Lilac Shimmer| NOTD

Just a quick little post to show you my nails this week. I luckily got two days off in a row at work, so that means lovely nails! Anyone who works in hospitality knows one of the biggest pains is not begin able to have painted nails.

This is a shade I have probably posted about before as I do love it. I bought it in the Christmas sales at Topshop for £2; if I remember correctly. Its called Cyclone, and as it is quite a pale shade I painted a base of white nail varnish before applying this one; I think this gives the nail varnish more opportunity to show than if its painted straight onto the nail, it also cuts down on layers of nail varnish. So I achieved this look by painting a base of white, then two layers of the Topshop Cyclone shade. It comes out as a very pale cross between a grey and lilac, and has some shimmer in the sunlight.

What colour have you bee wearing on your nails this week?

Snow-go| A Lush Bath Ballistic Review

Another week, another Lush bath product. It really is becoming a habit, quite strange considering I’m not normally a bath person; must be all the free time I now have. This again is from a Christmas gift box I was given, so again may be past its best. Anyways this product is a bath bomb, my favourite bath product.

The bath bomb is called ‘So White Bath Ballistic’, so it essentially fizzes around the bath after your drop it in, creating the lovely oily sheen seen in the pictures. The information given about the So White Bath Ballistic is quite limited, stating that it is apple scented, and gives a white froth. I will now go through my opinion on the good and the bad of this product.

Good
Lovely smell, it does have essences of apple, but its not overpowering. The smell was relaxing but luxurious and fresh; quite a combination.
Animal friendly'; obviously! Always a plus.
Lasted a long time, unlike the bubble bar the froth lasted for almost an hour.
Left a gorgeous, soft sheen on my skin; lovely and soft.
Bad
I found this bath bomb to be quite boring; the colour is nothing special and the fizz wasn’t very powerful.

Overall- 3/5- I know the only downside is that the bath bomb wasn’t exciting, quite a trivial disadvantage; however I love seeing bath bombs going crazy round the bath, releasing lovely colour; this one did not. I would not purchase this particular bath bomb again, as to me it was  nothing special.

Fitness Friday| P90x and BeachBody Review

I had promised to keep these Fitness Friday posts regular, as I was jumping back on the health and fitness wagon, that did not happen. However this time I promise it will, as the countdown for my bikini body is on! I go on holiday with two of my slimmest friends in 22 days, and I need to tone myself up.

I know I’m not going to make any dramatic changes to my body in 22 days, however I can make some noticeable changes! I aim to do this with a healthy diet, low in carbs and by working out at home with the help of my P90x DVDs from Beach Body. I have used the P90x DVDs before and was really impressed, as they are high impact and hard going workouts; think boot camp style. I only managed to follow the routine for 20 days last time before loosing my willpower, however in 20 days I lost around 10 pounds and I think 8 inches.

This time embarking on the Beach Body workouts came in perfect timing with an email received by Emily Coleman a rep from Beach Body. She noticed I had previously posted about health and fitness and asked if I would share some of their new and old products with my followers, the links are as follows;

New Programs;
P90X App for iPhone
P90X Certification
Ultimate Reset Body Cleanse
Body Beast Workout
Older (but just as good) Programs;
Insanity 60 Day Total Body Conditioning
RevAbs Workout
P90X2

Now I know my followers, and after looking through the information about these programs, I know programs such as Body Beast will not appeal to some. However based upon my experience with P90x and hearing information about P90X2 and Insanity I cannot recommend these enough.If you are like me and need a workout that pushes you hard, makes you sweat buckets and make you aches in the morning, then these are for you. I’m personally excited about the P90X iPhone app, as it means I could take my workouts wherever I go.

I will tell you a little bit about P90X, as this is the programme I am familiar with. At first, like many I was put off, as I don’t want to look like a body builder. However after learning about the advantages of girls building muscle, and learning that it significantly increase the calories you burn throughout the day, plus the fact it makes you lose inches just as quickly as burning fat, I decided to give the workouts a go. The nutritional guide you receive helped sway my decision, as it’s very informative; giving meal plans and recipes.

