Love L'Octaine

So the best place to find new products to try out? The magazine isle at the supermarket.

Seriously? ... SERIOUSLY. You get to read a somewhat fashionable magazine, whilst trying out a product for free. Some of the higher branded magazines have larger sample sizes and better brands included as a gift. But if you're looking for a new nail polish brand last month Orly Polish was a gift with I believe Elle magazine, and Instyle Mag were giving away free two L'Octaine Provence products, a Shampoo and a Conditioner.

So here we are. A magazine section at Tesco later. Two L'Octaine en Provence bottles in hand, and a love affair has started.

Back in April I had a 16"pony tail of hair cut off in the name of charity. Since then I've been growing out my pixie crop, and its gotten down to my shoulders. But I have struggled in keeping my hair in good condition. I always find at a certain length when my hands are running through my hair more, I find that my hair becomes more oily, and responds less well to my usual shampoos such as Pantene, Alberto Balsam, and Cien. As my hair grew I found myself washing my hair more often, which is actually bad for the hair, as it strips your hair of the natural oils in it. So I was doing my hair no justice. Its a battle. A battle for glossy tresses.

But when I saw L'Octaine en Provence I HAD to try it. For one it was free, and secondly it was with Instyle Mag which I've never read before. Perfect excuse to spend £2.50 I think.

I have used the Shampoo twice now, (I tend to only condition my hair once a week, otherwise it weighs my hair down.) It is packed full of essential oils, which I thought would only make my hair more oily. But in fact it has worked well for me. My hair feels lighter, bouncier, and more nourished than before. I think it'll also help in trying to wash my hair less.

It smells divine too, which of course is very important. It smells like pouring Ian Snows onto your head, or walking into spa and the smell you experience after a massage, with all that essential oil, and incense. Its a calming scent that feels like you're lapping your hair in luxurious liquid.

I hope this review has encouraged you to scout out the supermarkets for your next favourite product!

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Image pulled from Google Images and can be found at this link: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDL3Ljnsp2oXsenrnZJczGMG1chlhu4Zi5ezvGrJeGNhEU2hci1dGO98sD61WYo3IVtnZJb6gcXX7HTeod-Y67kbWnzUUyqKxmQA5GdP53V08FWaNYlNFLCrHZRquBJ7iDgtPnvNsOQ8Z/s1600/LOccitaneRepairShampooConditionerBellaRobotUkBeautyBlog.JPG

Youtube

So for those of you who may know, I've taken the Nails at Noon love over to Youtube and so far have uploaded TWO makeup tutorials. Hopefully next week I will upload a nail tutorial for you so you can see JUST how to re-create some of my nail looks!

For those of you who love FROZEN I have done an Ice Queen makeup look and for summer a simple rosy cheek look! So I hope you follow me over there and enjoy watching the videos. I would really appreciate some feedback so make sure you leave me a comment tell me you've come from the blog, and share the advice of what nail art look you'd like to see first!

Thanks guys and I'll write you soon!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR5_vwF98NZmJ-nfTtYeRw/featured

Oddballz and Watermelons.

So for Christmas, I was a very fortunate young lady and received a box of SIX O.P.I Shatter Nail Paints. Two of which were Nicki Minaj special edition ones, 'Super Bass Shatter'. So I decided to finally start experimenting with various colours from my little treasure box of O.P.I - my first bottles of O.P.I I have ever owned, which in itself is very exciting to me.

Incidentally these beautiful creations were made. My sister and I deciding that they looked like Watermelon design and Oddballz - a 90s computer game where you hatched your own little dinosaurs from this eggs (Oddballz) which had these crackle effects in funky colours on them... for those of you who do not know this game but loved Tamagochi's and Catz and similar programmes you deffo need to get a copy of Oddballz - you may get addicted but you won't regret it!

Anyhoo, back to the nails....

For watermelon nails, the polish used was Elf's 'Mint Choc Chip' and O.P.I Shatter in dark green. For Oddballz nails Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in 'Prickly Pear' and Nicki Minaj for O.P.I 'Super Bass Shatter' in Purple.

Simply protect your nails with a base coat, apply two coats of the base colour. A lighter colour works best for dark shatter colour - and reverse for dark base light shatter colour works best. Once dry apply a top coat to smooth out the base colour ready for the shatter. I find that putting the top coat on now works best, as applying it after the shatter can shrink the polish underneath. Then apply a thin layer of shatter for the Watermelon style to get that thin stroke shatter look. For the Oddballz look apply a thick layer of shatter on top, to create the bigger shaped shatter effect.

Have fun playing around with colour combinations, this look is very simple yes, but get the colours right and you can have a great look on your hands!

For more Nail looks follow me on Instagram - http://instagram.com/itsher92

Keeping Organised.

So I may have gone overboard on the labelling, but I like to think that I am getting organised.

I already had the storage but recently bought a label machine, which I have kinda gone crazy with. But I think this looks in a way vintage-y and cool. Don't you think? 

I already had sorted some of my makeup into my Muji Acrylic containers, the top drawer being face products, the middle eye products and the bottom one lips. So it was just a case of labelling what kind of products were in each drawer to quicken the sleepily stumble around trying to find the things I need to slap some kind of look on in the mornings. 

The label maker was half price in W H Smiths at £11.99 a Dymo and the pack of re-fill ribbons at £10.99 for 3. I have already gone through one wheel - the wheel that came within the label maker as I've gone crazy labelling everything ... including the cat. But also had to throw away a few labels as I got used to getting the right kind of squeeze to produce coherent labels. 

If you would like to check out the label maker I got, you can find it here:

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/dymo-embossing-labelmaker-omega/product/22806925

If you would like some acrylic makeup storage like mine you can find them here: 

http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?Sec=9&Sub=39

They are exactly like the ones that the Kardashians use but in smaller sets, for those of you who know the reference. They are great and come in various sizes and styles. I have a set of two with a flip lip on top and then a single drawer on the bottom which simply sit on top of each other and look as if they are a set of three. I would highly recommend them they may be a little pricey but compared to some of the storage found on eBay they are a steal. And you can mix and match the storage to find a set up that suits you. 

Flower Power

Be daring, don't be afraid once your nails have started to chip to whip out that nail art pen and have a go, if the worse comes to the worse then you have the excuse they were chipping anyways to wipe the board clean.

I often use the opportunity of 'better days' nails to try new nail art on myself, rather than whipping out a nail art wheel. This time around I tried florals, usually I use my dotting tool to draw out rose style flower patterns but this time I tried drawing more detailed florals.

Polish is Stargazer - Silver I believer number 242
and a generic black nail art pen.

Scarlet Fever

I was feeling like a simple nail today and wanted to use minimal polish to give my nails a little bit of a break. So after a brief buffing I applied three coats of a french mani pink to ascentuate the colour of my nails and gave my own twist on a traditional french mani by doing red tips and white accents.
A great look for work or the office or any smart occasion. :)

Nail Polish:
French Mani Pink from a manicure kit.
Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Polish in Pommegranate £3.99
Generic white nailart pen.

Follow me on Twitter @nailsatnoon.

Love Hearts

Cute pink and purple hearts! A great option for Valentines or for a cute date or just for fun!

Nail Polish:
Barry M Nail Paint in Peach Melba, Bright Purple, Bright Pink, Berry I/C - all £2.99
Essie in Tour de Finance - £1.99 from T J Hughes.
Generic white nail art pen.

Sorry for the messy edges!

**Follow me on Twitter too :) @nailsatnoon for constant updates on nails and blog posts!