Hello my lovelies!

I realise it's been ages since I last did a favourites post but there are a few products I've been using lately that I absolutely adore, and I'm never one to pass up a chance to rave about things I love!

First up, two hair products that I've been using a lot, so they've finally earned themselves a place on the blog! The Lee Stafford hair treatment smells absolutely amazing, it lingers all day long and it's made my hair ever so shiny and manageable. I can't comment on whether it helps hair grow though as I had most of mine chopped off last week! The John Frieda Frizz Ease hair serum is meant to help protect against heat as well as keep frizz at bay - I can't tell if it does the former but it definitely helps with the latter, and it makes my hair really soft! I've only used heat on the fringe since I had it cut because I'm trying to grow my hair out in perfect condition, but so far I don't seem to have any split ends at all - excellent stuff!

My absolute FAVOURITE make-up items are ones I've not actually had very long; it's only been about 2-3 weeks but I've used all four religiously since obtaining them. I've posted briefly about the Naked palette and Cha Cha Tint, but because I love them so much I just have to wax lyrical about them again! Cha Cha Tint is just such a lovely colour, it makes you look like you've caught the sun as it gives you a really healthy glow. As for the Naked palette...well, words fail me, it's just so pretty and I've been having fun trying out different eyeshadow combinations as they all work so well together! Even just a quick sweep of one shadow with some mascara or eyeliner looks lovely, it may not sound so interesting to most people but for a novice like me, it's amazing!

Another product that's found its way into my daily routine is Benefit's High Beam. I'd never have picked this up if it hadn't been a Glamour freebie but I'm so glad I did! I love how it really brightens my face up, I'm almost tempted to get the full size one when this mini version runs out! It looks lovely paired with Cha Cha Tint as well.

Finally, I picked up the 17 Pressed Powder because my cousin Naomi and my friend Geo have it and have recommended it to me many a time so I gave in to temptation and bought it. I've bought two different shades and I've been wearing it instead of foundation recently to give my skin a chance to breathe! They're really good quality and quite cheap too, I think they're about £3.99 or so in Boots!

I've swatched Cha Cha Tint and High Beam as well as a few of my favourite shades from the palette, so from left to right you have Buck, Toasted, Sin, very faint High Beam and Cha Cha Tint.

What do you think of these products? Have you used any of them, or would you like to?

Hello my lovelies!

I have a wonderful tale of fabulous customer service for you today! On Monday I happened to wander into Debenhams, drawn in by their Duty Free-style prices at the moment, and in a deviation from my usual routine (I tend to look at perfumes and Estee Lauder only) I found myself at the Benefit counter, guided there by my sister Nats' post on her latest Benefit goodies. She received the new Cha Cha Tint for her birthday and raved about it on her blog, so I thought I'd ask to swatch it. The adorable counter girl, Vicki, told me that it wasn't officially released till Saturday (tomorrow), but that she had some behind the till and happily agreed to show it to me. After swatching it and oohing and ah-ing over it for a while, she then offered to try it out on my lips and cheeks. Clever move - I fell instantly in love! It's such a beautiful warm colour, especially on the lips, and of course it's coral which is a magic word in my book. Luckily I'd sold some bits on eBay so could justify the purchase, as if its beauty wasn't enough! She also gave me some Benefit samples, one is the moisturiser from their new skincare range and the other is Girl Meets Pearl which looks lovely over Cha Cha tint!

I'm wearing it here on my lips and cheeks, although it's heavily blended on the cheeks. I love the texture, it's more a gel than a liquid (like Posietint apparently) and very easy to blend (although also very easy to go overboard with...). I love it though, it's so summery and pretty even if the weather outside isn't! It costs £24.50 and if you're in the Canterbury area I'd definitely recommend the Debenhams Benefit counter as the assistant was so lovely!

In other news, I've moved out from my uni home in Canterbury (sob sob), it was very emotional as I've loved my three years there! I've now moved in with Stephie and Jon (BFF/sister-in-law-to-be, and fiance) in Essex and I'm still trying to work out where to take outfit photos and the like, so bear with me please! I thought I'd round off this post with photos of the amazing final uni meal we had, it was in a Mexican restaurant called Chimichangas in Canterbury and the food was delicious!

I had chicken quesadillas and finished it off with an amazing pina colada, I'd definitely recommend both!