The P90X programme consists of 12 workout DVDs, which you do a combination of 6 times a week. The workouts vary significantly, there is yoga, great cardio exercises such as plyometric and a martial arts routine, along side arm, legs and abs routines. Now don’t get me wrong these DVDs are extreme! I admit when I first started them I could not do the entire routine, but the programme is about progress, you do what you can, and aim to improve. Due to the high intensity, you will see results quickly, which is why I am following the program for the next 20 days. I follow the lean program along with my boyfriend; which is obviously designed to burn more calories as it incorporates more cardio that strength workouts, so you will lose fat quicker and develop lean muscles. I enjoy the boot-camp style of the workouts as I need someone shouting at me, encouraging me to work harder. The Plyometric workout is one of my favourites, as from this 1 hour workout you can burn around 700 calories!

Have any of my followers participated in or heard of P90x or other Beach Body programs? Do you like Boot-Camp style workouts? What are you doing to prepare yourself for your bikini?

Note- Although contacted by Emily to talk about Beach Body, this review is completely honest and is based upon my own personal experiences. I bought the program with my own money.

An English Rosy Rose| Rimmel Blusher Review

I decided to create this post after receiving may comments on my blusher shade. I am a bit of a blush fiend, as you can see by the photos; sometimes its a little too much after I wander out into the daylight, and realise I resemble a clown. Blush is probably my second must have day-to-day daily make-up product after my beloved mascara. On days when I want to give my skin a rest, I will happily venture out with only mascara and blusher; as long as there are no monster spots on my face.

The blusher I use is only a high-street brand in the UK, which does a large range of products in many colours at reasonable prices. This blusher is a product and shade that I have been using for at least 4 years. It is cheaply priced at about £4.50, and I think the colour is very pigmented; once bought and used daily it still lasts about 3 months, showing that little is needed to make an impact on your face. When looking at the blush in the packaging is looks a rosy pink, as the name implies, however when swabbing it on my fingers and hand it looks a little bit more peachy. Overall it gives the face a warm flushed look that on olive skin such as mine is quite natural.

I have no intentions on ever changing my choice of blusher, Rimmel have created a shade I love and a product that is pigmented, stays on my face all day, lasts for many months, and is reasonably priced; why would I consider choosing another?

The overall range of products offered by Rimmel, I find to be a bit hit and miss, some I love and regularly purchase, others I wouldn’t even use more than once. However many high-street brands are the same, I suppose due to them offering such a wide range, they aim to satisfy everyone’s needs, so not every product will satisfy mine.

What do you think of the Rimmel brand? Is it a high-street brand you use, or avoid?

Zara and Ebay loves

My frustration, stress and upset ceased today when my two deliveries, which I have been waiting on for 6 weeks and 2 weeks finally landed on my doorstep. Missing deliveries over and over again is one of the biggest pains in my life; first world problems I know! Anyways when I finally received my order items the wait was worth it.

The first bag pictured is from Ebay, and lusted after it after seeing another blogger talking about it in her video. It cost me £12.99 and is inspired by the Yves Saint Laurent clutch bag, hence the ‘Y’. It is a large clutch bag that can fit easily a A4 note book, or even slimmer laptops. I love that it has detachable straps as it means I can sport it in the evening as a clutch, or during the day for work with the strap.

The second bag is the now notorious Zara messenger bag with rose gold detailing, priced at only £19.99. I was surprised at the size, as thought it would be smaller, but this does not mean I don’t love it, the bigger the better with my bags, as I seem to carry everything around with me. The external material is very soft, and the inside is very roomy. I think this is the bag I’m going to use when I go to Finland in 3 weeks, but sure I’ll be using it before then.

Overall they are two perfect and welcomed additions to my wardrobe. However I must now stop spending my money, as even though I’m going to look amazing with my new wardrobe in Finland, I won’t have any spending money if I continue!

