Manicure Monday - Models Own in Disco Mix

Because of the upcoming New Year I thought that me (and my nails) should go in with a bang. That's why I chose Models Own's Disco Mix. It's enriched with two shades of glitter - one a royal blue and the other a rich purple. Colour-wise this has to be one of my favourite polishes all time, mainly 'cause i'm a total sucker for glitter if you didn't know already. The only downside is that it's gonna take me that extra few minutes to take it off, but it's definitely worth it hehe.

I hope you all have a fabulous New Years and I'm sorry for no post last friday - I've been super busy with a new project i'm very excited to tell you all about soon.

What is your nail colour this week? 

♥

Manicure Monday - No7 Stay Perfect in Devils Delight & Barry M Limited Edition Christmas Gold

Yes I know it's Tuesday not Monday but I'm having a pampering day today because it's CHRISTMAS EEEEEVVVVVEEEEE! Despite how excited I sounded then I'm actually not excited at all. I'm a firm believer that without snow, you just can't feel Christmassy. It was the same as last year, we didn't get snow in Leeds until January and it was heeeeavy! So last year I wasn't in the Christmas spirit either, and that makes me sad because I love Christmas so much.

Although I'm not feeling Christmassy, Christmas is around the corner (one more sleep!!) and I thought I'd go all festive and opt for a cherry red polish in the form of No7s Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Devils Delight and then Barry M's Limited Edition Christmas Gold Nail Paint on my ring finger to add a touch of sparkle.

Oh, and I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

What's your nail colour this week?

♥

Manicure Monday - Ted Baker's TB Nail Polish

This week I've gone for Ted Baker's TB Nail Polish although it doesn't have a shade as it came in a set and is unavailable individually. It's a beautiful pale pink shade, the kind of colour you'd use as a base for a French manicure. I adore the colour of this polish, I must have 20 polishes in this shade or similar! Sadly, this polish isn't very thick so I ended up having to apply about 6 coats, and inevitably smudged them :(

What's your nail colour this week?

♥

Boots Haul

Around Christmas time Boots always chuck a bunch of vouchers (not literally) at their Advantage Card holders and therefore I decided to pop along to Boots in Leeds City Centre and cash a few in!

I know this isn't really post related, but I found my camera earlier and I got all over-excited because now you're getting 10 mega-pixels (omg amaze) worth of image quality, WAHOO!

Eau De Soap & Glory Formula 2 Perfume Spray - £16.50
If you've read my (first-ever!) post on my top 5 perfumes you'd know that I adore this perfume - it came in at No5 and has always been one of my faves. So when I got a Soap & Glory points voucher I thought 'what the hell' and bought a bottle seen as my other one ran out about a year ago and I missed it.

Barry M Lip Liner in 3 - £2.95 (got mine free)
I only have 5 lipliners, three of which are very similar nude coral shades and the other two are dark pinks. Apart from nude coral lipsticks, my most popular used lipsticks are red. Therefore, I needed a red lipliner and Barry M came to the rescue!

Natural Collection Pressed Powder in Cool x3 - £1.99 each (got two free)
Ah Natural Collection, a brand that I find is seriously underestimated. I adore their pressed powders and at £1.99 they're worth a try. I originally put six in my basket but my friend said that I looked ridiculous and would be better off getting other products - harsh, but right.

Natural Collection Blushed Cheeks (L-R) in Pink Cloud & Sweet Cheeks - £1.99 each

Because i'm a huge fan of their powders I thought i'd give their blushers a go, and bought one in Pink Cloud and one in Sweet Cheeks. I hope they impress!

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair 1 - £4.19

I have heard almost every beauty blogger rave about this concealer to the moon and back. I'm a huge fan of Zoe Sugg's (Zoella) and she can't stop going on about it, so I decided to get it and see what all the fuss was about! P.S. ignore the smudged packaging - it's well loved hehe.

Boots Botanicals Moisturising Gloves - £4
Because I work in a hair salon I have dermatitis which flares up the most during these colder months. I've always hated putting the cream on my hands at night because it's pretty oily and didn't want my hair to get greasy, and I used to wear normal gloves but they made my hands itchy and come out in heat rashes - not cute. Therefore, I decided to grab some of these gloves that are specifically designed to wear over moisturiser. Baby soft hands here I come!

