Tuesday 30 October 2012

TOPSHOP NEVADA LIPSTICK REVIEW




I showed this lipstick in a haul a couple of posts ago and mentioned that I might do a review on it and people seemed to like that idea so here it is!

I absolutely love Topshop makeup as a whole but their lipsticks are just amazing. Nevada is my third Topshop lippie the other two being Pillow Talk and Whimsical and I love them all! I find that all Topshop lipsticks have a fantastic colour pay off, this one in particular is brilliant. I'm fussy with nudes as I wear a nude lip almost every day, there's a fine line between pretty nude lips and the 'i've erased my lips with concealer' look. This one is lovely though, it's not too shiny but not too matte either, it is pretty opaque with one swipe which is great.

This lasts pretty well on the lips, as long as you're not going to be doing much kissing, eating or drinking, but I find that with most lighter lipsticks really and that's what touch ups are for right?
This feels very light and incredibly moisturising on the lips which is great. I tend to get very dry and chapped lips in the winter which can be a right pain when you're wearing lipstick as it can make it look all the more obvious! While cracked, sore lips will show through a little, this lipstick is quite forgiving considering how light it feels. With a bit of lip balm underneath you definitely won't have any worries. It actually seems to be quite balmy and moisturising in itself which is a definite bonus!

Overall, if you're fair skinned and you're looking for a flattering 'non-concealerish' nude (the technical term.) then this is for you!

Hope this was helpful, let me know if there are any posts you'd like to see!

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Monday 29 October 2012

STATE OF GRACE



top - ax paris*
skirt - new look
boots - primark
hat - new look
scarf - primark
coat - new look
belt - oasap *

How cute is this belt???
Seriously Oasap have done it again, I love the quirky things you can find on this site, it's linked above if you'd like a closer look. Another wine red outfit this time, I am obsessed with this colour for the Autumn (or Winter as it seems). I've also got my new look bobble hat permanently glued to my head these days. I love it! These kind of outfits, it's comfortable but also really on trend for this time of year. I'm living in things like this lately! I wore this yesterday to work then out shopping for the day with Darren. We looked at all the christmassy homewear in the shops and then went for a hot chocolate which was lovely.
I also went paint and wall paper shopping for my bedroom, which is currently being redecorated which is exciting! I'll definitely update you on that when it's all done, which could be a while! My room is only small but it's surprising how long redecorating can take.

Hope you're all having a great day!

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Sunday 28 October 2012

I HEART FALL/ AUTUMN TAG

I love this tag and I've seen it floating about on youtube lately so I thought I'd bring it to the old blog. Autumn is my favourite time of year so this tag is just perfect! Let's get into it!

1. Favorite Fall lip product?
I'm honestly not very brave with lip products and while I do love a good red, my favourite lipstick in the Autumn time is nude. I find some pinks a little too summery but a nude in the autumn is fool proof. My favourites are the two in the photo below, Topshop Nevada lipstick and Collection 2000 Powder Puff Matte Lip Cream. They're just gorgeous nudes, Nevada is more your typical nude lipstick while Powder Puff is a more natural 'my lips but...nuder?' matte colour.




2. Favorite Fall Nail Polish?
As I'm training and practicing as a beautician, it's actually not practical for me to wear nail polish right now which is a little bit sad really! But when I do paint my nails in the Autumn time, I love Sally Hansen Iced coffee, again, while I love reds, I do still wear colour in the Autumn and red doesn't go with everything. This polish is more of a warm nude and it just looks fab with everything which is great! 





3. Favorite Starbucks Fall Drink?

I honestly don't really like the hot drinks in Starbucks that much, I know, right? Wanna kill me? Me too. I love the cold cream frappuccinos but my favourite drinks in the autumn time are from another coffee shop called esquires. They do THE best hot chocolates in all different flavours like hazelnut, honeycomb, gingerbread, white chocolate, mint etc. Me and Darren went in there most days while we were at college and I'm sure we'll go in there whenever we're in town this season too.




4. Favorite Fall Candle?


This is a bit of a random one but it's this Banana Nut Bread one I found in TK Maxx last year. I'm about half way done with it now which is quite sad as I'm not sure if you can still get this candle, I'll have to look into that. It's honestly the loveliest scent ever, if you don't like the smell of banana you'll definitely hate it but to me it smells like a warm banana nut muffin, which I think is just lovely.

