July Favourites 2014

I can’t believe it’s August already and I also can’t believe it’s been raining. I started writing this post up on Friday and literally sighed after each time that I looked out the window, how dramatic huh?

This months favourites are pretty summery, which is to be expected after all the lovely weather we’ve been having the past month. Fingers crossed this rain passes so we have some more.

There are quite a lot of new products featured on here that I’ve either only just reviewed or really need to get round to reviewing, sooo if you see anything you would like to see being reviewed, PLEASE let me know in the comments!

This post is going up later than my usual favourites posts, but I’ve just been so busy and such that I sadly didn’t get time to post this until today. Oh well, better late than never!

Image taken from thebodyshop.co.uk

• The Body Shop Banana Shampoo.

The reason this is a picture taken from The Body Shop’s website and not an actual photo of said product is because I don’t actually own this shampoo… But my boyfriend does. I bought him this just before we went to Bristol in June as part of his anniversary present and to this day he has loved it. Whenever I stay at his house I use this shampoo and it really does leave my hair feeling soft and smooth, as well as looking healthy. The most appealing thing to me about this shampoo is the smell! It smells like real bananas, which makes me happy, as (random fact!) I’m actually allergic to bananas and due to this I often have to avoid banana things that contain actual bananas, just incase they cause me to flare up. However I gladly discovered in Bristol that this shampoo doesn’t set off any allergic reactions, so since then I’ve used this on and off. I do intend to buy my own bottle of this soon, when however, I don’t know! This is for all hair types and I really do recommend it, especially if you love the smell of banana as much as I do!

• The Body Shop Body Sorbet in Strawberry.

When I heard about this coming out well before June, I KNEW I needed it in my life! As much as I love having soft skin, like pretty much most women out there I loathe moisturising. It can take ages (well 10 minutes for myself) and never wants to sink in as quickly as well all hope. I have found moisturisers that DO sink in, as well as the patience to apply them, but during the recent hot summer days it just feels too hot and clammy to wear any moisturiser. However, The Body Shop have brought out their Body Sorbet’s just in time! These cooling moisturisers help keep your skin soft and smooth, as well as cool feeling and smelling gorgeous. They come in 5 scents and the one I picked up was Strawberry, my favourite Body Shop scent. You can read my full review for this here, but I have  loved using this throughout July and I know I’ll continue to enjoy it throughout the rest of the year, not just during summer.

• Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy EDP.

This is the only celebrity fragrance I currently own and is by far one of my favourite fragrances to wear. It smells gorgeous and lasts all day and for an 100ml bottle it costs just £19.99, bargain eh? But anyhoo, as to why I like this in the first place… When the weather is really warm I often reach for stronger perfumes and this is probably one of the first ones I will reach for, for many reasons. Not only is it a strong perfume but it also smells of blueberries, which is a really nice for the summertime, I think anyway. I’m near the end of my massive 100ml bottle, so I am going to be buying a new bottle really soon as I can’t really live without it. I love wearing this for work as well as over the weekend as it’s just a lovely perfume to use to keep you smelling beautiful all day long.

• The Body Shop Vitamin E Aqua Boost Sorbet.

I heard about this coming out over the pond in America because it had even hit shelves over here in the UK the same time as the Body Sorbet and I have to say how much I love this stuff! I was hesitant to purchasing it, even after testing it out in store (and admittedly falling in love with it) I didn’t feel it was worth the price tag of £12. However I walked around town for a while after trying it and decided that it was actually something I needed in my life, even for £12. The sorbet is both cooling and very hydrating for the skin, as well as that it’s also meant to leave your skin with a matte finish too, which is pretty much what my skin needs, as it’s combination. I already know I’ll be re-purchasing this moisturiser, and will be writing a review up of it very soon! My skin has improved so much since using it.

• Benefit Benebalm Hydrating Tinted Lip Balm.

