I'm feeling 22!

So, yesterday was my birthday, and I turned 22! I have been waiting a long time to be able to use Taylor Swift's song, (cliche for 22nd birthdays, I know) but I couldn't resist!

My parents treated me to a weekend away in London. Parking the car at Westfield Stratford, with a quick trip to Victoria's Secret started the day off just nicely.

Our first stop was for a surprise lunch. I was taken to Jamie Oliver's 'Fifteen' restaurant which was really lovely. I'm not a massive foodie, so don't tend to take pictures of what I eat (unless it's cake), but I do like to take pictures of the surroundings. 

In the evening, we had booked tickets to Coldplay at Wembley Stadium. I've seen them before, but as soon as I found out they were doing a gig on my actual birthday, it was a definite that we were to go again. The Stadium was full of colour, classic Coldplay songs, and absolute magic! I had such an amazing night!

A night in a hotel and Sunday was to come. I had pre-booked us tickets to go up The Shard, as it is something my parents wanted to do as well. It was a glorious day in London town, and having the morning to kill before we had our booked slot, we decided to head to the Southbank and have a go on the London Eye, something I have always wanted to do!

We certainly scaled the heights of London today! Thank goodness it was really good weather, because it was wonderful.

A couple of weeks ago, on the higher level of The Shard, Kew Gardens installed a mini garden, so the the ground was covered in (fake) grass, and all around the edges were pretty flowers, so I had to take a few pictures of those too!

A wonderful weekend was had, and I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday! Now, let's see what the next year brings me! :)

Much love xoxo

These are a few of my favourite things ♡

I have always been drawn to other people's favourites. Whether it be a blog post, or a YouTube video, I love them! But I've never yet done one myself. I try not to spend too much money on buying new things, but I clearly don't try hard enough.

Since I have been home from my ski season, I have been spending the money I haven't been earning back, and here are some of the results of my purchases, and the things I am currently loving.....

Cinema Light Box
I've been eyeing one of these up for so long, and I finally caved and bought one. It's such a cute home accessory, and you can have so much fun making little messages! I have colour and black sets of letters, so you can mix it up as you wish. This is my current Light Box message. Oh how true this is!

Zoella Beauty Sweet Inspirations
I am in love with the scent of Zoella's new beauty products!! It makes me so happy. I recently purchased a couple of the products from the new range and was super excited when I saw a Superdrug parcel on my doorstep. The packaging is beautiful, and always sits pretty on my shelves. The gorgeous macaron, almond, and honey scents are just divine! The first time I used the Bath Latte, the smell lingered for a long time afterwards, which I absolutely love. It's safe to say the body mist will be in whatever bag I am using each day, because I want to smell of it all the time!

KitSound Manhattan Bluetooth Headphones
I wanted a pair of wireless, over the head, headphones for using in the gym. Wires get in my way, and earphones keep falling out. I fell in love with the Rose Gold Beats headphones when I made a trip to the Apple store a few weeks ago, but I don't fancy paying out over £250 for them!
I sometimes have a problem when it comes to buying headphones as I have such a tiny head, they end up looking silly on me. I do own the Frendz Layla headphones, which I adore, and are perfect for little heads like mine, but they just aren't practical for exercising. I looked online at a few pairs of wireless ones, but none caught my eye, as I also want them to look good, as well as being practical. As I was wondering through Tesco doing my usual food shop, I found these! Black and Rose Gold bluetooth headphones. These were right up my street! On offer at £23, I couldn't go wrong with buying them, plus I could take them back the next day if I didn't like them. Although they are actually a little big for me, even on the smallest setting, with my hair tied up in a high pony tail, and the headband of these pushed back so they are sitting on my up-do, they are actually okay. I have used them in the gym a few times now, and I think they are amazing. The sound is great, they are comfortable, and I am well and truly loving them! Bargain purchase, and definitely getting their use.

Benefit Brow Products
My eyebrows are a very big part of my life. Since I started getting them waxed by the pros at the Benefit counter in Debenhams or House of Fraser, I have taken a lot more pride in my brows. I have recently started getting them tinted as well, and Benefit never let me down with their brow services and products. In May, I got a free full size Gimme Brow, which is my go to daily product for my brows, but this time I got it in the medium/deep shade, rather than the light/medium shade which I usually get. I use both shades all of the time, and I just mix it up each day as to which one I use. In this month's Elle magazine, they are giving away a voucher for a free eyebrow wax at Debenhams to every reader, and their 'Goof Proof Brow Pencil'. I tried it out as soon as I got home from buying the magazine, and I love it!
Recently Benefit have relaunched some of their products, and bloggers' and vloggers' pages and Instagrams are filled with those GIANT boxes of brow products that they have been sent by the brand. It makes me die a little inside, as I so desperately want it all!
One life tip for everyone: if you're not a pro at plucking your eyebrows, pay for a pro to do it!! I mess mine up every time I do them myself, and the girls at Benefit have always been wonderful to me.

