Rome

Ok, so this trip was a while ago, well actually 10 months ago - we went in October 2014 - but hey, better late than never right? 

My lovely Johnny and I thought we deserved a long weekend somewhere lovely in Europe, and Rome immediatley jumped to the top of my list. For years and years I have longed to visit this beautiful city. I have dreamt of indulging in gorgeous Italian pizza and red wine, roaming the Vatican and exploring the Colloseum for long as I can remember. 

You might already know, but I am an avid reader and adore Dan Brown's Angels and Demons - and it was a surreal experience to walk the same streets as one of my favourite fictional characters! 

We ate gelato, drank prosecco and had one the of best pizzas of my life down a lottle cobbled side street. We explored the Trevvi Fountain - and returned back to the hotel only to find my purse missing! Luckily (or as lucky as you can be when you get mugged!) the thieving weasel discarded my luminous pink purse once he had my cash and a kind hearted waiter came across it and called our hotel, thanks to the business card I had grabbed from reception. Although we had cancelled my cards it was still nice to collect my purse and retrieve my driving license! 

The Colloseum was enormous and just bursting with history - it's hard to believe it is simply that old! We also enjoyed beautiful hot sunny weather during Our whole stay in Rome! 

We explored the vatican fresh from the plane, and although tired it was everthing I imagined it to be; we even think we spotted the Pope from afar! John and I then dined al fresco straight outside the Vatican and enjoyed a cold Peroni! 

On our final evening in Rome we spent hours wandering around the exterior of the Vatican (I adore the place, and it is beautiful by night!) and made our way down all the little streets using a huge paper map we picked up until we came to the Pantheon and had dinner directly opposite - what a view! 

I enjoyed every second spent in this beautiful city and hope that I can return again with John soon! 

Life lately

Nail parties. Dog sitting. Trying new products. A holiday in Marmaris. Celebrating my 24th Birthday. A surprise zoo visit. 

Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Basecoat & Topcoat Duo

Hello lovlies, I hope you all had an amazing weekend. I'm had a lazy Sunday watching The Vampire Diaries whilst being dosed up in antibiotics for an ear infection :-(

A few weeks ago I made a product suggestion to Feel Unique - my favourite website in the whole world- as I couldn't find a product I was looking for (Urban Decay) Anyhoo to my great suprise I received a lovely e-mail a couple of days ago telling me that my feedback had been chosen to win a £20 voucher - wahoo!

Immediatley I logged in and ordered this amazing duo from Nails Inc, whose products I lust after on a daily basis. My parcel arrived speedily and I can't wait to try it out :-) watch this space for my review shortly.

Much love xx

A Little Day Trip

Hey guys :-)

I don't know about you, but I get bored easily. Whilst going to the cinema/out for dinner/pub/usual stuff is fun most of the time, sometimes you want something a little different. My boyfriend and I decided to hop on a ferry to France a couple of months ago, and it was the best day out ever!

We live a couple of hours away from Dover, so a two hour drive to the ferry port at 7am is a small price to pay for a fabulous trip. Speaking of small prices, we couldn't believe that it's only a £20 return to Calais and back. That's less than a train ticket to London from my house!

We chose to leave the car at Dover and travel as foot passengers, so we took a little wheelie case to haul our good back in :-)

Did I mention the wine is super cheap? €2 a bottle sounds like a good deal to me!

Here's a little snap of our stash and a yummy lunch...

My Hair Idol

I wish I could have hair like Jen. I love her and the shiny halo of golden locks that she wears proudly. I have spent years trying to acheive her perfect colour, if anyone knows the secret do tell!

Santa I Have Been Very Good This Year So Please Bring Me...

I think I've been pretty good this year, so I think the ultimate prize on my Christmas list would be the Mulberry Bayswater. I have lusted after this bag for far too long. Definitley worth the hefty price tag I say!

A little bit of hard work does pay off!

A little bit of boredom and a streak of creativity work wonders sometimes.

A little how to for you lovelies..

Paint a basecoat on.
Choose your base colour - I chose a light shimmery colour.
Splodge on random blobs of bright colours.
Wait for it to dry - I chose this time to watch a bit of Vampire Diaries. *big smile*
Line the splodges with a black nail art pen.
Add a topcoat, glitter if you wish - and voila - gorgeous fun nails!

