Glamorous UK Wishlist

Forgive me for saying but up until recently I wasn't too familiar with Glamorous UK, but I've noticed quite a surge in popularlity on blogs and Twitter, so I quickly followed their Twitter and liked their Facebook page to keep up to date with their products. Having spent what feels like hours browsing their website I have complied a list of my favourite items, most of which I will be definitely hoping to buy when payday arrives!

1. Black Disco Pants - £29.99 - EVERYONE is talking about Disco Pants and I'm desperate for a pair, but I don't want to spend too much on them so these are a brilliant alternative and I can't believe they're so affordable! These are at the top of my payday wishlist! I love the Gold ones Glamorous do as well but I don't think I'm brave enough to wear them, so I'll stick with black for now! 

2. Bird Print Dress - £29.99 - I have obviously once again chose bird print as I absolutely adore anything Birdy haha! I love the dip hem and soft feminine print of this dress, I instantly fell in love with it the second I saw it! 

3. Studded Jumper - £36.99 - I'm appalled at the fact that a jumper is featuring on my blog a day before August, but I have found myself reaching for my Jumpers and Hoodys the past few days! I think I'll probably buy this a size bigger than I usually wear and have it for lazy days, I love the studded shoulders! 

4. Sleeveless Top - £13.64 - I love the summery paisley contrast to this top, and it's quite versatile to be dressed up on nights out, or dressed down with skinny jeans or leggings, I've got quite a few top's like this already but I just cannot get enough! 

5. Cream Playsuit  - £29.99 - I love love love love love the vintage feminine print of this playsuit, and it's so summery and cute! It's perfect for warm days

 6. Peplum Vest - £24.99 - I love Peplum finishes at the moment and I love the lace detail and the sheer fabric of this vest, this would look lovely with the Black Disco Pants so I can feel that I'll be having quite a large order come payday! 

All of the above products are available on the Glamorous UK website, and all prices are correct at the time of publishing! Since browsing the Glamorous UK website I have definitely fallen in love! Have you seen anything on their site which you are lusting after? <3 X 

NOTD: Pacman!

Hi guys! Before I start with today's NOTD I'd like to apologise for being absent for the past few days, as some of you may be aware I've just been placed on the contraceptive patch and it's not giving me a good time of it at the moment! I'll spare you all the gory details but I've been in a lot of pain adjusting to the changes! Anyways enough girl talk and on to this slightly different NOTD... 

Pacman nails! I'm a big fan of statement nails, and these are definitely eye catching! I originally 'created' this design whilst at University last year. As you may know I had a dreadful year at uni, and I hated living on campus and at times I felt very isolated and alone, and one night the internet in the entire university stopped working, which, as silly as it sounds, devastated me! Having no means of accessing Facebook or Twitter was a nightmare so I got out my nail polishes and set to work entertaining myself! I remember first seeing a design similar to this online but sadly I cannot remember where so I cannot link you to it :(! Heres how I created the look:

To create the design I used my OPI Natural Base Coat and Top Coat, Collection 2000 in Blue Hawaii, a H&M polish in Summer Sunrise and a Natural Collection Black Liquid Eyeliner - this is just because I don't own a nail art pen, and eyeliner and a topcoat work just as well!

I began by drawing a cresent moon shape on my thumb nail in the yellow polish. As you can see it's not too neat but it doesn't have to be at this stage, the black outline neatens everything up later on. 

I then used two diagonal lines to create the shape of Pacman. Again it looks quite messy but it's not important at this stage. As you can see from the above picture the polish is quite uneven, so I added another coat of the entire shape once it was dry. 

On my other fingers I painted over the whites of my nails with the blue polish. I used the Collection Blue Hawaii as it is a really vibrant blue which is quite traditional to the Pacman games. At this point you could probably attempt to draw Pacman Ghosts, cherries or the little Pacman dots on these nails but I personally didn't want to overload it!

Once everything is dry you can move on to outlining the shape of your Pacman with your nail art pen (or eyeliner if you're as frugal as me!) This gives a chance to hide any 'wobbly' bits and neaten the whole thing up. Next you add a dot in the upper section of Pacman's face to create his eye.

I again outlined the blue on my other nails, to accentuate the blue and make it 'pop' more.

And here's the finished result! I chose to leave my nails unpainted underneath the design, but alternatively you could have painted a black base coat to make it look more like the Pacman game, and make it look more retro, but personally I chose to keep it a bit more natural!

Hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial! I have few more 'different' NOTD planned! What do you think of the design? Is it something you'd wear? X 

Teeny Tiny MUA Haul

As payday isn't until the end of next week I was feeling like I wanted to treat myself but I didn't want to go overboard on my poor bank account, so I popped into my local Superdrug store to see what MUA could offer me. Despite the Superdrug in Central Milton Keynes being a generous size, they only stock the most basic MUA range, which is an absolute nightmare with all of these lovely new products they've been releasing! Admittedly the display wasn't greatly stocked so I decided to pick up a few Lipsticks. I usually have a love-hate relationship with lip products and I don't have a huge collection so I decided to pick up a few in varying shades. 

Shade 4, 9, 11, 14

When I do buy lip products I always seem to opt for rosy light pink shades which I don't feel suit me too well, so I decided to divulge into some more neutral tones to broaden my collection of lip products as well as give me a bit more of a choice when doing my make up! 

Shade 4

Shade 9

Shade 11

Shade 14 

Of all of the above shades my favourite would be 'Shade 14 - Bare' which I believe is one of their newer shades, guessing by the fact that it has a name! The name says it all really and it's a cool nude colour which is extremely wearable and I think this may be going a long side my MUA shade 7 and Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait in my make up bag! However I'm incredibly impressed with the pigmentation is so impressive for the price, which makes MUA such an impressive Brand! Knowing the brilliant quality of these products makes me really envy people who have a bigger selection of MUA products in their local stores, but I will definitely be searching out a Superdrug store on my upcoming trip to London to get my hands on their PRO line and some of their newly released products!

MUA Lipsticks are available for £1 for 3.8g of product online and in selected Superdrug stores!

Have you tried any MUA lipsticks? How do you feel they compare to more expensive products? X

OOTD: Summer Stripes

Dress: £11 - Select (promo offer)

Belt - came with a skirt from Matalan 

Shoes - £34.99 from Clarks (in the sale) 

Just a quick OOTD for you all! As I'm sure you're all aware it is BOILING in most of the UK at the moment, and I really struggle to dress appropriately in the hot weather. This dress is absolutely lovely and keeps me cool without showing too much thigh/boobage which I really like! I've styled it with this plaited belt from Matalan as it came with some awful plastic belt which went straight in the bin! 

Shoes are last season from Clarks Boutique range but I love them but last time I wore these without tights they cut the top of my toes which was absolutely agonising!

What are you all wearing to keep cool this week? X 

Lush Angels On Bare Skin Review

Angels On Bare Skin is arguably one of Lush's most well known and talked about product of their Cleanser range, and for good reason too! It contains the likes of Ground Almond and and Lavender Oil as well as other natural products to gently cleanse your face without using any synthetic or harsh ingredients. Lush claims on their website that AOBS "evens out skin tone, reduces redness and improves the health and appearance of your skin - giving a natural healthy glow" and I personally could not agree more! 

I originally decided to turn to Lush Cleansers after being a huge fan of their bath products but I was admittedly a little daunted when I first opened their trademark black pot and saw this! AOBS is a solid cleanser, removing water from their product in order to not need to use any preservatives. The formula has a great refreshing scent to it but admittedly I was apprehensive over how exactly to use this as I was so used to traditional cleansers.

To use you take a small sized amount of cleaner and mix with water to create a paste-type consistency. I originally thought that the pot was really small at only 100g of product but a little really does go a long way, and I would advise not using too much as all, as it can become quite thick! The above picture demonstrates how much I would typically use when using the product. 

When I massage this onto my face I can instantly feel the effects of it, so it's nice to know that it is working. The ground Almonds in the product allow for a gentle scrub without being too harsh on the skin, and after use my skin is incredibly clean and refreshed. With continuous use I have noticed a more healthier glow to my skin. Overall I think this is the perfect summer cleanser, it isn't too heavy and instantly leaves my skin looking bright and refreshed without being invasive or damaging in any way. I am also relieved with knowing that all of the products are 100% natural so I know I'm treating my skin well! 

Angels On Bare Skin is available online and in Lush stores for £6.25 for 100g

NOTD: Ombré

Since the Ombré trend has taken off there has been Ombré everything, - hair, clothes, and even make up in the form of gradient lips and eye shadows. Today I'm bringing you a gradient nail polish style which is so simple to re-create. 

