Monday 10 November 2014

Mini Haul


Every time I nip into town, I always manage to buy a few things. Just me? Probably not. 
Anyway, I picked up a few bits and bobs on my recent trip down there and here's what I got :) 


Believe it or not but I actually got these shoes for only £5 from New Look! Don't worry, I'm just as amazed as you. I always love a good bargain, don't you? They are honestly so comfortable to walk around in due to the material the sole is made up of. It's like a cushion-sponge-like material. I'm not sure what I'm going to pair up with these shoes, but I'm sure I'll find something and if not, well it only gives me an excuse to buy something else doesn't it! 

If you're looking for a good pair of inexpensive gorgeous shoes then check out the New Look Sale page now! I'm sure you'll find something to tickle your fancy ;) 

Next up also from New Look I got myself another pair of jeans... also from the Sale section. I'm not sure if they are still in stock as I did get them on Sale but if not, I'm sure you can buy something just as pretty. They fit very nicely on my hips and as I always struggle to find jeans that fit me, I was super impressed to try these on in store and have them sit snug on my hips. I think I got them for £12 reduced from £24 so yet another good bargain right there. Thanks New Look! 

I also made a repurchase of my holy grail foundation; Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation.- They've recently upped the packaging and the formula to make it a more natural looking finish, and I gotta tell ya - I think I prefer it. The old version of the foundation was quite heavy on my skin, and truth be told paired with powder, made my face turn out quite cakey. This new formula though has changed things quite dramatically. It stays on throughout the day, and to top it off, it really does look more natural. They've added a comfort serum to the product which I have to be thankful for because honestly it's made it so much better. 

The last thing I picked up from town was a £3 Necklace from Primark. I needed one to match my new dress that I wore out for my birthday, and my boyfriend kindly chose this one for me. It's now my new favourite Necklace, so much so that I wear it nearly every day! 


Have you picked anything up recently? 







Monday 20 October 2014

Manchester.


I have just come back from the most amazing weekend of my life. 
2 days away with the love of my life, what more could a girl want? 
We went to The Ainscow Hotel in Manchester for 1 night to celebrate my 19th Birthday.

Taking into consideration that the hotel only opened around a month ago, I'd say that it's pretty damn good for a start up hotel. It was perfect. 

The room was spacious - a bit boring what with grey walls and no decor but it wasn't off putting, if anything it was just a simple looking room. Just my kind of thing. We was only there for 1 night but to be fair we both wished we could of stayed longer. 




The room had two floors - One of them being a little sitting area with a spare toilet and small kitchen area, with a nice looking desk and a wardrobe (not sure why the wardrobe was downstairs though?) and up those beautifully looking stairs was the best part of the stay - the bed! It was so comfy and squishy feeling (do you like my words haha?) Honestly, I had one of the best nights sleep in a long long time. It also had a creepy looking Bible draw (I say creepy- because the draw kept opening by itself and the only thing in it was a Bible)... and it had a delightful bathroom with a walk in shower and a average sized mirror. I'd of preferred a long mirror but hey ho, you can't please us all! 


White sheets - not a good look for a girl who wears foundation eh? At least I gave the cleaners some work to do. 

Day 1: After we finally got to the hotel - we initially wanted to go shopping but decided against it and promised ourselves that we'd go the following day (which we did).

Instead we got all dolled up (well I did anyway because Ryan forgot his shirt and ended up just wearing a t-shirt *sigh*) and went out for a really nice meal paid for by my insanely kind boyfriend. (He spent so much on me this weekend - I'm still overwhelmed by it all)

We decided to go to Frankie and Benny's where we had the scummiest Chocolate Brownie Fudge Cake , as well as also having two separate's meals; mine being the Chicken Romana  and Ryan's being the BBQ Chicken & Ribs.  

I ate the chocolate cake before I got to take a picture - sorry
It was so nice there. I'd never been before so it was all new to me, and I will definitely be returning. 

After we'd eaten, we decided to go back to the hotel for a chilled out night. I don't drink alcohol so I didn't see the point in going out on the town, and I much prefer cuddling up in front of the telly to being out drinking Pepsi in the freezing cold weather. We got back - put on a bit of Celeb Juice and then went to bed ready for the following day. 

