Sudocrem tube

In my adult life I've not used sudocrem as a staple, but I'm not going to lie, I have been caught with it dotted on my face during my years at uni, but I was never an avid user. This could be due to the massive, slightly less travel sized pot we have at home. But since being sent samples of the tube I've carried one with me when staying over & one by my bedside at home & have definitely come to realise the benefits of this cream.

I suffer from eczema, it's especially worse in the summer due to the heat, so putting a light layer of Sudocrem on my skin before bed has eased the itch & saved my legs being mauled by my scratching in my sleep. It also helped sooth my underarms when I had the bright idea to veet them, not the best thing I've done, it burned my skin & hurt for days, Sudocrem soothed it really well. I don't believe the Cheryl Cole claims that it'll get rid of a spot over night, but I do believe it helps soothe & protect skin really well. & for such a low price for a handy tube that you can take anywhere with you, it's definitely one of my must haves now.

Sudocrem also have this bagology app on facebook that determines your personality & traits from your bag, not sure how accurate it is but if you're intrigued & want to have a go head over to www.facebook.com/sudocremtube

Sleek Mediterranean Collection

I'm going to come clean, I've never owned a Sleek palette. I'd seen the hype, I was tempted but I never really bothered, after all I have palettes full of colours & draws full of pigments. That & I've always been a bit of a makeup snob. Bite me. I will however, eat all my words as the pigmentation in these products are incredible. In fact as I type I struggle to get an eyeshadow swatch off my hand.

The collection is inspired by vivid colours of the Mediterranean, very on trend with pop colours for S/S11. There's also a nice mix of neutrals in there, I've been reaching for the orange tones to create a colourful eye but still soft & wearable. I have to say Santorini blush scared me a little, being a make-up artist that sounds incredibly pathetic but I'm not a fan of a strong blue pink, but again I'll eat my words & say this, if applied properly (blend people!), it looks beautiful.

Monaco i-Devine palette: £6.49
Santorini Blush: £4.29.
(You know where to find these by now! Superdrug or at sleekmakeup.com)

Phil Smith Sea Salt Spray

Over the past few years sea salt spray seems to have become a cult product & what was once a hard to find product (unless you wanted to splash out on Bumble & Bumble) is now finding it's way in to many hair brand ranges. I remember a couple of years ago finding a Lee Stafford one, it wasn't expensive & the only one I could find in Boots. It was pants, instructions read "spray 50 times" 50 times? Not only could I not be bothered with that the results were sticky & horrible. So I decided to get the Label M when at my hairdressers, loved it, it got up my nose when I sprayed it but it gave great texture & volume, it's roughly £11, so not greatly expensive but still on the higher price scale.

I then tried the Phil Smith sea salt spray, it's £3.99, it smells like coconut & seems to give a slightly more tousled effect than the Label M version. Sea salt sprays tend to have a refreshing scent, it wakes me up a little more, but the Phil Smith scent has to be my favourite, not only does it give an effect of fresh air but it has that coconut infusion that smells amazing. I tend to spray this when my hair is damp & let it dry naturally, effortless & looks great, perfect for me as I'm not big on fussing over my hair. I didn't find this drying which I was slightly surprised at as my hair sometimes feels like straw, this must be due to the Pro-Vitamin B5 in the product that helps keep my hair a little smoother than the other sprays. For £3.99 I can't fault it, I've nearly finished the bottle! It's available in Sainsbury's & online at KMI club. Definitely a product to just slip into your shopping basket & give a try.

This product was sent for me to review, however, this does not affect my opinion & I will only give my honest thoughts.

Paul Smith Optimistic giveaway results

When collecting the comments & tweets together I came to a total and put it through random.org. Ria was the winner, so one of the Paul Smith Optimistic bottles is on the way to her very soon. I have two bottles & was just about to make another post when I noticed that there were a lot more comments on my giveaway post than there was when counting final entries. No late entrants & definitely not a miscount, so the only explanation is the failure of blogger going down during my giveaway & many of the comments going missing. This now means that I missed out roughly 20 entries, which isn't fair at all. So instead instead of making another post I'm pulling out another number from the hat. So the second winner is...drum roll please... Cara!

Now away from the fail of google & on to possible posts. Summer is upon us, meaning festival season is too. Is anyone a first timer this year? I know when I was embarking on my first year at Leeds I was faced with packing dilemmas amongst slight reservations about certain things (the toilets being one!). I have a few products to review & have always wanted to do a sort of 'festival guide'/suggestion post, would you be interested? What kind of things, if a first timer, would you want to know about? Fire away with questions either here or on twitter. I can't say I know the answers to both but I'm happy to share experiences.

Paul Smith Optimistic giveaway CLOSED

Haven't managed to win Kings of Leon tickets from last weeks Optimistic Monday? Or crossing your fingers for this weeks prize to win tickets to The Big Chill? Want to have another chance of winning something? Well then it's pretty good thing I've got a two 50ml bottles of the fragrance to give away (RRP £38). These giveaways are going to be in two posts, so I'm giving one away this week & one next! This is fab summer fragrance so try your luck & enter!

“I wanted to create a fragrance that bottled the spirit of optimism – that captured the youthful enthusiasm and energy I see around me every day. It’s about time that someone made a positive statement,” Paul Smith

The rules

+The giveaway will run for one week, ending at midnight (GMT) on the 17th May.
+ You must be a follower. You don't need a blog, but you have to follow me.
+ International entrants welcome.
+ Comment below with the words 'enter me' for an entry for this giveaway.
+ Leave your email/blog link/twitter so I can contact you.
+ Feel free to blog & link this giveaway.
+ For an extra entry tweet " @viclaho is having an a fab Paul Smith Optimistic perfume giveaway. http://tinyurl.com/5ru9ay8 ".