A Day In The Life

Hi everyone, hope you have had a good weekend! I've really enjoyed mine and was out for a really long walk today as it was a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in sight.

I don't know about you but the sun always makes me feel so much happier and more energetic!

I'm really looking forward to spring/summer... it's not too far away now.

Thought I'd share some pictures from today's adventures with you...

What have you been up to this weekend?

Products I'm Loving Right Now!

I did a bit of shopping the other day and bought a couple of items which have turned out to be really good products, so I thought I'd show you the products I'm loving right now and am wearing pretty much every day!

YSL Elle Perfume -

This winter I've not really been wearing perfume but I'm starting to get back into wearing it. I got this for my birthday last year and I wore it pretty much everyday. That was during the summer so every time I wear this now it reminds me of summer days. It's quite a heavy perfume but I find that after a few minutes of wearing this, it settles down into a nice sexy, slightly sweet floral smell. I also like the bottle, nice and classy, very YSL! It's a nice size as well so you can throw it in your bag easily if you want to.

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara -

 I love this mascara. I am now wearing it everyday and I like it more and more each time I wear it! The brush is surprisingly good at getting right to the roots of my lashes, and I wore my Estee Lauder Projectionist the other day which I was in love with but it's crap compared to this mascara. Very surprised at how much I like this!

17 Lasting Fix Lipstick in Hot Chilli -

I have been after and orange-y red lipstick for a while. Collection 2000 had what looked like the perfect colour but when I got to the shops I couldn't find it at all! I saw Hot Chilli by 17 though, which looked similar so I opted for that. It's a nice colour, maybe not orange toned enough for what I'm after but I still think it's a nice bright coral-y red. Good Lady Danger dupe!

Clinique Instant Lift For Brows -

I bought this on a whim but am in love with this product. I use it along with my MAC brow gel to do my brows. The pencil is a perfect colour for my very fair brows and it's so easy to use. I love the texture of it as it's a lot softer than the usual eyebrow pencils out there and it almost has a waxy like feel to it, which I find is good for keeping the hairs staying in the right direction and it coats the hairs better, giving better definition.

On the other end it has a highlighter colour which you are meant to put on your brow bone, but I use this on my eyelids as a cream eyeshadow and find it gives a really nice sheen to them, and it stays put all day. The colour is very similar to Hush Cream Colour Base from MAC.

Swatches -

Top to Bottom - Clinique Highlight Colour, Clinique Brow Pencil in Soft Blonde, 17 Hot Chilli Lipstick.

 Estee Lauder AeroMatte Pressed Powder -

I have been after a pressed powder which I can take around with me in my make up bag. All the other powders I own are loose powders, so they aren't very practical for taking around. I researched into many different brands, as I was wanting a mattifying powder which doesn't give any coverage or look cakey. I bought this AeroMatte compact from Estee Lauder, which is pricey at £24 but I know Estee Lauder's products are always going to work, and I'm going to get a great product.

They had discontinued this product but have recently starting selling it again, which I am so glad about because it is fantastic. It gives a gorgeous finish to the skin, mattifies but does it in a way that doesn't make me look dull or dead. It doesn't change the coverage or colour of my make up either.

So those are my favourite products at the moment...what are yours?

Get To Know Me Tag

 I'm feeling a bit under the weather and it's pretty miserable outside... so thought I'd do this tag from All Things Rachy's blog :)

(Image from weheartit.com)

1. Are you named after anyone? Nope don't think so!

2. When was last time you cried? A couple of weeks ago, but I was laughing so much that I cried

3. Do you have kids? No I'm too young for those yet!

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself? Yes I think I'm a pretty good friend

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot? No....not at all....

