Back to basics.

Hey everyone, I don't know about you lot, but I've certainly been enjoying this last little bout of sun we've been having the past week! But, we all know it's not going to last, and considering the size of the bee that just crashed into my window, I won't be too sad to see all the little creepy crawlies fly off somewhere else. I love the autumn, all the coats and jumpers (I will being doing a jumpers A/W edit, been a little busy this week so apologies!), but of course, you still need an under layer and I hate being all hot and sweaty underneath a big coat. So I thought I'd show you a few little snaps of some basics I've been buying the last couple of weeks. 

First up is the vest tops, again I apologise for the blurriness, apparently my phone camera is actually better mega pixels wise than my Sony! These are actually two different coloured vest tops, one dark green and one black, both from New Look. That link actually sends you to the online exclusive offer of the both for £6.99 but they are £3.99 each in store (which is where I got them). I also have a light pink and a couple other colours from this range, just because they are pretty cheap and great for when I want to just throw on something quick to go to the shops or to lazy around. 

Swing tops are huge at the moment, so are swing dresses, but I think they might just be a little too cold for the upcoming months (despite the fact I adore this oversized swing dress from Missguided maybe with a leather jacket, some suspender looking tights and boots? Might have to buy it and see!). Anyway I seem to be loving a bit of chiffon at the moment and purchased the pink top from F&F at Tesco for only £8! It comes in a range of eight different colours and it's so comfortable and light. Again would look great with a leather jacket (going to have to invest in a new one as I just sold my old one due to it now being too big). These leggings from New look are my most worn item in my whole wardrobe and I've had them ages but you can get a similar pair on the New Look website. This red swing top and high waisted jeans are both from Boohoo.com who currently have a 20% student discount (not sure when it ends so grab while you can!). I am so happy with these jeans as they are the first pair of jeans I've bought since having Tayla that actually fit so comfortably without falling down or being too tight and they were only £12, so thumbs up to Boohoo on that one! 

Jumper time; both are from Primark for the miraculous price of £6 each! I hardly ever go into Primark, as I hate that everybody seems to have the same clothes all the time (hence why I shop online a lot) but these caught my eye. I'd been looking for a couple of light jumpers and these are both quite baggy and loose fitting so they are perfect for lounging around and also for a bit of cover as it gets colder. I love the marl effect on both of them but the grey one is my favourite due to the lace detailing on the shoulders. It is quite an oversized jumper so I'd recommend getting the size down from your normal size just because of length. I also bought a blue vest top from primark for only £2.50 but didn't photograph it as it seems to have disappeared in my jungle of a room.. 

There's my little cluster of basics for now, I'm sure to buy more when I next go up town, they never go out of style, especially the vest tops! 

Hope everyone has had a great weekend xo.

DIY Geometric

So I finally decided to take off my three week old black nail polish and have a stab at something new. I found this post online about doing nail art with cello tape! I thought hmm, surely not even I can mess that one up! I did try this the other night, but it didn't go all too well as you can see here;

It's not too bad, just thought that the black line would be a good idea, when apparently it wasn't.. Anyway, I went to Tesco yesterday and of course I wandered over to the make up department (it shouldn't be so big and lit up, I get lured over) and as I said before I've been looking for a great pillarbox red nail polish for quite some time and as Barry M had a 3 for £6 offer I thought it was too good to pass up!

I got np29 bright pink, 

np262 red 

and np66 which is the white

As well as the red, I've been seeing white nails absolutely everywhere, so I had to take the plunge and give that a go too. First of all I painted my nails with a clear base coat, then over with the white and one red nail on each hand;

I must say, I don't entirely know how I feel about the white. I think I just painted my nails with tipex a little too often when I was in school.. I do love the red though! Now on the site I found, there was a really easy way of doing geometric patterns on your nails with just putting a line of tape over one half and painting the top, then removing the tape when your second coat is still wet. 

This is from when I did the first pattern, as I forgot to take a picture when I was doing the white last night. It's pretty easy to do actually, but you need to make sure your base coat is completely dry as otherwise the polish will peel off with the tape and you'll end up starting all over again, which trust me, gets really annoying.

Still a little messy, (I am learning!) but I do love the simplicity of this idea. I think with the pink tips the white does look okay! Not so bright and in your face. What do you guys think? Is white nail polish your thing? Or are you a bit skeptical like me?

