DIY: Tie Dye!

Summer antics have begun! My friends and myself got together today to tie dye our holiday tshirts! For years we've seen people older than us go on holiday together and every year they have their tshirts with their nicknames on, we were not going to miss out! One of us (can't remember who!) thought we should really push the boat out and try tie dying. I won't lie we did get a bit excitable at the thought! After realising that none of us actually knew how to tie dye we settled for the easy option and bought a kit from amazon...

http://tinyurl.com/7jxekp9

The kit was really good and there was so much dye! We did all 6 of our tshirts then a couple extra and there's still loads left! This isn't really a step by step but more of a document of our day and what we got up to. If you'd like to know anymore detail just ask in the comments! :)

This is a little snapshot of what I did! I chose to create a heart and then make the colours go out (in rainbow order obviously) towards the edge of the tshirt! It was surprisingly easy, a lot easier than I thought it was going to be anyway, obviously it could've been a lot better and a lot more precise but for a first attempt I was very happy with it! The dyes that we got with the kit were very good, they came in a  powder form and all you do is fill the ready-to-go bottles with water, shake, then just squirt over the top! It was a lot of fun but a bit messy as you can imagine!

We did a few different designs, I chose to do a heart, one friend chose to do a peace sign which was very adventurous and worked really well! 3 chose to do the classic spiral design and they all turned out very different but all looked soooo good! I found a guy on youtube called 'colorfulsteve' who has some pretty cool tutorials so we used those as a guidance and they were really good, so if you're thinking of tie-dying then give him a watch first!

colourful steve - http://tinyurl.com/ce97vf6

It seemed though the fun part was over within an hour then it's the long 5-8 hour wait for the ink so sink in! We were apprehensive to take off the rubber bands and rinse out the tshirts as we didn't want the ink to run but it was just FAR.TOO.EXCITING! So we all did it (coincidentally) at the same time and got some AMAZING results! We were all really happy and we don't all match but you'll be able to tell who's with who, lets just hope our plane friends have packed their sunglasses in their hand luggage as we're gonna be bright!!

here's a sneak peak!

This was my one:

Overall I was very pleased with the kit, I thought it was very good value for money (£20) considering the amount of stuff you got in it. I was so happy with the way the day went, it was a really fun activity to do with my friends and I later went home and did it with my 4 year old sister who also loved it! She was in awe with the bright colours and was surprisingly sensible when doing it! I was particularly happy with the results, I think they look great and will be a nice addition to our girls holiday! 

Make Up on a Budget - MUA

I've heard from a lot of sources that I simply MUST try MUA make up, I must tell you before you start reading that It's really mixed reviews here, some very good some not so great but it's 100% honest! I bought a range of different products to try and review and here they are!

MUA is an online Make Up company that sells a range of very reasonably priced cosmetics. Find everything at www.MUAstore.co.uk

Firstly I bought this gorgeous bronzer. I've been looking for a bronzer to suit my pale skin for a while and I think I may have found it. The mosaic pattern means there are a lot of different colours to blend and use on your skin, the peachy pinks work well with my pale skin tone as well as the bronze colours giving a bit of life and colour to my cheeks! It is very pigmented and a little goes a long way so it should last me a while which is a great bonus. The best thing about this product is that you get such a great quality piece of make up for £2.50, yes you read it right... £2.50! MUA make up is ridiculously cheap and I hope they keep it that way because, as you can see here, there are some real gems in their collection.

I've also been looking for a perfect nude lip colour for a long time and I feel bad saying it but I still haven't found one. MUA have a range of different coloured lipsticks and it may be that I just picked a bad colour because this one wasn't great. It cost me £1 so I wasn't expecting miracles but a lot of the reviews were raving about this product so I was eager to see what the fuss was about and I don't understand why there was a fuss at all. I naturally have dry lips and this lipstick wasn't creamy and easy to apply like some of the other more expensive ones I have. I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for which is why I was surprised with the good quality of some of the MUA products but this product in particular proved my theory and I don't rate it. I will try it again though, maybe apply vaseline 5 minutes before and then a clear lip gloss over the top. The problem with this lipstick was that it gave a plastic like texture to the lips and didn't blend well at all, it just sat on top of them and didn't look natural. 

