Nail Diaries #4 - MUA Fur Effects!

Eyyy sexy ladies♥

I cannot stop signing gagnam style all over again, so annoying. However if you want to kick your own ass at the gym, this song helps me get through, i really want to do the dance while on the treadmill but i know how embarrassing that is going to be so instead i just run, haha! 

Anyway, the point of this post is not about gagnam styling on the treadmill, it is about my nails!

So a while ago i bought MUA's Fur Effects in 'Fuzzy Fluff'. In all honesty, i didn't even know if i was going to like this product or not but the creativity of it and the thought of having fuzzy nails appealed to me and i bought it! I decided today to put it on and see what effect it gave, not really expecting much, but i have to tell you, i am in love. My nails feel so soft and fuzzy and..and..strokeable!

Here's what happened:

On the back, the instructions tell you to paint nails with two coats of polish then sprinkle fluff over, or remove  sifter from pot and dip your nails in. I found it easier to pour some fluff into the lid of the pot, then sprinkle this over my nail, give the nail a tap into the lid to get rid of excess, then roll my finger nail in the fluff to cover any missed spots.

So, using Models Own in Raspberry Crush i painted my nails, on my second coat i did one nail at a time and while it was still wet i quickly sprinkled the fluff over it.

Then, doing one finger at a time i covered them all in fluff! Here's a few pictures to show you the difference between the nails with the fur applied, and those without, then my full hand done:

And when i was completely finished this was the final look:

Overall, i really love the effect. I can't stop feeling my nails! So far they have not chipped at all, some fluff does come off after a while though! I would say, i was worried about getting them wet and sure enough the fluff does look pretty weird after you've just washed your hands! It does dry and go back to normal after a few secs though!

I will probably would purchase the MUA fur effect nails in different colours as i like how my nails look, i love how creative you can get with this product and i love how different this is to other types of nail art! Not something I'd wear all the time but fun to get creative with!

Have you tried fur nails?

What do you think of them?

A♥

Show&Tell - Hair Extensions

Hello♥

If you know me, you will know I'm madly obsessed with hair extensions, I have worn them nearly every day since I was 14 and I am now coming up 23! I can't even count the amount of sets I have bought nor do I want to know the amount of money I've spent!

I have bought from many different companies and over time I've become more and more fussy about how I want them! However just under a year ago I bought a set from lushhairextensions.co.uk and fell in love.

I then needed a new set recently, bought from somewhere on reccomendation and hated them so it just shows what someone else rates,you might hate! Anyway, needless to say I went back to lush and this time ordered a 24" set rather than my usual 20" as my natural hair is getting a lot longer!

When the extensions arrived, although I ordered the deluxe set, I knew they wouldn't be thick enough for my fussy standards but I have a 20" set I can use to layer and thicken them. The set is lovely and long though! Lush do do a thicker ultimate set however I didn't go for these as I wasn't sure if 24" would be too long for me so I just stuck to deluxe!

Lush make a lovely effort and send your extensions in a nice pink bag with their own lush hair extensions tape, very cute! This is what the extensions look like:

This is what the hair looks like and as I've just washed my 20" set I've put a quick length comparison in for you to see as well!

My comments on the hair is that I love the quality, I hate extensions that are super shiny as I think they just look unnatural and awful against my real hair but these are not like that! They have a natural look and feel and so blend with natural hair really easily. They are easy to style but if I am going to be honest I would say that the ends of mine this time round did go quite dry quite quickly! I still love the quality though as they are more natural than a lot of other extensions I have previously purchased.

I styled the extensions and put them in my hair and even curled they are still really long. This is them in my hair without adding my old set for extra volume:

Then this is what they look like when I've layered my 20" set (which is a bit old and ratty tbh, but I tried to blend!) with my new 24" set, didn't get great pics though:

What I might do when I have some more money is buy a 22" simple full head set to blend with and thicken these up, just cos' I'm far too fussy!

If you want extensions i definitely recommend you try lush! You can get them here: lushhairextensions.co.uk and you can even use their free colour matching service if you are unsure about what shade to go for!

I am happy to review more hair extensions for you when I have the money to buy more if you would be interested?

 I'm determined to try a Halo! Must get my hands on one of those to review when I get money!

What are your fave clip-in extensions? Have you tried lush? 

A♥

MUA Pro-Base Fixing Mist Review!

Hey ♥

I hate spending a lot of time on my face and putting a lot of effort into my makeup, just for it to come off in a few hours, start going patchy and uneven and generally awful by the end of the day.

Because of this, I have tried a few 'fixing' sprays including those such as Urban Decay All Nighter Fixing Spray which i love but its not something I am able to splash out on all the time at £19 a bottle! 

When browsing my local superdrug recently I saw this little fixing spray in the MUA counter for £4 (will usually be £5) and thought I would give it a go.

