So, it's been a while...

Where to start? Happy new year I guess! Even that seems a bit redundant now seeing as it's almost February. How is everyone? Healthy and happy I hope!?

As you may be able to tell I slipped out of the whole blogging thing for quite some time...around 7 months I'd say. Perhaps this was to do with my new job completely stressing me out to begin with. Thankfully it's calmed down and I'm glad Christmas is out of the way. Working in hospitality is no fun at that time of year, or so I believe. A lot of people seem to really enjoy it, I guess I'm just not as enthused by it all. Got my head down and working as hard as I can though. Most of the time anyway!

A few of my friends got married and/or engaged at the end of this year and also right at the start of 2014. Everyone seems so loved up at the moment, it's been very exciting! That being said I'm starting to feel like I'm getting older and should have my life planned out. I still have no idea what I want to do career-wise. I'm open to suggestions!

I do plan to get back into the swing of things on here - that's my first goal for 2014. I would love to be more proactive, do more rather than just think or talk about doing more! Does that even make sense? Work on sentence structure, that could be the next thing...

Perhaps some photos now, these are personal photos. Mainly social gatherings and nights out. That seems to be all I've been doing this month with 5 nights out in one month. A little more than usual.

Candles at Katie and Pauls Wedding.

Beyoncé Heat Perfume Set | Review.

Ello, it's Monday again and we're reaching the end of January! How does the time fly by so quickly?

This post is about another present I got for Christmas, this time from Kyles aunt. Once again I am very lucky and wasn't expecting anything, what a lovely surprise! I'd actually been looking at this quite a while ago, but I'm never one to buy myself fragrances. It's the Heat by Beyoncé fragrance set. In it you get the bottle of perfume, an exfoliating shower gel and a body lotion with gold shimmer through it.

Christmas Goodies | YSL Touche Eclat + Lancome Hypnose Drama.

My lovely, thoughtful boyfriend bought me some amazing gifts for Christmas! I realise I'm a bit late with this post, but I wanted to leave it a while and give the products (or most of them) a good try first.

The first thing I got was something I'd been lusting over for around a year, Touche Eclat by YSL (£25). I don't tend to use highlighters, but this one is amazing. The gold pen looks amazing, it's so luxurious! Clicking the button is so satisfying, haha. I tend to use it under my eyes, over foundation and concealer, this helps brighten them that little bit extra. I also use it on my cheekbones and cupids bow. It gives your skin a beautiful glow which looks really natural. I'm not a huge fan of really sparkly or shimmery highlighters so this is absolutely perfect for me. Kyle got me Shade 2 which is the lightest one I believe.
For more info and tips visit the website here.

No 7 Stay Perfect Nail Polish | Review.

I've got quite a few things lined up to write about, I really need to get organised and get around to doing it! More of the posts will be about Christmas presents that I wanted to try out for a while before I made any judgement on them.

These mini nail polishes came in a set that I bought as part of the 3 for 2 gift offers that are always on around Christmas time. I love it, they always have so many cosmetic sets to choose from. Saying that, I found it hard to spot anything I really, really wanted. I decided on this little set as I don't have the largest collection of nail polishes and I wanted to expand on the colours I have. These mini bottles are the perfect size at 4ml, I never finish a whole bottle of polish before it goes all gloopy and I have to bin it, so I'm always looking for minis to try out.

This set was £10. The price is really decent considering that a full size single nail polish costs £6 alone. Not sure if this set is still available any more, it was probably a Christmas exclusive. Other sets may be available in stores.

UPDATE (15/01/13): This set is on sale for £5 at the moment!

The set came with 4 polishes, I thought the colours were perfect for Christmas and New Year which is why I was drawn to them. You can see below the colours I wore for Christmas day.

Damson Dream looks very purple here, but it's more red on the nail.

L-R - Devils Delight, Totally Teal, Hot to Trot, Damson Dream.

The Wednesday Waffle - Week 3 + 4 | Photos, Music and Shopping.

Warning: Very long post! :)

 The past couple of weeks have been non-stop and pretty hectic. As usual I've mainly been working, everyone was out in force doing Christmas shopping and then sale shopping from Boxing Day onwards. The 27th was our busiest day, which was a little weird.
I had a wonderful Christmas which was spent with my family and my boyfriend. It was a great day, I saw lots of people and received so many wonderful gifts. I think everyone enjoyed the presents I got them too!

Boxing day I worked then went out for burgers and drinks with friends from school, was so nice to catch up with them. The burger I had was called the Texan Hat Burger, it had BBQ sauce, cheese, bacon and a hash brown. It was amaaaazing!

On Sunday (30th) I eventually had a day off and I could browse the sales, or what was left of them! I managed to get a few bits and pieces, although most of them weren't in the sales.
I'll do a haul on my recent purchases once my other packages arrive. I have one coming from ASOS and another from Daisy Street. There are some fantastic deals on this website, I really had to restrain myself from spending over £100! They have some amazing shoes, also if you like them on FB you get 10% off, unless you're buying sale items. I was cheeky and still tried to add it...