I Will Always Love...

Glastonbury Glitter by Nails Inc. it's the one polish I can use again and again in so many different ways. The best investment in a polish ever <3

It's a Converse kind of day....

I apologise for my lack of posts over the last few months. I thought silence was likely to be a little bit better than posting when my heart wasn't really in it. On the bright side I've still been reading all of your lovely blogs, although I've been rubbish at commenting! I've got my blogging mojo back and am going to make more of an effort from now on xx

Boux Avenue

Ladies! I know I may be a little late to board this train, but has the close of la senza meant you struggle to feed your underwear addiction? I know that here on the south coast choice is very limited and I'd either end up at m&s or new look! ( nothing wrong with either choice, but they're not really to my taste!) anyhoo, I thought I'd sample Boux Avenue online - very similar pricing and style to la senza, but even more fabulous! I'm hooked, Boux will now be my port of call for all my underwear needs!

The Body Shop Banana Conditioner

This *gorgeous* conditioner from the body shop has been my saviour over the last few months! As you know, I have highlighted hair that is subjected to heat regularly, meaning it gets very dry and brittle. I pop a decent sized blob of this on my hair after washing, leave on for a couple of minutes, rinse, and hey presto! Fab Luscious locks restored. It smells exactly like a banana smoothie too :-) 

The Body Shop Earth Lovers Watermelon & Eucalyptus Shower Gel

Hello Gorgeous People! Did you all have a lovely weekend? Mine was very chilled out. I mean very. All I did was go to the gym on Saturday and have a bit of a spring clean on Sunday. I did eat a lot of crisps and drink lots of red wine in between though ;-)

I'm constantly on the look out for a eucalyptus alternative to my beloved Molton Brown Eucalyptus Bath and Shower Therapy - post here. It's pretty expensive, so I'm desperate to find a cheaper alternative. I jumped at the chance to buy this from The Body Shops website. I think I've mentioned before that they are always emailing out offers and I think I ended up getting this shower gel for about £2. Bargain!

Everything about this shower gel is lovely - the fact that the bottle is made from 100% recycled materials and is biodegradable, the shower gel itself doesn't contain nasty parabens or colourants and is soap free meaning that it's great for sensitive skin and won't leave it itchy or dry. Even the smell is lovely - you can really smell the watermelon. Sadly it just doesn't match up in the eucalyptus stakes :-(

If I wasn't on the hunt for a Molton Brown alternative I would LOVE this shower gel. But sadly in comparison it just doesn't cut it for me.

Maybe I was aiming too high here by opting for The Body Shop. However this won't deter me at all from buying this product in the future :-)

The Single Girls Guide To Surviving Valentine's Day.

Hello Girls! (and guy's!) I don't know about you, but I'm not really a fan of Valentine's Day. I mean it's all well and good if you're in a relationship and will be spoilt rotten and showered with love and gifts by your significant other. If that's you, I'm pleased for you, I really am - I mean you've done well so far, right? But what about the rest of us?

Well us single girls will do one of two things; we will either fight Valentine's day with all we've got and protest our hate for this horrid day and claim it's just a way for companies to make money or we will curl up in a ball and convince ourselves that our prince charming will never come and that we will die alone.

I can't really claim to solve all of your problems, but what I can do is hopefully find a way that will get all us single ladies through Valentine's day smoothly.

Grab yourselves a big glass of wine and take a look at my list of suggestions. Hopefully you can find one that suits you.

