2013 resolutions ♥

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one - get healthier

I'm not going to go down the 'I will be thinner!' route, but instead I'm going back to ballet and will start running once a week with one of my flatmates. I might add more to this, but I already eat pretty healthily and I don't want to be overwhelmed with resolutions!

two - stay happy

Cliche as it may be, I've become a new me at university, and I don't want to lose that. I laugh more than I have for years, plus I feel so much more confident.

three - write more

As a creative writing student I do write quite a lot anyway, but this year I'm going to try to finish editing my first novel and also I'm going to start keeping a proper diary. I bought the most gorgeous book for it, and I'm so excited to start keeping track of things that happen.

Those are my only resolutions for 2013 because I think it's the subtle changes that make the most difference. I normally keep most of the ones I make, so hopefully I can manage all three right through till December.

Happy new year, you gorgeous bunch.

n xx

Yet more empties! (#3)

Hello you lovely lot!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm getting back into blogging now that I'm becoming used to the routine of uni, but I haven't got a christmas haul for you today. I've already packed up most of my things to take back to Derby with me, plus the light in my room here is really bad for photos. I might put up a mini post of a few things I got in a few days, but there are some guaranteed reviews coming soon, on pieces from Soap & Glory, Lush, Sleek and Avon to name a few!

Today I've got an empties post for you, because I've been finishing up products at a ridiculous rate the last month or so.

Superdrug nourishing nail polish remover

"acetone free with aloe vera and vitamin E"

I've started using any acetone free nail varnish remover because it's apparently healthier for your nails. I keep meaning to research into why but that requires free time! However this does its job nicely enough, what more could you ask?! I'm thinking of doing a little bit more research into nail care, so hopefully I'll be making a post on that soon :)

Tresemme instant refresh dry shampoo 

"the perfect solution to instantly cleanse & revitalise hair without water"

I love this, it's such a staple hair care product for me! I've reviewed it here and it was in my last empties post.

Aussie heat protect leave in spray

"When you really want style, your hair can't let you down. So spritz a little Take the Heat Leave in Spray into your hair and Hallelujah! Gorgeously protected hair that's ready to keep up with you!"

This is one of the first heat protect sprays that I've used, and I really love it! I've noticed that my hair smells much less of burning when I use this before using heat (always a good thing), and also my hair has significantly less split ends. I'd repurchase this definitely, although for now I'm trying out a few of the other products in the range.

The Body Shop organic cotton pads

"made from 100% organic cotton. soft and gentle on the skin"

I started using these back when I first started blogging, and I've been buying them since. They're just your bog standard cotton pad really, although these have never fallen apart, and their slightly larger size means that  taking off your make up goes through so fewer cotton pads!

Lush Big shampoo

"We love salt on the hair because it’s great for giving volume. We experimented with it for a very long time before coming up with this, our ultimate salt shampoo."

Back when I had rather a big shop in October, I was given this as a sample from a lovely lady in Lush. My friend Jessie, who I was shopping with, uses this a lot and her hair always looks gorgeous so I immediately asked to try this when I was offered a sample of anything! Using it was a bit strange because it has chunks of salt in it, which help volumise your hair, but I saw such a difference. I've put the full size onto the Christmas list, so hopefully I'll get it. I'd like to get it anyway because I really want to do a proper review of this!

The Body shop tea tree blemish gel

I've become slightly addicted to the Tea Tree range from the Body Shop because I've found it to be super effective on any spots that I get. The size of this particular product has pros and cons, because it's great for traveling but runs out so quickly. I've been exploring more of the range to try out for reviews :)

Natural Collection concealer stick

This is one of the first ever products that I used, and I have always stuck with this concealer. I'm trying out a few new ones, but I love this so much! I use the shade fair, which matches my skin really well and I find the coverage to be really good and lasting. Plus it's only £1.99!

Soap & Glory Thick & Fast mascara

I got this as a freebie, and although I wasn't initially too keen, I think I might repurchase it because it is a really nice mascara. The only downfall for me is the size of the mascara want, it's such a daunting size to put so close to your eye!

Collection 2000 colour lash

This is something else that I'll be repurchasing but not for my lashes. The one pictured I used on my lashes, but I have another which I use as a brow gel. I prefer to use it that way, but it works really well both ways! I wouldn't recommend this as a mascara base coat if you get ready in a hurry though, because I'm fairly certain  it's not very effective if it isn't slightly dried when you apply mascara over it.

