Thursday 26 February 2015

What's On My Phone?

Hello!

I like being nosey and seeing what people have on their phones, in their bags etc (from blogs/YouTube of course, not just physically snooping through people's stuff!) so I thought I would do a 'What's On My Phone?' post.

Let's start with what phone I have. I have the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. It is an alright phone I've had for a year but now my messages freeze so much! 

My lock screen is a photo of me and my boyfriend that I really like.

My home screen photo is a photo of my nephew, Laithan. I usually alternate between this photo and a photo of my niece Lisa-Mae so it's fair! As you can see on my homescreen I keep all my most used apps which are all my main social ones including the camera for quick photo taking.

So here is my first page of apps. I have various social apps like SnapChat and the weather app to help me decide what to wear everyday! The downside of having an Android phone is that you are forced to have unnecessary apps already downloaded on your phone that you can't uninstall so I made a folder called 'The Unnecessaries' which I've put them all in.

Of course as a Blogger I have the BlogLovin app which I find amazing to be able to see all blog posts from my favourite bloggers at one time. I can spend ages on this app!


Another example of an app I have is the My Day Countdown App. I am one of those people who like to countdown to all upcoming events no matter how far away they are and here is one of them which is mine and my boyfriend's Year & A Half anniversary.


I also have a 'Photo' folder where I have the camera and Instagram. I also have an app which I use to resize photos so they will fit on Instagram

 Here is the second page of my apps. Not much of a page but it has some decent apps on it!

 Here is my 'Travel' folder. I am beginning my gap year after June so I've been using these apps to look at places I might like to travel to. I love TripAdvisor for seeing different locations and reviews. I use the National Rail app to plan train journeys for holidaying in the UK and maps to see how far away things are, ie how close a hotel is to a train station!

 One of the most important apps on my phone is my Timetable app. I use this everyday for Sixth Form as it keeps tracks of what lessons I have and when, when exams are and any tasks I have to do. If you're in education I strongly recommend this app as it is an excellent planner and timetable that is colour-coded, organised and just amazing. I've used this for well over a year now and haven't looked back.

The TimeHop app enables you to see things you have posted on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter over the years to the date. Mine goes as far back as 5 years and it is interesting to see how something you were doing 3 years ago is similar to what you're doing right now. It reminds you of things you forgot but seeing Facebook statuses from 5 years ago can make you cringe quite a bit!

 Finally, of course, I have the YouTube app which I much prefer over using the desktop version of YouTube. It keeps good track of all my subscriptions and I cannot go a day without using it.



So there we have it! I used to have lots of games on my phone but my memory is too full now.
What apps do you have on your phone? Let me know!


Tuesday 24 February 2015

Lush | Dashing Santa

Hey!

So you might be thinking...why are you reviewing a lush product from Christmas? Well, I thought it would be a waste not to review it plus it comes out every Christmas so you can remember for the next one! I like reading Lush reviews no matter what product it is personally.

So Dashing Santa is a really nice bath bomb of  Santa carrying presents for all the boys and girls. It is nice seeing a bath bomb like this that isn't your typical spherical bomb!
Dashing Santa is a slow fizzer that travels around the bath slowly and keeps it's general shape. I like this as it looks like Santa really is dashing around the place! The water begins red and yellow which then turns in to a coral/orange which I think is BEAUTIFUL. Definitely one of my favourite coloured baths I have received from a bath bomb!

I really like this. It makes a great Christmas present for your friends and is generally fun.It doesn't really smell of anything in my opinion but it does make for a stunning bath colour.

Did you use Dashing Santa? Let me know!


Sunday 22 February 2015

Get Ready With Me | Family Night Out

Hey!

Last night I went out for a big family meal and then went to the pub with my boyfriend afterwards. It was a good night out in town and I thought I would do my first 'Get Ready With Me' post!

First of all I had a shower and brushed my teeth. My face wash was my usual Tea Tree face wash from The Body Shop and I exfoiliated my body with Soap & Glory The Scrub of Your Life (review here). I also used a cranberry shower gel from The Body Shop.

Next I moisturised my face with my Neutrogena Visibly Clear Moisturiser (review here). I used my Nivea lip balm (review here) and then used the Maybelline Baby Skin primer (review here).

