REVIEW: Revlon "Just Bitten Kissable" Balm Stain

When shopping with friends in Leeds the over the weekend, we took a day to go shopping, and as we were going out on the night this was a perfect time to get some last minute essentials. My favourite way of dressing up an outfit  is through adding lots of accessories and make up! I am really into having a bold lipstick for a night out as I like to keep the rest of my makeup pretty neutral, as I was wearing a fuchsia coloured top on the night I decided I would add an extra pop of colour into my outfit, which you can see my post on HERE. So, I have seen lip crayons around, but never really tried one out, so when I saw my friend was interested in one I thought I would give it a go too. I bought this lip crayon from Boots at a reduced price from £7.99 to just £5.99, which is really an average price to pay for a good lipstick, and when I tried it out I was pleasantly surprised.

The over all appeal of the product is it's vibrant colour, there are many colours in the range, but I went for a bright pink in shade "020 Lovesick Passionee". The lipstick is not only a lovely colour but it is also very shiny, which gives a glossy look to your lips, and another thing I noticed is that with this crayon you can build upon the vibrancy of the lipstick by adding more lashings of it to your lips, depending on the amount of colour you want to go for. The lip crayon literally does what it says, it really does stain your lips, which I guess is a good thing, when wearing this on my night out I found it lasted all night, despite drinking which can remove the colour quite quickly with some lipsticks, and I only really needed to re- apply once or twice. Finally, another point to comment upon is the smell of the product, I didn't notice at first but it carries a lovely minty fresh smell. I am very interested in buying another of these as I would probably only wear this on a night out, I would love to try another one in a more subtle shade for daytime :)

ASOS Magazine: A/W'13 Trends

I know what you're thinking, since when did ASOS have a magazine? ASOS is one of my favourite websites for shopping, their website literally has everything including; designer clothing, high street fashion, ASOS marketplace (to buy and sell pre- owned and vintage fashion) and their "Fashion Finder Site" to create outfits and share looks. Now, they have also released they're own magazine, which honestly is amazing, full of up to date fashion, trends and outfit inspiration. If you have received one of these magazines, it is completely free and you can either opt- in or out of receiving it, of course I opted in, who doesn't love a freebie?! So, what I really wanted to share with you is a particular section of the magazine, an amazing competition to "Win a scorching new wardrobe"... all you have to do is enter your details online to be entered into a draw to win a £100 voucher and a Malibu goodie bag! As you enter the competition you are also given the opportunity to play "Shake It Up", which lets you answer questions about your style, choosing from 5 options of the fashion wheel calculate your key style, here was my "Trend Board" ! :)

* All images from www.asos.com

Fashion Trend Board- "Feminine needn't be prim, experiment with frills, florals, body con and monochrome."

Accessories- "Add power to pastel colours with a floral embellishment, heart-shaped sunnies or a colour-pop clutch."

Beauty- "90s Saville Row: ditch the black till winter. Summer's dark and mysterious look is a deep, rich brown."

LEEDS!!!!

As you know from my previous posts, I spent Friday and Saturday in Leeds with my two best friends for mine and one of my friends 18th birthdays! So firstly, I thought I would share with you my outfit of the night (forgot to take pictures of my daytime outfit). None of us knew exactly what to wear as we didn't want to be too casual or too dressy, but hey it was my birthday night out! So I just decided to accessorize a lot and paid special attention to my hair and make up, I was wearing; my favourite KG shoes for the first time, I absolutely love how sparkly they are. My new cami (one in a long line of Topshop cami tops I have at the moment, oops) in a bright and girly fuchsia pink shade, a white A-line skirt with zip detail, plain yet is a cute little investment piece, and a few accessories!

