Wednesday 31 October 2012

My Favourite Beauty Blogs

I've seen a few posts lately with bloggers sharing links to their favourite blogs and I thought it was a fun idea!

These are my top 3 beauty blogs, the ones I get excited about when I see a new post pop up on my dashboard and I genuinely enjoy all of their posts.

Sandra at The Black Pearl Blog
Evelyn at We Were Raised By Wolves
Alexis at Glitter Tips (if you love nail art you have to Check out Alexis's blog, her nail looks are amazing!)

And 2 blogs that I absolutely love, simply because I'm so jealous of their glamorous lives...

Jennifer Stano and Lilly Ghalichi

2 girls living in Beverly Hills, sharing their amazing Louboutin collections, driving Bentleys and generally looking gorgeous. Lilly's makeup is literally flawless at all times! Well worth a read : )

Who are your favourite bloggers?


Sunday 28 October 2012

Hot Fudge Oreo Brownies = Heaven!

I'm a Pinterest addict at the moment, I could trawl through the recipes on there for hours! There's thousands of yummy things to make on there with easy, step by step instructions and last weekend I made a particularly calorific treat.

I love baking, and seeing as I'm a mum it kind of comes with the territory : ) I love rustling up some cookies, marble cake or some yummy cupcakes! But there's nothing better than a hot gooey brownie with some ice cream... I changed the recipe slightly, to make them extra sticky and yummy.

Hot Fudge Oreo Brownies

1 box of premade fudge brownie mix
Eggs and oil (as needed for your brownie mix, but leave out the water!)
Cookies and Cream ice cream
Hot fudge topping (this recipe was American so it called for Hershey's hot fudge topping, obviously they don't sell that in Tesco, so I grabbed some Tesco Finest Chocolate dessert sauce)
Oreos

Combine your brownie mix as instructed on the box (remember to leave out the water).

Add 3 large scoops of ice cream, about 6-7 tbsps of chocolate dessert sauce and mix it all together until you get a smooth, gooey mixture. Feel free to add a bit more chocolate sauce if you feel it needs it.

Pour half the mixture into a greased baking dish.

Layer whole Oreos on top, then pour on the remaining mixture.





Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for about 30 mins.

Should be firm on top and gooey in the middle.

Serve with a generous scoop of ice cream : )

If you bake one thing this week, then make sure it's these! They are honestly amazing! They didn't last long in my house...



Saturday 27 October 2012

A Little Saturday Beauty Haul

I've been on a slight spending ban this past month. No beauty products have been bought whatsoever! Well almost none... I did have the odd moment of weakness, but for the most part I did pretty well so I decided today was the day to treat myself!

The man in my life and I had a leisurely mooch around the high street whilst Milan was at his nans, it was so nice to just shop and have lunch without rushing or dealing with constant toddler drama (I love my son to bits but it's bloody hard to get through a shopping trip without stress when he's there!) So we made the most of it, had some yummy tapas at a great little Spanish bar we found, then hit the shops. I had a few bits on my (ridiculously big) wishlist that I wanted to pick up and I ended up making a couple of impulse purchases too. I'm a beauty junkie! Impulse purchases go with the territory ; )




I headed to Lush and picked up Cosmetic Warrior which is a face mask for fighting spots and Tea Tree Water, a toner spray that I've been wanting for quite a while after seeing lots of reviews in the blogosphere. Lately I've been having a few break outs and I've got no idea why. Sure, I get the odd blemish now and again, but during the past few weeks its just been one breakout after another. So I thought I'd give Cosmetic Warrior a go, I'll use it a couple of times a week and see if it helps. The Tea Tree Water is just a lovely, natural toner water that I've been wanting to try after cleansing at night as I'm hoping the tea tree will help to clear my skin.



Superdrug was my next stop where I picked up the infamous Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser. It's a huge tube for £4.99 and it's another product I've been meaning to try for ages. I was then drawn to the Andrea Fullerton stand, I've seen and heard alot of great things about her range and although a little pricey I decided to buy the black dot and flick tool and a little pack of gold studs, which I love! I can't wait to create a nail look with these, studs are everywhere at the moment and I think these are a really fun way to 'trend up' your nails : )


I had to stop off at Matalan to pick up some Mickey Mouse bits for Milan, he's going through a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse phase at the moment so I bought him a cute Mickey dressing gown, some pyjamas and some matching slippers. I know alot of people turn their noses up at Matalan, but you can find some really great pieces in there. I often see dupes of River Island and Topshop items for half the price so I like to have a nose in there now and again. I saw this set of rings for £4 and couldn't resist.



