October 2011 - Fitz N Bitz - Irish Beauty Blog ★

29 October 2011

Whizzer Whitening Strips

Dia daoibh.

Today I'm going to review Whizzer Whitening Strips.

I bought mine from Beauty Emporium for €24.75. In the box you get 56 strips (28 for upper teeth and 28 for lower teeth). The strips can be used once a day for 28 days or for a more rapid whitening action twice a day during 14 days. I done a bit of both. Here's a bit from the back of the box.

I have tried the Crest strips. Now Whizzers are different in that they dissolve on the teeth. They contain dissolving film technology. It says they will dissolve within 5-10 minutes but I found it to be more. I thought the dissolving thing was a brilliant idea - compared to other plastic strips that can move about on the teeth slightly. A great idea, but does it pay off....... I'm not so sure.

The strips do dissolve, but to a sticky gooey mess. The thing about it is, that both sides of the strip are the same so this means that both sides dissolve (obviously) but when it dissolves it sticks to the inner lip and can lift away from the teeth if you were to talk or even slightly move. I found this incredibly annoying! So therefore their statement of "whitening on the go, whiten, anywhere at anytime" I would say is

false! Of course you could, but not discreetly!

They do not dissolve evenly, more so in some places and in other places you're left with little bumpy gooey bits. Yock. All of this bugged me so much so that I actually wanted to stop using them!! I pushed through and kept going though and found a slight solution. When I apply the strips to my teeth I immediately need to moisten (yes.... I mean let spit fall down) onto the strip so that there is a little barrier between the strip and my inner mouth/lip. It still does stick slightly, but not as bad.

The strips have a minty flavour....VERY minty; hot minty!! I didn't experience any sensitivity at all (which I did with the crest ones). I suppose what matters the most though, are the results, and here they are.

BEFORE

AFTER

(natural light in both photos)

I didn't even think my teeth were that yellowish beforehand but the difference is clear to be seen. The strips definitely whitened my teeth. It's great that these are an Irish product, not to mention Europe’s first and only dissolving teeth whitening strip.

As an extra, Whizzer strips offer instantly fresh breath due to their minty flavour and also kill the oral bacteria that causes gingivitis and bleeding gums, giving you triple dental action in one single product.

Here is a list of the Ingredients (although they are strangely enough not listed on the website.:

Pectin, PVP, Glycerol, Flavor, Hydrogen peroxide, Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, Modified starch, Polsorbate 80, Sucralous.

Overall I am still a bit 50/50 with these, but at the end of the day they did work so I guess it's a thumbs up from me if you can get over the consistency of them!

The strips are available to buy from the Whizzer Website, Beauty Emporium, or from the following stores:

Source

Slán

25 October 2011

Dolledup.ie - New Online Irish Beauty Store

FitznBitz 7:47 PM Beauty Bitz , Online Shopping 4 Comments

Dia daoibh!

Just a quick post to let those of you who don't already know about a new Irish Online Beauty Store. They go by the name of Dolledup.ie

Their main aim is to be

" a one stop shop for everything you need to get Dolled-Up!"

For sale, they have Skincare & Bodycare Products, Makeup, Tanning Products, Fragrances for Men & Women, Jewellery, Handbags & Accessories and Quirky Gifts & Ideas. On top of all of this they have included a few unique features to their website including offering free advice through the online 'Ask the Stylist' service and 'Beauty Banter' which is their online beauty forum. The website it just recently up and running so things are still being put together. They are also in the process of getting together a DolledUp Directory of beauty and hair salon services so if you are interested to advertise your business, email info@dolledup.ie

One thing I noticed about the website is that they sell a lot of not so known brands (to me anyway) such as 'Payot' Skincare, 'Royal Effem' Make Up and 'Vita Liberata' Tanning products. So if you're on the hunt for some new brands or products this site might interest you.

In saying that, they're are plenty of well known brands too, a lot of them being more on the high end such as Clarins, Lancome and Decleor skin and body care along with make up brands like Benefit, Elizabeth Arden, YSL and Essie nail varnishes.

There are a lot more skin and body care products on the website at the moment than makeup, so if you're interested in that it looks good. They also have a good range of perfumes and mens fragrances also.

