Top 5 Series: Makeup Brands!

We are reaching the end of my Top 5 series, I have a feeling this is the second to last one of these posts and this week I am talking Makeup brands, high end to drugstore! 

If you have been following me for a while you may know that Rimmel is pretty much my favourite 'drugstore' make up brand. I own at least one product from each of Rimmel's lines e.g. a foundation, a lipstick, a eyeshadow, a nail varnish ectt. I'd say rimmel is one of the more expensive 'drugstore' brands but its not going to give a massive dent in your purse! 

I love NYC mostly for their mascaras. I think I could safely put their HD length mascara as my holy grail mascara and for only £3 - £4 a tube and extra lengthened and voluminous eyelashes its pretty easy to put it in that position. I am yet to expand my purchases into other products but I've heard good things about their lipsticks and eyeshadows so no disappointment there! 

I recently received my first ever NYX order the other day thanks to my ever so generous mum who was in the mood to treat me (love you mum!) I am in love with all aspects of NYX especially the lip products and blush (post on those soon!) I will definitely be putting in another order for my birthday because I have already spotted a few more things I like the look of.

Me and ELF have a bit of a love, hate relationship. I find that some of their products, mostly brushes, are a little hit and miss. However when ELF do good, they do good! Who can say no to a high quality, highly pigmented eyeshadow quad or lipstick for just £1.50, no one. Plus its available all around the world so everyone can get in on the bargainous beauty action. 

I was a little slow on the MAC train and by that I mean I got my first ever MAC cosmetics for Christmas last year. Since then I have been bitten by the bug and literally want to buy everything. I think every beauty blogger or just girl in general love a bit of MAC makeup! The brand itself is such amazing quality, yet sometimes a little over priced, but you can't fault the pay off of the actual product. I prefer to order online a lot due to the makeup artists at my MAC counter always seem a bit stuck up.. 

XO 

'Stackers' Review

A few weeks ago I was out shopping because pay day always makes me want to spend money on things I really don't need. However, when having a rare browse around John Lewis I came across a Jewellery box range called 'Stackers.' This is a form of 'create your own' jewellery box which comes in different sizes, small and large and range between £9 - £30 depending on the size and the part of the box you buy. You can get the top of the box, with a closable lid, to hold rings and earrings and the middle sections to hold the rest of the jewellery. You can buy as many sections as you need and essentially stack them together to make it as tall or small as you want. The range comes in a fair few colours so they are bound to fit any room! 

This is the small centre part I ended up buying and an example of how to use it to store jewellery in, it cost £9 which I think is pretty good price wise.

This is what I actually use my stackers section for. I keep it on my make up table and keep all my bobby pins, hair bands and clear elastics in because I am forever loosing them. I have been looking for something to store them in for ages so I decided that this is pretty perfect. So basically, even if this is made for jewellery you could pretty much store anything you wanted in it. 

XO

I am not affiliated with stackers or John Lewis, neither companies are compensating me for this post nor do they even know I am talking about the product 

CNL: Chocolate Brown + Gold Tips

I told you I need to post more Current Nail Looks so I am! My nails chipped quite quickly this week, they lasted around 4 days, so I decided to clear it off and start again. This time I went with two colours I haven't worn in a while. 

BarryM's foil nail effects polish in 'Gold' and Nails Inc's polish in 'Jermyn Street' 

The look I decided to create was a little different to my typical 'statement' ring finger colour. This is the look I went for..

Chocolate brown nails with golden tips (sorry about the lighting) To create this look I used surgical tape to cover the tips whilst I painted the bottom two third's of the nail and then after it had dried I swapped the tape over and painted the tips with the gold colour. 

An example of what to do with the tape, not that its particularly hard haha! 

XO

A Peek At My Week (#1)

Yes, that's right. I'm jumping on the 'week in pictures' type posts but I think these are great posts to act as like a diary to go back on and see what fun things we all got up to. I'm doing mine more based around writing and less about pictures. I'm thinking some weeks I may not include a load of pictures and just write about my week. Who knows, but here is number 1 of the 'My Week In Words & Pictures (sometimes).

