Bobbi Brown Christmas Collection

I'm afraid that my husband has a bit of competition at the moment. I'm having a love affair and it's getting serious. I can't stop looking at the object of my affections and I've been using it at least twice a day.

I'm referring to my Bobbi Brown Bellini Lip and Eye Palette. It's part of their Christmas collection but has instantly become one of the staples of my makeup collection.

Here's a picture of my beloved palette:

Every colour is great!

And here's what I love about it:

- The eyeshadow colours are beautiful and I can honestly say that I would and have been using every single one of them to great effect.  How often can you say that about a palette?

- I love the combination of matte and sparkly shadows. They blend really well and you can create a range of looks including day, night and of course party. I've been using the black for a great smoky effect and the light pink as a highlighter.

- The lipsticks are again in a range of "suit-all" colours and I adore the bright pink which is nowhere near as dramatic as it looks in the palette.

- The palette is £59 and although it is obviously quite a lot to spend on makeup, it is well worth it. This product will last well beyond the party season and the colours will take you through the year.

- If someone bought me this for Christmas I would be a very happy lady!

I have also been trying out the 24 Karat Shimmer Brick.

Who needs jewellery when you can adorn your face with this?

If you haven't ever tried a shimmer brick then I really recommend them. Not only can they be used as highlighters and blushers but each separate part of the brick makes a really lovely eyeshadow which is particularly good for the party season as they give a really intense sparkle and shimmer.

The 24 Karat Shimmer Brick is one of the nicest ones I have used. Used as an eyeshadow, gold looks great on all skin types and I really like each of the 24 Karat golden shades. It also creates the most beautiful highlighter for the upper cheek and brow-bones.

May I also recommend adding the lightest gold to the inside corner of your eyes. It will make them look larger and enhance the rest of your makeup beautifully.

The 24 Karat Shimmer Brick is £35 and again I think this is a very fair price considering what a great multi-tasker it is.

My final highlight of the Christmas range has to be the Uber Nude Lip and Eye Palette.

Classic and Chic

This would make a fantastic stocking filler. It's a sweet palette that will easily fit in your handbag and contains a small but perfectly formed collection of classic and natural lip and eye colours in browns, neutrals and pinks. The palette is a suit-all wonder and is so chic. The price is great too at £36.

If you want to check out the rest of the Christmas Collection then look no further than this link.

By the way, if you have any party makeup tips it would be great to share them with the rest of the Bonn Beauty readers. I'd love to hear your tips and see your piccies at nicola@nicolabonn.com xx

How to Grow Your Nails

They're getting there!

I come from a family of women with immaculate nails. My Mum is never seen without her trademark red, beautifully shaped nails and my Grandma (her Mum) has beautiful, strong nails.

My beloved Grandma Lily always had immaculate nails and always begged me to stop biting mine when she alive. She used to say that it was a disgusting habit and that it was basically eating yourself!

I blame my nail-biting habit on my best and oldest friend Sally. When we were about eight she introduced me to the "wonder" of nail biting and I never looked back.

Anyway, now I am in my 30's I have decided that it is high time that I follow in the footsteps of my glamourous relatives and start growing my nails. I haven't bitten them for nearly three months and they're definitely getting there.

The only problem is that they are weak, they peel and refuse to grow quickly. (This is obviously down to years of mis-treating them!)

So....how to get nice, strong nails??

Here are some of the things that I have been doing that seem to help:

1. I invested £12 in a crystal nailfile which is meant to be much better for your nails than normal emery boards. It also lasts for years and you can file in both directions without ruining your nails.

2. I have been religiously applying Nail Tek II after my friend recommended it. It is great stuff and there is no doubt at all that it has made my nails much stronger.

3. I use hand-cream WHENEVER I wash my hands and when they feel dry, always ensuring that I massage it into my cuticles.

4. Every night I have been applying OPI Avoplex Nail and Cuticle Repleneshing Oil and really massage it into my cuticles. It's really important to care for your cuticles as they affect the health of your nails.