1. Go to bed early and cry.   only joking. DO NOT do this.
1. Meet up with your best single girlfriends and go for dinner and wine/cocktails/alcoholic beverage of your choice.
2. Invite single girlfriends round to your house for dvd/ice-cream/wine.
3. Hit the gym followed by a swim - exercise makes you feel good. Proven fact.
4. Watch your favourite horror/scary movie. Silence Of The Lambs would be my choice.
5. Send a Valentines card to a friend. Making someone else happy will make you happy. Plus this is an ideal way of proving that friendship will outlive every romance you will ever have.
6. Have an evening in and pamper yourself. Make time to paint your nails and condition your hair and generally make yourself look hot!
7. Buy that dress or pair of shoes that you've been after for ages. Who needs a man to buy them gifts? Being able to buy yourself a present and know that you have worked hard for it will mean more than a present from a man ever would.
8. Rid yourself of all things that remind you of a past relationship - teddies, photo's etc. You don't need it, throwing these things away will help you move on.
9. Treat all the girls in your office to cake!
10. Love yourself. If you are not happy by yourself how can you expect to be happy with someone else. A positive outlook on life will bring positive things your way.
11. Start the healthy eating and exercise plan you've been meaning to do for ages. Now's a good a time as any!
12. Donate the money you would have spent on a valentines gift to charity. A far more worthy cause than buying a teddy for a man!

Whatever you are doing this V-Day I hope you are having a great one :-) xx

Ooh one last thing, whatever you do, do not watch the Notebook. It is a beautiful film - but no good can ever come of it!! (I have learnt this lesson time and time again!)

If you have any more suggestions please feel free to add them below. :-)

Should I Cross Over To The Dark Side?

Hello Gorgeous People! I hope you are all having a lovely week. I'm after a bit of help today... I'm due for my hair to be coloured and I'm wondering if I should stay blonde, or become a brunette. I'm currently really undecided!

Here is the catch. I'm a stupidly mousey boring colour naturally, and obviously have darker roots being a blonde. On the odd occasion I have been a brunette, I have light roots! I don't get my hair coloured very often, so putting up with some rootage is compulsary,  I'm just pretty unsure if light hair and dark roots would look better than dark hair and light roots! Aaaah the troubles of being a girl. I've added a couple of pictures below, and would love your opinion on which colour you think I should be!!

Brunette

Blonde

xxx

Indola Colour Style Mousse - Honey Blonde - Review

Every fancied changing your hair colour? If you're anything like me and are too scared to make the big leap without having a little trial run first, or want to freshen up the colour you currently have, this Indola Colour Style Mousse will be perfect you! It's a wash out formula which makes it so easy to try a new colour without any permanent commitment.

Application is so quick and easy - all you need to do is wash your hair as usual and then pop an orange sized amount of this mousse into a gloved hand (or risk staining!) and distribute evenly through hair, and comb to make sure you haven't missed a spot. Dry and style your hair as you normally would.

I chose a colour similar to my own hair just to freshen things up a bit, and having been under the weather recently I'm not sure I would have coped well with a dramatic change, although I would love to try a red or brown next time :-)

The results weren't too dramatic for me (I chose 'honey blonde') but this product did an amazing job of refreshing my hair colour and toning down any brassiness. I am very overdue for a colour and this did a perfect job in restoring shine and masking those imperfections, whilst I wait for my hair appointment.

Before

After

I'm not sure how well these photo's showcase the 'before' and 'after' looks, but I felt fab, and it came at a fraction of the cost and commitment of a permanent colour - this mousse retails at £7.75.

Not only did it give fantastic shine and improved softness, the Indola Colour Mousse also boats a formula that helps to protect against heat damage. It's a win-win situation! Aaaannndd..... with 12 colours to choose from you can't go wrong!

Have you ever tried a 'wash in wash out' colour?

*This product was sent to me to review and I was not compensated in any way for this. As always, my reviews on this product are completely honest.

My Week In Pictures

Hello all! I hope you had a lovely weekend! (not that it's over just yet) I'm on a bit of a spending ban at the moment as I have lots of products that need using up and can't really afford to waste them so I thought I'd fill you in on my week...

I'm finally better (fingers crossed) after nearly a month of being ill. Needless to say I haven't really been that active apart from online shopping and hauling my sickly self to work each day. I've gotten back in a gym routine after nearly two months off, and oh my god I ache everywhere!! I know that it's good for me though. I've had a few trips to the cinema as I have a cineworld card, I try and go at least once a week. My friend Leanne and I finally got our free chicken with our loyalty card at Nando's - and it tastes so much better when it's free! I went shopping with my mum and didn't buy a single thing which really is a first for me! My friend Josies nan also knitted me a beautiful blue blanket, which I adore - it's gorgeous and so warm! And in other news my obession with make up and beauty products continues to grow.

