Men are from mars....

This is going to be a bit of a different post for me today so I appreciate many of you won’t want to read it but if you do, well, thanks!

I’ve had an interesting few weeks (few years come to that) when it comes to men and relationships. I’ve recently been on a few dates with a guy I met (yes ok on Facebook and yes, ok it started as a poking war). He’s pretty close to being the perfect guy and everything, but after I’d got over the initial nerves of the first few meetings and of course the obligatory stress over WHAT TO WEAR?!?! it’s kind of in the ‘now what’ area. This is the usual case for me; I’ve not had a proper relationship for, well, years. My last boyfriend was back in 2007…we were together for about a year, had an amazing time, and remained really good friends ever since. I speak to him nearly every day and he’s pretty good with the dating advice (altogether now…’ahhhhhh’). So why can’t all man situations be like this? Recently it’s been a case of me getting fed up too easily, or they get fed up just as I’m getting too involved.  And when they get fed up, that’s when it takes me a few months to get over my ‘what’s wrong with me’ ‘I’ll never meet anyone’ trauma.

This time though, I’ve not had any of that. I’ve had an overwhelming feeling of ‘oh well’. And I think the bottom line to this is that for once, I’m just happy with myself and I’ve learnt to finally CHILL OUT. All of the girls are back from University, I’ve got a great job, loving meeting some amazing people through blogging, I’ve got potential crazily exciting plans for March next year, I’ve got my health, my family around me, and the promise of a glass of wine on Friday night.

Let’s be fair, we all love to have a busy social life and to know we’re going out every evening with friends or our boyfriend, but I’m now at the stage where, so what if I spend Saturday curled up on the sofa with my mum and a packet of biscuits. And who cares if I don’t have plans on a Thursday evening….I’d much rather lie in the bath with a facemask reviewing products for you lovely people :) 

So yes, while I’d love to find someone one day that ticks all the boxes (not an easy job let me tell you…there’s a LOT of boxes to tick) I’m not going to get caught up in the moment and spend all my time stressing in a ‘WHY WON’T HE CALL ME’ type state. And to be honest, it’s only in the last month that I’ve realised this and been able to go ‘never mind then’. This chilling out and enjoying life business is actually quite fun! If I want to lie in bed all day on a Sunday with wine flu from the night before then I will. And if I want to go on the odd date with a guy then why the hell not. (I think the word I’m looking for is liberating?!)

In regards to the previously mentioned latest guy, I may see him again, I may not. I don’t need a boyfriend to validate my life, I’ve gone this long without one so I can pretty safely say I’ll be fine. If all else fail’s I’ll just go by my lifelong saying that the only way to get over one man is to get unde..…..Oh no wait sorry I mean ‘plenty more fish in the sea’ LOL ;) 

Birmingham haul....

Hey lovelies :)

As you are probably aware by now, I went to Birmingham on Saturday to do a bit of shopping, I mainly wanted a couple of bits for my holiday but I kept half an eye open for something to wear for some big nights out coming up....I actually ended up with two dresses for these and a couple of other bits.

Here's the haul, and the OOTD I went shopping in below....enjoy....

Top: River Island sale

Shorts: Republic

Socks and bag: Republic

Boots: Office

Belt: Vintage

Jewellery: all over the place!

Sunglasses: H&M

loves

xxx

The final nail in the coffin....

Wahhhhh :( my nails have gone. After 5 weeks they had just got too long (I couldn't even do my own bracelets up) and the tips had just about grown off so I decided to take them off and go natural for a while. In fact, I'm determined to grow my own nails! I have the worst peely flaky nails ever, so not sure how well it is going to go, but one of my mates bought some hair and nail tablets from Holland and Barrett....

Her nails were the same as mine are now and did NOT grow but this was like a miracle and they're gorgeous now. Also, if they help my hair to grow that will be an added bonus. I think these were £6.99 so even if they don't work I haven't lost anything! You take 3 a day with meals, so I'll do an update every week to see how well they're working!

I also bought some Sally Hansen Maximum Growth treatment, which is just a clear varnish that aims to strengthen nails and aid growth.... (excuse my HORRIBLE nails, they are as sore as they look!)

While I was browsing Boots, I also came across this little contraption.... a back tanner!?! It may be useless but I'm a sucker for a tanning gadget, I'm off for a shower and to tan now so I'll let you know how it goes!!

11 most reached for products continued...

Hello lovelies....I know this is a bit overdue but I've finally managed to upload my 11 most reached for products successfully.... you may have seen my blog post about it but if not it's over here.

Here's the video for it, hope you enjoy. I'm loving doing videos on the Ipad, I'll be doing them all on there from now on (apart from my hair tutorial that I WILL upload eventually).

loves

xxx

June favourites...

