Tuesday 30 April 2013

Model’s Own Disco Inferno Nail Polish


As a Christmas gift from my sister, I received a bottle of Model’s Own Disco Inferno Nail Polish. Due to having my favourite colours that I wear all of the time, it has taken me ages to get around to trying this one. This particular nail polish is the first in Model’s Own’s line of nail frostings. It can be purchased online currently for £5. Model’s Own do generally always have some kind of offer online though.

The nail polish comes in the usual Models Own nail polish bottle, which is round and made from glass. The bottle is clear with the Models Own logo on the front in white text while on the back is the company address and website information. On the bottom of the bottle you can find the name of the nail polish. The lid is white which matches the text on the front of the bottle. The bottles are very plain but it does make it possible to see the colour inside and it will match any other Models Own nail polishes that you may have.

This is not quite the same as a glitter nail polish but looks that way in the bottle. When looking inside the bottle before opening, this product looks like it is full of tiny pieces of metallic paper and gold leaf. The mixture of colours looks nice with golds, greens, reds and blues mixed in with each other. However, once you open the bottle and pull out the brush, it quickly becomes clear that this is not how the polish will look once on your nails. The brush comes out with barely any product on it, apart from clear nail polish.

After the first application, I was already disappointed. My nails barely had any of the colour on them. Mostly, they looked like they had clear polish on with one or two tiny bits of the metallic finish. After two coats, I was even less impressed. With two coats, my nails still were not covered and they looked extremely cheap and tacky. Think cheap Christmas decorations from a pound shop but worse. The Model’s Own website state that you can use this on its own or on top of another colour and I really wish I had used another colour underneath but didn’t have anything that would match to hand. I would strongly advise not to use this on its own as it doesn’t give the desired effect.

I did leave this to try before taking it off and it was a complete nightmare. The small pieces of metallic paper stuck to my nails like glue and I had a really hard time to get them all off. Not only does this nail polish look terrible but once you decide you don’t like it, it is so hard to remove which is definitely not a good thing. Unfortunately, I won’t be using this again. 


Friday 26 April 2013

The cost of make-up



Last week I did something incredibly stupid. I managed to leave a weekend bag on a bus the day I was due to go away. Although the transport company managed to get it for me, it wasn't on the same day. This meant that along with some of my favourite clothes, I thought I had lost my whole set of basic make-up. Also, going away meant I just could not do without make-up and I ended up having to nip over to Boots on my break at work and get a whole new set. I was not expecting this to cost £75!!! 

I don't think I have ever really thought about how much make-up costs, as I tend to buy one or two bits at a time, replacing something that has run out or treating myself to something new. I can't think of one time in my life where I have had to buy a whole set of make-up in one go. I know when I began to wear make-up, it started as eye shadow and mascara and then the rest all came later. It doesn't seem like a big deal to spend £10 on a mascara now and again, or roughly £9 on a foundation but when you need everything at once, it becomes like hell. 

Not only did I need to buy mascara, foundation, pen eye liner, blusher and powder, I also needed brushes and eyelash curlers. Brushes are crazily expensive I think, and at £10 a go these ended up costing me £30. I only bought the essentials too which was a foundation brush, blusher brush and powder brush. I can't imagine what I would have ended up spending if I was a regular wearer or eye shadow and lipstick. 

I do obviously own more make-up than the basics but I just wanted enough to get me through a weekend. Also, as I'm moving out of my university flat pretty soon, I've already sent a lot of my make-up back home so I didn't have the option of using any of my other supplies. 

I am going to Florida in September and was planning on stocking up a little bit as the prices are so much more reasonable than they are here for make-up. Now though, I think I'll be spending a little more than planned. It would be nice to have an extra set of most things always available just in case I do something like this again. 

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Sanctuary Body Lotion


For my birthday, I received a massive Sanctuary gift set which was filled with a whole range of goodies, all full sized too. One of the products was the Sanctuary Body Lotion. I’m not much of a body lotion kind of girl due to preferring body butters but I was willing to give this one a try.

Sanctuary products are available from Boots stores and online, with a 250ml bottle costing roughly £5.50.

Sanctuary describes the product as ‘a wonderfully fragrant, super-absorbent lotion which nourishes and stimulates the body, smoothing away dryness and revitalising tired skin.’