Many people have honoured the Ombré style by using a sponge and multiple polishes but I opted for something a bit more subtle. I rummaged through my nail polish collection and picked out all of my blue shades, and lined them up from darkest to lightest, and then painted each of my nails a different polish. 

For anyone wondering here are the polishes I used, from left to right: Beauty UK in Electric Blue, OPI in Fly, Collection 2000 in Blue Hawaii, Nails Inc in Albert Place, George by Asda in Frost Bite. I'm really impressed by the effect this gave given, and it's a nice twist from usual individual nail colours, and I can definitely see myself rocking this nail trend in different colours! 

Have you tried any Ombré nail styles? What do you think of it? X 

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

This evening's post title is a quote from the Dalai Lama and I'm beginning to appreciate it's meaning a lot more recently. For me recently life has been a bit of a struggle to remain balanced. Many things have been happening which is out of my control and I feel I'm struggling to keep up with changes and I'm not too sure what is expected of me anymore. 

I'm a daughter, a sister, a gran-daughter, a student, a friend, and a whole lot more but I've been doubting if I'm 'good at what I am' which has led to me to reconsider what I am, and how I can improve and better myself, and after doing a lot of thinking and I've concluded that the one thing I need to achieve before anything else is happiness. I'm beginning to accept that I am only one person, and there's a lot of things I cannot change - but that's ok as long as I try my best, so I've compiled a list of things which I aim to do to make myself happier

1. Paint my nails more often - this is going to sound ridiculous  but I love painting my nails, especially creating nail art designs, but since I ripped my false nails off after having a bad day they've been a bit stubbly and uneven so I've avoided painting them, but I'm going to embrace my short nails and add a bit of colour to my nails ;) 

2. Get out of bed everyday - this is going to sound equally ridiculous as my first point, but some days I literally cannot drag myself out of bed and this simply isn't acceptable. I literally stay in bed and watch trashy day time TV until my mum gets home from work, and then go for a nap and even typing this is shocking me! Basically, get up, get dressed, and make the most of my day! 

3. Tidy my room! - For as long as I can remember I've had a horrible bedroom up until very recently when my mum and dad worked so hard to decorate it for me, but recently (mainly due to point 2!) it's got a bit of a mess, but a clean room generally makes me feel a lot better about myself! 

4. Make more time for friends - Recently I've felt like a bit of a recluse and I haven't really seen much of my friends (apart from my amazing Clarks babes who have literally made my life recently!) and it's really getting me down, so from now on a lot more days out and trips and nights out are needed! 

5. Smile! - such a simple thing to do but I don't feel I've been doing much of it recently. 

6. Draw more - When I was about 15 I really focused on expressing myself through drawing and it did me the world of good, but I sort of grew out of it, so I'm hoping to get back into it and give me something to focus on. 

How To: Ombré Hair

Tonight I decided to top up my hair colour, to get rid of the ginger-y tones and make it a brighter blonde colour, and I thought I'd show you all how I did it!

For the blonde I used L'oreal Perfect Blonde Maximum Creme. This is the strongest dye I could find but I'd recommend trying a more gentle one if you want to keep your hair in good condition. I must point out that this probably wasn't the best choice for me to use, I was appealed by the claim that it lightens your hair colour by 6 shades but this stuff is seriously strong so use with caution! 

The above picture is about 5 minutes after application and you can already see a drastic change and it lifted the colour from my hair almost instantly. As you can see I applied it quite high but I did not leave it on for the recommended 30 minutes as instructed as the smell was just too much for me! I left it on for approximately 20 minutes but once I washed it off I still wasn't completely satisfied with the results! It was a bit lighter but still not as much as I wanted, so I washed and dried my hair and re-applied it, this time leaving it for 15 minutes and zapping it with my hair dryer. 

This is the end result and I am a lot happier with it now, it looks a tiny bit darker than it is in the picture as it is still slightly damp. I would like to warn you all that I would not advise doing as I did and repeating the process in such a short amount of time as my hair is now in TERRIBLE condition! It's been subjected to quite a traumatic experience tonight so I'm giving it a bit of a rest then I'm gonna deep condition it and hopefully that will sort things out a bit! 

I've purchased the Provoke Touch of Silver Twice a Week Brightening Shampoo which I'm hoping will tone down the brassiness of it, but I've been advised not to use it straight away as it can be harsh and if you use too much you can end up with a purple tint! But I'm super excited to test it out! 