I will get the only other disappointing product out of the way now because I don't like slating a brand that I actually rate quite highly! I think MUA might just need to improve their lip products because everything else I tried I loved. This product did seem quite exciting to me at first and maybe I do need to give it another try because it's such a good concept but again, I thought it was pretty poor. The lipstick was the same plastic consistency as the other and it didn't feel nice on your lips it was pretty gross, I thought having a lip gloss to go with this one would make it more smooth and pretty but it didn't really, the lip stick gathered on the drier areas on my lips and the gloss did little to improve this, it was sticky and it was worth no more than the £2 I paid for it. I wish they were better quality or a more high end brand would create one of these because they're great to carry around with you. The only good thing about this product was the smell of the lip gloss, it smells like vanilla and it is soooo good!

I'm actually annoyed at myself for not getting a different colour to try out. I got this very sheer nude pink just to use as a top coat and as a clear coat to keep my nails strong when I'm at work (I work in a bakery so my nails get battered and broken often). I think I should've got a darker colour to see what the consistency was like. I don't mind having to use lots of coats on nails as long as the end colour is good and I think this could be one of those brands. This nail varnish is nice and thin (good for a top coat) and goes on evenly, the brush isn't bad and it's a nice size. I do recommend their nail varnishes, at £1 you can't really go wrong!

For the past year and a half I've used nothing but urban decay pencil liners. I use brown as black makes my eyes look small, I will occasionally use black liquid, wax or gel liner when I'm going out which I love but on a daily basis I'm a pencil girl. And believe me when I say I've tried every type of eyeliner going. My urban decay eyeliners are so so good and I will continue to use them but they are also quite expensive and so I thought it might be a good idea to find a cheaper alternative so that I could alternate between the two making the more expensive ones last longer. I LOVE this eyeliner, it glides on just as easy as the urban decay ones. It's also really pigmented as well which is a huge bonus because who wants to be colouring in their eyes for ages every day, not me! I haven't worn this eyeliner for a long period of time yet so I can't say whether it's long lasting or not but this handy 2-in-1 lid/sharpener means you can just carry it around so on days when you're just shopping or something it's easy to quickly reapply as it takes about two seconds! Definitely recommend this and they do some amazing colours such as teal, orange and purple! This product was a crazy £1, I will definitely be repurchasing.

I've saved the best product for last! It's this gorgeous 'Heaven and Earth' eye shadow palette. This palette comes with 12 gorgeous shimmery neutrals about the size of a penny. They are amazing. I am honestly baffled at the pigmentation, obviously they are no MAC or Urban Decay but you would never be able to tell they were this cheap, they are very good quality for the incredible £4 you pay. £4! Every colour is so pretty and the combinations of smoky/neutral/evening/day eyes you could make are endless. I love this palette and will be telling everyone I know to get one. MUA have a wide range of eye palettes for all different eye colours/styles. I have brown eyes so on a day to day basis these are my go-to colours. I love my high end brand eye shadows but I use them on days where I don't really need to and so this is a perfect alternative. I also have friends who like to use my make up and they can use this as much as they want because £4 isn't much to replace compared to the £40 you'd pay for a beautiful urban decay palette!

There we have it, my MUA reviews. Don't be put off by the low prices, be open minded because the majority of products I tried were incredible quality and the price is just an added bonus. :)

Holiday Fashion

Summer is somewhat here... it's technically the summer months but the weather fails to agree. Even so I'm a sun junkie and am going on holiday in just over ONE WEEK! And because It's going to be hot hot hot in Tenerife where I'm going I needed to get a few new clothes and a few necessities, below is an overview of what I got, there's a few bargains, a few tips and generally what a curvy girl like myself would wear on holiday! 

