Grey home accessories haul..

Homebase - Box £7.99 , Cushion £5.49

I have recently re-decorated my bedroom and turned it from being a bright hot "sexy" pink, which was my 14 year old self, into a calm white and grey, pink free zone. My colour scheme or should it be lack of colour scheme is 100% to be blamed on Pintrest. I even got more Pintrest  with my furniture - buying old pine and up-cycling it by painting it white and buying new draw handles. I blimmin love it!I was in Homebase to buy another pot of paint when I spotted these two thing. 

The "little things" box sits perfectly on my dressing table with my jewellery in as well of a bunch of USB sticks which I never know where to put. I like the glass top as it means things don't get put away and forgotten about. It was only £7.99. 

I also got the & cushion, I am going to put lots of different grey toned cushions on my bed and this one is going to sit in the middle. It was also the bargain price off £5.49 so I couldn't leave it with it being exactly the kind of thing I had imagined going in my new room. I never think to look in Homebase for actual homewear accessories but I am so happy with these little bits.

Anybody else obsessed with homewear accessories? 

Muji Hinoki Wood Tin Candle Review...

You know your getting a little older when you start becoming an candle fanatic. I lust over Diptyque candles, Neom and Jo Malone candles all the time on blogs however, they just really aren't in my price range right now. My normal go to candle brand is Yankee and they are still my favorite.

I was in MUJI when I spotted their tin candles, a friend of mine had recommended the log fire scent which I will also do a review of, they are only £3.50 so I felt justified with picking another one up which was Hinoki Wood.  It's more masculine than all the other candles I own however, if a woody scent was to be feminine it would be this candle it has a sweetness to it which is probably why I was still drawn to it. It is woody and sweet but it's not over powering and it done in a delicate way. Hinoki is a native Japanese tree often found in the really picturesque parts of Kyoto which has been on the top of my travel list for ages.

The scent pay off is not huge but maybe this is because i'm used to the very sickly scented candles of the Yankee kind. If you want something to just subtle scent the room but not be over powering in any way then this is certainly a good choice with a fantastic price. I'm also a real fan of the simple packing which complements my white and light grey bedroom.

What non-high end candles do you recommend?

March 2014 Beauty Launches...

The reason I am still hooked into the beauty industry is the consistency in which new launches are always being released which suck me in. I just thought I would start a series of posts which feature some of the next months product launches which have caught my eye.

OPI in my eyes are unbeatable in their ability to name nail polishes with the cleverest of names and the new OPI Muppets Most Wanted Collection is no exception.

  There are two colours which I am most excited about from this collection the first one being "Kermit Me To Speak". Anything duo tone or multidimensional has me sold. 

The only other one from the collection that grabs my attention is "Let's Do Anything We Want" which is a rose gold glitter again i'm right there on anything rose gold so this polish screams out to me. Glitter polishes lure me in however, after struggling for hours to get them off I do begrudge them. *please please can somebody invent something which aids the removal of glitter polish to make it easier to have a fling with glitter without the commitment*. This collection will be released in March.

While discussing OPI Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Sprite and Fanta – will be the inspiration for a line of OPI limited-edition nail lacquers that will launch internationally in June 2014. I hope we see some fantastic multidimensional colours and not just flat reds and greens. I'm also expecting some more great names!

The Essie Restor collection will be hitting UK stores earlier than March and has been all over New York Fashion Week the one I particularly have my eye on is the taupe colour called "Cocktails and Coconuts". I love wearing these kind of colours on my nails as think they always look so classy and classic plus the inevitable chip doesn't show up as easily so you can get longer wear from a manicure in this colour.

I didn't mean to make this a nail polish heavy post but these are the products which has caught my eye so to throw something different into the mix lets talk eye liner.

  Smashbox Always Sharp 3D Liner contains a sharpner in the lid so it always stays sharp to me this is great as I have so many eyeliner pencils sitting in my draws blunt because I always seem to lose make-up pencil sharpeners. That isn't the sole reason i'm excited by this launch the main reason is due to the eight shades of soft, creamy and fully pigmented eyeliners to me these remind me of Urban Decay 24/7 liners in their colour range but they are my all time favorite so I look forward to swatching away with these. 

Whats launches are you looking forward to in March 2014?

V05 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder Review...

V05 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder - Boots £4.99

This is something I must have bought when Boots have there 2 for £5 style offers and it has sat in my draw ever since..literally years. Normally before a night out I spray some dry shampoo at the roots to get some extra lift but for some odd reason it struck me to try this out finally! It shakes onto you hair like a small sprinkle of icing sugar and then you massage it in. I don't know how it works but it works. It gives you the same lift as if you had backcombed your roots but taking a fraction of the time and without the damage.

 You can feel it in your hair and it is odd at first. I imagine that some people really wouldn't like it but for me the results are worth the cost of the slightly odd feel it gives your hair and have since been shaking into my roots daily. Another way I have been using the product is when putting my hair into a pony, shaking it in all over when the hair is held in the pony style and then giving it a ruffle this boosts the volume of the final ponytail quite a but and also combats any grease from second day hair.  Noted that when it comes to washing I do try and be extra thorough as can imagine this is a product which could cause product build up. The price also makes it a beauty steal! All Boots hair care is currently 3 for 2 as of today so if you like those kind of deals I would certainly think about putting this in your mix and match if you also crave more volume at your roots.

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water Review...

