A little 17 haul ♥

Bonjour bloggeroonies!

I hope you're all ok, a little while ago I went shopping and treated myself to a few bits because I was having a bad day! 17 cosmetics were on a 3 for 2 offer so I grabbed some goodies! Here they are...



I got the BB cream in 'light', pure finish sheer mineral blusher in 'rose' and the magnetized nail polish in 'teal' (the green shade). I paid £12 for all 3 items, amazing!

Here's a snap of the nail polish on my nails


This is what the BB cream and blusher look like on my skin


I've recently been carrying the BB cream and blusher with me in my handbag for touch ups on the go as they both look so pretty and flawless on my skin! They're so affordable too :) I love them! The BB cream is also on offer for £5.99 at the moment which is an absolute bargain.

I also took part in the #17cosmetics Twitter party and was lucky enough to win a goodie bag for tweeting that photo of my nails so when my goodies arrive I'll blog about them all for you lot!

xo

Cat's Christmas gift guide: Stocking fillers!

HELLOOOOOO! Ohmygosh it's getting so close to Christmas now isn't it! I blogged a little while ago about a perfect girly gift and I thought I'd write about some lovely stocking fillers today!

I flippin' love stockings and I have one from my Mum and one from Stew every year :) I just love how you can fill them with little goodies and bits and bobs, last year I put everything from Lego's to Aftershave in Stew's and he loved it!

Here are a few bits that I think would make perfect stocking fillers this year :)




first up these adorable Hello Kitty by Liberty lip tints for £6 you get three lip tints that come in REALLY cute Liberty print tins, the lip tints smell amazing and give a really subtle wash of colour to the lips. There's a colour for everyone here with pearly pink, bright pink and dark raspberry. You could either give them to one person or split the pack and give them to three different people depending on their lip-colour preferences :) Really cute and so affordable, I love them and haven't stopped using mine since I got them!

Next up, these lovely treats from Liz Earle


This foot scrub and foot repair moisturiser would genuinely make perfect presents for anyone from your Nan to your Boyfriend! They're my holy grail foot products and I use both of them daily whenever I have a shower or bath :) These are actually my second tubes of each product which goes to show how much I love them! They leave my feet so soft and smooth and smell divine... This little kit would make a great gift too!

My favourite product in this whole post has got to be these headphones!!!!



*dies*

They're so so so so so adorable, really comfortable in my ears and my music sounds great through them! I'm often a bit sceptical of cheaper headphones as I think sound quality can be a bit sketchy but these really do sound great and they'd make a perfect stocking filler for anyone you know who's a bit cat obsessed!

Last but certainly not least is this little bottle of yumminess!



The infamous Next Diamonds perfume! I bought myself a little 30ml bottle to carry around in my handbag and it was only £6.50 so it's a perfect little stocking filler this christmas! The reason I carry it around with me all the time is because it smells exactly the same as my two favourite perfumes of ALL TIME... Miss Dior Cherie and Katie Price, Stunning.

The Katie Price one is really hard to get hold of these days and is £20-£30 a bottle and Miss Dior Cherie is £49 for 50ml so for £6.50 for 30ml of the Next Diamonds you literally can't go wrong. If you own either of the two perfumes above I URGE you to go and grab a bottle of this Next one and you'll see just how similar they all are! Obviously I don't want to lug around a large, heavy bottle of Katie Price perfume or an expensive Dior perfume so this is perfect for my handbag and will be perfect to stuff stockings with this christmas!

What do you want to get in your stocking this year? and what are you stuffing other peoples' stockings with?

xo

A quick/flash little international blog sale!

I want to keep this as quick and pain free as possible as I need to clear a bit of space in my make-up storage because at the moment there's just stuff sitting on top of it all and it looks a right mess!!

*RULES*
Paypal only please. I've been messed about so much in the past and it's a waste of my time!

Shipping to the UK is £2 whether you buy one item or 10 items!!! I will ship internationally, just tell me what country in your comment and I'll work out postage on the Royal Mail website and include this in your paypal invoice.

NO timewasters.

