Scholl Gel Activ Insoles – Extreme Heels

Heyya Everyone!

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, I am a product tester for BzzAgent, and love every second of it. I have been sent some amazing products absolutely free, to test, try and review for all you lovely people out there!

This time I was sent a pair of Scholl Gel Activ Insoles to test – I chose the ‘Extreme Heels’ variety to try, as they are the style of shoes I wear the most.

This was the perfect product for me to be sent to test out, as I don’t own a pair of heels lower than 4 inches, and I wear them on a very regular basis – whether it’s out shopping with friends, or going out for lunch with the family. I have tried out various types of insoles in the past, and have never been able to find one that agreed with me.

The packaging of these insoles is really great; it has a cut out on both sides of the plastic, allowing you to feel the insoles, which I think is a great feature as it allows you to judge their thickness and flexibility. It has all the necessary information on the back, including how to attach them to your shoe in the optimum place for comfort, and the packaging itself is plastic around the insoles to protect them from bumps and knocks before buying, with the outer piece being cardboard, meaning you can easily get the insoles out without scissors – we’ve all bought something in the past that has been completely encased in thick plastic and you have to wait till you get home then dig around for scissors, and have to hack away just to get it out!

As I stated earlier, I chose the Extreme Heels option. They have very small bobbles all over the front end, and a thin ridge of gel which I assume is meant to go near the ball of your foot, just before where the toes start. It also has a large oval shaped cushion of gel which will sit in the arch of your foot to give extra support. When taking them out I was immediately surprised that they are so small, they look like insoles for toddlers! It hit me then that they would only be for the ball of your feet within the shoe, which seemed a bit odd as your heel also takes a lot of stress and pressure whilst wearing heels. One feature I really liked was that they are self-adhesive, I’ve always found that my insoles slip around in my shoe, and when I take my foot out the insoles doubles back on itself and comes out too – but this should mean that’s no longer an issue.

I chose to stick these into the heels I wear the most, my sand coloured suede Fiore shoes with the wooden heel. As these insoles are extremely flexible, it was a bit tricky sticking them into my shoe, they wobbled about like a wet fish! I got the left one in first time but had to redo the right one twice to get it to sit in the perfect place. I recommend lining the wider part up half way down the toe area of the shoe, and slowly smoothing down the back to avoid air bubbles and to make sure it’s straight.

I wore these shoes out in the morning to go out for lunch and then shopping with a friend, and as I was wearing a skirt, I wore them with hold-up stockings. My foot slipped in beautifully and I didn’t notice a difference in the size of the shoe, they didn’t feel tight or uncomfortable, so the insole had no effect on the shoe’s sizing which is a big plus! I could feel the bobbles of the insole and it was an odd sensation at first, but as soon as I got used to it I found it quite relaxing.

Later that evening I went out to town for drinks with close friends, and as I was wearing the shoes with slim fit trousers, I wore them with just bare feet. There was an immediate difference, the shoes immediately felt tighter, and my feet didn’t slip into them as smoothly as they did when I wore my stockings. I couldn’t feel the bumps on them as much with bare feet, they just felt like plain gel insoles to me, still cushioning, but without the added massaging feeling. My foot felt like it was stuck to the insole, it didn’t move about as freely as it usually does, or like how it did earlier with stockings on, there was no freedom of movement, and it wasn’t comfortable at all. After about half an hour I noticed that my feet felt really hot and uncomfortable, nothing like when I had worn them earlier. About an hour into the evening I had to take my shoes off, and only put them back on to hobble to a taxi, no way I would be able to do my usual walk home in them!

When I got home I took off my shoes and saw that I had a nasty blister on the edge of my right little toe, no doubt caused by the insole not giving my foot anywhere to move about, causing it to rub against the side of the shoe. Never in the 4 years I have owned these shoes have they ever given me a blister, so I think it’s fair to say the insoles contributed to this nasty surprise.

My next test was whether or not they could be transferred from one pair of shoes to another. I gently lifted up the thinner end of the insole and peeled it back from the shoes sole – and disaster. It was pulling the shoes lining out with it, causing it to loosen from the shoe and flap about. This made me absolutely furious as I take amazing care of my shoes, yet these simple pair of insoles have almost wrecked a pair I love. After very gingerly lifting the rest of the insole out, they were free – meanwhile my shoes were put aside to be mended at a later date. The insoles were still sticky and easily attached to a new pair of heels with no worries – and they will now stay in these shoes forever as I don’t want to risk another pair getting damaged by there powerful pulling power!

