Mavala Pastel Polishes Review and Swatches

These Mavala polishes were used to create the nail look for the Holly Fulton S/S13 show at London Fashion Week (well not these exact polishes, you know what I mean!).

Gorgeous pastel shades that are perfect for this time of year.

The bottles each contain 4.5ml of polish.

All the shades apart from white have an iridescent sheen.

One coat of Lemon Cream.

Two coats of Lemon Cream, as you can see it is still very sheer and definitely needs a third coat!

Three coats of Lemon Cream, indoors.

Three coats of Lemon Cream, in daylight.

My nail line is still slightly visible after three coats but the colour is lovely!

One coat of Aquamarine.

Two coats of Aquamarine.

The coverage is better than Lemon Cream but still needed three coats to achieve good coverage.

Three coats of Aquamarine, indoors.

Lovely and opaque in three coats.

Three coats of Aquamarine, in daylight.

I don't know if you can see the iridescent sheen from the polish in the bottle? I've tried my best to capture it for you.  It doesn't pick it up on any of the pics of my nails.

One coat of Lagoon.

Two coats of Lagoon, indoors.

This is my favourite out of the four polishes.  The polish was the best consistency and was opaque in two coats.

Two coats of Lagoon, in daylight.

One coat of White.

I found this polish hard to apply, it was very watery and seemed to get everywhere!

Two coats of White.

Even after two coats the polish was streaky and had lots of bald patches.

Two coats of White topped with one coat of each of the colours.

I think two coats of Lemon Cream and Aquamarine would be needed really, Lagoon was fine with one coat.  I did find that using the colours over the White bought out more of the iridescent sheen.

This is the first time I have tried Mavala polishes, they were sent to me for review.  I am not used to having to apply 3-4 coats of a polish for it to be opaque - I think it may be because they are pastel shades as Lagoon was a dream to apply.

I tried the polishes over a number of different base coats as I found this made a real difference to the finish, the one I found best was Sally Hansen Insta Grip Fast Dry Base Coat.  The polishes applied beautifully to my nail wheel and only needed two coats of each to be fully opaque with no streaking or bald spots so it may be that my nails are a bit oily?

The polishes retails for £4.50 and you can find them in John Lewis, Debenhams and Boots.

Have you tried any Mavala polishes?

Olay Definity Pore Redefining Scrub Review

I picked this up a few months ago in the clearance section in Boots.  It cost £3.00 for 150ml, it usually retails for £7.99 at Boots.  

I like facial scrubs and have not tried anything from the Olay Definity range so was looking forward to trying it out.

It says on the tube it is ideal for skin with visible pores, oiliness or dullness.  I have visible pores on my nose and some on my cheeks.  It claims to minimize pore appearance to instantly redefine the skins appearance.

The scrub has a gel like consistency and contains grains of differing sizes.

The gel smells heavily perfumed, it is a really nice smell but I think it is far too strong for a facial product.

The gel is easy to massage over the skin but to me it didn't feel like it was a scrub at all! The grains seemed to stay suspended in the gel rather than exfoliating the skin.  I have tried the scrub using differing amounts to see whether this would change the effectiveness but it didn't make any difference.  This would definitely be better suited to someone who likes to use a gentle scrub.

I didn't notice any difference in the size of my pores and it left me with dry flaky skin on my forehead.  The product does say it is good for oiliness and at the moment my t zone is behaving so that might explain why it dried out my skin.

I won't be using this product again and will pass it on to my mum to see what she thinks!

Have you tried this or anything from the Olay Definity range?

Forever Bright Sparkling Aloe Vera Toothgel

I was sent this Forever Bright Aloe Vera Toothgel to try from Forever.  I have never tried a toothpaste/gel made with Aloe Vera before, I normally just pick which ever whitening toothpaste is on offer.  The gel also contains bee propolis.

The gel is quite a thick consistency and as you can see it's green!

The toothpaste has a slight minty taste and is pleasant to use.  It definitely left my teeth feeling squeaky clean and it left my teeth a lot whiter than they usually are.  I have not noticed whitening effects so quickly with any other toothpaste that I have used.

My teeth also felt cleaner for longer after using this toothgel than they usually do after using my usual toothpaste.

The toothgel contains Stabilised aloe vera gel,sorbitol, hydrated silica, glycerin,sodiumlaurylsulphate, carrageenan, flavour,

bee propolis,sodiumsaccharin,sodiumbenzoate, chlorophyllin-copper complex.

The toothpaste does not contain Fluoride.  I know this is a personal choice whether or not to buy a product that doesn't contain fluoride.  I am really happy with the results from using the toothgel so next time I am at the dentists for a check up I am going to ask if this is suitable for me to use on a long term basis as the water where I live does not have added fluoride.

You can read all about the toothgel here.  The toothgel is sold in 130g tubes for £5.75.

You can find the toothgel on their website here.  They ship internationally.

They have just set up a Facebook page which you can find here.  They have been running a few giveaways on Facebook too.