Packaging wise, this one is pretty typical for a Sanctuary product. The body lotion comes in a bottle which is shaped like a cylinder. The bottle is plastic and see through, which makes it possible to see the product inside. The lid is made from orange plastic. The bottle also has on it the Sanctuary name, product name and other information such as that it has not been tested on animals and that you can recycle the bottle. The Sanctuary packaging is a bit plain for my liking although the colours do go nicely together.

After popping off the orange lid, you will see the opening at the top of the bottle. This is obviously where the body lotion comes out of. I find this kind of bottle to be a bit of a pain. In order to get any lotion out, you need to squeeze the bottle and tip it upside down. The whole process would be much easier if the bottle had a pump dispenser on the top because once you get to the bottom, there are going to be problems getting any more lotion out. The lotion is also quite thick, which does make it more difficult to get out of the bottle.

Although the thickness of the lotion can be a little annoying because of the bottle, this is a good thing for my skin. The lotion itself is not exactly white but has a slight orange tint to it, more like a really light peach colour. It was nice to see a product that wasn’t boring white nor girly pink. Being quite thick means that the lotion takes a little more time to soak into the skin compared to a thinner body lotion. However, rubbing this into my skin feels wonderful and I could really feel it working and hydrating my skin quickly. Although the lotion can be quite cool to begin with, it does warm up and gives a wonderful feeling to the skin.

As well as feeling lovely on the skin, this lotion smells great too. Ingredients include ginger root and jojoba oil, which also help to soften the skin. I never need to use much of this in one go so while it may seem expensive for the size of the bottle, it does last a long time. One small blob of lotion is enough to cover both of my calves, which is where I need to moisturise the most.

Even though this is a lovely product, I do still prefer my body butters. However, if I were to get a gift set again, I would be more than happy to use this product – I just wouldn’t buy it myself.

Monday 22 April 2013

Enrapture Encode Totem Hair Styler


After trying my friend Laura’s Enrapture Encode Totem Hair Styler, I knew I had to had one. I have had so many problems in the past with not being able to curl my hair or the curls dropping out quickly as my hair is so fine and thin but this is the only thing that I have found that works so far. However, this hair styler has a RRP of about £75. Now, I was extremely happy that this thing curled my hair but I wasn’t going to pay that price. Luckily, the price of this goes up and down on Amazon and I managed to get it for only £30, which is a really good price for it I think. Having looked again today (26/3) it has already gone back up to £40.

This product comes in a lovely black and purple box. Well, the box is metallic purple while the sleeve over it is black. Although the packaging is quite plain, with a picture of the product and its name, it is still really nice. It looks expensive, which it should do considering what the RRP is. Inside the box you get the hair styler, a heat resistant pad/ carrying case as well as a small ‘how to style’ booklet. Although the booklet isn’t too in depth, it tells you everything you need to know to get started.

What is different about this hair styler is the way it works. In the middle of the styler, just above the handle is a set of dials. There are three different dials you can turn, each of which go from number 1 to 3. Depending on what combination you have these numbers in; it will affect what kind of curls you get in your hair. Each dial heats up differently depending on the settings you are using. I initially really loved the idea of being able to create numerous looks with just one piece of equipment because who really wants so many hair stylers lying around just for curls?

Just underneath the dials is where you turn the hair styler on. There is only a little on/ off switch and it doesn’t tell you when it is completely heated up which is really my only negative about this product. However, this does have a quick heating design so it barely takes 2 minutes to be ready for you to use. Above the dials is where you actually curl your hair, is what they call a ‘mini flipper.’ To make it easier to curl your hair, you can put the end into this flipper in order to keep it in place and then begin to twist the styler, wrapping your hair around the totem barrels. On the other side is a metal clip, which can be used as a stand for the styler, making sure you don’t burn any surfaces with it.

So, to begin what you need to do is decide which way you want your hair to fall when it is curled. I know this sounds a little strange but depending on which way you twist the totem barrels with your hair on, will affect the way it falls. Once you have decided whether or not to twist towards or away from your face, you need to stick to this otherwise you hair will be full of all kinds of crazy curls that don’t look the same. Also, try to take sections of hair which are about the same width. If you want really tight looking curls, use the totem on 3-3-3 and have sections of hair about 1 or 2cm wide. If you want curls which aren’t too tight nor loose, use 1-1-2, which is what I generally use. 1-1-2 will give you slight waves nearer the top of your hair with a bit of a bigger curl towards the bottom. Using 1-1-1 will give you lovely wavy hair in a bohemian style.

