New NYX Lip Products

NYX lip glosses are among my favourite lip products so I'm always hopping onto Cherry Culture to make orders. The prices are so reasonable and I always receive my orders in around a week. The reason for my latest order was because after watching Sarah's vlog I saw one of the megashine lipglosses in Smokey Look and loved the look of it. Whilst putting it in my basket on the web site I noticed they also had lip lacquer pots. These are only around £4 each so I was definitely going to try one. And of course it was going to be the peachy nude one which is called Georgia Peach.

Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Smokey Look

and Lip Lacquer Pot in Georgia Peach

And here's some swatches for you:

I really recommend the Mega Shine Lip Glosses by NYX. I also have the Goddess Of The Night lip gloss in Natural which is pictured below.

These glosses are so moisturising and last for ages. They are pigmented but they're not opaque and give a perfect colour pay off if you just want a little hint of colour on your lips. I usually wear mine when I go to the gym. I don't wear make up to the gym but I must have plump shiny lips at all times. That's just how it is :)

As for the lip lacquer pot, I'm loving it. I'm not a massive fan of lip products that have to be applied with fingers but I'm loving the milky look this gives my lips. It's also amazing over a nude lipstick. Last night I wore it over Estee Lauder Vanilla Truffle, which by the way is my holy grail nude.

And just randomly, I felt like throwing in my favourite brushes right now.

MAC 129 for blush

Inglot 28PO for lid colour.

MAC 239 for lid colour and lower lashline.

MAC 224 for undereye concealer

Sigma SS182 for finishing powder (right now it's Benefit One Hot Minute)

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

xx

Look Fantastic Fake Tan Haul and In Other News......

I came home from work early and felt inspired to do a blogpost. As if getting out of work five hours early and also still getting paid for it wasn't amazing enough, when I walked in the front door there was a parcel from Look Fantastic.

I was clean out of fake tan so a couple of days ago I went online shopping for more because frankly I'm not ready just yet to be pale again. Grrrr Winter!!!!

I chose a couple of tans I haven't tried before.

I love mousse self tanners so I got the Xen Tan one and also thought I'd give He-Shi a go as well. I have a problem when I shop online in that I can never order just one thing. When that hauling urge takes over there is no stopping me, but what the heck!

I also got the Xen Tan mitt which feels way softer and more velvety than my Superdrug one by the way so I can't wait to try it.

By the way at the moment on Look Fantastic when you buy the He-Shi self tan you get a free exfoliating body wash with it, which is always nice.

So far I've only taken the lid off the Xen Tan mousse as I was curious about the smell (in Youtube videos people always seem to rave about the scents) and OMG it is YUM. Even nicer than the dark lotion which I tried recently.

P.S Why it's called 'Dark Lotion' is beyond me. I have gone darker with gradual tanners to be honest.

So as the title of this post suggests, I do have other news.

Work has been stressful lately so on the way home today I felt it necessary to drop into Costa and also pick up some biccies, hehe.

Stuffing my face with this little lot and tweeting to you lovelies definitely helped me feel better :)

Another way I love to chill out and forget about stupid work issues is watching the box.

If you are waiting for me to start on about intellectual and quality TV shows, look away now as my viewing taste is trashy to say the least.

Right now I lurve......

• Deal Or No Deal (Channel 4)
• Dinner Date (ITV)
• Come Dine With Me (Channel 4)
• Dragons Den (BBC2)
• Ultimate Big Brother (Channel 4)
• The Inbetweeners (Channel 4)

Told you it was trash ;)

Anyway, back to The Inbetweeners...... OMG I'm loving it.

My new boyfriend lent me his DVDs of series 1 and 2 and now I'm hooked. It is hilarious. My favourite character is Jay Cartwright. His foul mouth totally suits my crude sense of humour. He makes me crack up. I cannot wait for series three to start next Monday on channel 4. Hehe, I just totally plugged it didn't I!

A few weeks ago I saw a book on Tali's blog that I knew I was going to get as soon as possible. I ordered it from Play (they do good prices on books) and it's the next in the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella featuring Rebecca Bloomwood.

I love these books and they are among only a select few I can read again and again. It's the same with the Shopaholic film based on the book, I can watch that endlessly and never get bored.

Ooo before I go I just thought I'd share my eyeshadow combo of the moment. All are by MAC of course.

The colours are from top to bottom Shroom, Amber Lights and Mulch. Shroom is a highlighter on the browbone, Amber Lights goes on the crease and Mulch in the socket.

