Review: PRAI O2 Infusion with Vacuum Technology!

I recently posted about the new PRAI O2 Infusion with Vacuum Technology, and I’ve now had the chance to test it out for a couple of weeks so thought you might like to know my thoughts on it!

Usage was fairly easy, it’s a simple case of massaging it onto the skin and then leaving for 1-2 minutes (which seems a lot longer when doing nothing whilst waiting); I left it for 2 as for some reason I always need to leave things for the longest time stated (this goes for home hair dyes when I’m going through my home dying phases and countless other things. I guess it makes me feel like I am getting the best results by doing this – god knows!) and then gently wipe away with a damp cloth, or rinse. It’s that simple!

Actually, now I think about it, I did suffer a little difficulty using this product and that was to stop myself wiping the product from around my nose as it was very tickly as the foam bubbled away – that took some serious self-restraint on my part.

Just applied:

 Started to foam:

Foamy:

Foam starting to go:

I used the product 3 times a week (which is stated on the product as the maximum amount of times per week to use it – see above about my weird need to use things to the max) and found that after using it, my skin did feel soft and looked more radiant. I feel that it’s more than worth the £19.75 price tag and I will definitely be buying it again when this tube runs out.

I have to admit though that I was fairly bemused by this product at first, since it involved some sort of technology that I’d usually associate with a Dyson, or suchlike. I wondered how this technology could come in the form of a foaming gel, and how (and if) it would benefit my skin! I still don’t know to be honest, but honestly so long as it’s doing good things to my skin, I really don’t feel that I need to understand anything much more than that!

www.qvcuk.com

Disclosure: PR Sample

'I Love...' Last Minute Valentine's Gifts!

It’s Valentine’s Day... although I’m sure I didn’t need to remind you of this; but if I did and you’re a male who is looking for a last minute gift, or even a lovely lady looking to treat yourself or your loved one to something that won’t cost you the earth, then you need to head down to Morrisons as selected stores are stocking some bargainous ‘I Love...’ gifts.

Products available are gift pouches (above) that contain mini ‘I Love...’ treats (100ml Bath & Shower Crème, 75ml Body Butter and 11ml Shimmer & Shine Lip Gloss) and Sweet Scented Candles (below, weighing in at 180g) both available in ‘Strawberries & Milkshake’ and ‘Blackberry & Raspberry’ (I haven't tried them myself, but they do sound rather lovely... especially the candles) and all of which cost just £3 each.

Maybe you could also buy some flowers/chocolates/wine with the money you have saved too!?

Swatched: ORLY Halleys Comet (Cosmic FX Collection)

In the next few weeks I’m going to be swatching the ORLY Cosmix FX polishes. I’ve had them for a while now and think the collection is fantastic, I’d go as far as to say that it includes some of my favourite ever polish colours.

I’m starting off with Halleys Comet; a beautiful teal/turquoise polish shot through with gold, green and blue shimmer – kind of duochrome, but not quite as noticeably so as some of the others in the collection. It almost looks like a glitter polish, but without any of the roughness or difficulty removing it which is completely up my street.

Application is lovely, though the brush is thinner than some I’ve used... this doesn’t affect me so badly because my nails are quite thin, but it might be something that some of you may want to consider.Drying time is fairly reasonable, so long as you don’t pile it on in very thick layers... and even if you do muck it up, it’s fairly easy to do a decent patch up job because of the textured finish!

On the swatches above (excuse the cut near the nail), I’m wearing 2 coats of the polish... it could have possibly benefitted from an extra coat but I only really noticed this when I came to crop the photo’s that I took. I also note that my swatches make it seem bluer than it is, not really catching the other colours running through it... in fact I'd say the stock photo (first picture) was actually very accurate.

This is why I decided to take some more photo’s just of the polish on one nail (below), although they’re not a great deal better at catching the colour but I think on some of them you can see a little more of the green in it. I’ve added a few pictures of the bottle at the very bottom, mainly because I quite liked them, but also because I think some of the pictures of the brush show the colour fairly well. What do you think?

Buzz Magazine Barry M Gift Swatches!

Here are the swatches and my thoughts of the Barry M gift in tomorrow’s ‘Buzz’ magazine from The Sun newspaper!

Nail polish - I like this, it’s quite a thin polish in consistency but the pictures show 2 coats which I think looks quite reasonable, do you? The colour is quite a flattering shade, a muted red with a slight hint of pink (very slight) – I like! I obviously haven’t had chance to test the wear on the polish, but I think even if it lasted a day, it would be worthwhile to be honest!

Eyeliner – This is actually very good, it’s not as pigmented as my Avon Supershock Gel Eyeliner (which appears to have become my comparative when comparing eyeliners) and you do need to run it along the eye more than once to get the depth, but I will happily use it. The swatches show both one fairly heavy handed swipe and also a few swipes next to it – I think you can tell which is which?!