Have you attempted any drastic DIY hair colouring? How did you get on? X 

I purchased the L'oreal Perfect Blonde Maximum Creme from Boots for £6.12 but I believe it is available at most good supermarkets and chemists! 

Favourite Brands: Irregular Choice

Irregular Choice was founded by Dan Sullivan in 1999 with the aim to create unique statement pieces which is bound to catch people's attention and to stand out from the crowd, and as you can see below from my favourite pieces, the aim was definitely accomplished! Since Irregular Choice was born  in Brighton, it has expanded to two more stores in London, as well as stores in Soho, New York and Hong Kong! I currently own two pairs of Irregular Choice shoes, and a IC Handbag, and whenever I'm wearing the Brand I instantly feel more upbeat, and I'm always complimented on the look of them! 

1. Black Beard Ring - £39 - I don't currently own and IC jewellery but I feel this might be my first piece. I don't usually wear rings but I love the skull and the crown embellishment.
2. Patty Shoes - £59.99 - How adorable are these shoes?! These come in a few other colours and prints but I love the Vintage Floral feel to them, and the Union Jack print is cute without being too in your face!
3. Future Ladybug 2 - £69.99 I don't own many pairs of red shoes, but I was instantly attracted to the cute little ladybug on this pair, as well as the super cute polka dot print!
4. Wing Invader - £69.99 - I cannot begin to explain how much I love these shoes. They remind me of Jimbo and the Jet Set! I've been after these for a while but I think they're only available on the IC website, whereby I usually buy mine from Schuh, but I'm definitely going to buy these when I have a spare £70!
5. Lola Handbag - £79.99 I have the smaller version of this but it's quite difficult to hold because the handle is a pretty odd shape, plus this is bigger so I can carry more around with  me, but i think £80 is a bit much for a bag so I'm really hoping this will one day be in the sale!
6. High Jinx Sunglasses - £85 I never wear sunglasses but these are a real statement piece! They may look a little bit daunting but I think these would look lovely with wavy hair and are perfect for the festival season!
7. Mrs Lower - £94.99 When (more like IF) I get married I know I'll be wearing Irregular Choice shoes, and although IC sell a range of wedding style shoes I think these are probably my favourite. They're quite 'tame' in comparison to some other styles IC have to offer but I personally think these are gorgeous!



Do you own any Irregular Choice shoes? And what do you think of the brand? X

Weekly Wants #3

1. Fox Necklace - £8 from Accessorize - love this cute little necklace, and I really don't have much statement jewellery so I might give in to this!

2. Victoria Rose Wellies - £38 from Cath Kidston - I love Cath Kidston products but I usually head straight to the home ware bits when i'm browsing and I tend to overlook the clothing and accessories, but I thought I'd try something different and I looked at all their different shoes. Most of them are plimsoll style trainers which I never really wear but I love the wellies and I'd definitely get a lot of wear from them with this horrible weather! 

3. Skull Print Dress - £20 from Boohoo.com - love love love this dress, can't decide whether I prefer the black or the white, but I chose the black as I think I'd probably get more wear out of it, but last time I went down to Camden market they had loads of dresses like this, so might wait until I'm next in London and have a look around! 

4. Pink Cardigan - £22 from Matalan - Love the different tones of Yellow and Green weaved into the Pink of this Cardigan, and it's perfect to throw on in the colder weather, is it snobby to think that £22 is expensive for Matalan? Really like this though so hoping it is in stock in my local store! 

5. Tailored Trousers - £12.99 from New Look - Bit of a cop out with this one I'm afraid! I need new trousers for work, but I really struggle to get comfortable formal trousers, and I need something that's gonna be comfy as we're coming into our busiest time of the year.

6. John Freida Lightening Shampoo - £5.89 from Boots - as you probably all know I've recently bleached my hair to create an Ombré effect, but it's still looking a bit on the ginger side, so I'm considering other options. One thing that has been recommended to me lots is a toning Shampoo, but I'm a bit new to all of them so not sure what to use! I currently use the John Freida full repair range which I adore, so hoping this will do the job for me! 

7. imPRESS Press On Manicure £8.99 from Boots - Seen that these have created a bit of a hype recently and since I rather stupidly picked off my professional fake nails I want to give these a try and see how they compare, I've read some really good things so I really hope they live up to expectations! 

Sorry I haven't posted a Weekly Wants in quite some time,  it always seems when I have money there's nothing I really want, but now it's coming towards the end of the month for me and I'm broke everything is catching my eye! I'm thinking about splitting these types of posts into fashion and beauty wants, what do you guys think? X 

Ombré hair - finally!