My Grandma also used to swear by eating a cube of jelly a day!!

Yet Another Mascara Post

Miaow!

As ever my quest to find the perfect mascara continues.

I always say that it's hard to review mascaras as everyone's lashes are different, but the quality of some mascaras speaks for itself.

I was recently introduced to Soap and Glory Thick and Fast HD Mascara and having used it all week I am really impressed.

The Brush:

Soap and Glory have created and trademarked the "7-sided fan flare 180 brush" which sounds like the kind of thing that Harry Potter would fly for a game of Quidditch but is basically a brush with a V-shaped groove running across one side. The idea is that you kind of slot your eye-lashes in the V and it captures, curls and volumises them. You then rotate and squiggle the rest of the brush around the lashes for the full effect.

The formulation:

I really like this mascara. It doesn't clump and goes on really easily. You don't need too many layers either (even when you like to have massive lashes like I do!) It also lasts for ages without smudging.

The packaging:

Love it!! It reminds me of YSL Mascara but without the price-tag. (It also doesn't dry up like YSL mascaras do).

I really like Soap and Glory as a brand and love their body-scrubs in particular. Although they can sometimes seem expensive in comparison with the other brands in Boots, I reckon they wouldn't be out of place in a shop like Space NK and if this was the case, their products would seem like total bargains!

Delicious Dinner Recipe

Yum!

Last night I had four of my best friends round for dinner. My friend Bec and boyfriend John are the best cooks and biggest foodies I have ever met and dinner at theirs is like going to a Michelin starred restaurant so I  really wanted to make something that would impress them. The only problem is that my cooking skills are severely lacking in comparison.

In a state of panic I called various friends and relatives begging for impressive and easy recipes and it was my friend Lucy who came to the rescue with one for Chicken Pesto Stew and Cheesy Dumplings that she had found on the BBC Good Food Website.

Although it took a while to prepare, it was TOTALLY worth it. Bec and John were really impressed and my husband kept winking at me and humming (which he does when he really enjoys his food).

If you have 6-8 people coming over then please give this a try.....you'll love it!

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2063663/pesto-chicken-stew-with-cheesy-dumplings

Liberty London

I had a bit of time in between meetings today so couldn't resist a peek at the Liberty Beauty Hall!

As ever I was like a kid in a sweet shop. The thing I love about Liberty is the great mix of well known and rarer/exclusive brands.

 The first thing that caught my eye was their gorgeous new Liberty Bath and Body Range. The soaps and body washes come in Lavender, Rose and Geranium and are produced in Devon so are British and made with home-grown ingredients. The body washes are £20 each and I think they'd make a great Christmas present.

The above soaps were in the bath section on the third floor and I totally fell in love with the packaging. They are made by Nesti Dante and are formed using a traditional process dating back centuries. They are only £4.50 each and smell delicious.

While I was in the Diptique section I had a sniff of their new Tea Candle. The smell was a mixture of spices, tea-leaves and BO. Very odd yet kind of carnal. I think this fragrance will provoke a real Marmite reaction!

On the subject of candles, the above are the BEST I have ever smelt. The scents are unbelievably evocative and realistic. They are made by Cire Trudon and even though £60 is a lot to spend on a candle, they are of such a fine quality that I might be tempted!

I couldn't resist a visit to the chocolate room before I left! Delicious!!

Clarins Odyssey Range

I know that it's only October and the word Christmas shouldn't really be uttered until at least late November, but there are some great beauty bits coming out for the festive season and I wanted you to be the first to know about them.

Today I'm going to tell you about the fabulous Clarins Odyssey range. Whilst I wouldn't usually turn to Clarins for makeup, preferring their facial-care products (in particular Flash Beauty Balm) the two products that I'm going to review are beautiful and of a really high quality. I think they would make great Christmas presents as well as being the perfect choice for your makeup bag over the party season.