Natural Collection Lip Lines in Mulberry - £1.99
Due to there being a 3 for 2 on I needed (yes, needed) to get something around the £2 mark to make it work out evenly and what not. As I told you before that I was lacking lip liners, I thought i'd visit Natural Collection again and bag this deep pink shade. I kinda wished i'd got a different shade now but for £1.99 I can't really complain.

Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub - £3.79
I got another points voucher but this time it was for the Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel range. I'd used this scrub before and I wouldn't scream and shout about it but I can't say much bad about it either, so I got another one haha!

Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner in 1 Black - £2.99
I'm a huge fan of felt tip liners because I find liquid eyeliner too tricky and pencil eyeliner seems to tug too much and not give me the finish I desire. I already own one by No7 but have always been unsure of it and thought I might as well compare it to this one!

Have you been to Boots recently?

♥

Manicure Monday - Models Own Purple Grey

This week I've opted for this dark purpley-grey shade (funnily enough called Purple Grey) by Models Own as after I had Illamasqua's Collide on last time I thought it would be nice to mix it up and go for a contrasting colour.

                          

What's your nail colour this week? 

♥

Vaseline - a.k.a. the Worst Lip Balm Ever

This week I've decided I need to rant, prepare yourselves...

I will say this time and time again as it seems like people need telling. Vaseline 'Lip Therapy' is terrible for your lips. Petroleum jelly that is the main (and only in the original edition) ingredient in Vaseline stops the natural moisture production in your lips, meaning that the second you stop using it your lips go so chapped and flaky that it can become extremely painful. Because of this, many people believe that chapped lips is normal when you don't use lip balm everyday - surprisingly, it's not. I use lip balm maybe twice a week and I can easily say that I have soft, chap-free lips 95% of the time, the other 5% is during the height of summer and winter, which is normal. So many people use Vaseline and it breaks my heart how they've all been sucked into their ingenious marketing scheme - create a lip balm that makes your lips full of moisture and when they stop using it make their lips super dry so they'll think that it's the Vaseline working some sort of miracle and they'll buy more - brilliant! No. Sorry not sorry, I refuse to let you lovely lot fall into this trap.

You see, my bestie is obsessed with the stuff. And I mean, obsessed. Whenever we go anywhere she always needs two things - her Blackberry and her Vaseline. You know that blind panic that you get when you can't find your keys or your purse in your bag? Well, she gets that with her Vaseline. She literally freaks out until she realises it was in her pocket the entire time, to which she desperately rags the tin lid off and starts applying liberally to her lips. I can't help but laugh, bless her. I've tried to explain to her that it's bad for her but she's been well and truly sucked into Vaseline's scam, the poor thing. I can just imagine her reading this now, fumbling for the tin hahaha, love you!

If you are a Vaseline addict, I suggest you switch to a lip balm that is kind to your lips. I love Balmi lip balms, which I have written a review for here. But remember, you're not meant to use lip balms every day, so if a lip balm is making your lips dryer, stop using it!

Are you a Vaseline addict that's been converted?

♥

Autumn & Winter Fashion

To coincide with my Autumn & Winter Favourites post I thought I'd do an Autumn & Winter Fashion post too. I've always been a fan of this time of year, Christmas is my favourite day and the lead up to it somehow seems to bring everyone together. I'm a lover of layering and so Autumn & Winter are the months when I can really go to town on my outfit choices - chunky knits, knee-high boots and bobble hats, my fashion heaven. Also, this is my first fashion post and i'm super excited to share my style with you guys, I just hope you like it!

Black, gold, caramel, wine and burgundy have always been favourite shades of mine this time of year so I've incorporated that into my chosen outfits as you can tell. Some of the pieces I actually own myself - the H&M jumper, Pandora ring and Levi jeans to name a few. I thought it would be good to include them as I both wear and adore them!

So here are my two outfits - one for day and one for night. I've tried to use a wide range of brands here so the pieces can be suitable for anyone, whether you like to save or splurge!