V- Neck cami- (Fuchsia)- £18- Topshop
A- Line zip mini skirt- £28- Topshop
Bag (bought last year)- £28- Topshop
Statement necklace- £5.50- Topshop SALE
Handlet (Birthday present)- Topshop
Nude KG Heels- (NALA)-  WAS £140- NOW £45

So the actual day/night. I had an amazing time, I was determined to do something with my friends to celebrate my 18th and this took weeks of preparation! It was also really exciting as it was our first little road trip together, the only negative being the wasp we got trapped in the car with on the motorway... and a slight issue with out hotel, meaning we had to pay for a whole other room we didn't even use (was not happy). The weather was gorgeousss the whole day so we took full advantage of it by doing a little shopping, I love Leeds for the sheer huge amount of shops there are! However, I only bought a new Revlon lipstick (as you can see in the pictures, I will review soon), some tights for the night (just in case of a fake tan disaster), some hairspray (essential for long lasting hair styles), and the top I am wearing in the pictures. Our shopping spree was then followed by a Nandos, my favourite restaurant! Then we went to the hotel to get ready for our night out, although because most of the students have gone home for summer, Leeds was a little dead, but we still had an amazing night!!!!

Belated Birthday Presents!

One thing I must admit I love is after your birthday, when you get more surprise presents, this weekend my two best friends gave me some lovely gifts for my 18th birthday that I wanted to share with you all :) Firstly, there is my new statement necklace, I absolutely love these necklaces right now and I have wanted one for ages, just never been able to find a really nice one, and now I do! Then there are my Barry M nail varnishes, from my previous posts you probably know about my nail varnish obsessions, I can't help but love all of the colours! These shades are so girly and pretty, so summery! Personally, I really like Barry M nail varnishes, they are cheap but such good quality. Then I have some new accessories, my "handlet" jewellery piece, combining a ring and bracelet in one! This one has lovely detailing to it and is so pretty with the little flowers on it, I have seen many of these around, but never got round to buying one. And lastly, is my other love heart necklace, which is super cute, love it! Maybe these will give you some accessorizing ideas too! :)

Barry M Nail Paint- (Pink Flamingo/ Peach Melba/ Blue Moon)- £2.99 each- Superdrug
Arrow Point Necklace- (Gold)- WAS £12.50 NOW £5.50- Topshop
Handlet- Topshop
Interlock Heart Necklace- (Gold)- £4.00- Topshop

Mini Beauty Haul...Hair And Skin Prep!

So tomorrow me and two of my best friends are going to Leeds for mine and my friends 18th birthdays! I have planned my outfit already and this week I decided I also needed to prep my hair and my skin, which is when I decided I needed to try out some new beauty products. I only had a small amount of money to spend so I wasn't expecting to find anything fantastic for such a low price but I was very surprised. Firstly, I visited Body Shop and found "Rainforest moisture conditioner" for dry hair. As you can seen from the label, there are no silicones or colourants in the conditioner, meaning it is perfectly natural for adding a bit of moisture to your hair. My hair is particularly dry so I thought I would try adding a bit of this conditioner into my usual routine and I can say I have noticed a difference, as I mainly applied it to the mid length and ends of my hair, which now feel a little softer and appear shinier, it also smells great! Secondly, I bough nspa "Jojoba and white Jasmine body polish", from their "bathing rituals" range which provides a range of products in steps. Step 1 is cleansing the skin to draw out any impurities, Step 2 to exfoliate to buff away dead skin cells, and Step 3 to moisturise and nourish the skin. As I already have a moisturiser and cleanser, I settled for the exfoliator, to ensure my skin is silky smooth, which also makes fake tan application and removal easier and leaves skin with a more even glow. The exfoliator lotion is not too tough on skin and smells gorgeous, highly recommend! Thirdly, I bought "Batiste blush dry shampoo", the mini tin as it is travel size, this is one of my daily essentials and always comes in handy. :)

Batiste Dry Shampoo "blush" mini- £1.15- ASDA
nspa Jojoba and white Jasmine body polish- £2.85- ASDA
Rainforest moisture conditioner for dry hair- £1- Body Shop

Royal Baby Blue!