I can’t remember when these came out, but I remember reading about them being released and I was so damn excited! There are four of them to choose from and when I went shopping with my friend Poppy back in June in Milton Keynes, we popped into Boots and my advantage points were burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to treat myself to this lip balm and I’m really glad I did! It was a tough choice between Benebalm, Lollibalm and Chachabalm, but I love my reds so this one won! This lip balm is super hydrating and lasts for ages. It’s been a staple for long close shifts at work, where I’m usually too busy to get a chance to keep reapplying lip products. It’s nice worn alone or underneath/over a red lipstick. I’ve teamed it with my Lush Santa Baby Lip Tint (review here) quite a lot throughout June and it’s worked really well! I’ll definitely be reviewing this soon, as well as buying the other balms in future.

• MAC Goddess of the Sea Lipstick.

As many will know, this lipstick is from the Alluring Aquatic collection and one I snapped up pretty much before it was due to be taken off the shelves forever. I was going to buy this lipstick in Bristol after swatching it the first day I was there, but by Monday it was taken off of the shelves and I was told it was no longer available to buy. Fast forward a week or two later and I had it in my possession! I picked it up from the MAC counter in Birmingham’s Selfridges and the woman who sold it me was so lovely! Anyhoo… This shade is gorgeous! A dark violet-purple and due to it being a cremesheen it is perfect to wear during the summertime, as it feels comfortable and the colour just works perfectly! I’ve been wearing this loads during my time off work, as well as in work. I’ve had many compliments on it and upon telling customers it was by MAC they just sighed and said, “I can’t afford MAC!” oh dear. xD But anyhoo… This WILL be reviewed in the future, probably one of the days this month. I can’t wait to review it quite frankly as this has fast turned into one of my favourite MAC lipsticks and I wish I had picked up two of these now so that I had a spare for the future.

• Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me.

As my previous reviews of Baby Lips show (Mint Fresh review and Pink Punch review), I’ve owned these lip balms before and whilst I loved them at first, I slowly grew for forget their existence and for a while they just sat in the bottom of my handbag gathering handbag dust. However everyone has always ranted and raved about Cherry Me the most, including my closest friends. SO I decided to pick it up for myself to see what was so great about it, and I really do love this lip balm. It reminds me so much of Nivea’s Lip Balm in Cherry, which I used to own and use every moment of the day when I was at school. I remember it well and the scent just reminds me of that time. I pretty much just have this lip balm for work to apply to my dark and red lipsticks, it works beautifully over Rebel, for example. I can see this being my go to lip balm for winter time mind as it tastes gorgeous, smells gorgeous too and is lovely to wear and quick to apply! Another product I’ll be reviewing soon!

• Simple Kind To Eyes Soothing Eye Balm.

This is an eye balm I have gone back to time and time again and this is it. It’s always been gentle on the skin around my eyes, as well as doing what it actually should. Other eye balms don’t compete against this one, price tag included on that! I’m just glad to have this back in my beauty regime as it’s just something I can’t really live without. In this warm and humid weather it can make my eyes feel very dry and tired, but this eye balm leaves them feeling cool and awakened, which is definitely what I need for early starts at work! A roller ball eye gel would work wonders too, but I never find these work as well as they should. I definitely recommend this one though if you’re after something cheap and cheerful, which will actually do what it says on the tin.

• Ciate Nail Polish in Pillow Fight.

This was a freebie in Marie Claire magazine back in June and I picked up two of these magazines for the nail polishes. I wrote about the first Ciate set I picked up, but I managed to get myself another set, which included Pillow Fight. Pillow Fight is a gorgeous purpley grey nail polish and something different, that I knew I needed to have in my collection for autumn and winter. This being said I have been wearing it a lot over the course of June and it has worked beautifully with some glitter nail polish too! I would definitely and probably will in the future buy the full size version of this, as it’s just too gorgeous not to keep in my collection.

• The Body Shop Hand Cleanse Gel in Strawberry.

I love scented hand sanitizers and whilst I love my Pocketbac’s, they’re too pricey to keep using 24/7, so I opt for The Body Shop’s versions instead. I’ve pretty much tried all of them bar a couple and my most recently used one is Strawberry, which has fast become one of my favourites. I keep these in my handbag to use whilst on the go, as well as for work and I always get lovely compliments about how gorgeous they smell, mainly from my manager who can always smell when I’ve used it! They usually have their hand sanitizers on 3 for 2, so I always pick some up whenever I pop into The Body Shop!

So those are my favourites for July! What products did you enjoy using last month? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a great weekend!