Have a great weekend everyone! xo

Daily Skin

I've been having a bit of a block on what to post about recently and completely forgot I had planned to do a daily skincare regime post after the My everyday post a couple weeks back. So here it is!

From left to right: 

Lush Ocean salt face scrub £7.25 100g

Lush Fresh pharmacy cleanser £4.75 100g

Lush Breath of fresh air toner £3.95 100g

Steam cream moisturiser £13.00 85g

Bright eyes treatment cream £5.99 15ml

Skin system facial wipes 

Trial sized Charity pot body cream  £1 10g

Wow when you write it all down it does seem like quite a lot.. I have reviewed a couple of these products before so will just touch on them briefly and include links for anyone who missed the previous posts. 

First of all the cleansers;

The ocean salt is an exfoliating facial scrub which smells amazing. It's by far my favourite Lush product and makes my skin feel amazing. This is strictly a once a week product as the lovely lady at Lush told me, you are only supposed to exfoliate once a week at most otherwise you will dry out your skin and nobody wants that now they? It's obviously all natural products, made with sea salt, grapefruit infusion and (the weird one) organic lime extracted in vodka among lots of other things. I've been using this product for over a year now and think it's going to carry me well into the winter! The one on the right is the Fresh pharmacy daily cleanser. You just wet your face, rub all over and then rinse off! Easy as pie :) It's great for a quick cleanse when you don't have a lot of time and I use it everyday without fail. And the amazing thing is I bought a 150g portion back on my birthday which is in the middle of June, and it's barely gone down at all. Well worth the money.

I haven't featured the toner or bright eyes cream as I've previously reviewed them in My everyday and Good morning bright eyes. The steam cream I have also previously reviewed, but felt like having another little rave about it. This pot was bought in April time and as you can see I've still got quite a bit left! It's a new all-in-one natural moisturiser that's really light and promises to keep your skin hydrated all day. It can also be used all over the body and for your hands as well so it's a pretty good all rounder. This charity pot was an impulse buy to support one of Lush's charities. I have previously bought the big pot of it which is £8.75 for 95g or £12.95 for 240g. I love this product but when I bought it before I kept forgetting I actually had it and of course, it went off. I tend to use this little trial pot for these annoying dry patches of skin I get on my arms and it seems to be working pretty well. I also haven't featured the wipes as these are just some cheap ones I picked up in Wilkinson's for sensitive skin. They're good for just wiping over your face after using cleanser to make sure there's no make up residue left.

That's my everyday but I am running out of all of these and have been looking into new more high end products for winter. Those harsh icy winds dry out my skin something chronic! After googling around I've picked out a cleanser, toner and moisturiser that I might have to try soon. 

Clarins gentle foaming cleanser for dry skin £18 125ml

No.7 soothed gentle toner £8 200ml

L'Oreal Paris skin perfection day moisturiser £9.99

I've never tried any facial products from any of these brands before and going by the customer reviews they sound like what I'm looking for. Check back for a post on these soon! I'm going to stick with my ocean salt for an exfoliator as the rest of that pot will last me at least another month yet. 

What products do you think are best for Winter this year? 

Vivo-liscious!

Yes I've been fuelling my habit once again. I bought more eyeshadows.. I was sorting through my single eyeshadows the other day and realised that I actually, in my obsession I have bought two of the same one.. of which I have a mini one in my everyday pallet. Ah well, can never have enough I suppose!
This pallet is from a wonderful new brand I found whilst looking at blushers in Tesco called Vivo. They don't do a lot at the moment, but what they do have is amazing. As I'm a little low on funds at the moment I only got two things, first of all is the blusher;

This one is the 'peaches and cream' and I got it for £4.99 which isn't so bad because it's pretty big. 

This is the swatch. It's not the most noticeable of blushers, but for my skin it works quite well. Because it's a baked blusher its quite light although it does last quite a while throughout the day. I am actually wearing this blusher in my previous 'Stay matte to stay?' post, just not a great deal as my brush is a tad crappy. I think I might have just found my new blusher for winter! I couldn't find the link to this exact blusher as they only seem to have the 'rouge shimmer' on their website, so apologies!

