Weekend Wishlist

Sooo, this was my first attempt at using Beauty Sets, and if I'm honest, I did find it a bit fiddly. I mean, look at the bottom block of text - why is it all wonky and jumbled!? And what's that random arrow floating around at the top about? I know about as much as you do.  I also couldn't find a template that would allow enough items (you lovelies know how carried away I get with my weekly wishlists, so you can imagine how hard it was for me to limit myself to only seven things this week!), nor one which allowed enough space for text, and I think we can safely say that I wasn't yet ready to progress to creating my own template. Oh well, practice makes perfect, and I will get there!

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation  -  Origins Vita Zing SPF 15  -  Topshop Lip Crayon in 'Arcade'  -  Knitted Fairisle Hat  -    Busy Bee 'Cinnamon Buns' Candle  -  Pearl Hotpants  -  Fairisle Jumper

Wishlist

with Origins, Laura Mercier, M.A.C

Beauty Haul: Caudalie, Mac, Nars and More.

So the plan was to get this post up much earlier on, but thanks to Blogger and Picassa being exceedingly uncooperative and refusing to let me upload any more images, it wasn't to be. Allegedly, I've used up all of my 1GB quota, although I fail to see how that can be the case. And then I find out that if you delete images from your Picassa web album then they also come off your blog. Nightmare! Anyway, Twitter saved the day once again, or should I say, some of you lovelies did - and I've been able to get my images up via Photobucket. If anyone else has this problem then just sign up to Photobucket or Flickr, upload your images and it'll give you a 'Direct link' for each one. All you have to do is choose 'upload from URL' next time you are trying to upload onto blogger (it's one of the options that appears down the side of the page when you have clicked on the little picture icon to choose your image). An alternative way is to go to Image Maps and you can map the images direct from your laptop to Blogger, but I haven't managed to do that yet - I will let you know more about that when I've had some success!

Anyway. Onto the matter at hand.

As promised, I do indeed have a little haul, consisting of a few bits and bobs I have purchased over the past few weeks.Unsurprisingly, perhaps, most of these goodies were purchased online, as that seems to be the place where my naughty little fingers sneak in a few extra keystrokes without my knowledge, and before you know it I have accidentally filled and paid for a virtual shopping basket of treats. I am usually a lady of some restraint these days, having learnt my lesson the hard way when I hit the age of eighteen and grown up a lot since then. However, of late, I have just been feeling the need, and this is what I've got to show for it.

Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy Conditioner

My hair is in need. I am a terrible offender when it comes to forgetting to use heat-protective spray, and haven't had my hair cut in a while, and both of these things have started to take their toll. I've been feeling that my hair is lacking shine for a long time now, so fingers crossed that this stuff will work wonders. I've already used it a few times, and so far, me likey.

Garnier Body Intensive 7 Days

This is not normally the sort of moisturiser I'd go for, and in fact, I never would have picked it up if I hadn't seen one or two Youtubers raving about the stuff. I usually go for rich body butters with gorgeous, intense fruity/yummy smells, but I was intrigued enough to give this a go and so far, I'm quite impressed. I in't realise my skin was in need of some extra hydration until I tried it, but alas, it was - my skin is now loads softer and smoother. Full review to come.

Hits Glitter Polishes in Rio and Rome

These two have already featured in nail posts, one yesterday and the other last week, as I just couldn't wait to crack them open before taking these photos. Rome contains flecks of gold, white, pink and blue, while Rio is choc-full of blue, orange, pink and purple. I adore both of them and have been loving them over a simple black polish, as this really shows them off in all their glory.

Caudalie Teint Divin Tinted Moisturiser

Recently, having overhaule my skincare regime, I've found that I haven't really needed to use such full-coverage foundations, and despite it being winter, I've found myself favouringtinted moisturisers. I bought this in Fair to Medium, and while I haven't yet tried this out, I'm a bit worried, as it does look quite orange when I squeeze some onto the back of my hand!

And finally, onto my favourite purchases!

Mac Mineralise Skin Finish in Light Year

I have had my MSF in Soft and Gentle for about a year now, and have been using it every day. Though I adore it, I wanted to mix things up a bit, so I decided to go for this warm-toned MSF in Light Year. The gold swirl through the middle is quite glittery, which I didn't realise when choosing, so I tend to avoid that when swirling my brush around the pan. It comes out a gorgeous medium peachy colour, with hints of pink (and obviously some gold shimmer, if youpick that up on your brush) and you could easily use this as a blush as well as a highlighter. So far, I think this is really pretty, but I won't go into too much detail as I will be writing a full review on this very soon - keep your eyes open for that if you'd like to know more.

Nars Powder Blush in Deep Throat

My first purchase from Nars! The photo really does not do it justice, as it's nowhere near as orange as it comes across  - it's a much lighter, peachy-pink, not too dissimilar to Benefit Coralista, as far as I can see, albeit with a touch less pink, but the same amount of gold sheen. I haven't used this bad boy yet, but am really looking forward to test-driving it tomorrow.

