Summer Reads | 'The Help'

It's every bit as fantastic as the film.

Beauty | Topshop Lipsticks

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to try these.

Summer Reads | The Fault in Our Stars

Possibly a little bit late to hop on this bandwagon... 

Beauty | Back to Where it all Started...

Wow... so it's been a while, I've neglected my blog for a bit too long....

"Happy Hair Days"- Review

I've been a dedicated user of Aussie hair products since I was about 16 and have never really strayed from their "Miracle Moist" or "Frizz Miracle" ranges. I know. Call myself a beauty blogger and I don't even change up my shampoo and conditioner every now and then. Well, no more.

I was perusing the shelves like I do most weekends, but with Aussie not on offer and my last few student loan pennies in my pocket, I had this sudden urge for a change. So I had a look elsewhere. I was instantly grabbed by Happy Hair Days and they were on offer. What's a girl to do?

So, after much deliberation and picking up and putting down various bottles, I went for their Argan Oil Intense Repair shampoo and conditioner. I have been tempted by Happy Hair Days before, purely because of the professional and expensive-looking packaging, but had always stuck with trusty old Aussie. But, with my new found spontaneity, into my basket they went.

Back to Basics- Skincare

Recently my skin has been feeling really dull and just generally icky, so I thought it was time to start making a habit of carrying out a full and thorough skincare regime every morning and evening. To do this, I had to go out and buy a few little additions- in other words, the time has come when a face wipe and a quick smear of moisturiser just isn't enough anymore!

My eyes in particular have been pretty needy recently because I suffer from hay fever and my eyes bear the brunt of my allergic reaction. I end up rubbing them until they are so sore, puffy, red and dry that I actively contemplate plunging my entire head into a bowl full of ice cold water to soothe the pain! With this firmly in mind, I knew I needed a couple of products to try and combat this problem (as well as making sure I took my hay fever tablets!). Because my eyes are now pretty sensitive, I did go back to basics and purchase some Simple products. I've used at least one product by them in my skincare routine since I was about 13, be it face wipes, moisturiser, skin clearing products and so on, so they are a brand I do trust, but also a brand I do forget about from time to time.

So these were the three products I picked up:

Popping my Essie Cherry

Good morning my lovelies!

Okay. I admit it. I have only just, after almost a year of blogging and a life long love of nail varnish, purchased my first Essie Nail Laquer.

It's taken me so long for a number of reasons. But predominantly, I am a cheap skate. I don't like spending more than about £4 on a nail varnish because I have so many and Essie's are £7.99. But the other day I just fancied a change and the Essie counter was calling out to me and I was feeling very reckless and spontaneous and thought it was high time I owned one. Afterall, it seems one cannot call oneself a beauty blogger without an Essie lurking in their collection.

The New Love of my Life!

So I think I must be one of the only girls in this country who has never owned their own pair of hair straighteners. For years and years I have begged, borrowed and stolen from anyone who would let me. Thankfully, I'm not one to straighten my hair often because it is naturally curly and I'm lazy so I do tend to just leave it, however recently I discovered a magic way to make my hair a bit curly and completely frizz free, but alas it required a sacred pair of straighteners.

My Mum clearly read my mind and treated me to these little beauties for Christmas.

Top 5- Boots Beauty Advent Calendar

So last Christmas (God it feels weird saying that!) I thought it was high time I invested in a beauty advent calendar. About 5 years later than everyone else I know, but I got there in the end! I went for the Boots one (simply because it was the cheapest) and was actually pretty happy with all the products I got.

But it would be tedious of me to blog about each individual product, so I've just selected a top 5 for you guys to ponder.

Loving.... L'oréal Skincare

Hello my pretties, sorry for my lack of posting recently, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you might know everything has been a little crazy recently and all my uni work has suddenly come at once and I'm getting ready to start a new job as well soon, so many apologies for forgetting about my blog for a couple of weeks!

