Homewares Haul

Hi Everyone!
A few months ago I moved into a new home and have been threatening to do a bit of a homewares haul ever since. This weekend my threats became a reality and Penneys got hit. They have some really fab stuff at the moment and as usual Its cheap as chips. Hope you enjoy what Ive gotten x

Picture €3 Cushion €6 Blanket €12

These have finished my spare room beautifully💜 

Photo Frame €7 

His & Hers Mugs 😊 €2.50 €2 

Lovely baking tools €2 each 

Reed Diffuser Jasmine scent my favorite smell in the world €1 

Winter Berries Candle €3

Hope you have enjoyed this post. Do you love homewares as much as I do? Let me know in the comments x 

Beautiful Irish Brands: Aurora Band

Hi Everyone, Welcome to todays Beautiful Irish Brands which today has the spotlight on the Aurora Band. 

The Aurora Band is the creation of Lindsey Byrne a hairdresser and salon owner from Dublin. Lindsey was trying to find an alternative to a daily curly blow dry, she had seen other people achieve this type of look by wrapping their hair around a hairband. (Dont try this Lindsey has assured me that this was an absolute disaster! )but it was through this disaster that the Aurora Band was born. Lindsey knew that the idea was right but the execution ( a thin hairband) was wrong. Together with her partner Alex she set about DIYing the first Aurora band with some foam combined with the velcro from rollers. I absolutely love the ingenuity of this idea I think It is amazing inventing! 

Lindsey then roped in another family member in the form of her aunt who made the first prototypes of the Aurora Band!

Lindsey took her creation onto Dragons Den earlier this year which is where I first saw the Aurora Band. She received the backing of Gavin Duffy and has now taken the Aurora Band Nationwide. It is available in Pharmacies Nationwide. RRP €12.99

As always with my posts in this series I have reviewed the band myself, Thanks to Lindsey for sending me one to trial. 

The Aurora Band is very simple to put into your hair, you part it at the back and wrap it around the band in sections. They give you a tip to leave space at the back for unwinding and you really should follow that tip.Once the band is in all you need to do is sleep in it. Its fairly comfortable to sleep with it in as it is padded all the way around. To remove it you start from the back and unwind the hair. 

Once your hair is unwound It takes a minute to settle after being pulled from the velcro. Mine then looked like this.

I was pretty happy with this result as the picture shows! I will however keep trying to improve with it as I did find that the every time I used it was a little better than the last. 

I have naturally mad curly frizzy hair and so I did tame it a little with a straightener before I used It as the band will not smooth your roots. 

Have you tried the Aurora Band yet?

Beautiful Irish Brands : Waxperts

Welcome to the latest edition of my Beautiful Irish Brands series. Todays post is all about the wonderful Waxperts and the ladies who created It.

Waxperts was formed in 2008 by friends and business partners Ellen Kavanagh and Trish O Brien. They started off and still are based in Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin.
The waxperts story is a genuine 'built from the ground up' success story that leaves you really rooting for them once you have heard it. It started as a room in a clinic doing waxing for a small customer base and with grants from the local enterprise board and extreme hard work grew into what it is today a full waxing salon and their own range of wax which is the only depilatory wax manufactured in Ireland and the only of its kind in the world. It is currently used in over 300 salons in Ireland and the UK, there is also the extremely exciting news that waxperts are going to be breaking into the US market after recent talks with the worlds number 1 waxing brand! ( i'll have to leave you guessing on what that brand is)
Both Ellen and Trish are beauty therapists who solely specialise in waxing and client safety and hygiene which is why they have a 'no double dipping' policy that they and every salon that uses the wax abides by.
Waxperts have a number of products that include hot wax, strip wax, pre wax oil, after wax oil and finally Ingrown hair pads which I have reviewed for you today.

Let me start off by telling you that I am the poster girl for ingrown hairs that go bad! I cant even count how many times I have had to visit the doctors in the last few years to get medication to reduce inflammation ect due to ingrown hairs. So when I was sent my ingrown hair pads I of course already had some that I could immediately begin testing on. One of the ingrown hairs I had was definitely making its way to being a doctor visit one. To use the pads you simply take a pad and rub over the area you want to treat after showering.
I used the pads every day for 3 days to get rid of the ingrown hair which was inflamed to about the size of a marble on day 1. I really fell like im giving TMI on this but I think its really good to know just how much of a lifesaver these ingrown hair pads are. For me to be able to reduce an ingrown hair by just using a pad has been a bigger lifesaver than I can express. The pads have also meant that the ingrown hair has disappeared with no scarring or scar tissue which unfortunately I have too much of. Thank you Waxperts I will never again be without these pads and fingers crossed I will never again have to be subject to the pain of ingrown hairs, I am only sad that I hadn't found these sooner.

