My Valentine...

Matt and I decided to have a quiet Valentines Day today, he was working all day so I made him a meal for coming back home, I say a meal, I really mean the Tesco "Dine in for Two" deal for £10. I just have some pictures of the day, my outfit for the night and the Tesco meal I so lovingly cooked. 

My Valentines Outfit

Matte Red Lips

Big Lashes and Red Lips

Red nails

I thought my favourite bag would be very appropriate for Valentines Day, I just can't resist a chance to wear it.

My Vivienne Westwood

The food we ate tonight was actually really good, the pudding was a chocolate sponge with a gooey salted caramel center and it was delicious!

Main

Dessert

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentines Day, and if your not big on Valentines Day then have a great weekend :D Unfortunately I'm working all weekend but I had a great birthday and Valentines Day!

Body Shop: Vitamin E Skincare Review

I have recently started using The Body Shop's amazing Vitamin E skincare range. My mum gave me a pot of their Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream at Christmas because my usually combination skin was really dry with the cold winter. I was skeptical because usually "intense" moisturizers just make my skin really oily, but because my skin was so dry and flaky I decided to give it a go, even if it was just for a while to get it back to normal. Now I can say I have found my prefect autumn/winter moisturizer!

Firstly, I use the Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream in the morning, you can find out more here. So even though this moisturiser is an intense one, it absorbs beautifully into my skin, I have combination/oily skin but this never makes my skin any oilier than usual, in fact I feel it helps it somewhat, even on days I wear only this with no make up, my skin never gets shiny. I really love this product and it is totally worth the money, I feel it really replenishes my skin, making it more radiant and healthier looking even without make up.

The Body Shop: Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

The consistency is quite thick and creamy but it glides on to the skin easily and skins in quickly without leaving a greasy residue. The smell is lovely, it just smells fresh and just what a moisturiser should smell like. It is £12.00 which I feel is a fair price because one pot of this will last you ages, you only need a small amount, but The Body Shop have fantastic offers on all the time and I am also a Love Your Body member which means I get 10% off all purchases for a year. Overall this moisturiser is my Holy Grail autumn/winter moisturiser, I wouldn't want to try another one as this one really protects my skin and has really improved the overall condition of my skin.

I have also been using the Vitamin E Eye Cream, I don't have any wrinkles around my eye area and my circles aren't that bad, so I think I just bought this because I wanted to try an eye cream and get into the habit of using one everyday. The skin around the eye area is more delicate than on the rest of the face and so I thought it deserved a little extra attention, it may not do much now but  hope in years to come I will be glad I decided to start using this.

The Body Shop: Vitamin E Eye Cream

This moisturiser claims to protect, smooth and hydrate the eye area while reducing fine lines, puffiness. Visit this page if you want to know more about this eye cream. It really does leave my skin feeling soft and have seen a slight improvement in my under eye circles although they weren't that bad to begin with.

The Body Shop: Vitamin E Facial Oil

At night I usually use Rosehip Oil on my face, but I wanted to try the Vitamin E Facial Oil which I use alternately. It sinks into my skin quickly although I wouldn't use this during the day as I feel on my skin it would make it too oily during the day. At night though it is perfect, I wake up in the morning and my skin looks rested, glowing and healthy. Even after I wash this off and put on my makeup I can still see the benefits shining through, it feels like it really penetrates into the skin and repairs and hydrates it which has a longer lasting effect which lasts for days after use. If I feel my skin is looking a bit dull or I'm feeling tired, have a break out or have dry patches, this facial oil really helps to repair my skin at a faster rate than normal. Learn more about this amazing product here.

I am in LOVE with this amazing Vitamin E rage by The Body Shop, it gives me really great results and I know at the same time it is caring for and protecting my skin. I will try more products from this range, I really want to try the new Over Night Serum and the Face Mask and when I do, I will review them too!

Feeling 22! My Birthday!

So today was my 22nd birthday! I have the week off but Matt was working all day today so my family decided to come and spend the day with me which was lovely. Today I just have some photos of my presents and my day in general. We had an Indian for lunch which is out favourite and because it was my birthday they gave us a plate of free poppadums! 

One of my favourite cards!

Some of the beautiful gift bags I was given.

My mum and dad took us all out for lunch to our favourite local Indian restaurant, we all had our usual favourite curries and we got to try a bit of each others, plus the service was fantastic!

Sauces for our starters

Vegetable pakora, my starter

Vegetable Karahi Curry

Chicken Tikka Masala

Yesterday Matt came home with a birthday cake, I'm never usually fussed with birthday cake now I live away from home but because mine and Matt's birthdays are so close together we decided we would share one.

My Birthday Cake

I have been spoiled for my birthday, plus Matt got me a new camera for my birthday which is just amazing and I can't believe how lucky I have been. My parents are also taking Matt and I to Japan in April to see my sister who lives there, I have never been before and we would never have been able to afford it otherwise so we are both so, so, so grateful and are so excited.

My presents!

Some new mascaras to try, plus look at the mug my sister got me, Bruce from Nemo!

