Beauty, Bargains and Beyond

There are a few great freebies included with this months magazines which are available now   Here's what you can pick up right now. Instyle - costs £3.99 and you can choose between 4 different Nail Inc Polishes worth £11.  You can pick between a pale mint green or grey colour or bright orange or pink.  All look great options for the summer.  I chose the mint green colour and I think I will look out for the grey as well. marie claire - costs £3.99 and you can chose the Elemis Pro-Radiance Illuminating Balm (15ml) worth £11.50 or the Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel (15ml) worth £11.  I chose the Flash Balm. Red - costs £4 and you get a Ren Vita Mineral Lip Balm (15ml) worth £9. Glamour - costs £1 and you can choose from 4 Model Co products.  A black or blue eyeliner (worth 12 each), a VolumEyes Mascara (worth £11) or a nude shimmery lip gloss (worth £16).  I picked up the mascara and lip gloss. I will let you know if I find any more f...

I thought I would share my recent L'Occitane haul.  I found a great voucher through facebook for a free gift and went in to collect it.   The free gift is the box in the photo below which is a lovely little set which includes the following: Cherry Blossom Hand Cream 10ml Dry Skin Foot Cream 10ml Verbena Shower Gel & Body Lotion both 30ml Soap with Verbena Leaves - 25g A little sachet of grow your own lavender I think that it's a really great little box especially as it was free.  The gift set also included a voucher for £10 off when you spend £25 or more.  Well I couldn't say no to that. Before I decided what I wanted to buy I was offered a hand and arm massage.  It was a really great massage and the products used were very nice. It was all very relaxing and a very nice treat. In the end, I decided to buy the Nail and Cuticle Oil (7.5ml) which was £12 and was used during the hand massage.  It has a brush applicator which is a great ide...

On my recent trip to London, I decided to try out some Broadway imPRESS Press-On Manicure false nails as my nails are so short at the moment. I think that I bought these particular ones in America, but you can get different patterns over here in Superdrug  for £7.99 (although there is an offer on right now for £5.32 which is a third off).  You can also buy them in Boots, although they are all sold out online, so it would be worth checking out the larger Boots stores if you live near one.  The nails I used are so pretty, with a floral pattern on a white background (they don't have a name on the packaging just a code KL0625).   They are really easy to apply, just remove the plastic covering on the back of the nail and then press it onto your own nail. No glue is needed as they have a self adhesive on the back of the nails.  They stayed on for 4 days which is really good as I put them through quite a lot during the 4 days I wore them. They are very easy...

I just spent some of the bank holiday weekend in London.  I had a great time and here are some of the highlights. I went to see 2 shows - Gypsy at The Savoy Theatre - Imelda Staunton is fabulous as Momma Rose and pretty much carries the whole show, but the kid who plays Baby June in the first part of the show steals all her scenes, she was so funny and over the top. I also went to see a play called American Buffalo starring Damien Lewis, John Goodman and Tom Sturridge at the Wyndam Theatre.  All the actors were on top form and it was a really interesting play. Definitely worth going to see.  It was so popular there were some people standing in the aisles. I always take the opportunity to pop into Whole Foods when I am in London and I bought some Savse smoothies which I love (luckily they now do them at my local supermarket so I can get them whenever I want but its always nice to start the day healthily when I eat so much in London).  I also bought some...

When I saw the Netflix Tag I couldn't wait to get involved as I love, love, love TV and I really love Netflix as it means that I can binge watch some of my favourite shows.  This is the first tag that I have been involved with so thanks to Vicky over at beingtillysmummy  for tagging me.  I have had Netflix since last year, primarily because I wanted to watch Arrested Development Season 4 which was only available on Netflix and also because all the seasons of Breaking Bad were available, so I decided to finally find out what all the fuss was about that show.  I have found some great shows and films to watch on Netflix so the £5.99 charge per month is a bargain as far as I am concerned. Anyway lets get on with the questions. All Time Favourite This is an easy one although I do have 2 answers.  My favourite TV show is most definitely The Killing (the US version).  I binge watched the whole 4 seasons worth of 44 episodes in 1 week and I was so addict...

