Loving lately #5

all images taken from my pinterest fashion board

Today I'm thinking autumn fashion, so if you're nostalgic over the soon to end summer just hold with me. Autumn is by far my favourite season. It's not too hot, it's acceptable to run round the city in scarves with pumpkin spice lattes, the leaves all start to fall, pumpkin soup makes a comeback (can you tell I like pumpkin?). I'm not saying I hate summer, but I was 100% not built for heat, so a heatwave summer has got me lusting for my tights and cosy jumpers more than normal.

I can't wait to get shopping for some more autumn/winter additions to my wardrobe!

Also, this was one of my my favourite post this week:

A few blogging myths by sweet electric

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

n xx

Review | L'Oreal true match foundation

gettin' arty with a cactus

I'm not a big foundation wearer, but when I heard Amelia Liana talking about this on youtube, it really took my fancy, so I decided to give it a whirl. I picked it up from Boots for £9.99 in the shade N1 ivory, though the range was a little tough to choose from. Each shade also comes in 'warm' or 'cool' (W1 golden ivory or C1 rose ivory) up to N8. The colour range gets high marks from me for sure!

I really like the simple glass packaging and pump, which makes it easy to get the right amount of product out. I apply it using my fingers, then blend it using a bdellium precision kabuki brush, which gives a really even coverage. I find it easy to build up, and it's not too much of a heavy coverage. I don't think it's overly dewey or matte, on my skin it finishes to more of a natural glow, which fits with it's claims to be 'a natural looking, skin-true colour without tide-marks and outstanding coverage without caking.'

I would say it lasts about 8 hours on my skin, but slightly less on oily areas like my nose. The colour I chose is a pretty good match to my skin, but I might try out the C1 rose ivory option for the coming paler winter months. I'd definitely recommend this if you're looking to try out a new foundation!

Have you tried this out?

n xx

Wardrobe wishlist

I've reached yet another 'why can't I just feel comfortable in something I own phase'- though if I'm being honest, it never really ends. Can someone just buy my clothes for me please? Here's just a few (there were a lot more, this was originally about three times longer...) things that have caught my eye recently.

H&M

Sweatshirt skirt £12.99

Leather shoulder bag £69.99

Cable knit jumper £19.99

Textured jacket £34.99

Topshop

Shell asymmetric platforms £60

Petite floral print a-line dress £55 

Petite scallop frill tee £16

Petite window pane pelmet skirt £35

Miss Selfridge

Ivory drop back cami £20 (was £25)

Floral bardot dress £25
Lipstick mule £45
Iris print jacket £39

Missguided

Vanessa mint tailored coat £34.99

Nude lace cut out maxi dress £44.99

I only just noticed a bit of a love for black and white in all this, oops! What have you been lusting after recently? I have a feeling some of these might be falling into my wardrobe soon...

n xx

Review | Estée Lauder sumptuous extreme

Estée Lauder isn't a brand I ever expected to find myself reviewing, even though I love a good high end product. However I stumbled across this sample size of the 'sumptuous extreme lash multiplying volume mascara', and I'm completely smitten.

"THE FORMULA

Extreme Bold Volume™ formula is a blend of three high-volume fibers in a mousse-light base. Acts like lash extensions multiplying and growing the look of lashes. Fortified with conditioning Lash-Advancing Vitamin Complex.

THE THREE FIBERS

Unique interlocking fibers build volume + length

Hollow fibers create massive volume, without weight

Ball fibers fill in and fill out even the sparsest lashes"

You can find the full size here for £23. I wasn't expecting much from this- how different can one mascara be from another, after all. But it's pure magic. I've never had it smudge or clump when applying it. It layers like nothing else, never making my lashes turn into a mono lash. The wand/brush isn't too big, and the end is slightly narrower that makes getting corner lashes so easy.

While it's pretty pricey compared to high street offerings, I definitely think I'll get the full size once this one is done. The packaging is simple but expensive looking, and the lasting power is surprisingly long for a non-waterproof mascara. It's one of those holy grail products that just makes me feel a million dollars.