Urban Decay Naked palettes

I will never not love these. I currently own the original Naked palette, and the Naked Smoky one, and am forever tempting myself with number 2 and 3. I am a huge lover of a smokey eye, and my daily make up will always consist of a dark eye. I have no other words to say about these palettes, but OMG I LOVE THEM! All of the shades, I adore, and it certainly doesn't always have to be a dark, smokey eye. More delicate looks are also possible. Here is the Naked Smoky palette, featured in a recent Instagram photo of mine.

Candles - Tesco 'Damson & Pomegranate' and 'Passionfruit & Melon'
These two candles are lovely, sweet, summery scents, which are always burning in my bedroom. They aren't overpowering, but they do give out a wonderful lasting smell in the room. The big jars of these are only a fiver! £5!! The same size as the Large Yankee Candle jar, which show as £22 on their own site. I purchased the 'Damson & Pomegranate' candle last summer, and was very pleased to see it in the supermarket again this year, along with the 'Passionfruit & Melon' one. Love them!

I don't know how often these "favourites" posts will appear. I don't think I have enough inspiration to do one of these every month, but I will do them whenever I can, or whenever I find a new product that I obsess over! But I do hope you have enjoyed this :)

Bye for now xx

My Ski Season Beauty Regime

It’s safe to say that when I’m away on a ski season, I neglect my skin a little bit, and my make up routine goes out of the window. I didn’t have enough space in my bags to bring everything I want to, so eliminating some beauty products has to happen. When I’m away in the mountains, my skin is surprisingly good. I break out like mad over Christmas when I first get here, and then I don’t get a single spot until the final week or even until I return to the UK. It’s a dream! Must be the mountain fresh water!

I did bring away some of my cleansing products; Boots’ cucumber eye make up remover helps to remove the majority of my dark eye make up, then I use the Garnier Micellar water for sensitive skin to beth the remainders of my eye make up off, my eyebrow products, and a general cleanse of impurities on my face. I try and deep cleanse the rest of my skin with the Garnier Pure Active fruit energy daily energising gel scrub, but to be honest, I don’t do it daily. Once cleansed and scrubbed, I moisturise my face and neck with the Body Shop Vitamin E SPF 15 moisturising lotion, and put the Body Shop Aloe Vera Eye Defence cream on my sensitive little eyes. I try to use the SPF moisturising lotion both morning and night, especially if I’m heading out onto the slopes, as it will protect my skin from the weather as well.

For my blemishes, when they do come up, I use the Body Shop Tea Tree blemish gel stick. I swear by it, and apply it as often I would a lip balm. Talking of lip balm, for me, it is always Burt’s Bees. I’ve done a post on my obsession with Burt’s Bees lip balms before, and my love for them still hasn’t changed.

My skin in general is pretty sensitive, particularly around my eyes. I have been known to have bad reactions to products, and always experience a burning sensation when I use proper make up wipes on my eyes, so I have to avoid certain things.

My make up routine is pretty simple. I do the same thing every single day. I spend more time here having make up free days than I would at home, purely because I can’t be bothered to put on make up at that time of the morning, then spend most of the day until my evening shift make up free.

I only ever wear eye make up on a day to day basis. Not very often do I apply a BB/CC cream or tinted moisturiser, and I only wear foundation if I’m getting dressed up for an occasion. 

My day to day eye make up is pretty simple; Rimmel Wonder’full with Argan Oil mascara, a black eye liner to line my upper and lower water lines, a brown liner to line the lids of my eyes, and Rimmel Brow This Way styling gel on my eyebrows. Quick and easy make up! When I work in the evening in a restaurant full of guests, I may put on the Rimmel Scanaleyes shadow stick in the shade “Buffing”, as a bit more colour on my lids. If I can be bothered, I will do a cat eye with the Sleek Flick It Eyeliner.

I can’t complain too much, but I can’t wait to get back to my usual skin care products, of which I will do another post on when I am home.

On my hair, I’ve been using Aussie’s Limited Edition ‘Winter Miracle’ shampoo and conditioner; designed to protect hair in the cold weather. Oh my goodness, this stuff has been amazing! I use Aussie shampoo anyway, but to have one that protects it against the snow and the low temperatures, it’s perfect! My hair is in such good condition after this season, which I am so happy about. When I was away last winter, I started to hate my hair at the end of my four and a half months abroad, but this year, I love it more than I did when I last got it cut in December! Great work Aussie!

Sadly, my hair doesn’t stay fresh for long. The ends do stay nice for a really long time but the roots of my hair start to get greasy the same day I wash it. This is when dry shampoo becomes my best friend! Batiste Dry Shampoo is my go to when I need a bit of a freshen up. Looks like freshly washed hair, but it isn’t….shhh.

My hair has grown so much over the last few months, and has started to go really light in the sunshine. I love it!

That’s enough from me for now. I’ll pop up another post when I am home about the skin care products I use in the UK, and if I notice any difference to my skin.

xoxo

Autumn is so pretty.

I made a spur of the moment decision to take a walk through Eaton Park this afternoon, just as the sun was setting. Autumn is pretty and I never give my time to it, and I don't get out nearly as much as I'd like to try and take some nice photos, especially when I live in a place which has some pretty places. I didn't have a lot of time before it went dark, and I only got a small number of pictures, of which most of them are blurry because it was so windy. But it was nice to be outside for a little while :)