My Best Budget Beauty Buys // Ft. Bleach London, Makeup Revolution & More.

Hello beauties.

Is it spring yet? As much as I dislike the Spring/Summer months because of my hay fever, I am kind of looking forward to it this year because there is so much that I want to do. Job pending that is. London being one of them. 

Yep I am still on that ship. Ha.

I love beauty products and I rarely buy high end brands because how I see it is that there are many perfectly amazing budget, high street brands that are just as good. Don't get me wrong, I do like high end brands too but your purse strings don't always stretch that far, so I thought I would show you some of the best products I have found. 

I am very picky when it comes to guys, products and food, so if I say something is super awesome it's got to be good!! I like to try new things but I also like to stick to what I know works. 

There is nothing worse than going out... And lets talk about, say, food for this point I am making, ordering a curry that you have never tried before because you're trying to be adventurous. When it arrives at the table, it looks weird, tastes nasty and you have just wasted a load of money on something that you wish you never ordered. 

What I am trying to say is, stick to what you know a lot of the time because life is full of disappointments and you don't want beauty to be one of them. 

Try these following products out because they are great and 100% purse friendly and I will tell you for free, you will wonder why you never tried them before. 

Hair - What's Hot?

I have seen recently this brand around (never when I have white hair though, typical). 

 I follow Lou Teasdale on Instagram, herself and Lottie Tomlinson   ( Louis's little sister - 1D) have been posting images and videos of them using their products and I loved it. 

Prior to me seeing this information, I had strolled into Boots a few times and had seen these hair crayons but because my hair isn't white I didn't think it would show on my hair. My hair has lightened a lot since I last dyed it so when I was in Boots again this week I headed over to where these were and grabbed one. I originally wanted the mint green coloured one but they are either sold out or idiot people have tested them and ruined it. I went for the 'Rose' colour as it's a cute pastel and would be great for the look I wanted to achieve. 

I LOVE this hair crayon. It glides on lovely and it adds such a nice pigmented colour on to your hair that lasts. I think if I had white blonde hair again I don't know what the heck I would look like because I would be having colour's popping out left, right and centre. 

I 100% want more of these to play with and I am actually contemplating trying to go blonde again (my hair dresser is screaming as I type. I can hear it.Ha.) 

Oh, and a major awesome point is this is product is only £4 which I think is super affordable and provides you with a lot of fun and creativity. 

I love to try new products on my hair because since having around 8 inches chopped off a year ago now, I have been trying to get it in good condition and grow the bitch out. It's been a struggle because for some unknown reason I will cut my hair blunt but it always grows out wispy on the ends. Why?!!! So annoying. 

I need some new Foxy Locks extensions but at £150 a pop I need to wait until I have a job first. So for months now I have been walking around with  my natural hair and trying to embrace it. 

Recently I have noticed that my roots keep getting greasy quickly, more so than ever before and again I don't know why. So I picked this up in Superdrug as it was on offer for £3.99. 

I haven't actually used this yet, so I cannot tell you whether it works or not but I am mentioning this because Superdrug and Savers often have offers on for this brand and it's really good value for money. For instance it will be buy one get one free or two for £6 which to me is pretty good. I tend to go between this brand, Garnier and John Frieda. 

Skin Care - What's Hot?

I have been using this product for a couple of years now and I love it. This is a well know product and I think most women use it these days due to it's effectiveness and quickness of getting your makeup off.

You can now get it in a travel size which is so cute and a freaking god send because you can just chuck it in your bag and go. 

I will get this from a drug store called Savers here in the UK which sells discounted items (legit products) but for way cheaper than say in Boots and Superdrug. 

This was £1 and the full size is £2.99. Total score and it leaves your face feeling so clean and fresh. One of the best Micellar waters around. 

Again another brand I love! I have been a fan of Simple Skincare for a while now because of the fact it doesn't irritate my skin.  I have for the last couple of months really got into my skincare routine where I am double cleansing and using my Magnitone. I did have some breakouts but I am hoping that they start to calm down now I have been doing the routine for a while. 

Once I have cleansed I will always use my 'Replenishing' day cream by Simple on my face before I apply my makeup. I actually treat this as a primer as well as a moisturiser because it actually works pretty well as one. I no longer use primer at the moment and find this works just as well. 

I just love their whole range and so does my mum, I actually think she has everything. Ha. 

Prices range from £1 - £7 (depending on what store you go to). 

I am not one of those girls who tan a lot, if ever really, but recently I have been liking the effects more than I should be ha. 

