♥ Happy New Year ♥

 

Hi everyone and welcome to 2015!

It's that time of year that reminds you how quickly times flies by; I don't know how but it's been over 2 years since I last blogged anything and although I've been reading everyone else's blogs I just haven't looked at mine.

 

2014 has been pretty busy, although I'm hoping 2015 will have loads more to report back on- It's hard to remember all that's happened but I think my biggest events were completing my first ever half marathon in Paris and getting my kitten, Ruby ♥

I can't believe how easily a year can go by and I don't usually bother with New Year resolutions but there are lots of things I'd like to do over the next year and feel like I'm in danger of getting stuck in a bit of a rut if I don't make some kind of plan for the next 12 months.

 

My main resolution is to:

 Be more organised

 

I'm not sure how, but I've become a little chaotic, there are so many places to go and people to see so an organised year will hopefully help me accomplish that, I mean organised down to the hour if I have to...at least until I'm into a good routine!!

 

I'll be doing a couple of Christmas present and bargains from the sales posts but as there are always more beautiful things out there to lust after, here is my 2015 wish list:

 

 

 

One of my other resolutions is to be better with my money and most of these items are ones that I will need to actually save for, all too often I will spend the same amount of money on little things that I don't really need rather than saving and buying longer lasting things...yes, there are 3 Kate Spade watches, I just love them all and can't decide!!

 

Here's to an amazing 2015!

 

 

X

 

Nuxe Rêve de Miel Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm

You know it's going to be good when it comes in a box...

I mentioned this lip balm in my previous post saying that this little jar is in my TOP 3 lip balms ever, and it is! I first read about it here on Estée's blog and had wanted to get some ever since, I've had this for quite a while now but wanted to wait before giving a review.

There's writing all over the box, I'm not quite sure why but I really like that

I hadn't heard of Nuxe or their Reve de Miel range before, which roughly translates to 'dreams of honey' but the moment you hear the honey word you feel the promise of moisture. It didn't disappoint ; I really love this lip balm and for once it really does do exactly what it says on the packaging, it's perfect for dry or chapped lips and really is ultra ultra nourishing. It has a lovely smell, the ingredients say Grapefruit essence but to me it smells more like honey (obviously) and orange which is still lush and quite comforting.

It ticks all of the requirements that I've set for my perfect dream lip balm bar one.

• Moisturises my lips (this sounds so obvious but I can't tell you how many I've tried that don't)
• Does NOT leave my lips feeling agonisingly dry within and hour of using it.
• Feels nice on my lips
• Doesn't make me look anemic (think Rose's blueish lips in Titanic at the end)
• Not too dry 
• Not too watery

And that is my only gripe with this amazing potion, it just doesn't glide on a silkily as I would like from my imaginary perfect lip balm. In reality it's probably the fact that it sticks to my lips (but isn't sticky) and doesn't slide about that makes it so good at lasting for ages.<---Sorry, that was a pretty poor sentence. I've been using this as a night time balm because it stays put all night and leaves my lips feeling great in the morning. It's a little too matte for me to use all throughout the day as I like there to be a bit of a sheen; I tend to rub a tiny bit of foundation and blusher on my lips and they can look a little flat together but then sometimes it's just right. This is going to be fantastic now that the weather is getting colder!!

This also comes in a stick form, I've noticed that Marks & Spencer have started to stock branded beauty products and they seem to do the entire Reve de Miel range apart from this pot of goodness. I'm going to buy the stick version just to see if there are the same effects in an ever so slightly more slippy form.

I paid £10 for my jar which isn't cheap but not ridiculous either when you consider how much product you get and how little you need to use each time, put it on your Christmas wishlist!

X

Bioderma Atoderm Moisturising Stick lip balm

 I am always on the hunt for the perfect lip balm and I don't really feel as though I 'm asking for the world when I say that what I would love is to discover a lip balm that:

• Moisturises my lips (this sounds so obvious but I can't tell you how many I've tried that don't)
• Does NOT leave my lips feeling agonisingly dry within and hour of using it.
• Feels nice on my lips
• Doesn't make me look anaemic (think Rose's blueish lips in Titanic at the end)
• Not too dry 
• Not too watery

If you ever find a lip balm that ticks all of these boxes then please let me know and I will be eternally grateful, I've found 3 contenders. One is a humble 99p Nivea, the other from Nuxe and number 3 is below!

As much as I like pretty graphics I'm very much a sucker for the medical looking packaging, love this.

This lip balm is from Bioderma, it also comes in a liquid? tube form but I do like a good old chap stick. I've read quite a few bad reviews about this but I really like it for several reasons:

• It glides on smoothly which makes it a nice base for whatever you're going to put on your lips next.
• It has a really nice smell, I can't quite place it but it reminds me of something from years ago...
• It doesn't wear away too quickly
• I haven't reapplied it in about 4 hours and my lips feel fine.

This final point is the big seller for me, I've tried a few recently that feel awful, disappear instantly and make my lips feel in pain afterwards because they've sucked any moisture out of them!

I wouldn't say this is intensively moisturising if you have very chapped lips- I would recommend the Nuxe one that I will be reviewing later in the week, but I think it's a brilliant. 

I think I paid a couple of euros for it so it's not that expensive really, I would really recommend giving it a try.