One other complaint I had was after reading the back of the packaging in depth, I noticed it stated it was suitable for shoe sizes UK 3-7.5. This seems ridiculous to me as most high street shoe shops sell up to a size UK 9, so the insoles should reflect that, otherwise it leaves a considerable amount of people unable to use them to there full potential. I also find that they are quite narrow across the ball of your foot, I have quite wide feet so I found that my foot went over the edges of the insoles, which wasn’t exactly painful as the edges of the insoles are tapered and thin, but it was a bit uncomfortable at times, especially when I was wearing the shoes without any stockings or tights as I could feel where it stopped.
It would be wise for them to make a wide fit option and go up to a larger shoe size, as not all of us have small, thin feet.

Overall I think that these insoles are good quality, providing you don’t remove them from the pair of shoes they are attached to. I also think they work a lot better, and are most comfortable if used when wearing tights/stockings. I think the pricing is average for a pair of insoles, especially since they cannot be moved from one pair of shoes to another.

Let me know what you guys think about the various insoles on the market, have you used a pair that was brilliant? Do you find them useful, or a waste of money? Would love to hear from you all!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

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L’Oreal Studio Pro LOCK IT Hairspray Review

Heyya Everyone!

Being part of a campaign for BzzAgent is wonderful as I get to try out the latest products for free and give my honest opinion on them, be it positive or negative.

This time I got to try out the Studio Pro LOCK IT Hairspray by L’Oreal, and I am super excited!

I’m a girl who loves her hairspray, it’s a necessity for me as I have just had my hair cut back to a short asymmetrical bob – now when I go outside the wind blows my short layers all over the place and instantly ruins my style, so I always need a good, strong hold hairspray to lock it all into place. For this campaign I chose the ‘Ultra Strong’ hold hairspray, which is the strongest of the range at hold number 5.

This hairspray boasts a double-hold formula, with instant hold and up to 48 hour endurance – and unlimited styling possibilities. The can recommends spraying at a distance of 30cm and in an S-motion on dry hair. I really liked the look of this product from the moment I unboxed it, the bright yellow and black can looks very edgy and stylish, and really stands out among my other styling products, so I can easily identify it when in a hurry. Then came time for testing, I washed and blow dried my hair as usual, gave the top layers a quick backcomb at the roots to get some volume, then sprayed the LOCK IT hairspray all over my head, at arms length and in the S-motion suggested. First thing I noticed was that this hairspray smelled fainty sweet, almost fruity which was a nice touch – also that it set fairly quickly and left hair hair still feeling soft, not hard and rough like some hairsprays do.

Next came the first challenge, how would it hold up on my trip to town during typical British weather? I walked the 15 minute route into my local town to do the weekly food shopping, all the while the wind was blowing a gale and it was lightly spitting with rain. The hairspray seemed to hold up well overall, but it wasn’t holding so well on my fringe which was constantly being blown to the other side due to the fierce winds – no fault of the hairspray, more the fault of the gales which are intent on ruining all nice hairstyles. So I get to town, do what I need to do, then head home – soon as I step in the door I take a look at my hair to see how it has coped – and it pretty much still looked the same as when I styled it in the morning, with the exception of a few strands of the top layers being a bit windswept. Overall I was very pleased with how the hairspray held up, especially considering how violent the weather was; I ran my fingers through it and there were no knots or tangles, which is rare as normally when hair finished with hairspray gets wet, it goes hard and clumps together – making it very painful to brush out.

A little windswept but it held up pretty well given the weather!

This also leads me to my next point, I was able to brush through my hair and restyle it midway through the day without any issues at all; usually I can never restyle my hair after I have given it a blast of hairspray, which is a pain as if I am going out in the evening or just want another style, I would either have to wash my hair and start again or not style it until I was about to go out – I shouldn’t have to compromise! Luckily, when I got home I could give it a quick brush through and then heated a wave through the longer side, so I was ready for when my client came over that afternoon for a costume fitting. Not to mention that as I heated the waves into my hair using my usual 3-barrel waver, the hairspray didn’t go all rigid and awful, it remained flexible and held the wave beautifully, meaning I didn’t need to spray it over again – Perfect!

The sun finally poked through to see my lovely wavy hair.

