Samsara by Guerlain... Winter scent.

One of my favourite perfumes of the moment is Samsara by Guerlain. I absolutely love it. It smells very different to lots of the "teeny bopper" type perfumes that are everywhere at the moment. Now this perfume is pretty old school and has been around a while, and I have only just discovered it. I guess it has a very mature, rich kind of smell.

I will explain how it makes me feel. Samara to me is a crisp, cool, autumn day in NY or cold, dark, winter night. It is a soft, warm & cozy winter sweater, black boots and elegant black dress kinda scent..Yes it is a heavier scent and therefore needs to used sparingly. I would describe it as an oriental with notes of sandlewood and vanilla. Often orientles have often been thought of as being masculine. But this is indeed a friendlier oriental. The packaging shouts "splurge buy" you feel as though you have purchased yourself a luxury item.

Sultry, not loud but does make a statement. Legendary and Fabulous. My favourite this winter, makes me feel so warm and cosy when wrapped up with my hat, scarf and gloves :-) Let me know if you guys have tried it, and what you think.

Online shopping... Addiction gone too far?

With my hectic life style, long hours on the train and an unhealthy addiction to shopping... I've pretty much converted to online shopping.. with my iphone. Since buying more and more online I'm starting to wonder whether I do it because it's convenient or simply because... I love sending myself presents..?!

Secret confession... I LOVE receiving packages!!! (even if they are from myself). I love the feeling of looking forward to them arriving, getting millions of packages arrive at my door and unwrapping each one like I don't know whats going to be inside (weirdo). Would love to know whether it's just me that is like this or whether others also share my passion for online shopping...

My favourite online stores have to be Topshop, ASOS, amazon, notonthehighstreet. I prefer shopping on websites that I have the ease of going in store and returning directly if it isn't right, as opposed to the hassle of the post office (urgh). What are you're favourites?

Hello Gorgeous Hair extensions... Unboxing

My "Hello Gorgeous" hair extensions finally arrived!!!

 I must admit I was really apprehensive about purchasing from this company, as unfortunately there is so much negative PR about this company being a "Scam". There is lots written online with regards to how long it takes to receive the extensions, people have written that it took them over two months to receive them. I must say however that my experience with the company has been really positive. I ordered my extensions on the 4th of November and received them less than a month later. They came yesterday (25th November) which is AMAZING considering it is a US based company. I did pay $25 extra for rush delivery. I think it is important to keep in mind that the extensions from this company are custom hand made, unlike hair extensions from other high end reputable brands.It is a small company and therefore need more time to make the hair.

So... the extensions are SUPER thick!!!! At first glance, they are beautiful, LONG and LUSCIOUS!!!!! I would highly recommend buying from this company. The best thing to is to message Shannon the owner on the "Hello Gorgeous" facebook page. She will get back to you with a day or two. I sent her about 4-5 pictures of my hair to get a perfect colour match. My experience with Shannon was that she was sooo lovely and really made the effort to make them and send them as quick as possible.

This company unlike other company's has a massive selections of lengths and grams of hair. If you're hair has multiple tones, Shannon will dye the hair to match yours. The hair is far superior to that of Sally's...

Anyhoo, will give a full review very soon. Watch my un boxing video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfN2ol0k6OA&feature=plcp

 Hope this was helpful,

Sahar xxx

My first "get ready with me" video

Hey ladies..i am totally exhausted! It is getting way cold in the U.K and have even heard that it may potentially snow soon EEP!

 So today I have posted a "get ready with me " video in which I share my current favourite products and also how I use them all together. I personally am soo nosey when it comes to other peoples make up routines, so i thought I would share mine with you. As I have oily skin, I can only recommend for a similar skin type. I love ALL of the products I have mentioned and wouldn't recommend them if I didn't think they were worth the bucks. I will hopefully give more in-depth reviews on some that I have used in the video very soon. So anyway here is the link, I would love to hear from you guys, so any questions or queries fire away.

 Stay happy all :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRGJohf-kDU&feature=youtu.be

Hair extensions youtube review

Hey you guys, check out my you tube hair extension review :-)

 click the link =) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YMWLJGYhdY&feature=youtu.be


Sahar x

The minimal work make up look..

Hey guys!

Just thought I'd share with you on my lonnnng train journey home. So today I wanna post about a "minimal work make up look". When i'm working I like my make up to look minimal yet elegant. I'm personally one that prefers a pop of colour on my lips and very very little eye shadow on my eyes. So I usually achieve this look with a good lip gloss/ lip stick, eye liner, blusher and mascara. That's it!

So today I have gone for a Chanel lip gloss and my Mac smoulder eye liner pencil. You don't necessarily have to own high end make to achieve this look. The bourjois "Kohl" pencil is a great dupe for the MAC pencil retailing at £6. As for the Chanel lip gloss, you can get great drug store dupes from Loreal and Maybelline to name a few.

So the Chanel lip gloss is called levres scintillantes 106. It's a lovely orangy pink colour with bits of glitter in it ❤. It can be used over your lipstick in the centre of the lips, to act as a highlight. The gel texture gives a perfectly even finish. I have put swatches of this below. It doesn't look over powering but at the same time shows enough colour. I picked this up from the duty free on the way back from a holiday but it retails at around £30 I think... Don't quote me!

