Travel: New York

New York:

I went to New York in late October so this is kind of a late blog post on it but here it finally is!
After this 5 day trip I have totally fallen in love with New York. Before I went I was exited but a bit nervous about all the crowds of people and have overwhelming I thought it was going to be.
We went with family friends and because there were 7 of us, we were lucky enough to book a limousine to pick us up from JFK when we arrived which really set the trip of to an amazing start.

We did so many of the famous and iconic things to do while in New York. We decided to not to go up the Empire State as you would have the picture of the safety cage in your pictures and you wouldn't actually have the Empire State in your actually pictures once you got to the top. So we went up the Rockefeller Centre instead, which I would recommend to everyone.
My favourite thing we did was when we woke up early one morning and went to Grand Central Station for breakfast and had a look around. It's really pretty and we even went back for lunch to the oyster bar and had the best oysters I have tasted in a long time.
I of course did lots of other things including several shopping trips to Sephora as we don't have it here in the UK. I got this Too Faced Grande Hotel Café Christmas gift set which contains 3 palettes. Each with 6 eyeshadows and ether a blush or bronzer in each too. I would totally recommend it for the holiday season or for Christmas gift. Along with being beautiful and looking amazing, they also smell really good.
So overall if you ever get the opportunity to go to New York take it and enjoy every moment. Even though this blog post was short and hopefully sweet! I hope it gave you a little insight into my trip and what I loved.
 But if you have any questions or want any tips feel free to leave me a comment below.

My healthy eating journey...

I starting being a pescatarian when I was around 5 and stopped when I was 14 as too many things around me were tempting me into meat again especially salami! But after a year and a half break I am back pescatarian as I felt when I was eating meat, my diet became a lot more unhealthy as I wasn't thinking about what was being put in my mouth and instead eating everything and anything. Which was not great as it was making me feel not so great inside. I decided to change things around 3 months ago and I thought instead of putting in 50 percent effort, I was going to put in that full 100 percent. So I joined my local gym where a couple of my best friends go and kick start my healthy eating by becoming pescatarian again.

I feel going to a gym with friends really does help as you have the support and motivation of others around you that also want to achieve the same results as you. The results I wanted personally was to tone my body, become more physically fit in general such as, being able to go on a run without feeling totally out of breath with in a short amount of time. Along with hopefully gaining a bit of muscle too. I felt these were achievable goals that I could one day reach.



Food wise I began looking into different recipes, then looking into the ingredients it contains and the health benefits they would bring me. I found that having a smoothie bowl for breakfast really helped me get of to a good start everyday, they were simple smoothie bowls but topped with lots of healthy things such as chia seed, flax seed and spirulina powder to add the extra goodness and especially the iron you need when cutting out meat.


I will keep you updated about my new healthy start and will be sharing some of my favourite recipes and tips soon...

my favourite Lush products...

 I have tried several Lush products over the years and love the majority. Especially the bath bombs and bath oils. Lush as a brand is one of my favourite due to the ingredients they use as they are all ethical, natural and the brand is 100% vegetarian. Along with being against animal testing, have 'naked' packaging and make everything by hand. All of these things make it such a grate brand and makes me want to shop there.

Butterball

My first lot of favourites are the moisturising one as this is very important to have soft skin in my opinion. So the first one is Floating Island, its a bath oil smells like pina-coladas which is so refreshing and it has a piece of vanilla pod in it and that adds to the smell. It has lots of oils in it and is the most moisturising. The next is Mmmelting Marshmallow Moments also a bath oil which is very sweet smelling, kind of like candy-floss. It contains almond oil making it super soft on the skin. The final one for this category is Butterball, a bath bomb which is amazing to watch explode with the little bits of cocoa butter coming out and swirling around. It feels really good on the skin but does leave your bath very greasy for a few days even if you clean it well which, is a down side.

Yoga Bomb

 The next ones are the relaxing ones. The first is Honey Bee, bath bomb it has a lovely yellow colour making it look calming, it contains essential oils also adding to the calms. Its one of those bath bombs that makes you want to sleep in the bath! It smells like it sounds of honey. The finally one for relaxing is Yoga Bomb, a bath bomb it sounds like it would be relaxing like yoga and it is with deep, rusty orange colours and warming scent. Containing gold glitter it also makes you feel kind of special as you relax, this is definitely one of my favourites out of all of them.

HoneyBee 

The final category are the fun and sweet smelling ones. Blackberry is a bath ballistic giving out many shades of swirling blues. It fizzes a lot and for a long time. Smelling like sweet blackberry crumble almost. Next is Creamy Candy, a bubble bar is so cute looking bright pink with a little white flower on top. It literally smells like a sweet shop, covered in sugar! It creates mountains of pink bubbles but can be chopped up to use for more than one bath. The next is The Comforter, a bubble bar slice, very sweet but more deep scent, its massive so use over at least 5 baths! Finally is The Experimenter, bath bomb its more musky but is amazing shape, kind of hexagonal and has around 6 colours that all explode and mix together, looking like fire works!

