Vintage Favre Leuba Watch, Satchel Bag and Compact

I could'nt believe my luck when I found a Favre Leuba watch for £6. Actually, I've no idea when it comes to vintage watches but I could'nt resist this style. 

It was found with an outdated white strap and was'nt working. So I took it to the cheap watch repairer down the street. They were a friendly Afghan couple who shared an area with a mobile phone shop. 

The man opened the watch and said: "You don't need a new battery. This is a windup watch!" 

What a surprise! I took a closer look and saw tiny rhythmic moving parts. 

It needs winding every one to two days which is quaint and old fashioned. After all the years, it still runs like...clockwork. (Sorry.)

I was told the watch was older than me. In fact he liked it so much, he offered to buy it. Of course I said no. 

I picked this caramel leather strap from a basket of what looked like 100 random watch straps. The replacement only cost £5. 

I love over-the-body bags but my current one is too small to carry a book. I found this for £15. It's beat up and aged but that's how I like tan leather bags. 

Stratton Powder Compact from Ebay. Not to powder my nose but because it's gold and has pretty stars. I want to start a collection!

So old school. I love it.

Cutex Huckleberry Strong Nail

Denim jeans, corduroys from the 70s, and blueberries. Huckleberry reminds me of these things. This colour is terrifically funky, don't you think?

I suspect this is a "vintage" Cutex because I have'nt seen their nail polishes in shops for almost 10 years now. 

I'm reminded of the same thinnish Cutex consistency from when I was a kid. This is two coats and it could do with another to make it completely opaque. It has a shiny finish and drying time is reasonable. 

Remember buying Cutex nail polishes from the supermarket with the hanging card? I loved their colours and equally enticing colour names. No one makes white stemmed handles and rounded triangular bottles anymore. They need to bring old Cutex back!

Cutex Huckleberry and Sweet Pea-Without and With Flash

What a difference in colour. In real life, they look dirty like the ones on the left.

I was hunting around Ebay for Cutex nail polishes. For anyone over 30, do you remember the bottles with tapered white handles? They were awesome. I love that design and wish they would bring them back.   

Alas no retro bottles were available, although I found two old advertisements from the 80s which I've pinterested. 

As for Huckleberry and Sweet Pea, I bought these for £2 each including shipping. The colours are rare and unusual. Already I can tell the green will be a mistake-it's looks like watery split pea soup. 

It's too bad the swatches on the internet look vastly different the real thing. So that's why with and without flash pictures are useful!

LK Bennett Linen Floral Heels

These stunning adorned shoes are a charity shop find. I love the colourful ribbon flowers. They're linen so I'm not sure if I'll get that much wear out of them but I bought them anyway due to overwhelming cuteness!

Dr Bronner's Soap and Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse

Recently I bought a huge bottle of Dr Bronner's in Rose and tried using it as a shampoo. The instructions say you need to dilute but I don't bother. I just use it in controlled amounts, like a 50p sized amount. It's runny but very concentrated.

Because it's soap, it's alkaline and I can tell the difference vs normal shampoos. The pros is that it suds brilliantly, my scalp does'nt itch as much and the top layer of my hair does'nt get greasy as quickly. The cons is that it's tangly and strands tends to stick together (mattes easily, not because it's still dirty). My hair is wavy so thin locks form and makes it a little lank and frizzy. I stopped using it as a shampoo, especially because it leaves a residue and it feels worse than it did when dirty! This soap is now a body wash only.

To neutralize the high pH of the soap and help close the cuticle, tried the apple cider vinegar rinse.

There are many variants to this treatment. I filled a drink bottle with 1 part vinegar with 3 parts water. This is to pour over my scalp and it runs down my hair. 200mls of this solution does the trick. I leave it in for a minute or two and rinse. They say for super shiny hair, rinse with as cold water as you can stand. Make sure to keep this out of your eyes because it stings like crazy!

The results are noticeably softer, shiner and less tangly hair. I only do the ACV rinse once a week to clarify my hair and while it's true that the smell disappears when my hair is dry, it stinks when wet.

You can buy 5L of ACV for only £13.50 including shipping on Amazon. That's dirt cheap haircare! OK, its for animals but the acidity and it's origins are the same as the edible kind. As long as you're not taking it internally, who cares?

Weekend Haul-Kiehl's, Dr Bronner's and Daiso

Went to Hampstead and bought a swag of stuff. 

Amongst the high end stores is an independent pharmacy and they stock lesser known but quality products. Like Dr Bronner's. I bought a huge bottle of the rose liquid soap since it's the best value for money. I've heard about it's multitude of uses (even for brushing your teeth-ew!) and figured if it's no good for my hair, I could use it for my laundry and kitchen floors.

I tried it as a shampoo. It's concentrated, runny and smells more like geranium than rose. I made sure to use a 10p sized amount and scrubbed with plenty of water. 

People have complained that it's dried their hair out but not for me. I like how it's made with organic ingredients and that it's SLS free. It does what its supposed to, which is to clean and it does a good job. I even recycled a handwash pump bottle and decanted the liquid soap. 

Also bought two products from Kiehl's and they gave me three complementary deluxe samples, toiletry bag and more samples. I got the Ultra Facial Cleanser, Kiehl's Baby and samples were Creme de Corps (lush but expensive), Rare Earth Deep Pore Daily Cleanser and a new product, CDC Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter (smells and looks delish). 

And since I was wondering around the Japan Centre in Piccadilly Circus, I bought this cute Japanese peel off mask. The brand is Daiso which is dirt cheap in Asian countries but I paid three times more for it here. It's black and thick as tar. As for it's effectiveness, it leaves your skin softer (I'm guessing because dead skin flakes and fine hairs are removed.) but it's not good at removing blackheads. Pore strips do a better job and it's not as messy. Will not be buying this again!

Ultrasonic Contact Lens Cleaner-The Best Invention Ever

...For those who wear contact lenses!

I have rigid gas permeable lenses which I don't wear that often. They're are a pain to clean and uncomfortable to wear. I get cloudy protein deposits so my optometrist says I need to give them a really hard clean.

So I bought this from Amazon for £17 including shipping and now I have a quick and easy cleaning regime.

Here's what I do:

1) Fill the chamber with saline solution.
2) Remove lens and secure them in the lens basket.
3) Plug in machine (in my hallway because there's no powerpoint in the bathroom) and turn it on. It has two settings, one for daily cleaning which runs for two minutes. And "super clean" which runs for 6 minutes for a weekly clean. When it's on, you can hear a faint hissing/fizzing sound.
4) Back in the bathroom, I rinse my lens case with saline and fill it with conditioning solution (or multi purpose solution).
5) Unplug the machine when the cleaning cycle is over. Pop the lenses in the case and chuck out the saline solution.

So there you go, no mindless rubbing and the whole process takes less than 3 mins. All I need is saline and conditioning solution. You could even skip protein removal because the machine really blasts them clean. I don't have to handle the lenses as much so I'm less likely to lose them. (Or break them which I've done once.)

You can use this machine for all types of contact lenses. I love it so much, I'm wearing my lenses more often now. They feel comfortable and super clean. Much cleaner than I could ever get them myself!