SUNDAY: I worked all day, the usual. I then went to Matt's house for a lovely evening of cuddles, he lets me watch The Only Way Is Essex even when he says he hates it! MONDAY: Matt made me and him bacon rolls in bed, yum! Then we did a little shopping to replace the two glasses I broke last week as well as the new 17 foundation which I have reviewed. When I got home I went to the post office to pick up this months Glossybox (review to come soon) TUESDAY: My first day back at college after half term, I started bio-mechanics and the name alone sounds hard! It was also pancake day so I made pancakes for me and my dad because my mum was out.I made the decision to go to the one direction tour with my cousin after watching them on the brits. WEDNESDAY: I had to throw all my mascaras away after the out of date ones irritated my eyes so I purchased two from the collection 2000 range (review soon) I decided to go and see 'The Vow' with my mum and her friend and I nearly cried in the cinema. Standard. THURSDAY: I had the most hilarious psychology lesson ever, I was literally crying laughing. When your teacher says 'and Tom has a massive.. issue with confidence, this effects his performance' and we have an immature class of 18 & 19 year olds. FRIDAY: I GOT TICKETS TO SEE ONE DIRECTION in the 02 pre-sale, I was verrrry happy! I'm taking my cousin which is super fun. Pretty happy with the seats too! :) SATURDAY: I was working all day. fun stuff.


XO

100 Happy Things (#3)

[Picture Credit]

Happy Things: Number 31 to 45

31. Organisation

32. Books

33. Swimming

34. Doodling

35. Shopping

36. Dresses

37. Photos

38. One Tree Hill

39. My Bed

40. Birthdays

41. Fresh Snow

42. Walking my Dog

43. Blue Skies

44. Music

45. Sweetcorn

XO

17 Miracle Matte Foundation Rave!

Lightly blended and a small pump 

I really haven't heard much about this foundation on the blogging scene so first off I would just like to thank/blame Lucy for me rushing out to purchase this product after I read her review on it. 


Now onto my thoughts, as you may be able to tell from the 'Rave' part in the title I really like this foundation and here is why.. Lets start with the packaging shall we? It's pink with girly writing on it, it looks cute and that's an immediate package winner in my books. The 17 Miracle matte foundation is a liquid foundation with a thicker consistency, it contains SPF 15 which is super useful to help protect the skin against discolouration of acne scars (which I am doomed with) and it is also oil free, bonus! The pump on the bottle has a small opening which allows small amounts of product out with each pump, this helps to reduce waste of the foundation. The shade range is limited to six shades, I think, but I hope that as its a new product 17 will begin to produce more shades if popularity increases so more people can use it. I am the shade fair and it is a perfect match for my skin tone, that makes me happy. I use 1 and a half to 2 pumps of foundation and my sigma stippling brush to apply the foundation which blends easily and gives a really nice finish, the consistency is a little thicker than other liquid foundations but it feels so light on the skin. It has amazing staying power too, unless you want it off of course, I wore this to college on Tuesday when I was in the gym for an hour doing circuits and it did not budge at all. When taking the foundation off at the end of the day it comes off nice and easy with a splash of water alone and using a makeup remover means its all gone, less scrubbing and irritation to the face. For all of these reasons and the fact it is only £5.99 (currently £4.99 as an introductory price in boots) this is my new holy grail foundation! 


XO

Top 5 Series: Nail Varnish!

Only two more Top 5 posts after this one, then what will I fill Wednesday's with!? This week I am talking my Top 5 choices for nail varnish! 

Up first is my all time favourite nail varnish. Sephora by OPI's 'Mermaid To Order' It is the most beautiful mix of colours depending on the light its in. As you can see from the picture it has hints of teal, green, blue and purple and it looks so nice on your nails. It has a thick consistency which means it takes one or two coats to make the colour as opaque as you need and with a top coat it lasts for a good 4 to 5 days without chipping badly on the nails. Its a shame OPI isn't more available in the UK because it is a really good quality polish.

The foil effect nail varnishes were a big hit last year and I will continue to wear this gold one by Barry M right into this year too. It gives such a nice finish to the nails almost as if you had just dipped your nails into liquid gold. Due to the consistency of the polish it is practically opaque with just one coat. I found that it didn't last a particularly long time on the nail but I tended just to cover up the chips to get the most wear from this as I could because I love it. I think this cost about £4 which is a pretty decent price for an instant effects polish.

