NEW BLOG ADDRESS!

Hi everyone! I have made the decision to move over to WordPress - please be advised that ALL of my NEW BLOG POSTS will be over at:

http://acupofsmiles.wordpress.com

Thanks! Hope you see you there

Alison x

Face Soap and Clarity

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet! I bought this as soon as it was out, and I was SO EXCITED.

FACE SOAP AND CLARITY: for super clean, fresh and bright skin. It's a 3-in-1 foaming face wash to cleanse, detoxify and exfoliate tired, dull skin! It has vitamin C and superfruit plum skin brightening complex.

As with all Soap & Glory products, the tube doesn't lie: it IS brilliant for flaky, dry skin. It's actually a lot less harsh than a normal exfoliator which I really like - you don't end up looking raw after a quick scrub. It is essentially a face wash with exfoliating beads in it, which gently exfoliate the dry skin on your face as you scrub! And of course, the Vitamin C & superfruit plum complex help to make your skin bright and happy!

It is a pretty foamy facewash and it makes your skin feel great! I couldn't get along with the scent at first, but it's really grown on me. It's fresh and fabulous. And if it makes my skin look good, who am I to complain?

Soap & Glory recommend this particularly for "young problem skin" and "tired, dull skin in need of rejuvenation", and I'd recommend this for all skin types! If you want to really treat your skin, I'd recommend using its fabulous companion Clear Here, which is especially recommended for oily/combination skin types.

Face Soap and Clarity is available at Boots, £6.13

Clear Here cleansing cloths

I've got a super special review for you all! Soap & Glory are bringing out some FANTASTIC cleansing cloths for the Clear Here range. These are suitable for oily/combination skin types - perfect for my skin! They're called... CLEAR HERE DEEP PORE PURIFYING T-ZONE CLEANSING CLOTHS. Or Clear Here cleansing cloths, for short.

I've only been using these wipes for FOUR DAYS and I'm already in love with them. Soap & Glory has DONE IT AGAIN...

These cleansing cloths have "Poreshrink-4 complex for a smooth, clearer, fresher face". With lemongrass, mandarin, and orange essential oils, they're pretty nifty sounding, and smell great. It smells similar to Clear Here and Face Soap & Clarity, so if you like their scents you'll be pleased with this one! It's very soapy-smelling. I do like the fresh, tingly feeling it leaves on your skin, and it's not so tingly that it puts you off the product. Apparently the tingling is the Poreshrink-4 complex working its magic... That's fine by me!

As for cleansing, they're great! They remove my makeup just as well as the Off Your Face wipes (did I review those yet? No? Oops... coming soon!) and leave my skin feeling really soft and smooth. I get dry skin on my forehead actually, and these have really helped on the days where I don't exfoliate! With Off Your Face wipes I find they're quite moist - sometimes a little TOO moist. These are just right! And of course they come in a BRIGHT PINK packet - it goes perfectly with all the other S&G things in my bathroom...

I have to say, for maximum effect, you should definitely use these alongside Face Soap & Clarity and Clear Here. It is FAB. My skin is lovely and smooth at the minute. And as I have combination skin, my skin can appear slightly shiny during the day - it is ALREADY starting to ease up. I don't wear foundation much and often forget about the powder, so it's nice that I don't have to worry so much.

I predict that these will be a HUGE HIT with all the other combo skin girls and guys out there - I love that S&G is trying to cater for all skin types. :-) There are 25 wipes in the packet, so there are plenty to go around!

I am not sure about pricing or availability details yet, but KEEP YOUR EYES GLUED to https://www.facebook.com/SoapandGlory for the latest news and updates.

Herbal Essences Smooth & Soft Intensive

You might remember my last blog post about the Smooth & Soft collection by Herbal Essences. I mentioned I'd like to see an intensive conditioner because the normal one just wasn't moisturising enough for me!

Well, guess what?! The lovely people over at Herbal Essences have brought one out! I couldn't WAIT to try it. I wasn't disappointed by the results at all!

The intensive conditioner has the same scent as the conditioner and shampoo, and it smells fantastic. The consistency of the product is thick and smooth, and it goes on really well. I'd recommend using it on the ends of your hair, and ends of your layers if you have any. If you have a fringe, avoid getting any of the product near it! You'll end up with a very bouncy and uncooperative fringe!

Since using the intensive conditioner, my hair has been in lovely condition. I've found my hair behaves a lot better when I'm not straightening it, and I've noticed less frizz as well! Above all, my hair feels MOISTURISED! It quenches thirsty hair!