Day two - Waking up at half 8 was honestly not the most appealing part of the day. I really don't like mornings especially on a Sunday! But anyway, we had a quick shower and got ready to go for our breakfast which we got free with the room booking. I was originally going to go for a healthy breakfast - fruit and juice ect but I soon changed my mind half way through plating up and ended up with such a weird breakfast. Nice but weird. 


After breakfast it was nearly time to check out, so we collected our stuff and off we went. We went for a quick walk around the block; I picked up a Cosmopolitan Magazine and a bottle of Water and back to the car we went. 

Next stop: Intu Trafford Centre - now this was the whole reason we went to Manchester in the first place. Beautiful is an understatement. It's insanely gorgeous there. It doesn't even look like a shopping center. More like a cruise ship! 







We walked around the place for about 4-5 hours and I only got a few things (oops). Still, I'll being going again some time soon ready for the Christmas Shopping! 

I have a Birthday Haul coming up soon - so stay tuned for more! 

Thank you Ryan for one of the best birthdays I've ever had... I love you. 

xx



Tuesday 14 October 2014

Make Up Revolution - Reviews.


Around 2 weeks ago I made a slight purchase at Make Up Revolution. 
It took a while to get here because I missed the postman and had to wait until I had a day off work to go to the delivery office and fetch it - otherwise it only would of taken a few days to arrive. I got myself 5 products - 3 of which came as 1. 
Here I show you swatches, pictures and my personal reviews on them... 
Keep reading if you want to see them :)

Ultra 32 Shade Eyeshadow Palette FLAWLESS

£8.00
As you can see from the palette - the colours range from a mixture of shimmery shades to matte shades. I think it's perfect for the upcoming seasons (sort of the reason I got it). You can use this palette for either a simple day time look and/or a dark smokey eye for a night out on the town. The options are endless. Obviously the lighter colours are harder to see on the skin, but other than that the application is good. They are also very easy to remove if you use a good make up remover. A mirror is also included.

Row 1
|Paper|Soft Glow|Buff|Highlite|Angel|Unlimited|Brew|Silver Smoke|

Row 2 
|Almost There |Uncover|Barely Pink|Lowlite|Golden Night|Gold Digger|Cheerless|Blue Stars|

Row 3
|Smudge|Shimmer Heart|Universal|Copper Shimmer|Medal|Darkest Shimmer|Tarnish|Black Tie|

Row 4
|Pure Chocolate|Raw|Red Night|Molton Chocolate|Burgandy Nights|GreenStars|Cafe Noir|Night|


Blush & Contour Palette - Sugar and Spice

£6.00
8 Beautiful colours for £6.00 is pretty amazing right? I thought so too ;) 
They range from beige/brownish colours to bright pinks. It really is a good selection. 
You will find that you have 2 contour colours up in the top left, 4 blusher colours and 2 highlight colours which both have a shimmer to it. Again, I feel that the darker blushers are perfect for the next two seasons. They are lovely to apply and easy to remove. There's also a nice size mirror included. The colours can also be found on the back of your packaging which in my opinion is quite useful. The only thing that lets down the product is the fact that it doesn't have names for each one. So from left to right here we go: 

|Shade 1|Shade 2|Shade 3|Shade 4|Shade 5|Shade 6|Shade 7|Shade 8|

Full Vamp Lipstick Collection 

£2.00
Usually I would never go for such dark colours but I thought given that Halloween is coming up as well as Autumn, I'd give them a try... also, 3 lipsticks for £2! What?! It says on the website that you buy 3 and get 1 free - that would make 4 lipsticks. I only received 3 so that's a little disappointing. I don't notice any kind of smell to these, which I guess is good but it's always nice to have something on your lips that smells good in my opinion. They feel really smooth when applying, they just glide on. Obviously the darker colours are harder to remove, but not so much that it's a problem. You get quite a lot of product in the tube. I haven't yet worn them for a full day - so I wouldn't be able to tell you how long they last just yet. Feel free to email me if you're wondering and I can let you know.

Rebel With Cause



100% Vamp



Black Heart



Have you ever got anything from Make Up Revolution, if so what? Did you like it? 








Friday 10 October 2014

W7 Make Up Bundle Review



This week I was very kindly gifted a make up bundle to review here on my blog. You can read my full disclaimer here.