Then it was time to do my make up. Here I've listed what I used what I used and a lot of them will be links to a review I have written about them:


This look was all about the eyes. I first drawn a line across my eye with the L'oreal eyeliner and a wing-like line coming out the side and blended it all out to look smokey. I then used my Sleek Storm palette to use a golden shimmer on the middle of my eyelid then a lighter pink-ish shimmer in the corner of my eye. I blended these together and then used my Soap&Glory Supercat eyeliner to do a flick. This was the finished product:


For perfume I used Nina Ricci.

It was then time to put my outfit on! My dress is by the brand Banned but I bought it from Blue Banana. It is a classy black dress with a halterneck and a spiderweb on the back which I absolutely love!


I paired my dress with black tights with a little stick on diamond shapes along them but I don't know where they are from as I got them for Christmas.


Finally I put on my favourite boots ever which are chunky cleated sole boots from here.

So there we have it! Please let me know what you think of this- should I do more get ready with me posts in the future? Let me know!


Thursday 19 February 2015

Nail Art | Cats


Hey!


As I sat and wondered what to do for my next nail design my boyfriend suggested to me that I should do cats jokingly. But I thought, actually- challenge accepted! I am a total cat lover so this is perfect for me.

First I painted my nails with a base coat. I then painted the the tips of my nails in a strip of black. Then, using a black striper I had drawn half a circle on top of the stripe and coloured it in for the head. Still using the striper I then filled in two triangles on the head for ears. I allowed all this to dry.

Next I used a white striper to fill in two small eyes. I heard you can also use a toothpick for this but for some reason I always struggle with toothpicks. The white is so you can make the green eyes pop against the black. I then got a neon green nail polish and used a thin paintbrush to go over the white. I allowed this to dry.

Last but not least I used the black striper to draw lines down the eyes for the pupils that look like slits.

I recommend using a very good top coat for this design as you don't want your new design that you've put hard work into to chip within one day! However I'd definitely leave it a while before applying a top coat otherwise you're bound to streak the design and ruin it. I did my nails before I went to bed and then applied a top coat after I woke up.

As for my thumb, I had some sticker letters I wanted to try out so I decided to have 'Meow' across my thumb which is optional. I topped this off by painting the tip of my nail black which I also did on my left hand as there was no way I could paint cats with my non-writing hand!

What do you think? I got this idea from CutePolish on YouTube so be sure to check her out!





PS- Have you seen the film How To Train Your Dragon? If so, don't you think my cats look like Toothless?!

Tuesday 17 February 2015

The Liebster Award


Hey!

I did the Liebster Award about a year ago at the beginning of my blog but I have been tagged again by the lovely Ellie so I thought I would give it another go! Thanks Ellie!

>The Rules:
- First thank and mention the person who nominated you

- Then answer the questions they asked you
- Nominate up to 11 blogs
- Think of 11 questions to ask your nominees
- And finally notify all the people you nominated


1. You've had a bad day, what do you do to cheer yourself up?

I have a bath using one of my Lush bath bombs or bubble bars and either watch something on Netflix, read a book or watch my favourite YouTubers. Always works!

2. Who are your #WomanCrushWednesday and #ManCrushMonday ?

My man crush ultimately is my boyfriend but I cannot resist Jensen Ackles and Ian Somerhalder ;-) As for female I have had a massive crush on Taylor Momsen since I was 13 years old and I always admire the SuicideGirls.

3. Favourite fail-safe make up products?

My Collection Lasting Perfection concealer. It never lets me down! 

4. Are you more of a (sassy) bold eye or (sassy) bold lip kind of girl?

This was a really difficult one to choose between as I love doing both but I think I will have to go with a bold lip. A classic red or purple lips are my favourite!

5. Favourite High End Makeup brand?

I never buy any high end make up as I don't have a lot of money to spend on the make up. The most I have ever spent on make up is Gimme Brow! from Benefit.

6. Favourite Drugstore Makeup brand?

I honestly don't have a favourite brand but by looking at my make up collection you can see I like a lot of stuff from Maybelline and L'oreal. My favourite drugstore make up brand for the base of my make up however is Collection.

7. Hair up or down?

Down, always! I've never been a fan of wearing my hair up and only do it when I'm washing my face. Boring I know but I don't feel my hair suits me tied up!

