from using a drugstore moisturiser that costs around £5. The product was okay but not worth the price and I probably wouldn't use it again. However if you do want to try out for yourself you can shop the product here.

Let me know if you've ever tried any other Elemis products, as I'd like to know if they have other products that are better and this was just a one off or if they're all just average, by leaving a comment below!

One hell of a month

To say July was one hell of a month is perhaps an understatement. It has been a crazy, amazing emotional roller coaster that has hopefully set me on a path to my dream future.

It all started on the 29^th of June, I woke with a jump, shaking with my heart doing approximately 10 million beats per second (slight exaggeration has been used). It was results day and I’d just jumped out of a nightmare that I’d failed my degree, been forced to pay my £50,000 of debt upfront and had then been disowned by my entire family…it sounds crazy but I know all you other students know the kind of nightmare I’m talking about!

I threw myself out of bed and ran to my laptop to view my results, as they loaded I remember feeling insanely sick and wanting to throw my laptop out the window. As my transcript finally popped up on the computer I burst into tears – I was graduating Uni with a 2:1 BA Honours degree!

Thus began the start of my most successful month to date. Following my results I graduated on Monday the 13^th of July in Liverpool, I’ll be doing a separate post on graduation soon. It was one of the most amazing and exciting days of my life and I can't wait to tell you all about it! Then guess what happened - the day after I was offered a job interview.

That Thursday I travelled to Lancaster for my job interview with Netplay TV and, following a casual chat with my potential employers, I felt pretty confident on my return journey. About an hour after I got home I received a phone call from Netplay to say they wanted to offer me the job! Obviously I accepted!

I started the following week and have been there for about three weeks now! It’s such a great job and it’s so good to be working in a city again!

To top off all my amazing news I celebrated my 21^st birthday last week with all my friends and family, we had a garden party with afternoon tea and then a BBQ and cocktails later on in the day. I was spoilt rotten and got pretty drunk – a successful 21^st celebration if you ask me!

So hopefully my crazy month offers some excuse as to why I haven’t blogged much throughout July! It’s been one hell of a month indeed! I should be back to blogging as usual this coming week as I get used to commuting and working full time again!

I hope all your months were as successful, let me know what you got up to in July in a comment below!

Percy & Reed: No oil oil*

It’s no secret that the summer does a real number on your hair. The heat causes it to go wild with frizz, the sun dries it out until it snaps and beach hair is not the sexy reality we were all led to believe. Wouldn't it be great if there was a product that could help with all these problems? Spoiler alert…there is!

Recently I received a sample of Percy & Reed's ‘Smoothed, sealed & sensational volumising no oil oil’ and was challenged to see if the product provided all it promised. The ‘no oil oil’, which has violet extract, promises you smooth, shiny and silky locks as well as added volume to finer hair. It also uses vitamin B5 to help nourish and repair damaged hair as well as giving heat protection – just what you need for a long day in the sun!

Did I believe what it said on the label? No I did not. Was I proven wrong? Yes I was. I have tried what seems like endless amounts of hair products to try thicken my fine hair without damaging it and have never been successful so I was fairly sceptical when trying this product.

The instructions say to work one or two drops of the product through towel dried hair, smoothing it in from root to tip, then you can dry and style as desired. The first time I tried it I used one drop as I have short, fine natural hair and didn't want it to loo greasy as it does with Argon Oils, but after a few seconds of smoothing the oil in I added another drop as it didn't feel too heavy on my hair.

The texture of the product is absolutely nothing like oils (the clue was in the name really) and is quite smooth and slick, it feels light and almost like nothing is there once you've rubbed it into your hair. After I applied the product I dried my hair and I have to admit my scepticism was unjust, my hair did look a little let frizzier and a lot shinier than usual – score one Percy & Reed.

