July Faves 2013

Vaseline and Cocoa Butter has been used in my family since the birth of baby Jesus. Since Vaseline decided to bring out a cocoa butter version of their famous creams, I knew that I had to jump on that wave. I CAN-NOT stress how much I LOVE this product. I don't like using different products on my skin, as I have been a eczema sufferer since I was born and its only in the past few months that I've actually been able to use 'normal' creams and lotions, but I'm still a bit reluctant to putting any cream on my skin, until I started using this cream last summer. Its really good for when you get straight out of the shower, because I get horrible dry skin like 10 secs after I leave the shower, so I have to moisturise literally straight away, then sit in my towel for like 25 hours after that (I know I'm not the only person that does that!). Another thing I love about this cream is that you literally only need a little bit to cover a lot of your body and its not sticky at all, so its great for summer..well its great for any time of the year

*get it from Superdrug here and from Boots here*

so during summer my hair gets so dry and dead and because I'm giving my hair a 'weave break', it's out all the time and well i don't know about you but, (I'm feeling 22) I need to keep my hair moisturised  or it'll just be all itchy and ain't nobody got time fo' that. This spray works wonders to my cray cray hair and keeps it moistened and shiny. Whether you have weave, braids, twists, or your natural hair, it keeps it looking and feeling fresh

*get it from Paks here*

(they sell this in most afro/caribbean a.k.a black people hair shops)

okay so nobody wants be be THAT GIRL, who gets all sticky and smelly during the hot weather...well I know I don't. so I decided to pick up a few of these body sprays. The one I usually use from boots has been...discontinued *cries* but I'm hoping they bring out another one similar. But this body spray does the job quite nicely and I've been spraying the crap out of a range of these sprays all summer

*get it from Superdrug here*

(couldn't find it on the Boots website, but it's in store)

so when I first got this lip butter I wasn't too keeno beano on it, because my lips are just weird and my bottom lip is more moisturised than my top lip...(yeah I don't know either), so I just usually stick to good ol' Vaseline but this summer I've picked up my lip butter again and its just been WERKING. I really do love it for summer, I think its because I don't have the whole chapped lips thing that tries to happen during winter, so for right now I'm loving this lip butter and it smells SO GOOD I literally wanna eat it

*get it from Superdrug here and Boots here*

oh the famous peach melba. I've been hearing about this peach melba since it came out and I only recently got it because its such a cute summer colour. This summer I've been loving my peaches, light pink and nude nails (although right now as I'm typing my nails are a dark red, but shh). The summer weather makes me wanna have either bare or really light colours on my nails and I've been lurrrrrrrving this peach melba because its literally the perfect summer colour. 

*get it from Superdrug here and Boots here*

(I couldn't actually find this colour on the Boots website, but it's definitely in stores)

Imagine Dragons - Radioactive // Icona Pop ft Chari XCX - I Love It // Zedd - Clarity (brillz remix) // Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Will.i.am - #willpower (album) // Demi Lovato - Demi (album) // Fuse Odg - Antenna // Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist (album)

so, clearly I love my chart music. I'm always listening to Capital FM or Kiss FM and usually I just get addicted to the songs they play on there. These are the songs & albums I've just seen loving this July and playing on repeat, there's obviously A LOT more but these are the main ones I think. 

Demi's new album is basically perfection and Will.i.am just continues with his BANG-ERS on this new album. I love my afrobeats and have been for years so when I heard 'Antenna' on capital radio, I literally had to do a double take and I thought it was my iPod, but nope, it was the radio and I'm literally so happy that FINALLY afro beats are becoming more and more known.

I've also been listening to the whole of Frank Ocean - Channel Orange every night, like its my job.  

thoughts on my july faves? whats your july/general summer faves?

Shekinah

xo

March to the beat of your own drum...

