25-36

Urban Outfitters Newcastle

2012-01-25T05:20:00.001-08:00

Urban Outfitters finally graced the city of Newcastle with its presence and opened a lovely 3 storey store on Granger street. It's one of their largest stores, and boy is it big. When I saw the little 'coming soon' boxed up entrance months ago, where I think Kurt Geiger used to live, I thought it was going to be tiny and didn't see how they'd fit everything in there, so felt my excitement deflate a little. Until I walked through the door on a particularly horrible December afternoon and was pretty amazed at the vast size of the place.

In true Urban Outfitters style there's a little mezzanine floor between staircases filled with goods. This is where I picked up a vinyl wall frame (obviously minus the original 1960s album inside) for my boyfriend, perfect little present. The next floor was equipped with a great wall of shoes, tables filled with jewellery and little trinkets and the walls and rails clad with a lotta lotta clothes for the ladies, upstairs you have men's but I wasn't too interested in that and spent most of a good hour going around so many clothes and lovely bits and bobs dotted all over the shop. There's a great section of vintage finds which is where I picked up my 'Christmas jumper'. To the back of the women's floor theres a section thats slightly cornered off with sofas, mirrors and filled with unique beautiful clothes and just outside of that you'll find the most random and amazing products for gifts and the home.
I only picked up a few things that day, which is probably a good thing because I had a pretty Urban Outfitters themed Christmas, with presents from family and the boyfriend being from Aztec makeup bags and fringe clutch bags to analog camera necklaces and penguin fingerless gloves.

Seeing how busy the shop is when I've visited it and the shopping bags on the streets, I think Newcastle is now a little bit happier with the arrival of UO.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sleek brow kit

2012-01-24T10:16:00.001-08:00

Not gonna lie, I've not posted for almost a century. However, my constant love for this product has urged me to spill my thoughts to you lot.

I believe in good brows, I'd rather walk out the house with a good set of brows than mascara. A brow (well two brows) can do so much for the face, they give structure around the eye, they give definition to the face over all and they can soften a sharp face or give angles to a rounded face. I love eyebrows me.

This little kit, made me put down a beloved eyebrow pencil, that is only now picked up when I have to wear it for work. The waxy cream is smooth and creates sharp perfected lines. The powder helps set the waxy/cream and gives a full look to the brows. I sometimes use both or just the powder, both work great on their own. Even the brushes, usually something I'd throw straight in the bin are pretty damn good. A little faffy due to the tiny size of them, but do their job just fine. There's even a little set of tweezers to banish pesky strays. I use the light kit, perfect for a medium blonde to brown hair, you'd have to be very light handed of you were very fair and didn't want your brows too dark.

Overall 10/10 for this little beauty. It's really impressed me and I'd recommend it to anyone.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Illamasqua Freak

2011-10-17T14:54:00.001-07:00

"Teased by the sweet pungent tang of opium". An extract from Theatre of the Nameless instantly made me think of Freak. From first smelling it I loved the scent, strong, deep & with a touch of sweetness. I'd say if you enjoy Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille you may also love this. I'd save it for the night, but cold winter days seem appropriate as well. At first & well still now, I can't quite explain the scent, it's probably one of the most distinguished perfumes I've tried. Not just for the scent, but for the feelings when wearing or smelling it, Freak has a personality.

I could copy & paste the details about the fragrance, but I think that'd take away the fun & personality away from it. That & the ingredients, to me, are a foreign knowledge, but it does make me think old worldy & all things mysterious & magical. So I direct you here. Go read!

It's released on the 20th October & will retail at £59 for 75ml for Eau De Parfum, nothing less, no eau de toilettes here thanks.

Glossybox

2011-10-16T05:35:00.001-07:00

Be it late, very late at that, I finally have the time to compose a post on my first glossybox . When I received this I was off to London Fashion Week & as soon as I got back from those hectic 7 days I was thrown straight into university. So forgive me for being the crappest blogger of all, better late than never, right?

Firsty, as a bit of a design freak I love all the care that has gone into little details, even the delivery box is appealing. Always a good start with me, win me over with design. Unfortunately, the postman/lady may have been a bit careless with my box as my hd brows palette managed to crumble a bit & spread it's way around my box. However, getting past that, I enjoyed the range of products, from hair care to moisturiser, it was a nice selection.

I was happy to see a sample of the Moa green balm, it's something I've been meaning to try, it seemed to save my cuticle disgraced hands & chapped lips, so very happy with that one.

The HD brow set colour is way too dark for myself, but I can see it being a very useful palette, the product applies nicely & seems to be of good quality, what puts it down a bit is the packaging, it reminds me of cheap cosmetic gift sets, know the ones I mean? That's always a turn off for me to be honest.

The Green People Day Solution hydrating balancing day cream, has a strong natural smell to it, not the most appealing smell but you know you're putting something good, organic & non-synthetic on your skin. Need to test this a little more.

Plum by Mary Greenwell, not my favourite kind of scent, but always nice to get testers something new, it's not going to please everyone as fragrance is a very personal thing, a little too mature for my liking.

Rahua shampoo & conditioner made my hair feel great, I still have another sample left, saving it for when I need my have to be looking somewhat good!

I'm looking forward to getting my October glossybox & seeing what's in store for this month.

Lily Loves Lola purchases

2011-09-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

I came home today to my Lily loves Lola order. Victoria has just recently launched her own shop of chunky knitwear & sweet friendship bracelets. I usually look at a shop & save it for possible later purchasing but with it being £1.75 for a bracelet I couldn't help myself & bought a few things. I really love these, not only are they ridiculously good value but they'd be nice little somethings to add to gifts. I love a collection of bracelets so these aren't going to any of my friends at the minute, but that could be another future cheeky purchase, the scarfs look amazing too.

Lights Out, Words Gone

2011-09-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

My tattoo seems to have almost fully healed, it's still a little tender, but then when my skin has been scratched to death with a needle I think it's safe to say it will remain a little sensitive for a while. The pain was bearable, which was surprising as I was completely bricking it hours before I went to get it done. Must just be dead hard, of course. I had drawn up my own design but upon sorting positioning & all that shizz, Ian (tattooist) at Inkslingers drew it up freehand anyway. After hours & hours looking for feathers I liked the look of, I was quite surprised how easily I handed over my arm for him to just draw away permanently into my skin. I'm a dreaded decision maker & complete control freak for perfection, but all senses must have been lost when I let him do his own thing, that or I felt at complete ease & trusted him. I think it's the later to be honest, if you're in the Newcastle area I'd definitely recommend him, he was sound & his personal work is top notch!

I had a 'meeting' with uni yesterday, they called it a meeting, I was calling it a meeting, but upon arriving it was very much an interview. A bloody awful interview. I was expecting a one on one friendly chat about why I wanted to change course, a little about myself & showing a few bits & bobs of my work. However, I was greeted by two tutors, a lot of questions & judging looks. Meeting my arse. Nerves hit & words failed me, answers to their questions made no sense & generally sounded like gibberish. They queried how I'd feel about a lot of written work, now this doesn't scare me, I was an English freak at school, but no doubt they felt the need to ask the question when within the first 5 minutes the words 'oh what's that word, I can't remember it but it's.....oh, err' came out of my sodding mouth. I was supposed to get an email yesterday, I didn't, hopefully they just forgot, but I did get one today asking for proof of my qualifications to be emailed through to process my application, so I hope that's good news & I didn't come across like a complete tit.

Packing light

2011-08-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

I'm finding it quite hard to pack light for Leeds fest. I started off with a smaller toiletry bag but couldn't fit everything in, it's still a bit of a squeeze in the bigger one. They're all essentials, I've gone through the list trying to eliminate but nothing can be thrown away, how are 19 items essential?! My makeup bag is another long list of items, some may not be essential, like reflects glitter for example, but that's a product we can let slip. My bag is going to be so heavy! My god.
The hardest decision is working out outfits. I'm not one to make a massive effort & look like a tit walking around in a muddy field, but I like to know when I'm awkwardly getting dressed in a tent with no mirrors that I know the whole ensemble meshes well & I'm not actually left looking like I did get dressed in a tent with no mirrors & no sense of awareness. After my lash extensions later today (reasons for lash extensions for a festival - less time getting ready...of course!) I'll probably try scope something or other to wear since my wardrobe isn't shouting out to me right now.
I got my tattoo on Thursday at Inkslingers in Newcastle, it's still slightly tender but the detail is coming out nicely. Absolutely love it. However, I keep catching it in the mirror thinking I've just being drawing tattoos on my arm with a Penultimate liner, the reality of finally having an actual tattoo hasn't caught up on me yet.
Is anyone else heading to Leeds/Reading festivals?

Sporadic Summary

2011-08-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Excuse the photobooth picture, the lights not too great & I need to order a wireless remote for my DSLR, self timer just doesn't cut it. Running back & forth, no thanks! Although it could help with my diet of hell to lose weight, currently at 14.5lbs, so going well, I just need to see the results myself. Why is it you can never tell as much on yourself, it'd spur me on more if I could! Proof that the lack of tasty food is working!

I've finally decided on my first tattoo & am going to finally get it done on Monday, it's only taken me 8 months, but definitely is the perfect combination of images I wanted. So come Monday after my freelance (dying for a lie in) I'll be going to Hype in town with my bezza to get inked, cannot wait.

Still haven't heard anything back from the uni about transferring courses to BA (Hons) Contemporary Photographic Practice. I'm kind of bricking it, it's cutting it short for applying for funds & what if I don't get granted an extra year of funds, I'll be totally screwed & left working full time for another year. fml. Fingers crossed it all sorts out asap! Has anyone else applied for finances really late, did they turn up relatively on time or majorly late?

The new blog domain isn't going too bad, I prefer it a lot more, although my traffic has completely dropped but there are a few new followers, so hi to you! :)

Blog change

2011-08-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed if you've gone to www.itsallpeachykeen.com that it no longer works. Reason for this is due to my pure stupidity of forgetting to renew it, I'd had emails reminding me, but when it passed the date of expiry & the domain still worked I assumed it'd automatically renewed. It hadn't, oops. I've wanted to change names for a long time now anyway, so here it is... 25-36.

I probably will lose some readers if they're unaware of this change, it's inevitable, but if you have any links on your blog I'd really appreciate it if you could update them to my new url & even maybe spread the word on twitter as my tweets could always miss some readers. Hopefully blogging will be more regular & a variety of posts. Change is good, hope so anyway!

Festival Shananagans Wishlist

2011-08-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

all above: missguided

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

all above: Boohoo

1 2

Over the past few days I've been compiling a wishlist of Leeds fest outfits. I have my tickets, Hunters are at the ready & I have the option (dilemma) of wearing my Grandad's wax Barber. Which I don't know whether it looks festival chic or ridiculously big despite him being a small man. Needless to say I'm getting very excited, I'm almost counting down the days.

I just recently came across missguided which is pretty slow of me, but it's pretty bloody good, my wishlist got a little out of hand at one point. Then there's Boohoo & that beautiful kimono that needs to be in my life.right.now. So many wants right now, thank god for wedding season & freelance jobs! What are you eyeing up at the minute?

Sleek Oh So Special palette

2011-07-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most ideal palette for me, a selection of soft peachy tones in amongst deep chocolate browns & the deepest black. All of which are completely on trend for SS11 as well as AW11. It's ideal for day use & completely usable for a dramatic night look. The colour pay off is as per usual with the sleek palettes - surprisingly brilliant for such a low price. It retails at £6.49 & honestly you really can't go wrong, it's probably the most versatile, beautiful palette of colours that will all get used at one time or another. Definitely worth a drop in the shopping basket.

Sudocrem tube

2011-07-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

In my adult life I've not used sudocrem as a staple, but I'm not going to lie, I have been caught with it dotted on my face during my years at uni, but I was never an avid user. This could be due to the massive, slightly less travel sized pot we have at home. But since being sent samples of the tube I've carried one with me when staying over & one by my bedside at home & have definitely come to realise the benefits of this cream.