Perfume and Body Shop stuff

My parents got me this beautiful Papyrus birthday card, I thought it deserved some extra attention because my mum couldn't wait to give me it.

Beautiful envelope

My Mum said she bought this because it was like me and my sisters

And it pops up!

My mum kept this in with the card, I thought it was beautiful

I have had such a lovely birthday and got to spend it with the people I love most in the world and that is better than anything. I really miss my family and its hard living further away from them, ok it's only just over an hour on the train, but when I see them waving goodbye to me and walking the opposite way down the street I always want to cry because I already miss them so much. Even thought I'm 22 now I still feel like I need my family close to me and I miss them all the time. But this year my parents are moving to the same city as me because they love it so much, so I'm really excited about that. Tonight when Matt gets home we are just going to sit and watch a film and eat some birthday cake!

Pre-Birthday Shopping: Glasgow

Yesterday my amazing fiance Matt took me shopping for some birthday presents to Glasgow. He already bought me a new Canon camera which I LOVE, still working out how to use it...

We had a great day we went out for something to eat, got soaked in the snow, came home and made cupcakes and put the fire on. We had lunch at an Italian in Glasgow, they do a great lunch menu and I love their bruschetta which I choose for my starter followed by a very Italian fish and chips!

Starter

Starter

Fish and Chips for me!

Classic Pizza for Matt

So first thing I got... some pieces from Forever 21, I love their clothes and black and white are my favourite to wear, they are just so easy! Plus I love cats and thought the top was just too cute and the shorts were so comfy on and I love the daisy print.

Shorts and top from Forever 21

I also got these cute earrings, I am obsessed with earrings and I loved the colour of these ones, I thought the red roses would look great with black and white and the pink bows will look great in spring and summer.

Rose earrings

Bow earrings

I am so lucky and got loads of stuff from The Body Shop, my newest obsession! I got loads of new soaps, body scrubs, a lip gloss and a new hand cream I have wanted to try for a while.

Soap, soap, soap

Minty Lip Gloss

Almond hand cream

Chocomaina and Coconut body scrubs

The body scrubs smell delicious I can't wait to use them, and I have so many soaps to use so they will last me a while. Matt also got me the Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy La Fleur fragrance set, it comes with a 75ml bottle of Viva La Juicy La Fleur and a little mini one plus a lip gloss and roller ball. I love this fragrance it's just beautiful and its great how it comes with the roller ball and lip gloss duo, perfect for in your handbag.

Viva La Juicy La Fleur

When we got back it was snowing really heavily here in Stirling and we got soaked but I liked seeing the first snow of the year, we actually haven't had any all winter.

Our view of the snowy hills

L'Oreal Elvive Fibrology

Last week I discovered I had £14.00 to spend on my Boots Advantage Card, good times! So I decided to try the new L'Oreal Elvive Fibrology range, it was in an offer 3 for £10. You can see the full range here.

 

All the L'Oreal Elvive Fibrology products I am using now

I decided to buy the shampoo, the conditioner and the serum first but I went in a day later to buy the thickening masque. I have really fine hair, I'm naturally blonde and have been told that blonde hair does tend to be finer, I have tried hundreds of products to try an increase the volume of my hair, from serums and shampoos to sea kelp to actual hair loss treatments. None of these worked. I have only been using these products for about a week now, so I hope to do a more in depth review when I have finished these products, therefore I will know if they actually do work and how long it takes. 

I shampoo my hair mostly everyday, unless I'm staying in all day with nothing to do, I know some people say it's bad to wash your hair everyday but because my hair is so fine it looks greasy and dirty quicker so I can't help it. My hair is also in really good condition, it is soft and smooth and shiny, it just lacks volume. Because my hair is so fine I can't condition it everyday so I use the conditioner or the thickening masque once or twice a week, seriously my hair is so soft if I condition it more than once a week it just goes static and sticks to my head. I use the serum right after I step out of the shower, I just use two pumps and work it into my hair.

From using these for a week now, I can say I do notice a slight difference in the texture and the volume of my hair. It's nothing life changing (yet) but overall I am really liking what this product is doing to my hair, it is slightly more bouncy and I can feel in the strands of my hair that they feel thicker and a slightly coarser texture than before, but nothing horrible. I will use the Fibrology range for the next few months and get back to you on how good I think it is, fingers crossed.

Body Shop Body Butter Review

I have recently become obsessed with The Body Shop so I did a big order a while ago and have been trying out all the products I bought. I thought I would do a review of the body butters I have been using because they are simply AMAZING! Check out their full collection of body butters here. I usually only apply body lotions at night and sleep in them as I hate being soggy throughout the day, even though I washed these off in the morning my skin stayed moisturized and my skin felt softer throughout the day and looked more radiant, I will continue to try and use one every night to keep my skin looking and feeling fab! All of these retail from £5.00 to £13.00, but watch out for great offers in store and online, that's when I buy mine!

My current collection of Body Shop body butters!