5. Favorite Fall Scarf or accessory

My favourite accessory is definitely this read bobble beanie that Darren bought me. I've only had it a few days but I don't ever ever want to take it off my head, it's so cute and keeps my head SO warm. I also love the knitted headband I got in cambridge a couple of days ago, it's a bit different but I love it!




6. Haunted house, haunted hay ride, or haunted corn maze?


As all the British bloggers have said, I have no idea what a haunted hay ride or corn maze are so I don't think I can answer this. Although I've been in a haunted house type thing at Alton Towers here in England and I cried, like legit cried. I hate those things where you walk through and people jump out and grab you, you know? Can't deal with it, too real!!!

7. Favorite Halloween movie?

I don't really know about a specific Halloween movie but one of the scariest films I've seen recently is Sinister. That was seriously jumpy! I won't ruin it for anyone that hasn't seen but it's honestly so creepy, music can make or break a film and this film seriously had the creepiest music I've ever heard. Also, scary children are the worst, fact.





8. Favorite candy to eat on Halloween?

I've never actually been the trick or treating kind, but my favourite kind of sweets are things like gummy bears or gummy worms. I LOVE those natural confectionary co sweets, like the snakes and stuff. I'm such a child in that way!




9. What are you dressing up as for Halloween?!


Strangely enough, Halloween is actually mine and Darren's 'Anniversary' (feels strange calling it that as we're not married!!) so I'm actually going out for dinner and to the cinema on Halloween rather than doing any partying and things, it'll be lovely though and it's great to tell people that our anniversary is halloween!



10. What is your Favorite thing about Fall?
I love so many things, the leaves, the weather, the way everything looks outside, the fashion, but most of all it has to be the build up to Christmas. Anyone who says they don't love Christmas is lying, fact. When all the lights come on in town and there's a santa's grotto and lush bring out their christmas stuff it all just feels so magical! I love shopping for presents with my family and friends and boyfriend then sitting down for a hot chocolate (from esquires!).


So that's my fall/ autumn tag!
I tag YOU so if you've done this or are planning to do this, do let me know in a comment, I love reading them!

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Saturday 27 October 2012

LITTLE CAMBRIDGE HAUL

As promised yesterday, this is a haul of some of the stuff I bought yesterday. I bought a couple of other things but one was for Darren and the other is a surprise for someone so it can't be included. It's not a very big haul but I'm so pleased with what I got I just couldn't wait to show you all. You may notice a slight colour theme, tell me if you spot it ;)
I meant to do some Christmas shopping but didn't really find anything much, so I'm hoping me and Darren will go back to Cambridge, or possibly somewhere else like London for some Christmas Shopping next month! Although I must say, while London has some amazing shops, I do find it a little stressful during the Christmas period, so we'll have to wait and see! Anyway, ramble over let's get into the haul.
jumper - h&m skirt - new look (generation 915)

 First off is this light knit jumper, Darren actually bought this for me which was lovely of him. Its a very light knit which makes it perfect for layering in the Autumn/ Winter time. I loved this because it's great to wear when you're going out during the day, as it's thin enough to wear comfortably under a coat and won't be too hot when you go indoors.
The second and last item of clothing I bought was this red skirt - I know, it looks a lot like the one I had on in yesterday's post, I can explain. Don't tell anyone, but the 'skirt' I had on yesterday was actually a dress with the top folded under! I've been after a red skirt like this for ages now but found that a lot of them came up quite long on me and I like my skirts to be relatively short, not flash my undies short, but I just find a lot of skirts are an awkward middle length. So I headed to New Look kids section! The age 14-15 was actually still a little long so this is age 12-13!! Before anyone goes all lecturey on me, I think the age 12-13 is about a size 6-8 anyway as it fits me perfectly, seriously if you're a UK size 6-10 or possibly even 12, go to the new look kids section!! It's so much cheaper and they have some lovely bits.

headband - h&m hat - new look

I love the way people wear these knitted headbands in the winter and I think they look so cute, this actually keeps my head surprisingly warm considering it doesn't actually cover my whole head. I love that it has little sequins sewn into the knit, so cute!
Then Darren got me this gorgeous red beanie from New Look. I've been after a nice beanie for ages now, I was worried it wouldn't suit me at first but I tried it on in the shop and loved it! I put it on right away yesterday, there are photos of me wearing it in this post so you can see what it looks like.