Creamy Candy 

spring to summer transition fashion...

At this time in the U.K. weather can vary, one minute being sunny about 20 degrees and then the next raining 3 degrees. So hopefully some of these outfit ideas will at lease give you some ideas or inspiration for the mixed weather. So I've put together three outfits for you...

                                                                     This first look is one of my favourites it is simple but very effective. The white jeans go with many, they look summery but are still keep you warm. These once are the Joni Jeans from Topshop for £36.00 fitting perfectly. Paired with this Ted Baker silk shirt adds the elegant touch, flowing beautifully as you move, with gold detailing buttons on the cuffs and top button. To keep warm a burgundy cape is great, mines from Urban Outfitters. Finishing the look of with these Zara black shiny shoes.

The next look I picked is getting more on the summer side, the jumper is another Ted Baker with the white colour, embellished with green and crystal beads, it means you don't have to think about adding a necklace. I put it with this white floral patterned skirt from Zara it's fairly short but works well with the jumper tucked in. I accessorised with my favourite Calvin Kelvin sunglasses in a tortoise shell design and also my orange bag is from then too. I was wearing some suede loafers from Park Lane but you can't see them!

 My final look is my most worn, look at the moment by far! It's easy to throw on and still looks like you made an effort. The top is one of my most resent purchases, from children gap actually! In this lovely baby blue with scalloped edge with white detailing. Put with my burgundy Joni Jeans from Topshop, very comfortable like I said before. Accessorised with my small navy longchamp le pliage bag and Miss Kurt Geiger heeled sandals in cream.

I would love to know what your go to outfits for this weird weather transition from spring to summer, so tag me in your Instagram pictures of your go to outfit. x

Review: M.A.C Fluidline eye-liner gel

M.A.C fluid line eye-liner gels are always great and are known for being very long staying, this colour dark majesty was part of the limited edition collection heirloom mixed. Which is unfortunately now unavailable but any from their staple collection have exactly the same formula. The staple collection only contains five shades (about 16 shades in the US thought!) but I would recommend Blitz and Glitz for a more glamour look as its black with gold flex in it or black track for a classic black winged line.
 The packaging is always exquisite and classy but this is just something else about this one, the black box with the fine silver glitter just makes it seem special.

 The formula is very smooth and easy to apply with no dragging on the eye when applying. I use my real techniques angled brush that they call the brow brush but I personally think it works perfectly with this and is in both the eyeliner and starter kits they do making buying brushes fairly affordable as for five brushes its about £12-£20 and about 18 dollars in the US depending where you purchase them from. I would recommend directly from the real techniques website.

If you can find a way to get hold of this edition, I would if I were you. Its a charcoal black with flex's of super fine silver glitter. which looks really nice with all colours of eyeshadow. But if you can't there are very similar colours out there such as blitz and glitz, it just has gold glitter instead of the silver but it will complement in a very similar way.

The fluid line is one the pricier side for a liner but does last a really long time, I use this one most days since Christmas and haven't even made a dent in it really. It retails for £16.00 in the UK and 16.50 dollars in the US.

Overall this is a beauty must have for everyone and anyone.

Review: Tanya Burr Cosmetics - Lipgloss

I got these three colours from the Tanya Burr advent calendar. I was so please with the selection of colours in this collection and have been wanting to try them for a while.
These once are a sample size of 5ml which is pretty good but the full size once are 7.5ml which retail for £5.99 and can be purchased from feelunique.com and super drug.

But are they really worth the money...

Bewitching

I personally think it depends on which colour you purchase.
Bewitching is my favourite out of all of them as it applies very well and is not sticky on the lips. The colour is very bold and is fairly long wearing about 3-4 hours. Which I think is good for a drug store lipgloss. The main complaint I have about all of the lipgloss's is they all have this extremely strong almost marzipan smell its fine if you like that smell but I personally find it very sickly.

Candy frost

My least favourite colour is Candy Frost as by the name it is very frosty and has large chunky of glitter that just do nothing for the lips. I thought it would be nice to highlight the lip but it doesn't really do anything. Its a very bright pink in the container but has hardly any colour pay of when applied. which is disappointing as I can't even use it for dress up parties! And it has 'that' smell!  

