A Dash to Boots

Bonjournoooo!!

How are we all doing? Hope your good and happy, keeping to those resolutions ;)

So few weeks ago I was feeling a bit of the blues, I know crazy it was not even January and I was already feeling a bit of the blues. So in a way to cheer myself up a bitty a went along to Boots and got myself some treats. I thought I would share with you gorgeous lot what I got.

As you can see I bought my trusty Cetaphil Cleanser £8.99. I fancied trying out a new face mask and I have heard lots of good reviews on the Una Brennan range especially the Super Facialist Tea Flower Pore Purifying Clay Mask £8.99 aiming to clear the skin of excess oil and toxins I thought sounded good enough for me, after all the eating of lovely treats and amounts of wine that has been drunk my skin could be doing with a good deep clean. I have only used this once since bought so far I loved it. In my job I do a lot of cleaning that my poor nails get all chipped and can end up looking in such sorry states sometimes. So with that in mind I decided to invest in Essie's Nail Base Coat in Help Me Grow £8.99 it contains argan oil and algae extract which help protect, prevent nail damage and breakage.

As I was heading to the counter to pay Real Techniques caught my eye with buy 1 get 1 half price. Well it would be a crime to just ignore that offer so I picked up the Powder Brush £12.99, I have only used this a couple of times so far and my gosh is the brush big but so soft to the skin!! Gives the perfect finish for powder. Along with that I picked up the Blush Brush £9.99 which was my half price one. Again this brush is super soft and applies the blush perfectly. I mentioned these brushes in my favorites of 2013 post here, they are the best brushes I have used. I'm so happy to add these 2 to my collection. 

These most defiantly made my blues feel less royal blue and more baby blue, once I got home the pjs went on and I chilled out with a cuppa tea, bliss!!

I love going into Boots and having a wander and a nosey at all the things they have to offer. I love buying new items too and going home testing them out, so look out for reviews on some the products mentioned in this post.

Hope you enjoyed this post, where is it you go to de-blue and cheer yourself up?

Lovies
SparklySJ
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Essie Winter Mini Kit

Hi guys and dolls :)

How are you all this fine day?

So I'm not sure if I have mentioned my love for Essie nail polishes?! I have mentioned them in a few previous blog posts so if your new and haven't read any of my posts I LOVE Essie!! Well at Christmas the boyfriend Gordee done gooood in getting me the Winter Mini Kit  as part of my Christmas presents.

And there it is!!! 3 lovely shades to choose from, of course I had to go for 4 in the same shade and the 1 different so the sparkly one stood out :) 

So we have (LtoR) Shearling Darling, a beautiful deep red plum shade I used this for the base of the sparkly one so you cant really tell how beautiful this shade really is. Secondly we have Parka Perfect, which is a lovely almost blue gray shade (I'm rubbish at describing colours sorry) you can see I have painted it on all the rest of my nails. This is a really nice sort of everyday shade its not boring and not bright but its very eye catching when its on. I did have quite a few people ask me what colour it was as it is a rather odd shade to see. And lastly we have the bit of Christmas Sparkle in the form of Toggle To The Top. Now I love a bit of sparkle on a nail and I love colour sparkles on a nail, this is THE perfect colour festive sparkle! The colour of the the little bits of glitter is a very similar shade to the Shearling Darling which looks great with it being the base colour, yet when the light hits its full on sparkly red! Just Beautiful!!

Here is another snap of the box with my nails trying to get the best light to show you guys how lovely it is.

This cute little set is still available at Boots stores just now at £12.99 you can check it out here. 

Hope you are all well and keeping up the positive vibes this month!

Lovies
SparklySJ
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2014!

Hi Guys and a Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a fab Hogmanay and wishing you lot the best of times in 2014!

 

 Now that we are in January this is the time people start to think on new years resolutions and give it the whole new year new me thing, this never works for me. So instead of resolutions that I will never keep I'm going to set myself some goals and aims. I have written them down in my new notebook I got at Christmas from Gordee (Yay new stationary) so I can score them off along the way.

