Magnitone Lucid Haul + First Impressions | BEAUTY

Hello!

Out came the Lucid, and then I was beginning to get drawn in"

If you've been watching YouTubers for a while now, you might remember when there was a huge craze on the Clarisonic. It had just come out at the time, and was pretty much an America-only product. It seemed to have great reviews and I think I'd watched every single one of the YouTube reviews out there! I really wanted one. 
It was, however, a nightmare to get in the UK, and quite frankly, I'm glad I didn't get it then. At £180, it wasn't something I could justify buying, and the hassle of plug exchange and overseas warranty just didn't appeal to me.

Fast forward a couple of years and here I am, holding the Magnitone in my hands with the facial expressions of a proud mother!

When I first saw the Magnitone range come out a few months back, it didn't really appeal to me. At the time they had the pulsar, which is the slightly bigger (and not so attractive) version of the one I got, the Lucid. Although the price of the pulsar is a lot cheaper than the Clarisonic, I didn't want to buy it at the time. Out came the Lucid, and then I was beginning to get drawn in.

"Lucid resembles the Clarisonic Mia, and the range of colours Magnitone has is just beautiful!"

So, having had my eyes on the beauty for a couple of weeks, I knew I had to get my hands on it. There were many bloggers and vloggers showcasing the product, as it had been sent to them. One thing I realised, most of the reviews I watched/read were not reliable. You see people using it for a few days and claiming it to be their holy-grail, others doing a skin care routine video and then mention it's their second time using the product (it's hardly a routine if you've only been doing it for 2 days). I just couldn't trust it.

On the day of my second last exam, I ordered the product from Superdrug, as it's currently on sale for £49.99, down from it's original £69.99. It was delivered on the day of my last exam (last Friday), so it was almost a "yay for completing exams" treat!

I'd say the Lucid resembles the Clarisonic Mia, and the range of colours Magnitone has is just beautiful! There's like a colour to suit everyone! Though I was contemplating between the pink or the aqua, the minty green of the aqua was the one calling my name. Plus, it matches my toothbrush, that's always a plus side, right? :)

"I will keep you updated and let you know it how it's going after a few weeks - so stay tuned!"

As for the brush itself, I've been using it for the past two days and am pleasantly surprised. When you first open the box and feel the bristles on the brush, you wont believe how soft they are. When using the brush on your face, it's a lovely feeling and not abrasive at all. There are two settings, deep clean and sensitive. You're meant to use the sensitive setting for the first 5 days of use, then whatever suits your fancy. You can use the brush twice a day (one minute each time) but for the first couple of days, they recommend once a day to ease your skin into it.

There's a timer on the brush that beeps every 20 seconds, so you have a guideline as to when to move to the next part of your face. They recommend 20 seconds for the forehead, 20 for both cheeks, and 20 for the chin and nose. I do find that I'm often wanting more than 20 seconds, yet I stick to it as I don't want to overdo it. The device automatically turns off after the minute.

"here I am, holding the Magnitone in my hands with the facial expressions of a proud mother!"

So far my skin feels good after using it, but I can't vouch for much as it has only been 2 days. I will keep you updated and let you know it how it's going after a few weeks - so stay tuned!

In terms of what the device comes with, there's an EU charger for when you go on holiday (which will be great when I go to Egypt), a UK charger for charging at home, both of which is a wire that attaches to a magnet-like thing which attaches to the device, meaning it's safer (and pretty cool!). Alongside that, there's a 1 year warranty that you can sign up to online.

All in all, I'm glad I waited and purchased the Magnitone Lucid rather than the Clarisonic, and I'm also glad I caught a great deal with Superdrug.

Tell me, is there anything that you swear by when it comes to skincare? 

April 2015 Calendar | FREE PRINTABLE

Hello!

It's come that time again, and the April calendar is now out for you to grab and enjoy. It is, as always, completely free. The thing about the calendars is, they're cute enough to be Pinterest worthy yet absolutely practical too. What's to loose, hey?!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Keep organised, be productive and remember those all important birthdays!

Hope you have a lovely April, it's not too far away ;)

March 2015 : PRINTABLE CALENDAR

Hello!

"Is there ever such thing as being too organised? I think not. ;)"

For a while now, this monthly feature has been a highlight. Every time it's spotted in the top 5 posts at least once. Due to this, I simply cannot let you down without offering another one for the month of March. It is free, as always, so you can pop in the Mothering Sunday (it's the 15th, btw ;) ), any birthday parties and brunch dates you have so you don't miss them.

What's more, it'll brighten up a dull wall!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

I don't know what I'd do without a diary, so in case if you don't have one, or you want a clear view of that dentist appointment (or season premiere) you simply cannot miss, just click the link and you're sorted! Is there ever such thing as being too organised? I think not. ;)

How excited are you for March? 

Manicure Monday: Mint Sparkles

Hello!

"you've basically seen everything before - yet this time, it's completely different."

If you were ANYWHERE in the last few weeks, you would have read this. If you read that, you would recognise something on here today. You may recognise another something if you saw this post and hence meaning you've basically seen everything before - yet this time, it's completely different.

"can we agree that the overall finish is pretty?"

Well, after all that, can we agree that the overall finish is pretty? At first, the mint shade, called Kiwi, was thought to be uber lovely by itself as a perfect summer shade but when choosing a colour to go with my outfit I wore to a wedding last week (can you tell with the henna tattoo?!?!), this one was a perfect match and to make it more wedding-y, I added some sparkle! 

Overall, that's my mani Monday - what's yours? 

Mani Monday... purchase - Barry M Gelly Kiwi

Hello! 