I bought this Dove self tanner again from Savers for £2 as it was on offer and I think it's a really good, all round self tanner. If you haven't tried it before it's a gradual self tanner and I always go for the shade 'medium to dark' because I find it develops into a tan you can see. It applies relatively evenly and quite quickly for a grad tanner. I love how natural my skin looks once the colour has developed and it leaves me with a nice sun-kissed glow. The only thing I would say is it a little sticky until it dries, other than that I think it's a great budget product if you are on the look out for something more natural and buildable.

Beauty - What's Hot?

This is my holy grail product, one of which I can never live without. I have been using this Collection concealer for years and years now before it even became a 'thing'. It's highly mentioned throughout my blog posts and for me and many others it's the best drug store concealer around. It's high coverage, comes in a range of shades to suit all skin types and it comes in at £4.19 in Superdrug. I use it almost every day, around my eyes, nose, forehead, chin and on any blemishes & spots and I would say it lasts me just over a month give or take. 

If you haven't tried it yet you really need to because it's a saviour. 

Again, this foundation has been mentioned in many of my posts but that's because I really do love this foundation. 

I have used high end foundations before one of which being E.Lauder's 'Double Wear' for me this a one of the best dupes for it. 

It's high coverage, comes in a range of shades, a matte finish and best of all it's under £10. I have been using this for years too and never looked back. I touch my face a lot and this doesn't leave me with finger print marks. 

This Collection 'Bronze Glow' is cute little bronzer which I have been using every day in my makeup routine. 

I use this around my face with my Kabuki brush and then around my cheekbones to add definition and contour. 

It's only £2.99 too and it blends into the skin perfectly. 

Makeup Revolution are my top drug store brand, especially where their eyeshadow pallets are concerned. 

They are SO SO SO freaking good you wouldn't expect them to be the price that they are. I mean the two pictures above are priced at £4 each, I mean come on it's an absolute steal. 

Again I talk about this brand A LOT and if I like something I like something. I used these pallets in my very first picture on this post. Every eye look I do, either shown on my blog or via Twitter/ Instagram is created using their pallets. I practically have them all. They are highly pigmented, blendable and there is such a vast range and there is something for everyone. I have their pallets, eye foil, blushers, lipsticks, highlighter, correction pallet, lip lacquers, chubby sticks. You name it I have it. 

Again if you haven't tried this brand, where have you been. Get on this sheeettt now!! 

My brother bought me this whilst we were Christmas shopping last year as it caught my eye. I have only just started using it and I wish I had way before now. This is the greatest box of eye products. I usually without fail use Rimmel eyeliner's and my usual one has run out and gone dry, so I thought I would us this little set and give it a try. 

I don't usually use felt liners as they drag on my eyes and cause liner snags. The 'Supercat' liner is a beaut, I love it. It glides on lovely and is so easy to work with and creates lovely definition to the eye. It is quickly becoming a fave. 

The well renowned 'Brow Archery' is actually pretty good too. I have to draw my brows on because they are blonde and you can barely see them. I use both ends to try and create fine hairs and fill in the gaps. I need to get used to this more as I am so used to using powder and an angled brush, but I am enjoying it a lot. 

As for the mascara and Kohl eye liner they are also good products. For me, my lashes are a bitch to try and do anything with but this does the job of coating them and the liner works the same as any other drug store liner. 

This is such a lovely gift and for £18 it's really good for your money as the 'Brow Archery' comes in at £10 on its own. 

I do like this brand a lot and have a lot of their skincare gift sets. 

Getting the attack of the spots? No problem, this little lady reduces those bad boys until they are almost non-existent. 

I swear by this cream for a lot of different things but mainly it's used on my spots. If you are like me and get those really sore one's now and then that sit under the skin and feel bruised this is the product for you. It drops the redness, swelling and allows (and this is gross) for you to pop them. 

It's inexpensive and can be used for a lot of mishaps. 

I have never been really interested in Primark's 'PS. Love' range but when they bought out their lip liners and matte crayon range I had to get my hands on all colours. The liners are £1 only and last for aaaggggesssss and the crayons are £2 each.

I tell you something now, if you haven't bought into these yet you're missing a trick because they are SO good. I literally have all the ones that my store stock (they haven't got the new range of colours in yet). The one's that I use on a daily basis is the nudes. The 'nude' liner and 'nude' crayon. The crayon is literally a dupe for my favourite MAC lipstick 'Honeylove'. It's such a nice nude. I love it that much I have had to buy back ups because the nude liner disappears quickly in my store. 