The MAC pencil retails at £14 and I picked this up online. I have also gone for Maybelline "the falsies volume express" mascara.

Anyway let me know what you guys think..hope this was helpful.. would like to hear about you're work make up looks :-)

Sahar ❤

Battle of the hair oils... let the showdown begin

Good evening ladies, my next review is on Moroccan oil and Almond oil :-)

Moroccon oil

So we have all been there, over styling our hair, colouring and using really drying shampoo and then no amount of conditioner seems to help.. In fact it makes it feel so much worse. When ever I've been to the hair dresser I've been on the hunt for a kind of serum to smooth and soften my "in need of much TLC" tresses. So basically the kind of product i was looking for didn't really exist. They all make my hair kind of greasy and also weighed it down. So other than the good old desi leave in over night oil treatments, nothing really worked. I couldn't really use Amla oil in my hair after I had washed and dried it..because that would just be gross right?

So when I found Moroccan oil I can honestly say that this product worked wonders for my hair. You only need a tiny amount, and you smooth it over the ends of your hair either when it's wet or dry and it soaks right in. It doesn't make your hair greasy in the slightest and gives it an amazing healthy looking shine. I actually use this this as a leave I conditioner instead of conditioner.

Now this product is expensive and I initially bought a cheaper boots alternative and it just wasn't the same. So if you feel like this is what your hair needs, pick up the original product. . I'm not sure if it actually contains Aragon oil like you would expect it to but instead it's a silicone based product. I bought this from a small boutique, and the price of the product varies in terms of size of the bottle. The smallest bottle costs £12 and the biggest costs £30.. I got the big bottle. In terms of packaging the bottle comes with a screw cap, but it also comes with an optional pump for free to help you to dispense product. The down side to this product other than the price for me is the smell as it is perfumed and I find it slightly over powering but I know that other people love it.. maybe I'm just over sensitive when it comes to perfume

I would recommend this product but if you're not sure then just buy the small bottle to start with and it does last so long.

Almond oil: 

One of the very best hair treatments you can give you're hair is a deep conditioning treatment of either almond oil or black seed oil (kalonji). This is because these kinds of oils are 100% NATURAL!

Giving your hair a deep conditioning treatment over night once a week/once every two weeks will considerably improve the condition of your hair.  If you have been colouring and frying your hair like crazy, this will add the shine back into you're hair and give it  loving care it deserves. If we want our hair to look good, we have to treat it well right? Just don't forget to wash it out in the morning... with LOTS of shampoo (lather rinse repeat etc)

 I usually mix in essential oils too, such as a few drops of pepper mint oil to invigorate the scalp. The best thing about Almond oil is that is is uber cheap, £3 at you're local Pakistani/Indian store or £6 at Holland and Barrat.

The remedies our ancestors used still work so well. Let me know you're thoughts. Disclaimer: I bought these products with my own money so it is reflective of my true opinions xxxx

Armani luminous Silk Foundation

When I first heard about this foundation.... I was sooo excited, being the foundation junky that I am I just had to have it! This foundation is marketed as the lightest foundation on the market, and is promised by the folks at Armani to give you an incredibly silky smooth "glowy finish". So having heard this, I was expecting great things from this foundation. I mean come on its Armani! I thought that it must be better than Chanel and all the other greats.

Ok so now for my honest review of this foundation... I found it to be comparable to Chanel vita lumiere. Although I have clear skin (touch wood), it hasn't always been this way, I have some acne scarring so I prefer extra coverage. 

The coverage on this foundation is very sheer, and it does give you that "glowy" youthful look. If you naturally do have really good skin and want a really light weight foundation which doesn't feel heavy and can be worn everyday then this will definitely be for you. This foundation will give you s natural looking flawless look.

I think because it is so sheer, it would need touch ups through out the day with powder if you wanted the look to stay flawless. A good primer would also help the foundation to last longer. I also have really oily skin and my skin did not grease up. For dry skin, I think that this foundation could be good as it is very hydrating.

This foundation retails at £34 and I picked it up at Selfridges, so it is one of more high end foundations on the market (my colour is no7, see swatch below). Overall I think it is a very good foundation, and if I did wear foundation to work it would be great. I would reach for this kind of foundation if I was going out casually. My personal preference is to wear a more natural look on day to day basis and a fuller foundation on special events (for the extra coverage). For those that crave a natural low coverage look, you will love this!

Disclaimer: I bought this product with my own money, so this review reflects my true opinion :-)

Nars sheer glow foundation

Despite being really happy with my Chanel pro lumier foundation, when this bottle came to a finish I was on the hunt for a different foundation. The reasons for this were a) Chanel were discontinuing this foundation and b) I just wanted more coverage from my foundation but still give that dewy youthful glow..


After reading many beauty blogs I decided to go ahead and try the much raved about Nars sheer glow foundation. When I tried it I loved the coverage. I would say that it's a full coverage foundation without the cakey look that you get with other full coverage foundations such as MAC studio fix.

