Holiday Beauty

When I started putting things together to take away with me, I had a quick look at what I took to Sorrento, and it surprised me how similar some bits that I'm taking are! I'm probably going to cut out a few of these bits, mostly because I feel like my skin needs a bit of a break at the moment.

I'm starting with a base of solid SPF, both in my primer and lip balm- better safe than sorry! I'm taking Benefit Gimmebrow because it's my absolute eyebrow savior, especially on low maintenance make up days. To give my skin a bit of a break, I'm not going to take a foundation with me, but instead I'll have a bit of a mix and match with concealers for a lighter coverage. The Collection match perfection is still my favourite, so that's a definite, but the others I haven't quite decided on.

I decided against taking a blush, but I'll definitely take the Body Shop honey bronzer. MAC Omega is also still my staple brow colour, so I'm taking that along with a few other colours in my quad. The Charlotte Tilbury colour chameleon in champagne diamonds was a present from one of my best friends, and it's turned into my absolute favourite eye shadow.

I'm only thinking of taking a few lip colours from these, and I'm probably going to opt for the Clinique baby tint because it's such a lovely natural colour. I'm also still really in love with MAC D for Danger, so I think I might take that as my statement lip option.

What would be your top pick to take away with you?!

n xx

Holiday Reading

I cannot go on holiday without a book, because to me a holiday isn't complete without sitting down and getting lost in a novel for a few hours. I don't think I'm going to take all three of these, but they're three that I bought recently that I've got waiting on my to-read pile.

I think I'll definitely be taking Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll with me, mostly because as soon as I saw it I decided I needed it. I've never actually read the novel before, but with the second movie coming out soon I thought now would be a good time to read it! Plus this copy has super lovely illustrations in it, so I'm thinking it's going to be a good holiday read.

The other two that I'm yet to decide between is The Lonely by Andrew Michael Hurley and The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. I'd not really heard anything about either of them before I picked them up, but they were on buy one get one half price so I took a chance. Sometimes I like to pick up books based on their cover and blurb, just to try some new writers and genres. They're quite different genres (as you can probably guess from their covers), but they've both won different kinds of awards so I'm excited to get started on them both!

Have you picked up any new books recently?

n xx

Boots Holiday Haul

Nivea sun protect & moisture SPF 50

Nivea sun moisturising after sun spray

Tresemme instant refresh dry shampoo

Rimmel London fix & protect primer

Nivea hydrocare lip protection

Yes to Carrots eye cream

17 va va voom waterproof mascara

Scunci no-slip grip mini bobbles

Any excuse is a good one to go to Boots for a good look around, right? With going away, I wanted to make sure I had all the SPF/ waterproof requirements. Given how pale I am, and how sensitive my skin is, obviously I went for a factor 50 sun cream. Jay has already sworn that he won't be wearing factor 50, but I bet he'll change his mind once he gets burnt (as karma for all the times he made fun of me being so pale, of course). I picked up after sun too just for luck, especially as it's on offer in Boots at the moment!

The other bits I picked up were more essentials or bits I spotted as I was looking around. I've used this Rimmel fix & protect primer for a while now, so I needed a new one, especially as it's SPF 25. I also wanted a lip balm with SPF in it (if you've ever had burnt lips, you know the pain), so I went for this Nivea one which has aloe vera goodness in it. I also picked up a waterproof mascara, because even though I have about 10 at the moment, when I looked through them all not a single one is waterproof! I've used this mascara before, and I remember loving it to bits.

I wanted to try a new eye cream as mine is running low and I can't be without one, and this Yes to Carrots is for normal to dry skin. I haven't tried too much of this range before, but I've heard a lot about it so I'm excited to give it a try! I also spotted that the Tresemme dry shampoo was on offer, and I slightly prefer this one to my normal Bastiste choice because it doesn't leave white marks in my hair as easily. Lastly I picked up some more clear hair bands, because these are perfect to buns and plaits. My hair is quite thin towards the ends, so having a smaller bobble is a life saver.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I'll be away when this goes up, so if you'd like to see my holiday snaps you can follow me on instagram at nikkiyvonne_

Have you bought anything new for the summer yet?

n xx

Bullet Journal | Holiday Packing

Jay and I booked a (very) last minute trip to Greece, so over the last week I've been frantically packing and trying to sort everything out. I love a good list, so of course it only made sense that I should do things right by making a packing list in my bullet journal. As I wrote it, I made sure that I left gaps and extra boxes in places where I thought I might be adding more, so it's worked out perfectly. I don't know for definite that I'll be taking my bullet journal with me, but I added two columns so that I could make sure not only that I'm taking home everything I need, but also that I'm bringing it all back!

The main packing categories that I've gone for are: clothes, accessories, travel, beauty, electrical and I added a miscellaneous section on the end at the last minute for anything that I'd forgotten. It's so easy for forget things, especially now I'm an adult and 100% in charge of my own travelling! I don't get overly stressed when I travel, unless I don't feel in control of what's going on, so it's better for me to be as organised as possible.

Are you an organised traveler like me, or do you wing it?!

n xx

Topshop Gone Fishing

Topshop nails £5 each

So the last few weeks have been pretty hectic, and blogging has fallen through the cracks a little bit for me. But I'm still here! I've started to re-organise myself and get back on track, which is always the best feeling after the tornado of the last few weeks.

I've been getting back into painting my nails, and even venturing away from my recent uniform shades of pink. The shade that I'm wearing at the moment is this Topshop offering in Gone Fishing. I've had it for a while so I couldn't find it on the website, but it's a really nice green for spring. It's borderline pastel, and isn't like any other greens I have- I would say is quite a close match Essie mojito madness. 

I've recently started using this Avon base coat, and I feel like it's been helping my nails quite a bit. My favourite top coat is still Essie gel setter, no matter what nail varnish I'm using. It helps my nails dry so fast, and helps the colour stop from chipping for a few more days than normal too.

What have you been painting your nails with recently?

n xx

Beach Day

One of the best things about living where I do in Norfolk is that it's super easy to get to the coast, which with the warmer weather the last few days has been perfect! Jay came to visit for a few days, so we managed to spend the day together at the beach in Yarmouth just in time for the super warm weather.

We spotted a ferris wheel when we were parking, so obviously we had to go on it- you could see all over the town and down the beach. Even Jay, who hates heights, liked it! We also practiced some stone skimming (I'm terrible), played some mini golf and obviously had to have chips and ice cream while we were there. It was a really lovely day!

Life recently has been very hectic, so my blog has taken a little bit of a back seat the last few weeks. It's been nice to have a few days off while Jay visits, even though I know when he leaves I'll have a heap of things to get in with!

I hope you've all been enjoying the warmer weather (if you've had it where you are!)

n xx