topshop nevada lipstick - mac hue

I got this nude lipstick at topshop as I was in need of a new nude and I love topshop lipsticks so much. I love this and I'll probably do a full review on it at some point so let me know if you'd like to see that.
I've finally been reunited with my beloved Hue lipstick! I had a few empties so I back to Mac'd them and got this for free!
hollister crescent bay body spray - lush snow fairy shower gel

These Hollister body sprays are bit expensive at £12 each but this smells so so amazing so I can forgive them. It is described as a watermelon, poppy and sugary woods scent. I definitely agree with this, it's so sweet and fruity, not particularly suited to the Autumn/ Winter time but hey ho! I find that the scent actually lasts quite a while on these compared to a lot of body sprays. They're just great to freshen up during the day.
Who doesn't love Snow Fairy, right? Lush's christmas stuff is just so cute I'm not really one for long baths, I prefer to shower really so as much as I love the bath bombs and things I don't really find much use for them! So snow fairy is perfect for me as I can use it every day. It smells like candy floss and bubble gum, it's gorgeous!

What do you think? Have you made any cheeky purchases lately? Let me know!
Also let me know if you'd like any reviews of any of these products!

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200 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY WINNER


The Winner of my 200 follower giveaway is Jo from Painted Glitter!
Congratulations Jo and not to worry everyone else, I'll be having lots more giveaways soon as I love spoiling you guys ;)
Haul post up late! x
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Friday 26 October 2012

I'VE SEEN IT ALL, NOTHING SHOCKS ME ANYMORE



coat - new look
top - republic
skirt - topshop
boots - primark
bag - fiorelli
hat - new look

So today Darren and I took a trip to Cambridge just for a day out and some shopping. We intended to do some Christmas shopping but ended up just buying for ourselves (and lovely Darren treated me to a couple of things because he's a babe) - oops!! It was such a lovely day though, Cambridge is such a gorgeous city, there's so much to do and a lot to see. It's nice to get away from the same old day to day sometimes! I thought I'd share a few photos of the day in a quick post today as I've got today's haul and some reviews coming up in the next few days.
I absolutely love the weather at the moment, it is cold but I do adore autumn/ winter time. Everything looks so pretty when there's orange leaves and low sun don't you think?








What've you been up to lately? :)

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Wednesday 24 October 2012

EMPTIES #1

My first empties post!!! I've been meaning to do one of these for ages because I think they're such interesting posts to read as you get mini reviews, good and bad. Sorry for the poor quality photo, this was taken at about 11pm last night!
The first is an Alberto Balsam hairspray, I think this was about £1.50 in savers but it's such a good hairspray! I must say, I'm not too fussy with hairspray, but when I want my hair to stay in place this definitely does the job. It brushes right out too which is good, I find with some more expensive hairsprays they cling to the hair a little more and have to be washed out - which isn't ideal when you're trying not to wash your hair every day! I've already re-purchased this!
Then I have a trusty old batiste dry shampoo. This was the cheeky cherry one, I liked this one a lot, I usually use the one for blondes but found it didn't really make a difference as my hair is pretty light anyway so white dry shampoo doesn't really cause problems for me. This one works the same as all the others and I really liked the scent. I'll definitely be buying more batiste dry shampoo, whether or not it will be this one I don't know as I quite like all of them. (Except the one with gold glitter - steer clear unless you wanna look like a twilight vampire in sunlight, that shit gets everywhere)
Next up is the Garnier Simple Essentials make up remover. This stuff is amazing. It's so cheap too which is fantastic, I recently bought another bottle on offer for only £2! You shake it up to mix the oil and the water and it just melts makeup away. The only complaint I have is that it kind of spills easily when you try to tip it out. Not sure if it's me being blonde though! I've re-purchased this already.
Ahh my lovely argan oil. I spoke properly about this in my last post which you can check out here. I love this a lot but I'm currently trying an Avon Argan Oil as its much cheaper so I'm going to see how that goes before re-purchasing.
I also recently finished my last bottle of Lancome Tresor In Love perfume (I lost the lid!). I adore this, its a light fruity-ish floral scent. Very pretty and very girly, this lasted me ages as it's the 50ml. I have another 30ml and I might re-purchase, but I'm quite fickle with perfumes and change my mind a lot.
The last product is the Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder, this is a nice powder, not my favourite but it's a great cheap alternative to my favourite  Mac MSF Natural, it's by no means the same product, but for a high-street powder I think this does the job really well! I will probably re-purchase this.