8. Summer or Autumn? Why?

The Summer because it generally puts everyone in a much more happy cheery mood and you can go do things outside without being cold or dealing with much rain! (I say much rain because I live in England so it will still rain haha)

9. Favourite Meal?

I love tomato pasta and pasta parcels which I have regularly every week but I also love my Nan's roast dinner on a Sunday. No roast dinner I have ever tried as ever beaten hers!

10. Favourite Disney film/ princess?

I really like Tangled as it is a funny film with good songs and I can relate to Rapunzel in the fact that I used to have super long hair and I never seem to go out and explore the world! However Frozen is also fantastic for brilliant Disney songs.

I also quite like Mulan as she is super cool and won't let anyone mess with her haha.

11. What is your favourite clothing shop?

My favourite clothing shop is Blue Banana which isn't really a common favourite amongst bloggers but it is where I get the majority of my clothes! I really love alternative and weird clothing and Blue Banana is fantastic for that.

So now it is my turn to come up with questions! My questions are:

1. What is your favourite red lipstick?
2. Do you buy more high end or drugstore make up products?
3. What is your favourite way to do eyeliner? A thin line? A flick? Or a cat eye?
4. Lipgloss or lipstick?
5. What has been the most disappointing make up product for you?
6. What is your holy grail skincare product?
7. How long does it take you to do your make up?
8. What is your favourite film and why?
9. Why did you decide to create a blog?
10. If you had to get a tattoo right now what would you get and where?
11. What do you do to relax?

I tag Alicia, Emily and anyone else who wants to do this.


Friday 13 February 2015

Lush | Unicorn Horn Bubble Bar [Valentine's Day Range]

Hey!




In mark of Valentine's Day tomorrow I thought I would review the Unicorn Horn bubble bar. for you guys from Lush's Valentine's Day range.

I have had my eye on this bubble bar since the day Lush released their Valentine's range and although I am supposed to be on a spending ban I just couldn't resist getting this. I mean look how cute it is!

It is a multi-coloured horn which I had great fun in holding on my forehead and making what I believed to be Unicorn noises. What made it even cuter was that it has multiple little stars on it!

Last night I used just over half of the bubble bar to run a bath. Whilst running it under the tap it created lots of bursts of colour. It also created lots of lovely bubbles and although you cannot see it in the photo the water was a hint of pastel purple which I thought was quite nice. The stars also lasted the experience and hung out at the bottom of my bath to add to the effect.

The only problem I have with this bubble bar is the smell. The bubble bar is a lavender one and smells highly of it which you can also smell in the water/bubbles. Although this is a good thing that it has a long-lasting smell- I hate lavender! But although I can't stand lavender I ignored it for the sake of having a Unicorn Horn.

Depending on how large you have your baths and how many bubbles you like I reckon this bubble bar can be used for 2 baths. It is super cute and I would buy it for others and again for myself. I definitely recommend picking it up for yourself- you don't need a partner to buy it for you this Valentine's Day! It may even be on sale after the day of love. It is such a fun treat and I hope it comes out again next Valentine's Day.

Have you got the Unicorn Horn? Let me know!
Have a nice Valentine's Day!

Tuesday 10 February 2015

Lush | Shoot for the Stars

Hey! 
For ages I debated whether to upload this review or not as this bath bomb called Shoot for the Stars only comes out at Christmas. In the end I decided I may as well seeing as had already taken the photos and it would be a shame to waste them. Also, at least people can see what it is like so they know for next Christmas!

Shoot for the Stars is a beautiful bath bomb that is blue with a white and yellow shooting star through it and specks of pink. It is very beautiful and draws you in immediately. The bomb is a very slow fizzer which I like about bath bombs and it spins continuously around the bath. I don't like it when bath bombs fizz out quickly or don't move around- it ruins the fun! The bath bomb actually seems to last forever and when you think "surely there is nothing left?"- you're wrong! It's still going!
The bath bomb releases various shades of blue and purple which is stunning. They're my favourite colours! But as it goes on it turns to a gorgeous dark purple with silver glitter which look like stars in the sky. 

Something else good about this bath bomb is that it feels soft on the skin. I don't know how to describe it exactly but somehow it makes the water soft which you just want to rub into your skin.

I couldn't pinpoint a smell for this bath bomb. I looked it up and apparently it is sweet caramel honey but I personally didn't smell that. 