Fancy A Free Ciaté Nail Polish & Caviar Pearls?

Then I’m here with a quick post (very quick post seeing as I took the pictures for these on my phone instead of on my digital SLR…) this morning to tell you how! On your way to work or even on your lunch break pop into your local shop that sells magazines and pick up a copy of Marie Claire because they’re giving away not one, but two Ciaté nail polishes in their July issue, one being a nail polish and one being a jar of their caviar pearls.

The magazine costs £2.50, but it’s usually £3.90 so you’re also getting this issue £1.40 cheaper than you usually would if you’re a regular reader of this magazine. The Ciaté polishes retail for £10 a set so you save so much money by getting these free in Marie Claire!

I heard about this from a July freebies post over at  mybeautynotes blog yesterday morning and thought I would have a look at all the magazines offering said freebies. The Ciaté freebies caught my eye the most and I looked in about five different shops before I got my hands on the colours that I wanted!

I couldn’t resist not making a post about this just incase anyone wasn’t aware about the Ciaté freebies.

Image taken from marieclaire.co.uk

There are six sets to pick up in store and whilst I was on the hunt for two, I only managed to find the one I was after, which was the Starry Night set. The other set I wanted to pick up (or will attempt to find later on today) is Purple Rain.

As I mentioned above I picked up the Starry Night set which contains Ferris Wheel nail polish, a gorgeous creamy light blue polish and Frost Yourself caviar beads which are dark blue, light blue and silver beads.

I’ve never tried the caviar beads before, by any brand so I am rather excited to give these a go soon!

I can’t wait to try these out the weekend and for £2.50 I know I’ll be picking up another one of these sets!

I know I’ll be reviewing these in the future, so keep your eyes peeled. 😉

Have you picked up Marie Claire yet with your free Ciaté nail set? If not, WHY NOT?! If you have however which set did you pick up? Leave me your replies in the comments down below.

Just a quick one for today all! Hope you’re all well, gimme the weekend!

Until next time, take care and see you soon.

November Wish List

I can’t believe that there are only two more months of 2013 before we enter a New Year… It’s gone by really quickly, hasn’t it? It’ll be Christmas soon, which I’m sort of excited for, but that’s a whole other post!

So, seeing as I did a wish list last month, I’ve decided to do one this month too! There’s loads of stuff I really want this month and I suppose whatever I don’t get my hands on, I’ll be asking for Christmas… Maybe, anyway.

As well as that I’m going to be a busy bee during November with the NaNoWriMo challenge, so my blog will still be running, as well as me writing updates for you all every Friday of how I’m doing with my novel, word count, etc!

Anyhoo, on with the wish list!

• Black Fox Knee High Socks from Topshop – £6.00

Okay now these say on the website that they are out of stock, but this is the second time they’ve said this, so I am hoping that they’ll come back in stock asap! I love these socks and as regular readers will know, I love foxes so much and if I see anything with a fox on and it looks nice, I’ll usually buy it. Last month I spoke about a fox jumper from New Look, which I ended up buying in the sale, as well as it being featured on a what I wore post in October, which you can check out here. As these socks are knee-high, I’d be more inclined to wear them around the house with a pair of shorts and/or with a baggy t-shirt. If I wore them under my trousers it would be to keep my legs warm during the winter. I haven’t owned a pair of knee-high socks since I was 16 and those were typical black and red striped ones… How very punk of me! I do hope these come back in stock, as soon as they do, I’m ordering them.

• Ciaté Red Velvet Manicure Set from John Lewis – £14.00

I saw The Sunday Girl reviewed this on her blog in October and I really do like the ideas Ciaté come up with for their manicure sets and I’ve wanted to own one myself for quite a while now. I love Red Velvet cake and pretty much anything that has its name. I love my Red Velvet Yankee Candle and I’ll be burning that over the rest of the year, hopefully buying myself a new jar in the New Year too. But the idea of this manicure set is to leave your nails looking velvety and pretty and red is a great colour for the winter season, as well as the Christmas period. Now this is just a personal thing but I HATE wearing red nail polish on my nails. Why? Because it actually makes me look like a transvestite, just like wearing make up does too. I know that sounds mean but I really do look like a man when I wear a full face of make up and red nails and I’d prefer to stay away from looking that way… Ha! That rhymed! However, I reckon due to this manicure’s unique velvet looking effect, I reckon I could get away with this red manicure and not look the way I feel I do when I wear red on my nails. This is an exclusive manicure set for John Lewis, so if you want to get your hands on this too, here’s the link for you. Again, I rhymed, double ha!

