Summer reading #2

 Did you see my other summer reading post? Well, you're in for a treat if you liked it because here goes part two. What can I say, I read a lot.

 Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

I picked this up at a charity shop rummage I had a few weeks ago, I just really like the cover. A little different from the usual classics I normally go for, the main character being a young shepard, I thought this might spice things up a little with some good ol' English rural life.

 Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

If you didn't know, the phrase 'catch 22' actually comes from this novel. It's set around men who flew planes and such in the second world war, and so far I'm liking it but not loving it. Although it's pretty fast paced the narrative is based around the characters, though it took me a while to get into.

Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson

This book is so. good. I recommend it to literally everyone, I read it just over a year ago for the first time and I've been raving about it ever since. It's about a woman who had an accident and she wakes up every day without memory of the last 20ish years of her life, and the ending is just the best plot twist I've ever read. I'm so excited to reread this to see if it's as good as I remember!

The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry

I think Stephen Fry is one of the most inspirational people ever, so I cannot wait to read his autobiography. I don't know that much about his life, except for his career and depression, but I think he's a very strong and intelligent man who I respect greatly. I think he's written a second book that I might have to look into also!

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

I read this when I was maybe about 13 and have since forgotten about it entirely (except for being confused by it when I first read it), so when  I saw Carrie Hope Fletcher recommend it in one of her videos I rummaged it out to have another go. I know it's about a girl who moves to a new highschool, but after that I've not investigated it too much for fear of spoilers, but I'm super excited to read this!

Have you got any summer reads to recommend? 

n xx

Review | Lush brazened honey face mask

 Lush brazened honey

£6.25 for 75g

"Wake up your skin with this fresh face mask containing fresh fennel, ginger root, parsley and coriander to detox and stimulate. We use a sage, rosemary and juniperberry infusion with cardamom and clove bud oils for their antiseptic qualities, fresh lime juice to cleanse the skin and free range eggs, honey and almond oil to soothe and moisturise. Smoothe a generous layer of this mask onto your face and leave for 10 to 15 minutes."

In case you hadn't noticed by now, I've been loving Lush recently. I picked this up as a free face mask for returning 5 full size clean pots, and I pretty much just picked it up for the name. I've tried quite a few of the face masks from Lush before, and I've yet to find one that I disliked. I love them for their use of natural ingreedients, especially this one for the use of honey which is supposed to be good for your skin because of its natural healing properties.

Although it's got a bit of a weird smell that doesn't really float my boat and it feels like spreading some kind of herby porridge over your face, I actually really like this. It dries to a satisfyingly toxic looking luminous yellow, and applying it means getting in there with your fingers (for smoother ones I use a foundation brush) but afterwards my skin is left feeling baby soft and not even feeling like I need a moisturiser just to finish things off.

My skin doesn't get a lot of redness except for around my nose, and I've found that this is a beauty for calming my skin down. I also think it helped quite a bit with my face erupting out into a breakout the other week, as things calmed down a lot faster than normal after slapping this on.

Do you think you'll give this a go? What's your favourite Lush face mask?

n xx

Loving lately #3

I've been on a bit of a blogging hype just recently (some of my posts are even queued weeks in advance, I need to get out more), which has led to me finding a whole new load of blogging beauties. I went from following about 40 people to over 100 and still counting, so I thought I'd share with you who I've discovered recently that I'm loving! 

Autumn leaves

Jennypurr

Inthefrow

Little Winter

Tiny Twisst

Thunder and Threads

Student Style

There's so many more that I want to mention! I might have to put up another one of these in a few weeks. Because I'm reading so many more blogs, I wanted to share some specific posts that I've been loving too, so here's a few to check out from this week!

in reverse (outfit post) - le-happy

concealer favourites & which goes where - amelialiana
things I'd tell my teenage self about beauty - jennypurr
5 festival beauty tips - etcllymlrs
a day in food -twentynothing
don't feel guilty - autumnleaves-x
5 things: summer sounds -gh0stparties
a day in food: the weekend edition -viviannadoesmakeup
20 ideas for blog posts - llymlrs

If you have a blog or any recommendations, please leave them down below! 

n xx

Shower skin

Recently I've been suffering with pretty problem skin on my legs (allergic reactions to bug bites not included), so I decided to spice things up a little bit. They're just super sensitive and dry to the point of painful, with the skin feeling really tight and itchy.