Much love,

...I received something I've wanted for a long while as a graduation present...

ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?

I adore it, I'm actually rubbish at doing anything with eyeshadow, I even muck up the application of a single shadow...but this makes it so easy, all the shades go so well together and are super easy to blend - perfect for a novice like me! I won't post swatches because everyone who owns this has posted swatches, but if you're really interested may I direct you to THIS post by my sister who owns a much better camera than I do. 

Much love,

Hello my lovelies!

First of all I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has read my last post, and an even bigger thank you to those who commented /communicated with me in any way. I will reply individually once I have a bit more time as the dreaded packing-up-house time has begun and it is MANIC. It really means a lot to me though that people have responded in such a kind way about my post as it wasn't the easiest of posts to write! So thank you and I will get back to all of you.

Now although the weather is actually horrific right now I'm wearing (yet another) coral nail varnish, and this is the Nails Inc one that is part of the Dove deodorant offer at Boots right now! Basically, buy any two Dove deodorants (I picked up the new one because it smells gorgeous) and you get one of these lovely nail varnishes free. The other is a very pretty pinky colour if you aren't that into brights! 

I have noticed though that this particular coral is virtually identical to the Barry M coral I bought a few weeks ago, so don't worry if you miss out on the Nails Inc offer because you can pick up a Barry M one for cheaper! I must say though that the Nails Inc colour is far easier to apply and is opaque after one coat, unlike Barry M which requires at least two coats!

I must say I'm struggling for ideas for posts centred on clothes at the moment as most of my clothes are packed up and because of the weather I've been in jeans and hoodies - very boring! I think I might do a what's in my make up bag post at some point, simply because I have new products I like and because I love reading these posts on other blogs!

Much love,

Hello my lovelies!

This is a bit of a deviation from the norm today, so apologies for those expecting an outfit post (if you're interested, I'm in a cosy polka dot dressing gown from Next - yes, it's one of those days...). 

If you're on Twitter, or even if you're not, you might have heard of a girl named Alice Pyne, who innocently started a blog the other day documenting her struggle with terminal cancer.Alice is only 15 years old. The link has since gone viral, as the lovely saying goes, and her sister Milly raised over 30 grand for Race For Life yesterday, all thanks to the work of Twitter and the lovely people responding to it. At first I was swept up in the pure goodness of the whole thing, as it has really restored my faith in humanity and it just made me so happy seeing all these people clubbing together, both to raise money for Cancer Research UK and to help Alice achieve her bucket list, despite it being unutterably sad that at 15 this young girl feels she must have a bucket list. On Saturday, I stumbled across an article in the Telegraph about Alice and her blog, and one thing in particular stood out to me: she is suffering from Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

And this tiny piece of information has shaken me to the core.

I was 17 when I too was diagnosed with Hodgkin's. At 17, you feel like the world is your oyster and nothing can stand in your way. At 17, the word "cancer" is something you tend to hear about older people, people in their twilight years. I can imagine Alice's response to finding out about her illness, because I imagine it must have been similar to my own. Disbelieving doesn't quite cut it. I don't want to go into too much detail about my illness; it's over now, thank God, and yes, I did lose my hair, which is why I now treasure every single frizzy strand even when it insists on misbehaving.

The reason this has shocked me so much is because I never really accepted the gravity of my situation. To be fair though, Hodgkin's has a success rate of 95%; back then I never really considered the possibility of being among the 5% that cannot be helped. I treated my illness as though it were a particularly long bout of flu - I was ill, but there was an end in sight. To think now that it could've gone so differently...well, as I said before, it has shaken me. 

Another thing I would like to talk about are the symptoms. Cancer  is often described as being silent but it's not necessarily so. Seven months before I was diagnosed, I developed a bizarre rash on my legs. I spent my nights sleepless due to the itching; we changed washing powder, sheets, fabrics; I saw countless doctors and dermatologists, underwent countless allergy tests. I was exhausted but put it down to my sleepless itchy nights, never considering it might be a side-effect to something else. It was only months before my 18th birthday when I discovered a lump in my neck, and having read a book by Marian Keyes about a Hodgkin's sufferer, it terrified me. But I went to my GP and it all happened very quickly from there on. I was cancer-free within the year and I thank my lucky stars every day that I'm in remission. But not everyone is as lucky as I was. 