Zara Duffle Coat with Fur Hood in Caramel - £159
Lipsy Black 'Maisy' Mid Heel Ankle Boots - £75
H&M Knitted Jumper in Purple - £12.99     (I own)
Pandora March Birthstone Ring - £40     (I own)
New Look Pink Colour Fleck Bobble Hat - £7.99     (I own)
Levi's Modern Rise Demi Curve Skinny Jeans in Richest Indigo - £80     (I own)
Accessorize Spacedye Capped Gloves - £12 & Spacedye Chunky Rib Snood - £17

For my day outfit I kept it casual and practical. Now that the snow is fast approaching we all need to get out the hat, scarves and gloves! The H&M jumper I own in this wine colour, but also in grey which I showed in a previous post. I'm considering buying the jumper in other colours too haha! I bought the pink bobble hat from New Look last year and it is so cute - I just had to include it! As for the coat, well a client at work came in wearing it and I fell in love, the price tag has sadly prevented me from purchasing it though. The bag and the boots include gold metal detailing which is huuuuge at the moment, I just love the way black and gold looks together - so sleek! A pair of Levi's is something all girls need, especially girls who find it extremely hard to get jeans to fit them like me. Yeah they're kinda pricey but they are most definitely worth it, try on a pair and you'll see.

Jack Wills The Deavely Dress in Pearl - £98.50
Ted Baker Karsie Glitter Frame Clutch in Gold - £129
Twist Bolster Necklace, Atelier Swarovski by Christopher Kane - £695
Mango Faux Leather Biker Jacket - £49.99
JustFab Naples in Mint - £59

Now as for the night outfit, I sadly don't own any of these pieces. Despite this, I had so much fun putting it together because I have so many evening dresses in my wardrobe but rarely have the occasion to wear them. I guess I just love the glamour of evening wear, and I hope I expressed this in my outfit. I wanted the outfit to be feminine so I used the gorgeous scalloped dress alongside the glitter clutch but then merged it with the rock-chick vibe from the biker jacket, to make it more flirty as opposed to sickly-sweet. Now in all my outfits there needs to be a pop of colour, and that's where the mint-green peep toes come in! Last but not least I added the phenomenal Swarovski necklace to tie it all together - it has the feminine touch with the sparkles and the tough edge with the colour and thickness, by far my favourite piece out of both outfits.

What are your favourite Autumn & Winter Fashion pieces?

♥

Manicure Mondays - Illamasqua Collide

I have a pretty vast collection of nail polishes that embarrassingly is three-figures, and yet I don't often paint my nails. Because of this, I decided to promise myself that every Monday I would get out my little pink and purple glittery toolbox, grab a shade that tickles my fancy and get painting!

This week, I thought I'd get away from the classic Autumnal colours and be a bit daring by sporting neon pink, yes, neon pink nails. I have two bottles of Collide because I got them in the Alter-Ego sets that Illamasqua kindly created for those with a weaker purse.

p.s. I would've shown you a picture of my nails but I've literally just smudged them, I'm not best pleased :(

What's your nail colour this week? 

♥

and we welcome The Mother Lode

Urban Decay has once again created an almost unattainable piece of heaven, this time in the form of the Mother Lode, a limited-edition collection of  UD's legendary eyeshadows. The colour-rich collection which boasts 68 mind-blowing shades was created to celebrate the re-launch of Urban Decay's newly packaged and re-formulated shadows, which this collection contains all of. All of the eyeshadows are full-sized, individually packaged and easy to pop out. The collection also contains an exclusive four-pan Build Your Own Palette so you can create the most perfect mini palette with all the shades in your arsenal to choose from, and it is all housed in a beautiful purple open-top box.

yes, it really does exist *insert dribble here*

The Urban Decay website states 'From super smooth mattes, pearly satins and shades loaded with shimmer and glitter, to gorgeous duotones that change color before your eyes, it's all here. Switch between sultry neutrals and daring brights with shocking ease.' - I must admit, I have had dreams of owning this gorgeous collection, which were soon shattered by the stark reality that I sadly do not have several hundreds of pounds to spend on mere (she doesn't mean it, she loves you really!!) eyeshadows. Despite this, the set is actually value-for-money. I know it sounds surprising 'cause it's pretty pricey, but a single shadow is normally £14, and because there are all 68 shades that would mean it should cost £952, and yet you end up saving a whopping £507. I guess it's more of an investment, especially if you're a make-up junkie like me. You can continuously tell yourself that whilst you cry over your credit card bill at the end of the month, I won't be judging you, I promise.


