2010

Hey Dolls

2010 has been a year full of happiness, laughter, tears, frustration, friends, family and excitement. For me, 2011 is going to be rather uncertain and a wee bit scary as it's the year I finish uni and have to be a proper 'grown up' but it's all exciting too! This year I...

Enjoyed lots of fun day trips with Nick

Had lots of fun with my beautiful friends

Had a lovely, toasty warm summer

Saw one of my best friends get married

Got rather wet and muddy at rockness

Ate lots of yummy food

Had lots of film themed adventures

And wore lots of lovely dresses

I hope you all had a brilliant 2010 and all the best for the coming year!

Lots of Love

Nicola

xoxo

My little slice of luxury

Hey Dolls :)

I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas! Over the festive period I've been thinking that whenever I feel a little blue there are certain products that I turn to that cheer me up - they are my little slices of luxury!

1. Naturae Talco Profumato in Mughetto

My Italian isn't up to much but as far as I can tell from google, mughetto means Lilly of the valley...this is such a beautiful talc, it smells amazing, the powder feels really silky and it comes with a beautiful puff...


Personally, I think there's nothing more glamorous feeling than using a fluffy powder puff, I instantly think of beautiful 1920's starlets!

2. Sanctuary Bidadari Shimmering Body Oil

This body oil is absolutely beautiful. The packaging itself is stunning, it sparkles when it catches the light. It also smells beautiful - a mix of jasmine and ylang ylang. The oil contains almond and coconut oil as well as vitamin E which all leave my skin feeling so soft! It also leaves a lovely golden glow on the skin...

Whenever I feel a little stressed or glum this oil is an instant pick-me-up, it's also to use after a bath to lock in any moisture on the skin!

3. The White Company Candles


By far, the white company candles are my favorite, they're the strongest smelling candles I've used, including expensive ones such as Molton Brown. If there are any vampire diaries fans reading this can you guess why I bought this? It's called verveine!!!

This candle is a citrus scent with orange, lemon, sage, lemongrass and cedar wood - it's cheeriness in a candle. Other white company scents I recommend are white cashmere, white fig, flowers and pomegranate.

4. YSL Parisienne

Parisienne has recently replaced Chanel Mademoiselle as my comfort perfume. Parisienne combines violet, rose and blackberry - very different from mademoiselle but it's beautiful and sweet that I can't help but feel cheered up when I smell it!

5. YSL Lipsticks


It seems I equate YSL with luxury! The classic packaging, the beautiful colours and the silky formula of YSL lipsticks make them the perfect luxury item!

Which products do you equate with luxury and comfort?

Lots of Love
Nic
xoxo

My Favorite Body Moisturisers

Hello Dolls

As we're currently in the middle of a 'cold snap' I've been slathering on moisturiser like there's no tomorrow. I think I'm a bit of an oddball as I really dislike body butters - I've tried my hardest to like them and to an extent I do like the soap and glory righteous butter and the body shop butters. However, they're just too thick for me, I really hate having to spend ages working it into the skin and resorted to using them whilst my skin is still wet from my shower/bath which resulted in losing a lot of product. Here are my four favorite moisturisers.

1. Scottish Fine Soaps Boheme Body Lustre


This is probably one of the most luxurious products I own ranging from the beautiful packaging to the name - body lustre I think sounds rather fabulous! In the jar it looks really quite thick...


However, the cream melts into the skin so quickly, there's no stickiness or residue and my skin is left feeling so lovely and smooth. The scent is quite tricky to describe - it's quite musky but also has a hint of floral, nothing like I've really smelled before. I typically reserve this for before a night out as it's a shimmer creme...


You can see the tiny gold shimmery particles that leave a lovely glow on the skin. You can buy Scottish fine soap products here.

2. Fresh Brown Sugar Body Cream


I am in love with fresh products and it makes me really sad that they're not easily attainable in the UK. When I was in N.Y last year I bought quite a few fresh products including the brown sugar body cream. Sadly, I used it all up rather quickly so imagine my delight when my lovely friend came back from holiday last week and gave me a bag of sephora samples - in it I found this sample tube. I've fallen in love with it all over again. This body cream is about as thick in consistency as I like...

It has quite a strong lemon scent that is really fresh and doesn't have that synthetic citrus scent I hate. The cream is formulated with brown sugar and Shea butter and despite being quite thick sinks in really quickly. You can buy fresh products here.

3. Steam Cream

I find steam cream to be quite an interesting product. It gets its name from the method in which it is made - using pure, unrefined steam. Because of this steam, the product is really thin and runny...


What I love about steam cream is it's a multipurpose product, so you can use it on your hands, body and face. This is the only one out of the four I would feel comfortable using on my face. The cream infuses oatmeal, orange flower water and lavender - all good things! You can definitely smell the lavender which I love but is a scent that I find divides opinion and the scent definitely lingers on the skin. Steam cream is definitely a must if like me, you hate thick body creams! There's lots of interesting information on their website here.