So they were my buys on this chilly Autumn Saturday! We couldn't resist going to Thorntons for a white hot chocolate with all the trimmings... much needed now this cold weather has landed.



Hope you're all having a fab weekend and buying lots of gorgeous beauty products : )

Sunday 21 October 2012

Giveaway Winner

Thank you to those who entered my giveaway : )

As I stated in the rules, those without genuine blogs who have GFC accounts just set up to enter giveaways need not enter, this was slightly ignored! So I had to re-draw the winner a couple of times to pick a genuine follower.

So the winner is...

Courtney from Daisy Meadow blog : )

Well done chica, you've won the Burts Bees lip balm & the St Tropez gradual tan. I'll email you to get your address and get it in the post ASAP.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Weekly Wishlist #3

This week's wishlist is a tad late, sorry about that! But better late than never as they say... 

I'm on a bit of a spending ban at the minute... well more of a 'cut down' on beauty products. I'm a complete impulse buyer which is something I need to start getting under control! Therefore I've put myself on a slight ban until the end of November and I'm doing pretty well. I've bought a couple of bits but I'm being pretty good with telling myself no.

Anyway back to the wishlist! This week I'm slightly obsessed with scented candles. I mean I always love them, but this week in particular I've been scrolling through ebay and the Yankee Candle website oohing and ahhing at all the yummy candles on there! I've actually ordered a couple of Yankee tarts (white chocolate mint, gingerbread and icicles) notice I'm gearing up for the winter months (and before you smack my wrist, this doesn't count as beauty products... so I'm allowed a few candles! haha) I also can't stop sniffing the Jelly Belly candles in Tesco... everytime I'm in there, I drag my son to the candle section and have a good sniff of the Toasted Marshmallow one. So once I allow myself a splurge I'll be snapping that up!


Topshop nail polish in Pluto £6
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair eye cream £37
Jelly Belly Toasted Marsmellow candle £7.97 from Tesco
Simmi Shoes ankle boots £30
Lush tea tree toner water £3.95


So there's the items I'm lusting after this week. Hopefully I can get my hands on some of them very soon! I'll leave you with some autumn/fall photos from Pinterest that I've loved enough to save to my laptop... Autumn is my favourite season and these photos made me smile.



















Monday 15 October 2012

NOTD: Glitter Crazy!

I love a nice bit of sparkle! What girl doesn't? Whilst perusing the Barry M section in my local Superdrug, I came across this gorgeous multicolour glitter polish... Needless to say I had to snap it up! With flecks of purple, pink, gold, blue, black and silver, I definitely don't have another shade like it.

Perfect for the upcoming party season or just for a general fun look!

Barry M 'Amethyst Glitter'

Saturday 13 October 2012

Autumn Lipstick Featuring Barry M

I LOVE AUTUMN! It's my second favourite season, with winter taking the top spot : ) Call me crazy, but I love the first few days in October when you start feeling a chill in the air and you know winter's approaching! Halloween, bonfire night, late night Christmas shopping and plenty of cosy nights in front of the box... What's not to love about this time of year?

As soon as October hits, I start craving cosy jumpers, leather boots and dark lipstick. Nothing says Autumn like a berry lip colour! I've recently rediscovered a lipstick I bought a while ago from Boots. It's a Barry M lippy and anyone with experience of their range knows they do 2 things exceptionally well, nail polish and lipstick.  

Barry M lipstick in 152


I am seriously loving this shade. It's a matte plum colour and it literally screams Autumn. It's super smooth, moisturising and has great staying power. The colour payoff, as always with Barry M, is excellent.



I've been wearing this with my new chunky black platform boots, purple or black skinnys and my gorgeous purple fur shoulder bag from River Island.

What are your favourite lip colours for Autumn?

Sunday 7 October 2012

Weekly Wishlist #2

Hi lovelies! Another week, another wishlist : )

I'm obsessed with 2 things this week... Philosophy being the first. Their products are so gorgeous and they have such delicious names! Like Candy Corn lipgloss and Glazed Maple Cake shower gel, it makes me feel all autumny! (Is that a word?!) I literally want everything on their website... so expect to see lots of Philosophy goodies on future wishlists.