17 Peep Show mascara

17 has to be one of my faavourite brands for mascara, and Peep Show wasn't a disappointment. I've bought a replacement for this already! I'll be doing reviews of my top five mascaras soon, and I can guarantee that this one is going to be in it. I love the formula, brush and packaging, plus it's not super expensive at £6.29.

I hope you liked this post! Let me know if you wanted full reviews of any of these things :)

n xx

Oops, I've been gone a while!

Hello my lovelies... remember me?!

I'm super sorry that I've not been posting much as of late, but I have been so busy! As most of you will know, I'm in my first term of university, which is the main reason that I've been so busy recently. My last few pieces of coursework are in for early next week, so I've been finishing those off, as well as sorting out the bits that I've already had to submit in the last few weeks. I've been in uni so much speaking to my lecturers and using the library, and even when I've been at the flat I've been just relaxing with my flatmates because we've all had so much to do!

Despite the amount of work I've had to get through, November and December have been amazing months for me here. I'm really loving my flatmates and other new friends, and it's been nice to spend a lot more time away from my laptop. I also went to the Clothes Show Live with my sister on the 8th December! We absolutely loved it, plus I got so many goodies!

I won't be back to blogging normally before Christmas, I'm not going home until the 20th and I'll be spending some quality time with my family as I've not been home since I left in September. But after that I'll be back to normal hopefully, since I've got so many thing to post about :)

But for now I'd better get back to finishing off my final two essays! 

I hope you're all having a lovely December, and happy christmas to you all ♥

n xx

Christmas wishlist ♥

Hello lovelies!

Now that it's December I thought I'd show you a few things that I'm hoping for this Christmas!

Nails inc the fashionistas nail varnish set £12

 David & Goliath pj shorts £15

David & Goliath pj top £20

Two fold polka dot converse £50

Topshop leather jacket £55

Topshop ankle socks £3.50

H&M snood £6.99

To be honest I'd be happy if I only got the David & Goliath pj's, I've been eyeing them up for a while now!
What's on your Christmas wishlist?

n xx

Catch up ♥

Hello my loves,

I'm sorry I've been a little hit and miss with posts lately, but November was been such a busy month for me. I don't even know where to start! 

Mainly I was concentrating on getting my writing done for National Novelist Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and I'm happy to say that I reached the end of the month with 50,000 words! I've only completed it once before, so I'm super happy, because it feels like it's more of an achievement now I've done it twice. It took up a lot of time and energy to do though, which is why blogging was less of a priority. I started my blog to do some writing and be creative, but doing both was just far too much to keep up along with all my uni work!

It's also been a difficult month in terms of adjusting to uni life. I don't feel homesick, and I've been very dependent the last few years anyway, but I feel very sad a lot of the time right now. I was happy to get away from home and start again but at the same time I don't want to grow up, because I'll never be going home for more than a few weeks at a time now. 

So many other little things have been going on in my life recently which it's pointless to write about, but I'm hoping things are going to start looking up now it's finally December!

We have already decorated our flat with Christmas things here in 7D, so here's a few pictures of me and two of my flatmates as we put them up :) most of our decorations were from Poundland, if you're wondering!

I hope everyone has a lovely December ♥

n xx

Soap & Glory flake away review!

Hello my loves,

I've been stacking up on Soap & Glory products more and more recently, and I've bought myself a few of their products while Boots have had on their 3 for 2 offer. One of my favourite things that I picked up was this, Flake Away, so I thought I would do a quick review of it for you today! :)

It says on the label that it aims to 'transform your scaly legs from reptilian to radiant'. I don't think I have particularly dry skin on my legs, but I use this once a week at the moment and they're always left feeling smooth and lovely. It's the smell that has mostly sold me the most for this product though, because it has the typical sweet Soap & Glory smell, which I adore!

It has 'shea butter, sugar and peach seed' in it, along with 'skin smoothing sea salt, grapeseed and almond oils', which I think is a big part of why it smells so lush and feels good on your skin.

I like the consistency of this product, because although it's an exfoliator, it's not too harsh or grainy. There's nothing I hate more than something that is too harsh on my skin, and this also feels like it moisturises slightly at the same time.  I've not tried many body exfoliators, so I can't compare this much to other general products out there, but I really recommend this if you haven't tried anything like this before. I'm thinking of trying some of the full body scrubs soon!

I've also decided that I like this so much that I'm going to include it in some Christmas presents, and it's so tempting to use half of them before they even get wrapped!