6. Will you ever bungee-jump? No I always think I'd break my back or something horrific would happen

7. Whats your favorite cereal? Crunchy Nut!

8. Whats the first thing you notice about people? Their eyes

9. What is your eye color? Blue

10. Scary movie or happy endings? I'm hopeless with scary stuff.. so happy endings as cheesy as they are!

11. Favorite smells? Vanilla, Cinnamon.... chocolate... YSL Elle perfume.. Incense

12. Summer or winter? Summer

13. Computer or television? Computer

14. What's the farthest you've ever been from home? New Zealand, I lived there for two years!

15. Do you have special talents? I hope so

16. Where were you born? Winchester

17. What are your hobbies? Make up, cooking, reading, You Tubing, blogging...

18. Do you have any pets? I had a dog until I was 11

19. Favorite movie? Ooh... difficult one but I love The Hangover and Due Date... so funny

20. Do you have any siblings? an older brother

21. What do you want to be when you grow up? A make up artist! :)

22. When was your first slow dance and the song? I have never ''slow danced'' haha

23. Movies you dislike? Films like The Matrix, Star Wars, Bourne Ultimatum....Westerns!

24. What 3 YouTubers/bloggers would you like to meet in person? The Pixiwoo family, and my lovely followers of course :)

25. Who do you tag? Anyone who would like to do this!

My Skincare Routine

I've added a couple of new products into my skincare routine lately as well as cutting out some products which my skin is benefiting from, so I thought I'd show you my updated skincare routine!

Firstly every morning I exfoliate with my St Ives Invigorating scrub. It's the best scrub I've found and have been using it for about 2 years! I find a bottle of this lasts me a good three months. St Ives do lots of different scrubs, I used to use the scrub for blemishes but it was way too harsh for my skin.

Every evening I cleanse my face with Simple's Refreshing Facial Wash Gel. It's a nice bog standard gel cleanser, gets rid of oil and dirt, cleanses my skin. Nothing amazingly special.

I'll soon be finishing my latest bottle of this though, and am going to start using my Avene Clearance Gel cleanser, which I was sent along with my Trilogy products to review. So I will let you know how I get on with it. Have you ever used this product or any Avene products, if so what do you think of them?

A new product in my routine is the Clinique Clarifying Lotion in number 3 which is for oily combination skins. I really love this! It gets rid of any dirt that your cleanser has left behind, as well as mildly exfoliating your skin so it's left really smooth. I find my moisturiser and other products sink into my skin so much better and much quicker. All in all my skin looks really healthy and glowing after using it. It's also helping to tone down my oily skin.

 I've been reading that a lot of people find this too harsh for their skin, but luckily I haven't had any reaction. It contains salicylic acid too which helps clear up any blemishes.

Next up is my Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel for oily skins. I really like this, my skin is so smooth from using this, and it doesn't make my skin oily at all. Pretty much the perfect moisturiser for my skin! I use this morning and night.

I remove my make up with Simple Wipes, I buy them simply because they're always on special and they are good refreshing wipes!

I have scrapped my medicated spot creams which were drying out my skin (I also didn't like the idea of using all those chemicals on my skin) I've started using the Lumie Clear UV Light Treatment, which you can find more info about in my post here and I'll be updating you on how I'm doing with it every two weeks in a blog post.

Basically it's two UV lights, which kill the bacteria in your skin naturally, without any chemicals or any risk of breaking out. So far I am really loving this product and I don't have any dry areas from nasty spot creams.

I also don't feel the need to be using a face mask at the moment, since my toner helps my skin stay clean and I've not got a lot of oil build up any more.

NOTD Nude Sparkle

The other day I was reading Paintmebeautiful's blog post where she had done a nude NOTD with a clear sparkly polish over the top. You can read her post and very lovely blog  here :)

I thought it was really pretty and decided to do it on my nails for a change from reds that I've been wearing a lot. I think it's a really nice twist on nude nails which can sometimes look a bit boring and tired.

Here's what I used and how I did it....

Firstly I applied Rimmel's Pro Super Wear Ultra Shine Top Coat and left to dry.

Then I applied two coats of Estee Lauder's Frozen Fantasy which is a really nice pinky champagne nude colour. (I got this in a gift pack so I think it's a sample size bottle). I love the quality of this polish!

Once that was dry I applied a coat of clear sparkly polish from Opia at Primark, and then to seal everything together I applied a final coat of the Rimmel Top Coat.

What do you think of this look? 

NARS Sheer Matte Foundation Review

I bought this last year in Bangkok Airport on the way back from holiday. I wanted to try NARS products and also wanted a foundation so I opted for the Sheer Matte foundation.

NARS also do a Sheer Glow foundation which is for less oily skin types, but as you all probably know by now my skin is really oily so Sheer Matte it is for me!

I have it in the shade ''Gobi'' which I think is the lightest shade. It is an almost perfect match for my skin. I would say it is a yellow toned shade, but the foundation is so sheer that even if it was slightly the wrong colour for you, you could easily blend it in and make it look okay.