Hi guys! I've noticed that my post popular recent posts have been the ones of me talking about how I've been attempting to dip-dye my hair, and it's finally worked!

For anyone wondering I used the Wella hair streaking kit for the blonde, and basically kept piling it on to get the gradient effect. I'm not the best at explaining the method but if you search Ombré hair tutorial on Youtube it comes up with hundreds of videos explaining how to do it, which is how I figured out how would be best for my hair.  The lighting in my room at the moment is a nightmare so I haven't been able to get a brilliant picture but I love it! 

Liebster Blog Award

I have recently been tagged for the Liebster Blog Award by the lovely Emily from Emily Says Bonjour, so I thought it would be a nice time to pass on the award and tell you all a bit more about myself! Thank you very much Emily! X 

Here's how it works. You get nominated, then you reply with your post, and tag other bloggers who have under 200 followers to do the same. 

Rules:1. You must link back to the person who gave the award to you!2. Post eleven things about yourself3. Answer the questions the person giving you the award has set for you.4. Create 11 questions for the people to answer that you have given the award to.5. Choose people to give the award to and link them in your post.6. Go to their blog and tell them.7. You can't give the award back to the blogger who gave it to you!

11 Things About Me:1. I currently have 3 piercings, my belly button, my tongue and a skindiver in my hand, but over the years I've had over 15 piercings! 
2. I have three tattoos, if you're curious you can see them here
3. I am currently studying Psychology at The University of Northampton, and I hope to one day be a teacher
4. I am a massive fan of The Muppets
5. I play the Clarinet, and I've performed in Disney Land ;)
6. My favourite food is Roast Potatoes
7. I have four cats which I absolute adore, and I'm a bit of a crazy cat lady
8. My favourite place in the world is my bedroom
9. I love owls, and everyone seems to buy me owl toys/ memorabilia
10. I'm obsessed with Gossip Girl. I absolutely love it!
11. Bon Jovi are my favourite band of all time.

11 questions for me to answer:1. Would you rather go abroad for a holiday or stay in your country?    Abroad definitely!2. Whats your favourite go-to hair style?   Recently I've been rocking my quick DIY Hair Bow3. If you could change your first name, what would you change it to?   I wouldn't want to change it! 4. Would you rather leave the house with no shoes on or no make up on?   No make-up! 5. What's your favourite book?   At the moment it would probably be the Pretty Little Liars series6. Favourite food?   Roast Potatoes :) 7. If you could visit any date in history, to watch what happened, which day would it be?    This is quite difficult, I really don't think I can answer that!8. What's your ambition?   To be happy9. What kind of phone do you have?   iPhone 4 10. What's your least favourite drink?   Dr Pepper!  11. Do you wear glasses/contact lenses?   I wear glasses, but I'm desperate to get laser eye surgery! I tried contacts and they were horrible :(! 
11 questions for the nominees:1.  What piece of technology are you using to fill this out (laptop, desktop, iPad etc)?
   I am currently using my laptop, but occasionally I blog using my Netbook2. Your current outfit?
  Blue stripey jumper and black skinny jeans!3. Your favorite pair of shoes?
  Any of these!4. Strawberry or Vanilla?
  Taste: Strawberry, Scent: Vanilla!5. Last item you bought?
   A Gammon joint for dinner, A pack of cookies and some sanitary towels! How glam! 6. Your current favorite song?
  I've been listening to Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye a lot recently!7. Where did you go on your last train journey?
  Either to or from Northampton8.Your favorite photo - who is in it and where was it taken?
 The picture of my and my two best friends from my sixth form prom9. Desribe your life in one word - 
  Choatic10. Your favorite place in the world?
  My Bedroom11. What time is it right now?
  8.44pm! 




11 questions for you:
1. What beauty product can you not live without?
2. What is your favourite Disney film?
3. Which celebrity would you most like to meet? 
4. If you ruled the world which law would you make? 
5. Whats your favourite colour? 
6. If you could change one thing about you what would it be? 
7. What encouraged you to start blogging?
8. High heels or flats? 
9. What is your favourite meal?
10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
11. Are you more outgoing or shy? 