Hope you enjoyed! What products have you finished up lately?
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Sunday 21 October 2012

WINTER PROOF YOURSELF #1 HAIR

I don't know about you guys, but the Winter time does nothing for my skin/ hair so I have to take extra care of everything to make sure I don't end up with super dry skin and hair in the winter. So I thought I'd do a mini series of three or four posts talking about what I do to make sure my face, body and hair stay soft and healthy throughout the colder months!
I'm going to start off with hair. My hair, being a not so natural shade of blonde, is prone to getting very dry, but much much more so in the Winter! I know some people say the hotter weather dries their hair out but for me it definitely seems worse in the winter. So these are some products I use and things I do to make sure my hair stays as soft and healthy as possible.

The top photo is all the products I'm loving at the moment for keeping my hair in great condition. I'm trying to grow my hair out at the moment so I'm trying to keep it as healthy as I can. The first product (left to right) is the TRESemme split end remedy serum, this of course doesn't really mend split ends, but it seals them and stops them splitting further. My hair isn't actually very split at the ends, but it is very dry and this is great for smoothing down the dry ends and making my hair look more healthy and bouncy! I also use the TRESemme Split Remedy Leave In Conditioner, which you can check out here, but I can't actually find it to photograph right now!
The next product is a re-inforcing treatment by L'Oreal, this is a scalp treatment, I rub it into my scalp every evening, this is to help stimulate the scalp and encourage hair growth. I don't know for sure how much this helps my hair, but scalp massage is great for hair growth and I definitely want to keep the hair at my roots in the best condition I can.
Next is a Dove heat defence spray, I'm not too fussy with heat defence, especially as i'm trying not to use heat on my hair right now, but I do think this is a particularly nice one. It makes my hair really soft and it smells lovely too! I cannot stress enough how important heat defence is. I used to have suuuper long hair when I was about 14 years old, but I never used heat defence and about 5 inches of it was just totally dead, you do not want to make the same mistake as me!!
Argan Oil is the hair God. This is fact okay? Oils in general are amazing for your hair, I've heard coconut oil is really good, morrocan oil is another good one, even olive oil is great! You can look this up yourself but I swear by this one. This has done wonders for my hair, love love looove! You can get this one in Boots or Superdrug, I'm not sure about anywhere else! It's about twelve or thirteen pounds but it lasts ages so it's definitely worth the money.
The last thing in the photo is Silica Capsules! I tried taking these a while ago for about 3 weeks however I forgot about them! I did notice the difference in my hair a little while taking them, it definitely felt better, but I noticed the difference in my skin and nails much much more! You've got to wait it out to see a real difference in your hair with these I think but I've heard so many great things about them so I'll have to see! I also take a multi-vitamin every day to ensure my body's getting all the essential vitamins as this is probably the most important thing for the health of your hair.
The next thing is brushes! Nothing kills your hair more than a bad brush. I use the tangle teezer to get out the knots, then I use the bristle brush to smooth it out. Bristle brushes are great to distribute your hairs natural oils all the way through, which will help dry ends.
I also try not to wash my hair every day, I'm washing it every other day at the moment but I'm going to try to push it to every three days soon, as too much washing drys your hair out a lot.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know if you have any healthy hair tips!