I have the shades in  wine/burgundy, red, coral, bright pink, nude, brown, pink nude and I swear I have another one but I can't remember. 

Love love love. 

Sorry about this pic quality, my SLR battery ran out. 

These little shadow pans are so cute, transportable, highly pigmented and long lasting. 

I love these to take around with me in my makeup bag because they are so cool. I had the two middle one's in my Christmas stocking off Mum and Dad. Everyone who knows me, knows that I love rose gold and copper shades and these are no exception. The shade on the first left is a matte nude which I use as my base shade. The one of the far right is just a white shadow which I use around my brow bone and the two middle ones are so pigmented you hardly need any on your brush. I lOVE the copper shade (second left) and use that a lot when I am doing my warm, smoky eye. 

These are £1 each. 

I hope you liked this post and let me know if you have tried any of these and what you think about them. 

Don't forget to subscribe if you like what you are reading and hit me up on social media. I love to talk so holla away. 

Instagram: anythingbutordinaryleya (personal) & leluroxxblogger (blog account) 

Twitter: leluroxxbloggr

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New Job Lookbook // H & M & Primark Haul.

Hello my lovelies!!!

I am baaaacccckkkkk "mwahahahaha".

I have some information for you guys, you might be interested to know, or you may not care one bit. 

Either way I am going to tell you anyway... I have FINALLY got myself a job!!! After frickin ages of searching I was finally offered a position!! You can now call me a Finance Department Administrator & Office Assistant. :) 

I am sooooo happy that I finally have a job, especially for Christmas too, I was really worried I wasn't going to find anything and it was baffling me as to why I wasn't getting any offers. After attending a couple of interviews it all boils down to the fact that so many people are applying for the same jobs, and if someone has a tiny bit more experience than you, you won't be getting the job. It's so cut throat right now it's ridiculous and really disheartening. Anyway, this position is only temporary until Christmas, but if I do a good job and they like me and obviously if I like the job and the company I might get offered to stay on permanently. 

Fingers crossed on all aspects, and obviously because it is a temp job I will still be job searching for something permanent for afterwards. Ooohh and it's little two minutes from where I live so it's only a quick drive to work and back, I will be saving a huge amount on petrol. 

Now, I had to make a quick dash around the shops in a bid to find some suitable 'smart-casual' work clothes and shoes, because as you know (if you follow my blog posts) I love my fashion and I have a pretty laid back approach to what I wear. I can't for obvious reasons rock up to the office in my Doc's and leather look trousers so I had to tone it down a bit but still have my personality in there somewhere. 

I have done a little 'Lookbook' & haul for you guys to see what I bought and how I styled it for the "office life". 

I hope you like it. :) 

Skinny Stretchy Trousers

H&M

£12.99

Black

Size 8

I found these trousers in my local H & M, I was looking for an alternative to normal bootcut, work style trousers and these are perfect. They have the same material as the bootcut's but for me in a more flattering shape. They are also high waisted and remind me of disco pants without the high-shine, perfect for tucking a shirt or blouse into.

They are really comfortable too and go with everything, you cannot go wrong with black!

Black & White Poker Dot Shirt

H&M

£12.99

Size 10

Bag: Primark £6

Necklace: Gift 

Trousers: As pictured above

Lipstick: Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet, Olé Flamingo! £8.99

I "spotted" (ha, get it?!) this shirt when it came into store and I wasn't totally sold on it, when I found out I had got the job I was on the hunt for a stand-out shirt. I had tried on soooooo many of them, I am not a massive fan of shirts as I haven't really included them as a staple in my day to day look, saying that though I actually really like this one. I love how the majority of it is black which means I can wear it with most things and the white spots make what would be a boring top half, stand out. 

Fine Knitt Jumper

H&M

£7.99

Size Large

I really like this jumper, it's light weight and comfortable, it has that 'cosy' look to it and it's great for layering. I did originally pick up a teal jumper which I liked and that was in a very similar style to the jumper here. It was £14.99 and then I spotted this one and preferred it, plus it was a fraction of the price. 

This piece is more of the 'casual' to the the 'smart' and it looks great either skimming your trouser hem or loosely tucked in. I hate being cold so this is ideal for layering if the office air-con is too overwhelming. 

Black Shirt Dress

Primark

£10

Size 12

Hat: H&M £12.99

Bag: Primark £8

I am not loving my local Primark at the moment, it has all the same things in and not much new and I don't know if you have noticed this too but their prices are really going up. I am actually finding H & M cheaper than Primark and it's better quality. What's going on Primark, you used to be cheap?! 