Have you tried this product? Did you love it as much as I do?!

n xx

NOTD: gold sparkle!

Hello my loves,

Today is just a simple nail art post, but I've had so many people saying that they love this combination and asking me what colours they I have on!

I'm wearing Barry M Cappucino, with my accent nail in Essie Ballet Slippers topped with Avon Gold Flecked :)

It was just something that I quickly put on the other night, but I really love how it looks. I think the Avon polish is a new one, my mum just sent it up to me from home. I was so excited to get it, I think it's a great A/W colour and perfect especially for Christmas!

I hope you're all having a lovely day :)

n xx

MUA mosaic blush review!

Hello lovelies!

I picked the MUA mosaic blush in English Rose up recently, so I thought I would do a review of it for you today. I've been really liking trying out MUA products recently, and you can also read my reviews for two of the palettes, Going for Gold or Heaven and Earth.

 You can pick this up for £2.50, which is why I decided to try it because it's cheap for the size of the product!

I've seen a few other bloggers reviewing this, and it seems to be a little bit love/ hate in terms of its colour. I've discovered that I don't like it as a day-to-day blush because I prefer coral shades, but I do think it's a beautiful colour! When you use all the shades together, they form a light shimmery pink that for me is closer to a highlighter in shade than it is to a blush. I've worn this a few times on a night out as a blusher, and I think it has good payoff, but maybe just a little too much shimmer for my cheeks.

 As you can see above, it is very sheer, but I've found it to be very buildable. I'm glad I picked this up because it's been fun to play around with the mosaic effects! If you used a brush the right size, you could even just use a few of the colours to mix them however you want. 

I think this would probably work best for people with paler skin, or if you're looking for something that doesn't have a really strong colour pay off. Overall, I'm glad I picked it up!

Have you tried this product yet? I'd love to hear what you think of it :)

n xx

Outfit inspirations

Hello lovelies

My obsessions with pintrest and tumblr are going strong at the moment because I'm finding them so useful for outfit inspirations! I like to plan my outfits to an extent, and I've been using my pintrest fashion board so much to help me out. I've even had quite a few outfit compliments since I've started doing it, so I must be doing something right?!

I've been feeling in a bit of a fashion rut, so I've decided to change my style a little. I'm liking the nerd/cliche/chic kind of mix, and I've been buying lots that I wouldn't have worn a few months ago. It's making getting ready in the mornings a lot more fun than it used to be!

Here are a few photos from my pintrest that I've really loved, I hope you like them too. They're all here if you want to see them on pintrest.

Do you have any outfit inspirations?

n xx

Update: what's in my make up bag!

Hello lovelies!

I'm so snowed under with work, so I'm sorry that I haven't been posting regularly. I'm going to try and start posting every other day :)

I did a little bit of a 'what's in my make up bag' back then I first started my blog (here), but it was only really a photo. So here's what I've got crammed into my little Ted Baker beauty, which I picked up from Boots a while back. I try to switch up what I use every couple of weeks, but quite a few things stay the same.

Rimmel wake me up foundation • Natural collection concealer • Soap & Glory trick and treatment concealer • collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer • Avon magix primer

Topshop crescent moon highlighter • Natural Collection peach melba blush • Rimmel stay matte powder • 17 eyebrow pencil

The Body Shop eyeshadow • Barry M old gold fine glitter dust • MAC era • Collection 2000 gel liner

Collection 2000 colour lash mascara* • Natural Collection white eyeliner • 17 waterproof mascara • Soap & Glory thick & fast mascara

*I have two of these because I use one as a brow gel

Barry M lip gloss • Natural Collection lip gloss • Topshop lipstick • Benefit benetint •Rimmel lasting finish lipstick

I'm really loving a lot of these things at the moment, especially the Barry M lip gloss! It's a lot pinker than what I would normally buy, but I picked it up for my Halloween costume and I've been wearing it non-stop since. It smells fruity and amazing  as well as being a really nice lip gloss :)

Have you been using any of these things recently?

n xx

Clinique moisture surge tinted moisturiser!

Hello lovelies!

I picked up this Clinique sample what feels like ages ago, but it's only been a few months! 

I asked if I could sample something that was a light coverage, for days when I don't feel like my skin needs too much on it. The lovely Clinique make up artist gave me this, and the sample has lasted me forever!

The sample I have is of the 'Moisture Surge Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15'. Clinique say:

"Winner of the Elle Beauty Awards 2011 for Best Tinted Moisturizer.