*I took all the pictures in one go hence why I'm wearing the same thing in most*

I got these 3 tops SO cheap, the top two are from a shop called Monki which is a european store, I was in London and stumbled upon this small shop in Carnaby St. They had a huge half price sale on and I found a bunch of these tops in all different colours, I normally stick to pinks and blues but I was feeling daring so I got an orange one and a pastel yellow one with stripes. They are very sheer so I do need to wear a separate white vest or bandeau underneath if I'm going out but they do look fine with just a bikini underneath if I'm just going to be lounging around the pool. The orange one was £5 reduced from £10 and the yellow was £3 reduced from £6, such a good price for pretty, nice quality tops. The sale is still on (23/06/12)! so check it out at www.monki.com

The white top is from New Look, they have a really great basics section, I originally just wanted a couple of these to throw over my bikini and shorts on holiday but they're a really flattering shape when wearing with shorts and can be thrown on under a skirt like shown above. All the tops are racer back which I love! I got two white tops and they're 2 for £6 which is an absolute bargain! Buy them at www.newlook.com

This next one is my ultimate favourite purchase, it's this gorgeous chambray skater skirt, it looks denim but it's actually 100% cotton, it's so soft and perfect for summer because you can wear it time and time again with all different style tops. I love skater skirts because they nip you in at the waist and are very slimming, I'm a pear shape and don't really like wearing shorts so this was a nice alternative to denim shorts, and it's just as versatile!

I bought this skirt in an ASOS sale, it's American Apparel, one of my favourite brands and it was 50% off! I couldn't believe it as it's such good quality. This skirt was originally £33 and I bought it for £16.50, it's still in the sale now but has risen to £24. You can find it on www.asos.com

Not much to say about this one, this cardigan is for chilly nights or beachy days or general english weather, it's always good to have loose cardi's to chuck on over any outfit and this colour goes with so much. It's a gorgeous clay colour. The cardigan was only £9.99 from H&M, it wasn't on sale but it was still such a bargain! www.hm.co.uk 

I love love love this next one, it's a playsuit from H&M. I'm already in love with playsuits and want to broaden my collection, they're so easy to throw on and wear, you don't have to think about it at all. I love this one as it can be a day or a night look, I've worn it in the day with tights and the cardigan shown above but it could also be worn during the night with a little jacket and sandals. It's a really nice material and has the prettiest daisy print on it. I also love the zip detailing on the front. I normally only wear things that sinch at the waist and not the hip but this one is surprisingly very flattering. The top half is tighter than the bottom half so it's still loose around my legs which I like. It was only £14.99 from H&M! www.hm.co.uk

I found this on the way to the till actually, I'd been looking for a kaftan/coverup for ageeees but could't find one I liked that was a good price and would fit nicely. This was just hanging on a rail near the checkout and I impulse bought it! So glad I did, it's so pretty, it's very loose to wear to and from the beach or pool and is the right amount of coverage, I would't want it to be any more opaque and any more sheer it would've been see through! It has a rope tie around the waist which is adjustable so it can really emphasise a small waist and still give you some shape when you're walking around in a bikini but don't wanna show off your bod too much! It was a bargain at £7.99 from H&M www.hm.co.uk

Here are two of my bikinis, I already have a black bandeau bikini but it's not new so didn't bother showing it plus it's very simple. The top bikini is a balcony with detachable halter neck, it's a 'clip' back which is a bit of a nuisance as I prefer ties on bikinis as I can never get one to fit round the front and back, they either fall down because the backs too big or cut off my circulation cos they're too tight around the front! Not good. I can live with a bit of give with this one though as it's GORGEOUS. I will just have to wear the halter when I'm moving around. It's a really pretty floral print and cost £16 from topshop, I did think this was quite pricey for a bikini top as the patterned bottoms were another £12! I bought plain black bottoms to go with it because as a pear you want to draw attention up rather than down at your fat bum so it's good to have a print on top and a plain bottom. www.topshop.com

The bottom bikini is a navy blue ruffle bikini from River Island. I always think River Island have really nice and flattering bikinis. It has circular disks ruffled all over the front and has a tie halter as well as back so this will be my bikini for days out to do water sports or go to the water park cos this baby aint going nowhere! It has matching tie bottoms (minus the ruffles) with little gold beads on the ties. It's so pretty and fits so well. I actually bought this on www.asos.com as it's free p&p, it's exactly the same price there as it is on www.riverisland.co.uk

Another pair of sandals! I'm going to keep this pair of sandals for the day time as I don't want them to get ruined out, they're real leather sandals from New Look, they were originally £14.99 but they're £5 off at the moment. £10 for real leather sandals is so good! www.newlook.co.uk I love the plaited detailing on them, they also have an elastic bit on the side by the buckle so fit nicely. They were such a bargain for £10!

