January Favourites

The cold weather and dark nights have made for a very chilled out month, many early nights in bed and lazy Sunday's giving me the perfect excuse to binge watch on Netflix. So I'm going to start with the TV shows I've been loving this month. 

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Broadchurch is back YAY I loved this shows first series, it gripping with a hint of humour that keeps you hooked till the very end of the episode and on. Be prepared to gasp at all the twists and turns as this series has been just as gripping so far. David Tennant and Oliva Coleman are fantastic in this drama. 

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Pretty Little Liars hallelujah Netflix UK has finally added all 5 seasons of PLL and the new season 5 episodes get added every Thursday just days after they come out in America. I finished season 4 a while back and when I saw UK Netflix had added all the seasons I jumped right in and started season 5, I'm hooked again.  I just want to know who A is!

Photo Credit: Logo TV

RuPauls Drag Race say hello to my guilty pleasure, I've got back in to this show and I love it. I'm obsessed with how fierce some of these drag queens are and I absolutely love when they have to lip sync for their lives at the end of each show. I've got it down and if I'm ever in the situation that I need to lip sync for my life I'm quietly confident that RuPaul wouldn't make me sashay away.

This month I've also been loving the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipsticks £8.99 I've got a post coming up about them at the start of February so look out for that. In short these are great, they are highly pigmented, long lasting and don't feel drying on your lips even though they are matte. 

This month I've also been loving my Urban Decay Naked On The Run Palette, I got it for Christmas but as I was sick over Christmas  and New Year I only started to use it this month! It's beautiful, I love the mini Perversion Mascara and the Lipgloss is a lovely my lips but better shade, all the eyeshadows are gorgeous too and are great quality, I can see me getting a lot of use from the Palette.

There we have it my first favourites of 2015! Remember you can follow me on Bloglovin if you don't already so you never miss a post! Can you believe we are one year into the month already? Crazy times.

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Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Camera



These days it's very rare that you get physical photos, most pictures make it on to Instagram and social media or stay on the memory card. I'm a bit old fashioned I like actual photographs, CDs, DVDs and so on and that's what really drew me to this camera. I'd seen these cameras a lot over the past year or so and always wanted one, my lovely generous sister got me one for Christmas thanks sis. 

The camera is so easy to use you pop the batteries in, insert the film cartilages  and pretty much just point and shoot. When the film pops out it takes a few minutes for the photograph to develop and is pretty cool watching it happen. There are a couple of different settings but I don't bother too much about them, the cameras flash never goes off so you can adjust the settings to match where you are; indoor, outdoor, sunny, cloudy etc. As the camera is battery operated it can eat away at the battery charge so it might be worth your while investing in some rechargeable batteries. The cameras come in a wide range of colours with the basic colour range being pink, blue, white, black and yellow. 

The film can be expensive it costs around £19.99 for 20 shots/20photos so on average around £1 a photo but the quality is great and it's not like you'll use this camera on a daily basis. You also can get lots of different themes of film, hello kitty and colours and so on but I really like the classic white. It's also the perfect size for putting in your wallet. I absolutely love my camera and cannot wait to use it through the year, I know I'll get a lot of use out of it. If your going to buy yourself one I'd advise shopping around for the best deal as you often get the camera and film package for a good price, try Amazon, eBay and Argos as some places charge almost £100 just for the camera! 
 

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Urban Decay Naked On The Run Palette



Urban Decay Naked On The Run Palette £37

Hello beautiful not you the palette! well you too. Seriously though how beautiful is the Urban Decay Naked On The Run Pallet the good guy Santa Claus generously put this under my tree for Christmas. It's so pretty I didn't want to use it at first the sleek square packaging opens up to unveil a full sized mirror and lots of makeup goodies and sturdily packed making this great for on the move or your travels. In the pallet you get a mini perversion mascara and eyeliner, a lip gloss, 6 eye shadow shades, a blush and a bronzer. The idea of the Naked On The Run palette is that you have everything you need - expect foundation, concealer and powder or any brow products - to do your makeup while on the run!