Ombre Minerale 4 Couleurs (09 Odyssey)

I was so excited when I opened this. Everything about it is classy and glamorous, in particular the gold embellished packaging that comes in a red velvet pouch.

The eyeshadow itself comes in three shades of brown with a gorgeous sparkly gold that can be applied to give a party edge.

If you want to really go for it then you can apply these eyeshadows wet to give an intense effect although the gold is already lovely and intense when dry.

 The brown shades work really well dry for a day-time look so it also serves as a good day to night option.

If you like a bit of guidance, then the palette also comes with a fool-proof instruction manual.

All in all, this is a fantastic eyeshadow palette and is one to put on the Christmas list!


Odyssey Face Palette

This compact powder makes me wish that my Grandma was still alive because she would have adored it. She was an exceptionally elegant and glamorous woman who was a fashion designer in her day and I can imagine her getting this out with pride and blotting her face on the move.

The powder itself is great quality and goes on like silk (that's if you can bear to smudge the gorgeous design).

This would make a perfect pressie for your Mum/ Grandma but is also of such good quality that I recommend it for anyone who is after a flawless complexion.

Bad Skin Made Better

Oh Dear!!!

A very quick one this morning but I had to write about this! Basically I've had really rubbish skin this week. I think it's mainly down to going out on Saturday night and drinking more than is reasonable for a woman in her 30's (I was also dressed up as a kitten but that's for another day!) and then having a severe lack of sleep all this week.

Anyway, I was starting to despair so gave myself a mini facial last night. The effects have been amazing (if I do say so myself) and I've got a real glow to my skin this morning so I thought I'd share what I used with you!

1. I started off by massaging Sarah Chapman Ultimate Cleanse into my skin. I've only just discovered Sarah's products and they are beautiful. The cleanser contains a long list of fantastic ingredients including Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Dermaxyl Oligopeptide, White Lily, Coenzyme Q10, Borage Oil, Baobab Oil, Melon Oil, Rosehip, Jojoba Oil, Abyssinian Oil and Meadowfarm Seed Oil and it can also be used as a face mask.

If you look at Sarah's website, there are lots of tips for each of her products including the most effective method of application and how to get the best out of them. If you don't know Sarah, she is one of the UK's best facialists and is best known for her anti-ageing techniques.

2. After removing the Cleanser with a hot cloth, I decided to do a double cleanse and used my beloved Bioderma. I massaged it onto my face with a cotton-wool pad.

3. I then turned to my favourite face-mask which is Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel. I left it on for 10 minutes and removed it with a hot cloth.

4. I finished off my mini emergency facial with a layer of Sarah Chapman Age-Repair Serum and lashings of Elemis Pro-Collagen Oxygenating Night Cream.

I've got some exciting reviews coming up next week, including:

-The Clarins Christmas Range
- A fantastic NARS product
- A surprisingly good mascara
- Bits from the Bobbi Brown Festive Range xx

Some Great New Products From Superdrug

Since becoming a beauty blogger, I've realised that just because a product costs lots of money doesn't necessarily mean that it will be good.

Like most girls I love nothing better than the wonders of the likes of the Selfridges Beauty Hall, but there are a plethora of goodies in other, more unassuming establishments.

Today I've decided to write up some of the exciting new products that are available at Superdrug. The one thing that they have in common is that they are great value for money and really effective.

The New Chubby Stick?

For a lovely colour that is moisturising and not too intense I always turn to Clinique Chubby Sticks. However at £16 a pop they're not cheap.

If you want a similar product then I recommend Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain. Whilst this product is not quite as moisturising as the Chubby Stick it still does a pretty good job and the colour and application are both great. The main attraction is that at  £7.99 they're half the price. Superdrug are also doing a 3 for 2 offer at the moment which means that you can have three of these for the price of one Chubby Stick.

I've been trialling "Cherish" which is a lovely pink that lasts very well. You can get hold of it here

Next Generation BB Cream

I really like this product. It goes on like a dream and contains mineral pigments so although it is very light, it gives fair coverage and a radiant glow. The smell is also delicious.

