January favourites and using everything up

These are the products that I've been using and loving this month:

The body shop hemp hand creamI'm constantly washing my hands throughout the day which can leave me with dry hands. However this rich cream is really moisturising and gets rid of any dryness straight away. Its quite thick so you only need to use a little bit and it can take a while to sink in so I only use this once during the day and overnight, but that's enough to leave me with soft hands and keep dryness at bay.

MAC springsheen blushBecause of the lack of sun my skin can look washed out so blusher is a make up essential atm. I love this colour, its a gorgeous peachy pink with a hit of shimmer. It just gives a gorgeous glow to the cheeks without leaving me all glittery (which I hate). I never thought I'd wear anything but matte blusher but this has completely converted me and I wouldn't go back to matte blushers.

Origins modern friction exfoliator

I didn't like this when I first used it as I felt it was too gentle, but its actually a lovely exfoliator. Its got very small particles which is great for a gentle scrub. I use this twice a week and it helps to keep my skin smooth and radiant. Because its so gentle I can spend a while rubbing it into my skin and giving myself a facial massage at the same time.

Primark black eyeliner

I've been applying this to my waterline when going out to define and make my eyes stand out. It applies very easily and doesn't drag on the skin at all. It does need to be reapplied throughout the night but thats fine as its so small you can easily just put it in your bag for touch ups. Such a bargain at a quid as well.

Carmex cherry lipbalmA really great product for soft lips and it smells like a bag of strawberry lances. My friend actually asked me if I was eating sweets when I was applying it. Its got a thicker consistancy than vaseline so doesn't rub off as easily so no need for constant reapplication.

This month has been another slow month for finishing up products but I've managed to finish:

- Garnier clean and fresh cleansing milk
- Lush love juicy shampoo sample
- Nivea young tinted moisture sample
- Mini Lush celestial moisturizer

I'm nearly at the end of several products and I've got loads of samples to use up so hopefully next month the list will be longer.

Would love to know how you're getting on if you're doing something similar.

Marc Jacobs jewellery

At the Maxfactor event a blogger mentioned that there was a discounted Marc Jacobs store nearby, and as expected everyone got very excited and wanted to pay a visit to the shop.

After the event, Maxfactor organised for us to have our eyebrows threaded at Topshop, but a few of us (me included)had ours done recently so decided to go check out this store instead.

Thanks to Muhsine's iphone, me, Muhsine and Lina managed to find our way to the store.

The store had a variety of items for sale, including clothes, bags, jewellery, keyrings and mirrors.

They had some lovely shiny Marc Jacobs wallets for around £15 which I was really tempted to get but decided to be good and leave it as I've already got quite few wallets.

Here's what I ended up buying:

2x Pearl and gold heart bracelet (£1)
Silver ring with 'tibi. in omne tempus' inscribed (£1)

The latin on the ring means 'for you, forever' which I thought was really sweet, but when I got home and put it on (it was wrapped up in tissue paper in a bag), it was bigger than the one I tried on in store which I'm really disappointed about.

If any of you want to go check it out the store is located at: 24-25 Mount St, W1K, which is just off Park Lane.

Aussie and NOTD

It was Australia day on Tuesday and to celebrate Amy organised a party in association with Aussie haircare.

The event was held at the Rainforest Cafe, and on arrival we were given a fruity cocktail as well as drinks vouchers for later on. There was also some Australian BBQ themed food and chocolates for us to munch on.

It was a mix of fashion and beauty bloggers and I met some lovely (and very stylish!) people, including Ling who I'd seen earlier at the Garnier event but didn't get a chance to talk to.

There was also an nail technician there so we had the opportunity to get our nails done, which I took full advantage of :)

A selection of MaxFactor colours were available and I went for a gorgeous dark burgandy colour (similar to Nails Inc Victoria).

At the end we were given a cute purple goodie bag which contained:
- Maxfactor nail varnishes
- Mini Aussie miracle moist shampoo
- Maxfactor mascara
- Handbag table holder
- Tim tam bar

Thanks so much Amy for organising and inviting me to the event :)

Garnier bloggers event

Yesterday Garnier held a blogger's event to promote the new products that they will be releasing. I was lucky enough to be invited for a preview of everything.