One products that I had sitting around for ages was the Lush Rub Rub Rub shower scrub. Now, hear me out. I know using a scrub on sensitive skin doesn't seem all that clever, but that wasn't really my main problem and my legs just felt like they needed a good ol' exfoliate. This is quite a harsh exfoliator, but not in that it left my legs feeling sore. My skin just felt revived and softer than ever.

I saw a review of Palmer's cocoa butter formula moisturiser over on Amie's (Belle-amie) blog. Her review convinced me to have a look into the range, as I'm pretty sure that my eczema has spread to my legs and is half the problem. This sinks in fast, smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling smooth. For a moisturiser that sinks in so fast without being heavy, it does a lot for dryness. I'd totally recommend this to anyone!

Between these two, my skin has been feeling softer than ever. I use the scrub weekly and the moisturiser after most showers.

Do you think you'll try either of these out?

n xx

Topshop nails

left to right

jewel in the crown | bee's knees | gone fishing | world's end | parma violet | ice crush

I might not have a massive collection of these little beauties, but after posting my review the other week on Topshop nails I remembered how much I love these colours. I seem to have headed down a very pastel route with the colours I have, which I would never normally buy. Pastel just isn't particularly my thing.

Though they might not be the best cheap and good quality buy out there, the normal colours being £5 and various sparkles and effects costing slightly more, I really love the range more than anything else. If you haven't ever tried these out, I really recommend giving one a go!

Recently, I posted a review for the Topshop Parma Violet nail varnish, so if you want my full thoughts on what I think of these head over there! I think my love for these is going to stay strong for quite a while!

The new SS14 shades:

prestige | school of thought | obey | boy next door | relapse | clique

Do you have any Topshop nail varnishes? Any to recommend?

n xx

Mascara line up

Hi I'm Nikki and I'm a mascara addict. Seriously though. I have so many, this isn't my full current collection photographed. These are just the ones I'm currently using. I wish I was kidding. So I thought I'd have a rummage and present to you all a few of my current favourites.

the blast from the past

Natural Collection lash build mascara £1.99

 I used to live by Natural Collection way back when, so recently I decided to go back to basics. I like having a thickening or lengthening base, which I feel like this does both of in one. The wand isn't massive or spiky so it's good to get right in to the base of your lashes, and so far there's not a clump in sight. I'm definitely looking into re-exploring the rest of the range.

the unexpectedly good

The Body Shop big and curvy mascara £10

 I was fairly skeptical about liking this for no particular reason, but since giving it a go I've actually really loved it. It's the first Body Shop mascara I've tried, and it's a lot like the Natural Collection offering but the wand gets narrower towards the end, and the formula is a bit... wetter? It has the potential to get a little clumpy if you're impatient and don't wait for it to dry quite enough before going in to layer things up.

the newbie I don't regret

Seventeen blow out volumising mascara £6.29

 I don't remember picking this up but I'm glad I did. It's quite a dry formula, but it applies really easily. It adds a lot of volume, though it can get a little clumpy if you add too much on top of another wetter mascara. It does a really good job of volumising and adding length, which I've found with quite a few Seventeen mascaras. If you're looking to explore high street mascaras, I'd definitely recommend looking at theirs.

the firm favourite

Soap & Glory thick and fast mascara £10.50

I've been using this mascara for so long. I first got it as a magazine freebie, and after a bit of a rocky first few applications I ended up adoring this. It's one that I nearly always have to hand. The wand is pretty huge (I don't think I've yet to see a bigger one, ooer) but once you get over that, for me the formula is perfect. I've never had it clump, and it layers amazingly by itself or with another mascara. It works particularly well with the aforementioned Natural Collection offering to make a pretty intense false lash effect.

Are any of these your favourites? Any recommendations are more than welcome!

n xx

Life Lately #4

The summer in between university years is hard. Because I chose a course at Derby that has no exams (tactical move, I'm shocking under exam pressure), my academic year ends in April and starts again mid September. Four and a half months of freedom, what could possibly be wrong with that I hear you cry?