A couple of years ago I received a massive set of nail varnishes, but cannot remember for the life of me the name of them, but it is mostly full of glitter polishes of all different sizes which I love. This colour is my favourite from the collection because it looks mostly pink but actually contains so many coloured glitters in it. I wear this alone, built up to create a fully glittered nail or on top of pretty much any colour to add a little sparkle. Who doesn't love a bit of glitter every now and then, or all the time, we don't judge here!

I got this nail polish free with Glamour magazine a long time ago and typically I would never go for a colour like this, I'm all about the brights you see, but when I actually tried the colour 'Jermyn Street' out I really liked it. It is a beautiful chocolate brown colour that make nails look good enough to eat. I own 3 nails inc. polishes all full size and free from magazines and I actually really like the consistency and staying power of these brands. I have recently done a nail look (soon to be blogged about) using this colour and the gold Barry M nail effect. I am thinking of trying out a few more nails inc shades soon, any recommendations?

   
This Barry M shade was the first I ever owned from the range and I have worn it so much. It is an absolutely beautiful blue colour that wears so well on the nail for a long period of time. I'm unsure if this shade is actually still available now which I will be very disappointed if it isn't because I'm running out and need this colour permanently in my collection. This is my summer colour because it actually looks really nice with a tan and gives that pop of colour in any outfit. I think everyone who buys Barry M polish owns this colour.


XO

Adoption: Preparation Classes

I'm sorry if these aren't the sort of post you are interested in but it was kind of the reason I started my blog so I'm going to keep up with it, X out if you aren't interested. I haven't done an adoption post in ages, not because I have neglected them but because the process got longed out by social services cancelling the original dates of the preparation classes in November due to there not being enough people attending (stupid reason if you ask me) and moved it to the end January & February. 


For those of you that don't know the preparation classes are basically a four day course that basically, in my mums words, "Tells you that all your parenting skills are wrong and they teach you how to be a parent again." because a lot of the adopted children have problems that you have to deal with in different ways. For example you can't tell some children to go and sit on the naughty step and tell them to think about what they have done wrong because in most cases they wont know what they've done, instead you have to sit with them in a thinking zone and talk to them about what they did in a calm way so they know that what they have done is wrong but don't feel like you hate them for doing it, I guess its understandable. The classes, like most things, told my parents about all the 'worst case scenarios' for the children and their behaviour which is how they are designed as yes it may scare people and make them think they aren't cut out to deal with adopting a child and cause them to drop out, but to be honest social services only want people who are know in their heart that they are cut out to deal with what will or could happen in their family life. Also, they were told that you can't tell an adopted child that they can't do something like smoke or drink, you just have to advise them.  
After each class my parents had to fill out a sheet on what they thought of each session which are sent to our social worker, who is the nicest person!, they also had a work book that had to be filled out throughout the sessions which was massive, I guess that gets sent away to be looked at by the social workers and kept in their file. The groups for the classes were really small with only 5 or 6 couples per class. There was 4 couples who had no children, one couple who were already fostering a child and were going through the process to fully adopt him and my parents who, obviously, have a child of their own which they said made them feel a bit out of place, like some of them were judging them for being selfish for wanting to adopt despite having a child of their own. Of course there is always that one person who thinks their ideas are the best and everyone else is wrong, she sounded annoying. 
I don't want to go on and on about it so that was just a quick summary, next up is a meeting with the social worker about their observations of mum and dad during the sessions. 
Until then you will have to make do with my beauty/fashion posts! 
XO

January Glossybox Review!

So, In January's box I received;  Clarins extra firming day cream & extra firming night cream, Murad hybrids skin perfecting primer, FAB Gentle body wash and Eyeko skinny eyeliner. Like every month of course I am going to let you know what I thought about these products.

First up we have the Murad hybrids skin perfecting primer. I'm not sure if you can see properly from the picture, where I had blended it in, but this really is not my colour. It looks so orange on my skin tone that I did not even try it on my face. It claims to give a dewy finish and as someone who can suffer from oily skin I really don't need any help giving my skin a shine. I wasn't a fan of this product. 

