Happiness Is...

I haven't done one of these posts for ages - Plenty of stuff has made me happy over the last few months but I am prone to major periods of self doubt and even self hatred which builds up inside me and often makes even the happiest thing seem negative. Anyways it all came to a head yesterday (not necessarily in a good way though) and today I feel relatively calm again so I am going to do one of my famous happiness is posts :)

1)A New Family Member - after nearly 9 and a half months my cousin Suzanne finally gave birth in the early hours of this morning to a little boy Sonny - I am so pleased everything went well - I know she was so fed up especially as the 9 month date passed by

2)Weight Loss - Although its not as much as I would have liked I have managed to drop another pound this week

3)Potential Make Up Swaps - I am potentially going to be doing a couple of make up swaps with some lovely fellow bloggers over the next few months - so so excited about this :)

4)Shopping - I am going shopping for a couple of hours tomorrow - so, so excited about this - because of my ME I don't do shopping malls that often and when I do I really look forward to it. I don't want much really just a few bits for my holidays and my mums birthday pressie, but I have some spends so I should have some much needed fun

5) Holidays - less than a month to go till Cyprus I can't wait - sunshine!!!!

6) You Tube - I've said it previously but I was always quite apprehensive about putting myself out there and making You Tube videos but I am pleased to say so far so peoples responses have been brilliant - my videos may not be the best or the most polished but they are certainly helping me self confidence wise- Thank You x

7)My Followers OMG as it stands I have 99 followers to my blog huge, huge thanks to all of you again I really appreciate your support and your feedback - I will be hosting another giveaway when I reach the magical 100!

8)Lydia - I am so excited I won this lovely lady's blog giveaway of some lovely Italian brand cosmetics I can't wait till my goodies come - thank you honey

New You Tube Video - My Beauty Box

Just thought I'd give you link to my You Tube channel and my latest video - My Make Up Collection Part 1 - My Beauty Box

NYX Goodies :)

This week I have managed to get my hands on a few NYX goodies. This brand is really hard to get hold of in the UK but thankfully Love Make Up has started to sell a few bits.
First of all I got one of the 10 Color Eyeshadow Pallets in Strike A Pose. These shadows are super smooth and you get a good range of colours




Then I got 2 of the Ultra Pearl Mania Eyeshadow Dusts in Mocha Pearl (Left) and Mink Pearl (Right)


One of the Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencils in Horse Raddish


and two lipsticks Harmonica (Left) and Mute (Right)



I also ordered a lipgloss which wasn't included in the package - I am currently chasing that up :(

I am really impressed with the goodies I got and I would love to try more NYX, and more US drugstore brands such as Physicians Formula and L'oreal HIP so if anyone from the USA is willing I would love to do a make up swap - I can get my hands on most UK brands so if your interested leave a comment or email me at the address in the sidebar

Yet Another ELF Haul

I ordered a couple of things from ELF for my mums birthday so I added a couple of bits for lil ole me :)

First of all another one of the Studio brushes this time the powder brush -again super soft and lovely :)




I also ordered the Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter after seeing Mizzworthy's You Tube review - this really looks like a good product and I can't wait to try it


Finally I also ordered an All Over Cover Stick in Fair to try - this can supposedly be used as a concealer and a stick foundation so I thought it might be a good product to try - I am all for multi use products at the moment :)

My First Illamasqua Purchases

Well I got there in the end after watching several fabulous vids and drooling over several blog posts from the fabulous MizzWorthy I decided to pop my Illamasqua cherry, and do you know what I am so glad I did.

I decided to just order a couple of bits to try - first of all I got the much talked about powder blush in Katie. Oh wow - this is so, so pretty - pink blush has always scared me but this gives such a fresh, pretty look - my mum even remarked how healthy I looked. It's super, super pigmented and you only need a tiny , tiny bit :)




I also order the powder eyeshadow in Feline - This again is very pigmented and is a super smooth consistency -It is a gorgeous dove grey shade which is so pretty, and super wearable




All in all I am super happy with my first Illamasqua experience especially since I also had some fab Sirens postcards, and a Spring / Summer catalogue full of lovely product pictures included with my order - more Illamasqua? bring it on :)

New Dress :)

Just received this dress from Wallis sale - I already have the green one but I love this one - its a real Cadburys purple and will be gorgeous for my holidays- I am picturing it with my new earrings and maybe some gold accessories - I am now on the hunt for some gold leather / pleather flip flops if anyonehas seen any in the UK please let me know x