I suffer from eczema, it's especially worse in the summer due to the heat, so putting a light layer of Sudocrem on my skin before bed has eased the itch & saved my legs being mauled by my scratching in my sleep. It also helped sooth my underarms when I had the bright idea to veet them, not the best thing I've done, it burned my skin & hurt for days, Sudocrem soothed it really well. I don't believe the Cheryl Cole claims that it'll get rid of a spot over night, but I do believe it helps soothe & protect skin really well. & for such a low price for a handy tube that you can take anywhere with you, it's definitely one of my must haves now.

Sudocrem also have this bagology app on facebook that determines your personality & traits from your bag, not sure how accurate it is but if you're intrigued & want to have a go head over to www.facebook.com/sudocremtube

Sleek Mediterranean Collection

2011-06-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

I'm going to come clean, I've never owned a Sleek palette. I'd seen the hype, I was tempted but I never really bothered, after all I have palettes full of colours & draws full of pigments. That & I've always been a bit of a makeup snob. Bite me. I will however, eat all my words as the pigmentation in these products are incredible. In fact as I type I struggle to get an eyeshadow swatch off my hand.

The collection is inspired by vivid colours of the Mediterranean, very on trend with pop colours for S/S11. There's also a nice mix of neutrals in there, I've been reaching for the orange tones to create a colourful eye but still soft & wearable. I have to say Santorini blush scared me a little, being a make-up artist that sounds incredibly pathetic but I'm not a fan of a strong blue pink, but again I'll eat my words & say this, if applied properly (blend people!), it looks beautiful.

Monaco i-Devine palette: £6.49
Santorini Blush: £4.29.
(You know where to find these by now! Superdrug or at sleekmakeup.com)

Phil Smith Sea Salt Spray

2011-06-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years sea salt spray seems to have become a cult product & what was once a hard to find product (unless you wanted to splash out on Bumble & Bumble) is now finding it's way in to many hair brand ranges. I remember a couple of years ago finding a Lee Stafford one, it wasn't expensive & the only one I could find in Boots. It was pants, instructions read "spray 50 times" 50 times? Not only could I not be bothered with that the results were sticky & horrible. So I decided to get the Label M when at my hairdressers, loved it, it got up my nose when I sprayed it but it gave great texture & volume, it's roughly £11, so not greatly expensive but still on the higher price scale.

I then tried the Phil Smith sea salt spray, it's £3.99, it smells like coconut & seems to give a slightly more tousled effect than the Label M version. Sea salt sprays tend to have a refreshing scent, it wakes me up a little more, but the Phil Smith scent has to be my favourite, not only does it give an effect of fresh air but it has that coconut infusion that smells amazing. I tend to spray this when my hair is damp & let it dry naturally, effortless & looks great, perfect for me as I'm not big on fussing over my hair. I didn't find this drying which I was slightly surprised at as my hair sometimes feels like straw, this must be due to the Pro-Vitamin B5 in the product that helps keep my hair a little smoother than the other sprays. For £3.99 I can't fault it, I've nearly finished the bottle! It's available in Sainsbury's & online at KMI club. Definitely a product to just slip into your shopping basket & give a try.

This product was sent for me to review, however, this does not affect my opinion & I will only give my honest thoughts.

Paul Smith Optimistic giveaway results

2011-06-07T23:19:00.000-07:00

When collecting the comments & tweets together I came to a total and put it through random.org. Ria was the winner, so one of the Paul Smith Optimistic bottles is on the way to her very soon. I have two bottles & was just about to make another post when I noticed that there were a lot more comments on my giveaway post than there was when counting final entries. No late entrants & definitely not a miscount, so the only explanation is the failure of blogger going down during my giveaway & many of the comments going missing. This now means that I missed out roughly 20 entries, which isn't fair at all. So instead instead of making another post I'm pulling out another number from the hat. So the second winner is...drum roll please... Cara!

Now away from the fail of google & on to possible posts. Summer is upon us, meaning festival season is too. Is anyone a first timer this year? I know when I was embarking on my first year at Leeds I was faced with packing dilemmas amongst slight reservations about certain things (the toilets being one!). I have a few products to review & have always wanted to do a sort of 'festival guide'/suggestion post, would you be interested? What kind of things, if a first timer, would you want to know about? Fire away with questions either here or on twitter. I can't say I know the answers to both but I'm happy to share experiences.

Paul Smith Optimistic giveaway CLOSED

2011-05-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

Haven't managed to win Kings of Leon tickets from last weeks Optimistic Monday? Or crossing your fingers for this weeks prize to win tickets to The Big Chill? Want to have another chance of winning something? Well then it's pretty good thing I've got a two 50ml bottles of the fragrance to give away (RRP £38). These giveaways are going to be in two posts, so I'm giving one away this week & one next! This is fab summer fragrance so try your luck & enter!

“I wanted to create a fragrance that bottled the spirit of optimism – that captured the youthful enthusiasm and energy I see around me every day. It’s about time that someone made a positive statement,” Paul Smith

The rules

+The giveaway will run for one week, ending at midnight (GMT) on the 17th May.
+ You must be a follower. You don't need a blog, but you have to follow me.
+ International entrants welcome.
+ Comment below with the words 'enter me' for an entry for this giveaway.
+ Leave your email/blog link/twitter so I can contact you.
+ Feel free to blog & link this giveaway.
+ For an extra entry tweet " @viclaho is having an a fab Paul Smith Optimistic perfume giveaway. http://tinyurl.com/5ru9ay8 ".

Optimistic. Paul Smith.

2011-04-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

Summer 2010. The best summer to date. Friendships grew, I met new people, saw new places, drink copious amounts of alcohol in beer gardens, back gardens, balconies and bars. Late night trips to the beach & not rolling up to the door step till the sun came up. Sunglasses on, music loud & windows down. Totally and utterly amazing. So I'm optimistic, now that the sun has arrived again, that this summer is going to follow in 2010's footsteps. I want this year to beat it, I want to not have a care in the world & enjoy summer just like the last.

Wondering why I've posted pictures of me looking like a scruff & giving you spiel about summer? I've been asked to collaborate with Paul Smith & the launch of his new fragrance Optimistic & these pictures of amazing memories are what makes me optimistic about this summer to come. The Paul Smith campaign is huge & very exciting so I nabbed the opportunity. The competition is being run through facebook & asks you to share & upload your most upbeat & optimistic photograph for a chance to win some amazing prizes. The 50 most liked photographs will win invites for themselves & a friend to attend the Paul Smith Optimistic summer party featuring a line-up of leading UK artists, & as if that prize isn't good enough the top three most liked photographs on the facebook app will win £500 to spend at Paul Smith. The competition doesn't stop there either, every 'Optimistic Monday' there's a new weekly prize to win, there's already been tickets to Bestival & the chance to meet Paul Smith himself. So like the Paul Smith Optimistic page, if not only to browse & be inspired by this greatly upbeat campaign but to upload your own pictures & have a chance to win some amazing prizes.

I'll keep you up to date either through my blog or twitter on up-to-date & exciting information on this. Also keep reading for a chance to win the fragrance its self on my blog.

So, what are you optimistic about?

Sporadic summary

2011-04-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

This week brought payday. I like payday, it's lethal, for the first few days I just spend copious amounts but still imagine that full payday sum to be my bank account figure. It obviously isn't & I've spent about £350 over the past few days. Never mind, ey. I bought some beautiful things (possible posts to come) & had a great weekend.

I had the whole week off work, can't say I did much, but valuable time was spent with the boyfriend before he started work this week. A lovely - despite the drizzle - trip to the beach, cinema antics & a Saturday night at Brighton Beach. Fun was had. The week ended with me being in at work on Sunday, bit shit really, especially after my spectacular fall the night before resulting in my foot being in complete agony. Rubber heels & wet floors do not mix people!

The picture above is a little knitted chick that came with a cream egg inside, how cute?! What's even cuter is that they were made by kids at a local school. Respect to the kids, because I wouldn't know where to start! Despite the cream egg (oh and the day after the night before food) , eating healthy & swimming is going well. Finally found my motivation & I've definitely got my swim back, like a pro!

Baggu bags

2011-04-01T04:01:00.000-07:00

Baggu bags, heard of them? I hadn't, despite some of their coverage being in Elle, Nylon and one of my favourite design blogs Design Sponge, I'd never heard or see them before. But I am definitely loving them now.

As a (ex/limbo) design student I'm drawn to these, the stunning colours, the simplicity of a great idea & of course the reason behind the bags. Want to know a little more about the ideas and people behing these? Watch this video.

If I knew about these when I was in uni it'd have saved me many an awkward trip carrying multiple books and A3 sketchbooks. I'd also have never forgotten these going shopping like I did multiple times with my massive tesco reusable bags. They come in little pockets, the material is made from the material loss when cutting out the neck of the bag, very economic & means you can just chuck these in your bag & not look like some loony bag lady with a mass pile of other reusable bags.

After researching these a little more, I actually want every type. Baggu for shopping, Baby Baggu for my lunch bag, Big Baggu for laundry, Duck Baggu for my laptop, books etc, you get the picture. I'd have a Baggu family.

Something I'm definitely considering for my Leeds Festival experience this year are these zipper bags. It'll easily compress my belongings, keep clean clothes away from the mud-ridden-dirty & the smaller ones would be amazing for little bits and bobs like the necessary skincare pieces, camera and I would say makeup, but who are we kidding, I'd definitely need the bigger zipper for that.

I love these things, very simple & practical but vibrant, my only problem is the shipping on the main website to the UK, $15, ouch. So instead.... Find Your Favorite Baggu Bag today, available now at SteadyGuy.

Model for the day

2011-03-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I have been wanting to collaborate for some time now, she's an incredible photographer, a true inspiration to me so working with her has been at the top of my list. Lauren wants to update her portfolio & I need to start mine as a make-up artist. This is where you come in!

(extracted from Lauren's blog)
We're looking for models. We already have a few people in mind and have already or will be contacting them in due course, but we're looking for interest from you gorgeous ladies.

Basically we're looking to shoot in a studio for a day at the beginning of July, please bear in mind the following:

1. It'll be a weekday. Probably Monday 4th July/Tuesday 5th. Dates are negotiable but due to Vicky's work it'll more than likely have to be a weekday.
2. We're currently thinking Leeds as a location, or around those parts. Nice and central (ish, with Vicky and me living at opposite ends of the country).
3. We don't care about size. It doesn't matter. It's all about your whole look.
4. Please don't think this is a popularity contest. Even if we don't choose you this time, I/we will more than likely want to work with you on future projects. This isn't a competition by any means.
5. We will pay for studio hire.
6. We're looking for around 4 females.

Please send me an email on dearlauren @ laurenfrench.com with some photographs (one face shot with preferably little make up, and a full clothed body shot) and a link to your blog (optional).
I'll forward these on to Vicky and we will contact everyone back and let them know by the end of April. If you don't want to model, and are a fashion student wanting to have your collection photographed, or have a friend that you think would be suitable, or anything like that then please email!
As aforementioned, even if we don't choose you this time, we will more than likely use you for our own future projects so there is definitely no harm in sending over an email.

We look forward to hearing from you. :)

Vic & Lauren.

Illamasqua Toxic Nature

2011-03-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

00. Any company that sends me literature designed so beautifully, and so image heavy that my eyes never tire is an instant favourite. I've always loved Illamasqua, but this has topped my admiration over the edge to possible obsession. I literally cannot stop looking at these images, yes the makeup might be far from being consumer friendly, but aren't we a little bored of that anyway, who walks past a Bobbi Brown poster and takes a second look with awe? I've seen a few negative comments on the visuals because of that, but you cannot deny the incredible makeup artistry & personally I'd rather see this as a visual than a smokey eye. This baby is going in my inspiration folder, I love you Alex Box, you genius.