My beach/plane bag! I wanted a big big bag so I could carry lots on the plane but I also wanted one so I could just throw things in to take to the pool. This is a fabric tote/hand bag from New Look, as you can see in the picture it has two different way of holding which I love, cos when you're lugging suitcases around the air port it'll be nice to be able to just throw it over your shoulder and go. It was only £14.99 from New Look, however they do have this bag in a pastel yellow which is £11.99. www.newlook.co.uk

I've wanted one of these for so long, it's a flowery wire headband, I think they're so pretty and are just a little extra accessory to add to your outfit. I love the little flowers and how you can shape the wire around your head so it would fit perfectly on anyone. This was originally £4.99 but they're actually on sale at £2, I think it might've been a clearance sale and I don't know if you can buy them online but I got this from New Look. Www.newlook.co.uk

Finally I got these cute rings also from Monki in London, they were £5 reduced to £2 so I could't not have them! I love delicate rings and i especially love the 'love' one and the way it all ties in together. I don't know if they will have these online but they may have some similar. www.monki.com

I got a few other bits, dresses, playsuits, shoes etc over the past couple of months but they're not too exciting so I'll leave it there. I hope this gives you some inspiration to revamp your summer wardrobe, mine definitely needed it! :)

How to: Waterfall Braid!

The hair style is one of my favourites at the moment, it's good for casual shopping trips or dressing up to go out, the best part about it is once you've got the hang of it you can knock one out in under a minute!

This hair style can also be done on very long or very short hair so is good for everyone.

Step 1: Take a section of hair at the front of your head, if you have a fringe you can either decide to incorporate it or leave it out. I don't have a fringe so I just grabbed a section at the front.

Step 2: Split the section in 3 equal parts like you would do with any normal plait. make sure you pull the hair back around the side of your head rather than down the side of your face.

Step 3: Start plaiting your hair like you would normally, only do one section as you will start incorporating the waterfall right away.

Step 4: When you've done one section of a plait take the piece closest to your face and drop it, make sure it's out of the way but don't pull on it as you want the plait to look natural. Then you will be left with 2 strands of the plait remaining.

Step 5: Hopefully you can see on the picture but the next step after you've dropped one piece is to pick up a completely new piece of hair. you want to choose a piece about the same size as the one you dropped and one that is directly next to it, choose a piece away from your face so it can easily flow in with the plait.

you will now have 3 pieces again.










Step 6: Now you have the three pieces again you can carry on plaiting, do one more section like you did before. You will start to see the plait progressing after this next step.

Step 7: After doing one more section do what you did before and drop the section closest to your face. You can see in the picture opposite that the plait is taking shape and becoming longer.

Step 8: Pick up another new piece to make 3 sections again and plait another section.

Continue with these steps until you've run out of hair or got to the point on your head where you want to stop. As you can see that these steps are quite simple when you think about it! This hair style does seem a bit fiddly at first but if you keep practicing these simple steps you'll be a pro in no time.









Step 9: When you are happy with your plait pin it back and voila! One waterfall braid!

I think it's so pretty and elegant, I love how the little pieces of hair fall down with the rest of it. It also adds dimension to your hair and a bit more body which is always a bonus!

Below is a short picture step by step to help you :)

Easy Summer Nails!

I love summer, you get out all your colourful nail varnishes and everything is so bright and lovely! I'm also in love with this summers nail trend, having nails several different colours or having your ring finger nail a different colour/pattern/design to the others. This summer daisy nail look incorporates this trend subtly but still looks so pretty. 