Angel Eyes Silky Eye Shadow Palette
£4.99
7 beautiful eye shadows perfect for that girl who wants to be glitzy & glam. 
Sadly there's no names for each of the shadows which is a slightly annoying as you have to give a detailed description of each to know which one is which (if you were to do a tutorial). The packaging looks a tad cheap but it's not so bad that it would stop me from buying the product. As you can see from the picture, the palette comes with a mirror attached. It's a good size mirror, great for the eyes. I really don't like the fact that it comes with sponge applicators. I would of much preferred it to come with a double sided brush instead. The shadow is easy to remove - the glitter particles not so much. 

Chunky Bronzer - Hawaiian Bronze

£3.65
I was quite surprised to see this product - as you can see there's not much product in the tube which is a little disappointing. The colour itself is a little to bright for my skin tone so I don't think I'll be able to test it out during a full make up look. It would obviously suit someone a lot more tanned than me. It feels a lot like powder which is slightly strange because it's a cream bronzer. It's very easy to remove, and so far very easy to apply. 

Butter Kiss Lipstick - Red Dawn

£2.50
This reminds me a lot like the NYX Butter Lipstick. The packaging is lovely. It has a good amount of product in the tube which is a nice bonus. You can build up the coverage very easily to make it more opaque if needs be. The lipstick has a slight fragrance to it but it's not a bad fragrance so no need to worry. The lipstick is nice and creamy which is such a treat because no one likes a dry lipstick do they? It's easy to apply and even easier to remove. The colour is lovely ngl. I love it. The only downside is that it's more of a Summer/Spring colour rather than an Autumn colour which is now the season that we're in. So, sadly I might have to wait until Spring arrives for me to wear it (or you never know, I might wear it sooner rather than later). 

Eye Lust Mascara - Blackest Black & Liquid Eyeliner - Black


I forgot to take a picture of the eye liner (sorry) - Anyway - these products aren't really my cup of tea. The mascara doesn't really do much for my lashes and because the applicator is so big, it goes all over my face because of my tiny eyes. Maybe it'll suit someone with bigger eyes? 
& I only tested out the eye liner on my hand as I don't wear eye liner on my eyes - at least not black eye liner anyway. My mum on the other hand loves it, so I gave it to her :) You can do all sorts of different strokes with the brush, it's a very stiff brush which is better than one that wiggles about everywhere. You can have thin lines, or thick lines depending on your own personal preference. It has a good colour pay off and it's easy to remove. 





Thursday 9 October 2014

After a long day at work...


Usually after a long day at work, I would just go straight to bed and have a little sleep (I say little, I'm asleep for about 12 hours lol).
But sometimes, just sometimes I like to come home, make myself some tea and have a nice relaxing bath along with putting on my favourite jim jams and watching a bit of the old Waterloo Road episodes. 

Bath time is me time. It's peaceful, it's soothing and it's just a nice thing to do when you need a bit of relaxation to unstress yourself. 

I put on a bit of music (depending on how late it is & if my mum is in bed or not) - pop in a bath bomb, and watch it fizzle out into something amazing. I take off my make up and apply my Mask of Magnaminty face mask from Lush. I get myself undressed and slip into what has to be the best feeling in the world; the bath. 

As I lie there, destressing myself.. a whirlwind of thoughts rush through my mind until they're forced to put themselves to rest. 

I take off my face mask, and apply one of the most amazing scrubs you could ever use. The "Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub" - Excellent for scrubbing away dead skin, keeping your skin soft and smooth, and easily conditioned. Using the best ingredients there is... limes covered in vodka (you can get a non-alcoholic one too), grapefruit and salt. 

Ocean Salt £7.75
Next, I will use the Eau Roma Water which is suitable even for sensitive skin. Made with Rose water and Lavender Water; it's able to calm and reduce any redness, whilst also balancing and softening the skin. It's also great for removing any excess make up that hasn't managed to come off before.

Eau Roma Water £4.25
I then wash my body with a shower gel (defeats the purpose of it being a shower gel right?) and go on to washing my hair. Yes, I'm one of those people who washes their hair in the bath - also my shower head is broken so I have no choice right now anyway. Last night, I decided that I would use a conditioning hair mask too since my hair is somehow slightly damaged at the moment. 