A lot of people are slightly muddled by what a B.B cream actually does. The most simple explanation is that it is a great multi-tasker and cuts down the need for lots of products as it does everything at once.

This one in particular has SPF 15, hydrates the skin (I applied mine 5 hours ago and my skin is still feeling good) and blurs out wrinkles and blemishes.

The good people at Garnier say that it can be used as a primer and I'd agree as it gives a lovely, smooth finish.

The price is also pretty attractive at a wallet-satisfying £7.49

A Beautiful Eyeshadow Palette

I'm a bit scared of blue eyeshadow but it's very fashionable at the moment and can look really good if it isn't overdone so I decided to give it a go and picked up L'Oreal Paris Riche Quad Pro Eyeshadow in Bleu Mariniere. I stuck mainly to the navy and white to create a smoky effect and was impressed. The shadow goes on nicely and the colours are vibrant. I also really liked the angled applicator.

The palette itself is really cute and I like the way it's laid out too. It also comes in a variety of other colours including the more traditional greys and blacks.

Covent Garden Dental Spa and Shu Uemura

I've written about my love affair with the Covent Garden Dental Spa before but I'll say again that this is THE place to go if you have a fear of the dentist. It looks like a spa, smells like a spa and twenty minutes in the massage chair sipping herbal tea before your treatment is enough to relax even the most severe cases of dentophobia!

Anyway, if you check out their website, you'll see that they have an ongoing stream of exciting special offers and one of their most recent involves sparkling white teeth and vibrant lipstick!

Basically, for £40 you get a twenty minute clean and whitening polish (usually worth £44) at the Spa  followed by a trip down the street to the Covent Garden branch of Shu Uemura where you'll have the perfect shade of lipstick chosen for you to enhance your new sparkly teeth. (Worth £19.50).

I was really happy with the treatment which focuses on your front teeth. My teeth felt super-clean and as usual I was given loads of advice about the areas that I need to focus on when flossing and brushing. The people at Shu Uemura were expecting me and after trying three lipsticks chosen to suit my skin-tone (and teeth) I settled on Rouge Unlimited 342 which is a stunning vibrant coral.

For more information check out the Dental Spa's Website here and then take a peek at the gorgeous Shu Uemura shades here.

xx

Spa by Car

                                                     I love their little Spa Cars

One of my biggest pleasures in life is going to a (good) spa, having a treatment or two and totally switching off. I have always steered clear of home-spas just because I felt that I'd be worried about all the things that I had to do and not really relax and enjoy the experience.

I was chatting about my home-spa fear with a good friend who said that I absolutely must try Spa By Car. She recently tried them out, is addicted and has already re-booked.

When Jodie (who not only does the treatments but part-owns Spa By Car) rang on the door I was in the midst of a whole load of work and emails were pinging on my iPhone every few seconds. I asked her if people ever work while she treats them and she said that for many this is the beauty of having home-treatments. Many women have toddlers crawling around while they have a facial and some women are on their phones the whole way through.

I decided to switch my phone on silent eventually so that I could really enjoy my manicure and pedicure.

                                                 Spa by Car Treatment beds
               
So what's great about Spa by Car?

- Both the manicure and pedicure were of an exceptionally high standard. Jodie was really knowledgable and she took great care to ensure that the shape of my nails was perfect. The manicure in particular was one of the best I have ever had.

- The colour range that Jodie had was mind-blowing. She must have owned every single Essie colour in existence and also had loads of OPI options. I loved that fact that she had all the brand new colours on the market, including the fabulous new Germany Collection from OPI. I opted for Every Month is Octoberfest on my fingernails and it is just stunning. It's the perfect Autumn colour.

Every Month is Octoberfest from OPI's Germany range- It's Rouge- Noir with a stunning metallic shimmer.

  - My pedicure was so relaxing and very thorough.