The main product is their new line of deodrants which offers 48hrs of non stop protection. These have been in development for several years and contains 'mineralite', which comes from volcanoes and is very absorbent yet at the same time allows the skin to breathe. There are 6 different ones each with its own scent:

- silky
- sensitive
- ultra dry
- extra care
- fresh
- invisible

Garnier organised for a fragrance expert to talk us through the different scents and we were given tester strips so we could smell it for ourselves. Sensitive has a talcy powdery scent and others were were mostly floral fruity scents which I really liked.

Face wash and tinted eye roll on

Styling products and hair dye

As well as the deodrant Garnier have lots of skincare, haircare and suncare products being launched this year. Some of my favourite products are the high factor tanning oil (which smelt really tropical), a really fresh smelling aftersun lotion, a tinted eye roll on and a new self tanning gel.

Aftersun lotion and self tan gel

The gorgeous smelling tanning oil

I love the way the products are displayed, so picturesque!

Garnier said that they would email us some more information about the products, which I will post about once I receive their email. We were also generously given a goodie bag filled with the entire range of deodrants to try out:

I was quite nervous as it was my first event but everyone was so lovely and I really enjoyed meeting other beauty bloggers. Sorry I left quite quickly at the end, I was walking with Jen to the lifts and didn't realise everyone was still hanging around upstairs. so didn't get a chance to properly talk to everyone. Hopefully there'll be other events in the future :)

Tea tree oil

My skin's been playing up a lot since Christmas (probably a combo of bad diet and exam stress) so during the Xmas sales I popped into Superdrug and picked up some spot treatment.

The tea tree oil caught my eye and as its meant to be naturally anti-septic and anti-bacterial so I thought I might as well give it a try and see how it compares to the likes of Clearsil.

The product comes in a mini bottle which I wasn't keen on as the oil comes out either really slowly or really fast so you end up with too much but that aside I've been quite impressed with it.

It doesn't make spots disappear but it helps to dry it out and make it smaller and less red.Even though its an oil I can still wear it during the day without any problems, I just dab on a tiny bit during the day but at night time I like to use a bit more and massage it into the skin.

I've been using it for nearly over a month and the oil has hardly gone down in the bottle. Would definitely recommend this if you want a more natural spot treatment.

Giveaway- Skin MD natural shielding lotion

I recently reviewed this lotion (read my review here) and Skin MD has offered to give one of you lovely readers a chance to try out this lotion, so to be in with a chance of winning enter my giveaway:

The rules:
- The giveaway is open to UK and international readers
- Leave a comment saying 'enter me'
- Go to http://www.skinmdnatural.com and tell me one fact that you've learnt from the website
- Be a follower of my blog
- The competition will end at midnight on 12th Feb and a winner choosen using random.org
- Skin MD will ship the prize directly to the winner.

Good luck!

Bargain reads

Whilst out shopping I spotted this modern entertaining receipe book in Whsmith for the bargain price of £5. It has a colour photo of every dish and its split into the different dining occasions (eg. picnics and formal dinner parties) and each occasion has several menu options.


Although its supposed to be for entaining the dishes are all fairly easy and they don't require a long list of ingredients. I can definitely see myself cooking most of the dishes for lunch or dinner, would definitely recommend if you enjoy food and cooking.

I also quickly popped into the poundshop for some washing up gloves (very glamorous) but whilst trying to find the gloves I came across Coleen's real style. I've really started to get into clothes and fashion so I thought I might as well give it a read, especially as its only £1! I'll do a review once I've had a chance to sit down and read the whole book.

Have you brought any books recently?

Happy 101

Thank you to the gorgeous Sadie (Butterfly wings) for giving me this award. For this award I have to list 10 things that make me happy and do at least one of them today. I then have to pass this award onto 10 other bloggers.