01. I was generously sent two of the cream pigments & a nail varnish from Hayley & Alex. I was unable to attend the event so it was a nice surprise coming home to this package that has everything, even the address label imprinted with the beauty of Illamasqua. I've given it a week or two to try out the products, I don't want to just jump in there, so you know I've tried & tested these products well.

02. Nail Varnish in Stagnate. Stagnate is a grey mauve, not a colour I would allocate to the S/S11 trends, but a colour I cannot get enough of. The purple undertone gives it that colourful edge, it's far from being a dull grey. Everything chips on my nails, they're very flexible therefore nothing lasts long, but on my strongest nails this varnish held up well & I'm really considering getting some falsies so I can wear this colour for longer & falsies are not my style! That is love people. The varnish goes on beautifully, no clogging, high shine, top notch stuff.

03. Cream pigments in Emerge and Delirium. Honestly, what better colours could I ask for? Peach & a taupe, very good against blue eyes. I've had a problem with creasing with Emerge, but no one else has, so it's very likely to be just me with the problem. Despite the initial creasing, I still pursued, I really loved the buildability and ease of blending with these pigments. Over the top of a MAC paint pot they last hours, with a bit of a base they're crease free & I don't seem to have a problem with Delirium creasing at all, so it's possibly been the lavish application of Emerge that was giving me a problem, you can't blame me though, the colour is so beautiful built up to the max.

04. Not from this collection, but my top favourite product for S/S11 from Illamasqua is the Gleam Cream. If you want something to give incredibly beautiful luminosity to the skin you need this. I think I rave on twitter about it at least once a week.

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Sporadic summary

2011-03-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

1. This week has quite possibly been one of the worst weeks ever. Firstly my cat has gone missing, on Monday I visited the rescue center, called the local council & vets, but nothing. As if that wasn't upsetting enough on Monday night when driving to my boyfriends house I was mistaken for someone else & forced into a road accident, faced with a man holding a metal baton & left traumatised when the man realised I wasn't who he was looking for & he drove off pretty damn fast. I've had everyday off work since drugged up on Valium due to my neck and back pain, which is at times unbearable, not to mention the emotional trauma. Thankfully, I have my parents dealing with the useless police, my insurance company have been speedy & helpful in my claim & my boyfriend who has looked after me since it happened is absolutely amazing.

On the plus side of Monday I made cupcakes with the most amazing white chocolate mouth melting buttercream icing. Recipe here. I also concurred my fear of bearing all & went swimming, which I can't wait to do again once my back & neck feels better. Overall, Monday was quite eventful. My days are never usually filled with so much activity or drama.

2. Just to put another positive into this somewhat depressing post, I managed to get Leeds Festival tickets this morning. I really cannot wait.

3. I'm trying to decide what to do with my blog. I want to keep it up, but it's hard to get the time & I want it to be structured. I'll come up with something.

Sporadic summary

2011-03-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

LFW was immense, I don't want to delve into it too much, I'm still unaware of what I can divulge, after all it was a (crazy amazing) business trip & I need to be professional. Maybe one day I'll ask one of the PR girls what I can write about, given that I keep up a regular post as it's proven slightly hard to get time to blog.
Anyway, it was an incredible week. I got to see a show, eat Ladurée macaroons for the first time, speak to some very interesting people & see some lovely bloggers, some I'd met before & some I hadn't. Getting to LFW was an aim I set a year and a half ago so I'm quite proud that I got to the first stage all ready.

FIVE THINGS

1. I'm gradually trying to improve things in my life, I feel rancid lately. Sick of lie ins, eating crap, not doing enough (any) exercise. So I'm going to try to..

2. Set my alarm early to make the most of my time, I hate living my days just going to work & nothing else. Productivity people!

3. Eat better. I'm starting to feel really sickly at night & I have a feeling it's to do with what I'm eating. I did a quick shop earlier tonight, my basket was full of fruit, salad, flatbread, homous & cous cous for my breakfasts & lunches.

4. Tonight I finally got myself out for a run, I can't get used to breathing & I'm not a natural runner but god help me I'll keep trying. I've also been using my pole (all for fitness guys, I'm not planning on taking up a second job in a mens club) & hell can I feel it! Pain is gain, pain is gain!

5. I need to dust off my DSLR & start carrying it around with me again. I miss real photographs, iphones are great but a real, crisp photograph with depth is where it's at!

Monthly summary

2011-02-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

Some bloggers do a Monday Summary...I might as well do a quarterly one at this rate. Excuses on that to come. Firstly, Happy Valentines day, whether you're a being a sickly couple or a sexy independent I hope you're having a lovely day, after all the sun has come to shine & that can make anyone smile.

I'm not so much being a sickly couple, I'm totally too cool for that...ha! In fact I stood at the card isle wanting to chuck up at some of the cards, I felt rather exposed & awkward standing there in amongst all the pink & red gooey mush written on some of them. However, I am in fact in love so I bought one & have a little surprise hidden inside of the card which will hopefully make him smile. I am a bit of a sucker for surprises & some romantic gestures really. I was woken up with breakfast in bed before he got ready for work, which was very lovely & romantic, is there a mushy meal to follow tonight? Nooo, don't be silly, we're going out in Newcastle, drunken times to come, I'm very excited!

FIVE GOOD THINGS?

1. I finally got an iPhone. Yes I have apparently switched to the darkside, sorry bbm bezzies! I'm loving it, so many things to do on it, it's very me. I've become obsessed with instagram, I'm, starting to feel quite sorry for my DSLR. Should really be using that amazing lens I got for Christmas. Should memo this on iPhone.

2. This week I am off to the capital, Landan to have a jolly good time, pip pip. Well fingers crossed I'll be having a good time, no doubt I will, but I'll be working LFW. Hell yess!! Hard work, but damn an amazing opportunity. I feel very honored to have been chosen since this is my first year for events & my first ever event! One whole week there, I may start classing myself as a Londoner. If you're in the press I may just see you there!

3. I'm so happy right now in my relationship. I don't want to write too much on here, but it's crazy how happy & different I feel this time. No arguments, I smile & laugh every day, we can go out together on a night, get drunk together & have the best night ever, it's crazy amazing. Totally worth the wait.

4. I'm getting hair extensions today. Well I plan on ordering them today, I want long luxurious hair for LFW.

5. I'm off work (well from the actual place of work, not including London) for roughly two and a half weeks. A holiday I've been waiting months for! Relaxation time to come.

Umberto Giannini Backcomb In A Bottle

2010-12-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan of big hair, big, big hair. Despite not having massively long hair, it's thick & it's heavy so I'm always ruffing it up to restore the volume. I backcomb layers & hairspray each one, but not only does this take time & effort, it also makes my hair feel gross, unmovable & not to mention isn't great for the health of my hair.

Now I've been looking for this stuff ever since Kelly posted about it's damn right amazingness, but alas, it's ben sold out in all my local Boots. So when I got an email asking as a little Christmas gesture if I'd like to be sent a bottle as I'd been finding it so hard, I was over the moon. Sadly it'd been sitting in the Royal Mail depo for some time as it couldn't fit in my mail box & I must have been out & about when they attempted to bring me this little can of joy, so when my star of a mam went to go pick it up for me I was done with waiting & couldn't wait to try it. I loved it from the first try & knew I had to spread the word.

I've just had my hair cut & coloured & whenever I go to the hairdressers, no matter where I go I always feel that I'm walking out of the salon with crazy flat hair, so I thought, prime time to show you the wonders of this product. The first picture is obviously my post salon pancake hair, next is after I've sprayed the Backcomb in a Bottle through a few sections of my hair & juzzed it up with my fingers & finally, the third picture shows the results of a little more of the product through my hair & a blast from the hairdryer with my head upside down. Voila, volume! Bloody love this stuff!

All I want for Christmas

2010-12-15T11:50:00.001-08:00

This year, despite wishing for so many things day to day I found it hard to bring together a Christmas list. My boyfriend laughed at me when he found my list written out on word as I emailed it to my mum. I'm not the only one to make a list still at the age of 22 am I? Afterall it's only suggestions & in my defense my mum asks for one every year as she knows how picky I can be!

I've been lemming the whole long blonde hair with a Russian style fur headband for a while now, all I need now is for my roots to be bleached & to find some beautiful hair extensions, curl them into soft waves & pull this over to complete the look.

All I need to round everything together in a beautiful big bag, a Mulberry Alexa would be the dream, but slightly out of budget. The search is on.

What have you asked for this year?

World Aids Day

2010-11-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is World Aids Day, a day to raise awareness, respect & don a red ribbon. It's something over the past year that I've come feel strongly about. So tomorrow, my colleagues & I will be donning perfect red lips & the words 'World Aids Day' stenciled on to our bodies in gold paint, & of course spreading the word to raise money & a huge amount of awareness.

Are you doing anything to raise awareness? Whether it be to donate & pin a ribbon to your winter coat, tweet your little hearts out or buy a Viva Glam lipstick/lipglass? Do your bit and make a pledge on www.worldaidsday.org. Every little action whether it be supporting a red ribbon or your Viva Glam lipstick will make a difference to some one somewhere living with & suffering from HIV & AIDS.

Not sure what your Viva Glam Gaga lipstick did for someone? Have a look on www.macaidsfund.org to see all the amazing things that 1 lipstick costing you £12.50 did for someone else. It's an amazing christmas present.

It's Edie Darling..

2010-10-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I donned a stripey dress, black tights, a faux fur coat, shoulder dusting earrings & became Edie sedgwick. It was my friends 21st, no one knew who I was other than looking like I'd come from the 60s, but I loved it. The make up, the glamour & the attitude, I wish I could dress like that at all times...well in all honesty I could, but lets face it I live in the North, not London, people judge a little more on individuality up here & I can't deal with people looking already, paranoid much!?

Edie was known as being one of Andy Warhol's superstars, she was beautiful, disturbed & intriguing. The It girl of the 60's who dared to cut her hair short, create her own style & experiment with makeup may have been off the rails with a drug addiction, but there's something about her that captivates me. I think I'll be buying Edie Sedgwick: Girl on Fire when I get paid, I'd imagine it to be an interesting read. If you havn't already, I urge you all to watch Factory Girl which is based on the rise & fall of her short life, such a good film.

Don't forget my GIVEAWAY HERE.

Oh & I now have an RSS feed, never really knew what to do with it before.

Honour over Glory giveaway

2010-10-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Since I hit 1000 followers a couple of weeks back, I've decided to do a giveaway (& there may possibly be one more to come). Until recently I haven't blogged an awful lot & it most definitely hasn't been regularly, so I was a little surprised to hit this mark of followers. So thank you for still reading despite my total crapness at keeping it updated on a regular basis. I also want to say thank you because it's gotten me back into blogging, I've missed it & I think this was a kick of inspiration to get me posting again.

Anyway, onto the prizes! Tom over at Honour over Glory has generously given me a white glory boobtube in medium to give away. You might have seen me in a few Honour over Glory things before, love the stuff (especially the tube & hoodies) & love him, he's awesome. So I thought it'd be a nice little give away for my blog since I'm a fan of the products. Not only is there the tube, but I also picked up Barry M instant nail effects polish, Models Own Purple Grey polish & Models own Ballet Pink gloss to giveaway too.

The giveaway is open for one month, in that time you can spread the word by tweeting or blogging about the giveaway, but only one entry/comment per person is allowed. Please read the rules, it's only fair.

Giveaway rules:

- Giveaway ends at midnight (GMT) on Wednesday 10th November '10.
- It's open to all readers, UK & International.
- You must be a follower of itsallpeachykeen.com.
- You do not need a blog to enter.
- To enter comment below with ENTER ME, your email address & country.
- There will be one winner chosen by random.org.

