Review: Schwarzkopf Beach Matt Salt Spray

I am always looking for a product which will speed up my hairstyling process, I have been a fan of salt sprays in the past and was looking for a new one to try, this was on offer in Superdrug for £3 so I decided to give it a go. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Salt Spray it's a product which mimics the effect of salt water in your hair, you know that slightly matt tousled effect you get when you've been swimming in the sea...

This one promised me a MERMAID LOOK...ambitious in my shoulder length hair but who doesn't want to be a mermaid right?? 

It's really easy to use, you spray (quite a lot in , if I'm honest to get any real texture) and then either let it dry naturally or speed it up with the hair dryer. I like to twist my hair and blow dry each twist in a downward direction. 

It smells fresh too, it reminds me very much of Impulse O2 body spray (so anyone familiar with the girls changing rooms after PE at Toot Hill School circa 1998 will know what I mean) and for anyone who didn't go to school with me...it has citrus undertones. 

Here's a pic to jog your memory...I'm telling you my 90s obsession IS OUT OF CONTROL!

ANYWAY...

I was pretty pleased with the result and for £3 you can't go wrong really, always worth having this product in your arsenal for a lazy hair day...this is what I looked like, not really mermaid like and Eric never turned up...but definitely gave me a nice texture. 

Why not give it a try and tweet me what you thought at @amandainateacup, I'm also on Facebook so come say hi here

A x

Twinings Green Tea Blend Review

So...given the name of my blog, it'll come as no surprise that I drink A LOT of tea...like a HECK of a lot of tea. With that knowledge it's a bit of a surprise that it's taken so long for me to review/talk about some tea...but fear not as that's what I'm going to be doing RIGHT NOW....

I bought this tea out of necessity after a rather first world problem where I couldn't find Tetley's Best of Both tea anywhere and needed something as a replacement. Best of Both is a blend of green and black tea just so you know...

SO

I bought this...

I know what you're thinking WOAH! Green AND Black tea...you complete weirdo why would you want to drink that?? Well, what's great about it is that along with the black tea you are getting all the health benefits of green tea without noticing it or having to drink it on it's own which can be pretty intense. Green tea is also meant to be healthier than black tea because it is less processed and has not been allowed to ferment so as a result the green tea retains more of the antioxidants. There's loads of good information on the Internet about the health benefits so I won't list them all here but two which caught my eye were to maintain weight/metabolism and apparently green tea can help reduce wrinkles. 

I'll admit it does taste of green tea but it's not overpowering and you very quickly get used to it. You need to brew this for a good two minutes and once you put the milk in don't freak out if it is a bit paler than your regular brew.

It is quite expensive at £4 for a box of 80. I love my tea and it is my indulgence so I wasn't put of by that. If I am comparing this tea to the Tetley Best of Both then this seems to have more of a quality green tea in it, the flavour is stronger and I now definitely prefer it over the Tetley. The Tetley however is only about £3 for 80 so well worth giving it a try. 

All in all I really recommend you try this but you'll need to drink it pretty consistently to see the results. I would love to know what you think if you try it! So tweet me  @amandainateacup

A x 

Art Friday

I've been off all week, it was a much needed rest and I've thoroughly enjoyed pottering around my little house with no schedule. I spent a lot of time catching up with friends and generally just chilling out. 

On Friday I went for a little jaunt to the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery in Hockley...it's well worth a visit, you can find more info here

The exhibition focused on two artists Tala Madani and Marvin Gaye Chetwynd. What was really nice is that as the gallery was pretty empty one of the curators was able to give us a lot of information about the paintings which was much appreciated. 

Tala Madani

I enjoyed this exhibition, the painter is a feminist from Iran who now lives in Los Angeles. Her work often reflects the repression she felt as a woman living in Iran and the subject of the paintings often focused on men in vulnerable and degrading positions. Some of the pieces were not to my personal taste but there were some paintings that I really liked, unsurprisingly the ones I enjoyed gave a nod to Pop Art...the painting below 'Action Painting Room' was influenced by Jackson Pollock . (They don't have pink walls at the contemporary by the way just my dodgy photography )

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

It was nice to see some sculpture and I enjoyed this exhibition. A lot of the exhibits were puppet like and from what I understand provide the back drop for performance art. 

It spoke to me on an anarchic level, whether it was supposed to or not I'm not sure...I do like my art to be conceptual and bordering on the surrealist. I particularly enjoyed a series of paintings entitled 'Bat Opera'. 

It was the large TV sculpture that captured my attention...not enough to take down it's name though it seems, whoops sorry about that...

After looking around the gallery, we went to get some tea and cake at Wired Cafe Bar which is fast becoming one of my favourite places for tea in Nottingham. You get a timer for your teapot...AWESOME!

If you are ever in Nottingham, I would really recommend you check out both the Contemporary Gallery and Wired Cafe. 

Ax

And over on Twitter...

Got disciplined and forced myself to sketch through my creative block... #illustration #vintagecamera pic.twitter.com/IjviyaLFWp
— Amanda Wright (@amandainateacup) March 15, 2014

REVIEW- Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

As a beauty blog and Youtube addict, I'd been hearing a lot of good things about Micellar Cleansers, particularly Bioderma. I was due a skin regime overhaul as I'd been loyally using Olay Daily Facials for the past eek 8 years or so!! CRAZY right?!