Another tip for application given in the instructions is to warm a little bit of the product in your hand, run a blusher brush over it and brush through your hair lightly to smooth over any split end or frizzy parts to give your hair a smooth shine. I for one was very reluctant to start sticking my make-up brushes into hair products so ditched their advice and blobbed a teeny tiny bit of the oil onto the tip of my finger, rubbed it in slightly, then pinched the ends of my hair with it to smooth over split ends. It worked a treat and kept the mane at bay until I washed my hair.

The no oil oil was great for taming my frizzy locks and did help to make it look a little thicker and healthier, I didn't see much change on the volume front but I assume it's the kind of product that the more you use it, the more it works so we'll see how it goes! As for heat protection I'm definitely seeing a lot less visible damage to my hair after blow drying and using heated styling tools - go B5!

So over all the product was a success and I will definitely be stocking up for summer! It is a lighter and longer lasting alternative to hair oils and is a must have if you’re travelling to humid locations for your holidays! The product I used was for fine hair which you can get here for a reduced price at M&S. There is also an option for thick hair which is also reduced, you can get it here.

Let me know if you've tried any Percy & Reed products before or your favourite summer hair tamer in a comment below!

By Terry: Baume De Rose*

By Terry is an absolutely stunning French collection of make-up which combines beautiful colours with sumptuous scents and added protection for our delicate skin! What’s not to love eh? If there’s one thing to say about this product it’s that the French always get it right!

The lip gloss I have is from the BAUME DE ROSE collection and is designed to care for your lips by nourishing, smoothing and regenerating the skin. The lip gloss also comes in a balm pot but has been design in the compact tube shown above to make it more handbag friendly meaning it can be there for you whenever you have a lip SOS!

I never used to be a fan of lip gloss but recently I’m obsessed and this product has pride of place in my collection! It’s a pale pink, almost clear lip gloss with slight mother of pearl look to it. When applied to the lips it has an almost hologram like affect and can be worn on bare lips or over lipstick.

The gloss contains regenerating essential rose wax, lipid-boosting floral oils and anti-aging biotechnological ceramides – basically a load of stuff that’s good for your skin and makes your lips look younger!

I absolutely love the look of this gloss, it’s almost sheer but very eye-catching and it’s become my everyday gloss. I've also been very it over lipstick for nights out just to give my lips more of sparkle. Once it’s applied it tends to last for a couple of hours before needing to be re-applied and I tend to re-apply it after drinking and eating out of habit more than anything.

As well as being a great gloss, I am absolutely in love with the smell of this product! I love floral scents and rose is such a classic favourite of mine so this product was right up my street! I can’t wait to invest in more products from the BAUME DE ROSE collection.

The lip gloss costs 39 Euro (about £27) which I think is a really reasonable price for a designer product, especially one as lovely as this. You can purchase the beautiful gloss here!

Let me know if you've ever tried any By Terry products or let me know what your favourite lip gloss is in a comment below – I’m always on the hunt for a new gloss!

Top ten summer beauty products

Summer is a time for sun bathing, ice cream, days at the beach, beer gardens and fun in the sun. However with summer also comes dry skin, oily faces, sweaty bodies, beach hair (not the good sexy kind, the sand covered, knotted greasy kind) and the dreaded appointment with a razor needed after a long winter of growing your leg hair into a style even Chewbacca would envy.

Also for those of us blessed without the ability to tan naturally, summer brings months of fake tan induced stress. So I’ve made a list of my top ten beauty buys that you won’t be able to live without this summer!

The first thing on my list is E45 moisturising lotion. I started using this when I was diagnosed with psoriasis, since then I have moved on to stronger skin creams to try tackle the problem, but E45 has remained one of my favourite products for banishing dry skin. It’s great because you can use it on your face and body and you will notice a difference in your skin overnight! You can purchase E45 from most supermarkets, chemists and stores like Superdrug and Boots. Get it from Boots here.

Your hair goes through a lot in summer, you take it from beach to beer garden without giving it a second thought, but that much sun can have a lasting damaging affect, especially to coloured hair. Make sure you condition your hair well during the summer months and try to wash the beach out of it as soon as you can. But for those of us who just want to keep going this summer there is dry shampoo!