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Wednesday 17 October 2012

HELLO BEAUTIFUL

I have a bit of a different post for you all today, there's something I kind of want to write about because it's something I've noticed a lot of lately, particularly on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. And it's self esteem - or lack of it shall I say.
Every single day without fail I see girls (and some guys) complaining about the way they look or posting pictures of Megan Fox or Miranda Kerr with captions like 'Ugh, Why aren't I her?', or tweets about how they're 'ugly' or 'forever alone' and it makes me so sad.
There are so many so-called beautiful women in the public eye and people let it get them down. But I'm sure if we all had stylists and make up artists as do the likes of Cheryl Cole and Rosie Huntington Whiteley, we'd all look pretty bloody fabulous at all times!
People say that they wish they could go back to say the 50s, when the idea of a 'perfect woman' was curvy rather than size zero, but in a way I don't think that's right either. There never really was a time where there wasn't a general idea of the 'ideal woman' whether it was curvy pin up girls in the 50s, or the 'size 0' of today, there's not been, or at least there hasn't for a long time, a time where the world wasn't obsessed with the perfect woman. The reason this idea of the so called perfect woman changes as often as it does, and the reason so many people have different views on it is simple. Perfect doesn't exist. Everyone has their own version of perfect, some people like their ladies curvy, some like them tiny, some like them blonde, some brunette. Who's really to say what kind of girl is the most beautiful?
One of the reasons, possibly the worst reason for girls hang-ups and low self esteem is the people we surround ourselves with. Guys can be thoughtless and shallow and other girls can be bitchy. But those guys are not worth your time and those girls are probably focusing on other peoples flaws to attempt to feel better about their own. Girls can be bitchy and we've probably all been guilty of it. If not directly to someone's face, behind their back, or even just a stupid comment about someone on the street. You don't gain anything from it, if anything it should just make you feel guilty.
Boys are culprit's too, as I said guys can be shallow and judgemental, but you know what? The ones that are are so not worth your time. You may think you're 'forever alone' because every guy right now wants a skinny blonde with huge boobs but would you want to be with a guy who's in it for your looks? Just because you don't look like a Victoria's secret model (and let's face it, in real life, even VS Models probably don't look like VS Models) it doesn't mean you should settle for a guy who isn't exactly what you want. If you want a guy who'll open doors for you and hold your hands in front of his friends go get him because you don't deserve any less!
It's not okay to make someone feel bad about themselves and no one has the right to do it. I've literally seen girls posting nasty comments on other girls photos and it makes me sick. Put yourself in the other girls shoes, what if someone told you you were ugly, how would you feel? If you do see this on facebook or anything, why not compliment the girl? You don't need to get mad at the nasty girl, she's not worth anyone's time, but when someone feels low, it'll probably make their day to receive a lovely compliment. Everyone deserves to feel beautiful and no one has the right to take that away.

It's so true that beauty comes from within, no matter what you look like, if you're ugly on the inside, it shows on the outside. So take it from me, no matter what size you are, what your hair colour is or what you look like, as long as you're a nice person, you are beautiful.

I love you!

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Sunday 14 October 2012

CANDYFLOSS


jumper - primark
disco pants - tk maxx
shoes - primark
necklace - new look

I finally got black studded shoes!! They're not quite the same as the Topshop vectras but they were only £8 and they're really comfy so can't complain!
I love being able to wear jumpers again too, this one was another £8 bargain in Primark! I bought this 3 sizes too big because I never buy jumpers in my own size, even when they're supposed to be over-sized, I never find them oversized enough. I love love love the colour too, I've been after a big fluffy pink jumper and this one is just lovely, it's not exactly warm or thick, but that makes it good for layering, as I find some jumpers a bit awkward when wearing a jacket over the top! I really like wearing outfits like this this time of year because it's so versatile. I wore this to work, then to go out during the day and it's still super comfy to lounge around in at home. You can't really see my necklace too much for some strange reason but I do love big crosses like this. It's not too bulky but it's still a kind of statement piece.
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Saturday 13 October 2012

I'LL BE SEEING YOU

shoes - red herring

Very very strange photo of me this. But I have another lovely Shikha London dress to show you all! This one I chose in a moment of madness as it's not really my usual style but something drew me to it. It's kind of got an almost vintage feel to it, it reminded me of the kind of dresses Allie wore in The Notebook!
I think I'll probably get more use out of this dress in the summer as its so light and bright but I'm excited to wear it all the same. Once again, the quality of this dress is just beautiful. It has a lining underneath that makes it feel really 'silky' to wear, which I really really like, it's so comfortable and and soft.
I love the print of this dress too, the little bows (or butterflies?! not sure!) are so cute and the coral colour is lovely, I was scared it'd wash me out as I'm ridiculously pale at the moment but I think the cream coloured bows must balance it out or something because I actually think it was quite flattering on.
If you haven't already I'd definitely recommend checking out Shikha London (link above) - the quality of their clothing is just amazing - as are their prices!

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