Onto the products the six eye shadow shades are exclusive to the palette and you get 5 plus a larger highlighting eye shadow. Let me tell you more about the shades, Devine is a metallic shimmery rose gold, Fix is a taupe soft brown matte, Resist is a metallic taupe, Dare is a matte medium brown, Stun is a metallic bronze with a slight gold shimmer then you have 5050 which is a cool bisque shade that has a satin finish perfect for highlighting your eyes! All the eyeshadows are exactly what you expect from Urban Decay highly pigmented, easily bendable and buttery.The blush might look a Barbie pink in the palette but applied with a light hand it gives the cheeks a nice flush of colour and it has a slight shimmer, the bronzer is matte and a nice medium bronze shade. The mini 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Stag really does glide on effortlessly and I was pleasantly surprised with its staying power. I also really liked the mini Perversion Mascara despite hearing some not so great reviews on it, the mascara really gave my lashes length and volume without being overly clumpy and the full sized Naked Ultra Nourishing Lipgloss in Sesso is lovely it's a my lips but better shade even though it looks kind of dark in the package. The staying power isn't great like most lipglosses you get a couple of hours wear out of it but when first applied it looks great! The palette and all the shades are very wearable and for what you get £37 is a small price to pay.

 

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Sunday Night Pamper Night

 

You can't beat a lazy Sunday and a lazy Sunday is even better when you pamper yourself, last Sunday I did just that and here what I used. When it comes to pampering myself there are two things I love a bath and a facemask, I always start by running a hot bath and adding one of my many Lush goodies pictured above is the Honey Bee bath bomb (£3.35) and then I apply a facemask as it's January and the cold weather and festive goodies have taken their toll on my skin I used Quick Fix Facials Purifying Face Mask (£4.99) to draw out all the toxins and decongest my skin. When I'm the bath I like to chill out watching Netflix or reading a book/magazine and I recently picked up the latest Cosmopolitan mag so I flicked my way through some of that while letting the mask get to work. 

I used a muslin cloth to remove the mask and then went on moisturising -out of the bath obviously- I used Lush Tea Tree Toner Water (£7.95) on my face using cotton pads to work it around my skin before using Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask (£23) and Nuxe Reve De Miel lip balm (£9.50). On my body I used Soap & Glory Butter Yourself Moisture Lotion (£10) before getting into my favourite PJs and into bed to watch a film. What do you like to do on a lazy Sunday?

 

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Life Lately

 

How cute is my glittery Paperchase diary, it's such a handy size and was a pocket pleasing £4.50 I recently bought it so I could keep track of everything I've got coming up in 2015 which so far is a festival and a few gigs. We're already halfway into January can you believe it? 

I went to see The Theory of Everything at the cinema and it was really really good. Before the film I naively didn't know that much about Steven Hawking but I went to see the film after reading good reviews and being intrigued by the trailer. The film is all about Steven Hawking his life, his love and his work, I don't want to give anything away but it's such a good film very emotional and uplifting. Both the leads, Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, were absolutely amazing. Warning though if you're going to see this film take tissues. 

I'm currently dreaming about going to Paris I've always wanted to go so I've been looking at going later in the year with my friends. I also want to have a few days in London so I'm looking at combining it all into one big trip. Here's hoping...

I've currently been obsessed with this Taylor Swift mash up by Louisa Wendorff. She's mixed two of my favourite songs from Taylor's new album 1989, Blank Space and Style, and I've been listening to this nonstop. Taylor even tweeted about it. 

I've started saving again so let's hope I can keep it up, I've also been going for a little run now and again so let's also hope I keep that up. For rest of January I haven't got that much on apart from my cousin coming up to visit at the end of the month so that will be nice. How's your January?

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COLAB Dry Shampoo

Colab Dry Shampoo available at Superdrug and Feel Unique.