Sheer Matte in shade Gobi

As I just said the foundation is very light, but I like that as it gives a really natural finish to the skin. I wouldn't say it's very buildable as whenever I have tried it cakes. The foundation also dries rather quickly so you have to work quite fast with it.

I find the only way I can apply it is with my fingers, if I use a brush or anything else it doesn't seem to adhere to the skin and looks really strange.

As for keeping my face matte well it sets nicely matte, but I still get very shiny and have to blot. And if I don't powder the foundation just slides off my face.

The packaging is nice and classy. It's a frosted glass bottle with a rubber lid. The only complaint I have is that it doesn't have a pump which would make application a bit more hygienic and you wouldn't waste as much product.

All in all I like this foundation if you are after a very sheer, natural foundation, but if your skin is oily like mine I wouldn't rely on this to keep you matte.

I hope to try more NARS products very soon, have you got any favourites?

Disappointing Products!

The title says it all really, here are some products which I have found to be disappointing and not live up to expectations!

• First up is Revlon's Powder Blush in Tawny Peach

This gives off hardly any colour at all, and it's not easy to blend. You might as well not wear any blush at all because it will look the same!

• MAC's Carbon Eyeshadow

I love MAC eye shadows but this is a real disappointment. It's a matte black but I find this really hard to blend, and when you blend it out it goes patchy and grey. I would love it if it was a creamier more pigmented eyeshadow.

• Another Revlon product... This time it's their matte eyeshadow in Aubergine

I really like the colour of this shadow and that's why I bought it. I dislike it because it's the same as Carbon by MAC, can't blend it properly and it's nowhere near pigmented enough.

• Finally we have Lily Lolo's Mineral Matte Finishing Powder

I had high hopes for this product to keep my skin nicely matte throughout the day, but it doesn't! It minimises the look of pores well but gives me a 'dewy' finish because my skin is so oily. I still wear it a lot and just blot with tissues because I like that it's a mineral powder that I know isn't going to break me out. Be wary of applying too much though as it can look slightly mask-like and cakey.

So those are my disappointing products... which products do you find to be a disappointment? 

Lumie Clear Natural UV Light Treatment- Week 2+3 Update

Hi everyone, I've decided to do my Lumie Clear updates every two weeks and so here is week 2 and 3!

I've noticed my skin is generally a lot clearer, still getting hormonal breakouts which are inevitable really however the Lumie really reduces them a lot in size and redness and they are clearing up a lot faster. 

The Lumie seems to dry them up, not in a horrible way but they seem to shrink in size the next day after using the light.

I'm really happy to see that the product is working. I'm not having any ''commitment issues'' with it and am still using it for 15 minutes on each area I want to treat. I find doing it while I'm watching the TV works well. 

So that's my update, short and sweet! 

If you have any questions just comment below...

For more info on the Lumie you can read my post about it here.

New Bag + Tiny Accessories Haul!

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been posting as often, I've been really busy as well as ill!

I went to a party last weekend and my bag got completely ruined which I wasn't very happy about... but every cloud has a silver lining.... because I found this!

It was reduced from £25 to £10 at a shop called Internacionale... I don't think they have many shops around the UK, but it sells fast cheap fashion. Similar to Primark I guess. It used to sell really tacky clothes but they seem to have changed recently and are selling better better clothes... selling all the trends of the moment kind of thing.

I love the colour and the studs... and I'm a big fan of suede (not that it's real suede of course!). It's huge too! I actually prefer it to my old bag which was just a boring black one. I wouldn't have bought it at £25 though, I think that price is way too high especially for a shop like Internacionale!

While I was browsing for a bag I spotted some nice jewellery which was going cheap in the sale. I'm a sucker for jewellery!

Decided to get these two pairs of earrings... They were £1.50 each

So that's my mini haul for you... take care! :)

NOTD- Tigers Eye by 17

Today I painted my nails in this lovely shade- Tigers Eye by 17.

 I'm really liking the muted grey/camel nail colours that are out there at the moment.

On camera it looks like a browny camel colour, but in real life I would say it is more of a taupe brown/grey.

It says it dries in 60 seconds and you only need one coat. You could get away with one coat but I opted for two as it gave it a better even finish.

I found it dried quickly, which was good for wanting my nails to dry fast, but applying it from the brush was a bit difficult because the polish was drying even before I could apply it to the nails.

It's definately worth it though as the colour is gorgeous :)