I love this time of month, I think monthly favourites may be my favourite posts! I was going to do this as a video post again but I'm still having problems uploading, and I've also got a horrible cold so I look a bit like an out of season Rudolph. I'm still trying to upload my 11 most reached for products video, and I've STILL got a hair tutorial to upload which I promise I will over the weekend hopefully. 

Anyway here goes....I've not actually loved much this month, I've been to busy to go shopping and buy anything to be honest. My first two are tanning products, as I'm trying to perfect my tan at the moment. I used to love to be ORANGE and, whilst I hate the pale look, I'm trying to achieve a nice glow which I think the combo of these two do nicely...

This was £4.99 from TK Maxx, originally £9.99 and I love the colour it goes. It goes on smoother than St Moriz, but doesn't come out as dark. After a shower it pretty much all comes off but over a few days it builds up a reasonable colour. 

I was desperat for a facial tanner that didn't smell like biscuits and that didn't leave me a crazily dark colour. I risked it with this one, as it was a bit pricey (about £7.99 I think) but it builds up the faintest healthy glow that looks so natural. 

Considering I'm so in love with my Superdrug vitamin body moisturiser, the fact that I've found another that I love is pretty impressive. I LOVE the smell of this it's so summery. It's got a much thicker consistency than I'm used to, and I probably wouldn't use it every night but it's quite nice between tanning when I need a lot of moisturiser. I'd repurchase this in every flavour to be honest! 

Bit of a random one having perfume in here but I cannot believe how much I love this. It's one of those smells that is perfect for everything. It's not too heavy to wear going to the shops and it's got a long lasting scent if you want to wear it at night. I love the simple bottle, it's just amazing in every way. 

Yes OK I know I'm late on the Peach Melba band wagon, but I was trying to avoid buying any more nail varnishes for a while. Couldn't resist in the end though. I bought this last week and worn it every day since. 

Apologies for not having much makeup in this favourites post but, as I said, I've not bought lots, and the things I have bought haven't been in my 'I have to reach for that every morning' pile. This is the eyebrow kit from Elf in dark, and it's literally amazing, gives me flawless brows. The wax gives just enough hold for the day, and the colour is really natural.

So that's it for m favourites, not a very exciting one but these are literally the things I've used every day this month and will buy over and over again. 

I also went for it and popped to the River Island sale (well come on, it had been trending topic on Twitter all day) and picked a few bits up. It was late in the day by the time I got there and it was what can only be described as a nightmare. Clothes literally all over the floor. I spent less than £20!

I picked a couple of scarves up, the top one isn't really my sort of thing I mainly bought it because I thought Mum would like it (yes I know, model daughter) but the bottom one is gorgeous. It's a chiffon BRIGHT pink with a chain and coin detail, thin enough to wear as a huge head scarf and tie in a bow, or decorate a plain handbag with. These were both £5 each, bargain!

This was £7 and I bought it in an 18 because I loved it soooo much! I don't think I've really got anything lilac in my wardrobe so this made a change, I actually might wear it on Saturday when I go shopping in Birmingham with some denim shorts and a sleeveless leather jacket, and probably some over the knee socks. 

These were my favourite buy, I nearly bought them at full price last week but today they were down to £2!! My turquoise obsession is growing rapidly.....

Can't wait to read everyone's monthly favourites!

loves

xxx

The big melt....

How gorgeous was yesterday? We had heat AND sunshine, something quite unusual for this country lets be fair! I went strawberry picking with the family, then had a BBQ and spent the evening dying of heat watching Glasto (yes then Pendulum/The Streets) and Inside Man (good film, although I admit I didn’t get to the end of it).

Today has been what can only described as a wardrobe malfunction. A big one. I donned a midi-skirt today for the first time, came to just below my knees in a bright summery coral/red. I’d love to say I took an OOTD picture of it but I was running late for work after I suddenly decided I couldn’t last the day if I didn’t download Beyonces album (out today girls….go download NOW!) for my ipod and car. The skirt has a sort of underskirt in it to stop it being see-through in the glare of the sun, which is fab I admit, unless you get it tucked up on your walk to work and only realise when you reach your final destination *cringe*. Also, I teamed my skirt with a pair of brown wedges. I’ve had these for years but not worn them much until I recently discovered my love for anything with a wedge. I managed the whole 15min walk (uphill) to work, and back down into town on my lunch break (to the Mac counter, I needed to re-buy things, unfortunately no interesting haul for you). It was the walking back up the hill where the problems started when, yes that’s right, my shoe strap snapped off. I managed to limp around the corner and swap them for my flats I’d stashed in my handbag (and may my friends never again laugh at my oversized handbag and its emergence content!!).

Despite all that, I have been loving the sun. Too hot though, and I start to run into problems. I’m not sure if everyone has the problem, but my lipsticks seem to melt. A lot. It started with my Mac Saint Germain when I took it to a hot and sweaty dubstep night in my handbag (which was probably by fault) and it ended up looking like this. I can still use it, but I admit I’m a little gutted.