Festive FOTD.

Ello there! Did everyone have a lovely festive season? I know it's technically still happening with it being Hogmanay and all but yeah...
Does everyone have exciting plans for new year? We're having a few friends up to the flat, should be an enjoyable night.

Now, I know I missed last weeks Wednesday Waffle, but I think I should be forgiven seeing as it was boxing day and I had to work! Yes? Ok. :)
This weeks will be extra special. Promise.

This post is just to show you my Christmas FOTD, or what I had planned to do (these photos are from a test run I did the week before) but I was too tired to do a full face of make-up on the actual day. My eye make-up was done though!
Please, as usual, ignore my strange expressions...

Products used.

Foundation - Rimmel Lasting Perfection - Shade 010.
Highlighter - Britney Fantasy palette.
Blush - Nars - Orgasm.
Lips -  ELF matte lip pencil - Tea Rose + clear gloss (also ELF).
Eyes - Benefit Passport to Posh eyeshadows + Naked palette (Darkhorse + Sin, if I remember correctly)
Brows - MUA eyebrow pencil - Brown + MUA clear mascara.
Eyelashes - Benefit Bad Gal Lash.

I think that's all the products I used, it has been 10 days since I did this so I hope I remembered everything! I wanted this look to be a bit more shimmery so that's why I used the Britney highlighter. The little palette it's from was hiding at the back of my drawer and I suddenly remembered about it, it's got a couple of nice eyeshadows in it too. Maybe a wee review is in order, although I don't know if it is still available to buy.
It's still a very natural look and pretty similar to my last look, I used a bit more dark shadow in the outer corner/crease this time for a slightly more dramatic look.

Did you do any special make up for Christmas day? What will you be doing for Hogmanay?

X

Kittens.

I've been very bad at posting anything for a while now. I guess a lot of people have been because it's such a busy time of year!

Did you all have a good time? I had a nice quiet day with my family, I spent most of the day with my mum, eating and watching Tangled and Lord of the Rings. It was lovely.

I'll be posting more soon, this is just a little update and some more photos of the cats! They love looking out the window. Our window ledge is really high up so they don't get to look out much and they are too small to be left up there on their own just now. They are so cute and inquisitive. N'yawwww!

The Wednesday Waffle - Week 2 | Tumblr, Benefit + Taylor Swift.

Seasons greetings!
It's getting so close to Christmas, I still can't believe how quickly this year has gone. It's crazy!

This week has been a little quieter for me, mainly been working. Also trying to get the rest of my present shopping completed. Yesterday was very productive; I did lots of tidying and cleaning as well as present wrapping.
In the midst of all that I did my make-up with the little Benefit set I bought at the event last week. My next post will be about that, I love it!

You can see what lovely things I've been reblogging on Tumblr by clicking on the screenshots below...

Fashion/Beauty/Inspiration Blog.

Personal/Random Blog.

Christmas Time!

This post is just going to be a little collection of some photos I've taken of decorations, work night out, cat paws, random things. There might be a couple that my boyfriend has taken too, they will be captioned accordingly. :)

Is everyone feeling festive? Only a week to go!

Christmas Treat - Chanel Lipstick.

Every Christmas I like to buy myself a wee present, last year it was a pair of Jeffrey Campbell Litas (not such a wee present, I know) and this year it is a Chanel lipstick. I've been eyeing it up for a good few weeks. With a price tag of £25 I feel that I could only justify buying it as a gift to myself at this time of year. I also got 10% off in Debenhams, so it was £22.50.

I absolutely love the colour, and it's matte! It's from the Eclats Du Soir collection, and it's called Rouge Allure Velvet Lipstick in L'Impatient. The colour is a deep berry shade, which does look a bit daunting in the bullet but it's gorgeous on. I would say it's the perfect colour for winter! If you're unsure about the colour it's best to swatch it first. I was surprised when I swatched it, but I still loved it!

You can wear it on it's own or with a lip liner, I prefer to use a lip liner and fill in my lips first. This helps show off the colour as I feel that it's not as pigmented as it should be. You will see in the photographs and swatches what I mean. If you don't want an opaque lip it works well just patted on lightly as well.  Like I said it is pretty versatile and you can wear it a few different ways.

Christmas Nails.

I'm not the hugest fan of Christmas, I do like it, but I'm not as mad on it as most people are. Although saying that I felt like painting my nails with a Christmassy theme. Kind of...
Having two days off work is amazing for many reasons, but it also means I can paint my nails!

I used Red Nail by H&M and 150 by Barry M for the accent nail. H&M nail polishes are fantastic, of the brands I've tried they are my favourite. They have a lovely colour range, are very opaque after two coats and are very easy to apply.
I just wish my nails and cuticles weren't so messed up. Years of washing dishes at work and an allergy to sanitiser have destroyed my nail beds so my cuticles don't grow back properly, if at all. It also means my nails grow in bumpy.