Right now bloggers are taking over from books to beauty ranges, bloggers are everywhere and this new dry shampoo offering is no different it's by Ruth Crilly aka A Model Recommends.  The dry shampoo comes in 5 different scents all names after different cities; London, Paris, Tokyo, Rio and New York and is available in two sizes a full sized 200ml priced at £3.50 and a mini 50ml size priced at £1.99. The two full sized ones that I have tried are London and Paris, London has a houndstooth design and a classic fragrance which I think has a musky sexy smell and  Paris has a flora design and floral smell.

The product itself is very light and you can barely feel it in your hair, it doesn't weigh your hair down like some other dry shampoos. It's also the most 'invisible' dry shampoo I've tried it leaves minimal to no whiteness or powdery look on your roots or hair which is great for us brunette girls. You can quickly work it into your hair and the freshness lasts all day, it is heavily scented and through the day the scent does last. Over all I think this is a really good dry shampoo and I think darker haired girls will appreciate it as it leaves minimal residue on the hair, when it comes to dry shampoo I don't usually stay far from Batiste but I might just be leaning towards this from now on.

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Urban Decay NAKED 2 Basics

Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics  Palette £22

 

I've never owned anything Urban Decay before and then Christmas came along and I got two beautiful palettes, I got the On The Run palette which you'll see on my blog soon and I got this gorgeous eyeshadow palette. The Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics palette has 6 gorgeous cool toned matte shades perfect for using everyday and creating a smoky eye, they come packaged in a bronzed case that has a suede like feel and that's the perfect travel size, plus it has a large mirror too which is always a bonus.

 

The six neutral shades go from light to dark, are all velvety in texture, extremely blendable and buildable. They can be used on their own or blended together, Skimp is the perfect shade for highlighting and defining the eye because it has a slightly satin finish unlike the others, I really like Frisk for using all over the eyelid for a natural minimal makeup look and Cover is a perfect crease shade. The quality of the shadows are excellent they blend well and are highly pigmented with minimal fall out. This palette is great for matte lovers like me and I'll definitely be reaching for this palette a lot.  

 

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Are We Missing The Moment?





We are so obsessed with capturing the moment that we are missing it. Can you remember a time when people watched the sunrise rather than capture it through their phone, a time when people went to gigs for the music instead of watching it through their phone as they record the entire set? For god sake people just eat the food, don't let it go cold so you can get the perfect Instagram photo. We're all guilty of missing the moment in favour of capturing it on our phones and using it for likes on an Instagram photo. 

 

How many of us have felt awkward, left out or uncomfortable when we meet up with our friends, family or loved ones and they spend the whole time on their phone. Yet we're all guilty of doing it just 'quickly' checking Twitter or Instagram rather than focusing on what's going on around us. I'm guilty of it too Im a self confessed phone addict and can spend hour scrolling through tweets and photos on Instagram, even writing this blog post it's about time we put down the phones and enjoyed the company around us. 

We live in a world where we place our values on likes and delete an update if it doesn't get enough. Social media shows us at our best and we compare others best to our worst. We don't see the boring things, we see photos of a person who's off traveling the world, having an amazing time and we compare it to our 'boring' life but we don't see the long boring journeys between places or the countless things they might have missed out on to save for the trip. People rarely post about the hard times, the sad times or the boring times we post about the fun things were doing, when things are going our way and were having a brilliant time. 

Don't hate on your life because you aren't off traveling the world, spending lots of money on new clothes or the latest gadgets just because someone seems like they are having the perfect life doesn't mean they are, it's just what they've chosen to let you see. Focus your energy into you having a great life and fun. 

Now I'm not saying avoid Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or the likes, I'm not saying don't take videos or photographs. What I'm saying is put down the phones for a bit, sure take a photo for Instagram or to keep as a memory but look past the screen and see it with your own eyes. Don't compete with the whole of Facebook and Twitter, don't compare your life to what you see others doing on social media. 