When curling your hair, you only need to keep it wrapped around the totem for roughly 5-10 seconds. There is a video on Youtube of a girl demonstrating how to style your hair (not with this product) and she leaves her hair wrapped up too long and it ends up falling out. Don’t let that happen to you! As the totem barrel heats up quickly anyway, there is no need to keep it on for too long or wait between curling each section. It will stay hot enough the whole time while doing your hair. When releasing your hair from the flipper, all you need to do is release it and gently pull the styler downwards. This will release your hair without pulling the curls out at the same time.

For £30, this is a fantastic product but I would never have paid full price for it, even with my hair being a nightmare to curl. I highly recommend this product, especially if you are like me and are no good with styling your hair in the first place. It is easy to use and curling all of my hair only took about 15 minutes which I thought was great considering my hair is really long. 

Saturday 20 April 2013

Wedding Countdown: 5 months to go!

Today was a pretty special day for me. Although it is still 5 months and a bit until I get married, I picked up my wedding dress today. I know this is insanely early compared to the norm but I bought it back where my Mum lives. I'm moving to Norfolk in 2 weeks after finishing university in Nottingham and it's a pain in the arse train journey to get back to Mum's. Also, as I won't have a job in 2 weeks, I have no idea when I would be able to afford to train fare to go and pick it up. I also didn't want to take it on at least 4 different trains so it was easier to have it fitted early. Fingers crossed I don't dramatically alter in size in the next 5 months. 

Now that I have the dress in Nottingham, I can't stop looking at it. Whenever I have had it on, I haven't wanted to take it off. Luckily, I can't do it up myself otherwise I can see me walking around the flat in it quite a bit. Now that I have my dress, I am pretty much all prepared in the ways of what I'm wearing. I managed to get some bargain shoes from John Lewis in the Christmas sales and I bought earrings with money from my birthday. 

Dress detail

The one thing I was missing was a necklace and this is also another reason why I went to my Mum's. I have been drooling over her pearl necklace since as long as I can remember. She knows how much I love it and seeing as my dress has pearls on it, she said I could borrow it. So, at the same time as figuring my something borrowed, I also have something old as the necklace was a gift from my Nanna for her 18th birthday. I haven't actually tried the necklace on with the dress yet but it is so delicate and pretty that I think it will go really well without being over the top. 

Mum's pearl necklace
Now, all I'm stuck with is the something blue. I guess my shoes, earrings and dress can all count as something new... can't they? 

If anyone has suggestions for something blue for a wedding, please let me know! 

Friday 19 April 2013

Soap & Glory Clean On Me Body Wash


My sister bought me a wonderful set of Soap & Glory products for my birthday. I was so happy to get 3 different products as I’m too broke at the minute to be able to treat myself to luxury items such as this. One of the products she bought me was the Soap & Glory Clean On Me Body Wash. Soap & Glory products are available from Boots and this one retails at £5.50 for a 500ml bottle.

What really grabs my attention about Soap & Glory products is their packaging. All of the packaging has a vintage look to it but it still manages to be bright and colourful at the same time. The Clean on Me bottle is partly see through plastic while most of the front is covered with a label which has on it the name of the product in large, bold lettering, descriptions of the product, a picture and the Soap & Glory logo. At the top of the bottle is a pump dispenser which I think is a great idea. Overall, this shower gel is one of the nicest looking in my bathroom.

Soap & Glory describe this product as; ‘Soft, smooth, sexy skin whenever you want it. Contains natural mandarin peel extract and a bonus built-in body lotion. Scented with our Original Pink fragrance.’

The gel is extremely easy to get out of the bottle. Due to the pump dispenser at the top of the bottle, I find this much easier to use while in the shower. Other bottles that have the liquid come out of the bottom are often hard to open with wet hands but not this one. I pump the liquid straight onto my fluff ball thingy. You only need about two squirts too before the lovely, creamy liquid lathers up fast. With this amount, my fluff ball was full of luxurious bubbles and it smelt wonderful. This product has a mix of strawberry, vanilla and mandarin as well as a whole other range of things. Due to all of the fruity scents, this is extremely feminine but I love it.