Unless I win the EuroMillions sometime in the very near future, I think that this collection will just have to be a dream to me...sigh.

The Mother Lode costs £445 but is currently on sale at Debenhams for a mere(!) £400.50 

Do you pine for The Mother Lode too?

♥

I got Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

You can now follow me on bloglovin, which is an easier way to see when I've published new posts and you can even mark when you've read them so to never miss a post! Because I know most of you will be at -5 on the 'effort' scale, signing up literally involves your first name, e-mail address and a password, perfect for us lazy lot.

So what are you waiting for?! Get signing up, and don't forget to follow me on there!

♥

Autumn & Winter Favourites

Now that Autumn is finally upon us and Summer feels like months ago, I thought I'd treat you guys to an Autumn & Winter favourites post, so I can tell you guys what I adore during these colder and darker, yet more beautiful months. I also thought it would be ever so nice of me to do both cheap and premium alternatives, so anyone on any budget would be able to enjoy the same stuff as me!

First up, is skin/bodycare because we need to look after our skin even more during these cold months!

Lip Scrub 

Cheap: my D.I.Y. Lemon Lip Scrub (post coming soon!)

Premium: Lush Lip Scrub in Mint Julips (smells like After Eights which are a Christmas staple) - £5.50

Hand Cream

Cheap: Soap & Glory Hand Food - £5 (125ml)

Premium: the Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector - £10 (100ml)

Body Scrub 

Cheap: Ted Baker Butterfly Wings Body Scrub - £6.50 (300ml)

Premium: Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub (this stuff smells phemomenal but doesn't taste too good though...) - £8 (300ml)

Body Butter (because lotion just won't do)

Cheap: Soap & Glory the Righteous Butter - £10.50 (300ml)

Premium: the Body Shop Strawberry Body Butter - £13 (200ml)

Bubble Bath (indulging in a hot bubble bath when it's cold outside, ahhh) 

Cheap: Soap & Glory Calm One Calm All Bubble Bath - £6 (500ml) 

Premium: Boux Avenue Pink Taffeta Bubble Bath - £10 (300ml) 

Next, makeup!

I find that I reach for burgundy and bright red lip products and rosy blushers more during this time of year 'cause one, I'm paler so it complements my skin tone, plus it matches the fallen leaves and Christmas decorations...ahh Christmas<3 

Lipstick

Cheap: Barry M Lip Paint in 162 - £4.49 & Barry M Lip Lacquer Crayon in No2 - £4.99

Premium: Illamasqua Lipstick in Ignite, Sangers & Encounter (I'm a big fan, can you tell?) - £16.50

Lipgloss

Cheap: Bourjois La Creme Des Levres Lip Cream in 05 Rosé Moelleux - 99p starting price at my ebay

Premium: Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Follow - £14.50

Lip Balm

Cheap: The Body Shop Christmas Edition Lip Balms in Spiced Vanilla, Cranberry Joy and Candied Ginger - discontinued sadly :( but, they do have new versions, Cranberry being the one that I purchased but still have to critique

Premium: Balmi Lip Balm in Mint - £4.99

Blusher

Cheap: Sleek Blush in Rose Gold from the Contouring and Blush Palette in Light - £4.49 (£9.99 for palette)

Premium: No7 Natural Blush in 12 Coral Flush - £8

As for eyes, it's all about purple, grey, gold and dark caramel as they are always big this time of year. Think rich hues with golden shimmers or alternatively colours that don't stray from your skin colour, as the no-make-up-make-up look is huuuuuge this season!