Cotton Pads  | Body Butter | Bath Bomb  | Lip Balm  | Hair Mask
Shampoo | Conditioner | Make Up Remover |


Once I've managed to get myself out of the bath (they really are luxurious), I apply my new favourite body butter, and my all time favourite lip balm... Slip into my pj's and relax in front of the telly. 

The only thing left to do is go to bed. 

So, good night! 

xo






Tuesday 30 September 2014

Mini Haul



I recently went for a mini shop round Meadowhall and picked up a few little bits. 
Keep reading to see what I got. 

First stop, Superdrug: I'd been wanting to get a few things from here for a while and I thought I may as well get them before I run out of money (which I will at some point or another). 
The first thing I got was the Superdrug Cotton Wool Double Faced Pads for £1.89. I love these pads a fair bit and thought they'd go brilliantly with my Garnier Cleansing Micellar Water for £4.99. I've used this twice already, and I just love how amazing it is. It really does work wonders when it comes to removing your make up. I will have to see if it breaks me out or anything, but so far so good! 


The next thing I got on my mini shopping trip was some new Shampoo & Conditioner. I'd been needing some for a few days after running out of my original ones. That weekend I'd gone to my fella's for a few days, and that's where I found my next buy. I was quite lucky that I found a good deal with these as well - 3 for £10 is not bad at all! I got the Aussie Shampoo Miracle Moist £4.49, the Aussie Conditioner Miracle Moist £5.99 and the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor £4.99. What attracted me to these the most was the smell. I absoloutely fell in love with the scent of these. You don't even have to open the bottles, you can smell it from far away which I think is a must with good hair products. You want your hair to smell nice right? I'll have to update you on how it goes with these but I'm liking them atm. 


The next place I visited was Victoria Secret. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, I'm just very easily intrigued by how a shop looks... and thanks to the semi naked pictures of women, so was my boyfriend. We dotted around the place, and after just about leaving with nothing, I came across the body butters. Wow is the only word I can use to describe these. They are just so lush. What got me, was the colour of the butters. There was purple ones, yellow ones even blue ones. I was just so utterly shocked at how pretty they all were. Anyway, after much decision changing (and trust me there was a lot), I finally picked my favourite. It was the Such a Flirt Deep-Softening Body Butter £13. I could of got 3 for £24 but I decided against it. The smell is outrageously gorgeous, my boyfriend thought it was mangoes bless him. It's actually Starfruit and White Orchid. Admittingly, the scent doesn't last that long but truth be told, I don't care. I got this mainly for the softness and how moistursing it is. 


You can't have a mini shop without a trip to Lush. Well I can't anyway. I didn't even know that there was one in Meadowhall so I was pleasently surprised when I came across this one. (My boyfriend less so)
I held back quite a lot and only came home with 2 bath bombs. One of them was my favourite, which I've just done a blog post about here. The second one I got was something I've never tried before but for £2.65 I thought I may as well give it a try. I got the Think Pink which I have another blog post about it coming soon.

I also got a new lipbalm (which I forgot to take a piccy of) but it was the Carmex Cherry Lip Balm which I'm obsessed with btw and some doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (sorry I ate them before I could take a picture)... but for those wondering, I got the Strawberry Gloss, Cookie Crunch and Strawberries & Kreme (which I never got to try because my boyfriend ate it -.-) 


Have you picked up anything nice lately? 





Lush: Think Pink Bath Bomb Review



I recently went into Lush and came out with 2 bath bombs. One of them being my favourite which you can read about here, the other being a brand new one (for me) that I've never before tried. I was quite excited when I picked this one up.
1. It's pretty. 
2. It had a nice scent to it. 
3. It was inexpensive. 
& 4. The name had the word "Pink" in it (my favourite colour). 



Think Pink  cost me only £2.65. That's kind of expected considering the size of it. It's quite a small bath bomb, smaller than I'm used to anyway but I thought it was a cute little thing and I wanted to give it a try. 

I have to admit, I am very dissapointed with this product. I'm not really sure what I was expecting from it, but for me I just found it quite boring. It didn't excite me like I wanted it to do. 