On my skin, this felt even nicer than when it was lathering up. Clean on Me made my skin feel incredibly soft and smooth which is probably due to the added body lotion. I wouldn’t say that I would substitute my normal body butter but it does do a pretty good job of cleaning and moisturising at the same time. At £5.50, I wouldn’t buy this all of the time but it would be a nice treat now and again for myself.  

Monday 15 April 2013

The Yarborough Hotel, Grimsby


On a recent trip back to Grimsby, I went out to eat more than I usually would. On the Saturday, I headed into town for drinks and some food at The Yarborough Hotel, which is actually a Wetherspoons branch. The Yarborough Hotel can be found right near Grimsby Train Station so it is in the perfect location if you have had a long journey or need to go somewhere easily with cases. Having grown up in Grimsby, I have always thought of this branch of Wetherspoons as ‘the old man’s pub’. This is because the other Wetherspoons is much trendier and livelier whereas this one is actually full of old men. However, it has a more relaxed atmosphere and doesn’t play any music which is nice if you do just want to go and have a drink and a chat with friends.

As soon as you walk in the main entrance, you can see just how big this place is. The pub is split up into two floors although only so by a couple of steps. The lower part of the pub has quite a few tables although space is mostly taken up by seats around the edges of the room. As you go up the steps you see the first bar and just past this is another bar and another room full of tables. The Yarborough Hotel has so much seating in comparison to the other Wetherspoons which is probably why it is so popular.

Since I last came here, the menus have changed and for the better. Each table has a menu on it and you have to go up to the bar to order your food and drinks. The menu is so much better than it used to be although it is still very much a pub food menu. The Yarborough Hotel opens at 8am every day so it is open for breakfast. However, it is the main meals and sharing dishes which have been revamped. The Yarborough Hotel serves the basic burger as well as things like a full rack of ribs, salads and sandwiches. We decided to go for one of the new sharing platters (The Wetherspoon Sharer) as we didn’t want to eat too much. For £8.09, this included chicken wings, chicken strips, onion rings, battered shrimp and chips.

Service at the The Yarborough Hotel was fantastic. Even though the pub was extremely busy, after placing our order it only took 10 minutes for our food to arrive. Even though this is a sharing platter, we didn’t get given any plates so we had to ask for these. All of the food was nice and hot and looked very appetising on the plate. I don’t eat shrimp so cannot comment on what this tasted like but the rest was all lovely. For the price, I think we got really good value for money and there was enough food for the three of us without us fighting for more of anything.

As you would expect from a Wetherspoons, the drinks are also pretty cheap. We were having rounds of two VK’s and a pint of Fosters and this came to around £6 which isn’t bad for a round at all. As the drinks aren’t overly expensive, it is quite possible to sit here for hours if you’re paying for yourself only and barely spend £20. This Wetherspoons in particular serves a whole range of cask ales if you’re into that sort of thing too.

Compared to the other times I have been here, nothing much has changed in regards to how the pub actually looks but the food menu is a hell of a lot better than I can ever remember it being.

Address
29 Bethlehem Street
Grimsby
Lincolnshire
DN31 1JN

Telephone
01472 268283

Opening Times
Mon - Thu: 8am to 12am
Fri - Sat: 8am to 1am
Sun: 8am to 12am

Thursday 11 April 2013

Sainsburys Hairspray – Firm Hold


After trying out my friend Laura’s Enrapture Encode Totum Styler, I decided I needed one for myself. I saw the price had dropped on Amazon to only £30 (£45 off the RRP) so bought it instantly. However, as I got one day delivery, I realised that I had no hair products whatsoever due to my having it down and straight all of the time. I quickly headed over to Sainsburys to stock up on a few things. A must have when curling hair is hairspray so this was the first on my list. I ended up getting Sainsburys Hairspray – Firm Hold as I wanted something that would hold the curls without my hair being too stiff. For a 300ml canister of this, you can expect to pay £1, both in store and online.

The canister of hairspray is quite nice looking, considering it is a Sainsburys own product. However, it isn’t one of the cheapest of Sainsburys products which are really plain and white with only orange text. The main body of this canister is a lovely dark silver colour with a purple top and cap which pulls off. The colour of the text on the body of the canister is also purple which matches the top and the cap. On the body of the canister is the Sainsburys name and the product name as well as what kind of hold it gives.

The hairspray is really easy to use. Once you pull off the cap, all you need to do is push down on the button and the spray will be released. With some really cheap hairsprays, the room can become quite full and fumes quickly, especially small rooms but that isn’t the case with this one. I used this in my bathroom, which is tiny, and while I could smell the hairspray is wasn’t too bad at all.