I love these colours together because they seem to be the perfect combination for my blue eyes. I have been wearing them literally every day and people have even said my eyes look bluer. I think Amber Lights is one of the most beautiful colours I've seen and I love packing it on with my MAC 239 brush. I also run a little of it under my eye with the same brush.

So what is your eye shadow combo at the moment? Give me some ideas.

xx

NOTD

I don't know why but I never really took a shine to the kind of murky, brown colours that have been gracing this seasons nails but the other day I purchased Barry M's Nail Paint in Mushroom.

Until now I didn't even like Barry M Nail Paints and have always avoided them like the plague. The reason for this is because two I have tried before were total let downs. There was Coral which was a watery, streaky excuse for a nail polish and and the 3 in 1 Basecoat, Top Coat and Nail hardener. I found this just made loads of tiny air bubbles on my nails. It was weird.

But Mushroom seemed a lot creamier and more opaque than any other nail varnish I've swatched or purchased from Barry M.

And I was correct because even after one coat the finish is opaque, shiny and perfect. I always do two coats though but one is definitely adequate.

Here is the nail paint after two coats on my nails:

This nail polish is absolutely my new love. It even keeps its shiny finish for ages. I can't stop looking at my nails at the moment. This colour is different to anything I have and I just love, love, love it.

Do you know if it's limited edition?

xx

Bronzers To Suit My Mood

So last night I got this sudden urge to go to Westfield to buy face products. I'm sure you all know the feeling. I was craving new make up so badly I even missed the beginning of the Ultimate Big Brother final to go in search of new bronzers and foundation.

I knew I wanted another Soleil Tan De Chanel/Bronze Universel as this is my HG cream bronzer but then I figured I would buy a powder bronzer too for days when I want to use powder products to bronze and set my make up. I also was looking for a foundation which I knew would end up being Revlon Colorstay in 150-Buff. I always seemed to go back to this. It's such a lovely product and I feel like I can always rely on it.

Lyra always likes to have a sniff of what I buy, hehe.

And here are the two bronzing products I purchased, opened:

Inglot Bronzing Powder in 75 and Soleil Tan De Chanel

One brand I've never tried for Bronzers is Inglot. I am very impressed with the quality of their pressed powder which I use over foundation. It is velvety soft when swatched and gives a luminous, soft finish to make up and most importantly, it lasts.

For reference I'm number 13 in the pressed powder and here's what it looks like.

I don't know why it has photographed so pink toned. It is more natural looking in real life, though it is definitely more pink than yellow toned.

They had four powder bronzers available in the store, one of which was out of stock and there was no tester. That was kind of annoying but number 75 seemed good enough for me.

One thing that I maybe would say about all Inglot powder products, including eye shadows, is that they are extremely powdery. I took a photo of my new bronzer after a couple of swatches to show you this.

So as a result of this there is a bit of waste if you blow away the remaining powder after use. The powder residue is probably there because the product is so finely milled. As far as I'm concerned it's not a problem as I love the feel of the two Inglot powders I have and will definitely repurchase. I used the bronzing powder today and it gave a lovely subtle effect, with absolutely no orange tinge at all. I am pretty pale and even though this looks dark in the pan it is nice and subtle but buildable.

And I've included a couple of swatches of the bronzers for you. One is in normal light and the other is with the sun shining onto the swatches.

Left: Chanel Right: Inglot (Normal Light)

Sunlight

I love bronzers! Yay!

Harrods Hauling - Not forgetting the Champers!!

One of my favourite shops in the world is Harrods in Knightsbridge. I try to go around once a month, even if its only to do a bit of food shopping.

I went today and got a mixture of stuff - beauty products, Lyra stuff (awwww!) and some food, mostly cupcakes, YUM!

Think I'll start with the beauty products.

Today's planned purchase was the Estee Lauder Daywear Plus Tint. I have seen this in both Pixiwoo and Pixi2woo videos and the girls always rave about how brilliant it makes their skin look. This lotion is supposed to even your skin tone out and the tint in it will illuminate your complexion. I plan to use it as a make up base and also as a moisturiser on non make up days.

Then of course there were the unavoidable unplanned purchases too. As I was walking round the beauty hall I noticed they had Burberry and Dolce and Gabbana make up. I was really happy to see these as I thought they were only available in Selfridges. I wasn't interested in Burberry as it always reminds me of chavs and I think the patterns they have embossed into the products are cringeworthy. I was definitely interested in D&G though as I wanted to try the nude lipstick. It's called Nude 50.

Here it is on my lips.