Basically, this is designed to be sprayed over your finished face of makeup in 'horizontal swishing motions' until you feel you have enough coverage and clams to have a staying power of up to 8 hours, so I though I would put this to the test for you guys!

I put on my usual amount of a makeup for a normal day and used the spray as instructed to do so on the bottle. This is what I looked like (the lighting makes me look really white but, there's not much i can do, sad face!):

So four hours after, I had been outside, back inside, eaten lunch, had a coffee, done a few bits around the house. I took a picture of my face as soon as i got back in the house and this is what I looked like (still so bright! I do have bronzer on, it is still on, haha!):

And 8 hours after the application of my makeup, the max this product claims to last, without any touch ups to my make-up, I looked like this:

Some of my lipstick had obviously faded and looked a lot less vibrant in real life but i do have to eat and drink and no fixing-spray can stop that, haha! I won't lie to you so i will say i did put a bit more coloured lip gloss on after a little while, that's the only touch up i did! I also apologise for the crap pictures, the lighting is never on my side. I do have bronzer and blusher on which you can't really tell but, they stayed on pretty well all day with not much fade.

Overall, I quite like this product. In all honesty I think it lasts just as long as more expensive brands. I personally feel however, that the staying power of all products of this kind depend on what type/brand/amount of makeup you are wearing.

I do not regret this purchase and I think for the price it is a good little product and I would most likely purchase it again. I have noticed other brands, such as Collection, have a spray like this out at the moment and so I may have to give that a go too and have a little comparison!

Do you use products like this? If so let me know about them!

A ♥

Little Beauty & Fashion Haul!

Hello m'lovelies!♥

I'm going to review some products over the next wee while and put up some ootd's as well as more nail diaries as you have given me a good idea of what you want to see from some comments on my giveaway post! (Which BTW, you can still enter in the post below, what have you got to lose!?!)

So, as you know by now, I cannot resist a shopping spree and although I didn't pick all of this stuff up at once, i've gathered it all in one post to show you guys what my money has been going on this month!

Rambling aside, here's the haul!

Starting with makeup/beauty:

So what we have here is:

MUA fur effect nails in 'fuzzy fluff'.

MUA pressed powder in 'shade 1'.

MUA pro-base fixing mist.

Maxfactor facefinity foundation in 'natural 50'.

L'oreal Paris perfect clean foaming scrub.

OPI in 'Casino Royale' and 'GoldenEye'

I am planning to review the mua pro-base and fur effects, as well as the foundation seen but if you want a review of anything else just let me know!

OK, I've been trying not to spend too much money on clothing as I spend wayyyyy too much but I have bought a couple of things you might have already seen on my instagram but here they are:

I'm in love with this Lashes of London dress since I received it and even better it was in the sale! I'll feature it in a night out outfit post very soon!

The Chelsea style boots were in the sale from f&f at tesco and were only a tenner! The bag is also from f&f and was a steal at £15. I'm really loving f&f stuff recently its lovely and so reasonably priced!

Batman cartoon style dress - couldn't resist this after it was pictured on Cheryl Cole and Jesse from little mix! Love it.

I've been buying some other random things this month and I've been loving them all so I'm throwing them in here with this haul too:

Large hair doughnut from superdrug.

Hair extensions from cliphair. These are actually not long enough for me but unfortunately I have taken them out of the packing once and so can no longer return them. I am actually selling them if anyone is interested as they are no use to me, brand new never worn!

That's all I've been buying recently and I'm now trying to stop my spending addiction and start saving! So if you have any amazing saving tips then share please!

Have you been purchasing anything exciting recently? I'd love to hear about it if so!

♥

50 Follower Giveaway!

Hi guys♥

So its a new year and one of my many resolutions is to try and blog a bit more. I really enjoy both writing and reading blogs and although I have only been blogging for a few months I am extremely grateful for all the support you guys have given me both on here and on twitter. 

Therefore, as my way of saying thank you for that & for gaining me 50 followers, i am doing this tiny little giveaway of my favourite thing of the past few months! As this is my first ever giveaway i am just making it really little as i plan for them to get bigger as i do more :)!

So, the prize you could win in this giveaway is...

♥Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 107♥

I'm in love with this lipstick, its a pretty sort of winey/plum colour and goes with any outfit! You probably literally see me wearing it in the majority of my twitter/blog/instagram pictures so i really want one of you guys to win this from me in the hope you like it just as much as i do!

PLEASE READ ALL RULES:

To enter this giveaway you must follow this blog via GFC, leave a comment on this post telling me what you want to see more of from labellavida in 2013, and follow me on twitter (@labellavida2).

You can gain extra entries by tweeting about this giveaway and/or following me on Instagram (ashlee_yy).

Please only enter using one account and don't cheat as i want this to be fair for everyone :).

The giveaway is open to current followers as well as new followers but please do not just follow just for entry then unfollow straight after the giveaway. This is unfair to my followers who follow my blog because they genuinely like its content and so anyone found to be doing this will be excluded from future giveaways and their entries won't be counted.