Lets start with the positives, these two products smell like sun cream and weirdly I love the smell of sun cream so I was more than happy to put this on my skin and smell it for ages. They feel a little greasy at first but once the cream has sunk in, which it does really fast, your skin feel so soft and moisturised. One thing that put me off a little was there wasn't any "This is what our product aims to do" so its like why am I using this if I don't know what its aims are, how am I meant to know if its working? 

When I was having a nose at other people's glossybox reviews I noticed that a lot of them were getting strange coloured eyeliners so I was very happy to receive the shade Midnight Blue which is a seriously deep blue that could pass for black. Eyeko eyeliners are so creamy and apply with such ease that even me, who isn't a fan of eyeliners, was happy to apply this without colouring my eye in! Bonus.

This product confused me, don't judge I'm not stupid. However on the bottle it says 'body moisturizer' but on the card glossybox send through it says 'body wash' so I was like am I meant to use this in the shower or just use it on its own? In the end I assumed the bottle must be right and used it as a moisturiser. As a moisturiser it was a non greasy formula which smells really nice and soaks in super quick, always a positive! Getting a sample size of the product means that it can easily be popped in your bag for on the go application throughout those winter months.


So, I am now awaiting February's box to see what glossybox have to offer! What did you think of your box last month?
XO

100 Happy Things (#2)

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Happy Things: Number 16 to 30

16. Summer

17. Winter

18. Chocolate Milkshake

19. Gavin & Stacy (especially the Christmas special)

20. Peter Pan

21. Holidays

22. Chocolate Cake

23. Tinkerbell

24. My beetle

25. Disneyworld

26. McFly

27. Pay Day

28. Disney Princesses (Doesn't everyone want to be one?)

29. Taylor Swift

30. Cookies

XO

11 Questions TAG

I was tagged to do this post by Jennifer over at Changing Tides. I know I said before that I would do Tags on Friday's but I realised I don't need to be so strict with what I post on what days so hence this post being on a Thursday. Anyway, on with the Tag..

The Rules

- You must post these rules.

- Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.

- Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

- You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.

- Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.

- No tag backs.

- No stuff in the tagging section about 'you are tagged if you are reading this'. You legitimately have to tag 11 people

11 Things About Me

1. I quit school when I was in year 12 because it was not for me

2. I am studying sports science at college now, much better

3. I love sleeping but always go to be really late

4. My feet have shrunk, I used to be a size 5 however recently only size 4s will fit me

5. I am the shortest member of my family despite being the middle child

6. I'm not a massive fan of clubbing, sticky floors, drunk people and being out at 2am, I should be asleep!

7. Speaking of drunk people, they scare me, honestly they freak me out

8. I still look 15 despite being nearly 19, I am always scared of being pulled over by the police because they think I'm too young to drive. 

9. I am obsessed with Vampire Diaries, tv series and book

10. I actually love reading, its quite relaxing

11. I have dreams of starting my own business, I will need to make these reality. 

 

Jennifer's 11 Questions For Me

1) Who are your three role models (fashion icons, beauty, parents?)

Taylor Swift, Mollie King from the Saturdays (have you seen her fashion, I am jealous) my mum.

2) What was your favourite part of 2011?

Probably going on holiday with Matt to Disneyland, the things he does for me! 

3) Can you do anything strange with your body? (e.g splits :p )

I can click my ears, you have to hear it to believe it haha!

4) What's your favourite nail varnish?

OPI's 'Mermaid To Order' 

5) What was the last full book you read?

One Direction's new book, I like them (not sorry about it!)

6) Mac products... are you a lover, a hater or indifferent?

I am a liker, I own a few but I'm not rushing out all the time to buy more.

7) Describe Prince Charming... Tall dark and handsome or blonde and Daniel Craig shaped? (Or curvy with a nice set of DD's we aren't discriminative here :)

Just slightly taller than me, darkish hair, occasional glasses wearer, likes building things. (my boyfriend)

8) Shoes or bags?

Shoes!

9) If you could only shop at one shop for the rest of your life/foreseeable future where would it be?

Oh gosh, urm.. can it be an online shop? I'd pick Missguided

10) Cats or dogs?

