February Favorites!

Hello Everyone :)

I think everyone has said it but this year is flying by! I've had a really good month this month, lots of good things happened like both Nick and I's birthday, our anniversary, Valentines Day, lots of lovely nights out with my beautiful friends and i've had a whole week off work which never ever happens!

Here's my beauty favorites from this month, I had quite a tough time narrowing them down!!

1. The body shop's Dewberry Shower Gel

This is a blast from the past! Does anyone remember the Dewberry perfume? It always reminds me of my mum :). I think this smells beautiful and unlike a lot of shower gels, the smell actually lingers on my skin! If you want to get your hands on some of the retro body shop products do it now as all shower gels are buy one get one free!

2. 'Juicy Couture'

I blooming love this perfume! It's quite an unusual scent, I would say in the same family as Sarah Jessica Parker's 'Lovely'. It's really long lasting and just look at that bottle, it's amazing!! And so my Juicy Couture love rages on...

3. Benefit's High Beam

At the beginning of the month I posted a FOTD and a few of you wonderful people commented about how 'glowy' I looked and I think it's this bad boy that's responsible. I had always overlooked moon beam as it had, in my eyes, been overshadowed by High Beam. However, when mixed with foundation it creates this beautiful, dewy finish! Just look at that irridescent colour you can see at the top of the bottle...gorgeous!

4. O.P.I's Deer Valley Spice

I've blogged about this polish before but the colour is divine. In the bottle it looks a gorgeous ruby red however on the nail a blueish purple shimmer appears when it hits light!

5. Illamasqua Vanian Eyeshadow

This is a lovely highlight colour, both for eyes and face. It adds a subtle shimmer as coloured highlight shadows give me the fear...I have seen far too many amazing eye looks be ruined by a strong coloured highlight!


6. YSL Rouge Volupte 19 'Frivolous Pink'

I am going to start by saying everytime I look at this lipstick I get a tiny niggling of guilt stir in the back of my mind...I am fully aware how silly it is to spend £21 on a lipstick though I love it. It's a lovely baby pink yet is still quite bright when applied to the lips. The formula is extrememly creamy and rich and is all round extrememly pretty!

Hope you're all well and that we all have a Marvellous March :D

Lots of Love
Nicola xoxo

I'm ooooooooold!!!

Hello Everyone :)

It was my birthday on Friday so spent the day with my lovely friends and family though I forgot to take any photos cos i'm silly!

Yesterday, Nick took me on a little daytrip to Edinburgh and we honestly had such a fun time! Here's some photos...

Stimulating reading on the train...


Nick in Toy Town...he's a goon!

I heart mochas!

Awww...'I Love Us'


Mad scientist faces...

I gave in and had some pizzaaaaa as it was my birthday!



So chilly on our ghost walk in the dark!

I had such a fun day that included being TERRIFIED in Edinburgh Dungeons, going to see the camera obscura and going on a ghost walk!

Hope you enjoyed these little peeks into my life....promise normal make up posts will now be resumed!

Lots of Love
Nicola
xoxo

I Love Illamasqua

Hello Everyone :)

I'm taking a little study break to listen to the glee albumn and write a cheeky post! On Monday I popped into Debenhams to have a look at the illamasqua counter...I went in for one thing and came out with four ha! Here's what I bought...


Cream blushes in Promise and Laid (l-r). Oooooo these get me so excited! The colours are simply beautiful! I think Laid looks a lot scarier in that swatch than it actually is...i'm wearing it in the cocktail post before. So I can definitely say these are long wearing as I think it was the item of make that wasn't smeared off my face ha ha!

I also bought...


I originally only popped in to get the S.O.P.H.I.E pencil...it's normally a lot darker than this but it's an amazing pencil for smudging....my favorite! This is my second S.O.P.H.I.E pencil as I really do love the smuginess...I also got strumpet free because I spent over £30!! Illamasqua pencils are about the creamiest I've tried!

I'm sure most of you know about the Sophie Lancaster Foundation so I wont say too much about it I find it really upsetting, however I will include the short film commissioned by Illamasqua at the end of this post which tells it all really. With every pencil bought £3 is donated to the foundation...or you can even just buy a wrist band....

Here's the video, i'm not ashamed to say it made me cry...also the Sophie Lancaster Foundation are trying to get 1000000 hits, so you could also click on the video to watch it...



Lots of Love
Nicola

Loves a Cocktail!

Hello Everyone :)

At the weekend I went on a lovely night out for my friend Lynsey's birthday. I took lots of funny photos...I don't know what happens but after a few cocktails my face seems stay in this one ridiculous pose, it's hilarious. Here's me FOTN before I left...