- Feel free to tweet: @_peachykeen is giving away @honouroverglory, @modelsown & @barrymcosmetics goodies. www.itsallpeachykeen.com

Nearly there

2010-10-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

After a couple of years contemplating it & a couple of months slowly doing it, I'm finally getting my room nicely together. There's still a lot of boxes to unpack, more pictures to go up on the wall & a few finishing touches to be made, but I'm getting there & I bloody love it. I'm so happy & proud of my efforts. I definitely won't be moving out of home soon, but when do I have some gorgeous furniture to take with me.

I can't wait to sleep in my brand new bed tonight, I'm ridiculously happy with my purchases. It's always hard to part with the money but I love when you just don't care & there's no regret. So what if I have to tame my spending for the rest of the month, totally worth it.

I've had a week off work & it's flown, it's always the same, weeks at work drag but when you have that freedom & relaxation it disappears before you know it. I can't say I've relaxed much, I've had my room to do & bit for work...that I haven't quite done, but to be honest I'm stressed to bits with that so it's been put to the side, I do more than enough anyway, as always I'm just giving myself too much to do.

So anyway, this is where I will blog now onwards. Grin!

Problematic skin? Vichy normaderm review

2010-10-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

If you've been a follower of my blog for a while now, you might know that I've suffered quite badly with my skin. I'm 22, I have oily skin & enlarged pores which leads to them getting clogged which then creates blemishes &/or blackheads. Brilliant combination, right? Well, at least I'll have less wrinkles when I'm older I suppose! My skin has improved massively in the past year, I've had microdermabrasion treatments to help with scarring & have learnt that using gentle cleansers on oil skin is your best bet, anything targeted for acne prone skin just strips the oils which in turn seems to worsen my skin.

So when I was contacted to try out the new Vichy normaderm Tri-Activ Anti-Imperfection Hydrating Care & I'd read a little about it I was very interested to try it out. Microdermabrasion helps smooth out my skin & get rid of blackheads, but unless this is kept up the smoothness disappears. This is why I'm really impressed with this product, when I use it my skin is so supple & soft I can totally tell the difference if I stop using it for a couple of days.

Basically the product is an emollient that helps to perfect yout skin with its unique Hydra Peeling technology. There are three peeling ingredients in the gel: salicyclic acid, glycolic acid & LHA. So while it moistuises your skin it also helps fight impurities with salicylic acid, neutralises bacteria on the skin with glycolic acid & gives an exfoliation with the LHA. It's the LHA that seems to help the smoothness of the skin as it helps "gently micro-exfoliate the surface of the skin for a smoother surface and uniform complexion." Pretty good & perfect for skin types like me.

I can definitely feel the 'peel' of my skin with this product & that is why I only use it at night. It does give a lovely radiant but matte finish to the skin when applied which would be great for a base to apply makeup to, but with the peeling I prefer to use this as night time moisturiser & use my MAC oil control lotion during the day.

If you want to read more about this product click here.

I know a lot of people have reviewed this product & you can get tired of seeing the same things or wondering who's actually telling the truth about them but I pride myself in giving honest opinions on products. If I don't like a product, I either don't review it or voice my opinion, it's as simple as that. I've been using this product for two weeks now & could have given a review within the first couple of days, but I like to give products a good run & test them properly. I would definitely buy this again.

Should have put a ring on it

2010-09-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

images 2 & 3

Ever since a young age I've loved big rings, I think it came from watching Friends & admiring Phoebe's ring clad hands, I just loved the chunkiness & exaggeration. So when seeing photographs of what could be knuckle duster rings on every finger I was reminded of my love for cluttered hands. I feel naked if I don't wear my Vivienne Westwood ring, it's chunky enough & stands out but I want more & I want to wear them all together, a la Phoebe Buffay but a little less ditzy & a little more rock-esque. Whilst lusting over the fashion on this blog (which I wouldn't have know about if it wasn't for this post on Katie's blog) I came across cocoo.se, a brilliant jewellery site with the most amazing rings I've seen. The site is currently making an english version so unless you know Swedish it's a little hard to navigate & understand, but I think a purchase from here is well needed....very very soon.

The moral of the story

2010-09-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

If you follow me on twitter you will have more than likely seen at least one post about my hair disaster. Basically, I don't know why I did it... I hate box dyes, but because when I dyed it for Leeds fest & it brightened up nicely I thought I'd do it again. Only I bought the wrong colour didn't I. This one completely lifted my roots to a lovely yellowy blonde. Don't chose this colour if you have a lot of warmth in your natural hair, it won't end well. So in panic I used up the last of my po1, didn't work, I slapped purple shampoo on numerous amount of times, other than turning the bleached length & ends a lovely shade of dull grey/purple it did nothing. Roots were still lovely & warm. I ran to asda to get an ashy dye, other than irritating my scalp it did nothing. I went to sleep in tomato sauce, beautiful, I know. It worked to take the purple out though. & off I went to work the next day with hair tied up & head scarf on, no joke.

On the way home I drove like an idiot to get myself to Durham Sallys before it closed, my trade card had ran out so I paid full price, I paid £2 for parking for a 7minute stay but I managed to get my po1 & luo releaser. Thankfully Cat cleared up a few things about luo to me, as the last time I'd applied it (although I was all set to do it the correct way) was told by a hairdresser friend to apply it totally the wrong way. After having this on for 20 minutes & sleeping in a hair mask it helped a lot. I still went to the hairdressers but other than give me advice about the condition of my hair she wouldn't do anything to it other than going dark. Putting lowlights in would mean I'd have a blonde root & nothing will tone on top of tone on the tips. So, I walked away with Kerastase Bain de force shampoo & conditioner & went off to buy some pantene to strip the toner out of my tips. After washing my hair this evening for the 15th time this is what I've ended up with. I no longer resemble Andy Warhol & I don't mind it now, I just HATE having no roots, I think blonde right next to the scalp, unless natural, looks horrid...well on me.

So now I'm going to wait for my roots to come through..ahhhh beautiful, treat my hair to some bain de force & use my Fekkai protein mask a little more!

So the moral of the story. Don't do what I did.

Leeds festival

2010-09-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Time of my life.

I had Leeds blues & a husky for a good week, I still experience the blues now when hearing the Libertines or Blink. I went last year but my god even though I saw so many more bands in 2009 it will never come close to the good times in 2010.

We camped in a valley with trees & fairy lights, Piccadilly circus DJ set was at the end of our track, we made friends, had camp fires, a chubby RPatz camped near us - he tried too hard. Lindsay jokingly got engaged during Lost Prophets whilst on someones shoulders & got married during Biffy Clyro. We tore the Gamers Tent down & owned it on both Friday & Sunday night, there were cheers, fans, haters & a lot of games. We sang chants to Hayley Williams to 'TURN IT UP', laughed, danced & I had the best time of my life. It was epic.

wedding picture! The fashion of the guys make me crease. You've got bold shorts & guys clad in Northumbria uni sportswear.

Ink me

2010-09-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

I love the the very fine delicate handwritten style, would be amazing if I could find a piece of writing from someone like my Grandad & have that copied onto my body. That or a small sketch/watercolour of his.

Currently thinking this quote might be a winner:

It's so hard to chose something that's going to be stuck on your body, for me it needs to be pretty, tasteful & mean something. I'm not one to get a random tat, this is going to be on my skin for the rest of my life!!

Have any of you got any tattoos? Link some pictures, I love looking at them!

Rock 'n Rose lovin'

2010-08-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share my recent purchases that I'm completely in love with at the moment.
I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Rock 'n Rose but I've always been a fan & it's an amazing shop with gorgeous pieces. There was a long wait for my order due to it being in high demand & it all being hand made, but it was well worth the wait.

The packaging is amazing, absolutely love it & it's come a long way since my last order when the packaging looked like this, which I still loved at the time but you can totally tell how far & well these girls have come along. The quality is second to none, perfect in fact. & when I wore the headband to work that day, I got so many compliments on it I couldn't count them on my hands for you. So have a little gander on the website, no doubt you'll fall in love with it too.

Quick OOTD

2010-07-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

Not something I do too often because I never have time to set up & take photographs of outfits. I usually fuss for too long & have to run out the door because I'm running late. Excuse the mess of my room, you can see what I'm having to live with at the minute!

Cream top - All Saints
Grey top - TOPSHOP
Jacket - TKMaxx
Skirt - TOPSHOP
Leggings - TOPSHOP
Boots - Kurt Geiger

So there you go. Something new :)!

Must. Get. Life. TOGETHER

2010-07-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have a week and a couple of days off work. Time to relax? Hell no. Time to sort my life out. Heres my list:

No.1 Sort room out. Exhibit A:

No. I'm not a messy tramp. But I haven't unpacked since moving out of my uni house. I haven't a clue where to start, but this week is the week. Oh the joy! So..must organise the multitude of crap into boxes. Buy paint, paint walls. Buy new storage & furniture. Unbox & give home to multitude of crap in my newly fresh beautiful room.

No. 2 Start this bloody diet & stick to it.

tumblr

This means, use up rest of Cambridge shakes, try out these bad boys, go to the gym lots & educate myself more on food...or rather use what I already know & stop being lazy by putting it into action.

No. 3 Get into a regular posting schedule & have set posts. This is where you come in, apart from reviews what would you like to see on my blog regularly? Be it creative posts like photography, makeup artistry or even updates on the diet/fitness regime etc. Let me know!

No. 4 ... there's a lot more I want to sort out, but for the time being I think this is enough.

How's everyone else? Anyone else finding it hard to sort their lives out & feel organised?

Review: Cloud 9 straigteners

2010-06-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

As the post states, I'm going to be reviewing the Cloud 9 straighteners. I'm going to set this into a series of posts. This initial post will be my review on the design, concept & the results. The following posts will consist of style results from these beauties. I'll be trying out looks from their website & posting the end look to show you the versatility of the product. So, onto the review.

What Cloud Nine say:

'The Cloud Nine Iron is our original and most popular straightener. These are the irons that have got the beauty industry buzzing, and rightly so. Suitable for all hair types, they use state-of-the-art temperature control technology, allowing you to create lots of exciting looks, without having to use searing heat. Whether you want to smooth, flick, curl or straighten your hair, you can - at a lower temperature than you ever thought possible. And the added beauty of less heat? Less damage to your hair. This is a straightener that’s packed with incredible features. From the simple-to-follow temperature gauge, to the hibernation mode and swivel cord, it has everything you need to make the most of your style. What's more, its unique black plates provide added shine every time you use them.'

Packaging

[ I did have a photograph of the front/top of the outer sleeve, but stupidly deleted it off my camera without saving onto my macbook. *hand-forehead* But you still get the overall feel with this photo of the back, the only difference is that the front/sides only carry the name/logo. ]

The packaging is very sleek & minimalistic. The box is very sturdy & the design seems to have been thought about as it's not like the standard packaging you come across with many tools - it shouts out expensive. I'm a box hoarder & a design lover so I like this. One thing that annoys me about the packaging though, is the fiddliness of fitting your straighteners back in. When putting the wire back under the panel the straighteners lie on, it's a bit of a faff on to get it right so the panel lies in place. Not a huge problem, but I'm one of those sad people that like to keep my products in the box, especially when the box is as stylish as this one!

Inside of the box

Inside the box you find the gorgeous straighteners with a heat guard & a carry pouch underneath.

The Cloud Nines come with:

Temperature control panel
Black ceramic plates
Swivel cord
Heat guard
Hibernation mode
RFID Chip
Dual adaptor
Universal voltage
2 years warranty

On first looks the Cloud Nines look like many other straighteners on the market, a little sleeker than most, but still a familiar shape. Looking closer to the design (in comparison with GHDs) I find that the Cloud Nines are ever so slightly thinner & the swivel cord doesn't just swivel round but also to the side. It's hard to explain, but I assume it's on a rotating ball, so movement is even easier than the standard swivel cord.

