Memorable Moments

After posting my photo-mosaic as part of my 'Saturday Summary', some of you asked me about them, so here they are in full size, fully explained.

1. This was a boat we came across in the beach in Brazil, in a place called Buzios, RJ. It was selling Acai, which is hugely popular in Brazil, and deliciously refreshing!

2. Palm trees on the beach in Prado, BA, Brazil.

3. Devonshire cream tea with my mum, sister and grandparents after a sunny country walk.

4. Homemade Sangria in my parents' garden

5. AMAZING antipasti lunch with friends in my favourite Italian deli.

6.  The view from my hotel window in Vitoria, ES, Brazil.

7. HUGE cocktails (called Terminators) with friends. We used to swear by these as fifteen-year-olds going out on minimal money, so we decided to take a trip down memory lane....bad idea! Hangovers all round the next day!

8. Tapas in the sunshine with my mum :-)

9. The view across the harbour in my hometown.

10. Another yummy cream tea!

11,12 and 13 Nights out with friends!

14. A vintage sweet shop on a day trip to Totnes with my sister.

15. A meal with friends in a Moroccan restaurant (yes, more food!).

16. Mountains of Mexican food we had when some friends came to visit us in Brazil.

17. Yet another lush meal from the same trip.

18. The view along Ipanema in Rio.

19 and 20. Shopping with more friends who came to visit us in Brazil, this time in Trancoso, BA

21. Mountain walk.

22. The view along Copacabana at night.

23. Cupcakes! To celebrate my friend's 25th birthday. We had a surprise party for her in our hotel room with cake and bubbly, before going out to eat sushi and have a few drinks.

I hope you enjoyed this rather photo-heavy post!

What's the most memorable place you have visited?

xx

What's in My Makeup Bag?

Benefit Erase Paste in no.2 (medium)

Mac Studio Fix Fluid SPF15 in shade NW30

L'oreal Glam Bronze powder in Blonde Harmony

L'oreal Glam Bronze Sun Radiance Trio in Blondes

Mac Mineralise Blush in Gleeful

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes in brown

Mac Mineralise Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle

Collection (formerly Collection 2000) Lasting Colour Lipstick in Sweet Tart (8)

No.7 Wild Volume Lipstick in Ruby Glow

I have splurged a bit on makeup recently as I was starting to run out of so many products. I'm also the sort of person that gets bored quite easily, so by the time I've finished a foundation, I'll be on the hunt for a new one. Sometimes I do end up going back to the originals, but I really enjoy experimenting in between!

I am really loving lip products at the moment, and have bought so many lipsticks in the last month! I think I've picked up around eleven, but the four I use the most are the two I have included here, along with Topshop Lips in Infrared and Mac Amplified Creme in Vegas Volt, both of which I have talked about in recent posts.

Also LOVING the Benefit Erase Paste concealer. It's ridiculously pricey for such a small pot, but I decided to give it a try after reading about it on Zoella. I suffer from dark circles under my eyes most mornings, but this little gem does exactly what it says on the pot! Well worth the £18.50 I paid for it......it could be a bit cheaper though, couldn't it!?

In other news, my man and I have decided to move house! Our apartment is huge, with three bedrooms and bathrooms, and we were really lucky to find it at such a low price, but unfortunately, the size of it means that it's a nightmare to keep clean! It's also quite old, so we've decided we want to move to a newer and smaller place and make it really nice and homely. Let the house hunting commence!

If you would like to see any reviews of the products currently gracing my makeup bag then please say so in the comments below!

What's in your makeup bag at the moment?

Saturday Summary

Hello, I've just been messing around and creating mosaics of my favourite photos, so I thought I would share them with you and do my first summary in photo form!  As some of you may know, I spend a lot of time in Brazil, so a number of the photos were taken there, in various different locations. The others were taken at home and in my university town.

Actually, these photos summarise quite a large amount of time, but as it's my first summary, I thought it would be nice to let you catch up with me! Further summaries will be posted fortnightly, with explanations of what I've been up to :-)

A quick tip for you:  If you want to create your own photo mosaic, then try  Mosaic Maker. I used it to create mine, and it's really quick and simple.  Big thanks to LLYMLRS for the heads up on that one!

Go and give it a try!

xx

Friday Favourites

I know, I know, it's Saturday! Sorry to be posting this a day late, but things have been really hectic what with Easter and family visiting! Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend!

The aim of Friday Favourites is to share, unsurprisingly, a few of my favourite beauty products and fashion items of the moment, so here goes.

MAC Amplified Creme lipstick in Vegas Volt, £13.50

I absolutely love this lipstick and just cannot stop wearing it at the moment! It's a gorgeous, creamy orange-coral and is another great shade for spring/summer. It's buildable, so you can achieve a gorgeous opaque finish, or you can apply a light layer and rub it in to your lips for a more subtle stain.

Love it!

Miss Selfridge Petites floral print playsuit, £37

My favourite Spring purchase so far, this playsuit is a really flattering cut, and I was thrilled to find it in the petites section as I'm a shortie. I usually find it hard to find dresses and playsuits in the right length for me, and most shops only have a very limited selection of items in their Petites range. I love the pastel colours of this one and will be wearing it dressed down with sandals and a skinny tan belt on hot summer days, and styling it up with a cropped blazer, heels and gold jewellery for nights out. If you want to see how I'm wearing it, I will be doing an OOTD post on it by the end of next week (camera permitting. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am currently having some issues with mine).