Cheap: Bourjois Little Round Pot Eyeshadow in (from left to right) 72 Violet Absolu, 12 Bleu Magnetique, 55 Bleu Myosotis, 90 Blanc Diaphane, 93 Tabac Blond & 05 Brun Irreel - 99p starting price at my ebay

Premium: Urban Decay Naked (£36), Naked2(also £36), Naked Basics(£20), Glinda & Theodora Great and Powerful Oz palettes(£35 each) and also Melt and Rock, that I got in my BYOP's (£14 each). What can I say - Urban Decay eyeshadows will always make the top of my lists! Also Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Electrum (£17.50) which not only makes a great eye primer but also a fabulous eyeliner, it's so creamy and pigmented!

Subscribe to my blog so you can be notified when the sister post, Autumn & Winter Fashion comes out, plus it'll put a big smile on my face! 

What are your Autumn & Winter favourites?

♥

Procrastination at its finest

Guys, I'd just like to apologise to you all for being so AWOL recently, thus missing two weekly posts. To cheer you lot up I will definitely (and this is a promise) be posting this Friday. I've sorted out my schedule to try and make my blog time a little more effiecient in the hopes that I will have something to post for you every week like I said I would. My problem is i'm a slight procrastinator. Don't get me wrong, I adore blogging to the moon and back, and I love talking to you guys on ask.fm, but I feel like I need to admit to you all that I do often leave my posts till the last minute. Sometimes I do them in advance, one post which is scheduled for Christmas, I began writing back in August when I was on holiday and away from all distractions like iPad games that require wifi, YouTube and other general internetty things. I usually have random bouts of creativity and I will sit in weird places in my house and just ramble about eyeshadow or hairspray or other stuff, kinda like I am doing now...

Deep metaphorical typing breaths Saffron, deep metaphorical typing breaths...(doesn't have such a good ring to it does it?)

But anyways, I've promised myself, and more importantly I've promised you guys that I'm gonna work significantly harder and stop being so blooming lazy. Therefore, I'm gonna end this long-winded apology right here and get onto some serious (me? serious? ahahhahah just kidding) blogging.

Laters alligators!

p.s. if you haven't already subscribed, you can do so via Google+ or e-mail if you're not into that sorta thing, what can I say? I'm accommodating!

♥

Bourjois La Creme Des Levres Lip Cream review

from left to right - 01 Beige Veloute, 02 Rose Voluptue, 03 Rose Doux, 05 Rose Moelleux, 07, Praline Dolce, 08 Brun Onctueux

If you don't already know, not only am I an avid blogger, I'm also an ebayer. Basically I buy makeup in bulk and then sell it super cheap. How cheap you ask? 99p starting price (no I don't make a profit, I'm starting out and need positive feedback so I'm being kind). Oh am I good aren't I ;) these past few weeks I've been selling Bourjois' La Creme Des Levres Lip Cream which is now discontinued so the only way to buy it is through ebayers like me or in bulk. Because I'm selling them here, I thought I'd do a review alongside to show what I think of them - truthfully.

The back of the tube says "shiny, nourishing and light texture' which I can't deny. It's much lighter than a gloss, almost balm-like but a little more glamorous. If that makes sense, haha! For a start they're not glosses, they're creams. Most of you will be thinking 'what's the difference?' and yeah I guess some of you wouldn't be able to tell the difference but for beauty junkies like me, there is a big difference. I usually find glosses to be fairly gloopy and sticky. 'Slime-like' if you will. Lip creams are, well, creamy. You don't get that stickiness that you can get with many glosses, that's why I personally prefer creams. If you don't like glosses but love balms, and just wish that they had a more pigmented colour (which balms rarely do), you'll love the BLCDL (oo, an acronym, get me) Lip Cream.

Bourjois brought out the La Creme Des Levres Lip Creams back a few years ago but for some unknown reason were discontinued, to many peoples dismay. I honestly do love these creams, mainly because I've always wanted a pigmented gloss but could never find one, they always looked rich in colour but once applied were almost clear. That's where the Bourjois Lip Creams come in, they're well pigmented, more than you'd expect. 

All of the lip creams feature an almond scent/flavour which I adore. Have to keep stopping myself from licking it off though... My favourite colours in the range have to be 05 Rose Moelleux (soft orange) and 03 Rose Doux (bubblegum pink).

This one gets - ♥♥♥♥

Have you tried the BLCDL Lip Cream? 