One thing I absolutely have to warn you about is that the conditioner CAN be really slippery. I recommend you don't do what I did when I first got the pot, and hold onto it when you're using it...I ended up dropping the pot upside down in the bath - oops. I managed to salvage some of it but a lot of it ended up down the drain!! Hope the pipes were in need of some moisturising... For this reason, I'd really like to see the conditioner move from a pot to a tube or bottle! Clumsy people like me will just end up wasting it! :-)

And now for the REALLY GOOD part. This is one of the best intensive conditioners I've tried, and I'm definitely hooked. So how much do you think we'll be paying? - It's less than you think! You can buy it for just £3.99 at Superdrug. An absolute bargain for what it does! And now Superdrug has introduced their very own Beauty Card, it's another excuse to buy this product and see your points total climb...

Herbal Essences Smooth & Soft Intensive is available from Superdrug for £3.99.

All Around the World!

Looking at my blog stats I've had visitors from all over - and I'm going to guess the majority are coming for Soap and Glory goodness, right?! :)

So I wanted to make the blog a bit more accessible... Let me know what I can do! For example, if you're from Australia, should I add links to available products & the reatiler on the review posts?

Let me know!
AMR xxx

Mist You Madly

I can't believe I haven't done a post on this yet! Easily my favourite fragrance EVER, I actually don't use any other body spray now - just this one. It's become "my scent".

A flirty, floral, fragrant body spray featuring notes of Bergamot, Blackcurrant, Magnolia, Freesia, Vanilla and Musk.

The smell is very yummy, and can be detected in other products such as Clean Girls, The Daily Smooth and Scrub Em and Leave Em. For extra oomph use all three after a shower! I think it's very much a summery scent and I love it! The bottles last a long time; a squirt or two is all I need and the smell lasts for most of the day. You could try spraying it in your hair to make it last longer (as it'll carry the scent better).

A standard size bottle is 250ml, but they have also released a separate travel sized version (100ml), which is the perfect size for handbags. There's no excuse for not smelling good at all times! The travel sized version was previously only available in gift sets, so I'm really pleased they've decided to release it as part of the travel sized collection (which I will be reviewing VERY soon!) The bottle itself is pink (who would have guessed??) and has a spray nozzle. It's perfect!

If you like the Mist You Madly scent, I'd highly recommend buying Eau de Soap & Glory (available from Boots, £15.83), which is essentially the same smell in perfume form - with super pretty packaging!

Soap & Glory declare it a "flash of fabulous", and I absolutely agree!

Mist You Madly is available in a standard 250ml size for £6.13, and a travel sized 100ml for £3.11 from Boots.

Katy Perry at Capital FM Arena, 30th March 2011

Sorry about the wait for this blog post, I've been super busy! BUT I can't wait to share this post with you. I've been a big fan of Katy ever since One of the Boys came out, and although my obsession didn't quite match my previous obsession with Lady Gaga, she's always been inspirational in my eyes.

We didn't get to see much of Yelle performing as we were outside trying to buy merchandise! They weren't really my kind of act though, so I really couldn't offer a judgement. I LOVED DJ Skeet Skeet though, he had a lot of energy and had everyone raring to go for Katy's show.

Calvin Harris was supposed to support Katy on her tour, but as everyone knows, they had a little spat via Twitter as Calvin didn't think he had much of a set to play for. In his words, "playing side of stage for 30 mins, it seemed pointless me even being there". I'm not sure why he thought it would be pointless - he'd gain some support and possibly new fans by doing a small set, it sounds like someone was feeling very high and mighty about himself...

Anyway, moving onto the CALIFORNIA DREAMS TOUR! (I apologise for the quality of my photographs - my camera didn't do very well with all of the lights, glitter, etc!)

Set list:
Teenage Dream
Hummingbird Heartbeat
Waking Up In Vegas
Ur So Gay
Peacock
I Kissed A Girl
Circle The Drain
E.T.
Who Am I Living For?
Pearl
Not Like The Movies
Only Girl (In the World)
Big Pimpin'
Born This Way
Whip My Hair
Thinking Of You
Shake Your Body
Hot N Cold
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Firework
California Gurls

The stage was very pink, with the centre piece being a colourful staircase with giant lollipops! There were giant cupcakes on either side of the stage, and the entire arena smelled of cotton candy. Katy recently auctioned one of the cupcake trampolines to raise money for the Japan disaster, fetching a whopping £3,404.40. If I had the cash I probably would've put in a bid myself - how great would it be to have a piece of Candyfornia in your living room?!

The props came and went - there were even giant pieces of steak and hot dogs suspended from the ceiling! It was both cool and strange, but that's why we love Katy.

The entire performance was set around a story whereby Katy is a young girl who loves candy and wants to go to the Big Baker's ball. This kind of reminded me of Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour, but never mind. It's a cute concept and I actually preferred Katy's.