They accept the following methods of payment:

Yay..... Irish Laser!! Shipping is a flat charge of €3.49 regardless of value and will be delivered withing 3-5 working days.

I have not bought from the website myself (yet) as I am saving for my trip to Manchester this weekend (eeek) but I just wanted to let you all know about Dolledup.ie, as online beauty stores seem to be proving popular as of late. Happy Shopping!

Psssst.... they're having a giveaway on their Facebook page HERE for two €50 vouchers!

They're also on Twitter if you want to give them a follow.

Have you bought from them yet? Thoughts?

Slán

All images sourced from (&edited by myself) from Dolledup.ie

24 October 2011

Giveaway Winners!

FitznBitz 4:10 PM Fitz Bitz , Giveaway 7 Comments

Dia daoibh!

So I'm back today with the winners of my giveaway! Thanks so much to everyone who reads my blog and entered the giveaway. There were 55 entries with 185 chances including sharing through twitter/facebook etc. Here are the winners!

WINNER 1!!

WINNER 2!

Congrats to both BeautyBudgetQueen - Lauren - who gets first choice of each set HERE and MissGreenEyes - Sharon who will win the rest!

This was my first time holding a giveaway and it shocked me to see some people who obviously create twitter or facebook accounts just to enter giveaways! This is not just a presumption, it was blatantly obvious!! Annoying! Thank you again to all of my genuine readers :) I'm well on my way to 200 followers now and am really grateful. Speak soon!

Slán

22 October 2011

MAC NW15 V NW20 Colour Comparison

FitznBitz 5:00 AM Beauty Bitz , Face 8 Comments

Dia daoibh.

So last year I was colour matched in MAC as NW20. Grand job, bought my first bottle of Studio Fix Fluid - which I love. Since then my skin has lightened due to the fabulous weather we have been having here in Ireland lately (not). NW20 isn't very dark on me but I do notice a bit of a difference between my face and body which annoyed me. I felt I wanted it a tad lighter but felt NW15 would be to pale. So when I heard about MAC selling NW18 I thought PERFECT!! Just what I needed.

I called into MAC a few weeks ago and enquired about it. She looked at me and said lets compare the three. We did so and she recommended me to go for NW15 and that I could use bronzer if I felt I wanted more colour. She mentioned something about NW18 have a slightly different undertone??? Wha!? I dono, so I just bout the NW15.

When I got home, obviously my first instinct was to compare my new NW15 to my NW20. I couldn't get over it. They were more a less the same!! I was expecting NW15 to be much lighter as it's the lightest shade they do, but no. Have a look. NW15 is on the left of ALL photos.

Photographic Flash - Left: NW15 Right NW20

Natural Daylight - Left: NW15 Right NW20

Left: NW15 Right NW20

Natural Light With flash

I decided to put it on a white background to thoroughly compare. To me the NW15 looks DARKER!!

Left: NW15 Right NW20 on both pics.

What is going on here!!? Could it be that my NW20 has faded over the 6-7 months I have it or is my NW15 just dark!? Has anyone else had the same problem??

Slán

20 October 2011

My very 1st Spreecast!

FitznBitz 12:05 AM Fitz Bitz , Spreecast 2 Comments

Dia daoibh

So I have something a bit different to share with you lovelies and it's tech-y!! Something new has hit the web and it goes by the name of SPREECAST....... Ok enough of sounding like I'm on television or something!! Here's what it is.

"Spreecast is the social video platform that lets people broadcast together."

Basically I will be live on screen speaking to anyone who's watching. The beauty of it though, is that others can join me live on screen also. Four people can fit at once and people can come in and drop out as they please. There is a chat box below the screen for those who just want to watch the action rather than be on it so you can type rather than be on camera. You can ask questions if you like and I will do my best to answer them. Sounds cool eh!!?

As many of you know, You Tube is massive for beauty bloggers/vloggers to show products in person (kind of) and record reviews for people to actually see products. I think Spreecast could be a great platform for people reviewing and speaking about particular topics, as feedback can be given at that exact time and questions can be given and answered there and then. I love that it can be so much more instantly interactive than You Tube. It also seems like a great idea even for just a chit chat with friends!