One of the reasons that I keep subscribing to beauty boxes is the chance to try out brands that I haven't come across before.  One such brand is WAH London Nail Polish which I recently received in a Birchbox . I received the shade Private Plane which is a pastel baby blue colour that I think is perfect for summer. You only need to apply 2 coats for the perfect coverage and it dries pretty quickly which is always a plus for me, as I find it hard to sit still long enough for my nail polish to dry and end up smudging at least one nail. I did apply a top coat and the polish lasted for 2 days before chipping.  This is pretty normal for me as I am quite hard on nail polish especially as I have my own horse, so my nails get quite dirty and grubby when I am grooming or washing my horse. WAH Nails is all about nail art and started life in East London and was founded by Sharmadean Reid.  There is now a branch in Topshop Oxford Circus in London so I can't wait to go...

I have been lucky enough to travel to a number of wonderful places over the last few years, some of which I have posted about here.  I didn't travel abroad until I was about 19 when I went to Corfu with my sister and friends and since then I haven't looked back.  I have mainly visited America over the years but I've been to a few other places as well.  The only down side to travelling for me is that I get travel sick which is awful and a big pain in the bum (first world problems and all I know). Other than that I really love to travel and there are so many places I would love to return to as well as places I haven't visited yet, but like most people it's having the time and mainly the money to be able to go on holiday (I keep hoping for that lottery win).  As I can't visit them at the moment I thought I would do a blog post on them and maybe it will inspire me to get my act together and make a plan to visit some of them soon. Here's the top 5 places I would...

I have finished a few products over the last few weeks so thought I would do my first empties post for 2015. The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Beautifying Oil for Body, Face and Hair - I loved this oil. I used it on my body morning and night and it really moisturised my skin and wasn't greasy.  It smells devine as well.  I would definitely repurchase.  It's £9 for 100ml. The Body Shop Moringa Body Mist - Another Body Shop product I've used up. This has a nice light fragrance that is perfect for summer.  I would buy this again.  It's £7.50 for 100ml. Victoria's Secret Fabulous Body Mist - I bought this in America where I got a great deal on it as it was $10 instead of the usual $25.  I think it's around £22 in the UK. It's a really nice fragrance and I would repurchase it if I could get a good deal on it again. Eau Thermale Avene Micellar Lotion - I prefer this to Bioderma as I find it removes my eye makeup better then Bioderma does.  I would ...

I recently bought YSL Volupte Tint-In-Oil  Peach Me Love (well I say bought, I actually used Boots Advantage Card Points Wayhey!!!), so I thought I would do a quick review.  There were some really nice colours to choose from but I picked Peach Me Love as it is a lovely peachy pink shade.  It looks really peachy on the applicator, although I will say that it only appears pink on my lips and if I swatch it on the back of my hand.  That's ok though, as it is still a really pretty pink shade.  It's the sort of gloss that enhances your lip colour without covering it up entirely and as soon as I applied the gloss my lips felt smoother, but the gloss is not sticky which is great. It smells and tastes a little bit fruity on application and the applicator makes it really easy to apply the lip oil.  YSL Volupte Tint-In-Oil is a very lightweight lip oil which contains 4 essential oils - apricot kernal oil, coriander fruit oil, jojoba seed oil and pos...

It only feels like yesterday since I started this blog, but Beauty, Bargains & Beyond is now 2 years old.   Time really has flown and I have to say I am still enjoying writing my blog, so I hope that you all still enjoy reading it.  As a celebration of the 2 year mark I am running a giveaway which is open internationally, where the lucky winner can receive the following: Jurlique Rose Hand Cream (15ml) Murad Renewing Cleansing Cream (45ml)  Burt's Bees A Bit of Burt's Bees Set which contains Refreshing Lip Balm with Pink Grapefruit & Pink Butter Cuticle Cream a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck everyone.  Thanks for reading my blog. Leighlee

I was recently sent a bottle of The Library of Fragrance Sunshine Cologne Spray* to review.  It was really hard to choose which one I wanted to try out as there are so many that appeal to me. These are the ones that piqued my interest. Sunshine Salt Air Fresh Coconut (I hope this one evokes summer holidays) Stable (sounds weird I know, but I love the smell of horses so I am interested to see how it translates into a fragrance) Clean Skin Snow Sunshine was top of my list so I was really pleased when it arrived.  It was very appropriate as it came during the mini heatwave we recently had. Here's how Sunshine is described:   What does our Sunshine smell like? Think of your favourite, most comfortable cotton T-Shirt, warmed by the sun and summer skin, with just a hint of suntan lotion. I like the description and I really love the smell of Sunshine as it evokes memories of hot summer days.  It's fresh and warm and puts me in a good mood...