-The whole experience turned out to be really relaxing and I quite enjoyed the fact that I was in the comfort of my own home. In fact I now think that there is a lot to be said for having treatments at home. For one, you don't end up smudging your newly polished nails and you also don't need to be out and about after having a facial or being smothered in fake tan.

Spa By Car are a professional outfit and offer a really high quality service. Their prices are very reasonable and they offer around 50 different treatments including waxing and tanning.

I particularly recommend Spa By Car for busy Mums and reckon they would be perfect for girly parties. In fact I'm going to organise a girly spa night for me and my friends as a pre-Christmas treat.

Check out Spa by Car's website for a list of all their fabulous treatments.

All About Eyes

I very rarely go all out and criticise products unless I have very good reason to. What doesn't work for oneperson may be absolutely brilliant for another and it is not my place to potentially affect the success of a company.

However, I need to tell you a few things that I have found whilst trialling Rapidlash Eyelash Renewal Serum and also talking to other women who have used it:

1. Rapidlash works! This stuff really does make your eyelashes grow longer BUT a few women I have spoken to have complained that their lashes became too long and spidery rather than thick and voluminous.

2. This stuff can cause a reaction. When you are applying any product very close to your eyes then you need to be careful. Unfortunately I had to stop using it after a few days as my eyes were stinging and red.

3. In some cases Rapidlash can slightly change the colour of your eyes. I know a woman who had bright blue eyes that became considerably darker after repeated use of the product.

If you are one of the lucky ones who doesn't react to Rapidlash then it is obviously very exciting to know that it will make your lashes grow. However, please use it with caution as I'm just not certain that something with this many side effects can be totally safe.

That's More Like It.....

                                                Eyeko is loved by loads of celebrities for good reason!

In better news, I have been trialling Black Magic Mascara which is the new offering from Eyeko and I absolutely LOVE it. Eyeko products are used by a plethora of celebrities and the thing that I personally love about them is that they're both good for your lashes and make them look great.

Black Magic Mascara is thickening, volumising and lengthening and doesn't budge. The wand is a brilliant shape and catches every single lash and I love the fact that it is paraben free and contains Keratin and Shea Butter.

The one thing I have found is that it is quite hard to remove. You'll definitely need to use a waterproof makeup remover!

Eyeko also do a fabulous liquid eyeliner. It's very easy to apply and again will stay in place all day! Check it out here.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that I'm a massive supporter of Breast Cancer charities. Breast Cancer affects so many women and both my Aunty and an old friend have experienced and (thank goodness) survived it.

I have had a couple of scares myself and I am a huge advocate of checking your breasts thoroughly at least once a month. If you do find a lump, however small it is, it is SO important to see your GP as soon as possible. The sooner you deal with these things the better and catching it early is really key. (The chances are that the lump will be nothing serious anyway).

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there's loads of stuff going on in the beauty world to support it.

Yesterday I had my nails painted at Heart HQ by the lovely girls from Nails Inc. They're doing a campaign called Paint Your Pinkie Pink. The idea is that you paint the nails on your little fingers pink and then tweet your photo online at @nailsinc and @BCCampaign or post it to www.facebook.com/nailsincLondon. Nails Inc are selling an amazing pink glittery polish called "Pinkie Pink" and for every polish sold they will give £1 to Breast Cancer Campaign.

                                                    Me and my pink pinkie


One of my favourite brands, Mama Mio are also doing a campaign in support of the brilliant cancer charity Look Good Feel Better (which is well worth checking out if you or someone you know is suffering from cancer or if you fancy donating to a charity but don't know which one to choose!!)

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month they will donate a pound for every Boob Tube (their cult bust and neck firming cream) that they sell via mamamio.com.  I really love this product not only because it helps fight wrinkles and firms your bust but because you can do a really effective boob-check while you apply it.

Mama Mio are also giving you the chance to get a free 10 day trial of Boob Tube. All you need to do is follow this link www.fitskinforlife.com/bcauk and take their Fit Skin Test.