Thursday 31 March 2016

Collection Eye Shadow Palette - #YourStyleYourMood

Hello lovelies!

I wanted to share with you this cute little palette I received for my birthday. It's called #YourStyleYourMood by Collection & it's currently in the sale for £3.99 at Boots!


There is a wide range of shades in this palette, from nudes to browns & even a plum shade to create an eye look that's perfect for day or night.


I'm a massive fan of the nude shades as a base on my eye, mixed with the darker browns in my crease.

I find I'm reaching for this palette whenever I travel or stay over James', as its a perfect size with a mix of all the basic shades I'd use for a day time look.


For an evening look, I tend to go for a more smoky eye, but like I say this palette has such a range of colours, you can find one for any occasion.


The staying power isn't great throughout the day, but as long as you have a primer underneath, it won't budge.

The pigmentation is surprisingly good too, even the lighter shades are visible with just the smallest amount of product.


Overall I'm very impressed with this palette & would recommend it if your on a budget. It's certainly one of my favourites & like I say, perfect for an overnight stay.

Have you tried any of the Collection products? : )

Monday 28 March 2016

Primark Matte Long Lasting Lipstick - Desire

Hello lovelies!

I wanted to post today about this beautiful lipstick called Desire from the Primark PS Beauty range. It isn't the most popular shade as we're coming into Spring, but if you're brave enough to wear a dark lip, why not do it all year round?


If you've been a follower of my blog for a while now, you'll know I'm not a fan of matte lipsticks. I actually picked this one up not knowing it was a matte formula (I should have probably studied it but I just saw the colour & thought I would give it a go) & for £1.50 you really can't go wrong.


& what can I say? I absolutely love it! Being a matte shade I thought it would really dry out my lips, but the formula isn't drying at all.


As for it being long lasting, it is quite true to it's word. I wore it to work & had to top it up once after my lunch, but considering I'd been serving & chatting to customers all day, it lasted pretty well.


You might have seen that I reviewed one of the new Tanya Burr lip glosses back in January. It's a shade called Berry Picking & after seeing how similar the two shades were, I now wear Desire on my lips with Berry Picking as a top coat. As I mentioned I'm not a massive matte lipstick fan, so these two are the perfect combination for me.


Have you tried any of the PS beauty range in Primark? I'm always surprised how amazingly good quality they are for such low prices!

Thursday 24 March 2016

Life Lately #101


Hello lovelies!

I last caught up with you when I'd just got back from Crufts. I still had a few days off so spent them catching up on everything, doing some blog work & even chilling with some sheep! We have a local farmer who uses our fields to keep them in & most years we get the excitement of them having lambs. This particular sheep is called Tobi, she's such a cutie.

I don't know what a normal Sunday is like anymore, as I usually work them! However, as I was off, I managed to meet up with the girls & go for a walk, followed by a drink at the pub. Lily came too of course & we found a play park (which excited Elisa & Gail more than her!)

Last Wednesday, I met up with Elisa, Lily & Shez at Bills for lunch. We had a lovely catch up & finished the meal with a cup of tea. Shez has just finished putting on a show, so it was lovely to hear all about that & I know she reads my blog, so here's a shout out to you babe!

Char came back for the Easter holidays last Friday, so I got to experience my first takeaway Nandos which was delicious when we finally got it & we spent the evening playing games & having a catch up.

Finally, last Saturday it was Harv's birthday! We aren't sure on his age as he's a rescue but he spent most of the day curled up sleeping except for his long walk around the fields. He's such a cutie.

How has your week been lovelies? : )

Saturday 19 March 2016

Lush - Think Pink Bath Bomb

Hello lovelies!

Just look at how adorable this bath bomb is. I was immediately drawn to it because of the adorable flowers on top & of course, because it is pink. I can never turn anything down that's pink..

So, let me introduce you to.. Think Pink.


A member of staff was actually demonstrating this bath bomb when I was in store & I couldn't believe how perfect it was for Valentines. (Sorry bit late if you were after a Valentine's gift, but still lovely if you wanted to treat yourself one evening)


What drew me to it was the beautiful shade of pink it turned the water. It wasn't as bright as The Comforter (which I'm sure most of you will know is my favourite bubble bar & I also reviewed the shower cream here if you'd like a read!) but it's a lovely lighter shade of pink.


It also produces the tiniest of confetti hearts which I thought would be more visible in the water, as mine seemed to sink so I only found them at the end of the bath.

However, I do believe this was my fault as I'd had the bath bomb for a few weeks, so it wasn't as fresh as the one I saw in the demonstration that seemed to have hundreds of tiny hearts floating on the surface of the water.