Over time this is what I aim to do, so this Friday the 21st October at 7:30pm (GMT) I will be doing my very first one! You can RSVP HERE if you'd like to come and have a look. You will get an email reminding you when I'm about to go on air. Signing up is practically not an issue, as you can just sign in via Facebook or Twitter. Handy!

I hope this is of interest to you and that you come and say hi!! Don't forget to RSVP HERE so that you are reminded when I'm on! #spreewithme !
Some Spreecast Info - click for what you want WEBSITE FACEBOOK TWITTER

Slán

18 October 2011

Bio Oil & My Stretchmarks

FitznBitz 8:56 PM Beauty Bitz , Bio-Oil 2124 Comments

Dia daoibh!

So today I'm going to speak about a dreaded word when it comes to body skincare.......STRETCHMARKS. There, I said it. I myself have stretchmarks. For those of you who don't know, I have a son. I was 18 when I had him and before I was pregnant I was very skinny. Of course my body changed and my skin stretched as my lil baba grew in my belly. I was concerned about stretchmarks.....to say the least!!! My sister who was pregnant also (6 weeks ahead of me which was lovely!!) introduced me to BIO-OIL.

I knew I had already developed some marks on my lower stomach and on my inner things so I wanted to prevent more from forming.

From my own experience I highly highly recommend using Bio-Oil or what ever oil or cream you chose to use, the minute you find out you are pregnant or see you are gaining weight. These are NOT miracle products even though I'm sure you've heard they might be - but they ARE a huge help.

Lets speak a bit more about Bio-Oil in particular. It's marketed as a "multi use" products for

Scars
Stretch marks
Uneven skin-tone
Ageing skin
Dehydrated skin.

Another thing I use Bio-Oil for is on my nail cuticles. I've never heard of anyone else doing this but I tried it one day and love how it moistened and softened my cuticles. I even think it slightly strengthened my nails! There are lot's of great ingredients in it including vitamin A, B and lots of oils. If you're interested in a list of ingredients click HERE.

Obviously you can guess from the name, the product is oil based. It has Calendula Oil, Rosemary Oil, Lavender Oil and Chamomile Oil. It's not your typical type of oil though. It has a strange feeling when applied to the skin - it's a liquid form but much lighter than any other typical oil. Here's a snippet from the website about their main unique ingredient - PurCellin.

"Bio‑Oil contains the breakthrough ingredient PurCellin Oil™, which changes the formulation’s overall consistency, making it light and non-greasy. This ensures that the goodness contained in the vitamins and plant extracts is absorbed into the skin."

It has a strong smell that is quite hard to explain. I think it mostly smells of lavender. It has a small little hole on top which makes it handy for controlled use as you really don't need much product at a time. It spreads and absorbs beautifully.

It is recommended for Bio‑Oil to be massaged in a circular motion into the stretch marks, twice daily, for a minimum of 3 months. So as you can image, some dedication is required if you are to see results.

When I was pregnant I became so paranoid by stretchmarks I actually tracked my progress during and after I was pregnant and managed to find my comparison pics on my old laptop files. Apologies if the quality isn't great (photo was taken under natural light with no flash) but I hope you get the idea. The pictures below are results after using Bio-Oil for about 6-7 months. I'd just like to point out that over time skin will try to re-heal and re-nourish itself but I feel Bio-Oil certainly speeds up the process as moisture is a massive factor.

As you can see the purple colour definitely faded and the ridges of the stretchmarks also reduced. You can still see that I have stretchmarks but it is much less noticeable - depending what light I am in. The picture on the right shows the "silvery" colour people speak about when their marks have healed as much as they can.

Overall, Bio-Oil is definitely a product I would recommend but I stress the point that it is more of a prevention product than a fixing or reducing product. Results will definitely vary from person to person so it's up to you to make up your own mind I guess :)

Source

Bio-Oil is preservative-free and is not tested on animals. Available from pharmacies nationwide or you can buy online >HERE<

60ml rsp €9.99, 125ml rsp €17.99, 200ml rsp €22.99 (make sure to shop around and online for the best prices)

Slán

This product was sent to me for free from Bio-Oil's PR Team for reviewing purposes (although my result pictures are from a few years ago after buying Bio Oi myself!). All opinions above are completely my own, 100% honest thoughts on the product.

