Pink Haired Princess

Christmas is creeping up and it feels like one of those years, when it's going to be here before we know it. I'm blaming the mild weather! I have a series of posts of gift ideas and special edition sets, to get you in the mood and provide some inspiration if you're stuck for ideas or feel like treating yourself. Today, I'm reviewing a couple of sets from Arran Aromatics . If you haven't heard of them, they are a Scottish beauty brand, originating on the Isle of Arran (hence the name) specialising in fragrant bath, body and gift items. I can remember (probably around 15 years ago now) buying several of their lavender products in those distinctive apothecary style bottles to take to Germany when I stayed with a friend. I'd wanted his Mum to have "something Scottish" and they were just so pretty. FYI, they went down a treat and survived the plane ride! Anyway the range this Christmas is beautiful, with the cutest packaging featuring nutcracker so...

I've been wanting to write this post for some time, considering how much my beauty regime has changed this year, but to be truthful I wasn't sure if it was of any interest to you . I've had to learn and deal with a lot of changes in my appearance over the past few months and of course that's had a knock-on effect to my confidence.  So I decided any pro-self-esteem post was worth writing if it helps anyone else out there. For a little background and to hopefully clear up those " the shoe girl diaries illness " or " what illness does pink haired princess have " searches that are leading to my blog, I have M.E. I know I still haven't finished my (When Life Sucks) posts about my illness and how it came about, but it's not forgotten I promise. I've been ill for over 12 years now and finally got to a point where I was able to get dressed up and 'look' ok, even when I wasn't feeling that great. This year though, my iron dipped ...

I've been busy working on a new video review this past week of the latest epilator from Braun (Silk Epil 7 SkinSpa Exfoliation & epilation System 7931). You will maybe recall I reviewed the Silk Epil 7 Dual Epilator back in 2011, well this device is basically similar (the Silk Epil 7), but without the Venus blades and with a really unique attachment of an exfoliating brush. Now I would like to think my video review (below) this time is a lot better as I have my fancy camera and the sound has improved greatly. I was nearly tearing my hair out after spending an entire morning filming though, only to realise the continual focus was on and you could hear the whirring noise over my audio! So I had to delete all that and start again! As a side note, it's a strange system on the camera, because you either have to put up with the noise and have everything in wonderful clear, crisp focus no matter what moves where or lose the noise and deal with things going out of focus at ...

I mentioned that I placed an order with Boots the other week. I'd been instore to check out a few things but had really wanted the new 'Limited Edition' 1 Litre tub of Soap & Glory's Righteous Butter, which was only available online. I'll do a separate post on the Lancome stuff I got, but here's the S&G. It was 3 for 2 and although the body cream was £25 and there's nothing else at that price level, I still wanted to take advantage of getting something free, especially as there were items I needed. I'd completely run out of Night (In Shining Armour) Cream £13-can't tell you how many jars of this I've gone through and I was also part way through yet another cycle of Wish Upon A Jar £15 (been using it for 18 months and on my third jar), so they seemed like obvious choices to purchase. I really should take the time to write more reviews for the S&G stuff I use, as I've tried almost everything from the brand.  The Righteous But...

I've been using the very lovely body balm from Spa Paradisa lately and thought as part of my 'summer reviews' I would compare it to the similar Bathina Body So Fine balm from BeneFit which you may be more familiar with. I've been using the Benefit version for years which is priced at £24.50. It comes presented in the most gorgeous, retro tin and includes a good quality black puff which fits neatly inside. I've always been fond of the Bathina scent, it's very subtle and slightly old fashioned-the balm has a faint hint of this. I can remember wanting this for so long (purely because it was pretty), then I saw a makeup artist use it on a model in a shoot I was working on and vowed that I would buy one! You need very little product and it has a very light pink tint to it, which isn't noticeable when applied. Although it looks very, very shimmery in the tin-it actually works more as a gleam than glitter. I normally use this on my legs-a quick swipe down the cen...