The best brand out there is probably Batiste which is great for use between washes. It will help transform the greasy beach hair into fresh, voluminous looking locks. It’s also an absolute must have if you’re attending festivals this year! It’ll keep you looking fresh and party ready. My favourite Batiste product is their floral scented ‘blush’ dry shampoo which you can get here.

The next product on my list is for all you pale lovelies out there! It’s Dove’s Summer Glow moisturising lotion. This is a gradual tanning product that you can use daily to help give your skin that natural summer glow you so desperately crave! I’ve used this product for years and my only advice is that your wear a tanning mitt or glove when applying as it will tan your palms! It comes in two shades ‘fair to medium’ and ‘medium to dark’, if you’re a pale girl like me just looking for a glow I recommend the fair to medium and then working up to medium to dark if you want a darker tan. Get the fair skin option here.

The next two things on my list I’m going to review together. One of the worst things about dry skin is how painful having dry hands and feet can be. Walking around in heels at summer parties and sandals at the beach can really do a number on your heels, this is why I make sure I always have a handbag sized ‘heel genius’ from Soap & Glory at the ready, get it here! The ‘hand food’ from Soap & Glory is also a handbag essential for those of us who deal with dry skin in the summer. You can get that here.

Sweat is easily the most annoying thing about summer, as much as we all want to deny it, us girls get sweaty too in the summer! And sweat does absolute horrific things to our pores, they block them up with sweat and grease and all the perfectly applied make up from the morning will ultimately sweat off and into our pores by the end of the day.

To tackle this I use T-ZONE clear pore anti-bacterial cleanser. All you have to do is dab a tiny bit onto a cotton bud and rub it onto your face morning and night. It cleanses your skin and removes oil, grease and spot causing bacteria. It also helps tackle spots that are already on your face! This product is available on eBay and Amazon but is stocked in Home Bargain stores across the UK, so head to local store ASAP!

Finding a foundation that adapts the way your skin does during summer is nearly impossible and the majority of us can’t afford to buy a new one every time our tan (fake or otherwise) darkens. The best product I have found for this to date is Rimmel’s Match Perfection foundation, it’s a medium coverage foundation which means it still shows some of your natural skin colour underneath. Each foundation covers a shade darker or lighter which is great if you expect to tan during summer! I have shade 010 Light Porcelain which is the palest available – I would not advise buying this shade if you aren’t the colour of snow naturally! Shop the range here.

Next on the list is another Soap & Glory product, it is their wonderful body butter ‘The Righteous Butter’ which is a beautifully scented dry skin formula. After showering all you have to do is rub it onto your skin like moisturiser and you’re good to go! It smells floral and is a beautiful replacement for pore clogging perfumes in the summer months. You can grab it here!

The next product is a super bargain, the Collection 2000 pressed powder is just £1.99 is great for brushing on to help matte out sweaty/burnt summer faces. It can be used on bare skin, with primer or over foundation to help give your make up a matte look. The pressed powder comes in seven shades and the one shown above is shade Ivory 18. Browse the shades here.

The final product on the list is my absolute favourite beauty buy at the moment! It’s one of those products you wonder how you ever lived without after you’ve used it once! It’s the Kleenex shine absorbing sheets which you can use on your skin with or without make up (it leaves your make up completely intact!) All you do is wipe one sheet around your face like a makeup wipe and it gathers all the oil and grease off your skin leaving your face looking smooth and shine free! They are a serious must have for the sweaty summer months and genuinely don’t know how I lived life before these sheets! Get them here!

All the products above are great for summer holidays and most are travel sized or can be purchased in travel sized versions. I hope this post has helped those of you looking for some great summer products, let me know if you try any out! Also let me know what your favourite summer products are in a comment below!

5 easy ways to grow your audience

A lot of people come into the blogging world with the idea that they’ll have thousands of readers, advertisers and sponsors in a month. However that’s not how it works and many writers are put off when they don’t get a decent following to their blog.

I’m a big believer that you should do what you love whether you have a big audience or not, however it is always nice to know you have peoples support and user generated content, or UGC, always comes in handy!