16 October 2011

FitznBitz does Ombre!

FitznBitz 7:00 AM BBlonde , Beauty Bitz 24 Comments

Hi :)

So, if you follow me on TWITTER you might have noticed me tweeting about doing my hair last night. Well, I did. It involved bleach/peroxide..... scary words to a lot of people, so I decided to track my process with pics for you lot. I had an idea of what I wanted to do and that was go dark on top and light on the ends - otherwise known as Ombre. I like to DIY, so I did! Here's how it turned out. In real life it's not as red toned. The tips are more of a strawberry blonde.

Ok so here we go. This is what my hair looked like before. THIS is how I got my hair from dark to this colour. (very much faded since then though)

Here are the products I used (which I bought in boots):

Schwarzkopf LIVE Color XXL in the shade 89 Bitter Sweet Chocolate (€7.29)
Jerome Russell Bblonde Cream Peroxide (12% strength 40 vol) (€2.29)
Jerome Russell Bblonde Powder Bleach (€4.90)

Out comes my old faithful Lidl hair dye top! I find it particularly handy because it's a zip top so it's handy to take off when product is in the hair and it also has a collar to shield the product from my skin. It's also fleecey and nice! :)

I used my own latex gloves (well I robbed em from my mammy who's a nurse Thanks mam!). The ones that come with these box set are fairly ridiculous and I knew I would need some sort of specific placement - especially for the bleach.

First I went in with the brown dye and done the usual but just left the ends. I wanted to leave them as light as possible for the bleach to take to. I left it in for 30 minutes as I wanted to make sure it went completely dark so that I won't be getting roots! Here's how that turned out.

Next was the Bblonde-ing! 1 pack of bleach for one bottle of peroxide. I just mixed it in a chinese take away box - classy buurd I am!
I applied this to my tips (about 2-3 inches) and covered it in tinfoil to enhance the heating and lifting process. I left this for about 20 minutes.
I then took off that foil and re-applied more and moved it further up to about midway length of my hair. I also applied a little to some front layers. I covered up in tinfoil again for another 20 mins.
I then diluted the rest of the mixture and streaked it though everything I had done. (not sure if this made a massive difference but it seemed like a good idea at the time!) I left that for about 10 minutes
I then rinsed it out. Shampooed my hair, used the conditioner from the brown hair dye and left it for about 10 minutes, rinsed and dried.

And BAM, that was it! It's not very gradient looking though. I can't seem to photograph the difference between the tips and the middle bit. My hair is quite resistant to lightening so perhaps this is as far as it goes. It says you can leave it on for up to 90 minutes but I didn't want to go blonde or damage my hair any further. I may throw in a bit of toning shampoo and see what that does. Will keep you updated!

You can kind of see the lighter colour to the left further side compared to the reddish tone at the from right. Also tried to show you below.

For now I'm happy with the change. Not bad for under €15 eh!!? I hoping I won't have to touch it now for a while as my roots should be about the same colour as the dye I used. Fingers crossed it won't fade out like last time! What do you think? Yay, nay? Thanks for reading :)

Slán!

15 October 2011

Shorts!? In this weather!?

FitznBitz 5:07 PM Beauty Bitz , Fashion Bitz 4 Comments

Hey you :)

Here's what I decided to wear today. I was in the mood to wear my new shorts. Shorts!!? Yes, shorts!! Don't worry I wore 60 Denier tights ;)

Cardi is from Forever 21 (about €15) Plain black tshirt from Penneys (€3)

I got these denim shorts the other day in H&M. They were on sale for €10 down from €24.95 but I only ended up spending a fiver as the last time I bought something in there they gave me a €5 gift card.... for no reason! Noice!!

Like ma new booots!!? Got them in Penneys last week for €21. They come in a few other colours also.

Rings L-R: 1st ring same as the one I am including for my GIVEAWAY description of where this is from is there....kinda!! 2nd ring is from Ebay, 3rd ring is from ASOS and the final ring is also from ebay My bracelet which I LOVE is also from Ebay (fond of ebay aren't I!!?