Macaroons 

I'm not totally sure of this colour called macaroon's yet as its the
same texture as bewitching and has the great colour pay of but
I just don't think it will work for my white skin. I think it would look great on olive or darker skin, so might hold onto this for the summer and see if it looks better with tanned skin. I'm hoping it does as orange lip colours are my all time favourites along with berry shades. So I will update you on this in a few months when the sun starts shinning again.

x

                                                                                                                                                 

Review: Ciaté beauty advent calendar

This is one of my favourite beauty/nail advent calendars on the market this Christmas.
I have only opened up to door 6 but I already love all the colours they are all so wearable and you get a mixture of glitter, colour, toppers and treatments which is really great and on one of the days you get a glass nail file.
It cost around £50 which in my opinion for the amount of product you get is fairly affordable. Especially if you are just starting out collection nail polish or just wanting to add to your already growing collection.



This is my favourite one so fare I got it in door
number 1, its called heirloom. I would describe the colour as a purple with a pop of fine gold glitter. It will look amazing on any skin tone and is great for the Christmas season without being a deep red or a bright green. I can't wait to open all the other doors to see what's behind them!






I love this years design its so classy with the black and white London scene with little pops of silver and red. The bow makes it feel like an early Christmas present.
Overall in my opinion its amazing and I would defiantly recommend it to everyone who want to have a little bit of Christmas cheer!

Nail Polish Collection:

I have quite a big collection of nail polishes and it will certainly carry on growing, as I have just got the Ciaté nail polish advent calendar which I can't wait to open! You may be a beginner in nails and your collection maybe very minimal which is ok too as mine is a collectors, collection!

 
I keep most of my nail polishes in these plastic tubs that I got from Ikea they both fit in the deep Alex 9 draw unit you can also get form Ikea. They work perfect for me as I can store them in an easy an compact way, while being able to take them out of my draw so I sit and pick which colour I want to use. Overall this was the least expensive and practical way I could find to store them.

I have so many colours, so I just picked a few special collection barry m. nail polishes which are my all time favourites and can be purchased form 3-4 pound in my opinion pretty cheap for their fantastic quality! Starting from left the colours and effect/edition are: summer limited edition boots-A bikini, quick dry-Get set go, Silk-Forsest, Christmas limited edition boots 2012! sorry!-B 242, Textured effect-Ridley road and Sunset-Like a nude.

I don't have many nail treatments/top coat/base coats! But the ones I do have I really like and feel they work well. They are barry m. matte topcoat, Sally Hansen nail growth Miracle, barry m. all in one, Jessica brilliance high gloss top coat and Sunset topcoat which makes the Sunset nail polishes turn to gel, like magic!

August favorites: Fashion edit...

I have been loving reading Vogue especially the August edition as it had many great tips for what to wear this summer but also what to buy as we go into winter as of course the shops are already filling with the 2015 Winter collections to my delight as that just means I have a new excuse to go shopping saying that I always end up finding one way or another to justify going shopping even if there isn't a season change or a new collection of makeup or fashion.

 one of my new favourite 'statement' pieces is these brown Chelsea boots that I found in the sale on ASOS, for a discounted £20. I love a good bargain especially for a classic piece like this that will last a few years. They are very comfortable and are great for those more cooler and rain days. With my jeans or some cute leggings they look really good and just finish the look

This O clock is really cool as you can switch the clock face or the band depending on what colour or look you are creating. It came in this cute tin that is very cool!

I have loved so many things in fashion this august and I have shown just a few including a Tiffany and co Toggle bracelet and my Calvin Klein sunglasses that have a brown tortoise shell frame with brown lenses that look amazing when on!

                                                                               

Review: MAC mineralize skinfinish in LIGHTSCAPE

 This is a skin-finish that has a velvet, high frost, metallic finish that gives your skin a healthy glow and is beautiful as a highlighter just popped on the top of your check bones.
It is natural looking not to dramatic or shiny on the skin which is never a good look!
Overall it is quite self explanatory and if worth purchasing in my mind and is easy to use for a beginner or as a makeup artist that could be used on many different skin tones.
There are 3 other colours in the range as well if this one doesn't suit you.

The packaging is really good as it is magnetic and has a clear plastic lid section in it so you can see what the colour is inside it.

It can be purchased in MAC or on any MAC counter and is £23.00

Review: Maybelline eye-shadow platte The blushed NUDES

This Maybelline eye-shadow palette The blushed NUDES includes 12 colours that can be used to make 13 different looks in this this one palette which is really good especially when travelling. I think it is a great dupe for the Urban Decay Naked 3 with the rosy gold tones and browns with flexes of red in. It is nice for everyday but could be used for a dressier look such as using the darker colours to make a smoky eye.

The packaging is practical but pretty as it is rose gold packaging with a clear section so you can see the shadows. It has a firm click closing which stays shut so this is also a great thing I personally look for in a palette to take travelling with me as I don’t want any clothes with makeup on or the shadows to be smashed when I get to were every I am going.

This palette can be brought in boots/superdrug in UK and Walmart/Target in USA.

Review: Benefit they're real! Mascara in Beyond Blue!

benefit they're real! Mascara is a favourite of many but on Saturday 27th June they are bringing two more out in that collection one beyond brown and this one which is beyond blue my personal favourite! 