Just leave a comment telling me which item(s) you would like, what country you live in, and your paypal email address :)

I'm happy for you to make offers on items and be a bit cheeky (e.g. if I buy this and this can i have this half price etc) just write a cheeky comment and leave me your email address and I'll email you telling if I'm up for it or not (no innuendo intended there!)

You'll have to be quick, I'll be deleting this post at about midnight tonight!







Sleek Storm palette – used 4-5 times - £3
Eyeko cream with extra glow – used 2 times – £2
Beauty UK blush in ‘peaches and cream’ used once - £2 SOLD
ELF contouring blush and bronzing powder, used twice - £2.50
MAC ‘giggly’ mineralize blush from the quite cute collection, swatched once but never used. Doesn’t have the box but does have the little plastic cover over the blush ‘dome’ still - £15 or nearest offer SOLD
MAC ‘creme de violet’ eyeshadow pro pan, swatched once, it’s really pretty but I have similar colours! - £5
Barry M dazzle dusts in ‘violet star 927’ (purple) and ‘mushroom 61’, both swatched once but never used on the eyes! - £3 each or both for £5
Maybelline black gel liner, used 4-5 times and COMPLETELY SANITISED with BeautySoClean, hasn’t dried out or anything! - £3
NYX jumbo eye pencil in milk, sharpened once, the lid is cracked but that doesn’t affect the product itself – £2 SOLD
ALL LIPSTICKS AND LIPGLOSSES HAVE BEEN SANITISED COMPLETELY WITH BEAUTYSOCLEAN
Barry M lipstick in 129 ‘palest lavender’ 90% left - £2.50
Barry M lipstick in ‘touch of magic’ 90% left - £2.50
Or both of them for £4
NYX lipstick in NARCISSUS ‘500’, used once so 99% left! - £2 SOLD
Barry M lipgloss is number 11, used 2-3 times and sanitised obviously - £2
INGLOT lipstick in number ’40’ a gorgeous peachy colour, used 2-3 times, 95% left - £7 or nearest offer (RRP £11) SOLD

Happy shopping!

xo

Brighton: Papping a Postcard!

Hiya lovelies!

Recently National Rail launched their 'Papp a postcard' competition where you can upload a photo you took on a great day out for a chance to win a trip to london and a £500 shopping spree in Topshop/Topman! I was really, really lucky to be sent a white Diana Mini lomography camera and some lomo film to take some snaps on a day out and I decided to go to Brighton with Stew as we'd never been before!

I took a whole load of photos and found it really weird using a film camera again after years of using compact digicams and most recently, Stew's Nikon D3000 and D7000... at the same time it was absolutely lovely because I can't wait for the surprise of getting the film developed!

Here are some snaps of the day :) half of them were taken on my iPhone4 and the other half were taken on Stew's Nikon D7000! I've actually stolen them from his camera today so they're all unedited which will no doubt annoy him as he's a bit of a perfectionist ;)



journey missions!

Watching The Art Of Flight on Stew's phone on the train. It's quite literally the most incredible film I've ever seen, so beautiful and breathtaking. If you haven't watched it yet then I would highly recommend it. We've watched it at least 10 times now, no joke!

nestling in my handbag on the train!

luckily we didn't get wet!


Hiyaaaa!

Stew taking a photo of me taking a photo of him taking a photo of me....... you get the idea!

Silly snaps! i just want to point out that Stew does NOT sport that moustache all year round. It's his somewhat feeble and embarrassing effort for Movember but hey, it's the thought that counts! If you want to donate towards the Movember cause then you can click here It's a cause very, very close to my heart which is why I let my boyfriend wander round looking like Hitler for a month!

I'm pretty sure that this is the image I'm going to enter into the competition! Not sure what it is about it, i just love it!

or maybe this one....






we had such an incredible day exploring all of the shops, walking around the famous Lanes, going for a mooch along the beach and playing on the slot machines on the pier! The loveliest thing was that it wasn't even cold! And we got to watch the sunset over the sea which was lovely :) Have you ever been to Brighton before? I looooved it!

Have you had any days out recently? Will you be entering the Railcard Papp a Postcard competition? You should be saying YES! to both of those questions, after all you've got to be in it to win it!

xo

ps - which image should I enter with? The nice one of Stew or the ridiculous one of myself? haha!