♥

How To: do a Fishtail Plait

For this week's post I thought I'd do my first ever hair tutorial! If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that i'm a lover of hair. For those of you that don't know, i'm a Saturday girl at a hair salon, so although i'm not a professional I have picked up a few tips and tricks. One of the big hair trends this year has to be the fishtail plait. It looks fairly complicated but once you learn how to do it it is actually really simple! This look is perfect for these autumn/winter months as it looks great topped off with a hat - especially a wooly bobble hat. Good luck, and happy plaiting!


Step one:
Sweep your hair to one side and split into two sections.

Step two:

To create the 'fishtail effect' you need to take small pieces of hair from the sides of your main sections, like this.

Step three: 

Bring the small section into the middle between the two sections and then copy with the other side, pulling tightly so to keep the plait looking neat.

Continue steps two and three until you end up with a completed fishtail plait.

And voila! You're done. See, wasn't too bad, was it? ;)

You can also backcomb the roots of your hair before you begin plaiting if you want more of a beachy, laid-back kinda look.

what's your favourite simple hairstyle?

♥

Lee Stafford's Wonder Spray review

It usually takes me around half an hour to blow dry my hair 'cause I have a lot of it and it's pretty long. Because of this, I've always put off blow drying my hair and therefore rarely straightening it. I know blow drying is bad for your hair, but as long as you're not doing it every day it's fine, but I'd maybe do it once a month if that.

When I went to Home Bargains (if you've never been in you need to) a couple months ago I saw that they had a load of Lee Stafford stuff but at a fraction of the price. I picked up a few products but the one I was most excited to try was the Wonder Spray which promises to reduce the time it takes to blow dry hair and also helps de tangle hair. Now if you know me you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Lee Stafford's products, and so although I had my reservations about the spray, I did believe that it could work. And boy, does it work.

Like I said before it usually takes me around half an hour to dry my hair, so I expected that the spray would maybe reduce the time to around 20 minutes. I was shocked that after 4 minutes, yes 4 minutes, my hair was completely dry. This spray cost me like £3 and yet it does that! I am so pleased with this product and intend on buying more. Home Bargains probably won't sell it again but I know Boots do, and I'm more than happy to pay full price. 

The back of the bottle/can (I don't really know what it is) says that it's 'full of extra special ingredients to improve the smoothness of the surface of the hair and reduce friction, for easier combing and detangling of wet hair. With added heat protection to protect hair up to the heat of 220'C. It also contains a little bit of hold to keep your style once you have blow dried it into place!' And it doesn't lie! Not only did it help reduce blow drying time dramatically, my hair seemed less frizzy than it usually does when I blow dry, and it did make combing my hair easier. Plus it has the typical Lee Stafford scent that lasts and makes your hair smell b-e-a-utiful!

If you're a busy person like me and don't have the time or the effort to blow dry your hair, but wish you could, I'd highly recommend this Wonder Spray, RRP'd at £6.19 at Boots.

this one gets ♥♥♥♥♥ - I can't fault it!

What's your favourite Lee Stafford product?

♥

Illamasqua Haul

I wasn't sure what to write for today's blog post, I've have loads of suggestions from you guys but none of them were appropriate for this week so I've filed them away for later. Luckily, I haven't left you with nothing because I got a delivery today, a nice black box filled with Illamasqua goodies so I thought I'd share them with you!

Rich Liquid Foundation
in 133 - £7.50 

Light Liquid Foundation
in 133 - £7.50

Concealer
in 105 - £5 

Illamasqua have been having this 'secret sale' where products can cost either £5 (lipstick, concealer) or £7.50 (foundation) and I got informed of this by an old school friend who'd tweeted about it. Obviously with me being a make-up junkie I just had to check it out...and make a few purchases ;). My box of goodies include super white concealer (it was £5, why the hell not) and black lipstick (perfect for Halloween, and with the pigmentation that Illamasqua have to offer I really couldn't say no), not the most obvious of choices but they were cheap and I'm all for a bargain. £30 for 5 full-sized Illamasqua products? I didn't believe it was possible either.

Lipstick
in Sangers - £5 

Lipstick
in Pristine - £5

Have you purchased any luxury bargains recently?

♥