Naked Rescue - Shampoo and Conditioner

At the beginning of this year I decided to go blonde (I'm naturally brunette) and after the second time having the colour done my hair became very dry and extremely tuggy at the roots. I love the colour so much I'm not willing to dye it back to brown so decided to look for another shampoo and conditioner instead.

I used to use Herbal Essences for dry/damaged hair as I liked the smell and it did make my hair soft, before I got it coloured. However, I went into Boots and had a look around and ended up picking a new shampoo and conditioner with some of the most boring packaging, so I'm not too sure what made me even pick it up in the first place - but, I am so glad I did. It's called "Naked Rescue" and I bought the 'frizzy, damaged hair' shampoo and conditioner and also a few intensive hair masks. I liked that it was a 97% natural product and the smell is totally amazing.


So I used all of the products that night (shampoo, conditioner and then the intensive mask) and I could feel instantly it was smoother. I let my hair dry naturally (I have EXTREMELY frizzy hair and I don't want to put any heat on it if I have time to let it dry itself) and it had really made a difference to my hair - especially the ends, which were ruined from the colouring.

If this wasn't already good enough, it's actually making a difference to my skin!! I have eczema and have it quite bad on my hands, and I noticed after a few days that my hands were not as dry as usual and the top of my arms also. I've found that this is actually because the Naked Rescue products are so natural that all the chemicals in normal shampoos and conditioners are not included and are not drying out my skin as much - this is also a problem for people who may get rashes on the back of their upper arms; it could be because of your shampoo and conditioner as it runs down your arms etc.

I would definitely recommend this product to anyone - there are other types of the shampoo and conditioners for different hair types; have a look in the products/hair section of the website here. I've had a look and realised they also have body washes n stuff so will definitely have to try those out! They are very reasonably priced as well; Shampoo and Conditioner both £3.99 and intensive mask £1.29.

Deffo give these a go - my hair type is the worst ever (sooo frizzy and dry) and if it works for me, I'm sure it will work for you!

What is your favourite shampoo and conditioner?

Max Factor False Lash Effect

Mascara has to be one of the most expensive things that you have to "replenish" a lot in your makeup bag. I was personally addicted to Benefit mascaras but had a few problems with them; I used Bad Gal mascara (around £15) which gave amazing length and volume but I found that it flaked a HUGE amount; there were a lot of occasions where I looked in the mirror and thought I had a black eye because it had flaked so much. So I was recommended by my lovely sister to try out Max Factor's False Lash Effect Mascara and, I did. I was worried about the price, as I think £15 is way too expensive for my current budget but was happy when I saw it in Boots priced at £10.99 (plus you get Boots advantage points!).

I have to say that I love this mascara now and I use it every day as it does exactly what it says on the tin. It is definitely better than the cult favourite Bad Gal Benefit mascara as it doesn't clump, flake or fade. It opens the eyes out and gives a really good fresh look! (This picture is a bit nasty - I took this 5 hours after I applied the mascara and it still looks amazing.)

The only things that I can say aren't so good about this mascara are kind of brush related - the brush is too big to do the bottom lashes, or at least, I can't do it. And I know a lot of people like to coat the back of their lashes first before applying it properly (to hide blonde lashes etc) but you can't really do that with this brush; I've tried and it just covers your eye lid in mascara - not good!

All in all though, False Lash Effect mascara is a definite must have (I've also had quite a lot of compliments on it and a few people have actually thought I had false lashes on!), it lasts probably 6-8 weeks which is extremely decent. Definitely worth the price.

I am going to start trying out mascaras with smaller wands - any suggestions on good, cheaper mascaras would be much appreciated!

Sigma Brushes

The obvious and most important thing to have for applying makeup is a good set of brushes. However cheap the makeup you are using may be, it will always have huge benefits if you are using a decent brush for application. MAC brushes are the real makeup world's favourite, however, they are verrrrry pricey. As I don't have a couple of hundred pounds to spend on an extremely good set of brushes such as MAC, I started looking for alternatives and found an outright winner; Sigma brushes. They are MAC quality (some actually better than MAC) at a fraction of the price. Perfect!

So, I went on to www.simamakeup.com and had a look around. After a lot of deliberation, I finally decided on the Professional Brushes Complete Kit in black. This set which has 12 brushes, costs $69 (around £45) or with the brush roll $89 (around £59). Obviously there are p+p costs but I think that altogether I paid about £67(this was including the brush roll). The estimated delivery time was 2-3 weeks and I was ecstatic when I received my Sigma package only a week later!

When I opened the box the brush roll was in a gorgeous little bag with a few leaflets on brush care e.t.c in side.

















The brush roll itself is a gorgeous soft leather with the Sigma logo on the front and inset











The brushes are all in individual sockets and 4 of the larger brushes, have plastic sleeves to maintain the brush shape and quality.







The quality of the brushes is amazing. They are so soft and easy to maintain and give MAC quality application. I have swatched the same eyeshadow here, on the left is a brush I got with a cheap eye shadow set and on the right is the Sigma SS239. There is a huge difference (although not hugely visible in the picture) with regards to the quality of the application; the SS239 gives a more vibrant colour and is a lot harder to wipe of with fingers.

£67 may seem a lot to us students, however, I wanted to "invest" in a good set that will last me for years to come if properly looked after (which I intend to do). These are definite winners.

What brushes do you use? Have you ever tried Sigma brushes? Have you ever had extremely good/bad experiences with any brush(es)?

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to my blog!

My name is Eran and I am currently a university student. Even though I am living at home still, I am struggling a lot with money; as are many, many other students. Basically, I have lately found that I simply cannot afford expensive brands of makeup and beauty items (and as much as I try to convince myself - it is NOT a good idea to use my wages/student loan to buy expensive products!) so I am now on a mission to find cheaper alternatives that will create the same/similar look and quality of higher priced products. I will blog all of my good and bad findings and would appreciate feedback, ideas and any general comments on my blogs!

When I refer to "expensive brands" of makeup I generally mean brands such as MAC, MAKEUP FOR EVER, Lancome, Clinique e.t.c - I am aware that these are all worth the amount of money paid but it would simply give me no money to have a life if I was to keep up the obsession with this expensive hobby!

I will be purchasing makeup from drugstores (Boots, Superdrug e.t.c.) or online and will give all details including price and the store/website bought from. I will also be uploading pictures with swatches of the makeup colours or simply with the packaging.

Sorry about this first post being so long winded; I wanted to set all my plans down properly!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the blog :)

Eran xox