"Many brands are releasing the gel manicure"

A slightly different type of Mani Monday for you... This time a haul/purchase! Nevertheless, I'm sure it'll soon be featured as a proper Mani Monday sometime soon! 

"a mint colour was needed in my collection"

Many brands are releasing the gel manicure type of polished and I reel that Barry M were one of the first. The 'Gelly' line has been out for at least a year now as I had owned the 'Watermelon' and 'Blood. Orange' last summer and they are lovely, but not very bright, hence a mint colour was needed in my collection! 

"kiwis are meant to be green whereas this is more of a mint shade"

The one thing that can be confusing is the names to the colours, for example, the shade 'watermelon' does not look like the colour of a watermelon! And kiwis are meant to be green whereas this is more of a mint shade! It's a bit confusing but I guess it's all fun anyway! Let's be honest, the name doesn't REALLY matter yet the OPI names are very funny and make me want to buy them even more - but it doesn't really matter!

Have you tried Gel finish nail polishes yet?

Healthy Chocolate - Is it really tasty?

Hello!

Hearing the words 'healthy' and 'chocolate' together sounds a little weird... And slightly untrue! However, it might be a bit more normal to hear after you've read this post!

Healthy Chocolate. Oxymoron - yet couldn't be truer with Conscious Chocolate! Conscious chocolate is chocolate (duh!) made with raw products. It is sweetened with Agave Nectar which is obviously better than the over-processed and bleached white sugar found in regular chocolates! 

The oh-so-raw chocolate has a different texture to your regular dairy milk. It has a truffle-like texture which is very soft. If you try to break the chocolate into pieces, it doesn't snap, it kind of slowly breaks apart - sort of like caramel  (Does that even make sense?!).

Conscious chocolate have a wide range of flavours to choose from, ranging from 'Goji and Coconut' to a nutty chocolate bar to a cherry flavour and loads of flavours in between! 

I got to try the 'Essential Orange' and 'Mint Hint'. You're bound to find something that catches your attention! 

I love the 'Essential Orange' flavour. The chocolate is more on the dark chocolate, bitter taste - which I wasn't too fond of at first but it definitely grew on me! As I had more of the orange, I started liking it more and more. It's true what they say about your taste buds adapting! 

However, I wasn't a huge fan if mint to begin with so naturally, I preferred the Orange flavoured chocolate! 

I like how they didn't try to fool us with the nutritional information. Sometimes products show the nutritional information about 1/5th if the packet and we assume it's the whole thing - however, Consious Chocolate give us info of the whole thing! Also, all the products are natural, minimal process and still taste great. Good going, conscious!

The products are packaged in 3 wrappers. 

1) it is wrapped in a bit of paper

2) it's put inside a foil baggie (as shown in the picture) 

3) it is then inside the main packaging with the name if the flavour

Just to mention, I love the packaging and how all the flavours have different outer package! The paper packaging (1) is good as it keeps the chocolate together and not melting on your hand as you get it out, the foil baggie keeps the chocolate fresh and the other packaging to name the flavours! 

Overall the chocolates from 'Conscious Chocolate' taste so yummy and it's nice to know they're not processed and are raw. Oh, and I have to mentioned the scents of them - they are so good! Like you open the first packaging and the scent lingers! It's a lovely strong scent of the essential flavours -yum! 

So, is it a little more normal to hear 'healthy chocolate' after reading this? Or are those two words together will never sound normal! Try out 'Conscious Chocolate' (link here) and then tell me these two words are made for each other: Healthy Chocolate! 

What are your favourite healthy desserts?

*Conscious Chocolate did send the two products to me for review purposes, but all of the information is honest and not biased

July's Top Nail Colour Picks

Hello!
I was browsing through the web to search for the 'ultimate' July Polish and I was faced with difficulty. On one hand there was the light, pale colours such as the milky, nearly-white, Pinks like this one:

And then completely on the opposite end of the spectrum are the deep, darker colours like this one:

Both of these kind of colours were spotted on celebrities, the lighter one being seen on Miranda Cosgrove and the blue on Aisha Tyler.

So, this means to say that there definitely isn't one set shade of colour for this month, like a coral or a mint that has previously been HUGE, so I went ahead and chose the top 3 colours I am likely to wear during this month!

So These are my Top Picks:
1. Hot, Candy Pinks
2. Orange-Red Shades
3. Pastel Shade, specifically Purple!

I LOVE PINK! Think of summer - what comes to mind? WATERMELONS! Watermelons are a lovely shade of pink that I love especially for July! (If you follow me on twitter, you might have seen the GIGANTIC watermelon we had in our Kitchen!) I feel pink is definitely a year round colour - I'm sure you girly girls would agree!

Red is a classic colour, it can be worn with your fav LBD* to give it a lovely pop - especially with the popular 1920's based films coming out recently, who wouldn't love that combination? Yet, sometimes I feel red is a little too much and to make it a little more fun and toned down for the Summer, I would go for the Orange-Red tone. It's a step aside from the CORAL colours that are pretty much always in for the summer, yet it's still trendy and nice for July.

Pastels are a MUST in Spring and Summer times, you see mints, corals, pastel blues and even the lilac. I went for the Lilac pastel shade because I like the look of it and it reminds me of Lavender. Hmmm... don't lavenders smell lovely? ;)

Anyway so those are my top 3 nail picks for July! I hope you enjoy and wait for another posts where I'll show you the next colour I decide to paint my nails for this month (HINT: It may be one of the above!) - take your guesses and leave me suggestions and YOUR FAVOURITE JULY POLISH!

Love you loads,
xoxo,
BerryBloomXO

*LBD = Little Black Dress

First photo from HERE
Second photo from HERE
3 Photos from: 1. 2. 3.