The lip gloss was a bit of a disappointment really, I liked the look of the colour in the tube but that’s probably about it. When I applied it to my lips, I found it to be too thin and because of the colour it just seemed milky, in fact if you had a rude mind you could have been excused for thinking that I’d just walked off the set of a porn film... which I hadn’t, by the way!

Because of the consistency, I couldn’t get the gloss to stay put, and if I pushed my lips together it all just collected in the last area that my lips were together, adding to the porn star look I might add. I’ve never used a Barry M gloss so I don’t know if this is standard for them, just how it seems on my lips or looking worse because of the milky colour?! I had a bit of a play around after the initial application and found that if I literally just used a dot of the gloss on my lips that it looked a lot better – so maybe if you used it less for the colour and more for a very slight sheen with a tiny amount of product, it would work better for you.

The photo below below shows the milky look on the lip a little - there are worse photo's but I really couldn't face posting them up.

So all in all, it’s not a bad little set and for the price of the newspaper I think (in my opinion, anyway) that it’s definitely worth it even just for the 2 products that I liked... and like the song says ‘2 out of 3 ain’t bad’

OPI 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' & 'Femme De Cirque' Collections For Spring/Summer 2011

Today was the launch of more OPI shades for spring/summer 2011 and whilst I couldn’t make it down there for the launch event, I have been kindly sent the information so I’m putting it up straight away for you all to see.

The first collection is a ‘shimmering sea of colour’, aptly named the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ collection because it has been created in collaboration with the new Disney film.

The collection is set to be released in May.

There are 6 new shades which is fabulous enough.... but there’s more, there’s also a silver, yes SILVER shatter top coat – I am so excited to try this, I almost let out a squeal of excitement when I saw it.

Anyway without further ado, here are the Pirates of the Caribbean collection shades:

Next up is the Soft Shades Femme De Cirque collection, a pretty 4-piece collection which consists of light pastel-y pink shades, with what looks like a very light grey and a cream in there too. Great for neutral nail lovers, I feel. This collection is due out in April.

Also available: Femme De Cirque Minis £12.75

Individual shades £10.50 each. http://www.lenawhite.co.uk/

Please credit back to www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk when using my pictures. Thanks. xx

Models Own Pink Fever (Spring/Summer 2011) Swatches!

This polish is one of the Models Own shades for Spring/Summer and I’m yet again really very impressed with it overall. I hope you like the swatches, please excuse the application etc!

I’ve been wearing this polish for a few days now and there’s no chipping or signs of wear – this is fabulous for any polish in my book, but even more so because this polish only costs £5 (or less if you take up the multi purchase offer on the Models Own website where you get money off if you buy more than 3 polishes).

Flash:

 Daylamp (No Flash):

  Daylight:

It also applies very well and dries in a reasonable time, which is very important to me as I’m quite rubbish at waiting for my nails to try – patience is not my forte.

Daylamp (No Flash) - I showed this because it shows a lot more of the purple tones:

 Daylight:

I love the colour, it really is stunning; in some lights it looks a very vibrant pink/fuchsia but in others you see the violet/lilac that runs through it which in turn keeps me from getting bored with it.

Like it?

Disclosure: PR Sample

Free Barry M Makeup With The Sun'z Buzz Magazine - This Saturday!

The Sun newspaper’s ‘buzz’ magazine has joined forced with Superdrug and the hugely popular cosmetics company, Barry M to offer its readers some free (ish) makeup to celebrate Valentine’s Day. This time it’s even easier though as you only have to collect the one voucher that will be printed in this week’s buzz (on Saturday) to your nearest participating Superdrug store – it’s as simple as that.

In the makeup set there will be a Glossy Tubes lip gloss, a black kohl eyeliner pencil and a pot of nail polish, all in limited-edition shades that are not available in the shops (except I guess the eyeliner?!) and is worth ‘more than’ £9, which you can’t grumble at for the sake of the price of a newspaper, eh?!

I’ll be receiving one in the post, hopefully soon enough to swatch for you before the paper is out (if Royal Mail do their job, of course), so be sure to check back.

http://www.twitter.com/thesun_buzz

Illamasqua Succubus Lip Gloss (Throb Collection)!

This juicy red lip gloss is part of the much talked about Illamasqua ‘Throb’ collection for Valentine’s Day 2011. It’s a beautiful red, and more importantly it feels like a flattering one on my skin tone... which doesn’t always accept reds that well.

I’ve done my close up lip swatches with and without flash and I thought that instead of just blobbing and smearing the product on my hand that I’d make it a little more interesting, since it’s almost Valentine’s day – what do you think?

Flash:

Flash (even closer):

No Flash:

Hand (Day lamp):

Hand (Flash):

Disclosure: PR Sample