January - Sick And Tired!

January started off on an iffy note (to say the least!) but I got back from London and decided to get on with things, be all positive and stuff. Jazz hands and everything. I'm the kind of person that when one bad thing happens, I just go in to a mindset of constantly over-thinking and anticipating when the next bad thing is going to happen. 

Sure enough, the bad things happened in threes (typical), so safe to say, I'm ready to write January off and start over again in February. Life isn't so bad, though. I'm going to sit here and think about what I've done this month, and remember what things I did that made things brighter!

Get The Glow With Oskia Skincare

Get The Glow With Oskia Skincare

There is a bit of a hype in the world of beauty surrounding British skincare brand, Oskia. I've been hearing how amazing and effective their products are and I couldn't wait to try it for myself! The science behind it is that Oskia produces skincare that are designed to rebuild the skin's health using a range of bio-available such as vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to boost elasticity, plumping it's appearance, brighten up lack-lustre dullness, and target dark circles and hyper-pigmentation. Sounds good to me!

Get Your Eyebrows ON FLEEK with Tweezerman

Eeeeks! Did I actually just say the phrase 'ON FLEEK'? Yep. Yes I did. And I totally can't pull it off, can I? That would be a big fat NOPE!

I'm thankful that my brows are low maintenance, and I can tidy them up myself. With the money I save on not getting my brows done professionally, I can use it on some high quality beauty grooming tools/products to get my brows into shape from the likes of HD Brow, Benefit, and Tweezerman!

TWEEZERMAN | THE BEAUTY TOOL EXPERTS

Mandara Spa - Bath and Body

Mandara Spa is a luxurious yet affordable range of bath and body care inspired by natural ingredients used in Mandara Spa treatments. I've never been to Mandara Spa before but a quick search on Google will tell you where you'll find them... and it's with no surprise, their spas are partnered worldwide with luxury resorts such as The Hilton in Honolulu, The Atlantis in Bahamas, and The Marriot in Aruba - sounds SO dreamy and exotic. Literally a million miles from my current sitch. 

BUT.... with these Mandara Spa products, you can kind of pretend you're in an exotic destination... Ok, I tried, but I'm not kidding anyone here, am I?! Using these products really isn't going to get you any closer to Hawaii (unfortunately) but the idea is so that you can create the experience in the comfort of your home. But let's face it, we'd rather to experience it in the comfort of Hawaii. Am I right, ladies? I'm the first to admit it when a product evokes a memory but this just teasing, haha! The only thoughts I have when I'm using this range is "I want to be on holiday"... Well, I better start saving then.

Body Fantasies Perfume Sprays Launching In The UK

I love it when popular beauty products make it to the UK! It’s time to get excited, beauty fans, for American’s No.1* selling  perfume body sprays, Body Fantasies, is launching in the UK! Arriving in Superdrug stores and online from February, Body Fantasies are developed by leading designer-fragrance perfumers with a higher concentration of fragrance oils that last longer on the skin than other high street body sprays. 

BODY FANTASIES LAUNCHING IN THE UK

4 Things I'm Loving At The Moment

I haven’t done a Monthly Favourites blogpost in such a long time. I’ve been meaning to and I actually have so many photos backlogged, ready for the blogpost to be written but I can’t seem to get back in to it. Instead, I’ll ease myself in with a mini one. So here are 4 nice things I am currently loving at the moment and they all come from this month's Love Me Beauty.

Soap & Glory Lipsticks

Soap & Glory Lipsticks

Left to right: Guavarama, Man Trap, Perfect Day

I bet most of you didn't realise that Soap & Glory do lipsticks? And bloomin' good lipsticks they are too! You would be forgiven for not knowing because due to the popularity of the lipglosses (stealing the limelight) the lipsticks can be overlooked. I actually didn't think that much about them until I grabbed some freebies from work which included these three beautiful lipsticks.

I’ve had this blogpost in my drafts for couple of months and I thought I had plenty of time to write this up, I’ve read from other beauty bloggers that Soap & Glory may be discontinuing the Sexy Mother Pucker Lipstick Satin range. I’ve still seen them in Boots and it’s still available from the Boots website but it they may be phasing it out of the cosmetics range any day now. If that’s true, then it’s time to stock up, girls!

Gold Pineapple Necklace | Quirky Jewellery

My taste in jewellery is ever-changing but the one ‘theme’ that runs through all of the pieces that I have in my collection is that they’re quirky and have a meaning behind why I chose it. I’d say I’m quite fussy when it comes to jewellery. I’m not one for a big sparkler or anything shiny (nothing expensive… I’ll only lose it!) I like pieces that represent a part of my personality and if you check out one of my past blogpost featuring just some of the quirky jewellery I have… you will notice that I’m kind of a fan of pineapples! Who isn’t!?