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water - Boots £4.99

I had many other posts I had planned to do and then I bought Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water and felt compelled to bump it straight to the top of my review list. I have never used a cleansing water yet have seen the hype around Bioderma. I never bought it as didn't want to fall in love with something that I wouldn't be able to replace.

You get a whopping 400ml and the bottle feels large in your hand giving you the feeling like that you are getting value for money. I have been very liberal in my use of this because of that fact even to bottle boasts 200 uses.  My first impressions were WOW how can something which looks and feels like water really remove my make-up so effortlessly including waterproof mascara! There was no stinging, tingling, panda eyes or a greasy residue in sight. It made removing make-up a pleasure not a chore as sad as it is I was looking forward to using it again the next evening. I bought the Boots large face cotton wool pads to use with this and find them a perfect partnership.

I am someone where even when a product states no need to rinse I still have the urge too do so. My skin has been playing up lately in my chin area and honestly I think this cleanser is also helping to sooth any pesky spots and get rid of them. I am hooked on this product and think everybody should try it if you haven't tried a cleansing water. After the first time I used it I text my best friend telling her she has to buy it. I don't know how this compares to Bioderma and it has sparked my curiosity further to see if it really could be any better than the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I'm also happy that it is a purse friendly beauty buy at £4.99. I think I will be buying another to leave at my boyfriends house!

Has anybody else tried this and loved it as much as me?

Clarins Pure and Radiant Mask Review...

I used to have a bathroom full of skin care add on's such as masks, spritzers, spot gels ect... Lately I have gone right back to basics with a face wash and mostriser and my skin hadn't seemed to kick up much of a fuss about it for the first month or so. After that the spots started to appear and I succumbed to the fact that I had become lazy with my skin care routine. I switched from a cheap Clean and Clear face wash to a Clarins one and also upped the price of my basic mostriser (Maybe i'm a skin care snob but things like Simple face wash always brings me out in under the skin bumps/spots!)

Next came the need for a mask... I browsed the aisles in Boots and couldn't pick one so I ended up using this sample of  Clarins Pure and Radiant Mask, this is aimed at people with oily to combination skin even though I don't suffer from oiliness I assumed it would help unclog any blocked pores. The colour of this mask is a  very light pink (Probably due to the pink clay) and is very un-offending in colour or smell. It's light weight making it sit comfortably on the skin and you almost forget you have it on (if you don't keeping looking in the mirror at it like me). I slapped it on liberally and waited for 10 minutes (you can opt for 5-10mins but I went for the whole hog) for the magic to happen and to give it time to impress me...

In that 10 minutes...
continually looked in the mirror to see if it was lifting the dirt out of my pores..
Took a few snapps to send to friends of me looking daft...
Made a cup of tea...
and looked at myself in the mirror some more (all these steps are optional)

10 minutes later....
The mask dries on your face and when removing with warm water with a cloth it comes away easily. My face felt soft and fully clean unlike many masks it didn't leave a glow to my skin but a soft focus matte finish we I actually liked having thought I was all about the glow. I have faily high pigmentation in my skin and masks can often make my face look red but this hasn't happened with the mask in fact is seems to have soothed my skin and any spots I had.

 My nose is my problem area with blackheads...It seems to have lifted my blackheads almost in a way they are more prominent as if it had tried to clean them but was not poweful enought too pull them from my pores so I slapped on a nose strip (those incredibly satisfying things) and waited if the strip would extract more than normal....Yuck it did help to extract those pesky blackheads.

1 day later...
My skin has felt a lot dryer but this I guess could also be the fact the heating is now officially on in our house. I still absolute love Clarins products but not sure I would buy the full size of this.

Which face mask would you recommend?

Wanderlust

This blog my unintentionally have to take a little turn in a different direction for a while I haven't been spending much money on make up lately ( I say this but inevitably loads of make-up and reviews will still find there way onto the blog) and for a while not even wearing much make-up because 2013 for me was the year of travel.

One of my Favorite quotes is " The world is a book and those who never travel only read one page of it."

I have always loved going to new place and there are umpteen more on my list and 2013 certainly made a really good go of hopefully a life time of adventures.

One of the first places I went to this year was "The City of Spires" AKA Prague in the Czech Republic. This was somewhere which had been on my list for years and it certainly didn't disappoint. I adore Gothic architecture and a  medieval feel. There were many little streets to get lost down as well as a mini Venice. I would really love the revisit to Christmas time as I think it would be just so picturesque and have a really magical feel to the place.

Just thought I would share a few snaps I took while there.

We stayed in a really cheap hotel as were traveling on a budget think we paid £15 each a night and while it was basic it was clean and the staff were friendly. There were trams running into the city center ever 20min at the cost of about 40p so it was really worth staying a bit further out. There was also a Pizza place juts round the corner where we ate most evenings as a two course meal was about £5.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Review...

I was given this lipstick as a birthday present from my sister this year and boy did she do well. I think I must have squealed in excitement when I saw the gold packaging. Everything about it spells a little glimpse of luxury in one tiny little golden stick. It feels heavy in weight in your hand and the motif crafted into the lipstick just make me sightly too happy for it to be normal!

The lipstick itself  is so creamy in application that you know the packaging is not a wolf in sheep's clothing. The red is deep and screams glamour giving an intense timeless red lip. I have been applying this over a red lip liner just to give it some staying power. I feel confident eating and drinking with this on as it does last and not smudge all over your mouth which with something so creamy you would think it would.

I don't have any other YSL lipsticks although i'm always looking at them on counter. Have you tried or are you lusting over a YSL treasure? Follow my blog with Bloglovin