My pup!

11) What makes you happy?

So many things, I am a happy person 

My 11 Questions For You!

1. What made you want to start blogging?

2. How long does it take you to write your blog posts?

3. How did you get into make up?

4. What is your favourite make up brand?

5. What is your favourite TV show?

6. Do you enjoy reading, if so what is you favourite book?

7. Who is your fashion inspiration?

8. What is your favourite magazine to read?

9. What is your number 1 staple make up product for your everyday look?

10. High end or High street?

11. Staple clothing item?

I TAG..

1)Rachael, 2)Nicky, 3)Denise, 4)Beca, 5)Celeste, 6)Jazz, 7)Zara, 8)Nadin, 9)Kate, 10)Claire, 11)Hannah

Top 5 Series: Lip Products!

Another Wednesday and another Top 5, this week its lip products. From the traditional lipstick, to lipgloss and lipstains I am covering them all! 

A while back I did a full review the Maybelline Colour sensational lipstains which you can find here. I was so glad I found lipstains because their staying power is so great, being a stain. My favourite shade is Wink of Pink which gives a really natural colour to the lips even when built up and by the end of the day leaves a light blush to the lip. Plus they smell really nice which is always good.

Rimmel has always been one of my favourite 'drugstore' make up brand. Their lipsticks are one of my main choices of things to buy from their collections. My top shade from Rimmel is 'Pink Blush' It is the most perfect pink for my skin tone which I am so happy with, I wore this so much when I first got it but I haven't seen it in store for a while so I'm kind of trying to save it until I can get a back up. The application is so smooth and creamy and only a couple of coats gives off such a nice colour. I believe this cost me between £4 and £5 which is a really good price. 

I think there are so many people out there who love MACs Shy Girl lipstick. It's a beautiful nude peachy colour in crèmesheen form which applies so nicely and can be built to deepen the colour. I wore it a tonne after I got it for Christmas (thanks santa!) and it goes nicely with my skin tone now that I am a little pale thanks to winter. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when I have a tan so I can hopefully get more wear from it. I think the crèmesheen formula is my favourite so far.

Another MAC product. Boy Bait is the only MAC lipgloss I own and I love it! It is the perfect pink shade to wear on top of any nude or light pink lipstick to add a bit of shine to the lips. The crèmesheen glass consistency means that it is also a gloss that can be worn alone to give a little natural looking colour to the lips. It is also not sticky at all which is a huge bonus because I absolutely hate sticky lipgloss. I will definitely be repurchasing this when mine runs out because it is quickly becoming a staple in my make up routine.   

Show off is my favourite topshop lipstick, I am actually wearing it today. It is a really nice hot pink colour which literally requires the lightest of applications to get the full colour effect. It glides on so smoothly and has seriously good staying power, I have had it on since 11am and I still haven't had to reapply it. Is it just me or do topshop lipsticks have a sweet scent to them, because I always think of jelly beans when I use this, weird. It costs £6 however I must warn you that the topshop lipstick collection is so nice so you may end up spending a little more than £6 if you ever go in there. 


XO

Blogger Lovin'

So today is Valentines Day, and whether you are celebrating this or Singles Awareness Day everyone deserves a bit of lovin'. So here I am, taking cupids place, and spreading a little love from me to all of my lovely followers. Yesterday on this post I asked people to comment with the promise that today I would tell each and every one of you that did something that I like about you. Are you ready? Here we go!