New You Tube Video - Meet Jake

Meet My Tabby Cat Jake

Anatomicals Not Another Rough Day Body Moisturiser Review*

Hi Guys x I was recently sent a few Anatomicals products to test  and one of them that I received was the fabulously named "Not Another Rough Day Body Moisturiser"

Anatomicals say

"you know that terrible old canine joke ( it's hardly a joke) where you ask a dog how it's feeling today and it goes: 'ruff'? well, we've gone and ruined a perfectly bad joke because we asked 100 dogs ( from labradors to poodles) how they were feeling and they all replied: 'smooth and beautifully moisturised'. this leads us to believe that the nation's pets are more dextrous than we thought and they've been nicking your tube of our fantastic body moisturiser or you've been pampering your pooch and treating it the way you'd treat yourself. lucky old Princess Tatiana the Third is all we can say. Who calls a Rotweiller that?"

They claim that this fruity fragranced body lotion gives you super smooth skin and keeps dryness at bay

What I Think

First of all I think this product is an absolute bargain at only £3 for a 200ml tube, but its no bargain if it doesn't work. However I think this product does work. Due to the squeezy tube I expected this to be quite a thin lotion but I was wrong - it's quite a substantial cream which surprisingly absorbs quite easily.

Anatomicals say this product has a fruity fragrance and their right it does it has a pleasant fragrance which reminds me of crisp apples?. It's nice, not overly overpowering and it lingers gently on the skin but not so much as to interfere with any fragrance you may be wearing. I did find the product pretty moisturising without any stickiness, but I do have to say this is only my opinion my skin isn't the driest so somebody else may have a different viewpoint. I think this product is pretty good for the price and it is well worth a try especially if you like a nice fruity fragrance. This has definitely made me want to try some more of their body products

Where Can I Get It

This product is available for all good Anatomicals stockists including ASOS and Fragrance Direct.

*Press Sample

ELF Studio Brushes and Haul

I mentioned the other day that I had placed another order for some ELF studio brushes - well I've got them and they are gorgeous.

First of all I got the Angled Foundation Brush - the brush head was a little bit smaller than I expected but this is probably a good thing and it means that you should be able to get into those tricky areas around your nose for example. The bristles are so, so soft and great quality for a synthetic.





I also picked up the Concealer Brush. I normally use a Smashbox Concealer Brush but being natural hair it can be very hard to clean, so I thought I would try a synthetic one. Again this brush has super soft hair but it is a bit firmer on the skin as the hairs seem more densely packed. Again great value for money





I also picked the Contour Brush - a bit like shorter, stubbier bristled MAC 226 this is a lovely soft brush again which will be great for defining and under eye work



Finally in the Studio line I picked up the Eyeshadow C Brush which need I say is also super soft but with enough firmness to actually do a fab job blending in the c shape - perfect for a smokey eye




So all in all I am super happy with the Studio line brushes and for £3.50 each and don't think many will disagree I am not quite as happy with the Kabuki Brush from the normal range (£3.50)- maybe because I was so overwhelmed by the softness of the other brushes this one felt a little bit more scratchy. To be fair I haven't tried it yet but it definitely doesn't feel as nice as the studio brushes - a Studio Kabuki please ELF!


I also picked up a few cosmetic items including the Translucent Matifying Powder. Again it has the NARS style packaging and comes with a sponge applicator. So far so good on this it seems to be a nice translucent powder and doesn't appear too chalky on my skin - great for £3.50



The final product I got is one which I really love - Sheer Mineral Booster - I already have the smaller size of this product all be it with not much in after a little accident.


So when I noticed that ELF did a larger size of 17.8g for only £5 I thought I'd get one - this product is almost exactly the same as the Bare Minerals / Escentuals Mineral Veil and provides a lovely finish on your skin whether your using mineral or liquid foundation I heart it!



I hope that was useful to you - I am personally getting more into budget brands and a lot of ELF products are really ticking the boxes for me at the mo - Any questions please ask x

Thanks Yinka and An Update

I received my Sleek Curious Palette today from the lovely Yinka aka Vex In The City - huge thanks honey I am loving it especially as predicted the aubergine colour. I am not going to do any swatches as there are already so many on various beauty blogs but this is a lovely palette and the colours are so pigmented.

Today was my weigh in day too and although I haven't lost any weight this week I have managed to stabilise it which has too be a good sign - I have just over four weeks to try and lose at least another half a stone before my hols - wish me luck x

Oh - I also want to take this opportunity to thank you to my new followers and everyone who has subbed or watched my videos on You Tube - I really appreciate your support and remember I am holding another giveaway at 100 followers ;)

I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with some reviews and pics of my latest ELF order and coming soon I may have popped my Illamasqua cherry :)