Not a very productive week, but some things never change!

Ooh in other news, if you're looking for a book to read I highly recommend the Hunger Games set, I can't put them down!!

Xx

Nars Deep Throat Blush - Review

Aside from the naughty name, this blusher is gorgeous! As you can probably tell from my Blog name - I love blush! It is a staple in my makeup bag and I never feel complete without it. I usually stick to my trusty Benefit Coralista or Sugabomb, but again I decided that I needed another treat! My bank account really isn't loving all these presents I keep buying myself.  :-)

The packaging has that 'rubbery' effect, which I just know is going to attract dirt like a magnet in my bag, but  the handy mirror inside makes up for it. This peachy pink blush is highly pigmented and has fine golden sheen to it, which doesn't appear all that shimmery on the skin and thankfully doesn't draw attention to blemishes and imperfections - trust me I have quite a few!!

I found this product on Asos for £20.50 but managed to bag myself a 10% off code, which are always available if you hunt around google for one, can't pass up a bargain! :-)

What's your 'go-to' blusher? xx

NOTD Barbara Daly Nail Polish - Black Cherry

I've been eyeing up Opi's black cherry shade for a while now, and just can't bring myself to spend the money on it when there are so many other things I need in my life *cough mulberry bag cough*. So when I was buying my shampoo in Tescos the other day this Barbara Daly for Tesco nail polish caught my attention.

I am a bit of a cosmetics snob, but I've had few of these polishes before and they're fab! Long lasting and really glossy, I even took the hot pink shade with me to france last year :-) I usually chip my nails instantly after painting but I find a get a few days wear out of these ones. And it was around £3.50 too, so an all round bargain! xx

Shopping Does Makes You Feel Better...Mac Cremesheen Lipstick - Speed Dial

Hello! I hope your week's off to a good start. Mine could be better, I've been ill for over a week now :-( Actually I've spent most of January being ill - I have the worst immune system ever! My mother even carted me off to the docs on a suspected case of meningitis, but it's fine I only have a virus. A virus that has completely worn me down and I currently have a throat that is so sore it's bleeding. Eww far too much information!!

My friend Leanne and I went on a bit of a shopping trip to Guildford on Saturday as we only live about an hour away, and after either dying at my desk at work and infecting my colleagues or hauling myself straight to bed come 5pm every night it was very nice to be out!! Anyhoo, to cheer myself up I thought I would treat myself to a present from the Mac counter.

I've decided I want to steer away from lip glosses now (can't handle my hair being constantly stuck to my lips!) I want to be a lipstick girl! As mentioned in a previous post, I don't feel confident enough to pull off bold colours such a reds, but I think pink is a good place to start right? There was so many gorgeous colours to choose from, but in the end I opted for Speed Dial from the Cremesheen range :-)

I think it's a fairly light, girly pink which is fantastic for lipstick newbies like me! xx

Schwarzkopf Osis+ Style Shifters Liquid Texturising Spray - Light Control - Review

Eeek what a long name for a hair product! This liquid texturising spray is used by the celeb hairdressers on Dancing On Ice don't you know! So if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for my barnet. The product I have here is no.1 light control, however it is also available in both a medium and strong control too. The packaging is super cute - like a little pink egg and it smells fab.

These sprays allow you to create a re-mouldable style, which you can change on the go. I have found this spray to be particularly good at creating some definition to my mass of curls and for taming a sleek up-do. I've even used to it style my brothers hair - it acted in pretty much the same way his usual wax/gel combination would. The one let down of this spray however (and to some it could be the make or break decision of buying) ... it was very sticky. So sticky in fact that you really do need to wash your hair once you are done with the style you have been sporting for the day. It doesn't really work for me as I wash my hair every 2-3 days and can't deal with a sticky pillow. For me this definitely is a product to save for nights out, or for those curly days.

Schwarzkopf Osis+ Style Shifters Liquid Texturising Spray - Light Control retails at £ £8.70 

How do you add definition to your style? xx

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*This product was sent to me to review and I was not compensated in any way for this. As always, my reviews on this product are completely honest.