Mac Lip Pencil in Cherry

I am one of those people on whom lip products just do not last two seconds. Ok, make that five minutes if we're being pedantic. But anyway, I have been meaning to pick this beauty up for ages. It's a blue-toned red, highly pigmented and slides on extremely easily - to the point that it's really quite difficult to apply neatly. 

Mac Amplified Creme Lipstick in Craving

Amplified Creme is by far my favourite finish from Mac, so when I saw this gorgeous plummy-pink shade, I just had to go for it. It's perfect for the Autumn/Winter seasons and is such a wearable shade - I'm already hooked after one day.

And that's the lot!

Hope you enjoyed having a little nose into the contents of my shopping bags. Have any of these products tickled your pickle?

Have a fantastic weekend lovelies.

xx

Missing...

I will be posting a little haul post for you later, but I wanted to share this picture of our lovely little doggie with you, who has now been missing for nearly three weeks. He escaped from our garden and ran away, and he hasn't been seen since. I'm so, so sad to have lost him, as he really was like family and has seen me through some tough times. Like many dogs, he always showed unconditional love for me, and was my little companion in times of loneliness. He is such a sweetie. I can only imagine that someone has taken him for themselves, as we have literally looked everywhere for him, combing the streets, knocking on doors and visiting local animal shelters. I have got my fingers crossed so tightly that he somehow manages to find his way back home, wherever he is.

xx

Nails Today: Fireworks

Hello beauts, today's post, as you can see, is another nail one. I hadn't done any for ages, and now there have been two in a week. Ooh, get me.

As with my previous nail post, I have gone for a beautiful glitter polish by a brand called Hits, and it contains gold, pink, blue and white flecks of sparkly goodness. All of the polishes in this little line, known as Glitter World, are named after famous cities, and this one is called Rome. Not too sure how the two are related, as it's not really a polish that screams 'Rome!' or 'The Pope!' or 'The Colosseum!' to me. But who am I to complain? Itlooks good, so I'm fine with it.

For the base colour, I went for a simple black polish from OPI, in the shade Black Onyx, and I think this really shows the glitter polish off to it's full advantage. It almost looks like fireworks against a dark night sky. It's a combo I'm really liking, and again I think it's perfect for the festive season, although I am now looking to hunt down some glitters containing more traditional Christmas colours - perhaps some wines, Emeralds and golds.

Do you know of any festive glitter polishes in these colours?

xx

L'oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil

I have always been reluctant to use oil on my hair. When I first started hearing about people doing so, I thought they were mad, imagining that it would turn their locks into a greasy oil slick rather than do any good.

The first time I relented and tried Argan oil on my hair, my suspicions were confirmed - I applied it to the ends of dry hair, as instructed, and sure enough, my barnet soon became an oily mop. After that, I decided not to dabble in using such products again.

That was, until I heard about the L'oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil (please excuse the fact that mine's a foreign version - it is exactly the same thing), Glowing review after glowing review persuaded me to give hair oils one more go, especially after reading time and again that this one did not weigh down your locks.

This oil can be applied as a pre-wash treatment (massage it into your hair and leave it for an hour or two, before washing as normal), or can be applied to wet or dry hair. Having had a bad experience applying to dry hair in the past, I thought I would give the wet hair option a try, and I'm glad I did.

One or two pumps is enough, even for long hair - with hair oils, less really is more. Just run it through, from mid length right down to the ends, avoiding the roots (and fringe, if you have one), and blow-dry your hair, just as you normally would.

It really is true that this oil doesn't leave the hair feeling heavy or greasy. Instead, it leaves me with soft, smooth locks that are much more manageable than usual. My hair is really quite dry at the moment, and while this doesn't leave me looking as though I've just stepped out of a salon, it's not all that far off. My hair is in dire need of a good cut, so it's more of a challenge for this product than most people's hair, I think!

I do sometimes use the oil to tame fly-aways once my hair is dry, but in this instance I would use the tiniest little amount, as it does seems to leave more of a coating on the hair when used in this way.

I now use this oil on my hair regularly - after washing and before drying - and am really enjoying the difference it makes to the condition of my hair.

xx

Ren Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask

I had wanted to try this mask for ages, but at £30 for 50ml, I wasn't happy to part with my hard-earned pennies until I was sure that it was the product for me. So, I managed to get my hands on this 15ml sample. I have used this about four times so far, suffice to say, the tube s nearly empty. You can probably get about six applications out of this, seven at a push.

Just a little foreword about Ren as a brand, before we move onto the product itself. 

All of their products are formulated WITH 100% natural active ingredients, and WITHOUT any parabens, sulfates, petro-chemicals, synthetic dyes/fragrances or phtalates. On top of this, they do not test/have their products tested on animals. With all this in mind, I was already holding Ren pretty high in my estimation, as most of you will know that I am a huge fan of organic skincare, and products which use natural or naturally derived ingredients where possible.

So, what does this product claim to do? Well, it's a potent bio active skin peel mask, designed to improve radiance by renewing the complexion, as well as reducing the appearance of fine lines and combating congestion. Fruit acids from passion fruit, grape, pineapple and lemon, as well as Papain - a bio extract from papaya - to exfoliate the outer layer of skin and encourage cell turnover, are the active ingredients in this skin treat.  Do give this one a miss if you've got extremely sensitive skin though, as Ren say that it's probably not the mask for you.

