Balenciaga Florabotanica

I have to admit, the first thing that drew me to this perfume was the advert with Kristen Stewart and the cute little bottle and amazing illustration on the box. I pretty much choose the brand/bottle I like first and then decide whether I like the scent or not which probably isn't the best way to choose! I got given this as a present for my 18th birthday by my best friend after hinting for aaages but not really realising that since it only comes in an eau de parfum it's £40 minimum for a bottle..




Here's what John Lewis say: Inspired by a strange and wonderful garden in which you do not know whether the flowers are innocent or poisonous, Florabotanica from Balenciaga evokes the 18th Century botanical gardens in which the most exotic and rarest plant species were displayed. Strange-coloured plants discovered in distant countries brought back from their travels by enthusiastic biologists.

The vetiver, amber and caladium leaf accord create a resonance of mossy and mysterious dark wood, whilst the Experimental rose, carnation and mint accords add an exhilarating, freshness to the fragrance. To give Florabotanica its fairytale air, the perfumers added a formula of psychosensory plants, making it particularly enchanting.

The highly graphic black and white stripes on the bottle echo a signature dear to Cristóbal Balenciaga and the visions of extremely contemporary cuts of which Nicolas Ghesquière is fond in his designs. The oversized tube with bold lines plunges into the floral perfume like a laboratory test tube looking to capture the secret essence of flowers.

Honestly doesn't mean a lot to me or probably anyone else but it has the most amazing flowery scent that I urge you to try out if you see it!
I reaaally want the shower gel/body lotion but I can't justify £30+ for them each!
Balenciaga Florabotanica Eau de Parfum - 30ml

Maybelline Baby Lips

It seems like everyone in the UK is going crazy for Baby Lips right now! I actually got this a while ago from one of my sisters penpals or something in America. I kind of get the hype as they're so cheap and it's rare that we get a new lip balm or any lip balm from a high street make up brand.

I have this in Pink Punch which is a barbie pink colour. I love this colour but unfortunately pinks never really suit my skin tone. For a lip balm it does give a fair amount of colour, a lot more than the rose Vaseline for example.

Maybelline claims 8 hour hydration which although might be a bit exaggerated, I have to say I do really like the feel of it on my lips and will definitely be purchasing one which has less of a colour. You can see below that it really does have a pink colour unlike most lip balms which come out clear on the lips.

It seems like 3 of them have SPF 20 which is an added bonus and I'm definitely gonna grab 1 of these..or 3 as they're 3 for 2 in Boots right now which makes them under £2 each! I only wish we had the neon ones that they have in the US.

Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm - £2.99 each

Poundland Nail Haul

Poundland seems to have the best bargains for makeup and skincare and with a bit of digging around you can find some gems at a bargain price.

Today I got 2 Bourjois 1 Seconde nail varnishes which are one of the best high street formulas to use and their wide brush is such a good design.
I picked up number 13 and number 24 which annoyingly don't have names but number 13's a pink magenta colour with glitter running through it. I've definitely had this shade before and I remember loving it so I'm so happy to pick this up for £1. I don't know if it's just me put I resent paying over £5 for nail polish as there's so many cheap brands nowadays.

Number 13 is pretty much an exact dupe in the bottle for YSL's out of stock number 32 nail lacquer in Sparkling Garnet which just goes to show that most high end brand nail varnishes have low end dupes.

(excuse the missing ysl lid, it's very old!)

Number 24 is a chrome shimmer which looks green/purple in different lights. I'm always wary of shiny grey nail polishes since I bought a MAC one which looked beautiful in the bottle but looked awful on my fingers but at £1 I thought I'd give this a go.
I swatched this on 1 finger and I'm not a fan at all. The green shimmer doesn't translate onto the nails and I've never been a fan of dark grey nails so this won't be getting much use.

They also had a lot of Sally Hansen colours available and a few more Bourjois colours in their no chip range so if you pass a Poundland go find the makeup aisle!

Garnier Body Moisturisers

Firstly, I haven't posted in a month ahh! I've been on holiday but I'm back and more tan yay

I'm a bit in love with Garnier skin and body care right now. They have the best value and the best lotions and potions and I didn't even realise I was buying all Garnier brand items, they just happened to be in my price range and the best quality.

gel-cream on the left and lotion on the right

I took Garnier Intensive 7 days Soothing Gel-Cream in peach on holiday with me and used up the whole 250ml bottle over 20 days because I loved it that much. I don't really mind that I used it up quicker than I've ever used a body moisturiser up before because it's only £2.99.
It's brilliant for use as an aftersun as the gel formula is way more cooling than a regular cream but if you've got sunburn then it doesn't have any aloe vera in so you should probably stick to an aftersun.
I got the peach variety because it was for dry and sensitive skin and although my skins not sensitive, it can get dry and I thought it would probably be more sensitive after tanning. I'm definitely going to grab the grape variety for dry to normal skin next time I see it.
Garnier Body Intensive 7 Days Refreshing Gel-Cream (Only £1.99 right now!)

I replaced my gel-cream with the Garnier Summer Body Moisurising Lotion in order to maximise my tan but annoyingly I picked up the light version so I can't comment on the tanning element as I'm not surprised that a formula especially developed for light skin tones is having no effect..
This lotion has an apricot smell and I actually prefer it on application to the peach gel-cream, however when it's dried and sunk in, I can definitely smell a biscuity smell from the fake tan which I'm not a fan of, especially as I don't think a gradual tanning moisturiser should be expected to have that smell.
Although I'm not a fan of the Sunkissed Summer Body Lotion, it hasn't put me off Garnier at all and I'll use it whilst I haven't got the gel-cream. I got it half price at Superdrug so for £2.50 it's good value.
Seems to be different packaging but the same product online.
Garnier Sunkissed Body Milk Deep 250ml
Garnier Body Lotion Summer Light 250ml

The only thing I hate is the bottles...its near impossible to get the last bit of product out and you can't stand them upside down!