*Image taken from www.dailymail.co.uk

*Image taken from www.dailymail.co.uk

 

Just a quick post I wanted to share with you all, as most of you will know a royal baby boy was born yesterday and tonight The Duke and Duchess of  Cambridge, Kate Middleton and Prince William were due to leave St. Mary's hospital in Paddington, London. With all the worlds media streaming the moment they would walk out of the "Lindo Wing", when they finally arrived it was hard to miss their outfit combinations! Not only did Kate and William look amazing, but they both wore coordinating baby blue items of clothing, perhaps to represent the sex of their new born baby boy. Kate appeared wearing a knee- length, capped sleeve, baby blue and white spotted dress, with a tied in waist which elegantly complimented her figure, and William also opted for a casual baby blue shirt with his sleeves rolled up, accompanied by a pair of jeans. They both were dressed casually and looked delighted with their new baby prince, aww! :)

Nails Of The Day!

What do I do when I am bored? I paint my nails! I have sooo many nail varnishes it is unreal, I just cannot resit all of the beautiful colours out there! So what is on my nails today? I have used Topshop "Peel off nails" (shade-pink) and Models own (shade- silver fox) which can be found HERE . I am very pleased with both of these products, firstly with the Topshop nail varnish, as the colour is lovely and vibrant, and also the nature of the product being "peel off", you don't have to sit for ages with a bottle of nail varnish remover to get it off, as once peeled, the varnish comes off in one piece, easy! At £6, the price is also reasonable for this nail varnish. Secondly, the Models own nail varnish is also only £5, and unlike many glitter nail varnishes, the glitter can be applied either thick or thin, unlike some glitter nail varnishes out there which can be a bit watery. If you were wondering, my nails are not real, hehe I actually bought them from Savers for only £1.99, which is a fantastic price to pay for nails which last for weeks, and come in many different sizes to ensure you find the perfect fit for your nails! Personally, I am very happy with my nails today, I am such a girly girl and cannot resit a  bright pink nail varnish, I have also released my inner magpie by adding a little sparkle to my nails.

*Image from Topshop website

My favourite nail varnish this week is also from Topshop, and is included in the "Matte nails" range, in the shade "drink pink", not only is this colour gorgeous, but at £6 it is not badly priced, it can be found HERE . I spotted this new nail varnish range last week when I was out shopping and I would absolutely love to try adding something different to my nails, plus it would perfectly match a new top I bought this week, this is a must buy this week so expect a review soon! :)

Liebster Award!

Firstly, I am amazed at the fact that I have actually been nominated for one of these awards...not just by one person but 3 people! I never thought that people would actually enjoy reading my blog so much that they would nominate me for an award! So I would love to thank Boho Rush , The Life Of Shikhu and Scottish Stef's Nails for nominating me, their blogs are lovely and I highly recommend you check them out! Basically, the Liebster awards are a way of recognising blogs with great content yet who have under 200 followers, those who are nominated are asked to mention the person/people who nominated them in a post and answer the 10 questions asked by their nominator. Then, the nominee must nominate other bloggers with under 200 followers, comprising their own 10 questions to ask, and then let your nominees know you have nominated them, easy!

So to avoid a veryyyy long post, I have decided to only answer the questions from my most recent nominator Scottish Stef's Nails ....

1)Would you like to make Youtube videos?
I'm going to say no, I am waayyyy too shy!

2) Would you rather be chased by a horse sized duck or ten duck sized horses?
Horse sized duck.. more entertaining.

3) What is your favourite nail polish?
Topshop nail varnish range... there are so many amazing colours!

4) Why did you decide to start a blog?
Mainly as a hobby, but I wanted to show my interest in media/fashion when applying for university :)

5) What are your favourite TV programmes?
Soaps/ Keeping up with the Kardashian's/ 90210/ Chasing The Saturday's

6) Do you ever take part in the #bbloggers chats?
I didn't even know these existed, I might now:)

7) Which pieces of technology do you use to write your blog? e.g laptop, tablet etc
My laptop :)

8) Which 3 fashion stores do you shop at most?
Topshop, River Island, New Look

9) iphone or Blackberry?
I would like to say iphone, but I will stand by my Blackberry!