In terms of glow I wouldn't say that it has much of a glow but you still get a radiant look as it is not a matt finish.

I have oily skin so it suited my skin really well, however when I tried this on my sister in law who has dry skin it seemed to accentuate the dry patches. So if you have dry skin you would need to heavily moisturise and also use a hydrating primer.

My colour is stomboli or barelona. In the end I went with Stromboli (see swatch below). Originally when I was colour matched by the beauty consultant I felt that I was colour matched far too dark (two shades too dark so had to return it). What I would advise is that you look at how you would like to see your own face as the beauty consultants do get it wrong sometimes. Do go to the store and colour match yourself because the colours can look so different online.

So the foundation retails at £28, which is considerably cheaper than Chanel or Armani. Although it is still on the pricey side, I think it's totally worth the money as your foundation is the base of your make up and if you get it wrong your whole face can look wrong! I picked it up at Selfridges in Oxford street, but you can also get it at House of Fraser and most big city John Lewis department stores.

The bad thing about this product is that it doesn't have a pump and sometimes the product can bleed down the neck of the bottle which can obviously waste expensive product. Nars have since bought out a pump which you can buy for an extra £2.50 (or something like that!?) which solves this problem. Overall I love this foundation and would recommend it.

Disclaimer: I bought this product and pump with my own money, so this review reflects my true opinions.

Bobbi Brown corrector

I am somebody that suffers with the darkest of eye circles due to a hectic lifestyle and also being guilty of not always keeping myself as well hydrated I could. So I have spent soo long trying to find the right concealer only to receive really negative feedback from friends and family! I have used many of the MAC concealers which have a really yellow base which often can lead to "reverse circles" which basically means that you end up with yellow circles which have clearly been plastered in concealer which isn't natural looking at all! I've also been recommended highlighters to use under my eyes (don't know why!) which ends up making under the eye white.

So upon recommendation from a friend I decided to try the bobbi brown corrector. Now what makes this different from the other concealers that I have tried is that it doesn't come in a liquid form, it comes as a cream. It is a peachy kind of bisque colour and really blends with my natural skin tone whilst covering my eye bags. I know this comes in lots of colours so don't worry if your skin tones isn't the same as mine.

I really love this concealer. I try not to use it every single day but try to change it up with my Dior concealer which I also love (I will also review this)

So yes I would definitely recommend this to anybody who has the same under eye bag problem. The only down side about this product is the price! It retails at £18 in John Lewis, but it's worth the money :)

Disclaimer: I bought this product with my own money so this is a reflection of my true opinion.

Les Tissages De Chanel blush

So ever since I tried this blush (colour coral- blush duo effect tweed) and since using my pro lumier foundation. I have been totally hooked on Chanel products.

I must say that over the last year this has been my holy grail blusher.. I cannot express how much i love this product! It has a lovely peach tone and can be worn in a very subtle way but is also buildable for a more intense look without looking too much. I have a medium skin so it's definitely one of the best blushers I have tried and without a doubt would recommend it. It especially looks beautiful in the summer. I won't go anywhere without it!

It can be tricky to get out of the pan with my real techniques blusher brush so best to stick with the original blush, due to the texture. Get this, you won't regret it! I love it so much I've hit pan, and I barely hit pan on anything.. so that's saying something.

This retails at £29 and I picked it up in John Lewis. It is definitely a splurge buy, but one that has become a core component of my make up routine!

Disclaimer: I bought this product with my own money, so this review is reflective of my true opinion.

Sally's Hair extensions (American Pride)

So as somebody with fine hair, I have spent sooo much money on products on how to thicken up my hair. I was saying this to a family member who happens to be a beauty therapist. She suggested that hair extensions are really great n easy to use and can thicken up the look of hair especially as I can never seem to grow my hair beyond my shoulders.

Now I must say that I am a complete novice when it comes to hair extensions, so I popped down to my local Sallys and picked up the 18 inch full head set. I got the set for £60, they have two types in Sally's and this set was better quality and is REMY hair. This basically means that all the ends go in the same direction as its human and is the best quality. In terms of grams, the packet didn't say how many grams it was. It even didn't show when I googled it, but they are quite thin, so I am assuming they must be 80-100grams

I found the hair really easy to clip in, and actually really loved them the first time I put them in purely because of the volume (my colour is number 2). However when they are straight they can look a bit on the thin side, which I really don't like as I love the look of long luscious hair. The ends are also a tiny bit wispy, when I don't wear extensions I have a blunt ends hair cut so I didn't like this and will probably get these cut off from my hair stylist. When they are curled they look absolutely beautiful and much fuller.

Now that I have worn them for a few months, It still love LOVE them, they are still in great condition despite having washed them. In terms of thickness I  would like to try Foxy Locks, Head Kandy and hello gorgeous. I would also love to try them in a longer length so lets see..I can see myself becoming a bit of a hair extension addict.

Anyway here is a pic of me with the full head clipped in. I got so many compliments when I wore them at a recent party and nobody realised they were hair extensions!

Disclaimer, I bought these extensions with my own money, so they reflect my true opinions.