Candice  - First off, she is from Australia which makes me slightly jealous because hello, its Australia. Her blog is based on reviewing products which is super helpful. The reviews she gives are really in depth and most of all she is honest, she's not one of those girls who gets a product and tells everyone how much she loves it even if she hates it. If she hates it, you will know about it! Candice you have a great blog and I hope you keep it up! X
Deanna - I am loving Deanna's style, it is so cute! Her blog mostly consists of outfit posts which are always portraying some seriously cute and quirky outfits that I wish I could manage to pull of like she does! I like how she comes up with original titles for each of her blog posts, they always make me feel so intrigued as to what the post is about. X
Molly - Another blogger with cute style! Molly does amazing reviews of products which always make me feel like I need to go out and buy the product asap. Molly is also a fan of One Direction, they are my guilty pleasure so she deserved a follow just for that haha ;) I am still undecided which member is my favourite.. Molly, you have a great blog and I am surprised you don't have more followers! X
Rachael  - Rachael's blog was one of the first blogs I followed when I joined blogger and have enjoyed following her journey from the UK to a "quick" hop over the pond to live with her, now, hubby in America! I love that Rachael's blog isn't the typical beauty blog, it shows more creative things and daily life and of course the Visa issues! When she moved it was like my own friend had moved! Glad that you are finally starting to settle in, I am forever jealous that you are living in America! X   
 Mayra - I really like Mayra's blog because her content ranges from beauty to fashion to hauls to food, all of my favourite things haha! Mayra always leaves really sweet comments on posts which is always nice to read. X
Nicky - I am so glad I have had the chance to get to know Nicky! She is just so sweet and kind all the time. I am hoping that I will actually get to meet her in the near future, especially as I am dragging her to IMATS next year with me hehe ;) I am constantly reading her blog or watching her youtube videos because they are both so good so I think you all need to go follow and subscribe to them both and support Nicky because she totally deserves it! X
Imogen - Imogen was the winner of my first ever giveaway on my blog and she was really grateful for it which was really nice to see. I have been following Imogen's blog for a while now and even though she does disappear for a while I am always happy to see her blog pop up on the reading list because she's come back and posted again! I love reading her blog, her pictures are always great quality and everything is nice and detailed. She deserves more followers! X
Francesca - I haven't been following Francesca's blog for a very long time but I actually really like it, so I am glad that she commented on my post so I could discover it! The reviews that she does are so detailed and structured that you know every inch of the good and bad of the product that you can completely make up your mind whether you should purchase it or not. Francesca is another blogger with great photography which can make products even more desirable! X
Becca - I am just stating, right here, for everyone that Becca is the next big blogging thing!  Her blog gets so many hits and followers all the time because she puts so much time and effort into her posts and she thoroughly deserves every hit and follower she gets. Every time a new post appears I feel like I need to go out and buy all the clothing and accessories  that have been featured! X 
Ciara - I am a huge fan of Ciara's confidence and style. She can create a cute outfit, accessorize it and look great. She also posts some seriously cute and inspirational photos which is a great addition to her blog. I am glad that I am following her! X


I hope you enjoyed this post, hugs and kisses to you all! 
XO

Spreading Blogger Love!

[Picture Credit]

Now I know valentines day is hated by a lot of people due to it being very 'commercial' and a couples day, personally I like it when I'm in a relationship but remember hating it when I wasn't. Obviously, your partner should be treated the way you treat them on valentines day every day of the year but I know everyone likes to feel a little extra special every now and then. I have decided that I want to do something nice for all of you because you have all be so kind since I joined blogspot. 


Basically, I am heading along the same lines of the facebook 'Like4Like' type thing. If you wish to take part in this then all you have to do is post a comment below saying absolutely anything valentines related or not and tomorrow (valentines day) I will put up a post telling each one of you something I like about you personally or your blog. I figured this would be a fun post to do to spread some love across the blogging world. 


Also, if any of you have noticed that I'm not following you back then please leave me your links below because I really want to follow a load of new blogs! Even if you aren't following me and would like me to check your blog out stick your link below! Thanks :)
XO

100 Happy Things! (#1)

Typically on a Friday I would be putting up a TAG post however after spotting the 100 Happy Things challenge a while back, I can't remember where, I have decided that the next few Fridays, possibly every other Friday, I will post anywhere from 5 to 25 Happy things until I reach the target of 100. I think this challenge is a good way for you to highlight what things in your life make you happy, and sharing them with everyone is just a nice thing to do! Separating it out means that I also get more time to think of 100 things too..  

[Picture Credit]

Happy Things: Number 1 to 15 

1. Family

2. Matt!

3. Best Friends

4. Adoption

5. My dog

6. Christmas

7. Achieving

8. The Future

9. Blogging

10. Cuddles

11. Dreams

12. Days off

13. Driving

14. Sleeping In

15. Laughing 

XO

My Bag Collection!