So for those of you who are looking to raise your websites stats, I've come up with five easy ways you can grow your audience!

1: Learn how to engage your audience

By this I mean not only learning what your reader wants, but also how to deliver it to them. Firstly to know what your reader wants you’ll have to know your reader. To do this you need to create your target audience, are you interested in beauty, fashion, movies, cooking? Whatever it is stick to your theme as much as you can.

This way you will gain a set demographic audience, e.g. cooking blogs will gain chefs, cooking enthusiasts and domestic goddesses/gods. A beauty blog will attract make-up artists, beauticians and those looking for advice in their beauty routine.

Once you have done this you can target your audience directly. A super easy way of doing this is sharing your posts on Twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin’ etc. But just writing ‘check out my new post’ is not enough. If you are going to promote your site sell what you’re writing to the reader, e.g. “Check out my review of the new Bobbi Brown make-up brushes” or “Want to know what I thought of the new Bobbi Brown make-up brushes? Then take a look at my blog”.

This way you will target an audience who are searching for key words or phrases as well as your normal readers and followers. This will also make your blog posts more search engine friendly – this brings me onto the second point.

2: Do not fear the hashtag

I cannot tell you how important hash-tagging is when it comes to blogging! So many people have this strange idea that using hashtags is frowned upon and people will judge you for using it, this is incorrect, plain and simple.

Just sharing your latest post isn't enough and using hash tags is the best way to target your audience directly. You can’t expect people to just miraculously see your website, you have to put your work out there for people to be able to see it.

So if you are a beauty blogger try sharing your latest link along with a catchy line and the hash tags: #bblogger #BobbiBrown #beautyblog if that is what you are writing about. Using relevant hashtags is the easiest way to get your chosen audiences to click your links. It will again help with search engine optimising.

At the same time don’t go crazy with the hashtags. You don’t #need #to #hashtag #every #single #word. As you can see it just looks messy and unprofessional – so not the look you are going for.

3: Invest time and effort

Getting people to click your links isn't all you need to be a success though. You want them to click on a post and then enjoy it so much they follow or subscribe, or at least read a bit more of your work!

To do this you have to make sure you are providing good quality content. Three paragraph posts with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors will put your readers off and portray you as an unreliable source. I advise writing your post on a programme like Microsoft Word instead of directly onto your blog, this way you can run it through a reliable spell check as well as the standard one on your internet browser.

Also if you can get someone else to read over your post before you publish it you should. Just because it makes sense to you does not mean it will make sense to everyone so getting a friend or family member on board to be your copy-taster is a good idea.

The same goes for pictures. If you display a blurry image where it is hard to make out the subject then people won’t want to look any further than your first post. You don’t need an expensive DLSR to take good photos, all the pictures on my site are taken with the IPhone 5c. All you need to take a decent picture is good lighting (preferably natural light), a plain background that won’t distract or hide the pictures subject and a steady hand.

These factors along with a clean, non-cluttered blog template are sure to keep the reader’s attention that you have worked so hard to attract.

4: Make your blog attractive

This is such an easy step to take but one bloggers often neglect. The best way to get people to read your blog is to make it look good. Both Blogger and WordPress offer hundreds of free templates that you can choose for your blog to make it look more attractive. All you have to do is select design and the sites will guide you from there.

Alternatively you can use sites like Pipdig who offer to redesign your whole blog for you. You can choose one of their standard designs or a custom job, their prices currently start from around £29.

5: Be a team player

This is perhaps the most important part of being a blogger. You can’t become successful without help. If you are one of these people who expect others to write on your posts, follow you and share your work without doing anything in return then you will not get far in the blogging world.

Blogging is a social game, it’s designed to bring people together and share ideas so you can’t expect everyone to love you and your blog if you don’t return that love to an extent.

Try following other bloggers, commenting on their posts and sharing their work and most will return the favour. This way you will grow your readership and probably make some great friends in the process. I know I have made a lot of close friends through blogging and that was by striking up conversations on blogs and Twitter.