So, first impressions.

The mask is a thick, sort of lumpy consistency, orange in colour, and smells like orange marmalade, or something similar. For me, that's completely fine - it only makes me more aware of all the natural goodies the mask contains, and I love to know that I'm using things like this on my skin, rather than nasty chemicals . Plus, I love the smell of fruit.

(Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of what the mask itself looks like, and the consistency, so please forgive me for using this image from Google, below. I really wanted to show you how it looks, and what to expect.)

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To use the mask, you basically apply a generous layer to the skin, (at which point it really does feel like you're slathering on a good coating of sticky marmalade), being sure to avoid the eyes. Leave for ten minutes, and wipe away using a muslin cloth soaked in warm water.

What struck me most about this mask is that, despite being a skin peel, this mask doesn't harden. In fact, it doesn't dry at all. In fact, this is the first skin peel mask I have used where this was the case, and so I was worried it might not do as great a job as I was hoping.

Upon wiping the mask away, I noticed that my skin looked really clean and fresh, but I was just about to go to bed and so chose to reserve judgement until the morning. The next day, my skin was absolutely glowing with health, and my makeup went on a lot smoother than normal, the radiance showing through. I can't really vouch for it's affect on fine lines, as the only ones I have are around my eyes, and obviously these were left free from the mask.

I'm not going to say that this is a miracle worker, but it does do the job. It perks up my skin, and is a pleasure to use if, like me, you like the smell of fruit! I've been using this mask once a week, and am planning on buying the full-size version once I run out.

Have you tried anything from Ren? What did you think?

xx

Life of Late...

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I thought it was about time I caught you all up with life lately. Last time I wrote this sort of post, it's fair to say that I wasn't feeling my best. I had been suffering badly with anxiety, and after beginning to take some medication for this prescribed to me by my doctor (a last resort, as I had tried everything else) I was feeling even worse. That was really a low point for me, and I want to thank each and every one of you who listened to me moaning about it, for your kind words and just for being there.

Fast forward until today, and things have really changed for me.I stopped taking the medication,as it was obvious that it wasn't for me and was only making things worse. I was offered an alternative, but I had decided that I didn't want to try anything else - I had dealt with things for this long without medication, so I figured that I could continue doing so, regardless of how difficult it might be.

I was given yet more natural remedies to try, just in case, but as it turns out, since that last day at the doctor's surgery, I haven't needed it. It's the strangest thing, but it was almost as if on that day, when I made the decision to deal with things myself, my anxiety ceased to have a reason to exist. Because I had now labelled it as something I could cope with, it no longer had the same control over me as when I viewed it as something insurmountable, and something that was taken over my life.

Now, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, because I know full well that anxiety tends to come in waves; it comes and goes. But this time, things seem different. It's not that I don't worry about things any more - of course I do. But now, when a negative thought or an irrational fear enters my head, I am ready and waiting to tell it where to go. I'm able to see that they are irrational, where before I took my thoughts as gospel.

I'm not saying that it won't come back. But for the first time in a long while, I am finally feeling like myself again. I've somehow managed to pull myself out of the hole I was in and am able to see the good in things again. I feel positive, and excited about things again. 

Things are looking up.

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I'm so looking forward to Christmas this year. Sadly, I won't be spending it with my own family, but with my husband's. I think I've mentioned before that they are Brazilian, and in the past I have found it very disappointing to spend Christmas with them because they do very little, if anything, to celebrate. They barely exchange gifts, and they don't tend to have a special meal. In my family, we have always made a huge fuss, spoiling each other with lovely presents and stuffing ourselves with delicious food. We decorate the house, send cars, listen to Christmas music...all the things that families traditionally do in England. So it has been difficult, knowing what I am trading in my own family's Christmas celebrations for. But this year, I don't mind, because I am planning on being home for every subsequent Christmas, as of next year. Granted, I'm not really excited about Christmas day itself this year, but I'm looking forward to giving and receiving presents and getting into the spirit of things beforehand.

In other news, I have decided to go back to university next year. I did a degree in Print Journalism, with writing being my first love and a lifelong passion. But as it happens, it's not an industry I have found myself working in, and I feel the need to feed my mind with more knowledge. I genuinely do miss studying, not because I'm a geek but because I think after spending our whole lives filling our heads with new and exciting information, there comes a point where, after we stop learning, our brains begin to stagnate. I'm a firm believer that we have to use our talents, our minds and our creativity in order to maintain them and in order to maintain our youth.

I'm going to be studying nutrition, which has always been an area of great interest to me, and something which I have learned an awful lot about simply through curiosity. I have not given up my dream of writing for a living, but I think this will be an enriching experience, and will broaden the options available to me.

Things definitely seem to be looking up, and in the past that would have scared me. I was always too afraid to be happy, just in case whatever was making me feel that way was suddenly taken away, without warning. But now I see how silly that is, and what an unfulfilling way to live our lives it is. If you worry about things that might happen, then you are wasting the time you could be spending being happy. If you think positive, you are not silly or naive for not spotting something before it goes wrong. You are living your life.

xx