I thought I would share with you beautiful lot some of my goals for the year.
My first is this blog, I been thinking long and hard about what I want to achieve this year from the blog and have decided that as well as beauty/skin care items I'm going to try make up, show you guys what I use and how I use it. Any looks that I'm loving and how I achieve them. I'm also going to try and branch out a little and share a few fashion items and how I style them. Along with this I'm going to do posts about life in general and maybe a few random things I get up to (few weekend away trips are coming up too). With my list of goals I'm going to try and share it all with you on how I'm getting on with them.
Secondly is going to be reading! I do love to read however I always seem to get so distracted by new tv series's out on netflix or other rubbish that books tend to get forgotten about. However when I do pick up a book I love the feeling of being transported into different worlds and just getting lost into a right good book! One set I am determined to read is the Harry Potter books, I remember reading up to the third one when I was in school but never got round to reading the rest. I love the films especially with how dark they get by the end so I imagine the books must be better. I have bought myself a new book to read first which is also part of a set, the first one is called Rivers of London and its by Ben Aaronovitch it sounds really good, once I finish this post I'm getting myself a cuppa green tea and get reading.

    I also want to learn to cook properly, I do enjoying cooking proper home cooked meals but the thought of doing it makes me just go urgh! but once I'm stuck into it I really enjoy it. Gordee and I have both decided we want to eat a lot healthier and plan on sticking to that throughout the week as we both work weekdays but we will allow our self's treats at the weekends. We got a few cook books at Christmas so I intend on using them to help us out along the way. I might also put a few blog posts up if any are successful.With this in mind I also want to start taking multivitamins, I feel I'm lacking iron too so will start taking supplements for that. I will continue to drink plenty water (its nice with a slice of lemon or lime) and also still drink copious amounts of green tea (all those antioxidants) which is also nice with a slice of lemon.
  
When I was in my late teens I done art at my college, I only done it cause I couldn't get a job (being a high school drop out no one would employ me) and I needed something to do. One the subjects I enjoyed the most was photography. We were taught mostly the old school stuff in the dark room using lots of chemicals but we did learn a little on digital photography and this year I want to get back in to it. I'm currently saving up to get myself a proper camera and equipment along with the good programs for editing. This will also be good for taking photos for blog posts but mainly I want to just to enjoy capturing moments you want to never forget.
 

With these and a few others on my list (which I will share throughout the year) I just want to be happy. Gordee and I have a few adventures planned out which I'm very much looking forward too, we have family visits down to England, Gigs (did I mention Katy Perry), I'm turning 25 this year too!! I cant wait to see what to see what this year brings, I hope its a good one. And I look forward to sharing it all with you!

What do you have to look forward too this year? Do you have any goals set or resolutions for this year? I would love to read them.

Lots of Lovies
SparklySJ
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Images used are from weheartit.com

My Favorites of 2013 Part 2!

 Hello, and Welcome to My Favorites of 2013 Part 2!

This post is going to be all about the make up and nails. I am rather dull and boring when it comes to make up however I am going to try and be a bit more adventurous on that side of things next year and not be afraid to try out new things. So lets get started on the make up items I have been loving this year.

Face

So its always good to start off with a good base. I'm talking Primers. I tried quite a few this year and I do like to use my Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Reviver for this, another close favorite has to be the Rimmel Fix and Perfect £6.99 I just find this stuff perfect for a make up base, it holds my foundation perfectly. I did also do a little blog post on this beauty which goes a little more in depth to check it out click here. Now for foundation I have 3 to pick from which was rather difficult so I thought sod it I will put them all in as I love all 3 for different reasons. Revlon ColorStay £12.49 this stuff appealed to me from the start being for oily to combination skin, being oil free it helps to control shine and aims to give you that flawless look. This was the first foundation I bought this year and it is probably going to be one that I will continue to use. I loved the coverage of it, I love that it lasted pretty much all day, the match to my skin tone was perfect, I just loved it. When my Revlon foundation was coming to an unfortunate end I thought I would be adventurous and try out a new one, for that I tried out the No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation £12.95 another oily to combination foundation created to balance oil production and help improve skin, I cannot fault this lovely item at all. It gives a medium to full coverage, it lasts a long time throughout the day. I used the match made service so the shade is perfect for my skin tone again its one I will probably repurchase. I done a post on this foundation and the matching concealer, if you would like to review my ramblings more into detail on this product click here. Lastly of the foundations is the much raved about Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation £8.99 I purchased this foundation on a whim in the summer time as I had a slight tan and my everyday Revlon one was a tad to pale for me. Being at such a reasonable price I thought this will do me fine for the summer. I wasn't wrong. Designed to awaken the skin and give you a healthy radiant glow, it does not fault. It gives you  a nice light coverage, not too heavy which is perfect for that suns heat and contains an SPF 15 so it also protects your skin as well as given you a lovely natural glow. Recently I blogged about my skin not having a good time that I had to cut back on wearing my foundations due to an allergic reaction. I turned to a BB Cream to help put my skin back on track but give a bit of colour along the way. I turned to my Dr Jart Regenerating Beauty Balm £14.00 designed to help cover any blemishes and redness while letting the skin regenerate. This was just what I was looking for at the time. I forgot how much I loved this product, it really did help me feel less self conscious of the redness from the reaction and improved my skin within a week or so. If you want to read the post I done on this BB Cream click here. Once I done my foundation I like to add a subtle hint of colour to the cheeks and I use my Revlon Powder Blush £7.99 in shade Smoky Rose which is a lovely light pink, I just sweep it on the apples of my cheeks to make me feel more alive.