For the Liebster Blog Award I nominate 
1. Vintage Fee
2. Beauty Thrill
3. My gorgeous friend Katy at Moon Child


X

Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter

Since being founded in 2006 Soap and Glory have constantly wowed their customers with a luxurious line of products skincare and cosmetics. Since I first discovered Soap and Glory it has to be my all time go to brand, and I am confident I will always be able to find a product to suit my needs within their range.

Soap and Glory currently offer four body moisturizers, but my personal favourite is The Righteous Butter, which containd Shea Butter and Aloe Vera to keep my skin moisturized and softened. With it's scent of Soap and Glory's Original Pink I am constantly complimented on the feminine fragrance.

The Righteous Butter has a packaging very typical to all Soap and Glory products. I am a big fan of the girly pink packaging with the 1950's style pin up girls which adorn it. I also really love the cute and quirky slogans which appear on different Soap and Glory packages, The Righteous Butter features 'A body moisturizing formula so virtuous, you might swear you're wearing velvet!' this shows a really fun side to the company and I really like that Soap and Glory aren't taking themselves too seriously! 

Usually when a product is referred to as a 'butter' I conjure up images of a really thick, un-usable product. This is definitely not the case with The Righteous Butter! Although the formula is quite thick you really do not need to use too much, I've been using the above pot since the beginning of February and as you can see I still have plenty left so it will definitely last me a while. I use this in the evening after having a bath and my skin has never felt so soft after continuous use. 

I often have difficulty exfoliating my skin as it is quite sensitive, yet when I do exfoliate I find this is the perfect companion to flake away and really soothes my skin after using it. As well as my full size tub I also have a mini tub from one of the Christmas sets which I use and fill up when I go away so I always have a small slice of Soap and Glory with me on my travels! 

The Righteous Butter is available from Boots and Harvey Nichols RRP £10.50 

For more information on The Righteous Butter and other Soap and Glory products visit their website here

Boots Recycling!

Whilst browsing the internet I came across a brilliant initiative ran by Boots whereby you can recycle your old gadgets and devices and earn Boots Advantage points at the same time!

There are so many different recycling schemes around at the moment, offering you cash or high street vouchers in return for your unwanted mobile phones and other gadgets. I have personally used these on a few occasions to sell old mobile phones, but I was never aware that Boots ran a similar scheme. Instead of giving you cash for your gadgets Boots offer you Advantage Card points instead, which can be used in store and online. 

As I have never heard of this scheme before I decided to compare Boots offerings to the popular phone recycling scheme, Envirofone. I have used Envirofone in the past and have been satisfied with the amount of money I received from recycling my unwanted phones, but I thought it would be interesting to see how Boots would measure up. 

For this comparison I have used the phone I currently use, a black iPhone 4 32GB. My phone contract is due to be updated in a few months so it is interesting to see what I would get for it. *

Left Boots, Right Envirofone

As you can see there really is very little in the price comparison between the two schemes. Looking at it at face value I feel that Envirofone would probably be the most appealing as it would be brilliant to receive £210 in cash, yet I feel that £206 worth of Boots vouchers would probably be a better option for me, for one simple reason: If I had £210 burning a hole in my pocket I would probably spend it with nothing to show for it. With the Boots points I would probably only buy small essentials, with maybe one or two 'treats' every now and then, so Boots seems to a more sustainable option for me.

On top of the £206 worth of Advantage Card points Boots are also offering to donate £1 for every recycled item to MacMillan Cancer Support which is a wonderful and very deserving charity. 

If you are thinking about recycling your old mobile phone, MP3 Player or other gadgets I highly recommend considering the boots recycling scheme, in fact I intend to have a good sort out in the near future to hunt down any old mobile phones I have lying around in order to turn them into Advantage Card points! 

Boots Recycling is available here. X

*Please note that these prices were correct at the time of writing, but prices may change depending on the popularity and 'newness' of the phone. Is newness even a word?! 

My Skin No Shine Mattifying Moisture Lotion

My Skin are a skincare brand with products aimed for teenagers, and aims to provide cheap, affordable skincare which will leave you with clean, refreshed skin. 

The Mattifying Moisture Lotion claims it "is a light oil-free daily moisturiser that softens and hydrates the skin. Kiwi extract helps moisturise while raspberry extract helps stimulate and condition, leaving the skin soft and smooth. Cimicfuga extract helps to control excess oil and shine" 

The combination of the kiwi and raspberry extract provides a pleasant but not overbearing smell to the moisturiser, which is something which always effects how I feel about a product, if I'm putting something on my skin, especially on my face, I want it to smell nice, and this certainly does! 