• Illamasqua Freak Scarab 75ml EDP – £85.00

I wrote about Illamasqua’s new perfume release on this (post) in late October and I can’t express once again how excited I was about this when I heard about it on their YouTube channel. When the actual scent was unveiled with details about the notes for this scent, as well as what the bottle would look like I knew I needed to smell it as soon as possible! At £85 for a 75ml bottle, I’m not 100% sure if I’ll be purchasing this yet, as I would prefer a small 30ml bottle to go with my little Illamasqua Freak bottle that I already own (and need another bottle of stat!). I can’t wait to get my hands on this scent, it sounds so yummy and unique, like Freak.

• MAC Lipstick in Speak Louder – £15.00

I’ve wanted to swatch this lipstick since the summer but every time I went to a MAC counter to do just that, I forgot the name of the lipstick and thus ended up leaving the counter disappointed and feeling rather silly. Eventually I remembered the name and swatched it in October. The colour of this lipstick is described as a clean poppy blue pink, which is pretty accurate. I don’t own a shade like this and as it’s a cremesheen finish too, it’ll look and feel lovely on my lips throughout the cold winter season, especially around Christmas time. I can see me buying myself this as a treat in one of Debenhams special deals online, which I have mentioned on my MAC lipstick reviews before. I know I would wear Speak Louder quite a lot, especially to work as it’s a wearable colour for any occasion.

• MONTH Chelsea Boots from Topshop – £45.00

I saw these featured on quite a few beauty and fashion blogs during October and I can see why so many women are loving them. They’re gorgeous chelsea boots and yes they are expensive but upon looking at them myself, they’re worth every penny! I’ve never owned a pair of chelsea boots and at the start of the year I was after a pair, but nowhere and I mean NOWHERE was stocking them, so I gave up the thought of owning a pair and stuck with my Dr Martens boots and my Vans skater shoes instead to get me through the cold until spring. However they’re back again this autumn and winter and I’m rather glad. Everywhere is stocking these boots at the moment but none of them look as good as these ones from Topshop. I contemplated buying a cheap £10 pair from Primark to see me through until I could afford this pair, but I decided against it, I may as well save that £10 towards these boots instead. I know I’ll be buying these by December as I have so many looks I want to create with them. I worry though that these will replace my Dr Martens boots, but then I realise that they won’t and if anything, they’ll be replacing my creepers, which are too cold to wear during the colder months. I actually can’t wait to get these boots and they’re probably the number 1 thing on this list I want.

• Flared Skater Skirt in Wine from eBay – £4.99 + £2.99 P+P

One of my friends bought this skirt recently off of eBay and after her posting a picture of her wearing it on Instagram, I fell in love, knowing I needed one myself for autumn and winter. I love wine and burgundy colours and this will go perfect with the chelsea boots I want, as well as the punk Disney Alice In Wonderland sweater that I have in this wish list, which will be spoken about underneath this item.  This would also look great with my pleather spiked jacket, as well as my navy military coat. eBay can be a bit risky sometimes with clothes, bags, shoes etc as before now I’ve bought a bag from an eBay seller and within just a month of use it’s started to rip, which really is a shame but I know for just under £8.00 for this skirt, I wouldn’t be losing a lot of money if it ripped and as I was taught how to sew from a young age, I’m sure any minor rip or tear, would fix this no problem. I reckon I’d wear this loads during winter, as with a good coat, thick leggings and boots I’d be toasty warm!