So the 10 things that make me happy are:

1. My friends and boyfriendI love hanging out with my friends and my lovely boyfriend and I always feel much happier after spending some time with them.

2. ReadingIts so nice and relaxing to settle down with a good book to read.

3. Eating outI love my food and when you eat out it always seems to taste nicer. One of my favourites treats is dim sum which is delicious.

4. ShoppingIts called retail therapy for a reason. I love going shopping and coming home with nice new things.

5. American dramasThe drama, the glamour and the escapism! There are so many good programmes to choose from: Gossip girl, The Hills, Greys anatomy and Ugly Betty to name a few.

6. Pampering sessionsI love taking some time out to pamper myself and I always feel much better after a pampering session.

7. HolidaysDaily life can be very hectic so its nice to get away from it all sometimes.

8. ChocolateNo explanation needed lol!

9. SwimmingI'm not a big fan of exercise but I really enjoy swimming and always feel better after a session.

10. LondonI came to London 4 years ago for uni and like anyone I've had my ups and downs but the city is amazing and I've spend some of the happiest moments of my life in this great city.

Instead of choosing 10 bloggers I'm going to tag everyone for this award. If you do this post please let me know in the comments or link me to your post as I'd love to know what your answers are.

Skin MD natural face, hand and body shielding lotion

A while ago I was contacted by Skin MD natural and asked if I wanted to try out their moisturizer, the product seemed interesting as its a shielding lotion rather than a body lotion and I was interested in how it would compare so I said yes and they kindly sent me a bottle all the way from America.


The shielding lotion is a very light, almost watery white lotion that sinks immediately into the skin so there is no greasy afterfeel. When I was applying it I noticed it had a medicated smell to it but once applied it didn't smell of anything so I was able to apply perfume without worrying about clashing scents.

I wasn't expecting it to be very moisturizing as it was such a light lotion but I was proved wrong as it got rid of any dry patches and my skin definitely felt moisturized and smooth. Because its so light it spreads very easily and you don't need much each time. Its quick and easy to apply making it perfect for an everyday moisturizer.

It can also be used as a facial moisturizer.

Skin MD natural have also kindly offered to give one of my readers a chance to try out this moisturizer so look out for my giveaway post :)

Awards

Thanks to the lovely Lauren (Paris boutique) and Caz (thisiscaz) for nominating me for this award.

The rules for this award are as follows:
- Thank the blogger who awarded you and link her.
- Put the picture of the award in your blog.
- Award 7 bloggers and link them.
- Tell us 7 random facts about yourself!

I'm going to tag the following bloggers for this award:
Ellie
Emily
Meg
Lilylipstick
Dreams that glitter
Pyxie
Random London girl

And my 7 random facts are:
1. I'm currently in my 4th year of uni in London.
2. I'm an August baby, making me a Leo.
3. I love Australian soaps and have been watching Home and Away and Neighbours on and off for years.
4. My favourite movies are romantic comedies and I hate anything gory.
5. I have the biggest phobia of pigeons (not a good thing living in London lol).
6. I really want to visit America (especially New York) and Australia someday
7. My one beauty essential would be moisturizer.

I was also tagged for the You're a doll award by Georgie (so full of twilight dreams that glitter), Thank you lovely:

Rules for the award:

- Link back the person who awarded you
- Select 5 bloggers who you think are dolls
- Tell us about a character in a book/movie you're most like
- Post the picture on your blog if you like it

I'm going to pass this award onto:
Sparkles and Lipgloss
Michelle
Daisy
Abby
Katy

Fashion, beauty and chocolate offers

Just a quick post about some of the current offers around:


1. New look are currently offering a 20% student discount.

2. Boots are giving away a £5 No 7 voucher with all purchases over £5.

3. From Monday 18th Jan Lush will be selling a 'Head shoulders knees and toes' gift set for £12.50. This gift set contains 9 full and sample sized items and is meant to be worth over £17.