The other thing I bought is this baked eyeshadow pallet;

This is the Vivo baked shimmer pallet in Paparazzi. It is out of stock online but I'm sure the bigger Tesco's will have it as mine did. It's £6.99 in store which isn't too bad for four eyeshadows and another blusher! 

Okay so I haven't actually used this blusher on my face yet because it seemed really pink in the pallet, but it doesn't look too bad on my hand so will give it a go! The four eyeshadows can be used together or apart, it's up to you. They do have a guide on the back of the box (which I forgot to photograph last night I'm sorry!) but I've found that the pink goes nice as a base with the purple as more of a liner colour. I haven't actually used the green and black yet either but the swatches were done from one sweep in the pallet, so I think I'm going to have to be quite careful with how much I put on or it'll look way too dark. I mainly bought these because I love the patterns on the baked eyeshadows and they just caught my eye instantly.

There are two more of the eyeshadows in this range with the added blusher, so I'll no doubt be buying them when I've got the money to fuel my addiction! 

Has anyone else come across Vivo? What did you think?

A/W 13 the edit: Bags

Sorry I didn't post this yesterday had a bit of a 'me day' which really just means I took Tayla to nursery then had a not particularly girly afternoon of playing the Xbox, (not playing GTAV like the majority of the world though!) we've all got to love a little gaming now and again. Spent the last week taking note of all the bags I've seen that have caught my eye and have a selection of Saves and Splurges for you all!

The Satchel.

Left: Save - Dorothy Perkins £22

Right: Splurge - Cambridge Satchel Company @Asos £116

Satchels as you all may know have been huge this year! I've seen them in every colour, every size and they go with everything! I love this Dorothy Perkins monochrome structured satchel and at only £22 it's a complete steal. All the monochrome going around lately is great as it will go well with any outfit any day of the week. This bright pink satchel isn't quite as well put with everything, but it would add a little colour pop to your outfit if you weren't too comfortable with wearing brighter colours in your clothing. It does come in a range of different colours though if the pink isn't your thing.

The Tote.

Left: Save -  River Island £45

Right: Splurge - John Lewis £329

Okay so this Ted Baker tote is really pricey, but I loved the snakeskin detailing and the winged effect is really common in loads of designs at the moment. Although it's expensive, I do think it's a wardrobe staple that would be here to stay, used for every occasion. I do love River Island's bag range, I always have. The blocks of colour on the bag make it stand out but the black and cream stop it from being so in your face.

The Clutch.

Left: Save - New Look £15.99

Right: Splurge - Asos £62 reduced from £100

Now every girl needs a great clutch bag for those nights on the town. Snakeskin detailing seems to be another thing that's everywhere at the moment and I have a thing for cobalt blue. I'm not a huge fan of the clutch bag if I'm honest, I hate having to hold onto it tightly the whole time I'm out for fear of the contents flying out when I'm dancing, but this one from New Look has an optional chain strap which I like. The more pricey option caught my eye again because of the pink. Both of these bags demonstrate the colour block trend and just how huge it really is. I will admit it was quite hard to find a really expensive clutch bag that I actually liked, due to the majority being that horrible one that resembles a glasses case (you know the one I mean, with the awkward clasp at the top that is just waiting to break a nail). 

The Bowler.

Left: Save - The Fashion Bible £22

Right: Splurge - Vivienne Westwood @JulesB £194

Yep, more pink, I do apologise for those of you who don't like it! I had never actually heard of this site before, I ended up just typing bowler bags into google as I couldn't find any I liked on my usual sites and found this one! I like the gold stud detailing and how you have the option for a long strap or a shorter one. I don't necessarily think I'd buy this bag, just because it's so so pink, and I don't entirely know what it would go with, but I do love it. Ahh the splurge. I love Vivienne Westwood, as soon as I hear the name I see that dress Carrie Bradshaw almost got hitched in in Sex and the City.. ah dream dress... Anyway, enough drooling. I love the pastel blue colour of this bag as I've read that pastels are going to be carrying us into the Autumn this year. If I had the money to splash out there would be no stopping me buying this bag.

The Cross Body.