Dressed Up Birthday Girl

Dress- Closet from Dorothy Perkins

Shoes- Ebay

Bag- Primark

Well if you haven’t noticed already, it was my birthday last week. (If you didn’t notice… where have you been?) This is the final birthday related post I promise! This is what I wore for my birthday cocktails and dinner with the boy. I bought the dress with a birthday voucher and it was an absolute steal! I have had my eye on it for a while as I thought it would be a flattering cut, due to the colour blocking. I think the original price was £35, however it was in the sale at £15, but student discount made it about £12.50! The dress is very fitting, but has a give in it, so was comfortable to wear, even after a large dinner and many glasses of fizz.

The Closet range can be bought in a variety of shops, such as Dorothy Perkins, AWear and House of Fraser. It is actually one of my favourites at the moment, they do a range of fitted, flattering, smart dresses, that I think are quite glamourous. They are great for occasions such as birthdays, weddings or even a reasonable priced graduation dress. I think they resemble some of the tailored designs that Victoria Beckham famously uses, which is probably why I love them so much. Below is my pick of their current range, prices range from £12 to £48;

What do you think of this range? Which dress is your favourite?

Love the lashes| False Eyelash Review

After reading a few blog posts by other lovely ladies I decided to give DIY lash inserts a try. I have wanted to have professional ones for a long time, but I cannot justify the expense, not so much the initial expense, but having to pay at least £20 every two to three weeks, to have them touched up; after a few months that’s going to take a big dip out of my income. I have also been weary as I am a chronic eye rubber! I’m really bad, especially when I’m tired, I shouldn’t do it anyways as I wear contacts, but it’s habit I haven’t yet managed to kick… hello prematurely wrinkly eyes!

However given that these eyelashes cost me only £4.99 from Amazon, and the glue was only a couple of pounds I thought, for £7, why not! Now I am an expert applying false eyelashes for nights out, I would never go out without them. However these individual lashes were a different story, mainly because you apply them to your lashes not the skin above them, so fiddling around with my tweezers, getting the right amount of glue, and lining them up, proved at first to be difficult. The biggest difficulty was applying them in a line close enough to each other, so there wasn’t any obvious gaps. After doing one eye, the second was a lot easier, so its clear that practice make perfect, but it took me a good half an hour to get them right.

The second, third and fourth pictures show the lashes with no added mascara. I would be happy to leave the house with them just like this if I was off to university or work, as the look long, lush and natural. The only downside is that I had applied too much glue which resulted in residue that dried in white lumps on my lashes, so when closing my eyes this was evidential, as seen in the pictures The last two pictures are with two layers of mascara over the top of them, which is how I wore them for my birthday meal.

The main draw for lash inserts for myself was the time saved applying mascara. If I had inserts I wouldn’t have to put layers of mascara on in the morning, so the big test for me was whether they would last the night!

When taking the mascara off, I used a Simple Gentle Eye-Makeup Remover, resulting in only two inserts coming loose. However after switching off my bedroom light and getting a good eight hours sleep, the morning was a different story. I awoke to what looked like a few dead spiders on my pillow, and the rest of the inserts were crooked and loose. Over the night the inserts nearer the outer corners of my eyes came loose and fell out onto my pillow, and I would say about 60% of the rest become crooked or loose. I was highly disappointed as I ended up taking the rest off as they were irreparable.

I can’t decide whether the lack of staying power over night was a result to my eye rubbing, which I never did consciously, maybe in my sleep… but I would never know, or the cheap glue. So, I am going to try again! If anyone can recommend an excellent glue with great staying power let me know, as I want lash inserts that stay the night, not wither on my pillow in the morning! So keep your eyes peeled for attempt number two, as I am determined to have luscious lashes 24/7!

Two Birthdays, One Dinner| The Highwayman Restaurant Review

Having just returned from the Lake District after a very busy but lovely birthday week visiting my family, I thought it was about time I got back to regular blogging, so will be writing three posts this evening as well as taking part in #bbloggers chat at 8, two to be published today, and one tomorrow.