The Heat guard is such a simple but great idea. Not only will it help you avoid burn marks on the carpet (come on everyone's burnt something with their straighteners at some point!) but it'll also save the wiring as you don't need to tightly wrap it round the barrel to keep it closed. Once you've finished using the styler you can pop it straight into the heat guard, no waiting needed.

Heat control

The main feature of the Cloud Nine stylers is the heat control. In the past I've had heat control straighteners but nothing really happened on the lower temperatures & I'd always wack it up to the maximum. With these however, I haven't even tried them on the highest heat. This coming from someone with very thick hair, not only is it thick in amount but each strand is thick & slightly coarse. So to say I can get amazing results just from 150 °C is incredible as sometimes my GHD's don't even give me the finish these baby's do on almost double the heat.

Navigation is simple, as you can see the controls are on the inner side & again are very sleek & fit well into the design. To change the temperature you simply tap on the Hi or Lo button & the LED will change to the temperature you've set it to. If you, like me, sometimes forget to switch off your straighteners don't worry, these beauties will sense when they have been on for 30 minutes but not used & will cool down to box temperature. So this means no worrying when you finally remember half way through the day that you've left them on!

Want to know how they perform...?

Amazing.

No kidding. These are fantastic. I can't shut up about them. I actually brought them to a friends, (one of these friends being a hairdresser) & despite probably thinking 'hmmm, what are these? They aren't GHD' she was massively impressed & loved how they worked. Everyone who's sneaked a cheeky play have loved the glide of the iron & finish. Like I said before, I've not used these on the top heat yet, which is something that has surprised me especially with my type of hair. The maximum heat I've tried is 175 °C but I usually just stick to 150 °C & my hair ends up better looking than it ever does with my GHD irons. It's shiny (rare for a highlighted blonde, dry hair type) smooth & so so soft. Whilst living between my parents home & my university house I'd left the Cloud Nines at home & was actually disappointed that I'd have to use my GHDs.

Hopefully by now you should know I give my gods honest opinion on things, so trust me when I say if you're needing new straighteners please consider buying these instead of going for the usual GHD safe option. I'm a self confessed apprehensive buyer & would probably have chose GHD over Cloud Nine if I had not known how amazing they are, as it seems like a safe option. You know they work, you know they're good, but believe me, they're not as good as these (come on, Hooker & Young use them, they've got to be good!). I feel so much better using Cloud Nine irons on my hair as I know the damage to my hair is a lot less & this is something I'm being very careful about these days after going for the big chop earlier on in the year.

One other unique thing that I love about these stylers is the RFID chip (say what?). This chip means your straighteners can be identified with it's own unique number. Meaning that the iron can be tracked & monitored through it's lovely life to ensure it's a genuine product only sold by authorised stockists. How cool is that? I bet you've heard of one or more people buying popular brand irons that end up being fake.

Want to find out more on things I've mentioned or just curious about these gifts from God? Here's the website - Cloud Nine

Look out for my style posts using the Cloud Nines.

Pssst... if you buy a styler now you get a free St. Tropez Perfect Legs tan - who doesn't love a good set of bronzed pins in the summer?

These were sent to me for reviewing purposes, but in no way am I giving false opinions. I give you my brownie promise, my review is true to my own thoughts.

Pirate boots & bangles

2010-06-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

My parcel came midday yesterday, I ran down the stairs in my dressing gown & flung open the door. I think the delivery man felt a little awkward with my choice of clothing (I wasn't being lazy, just getting ready), I didn't care, I practically swiped the sign for machine off him & hugged my huge box, probably his most enthusiastic customer of the day. So here we go, the unraveling of my presents to myself & a sort of OOTD.

I wore them out yesterday, only to find myself ending up wondering round the Hoppings in Newcastle, thank god the grass was bone dry, I was almost crying! My feet have suffered a little from the structure of the boots, but I forgive my Vivs, they just need a little breaking in. I'm still completely over the moon with my recent purchases!

Decoration inspiration

2010-06-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

I've recently moved to my parents home from my university house. My room isn't badly decorated, in fact it's quite nice, but I need a change. I love interior design & cannot wait until I get my own place, I'd be in an indecisive heaven of what textiles, colours & furniture to have. I absolutely adore design. To get inspiration I buy Elle Decoration & flick through many interior design websites, so I thought I'd share some of my favourites. I will only be decorating my bedroom, however, I love to take inspiration from other rooms, after all this is the only room of the house I can fully personalize.

I want white

White that meets colour & wood

Clutter, but organised clutter & decoration

Credits for images to go: www.designspongeonline.com & http://ishandchi.blogspot.com
- two of my favourite places to get inpiration from.

Fresh skin FOTD

2010-05-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

I recently posted on twitter that I was able to just get away with MAC Face and body & a bit of powder. Coming from having to cover my skin with layers of fuller coverage foundations a few months ago to being able to just use Face and Body, a really light foundation is something that's made me really happy & relieved. I will soon be doing a skincare post as it's been requested quite a lot & I'd like to share my finds. Anyway, on to the FOTD!

Face

MAC Prep + Prime SPF50
MAC Face and Body C2 mixed with C5
MAC Mineralize skin finish - medium

Eyes

MAC Tisueweight e/s
MAC Bamboo e/s
YABY es035 - rose wood (M) e/s
YABY brow shadow
Diorshow blackout mascara

Lips

MAC Lazy day l/s

tissueweight, bamboo, rose wood & lazy day underneath.

the look

Nothing special just a very simple, fresh look that concentrate on the skin. I used to have really uneven skin & lots of blemishes on my cheeks, all have gone! =)

Last time hauling

2010-05-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Until I got my parcel & opened it I didn't realise the sheer massiveness of it. Slightly scared me & felt sorry for my bank balance for a moment. So I think I'm going to chill it for now, do a few posts on a the 300 things I've already bought & enjoy them. I still have one excitement to come, a parcel from BeautyBay.com, that will be my last... for now anyway!

I'm currently telling myself a lot of this will go into my kit. Ahem. A little Jo Malone eye cream in there for good measure too.

While in Boots I walked past the Sexy & the City stand & took a double step back. I picked up Samantha's, I think they're probably the best. I'm not a fan of gems on lashes & love a bit of flirty thickness.

Nothing excited here, but after the recommendation from Nicolavc86 I hope this will aid me in my project to get my nails beautiful.

What are your most recent haulings?

Project manicured nails

2010-05-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've always had weak nails, they don't snap, they can just be peeled off & bend, almost as thin as paper. As you can tell I wasn't quite blessed with nice strong nails. My cuticles are always dry & I get a lot of those side cuts that sting, ouch! I can paint them with an undercoat & overcoat & the nail varnish will just peel off. So being slightly sick of having to have horrid nails I've decided to give them a full make over. So I popped into Superdrug & bought these to get me on my way.

exhibit A: nails under treatment arrest! They're thin & discoloured (p.s it's not dirt under my nails, it's fake tan!).

exhibit B: nail saviors

Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps - it's supposed to 'instantly seal & harden your nails with a breakthrough patented formula which provides a long-lasting surface' - Sounds good!

Ms.Manicure Clip, Snip & Away! - a handy pack of wooden cuticle sticks, a nail clipper, mini 6-way nail buffer & a lovely smelling had cream.

Glenis Baptiste nail polish corrector pen - says it all really! I'm not the best nail painter, specially with my nails, never looks fantastically tidy.

Soon I will have nails as stunning as these Lacquerized. Next on my list is a good cuticle remover, I keep forgetting to look when I'm in Boots! Will let you know how I get on.

To give you something pretty to look at after my disgusting nails, here are some cupcake candles I fell for from Laura Ashley

Haul time

2010-05-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

So this is what happens when I come back to the blogging community: I become obsessed with products, go shopping ALL the time & my bank balance becomes a scary thing to check. Do you suffer from these problems?

This was Thursdays haul. I was already on the way to getting most of my wish list all in one afternoons shopping. I'm going to do full reviews on the Givenchy clean to sublime makeup remover serum, it's heaven. Smells divine & leaves skin silky smooth. Also full review on Avene gel cleanser to come. I also picked up the high street copy of Compay, it's beautiful. The layouts, the slightly more square shape to the magazine, the matte stock instead of a glossy one, ahhh beauty. The weird looking belt thing on top of the magazine is amazing, it's a festival belt from H&M (£14). There's space for money, camera & phone so I nabbed in ready for the summer, because knowing my luck come August there won't be any around!

Swatches of Chanel:

This is stunnnnnning. It's from the new summer collection which is all beautiful & I really need to get more, especially Darling lipstick. This is Genial 187. Beautiful colour pay off, amazingly creamy on the lip & such a fantastic summer colour, probably the nicest pinky coral ever.

Fridays haul:

Xen dark lotion, Elemental Herbology skin drink (which is supposed to be great for keeping your tan), Bumble & Bumble thickening spray & Brilliantine (after HollyYM's recommendation). Full reviews to come for all of these of course!

Ahhh & here we have Illamasqua. I love the staff at the Newcastle counter, they're so friendly & approachable, love going to that counter. Anyway, after being seduced by the imagery for the new Body Electrics collection I had to go get some. The gleam cream is gorgeous, you could compare it to strobe cream, but it's a little thicker and pinkier. I love it, will be posting FOTD/review on it soon. Also picked up the liquid metals palette, who wouldn't? & Dixi cream blusher, nom.

You want swatches I hear you say? Go on then!

Gleam cream & Dixi

Liquid metals: Enrapture/Surge/Solstice/Phenomena

Phew, monster post!

TOPSHOP makeup

2010-05-07T15:44:00.001-07:00

So everyone has been talking about it in the beauty community, at first I wasn't too interested but curiosity got the better of me. I swear I should have been a cat. My local Topshop stocks the range, so I popped in to have a quick look, ummed and ahhed and then went off to Boots. It must have been the multiple Topshop bags sporting 'Topshop makeup' that made me go back. I love the packaging, very quirky, my kind of style. However, I don't see it lasting very well & staying nice and clean in a makeup bag. I can see the paper cover on the lipstick getting a little tatty. We shall see.

So, this is what I fell for. Desert lipstick, a looovely peachy neutral colour. I'm very much a peach girl so this was a must. It's got a lovely creamy texture, a lot of coverage and a nice sheen/gloss, a little like a cremesheen. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

The next product is an eye crayon in the colour Satchel. It's a gorgeous cool brown with very obvious but beautiful fine gold glitter. They're surprisingly creamy and nice to blend, I was half expecting them to be similar to the Barry M crayons that I feel pull a bit on the skin unless warmed up.

Finally, the liquid liner pen. Hmmmm, I love the fact that this gives a glossy finish, something I've been wanting for years from an eyeliner. However, it moves. You'll see in the final picture that at the end of the day the line isn't as crisp and it definitely transferred to my crease at some point. I'm going to give this another try, but with only a base on my lid and lots of powder on my crease. Another note on this eyeliner, it doesn't like going over product very much, I had to finish off the flick with another liner as the Topshop one needed a rest.

Yup, so you can see it's more of a smoked line at the end of the day...hmmmm. & I've got end of the day eyebrows, lets ignore that, ey!

Overall, I'm quite impressed and plan to try more products, especially the lipsticks.

Wish list

2010-05-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

This is my current wish list, which will probably turn in to my 'own' list very shortly!

Xen tan dark lotion
Jurlique Jasmine body lotion
Bumble & Bumble thickening spray
Avene gentle gel cleanser
Bumble & Bumble brilliantine

Models own polishes
Jo Malone Greentea & Honey eye cream
Miss Dior Cherie summer edt

Illamasqua liquid metals pallete
Rayban Wayfarer

What are you lusting after at the minute?

