BARRY M: NAIL PAINT: INDIGO (£2.99)

I'm totally crushing on Barry M's nail paints right now. They're cheap, have great staying power and come in a fantastic range of colours. Okay, they may need to put a bit more imagination into their names, but if that's your only problem then I think they're onto a good thing. Plus, at least you know what you're getting.

Oh my days, I adore this colour. The name Indigo pretty much speaks for itself, it's a deeple purpley-blue... but the finish on this is amazing. It does need two coats, but once you've applied said coats it gives a glossy, expensive-looking finish without even having to add a top coat.

I've been wearing this nail polish for four days and, as with all Barry M's nail paints, it hasn't chipped at all, which for a £3 nail polish is awesome.

I am seriously in love with this product and I couldn't recommend it enough.

SLEEK: SHIMMER BLUSH: POMEGRANATE (£4.50)

As someone who's new to Sleek makeup,  I was pretty excited when I got this bad boy. I'm not too adventurous with my blush; I tend to find one I like and just stick with it (my current favourite being Urban Decay's Naked Flushed blush palette). So when I saw the gorgeous shades that Sleek make in extremely reasonable prices, I almost broke my finger clicking the 'buy' button.

Firstly, the packaging is beautiful; just like the name, it's sleek and sophisticated. It's very light weight and slim so would slip in a handbag without any trouble. It also has a cute little mirror inside, which is really decent if you're on the go. My only problem with it is the clasp that opens it is seriously difficult to get open since not everyone has a crowbar to hand... 

The colour is stunning; possibly my favourite blush colour I've ever seen. In the pan, it looks slightly purple but on the skin it's a gorgeous warm pink with subtle shimmer. 

The powder is soft and seriously pigmented. I'd advise using it sparingly at first and then building it up, as I just went straight in there and ended up looking like a clown.

It also stays on forever. I wore it out this morning; six hours and a long nap later, it's still almost completely in tact and that's without any makeup setting spray or primer.

I think what I love about this colour is its versatility. I wore it with a simple, natural (well... more natural than usual...) look and it looked fresh and pretty, but I can also imagine it warming up a smoky eye and looking sultry as hell.

I really recommend this blush. It goes with anything, is ridiculously pigmented and cheap as chips.

SOAP & GLORY: THE RIGHTEOUS BUTTER (£13.30/500ml)

As you all know, I recently started a love affair with Soap & Glory's Hand Food. Well, after my best friend informed me that she has Soap & Glory's body butter and it smelled exactly the same, I literally ordered it that second.

So at first I was a tad skeptical; £13 is pretty bloody cheap for 500ml of body butter. I thought it must be a standard lotion that they've just repackaged as a butter (especially as it says both butter and lotion on the packaging) and didn't hold up much hope.

Let me just jump right in and talk about this butter. It's good; really good. It smells like what I imagine an angel to smell like, it's seriously so good. Again, just like the Hand Food, it's scented with Soap & Glory's 'Original Pink' fragrance (one of four that they use in their products). 'Original Pink', as stated on their website, contains: orange leaf, lemon, peach, sweet strawberries, summer rose, gardenia blooms and jasmine. Now, I can't tell you I would have been able to tell you any of these ingredients had I not looked them up, all I can tell you is that it smells heavenly. Interestingly, I've unknowingly only purchased items that smell like their 'Original Pink' fragrance so I'd be really interested in trying out their other scents.

So back to the butter itself. As you can tell, it's deliciously thick and decadent. I was surprised it could even pump up the nozzle, to be honest. The pump is another plus for me, since it's far more hygienic than having to dip your hands into a pot. Unfortunately, only the 500ml bottles have the pump, but I'd say it's worth splashing out.

The butter smooths on really easily and soaks in reasonably quickly (handy when you're in a rush). It leaves a delicate scent on the skin but only slightly so it's not distracting or overwhelming. It leaves no residue on the skin at all, something I hate about most body butters, and instead leaves your skin incredibly smooth and soft.

I'm really impressed with Soap & Glory's body products so far (I've got a few others on the go, as well) and can't wait to try more. Not only are they really reasonably priced but they honestly do work and smell gorgeous. I couldn't recommend them enough.

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!

Okay, so the title may come across as a little aggressive but I've been meaning to write this post (as always) for ages.

Everyone's got those products that you hear about, spend your money on and end up being royally disappointing because they didn't live up to the expectations 'the hype' set. 

'The Hype' (now capitalised) is a dangerous thing; when beauty bloggers all receive a product that they can't put down and flood your Twitter timeline/Tumblr dash' or Youtube feed with reviews and pictures, raving about how 'awesome' this 'must-have' product is and how you simply 'have to try this!' Well... after a while you feel yourself weakening and giving in. So now you find yourself with a product that either lives up to this biblical benchmark, or you're bundled with a piece of expensive makeup that simply doesn't work for you. It might work for someone else, but it doesn't work for you, and that's who matters when buying these things, right?

As a general disclaimer, I'm going to say the opinions I express in the following post are mine. I'm not slating any particular company, far from it, most of the companies I write about here are some of my favourites and that's why I'm so disappointed. You may disagree, but if you agree, at least you know there's someone else out there who feels the same.