As much as I love it, I definitely come firmly into the category of students that struggle to readjust. Suddenly going from being independent, meeting up with all my friends, and having loads of deadlines to worry over to moving back to Norwich slightly in the middle of nowhere. Like most other people, I lost touch with a lot of my friends from home, so there's not as many people to see and it's just generally harder to get out and keep myself busy.

Trying to get a job isn't as easy as you think; I've applied for at least 20 since I came home, and instead ended up volunteering in my local Primary school for a month. Not many people want to employ someone for just the summer months that you're back, and so many students are trying anyway. If you have a job before you leave, ask if you can come back if you think you're going to want to work. Don't feel like rubbish if you don't get anything. Last year I applied for about 40 jobs and internships, and heard back from under 10. It's just one of those things!

Take literally any opportunity that is thrown at you. I took a few days off school to go down to London for an event with RED magazine and then something similar with Cosmo. For both of them I found out I was going literally only a few days before. I'm also now looking at festivals and throwing myself out there for any beauty or blogging event under the sun, which has worked out a hundred times better than if I were working in my local Tesco or something.

I really struggled with my time off last year, so this year I'm doing all I can to stay busy. So far I've had extra time to make personal presents for my friends birthdays, been able to put a lot more into planning out a future for my blog, finished off a few scrapbooks that have been sitting around, and started clearing out and cleaning every room in the house (that one was my mothers idea. Oh the fun of steam cleaning floors). 

I think my point for this post is that you don't have to sit around feeling awful like I did for 3 months last summer. Get yourself out there, even if you're not totally sure. How else would I have found out that I am definitely not primary school teacher material?!

I hope you're all keeping well!

n xx

Review | Lush Celestial moisturiser

My skincare has been needing a bit of a revamp recently, so I decided to give a moisturiser from Lush a go. Recently my skin has just been so dry and generally unhappy, and when I thought about it I realised I had been using the same No7 moisturiser for the last two years. I chose a Lush offering because of the more natural ingreedients, which I'm really loving recently.

£11.95 for 45g
(size of tub pictured)

Lush say: "Help troubled, dry skin become angelic by smoothing this light cream on your face daily. It's made of skin-soothing ingredients that form a light barrier on the skin to help it retain its moisture. Almonds are high in vitamin E, which is said to help protect skin from damage, while dove orchids condition and soothe."

Celestial was recommended for me because of my sensitive skin, and for the problems that I've been having recently. Some of it's key ingredients are almond oil, for hydration, fresh dove orchid extract, to help clear up problem skin, and vanilla water to make it stimulating. The smell of this is, to me, absolutely divine. I wasn't really sold on it, but it's a very floral vanilla scent which I'm in love with. A good-smelling moisturiser is pretty important to me, no one wants to be smothering something a bit weirdly scented all over.

Since I've started using this, I've noticed a definite improvement in my skin. It's not getting as dry as it was before, and I'd say that it's definitely helped with things like unevenness caused by blemishes. I have a lot of redness in my skin because of eczema, which this hasn't affected at all, and I'd actually say that it has helped to reduce it.

It's quite a light moisturiser but it's not the fastest to sink into my skin that I've ever used. If you're putting anything on top, then I always go for letting this sink in for 10 minutes first. I like that, because I just get on with other things while it does its thing but I don't always have the patience to sink in. It doesn't exactly have an oily feel while it's there, it's more just taking a while to work, but if you've got oily skin I can't see this being the one for you.

Buy it here.

Do you think you'd give this a go?

n xx

Eyebrows | My History

I can't deny that this is never something I thought I would do, but looking back at some of these photos has been less cringe and more 'at least I've changed'. So, with that in mind, I thought I'd let you guys in on the history of my eyebrows. It's an interesting ride.

A quick brow summary:

My natural brows are very bushy, the front half being the colour of my hair, and the outer halves being a lot more fair, even more so since I've begun abusing them. I pluck my eyebrows (mostly because of a horrible fear of letting anyone else touch them), and often trim them because the hairs are fairly long.

Let's start with a baby Nikki in July 2009, aged 15. I'd go back earlier, but these are my natural caterpillars before I started messing about with them. At this point, I was in high school still and only really just discovering make up. I hated my eyebrows. Little did I know how much I'd wish for them later.