10) What are your favourite items of clothing at the moment?
Shoes, bags and jewellery, can't get enough of accessories at the moment :)

The people I will be nominating are:

Polkaanddots

Marketing, A Student's Perspective

HollyLucy

Style Lab

An Insight Into My World

Annies inner happiness for students

My 10 questions to these people are:

1. What is your guilty pleasure?
2. What is your most embarrassing moment?
3. What is your dream job?
4. Favourite item of clothing?
5. What inspired you create your blog?
6. Who's blog to you visit the most?
7. What was your best life moment?
8. What is your greatest achievement?
9. What is your weirdest food crave?
10. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
                  
                                                                    :)

My 18th Birthday!!!!

So as promised, this is my 18th birthday post! Although this is not particularly fashion related, I love sharing what's going on in my life with all of my lovely followers :) ... So firstly I thought I would tell you about my weekend of birthday celebrations, they started on Friday when my mam took me shopping for my birthday presents... and for once in my life I was told that I could go in any shop I liked and could have anything I wanted... AMAZING.. I chose a beautiful gold ring encrusted with Swarovski crystals, love it! Saturday consisted of me, my boyfriend and my family going bowling... seriously it is crazy how competitive I can get over this game!.. which was followed by me persistently wasting money in the arcades (didn't win anything) and in the evening, a BBQ with more of my family. Sunday was my dad's day to see me and he organised a BBQ, and made me an amaaaazing cake, mmmmm. Finally, on Monday (my actual birthday) you will already know from my previous post "OOTD & Birthday buys!" you will know that I spent my birthday shopping in York... perfect! Below I have included some pictures of my birthday weekend! :)

And now.... the second most exciting part of my birthday... PRESENTS. I was seriously one lucky girl this birthday and although I am not one to brag, I really wanted to share with you some of my presents that I think are lovely to maybe inspire you to buy something the same! :)

(Left to right)

Return to Tiffany bead pink charm bracelet- £130- Tiffany & Co.
Swarovski gold plated clear and gold crystal silk ring- £79- Swarovski
Pink Cherry blossom clip- £45- Pandora
Converse All Star low pink canvas- £44.99- Office
Converse All Star low mint canvas (with separate ribbons)- £44.99- Schuh
July birthstone ring (Carnelian)- £40- Pandora
Gold embellished sandals- £17.99- New Look
18th birthday Me-To-You bear
Gold spike and sparkle necklace-WAS £12.50 NOW £3.50- Topshop
18th birthday bear
Ted Baker body spray, body lotion set & body moisturiser set- Ted Baker
Daisy by Marc Jacobs "Eau so fresh" perfume- Marc Jacobs
White lace trim ankle socks- £3.50/ 3 for £8- Topshop

OOTD & Birthday buys!

So Monday 15th July was my 18th birthday! And although I had already had birthday celebrations over the weekend, I decided to spend my actual birthday shopping in York, I had an amazzinggg day and so although I will eventually get round to doing a post for you about my birthday celebrations and prezzies, for now I thought I would share with you my outfit of the day, and my days purchases! As you can tell, I am a little over obsessed with accessorizing at the moment, but in my defence I would also literally describe myself as an  as a professional bargain hunter, as many of my buys were in the sale, perfect! :)

Outfit Of The Day:

Soft V-neck cami (mint green)- £18- Topshop
Navy supersoft high waisted skinny jeans- £22.99- New Look
Pink flower embellished sandals- £6- Primark
Pandora bracelet & miscellaneous bangles!

Birthday Buys:
Assorted gold bangles- WAS £15 NOW £5- Dorothy Perkins
Assorted bracelets and beads- WAS £16.50 NOW £5- Dorothy Perkins
Festival tassel bag- WAS £32 NOW £15- Warehouse
Starfish anklet- WAS £4 NOW £2- Oasis
Birthstone ring (Carnelian)- £40- Pandora

New Kurt Geiger Heels!