First off is a mascara which has actually won awards it's meant to be so gosh-darn brilliant. I've heard numerous beauty bloggers and vloggers alike praise this product to the high heavens.

When I first bought Benefit's They're Real! Mascara, I was over the moon. £20 for one product is a lot but, after hearing The Hype, I was certain I wouldn't regret the purchase. 

I tried it out and the results were good. I wrote a review where I expressed my mild disappointment but, after using the mascara a few more times, it started to grow on me. I think I even included a paragraph in another post about how I actually quite liked it. But now, after using it for a considerable amount of time, I'm still pretty underwhelmed by it. It's good but not as good as the price would suggest. I've also noticed it really hurts my eyes; it seems to flake quite badly and the particles get collected by my tear ducts. It makes my eyelashes stick out at weird angles without adding any considerable length or volume. It dries out and clumps easily but then practically takes an electric sander to get off. 

I'm currently looking into trying out cheaper products, especially mascara, in a hope of finding something that does the job without costing me my first born.

The next product(s) was one of the first I ever reviewed for this here blog.

Illamasqua is a brand that I both like and admire; their range is impressive and diverse and I go out of my way to research their new ranges. However, I hate their lip glosses. At £14, I find them overpriced for what they are and what they are is sticky, short-wearing, average glosses with very little pigment. This may sound harsh, but I only say it with love considering how amazing the majority of Illamasqua's products are! I know they can do better - and have done - so this product frustrates me.

The next couple of products in my 'don't believe The Hype' list actually cause me physical pain to write about. And when I tell you why, all will become clear. The next two items are from... wait for it... Urban Decay.

I know, I know. I'm an Urban Decay fangirl, something has gone terribly wrong here. And it has.

The Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils are probably my favourite beauty products ever; they're flawless. Unfortunately, their counterpart, the 24/7 Glide-On Eyeshadow Pencils make me want to take said pencil and stab myself in the face repeatedly. I don't know whether I just got a dud or that the colour I got, Morphine, wasn't the greatest but it certainly didn't 'glide on'. The colour is creamy, but not as creamy as the regular pencils, and the pigment is weak and patchy. They do stay on, but that's just about the only redeeming feature. 

I have considered buying more, just in case I got unlucky with my particular pencil, as I desperately want to like them, but at £14 each, they're not a cheap risk. I love Urban Decay so much, but this pencil is just... 'Meh'.

Another string to Urban Decay's 24/7 bow is their Concealer Pencil. Now, admittedly I bought this in a colour that's probably at least a shade paler than me (which is unusual), but the colour itself is strange; slightly yellow and artificial. It goes on very creamy (creamily?) but it's actually pretty dry and takes a lot of work to blend into the skin without it showing creases and lines. 

Now onto the body products. I love Lush. In fact, they've got a couple of items in my 'Forever Repurchase' list (coming soon). And there were a couple of products that I heard so much Hype about that I had to try.

Dreamwash and Dream Cream are one and the same. Dreamwash is a shower smoothie and has the weirdest texture of any body product I've ever tried. It's kind of waxy and solid... think mascarpone cheese... but dissolves into a thin milk when rubbed into the skin with water. I was advised via The Hype to use it as an aid to shaving my legs but I find it too watery and it leaves my legs feeling itchy, something I've never found before when shaving my legs.

Dream Cream is a body lotion that seems to take roughly a decade to soak into the skin. It leaves me greasy all day and didn't seem to make my skin any softer than any other body lotion.  

By far the worst aspect of these two products though, is the smell. I was told by The Hype that they smelled 'amazing' (quote-end-quote). They don't, they smell like the cream my mum used to use on me as a baby to sooth skin complaints. I can make my peace with the lavender, not my favourite but no biggie. But the rest: a combination of calamine, chamomile and rose just don't do it for me. They obviously do it for some people, hence them being so popular, but for me they're sickly. What makes it worse, is that the smell clings to your skin like a bloody leach!

It's actually been hard work trying to use these up. The Dreamwash is £9.50 and Dream Cream £10.95 so no way was I just chucking these down the sink but I refuse to just let them sit in my bathroom cupboard, especially when there's other products in there that I want to get started on. Products that don't smell like nappy rash cream.

The final item on my list is a dry shampoo. I'm always on the hunt for a dry shampoo since I work out around 5 times a week and therefore get sweaty. We all know it's not great to wash your hair everyday so other methods must be called in for backup.

Despite not being the biggest fan of TRESemmé, I needed some dry shampoo recently so picked up the nearest one. This stuff not only lifted the grease from my hair, but every other molecule of remaining moisture that once existed there. It dried out my hair so badly and made it so frizzy (as a curly haired girl, you can only imagine the mayhem) that I had to scrap my hair back and tie it up anyway, just to avoid poking someone's eye out! Not impressed at all, would not recommend and definitely would not rebuy.

Now this whole post might seem a bit moany and even harsh in places, but I guess the moral is, try before you buy, don't take other people's word for it and don't believe The Hype.