Hot pink glitter gradient nails! ♥

My gosh. These are so pretty I just can't stop staring at them! So pink and sparkly. and so me! ♥









Two coats of Barry M 'Fuschia' then 4 layers of OPI 'Teenage Dream' from the Katy Perry collection. I put the first layer 3 quarters up my nails really really thin, the second layer halfway up, the third layer on quarter of the way up and the fourth layer on the very tips. I finished them off by applying a layer of Barry M top coat :)

It's the first time I've ever tried to do a glitter gradient and I think they look pretty cute! What do you think?

xo

Cat's Christmas gift Guide: It's all about MeMeMe (and my nails!) ♥

Hi everyone!
Over the next few weeks I'll be blogging about items that I think will make perfect christmas gifts this year :)

The first gift I want to tell you all about is one that's perfect for another beauty obsessed girl, maybe your best friend, sister or mum...

The gift is a MeMeMe Nail Collection in 'Catwalk Collection 1'

The collection contains the following polishes:

• Demure (no 65) - a muddy brown/grey/beige
• Impulsive (no 80) - a bright yellowey lime green, so unique and gorgeous! 
• Proud (no 83) - a dark dirty green
• Indulgent (no 58) - a deep dark blood red/marroon

Due to the appalling light conditions in the UK at the moment (it's dark when I leave work!) these polishes were practically impossible to photograph! It took me almost an hour and even now I'm still not 100% happy with them but they show the true swatches/colours of the polishes which is good! 

Without wanting to sound like a total cliché, these colours are totally me and I've been changing my polish every other day so I can wear all 4 of these as quickly as possible! If I had to pick a favourite, it would have to be Impulsive (the fluro yellow/green) because I don't own anything like it!

So, here's 4 mini reviews of the colours left to right on the above image:

Impulsive - unique and incredibly bright but not completely neon/fluro... this seems to have a white base and unlike a lot pretty much every bright polish on the market, this is opaque in one coat. UH-MAY-ZING. Like I said above, weirdly this is my favourite of the 4!

Demure - cute, subtle and perfect for the office... muddy/murky greiges are totally in at the moment, and have been in for a long, long time! They don't show any signs of going anywhere either and this polish is perfect for any time, any place, any occasion.

Proud - another unique colour, I've never seen a polish like this and I love how it's a bit of an army brown based green. I wore this to work the other day and got so many compliments on it :)

Indulgent - probably the least unique polish in this mini collection but still so beautiful. From a distance it looks pretty much black which I absolutely love! Plus, it's perfect for christmas day!

This collection costs £14.99 and comes in a beautiful, sleek box (that will be really easy to wrap up!).

If these colours aren't quite 'you' (or your mum, or your sister, or your best friend) then there are a few other collections available:
The Summer Brights Set - this contains a bright yellow, orange, pink and blue (the pink looks amazing!).
The Classic Collection - this contains a black, grey, red and navy blue.
The Mini Collection - this contains mini bottles of polish in indulgent, proud and demure (all shown in my images above), graceful (baby pink), defiant (teal) and enigmatic (grey).

I own loads of MeMeMe polishes and I think it's one of those brands that is often overlooked. The nail polishes in particular are amazing quality and really good value at about £4.50 a bottle!

What do you think, will you be picking up this gorgeous box set for anyone this christmas? Or is it all about YouYouYou! Ok, ok... I'm done with the puns now ;)

xo

ps - I had a brainwave and wore Demure on all of my nails except my ring finger which I painted with Impulsive and it looks incredible!!! snap this box set up now!

Embracing my Wild side!

Bonjour Bloggeroonies!

Now, it's no secret that I like leopard print... in fact I bloody love leopard print, I have everything in leopard print, shoes, underwear, tops, leggings, jewelery blah blah! I paint my nails leopard print and rahhhh I just loooove leopard print! haha :)

So, when I got a leopard print themed parcel from Batiste in the post I was just stoked. Absolutely stoked!




In the parcel there was a can of the new Batiste Wild, a little dinky fluffy leopard teddy on a keyring and a pair of leopard print Tipsy Feet shoes!