It smells so lovely as well, it has vanilla & Tonka absolute & you can definitely identify these to be the most dominant scents. I also caught a bit of lavender & after checking the ingredients, I can see why!


I absolutely love how it made my bath water look so soft, you can see here all the light pinky foam on the top layer of the water. My skin felt softer just looking at it!


This bath bomb has been around a good few years in Lush & it's made me think why I haven't picked it up before! I'll definitely be going back to re-stock.


It retails for £2.65, one of Lush's cheapest bath bombs, but definitely one of the best.
Have you tried this bath bomb? What did you think?

I absolutely adore Lush & have reviewed a number of products, you can either search at the side of my blog by writing 'Lush' or click here to find out more : )

Wednesday 16 March 2016

5 Things To Do Before You Go To Sleep..

..to make the morning that little bit easier.


I saw one of these lists on Pinterest & thought it would good to write my own, so here's a few tips to do the night before to make early mornings more bearable.

1. Removing your makeup.
I really struggle with this one, just because I'm so lazy but I have recently been forcing myself to do it before going to bed. I think it's easier if you literally come home & remove it straight away instead of leaving it till your exhausted & just want to curl up in bed. I use the Garnier Miceller Cleansing Water with the Boots Cotton Wool Pads & find all my makeup is just wiped away, leaving my face feeling fresh when I wake up.

2. Moisturise your skin
Again, working on doing this more, but I find waiting for moisturiser to dry after your morning shower before putting on your clothes for the day, takes so long! Perfect solution, do it the night before & it doesn't really matter if it gets on your pjs. I'm loving using the body butters from the Body Shop, they just leave my skin feeling so soft the next day. My favourite to use at the moment is the Shea Body Butter, it just smells so good!

3. Plan your outfit
This is such a good tip & one I started to do when I was in college. In secondary school, we had a uniform so that was easy to get up & put the same old shirt, tie & skirt on each day, but when college started & we had to make sure we were dressed to impress (laughing so hard at some of the outfits I wore back then!) it always helped to plan the night before. I still do that now for work. We don't have a uniform as such, but we do have to wear either black or white, so I do always get out my top & skirt / trousers the night before & make sure they don't need ironing or anything that's going to take time in the morning.

4. Make a packed lunch
This one is essential! How many of you get up & think "Ah 5 more minutes in bed & I'll just pick up something from the café". Making a packed lunch before bed has saved me countless pennies & is also a lot healthier. I can control exactly what I plan on eating & I'm not tempted to pick up that unhealthy snack on my way to work.

5. Sort out your bag
This applies to whether your off to school, work or out for the day, you always take different items with you. For example, if I'm heading to work in the car & parking right next to the building, I won't need an umbrella which takes up vital room in my handbag, or if your popping to the shops, make sure you've got all those bags ready so your not charged for buying the whole biscuit aisle! I always try to imagine my routine throughout the day to know what I'm going to need & when. It really helps when your out & about.

What are your tips & tricks for making sure you're ready to start the day? I'd love to know : )

Saturday 12 March 2016

Life Lately #100

 
Happy Saturday lovelies!
 
At the beginning of March, Jack's girlfriend flew over from Texas, so we had a meet up at the local pub & look who fell asleep on me! She was the cutest little thing, she snuggled right up to me (think my new jumper from ASOS helped as it's extremely soft!) but she stayed curled up for a good 20 minutes while we all chatted away. She is just the sweetest little thing.
 
Last Saturday, my girls, Boop's family & I managed to pull off a surprise birthday party for my best friend. We organised a games afternoon at Cathy's, followed by "dinner at a new pub Cathy's parents recommended". We managed to get Boop there without suspecting a thing & it was such a lovely night. We hired a barn next to a country pub, filled with food, friends & music & chatted the night away. I filmed the whole day which you can watch here if you like or at the end of this post!
 
Sunday was Mother's Day & I got the cutest card & bunch of primroses from Honey! My mum & I had a chilled day & I'm treating her to afternoon tea next month. What did you do to celebrate with your mum?
 
I've had some annual leave to use up before the end of March, so I've been making the most of it & booked this week off work. I had this beautiful bath bomb to use from Christmas, plus been spending hours walking the dogs in the countryside & getting excited about all the pretty sunsets! The weather has been a complete nightmare, as one moment it's pouring & the next it's glorious sunshine but I managed to capture this sky shortly after a down pour!
 
Ah don't you just love belated birthday pressies? I managed to catch up with Emily at Sarah's birthday meal & she bought me this gorgeous Little Miss Princess mug. I'm actually obsessed with mugs.. I have so many! Thankyou again Emz!
 