APRIL FAVOURITES '13

In an attempt to make this blog a little more personal, I decided my 'favourites' posts shouldn't just be beauty favourites, but favourites in general.

Scent

Firstly, my favourite scents for April have to be Yankee Candle's Mango Peach Salsa and DKNY's Be Delicious.

Mango Peach Salsa is a fruity (as you probably guessed) fragrance, perfect for spring. It's pleasant and pungent, without being overbearing and sickly. It's a lot sweeter than 'salsa' suggests, but leaves a really pleasant smell in the room for a while after burning. 

I've been burning this candle almost everyday, as you can probably tell by how 'well loved' it looks. Yankee candles may seem expensive at £20 for a large one, but they do last a long time and give any room a nice feel.

I've been spraying myself with this bad boy every time I leave the house this month. This fruity and every-so-slightly floral scent from DKNY is lovely for spring; it's fresh and light but hangs around on your skin for a good amount of time.

Beauty

I'm going to start with Hand Food by Soap & Glory as it links quite well with favourite scents.

 I wrote a review on this little bottle of awesomeness not that long ago and have been using it religiously ever since. It smells amazing, is such great value for money and honestly works wonders. I cannot recommend this enough.

Next is a lip product which I bought a while ago and have completely fallen in love with: OCC's Lip Tar in Vintage.

 I've ranted and raved about OCC Lip Tars until the cows came home. I find the shade mature, yet sexy and perfect for a statement lip. I've really got into wearing brighter colours on my lips recently and this has definitely been my go-to lip product this April.

Next is a beauty product that I've rated pretty highly for a while, but always used as an accompaniment for another colour. However, this month I've been using it all on its own.

Busted by Urban Decay is a dark, matte brown. Nothing more, nothing less. I usually use it in my crease to accent the socket, or underneath to make a simple look more intense. However, this month I've found myself packing it onto my primed eyelid and blending it upwards all by itself. Slap on a bit of black eyeliner and mascara with it and you're good to go. I find its a nice twist on a black smoky eye and goes really well with my new favourite lip product (mentioned above).

Here is a somewhat poor quality picture of me wearing said makeup.

Nails

My favourite nail polish of April just had to be Teal by Barry M.

This gorgeous metallic teal, other than being a gorgeous colour, lasted for ages with minimal chipping and barely cost anything. More of less perfect in my book!

App.

I thought I'd give my current favourite app. for my phone a mention, since I'm completely obsessed with it.

Vine is a social networking app. that involved recording 6 second videos to share with your followers. Whether it's an arty, stop motion, mini-movie you create, or just a short video of you and your mates out and about (pretty much all I do...), it's an awesome app. There are a few bugs and kinks that need to be ironed out, for example, it seems to hate posting to Facebook and will completely freeze sometimes if I try, but hopefully these are being worked upon.

You can find me on Vine @NiaGriffiths :)

BARRY M: TEAL (£1.99)

On my quest for cheap, decent nail polishes for spring, I came across Barry M. I've already reviewed their Peach Melba polish, which I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with, but since it was the colour I wasn't sure about and not the product, I didn't hesitate in buying another to try out.

Teal is... surprise surprise... a metallic teal colour; a gorgeous mix of green and blue, similar to turquoise but slightly darker. It's really striking, eye-catching and awesome for spring.

As soon as I applied this product, I knew I loved it; there wasn't ever any doubt. It was pigmented and therefore only needed two coats, dried quickly and held up really well with only minimal chipping after a week (just as well as Scorn by Illamasqua, which I teamed it with). Also, for less than TWO QUID, this product is an absolute steal (steal... teal... get it?). 

I absolutely recommend this product, and Barry M nail polishes in general; they are so reasonably priced and a seriously excellent product.

Read my last review on Soap & Glory's Hand Food.

Also, check out my Vine page or give me a follow on Twitter :) 

SOAP & GLORY: HAND FOOD (£5/125ml)

After trying a couple of Soap & Glory's makeup products and not being overly impressed, I was pretty keen to try out their bath and body products, since I was still eager to see what all the fuss was about. I've seen numerous reviews about their various creams and gels, so decided to give their Hand Food a go.

The packaging is adorable as always, and you get a lot of product for your money, considering you only really need to use a pea-sized amount to fully coat your hands.

This stuff smells amazing; a feminine, sweet, floral scent which I couldn't stop sniffing. The scent itself had me sold, and if all of their other products smell this good, I'll be lapping those bad boys up too. However, if you're not a person who likes strong scents, this does hang around for a fair amount of time; while this is great for someone like me who can't get enough of it, if you don't like it you might not be so thrilled.

The product itself has a really odd texture; it feels rich and decadent when you start to massage it in but soon seems to thin out, leaving your hands feel as if you've rubbed no more than water into them. It's really odd. Fantastic though, as I hate those greasy hand creams that you seem to be rubbing in for hours, only to pick up your phone and leave smudges and smears all over the damn screen.

After a couple of days, this cream leaves your hands feeling smooth and soft. As someone who likes to lift heavy weights, a huge problem for me is peeling, blistered palms and this has completely eradicated that.

I highly recommend this and cannot wait to try some of their other body products.