Left: Save - Oasis @House of Fraser £28

Right: Splurge - DKNY @House of Fraser £120

More colour blocks! But it's not pink this time. Bright pillar box red is another colour I've seen creeping back in, but mainly in accessories or that perfect red lip that everyone is on the lookout for. Although this is similar to the clutch bag above, I think this one is a little bigger and I'd more likely use it for daytime or a special occasion such as a wedding. Okay, now this DKNY bag is tiny (despite the fact it is apparently an across body bag). It's really tiny, you'd probably fit nothing in it and it would not be an everyday essential I'm afraid, but I just love it. It's the plum! So in for this season and it's so cute with the quilted pattern and the gold chain effect. I wouldn't buy it, just because I'd be afraid of it sitting in the back of my wardrobe gathering dust, but it's pretty darn lovely.

So that's the bags done. Has anyone found one they are completely in love with for this season? Check back next week for more on A/W 13. Not sure what item I'm going to be researching next week just yet, if you've got any requests leave them in the comments and I'll do my best :)

Rimmel Stay Matte to stay?

As I mentioned the other day, I've been looking around at different foundations ready for a nice moisturising one for the winter. I've been looking at quite a few adverts but not actually bought any due to the fact I still have a full bottle of my Natural Collection one and wouldn't want to waste it! That being said, I bought my monthly Cosmo and got a free sample of the Rimmel Stay Matte foundation. It can be bought in pretty much most Rimmel selling stores for around £5-£7

This is a picture of the actual bottle on the sample for anyone who hasn't seen it knocking about. The sample was in 100 Ivory, which scared me a little as I tend to buy the one after ivory as my skin can be quite pale. Although the sample was pretty small, it did actually cover my whole face. That's always a big issue for me when trying free foundation samples, I don't want to start and then end up with only enough to do half my face! 

This is the colour of the foundation and it's very moussey. It doesn't really cake itself on like some mousse foundations can be guilty of. I do like the product but I read somewhere online that it's perfumed, so I'm not sure how well this will work with my sensitive skin. The reason I tend to stick to the same foundation is that my skin does have the horrible habit of breaking out if it doesn't agree with the new one.

I also bought the Stay Matte long lasting powder a while ago as I seem to be going through my loose powder so quickly nowadays. This one is in Peach glow and is really great for covering any unwanted shine which is the main reason I use powder anyway. 

Really happy with how smooth my face looks! It has made my face look a tad dry in places though, especially between my eyes but that's only really noticeable up close.

I'm not entirely sure if this foundation is the product for me but I will admit it is pretty good for a smooth look.

Has anyone else tried it? What did you think?

Baby Lips

The cold weather is upon us. Days and nights of harsh winds, blistering cold rain and hopefully (but not like last year) some snow. This is the time when your skin really takes a hit from the weather and if you're like me your lips end up so chapped you end up spending too much time picking skin off your lips, not a pretty sight and it can be quite sore too! I'll end up sticking to my trusty carmex for when stuff gets really bad, but for now I've found a new obsession.

Maybelline baby lips

These seem to be a new craze at the moment. They are super hydrating lip balms with the promise of up to 8 hours hydration. I don't think it necessarily lasts for 8 hours but it's still pretty good. There are 6 different ones to choose from. I currently have the Peach Kiss:

This smells amazing. Something like a sweet I used to have when I was in school.. I just can't remember the name of it. It might be Tooti Frooti's. This one doesn't leave any colour stain that I can notice, but my lips are quite dark naturally so might show up on others. I bought this one from Superdrug for £2.99 but they're on offer 2 for £5.

I also have the pink punch:

This one smells a tiny bit like raspberry, it's subtle, but really nice. This one, unlike the Peach Kiss does stain my lips a bit. Don't be scared off by the barbie pink colour, it's a very slight hint of pink that it adds. I bought this one at Asda for an introductory price of £2.50.

I think these are amazing little lip balms and I have actually been using them really often and at such a cheap price they're worth it!

This is the whole range and can be bought from most stores selling make up.

I love the fun colours! I may have to buy up the rest of them, I'm bound to lose at least one at some point. In fact I'd lost the Pink Punch before I started this post, total scatterbrain!

Taking the plunge..

You may remember a few posts ago I did something about the hair colours of autumn and was talking about dying my hair ginger. Well after many weeks of umming and ahhing I actually went and bought some dye today!

Here's the stuff. I bought the Loreal casting creme gloss in Amber number 645. I've never actually used casting creme gloss before but I have used Loreal so I figured it'd be fine. The only thing I found particularly worrying about this brand was that you had to wet your hair first before applying it. I'm really used to the 'apply to dry, unwashed hair' dyes. 