My hair is really fine and thin, which is why I have had such a hard time being able to curl my hair before. However, by using this along with my new curlers, the curls actually stay in my hair and as they should be. As this is a firm hold hairspray, I was slightly worried that my hair would end up stiff and not have that luxurious, bounce that curls should have. However, while my hair was a little stiffer than normal, it didn’t feel crunchy at all and it really did keep my curls in good condition.

For £1, I’m really impressed with this hairspray and probably won’t be buying anything different from now on unless there is a really good offer on.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

The Sanctuary Body Butter


I have written reviews before about my love of body butters. I think I have about 7 or 8 of them sitting around in the bathroom now. As part of the set I got for my birthday, I got a tub of The Sanctuary Body Butter. I did get a full size tub which usually costs a shocking £9.50 for 300ml. I say shocking, but a 200ml tub from The Body Shop usually costs £13 at full price. The Sanctuary products can be found in Boots or Boots online.

The body butter comes in a large white tub with an orange lid – the Sanctuary signature colours. The tub is quite plain, with the Sanctuary name on the front as well as the name of the product. The orange lid is a screw top like you would expect with any other kind of body butter. I tend to keep my body butters separate from my other bath products but this one fits nicely on top of the others.

Unlike with the Body Soak from Sanctuary, once I opened the lid to the body butter, I was instantly hit with a lovely, sweet scent. At first, I didn’t think the scent was very feminine but once I got a better smell, I realised that there was a very distinct scent there. In this body butter, you can find cocoa butter as well as macadamia oil which is what I smelt. There is also almond oil in there too which, when mixed together, smells amazing. The mixture of almond oil and macadamia oil means that this body butter should make your skin lovely and soft but at the same time, giving your skin a really sweet scent to it.

Apart from the scent upon opening the tub, there is also the view of the wonderfully white and creamy body butter. This does look a little thinner than those from The Body Shop but this just means that a smaller amount will go a long way. I only used a tiny amount on my fingertip to use on my calf and that covered it completely. I was surprised at how little of this product I needed and how far it actually went. For this reason, this is a much better value for money than a body butter from The Body Shop as you never need to use as much so the tub will last longer.  

After using this on my calves, (it’s where I test all new products) I could immediately feel how much softer my skin felt. The body butter moisturises very quickly and easily. I always get really dry skin on my calves and find that I need to moisturise every day in order to stop this from happening. However, with this one, I left it for a day after using to see what would happen to my skin and it was still wonderfully moisturised after two days.

Up until now, I have been very loyal to The Body Shop but I think I may have found my new favourite. 


Friday 5 April 2013

Sanctuary Foaming Bath Soak


For my birthday recently, I got a whole load of Sanctuary products. This is a range I have never tried before so I was looking forward to seeing what they were all like. The first product I used was the Sanctuary Foaming Bath Soak. Although this did come in a gift set, it was a full size, 250ml bottle which retails at £5.50. Sanctuary products are available from Boots.

Although I had never used a Sanctuary product before, I knew that their signature packaging was white and orange, two colours which really go well together. This bottle has a long, white body with an orange cap which you pull off. The bottle has on it the Sanctuary Spa logo along with the little fish picture as well as the name of the product and a description. If you use these products a lot, the packaging looks really nice when on a shelf with other bottles that match.

Upon opening the cap, I can’t say that I got a really strong smell like I was expecting. Sanctuary products aren’t cheap and this is far from a bubble bath that you can get for £1 or so in a supermarket. Sanctuary directs you to apply generous amounts to your bath, which I did. I always generally tend to go overboard with bubble bath and put in way more than I need to just because I like a lot of bubbles. However, this one took a really long time to bubble up and even then, my bath wasn’t nearly full of bubbles.

To make up for the disappointing amount of bubbles, at least this did have a nice scent to it while in the water. The bath soak has a really sweet, gingerbread type scent to it which I found to be really nice and relaxing. The water also becomes really nice and smooth which was also another plus side to this product. My hot bath water felt incredibly smooth and silky and I could feel my skin begin to feel softer too as soon as I got in. After my bath, my skin still felt great and it smelt nice at the same time.

While this isn’t my favourite bubble bath/ bath soak by far, I did really enjoy using it and the smell that filled my bathroom. 