Unfortunately this giveaway is only open to residents of the UK and you must be over 16 years of age or have the permission of your parent/guardian to give me your postal address should you win!

I accept no responsibility for items lost or damaged in the post and items are non-returnable.

Should you win i will contact you within 2 days of the contest ending via twitter so please check your @replies. I will then need you to DM me your name and address so i can get your prizes sent out to you as soon as possible :).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck! ♥

Dior J'adore Beautifying Body Milk

Hey beauties♥

I know my giveaway is supposed to be up by now, and I promise you all it really will be soon, I've just changed my mind on what I want to be in it and I want to wait until I have the products for you to start it! It really will defo be up next week!

OK, onto today's topic. Basically this week I've been doing nothing of much excitement, been at the gym, working and have become rather obsessed with instagram!

However, with spare time on my hands I thought I would try out my Dior J'adore Body Milk that I got for Christmas in a perfume set!

On first impressions I obviously love the smell of this as I love the perfume, actually love mostly all Dior products so, really I already knew I'd love this fragrance.

I'm really rubbish at describing smells but its quite floral and not overly strong, its just really lovely! 

The consistency is something I love most about this product though! Its really light and creamy and not at all sticky like I find most moisturisers. 

It rubs in really easily and it only leaves a subtle smell on your skin rather than a really strong smell which personally I hate in a moisturising product.

I need to invent some way to allow you guys to smell this through blogger as it really is lovely!

Overall, I think you guys can already tell that this is a rave review and I definitely recommend this moisturiser, as do I also recommend the J'arode perfume.

The Miss Dior perfume is my ultimate favourite perfume ever and this is genuinely a close rival, I'm in love. Obviously, like everything, this won't be everyone's cup of tea but I defo recommend you go in and smell it if you're after a new fragrance.

I used this product all over my body and it has made my skin really nice and soft and there is no wet or stick feeling after it is rubbed in. Just silky soft lovely smelling skin!

Have you tried this beautifying body milk by Dior? 

A ♥

Pastel Hair!

Hey Ladies ♥

So i don't know about you guys, but when i get bored i get really crazy ideas in my head and just decide to do random things.

Today, my random decision was to 'chalk' my hair after seeing images online while searching for dip dyed styles.

I have had loads of questions on how i did this since i posted a picture on various social networking sites so i thought i would do a quick blog post showing you a few simple steps so you can do it too!

I'm not going to lie and say this was quick and easy though. As i have really dark hair it took me quite a while and the pink was a nightmare but if you bare with it and do it a couple of times it is really quite simple and effective! So here goes :):

What you need:

A spray bottle filled with water (unless you're blonde, don't bother with this if you are).

Soft Pastel Chalks, or Hair Chalks.

A towel.

A brush.

Latex Gloves.

What you do:

Basically, you get your pastels and you pick your colours. I'm using a pink one and a blue one from this set i picked up for £3.99 from a shop near me called "the works" but you can find cheap sets like this online.

Then you have all your stuff ready and put on your gloves (this isn't essential but your hands do get pretty minging!). Also wear old clothing, it does transfer onto them, even when you're finished, but it washes off.

This is when it gets messy! What you want to do is get scared, like my face clearly demonstrates in this picture.. and make sure, like me, you have a towel around you to protect your clothing and neck.

(haha! No shame!)

So you want to section your hair into small sections and spray each section with water as you go. As i said, if you are blonde you probably won't need the water as the chalk is going to take to your hair much easier than it took to mine! I needed a lot of water!

While the section is wet, you want to run your chosen colour of chalk over it in one direction down the hair. Chalk is going to dry your hair a bit so make sure you don't rub up and down as this will matte your hair, just rub in one direction. You might need more water at this point if you are using more than one colour like i did.

Once you have finished that section, just move it out of the way and let it dry while you move onto another section. You want to do this all the way round your head to all the parts you want coloured and let it all dry.

When your hair is dry, it will probably literally be quite dry as the chalk drys your ends a bit and mine ended up looking like this:

Wait until your hair is completely dry and brush through. Brushing is going to cause chalk powder to go everywhere so do it over a bag or some paper or something, then use some form of heat tool (curlers, waver, straightner) to style and seal in some of the colour!

Then you have to clean up the major mess this makes, haha!

And you should end up with something like this :):

If you don't want to use artist's soft pastels like me you do get actual hair chalks online like here but i reckon they are just really the same thing!

I wouldn't reccomend street chalk as this probably isn't going to be pigmented enough, particularly for dark hair like mine.

Some people worry that this is bad for my hair but the worst i think it has done is dry the ends slightly! It washes out fine and hasn't seemed to have done anything else!

Obviously this isn't permanent and will wash out as soon as you want.

Overall, i really love the effect i ended up with and i will definitely try chalking again despite the mess i made!

Have you or are you going to try hair chalking? Make sure you send me pictures on twitter if you do!

A ♥