We all love a glossy advert – how to get perfect hair and nails, and make up that can transform anyone into a supermodel. However we all have a cupboard of these magic products that didn’t quite live up to their hype and subsequently get put away to collect dust. So at Unfold we decided to bring you our edit of products we can’t live without – why? because they actually work. Some are bestsellers, some are lesser known but all work on our much less than perfect hair and skin.
We’re also giving away a Nails Inc. Nailpure Limited Edition Nail Polish in London Court..read on to find out how to enter!
1. MAC Face/Body Foundation £19.35 [Click to Buy]
Summer. The season for bare legs. A frightening prospect if yours make vampires look tanned. Never having had much luck with fake tan (allergies and orange-ification) discovering MAC Leg Foundation was a lightbulb moment. There are 11 shades to choose from, just like for your face, it glides on and covers up any marks and evens the colour leaving you with skirt ready pins. It’s quite moisturising, and goes on better if you haven’t applied lotion first. It does stay put all day, but is not indelible, so beware of white sofas and hoses.. we have found a couple of thin layers are better than one thick one as it absorbs better and makes it easier to control coverage.
Any drawbacks? It would be great if they could make it so that you can’t feel it at all, like foundation on the face you are aware it’s there. A minor drawback considering it’s the only product that has won the battle against the palest legs on the planet.
2. REDKEN Extreme Anti-Snap £14.70 [Click to Buy]
This is a new favourite for 2015, having been buying conditioners left right and centre to cure dry frizzy ends without making it greasy or lank we spotted this Leave-In treatment from Redken. You apply to damp hair and massage into the ends then leave or blow dry. The untameable mass was transformed into normal looking hair after one go. Thinking it was a fluke we tried again and same result. It has now earned it’s place in the bathroom. It smells nice too, very sweet and is quick and easy to use, no sitting around in a shower cap or needing to rinse. Heat, chlorine and the sea can make the hair straw like in Summer and we are keeping this with us on holiday too.
3. BABYLISS PRO Perfect Curl £129.95 [Click to Buy]
Some women were blessed with the skill to curl their own hair. Masters of tongs and heated curlers they whip it into a bouncing delight of tumbling curls with ease. We are not those women. Burnt fingers, burnt hair and a distinct lack of curls combined with hair that really does not like staying wavy and drops within the hour left us disillusioned with the whole situation. Then came along this magical device that takes all the stress out of curling. Sceptical? So were we. But our inner child just wanted to try the machine that sucked up a piece of hair and spat out a curl after a few beeps. It looks quite scary, but in actual fact was pretty easy to use.
Like everything there is a knack to it, mainly knowing how to section your hair so you can whizz through and get the desired effect. Brush out a section no more than an inch in width, clamp the machine where you want the curl to start and it does the rest. You can adjust the heat and time settings to determine the type of curl/wave and the smaller the section the more ringlet the hair goes. No burnt fingers and actual curls.
Any drawbacks? Magical curls do not come cheap. At over £100 it’s an investment piece, but if you really are hopeless at all other methods it’s brilliantly simple. We curled our whole head of shoulder length hair in 15 minutes and it stayed curly until the morning.
4. ANTIPODES Aura Manuka Honey Treatment Mask £17.78 [Click to Buy]
The Summer weather can take it’s toll on the skin, not to mention all the sun creams and sun blocks. We spotted this when it came up as a top rated product and had to try it. Packed with natural and organic products it felt like just the antidote to the chemical laden SPFs and make up, just the tonic for our stressed out, break-out prone skin.
The texture is very light and velvety, it applies almost clear and soaks in a fair bit. The scent is pretty healthy, you can tell it’s natural with essential oils, and doesn’t have that manufactured sweet smell. It certainly calms angry skin and can be used as an on the spot treatment too which is handy. It certainly feels like the smoothie equivalent for the face.
5. NAILS INC. Nailpure Nail Polish £14 [Click to Buy]
Multi-tasking products are always winners in our book. As a big fan of nail polish anyway we were excited when Nails Inc. starting incorporating nail care into their nail colour formula. NailKale has become a staple, especially the Superfood Base Coat because nails should look just as good without polish as after a mani, especially in Summer. So when we heard about NailPure, the new formulation created without 6 of the most common chemicals in nail varnish and that actually let the nails breathe we had to buy it. It’s too soon to see the effect on our nails, but what we can see is the colours glide on just as smoothly and last as long as the normal formulas so there is no compromise in performance to be had for a healthier nail.
The Limited Edition colours include a pale nude, London Court (above centre) – perfect for showing off a Summer tan and we’re giving one away, for your chance to win simply sign up to our weekly newsletter below!
Subscribe for a chance to Win a Nails Inc. Nailpure Polish!
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*Competition closes Midnight Sunday 14th June 2015.