I couldn’t resist showing this product to my client when she was over, partly because I adored it and partly because I was curious to see how it would hold up on her hair. Emma’s hair is incredibly thick and shoulder length, so how would this hairspray cope on a different hair type? I have known Emma for many years and know that she never uses hairspray as her hair is so thick and heavy that it’s very difficult to control, so she leaves it to do it’s own thing. When she arrived her hair was straight, as it usually is due to curls never lasting in her hair due to it’s weight – so after I finished the fitting, I sat her down and curled her hair all over, then gave it a good blast with the Pro LOCK IT hairspray.

        

After this I sent her on her way, and asked her to send me a selfie later to show how her hair held up, and to text me what she thought of the product. This is what she sent me later that evening:-

 

The back of the can also advertises L’Oreals ‘Studio Pro’ app, which it says will allow you to virtually test drive different hairstyles by uploading a selfie, and show step-by-step tutorials on how to create each style – I downloaded this app on my iPhone to give it a go and see how it worked.  First time I opened the app I tried to upload a selfie for the virtual hairstyle , and the app crashed before it could even take the picture, not a good start. I reloaded the app and went into the tutorial section, first off this has almost no short hairstyles, there all for mid or long length hair – which sucks for short haired girls like me! Second of all, the tutorials were very short, 15 second clips of models having their hair done in the styles, with 2 or more people creating them, meaning it is of no use for anyone trying to replicate it – if it takes them 2-3 people to create a style, what hope do we have of doing it at home in front of a mirror with one hand on a styling tool and the other on a can of hairspray?

Overall I really enjoyed using this hairspray and thought it was great quality, I would definitely recommend this and will certainly be going out to buy another can once this one is finished!

If any of you have tried this hairspray let me know what you thought of it in the comments,  I’d love to know how it worked for all of you!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

Best Black Lipsticks? Swatches and Reviews!

Heyya Everyone!

I love a good lipstick, whether it’s for cosplay or just out and about everyday. And I really love a bold coloured lipstick, especially blues, purples and reds – but I’ve always wanted to try a black lipstick. Sadly my experience with them doesn’t go much further than those terrible ones you get in kits around Halloween. You know the ones, those cheap things that need about 10 layers to get anywhere near opaque coverage, and that go all over your teeth as soon as you try and speak – not a good look!

Going to Comic Conventions, events or even just doing a days hard shopping, I want a lipstick that has a nice opaque coverage, and that has long lasting wear, something I don’t need to keep reapplying after I eat, drink, kiss or talk. Not too much to ask is it? 😉

After having a look through my current favourite brands of lipsticks and lip liquids, I found that some of them did indeed sell a form of black lipstick! I ordered all the ones I could that were in stock and this is how they faired!

The ones I ordered were, ‘Pristine’ by Illamasqua, ‘Wierdo’ by Jeffree Star, ‘Venom’ by LaSplash Cosmetics, ‘Raven’ by LA Girl Cosmetics, and ‘Borneo’ by Gerard Cosmetics.

I had a few shipped over from the USA as they were out of stock here in the UK, so after an age of waiting for delivery I finally had them all and couldn’t wait to get on to test them!

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After stripping them all out there packing this is what they looked like:-

L-R: Pristine, Wierdo, Venom, Raven, Borneo.

Already I love the style of the Jeffree Star and LASplash lip liquids, the containers are quite heavy and sturdy and feel really high quality. I first swatched them on my forearm to get a feel for there consistency and to see how opaque they really were. The top image is using indoor light, the bottom image is outside in natural daylight.

1) Pristine, 2) Wierdo, 3) Venom, 4) Raven, 5) Borneo

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‘Pristine’ by Illamasqua:-

RRP: £19.50

I’ve always been a big fan of Illamasqua’s lipsticks as they have such a wide range of colours, both generic and alternative, with such a creamy texture which makes them glide on beautifully. This lipstick is no different, it applies beautifully, with a lovely semi-matte finish. However I would describe the colour as semi-opaque, if applied in just one layer it can still be seen through, however it can be built up to a deep black. In indoor light it looks very nice and even, however when photographed with a flash or in natural light it can look a bit patchy. With the shape of the lipstick itself I found it tricky to apply straight from the stick, it was hard to get a crisp line – I would definitely recommend using a lip brush.
The top left picture was taken indoors under artificial lighting and it looks very opaque and even, however the others were taken outside in natural light, and you can see how it’s a bit patchy in places, and had already started wearing away at the sides. I think this lipstick should definitely be used with a lipstick sealant like LipKote, as it does smudge very quickly, due it’s creamy texture. Overall I think this lipstick is okay, although I would be careful where I wear it, to be sure I don’t wear it in situations where I would have to be eating! Due to it’s price however I would recommend either waiting for their sales, or signing up to an account with them, as you will get a 15% discount code e-mailed to you on your birthday.