Eyes

I noticed this year a heavy trend going round in beauty and make up was brows!! Now I have a full fringe. So to say I neglected my brows is an understatement, however over the past few months I started to give bit more attention to them. I'm still not 100% confident on them but I am getting there. A few months back Latest in Beauty got together with Glamour magazines Beauty Editor and they created a box of wonderful treats. One of these treats was the HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette in Foxy. The whole box only cost £14.95 and I believe that this palette costs alone £19.95 so that's a bargain already! As a newbie to the whole brows look I have been giving this item a go over the past month and I am surprisingly enjoying it. My fringe is growing right now and kinda sweeps to the side, so I kind of need to make sure they look a little decent as you can see just the one, which sounds odd but it doesn't look it....I hope. I use the medium shade and slowly outline my eyebrow then fill it in. I don't want them to look too obvious and I like that it gives a nice natural look. If anyone is interested in the Beauty Box the link is here. Or if you would rather just check out the palette I found it on amazon here. Mascara will always be my Avon SuperShock I have been using this stuff for years, I do try others but none impress me as much as this one. I get asked if I'm wearing false eyelashes or if I have lash extensions whenever I wear this mascara its that good. As its from Avon the price can tend to change in each campaign with any offers so heres the link to their official shop site. I done a blog post on this mascara also so if you want to see what I'm talking about click here. Eyeliners, I have cut back using these in the past month just for a bit of a break to the eyes. That and I am just hopeless at it haha it takes me ages to get liner just right. However I do like the L'Oreal Super Liner with its sponge tip to do the top lash line bitty, I have still not mastered cat eye but I am getting there. This stuff does last all day or night if I'm wearing it to go out, it is a pain to remove so I would recommend an eye make up remover. I cant seem to find the one I bought on the boots site but here's the link to a very similar one in colours blue or purple which I am tempted to try out. Nice change from black. My favorite pencil eye liner that I use for my waterline has to be Benefit BADgal Waterproof Eyeliner £15.00  it lasts all day and hardly smudges. There is a smudger at the other end if you want to use this liner for the top lashes and smudge it out for a bit of a smokey look. I did mention that only use mine for my waterline, being a bit on the pricey side it does last a long time.

 One thing I have particularly enjoyed this year when it has come to make up is applying it using the right tools. I cannot recommend Real Techniques Brushes enough, there are just the best brushes I have ever used. I started off with the Core collection then added the stippling brush, powder brush and the blush brush. I do intend on getting more as I love them that much. They just give such a lovely flawless cover and they are so soft to the skin. I wash mine about once a week with johnstons baby shampoo to get all the used make up off so I start each week with lovely clean brushes. To check out the range of Real Technique brushes here's the link, Samantha Chapman who created these lovely brushes also has a fab YouTube Channel with her sister where they do fantastic make up looks you can check them out here.

 

I fell in love with the brand Essie in February when I discovered the most gorgeous pink shade of nail polish that I had ever seen, in the name Lovie Dovie it had to be bought. Since then I bought 2 more shades, I recently bought the base coat and at Christmas I got the Winter Collection which I will review about soon. Essie has such beautiful shades of polish I want them all!! I do like to paint my nails I just get rather frustrated when they don't last and a day or 2 later they are all chipped but when I use my Essie polish it can be known to last me a week without chipping! Happy Days!! I am planning on adding plenty more to my collection, I have already spied a few new future buys. Keep your eyes posted on future posts with which ones I get. If you want to check Essie out here's a link to their official website. For removing nail polish it has to be Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover £4.99 you just pop your finger into the sponge twist it in for a couple of seconds, remove finger and bosh! nail varnish gone just like magic.

And there you have it! That is all of my favorite beauty things for 2013, I do wonder what will be my faves for next year. I am planning on broadening my make up ways so here's looking forward to the future!!

Hope you all had a fabulous Hogmanay!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Lets see what 2014 has to throw at us. :)

Lovies

SparklySJ

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