4. Soap and Glory Girligo


I featured this in a recent monthly favorites post and my opinion remains the same - I love this! I use it every day in the morning after my shower and my skin feels so soft without being clogged up with a thick creme. It has a pump that dispenses a really thin mist of product over the skin which sinks in really quickly avoiding the awkward waiting-for-my-moisturiser-to-dry-dance in the morning...


I think it can be quite hard to believe something so thin can be moisturising but it really is! Girligo has the same scent as the righteous butter etc and as the day progresses I randomly get whiffs of the scent!

What are your moisturiser must haves?

Lots of Love
Nicola
xoxo

Making bright lipstick less...bright

Hey Dolls :)

Can you tell I couldn't think of a snappier title ha!? My lipstick of choice lately has been YSL Rouge Pur 128, Tyrian Purple which you can read about here. It's such a beautiful, vibrant colour! Not too long ago I was trying to find a lipstick that would go with a pinky/purple eye shadow and decided to try tyrian purple. It was just a wee bit bright and purple to go with my eyeshadow so I decided to pop a little bit of 17's mirror shine in bee-hive on top...

I think they look so pretty together! What I love about the mirror shines is you have no need for a gloss - no sticky lips for me!

Are you a lipstick mixer? What are your favorite combinations?

Love Nicola
xoxo

Sex and the City ♥

Hey Dolls :)

Sex and the City...I adore thee.

I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other LOVE.

After he left, I cried for a week, and then I realised I do have faith. Faith in myself, faith that I would one day meet someone who for sure that I was the one.

That's the thing about friends, they will always hold your hair back when you're sick.

I will never be the woman with perfect hair, who can wear white and not spill on it.

So just love, make mistakes, and have wonderful times, but never second guess who you are, where you have been, and most importantly, where it is you are going.


After a while, you just want to be with the one who makes you laugh.

No matter who broke your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you'll never get through it without your friends.

Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with.

Abso-fucking-lutely!

Don't worry, they have a very lovely life.

Maybe if we had never veered off course, we would never have fallen in love, have babies or be who we are. After all, things change, so do cities, people come into your life and they go. But it's comforting to know that the ones you love are always in your heart.

Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself . And if you can find someone to love the you, you love, well that's just fabulous.

♥

Dolly Bow

Hey Dolls :)

One of my favorite websites to peruse on a rainy (snowy) day is dolly bow bow. I am in love with everything and instantly knew I had to buy one of the new dolly bows! I love hair accessories. Sadly for me, I've never really been able to pull off the tied scarf look due to my odd shaped head (a result of an unfortunate incident with a midwife and a pair of forceps) - they just fall out. So the Dolly Bow is the perfect solution!



Basically the dolly bow is a scarf with wire running through the middle - all you have to do is wrap the scarf round your head and twist to make a bow. It feels much more secure than a scarf and also doesn't shift or move through the day.

This has been perfect for me whilst I'm trying to train my hair -plus it makes a boring ponytail into a cute hairstyle!

As far as I know dolly bow bow is closed for Christmas so keep an eye out for it opening in the New Year!

Lots of Love
Nic
xoxo

Review: Vichy Dermablend

Hey Dolls :)

I got asked if I could review and provide a swatch of Vichy's Dermablend after I included it in a monthly favorites post.

Lisa Eldridge's acne covering video, in which she used dermablend, has completely changed the way I think about my make up base. Previously, I would use a thick foundation over my entire face, effectively creating a mask of foundation. On reflection, this is completely unnecessary and clogged my poor skin. Now I buff dermablend into any areas that need additional coverage and over the rest of my face I apply a tinted moisturiser (either Laura Mercier or Korres) and finish with a dusting of MAC MSF Natural. I've had more compliments on my skin than I've ever had doing my base this way! Dermablend comes in a squeezy tube and you get 30 mls of product...

I much prefer this kind of packaging as it means you can get every last drop of product out. The product isn't as thick as I first expected it to be but provides amazing coverage - you literally need the smallest amount - especially if you're using the method I prefer, or else it can look quite cakey and feel quite heavy. The one drawback to dermablend is the colour range. I thought I had picked up the lightest shade opal however I think there is one shade lighter, porcelain which I've never seen in any Boots I've been in. When I bought the foundation, there were no testers and the product was boxed meaning I was buying the product blind. However, the last time I was in Boots they had finally provided testers! Opal, for me is a tad too orange toned, however as I only use a small amount of the product in small areas on my face it's not too much of a problem.
EDIT: My lovely chum Abbie pointed out the porcelain is only available in the stick foundation - sorry!!


The product lasts the entire day on my face with no need to touch up. It costs £14 for 30ml which I think is very reasonable considering how little you need to use each day. Here's how it looks - I've buffed dermablend on my chin and on my rubbish red cheeks.


I absolutely love the look of the product and I feel much better in my own skin now I'm using a lot less face products. Have you tried dermablend? Or do you want to?

Lots of Love
Nicola
xoxo