My second love this week is lip balm. As soon as October hits I go lip balm crazy! My lips get so dry in cold weather and can end up feeling quite cracked and sore so it's essential for me to use some kind of balm. Mind you I do go a bit mad, applying it every half an hour! I'm always trying new brands and flavours : ) At the moment I'm loving Burt's Bees Pomegranate lip balm and I'm currently running a giveaway so you could win one if you enter here.

Onto this weeks must haves...

OLAY Pro X Cleansing System £25
Kerastase Elixir Ultime £29.35
EOS lip balm in Strawberry Sorbet £5.95
MAC Marilyn Monroe lipstick in Pure Zen £15.50
River Island messenger bag £25
Philosophy Pumpkin Pie shower gel/shampoo/bubble bath £14


Whats on your wishlist this week?

Saturday 6 October 2012

A Little Giveaway!

I know some of you gorgeous lot won't think it's a huge deal to have 50 followers, but tbh I'm chuffed I even have one : ) I wanted to do a little mini giveaway to say thank you for taking the time to read my posts and click the follow button... It really makes me smile!

I recently bought Burts Bees lip balm in Pomegranate and it's delish! I'm obsessed with lip balms now the chilly weather is setting in... I hate dry, cracked lips (who doesn't ?) and this lovely balm keeps your lips moisturised and it smells so yummy! I ordered 2 online so I thought I'd give one away for someone to try.






I'm also throwing in a small tube of St Tropez Gradual Tan (75ml)... One of my favourites! And so essential for the winter months.



Use Rafflecopter below to enter.

The Rules -

You must be a follower of my blog via GFC.
You must have a blog and be genuine! If your GFC account is just set up for entering giveaways your entry will be invalid.

Leave a comment with your email address or twitter name so I can contact you if you win.

You can earn extra entries.. just see the Rafflecopter below!

This is a UK giveaway only.


Winner chosen on Sunday 21st October.
Good luck! : )
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Thursday 4 October 2012

BDellium Make Up Brushes

A little while ago I discovered a makeup brush brand that I fell in love with : ) Yes, I know.. I fall in love ALOT when it comes to beauty products but these really were a great find!








BDellium tools make synthetic vegan brushes that are 100% cruelty free and they pride themselves on that.

I originally came across BDellium on twitter and after reading up on them I decided to buy one of their brushes to see what I thought. They have so many to choose from! But at the time I wanted to try a new foundation brush, so I purchased the 953 duo fiber brush from their Maestro Series. I've been racking my brain to try and remember where I bought it from, but I honestly can't remember! I just did a google search at the time and found a UK stockist. It cost around £11.


953 Duo Fiber brush

I've used this a lot since I bought it and I absolutely love it. It gives a lovely finish when applying liquid foundation but I've recently been using it to apply my Chanel Soleil tan (cream bronzer) and I've also used it with cream blush and it's just perfect! It blends so easily and creates a really professional finish : )

I decided to purchase more brushes as I was so pleased with the 953 and I wanted to try something from their Green Bamboo Series... For the simple reason they looked so cute! I haven't got any green brushes so why not try something a bit different?
I decided on the 955 Finishing brush (for foundation) and the 957 Precision Cheek Kabuki brush from CutECOsmetics. They arrived super quickly (yay to CutECOsmetics!) and I can't describe how soft these brushes are, they're such great quality and the fact that they're cruelty free makes them an even better buy.
I'd totally recommend having a browse on the CutECOsmetics website, they only sell eco-friendly, cruelty free products and they have sooooo many goodies to choose from : )


BDellium Green Bamboo 955 Finishing
Brush £10.95 CutECOsmetics



                         BDellium Green Bamboo 957 Precision Cheek
                              Kabuki brush £12.95 CutECOsmetics

Green Bamboo Brush Descriptions

"The Finishing Brush creates the perfect light finish whilst being suitable for blending both face powders or water-based foundations."

I've been using this to apply my foundation and it does an excellent job. It creates a light, airbrushed effect and I'll definately be alternating this with my favourite foundation tool - the beauty blender : )

"The Precision Cheek brush has an extra soft and dense flat bristled head for a professional blushing effect. Ideal for application with liquid, cream or various powder products."

I've only used this one with powder blush and it blends beautifully. It's so soft but like the description says, dense so you can really blend in the product.

My BDellium collection is pretty small right now, but I fully intend to keep adding to it and branch out to some eye brushes as well! I should also mention that they're super easy to clean. I leave them to dry over night (they don't really need that long) and in the morning they're ready to use and are as soft as they were brand new.




I'd recommended this fantastic brand to anyone looking for great quality brushes but not wanting to pay MAC prices! These brushes are just as good.