All you need is 4 nail varnishes, a base coat, choose whatever colour you're in the mood for, I chose pink! A white for the daisy petals, you can do whatever colour flower you want though. Same with the middle, do whatever you want but for a daisy you'll need yellow. And finally a top coat!

STEP 1: Apply two layers of your base coat so that it's nice and opaque. If you want to you can use one colour on all your nails and a different one on the daisy nail, or you could do a different colour on every nail! I chose to use the same colour all over because I thought this particular colour was so pretty! The colour I used is called 'Pink Grapefruit' and is Boots own brand No.17, they cost £2.99 which is an amazing price for what you get!

STEP 2: Next take your white nail varnish and literally use the end of the brush to dot on the petals, it takes a steady hand and it takes a few tries but it's so simple once you get the hang of it! You will also need a nail varnish that has a round brush. The white nail varnish I have which is usually for french tips is the 'Nail Tip Whitener' by Rimmel and was £4.59.

STEP 3: After the petals have dried you can then go in with your yellow nail varnish creating the middle,  one dot in the middle is all it needs, exactly the same method as the petals, you will again need a round brush. If you don't have the right brush but have the perfect colours you can always use a clean paint brush. The yellow nail varnish I used is called 'Solar Creme' by Sally Hansen and is £4.99.

STEP 4: Last of all when everything is completely dry apply your favourite top coat to give it extra protection and extra shine! The one i have is No.17 'Nail Recovery' and is £3.99, you can also use this as a base coat underneath the varnish to help strengthen your nails.

It really is that easy! I love the simplicity of it and how it still looks so pretty, it doesn't take long but looks like you've spent time on it. I especially love the bright colours and the girly feel to it, try it out and see how easy it is to do :)

Graze Box!

Today I got my first Graze box! I'd been wanting to get one for ages and I finally did it. 

For those of you who don't know Graze is an online service that delivers boxes of food either to your home or work, the food is healthy and natural snacks such as nuts, dried fruit, crackers, bread and more.

You sign up to the website and firstly choose whether you want a 'nibble' or 'nutritious' box, the nutritious boxes only contain the low calorie/fat foods whereas with the nibble box you could receive any of the foods they provide. 

So what do you do if you want to sign up but hate nuts? or hate seeds? when your accounts set up you can browse through all of the foods provided and choose out of 4 options 'bin', 'try', 'like' and 'love'. 'Bin' means you'll never get that product, good for people like me who cannot stand nuts! 'Try' means that throughout your time with Graze they may send you this. 'Like' means you'd really like to try a certain product and 'Love' is similar in which if you click that one it's likely they'll send you this product either in your next box or regularly, so make sure if you want to try all different products you don't 'love' too many or they'll send them in more than one box! There is also a 'send soon' option on some of the foods where Graze will do their best to send that food in your next box. I got a bit excited and manipulated my first box by 'sending soon' only the ones I really wanted to try first!

Cool concept huh!? Who wouldn't want to join!

This was my first box above! In every box you get 4 foods and a little leaflet with all the nutritional guides for each of the foods (also shown below) specific to your box, I was expecting most of my foods to be quite high in fat because I opted for the nibble box but I was wrong, they were all pretty low, this pleased me greatly! In your first box you also get a little welcome booklet.

The boxes are 100% recyclable and are thin enough to fit through your letterbox so there's no signing needed. The postage and packaging is also 100% free every time which is a huge bonus.

here's a picture (above) of all the foods I got in my first box! The top left is called Summer Pudding and has dried blackcurrants and cranberries, yogurt coated sunflower seeds and mini sponge pieces. Apart from being the highest in fat this one is really good, I'm also not a big fan of seeds but I loved the fact they were yogurt coated, made me like them a lot more, I was also a sucker for the little sponge pieces, they are very yummy!

The top right box is called 'Garden of England' and has dried baby strawberries, apple and blackcurrants. Foods like this are great to snack on, they weren't too sweet which was good because you know they're not stuffed full of sugar. This is the best kind of grazing food!

I was so excited about bottom left, this was on my 'send soon' list, the summer berry flapjacks, I thought these were going to be so high in fat but they're not, they're fine for a snack! I've already had one and they are just as yummy as I expected!