The pads rrp is €9.99 available from www.waxpertswax.com

They are also available on cloud10beauty and dolledup although the pads are so good that they are currently sold out in all of these places! Keep your eyes peeled for when they come back into stock I know I will. 
Have you tried any waxpert products or been waxed in a salon that uses their products. Let me know in the comments.
You can also find me on twitter @clareken86
Instagram: sparkleblossombeauty

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Glamglow Sample Pack Review

A few weeks ago I found out from Zoe that Glamglow sell a sample pack! Ah excited much. I got straight onto their website and bought one for myself. Glamglow is one of the brands I always wanted to try so the sample pack was perfect for me.

The sample pack came with two samples each of Brightmud, Thirstymud, Youthmud and Supermud. 

SuperMud

I had heard so many amazing things about Supermud that I went straight for it. This is the coolest & most effective face masque I have ever used! It is completely magic and I now know why I was hearing all of the amazing things. You apply the mask and It dries in like a regular mud masque but that is when the amazingness happens you start to notice it getting darker in spots again this is actually the mud drawing out all of the impurities from your pores. I literally stood in front of the mirror the whole time watching this masque working. You wash It off after anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes I left mine on the 20 mins as It didnt get uncomfortably tight like regular mud masques do. The second sachet I used as a spot treatment the day before a wedding It made a gigantic spot on the back of my neck disappear in only 2 applications.I am most definitely purchasing the full size of this it is so worth Its price tag. I dont have oily skin but this completely cleared away all blackheads and made my skin so clear.

ThirstyMud

First thing I noticed when I opened this was how beautiful the smell was I loved It! I was excited about using this masque as Its aimed for dry/ dehydrated skin and that is me. This glides on really easily and felt really hydrating going on It was also really cooling and comfortable on my face. It says that you could wear this during a flight and that you can just leave it on until it completely soaks in. I left mine on for about an hour but here is where I made my boo boo. I washed the masque off with water and I was not happy with the results. My skin was slightly softer but felt drier than before I used the masque. I did read after that you should just wipe the masque off and I havent had time to use the second yet to see if there is a difference in outcome but I wasnt impressed with how my skin was after especially from such a pricey masque.

BrightMud

Next I tried BrightMud this is a masque for under your eyes. I had never used anything like this before so I was very intrigued by It and excited to see the outcome. The look of the product was a jelly with herbs/tea leaves It reminded me of one of them Knorr stock pots!! I know Its probably not the look you want but Ive put worse looking things on my face. It says to tap on an even layer under eyes and leave on for 3 minutes then wipe off with a soft tissue.
When I applied first there was a mild stinging and It was a little uncomfortable on but I wasnt sure If that was me having an adverse reaction or If this was meant to happen. This stinging did ease off a minute or two after I wiped away the masque. My eyes felt very refreshed and definitely looked brighter after using.

YouthMud

This masque is called a tinglexfoliate and wow does It tingle! I applied this and after about two minutes It really started to tingle. It is a mud masque and dries fairly quickly. The ingredients of this masque are french sea clay, green tea leaf and eh volcanic rock! So you leave this on for 10 minutes then clean it off with water using circular motions. I found It a little hard to get off so I used a face cloth. This was like the SuperMud it cleared out my pores a little and I could see it on masque before I removed It. after removing my skin was so clear and so so soft. I really liked this masque a lovely treat!

I had so much fun testing all of these glamglow samples this kit is such a great idea for anyone who wants to try without committing to full size. I bought this from the glamglow website and It was £17.00. My favourite was definitely SuperMud.
Have you tried any Glamglow products? Which is your favourite let me know in the comments.

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Homewares Wishlist

Hi Everyone
As Its Wednesday today Its a day off from beauty. To look at beauties of another kind. So in the last six months Ive gotten married and moved into a proper grown up person house. I think that Im now nesting for the winter because Im finally starting to get around to having spare rooms that are not just storage for things I havent unpacked yet.
I also must have been living under a rock beacause I have also just found out that h&m sell homewares and pretty spectacular ones at that. I literally want everything from the website, do you remember the friends episode when rachael decorates the apartment to the exact window display of pottery barn yeah? thats what I want for my whole house from this website! I have created a wishlist for my spare bedroom..( although I think I want these for my own bedroom) of items from h&m.
these are available on http://www.hm.com/gb/department/HOME Have you gotten anything from h&m homewares? Let me know in the comments if you have x

Duvet Set £34.99

Candles £1.99

Pillowcase £3.99

Curtains £14.99

Doormat £14.99

Ok so this wouldn't be for the bedroom but it's so cool I need it!!

H&M don't currently deliver to Ireland and I don't think parcel motel will work for this one but I've got my fingers crossed that they will change this really soon. 

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