Aveeno review: Dry skin sufferer?

2010-05-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

I suffer from eczema quite badly at times & due to more humid weather (well more than usual in England) it always flares up during the summer months. I've heard briefly about taking a bath with oats as it'll calm your skin, but honestly I'm more of a LUSH bath girl than an Oatso Simple bather. So when I was asked if I wanted to try out some Aveeno products I was quite happy to. If anyone else suffers from eczema you'll understand how uncomfortable it can be, constantly trying to resist scratching but then having to surrender, which really only makes it worse. So a product that I am now loving to calm my skin down is Aveeno Skin relief moisurising lotion.

Formulated with shea butter and a unique Triple Oat complex containing finely milled naturally active colloidal oatmeal, oat oil and oat essence.
Clinically proven to moisturise for 24 hours and soothe on contact, providing immediate, long lasting relief for extra dry, irritable skin.
Skin is left looking and feeling soft, smooth and healthy.
Fragrance free and fast-absorbing.

This lotion is fantastic, it really is. I'm actually wishing I had it with me right now (downside of living in two places!) because I'm fighting the urge to itch! Whenever my skin becomes irritated I grab for this lotion, slap it on & almost instantly my skin is soothed. It really does help moisturise & sooth, so if you're like me & not too keen on bathing with some porridge oats this is a great other option.

My only negative thought to Aveeno products is the smell. There's no gorgeous sweet or floral smell that I love when chosing a moisturiser. Obviously this can be a good thing for people with sensitive skin in that there's no fragrances to irritate. But there is a slight smell which is only really noticeable when applying, but it's something I'm not too keen on. It's not unpleasant but I love a fragrant moisturiser that fills my room & sticks to my skin.

I've also tried the daily moisturiser & hand cream (which I just recently found my mums cosmetics draw). Both are great moisturisers & the hand cream feels so luxurious & sinks right into the skin leaving hands silky smooth. I think I might actually go out & get a tube of it to replace my Soap & Glory hand food. Not that I've ran out of that, but my god this Aveeno one feels heavenly!

Aveeno products are available in Boots, Superdrug & I'd imagine at large supermarkets, it's widely available & prices are around the £5+ mark.

Want to know more from other eczema sufferers? There's some great posts on here http://www.eczemavoice.com

Favourite thing right now

2010-05-04T13:38:00.001-07:00

Currently I'm loving mixing my blushers. I've been doing it for a while now & can't just be happy with the one! My new favourite is mixing MAC Melba with Illamasqua...erm unrequited? I'm not too sure exactly as the sticker has come off (fab!) but it's a very light, cool bluey pink. Love it. Mixed together these give a gorgeous coral. Missed out on Ripe Peach? Try these two or very similar blushes, seems like an exact dupe.

also wearing:

Face:
a mix of MAC studio tech & fix fluid.... I'm a foundation mixer too!
MAC fix powder
Golden Refined bronzer
Melba & Illamasqua love mix
Soft & Gentle MSF

eyes:
Soft & Gentle MSF
Kid e/s
Diorshow blackout mascara
#7 lashes

lips:
Ravishing l/s
Fold & Tuck l/g

Fake Bake beyond Bronze range

2010-04-30T03:48:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot of posts regarding great tanners but I'm writing this post to tell you of some not so great ones. It's all good knowing great products to buy, but it's disappointing when you spend £20+ on something & end up using it once. I've tried all of these, the mousse, the lotion & the spray. All give great colour at first, a nice warm colour not orange at all. But when it comes to a morning shower after letting the tan develop over night, I emerge from the shower just as pasty as I was before the 20 or so minutes of applying tan. With the lotion I applied this religiously every day & still after a shower I came out my natural colour, maybe with a slight tinge of tan, definitely not a beyond bronze colour. Both the mousse & spray (VERY messy) give great initial colour, but same results after having a shower. I'm not scrubbing myself clean with a brillo pad & I'm giving the tan more than enough time to develop, so I gave up. It seems the new formula of Beyond Bronze is pants. It's a shame really because I used to love the old formula in the purple packaging.

Results thanks to Wahanda

2010-02-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I was contacted by Lopo from Wahanda who very kindly offered me some vouchers. These vouchers can be redeemed in spas, salons, gyms, studios & hotels all over the UK. Only today did I take advantage of that, 1 day before they expired. I have a terrible tendency to do things like that. But I'm glad I did because I may never have gone for this drastic hair change!

The vouchers are beautiful & each salon I went into querying about prices & appointments wanted to have a peek at them. Being a student of design for years now & a total design fiend of anything I absolutely loved the graphics & presentation of these. Not just the usual couple of vouchers in a card, you know? These would be such a beautiful present.

I pretty much decided from the start that I'd use these to get my hair done. The first salon I went to was Burlingtons, they have fantastic reviews & are very well known in the hair industry, but boy do they charge for it. A full head of highlights was going to be £90, then the cut on top of that - £60 & then possibly a toner which was £30, total = £180. No thank you. The other Salon was City Retreat. A small salon in a FX leisure gym, I was tempted to join it after seeing the swimming pool & jacuzzi area, probably the only part I'd use though!

I decided to go with City Retreat. My hairdresser was Lindsay who put me at total ease during the consultation & when it came to chopping off the length I just said "go for it". When I go to the hairdresser sometimes I feel like they don't totally know what I want or know what's up to date & are set in their typical standard hairdresser styles. But Lindsay knew exactly what I wanted & talked me through a lot of tips & what she was going to do. It was probably one of the nicest experiences I've had at the hairdressers, Lindsay was so chatty & made me feel comfortable (which I needed since I was getting a hefty amount of hair chopped off), she stayed late to finish my hair & I'll definitely return in 8 weeks to get my roots & trim.

Want to see the pictures? Here's before, lovely long hair but in terrible condition:

now?

So what'd you think? It's so different & feels strange, but I do like it.

hair decision & beautiful notebooks

2010-02-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my tweets asking for pictures/suggestions of shortish hair cuts. ChelseaCollinss linked me to this girl. & I feel in love with her hair, so cute & long enough to have naturally wavy. Success. So tomorrow at 4.15pm I shall be getting my hair cut off, this is terrifying as I've never had my hair shorter than shoulder length & that was 12 years ago! I'm praying it'll look good & I won't come out feeling like a boy with a fat face. Wish me luck!

Newcastle's Eldon Square has a new section that opened last week. It looks beautiful & it's fab having fresh stores to go to, but they've pretty much just moved stores we already had into this new area. However, one of the new, new shops is Paperchase & it is amazing. After Borderes closed down we only had a Paperchase in House of Fraser which isn't the biggest, so a whole store of Paperchase & things I've never seen is fab! I originally went in for cards but came out with this stunning notebook, what I need it for I don't know, but I couldn't not buy it. The sleeve is material & every detail is stitched on to it & for £9 I thought it was worth it. I'm one of those people that needs everything organised otherwise I don't know where to start. So I've bought some page clippers that will section up my notebook so I can use it for multiple things. Hopefully I won't forget all about my plans for this notebook & leave it to the side like I do with every other thing!

back detail

I also bought Diorskin Nude which so far I absolutely love. A review will definitely be on it's way, along with possibly a post about their new mascara that's coming out as I got a generous sample of it.

You may have noticed that my blog has slightly changed. I'm currently trying to redesign it but finding it hard to come up with designs, hopefully will have it complete by the end of the week.

Hair, hair, beautiful hair

2010-02-11T14:43:00.000-08:00

I've come to the point where I am eventually going to have to get my locks cut & sort out these ever growing roots. There comes a time when you crave for something different but dread it at the same time. My hair has been through a lot & I can't get the words from my hairdresser out of my head when she said the bottom of my hair won't take well to more lightening. I've stopped using my frazzling GHDs as much & have embraced the natural curl/frizz, moisturized the hell out of it & hoped it'd get better. But I still dread that when I go to the hairdressers I'm probably going to have to get a fair few inches cut off, eek!

So I'm turning to you guys for a vote/opinion/experiences. Should I go for the chop & get it all cut off to a longish bob, maybe grow it out & use extensions when I want to? Will I regret it!? I'd love to try short hair but I loove having it long. Is there any AMAZING & I mean AMAZING (because I've tried a lot & my hair is naturally thick) treatments out there that would help? I just can't decide!

Amazingly soft skin

2010-02-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

For the past few days I've changed my skin regime. I was using the Creme de la Mere range, this for me being the cleansing gel, mattifying toner & the gel moisturiser. Now I love the moisturiser & the products are doing a great job, but I left all these at home & had to use what I had up at my university house. After a few days I can't say I'm complaining because I think I've found a great mix of products!

Cleanser

MAC Cleanse Off Oil. It's a really gentle oil that you add a small amount of water to or put onto a damp face, rub it all over your face & it melts your makeup. So when it comes to rinsing it off, your skin will be left lovely & clean but not stripped of it's natural oils. I use a muslin cloth to remove this from my face, I find it helps to get every little bit of makeup off & gives a gentle exfoliation at the same time. Result on it's own is clean, glowing skin.

Moisturiser

MAC Mineralize All-over Lotion. As I said I'd left my skincare at home, so at uni I was left only with a L'Occtaine moisturiser which I find is too heavy for my skin, so I thought to sample the new moisturiser on counter. It's a lightweight moisturiser that's quick to hydrate & sink into your skin. It's formulated with charged water which is great for hydrating & is really gentle as well as being great for your skin due to being packed with minerals.

Care Blends Essensial Oils, Sweet Orange & Lavender. Like the all-over lotion, these have come out with the Warm & Cozy collection, at first the oils weren't going to come to counters but I'm really glad they did! Lavender is great for healing & soothing, blended with the orange it's great for calming as well as energizing. I put a couple of drops of this into the moisturiser and really work it into my skin. After using cleanse off oil & the combination of the moisturiser & the oil my skin looked really radiant. I've got oily skin & probably would never have thought of this if I hadn't had horrid dry spots (which have now completely gone), but it hasn't made my skin any oilier, if anything it's tamed any oiliness! I was sat watching tv & realised how much my skin has really smoothed out & feels so much softer, so I thought to inform you all of my recent findings!! I'm actually gutted now that I've come home & left my cleanse off oil at uni!

note: not advisable to use if pregnant due to the essential oils.

2010-01-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but you may just be seeing more posts from me regularly, I'm making some big changes in my life at the minute. Anyway, the giveaway closed a couple of weeks ago & I'm now waiting on my pro order to send to the winners!! eeee =)

It was so hard deciding the winners, some of the entries were amazing and really touching, you have very lucky family & friends! But it's come down to two winners!

First prize

Lucy - lucytalksbeauty.blogspot.com
Lucy put so much thought and effort into her friends present, it reminded me massively of things I'd do. Go back & read her entry, it's towards the top & is amazing!!

second prize

Emma - birdsdecoratebranches.blogspot.com
Emma's present was so cute, thoughtful & the type of present that would make you happy & mean a lot.

Giveaway update

2010-01-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid you're all too kind & I'm now changing the prizes. I'm now giving one main prize & a runner up. So here's what you could be getting in the post!

First

Wishbone necklace for all the best luck in 2010 (from This Charming Girl).

Your choice between:

Under your spell mineralize duo, or

Devil-may-care mineralize duo

AND

Your choice of a MAC eyeshadow or lipstick. This can be a pro product or from the permanent line. Eye shadows can be pan or pot form.

Runner up will get the remaining mineralize duo
AND
Your choice of a MAC eyeshadow or lipstick. This can be a pro product or from the permanent line. Eye shadows can be pan or pot form.

Contest ends THIS Sunday (10/01/2010)

(note: credit for images unknown, found through google images.)