In conclusion I love this bath bomb. It ticks all the right boxes for me and I actually got two of these bath bombs which is a rare occurrence for me to use a bath bomb more than once. It's a shame it is just for Christmas! I will certainly keep this in mind when buying Christmas presents for Christmas 2015.

What Lush Christmas product do you wish they kept all year round? Let me know!

Sunday 8 February 2015

Max Factor Colour Correcting Green Stick

Hello!

Whenever I apply make up without I doubt I use a green corrector stick first. I have a lot of redness I want to cover up and I have gone through countless amounts of green corrector sticks of different kinds and this is one of them: the Max Factor CC Stick.

Max Factor have many colour correcting sticks for different issues but this is a green one for redness. It looks like a chubby crayon and is in a pen-like tube which you can twist up from the end.

I can definitely say this does the job. Because of its shape it is easy to get into corners like the corners of your nose and then you can turn it on its side to cover larger areas. I just swipe it over my redness, apply my foundation then taa-dah, it's done.

Taking into account I use this every single day and over the majority of my face, this lasted me about a month and a half. I've only got two minor issues with it: the smell and the price.

It smells like plastic. It doesn't make your face smell like plastic luckily when you take the top off you are greeted by the smell of plastic which I haven't experienced with other colour correcting sticks.

The price is £8.99 which makes it the most expensive colour correcting stick I have used however this is my second one so it obviously isn't completely off-putting. Although this stick is easier to use than others and doesn't break like others I think I will stick to cheaper ones.

Do you use any colour correcting items?

Thursday 5 February 2015

Nivea Essential Care Lip Balm & Lip Butter


Hey guys!

I have way too many lip balms to get through so when I saw I had received these for Christmas I thought "That's 2 more to add to my long list of balms to get through" but it turns out I am really glad to have gotten these.

The formula for these are amazing. They slide on beautifully without any drag and are super moisturising that you'd think it would stay on the surface of your lips without soaking in for ages but they don't! They are fantastic for really chapped lips and will soak in a decent amount time so you don't have to wait long to put on lipstick afterwards.

I prefer the lip balm stick as it is quicker to put on in the mornings and doesn't mean you have to dig into it and get balm underneath your nails (a common problem for me!) however I LOVE the way the lip butter looks! I don't know what it is but it looks so satisfying opening the tin and running your finger over the balm!

I really congratulate Nivea on the perfect formula it is the best I have found in lip products! Usually my holy grail is for lip balm is Carmex but I think I have found an even better one! If I didn't already have so many lip balms to get through I would certainly repurchase them and no doubt I will recommend them to others or give as a little filler present!

Have you used the Nivea lip balm/lip butter?





Tuesday 3 February 2015

Nails | 2 Shades of Blue

Hey!

Here are my nails for the week. I have used Essie's 'Lapiz of Luxury' and 'No more film' which are a colder blue and a navy blue. On my middle finger I have used a bow sticker as I didn't have enough time to do some real nail art which I got from a nail art set from Seventeen which you can read about here.

I love these colours and think they look lovely together.

What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Sunday 1 February 2015

January Favourites

Hello!

I didn't do a favourites post in December as I didn't really have any favourites but this month I am back with a few things that I've been loving!

1. Essie Nail Polish (Mint Candy Apple and Jiggle Hi Jiggle Lo): This month I have been wearing these two Essie polishes on my nails and I think the colours are just absolutely beautiful. To see my post on them, click here.

2. Nivea Essential Care Lip Balm: I absolutely love this lip balm. It is super moistiesing, feels soft, easy to apply and doesn't take long to soak in. A post will be coming up soon!

3. Max Factor CC Stick: My usual green skin corrector wasn't in the shop so I needed to find a replacement and this is what I found. A review will be coming up soon on this but lets say I absolutely love it for getting rid of redness!

4. The Body Shop Mango Mist: This has been a daily wear for me this month. I spritz it on over my clothes in the morning and I am greeted with a lovely exotic mango smell. To see my post on it, click here.

Other favourites of mine this month include the book 'Gone Girl' which I thought was absolutely amazing! It had me hooked and I couldn't put it down until I finished it. I highly recommend it. I also really enjoyed new boots I had gotten for Christmas which were from New Look I believe. I wear them pretty much daily!
What were your favourites this month? Let me know!