Bottom right is by far my favourite, I'm looking at the box now and it's the only section that is now empty (whoops)! It's called 'Boston baguettes' and had mini tomato bread sticks with a BBQ relish, definitely my kind of snack food, and it's completely guilt free snacking, this one had the same amount of calories and fat in it as the dried fruit, not much! It was so nice, not much of a graze as I did eat the lot in 2 or 3 goes... my bad!

Graze boxes are £3.79 a time, you can receive a box as often as every day or as spaced out as once a fortnight, I get mine once a fortnight but am tempted to change to every week.

By clicking the link below I have been able to get you your first box completely free! If you'd like to receive your free box then cancel without having to pay a penny you can do that too! With Graze you can cancel your subscription online at any time! Although if you have a box on the way you have to cancel it 48 hours in advance to avoid having to pay. Also if you don't want to cancel your subscription all together but take a break from Graze you can keep pushing your boxes back and they won't send you one until you're ready!

Please click this link and sign up to receive your First box completely FREE!

http://www.graze.com/p/XVDYPCW

If this link doesn't want to cooperate go to www.graze.com and underneath the get started button there's a 'enter your promotion code' option, click that and enter:

XVDYPCW

enjoy! :)

Summer Make Up!

Summers approaching and as I am soon to jet off to tenerife with the girls I decided it was time I bought some make up for the trip! I have most of what I'll need already but there was a couple of necessities (and luxuries!) that were on the list of things to purchase. I'm trying to be good with money at the moment so I didn't even attempt to find some bargains in the department stores and went straight to the drug stores, it turned out to be a very good decision!

The first thing I got was the Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream. I originally wanted the Clinique tinted moisturiser (who wouldn't!) but it's £21 compared to the £8 I paid for the BB cream. I'd heard good reviews of BB creams in the past and when drug store brands, such as maybelline, brought out their own I was curious to try, I read reviews and tried the tester and today I finally went and bought it. The one thing that baffled me was the range of skin colours, or the lack there of! There were 3... 3! Light, Dark and 'universal glow', If you are olive skinned or very dark there is no way you will be able to use this. The light colour is the same as my skin tone (I'm hoping it blends in once I have a tan) which is pale, the medium is quite dark but I don't know who it would suit, it was a weird muddy colour, and the universal glow... well lets just say I don't think 'wotsit' is a universal skin colour! Another thing I was a bit disappointed with was the amount of product in the tube, there was about a finger and thumbs width of air in the tube so that was quite annoying but I only really need it for the week I'm away so I don't mind too much. I do love the consistency and the coverage is lovely, it's soft and even. I definitely reccomend if you're willing to spend £8 on almost-30ml of BB cream!

The next thing I bought is at the top of every holiday-goer's shopping list, waterproof mascara! Maybelline had a 3-for-2 offer on so I thought as I am only going to use this mascara for one week and then for various wet activities over the summer I didn't need one THAT amazing, just one that didn't make me look tired! I'd tried the Maybelline Define a lash before and I love the brush so it was a safe bet, they did have a new one out which had a waterproof version but the packaging was stupid as it had no picture of the brush and no detailing of it either so I didn't know what it was like and I am a giant brush snob, I'm very picky when it comes to what ones I use! Usually I go for L'Oreal or Max Factor, L'Oreal telescopic is my all time favourite mascara and I will use that time and time again until I find one better! I got the waterproof version in VERY BLACK and it was £8.19. I will review once I'm back from holiday as I'm not going to open it until I go away to keep it fresh!