What are your favourite brush brands? And is it important to you that your brushes are cruelty free?

Tuesday 2 October 2012

NARS Albatross & Chihuahua

So excited to be writing this post! I recently purchased my very first Nars products from ASOS : ) Yes I was a Nars virgin! But not anymore, I'm now the proud owner of arguably the best highlighter I've ever seen and a gorgeous lipgloss.



Nars Highlighter in Albatross £20.50 bought here 
Nars Lipgloss in Chihuahua £17.50 bought here

 
The reason I haven't owned anything by Nars until now is mostly down to the price, it's a very expensive brand and I could never really justify it. Also, living in Cornwall makes it difficult as we don't have a Nars counter.... we don't even have a MAC counter! We're very behind in the beauty world, the nearest Nars stockist is about 3 hours away so even if I wanted to make a purchase I couldn't try before buying, which put me off.

Anyway after reading endless blog reviews and generally hearing great things about certain Nars products, I started adding things to my stupidly big beauty wishlist and these 2 particular items were at the top of said list! I recently sold some unwanted makeup on ebay and decided to treat myself (at least that way I could justify spending the money!)



Nars Albatross


The first thing I desperately wanted, no question about it, was Albatross. A gorgeous gold, shimmery highlighter. I haven't ever owned a decent, high end highlighting product (Benefit's High Beam is about as good as it got for me) and I had my eye on a couple from MAC, but after reading so many rave reviews like Melissa's at Pretty Little Obsessions I decided this was the one for me. It's pricey but let me assure you, if you make the splurge you won't be disappointed!


It gives the most beautiful soft shimmer to your cheeks and honestly it's just gorgeous! I can't say enough amazing things about this product. You barely need any on your brush, a little goes a long way... I'll admit I was dubious when it arrived and I opened it up to find a light cream colour powder that didn't seem to have a hint of gold shimmer, but the minute you apply it, your cheeks just glow! I could go on and on about this product, but I'll stop here... ; )

Nars Chihuahua

The other product I knew I wanted was a lipgloss. I've read some excellent reviews on Nars lipsticks and glosses and I wanted an everyday colour so I could really get my money's worth as soon as it arrived. It was a tough competition between Turkish Delight, probably Nars's most famous shade (worn by the likes of Kim Kardashian) or Chihuahua. I decided against Turkish Delight, thinking it was probably a bit too light for my skin tone...

Nars Turkish Delight




I'm fair skinned and although I love creamy light pink/nude shades such as that one, I'm not sure I'd reach for it everyday... especially with winter round the corner (where I look even paler if that's possible!) So I went for Chihuahua, a darker rose pink shade that's much closer to my natural lip colour.




It's gorgeous! Really creamy, glossy and natural! Everything you'd want from a lipgloss. It's perfect for daytime use which is exactly what I wanted. Like most lip glosses it doesn't last that long once applied, so needs to be reapplied quite often but that's the only bad point. I'd like to try it over a similar lipstick and I'd definately like to invest in a couple more shades from Nars! I may even buy Turkish Delight to try at some point.

I bought both of these products from ASOS, they have a lovely little range of Nars products available : )

What are your favourite Nars products?

Monday 1 October 2012

Red Lips And Fair Skin Featuring NYX 'Chaos'

I'm always on the hunt for the perfect red lipstick! Something that can be quite a challenge with my fair skin, blue eyes and blonde hair... Those with darker skin tones seem to suit most red shades, but paler tones can find it tricky, well I certainly do! The likes of Emma Stone and Scarlett Johansson can pull off sultry red pouts so well. That's the look I want!





Those of us with fair skin can look so striking when we sport a gorgeous red lipstick, it's just a case of finding a good match.
So I decided to do a bit of research and discovered that blue based reds (cool shades) are great for those with pinker, rosier skin tones... that would be me then! And warm, orange based reds are more appropriate for golden, or tanned skin tones. Armed with this advice, I looked into blue based reds and found NYX 'Chaos' online. 

NYX Chaos


It's a cranberry red and would be a lovely shade for Autumn. It's moisturising and it definately stays put! I'll be wearing this on my next night out paired with neutral eyes and huge false lashes to really make an impact : )




I've tried some brighter shades in the past and I've really hated them with my pale complexion. It's a shame because I see the likes of Rita Ora and Rihanna with their beautiful fire engine red lips and of course they look fabulous.

I'll leave you with a photo of my idol and the woman responsible for giving red lipstick the iconic status it has today...



 
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