Would you splash out on this?

n xx 

Life lately #7

So I unintentionally took a bit of time off from blogging this week. I went away to my sister's for the weekend, and scheduled posts up until Tuesday, but my plans for the week changed when my boyfriend could suddenly be on my train home to come stay for a few days. It was such an amazing surprise and I'm so glad he got to come stay! So here's just a few photos from my week while I get myself organised again!

bowling with my sister and her boyfriend

Great Yarmouth beach with the boyfriend

pirate mini golf! (I won.)

Yet more bowling! Jay's normally rubbish but he's clearly been practicing.

I hope you guys are all having a good summer!

n xx

Being blind as a bat: the continued story

Remember way back when I first posted about my eyesight (or lack thereof)? Well, if not you can get caught up with the original here. The glasses that I posted about then lasted me up until about a month ago when they finally gave up (no thanks to being stepped on by my boyfriend's great hooves several times).

I realised then that I had been stashing away all of my old glasses since I was 14/15 and got my first pair, so I rummaged them all up because did you know that you can take your old pairs into Specsavers and donate them to charity? I'm sure other places are a part of this, but you can read here a little bit about Specsavers specifically. 

The four pairs that I donated will likely go overseas to various countries to people who couldn't normally afford them. I think it's an amazing idea that takes so little to actually do. It took me maybe 10 minutes to find glasses that I'll never use again and were just taking up space. I can't imagine not being able to afford glasses, I'm completely dependent on them because my eyesight is pretty shocking. 

If you have any old glasses lying about, why not have a look if you could do something similar? 

n xx

Life lately #6

17 things I'm grateful for ♥

1. being able to blog about things I love

2. being home for the summer means I can visit all my grandparents regularly

3. getting to see my mum every day, and my dad more than normal

4. knowing that my family will support me in whatever I want to do

5. having the time to endlessly get lost in books

6. for my amazing boyfriend

7. my friends

8. being able to write

9. being able to laugh

10. rainy days

11. being able to travel

12. spending time with my sister

13. hot chocolates with mini marshmallows

14. pets

15. being healthy

16. the little things

17. my favourite season is coming

Sometimes it's good to remind yourself that you might not have everything, but there are people with far less ♥

n xx

Haul | Primark

I actually don't remember the last fashion haul I posted, so I thought I'd give you guys a little peek at this mini haul! I've been really unhappy and uncomfortable with everything in my wardrobe recently, so I've been picking up a few new bits.

The Primark in Norwich is sometimes a bit hit and miss, but at the moment they have the most gorgeous display of blouses. They didn't have my favourite one in my size, so I got this blue one instead but I still love the contrasting pattern. I picked up (yet another) black cami because I thought that the detailing on the strap was super cute, and I think it was £5 so even if it's rubbish quality I didn't waste a fortune on it.

I really love a good scrunchie so I thought I'd pick up a few of these cute hair bands, especially because I wear my hair up a lot recently for studying. I've been searching for a thicker belt for what feels like forever, and I thought this one was quite cute and would look nice with shorts or a baggy dress. The necklace was something that just caught my eye, I think it's really cute though! I can see it being worn out a lot when I get back to uni.

What do you think of Primark's offerings at the moment? I go through a real love hate relationship with them!

n xx

Recovering festival skin

After my weekend away, my skin was in a pretty dire state. I ditched my normal skin routine for just under a week, and though it's not necessarily an intense day to night routine, I could see the changes in my skin.

My main problem was the dryness around my nose, so as soon as I got home I cracked out these beauties to start fixing that.

That night...

The Body Shop camomile cleansing butter

review here

Still my firm favourite to take off my face for the day, I opted for this particularly because it leaves my skin feeling smooth and nourished. The creamy, buttery formula helps no end with dry patches, and using a muslin cloth to take it off helps to buff away dead skin cells that are lurking.