 My oldest profile picture on facebook. #dustymirrorselfie

 Still rocking the slugs in at the end of year 11 in 2010. By this point I think I'd discovered the wonder of brown eyeliner pencils, because my eyebrows are pretty fair and look non-existant towards the ends. 

 The first year of A levels saw a full fringe in play, so obviously there aren't many shots of my actual brows. Or my face, for that matter. Apparently I got camera shy. By this point I'd started to try and tame them, but nothing too drastic had happened. Oh why did I change. 

 The start of the changes. Gone are those big bushy slugs, hello pencil brows. I don't remember making the change, but it seems to have happened overnight, and apparently I really liked my tweezers. These are the years of no hair will be out of place and a strong belief in a pencil. The main one I remember using is one from 17 so I had a rummage around in my archive for documented evidence and found these- item a: what's in my make up bag, or item b: lazy day make up

 Do I really need to explain what's wrong here? Those brows though. Looks like I was keen on the one hair thick kind of style.

 A little grainy but here we're finally into the university years. I seem to have started to let the front half grow out a bit more, but the outer half wasn't so blessed. I also seemed to have developed a slight wonk in one and not the other that I'm still trying to grow out. Less sisters more distant cousins.

 Last october I finally realised that I actually missed my old caterpillar brows, and all the constant plucking to keep them this thin wasn't fun. I also realised that the shape of my brows needed to change. They are meant to line up with the inner corners of my eyes, which clearly mine weren't loving the thought of.

 February began to see something like I wanted returning... we're now also safely into the MAC omega years, which I think I find a lot easier to get a more natural brow with.

Finally we reach the present day, with a stunning selfie (one of many I kindly left on my friends phone, that she then put on facebook. Loving life). I feel like I'm finally getting there, but there's still some growth to go. One hair at a time, hey?

I hope you've liked this slightly longer post, and the dilemma of my eyebrows. I really loved putting this post together so I hope it was worth the read!

How's your eyebrow history?

n xx

Testing, testing

Garnier micellar cleansing water

Neutrogena pore & shine daily scrub

Seventeen blow out mascara

Seventeen va va voom mascara

Sally Hansen maximum growth

L'Oreal true match foundation

L'Oreal true match concealer

Avon spot treatment

I go through phases with buying new products, and right now I feel like I've been buying so many that I need to just take a step back and stop buying... for maybe a day. There's a lot I feel like I need to take a moment to mention that I'm trying out. If you want to know more, I'll be reviewing all of these over the next few weeks!

I'm knee deep in revamping my skincare routine after I recently came to the realisation that there were just too many bits that weren't quite right. My skin seems to be taking a turn towards the more sensitive side of things, and this offering from Neutrogena seems to be working at the moment. As for the Garnier micellar water, well. We all knew it would be love at first swipe. 

Although luckily I've never been a particularly spotty person, I recently exploded into pizza mode. I barely had to leave the house, but I swear I've never had anything that's worked so well as this Avon spot treatment. Along with my face explosion my nails have given up on growing and being anything but split, so some major pampering has been happening as well as masses upon masses or vitamins.

Make up wise, I'm still searching for a foundation that I would feel comfortable enough in to wear on a daily basis, so I thought I'd give L'Oreal a whirl after hearing other pale girls liking the True Match range. As for mascara, I'll never stop buying new ones. I have so many favourites but there's always room for another.

Are you trying any of these out? Any recommendations?!

n xx

Life lately #3

I have a lot of inspirational women in my life, which I'm very thankful for. Hearst (who own magazines like ELLE, Cosmopolitan and RED) are launching an 'empowering women' campaign (follow it here) so I thought I'd tie all this together with today's post!

My mum has always been a massive inspiration, and no one could ever rival her. Recently however, my boyfriends mum Babs has been venturing out into a world that she's never really gone into before, which I'm super proud of and wanted to share!

While sitting on the sidelines in complete awe at how easily she moved from over 30 years in the army (and full time mum) to a four week internship in London with RED magazine, and also pallying up with various celebrities, I realised that it's never to late to find what you love, or even change what you love. Apparently it's also never too late to adapt to the classier life of London, which she did seamlessly. 