• Punk Disney Alice In Wonderland Sweater from eBay/Twisted Apparel – £25.99 + Free P+P

Funny story behind this sweater, but also a great one! I got a random follow on Twitter from Twisted Apparel and whilst most follows from online clothes stores on Twitter piss me off, this one was rather pleasant as their clothes are amazing and I haven’t wanted a sweater so much since I bought my grey  Spider Man one back in June! I wasn’t sure what size I should add with my watch list for this on eBay so I messaged the store via a Twitter DM and the guy was really nice and answered my question with no problems and such. I can’t wait to order this sweater and I know for a fact I’ll wear it loads. I love Alice In Wonderland anyway and out of all the punk, emo, gothic, etc editing that have been done on Disney Princesses, this is by far the best one I’ve seen! They also do the Alice In Wonderland design as a vest and a t-shirt, plus they also do a Little Mermaid design too but I’m not as keen on this one, go check it out though if you like this sort of thing! Literally can’t wait to get my hands on this! If I don’t buy it for myself, I’ll try and ask for it for Christmas off of someone. 😛

• Pocket Full Of Monsters T-Shirt from teeturtle.com – $20.00 + Not sure of P+P

Years ago I mentioned Tee Turtle’s store in a post when I wanted one of their t-shirts but I never bought that t-shirt in the end. I heard about this company through a friend of mine, who loves geeky t-shirts, just like the ones that Tee Turtle designs and sells. They’re an American online store and apparently it can be expensive to get their t-shirts to the UK, but I think this t-shirt would be worth every penny. I’m a total nerd when it comes to Pokemon, my favourites being the Eeveelutions, as well as Pokemon like Dragonite, Mew, Vulpix and many more! This t-shirt would be such a geeky thing for me and I’d probably wear it when I was chilling around the house, hey maybe even try and be fashionable and when I eventually buy the Cut Out High-Waisted Black Skirt With Shoulder-Strap from Choies which I mentioned in October’s Wish List it would look awesome! It looks like a dull black/dark grey t-shirt so it would look great with a pair of baggy jeans too, as well as a cute pair of shorts for evenings out if you want to try and look nice without making too much effort. I’m unsure if I will buy this anytime soon, but I’ll damn well try to! If you like geeky t-shirts like this one, go and check out their other t-shirts. They have four other Pokemon pocket t-shirts like this one and they’re all as cute as each other!

• Beyond: Two Souls for PS3 from Game –  £ 42.99 for special edition and £40.99 for standard edition.

Since the age of 6 I’ve been addicted to games and after waiting for years for this game, it’s finally here and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! I’ve played both Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain and now I’m ready to play this next. I don’t buy games for my PS3 as much anymore as I used to due to lack of funds and sometimes I will buy a new game and not play it for ages, however I know I would play this game day and night until it was finished, 100%! I’m on 98% for Heavy Rain at the moment, but due to it crashing all the time, I don’t think I’ll ever complete the 2% I need for that platinum trophy, which sucks so much! This game is pretty new so it’s still going to be pricey so I don’t mind waiting for this to drop in price, however if I was to find a second-hand copy of this going cheap, I wouldn’t let it stop me from snapping it up in a heartbeat. If I don’t buy it before Christmas, I know I can always rely on my Dad to offer to buy it me for Christmas or my birthday, he’s great with presents as he’s the only one who buys me games.

• LEGO Marvel Super Heroes for PS3 from Game – £37.99 for super pack edition and £34.99 for standard edition.

Another game huh? I love LEGO games and LEGO have created another one to add to their collection, Marvel Super Heroes. I remember earlier this year researching this game after hearing it was being made and knowing that I would want it when it came out. LEGO always seem to bring new releases out in November and this comes out on 15th November this year, exciting huh? You get to play as Marvel characters such as Iron Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Captain America, Spider Man, all of The Fantastic Four, Thor and even Loki. Exciting huh? I don’t care if these games are aimed at children, I loved playing with my LEGO as a kid and these games are so much fun to play that they just remind me of my childhood! I’ll probably ask for this for Christmas, but I thought I would  mention it here as I am really excited for it this month.

So that was  my wish list for November, but with Christmas just being around the corner, I doubt I’ll be able to buy much for myself due to both lack of funds and needing as many funds as possible for the Christmas period.

Once again I want to thank my boyfriend for allowing me to use his MacBook Pro to edit together the image on Photoshop, as well as type this post up. I’ve been sat listening to Four Floors Of Whores rehearse ready for their tour… As I’m actually writing this post up towards the end of October.

I’m going to be so terribly busy this month that most of the posts throughout it will have been written during October.

So, what’s on your wish lists for November? Let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care and I wish you all a good November!