As Maybelline had their 3-for-2 offer I then had the HUGE dilemma of choosing what free thing to get. I knew I wanted a lip product but deciding between a lipstick, a lip gloss, a lip tint and their new 'Pop Sticks' was tricky. After contemplating I quickly ruled out lip gloss as I don't really wear it and I wanted to get something as expensive as the mascara and BB cream so it was a good offer, there's no point spending £16 and getting a product free that's only £2, I wanted to go for a product along the £7-9 mark! I contemplated a lip stain but they're a bit fussy and lip sticks really are my true love when it comes to lip products. At first I was annoyed because I'd wanted to try their 'pop sticks' for a long time but couldn't find them, I then luckily spotted them hiding next to the lip sticks, I swatched the various colours on my hand and realised that basically they are crap! I don't see the point in them, yes they look amazing in the tube but they're not as pigmented as a lipgloss and don't have the same rich creamy texture like lip sticks, they hardly worked on my pale hand so I can't imagine how little of an impact they'd have on pink lips. Lip stick it was! I have a beautiful red and berry-purple colour already so it was narrowed down to a pink, they all looked desirable but you know when you find something and just know it's the one, that's how I felt with this lipstick. It's going to be gorgeous in the summer, day or night. I'ts called 'Coral Tonic', it's an orangey pink and has got a really creamy feel to it and goes on like a dream, all I can say is I can't wait to go back and get it in more colours! Highly reccomended! It was originally £7.19 (worth it) but lucky for me it was £0.00.

I probably should've stopped there with the make up but there was one thing left on my list and as I was out shopping I couldn't resist getting it. Teal is my favourite colour at the moment for clothes and make up and I'd wanted a nail varnish in that colour for aaaages so decided it would be one of my holiday purchases. Max Factor Mini's are my ultimate favourites at the moment and luckily they had one! I won't go into too much detail as I plan to do another seperate post on these nail varnishes but here's a picture just to show you the gorgeous colour. The Max Factor Mini's are £4 each and this one is in the colour 'Cool Jade'.

That was it, I went to the checkout, got my Boots loyalty points and I was off, if only it was that simple! Boots tempted me with a £5 gift voucher for their own brand No.7, in a way it was a good thing cos you know, free stuff! But that meant I had to go back in and once I'm in a make up shop it's very hard to tear me away. I also noticed on my receipt that I had over £5 of loyalty points! We went back. I decided to spend my loyalty points on another Max Factor nail varnish as I love them so much and I want more pastel colours. I must've stood there for at least 5 minutes choosing out of 'Mellow Yellow' (loved the name!) and 'Chilled Lilac', it finally came down to it that I had to do 'Ip-dip-doo' and I landed on the lilac so that was the one I got! It's very pretty and I love it, especially because it was free!

I then had the dilemma of choosing the No.7 colour, I'd never tried their nail varnishes before but I'm so glad I have now! I unintentionally went for a colour that is practically the same as the lipstick I bought. I can't wait to wear them together! It's called 'Tangy' and is a beautiful coral colour. It was originally £7 so I only had to pay £2 but I'd say they were definitely worth the full price, I like to call them 'one coat wonders' and that's what this is. One coat and it's goooorgeous! Another that will be perfect for holiday and summery days!

The total of these 6 products came to around £39 and I got £17 of that FREE, so I only paid £22 for all this beautiful and most importantly good quality make up! I am very very happy with my purchases and can't wait for the sun shine so I can enjoy wearing them!

Blueberry filled Jubilee Cupcakes!

So the Jubilee weekend is upon us and I had the urge to make something patriotic! At work this afternoon I was working down the aisle full of bakery products and found these amazing cupcake cases (below)! There’s red spotty ones, blue ones with little guards and there was also white ones with union jacks which I decided against using (white icing!).

As It’s a monarchy event there was no other cake to go for other than vanilla (Victoria sponge in mini form really!)

The summer is (slightly) upon us so I thought I had to use some fruit with these cupcakes, in particular the Kentish Strawberries! I also wanted to include a filling so I bought blueberry jam (my favourite) and whilst the cupcakes were still warm piped the jam into the centre of the cakes for a bit of a surprise for the people who ate them!

To go with the red, white and blue theme I made some white buttercream and literally just spread it on the cakes with a pallet knife, piping is fun but not on a Sunday evening when I wanted to create as little mess as possible! After that I chopped up the fruit and VOILA!

Jubilee cupcakes! They’re so summery and easy to mak and would be the perfect bake for a Jubilee party/picnic/BBQ :)

(£1 for an assortment of 75 cupcake cases from Sainsbury's)