Benefit moisture prep toning lotion

I rummaged this out from the very depths of my beauty stash; designed to help moisturiser sink into the skin, I thought that this would be perfect for my dehydrated patches. It contains aloe vera and vitamin E, both of which were perfect for my tired skin.

Avon solutions hydra radiance night

Another something that I found recently, I used to love this because it leaves my skin looking amazing when I wake up the next morning. It isn't a heavy moisturiser, but the dewy and healthy glow it gives to my skin is unbeatable.

The next morning...

Lush ocean salt face & body scrub

I use this about once a week to really give my skin a good exfoliate, and it really does leave my skin feeling beautifully soft. It is quite a harsh exfoliator because of the sea salt, but perfect for a deep skin clean every now and then.

Lush celestial moisturiser

review here

I'm still loving this, and treated my skin to a good dollop of this to really sink in over the day because I was house bound. I've noticed it's much more suited to my skin when it's going through a dry phases, and I can instantly see my skin looking more hydrated from using it.

After a few days of this my skin was looking a 100% better, which I'm really pleased with because I didn't plan for them to all work so well together!

What would your emergency skincare products be?

n xx

Review | Topshop crescent moon highlighter

If you've been around a while, you might have seen this back when I reviewed it in January 2013. Why am I reviewing this highlighter again, I hear you cry? Well, dear reader, because I just refound this after far too long of forgetting that it existed.

When I first got it, I was weary. What exactly does one highlight? Is sweaty trendy? Then once I'd gotten used to it, I was in love Romeo and Juliet style. Somewhere between then and now I'd completely forgotten of its existence. You can't get this particular crescent moon shade according to the Topshop website, but they still stock its sister shade sunbeam, which is equally gorgeous.

For me, it's the perfect highlighter. It's not too golden, not too sparkly but just the right amount of glimmer to satisfy my inner fairy princess. It's easy to apply using the Real Techniques setting brush, which picks up just the right amount to dust over the tops of my cheekbones. I'm much more of a powder highlighter girl, because I find it so much easier to apply and blend. It stays put all day, and is definitely worthy of its £10 price tag.

What do you think of the Topshop make up?

n xx

Life lately #5

If ever there was a time to warn you about a 'photo heavy post', this is the one. But I wanted to share with you guys my first ever festival, especially because I had such an amazing time. I've never been to one before, the concept of so many people, being dirty and such just makes me feel nervous and uncomfortable. 

I decided to look past that and try going to a relatively small one with my boyfriend in tow. I chose to go to YNOT, which is in Derbyshire. Some of my uni friends were also there so we spent a bit of time with them, but overall it was such a perfect weekend considering I thought I'd hate it! As usual, I'm not trying to show off or anything of the sort. I love these posts and seeing what other people get up to.

 The main stage before the grass was just mud.

 Razorlight performing on the first night

 The whole site from the hill our tent was on.

 I spent the weekend relatively sober, but my friends... well, you can see.

 My last caption standing strong. Classy.

 There was a vegetarian and vegan tent for food and oh. my. It was good.

 The Fratellis

 This guy in fancy dress was probably one of the biggest fangirl moments I've ever seen my boyfriend have. I think he's called deadpool and is some kind of spiderman related comic? I think..

 Dizzie Rascal was amazing, but I've never really heard his music before so I was lost in a sea of taller people moshing which was interesting!

 This cupcake was literally the best and most sickly thing I've eaten in my entire life, but it was amazing!

 Jay had white chocolate rocky road (my cupcake was way better though)

 I lasted two days without coffee but I started feeling so sleepy so I caved, and the guy wrote the 'a' as a heart! So cute.

 Paint fight! I didn't really get involved but Jay and a friend we met with loved it.

 Probably my favourite photo of the weekend. Jay wasn't as keen on the ferris wheel as me.

I hope you liked this post! Sorry for having so many photos, but I had such an amazing time. 

Are you going to any festivals this summer?!

n xx