Hey everyone! So a week or so ago I put up a poll for you to vote on what you would rather see, the winner was bag collection and today I am finally getting round to putting it up! I'm just letting you all know that I am not trying to brag about them because I don't have a extensive range of 'high end' bags, they are mostly just high street brands, plus it was voted for! 

Pauls Boutique leopard skull laptop case.
Pauls Boutique bright blue bag (my first proper handbag I owned!)

River Island leopard print bag with detachable shoulder strap. 

Marks & Spencer (another) leopard print satchel style bag.
Chosen by me & purchased by Matt in the M&S sale last year 

Radley shoulder bag, purchased by Matt with matching passport holder & purse!
New Look black snake print shoulder bag with gold detail (for going out)

Forever 21 tan quilted satchel (used for college)

Louis Vuitton speedy 35, a gift from my parents for my 18th Birthday.
Used near enough all the time
Featured here in a 'What's In My Bag' post

Marks & Spencer  studded bag. My latest purchase from this years M&S sale!

I hope you enjoyed this post, I might put up another poll on soon with more post choices. Hello to all my new followers, thank you so much for taking the time out to check out my blog! Hope you all have a lovely day! 

XO

Top 5 Series: Mascaras!

It's Wednesday so its TOP 5 time and this week's topic is mascaras! Like always I have included high end to high street. 

So first up we have ELF's lengthening and volumizing mascara. When I fist got this I was a little disappointed by the small tube but it exceeded my expectations because it lasts such a long time! When it says length and volume, you get length and volume due to the thicker shaped wand. Coming in at only £3.50 it is a perfect mascara for every day wear. 

This was the first NYC mascara I purchased because I loved the wand.It is slightly curved which gives you the most pretty curve to the lashes. I'm not sure whether this one comes in a waterproof version but for a non waterproof mascara it rarely runs, speaking as a girl with one eye that waters a lot, which I am very pleased with. I believe this mascara is around £3. 

Another NYC mascara, these are quickly becoming my favourite range. This one is the HD volume and comes with one of my favourite wands, the plastic-ish bristles. I feel like those type of bristles comb through the lashes to get rid of any clumps and separate the lashes. Volume? very much so! I will be repurchasing this very soon.

 The covergirl range seems to be huge in America and always has good reviews so I had to try it when I was out there last year. I picked up the lashblast volume, length and fusion and volume has got to be my favourite. It has my favourite type of bristles and with a couple of coats my lashes look so thick with lots of volume. Love this, I just wish it was available over here!

My only "high end" mascara on this post. I received this with my Christmas presents as a free sample and I am loving it. I can't wait to buy this in a full size. It gives my lashes serious length and volume with one swoop of the wand. I really don't want to use this every day because I don't want to use it up before I get the chance to purchase the full size. 




Only a few more Top 5 posts to go after this one! Hope you enjoyed it! 
XO

Keeping My Life Organised

A lot of you are probably thinking that this is a weird post to do but if you happen to be anything like I was then you may find this helpful. Now, I'm still not perfect at keeping organised but I try, I have to say that the amount of times I have double booked a day have minimised now thanks to my little organisation board. 

I got this half whiteboard half pin board from staples a couple of months ago and I am finding it super handy. It even has a little pen holder on it! Please note that some things on the whiteboard part (work & to do) are made up for demonstration purposes. I have been pretty good at getting all my jobs done recently. 
(Sorry about the rubbish lighting, it was dark when I took the pictures)

On the whiteboard side I have split it into three sections, college, work and to do. I find it really useful that way because everything is clear and not all mixed together so I don't miss doing assignments or extra hours at work ectt.. On the college side I tend to put the assignments I have left to complete. On the work side I put in any extra hours I am working. Obviously the 'To Do' section is where I put jobs that need doing or places I need to go to. 

On the pin board section I keep a tissue pinned to it for wiping things off the whiteboard side, super handy, a long with extra pins. The piece of paper on the left is where I write down what online orders I am waiting for so I don't forget. The one on the right is my little blogging schedule, I am obsessed with writing lists and things so I quite like writing out posts I want to do each week. I also have a couple of pictures of my boyfriend and a fortune from a fortune cookie. The notebook hanging from the bottom is used for replacing the two bits stuck on the board already. If I am ever wondering what to blog about or what jobs need doing on any day I can literally look at this board and it tells me everything. I am so obsessed with lists that I have a blog book which is always kept neat and organised so if anyone wants to see how I do that then let me know in the comments. 
I hope someone, somewhere found this the slightest bit useful.
XO 

Products I Regret Buying!