The first, this one, is about my second birthday meal that I had in a Restaurant outside of Kendal in the Lake District. As the pictures show, I went with my boyfriend, Mum  and her partner. The photos also show my two dogs, who didn’t go, but looked cute so thought I would involve them in this post. The meal was for my mums partner’s, Steve, Birthday as well; a double celebration.

We went the the HighwayMan Inn, owned by Nigel Haworth and located in the small village of Burrow, near to Kirby Lonsdale, I have never been before but was thoroughly impressed, not only with the quality of the food and service, but more so of the concept of the restaurant. What I love is that the restaurants uses exclusively local producers for their menu. As it is close to the borders of Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire they are in a prime location to use many different local and regional flavours. The restaurant was decorated with pictures of the producers with their produce, giving it a real feel of community. The first picture shown in this post was the placemat, which again was decorated with the friendly faces of the farmers and producers.

We had a selection of starters to share, sort of like an English tapas, which included deep fried cauliflower with curried mayonnaise, cheese soufflé, deep fried fish cheeks with an apple and garlic mayonnaise, and bread with olive oil and treacle balsamic vinegar. For my main I had a cheese and onion pie, and desert a lemon meringue pie (pictured). Overall it was beautiful, I admit not the healthiest…diet starts tomorrow, but definitely worth it!

As I mentioned the diet starts tomorrow, which it definitely must! I’m off on holiday in 4 weeks, and the past week of birthday celebrations has not be favourable to my figure, I’m looking and feeling a little more rounded… oh dear! To encourage my health kick, I will be posting a few healthy recipes that I am going to give a go… I’m an awful cook, so it could be quite entertaining!

Birthday Day

Dress- Dorothy Perkins

Blazer-Ebay

Shoes- Ebay

I am currently writing this post at my parents house in the Lakes. We arrived yesterday, and it has not stopped raining since, quite typical, but not great for my hair! We visited Matalan today, and to be honest was quite disappointed with their summer range, couldn’t find anything of interest, and left empty handed. If anyone has bought anything of interest from here recently let me know.. I may of not been looking hard enough!

From the previous post, you will now know that Tuesday was my birthday… 23! Oh My life I’m getting old! I dressed quite smartly for the day, as I enjoy dressing up for special occasions, so chose something that was confortable but still a little special. This was actually the first time I had worn my new bargain tweed jacket. I love it now; it is a little tight along the back, but that will be solved once I lose my dissertation weight ( library plus deadlines, equals poor diet and no exercise). I bought it for £15, and it came within 3 days, so I am very happy with this purchase.

I chose to sport a tweed jacket with this tan coloured dress, which is really comfortable. It is a chiffon type material, a little heavier, so doesn’t blow up in the wind… good for us girls in the North-East, and can be dressed up or down. I wear it quite often.  The belt is nothing special, I just wanted a plain band around my waist, as the tweed material is the focus, so didn’t want to back the look too fussy. The heels worn are another Ebay bargain… told you I’m obsessed! They are from Dorothy Perkins, so probably cost at least £30 new… I got them for £8.

How you you dress for your birthday? Something special, or dressed down and comfy?

Turning 23| My Birthday in Pictures

Yesterday was a special day for me (Tuesday), it was my 23rd birthday, and my last ever assignment hand-in’s all on the same day. I had an absolutely perfect day thanks to my best friend and gorgeous boyfriend, who both spoilt me rotten. Thankfully for you guys I took plenty of pictures of my day, so you have a better idea about how I spent it.

It actually started at about 1 in the morning,when I managed to convince my boyfriend to give me my present; so he got to see my reaction obviously… not because I couldn’t wait. I was super happy with a Kindle Touch, which I have been lusting after and have not put down since! In the morning the postman visited me on three different occasions to drop off presents and cards… he was like my own little Santa!