Miss Sporty Lasting Colour nail varnish in Red Tango,  £1.99, Superdrug

I didn't expect much of this cheap and cheerful nail varnish when I picked it up, at least not in terms of quality, but the bright, zingy colour was irresistible. Can you tell by now that I have a bit of a thing for orange-corals!?

Actually, these little polishes come with a graduated-tip brush, and the curved shape makes it extremely easy to paint your nails. Two coats and you are good to go.

I am also loving the gorgeous, shimmery pastel green shade (second from left), but sadly I don't know the name as it doesn't say on the bottle, and I can't find it anywhere online.

I really like the Miss Sporty colours, but I will say that they are not the most long-wearing of polishes, so are best for a quick fix.

Coral Crepe Shorts, £29, Miss Selfridge

Ok, I think my obsession with coral might be getting slightly out of hand! I didn't actually realise, until I started writing this post, that I had a running theme on the go!

But anyway, I recently picked up these shorts and they are a godsend for holidays as the material is really thin (yet not transparent, so don't worry about VPL!) and floaty, and airy. They are great with a plain white vest, and sandals for a casual daytime look. Day and night outfits post coming soon.

So that's it for the first installment of Friday Favourites! I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I'm loving at the moment.

Do you own, or have you at some point tried any of the items above? 

What did you think of them?

What are your current favourites?

xx

Topshop Makeup Giveaway

Hello, hope everyone is having a fantastic Easter weekend and celebrating with plenty of chocolate!  I absolutely love the Lindtt bunnies! What are your favourite Easter chocolates?

Just thought I'd let you all know about a rather marvellous giveaway that's going on over on Frances Cassandra's blog.
To celebrate reaching 1000 followers, she is giving away a Topshop lipstick, blush and nail polish of your choice! Can't say fairer than that!

I would definitely choose  Topshop Lips in Brighton Rock,  their cream blush in 'Flush', and  the amazing 'Hidden Treasure nail polish.

  

Personally, I absolutely love Topshop makeup so far. Have you tried anything from their collection? If not, I strongly advise that you go and do so, or better still, go and enter this great giveaway as if you are lucky enough to win, then these items will be a great start to your collection!

You've got until 5th May to enter, so good luck!

xx

Mini Topshop Makeup Haul!

Hey guys, I've got a mini Topshop make-up haul for you today!

I have been after a few bits from the Topshop make-up range for ages now, so I popped in to my local branch last week and this is what I picked up:

Powdered Blush in 'Powdered' (left).

I actually went in looking for the shade 'Pop', being a lover of a good coral, and thought that was what I had bought until I got home and realised my mistake! I was pretty annoyed about this at first as I'd had my eye on 'Pop' for an absolute age, and the in-your-face pink of this shade didn't look at all wearable. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I did a colour swatch on my arm, and even more so when I applied a small amount to my cheeks. Now, I must point out that usually, I would hate such an overly 'pink', sickly shade like this, as I much prefer a more natural glow. I also must say that I know that on the swatch above, it does look exactly as I have just described it, and if you put a large amount on your cheeks, it wouldn't be a good look. But by putting just a light dusting along my cheek bones, I achieved a rosy-cheeked look that I really quite looked. LESS IS MORE, LADIES!! I can't say that I would necessarily choose this blush in future; given the option, I'd still go with 'Pop' (shown above on the swatch, it's the one on the right). But nevertheless, I'm glad I managed to salvage something from my accidental purchase!

Lipstick in 'Infrared'.

I am soooo excited to finally have this lipstick! It is a lovely, moisturising formulation in an orangey-red shade, and you can apply one layer to get a nice tint, or a couple of layers to get the full effect and a really bold look.

I have been after this since seeing it some of Zoella's Youtube videos and on her blog. Like her, I do love a good orange, so needless to say, this is the perfect shade for me. I find oranges to be really wearable shades, especially if you've got a reasonably pale skin tone like me, and they are perfect for Spring ( I also love corals for Spring and have recently purchased MAC's 'Vegas Volt', which is an 'Amplified' - review coming up).  Apologies for not having any examples of what this colour looks like on the lips at the moment but do bear with me, and as soon as I've got my camera sorted (it's broken :-( ) I will get some up here sharpish!

Lip Marker in 'Hot Shot'.

This is a bright, vibrant red, and is along the lines of Revlon's Just Bitten range, in that you basically colour in your lips with the nib and it leaves a nice stain on your lips. However, unlike the Just Bitten, it does not include a balm to moisturise your lips, and so I found it to be very drying. If your lips are already dry, then don't even bother - at least not until you've got them in tip top condition. Personally, I do suffer from slightly dry lips, so this was not a good look for me, but I will be trying it again when I have managed to get my smile sorted!

Kohl Liner in 'Bolt' (second from right).

This is a very dark, shimmery, charcoal blue, and I absolutely love it. It's perfect for creating a smokey eye for a night out, but what struck me about it was the great pigmentation and the ease with which I was able to apply it. It's definitely not one of those liners where you have to go over and over it to get any effect. It is very smooth and creamy, not to mention bold. Love it!

Hope you guys are all well. Have you bought anything from the Topshop makeup range recently? What did you think of it?