MAC Blush in Desert Rose (With Swatch) | Beauty Review

MAC describes the Desert Rose powder blush as a soft reddish-burgundy. Yes, it’s got a reddish tone but I wouldn’t have thought to call it a burgundy shade....Would you?! I don't know about you but I would consider it a dusty, dirty rose pink. It looks really pretty in the pan and every prettier on skin. 

MAC DESERT ROSE | BEAUTY REVIEW

When it comes to MAC blushes (or any MAC product, in fact) my budget doesn’t stretch that far for me to be experimental with perhaps a more vibrant blush or that deep purple lipstick I’ve been wanting to try for ages, so therefore, I like to choose colours that I can get the most out of, the ones that are suitable to wear on a daily basis.

City Trip: Two Days In London

At the start of the week, my Mum and I made our way to London. It was a trip we had to make to clear out my flat and hand the keys back to the landlord. Things are NEVER straight-forward with letting agencies in London and I found myself in a bit of bother. They didn’t honour their word (why am I even surprised by that?!) and they made mistakes for which I had to cover the cost. Agencies and their dirty tricks, hey?! Get in the fucking sea.

As a result, I am down by £480 which is a really rotten way to begin the New Year and I am still extremely upset about it. But if I’m being positive and looking on the bright side of life, at least I had an extra two days off to (try) enjoy the Capital city with Mum and spending some quality time with her was so great. Every silver lining! I couldn't take my proper camera with me but I managed to capture a few moments on my iPhone. Sorry if they are a little fuzzy!

The £25 Homeware Haul

I like to buy a few things for the house in the New Year and it just so happens that January is THE best time to shop for homeware. With all the January sales happening right now, it is so easy to get carried away. The first of my homeware haul comes from Dotcomgiftshop* and I got 5 items for £25.75, and you can read about it in full on their website where I blogged for them.

Here's what you can expect to see when you pop over to Dotcomgiftshop's blog where you'll also find more information on the products and prices.

6 High Street Beauty Buys Under £10

Parties, girls night out, birthday celebrations, evening dinners, the weekend. There is always an occasion to get dolled up for. And if your bank account has taken a bit of a battering over Christmas like mine has, you might want to feast your eyes on this wonderful bunch of affordable beauty products - all of which are under £10.

Birchbox x Pinterest - January 2016 Edition

YAY! The first beauty post on my blog and it’s dedicated to the ever-awesome Birchbox*. For January 2016, Birchbox has teamed up with Pinterest. Uh, only one of my favourite social media platforms ever! I know I keep saying this with every brand that Birchbox partners up with but seriously, them teaming up with Pinterest is the most perfect, especially if you’re a beauty blogger!

BIRCHBOX TEAMS UP WITH PINTEREST FOR JANUARY 2016 EDITION

The idea of teaming up with Pinterest is for Birchbox to help inspire us to make 2016 the best year ever. Whatever inspiration I’m seeking, my first point of call is Pinterest. Always Pinterest. And whilst I’m remaining a realist and not putting pressure on myself to make 2016 the ‘best year ever’, having a beautiful box of beauty products to try, along with positive and inspirational illustrations certainly makes it the best start to the year!

A Glimpse Of My Desk Space

I can't believe the Christmas holidays are over and it's back to work we go! How am I going to function?!? Luckily for me, I'm actually visiting London for a couple of days with my Mum so I've still got two more days off - but as I'll be zipping around the city running errands, it's not going the most relaxing trip. Maybe I'll take those two days as an opportunity to adjust to reality. Anyway, when I return, I'll be hitting the work load at full force. To ease myself back into work mode, I have decluttered my work space in preparation for the first day back.

My 9 Goals For Blogging

Whenever I set goals for my blog, I set myself for a fail. I'm too ambitious or unrealistic or something. I find myself wanting to do far too much in such a short space of time. I don't know why I'm in such a hurry, the constant push takes the fun out of blogging. So first things first. LET'S PUT THE FUN BACK IN TO BLOGGING. Ok. What next? What else do I want for my blog in 2016?

My 2016 Goals For Blogging

Cut The Crap. Let That Shit Go. Don't Sweat The Small Stuff.

How many more cliches can we fit in? Cut The Crap. Let That Shit Go. Don't Sweat It. Don't Worry, Be Happy. New Year, New Me. Ok, I'm all out.

It is, of course, the first day of a brand new year and as we enter into 2016 feeling refreshed (albeit a little hungover) and full of gusto, we think about the things we'd like to change about ourselves and our lifestyle. 

The reality is that nothing really changes or disappears at the stroke of midnight and we've all got things we've yet to let go of (YEP! That'll be me!). That's ok, let's take our time and work through it!

In this blogpost, I don't want to focus on my New Years resolution - because I'm still a bit hazy on what they actually are, I haven't put much thought in to them this year. All I know is that I'm not going to step foot in a gym this year,  I have no addictions to give up, I already eat a lot of vegetables, blah blah blah. I do want to capture more memories but I already do that already too. I don't know. I do know that I want to make it a really great year for myself and in order to do that, I need to continue to work on how I can change or let go of little things to make myself a HAPPIER person.