As you might have seen from my "Birthday Wish List post" HERE , you will know I have had my eye on these shoes for a while now, and today I finally got them! I can literally say that I adore these shoes. Firstly, the jewel embellishment is simply beautiful, I'm a sucker for sparkles. Secondly, the cork heel has a glossy shine over them which makes the material a little more attractive and rather than a high skinny heel, they are likely to be a lot more comfortable to wear. Thirdly, the nude colour strap and sole means that the shoes will be diverse and can be worn with many different outfits. Finally, the style of the shoes mean that they are good for many special occasions, whether it be a garden party or a night out these will definitely come in handy over and over again, and although the platform is high, it takes the height away from the heel height, meaning they will be comfortable to wear all night! These Kurt Geiger shoes were originally marked at a pricey £120, and then reduced to £59 when I was thinking of buying them last week, however I am glad I waited, as today I bought them for £45 BARAGAIN. :)

Khroma: Kardashian Beauty!

So not only do the Kardashian's have their amazing reality TV series, and their "Kardashian Kollection" clothing line for Dorothy Perkins and Sears, but they now also have "Kardashian Beauty", a whole range of beauty products under the name "Khroma". Although it was originally launched in 2012, it was only available online and in the US, however, this week it has now been made available to buy from Feel Unique ! Because all of the products in the range have been tried and tested by the Kardashian sisters, it easy for us to now get our own "Kardashian look", whether you prefer Kim's smoky eye look, Kourtney's neautrals, or Khloe's bright lips, their range of skin, lip, nail and eye products provide a wide range of makeup for us to try. As a huge fan of the Kardasian's I have already picked my favourite products from the range, and hope to make some Kardashian purchases soon! :)

(Left to right)

Kardashian Beauty Nail Lacquer 11ml ( Dahlia)- £8.95- Feel Unique
Kardashian Beauty Honey stick Lip Gloss (Orange blossom honey)- £8.95- Feel Unique
Kardashian Beauty Nail Lacquer 11ml (Float)- £8.95- Feel Unique
Kardashian Beauty Honey stick Lip Gloss (Summer honey)- £8.95- Feel Unique
Kardashian Beauty Nail Lacquer 11ml (siren)- £8.95- Feel Unique
Kardashian Beauty Nail Lacquer 11ml (Cherry blossom honey)- £8.95- Feel Unique
Kim Kardazzle face palette- 16.95 euro- Kardashian Beauty Europe
Kardashian Beauty Flirt lash- £6.95- Feel Unique
Kardashian Beauty Wink lash- £6.95-Feel Unique

Don't forget, Kardashian Beauty products at Feel Unique are FREE DELIVERY

*All images from http://www.feelunique.com/ and http://www.khromabeauty.eu/

#1 Summer Hair Care Essensial...

Although summer is my favourite time of year, the heat really messes with my hair. If your like me, and you have thick hair that is prone to frizz then you will understand my problem, because even the mere mention of the sun and heat provokes the frizz! I'm exaggerating. But honestly this is a major issue for me, as although I try to straighten my hair to tame the frizz, they just end up making my hair dry and even more vulnerable to the heat. So I decided recently to have a look for a smoothing serum to try and help to tame my hair during the summer heat, nobody wants frizzy hair, right?

This is when I discovered V05 "smoothly does it heat protect serum" which not only promises to give "sumptuously sleek frizz free shine" but also works as a heat defence serum. The product smells beautiful and it also worked really well, I found the serum was not sticky or thick which can be an issue with this sort of hair product, it made hair feel instantly soft and smooth, and did not leave hair clagged up with product. It also comes as a handy sized bottle to fit into your bag if your going out in the sun! The price was also low, and so I highly recommend you try it ! :)

Birthday Wish List!