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Eylure Dybrow Brow Tint

Eylure Dyebrow £7.25

The brow trend hasn't died down and I don't think it's going anywhere soon, if like me you weren't blessed with full thick brows and spend ages searching for the perfect products to create them read on. I know at home brow tinting sounds scary but trust me it's super easy and that's coming from me the girl that's scared of everything! My brows are pretty thin, I went through most of my life without plucking them religiously or really bothering about them because they weren't bushy they we're pretty non-existent and then along came Cara Delevingne with her dark and full defined brow and POW the world went crazy - me included. I decided to try tinting them and of course I did the sensible thing of going to a professional doing them at home and it was surprisingly easy and gave good results.

The Eylure Dybrow kit is affordable and comes with everything you really need to tint your eyebrows. I mixed a small amount of the dye and a couple of drops of the activating solution into the little mixing area in the tray and used the plastic mixer to mix them together. Once they were both completely mixed together I put some Vaseline on the skin around my eyebrows to stop the dye from sticking to my skin then I used an eyebrow brush I already had to apply a generous amount over my brows, really working it into the hair. I left it on for around 5 minutes before using a damp cotton wool pad to remove it. I did this twice to get the best results and found that the dye is really buildable, it's best to do it for a couple of minutes first then remove the dye and if you feel like you would like them darker do it again. It left my eyebrows looking darker, glossier and more defined while still looking natural.

The whole kit is simple and easy to use, perfect for nervous or first time tinters. You get up to 12 uses out of this kit and the results last up to 6 weeks so it's great value for money. I still fill in my eyebrows daily but my natural brows look much nicer when they are tinted, ok so it's not really natural but you catch my drift. If you are going to tint your brows at home remember and do a skin test at least 48 hours before to make sure you don't have a reaction to the dye.

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My 2014 Favourite Products

Hello there! I hope you all had a fab time celebrating the New Year and I hope your post New Year headaches have finally shifted. Since I do monthly favourites I've sat down and chosen my favourites from the whole year. Let's start with beauty and skincare products shall we....

Bourjois 123 Perfect Colour Correcting Cream £9.99 is one of my favourite finds from last year it offers a light coverage and feels very lightweight once applied. The CC cream has 3 colour correcting pigments; apricot for anti-fatigue, green for anti-redness and white for anti-dark spots. The CC cream also offers SPF 15, however although it's classed as a cream it's very liquidy so you do need to give it a shake before you use it. I was really impressed with this last summer and still have a tube to use so my love for this may last quite sometime. Nuxe Reve De Miel Lip Balm £9.50 you're probably sick of seeing this lip balm on my blog but I really do love it especially in the colder months. This lip balm is ultra-hydrating and nourishes your lips while being matte and smelling like Terrys chocolate orange. It's effects are long lasting and it's great for an overnight treatment for your lips. The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Oil £10 last year I really got into skincare a bit more and absolutely loved this cleanser from The Body Shop this is the perfect cleanser for removing your makeup with minimal effort- the lazy girl cleanser if you like. You only need one or two pumps of this oil to work it all over your face and watch your makeup flake away, it works for all skin types and when washed off your skin feels soft and smooth without any hit of the greasy feel you associate with oil. One of my favourite lipsticks from the year was the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter £7.99 in the shade Pink Truffle it such a gorgeous natural looking colour that is moisturising on the lips.

 

My favourite hair products are L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil £9.99 and Bumble and Bumble Surf  Spray £21.50 the oil just gives my hair a gorgeous shine without weighing it down or leaving it looking greasy and the surf spray adds texture and volume to my hair as well as giving it that grungy beachy look. I don't really use many hair products but these are my ultimate favourites.

 

 

 

When it comes to my body favourite's I could look no further than Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter £10.50 is hands down one of my favourite body butters ever it leaves my skin feel super soft and moisturised for days and when my legs need a good scrub I like to use the Sugar Crush Body Scrub £8 because it feels like I'm getting a good scrub without leaving my skin looking red raw it also has a limey fruity smell that infuses the bathroom.