Something that not a lot of people know about me is that I use dry shampoo every day, either to remove grease/oils from my hair, to give it volume, to remove bad smells (stupid club smoking areas!) or to do all three of those things! I genuinely only use Batiste dry shampoo these days, its affordable and always smells good and works really, really well!

The new Wild scent is fun, flirty and oriental... it's my favourite one so far (AND I BLOODY LOVE THE PACKAGING!)!! The scent is really strong and it sits in your hair for a long time, I personally like that but if you don't I'd recommend the Batiste Nude which isn't scented :)

The Batiste Wild works just as well as all of the other scents/versions and I've used it every day for the past three days, it just smells sooooooooooooo good, spraying it in your hair can get a bit addictive!

The Tipsy Feet are something I've always looked at but never invested in... they're little fold up shoes that you keep in your handbag and put on when your heels are hurting you (essentially they're to walk home in when you're tipsy)!

The leopard print ones are absolutely adorable...


They come in a little leopard print pouch and ones you've taken them out of the pouch and 'unfurled' it you realise it's actually a little carry bag for your heels! squeeeeeeee it's just too cute. far too cute!



Tell me that's not the most adorable thing ever? Not only do you get a really cute pair of fold up shoes to wear when your feet are sore, you also get a little bag to carry your heels in :) The way I think about it is that the little carry bag prevents people walking/driving past you and thinking 'GIRL why are you wearing heels that hurt you?' or 'look at that girl carrying her shoes home!'. The Tipsy feet shoes are sneaky and I thoroughly enjoy that, there's no denying the fact that walking home barefoot is disgusting, and walking home carrying your heels is darn embarrassing!

Have you tried the new Batiste Wild? Do you carry your heels home and walk barefoot? Tell me all about it in the comments below :)

xo

My skin story: Bio-oil

Bonjournoooo! :)

Like most if not all women, I have my fair share of imperfections - a 6 year battle with various contraceptives has meant that my weight rocketed and I gained 4 stone, then I lost 2.5 stone, then I gained 3 stone and so far on my most recent and most successful weight loss journey I've lost 16lb!

This up down up down means that I have stretch marks. I'm not ashamed to have them because 9 out of 10 women have them in some form, but I don't like them. In fact, I hate them. With a passion.
I also suffer with dry skin and little red bumps on the tops of my arms, and have some scarring on my face from a: where my friends dog bit me and b: where I had chicken pox when I was little!

So there you are - a complete list of my skin imperfections!





I was contacted by Bio-Oil a while ago and told about a their Skin Stories campaign on their Facebook page. The campaign is aimed at getting women to improve their relationship with their skin imperfections... I've been using Bio-Oil for a couple of months now so I feel I'm well qualified to share my story with you all and let you all know how I've found the product!

I apply Bio-Oil to my less-than-perfect areas first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. You only need a tiny bit because being an oil, a little goes a long way.

Results after one day: skin looks and feels more hydrated, make-up applies easier to the face and looks dewy, healthy and glowy once it's on and the tops of my arms feel and look a lot smoother.

Results after one week: face has less blemishes and is significantly more hydrated, compliments on how 'healthy' I look, dark acne scars have reduced, stretch marks appear to have faded slightly, the scar on my face is less visible and the tops of my arms are really smooth and soft!

Results after one month: Stretch marks are barely visible now and facial skin is extremely healthy, hydrated and blemish free. I have also found that bio-oil reduces the redness on my cheeks. The red bumps are still slightly visible at the tops of my arms but the skin is no longer itchy/sore and I'm happier wearing short sleeved tops. The major thing for me is that the dog bit scar on my face is barely visible anymore once I have foundation on. AMAZING.

Results after two months: stretch marks have now all but disappeared, facial skin is fantastically well hydrated with minimal blemishes and redness and the skin on the top of my arms has dramatically improved!

My opinion? This stuff is absolutely incredible and genuinely works! At first I was nervous about using an oil because I thought it would be greasy and messy but it sinks in quickly and is mess free, I would absolutely recommend it 100% if you're looking to hydrate your skin, reduce redness, reduce scars or stretchmarks, or just generally improve the state of your skin.