I left looking fairly respectable (despite the glitter on my lashes lol)...However here is where it all changed...



Still looking fairly respectable....

Drunker....

Drunker...



And just blaaaaaaaah....




Lol who else gets 'drunk face'? And honestly. I don't think i'm going to bother spending as much time on my make up anymore for a night out as clearly it just ends up all over my face!

Lots of Love
Nicola
xoxo

Feeling Blue

Hello Everyone :)

Yep, today I'm feeling a bit blue (despite the amazing results of eye hope below) but decided to stop feeling sorry for myself SO I slapped on a bit of five (direct your attention below and you can too :D) and decided to use blue as the inspiration for some cheerful eye make up...





FACE

Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation
MAC MSF Natural
NARS Laguna
MAC Mineralize Blush Superdupernatural

EYES

MAC Painterly Paint Pot
Urban Decay Flipside, Jinx and Ecstasy E/S
MAC Print E/S
Benefit Bad Gal Pencil
MAC Plush Lash

LIPS

Urban Decay Sphynx shadow
Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream

I am a naturally positive, upbeat person who hates unecessary meaness, bitchiness and drama. Lately, people from all parts of my life have been really getting to me and i've noticed my positivity levels dip and i'm not having it anymore! I am actively distancing myself from this sort of behaviour and chat and remembering all the amazing, fun things I have to be thankful for. Please don't let people get you down, negativity seems to breed and there really is no need for it. Rant over.

Lots of Love
Nicola
xoxo

Philosophy's Eye Hope: The Results!

Hello Everyone :)

In January I began a review of Philosophy's Eye Hope (you can read it here) and I promised I would share the results with you all! Here was my undereye shadows before...

Welcome to my lovely dark circles! I know they could be a lot worse but as I said in my first post, I really want to try and prevent any damage around my eye area...and here is the after...


Taaaa-daaaa. Before seeing the before and after pictures I hadn't realised what a difference this had made!! I've been using Eye Hope since around Christmas time so it isn't a quick fix. You do need to be quite routine with the application, I have applied it religiously twice a day and i'm so pleased with the results!

As I pointed out, the price is definitely the downside to Eye Hope, I think I bought it for about $45-6 when I was on holiday so that's about £28? Also I have read some reviews where it irritated and inflamed some peoples eyes so probably best if you decide to try this product to get a sample size (I got given a sample at sephora first of all then went back and purchased it as I was so impressed with the % of people who recommended it).

Hope this was useful!
Lots of Love
Nicola
xoxo

P.S. Seeing these pictures made me realise how wierd looking eyes are!!!

Happiness in a Hat!

Hello Everyone :)

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will already know of my love of hair accessories...I pretty much wear something ornamental in my hair everyday and I get quite a lot of comments and questions about this love of mine...so i've put together some of my favorites. I do have to apologise as it proved so bloody difficult to take good photos so do excuse my bad photography skills!

SEQUINS

I heart sequins...whenever i'm feeling a bit blue on go the sequins and they give me a little smile! I love the sequined bow, it makes me happy! I got the hat in Camden Market like 3/4 years ago though I think i've seen quite a few similar ones in Primark and New Look (and no, I do not know what is going on with my facial expression HA). This little headband is a new addition to my collection...it's so pretty and cost a fortune at £2 from Primark!

FLOWERS

As you all know I do love the flowers in my hair! I LOVE the top one...i've got quite a few this size and I think they're FAB! I like the second flower to jazz up a messy ponytail! And sadly you can't see my elasticated flower headband in the photo but you can in realsies...promise!!

COSYNESS

This first headband (from ASOS) is for the lovely Kim who posted a photo of this on her lovely blog recently!! I also like this little grey hat that I got from H&M!

HAIR STUFFS

The first headband I quite often use either when i'm wearing 'the fringe' or if my hair is up! Also I love little kirby grips like this one from Accesorize!

I hope this wasn't too boring for everyone...t'was a good excuse for me to indulge in my love :D

Lots of Love

Nicola

xoxo

Nicola and Pink Eyeshadow?

Hello Everyone :)

This afternoon I was at a loose end so decided to have a rummage about to find some unused eyeshadows and found a dazzle dust by Barry M in neon pink...this is probably the exact opposite of my usual make up attire so decided to challenge myself...





This was actually really easy I just used the dazzledust and then used a pencil brush to shape the black (MAC Carbon, obviouslyI had to get some black in there somewhere ha) and then used a fluffy brush to blend! Easy peasy! What's cool is that the pink and black make almost a violet colour! Being honest though, I don't like pink on me at all but was fun to play with!

Lots of Love
Nicola xoxo