It's my 18th birthday on the 15th July yeyyyyy! Only joking, I am fine being 17, I don't want to be a grown- up! :( But hey, present time! So in this post I have created an arguably very expensive list of gifts that I would hope to get for my birthday, however the chances of getting some of the items on this list are pretty low.. *sigh*. Oh well, next week I will do a comparison list of my actual presents, I can dream! :)

(Left to right)

1. Michael Kors bead stretch rose golden bracelet- $85- Michael Kors
2. RiRi MAC lipstick Heaux (shade-matte berry)- £14- MAC Cosmetics
3. Ted Baker Joleey ballerina light pink pvc- WAS £50 NOW £35- Office
4. Soft V- neck cami- £18- Topshop
5. Marc by Marc Jacobs Rose gold watch with crystal detail- £259- ASOS
6. KG NALA green- WAS £140 NOW £59- Kurt Geiger
7. ASOS jewel petal flapper headband- £10- ASOS
8. ASOS jewel hair brooch- WAS £8 NOW £3.20- ASOS

Ciate nail polish "Caviar manicure"

When I first looked at the Ciate nail polishes I instantly thought that they were beautiful, they come in so many amazing colours and textures including crème, glitter, holographic, matte, pearlised, porcelain, sheer and shimmer. They also have nail varnish collections including "suncatcher", "destination party", "bottled sunshine", "treasured possessions", "complexion" and my personal favourite, the "fairground" collection which includes pink candy floss, blue ferris wheel, yellow loop the loop and purple spinning teacup colour shades to name a few.

They're products also include some amazingggg "wow kits" that consist of either "caviar", "sugar caviar", "velvet", "chalkboard" and "colourfoil" nail polish which have fantastic effects! Personally at around £9.00 per bottle, they are not particularly affordable, which slightly puts me off... however as I got yet another magazine freebie from Marie Claire July edition this month, I got two mini bottles of Ciate nail varnish free to try!

The shades I got were "caviar pearls- shooting star", and "cookies and cream" to decorate my nails. Although at first I found it hard to attach the tiny little decorative gems to my nails as they were so small and they went all over.. I did manage to stop them from falling off with a little bit of nail glue. Although I really liked these Ciate nail varnishes (especially the cute little bows which come with the other products), they did not really differ much from other cheaper alternatives, however I will be taking advantage of the 30%  off voucher at Ciate that came with my issue of Marie Claire! You can also discover the wide range of Ciate products HERE :)

OOTD: Summer BBQ

Okay so this might not actually be outfit of today.. but it is an outfit from a few days a go that I wanted to share with you! So it was my Sixth Form leavers BBQ, and with many social occasions the big question is "What are you wearing?" At first, I was prepared, I had my outfit all planned out but with one issue, the morning of the BBQ was when my outfit was to be delivered, which it was.. but it was too big *sigh*, well I guess that's better than too small, right? Anyway, to solve this problem I decide to raid my wardrobe in search of an outfit which was dressy but casual, and this was the end result...

... So I had opted for a cotton, coral coloured maxi dress, (River Island) casual and perfect for summer, a timeless item that can be worn every spring and summer, love it! However, I didn't feel at first that the maxi dress alone was dressy enough, hence how I paid attention to my hair and teamed the maxi dress with the accessories below to transform my casual look into an outfit perfect for evening wear...

(Left to right)
1. MODEL Co lipgloss... no outfit is complete without a touch of lipgloss?
2. My favourite gold stud earrings.. A River Island bargain
3. All time favourite pair of shoes (I have a lot) These sandals make an appearance every summer, the jewel embellishment is gorgeoussss, bought a few years ago from Accessorize
4. Miscellaneous bangles and bracelets from my endless collection of jewellery
5.  Leather Topshop handbag, I bought this last year for £28 which is a good price for real leather.. if I am honest though.. it was the tassels that attracted me!
6. My new spiral ring! Available from Miss Selfridge for £6.50
7. Primark bargain belt, although I am not really a lover of belts, it held my dress up which was too long, and the gold rings added a little something to a plain black belt.