This is the colour as it's dying. I was really scared at this point as it actually comes out purple. As in really plum purple. The whole way through the application and waiting time I was panicking I'd end up with purple hair, which don't get me wrong I probably wouldn't have minded but wasn't what I was going for! If you've dyed your hair before you know the drill; apply all over and leave to develop for the stated amount of time (although I always leave it on ten minutes more as my hair can be stubborn!). 

Aaaand this is how I ended up. Thank god it's not purple. It strangely washes out orange.. very confusing. Anyway, it's no where near what I was hoping for, I wanted something a lot more ginger than this has turned out but I suppose it's a good platform for next time. The conditioner and dye smells really really nice but for some reason the Loreal treatments never make my hair as smooth as the Clairol Nice 'n' Easy. I have a random streak of blonde on the right hand side, not sure how that happened but it looks kinda cute! Hopefully next time I will be more orangey!

Hope everyone has a great Saturday :)

September GlossyBox

Last month I was scrolling through Facebook as usual and saw a Birchbox advertisement. I hadn't heard of beauty boxes before and was pretty interested in the idea of getting 5 possibly full size samples  every month. I spent hours reading reviews of Birchbox and Glossybox and decided that Glossybox looked like it would have products I'd actually use, so I thought I'd give them a go.

You receive one box a month for £10 plus £2.95 P+P which is a pretty reasonable price considering the contents!

This box is the London Fashion week edition. I love the Union Jack flag on the box and the little pictures on the tissue paper just give it a real unique feel to it. Plus the box is a real good quality so it could be used again for storage or something (probably a place for my ever growing eyeshadow collection).

Onyx eye liner from Be a Bombshell Cosmetics

Full size $14 (which is about £8.85)

This is actually the full size eyeliner which already has nearly added up to the price of the whole box. It's a felt tip liner and I must say, I don't use these very often as I'm quite partial to the gel liners, but I was quite surprised. I haven't actually tried it on my eyes yet as the box came at stupid o'clock this morning and I haven't done my make up yet. But it's quite a fine point and it's easy to create a straight, un-smudged line as you can see in the swatch picture. 

Would I buy it? Probably not, as I've never thought that felt tip liners last long enough compared to the gel ones, but it is a pretty good product.

Original nipple balm for lips from Dr Lipp 

Full size £11.50 for 15ml

This is only the sample size of about 3ml (so about 2ml actual product 1ml air) but you don't really need a lot of it. This is 100% natural and according to the leaflet, can be used on anything from lips to burns and even as last minute shoe polish! The product itself is quite sticky but a little goes a long way. You wouldn't want to be slapping this on like gloss. I've had it on for about an hour now and I can still feel it and my lips do feel less chapped. 

Would I buy it? Maybe, but at £11.50 a bottle it does seem a little expensive. Depending on how well my lips react to it by the time I've finished the sample, I may purchase it in the future. Although it is only an in store kind of purchase and stockists are available on the Dr Lipp website (link above)

Eyelure pre-glued lashes 

One set - £5.06

Another full sized sample! Well, it would be a bit hard to only give you a mini sample of eyelashes really, wouldn't it? Again as the box came so early I haven't actually tried them yet but I'm very optimistic. The reason normal eyelashes don't stick to me as my eyelids seem to react to the glue and they just fall off, so these pre-glued lashes will be a god send. 

Would I buy it? If they stick to my eyes, then definitely! 

Elizabeth Arden Untold perfume from  Debenhams

Full size £48 50ml and £69 100ml

Obviously I didn't get a full sized sample of the perfume (Glossybox can only be so generous!) but I love the fact it's actually in a small bottle, not that stupid little swab where you can't actually tell if you like the smell or not. It's just so cute! And I think this will actually last me quite a while as it's a very classy scent, something only used for special occasions. I'm rubbish at describing fragrances but the leaflet says it has a fruity introduction with a radiant floral heart. It's such a nice smell! It's a tiny bit like Victoria Beckham's intimately for her which I lived off of when it first came out. 

Would I buy it? I would love to! But the price of perfumes is extortionate nowadays, so I think I'd only be able to get it if I had vouchers or wouldn't say no to it as a christmas pressie.