Babs has been a complete inspiration to me since the day I met her, and even more so after having watched her done so well from her month writing with RED.  It's definitely made me more aware that if you love something and want to do it, then you should and it's never too late to make that choice. Deciding recently that I might not want to do anything related to my degree is terrifying. Did I waste three years? No, because it's helped me as a person even if I end up being anything, a florist or a make up artist. Neither very likely, but possible.

This months copy of RED is out now if you fancy a look at the full article, and there's a little bit online if you fancy a read. I might not be the next grown up intern (I don't think I'm the 'career change' candidate they were thinking of), but I've definitely learnt a lot from reading about other women choosing to change their careers for them.

n xx 

Review | Benefit Gimme Brow

Compared to other Benefit products that have been released recently, I've not seen so much hype over this little beauty, which I was surprised by because it's become one of my firm favourites recently! It made an appearance in my June favourites and I realised that I hadn't actually reviewed it yet, so let's get down to what I'm thinking about it...

Let's just be clear to begin with; my natural brow game isn't anything to brag about. I hate going out with my natural brows because they're near invisible, so having something to quickly fill them in is a life saver. This isn't the cheapest option out there, as it's £17.50 for what looks like a pretty teeny product. I've been using it a lot over the last few months however, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Though there are other tinted brow gels out there, this is the first one I've tried. Compared to others that I've seen, it's pretty much a perfect match to the colour I fill my brows in with, but there are only two shades. I'm light/medium, and the medium/dark offering does look a lot darker so I'm hoping at some point in the future Benefit look at getting a few more shades out!

To apply it, I simply sweep it through my brows like any other brow gel. You can easily go back over parts of your brow if you want it a bit darker, or slightly more defined than the effect of the first coat. Letting it dry a little then adding more makes it a little darker, but nothing too dramatic. This looks great for adding more to your already filled in brows, or just as a final addition to set everything in place. If you're using it as the latter, just remember that it's still going to add colour so don't get too carried away. I may or may not have learnt that the hard way.

In terms of lasting power, it's pretty up there. I think it holds up to its claims of being waterproof, having tested it well when I went on holiday. On just a normal day where no water is involved, I normally find myself taking off my brows as if I just put them on. For me that's pretty impressive, as having longer brow hairs means things can sometimes get a little bit messy.

I think one of my main loves for this product is the cute teeny packaging that's so handbag friendly, but despite that I really go recommend the product inside it if you're thinking about it. I personally don't have any scarring etc in my brows, but not hiding them is the only negative thing I've heard for this!

You can see it here, do you think you'll be taking the plunge?

n xx

Summer Reading

 Being an english student, I read a lot. I've got a huge pile of books that I'm hoping to get through this summer while I've got not so much in the way of reading to do for my modules, so I thought I'd share a few with you guys across a few posts in case you're looking for any new reads!

 The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth

I found this ages ago in the crime section on a ramble through Waterstones, but I've only just realised that I've never opened it. As much as I love Agatha Christie, I thought it only fair to give some other crime writers a chance. Think brutal murder, then single spinster setting things in their jolly way again while uncovering more secrets than the mafia has.

 Women in Love by DH Lawrence

I was supposed to read this for a modernism module, but after moving off the module I think I still fancy giving this a read. The title just appeals to me, and being a great classic hopefully it'll be decent!

 A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride

I started this a while back then got distracted by university. I met Eimear just over a year ago (her husband works with my mum, aka new claim to fame) at a book signing. It took her 9 years of being rejected before she finally got published due to her unusual writing style, and in the last year she's won more awards than I can even think to name. A very popular novel written by an extremely lovely lady.

 It by Alexa Chung

This was all the rage around Christmas, and although I've flicked through it I've never read it properly. From what I've seen, it's an inspirational collection of memories and pictures, so I can't wait to grab a latte and settle down with it. (see what I did there? Oho.)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I have actually already read this. It is so good. I wasn't sure what to expect; narrated by death about a girl living in Nazi Germany? Alrighty then. It does get a little descriptive maybe once or twice, but it's so well written about a point of view that I had never really thought about before. If you're looking for a new read, I cannot recommend this enough.

If you've got any recommendations, don't be shy and leave them below!

n xx