I love it. It is literally just like MAC Creme D'Nude. It swatches on my skin a little darker than Creme D'Nude but on my lips its lighter and exactly the same, but seems to flatter my complexion more. It's creamy and smooth to apply, it has a slight old lady scent but I can overlook that. The reason I am particularly happy with this lipstick being the same as Creme D'Nude is that I am now refusing to buy Creme because it always melts. I'm on my third one now and it looks like this:

So it looks like we have the answer to the above catastrophe with the D&G lippy. It is slightly more expensive at £20 though. Let's see if it melts I guess.

On the lower ground floor of Harrods they have a little chemist type area where I bought the other two products in the picture. Firstly, the Melvita eye gel....I had seen a couple of reviews on Sarah's blog about this brand and when I saw it on the shelf thought I'd try something from it. I'm a sucker for eye products and also can't resist when the packaging has words like 'smoothes over wrinkles' and lots of nice sounding ingredients like apricot butter, gingko biloba and buckwheat. I will start using this tonight and then review it here shortly.

Lastly for beauty products I got the Sudocrem in a tube. I knew this was available but so far have never been able to find it. I noticed it today and picked one up straight away.

Onto the food.

I mainly go for the cupcakes but love the indian bar, Tiffin Bites as well. I got two of the wraps which are amazing heated up. I got chicken tikka and onion bhaji. I also got a couple of salads. The top one is a vegetable and haloumi salad and the other is a pesto pasta salad with sundried tomatoes and olives. At £10 for the two of them these are overpriced in my opinion but trust me they're yum. Lol.

Now for Lyra's haul:

He loves the Dandelion chewsticks so that was the main thing I wanted to get for him. I also got him a mineral stone, a wood chew, and some hamster mix. I like to buy different foods for Lyra as I think it's nice for him to have a varied diet instead of the same old thing all the time. I also got a new wheel as his current one is so loud and sometimes keeps me awake even when he's in a different room. So hopefully this one will be a bit quieter.

Just before we left Harrods to get some lunch in Pret A Manger, mum and I indulged in a glass of champagne each. It rounded off our lovely shopping trip perfectly.

Veuve Cliquot Rose

Oh in other weekend news, last night I attended a wedding reception in Egham in Surrey at the Great Fosters hotel. I had a wonderful night and met a couple of lovely new people. I just thought I'd share some photos from the night. The last photo is of the bride's bouquet, which would you believe, I caught!! Hehe, yay!

The venue - I love it, it looks kind of dark and mysterious

Me with the bride and groom

God I can't believe I'm next, HAHA!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your Sunday

:)

xx

Today I.....

Today I had a much needed day off work. Sometimes working early shifts in a gym can get too much. I've had a lovely relaxing day off so I thought I'd let you know what I've been getting up to.

So today I.....

Wore my Clarins Rouge Prodige Lipstick in 122 - Nude.

Did a little shopping.

I love Vichy, I find it so gentle on my skin. This is the toner.

Republic £22.99

Topshop - £35

Ooo la la!

Topshop - £4

Love Lyra even more than yesterday.

Wore my Estee Lauder Daywear Plus Sheer Tint Moisturizer. This is amazing for no foundation days.

Used these products.

My lovely Twitter friend, Sarah, sent me the hair treatment as she knows I love Paul Mitchell products. Thanks Sarah, I used it tonight and am hoping it'll cure my current endless bad hair days.

Got a new brush holder. It's so cute.

Paperchase - £2

Decided that Urban Decay Zero Eyeliner is the best I've tried. FAB on the waterline.

Had Waitrose stuffed peppers and giant fish fingers for dinner.

I love doing these types of posts. Feel free to link me to yours.

Did you get up to anything exciting today?

Lancome Purchases

I adore YSL Faux Cils but at the same time I'm getting so fed up of it. It dries up in just weeks so today I went and got myself some Lancome Hypnose. Two of my Twitter friends have now said that it's pretty good so I thought I'd give it a go. When I got to the counter there was a new collection which included Hypnose Onyx which is basically Hypnose with more pigment for that 'blacker than black' look that all our favourite beauty brands seem to be latching on to.

Lancome Hypnose and Color Fever Gloss in 272

One of the Color Fever Glosses in the new collection (sorry I can't remember the name of the collection but it's obviously for Fall) also caught my eye. I love Lancome lipglosses and this peachy beige one, called 272 - Metropolitan Beige, had to be mine.

The box you can see in the first picture is a freebie Lancome are currently giving when you make two purchases. It includes sample sizes of:

• Genifique - Youth Activating Concentrate (Don't mind if I do)
• Teint Miracle Foundation in Beige Diaphane (No good to me as it's too dark annoyingly)
• Hypnose Precious Cells (Hey, another mascara, happy days!)