'Ello beauts, so this march has been a interesting little month. I've had some highs and lows (more lows than highs if im being completely honest, but its all good). i went to the gym for the 1st time last saturday and i got a bit of anxiety but it was alright in the end. I also started driving lessons and i'm sure my driving instructor says a little prayer right before we get in the car lol. There's been a few other things that's happened this month, but my memory is so bad, i literally can't remember. anywayssss, soo i started buying some products over this month and i thought i'd do a cheeky review of the products i've been using this March. 

Palmers Cocoa Butter Cream 

£2.13 in Boots/ £2.25 in Superdrug

ok so this cream has been in and around my house for donkey years. I used to use it when I was younger, but it never helped my skin, so i stopped. I'm always the person who is being asked "do you have cream/vaseline/hand sanitizer/a spare pad?" so I thought I'd try out this cream in hand cream form. Its not the best on my skin, but remember I have dry skin/eczema, so a petroleum-jelly based cream usually works best for me. This cream smells sooooo good, but in terms of making my hands soft, it doesn't quite satisfy those needs but when i mix it with Vaseline, it does the job perfectly. All in all, during this horrible cold, wet, snowy weather we've been having, my skin gets extra dry and this has helped to tame the cray cray sahara desert surface I call 'my skin'.

Bio-Oil 

£.8.49 in Boots/ £8.99 in Superdrug

so, I'm sure we've all seen the adverts for this. A woman who has trouble with stretch marks uses bio-oil and her confidence becomes all Beyonce-esque. Well what they fail to mention, is that it takes a minimum of 3 months for it to work and one bottle won't even last that 3 months. You should apply it 2 times daily, and I can honestly say I have started to see some changes. My stretch marks and skin tone, hasn't seen much change but my scars have. My whole arms and legs have uneven skin-tone because of where I have had eczema and after suffering with eczema since birth, it finally cleared from most of my body but left me with ugly uneven skin-tone. This just adds to my list of body issues and it doesn't help that summer is fast approaching, and I really can't bare to go another summer being all hot and sweaty because I have to cover up. I just pray this bio-oil works, but because I have to use it in such large areas, I'm a bit skeptical about the results. In terms of my stretch marks, I'm yet to see a change, but hopefully I just have to keep using it and I'll start to see results.

Vaseline Lip Therapy in Cocoa Butter- £1.99

so, as I said before I'm always the person with a pot of Vaseline in my bag. I have been bff's with Vaseline since the beginning of time and i can't really remember a time when i wasn't using that classic blue tin. When they released a cocoa butter version, I'm sure every black person had a heart attack, recovered and ran to their nearest drug store. The reason this is in my march beauty buys list, is because I started using Superdrug's 'Little Pink Tin' for quite a while, simply because it is pink and 99p. But I'm back to this little gem and i just lurrrrve it. It makes my lips so God damn soft, and as i said before petroleum-based products work best on my skin and this is just perfect. 

Sally Jensen Maximum Growth Nailcare - 

£4.75 in Boots / £3.95 in Superdrug

ok, so i read some reviews about how this product is really good for nail growth and people saw results really quickly, and as I am desperately trying to grow my nails, i thought i'd give this a try. I started using it and honestly it did nothing for my nails except make them a bit shiny, but i dont want shiny nails, i want long and hard nails. I used it for 3 weeks everyday and saw no change in the length of my nails. I'm quite upset that it didn't work, but hey ho.

Radox Shower Gel in Coconut Kiss and Berry Blast 

£1.00 each

so, everyone loves a good shower gel and i've been loving Radox at the moment. These beautys are only £1, did someone say bargain? and they smell so good, I pretty much pass out every time i use it. I don't actually use it on much of my skin because of the whole eczema thing, but it hasn't affected it as the eczema is pretty much gone, its just the skin tone. But anywhoooo, it smells delish (don't try and eat it, unless you want some quality time in the hospital) and doesn't affect my skin in a bad way at all. so all in all, its a top product and I want to get all the flavours. 

thoughts on the products? enjoying your Easter break or Half term?

love, peace and chicken grease

Shekinah

xo