Blogging has a strong community and it is important to be a part of this community instead of isolating yourself from it to seem cool – it won’t work and you will get left behind.

I hope this post has helped any blogging new-comers or those of you just wanting to grow your existing audience! Let me know in a comment below if the post helped with your blogging experience or if you have any more tips for newbie bloggers!

Nook & Cranny blogger reception

Above: The Blogger reception © Abby Brennan

Above: The COS stall © Nook & Cranny

The adorably amazing launch to the Celebration of style, hosted by Nook & Cranny last Thursday, saw about 60 bloggers invited to their events space where they put on an exhibition of fashion, textiles and surface art including installation, photography and garments.

The wonderful Nook & Cranny crew also had a stall in the Rum Warehouse on Friday where their in-house illustrator Rheannon Ormond was live drawing guests as an “artistic alternative” to the selfie! You can check these out by searching #COSselfie – so cool!

Then on Saturday Nook & Cranny hosted a clothes swap at their independent store in the heart of Liverpool’s art quarter. It was called the ‘Bold Street Fashion Exchange’ with the tag line ‘Swap til you Drop’.  Entry was £2 on the door for people to come along with their pre-loved items and update/makeover their wardrobe with a thrifty exchange.

Stephanie Whalley, the Marketing Officer of Nook and Cranny, said: “Thrifty, vintage and retro are a big deal on the Liverpool fashion scene so we wanted to bring this to light in what was otherwise a high-end event. Cricket and Matalan were the big names behind the event and we really wanted to pioneer individuality and the alternatives to fast fashion. “

She added: “The blogger event and clothes swap were a great success. People really got into the spirit of things and we got people coming specifically for the event but also attracted the interest of a lot of shoppers who were simply wandering around the store. We didn’t necessarily plan to hold another clothes swap event but following the success of the weekend, we are now going to be holding another one on January 10th.”

To find out more about Nook & Cranny visit them HERE

Primark AW13 - I'm in love!

So Primark's AW13 collection has arrived and is working it's way into the stores already! Grunge pieces, baroque prints, beautiful simple pieces that look like something you'd see the cast of Made in Chelsea sporting, animal print, BIG bling and shoes that look like they belong in Kurt Geiger all seem to be a running theme in the collection and I AM LOVING IT!

I have to admit it's the best high street AW13 collection I have seen so far. I can't wait to get my hands on these beaut bargains (my student loan is disappearing right before my eyes already!) and I've decided on a few must have pieces to show you all thanks to the Primark PR team! Get ready to write your shopping lists girls!

First off the all the jewelry Primark has presented us with could rival just about anything from Pat Butcher's crazy big bling collection! There are some amazing statement necklaces that resemble the heart of the ocean, over-sized diamante earrings and a pretty bizare bug arm cuff that I can't wait to add to my own over-sized jewelry collection! 

What I call the Chelsea pieces are all simple, clean cut items that I can just picture being modeled on the beautiful streets of Chelsea. My absolute favourite pieces from the above are the beautiful wine coloured fedora (also available in black), the bead embellished white collared shirt and the gorgeous over-sized grey coat! A lot of the pieces remind me of collections from Zara.

There's a big splash of grunge and punk in this years AW13 collection. With tartan prints, leather look skirts and some cute Doc Marten look alikes you'll look like you've stepped right out of the 80's! I absolutely adore the grungy metallic top shown above (top right) and the frayed denim/tartan shorts would look so good with so many outfits!

I absolutely adore baroque style and pieces of this collection look truly inspired by the original 17th century style! I love the cut of the high waisted shorts and cropped jackets above and the prints are truly beautiful! If you're not feeling brave enough to mix prints then team a jacket or pair of shorts with a simple white shirt (like the one bottom left) to give a cool chic look to the mad baroque prints!

Overall I'd give Primark's AW13 collection an easy nine out of ten. It's by far one of my favourite collections of the season and for a gal on a VERY tight budget it's just about perfect!