Here is the cake that I made for the Macmillan Coffee morning at work the other week, I was happier with it than I thought I was going to be half way through it and do you know what? I won the competition on our floor and then I took it downstairs with another girl to enter our cakes in the main competition and I won that too! I'll be honest, I only won the big bake off through lack of competition and the fact I don't like dry sponge but I was still thrilled because I don't really win things like this!

I had to make the chocolate cakes, everyone loves chocolate. Right?

X

NOTD Ombre Nails - 17 Fairy Cake

Hello sausages, how has your Monday been?

Mine's been up and down I think really; I'm loving life in my new job- my new manager is still a little intimidating after the interview but very sweet because she took me outside today to check that I was OK (I cried in the office on Friday when a woman on the phone was mean, I wasn't even that upset so I don't know where the bloody tears came from...) but on the other hand, my car failed it's MOT and it's going to cost me £500. The same £500 I was going to use next week to book flights to South Korea to visit my friend.

Swings and roundabouts, eh?

So, here is my first attempt at the ombre nail trend. Be gentle with me because I know it's a little rough but it's the best that I could manage!

I used 17's Fairy Cake as a light pink base and then my beloved M&S Limited Collection Pink as the darker shade. I couldn't decide whether to go light-dark or dark-light but after further council with the village committee it was decided...dark- light could look like chipped nails from a distance so light-dark it was!

I'm quite pleased with them, although at work there was some combination of office lighting and the pinks together that made them look glowing neon!

I imagine that most people know how I did this but if you don't then here is a condensed version:

• I painted one coat of Fairy Cake on to my nails and waited for it to dry.
• I ripped a chunk of sponge that I bought in the supermarket, I don't know if it's important but I made sure it was quite a messy rip so I would avoid any distinct lines.
• I painted some LC Pink onto the sponge (not too much) and started dabbing at the bottom until about half way so there was less painted.
• Then I painted Fairy Cake on to the same piece of sponge and started nearer the top to blend in with the middle so there was a medium shade.
• I then just repeated with the different colours until I felt they looked right.
• It's not a very smooth process so then I went to sleep and put one coat of topcoat on in the morning at voila...OMBRE NAILS!

This is actually my favourite song of all time. 

X

NOTD Limited Collection - Pink with Gold lace foil

I love this pink polish from Marks & Spencer, I mentioned in this post here and I thought it would be a great backdrop to a gold lace nail foil that I'd been wanting to use for ages. It looks so nice in the sun and I've had lots of compliments on them too! They also lasted all week with barely any chips which was a pleasant novelty.

What do you think?

X

Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that means that pink is everywhere this month I will hopefully be posting more than the shocking amount of late and I'll try to keep to a pink theme for most of it!

Well, I didn't realise I had so much pink around... I wish this was all but it really isn't close!

In my previous job at M&S, Breast Cancer Care fundraising was always a huge deal throughout October, especially as we were the lingerie department so I was a little bit gutted that they don't really do anything in my new job. No Pink Fridays at all. Had I realised this before I would have gotten planning and putting requests in for another cake competition (we had a big one for the Macmillan coffee morning last week so it's not all bad) but I've only been there one month now so little steps, anyway the month is still young so there's time for some fundraising. 

There are also a load of products with part of the profits going towards the charity, here are some of my favourite ones ♥

You can find the entire range available from Breast Cancer Care

Picture courtesy of Breast Cancer Care online

I love this Swarovski pen, I think I'd like to be one of those organised people that always has one in their bag so this could be the pen to do it!

Picture courtesy of Breast Cancer Care online

I have wanted a Tangle Teaser for ages and this print isn't really the sort of thing I would usually go for but they all do the same thing don't they and as 20% of the profit goes to charity I will be getting this too!

Picture courtesy of Breast Cancer Care online

Well I just love this, I'm going to finally move out in the new year so maybe this will be a forward planning purchase? Can you buy a kettle 6 months in advance??

Have you got much planned for Breast Cancer Awareness?

X

nails inc. Couture

For those of you who may not be aware, nails inc. do a COUTURE service which lets you personalise your nail polish with a different lid and customised label . It's the presented in it's own box with your choice of 2 stickers et voila!

This service costs £20, is it worth it? Oh probably not. That's not really the point though and as my friend at work was leaving last week and is mad about nails inc.I thought it would make a fitting goodbye gift!

Picture courtesy of nails inc.com

The only thing that doesn't impress me about nails inc. is that they aren't always the quickest for delivery so it didn't arrive in time for my friends last day at work, so I basically felt like a bit of a bad bad friend.

Now, please don't go thinking that I just opened her present to take pictures, I wanted to make sure that it was all OK and the printing on the label wasn't dodgy and thought ' well...it would be a shame not to show this on my blog...'. Hmm, still sounds bad doesn't it?

The obligatory Celebration & Good Luck stickers

 I went for the pink jewelled lid with Holland Park, which by the way is an impossible colour to accurately capture on my camera so below is an edited version which shows the exact shades perfectly!

And this was the reason I opened the box, this sticker wasn't on straight at all, it was all the way to the left almost over the edge which I felt was a little shoddy considering you are paying for this little extra. It wasn't difficult to take it off and straighten it up though so not to worry.

A little Disney joke

My friend was really pleased with it and it looked cute so I was a happy bunny.

What do you guys thinks? Will you be treating someone special or yourself to a couture polish... there are only 86 days until Christmas!

X