4. You can get a free Barry M beauty kit at Superdrug (containing an eye pencil, eyeshadow, nail varnish, lipgloss and cosmetic bag) when you collect 4 tokens from the News of the World's 'Fabulous' magazine from Sun 17th Jan.

5. On Monday 18th Jan go to any Thorntons store for a free Melts chocolate. One million chocolates will be given away throughout the country.

Hope this post is helpful x

Review- I love juicy shampoo

I've been a little obsessed with all things Lush recently and on one of my many visits to the store I picked up some of this shampoo to try out. Here's my review:

Product: Lush I love juicy shampoo


Price: £4.20 -£13.45

What they say:I Love Juicy is an amazingly fruity shampoo for getting your hair really clean. It is genuinely juicy, too, with our vitamin and mineral-packed fruit mixture as a base, loads of cleansing organic papaya and kiwi with citrus oils for shine, toning and fruity fragrance. Washing with a fruit and seaweed mix removes grease and softens the hair. Don't be dirty, be fabulously fruity.

What I think: The thing that attracted me to this shampoo was how lovely and citrusy it smelt and in that aspect it didn't disappoint. The shampoo lathers up well - you only need a small blob each time and it smelt great whenever I used it. I have fine hair that needs washing every 2 days and to be honest this shampoo didn't do anything for my hair. My hair didn't feel particularly clean when I washed it and by the second morning it felt a bit greasy and I needed to dry shampoo. In fact it made more hair get greasy quicker compared to my usual shampoos.

Rating: 4/10

Would I repurchase: No, it smells great and lathers up well but its not as good as my other shampoos.

I only went to the supermarket...

The other day whilst I was out food shopping in Aldi I saw these cute Ugg style slippers on sale and they were so warm and comfy that I just had to get them, especially as it was freezing cold that day. Plus they were a bargain at £4.99.


I also picked up the famous Aldi nourishing anti-wrinkle night cream as I've nearly finished my current moisturizer and there's been so many good reviews for this cream I thought I might as well give it a try. I will post a review once I've tried it out properly :)


Over the years I've used some really good supermarket own brand beauty products (like the Aldi handcream) but for some reason I just never think of it as a place to pick up toiletries.

Have you been impressed with any supermarket beauty purchases?

Product rave- No 7 sheer temptation lipstick in Entice

I've always been more of a lipgloss than a lipstick girl so this is the perfect lipstick for me. Since I've brought it its been my go to lipstick and I wear it all the time.


As the name suggests its a lovely sheer lightly pigmented lipstick that adds a hint of colour to the lips and has a glossy finish. Entice is a gorgeous berry colour and because the lipstick is lightly pigmented it looks very natural and can be worn during the daytime as well as for going out (I usually apply a few more layers for a deeper colour).


The thing I like best about this lipstick is how non-drying it is. Normally I have to apply lipbalm underneath but this one glides onto my lips really smoothly and leaves my lips feeling very glossy and moisturized. Because its a lipstick its not as sticky as a lipgloss and the colour lasts longer as well.

It retails at £9.50 but Boots regularly do £5 off No 7 vouchers and I will definitely be buying another colour next time I get a voucher.

Have you tried any of the make up from No 7?

Awards

Thank you to the very fashionable Missy for tagging me for the Diamonds award:


There doesn't appear to be any rules with this award so I'm just going to pass this onto:

Princesa Livia
Lauren's dressing room
Xcharleym0ox
Paris boutique

The gorgeous Charlotte also tagged me for the Friend's award, thank you lovely :)


I'm going to pass this award onto these 4 lovely ladies who I often talk to on Twitter:

Louise
Jo
Sinead
Juicygirl

I'm regularly on Twitter, so if you fancy a chat click here to follow me x

Snow!

How pretty does everything look in the snow?



Last year when it snowed in February all uni lectures got cancelled and I ended up going out to the park with a group of friends to build snowmen and have a massive snowball fight, followed by hot chocolate and dinner afterwards.

It was just such a fun day and it was nice to do something a bit different and act like little kids again, especially as we've not had much snow in recent years. A few photos from February:


Have you had much snow where you live?