 

“Wierdo” by Jeffree Star:-

 RRP:£15.99

This was one of my favourites from the second it arrived! I love the packaging it arrived in, it was packed in a pink box with gold stars, with the container itself being a heavy glass vial, candy pink lid with a thick doe foot applicator inside. I’ve always been sceptical of doe foot applicators as I find they pick up way too much product which becomes hard to apply evenly, however the little suction cup thingy on the inside of the vial stops a lot of the product from clinging to the wand, meaning just the right amount is dispensed to do the whole of your lips. The instructions say to shake the vial well for 5 seconds before applying, and to wait for 3-5 minutes after applying for it to dry fully. It applies smoothly, the wand is brilliant and gives a perfectly crisp line no matter what angle you hold it at, and dries to a matte finish which I LOVE! Also, it doesn’t  After I applied it I went shopping for the day with Emma to Bluewater, and it lasted through the whole day of talking, laughing and drinking- it only started to fade a little on the inner corners of my mouth after we had a TGI’s, as the mozzarella sticks were a bit oily, and the instructions state to avoid oily foods as it can remove the lipstick. Overall it has fantastic coverage from the first swipe, has a beautiful finishes and lasts all day depending on what you eat! Well worth the money, and I will be buying the rest of the collection soon!!

“Venom” by LASplash Cosmetics:-

RRP: £9.95

LASplash is a company I have grown to love over the years, there great value for money and extremely high quality. This product is no different, it’s very opaque and has a beautiful matte finish, and is extremely long lasting – after a whole day of talking, eating and drinking it had only just started to fade on my inner corners and the inside middle of my bottom lip. The doe foot wand for this liquid lipstick is very long and thin, and covers the whole lip beautifully in one swipe, it even makes a beautifully sharp line on the cupids bow, no brushes needed! I’ve had a few LASplash liquid lipsticks in the past and thankfully have perfected the art of applying them, you need to scrape a lot of the product off the wand as it does pick up a lot, and then apply it neatly but quickly, as it sets very fast; and after giving it a few minutes to set, it is almost completely water and smudgeproof. This is one I would highly recommend!!

“Raven” by LA Girl Cometics:- 

RRP: £5.50

This was one of the cheapest ones I tested and you could definitely tell. The packaging was very basic and light, and the lipstick itself was quite dry and hard to apply. The product itself is not pointed like a normal lipstick, it’s a round shape which makes it impossible to get a nice sharp line around the lips without using a brush or a lip liner. In the picture I had applied 2 light layers of the lipstick, and you can see that it is still semi-opaque in some areas. It’s not a bad lipstick for the price, but it doesn’t last long so you would definitely need a lipstick sealer to stand any chance when wearing it.

“Borneo” by Gerard Cosmetics:-

RRP: £12.95

As soon as this arrived I realised I had made a mistake with this product – it was a lipgloss and not a lipstick. It’s a heavily pigmented gloss, with a gold chrome lid and glass vial with a very thin doe foot wand inside; it also has a light inside the cap that turns on when the lid is unscrewed and a mirror on the side. Soon as I started applying this I took a dislike to it, it’s very sticky and very thick which meant it didn’t go on very well and looked very patchy. It also went on my teeth as soon as I opened my mouth, not a good look! It shifted and slid all over the place, and looked terrible after an hour or so. Personally I would never wear this on it’s own, however I would consider wearing it over one of the longer lasting matte ones to give it a nice shine.

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Overall the best black lipsticks were the liquid lipsticks from LASplash and Jeffree Star – both apply very smooth and opaque, highly pigmented but non staining, dry with a beautiful matte finish, and are smudgeproof.

Please note these reviews are my own opinion and products were all bought by me, I am not paid to test them (sadly!).

Hope this is useful for some of you, let me know if there are any brands you have tried and are good!

Much Love,

Sabrina xXx