Unfortunately for this this is where the positives end. Above is a picture of the cap of the product, which is faulty. This is as far as it will close so it allows the product to dry up and in my opinion leaving it completely worthless. To begin with I thought this was just a faulty one-off to I skipped down to my local tesco's to buy another and the same thing happened! I personally cannot see the point in having a moisturiser packaged in a way that prevents it from being closed properly... sure this will lead to it drying up? More on this later! 

Applied

The application of this product is awful! I found the tube opening, hole mechanism way too big, (I have no idea if there's a technical term for it? The squeezy hole :D! ) so this resulted in me having too much (again wasting the product) 

'Blended'

I found with this moisturiser it was IMPOSSIBLE TO BLEND INTO THE SKIN. It just seemed to settle on my skin which felt really uncomfortable, and for lack of a better word, gross. Despite this I soldiered on and tried my best, and it just resulted in a gooey, sticky mess. The moisturiser was filled with solid clumps of the formula where it had hardened from the silly packaging and it just left an awful mess on my face. Add to this clumps of dried moisturiser (circled above) from where the product cannot be closed effectively, and I am definitely not impressed! 

Once I had blended it in the best I could I left it overnight, and I awoke in the morning to a slimey, spotty mess on my face. It had broken me out good and proper! It is safe to say that this is going nowhere near my face again, which is a real shame as it had such good potential! 

My Skin No Shine Mattifying Moisture Lotion is available for £3.50 from Tesco Supermarkets. I would like to take the opportunity to point out that this particular moisturiser did not work for my skin type, but is just that, mine. After researching this product I have found that it generally has good reviews, but this is just my personal experience with this product. 

Hair Bow as seen on Lady Gaga

Whilst browsing Pinterest yesterday evening I came across this easy and incredibly cute way to create a hair bow, as made popular by Lady Gaga. It is so easy to create I did it myself in a few minutes, and I had compliments on it all day, so I thought I would share with you how to do it! I followed this simple 4 step tutorial below.

Credit: here

Isn't it so easy? I was blown away by how quickly you can create such a cute style! X 

Ombré Update!

As you can see my hair isn't looking very Ombré! The blonde dye I brought here didn't take to my hair at all so I'm stuck with my 'ginge-tinge' for the weekend. I'm still not 100% sure if I like it but I'm getting used to it now! 

Being a complete rookie when it comes to lightening hair I have no idea what to look for in a blonde hair dye but I've been recommended the Wella Hair Streaking Kit which I'm going to use on Monday and hopefully that will bring a bit more of a blonde tone to it! 

Have you tried the Wella Streaking Kit? And does anyone have any advice to get my hair any lighter? X

Nails Inc Edinburgh Gate Swatches

Edinburgh Gate by Nails Inc is a glitter polish, with tones of red, blue, silver, gold and green. Since I rather stupidly removed my false nails by myself (broken nails and chipped tooth, booo :(! ) my nails are currently in an appalling condition and I wanted something sparkly and fun to mask how dreadful they look. 

I purchased Edinburgh Gate as part of a Nails Inc gift set, as mentioned in this post. I'm not sure that it is available to buy individually but I believe it is part of the 'All That Glitters' set* if anyone is it! I was pleasantly surprised by how this polish is applied, two coats provides a satisfactory coverage but I applied three to even it out and give it a little bit more ooomph!

One Coat

Two Coats

Three Coats 

I did find this formula quite sticky and difficult to apply. The polish is clear and I can only describe it as 'gloopy' and it took quite a while to dry fully, and the glitter did get a bit everywhere but overall I really like the look of this polish. It's very eye catching and really makes a statement. The above pictures show quite a silver shine to the glitter but I failed to capture the multi coloured hues in my pictures, so it looks different every time I catch a glimpse of it. 

Here is a close up of the polish and here you can see better the different colours of the glitters. I think this looks quite Christmasy so I think I might save this polish for winter, but I love the sparkle it brings to my nails. Overall I think this isn't a really wearable polish the glitter does come away from the polish somewhat, leaving me with everything I touch turning glittery. I think I would keep this a special Christmas polish, and perhaps use it as accent shade instead of using it on every nail, as it does look a little over the top, but the magpie in me loves the sparkle!  

*After doing a little research I can't find this polish available anywhere, so the best bet would be to pop into your local TK Maxx and see if you can pick it up like I did. This polish was part of a set for £14.99