The bigger stores seem to have more of a selection but I did come across this shirt dress a while back and I was hoping that they still had it. They did. 

I am a size 8-10 usually depending on what store I am in because a lot of shops I am finding, that their clothes are not true to size, they come up real small. So I got this dress in a size 12 as I didn't want it clingy, more free flowing. I love the design of this shirt dress and even though it's smart, it carries the casual too. I love the little tie string too so you can alter the waistline and it would look great with a pair of leggings, black tights or even for the autumn/winter months a berry coloured pair of tights.

It's a cute dress and you can layer with this too which is great as I love layering and I love autumn. 

 Black Dolly Shoes with Gold Hardware

Primark

£8

Like I said, I cannot rock up to the office in my docs and I NEVER wear shoes like this, so all of this is quite new to me, but I obviously needed a nice pair of shoes that would go with my outfits and my style. I liked these ones as the are a velvet material and a deep black and with black socks on, it actually looks really nice. I am thinking about teaming these with some black thrill socks for added cuteness. I love the gold hardware too. I have bought shoes from Primani before and they are made so badly, so I am hoping these one's don't fall apart.

I hoped you liked my little lookbook/haul and that I may have given you some inspiration into some ideas for yourself?

I start my new job tomorrow and I am extremely nervous, so much so I feel a little sick in my mouth. Ha.

I will be mainly posting at the weekends now as I will be working in the week, if I have enough time I might post late at night in the week like I usually do.

Either way if you like my blog give me a follow on Bloglovin' or leave me a comment as I love reading your feedback.

♥

Colour B4 Hair Stripper // Is It Worth It? My Review.

I love to change my appearance, especially where my hair is concerned. I have coloured my hair for years now, never myself though as I have mainly worked in hairdressers, so I have always had it done there.

Almost two years ago I was bleached, white blonde and I have always wanted to go this colour. After having a lot of my hair cut off to go that colour I soon managed to have the shade I desired and began to grow my hair again. 

 This is what it looked like not long before I dyed it brown.

I have always had like little nightmares about going dark but one morning I just decided to do it. Now that I have been dark for almost 2 years I have decided I want a bit of a change. I want to go lighter but not as white as I went before.

Obviously I have bleach under the colour I have now as that will always stay there until it eventually grows out or I have it cut out. Having it cut out is NOT an option for me.

No way!!!

To get my hair remotely lighter I would need to strip the colour I have on it currently, which you can see in the above picture. I have had bleach baths done before at the hairdressers and it does damage your hair and I didn't want to stress my hair out again and risk it snapping off. 

I was told about the at home stripper called 'Colour B4' which was originally created by Scott Cornwall, but he has since done another similar product and this one has been taken over by Katie Price, as the Ambassador. 

The product claims to strip your hair without the use of bleach or ammonia which would damage your hair but instead shrink the hair colourant particles and they get washed out by using Colour B4, leaving your hair in its natural state. 

I hesitated buying this product because I was unsure about it but because it claims to not damage your hair but take it back to the colour underneath, I thought "what do I have to lose?"

Big mistake. 

I will now tell you why.

I bought the Colour B4 in'extra strength' because that was what was needed for my hair colour and got the argon oil version as I thought it would put some nourishment back into my hair.

These are £11.99 a pop and I ended up using 3 boxes, two boxes on my first application to make sure I saturated my hair fully as it is long, and one on my second application just to get the remaining dark patches. 

I had watched YouTube video's on how this applied but I went through all the instructions that came with it with a fine tooth comb to make sure I did everything right.

Before I even touched my hair with this product I did a strand test to see what colour my hair would go. 

This was the result. 

After the processing time.

Once dried. 

This is the contents of the box.

It came with gloves, instructions and bottles A, B and C. You then pour (A) the activator into bottle (B)the remover and shake for 30 seconds, I timed EVERYTHING to make sure it was all done properly. Part (C) is the buffer which you use in the rinsing stage at the end. Once (A) & (B) are mixed together you are good to go. 

 

I sectioned my hair because I had a lot of it and need to make sure every strand of hair had the remover on it. 

And let me tell you now, this stuff stinks. At first it smells like perm lotion which I was fine with but after a while it smelt of eggs and when it was drying to me it smelt like a 3 day old kebab. It actually made me feel sick. 

Anyway, I coated all my hair in the remover and used two boxes. It was safe to say my hair was fully saturated in the stuff. I also combed it through too to make sure it was evenly distributed. I then proceeded to wrap my head in cling film so it would trap my head heat. You need to keep the product on your hair warm so it processes. I put a towel and two hats on too to make double sure it would all go smoothly. I kept mine on for 60 minutes. 