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Rimmel Metal Rush Nail Polish

Although I have quite a lot of nail polishes, most of them have now been moved to my flat in Norfolk and I only have a few left in Nottingham. Because of this, I decided to nick one of my flatemate's nail polishes so I had something different on for a change. The one I decided to use was Rimmel's Metal Rush in Royal Blue. As Rimmel is a very well-known and popular brand, you can find it in most beauty stores like Superdrug and Boots as well as many other places online. The RRP is £3.99. 

Rimmel describe these nail polishes as 'Do you dare to wear Rimmel's fierce metallic two tone nail colour!? Flip your nail colour with our innovative nail polish. Be right on trend with our amazing metallic two tone nail colour that changes tone with your moves! 

Before this, I had never worn a two tone nail polish before so I wasn't sure what to expect from it really. In the bottle, Royal Blue is not exactly as the name makes it sound. Instead of a royal blue, this one is a light blue with purple mixed into it. On the bottle, there is the Rimmel logo , Metal Rush in large lettering and 'flip your colour' printed on the lid. The packaging is more cluttered than most nail polishes and personally, I prefer a plainer looking bottle. 

When applying the nail polish, it settles on the nail pretty much the same colour as how you see it in the bottle. For me, this was a good thing as many times I have bought a nail polish that looks completely different on the nail. With this one, due to the two tone appearance, you will definitely need two coats. The first coat didn't look too good and the two tone but didn't stand out too well. After the second coat though, my nails were a wonderful pearly blue/ purple colour. If you move your hand either way, each nail will shine slightly different which was a nice touch. 

Unfortunately, what lets this lovely looking nail polish down is how long it lasts. I found that after only 2 days, it had begun to chip quite badly and I wasn't doing anything other than what I normally would. After the third day, I had to completely remove the nail polish as it looked terrible. I was really disappointed with this nail polish but only because of how long it didn't last. If it had lasted longer, I would buy it again.




Monday 1 April 2013

QVS Foundation Brush


I have only ever had one kind of foundation brush and that is a QVS foundation brush. This was the first one I ever bought and because I have been so happy with it, I have stuck with it ever since.

QVS is a brand that creates a range of different make up brushes and are sold online and in store at Superdrug. When I was looking for my first brush, everything I came across was really quite expensive and I didn’t want to pay too much when I was unsure of whether I would get on with it or not. At the time of purchase, I paid about £4 although they are now £4.99. Even at the cost of an extra pound, when I need a new one, I will definitely be buying one of these again.

My biggest problem with this brush (and it isn’t even a big one) is the packaging. The brush comes in a plastic packet which has nowhere or no instructions for how to get the packet open. Because of this, you have to cut into the plastic with quite strong scissors. Do not use really cheap or thin ones as they might break – I have had this problem many times when opening packets for headphones. I understand that this type of packaging is probably used to deter shoplifters but when you pay for a product, you do expect to at least be able to get at it.

The brush inside the packet has a navy blue handle with a small QVS logo towards where the brush is. The handle is sleek and comfortable to hold and is made from plastic. Just above that is a smaller metal part of the handle which holds the brush bristles in place and then obviously, the brush is at the top. The bristles themselves are extremely soft and much nicer than I was expecting them to feel due to the price I paid for the brush. The bristles are synthetic and not natural unlike with some other foundation brushes you can buy. However, I don’t think that matters at all because feel is the most important thing and not what it actually is.

To apply your foundation, you can either put it straight onto the brush bit by bit, or on the back of your hand and then using a small amount at a time. The brush does soak up liquid very quickly though. However, you can just press the brush a little more forcefully to your face and you will be able to use some of the excess foundation. Instead of applying foundation to your whole face at once, with a brush you need to cover section by section, making sure it is all blended in. The more you use this brush, the more foundation it will soak up into the bristles but that doesn’t really ever effect that way the brush works on your skin.

To clean the brush, I generally use shampoo and hot water, leaving it to soak for a little while. You can also just use soap and water but I think as you are cleaning bristles, the shampoo makes them a little softer. After washing the brush, it will look and feel like new again. I have been using and washing my brush for well over a year now and it isn’t any worse off than when I bought it. As I’m living between university in Nottingham and my fiancĂ©’s in Norfolk, I actually have two of these now, one in each house, because I liked it so much.

As you can see, I think this is a fantastic product and great value for money.