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen me say that I wasn't going to blog today due to me being in a really lame mood but I am now in a better mood and am a little more motivated to blog so I am! Now I am always telling you about the products that I love but I think its time for me to tell you about a selection of products I am not so keen on and hopefully stop you from wasting your money on them. I am in now way saying you can't buy these because for all I know these might work really well for you, however, I am not a fan and will not be repurchasing these in the future. 

L - R: Back Row; 1) Batiste XXL volume dry shampoo, 2) Covergirl lashblast length, 3) ELF make up setting spray. Middle Row; 4) ELF Kabuki brush, 5) Rimmel Clear Complexion powder, 6) Collection 2000 Mosaic glow bronzer. Front row; 7) ELF Stippling brush. 8) Clean & Clear cream wash (not pictured)

1) I have actually written about my dislike for the XXL volume dry shampoo before so I shall quickly summarise my feelings towards this product. Basically, I am not a fan of straw like hair that will not disappear even after brushing, XXL volume gave me this. The whiteness is so intense it doesn't go away. May have just been my can but it was horrible. 

2) I had heard so many great reviews about the covergirl lashblast range and don't get me wrong I am a huge fan of the volume & fusion versions however the length doesn't do it for me. It honestly felt like there was nothing being applied to my eyelashes and it made no real difference to the length of them, It wasn't dried out or past its use by date, it was brand new but it felt like I was literally taking a clean wand and brushing it through my lashes. When I go back to America I am going to repurchase volume, fusion and try luxe out and see how I get on with that one. 

3) This was the first setting spray I had ever tried, purely because ELF is so cheap (this was around £3) I hated it, It claims to smell like cucumbers but it genuinely smells like vomit. I am not even joking or over exaggerating, it is vile smelling. I also didn't feel like it was keeping my make up on due to it having a really powerful spray it seemed to drench my face with product and dissolve my make up.

4) Another ELF product, this time the Kabuki brush. When I saw this on the website for £3.50 with the black base and bristles I assumed it would be from the soft studio range that they have. I was wrong, the bristles in the brush are not soft they are actually quite scratchy. I haven't even tried using it on my face because it felt quite uncomfortable on the back of my hand. I am planning on investing in a better quality kabuki in the near future. 

5) I am a huge fan of Rimmel London products, its by far my favourite 'drugstore' brand however, I have found a product that I am not a huge fan of unfortunately. The clear complexion pressed powder claims to "reduce break outs and mattifies the skin by controlling shine and oil." However I would not know if these claims are entirely true as I only used it for a few days due to it drying out my skin. I am very dismissive of drying products because my skin needs no help being even drier than it is naturally in the winter.

6) I am not a huge fan of bronzers, I'm not sure why. Before I changed my mind about the bronzers I purchased the collection 2000 mosaic bronzer. Hello orange. The smallest dab of the lightest shade is the complete wrong colour, it even looks slightly orange toned, not a fan.

7) Sorry ELF but you are on here again, this time with the stippling brush. I have done a review on the stippling brush before but again I shall just summarise the main reasons why I am not a fan. The picture on the website shows a rounded stippling brush, reality was a flat, spaced out brush. I feel that it really doesn't 'stipple' the bristles just spread out and barely apply the product to the face. I am sticking with sigma for now! 

8) The clean & clear cream face wash didn't make the picture due to me throwing it away before I had thought of doing this post. I promptly disposed of it after the beautician I go to told me that the chemicals inside the product are so strong that it can be used to strip hair dye from your head if it drips onto your skin, I don't really want to be using that daily on my face. She also said that one of the ingredients in it causes your skin to improve and then clog your pores and cause you to break out worse then before, this had happened to me. I am staying well clear of Clean & Clear as of now. 

I hope you found this post useful, as always I was 100% honest in my opinions on each product. 

XO