Notino Dot Ie Haul Under €50

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Everybody but the US can enjoy this site (soz)

I had to have a think about how I came upon notino.ie (scroll down for links to your country). I am a fragrance fangirl* and I may have been clicking around looking for a reasonable facsimile of D&G’s Velvet Desert Oud… but I think it’s because I came across Barnängen as a product line and did the google and it lead me there.

It was a fortuitous google indeed as I am now addicted to their shower creams and gels, all under €6 a pop. I’ve tried their body cream and the pump version didn’t pump so great, and the body butter is fab but really thick, so that’s like a night time application, no good for someone like me who is always rushing out the door of a morning. It’s like cake icing only thicker, so you need to plan for using it.

I hadn’t been happy with the shower gels I had on rotation, so I visited the site in order to stock up and went a lil bit bonkers.

Hidden in the back is HASK Curl Defining Cream; my hair is wavy enough to be able to encourage some curls if I apply stuff like this to damp hair and twist it up for 24 hours. I’ve tried it and can happily recommend. I mean, I don’t get any gorgeous corkscrew curls, but I do get tighter waves; don’t expect miracles.

The rest of the stuff you can read the labels yourself. I will say the OnlyBio only works well on damp skin and the Dermacol nail hardener there isn’t great.

I will also say that huge Syoss shampoo was the free sample I checked off when invited to choose one! I will also say I reckon it’s been sitting in the warehouse for ages as the bottle was literally actually dusty. But I lovvvvve itttt not only for its size but for its efficacy. I forgot how good keratin is for my hair.

I had a coupon code for 15% off because I’m on the mailing list, and also got free shipping, so I’d say this was excellent value (ymmv).

That’s me set up in shower gel for a good while anyway!

*Watch this space for an absolute squee over some French perfume I found circuitously via TikTok!

This Could Be Better: Nuxe Huile Prodgieuse Neroli

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Is that shouting and mayhem I hear?

I’m not saying that this bottle of deliciousness isn’t good, I’m saying something could be improved upon.

As a long time fan of the original huile – I mean, look here – I did not think the formulation could get any better than it was, and then the Neroli version dropped in 2021. I loooooovvvvve neroli. Though its fragrance derives from orange blossom, you won’t smell like you’ve spilled your Tropicana all down your front. This is citrusy, for sure, but also green and a bit floral, a darker floral than the original huile (that’s down to its sweet almond and the camellia).

So okay, 10/10, no notes, except…

The bottle.

The bottle is glass and it is square. When one has just stepped out of the shower and wishes to squirt this delectable oil onto one’s still damp skin, it is an entire pain in the bum.

The squareness does not sit well in the (damp) palm, and the glass-ness is the nightmare you’d imagine it to be in a wet hand.

This is deeply irritating as there is nothing like oil on the damp skin for hydration. The open pores suck it in, and it, in turn, locks in the moisture and you are not only highly moisturised but also spectacularly fragrant.

Or you would be. If you could get the stuff out of the bottle and onto your bod. It was so bad the last time I tried to spray myself down I was sure I was almost out of it, but no: there is a good 1/3 of oil left.

Must I remove the spray part and pour into my palm? I will, if I have to, and question the whole point of the inconvenience of having to ditch the part that’s meant to be the most convenient thing of all.

I would not be happy with a bottle that had one of those lil plastic covers that have the one hole in them either. What if the bottle was tall and thin??? That might work…

Argh!!

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From the Archives: Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

In which I shut my eyes and grab the first thing my hand hits, no matter how agéd.

Look how pretty she is!

Guess what though: she is usssselessssssss.

At first, I thought I was using the wrong sort of brush, even though it looked like a blush/highlighter brush… Grand, thought I, I’ll just use the chunky brush I’d been using for my Hourglass Ambient Powder, a nice, fat, mushroom type cluster of bristles.

Yeah, nah. Made no difference. Repeated passes of the brush took up little to no product. Was I not transferring enough of the darker hues? Made not a blind bit of difference. At one stage I ran the compact directly onto my palm and … wow, I’d never seen so little impact from a product, ever.

(Haven’t I? It’s worth thinking on…)

I went looking to see if they replaced it, but it doesn’t look like it. I think I may have hoarded some Too Faced Snow Bunny; I was going to say, I’ll do that for the next archival grab but I waxed lyrical about it over one entire decade ago. hashtag FFSL.

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The Body Shop Ramie Shower Lily: Noble, but Not Available?!?

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Look, I rate The Body Shop highly but researching got frustrating, fast and also: the thing is not so great to use.

I winkled a lil Ramie Lily by The Body Shop out of the box of random offerings from those who receeved them and are keen they find a good home.