Once the time was up I was a bit apprehensive to take the cling film off because I had no idea on what was underneath and if I still had hair on my head. I say this because a lot of my hair was coming out when I was combing the product through in the beginning. 

I looked in the mirror and my hair was a bright copper colour all over. I was shocked it actually worked. It took the whole lot of my colour off, or so I thought!

The next step was the gruelling task of the wash off. I then had to rinse my hair for 10 minutes non stop to ensure the product had come off my hair. I then had to use the buffer (bottle C) and lather up and leave on for 1 minute, again all this was timed. I then had to rinse again for another 10 minutes and once that was done I then had to use bottle (C) again and do a normal shampoo. It didn't say to use conditioner after so I didn't. As I was washing it off I did notice my hair was progressively getting darker...Not like the copper colour it first came out like.

This is what it looked like once dried.

The strand test against my colour before it was stripped.

As you can see after the first application it had lightened my root area and only slightly on my mid-length and ends. It looked like I had a reverse dip-dye colour and definitely not the outcome it looked like I was going to have when I took the cling film off.

Far from the all over copper colour it was perceived I was going to have. 

I thought about it and decided that I must have had quite a bit of colour build up on the mid-length and ends so decided to get another box and re-do those parts and not touch the ends. You can re- apply up to three times in one go, or so it claims.

So a couple of days later I re-did it. This time it had lightened some more but the ends were a little darker still than the rest and it was really patchy and there were some dark parts in my root area which I couldn't explain as they weren't there before. And, I hadn't applied any colour there. I left my roots out of the second application.

When I had seen everyone's "supposed" outcomes from the product their hair is all one colour and even. Mine wasn't at all and a far cry from anything similar. I wasn't impressed but thought I'd live with it until I had it highlighted. It came out quite red/auburn and I kind of liked it. 

As you can see it went a really nice colour and I actually really liked it. It looked more even at night time but obviously in the day light you could tell it was slightly two tone. I could of lived with it though.

Now this is where it started to go wrong.

I decided to wash my hair 3 days later because it felt REALLY dry and disgusting. I wanted to wash it to make it feel like I had hair on my head and not an egg. Now this product had done some sort of damage because my hair felt so dry and a lot had snapped off.

After I had finished washing and my hair I noticed it seemed to be quite darker even when wet. I ignored it and thought it would be back to how it was before I had washed it when it was dry.

Nope. 

After I had dried it this is how my colour looked.

I mean "WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL"? 

All I did was wash my hair, there was NO reason for it to go darker. I just don't understand. I followed the instructions EXACTLY, after the second application it lightened and you can see from the pictures that it had. I washed everything out and now it's significantly darker.

Why? That is what I want to know. I have not applied any colour and it can't re-oxidise from just a simple wash 3 days later. I am actually flabbergasted with the results and to be honest disgusted with the product as a whole. I have shown hairdressers' these pictures and none of them have ever seen this happen with a product before and most of them have never heard or even used Colour B4 so couldn't advise me on why this has happened. 

I have emailed the company a complaint but as of yet I have heard nothing back off them. 

I will be completely honest with you now, this product is complete crap and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I am aware I had a lot of colour build up and I wouldn't get all the dark colour out due to cuticle staining. But after the second application it came out a 'decent' colour even though it was patchy, I cannot for the love of God understand why on earth it would almost go back to my original dark colour just through washing my hair. I would of had to have coloured it to get it that dark again as the colour was stripped out.

I am completely baffled.

It's left my hair in horrible condition, it's thinned out a lot and now I am left with what looks like massive roots that I am going to have to have corrected professionally. 

Not cool... Not cool at all.

I am actually quite annoyed about the whole thing and the fact I have wasted quite a bit of money. That is the whole reason I did a strand test, and I cut the hair where there was most colour build up and you can see from the picture's that it had lifted really well. 

On their website it shows 'before and after' pictures and a lot of the people have obviously had their hair re-coloured and bleached which is not actually showing the true results a lot of the time. It's deceptive and by all means if you still want to try this product that it totally up to you, but I highly wouldn't recommend it at all. It's an awful product and not worth the risk. 

If anyone reading this could explain to me why my colour darkened after washing I would love to know, or if you yourself have had a similar experience I would love to hear from you. 

I hope this has helped you overall in regards of what to expect from this product and the procedure you have to endure. 

♥