 

I have lots of products that I've been loving in 2014 but I really narrowed it down to the ones I've been using the most. What products have you been loving in 2014?

 

 

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Hopes for 2015

 

2015 is here and I'm sure we all have our own hopes and goals some of us might even still have our resolutions intact. This post it all about my hopes for the year ahead and is similar to a post I did at the start of last year.

 

Be healthier I made this last year and I've stuck to it, sort of. I want to keep it up, eating healthier and drinking more water, walking more that sort of thing. I also want to go running every time I get the burst of motivation to go running I never do because I have no gym/running gear I don't even own trainers so that's also a part of it, get my butt in gear and get some running gear.

 

Keep on blogging I think 2014 was my best year for blogging I put in more effort and I really enjoyed it. I blogged more, I scheduled more and I took it a bit more serious without making it feel like a chore for myself. I'm going to stick with it and keep blogging as much as I can.

 

Be more sensible with money ok so this one I say on a monthly basis as I really do stuck at saving. I am the worst budgeter and love going shopping and spending money so I'm going to try and shop less, be more sensible with budgeting and spending and saving.

Be a bit braver and more confident I am a self confessed worrier, worrying and over thinking are my thing and my mind is probably my greatest obstacle there are lots of things I'd quite like to do and I hope that throughout this year I worry and overthink things a little less. 

Have a wonderful year now I know this one isn't just down to me and what will be will be but I hope to have a healthy and happy year having fun and creating memories with the best people my family and friends. 

Finally I'd like to wish you a fun filled and prosperous new year. What are your hopes? 

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The 2014 Round Up



Happy New Year folks! It's officially 2015 and to mark the start of a new year I thought I'd round up last year. 2014 was a good year, it wasn't amazing but nothing bad happened so I can't complain and I'm pretty happy with how the year went.

2014 started with my family and I celebrating my great granny's 90th birthday, our family from Wales made the trip up and we all went out for a high tea and drinks. I am so lucky to still have a great granny, I'm 23 and some people my age don't have grandparents never mind a great grandparent. She's still strong, fit and healthy and about to turn 91! What a woman, it gives me hope that I could live a long happy life. 

 

 

 

 

 

This year was the first year in many that I haven't made a trip down to London but I've still got up to some pretty fun things. My friend Sam and I were lucky enough to see lots of our favourite bands and have overnight trips to Glasgow and Edinburgh. We both also went to T on the part which was fantastic, I think that was my 5th year running and I still enjoy it. Seeing Paolo Nutini give an outstanding performance at Saturday at T in the Park is one of the things that really stands out for me this year also who whorls have thought that Will Smith would rock up to a field in Balado to introduce and watch Calvin Harris!

Not only did we go to T in the Park but we also went to Leeds festival again this time my sister and her friend came and we had a really good time. Minus the not so great hotel we had a great few days at the festival seeing some brilliant acts and having a good laugh.

Then there was my birthday which was brilliant, my closest friends surprised and spoilt me and we had a brilliant night out laughing and dancing while drinking a little lot too much. Then came Halloween and it was so much fun, we all made an effort and went out dressed up. I went as the joker my friends went as Poison Ivy, Jigsaw and Beetlejuice.

I also had some great times with my friends, like the day we had at the hermitage sitting on the rocks under the sun in the river just chatting for hour before going for some lunch and the yummiest icecream. A day in Edinburgh with my friend Janelle where we spent hours shopping as got nothing but had some lovely cocktails, good food and came across a lovely little bakery. A day trip to Pitlochry was also now little say out. Then there were all the nights out and the days where we just sit for hours chatting and laughing.



I went to Edinburgh and spent sometime with my mum and sister Christmas shopping and having fun at the Christmas market which was great, we ate far too much good food from the market and spent hours and hours nonstop shopping.

I am so happy and thankful for my wonderful friends and family, I'm looking forward to creating even more memories and fun times with them in 2015. Let's hope it holds good things for everyone. I hope you had a good 2014 and that 2015 has some happy memories in store for you.

 



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