Toni&Guy Hair meet wardrobe Classic shine & gloss serum

Full size - £7.19 for 30ml

This is another full sized product! It's the limited edition serum from Toni&Guy for frizz control with lightweight shine. This sounds like a pretty good product for me as my hair is quite static when first dried. You just rub 1 or 2 pumps into blow dried hair, running your fingers through the lengths and avoiding the roots. I apologise it's another product I haven't actually tried as intended but I have squeezed a bit out into my hand and it smells lovely. Bit like the smell of walking into a salon when all the products and serums hit you (in a good way though..) It's a clear oil like product and I am a tad scared as oils make my hair particularly greasy.

Would I buy it? Well, considering my hair's fussiness probably not as I tend to waste quite a lot of money on hair products I never end up using.

Also I received A Glossybox magazine 

This is their first magazine and features interviews from Angela Scanlon ('one to watch' blogger, tv presenter and writer on Vogue's list), a two page spread of A/W 13 trends and 24 hours in the life of designer Mara Hoffman. 

All in all I'm pretty darn pleased with my first Glossybox and definitely will not be cancelling my subscription just yet! In total (not including the samples) the contents of the box cost just over £20 so already double the price of the box in the first place, so quite reasonable!

Check back next month for the review of my October Glossybox, which I'm hoping might have some sort of Halloween theme as I love Halloween!

The A/W edit: Coats of winter

Well I woke up this morning to grey skies and am currently sat here typing this to you in my jamas with a blanket wrapped around me. I think it's safe to say it's getting colder! After this late summer, I'm convinced we're going to end up skipping autumn altogether and go straight into winter. I've see quite a few bloggers out there doing weekly posts so I thought I'd jump on the band wagon with my top picks for different items for autumn/winter every week. This week - coats. I have realised that my wardrobe only consists of thin hoodies, summer jumpers, and a couple of blazers; not the sort of layering up you want over the next couple months! So I've had a lazy but productive morning of scowering the internet and my most used sites to find some coats. I'll do a splurge and save on each item, just in case you fancy treating yourselves! 

1.  The leather

Left: Save - River Island £45

Right: Splurge - Religion @ Asos £190

I actually do have a leather jacket in my wardrobe that I got from Matalan last year (trust me it's a great jacket) but I've got down a couple sizes since then so I need to invest in a new one. Leather jackets are one of those amazing wardrobe staples that will go with anything and can be dressed up or down. I do love the Religion one, mainly because of the print, but I just don't have £190 to spend on a jacket even if it is 100% pure leather. :( If only!

2. The biker

Left: save - Boohoo £30

Right: Splurge - Missguided £48.99

Okay so the Missguided jacket isn't exactly a break the bank kind of price, but still. I just love the colour blocks and the suede look to the grey. I think this jacket would go great with most items and again like the leathers can be used with any outfit, as long as it's not too grey. The Boohoo jacket caught my eye because of the on trend stud detailing and also because pastel colours are still huge for autumn and winter so you'll be bang on trend in this one!

3. The parka

Left: Splurge - Topshop £95

Right: Save -  Boohoo £38

Yes Boohoo again, I love online brands, less chance of people wearing the same thing as you. I've wanted a parka jacket for ages. Me and my friend spent our town's summer festival lusting after every one we saw and they seem to be everywhere! The Boohoo one is affordable, great style and not too long, which I have found can be an issue with quite a lot of them I've tried on. The Topshop one, although expensive looks so so so warm! The borg lining is actually detachable so if you are prone to getting a tad hot and sweaty while wearing coats (like me) then this would be the coat for you. Again its a great length, and I think this khaki colour goes great with the acid wash trend that's been quite big this year.

4. The mac

Left: Splurge - Warehouse £85

Right: Save - Missguided £58.99

I know that neither of these are particularly cheap, but I've been lusting after this Missguided jacket ever since it went online about a month ago. It comes in three other colours as well and I love the leather sleeves, just breaks it up and stops it from looking so plain which can be an issue with black macs. I also love the fact it's got kind of a biker style to the fastening and ah I think I'm going to have to buy it.. just unfortunately isn't in stock in my size at the moment! Onto the splurge one, I don't really shop at warehouse, but I love this mac too. I don't necessarily love it for £85 but I think the style and belt detailing gives it a bit of a unique feel.