Anyway, so today I am writing a little review on L'oréal (again, I know, they're just great at the moment!), but this time I'm going to review a few of my favourite skincare products.

First up is the 'Skin Perfection Purifying Cleansing Wipes'. To my knowledge, there are a couple of different types, but as you can see these are the 'Refresh and Rebalance' ones.

L'oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil- Review!

I've never really been one for hair oil. I didn't really understand why you would put oil in your hair- surely that would make your hair greasy? But, after the surprise summer we had (I know, seems like a distant memory now!) my hair became much drier than usual. I have naturally very curly hair, so my hair is often dry and with the addition of the sun, I think it's safe to say my hair was as silky and nourished as straw.

I searched on many a beauty blog for some advice and it seemed the most common response was to get myself a hair oil, and so I finally began my quest to find the perfect one. I tried a couple out, but, after seeing it on offer in Superdrug, I picked up the L'oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil.

Autumn and Winter Lip Favourites!

Now Summer has well and truly left us, it might be time to invest in some more seasonal lip colours! I'm talking reds, purples and the occasional neutral, to liven up a more autumnal wardrobe. I always get really excited when buying new lipsticks, especially when they are in a completely different shade to what I have been used to. With it being Summer, I have been wearing lots of bright and pale pinks but now it's time for a change!

Before I get into my favourite colour choices, it becomes even more imperative this time of year to ensure your lips are well mousturised before you apply your lipstick. To do that well, you need a good lip balm. I'm fairly sure most of you can guess which products I am going to suggest now. Yes, Maybeline Baby Lips. I'm not even sure why I love them so much, but I do and so does every other beauty blooger out there- they're really cheap too! But, if you do fancy a change, I also really love the MUA Power Pout Colour Intense Tint and Balms- they mousturise just as well but give you a flash of colour for the same price as a Baby Lips balm.

Benefit Binge!

Last week, I was invited for a Benefit make over and pamper evening with 30% off all products and a cheeky glass of champagne! As you can imagine, a few accidents happened as a result! Thankfully, these very naughty splurges were evened out by the arrival of my student loan this week.

So, I've been using these products for a few days now and thought it was time to let you all know what my must haves are at the moment!

 

the POREfessional- £24.50

Taming Frizz

Hi everyone!

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been buying a few too many beauty products lately. My hair is SO frizzy as it is naturally very curly, which means it gets dry and looks a bit like Mia Thermopolis pre- princess make over.

but worse.

Breaking Out!

A brief beauty review for you all today!

So I've been suffering from a bit of a break out recently, which is fortunately a rarity for me. I've been using the Superdrug sachet masks for ages, but I wasn't really using the full sachet so was getting a lot of waste, so I went hunting for a tube version. I found a little selection in Superdrug- they were all on offer and weren't massive tubes so if I didn't like it, there wasn't too much financial or physical waste.

Soap and Glory: Thick and Fast- Mascara Review

Normally, I am a one-brand girl when it comes to mascara. I have been using Benefit Bad Gal Lash since about 2008 and have never looked back. Until this Summer when mine ran out and I didn't have the cash or time to go and replace it. I was forced to rifle through my big stash of toiletries for uni and came across Thick and Fast by Soap and Glory. I'm a die hard Soap and Glory fan so I was quite happy to give it a go but had hardly any expectations, but I was so impressed.

I've heard mixed reviews about the S&G make-up range so I was surprised when this product worked so well.

L: Thick and Fast, R: no mascara

I'm quite lucky to have fairly long eyelashes anyway, but when I applied this mascara for the first time, I was asked if I was wearing falsies. Then when I did stick a pair on, no one noticed because my lashes looked the same. Considering it came in one of the S&G gift sets I got for Christmas and so was technically free, I was really happy with the result. It's also only £10, which is cheaper than my usual brand, and if you hurry, you can catch a '2 for £15' offer on selected S&G cosmetics at Boots!

What mascaras do you recommend? What do you think of this one?