CLOSED: New Year Giveaway

2010-01-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Hello beautiful people! I've been gone for a lonnng time & I hate it! So to say sorry for my absense, I'm going to give away a few lovely bits and bobs. You all deserve it & there's nothing better than a late christmas present! Now because I'm at home, home & most of my makeup is back up at uni I don't have any photographs of what I will give away, but here's a hint... it's full of magic, mirth & mischief! Have to note though, for reasons I'm not willing to release fully on my blog yet, these limited edition products don't have packaging, but they are brand new.

The other present/prize is a beautiful necklace from This Charming Girl. I love this site & I rarely go a day without someone asking me where I got my envelope necklace from. If you've never seen her shop before I advise you to have a browse around, prices are so good & the pieces are beautiful. Perfect for presents, many of my friends have received some of these treasures for birthdays. The particular treasure I'm giving away is this beauty, which I thought was very appropriate around the festive period.

As it's only a small give away there will only be one winner & it's going to be an easy one. All I want you to do is comment with the best present you gave this christmas & why it was the best. No cheating, truth only. It might not be the most expensive present, but possibly the best suited/ thoughtful present. You may even throw in a christmas/ new year fotd for good measure, it's not needed but I'm nosey & would love to see some of your festive makeup creations.

Good luck, give away ends on the 10th January so you have a good week to enter. It's open to international followers too, so all are welcome to enter!!

Friends of Glass Beligum trip

2009-10-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

As you will have seen in an older post I took part in #challengeglass on twitter which was all to do with glass & recycling. Well along with a few other people I won a trip to Belgium! So here come a lot of photographs to show you how truly amazing it was!

The day started extremely early, that clock says 6.45am not pm!! Ohhh yes, early it was but very exciting.

We jumped on the eurostar which takes less time to get to Belgium than the train from Newcastle to London! Crazy.

After arriving & going to the airport to pick up some other winners we went to a shopping centre where Friends of Glass had a pop-up shop fulllll of amazing glass bottles. Here's Natalie & me.

They also had an entertainment area where a man juggled with glass, unfortunately we missed it while we were having the lushest lunch & many glasses of wine.

Glass blowing was next! We watched Guy make champagne glasses, which was really relaxing & slightly hypnotising. We all made our own christmas baubles... this one above broke =( so I made a super tiny one so it wouldn't break!

Natalie, me & Milla

Dinner next! The restaurant was fab, it was an all you could eat, but the ingredients were all raw, you then took it to the bar where they'd throw it all into a wok & cook it. Yum! More wine & then some Belgium beer at a few bars afterwards, were Nat, Francesco & I got very drunk with some lovely Belgium...ers? We then (Nat & I) in true English style got cheesy chips & headed back to the hotel for a well needed sleep.

Sunday was spent exploring Lueven, having yummy, yummy pasta & more wine! Then home time, I was very, verrry tired by the time I got home, but it was so worth it. I had such an amazing time & want to say a massive thank you to Friends of Glass & the girls at 1000 heads, you're bloody amazing!

Review: Benefit silky powder eyeshadow in Guess again

2009-09-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

I was contacted by the lovely Joyce at www.beautyjudge.com about a month ago. It's a great site to go to for reviews of products, because they're true reviews & Joyce explained how she didn't mind if the review was bad or good, a review is a review & we need to know the bad ones too!

Needless to say I really like this product. I am not a Benefit type of girl, purely due to the price of their products, so I'm glad I was sent this because otherwise I wouldn't have chose it myself & it's actually a lovely eyeshadow.

What Benefit say

Love Your Look "makeup to match your lifestyle" introduces nine new silky matte powder eye shadow shades that "smooth" on for even coverage to enhance and contour. They blend effortlessly with the love your look creaseless cream shadow/liners so you can mix & match for guaranteed gorgeous.

What you get for your money

£12.60 for 3.50 g Net wt. 0.12 oz It's quite a big eyeshadow so I think it's actually an ok price.

What I think

The colour reminds me of a matte Satin Taupe, it's got that purple undertone to it that goes really well with my blue eyes. The powder is very finely milled & is super silky, so it lives up to it's product name 'silky powder eyeshadow'. Because it is so silky & I want to say creamy because it just feels like it, the blendability of this eyeshadow is amazing. Pigmentation as you can see is amazing, that is one swatch from my finger, I haven't layered it at all. It claims to be creaseless, & I haven't had creasing from it at all, but I have always put it over a MAC paintpot as I wouldn't apply eyeshadow without a base. I actually place this colour in my crease & have had no problems with it creasing at all. I honestly can't get over how blendable, silky & pigmented this eyeshadow is, it's fantastic & I've never actually come across a texture or colour like this one before. I would definitely give this top marks overall, I really love it!

I love this in my crease & outer corner as it's buildable, so for a really quick look, I can just pat on my usual paint pot & then blend this into the crease for a really quick but slightly smokey eye.

No picture really captured it that greatly, because I was in a rush to get out the house I couldn't keep trying for a better one. But this is just Guess Again really lightly in the crease along with MAC Rubenesque paintpot.

Go have a look on www.beautyjudge.com for more reviews, you can also join up to give reviews on products too!

Friends of Glass

2009-09-06T17:41:00.001-07:00

Some of you who follow me on twitter may have seen my tweets that link to #challengeglass. Over the past week I have been taking part in a challenge for a chance to win a trip to Belgium, you can find out more at Blog in a Bottle. It's basically all about making awareness & getting everyone to recycle glass. Milla (a gorgeous & talented friend) let me in on the challenge & I've loved taking part, it's really helped me connect back with my creativity which is perfect timing for going back to uni, ready for all those design briefs!

So I thought I'd post each of my entries for the 7 parts of the challenge & let you in on other things in my life than just makeup!

Challenge 1 - Use a glass bottle in a manner not initially intended by its manufacturers….
Bracelet holder & actually looks fab on the shelf for decoration.

Challenge 2 - Share a perfect 5 track glass themed playlist on social networking or audio sharing sites

Challenge 3 - Create a glass inspired haiku
chilled white wine/ drank till it's last drop/ recycled again & again

Challenge 4 - Find or make a glass based video to share

Challenge 5- Create a piece of glass-art, using only materials found in one’s bathroom

I used a range of shampoos, shower gels & face mask & went a-la Jackson Pollock.

Challenge 6- Enjoy a ‘glass themed’ night in, or out – with pictures documenting it…

After my monster 9 hour shift on a saturday at work, the only glass theme I could have was a bottle of wine in with the boif & family.

Challenge 7 - Take a picture of an inspiring view through a glass object (e.g. a glass bottle)
Picture could have been so much better, but with it being 1am the lighting isn't that fab! But anyway, the picture is taken through my brush holder (which is glass) & looking onto my grandad's painting pallet, it hangs on my wall & keeps me inspired as well as something to remember him by.

TK Maxx haul

2009-09-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Bit of a different post to cosmetics, but I love interior decor & I know lots of you do too. Plus, just sharing these gorgeous finds, so you know where to go to get some amazingly beautiful things.

I decided I needed new storage boxes for when I move into the new uni house. My room is a sort of box itself so I need lots of storage solutions. I went into IKEA..came out with a gorgeous bed throw that I've been lemming for ages, a cutlery holder & another cushion (I swear I have a cushion obsession, I have about 7 for my bed so far, it's a weakness!). So I come out of IKEA with no storage boxes pretty or big enough for my liking, TK Maxx next! I love TK Maxx for home furnitings, it has some amazing pieces, always the best place to go for something that's super pretty & usually quite unique (ie not an IKEA print lol).

I found this wicker basket, didn't need it, but err the Cath Kidstoneqsue print had me at first glance & I had to have it. I now have the decision of either having it at home or in my uni house! I also found some gorgeous V&A bedsheets for £13!! These I decided to keep for home since I'll be redecorating soon & these would be beautiful. The mug was also a beauty at £1.99, I feel rather grannyesque with it, lol. Then the box, ohhh the box. I don't know what I'll use it for, maybe jewellery, but I just had to have it. I mean look at it!

So these are my recent buys & no doubt I'll ant to get more things, pictures for my walls, shelves, more pretty things.... & hopefully some boxes!!

The Body Shop Event

2009-08-21T07:18:00.001-07:00

Look at us all!! Ahh there was so many of us, I think next time we should do some sort of speed dating set up so we all get to chat to each other! I had such a good day, the event, the venue & the people were amazing. I really wish I had a compact camera to take pictures of the day, because my SLR would have been a right hassle. You'll see photo's on other blogs anyway!

There was Champagne, there was cute finger foods, champagne, chocolates, incredible art pieces & more champagne. I felt like I was in a surrealist world the whole time, it was such a crazy venue (Sketch) which totally made the event one to remember. It was amazing & I just want to say thank you so much to The body Shop & the girls at Headstream!

We were introduced further into the brand, & to some of the new makeup products, which Chase demoed for us. Then my favorite part of the event where they told us all about the new fragrance Love etc. It's a gorgeous scent with a great inspirational background. We got to smell the perfume in sections, it's top notes, heart notes & base notes, which was incredibly interesting & made me appreciate the scent more. You can find out more about the fragrance at releasetheforceoflove.com.It has a real feel good story & meaning behind the perfume & I really enjoyed finding out about it all.

We were spoiled with so many goodies which I'm sure you will have seen pictures of in other blogs. I'll be testing these out, reviewing & also giving you the chance to win some of the products! Also, there's a 10% off code you can all use when ordering from the Autumn Trends Collection, which is fab because the new products are gorgeous!

Code: FACEOFF10

Valid from today until 28^th September 2009

& finally, I met Daisy (Cupcakes & Cherries)!! I was so excited to finally meet her, obviously I was excited to see everyone else, but I've known Daisy for years so it was all very fun =)

Project beautiful skin: Chlorella

2009-08-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

So to start project beautiful skin I started to take Chlorella. I haven't tried anything else as I wanted to see the full affects of one thing, the only other thing I've changed is my face wash as I've stopped using the Garnier Pure active range. Nor have I changed my makeup routine, actually lately I've probably been wearing more. So I know the changes in my skin are purely from the Chlorella. This is likely to be a long post, but if you're interested in improving your skin & finding out the other benefits of this product then definitely read on.

My experiences

I've been to the doctors about my skin, they've tried me on Dianette & an antibiotic, neither of which worked, I've tried multiple 'amazing' skincare products..again none have worked. I've also taken multiple vitamins & supplements, none of which worked very well/quickly. So I thought to stop using multiple external treatments & unnatural medications & turn to something that is completely natural, something that has helped me with skin problems when I was younger. My dad has harped on at me for ages to take Chlorella again (I used to take it for my eczema when I was younger) & I never really listened, I wanted to try other things first. Finally I took his advice & I now take 6 tablets a day in the evening. I started using it 2 weeks ago & within a week I saw instant improvements. Usually I don't go a day without a couple new spots appearing & when I was using the Pure Active range I'd experience clusters of spots, really bad ones at that, but while taking this blemishes have massively reduced. I still have spots and the marks from previous blemishes, but it's only been two weeks & most full effects usually take up to a month or two. Instead of wearing a full face of studio fix fluid, concealer, more sff & powder, I am now able to wear a bit of concealer, MAC moisture tint & a bit of powder & my skin is looking flawless with a sheer/medium coverage.

What is Chlorella & it's benefits?

Chlorella is a microscopic plant that grows in fresh water, it's a single celled algae. It has apparently been in existence for two-billion years. It contains a massive array of nutritional element: vitamins ( all known B vitamins including B12, C & E), macrominerals, trace minerals, essensial fatty acids, protein, nucleic acids (RNA & DNA), chlorophll & a vast spectrum of phytochemicals. Chlorella isn't a suppliment or a vitamin it's a pure food. It's a great detoxer as it is able to bind to the toxins in your body & pulls them from your bloodstream. It will purify your blood & cleanse your organs. You can even feed Chlorella to your pets, our cats love it & it makes their fur beautiful!