I met my friend in town for a surprise afternoon that she had planned for me… I was not disappointed. We first went for cocktails at a favourite restaurant and bar of mine, Babuchios, then wandered across to the Hilton where I was treated to champagne afternoon tea… which was absolutely divine, the manager was a doll, and kept our champagne fully topped up all afternoon. We then went shopping in town, where I picked up a new dress for the evening.

For the evening my boyfriend took me to Mal Masion for custom made cocktails, and then to a beautiful modern Italian for dinner, Gustos. I had Garlic and tomato prawns for starter, then a pizza with roasted peppers, caramelised onions, goats cheese, pine nuts and pesto.. possibly the best pizza I have ever had! We then took a stroll down Quayside and off to a bar for a drink before retiring home. After a long day and many glasses and fizz I was very tired!

I have a few OOTD posts coming up from my birthday, plus a review on some lash inserts I tried, so keep your eyes peeled!

Lush Bubble Bar Review| Where are my bubbles?

It is very rare that I indulge myself and have a bath, I am a very busy girl and I do not have time to run a bath then soak in it for an hours. However sometimes, like that large glass of wine when finishing an awful day at work, a nice long bath is needed. This was a day when a bath was needed, I was achy from a workout the day before, I had spent many hours sat in a library staring at a computer screen, and I had the house to myself… perfect time to indulge in a bath.

For this bath I decided I wanted loads of bubbles, to me there is something fun and comforting about bubbles… they very much remind of being a child and playing in them for hours! So out came my Lush gift box, that I received for Christmas, and low and behold I had a Bubble Bar, the SuperStars Bubble Bar. I have never tried such a product before, and as I am always impressed with the bath bombs form Lush, I thought I would also love this product. However this was not the case. I will give it a little review for you, and my feelings.

The Good

• The smell- fruity, but luxury, and relaxing.
• Animal friendly- ALWAYS a plus.
• The way it made my skin feel. I emerged form the bath with wonderful silky skin.

The Bad

• The bubbles did not last at all. I didn’t even add any other product to the bath that would have caused them to disappear.
• Actually making the bath- I had to hold the bubble bar underneath running water, which when the bar began to disintegrate was a little difficult. (I have seen recently, that Lush have bubble bars on sticks, which may the answer to this complaint).

I don’t think I will repurchase a Bubble Bar, I think the product is not my style. I am quite a lazy girl when I want to be, so when I draw a bath, I enjoy bath bombs, as I can throw them in and not stand around waiting. HOWEVER I do have to mention that this product is now nearly 5 months old, and I know Lush product have use by dates, so this may have been past its best, and thus not performed as well as it should. Therefore, I will probably give this product one last try and see if I gain get the masses of bubbles that my inner child longs for.

What do you think of Bubble Bars? Are you a Bath Bomb girl like me?

Golden stripes| NOTD

Well I am a very busy little bunny at the moment, yet again I seem to have let my university deadlines creep around and smack me in the face, so I spend my days and nights reading and writing yet more reports and assignments. Although I may be looking like a bummy student at the moment, at least my nails have been glam this week. It always cheers me up when I’m typing up thousands of words to look down and see sparkly nails.

So this look is created using a 17 Golden glimmer shade, and a Topshop white/ivory shade. I painted my nails firstly with the white, as it allows the gold to show its colour more, as it has a base. The obviously added a coat of gold, then hand drew French tips on some my fingers, apart from the thumb and ring finger, whereby I drew vertical stripes… just to mix it up a bit .

This again like last week is adding a twist on the standard French tips, as this was the basis of the idea. Please do excuse the not so straight line, I simply drew them freely, so they aren’t great. I really want to invest in a nail varnish pen to help great designs such as this. If anyone could advice a range, that would be great.

I’m looking forward to the bank holiday weekend, as I am holiday from work next week, so am only working tomorrow, then I am off till next Sunday, plus there is a little occasion called my birthday on Tuesday, so I’m super excited! Oh and I finish university for good this next week!

I hope my lovely followers have had a lovely week, and have some super plans for the Bank Holiday weekend. Let me know what you are up to?