I tried the Hypnose Onyx as soon as I got home and it's early days but it does seem to have made my lashes look like they have length and volume. I'm not wearing any other make up today but I'll know more when I do a proper eye look. I really want to love it so I can stop wasting £20 odd quid on Faux Cils nearly every month.

What are your opinions on Lancome Hypnose please?

I Hate Cows But Not When They're Pink

It's amazing how much excitement a shower gel can bring to a Saturday afternoon. While shopping in Boots for one to use at the gym I came across the brand The Pink Cow.

There seem to be a lot of these brands on the shelves whose packaging reminds me of Philosophy....you know the basic bottle with just writing on. One I always think of like this is Tesco's Treacle Moon range. Anyway the brand I'm talking about today is another one along those lines.

The Pink Cow has the ubiquitous coconut scented products and also strawberry, ginger and lemon cheesecake, among others. I plumped for what I thought was the most delicious smelling shower gel I have come across, Mint Candy. Oh god I could actually eat it. It's a soft, not overpowering mint smell with hints of marshmallow and sugar. And that description does not do it justice.

I am definitely going to try the other products after using this. Obviously for the gorgeous scent of them but also because they are a company who do not test on animals and don't put parabens in the products.

This product is £2.99 for 500ml. Bargain!

Do you like the brand? What's your favourite flavour?

Stuff :)

I have this afternoon free and felt really inspired to dedicate some time to my blog. For the last couple of days I've been on a group cycling (spinning, basically) course for work as I am going to be taking over more of the classes we offer. I've been teaching it for years but needed to brush up and also get a few ideas. I took the course with Lifetime, a fabulous company that I also used to obtain the fitness and nutrition qualifications I have already. The course took place at a gym in Kensington called Thirty Seven Degrees. I really love to see other gyms and meeting other people in my industry so it makes going on courses all the more enjoyable. Thirty Seven Degrees was made even more fabulous because whilst there I had the absolute privilege of seeing some of the professional dancers practising for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing. Among them were my two favourites, the stunningly beautiful Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone.

I was so excited and spent my breaks looking through the door of the studio and watching them.....to their annoyance but anyhow. I managed to get some sneaky footage of the dancers as well.

Here are a couple of pictures from my spin course:

Spin bikes. The studio was so cool.

It was all black and some classes are taught with disco lights on.

My workmates Sam, Aj and Jonathan.

Take your pick, lol

On my way home today after passing my assessment I had to go into Westfield as I had left my car there and got the tube from Shepherds Bush to Kensington Olympia. It's so convenient to drive there from my house and catch the train, though I didn't care much for the £10 parking fee. Expenses anyone?

While walking through Westfield to the car park to get my beloved car it would have been rude not to make some purchases I think.

So here's what I got....

I had seen the Bobbi Brown lipstick in number 1 Salmon a few times before and knew that one day I'd cave. Today was that day. It's such a beautiful colour and I think it stands out much more than the others she has to offer.

And here's a swatch of Salmon:

The other two purchases were what I'll call 'enabled haulage', hehe. Lollipop26 raved about the Umberto Giannini Dry Shampoo and seeing as so far I haven't found a dry shampoo that works for me, I had nothing to lose in buying it. As for the Burts Bees Lip Balm, I had been after it ever since I saw Yinka's review of them. I chose the mango one and I used it as soon as I got out of the shop as I have dry lips right now. I really love it, it's just so soft and moisturising and it smells absolutely delicious.

As always I got some food in Marks & Spencer, including my favourite pizza by them with Hickory steak on.

The toffee crisp thingies in the corner of the pic are yummy with a cup of tea, trust me :)

Oooo something else I saw the other day which totally floated my boat was this car.

I saw it at Sytner BMW in High Wycombe whilst I took my car to get new brake pads. It has the matte finish which seems to be all the rage at the moment. I'm not keen on the matte but I totally love these cars. BMWs are the best cars on the road. Fact!

For information, the car above is £53,000.

One day my friends, one day :)

So what are you doing this bank holiday weekend? I am working Sunday and Monday but have tomorrow off, which is nice as tonight I'm off to my new man's house for dinner. He is cooking for me for the first time. We are having chicken curry. I have a bottle of white wine to take with me and I really can't wait to see him, he is seriously gorgeous and lovely. The other night when we went for drinks, he gave me a present which he had even wrapped up. It was such an appropriate gift, bless him.

It's some ovenproof cupcakes cases and a little recipe book of cupcakes which I'll be having a go at when I next get some days off. I found it so thoughtful of him. I wonder if he thinks I'm a princess though.....

Before I go I thought I'd include the latest video from my boy, Lyra.

Isn't he a cutie?