Some benefits of Chlorella:

boost your immune system
detoxifying
improve your digestive system, help overcome bad breath, constipation
reduce cholesterol
protecting your liver
help with kidney problems
improve skin conditions (e.g acne & eczema)
balance blood sugar

These are only a few benefits, if you go to www.chlorellafactor.com you can learn a lot more about this pure food. In my opinion it is not known about enough & after researching more about it, the reason for this is because the FDA do not permit companies that sell Chlorella to publicise the true benefits of it as the benefits would be seen as 'medical claims'. Another thing along side the dismissal of tea tree for MRSA that annoys me about health organisations.

We currently have Optimum source Chlorella but there are many other companies that sell it.

If you want to find out more about Chlorella I've added some useful links that go through the whole ins & outs of it. I highly recommend it if you suffer from skin problems & really for anyone to take it due to the great benefits of it.

Useful links that go into more detail:
http://www.chlorellafactor.com/
http://www.naturalways.com
http://www.foreverlookingood.com

Mandizzle hair pieces

2009-08-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

I'm loving flower head bands at the moment. Only problem is I can't find anything in the shops that fits my tastes, but the hair pieces at Mandizzle are stunning. I posted a while back on twitter about them & ever since then I've been obsessing over these beautiful creations created by an equally beautiful girl.

Here are some I'm loving & lemming for, if I could I'd have them all! I'm hoping to get my credit card soon so I can buy one for Leeds fest!

Hair prescription

2009-07-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today I got my prescription through the post. No, not a prescription of antibiotics or tamiflu, my prescription included a range of fantastic hair products to make my hair all better! These new Bonacure products were kindly prescribed to me by the hair doctor, hehe also known as hairstylist Steven Goldsworthy.

My hair is long, wavy, coloured & dry/damaged. So I've been prescribed two Colour Save products; Colour Save Sulfate-free Shampoo & Colour Save Spray Conditioner (which are well needed at the minute, my hair was very blonde & it's important for me to keep my now brunette colour vibrant for as long as possible) & Repair Rescue Amino Fortifier treatment. Oh & a lollipop to make up for the pain I've had to go through before these products! I'll be testing out these out & will be reviewing them in the coming weeks, where I'll go into more depth of the new Bonacure range. I need to dye my hair again so this will be perfect for me to test the colour save products which are said to keep your colour vibrant even after 30 washes, which sounds fantastic!

Project beautiful skin

2009-07-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

The other week I took out Liz Earle's Skin Secrets book from the Library. It's full of fantastic tips on looking after your skin. It goes through what influences your skin, the best plants (plant oils, essential oils & general ingredients) to use on your skin & how to care for your skin from the inside & out. It's a really great book, I might review it, because we're always obsessing over makeup & enhancing our skin/features but not always thinking about treating it & looking after it. After all the more we look after it now the more it'll repay us later.

So my main point of this is that this book is my aid. My aid in project beautiful skin. I'm sick to death of my skin, it's oily, it's acne prone, I have large pores, blackheads & uneven tone. I'm generally just not happy with it & I now need to seriously do something for it. After the Garnier Pure Active range did nothing for me over the month I tested it, I decided to take other routes. I'm going to look after my skin from the inside as well as treating it from the outside. When we have skin problems we don't always think a lot of it has to do with what's going on inside of our bodies. We frantically try to sort it out with multiple expensive products (many that don't actually work), but how often do we stop & think to change what we put in our bodies & what we could add to our diet to help?

I'll keep updating on project beautiful skin with what I'm doing. I'll be going through the benefits of what I'm doing & whether I'm seeing any differences. For now I'm just going to outline a few things.

1. I'm changing my cleanser. I'm now using The Sanctuary Perfectly Polished Hot Cloth Cleanser. I have used Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish but have just ran out & happened to find this version from The Sanctuary range.

2. I'm going to drink 1.5-2L of water a day. It sounds easy, especially when all I drink is water (well apart from fruit juice or tea & coffee, but no fizzy pop for me thanks) but I sometimes struggle & tend to forget to drink.

3. I'm going to start taking Chlorella. It's mentioned in the book & my dad has been harping on at me for years to take it, but I'm terrible at remembering to take tablets & have never taken it regularly. It's not something that's new to me, we've had it in our house constantly while I've grown up so I'm aware of it's advantages. However, I know it's not widely known, so I will be going through this in ore detail later.

4. I'm going to be using multiple masks & treatments, thank god my mums a therapist, so there's hundreds of essential & plant oils to rummage through & use!

5. I'll be eating a lot healthier (hope I keep to these words!). After all, we are what we eat!

Wish me luck & I'll keep you updated!!

Soap and Glory Clean On Me Creamy Clarifying shower gel

2009-07-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do a review on this for a while now, but always forgot! This stuff is amazing!

What it is:
Clean on me is a 'creamy clarifying shower gel' that contains 'natural mandarin peel extract and a bonus built-in body lotion'. It claims that you can 'have it all... soft, smooth sexy skin whenever you want it'.

What you get for your money:
For a 500ml bottle you will pay £5 in boots, but it is currently on offer for £3.33, fantastic value! You can also pick up a great 75ml travel size bottle for £1.50.

What I think:
I can't praise this enough & after using it I really don't want to buy any other shower gel, I think it's that amazing. I didn't actually buy this, my mum did & I'm really glad she did, otherwise I probably would never have thought of buying it myself.
It has the Soap & Glory smell that is divine & is loved by many; refreshing, sweet & not too over-powering. I use this with a shower puff & fully recommend anyone to use one too, as you'll get more out of this product. I only use one to two pumps for the whole of my body, you need no more, I promise you. With one to two pumps it will lather the whole body puff & you'll still have some left after covering your body in this gorgeous shower gel. When applying it, it feels silky smooth & probably feels like the best shower gel/wash I have ever used. It feels luxurious. I feel like I sound like I'm being paid or something to sell this product, I am not, I just love it that much! My skin after wards feels silky smooth due to the built-in body lotion, so great for those of us that don't always have time to moisturise. I also use this when I shave & find it works brilliantly due to the moisturising nature of this product.
Since you only need such little amount of product for each use this will last forever. I can't remember how long we've had it, but it's definitely been a fair few months!

Anatomicals hair review

2009-07-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

I was kindly sent some Anatomicals products to try out last week & I have been reaching for them when I've been washing my locks. So here's what I think.

Firstly we have young, free and tingle head shock shampoo.

What you get for your money:
The shampoo is a very reasonably priced £2.49, fantastic for when our pockets are feeling a little empty. For £2.49 you'll get a 250ml bottle covered in quirky words & pictures.

What Anatomicals say:
"If you want to wash that man/woman out of your hair, this is the perfect shampoo with which to do it with. One application and you'll instantly forget your past love and be ready to hit the streets looking for romance, your hair all shiny, glossy and smelling fresh. The inclusion of peppermint oil and menthol will also really wake you up in the morning. Just in case your latest conquest is unable to stay for breakfast."

What I think:
Usually I will use shampoo specially for coloured hair, it keeps my colour fresh & means I need to dye it less, so honestly this wouldn't be my first choice. That being said, I do really like this product. When first putting it into my hands I instantly smell it's menthol scent which soothes my cold/allergy bunged up head. Good so far. So when lathering it into my hair, the menthol smell gets stronger & perks me up from my grogginess. The 'tingle' cooling sensation then kicks in & feels amazing. If like me, you are not a morning person & need that extra hand to wake you up, then you should put this on your bathroom shelf. You can't help feeling more alert & fresh. It cleans my hair very well, it seems too squeaky clean actually & this worried me a bit because my hair is dry/damaged. However, when drying my hair all seems fine & I actually like the final finish.

I'll definitely continue to use this product (specially in the mornings when I just want to go back to bed), but will probably have to use one wash of this & one wash of a colour specific shampoo, as I felt my colour dulled a little when using this. Writing this now my head is reminiscing the menthol, refreshing sensation, needless to say I really enjoy using this shampoo & feel it'd be perfect for when you're feeling a little under the weather & tired.

Next is the sleek shall inherit the earth hair conditioner.

What you get for your money:
Again the conditioner is very reasonably priced at £2.49. For £2.49 you'll get a 250ml bottle covered in more quirky words & pictures.

What Anatomicals say:
"In Religious Education at school, we all learnt that it was the meek who would inherit the earth. Well, fat lot those and any teachers knew. It's really the vain and self-obsessed about their hair who will inherit the earth. Obviously, no RE teacher was, and is, ever going to know that. We mean have you seen their hair? Bird's nest would be a compliment. So the upshot is, use this conditioner and the whole planet is yours."

What I think:

First thing I notice is that the conditioner has no obvious smell, what smell it does have is quite subtly pleasant, but nothing amazing. It's very creamy & I leave it on for a couple of minutes before washing. I like to do this with every conditioner, my hair is quite dry & leaving the conditioner on for a little longer doesn't hurt. I've let my hair dry naturally & I've blow-dried it with this conditioner & it does deliver. I go for very moisturising conditioners due to my hair type so didn't expect this to do a great job, but I have no complains & my hair has felt smooth, conditioned & shiny for once!

Anatomicals products are available from their website www.anatomicals.net, ASOS, HQHair & from what I've heard some Boots stores.

Review: Aveda Damage Remedy™ Intensive Restructuring Treatment

2009-06-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

What it is:
This is a hair treatment to use for that little extra care for your hair.

What you get for your money:
This retails at £18.60, which is quite steep. For the exchange of your money you get 4.2fl oz/ 125ml of product, it's not a lot, but it should last you a while. You can also buy a larger size which is 16fl oz/473ml for a massive £42.09.

What it claims to do:
(Taken from the Aveda website) Our intensive weekly treatment deeply penetrates to help repair, seal and smooth even the most damaged hair. Using the power of pure plant oils and quinoa protein, it restores health, silkiness and shine.

Our intensive weekly treatment deeply penetrates to help repair, seal and smooth even the most damaged hair. Using the power of pure plant oils and quinoa protein, it restores health, silkiness and shine.

•	part of a three-step restructuring system
•	helps strengthen hair weakened by chemical processes, heat styling and environmental exposure
•	quinoa protein penetrates the hair shaft, working from inside to help strengthen and repair
•	phellodendron and barley seal in moisture
•	castor, jojoba and meadowfoam seed oils smooth hair's surface

How to use:

After shampooing your hair, smooth treatment from roots to ends, leaving on 2-5 minutes before rinsing. If wanting to treat your hair a lot, leave on for around 10 minutes with a hot towel wrapped around head. Of course Aveda suggest you use their other products in conjunction with this, but I used my usual John Freida shampoo.

My thoughts:
When first using this I realised how the smell of the product was like no other. It wasn't full of fake-like floral or sickly smells, it smelt pure & this is due to the product's key ingredients which are: Barley, Caster oil, Jojoba oil, Meadowfoam seed oil, Phellodendron & Quinoa protein. I liked this because you know you're using a product that mainly uses natural ingredients to care for your hair. The consistency of the product is very thick & creamy, you would normally think you'd need more of a product which is quite thick, but a small amount distributed through my hair nicely. I left it on for a bit while I soaked in the bath & then rinsed it in the shower. After drying my hair it does feel slightly stronger, a lot softer & definitely a lot shinier. If you have seen my other pictures on my blog you'll probably notice that my hair seems quite dull, this is purely due to the years of many highlights & bleaches whilst being blonde. I was getting frustrated while the lack of shine brittleness of my hair so this seemed like a pefect product & you can see in my picture that my hair has shine! Thank god! I've only blow-dried my hair here, no straightening & no styling products, only a heat protectant. It's still slightly fluffy at the ends, but nothing compared to what it usually is when I've dried it.

Overall I do really like this product, my hair feels gorgeous & it finally has some shine, but the price is quite steep. It'll just have to be my little treat.