Well there's week one! Going to be keeping an eye out for bags over the next week so check back next Tuesday for my edit! 

Good morning bright eyes!

When I was younger, we used to live in the lovely little town of Caerphilly in South Wales, but as we moved a little late in the school year the only school places we could get were in Newport which is about a 45 minute drive each way. This meant many years of getting up pretty darn early to drive to get to school on time. This and the fact I have a nearly three year old who refuses to sleep past half 7 or 8 in the morning (I really should learn to go to sleep earlier!) unfortunately seems to have left me with permanent dark circles under my eyes. I've never really tried any sort of eye cream before, thinking god I'm only 20 I'm too young to start on all the creams! But it's got to the point where concealer's not really covering it and my eyes do feel quite puffy in the mornings so I gave in and went trawling the shop for a nice cream. I guess now I'm past my teenage years I should accept the fact I can't stay up til 2 in the morning and still wake up at 7 fresh as a daisy! 

I didn't really want to buy an expensive one as I didn't know how well it would actually work. I found the Good Things Bright Eyes eye cream in Tesco for £5.99. (it can also be bought at Boots for the same price).

The bottle is pretty small, only 15ml, but you barely need any on so it will probably last quite a while. It's got a lovely smell as it's made from raspberry and Lychee extracts, which are supposedly super fruits. Going to have to try eating a few more of these, it's gotta be good for you! The best thing about this product for me, is that it's free from any harmful chemicals which is great for my sensitive skin. I've only used it a couple of times, I am notoriously lazy when it comes to taking my make up off before bed, something I really need to rectify as I used to have a pretty good nighttime skin care regime. But the times I have used it, it has made my skin feel very awake and refreshed which has got to be a good sign, and it has removed the puffy feeling in the morning.

I've also seen that they do a Instant dark circle concealer cream as well, which I might try out as my concealer is on it's very last legs, been scraping the sides of the bottle for about a week now. Hope everyone had a great weekend, I'm just off to take Tayla to the farm before she starts nursery tomorrow! They grow up too fast :( Will post a couple pictures on tomorrow's post for anyone who wants to have a look, have a great Monday :) 

Oh and just a quick thank you to all my regular readers, (you know you are) for getting me to over 1000 views :D 

Food for thought Friday

I am a total fashion and beauty junkie, there's no denying it, but I also love cooking. There's something about creating a meal from scratch, it tastes so much better to me than pre-cooked packaged food. Plus it's always good to know what's going into your meals. A couple weeks ago, or days, not entirely sure, I posted about my healthy eating day and someone suggested I post some recipes so thought I'd let you in on my dinner for last night :). I would do 'what I ate today' food posts quite often, but I don't know if that's really what people want to read when they find my blog and also I don't tend to eat lunch that much as it's not my thing so would pretty much just be dinner! Either way, I hope you like my recipe, which was found online and tweaked a bit.


The recipe: Homemade bolognese!

(okay I made this for just me, but with a little more pasta it would definitely do two as I didn't finish it)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
250g extra lean beef mince
1 carrot
2 large cloves of garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons mixed herbs
1 18.7cl bottle red wine
1 onion, cut up into chunks
100g passata
200g tinned chopped tomatoes
200g tagliatelle

(optional - garlic bread and parmesan)

Method:
1. Fry the olive oil in a large frying pan, then add the crushed garlic and onion and fry off until softened. Add the mince and cook through until brown. (this is how it looks at this point)

2. Add the red wine and leave to boil, stirring occasionally until it's reduced in volume by about two thirds. Then add the carrots, chopped tomatoes, basil and mixed herbs and stir all in together. Cover and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 10 minutes (it said an hour and a half online, mine would have been burnt to a crisp by then!)

This is before covering :)

3. Turn off the heat to the mince and cook the pasta according to packet instructions. Then add the pasta to the mince mixture and stir to coat. This is where I added the passata, just because there wasn't really any sauce at all. I'd recommend tasting the sauce before you serve as mine could have done with a little more herbs. 

And voila! I'm sure it'd taste just as nice with spaghetti, I just fancied a change :). 

Let me know if any of you do try this and what you think, and if there's anything else you would like to see me cook (for a change from the beauty and fashion) then leave me a comment and I'll be sure to try it out!