I have now decided I'm going to get fit. I'm going to ignore these inflamed lungs of mine (thanks a lot radiotherapy!) and I'm going to get myself into shape for next year's Race For Life. Too long I've pretended my illness didn't happen, too long I've remained silent on the subject. Not anymore. It's time to raise awareness and do my bit to try and prevent others from ending up like Alice Pyne.

I'm not going to beg you to donate. I'm not going to heap guilt upon you if you have not come into contact with cancer before. I would just like you to be AWARE, that cancer is very real and no one is immune to it. I know this is a far cry from the usual tone of my posts, but it is something very close to my heart and I felt the need to address it now. Please, please, listen to your bodies - your body will often tell you some way or another that something isn't right. Please don't ignore it. Please.

Thank you for reading, as always. I love you all. 

Hello my lovelies!

Yes it's my face again! I'm so happy I'm able to blog again, it's been weird what with all these exams and losing my camera charger and stuff! At the moment I'm spending my days enjoying what's left of my time in Canterbury, applying for jobs and trying not to spend the rest of my student loan on stuff I don't need...Today I'm off to London where my fiance has planned a special surprise for our two-year-anniversary - exciting! I will probably post updates on Twitter if anyone is as curious as I am about this surprise (and I am VERY curious, believe me!)

I'm wearing a lovely playsuit I bought off Rare Fashion using a voucher I got off Groupon. Initially I was a bit worried as the voucher was a total impulse buy and for months afterwards I couldn't find anything that would suit me on the site, but then the other week this popped up in the "New In" section and I simply had to buy it! It's so floaty and pretty and I adore the colour and cape-like detail.

On my face I'm wearing MAC Studio Fix foundation (NW20 if you're interested) over the Witch primer which I'm trialling at the moment. I've never used a primer before so this seemed like an inexpensive way of starting! I've also got MAC Studio Fix concealer, Bourjois Rose d'Or blusher, Bourjois Liner Feutre eyeliner and Chanel mascara on. The lipstick is the Barry M coral I posted about yesterday, it's too pretty to pass up on and I have the matching nail varnish that I may apply on the train!

Ah I have really enjoyed writing a post like this again! Blogging is so therapeutic for me and I always have a nice sense of achievement after writing a post, does anyone else feel this way?

xoxo

EDIT: I wrote this post this morning but had no time to publish it...the surprise was the matinee for WICKED!! Amazing :D

Hello my lovelies!

It's been a while since I wrote a proper beauty post and now that I finally have my camera charger again I've lined up a few reviews! First of all, though, I want to talk about my favourite make-up item at the moment: LIPSTICK. Beware, epically long post ahead! I've found that I just don't feel made-up unless I'm wearing some kind of lip product these days! I've gathered together some of my favourites here, so if you're interested in my thoughts and seeing some swatches then please read on!

The quality of these is just overwhelming compared to other brands, they're lovely and soft, highly pigmented and last quite a while (although a dash of Lipcote always helps).  I've also been searching all over for the Surf Baby Hibiscus lipstick because it is GORGEOUS, so I might order that before it sells out! I think of these Impassioned is my favourite, it just seems to suit my skintone more and I love wearing it on a night out because it makes such a nice change from traditional red!

Depending on the light it also looks quite neon, which is cool, and it's just so pigmented! The first swatch is natural light, the second is artificial.

Next there's Chatterbox which is slightly more work-friendly, it's just a lovely more muted pink, more blue-toned than Impassioned. I won this in a giveaway from Beauty Bloggings, as you may remember, and think it's gorgeous!

These retail for £13.50, so make a nice treat (or birthday present, which is how I got Impassioned!)

I really don't like how these don't have names on the tubes! I had to go on the site to find out what these were called. However in terms of colour selection and pigmentation I must praise Barry M lipsticks, as well as their very affordable price tag. Boots and Superdrug are also forever doing deals on Barry M products so you can get a bunch of these quite cheaply. I don't like the smell and the feel of them on my lips though, but they last nicely and the colours are pretty! I also have this in Punky Pink (145) but I've been reaching for this one more often recently as I'm obsessed with all things coral!

They retail for £4.49 in Boots, Superdrug, or online.

Of course these aren't the only lipsticks I love; I've got some more posts lined up featuring Revlon and Sleek among others! 

Hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy post!

xoxo