I adore The Body Shop: I was gifted with some mandarin-scented soap, before my second trip to Ireland, way back before I lived here, and anytime I smell something even remotely orange-y, I recall with pleasure my sojourn in a hostel in Westport, Co Mayo (hang on… here she is). So sure, I’m going to grab whatever someone else is silly enough to give up.

Except… yeah, not so great.

The impulse is terrific: make a shower/bath scrubby thing — does everyone call it a lily? — that is not made of plastic. Fantastic! I am happy enough with my exfoliating gloves, but wanted to give this a try.

Lil Body Ship Ramie lily hanging in the shower
So sad!

Verdict?

A) It is very smol.

B) It gets very flat? And doesn’t scrub very well?

C) The flatness doesn’t distribute your shower gel, like, at all.

Then I tried to find images that wouldn’t look so woeful: it is discoverable on thebodyshop.com; this is maybe a small press sample? There seem to be none for sale on the flagship site and is only available from portal vendors, ie, long-distance from Indonesia, for example. Which: carbon footprint how are ya.

This is not advancing saving the planet. Ultimately, one must ask: wtf???

Me being me, I wanted to see what happened if I unbunched it. Trusty X-acto knife in hand, I cut the twine that bound it…

X-acto knife and unbound lily ramie
Eh.

Not convinced, but I’ll give it a go!

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Pretty Little Thing False Eyelashes: Hmmmm

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

I don’t know, they look really, really long?

Pretty Little Thing false eyelashes that look super extra long to me

Or just super extra thick? I mean, it does say ‘extra lash’ but wow, these look very extra.

During Christmas, my sister was evangelical about wearing falsies and sure why not give it a go.

I have ZERO luck with them in the past (okay, I tried ONE TIME); I have no glue, so that’s next.

Any recs? One of the gals from one of my magazine gigs swears by DUO…?

This will take me ages to get around to do, just saying.

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HOTD: 20th January, 2024

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Hair Of The Day: just took a notion.

Mainly because I took delivery of my new Revlon Salon One-Step Hair Dryer and Volumiser on Friday. My brother and sister-in-law gifted me one last Christmas and to say I am obsessed does not do it justice.

Obsessed = buying one for euro use as the gift is US-plug oriented and won’t work here. Or not for long: I bought a hot flat brush thingie ages ago, can’t even recall the brand, and used an adaptor, and blew it out in a month or so.

Obsessed = speaking of, I got the Revlon version of an air-drying flat brush and was not wowed. So I waited until the finances settled post-holidays and got one of the proper, full brush oval deals. LOVE.

Image of my hair, having used the products that will be listed below
Yikes, that’s long. Ends need tidying.

Here’s hoping you’re all viewing this on mobile/cell because I spent a ridic amount of time on the above image and it is t i n y. Ugh.

1} If you take nothing from this post, take Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub. Scalp health! It is important! Imagine not exfoliating your face! That is a teeny tiny 75ml pot of scrubby excellence, and using it once a month, it lasts… at least eight? A scoop on two fingers is plenty. Apply before shampooing. So good.

2} Bumble & Bumble Illuminated Color Shampoo and its matching 1-Minute Vibrancy Treatment: I used the latter ‘cos I ran out of the conditioner, which I will say I found that touch too thick. I prefer these two working in combination. Not for going out-out hair, perfectly respectable any-old-day shampoo + treatment.

3} Smooth Me Now Thermal Spray from Eleven: really, really good, works even better with a fancier shampoo + conditioner. This is my gateway into the brand, with which I am not familiar; will likely investigate further, watch this space.

I alwaysssssss use something before I dry, and recommend you do too. I have a top five I might do on that score.

4} QUEEN. Okay if you take a second thing from this post, take this. I will say it works better if you let your hair air dry a lil bit before using this, but it is so effective it’s worth an extra five minutes or so of brushing this glorious hot air conveying device through your locks. And with the amount of feckin’ acreage I have to dry (really time for a trim), if your hair is shorter, you will defo go faster. LOVE THIS THING, SO GREAT.

ALSO! When I opened the box and a packaged Allen wrench/Philips head screwdriver fell into my lap I was like: why. Well. You can unscrew the back of the plug and upon removal, the UK prongs reveal Euro prongs, so lets go to France and have perfect hair!

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Blogging: Back?

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

APPARENTLY! With Txitter’s recent descent into the deepest depths of toxicity, and Insta’s desire to not only target us with ads rather than the posts of our followers, but also to chase that TikTok vibe, social media is going through some changes.

Serious ones, serious enough that the general consensus seems to be: time to get back to blogging.