Smooth on an instant moisture boost with SPF protection and a hint of skin-perfecting colour. Refreshingly lightweight formula provides a no-makeup look and feel, yet covers imperfections with a natural, hydrating touch. Oil-free."

For a while I was using it on my skin every day, and I've really been loving it. I loved the Superbalanced foundation slightly more, which I reviewed here.

In my mind, it is essentially very similar to the BB creams that exploded everywhere recently. I've not actually tried any as yet, but if they're similar to this I can imagine I would like them! 

The colour that I was given is perfect for my skin tone, as I've found with other Clinique skin products that I've used recently. It gives just enough coverage to make my skin look clear and flawless when I'm having a good skin day. I've been using it a lot recently, and I think I might even pick up the full size for £21.50. I've found that this has really good staying power, and when I'm taking my make up off in the evening it's still noticeably on my skin.

I don't really like the consistency of this much, because it's very liquid-y (to use the technical term...), so I can imagine it might not be so fun to get out of anything other than this little sample pot. 

I think a redeeming feature is the smell. It's just the average Clinique kind of smell, but I absolutely love it. It just feels nice to put on your skin in the morning! I've been using this just recently too, and I think it has been helping my dry skin. I don't have exceptionally dry skin, but this helps just that little bit more now it's getting colder to make a difference.

Have you thought of trying this product? Any other Clinique foundation recommendations would be lovely, I'm looking at trying quite a few of them out!

n xx

Recent Rimmel purchases

Hello lovelies!

Until recently, I've never really bought any Rimmel products. But I've been seeing so many people blogging about loving some of their products, so I thought I'd give a few a whirl!

Match perfection blush in 001 light

Stay matte pressed powder in 003 peach glow

Wake me up instant radiance shimmer touch 002 radiant rose

Lasting finish lipstick in 016 heart breaker

Scandaleyes show off mascara 001 black

Match perfection blush

I picked this up in a 3 for 2 offer at Boots, and it has to be one of my favourite blushers at the moment. It's a really beautiful light peach colour and although it's not necessarily the strongest pigment, I love having this in my make up bag. It's currently my day-to-day blush, and I think I'll carry on using this for every day for quite a while.

Stay matte powder

After hearing so many rave reviews about this product, I decided to pick it up and have a look at what it's like. I've fallen onto the bandwagon a little bit, because I've already picked up my second one. It's so lovely, and it even smells quite nice. I don't get an exceptionally shiny face, so I only wear this down the middle of my face but I can really see the difference it makes. Plus, it's super affordable!

Scandaleyes show off mascara

I picked this up a while it was £2 off in Boots as I'm still looking for my favourite mascara. I have quite a few that I like, but I'm still looking for an ultimate favourite! I really like this, especially as the formula works well on my eyelashes and adds volume. I do have to put on quite a few coats to get the look that I want, but I really like the plastic wand. I think I'm leaning towards preferring that type of want because it really singles out my lashes and doesn't leave any clumps :)

Wake me up instant radiance shimmer touch

This was another 3 for 2 purchase which I picked up because I've seen a few reviews for it. I've not got a very big blush collection, I'm not a fan of pinky-pinks, and I thought that this might a nice gentle shimmer that wouldn't be too scary for me! I've worn it quite a few times now and I'm really starting to like it. I still prefer coral shades for blush, but since I've bought this I've bought a few more pinker shades. The liquid formula isn't something that bothers me, because I squeeze a little bit out and dab it on where I would normally wear blusher!

Lasting finish lipstick

I picked this shade of lipstick up in a hope of overcoming my passionate dislike of pink lips. While I love the look on other people, I've never been that confident wearing lipstick. Wearing this and a few similar colours has really helped me out with that, and I'm so glad I picked this up because it's also actually a really nice formula. It's probably my current favourite brand of lipstick that I have! Also, I've found that it has good staying power, as I've worn it a few times when I've been out all day or out for a meal.

I'd love to hear if you have any Rimmel products to recommend, I think I'm falling in love with this brand a little bit!

n xx

Nail art inspiration ♥

Hello lovelies

I've got a nail art inspiration post for you today! I've never done a post like this before, so do let me know if you like it! All these photos are ones that I've re-pinned onto my nail board on pintrest :)

I'm going to try and recreate some of these, wish me luck! I'll be sure to make a post on any that go well.

I hope you're all having a lovely day! I just got a surprise call from my dad telling me he's coming to visit me in about 20 minutes yay!

n xx