I really loved Katy's costumes during the show. One of my favourites is pictured below! I have to say, I'm really jealous of Katy's amazing figure. She told ELLE magazine she needed to train "like an athelete" in preparation for this tour, and you could tell! She had a lot of energy despite the duration of the show.

I also LOVED the costume she wore during "Peacock". I don't have a decent photograph of it from the show, but it was literally just like the tail of a peacock. Big, bold, beautiful feathers popped out of nowhere, and Katy was strutting her stuff on the stage!

As E.T. was being released around the time of the show, Katy had set up face painting tables in the entrance of the arena so that all her fans could be "abducted". E.T. was definitely a major theme in this show and it was great! I was looking forward to the performance of it and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

There were really bright green, cyan and pink fluorescent lights strobing around the arena, and it looked fantastic. The lyrics to the song were on the three screens above the stage so that everyone could sing along - it was great! Katy's cat costume looked brilliant and it really showed her personality.

It wasn't all big performances though, with plenty of props and colourful lights. She stripped it down so it was just her and a couple of musical instruments. The performance was so genuine and she made it seem really personal. It was just Katy and her fans!

During I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Katy pointed at people in the standing crowd and they were pulled over the barrier to come on stage with her! I thought it was super cute that an absolutely shocked lady could not believe she was on the stage with Katy, and that Katy took the time to take a photo with the woman on stage. Everyone was "aww!"-ing as the magical moment took place.

The highlight of the California Dreams Tour, for me, was definitely Firework. Firework is one of my favourite songs on the Teenage Dream album and she left it until near the very end. It was worth the wait!

Katy asked everyone to turn on their glo-sticks, or any other light they had. Mine was flashing away! I love that Katy decided the proceeds of all of the glo-stick sales would go towards helping Japan. I thought it was very generous, and you could see that they were incredibly popular with everyone at the arena. I still love to wave mine around and pretend we're still in the arena!

And the performance wouldn't have been complete without a display of fireworks! Ok, they weren't really rockets or catherine wheels, but we did have a spectacular display of sparks flying from the stage. It increased the dramacticness of the performance but really, everyone loves and knows Firework so I'm not sure it would have been any less successful if she hadn't included them!

Above you can see the crowd holding up their glosticks. Notice that a lot of people are standing up on the seated areas! Pretty much the entire arena was standing for this concert, which shows that Katy is such a successful performer.

Above: fireworks were displayed on the three main screens above the stage. A nice touch, I thought! And I LOVED Katy's costume in this performance. A nice sparkly number. Again, wish I had her figure...

Above: fireworks fly as Katy sings her heart out, accompanied by the voices of the KatyCats inside Capital FM Arena!

Above: more fireworks! You can tell by Katy's posture that she's having fun, but putting everything she has into the performance. Firework always seems like a tricky one to sing, but she really pulled it off. I loved it! Well done, Katy!

Then the performance finished, and the arena went dark... The screens flashed up with Katy approaching Candyfornia, so we all knew what was coming!

Yep, California Gurls! The number one hit single featuring Snoop Dogg. EVERYONE knew this song, and there was a huge buzz when people realised what was next in the show. Katy's cupcake dress was fantastic and I'd gladly have one myself!

People waved their glosticks as the song got underway, but Katy had a few surprises in store for us as the performance went on.

As everyone was singing along, we noticed that some BEACH BALLS were making their way onto the standing crowd! My friend was actually down in the standing block and said she wasn't expecting beach balls to come flying out of nowhere, and very nearly got knocked out by it! Oops!

There's absolutely NO doubt about it: Katy wanted her audience to have fun whilst they watched the show, and she wanted to get them involved in the action. I felt really jealous all the way over in block 6, as I wanted to grab the candy she was throwing, punch a beach ball, and generally see her up close. I had a fantastic time nevertheless!

As the song neared the end, GLITTER was being propelled upwards by cannons! It was absolutely unbelievable but I LOVED it. Glitter, candy, cupcakes, beach balls, glitz and glam - it was SO my idea of heaven. If Candyfornia was real, then boy, I would move there in a heartbeat.

As the final fall of the red curtain approached, glitter and beach balls were still flying everywhere, and the crowd was going absolutely wild - applauding and screaming their appreciation for Katy, the performers and Katy gathered in the centre of the stage to take their bow.

It was the end of the California Dreams show at Nottingham.

BUT I had such a fantastic time. I was still buzzing as I left the arena, and as I got into the car clutching my California Dreams tour tshirt and my glostick! I was grinning from ear to ear; Katy had made such an impact on me that night, and it will stay with me forever.

I would not hesitate to recommend Katy's show to anyone. It's definitely something you need to experience, especially if you love her music!

I am really hoping that I can nab a couple of tickets for her November Nottingham date, but as you can see it is a superb show and unfortunately seems to be sold out everywhere! Katy's show was the best I have seen to date. I loved it!