Sure Maximum Protection Deodorant

Anyone else hate buying everyday  beauty products? Things like deodorant, razors, toothpaste? Obviously I still buy them, but I'd much rather spend my money on more glamourous things like makeup, skincare and body products.  But the basics needs to be bought as well, and as far as deodorants go I've always stuck to the typical aerosol cans; usually whatever's on offer.  Working in a busy kitchen, especially in the recent warm weather, I felt my choice of deodorant wasn't doing it's thing basically and decided to look for an alternative.

I'd heard great things about the maximum protection deodorants by Sure but had always been hesitent to part with that much money for a deoderant.  At £4.50, they're pretty much twice the price of a normal cream deodorant, but are also supposed to be twice as effective so I thought it may be worth the investment, as in theory applying it every 48 hours (as Sure say you should!) it should last twice as long!

Sure recommend that for best results you apply this at night before bed, which seemed a little strange but I went along with it anyway.  Apparently our body's temperature isn't constant throughout the day and it goes through a cycle called the 'circadian rythym.' This makes the skin more receptive at night when your body's resting, which allows the formula to build up a strong layer of protection for the day ahead.  It also stays put if you have a shower the next morning.  I tend to shower in the evenings but, I did try this out and I'm happy to say I could still smell the fragrance of the deoderant on me post-shower.

As I said it did feel a bit strange not applying a deoderant on the mornings, I actually grabbed it to apply again before putting it back. I went about my day at work, and even after an 8 hour stint in the kitchen plating up meals, I still felt fresh and dry.   I was even more dubious the following day, and I must admit I didn't feel quite as fresh if I'm being honest.  I did notice a slight wetness on day two (sorry, gross I know!)  although I did still smell pretty fragrant.  I think if I wasn't running around the kitchen like a crazy lady it might have lived up to it's claim.  For the most part, I've been applying it each night after a bath or shower, so it won't quite last twice as long like I'd hoped.  Having said that, it's one of the best deoderants of tried and I won't be rushing back to an aerosol any time soon.

  

nail week #3 & 4: topshop prim and proper & barry m ruby glitter.

I completely forgot to post my nails yesterday.  I had a day of tidying and sorting and completely lost track of time.  Anyway these were yesterday's nails.  I seem to have been getting more summery with my nails as the weeks gone on, while the weather has been doing the opposite.  This is Topshop's Prim and Proper which is a simple baby pink.  I've been on the hunt for the perfect pink nail colour and this is the closest I've found so far.  I've found two coats to dry slightly brighter than the colour appears in the bottle so my lookout for something a bit more muted goes on.  Nevertheless this is a lovely shade pink and two coats dries to a nice opaque finish.  Drying time isn't great I've found, and care is needed to avoid a streaky application, but with a little patience both these can easily be over come.

 

I was in a bit of a rush to get ready this morning so I've cheated slightly with my 'new nail colour every day' mission.  I didn't have time to remove my nail polish before applying another and waiting for it to dry.  Instead I just added a glitter topcoat so at least my nails still looked different.  I opted for Barry Ms Ruby Glitter; small and large matte black glitter, with larger, hexagonal pink metallic glitter suspended in a clear polish.  I really like the look of the black glitter and pale pink polish, and the pink glitter finishes the look off perfectly.  I put these colours together completely on a whim but I'll definitely be doing this look again.

most wanted #4: baking

kitchen-aid: from £386.10  / measuring spoons - £6.40 / mixing bow - £18 / spatula set - £8 / cooling rack £20 / cake stand - £24 / cake turntable - £15 / cupcake boxes - £7 & £5 / measuring cups - £16

I dream of the days of having a beautiful, large kitchen with all my baking bits and pieces matching, and plenty of space to bake lots of delicious cakes and treats. Until that day (i.e. lottery win!) arrives, I get buy with a mix-match of hand me downs, and bargain buys.  It still does the job, and I have everything I need, but a lovely white country style kitchen filled with pastel coloured equipment like in the image is what I hope I'll have one day.

First up is the famous Kitchen-Aid.  I get seriously jealous watching the contestants use these on the Great British Bake Off.  They are ridiculously expensive though, this is the cheaper model, but at nearly £400 I won't be getting one any time soon. They come in so many colours, including a gorgeous hot pink, but I think a more muted colour like this would be more timeless.  A set of measuring spoons is essential, and I love the colours of these ones and how they're tied together with a little bow.  The larger, measuring cups are great for if you're following an American recipe where everything is in cups instead of grams.

I'm more of a cup-cake baker, rather than big cakes, but I would like to get into making larger cakes too, and a turntable like this would make icing a big cake much more easy.  The last one I made I ended up with icing everywhere so I really should invest in one of these.   The spatulas are a pretty basic addition, but I really liked the wooden handles with the blue.  These are essential for getting every last scrap of cake mixture out of the bowl, and match really well with the bowl I've pictured here.

I couldn't resist this cooling rack.  It's intended for cupcakes but there's no reason why would couldn't put your larger masterpiece on here to cool if it was big enough.  I have couple of wire cake stands, but this ceramic one is so elegant and would be a great accompaniment to an afternoon tea.  Lastly, I had to include these gorgeous cupcake boxes.  They're a little pricey but if you were to have cupcakes as something like your wedding favours, then they'd look so nice in these.

I honestly could've added so much more to this wish list. Not only is there tonnes of other bits and pieces that would go with this lot, but there's loads of more contemporary equipment out there that looks really good too if you were wanting a more 'modern' looking kitchen.

What baking goodies would you recommend?

Nail Week #2 Essie's Maximillian Strasse Her

Apologies for the smudge there - was in a bit of a rush!

 This is definitely the winner of the 'strangest named polish I own' award, if there was such a thing.  This was part of Essie's Madison Aven-hue collection that came out in the Spring.    It's apparently named after one of Munich's royal avenues, Maximillianstrasse, which is recent times has become home to many a designer shop.  Dolce & Gabanna, Dior and Gucci all have branches here and are increasingly ousting the more traditional shops, art galleries and restaurants that once resided there.  I picked this up from the diffusion line in Boots and is what I wore on my nails yesterday.  As I've named this week 'nail week' the plan is to have a different colour on my nails each day.  So far, so good!

The colour is certainly quite unusual.  Kind of a greyed out green, if that makes any sense.  I don't have anything else like this in my collection, and it's definitely a step away from my usual pinks and purples.  It's completely different to the mint green polishes that pretty much everyone adorns their nails with in the summer months.  That said, if you're a fan of those polishes, then you might well like this one too.  The polish is still a pale green colour, but a lot more muted which I think makes it a good transitional colour as we head into autumn and winter.  If you're not ready to say goodbye to your summer pastel colours, this may be the one for you.