You can get Bio-oil almost everywhere now, it's about £8.99 for 60ml and the bottle will last you at least 3 months :)

Have you tried Bio-Oil? What did you think?
xoxo

Taking some time out with Floatworks ♥

Bonjour Bloggeroonies!

Ever feel like you might explode with the stress of life? (haha!) Feel like you just need some time out to relax your body and mind in complete peace?

If the answer to those questions is "YES!" you need to get yourself down to Floatworks

Floatworks is a Floatation Pod Clinic based in London. The 'pods' contain super saturated salt solution that you quite literally float in. The water is heated to skin temperature so once you're in, it's impossible to tell what is your skin, and what is water... tricking your mind into thinking you're floating in mid-air!



As well as simply helping you to be calm and relaxed, Floatation tanks can help reduce stress levels, improve sleep, and relieve pain. They can reduce lower blood pressure, speed up the healing process (especially from sports injuries) and increase motivation and energy levels :)



Alongside all of that, it just looks really fun! My personality is such that I would probably just float around giggling for 10 minutes and then take it seriously ;) That said, is it just me that thinks of The Simpsons where Homer is in that Floatation tank? Oh it is? Fabulous!

At the moment Floatworks are running a Special Offer where if you buy 2 hours, you get one free! The price is £45 per hours session which means you get 3 sessions for £90 :) It's a great deal and something I would definitely be taking advantage of if I lived in London...

That said, you gorgeous Midlands based ladies will be excited to know that there is a Floatation Clinic opening in Nottingham soon! I'll give you the gossip as soon as I get my paws on it and I'll definitely be popping over to Nottingham to give one of the pods a go myself, I'm fascinated by them!

You can find Floatworks on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The Floatworks London clinic is located at:
The Floatworks,
1 Thrale Street,
London,
SE1 9HW

For more information/to book you can call them on (0) 20 7357 0111!

Have you ever used a Floatation Pod? Tell me how awesome it was in the comments! If you haven't, tell me if you'd ever think about bobbing around in a little pod for an hour? :)

xoxo

Getting my shop on!

Holla!

I went shopping the other day and got a few bits that I'm really loving right now so I thought I'd share ♥


 L'oreal Elvive Full Restore 5 Repairing Conditioner and L'oreal Elvive Triple Resist Reinforcing TreatmentThis is my first ever foray into L'oreal Haircare and although I love the reinforcing treatment, I'm not sure about the conditioner, it just didn't seem to moisturise my hair much at all! Are there any L'oreal products you really rate?

 
 Liz Earle Superskin Body Cream - this is my second tube and I'll repurchase it again and again, I paid about £28 at John Lewis.
Impulse Very Pink - I like to keep a bottle of 'cheap body spray' in my bag at work just to freshen up every now and then. I got a free Barry M Lipgloss with this one which I'll write about further down!
Soap and Glory Hand Food - my all time favourite. This is about my seventh tube! nuff said :)

 
 Tess Daly tricks of the trade Gloss Lip Balm - I bought this after seeing it on British Beauty Blogger and falling madly in love with the delightfully tacky and gaudy packaging. It's so much nicer to pull this out of my bag instead of a manky tin of vaseline and it really is glossy, gorgeous, and super moisturising! It's a fiver at Marks and Spencers so snap it up!
Revlon Nail Laquer in 'Facets of Fuschia' this is absolutely completely and utterly beautiful. I layer this over a dark purple or black polish and it's just stunning! Take a look next time you're at a Revlon stand :)
The free nude Barry M gloss I got with the Impulse Very Pink. It doesn't have a name but it gives the lips a perfect slick of nude gloss. love love love.


 Maybelline Great Lash in 'blackest black' - I loved this for years but haven't used it since I was about 16. I picked it up for £5 on offer in Tesco's the other night at about 11pm on a whim because I was completely sucked in by the bright, girly, fun packaging! It's just as good as it used to be, I may have just re-discovered a holy grail!
Model's Own Nail Polish in 'purple passion' - I grabbed this for £2 on 'sale' in River Island and it's so pretty :) love it!

Have you been shopping lately and picked up any lovely things? Tell me all about it in the comments!

xo