The Silver Linings Playbook

Ok. Hands up. I watched the film before reading the book. Schoolgirl error I know, but after seeing Jennifer Lawrence get an Oscar for her performance and because Bradley Cooper was just in it, I had to see it. Then the book was in the bargain bin in Sainsbury's (like every book I end up reading) and I thought why not.

For the minority who haven't seen the film or read the book, (although they are quite a bit different from each other which was a surprise...) it explores the life of Pat Peoples, post mental institution, and his efforts to win back his ex wife after 4 years of 'apart time' and then shows how he tries to move on with his life and better himself.

Pat is such a loveable protagonist you almost don't care what he's done to end up in this position (although you are a tad curious until the last 50 pages or so when it is finally revealed). He has a frosty relationship with his father and is a die hard Eagles fan, so there is a lot of man-sport-speak that I didn't quite get but it doesn't matter if you don't know what he's on about, it's his love for his family and friends in connection with his love for his team that matters (bit of a jumbled way of phrasing but if you give it a read, you'll know what I mean!).

It takes a pretty long time to meet the equally messed up Tiffany, the character that won Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar. Once they meet, they start running silently together and eating a shared bowl of raisin bran in a diner every now and again. It was a massive effort for me to accept Jennifer Lawrence as playing Tiffany because she is so young, but Tiffany is in her late 20's/early 30's, so if you've seen the film, you might have trouble getting your head around the age thing. But the way their relationship evolves is really intriguing.

The story is really quite beautiful. It's not funny, but there are some parts where you can't help but let out a little giggle to yourself. It's a bit Curious Incident come One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but the story is more uplifting that either of those, hence the title. Parts are really quite sad in a way, but it put me in a good mood everytime I read a chapter (chapters which are wonderfully short I might add).

If the fact that Bradley Cooper played him in the movie isn't enough to make you fall in love with Pat, give it a read and I can almost guarentee you will fall in love with his character (post reinvetion obviously, before he went into the 'bad place' he was a right piece of work). The only thing I didn't love about the book was that it's all written in the present tense, but that's always been a little pet hate of mine. Like I said, actually quite different from the movie in terms of plot so give them both a go.

Have you read this book? What did you think?
Have a lovely day!

Getting Lippy!

And so my obsession with MUA continues. I recently had a bit of a Superdrug spree and my goodies included a couple of lipsticks for just £1 each so I figured, for the good of womankind (and my fellow students), I had to share these little diamonds with you.

It is no secret that I own pretty much half of the MUA range, but for whatever bizarre reason, this was the first time I had bought any of their lipsticks.

(L-R) Shade 15 and Shade 3

In Her Shoes...

At the weekend, my trusty black pumps decided to finally give up on me after a year of battling the British weather and my inability to pick up my feet when I walk. So this meant I needed to get shoe prowling pronto.

After hours of traipsing around Bluewater, scowering various shops and many a sales rack in the hope of a good bargain, with no success and so much disappointment, I found myself, as always, in New Look.

Just when I feared even New Look's humongous shoe heaven couldn't help me, I spied these little beauties in the corner, the final 3 pairs. My size. Sold.

New Look, £17.99

New Textured Nails

I've been feeling like I need a change recently so I was mooching around Superdrug to see what different nail colours there was. I'm a bit of a nail bore. I stick to pinks and reds and I rarely bother with anything more than a block colour. But in the Barry M section, I came across this lovely blue/green colour. The bottle also said there was a texture to it. At first this put me off but then I realised I wanted something new so why not give it a go.

The texture was actually more subtle than I thought it was going to be which was a slight relief as it is a very bright colour (seriously, I swear it's gonna glow in the dark). It's quite a sandy texture, almost like those new nail decorations you can get than look like the 'Jazzies' you used to get in pick and mix. I wasn't sure whether a top coat might ruin the effect so I tried it on one nail and it almost blends in with the sand although I don't think it's a necessity because the point of the effect isn't to be shiny and reflective like normal polish. 

This is what it looked like and I was so happy with it that I had no choice but to Instagram it!

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