Finally on Tuesday I headed up to Gloucester to visit James at uni & on Thursday, we went to Crufts. I've never been & always wanted to go so it was an amazingly special day. I got to hug a Pug (life long dream!) & a Chihuahua, plus I got to meet hundreds of other dogs. We went on the Toy & Utility day, so I also got to see the French Bulldogs, Boston Terriers & Poodles. Was so much fun! I'm looking forward to the final tomorrow night, have you been watching this year?
 
How has your week been lovelies? : )
 
 

Wednesday 9 March 2016

Maybelline Baby Lips Balm & Blush - Flirty Pink

Hello lovelies!
 
You might have seen these cute new products Maybelline have released called the Baby Lips Balm & Blush. They come in 4 different shades; Innocent Peach, Flirty Pink, Blooming Ruby & Bronze Shimmer. The shade I picked up was Flirty Pink.
 
 
First of all, I want to comment on the packaging. I like the fact it's a small product & it's easily transportable, however it isn't the easiest to hold. I find I'm almost pinching it & have dropped it a few times!

 
The actual product smells lovely & I was initially won over by the scent, but once applied to my lips & I could taste it, I wasn't a fan. You know those cheap lip products that have an almost plastic taste? That's sadly what it reminded me of. 

 
I'm quite a fussy person when it comes to lip balm & sadly this one didn't impress me. It didn't produce any colour onto my lips & didn't keep them moisturised. Infact, I didn't even feel the product on my lips after about 20 minutes.
 
However, I tried it as a blush & was super impressed. I go through stages of loving powder blushes & then back to cream blushes & this one is one of the loveliest I've tried. It lasted the duration of the day & felt very light-weight on my skin.

 
So to conclude, I absolutely love this product as a blush but it did nothing for me as a lip balm, however I do believe a lot of people will be a fan of it. I do think it's a complete bargain for a multi-purpose product.
 
Have you tried the Baby Lips range from Maybelline? What were your thoughts?
 

Sunday 6 March 2016

What I've Been Wearing On My Nails #30

 
146 / Models Own Nail Art Pen in Gold
I absolutely love wearing nude & peach shades on my nails - it makes me feel tanned, even at this miserably time of year! These little nail polishes were a birthday present from my friend Ricka & I absolutely love them. She bought me the most lovely shades.
 
Rimmel - Berries & Cream / Barry M Nail Art Pen in White
These were my Valentine's nails this year. I wanted something simple but cute & these fitted that description perfectly. They didn't take me any time at all & I loved how they turned out.
 
106 / Models Own Nail Art Pen in Gold & Acessorize Nail Art Pen in Turquoise
Ah I haven't done an Aztec design for ages! Sometimes I find with nail art I need a picture for inspiration but these literally just popped into my head & onto my nails! I'm loving the gold stripes this year as you can tell!
 
Ciate - Rollarcoaster
& finally this beautiful blue sparkly nail polish is one of my new favourites. It looks quite dark on camera but looks so bright & sparkly in real life.
 
What have you been wearing on your nails this month?
   

Wednesday 2 March 2016

Life Lately #99

 
Hello lovelies,
 
A few weeks back I was very brave.. & had my hair cut.. but not just cut.. I had layers put back in! I haven't had layers in my hair since I was about 18, which was 7 years ago but decided to take the plunge. My hair is so thick & can get really frizzy & it just felt so heavy around my face. My hair dresser understood exactly what I wanted & I'm so pleased how it turned out. I'm really enjoying wearing it like this, when I can be bothered to style it!
 
I met up with my girl Lorna for tea & a catch up at Costa & it felt like we hadn't properly seen each other for ages! She always knows how to put a smile on my face.
 
I also got to have lunch with my favourites at Bill's. Just look how much Lily has grown since I last featured her on my blog! She's the most adorable little thing & has just turned 2 months which has gone by so quickly! It was also lovely to see Naomi who was back from uni & Cathy's friend Ash was also down, so we had a lovely catch up before I headed to work. I didn't realise, but Bill's do a bargain lunch menu, which included steak, salad or a fish dish + a pudding or starter for £10. Amazing!
 
On 21st Feb, I met up with my tea ladies to celebrate Sarah's birthday. I was working late but managed to make it in time for the most delicious pudding & to see her open her pressies.
 
I mentioned this is my January & February Favourites post, but James' dad & partner Maria got engaged! We were all so pleased for them, myself & James decided to set up a few balloons & banners for them on their return to England! I can't actually wait to hear about the wedding plans!
 
& finally last Friday & Saturday, it was my nan & dad's birthdays & we celebrated with a family meal on the Friday night. I always love seeing my grandparents & so nice to get us all together around one table! 
 
How was your February lovelies? : )