Even the video which I took of it, nearly bores me to death. 
For those who want to see what it does, you can view it here. 


As you can see from the video (if you have the time to watch)... it doesn't do much. 
Maybe I just have my expectations a little to high, and who knows maybe you like it? 
But for me, it's just a little to plain. Don't get me wrong, I love the colour it turns my bath but the scent is hardly noticeable and to me there's not enough colours. The only thing that I liked about this product was the tiny heart confetti pieces that I found floating around my bath tub. 

I'm most likely not going to be repurchasing this bath bomb again but for what it's worth it wasn't all that bad, and definitely not my worst buy. 



Saturday 13 September 2014

Granny Takes a Dip Review



I recently did a blog post related to my top 5 Lush products, and funnily enough soon after I had a little shop in Lush and bought some new products to try out. 

My all time favorite is now the "Granny Takes a Dip" Bath Bomb, and here I tell you why. 

£3.25
What excited me the most about this bath bomb wasn't just the colours but the size of it as well. Looking at here, it doesn't look that big but being honest, this bath bomb is huge which kind of took me by surprise as they are usually quite small. I was so eager to try this out, that I used it within the first night of buying it. 

The bath bomb is made up of four layers of colours as you can see in the above picture. A neon pink surrounds the other colours, which entails a dusty blue, a cherry red, and a bright green. 

As soon as I removed the bath bomb from the packaging, I rightly remembered why I'd bought this instead of any others. The scent from this bath bomb was just beautiful; made up with ginger, pepper and lemon, Granny Takes a Dip makes up quite a unique fragrance which sadly doesn't last long enough in my opinion.

As soon as you pop it into your bath, you'll start to notice the bath bomb fizz away into all sorts of foamy colours and patterns. I was quite amazed at how it did this, so I think I spent the majority of my time just watching it happen. 


The bath bomb starts to gush out the colours, and form a rainbow pattern in the water. It slowly trails around the bathtub, taking around 10 minutes to fully dissolve. Once the pattern has completely gone, the bath water is left a beautiful dark purple colour. 




My skin felt amazing when I left the bath tub. I felt so smooth and moisturized which to me was a pleasant surprise. 

All in all this is by far my favorite bath bomb, ever. I loved it so much, I went back to get another one which I very kindly gifted to my sister for her 17th Birthday. 

For £3.25 it's really worth the money and I highly recommend it to my readers.

xx

Saturday 30 August 2014

Top 5 Lush products

Hello :) 

Everyone who's anyone knows what Lush is right? If you don't, then where have you been?! 
If you have no idea what Lush is, then you can read about their history here.

But to narrow it down a little, they basically make handmade cosmetics such as bath bombs, shower gels, hair care, massage bars + many many more. 
The ingredients they use are all mostly natural; fruits, veggies, essential oils, honey, beeswax and synthetic ingredients. They don't use animal fats in their products and in addition to this, are against animal testing... using volunteers instead. 

If you've ever been in any of the stores, you will know what I'm talking about when I say how overwelming it is to be in there. The scents, fragrances, colourful products... it's just a lovely shop to go to. 

My top 5 favourite Lush products of all time are as follows: 

1. Mask of Magnamity Self-Preserving  £9.25 - "This peppermint mask does everything it can to fight eruptions and outbreaks and return your skin to tip top condition". = It does exactly that! Apart from the odd skin problem (time of the month), it works wonders. I never break out unless of course I'm having girl troubles in which case, they can't be stopped sadly... but it's so good to get rid of those break outs quickly and easily. Highly recommend this product. 

Instagram Picture @brasso_95

2. Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bomb - Sadly this is only around at Christmas time *cry cry* but it's still one of my all time favourites from Lush, so I'm hoping that they find it in their hearts to bring it back this Christmas. The Bath Bomb is quite large in size, and is covered in multicoloured pastel dots. The base of the product is a pastel purple colour and the top is powdery white with a little holly decoration to top it off. Cute look! What I love about this product is how it turns out when you pop it in the bath.. I won't say too much as I have pictures to show you but all I will say is that it's the prettiest bath I've ever had. 


3. Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser £6.40 - Made from 100% natural ingredients. Helps to tone and brighten your skin. Can be used all over the body as well as the face (although I use it just for my face). Brilliant product. Doesn't break me out at all. Leaves my skin feeling softer than ever. Gently exfoliates the skin and absorbs grease and dirt from the skin. It can be quite messy though due to some of the ingredients used. 

Image
4. Bubblegum Lip Scrub £5.50 - Great for prepping your lips before the start of your make up routine. I love this product. It looks good, smells good and it even tastes good. What could be better?! Ingredients used: Caster Sugar and Jojoba Oil. Scrubs away dead skin and infuses moisture into the lips. Lasts a long time as well *bonus*. 

Image Source

5. Eau Roma Water Toner £3.95 - Helps calm and reduce redness (something I struggle a lot with) and the lavander water will balance and soften the skin. Use it for a quick refreshing spritz or to remove any excess make up. I love love love this. Does everything it's supposed to do. I really would recommend this product for those with sensitive skin. 

Image

What are your favourite Lush products? 









Monday 18 August 2014

Lola the Jackhuahua

Hello you gorgeous people... 

For those who read my blog, you will all know that I recently (I say recently, it was actually a few months ago now) got a new puppy after my best friend of 11 years passed away back in April. Jessie was a perfect Dog, in every way, shape and form. She made my life feel complete and was always there for me when I needed a cuddle, so when she passed away due to circumstances above our control, it hit me like a brick and I felt like my life had been turned completely upside down. I don't care how silly that sounds, to everyone else she was "just a Dog" but to me, she was my best friend and sister all rolled up into one. She couldn't talk, but she could smile and she could cry, she had feelings just like us and she would cuddle me all night and sometimes I was lucky enough to spoon her. No other dog could ever replace her.

Jessie - 2003-2014 RIP Baby 
That being said, me and my family didn't feel like we could cope without a dog. We've always had a Dog, since the day I was born and it just didn't feel right not having one roaming round the house every day and night. So upon those feelings, we decided the best way to stop feeling so down about Jessie's death, was to get a new Dog and form a new bond with a new beautiful little girl. I say little, because she is genuinely tiny. Like I said, we could never replace Jessie. So that's when we decided that getting another border collie would be way too difficult for us to handle, and so we decided on a new breed altogether. A Jackhuahua.

A Chihuahua crossed with a Jack Russell. 
She was only 9 weeks old when we got her and honestly, she's so damn cute! I agree with my mum when she says that Lola's a very spoiled little girl... those cute little eyes and her little whimpering sounds are just to much to bare. 

Lola as a puppy 
I admit though, her ears are not the same floppy little things that you can see on the above picture... no. She's now got full on Chihuahua ears. Because she's half Chihuahua and that breed comes from Mexico, she can get extreamely cold with just the tiniest gust of wind. Therefore, we've had to invest in some cardigan's and coat's for her for the Winter. (We wouldn't usually dress Dogs, but the vet advised us to do so in order to keep her warm). 


Lola has her own little quirks and qualities just like every other Dog. She snores a lot when it comes down to having a snooze, which is another thing... she's lazy. She sleeps a lot. She's like a baby really. She sleeps, eats, poops, plays and does it all over again constantly all day. She can jump up on to the sofa's, which can quite irritating at times when you don't want her up there. She can't climb the stairs yet, which is a relief. Although she could manage to climb them at my Grandma's house, but I think that's because her stairs are closer together than ours. She couldn't get down though and took to crying her little heart out instead. We have 4 cats, and even though Lola is a lot smaller than them all, my cats still seem to be afraid of her. I think that's down to the high volume of energy that Lola has. She can be sleeping one minute, and running riot the next. She's very afraid of bigger dogs, as is most small dogs. When we walk her, she'll often just sit there and refuse to walk because like I said before, she's lazy. So we've took to carrying her in a little bag (that's made for small dogs). I wasn't sure of this at first, but I suppose it's can be quite handy for when we take her out and she gets sleepy. She can just curl up in her bag and drop off to sleep. It doesn't matter what Lola does that's naughty, you really can't stay mad at her for long. She's too cute. 

She really has brightened up my life, as well as all of those around me. 
She's now a little bigger than what she first was, but it's not that much bigger. She's still a midget. I look forward to spending my life with her. 




If you have instagram and would like to see a short video of Lola having one her energy outburts then please click here