The next one happened with my GOSH 134. This one isn’t anywhere near as bad, as I’ve stopped putting it in pockets and out at night with me, which is a shame because I would wear it every night if I could. 

I’m also finding that, as much as I love the mememe lipsticks, they are a buggar for melting. This one has have NEVER been on a night out with me, and has only ever been in my makeup box in my room (along with the rest of them) or thrown in my handbag for work. I really think this is unacceptable, especially as both of the mememe lipsticks I have, have gone down this path.

And it can’t be something I’m doing wrong, because some of my lipsticks are literally melt proof. When I used to work in Office, I sweated my bum off day in and day out, but always managed to carry around this lipstick (Boots 17 Dreamy) without even a hint of meltage. I have this lasting fix range in a number of colours, and no matter how often they come out in my handbag or sweaty shorts pocket, they are as good as new by the end of it. Topshop lipsticks also seem indestructible. The one in the picture below was in my handbag with me all day yesterday in the heat, and its perfect.

Has anyone else noticed melting with certain brands?

Is there a way I can still take my Mac lipsticks out with me and not worry?

Loves

xxx 

Hangover haul...

Hey everyone, hope you're not too sad about the weekend weather so far....wet and miserable :( As I said in my last post, I went shopping yesterday with the girls to the Highcross in Leicester to try and make the hangover a little better. I'm not sure the actual shopping did much good to my hangover, but the all you can eat pizza hut buffet did wonders!! I was going to do a haul video but unfortunately I've been having problems with Youtube so it's going to have to be a picture post!

If you follow me on Twitter you'll probably have seen my extreme excitement about Mum coming back from shopping with a present for me...she bought me some pink swimming goggles for the holiday so I can swim properly (I used to LOVE swimming and it's a bit of a shame I don't get chance to do it any more, so holiday's the chance!) but I forgot to take a picture of them for this post, sorry!

Anyway on to the haul, first I went to Primark and didn't go too mad actually. I got some coral pumps for my holiday, and just to throw on with some denim shorts and a crop if this weather ever gets better! I got a headband as well because I'm getting a bit obsessed with these wired dolly bows. I've actually been good recently and not been using too much heat on my hair, just up in a topknot every morning with a headband thrown on! I also picked up a cute floaty shirt in a terracotta colour which I'll probably wear for work tucked in black high waisted peg leg trousers.

I popped into Superdrug and behaved myself for once, I only picked up a couple of bits, and advised the girls on a glossy nude lipstick (Gosh 134 Darling every time of course!). I got the Maybelline get eyeliner as I've been told this is the best gel liner to try. I've been after it for a while and it was on offer this time I went in so I thought, why not! I also picked up Barry M nail paint in Peach Melba because I've seen so many NOTD's with it, and it is the most perfect summery nail colour! I picked up an MUA blush in shade 1, to further add to my new blusher collection, and another Famous by Sue Moxley shimmer brick: I'm slowly building up the entire collection of these, they are stunning! This one is in pink, and I haven't had chance to even take the film off it yet but I'll do a review on it when I've used it a few times.

(the leopard print bronzer is from Primark for £1 in the sale, I couldn't resist!!) 

I popped into H&M because I had to take a skirt back (a cotton coral maxi skirt that looked a bit like I'd wrapped a cafe table cloth around me!) and ended up picked a few other bits up. I got a blazer in a nice summery pink colour, because I had so much wear out of my black one! It was only £19.99 so I couldn't say no really. I also picked up an oversized white t-shirt to throw over grey skinny's with my coral wedges for a night out with the girls. My favourite purchase of the day was a bit of a random one, I was trying to not buy anything I didn't need but I loved this high waisted denim skirt with the buttons down the front too much to pass up! I'm going shopping next weekend so I'll probably wear this with my pink hightop converse and a tshirt tucked in :) 

 (sorry everything is so creased!!)

Still on the denim theme, I've been on the look out for some light denim high waisted shorts but couldn't quite find what I was looking for. I saw these in New Look though and thought they'd looked fit casually or dressed up with wedges and a floral shirt tucked in. They're quite thin, and a sort of jegging material, so they're not very forgiving, but I loved them anyway! 

(another thing I loved about these was the label on them, I appreciate the effort New Look, it makes me smile every time...!)

Lastly we popped into Zara and I thoroughly enjoyed the sale. I actually think Zara is my favourite shop at the moment, the TRAF section is my fave, and I've been in love with all their coloured denim and t-shirts. I'm a HUGE fan of a Zara slogan t-shirt (I was wearing one in the OOTD post yesterday) so when I saw this one in the sale I had to have it, it's SO cute. I also had my eye on this purple maxi skirt when it was full price, so in the sale was a no brainer! 

Hopefully another haul coming up after Birmingham next week!

loves

xxx