This is my collection of body butter by The Body Shop, I think I love them all equally, and they smell AMAZING! I want to buy more and try every type. The first one I have is the Chocomania one and I bought this one because I love chocolate and it smelt delicious. It is a thick, buttery consistency and glides on to the skin really well, I did find with this one that if you put on too much, when it dries it can go in to little bits on the skin, do you know what I mean? Apart from that this body butter makes my skin feel amazing and it looks better as well.

Chocomania body butter by The Body Shop

I tried the Strawberry body butter first, this one is also a thicker, buttery consistency and it glides on to the skin easily. This one was really good at moisturizing my skin, I noticed a difference the next day, my skin just felt so soft, softer than ever! The smell is divine, its so fresh and fruity and even though I only wear these at night I wish I could throughout the day so I could smell as good as these do.

Strawberry Body Butter by The Body Shop

The next one I have is the Papaya body butter, this one is very similar to the Strawberry one, same consistency and same effects but it is Papaya scented and it smells delicious! I think they all do. Again, I apply this one at night and wash it off in the morning, the condition and look of my skin is great when I use these body butters, if I ever forget for a couple of days I really do notice a difference in the condition of my skin.

Papaya Body Butter by The Body Shop

Much like the Strawberry and Papaya is the Passion Fruit, is is then same in every way but the smell is of passion fruit which I love. I also get the same amazing results with this one as I do with the rest, totally unrivaled in the world of body butters in my opinion.

Passion Fruit Body Butter by The Body Shop

The only one that differs from the rest is the Almond Body Butter which is much wetter in consistency but still is very thick, it is more creamy than buttery. This one smells fantastic, like marzipan so it is quite sweet, it also gives a lot of moisture to the skin and gives a very similar and equally great effect as the rest of them do.

Almond Body Butter by The Body Shop

Overall these body butters are by far my favourite body moisturizing products ever. They use good ingredients and this has made all the difference to my skin. I never used to moisturize my body, even at night, any time I tried to keep up with it using a new product I just never saw any benefit or noticed any change in my skin so I stopped using them, but these body butters transform my skin ever night and give me beautiful, healthy, moisturized skin the next day. I don't think I will even bother buying another body moisturizer as I have truly found my Holy Grail of Body Moisturizers! Thank you so much Body Shop, I can't wait to buy more of these little pots of heaven.

Bourjois: Volume Glamour Max Holidays Mascara Review

Bourjois: Volume Glamour Max Holidays Mascara

Today I have a review of the Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Holidays Mascara in Black.

I have used a couple of Bourjois Mascaras before but never really thought anything of them, I got this little one in a "free gift when you spend over £15".

"Its mini wand and maximum brush contact give you 100% control and 10 x more volume*.The texture is easy to apply and gives up to 24hours of waterproof protection."

You can purchase this mascara in a variety of colours here.

Bare lashes combed with my MAC lash comb

Two coats of Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Holidays Mascara

My completed look

Overall, I am still undecided with this mascara, I have used it for a few days and some days it goes on really well, other days, like toady, it doesn't apply as well and I really don't know why?

Here is the bottle, as I said this is a miniature one so it is only £5.99

Close up of the brush which is HUGE in comparison to the tube.

Length: 3/5 I think this mascara added some extra length to my lashes especially after a second coat. my lashes are naturally long so although this mascara may look good in the photo above bare in mind that if you have naturally long lashes, any mascara will help define the length. After applying a second coat my lashes didn't feel weighed down which is good as I like my lashes to have that fluttery effect.

Overall Performance: 3/5 The brush of this mascara is actually huge and I find having the shorter wand give more control when applying. The brush is a normal bristle mascara brush with hundreds of theses bristles giving it a chunky look. The brush allows for some separation but on some groups of lashes it sticks them together which was annoying, however, as I mentioned before I have been using this mascara for a couple of days and it was inconsistent with the effect each day, some days my lashes would look even, fanned out, separated and volumised. Other days it would apply really clumpy and stick my lashes together with an uneven finish, so I really don't like the inconsistency, I need my mascara to deliver the same effect day after day so I don't need to spend ages in the morning on my lashes. The inconsistency could be the mascara drying out after opening, other than that I can't think of anything else that would make its performance so different day to day as I always use the same technique.

The formula is good, it is drier which I prefer but not so dry that it flakes throughout the day, it also didn't transfer or smudge and was easy to take off at night. 

Volume: 3/5 This mascara did add some nice  volume on days I applied it, but on other days it just clumped my lashes together and defined them more. I really don't know why this is because I always use the same technique. I think it could be because the formula has dried out since I opened this which has only been about a week.

Expense: 2/5 This miniature mascara sells for £5.99 which is a decent price but I think that the inconsistency in performance may be down to the formula drying out to quickly? So all in all, I loved the effect the mascara gave my lashes some days, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it, but the past couple of days my lashes haven't looked as good as when I first used it and I have only been using it for a few days, no more than a week. If this mascara came out in a bigger size, I know Bourjois sell a bigger version but it is slightly different with a different brush, I may have to give it a go.

L.O.V.E RESULT

    11/20