There are a couple of things going on here that are worth flagging. The first is that the internet is not forever. The Wayback Machine makes a liar of me, but I’m not referring to storage, I’m referring to that ineffable thing that make a site A Thing.

Remember I Can Haz Cheeseburger? Cute Overload? Gawker? The Hairpin? Not a one remains, or in existence in its founding form. Tastes change, ads fail to raise enough revenue to keep things running, those behind the scenes burn out.

The rise of the socials surely something to do with the demise of the above and others like them. The commentariat was the place to see and be seen, but that space soon became a thing of the past. Yes, sure, YouTube, but everyone knows that section is a dangerous neighbourhood.

The transition of Txitter from the world’s living room to blue-check disaster epitomises the reality of things changing. We can’t count on this stuff being free, and if we have to pay, we may as well do it from our on little corner of the ether.

So here we go again, I guess! I’m no longer a freelance beauty journalist, and my only free stuff is the leavings of colleagues on certain magazines. This may in fact free me up to be even more honest than I have ever been. I’ve got some posts in drafts that never saw the light of day, and will be sure to fill you in on my latest books under my pen name, Susanna Allen*.

Here I am enjoying a sheet mask. It’s Garnier, which I consider the best on the high street; I’m not convinced that any actual skincare is conveyed by this delivery device, but it makes makes me sit still for 15 minutes which is saying something.

Back on my shizz

I highly recommend Seoulista Rosy Glow Primer sachet: it gives seriously good undercoat for the rest of your makeup. Prices seem to be ranging from €5.95 to €8, which is very broad; I’d go looking for a three pack if I was you…

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*Readers may like to visit susannaallenwriter.com

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Clinique Pep-Start Hydroblur Moisturizer

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Also all gone.


I had to be in the mood to use this as it was quite thick and generally didn’t feel that my skin was soaking it up.

But! Its hydroblur function made for a great primer, which is the whole point of the product. If you’re after a matte finish on the daily, I’d recommend this for sure.

I didn’t feel 100% like I was getting moisturised, but I did feel that getting the primer over with somehow made a difference to me, time-wise. I was going write, ‘which is ride’, but it’ kind of not: I have ruined many a foundation application by being too impatient for the primer to set. So there’s that.

Loved having it around when I was in the humour for it!

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€30/£25/$29.50

SkinCeuticals Retexturing Activator

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

AKA: BI-FUNCTIONAL RESURFACING AND REPLENISHING SERUM

Oh, hi.

I brought this away with me on my Christmas journeying, because I have this ridic idea that if I bring something that’s nearly gone and use it up while I’m away, it’s, ummm — a good use of the product? And that my case will be lighter by .0000001 of an ounce coming home?

Well, I didn’t use this all up in the three weeks I was travelling because it was so good and amazing I brought the rest of it home. Less eager to see it go, I had enough for three more weeks and I am raging it is gone.

*sob*

When I got the sample, I duly used it and reviewed it for the paper. I found it effective enough, but I had four other serums I was working on and moved on fairly sharpish.

In this last month and half, it certainly stood out. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror about two weeks in and thought ‘Hey, my skin looks pretty fantastic.’ Glowy, clear, and a noticeable decrease in pigmentation — should I start hoarding this?

This is formulated to exfoliate without scraping away your good skin while reinforcing the skin’s barrier against the bad stuff. I was using a whole dropper of it which was unnecessary as the coverage is incredible.

It’s obvious, but using something good consistently yields results. (It’s pricey: anywhere from €61-98 online, gahhhhh)

Saving my pennies for another round: if I hadn’t been so eager to mow through it, I’d say it’d last me at least four months. #TRUTH

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Instagram Has Killed Blogging

/ MANY BRAVE FOOLS / Leave a comment

Speaking personally: it is so much easier to snap and cap than it is to do this.

Nevertheless, I am feeling it again, primarily because I have two books in the can, and have the time/brain space to post. The first is my equestrian memoir, to be published in the autumn by Trafalgar Square Books, entitled Many Brave Fools: A Story of Addiction, Dysfunction, Codependency…And Horses; the second is a novel that’s a mashup of Regency Era Historical Romance + Paranormal, that I am pitching to agents at the mo.

Despite being ankle-deep into the second instalment in the latter’s series, I’m about to revamp http://www.flyingchanges.wordpress.com, so it felt natural to pop over here and say hi.

Here’s me, upgraded to Business Class on the way home from the Christamas hols abroad

Hi! I’ve got a few things in train to post, but even now, I’m not making any promises…

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PS Do visit my Insta feed, at right >>>>>