It looks scary at first but it does not apply that blue to the eyelashes it just adds a hint of blue but can sometimes look very blue in some lights, so just be careful if aren't going for the electric blue look!

The packaging is great as it sticks to the original packaging but makes it metallic and the same colour as colour of the product so blue tinted!

The brush and formula is the same as the original one which is nice the brush is plastic and the formula is thick but not clumpy, which is really good as sometimes brands do change the formula depending on the colour.

It is £19.50 and can be purchased from benefits from Saturday 27th June!

Review: Dior Skin Star Foundation

The Dior Skin Star Foundation is not new to the market but is a really fabulous foundation, it is totally weightless on the skin and leaves a natural healthy glow finish which looks nice on a day to day basis even though it is on the higher price range of foundations.
The packaging is really good as it comes with a fixed pump and black and silver packaging. But the base is clear so you can see the colour of the foundation in the bottle. The lid fixes securely on to the top without being magnetic or anything.
It also comes in 16 shades so perfect match for most skin types and has sf 30 in it which is really good for summer as then you don't have to put a Spf on underneath or over the top. As sometimes it can clog up your pores.

It £32.00 and can be purchased at any Dior counter or at Sephora in the US.

Review: tarte Lights,Camera,Flashes Mascara

 This is a great mascara for length and volume at the same time as it has a 2 sided brush thing! It creates thick lashes by having a formula that contains vitamins B5 & B and also bees wax. This is also good as it nourishes and protects your lashes from other products.

The first side of the bristles volumes' the lashes and the second side de-clumps and lengthens so it is practically 3 in 1! The thing I also really like is that the brush is a fibre brush instead of plastic one which is really good, in my opinion.

The packaging is the thing that is the wow factor for me even though the brush and formula of the product is great! It has a leather snake skin effect gold packaging around the mascara tube that looks, hand sewn together which looks really effective and expensive. Which is really appealing to me and caught my eye on the shelf in Sephora leading me to buy it.

It costs £15.65 from Sephora in the Uk and Us but is also in this months (June 2015) GlossyBox.

Review: Too Faced Chocolate bar eyeshadow palette

 This is one of my favourite palettes as it has a mixture of 16 matte and shimmer shadows new to Too Faced with neutral and brighter plum toned shadows all exclusive to this palette. I also really like that the two lightest colours are bigger as I always seam to run out of them first, as I use them in most makeup looks as a base or to mix with other shadows in the palette to make them lighter.
I also love that it has great pigmentation and smells amazing (like chocolate!) as it does contain real cocoa powder which is really different and makes the palette special!

The packaging is nice as it comes in a very feminine box looking like an expensive chocolate bar you might find in a boutique hotel on your pillow in France! The packaging of the palette itself is like a chocolate bar in a deep brown colour. Inside it has the Too Faced logo above the mirror and says Chocolate Bar underneath, the amazingly good sized mirror is perfect for on the go.

It cost £34.00 and can be purchased online from Too Faced or from any too faced counter in Debenhams in the UK along with Sephora in US

Review: Benefit roller lash mascara

 This mascara is one of the best out there. The colour of it is black and it does not come in any other colours which is a bit of a disappointment and the applicator is plastic but apart from that it is amazing. I am never really wowed by a mascara but this one did wow me.
It has little hooks on the brush that grabs and curls your lashes, you can build up several coats of it without it becoming clumpy and clogged up on your lashes, which many mascaras do, do.
The effect it gives is like wearing fake lashes with out the trouble and the messy glue.

The packaging is really nice as always benefit have really pulled it out the bag with this product. It looks really classy with black and peach packaging. It has a good grip, rubber handle which is good for controlling the wand.

It costs £19.50 and can be purchased from benefits online or in-store and also in boots.

Review: M.A.C Wash & Dry lipstick in Crème d'Nude

 Let's just start with the packaging, it is beautiful it has the classic mac lipstick bullet shape and the logo going around the middle but instead of the black packaging it has this metallic, wet look about it with these amazing blue/green, red and yellow ombre effect colours instead which is really eye catching.

 The lipstick it's self is a cremesheen finish, which applies very well to the lips and has a amazing finish for such a light colour as sometimes light nude lipstick from mac, tend to look patchy on my lips and odd against my fair skin tone but this one complement my skin tone nicely. The colour I would describe as, a light beige, pinky, nude with a slightly glossy finish. Looking great for any occasion especially weddings.

Overall I would highly recommend it to anyone from fair skin to darker skin toned people as I think it is the perfect nude and would complement many peoples skin tone. In my personal opinion I think it would look really nice with a bright or glittery eye and lots of bronzer so the face dose not look washed out when wearing it.

It is £17.00 and can be brought from the MAC shop or any MAC counters but is temporarily out of stock on the U.K website (sorry!)