I didn't really want to splash out on the Bioderma right away as it's pretty expensive at £9.99 for 250ml; so I decided to buy the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water after hearing such positive things about it. It's currently on offer at £3.99 for 400ml and at full price is still only £5 or so, which I think is really good value. On the bottle it says there are enough for 200 uses of the product, I've not actually been counting but realistically you can probably get a months worth out of it. 

AND BOY WAS I GLAD I DID!...

I have been using this for about a month now, I really wanted to test it out before I wrote about it and I am so impressed!. I'm probably responsible for a slight increase in sales in Nottingham due to the fact I won't shut up about it JOKES!

The water is unscented and the science part of it is basically that there are particles of oil suspended in the water which lift off your make-up. That's to paraphrase massively but you get the idea. I am really impressed with how cleansed my skin feels after using, it probably takes me about three cotton wool pads to remove all my make up and it's not that great at removing ALL my eye make up but it's really gentle on the skin and didn't sting my eyes. BIG PLUS! 

I would definitely recommend you try this product, particularly if you currently use face wipes to remove your make up because this is NEXT.LEVEL and once you've used it you won't go back to wipes.

I'd love to hear from you if you've used this and how you found it! leave me a comment below or tweet me @amandainateacup

A x

Manchester Mania...

I hadn't left Nottingham for an incredibly long time...so I felt I was due a little break away. So with that in mind I headed on up to Manchester to kick it with the northern part of my maaaaassssiiivvveee...

ER ANYWAY

It was a lot of fun and I got to spend some time drinking tea and having a reet good time meandering through the Northern Quarter. I love Manchester it is such a great city with something creative on every corner (or so it seems) and I can't believe this was my first visit this year! My favourite cafe Home Sweet Home on Edge Street was busy so we had some food in Terrace Bar on Thomas Street instead. It's really cool, unsurprisingly; with an industrial feel to the interior with a lot of exposed brick work. They also had craft beer box condiment holders which I thought was pretty neat...

I had the club sandwich- tasted awesome and I would recommend it...loved the tin tray!

Now it probably isn't a surprise that I have to have a cup of tea in every place I eat, and I am a sucker for any kind of tea gimmick. I loved, loved, loved the little milk bottle that came with my brew. 

We also went into a great little shop which annoyingly I completely forgot to make a note of the name of; which is really useful for you, sorry about that...

BUT it did sell some ridiculously cool stuff including this POLAROID TOILET ROLL HOLDER!!!! I know right! AMAZING!! and these brutally honest F BOMB office stationary stamps. 

BOX SOCIAL

As part of my Manchester escapade I attended Box Social at the Klondyke Club in Levenshulme. It was without a doubt one of the most interesting venues I'd been to in a while, think Phoenix Nights meets Big Break and you pretty much have it. The night was put on by a mate and there were quite a few bands playing- my favourite being Barberos  , who are a mind blowing electronic band which to be honest I can't quite describe...they are not for the faint hearted but I BLOOMIN LOVED EM! There was also an inflatable dinosaur being thrown around the crowd at one point which was BRILLIANT! 

I was helping my mate sell a few records and ended up being a bit of a 'merch girl'...I ended up doing a bit of a doodle during a lull... as you do!

All in all it was a great weekend and just what I needed! 

A x

Style inspiration...

I'm living vicariously through Polyvor tonight...bring on the pink hair!

Happy Monday folks!

A x

Saving Face...

As you know I went along to a blogger meet up last week which included a demonstration on products from two lovely ladies Sophie and Autumn at the Body Shop in Nottingham. I BLOOMIN loved it, it was so cool being able to try products and ask questions...something I am usually way too scared to do when I am in the store. 

So unsurprisingly I bought myself some treats...............OK lots of treats...........gawd who are you the treat police?...I totally deserved them I promise! LOLZ

ANYWAY...

One of the products I picked up was this little package of moisturising goodness...

The Body Shop Save our Skin Kit

Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-oil

Vitamin E Intense Moisturising Cream

£16

I am impressed with this kit. I think that it's great value, for £16 you get two really good products. I had never used a serum before so was a bit unsure how I would get on with it, particularly as it was combined with an oil and the last thing I wanted was a greasy face. However I was pleasantly surprised that the oil absorbs really quickly into the skin and didn't feel greasy at all, after the first night of using it my skin felt really soft. 

I like the fact that the bottle has a little dropper, that may be my inner geek but I thought it was cool and I loved the novelty factor. I end up using about six or seven drops for my whole face, I warm the oil between my fingers and then apply.

You also get the Vitamin E Intense Moisturising Cream in the pack, this is a really thick and rich cream. Not something that I need to use all the time but it is perfect for when you want to give your skin a real moisture boost. You can use the cream in conjunction with the serum or on it's own. I think the cream is perfectly suited to the winter time when your skin is battling the elements and central heating. 

Overall I am impressed with both of these products and my skin has definitely improved. 

If you have tried them let me know what you think! 


Amanda x

#SO90s

My style lately seems to have more than a cheeky nod to the 90s, it's a decade that seems to speak to me on so many levels...I think because I wasn't quite old enough to go for it at the time, I'm totally embracing it today! LIKE TO THE MAX!!! 

 So here's a little stylespiration for ya...see what I did there! 

 Happy Saturday!

 Amanda x

Grunge Love by amandainateacup featuring forever 21 dresses