Haul | Mini Monday Boots Haul

This is might well be the smallest (most boring) haul ever! That being said I thought I might share with you what I bought today. I only popped in for my concealer (I was running very very low), but while I was there I decided it was time to try a new pressed powder. I also couldn't resist buying a new lipstick as a little treat for myself. I'm allowed though, it's results day tomorrow!

First things first I picked up my new favourite concealer, Seventeen Stay Time in extra fair. Yes, I think I might actually like this more than the collection one! Seventeen have an offer at the moment where if you but two products you get a free lip crayon (see next picture). Since i cant resist any kind of opportunity to get something free (even if I end up spending way more) I grabbed the Seventeen Miracle Matte pressed powder in ivory porcelain. I needed a new powder anyway, I think I have used this before but I can't remember so hopefully its good!

Now a but more exciting (not really). I finally jumped on the bandwagon and got a Revlon Matte balm. I got the colour sultry because I didn't really think I have anything else similar. It is a darkish rose kind of a colour. Maybe mauve?  I'm not very good with my colours at all! The last thing i got was my free lip crayon from seventeen this doesn't have a colour name on but I think there was only two to choose from and I picked this one which is more of a redish coral. I'm not 100% sold on this as it has little bits of glitter in it. Then again I cant really complain for £0!

I will try out these and let you know what I think.
Have you tried any of these?
What do you recommend?

First Impressions | Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation

Hey Guys!
Recently I have been stuck in a rut with heavy coverage foundations but since the weather is getting warmer,(It's been boiling here in England!) I thought I should really get a lighter foundation. I had heard great reviews on the Bourjois healthy mix serum. I only bought this yesterday so I thought I would share my first impressions on it.

I picked this up while at Boots along side their twist up the volume mascara (They have a 2 for £14 offer on Bourjois at the moment - here). I got the shade 51 because I have fair skin and this seemed to be the lightest colour. When I first started applying it I was worried that it was a bit to dark (I still think it is but I can work with it). It's a lot more yellow toned than my normal foundations but I have yellowish toned skin  so it actually works quite well for me.

It gives a slightly dewy finish which I was expecting as it is a radiance foundation. I hate my skin looking dewy as my skin is oily/combination. But it looks fine with a little bit of powder. I have found I need less powder with this foundations than ones I have used in the past. I have only been wearing this foundation for around 5 hours now and it still looks really nice. It looks almost like skin and a lot more natural than my other more heavy foundations. It doesn't have as much coverage as I'm used to (I'd say light to medium but definitely buildable) but its nothing that a little bit of concealer can't help.

I will do a more in-depth review after I have tested it out a bit more but for now I really like it!

Have you tried this foundation or any other Bourjois products?
What do you recommend?

Chat | Spring Resolutions

So spring has sprung and I thought what better time to take some time to start blogging again! (Deffinatley not procrastinating from revision!) Kicking it off I thought I would share my spring resolutions. Just a few things I want to try and do more of (beauty, fashion and life).

1. Wear more dresses!

Despite owning a few dresses I never seem to wear them. I am extremely lazy so jeans and a t-shirt every day always seems like the best option.

2. Shop my stash!

I own a fair amount of make up but always find myself reaching for the same products every morning. I am challenging my self to sort my make up out and show some forgotten things some love. 

3. Get organised!

I have exams and assignment deadlines fast approaching and so I need to make sure I can organise my self to get everything done in the little time left. (Also I should probably tidy my room...)

4. Do some exercise!

I am probably one of the laziest people I know. I would much rather sit in bed eating crisps than go outside. However, my boyfriend has started playing basketball and so hopefully he can help motivate me to leave the sofa and do something healthy!

So that's it 4 resolutions lets hope I can stick to them. I will let you know how I get on. Have you decided to do anything new this spring?
Thanks for reading!

The Weekend Makeup Bag

Hello,
Being away from uni I get very home sick so I like to go home every other weekend to see my family and friends. I always find it hard to decide which make up to take with me as I don't want suitcase full and I also don't want to miss anything. As I am heading home this weekend I thought I would share what I am taking.

First things first, foundation. I had the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation a while a go, I recently bought it again as I remember how much I loved it. It really is a cheap foundation perfect for everyday. I'm only taking this foundation as I have no plan to go on a night out or anywhere fancy so I wont need my MAC one but this will do if I change my mind! I wear this foundation in the colour 100 Ivory.

Of course I am taking my Rimmel Stay Matte powder in transparent and Collection Concealer in Fair. These are both staple, must have products for me and I don't know what I would do with out them!

I recently bought the NYX blush in taupe as I herd it was a good contour colour for fair skin. I haven't tried it properly yet but I will let you know how I get on with it!

For a highlighter I am bringing my mini Benefit High Beam*. I got this in the 'Do the Bright Thing' set. I'm still a little bit undecided on this but I guess it does the job.

For eyes I decided to keep it simple with my Urban Decay Naked Basics palette*. I have fallen in love with this pallet, using it nearly everyday and its so small its perfect for travel! It only has 6 shades but allows you to create a variety of looks from day to night!

My favourite pencil eye liners are the Rimmel Scandal Eyes Kohl pencils. I'm taking mine in Nude for the day and Black in case I fancy being a bit more dramatic!

Mascara has to be Soap & Glory's Thick & Fast*. I had this mascara before and it never fails to disappoint. One layer gives subtle lashes with great definition but it can be built up to look more and more dramatic.

Recently filling in my eyebrows has become a must. I usually use an eye shadow (I always usually hate pencils) but this one from Gallery Colours in Blondie works really well for me.

Last but not least lipstick! I chose two colours, MUA Matte lipstick in Wild Berry and Revlon Matte lipstick in Real Red. 

I'm pretty chuffed with how I have managed to narrow it down to just this but I am worried I'm missing something (I always forget something).

Thanks for reading!

Any products marked* were gifted to me.

Update | Break From Blogging

Hello,

So I took a little break from blogging over Christmas time. I didn't manage to finish blogmas but I had a lot of things to sort out and just wanted to spend Christmas with my family and friends so I didn't have much time left over. 

I thought I would share a few photos from the time I have been gone as a little kick start back into blogging. First thing was my brothers graduation, he finished his masters degree and I was such a proud sister watching him graduate. We celebrated my brothers graduation (and my birthday!) with a meal at Handmade burger co. It was the first time I have been there and it was quite nice (but a little bit over priced). Then there was Christmas. I had a lovely day having dinner with my family, my boyfriend came round and we went for christmas tea at my aunties. My boyfriend got me a Michael Kors watch which was very naughty of him and well out of our set budget (but I do absolutely love it). Sleeking of him we had our first year anniversary  and celebrated by going to TGI Fridays eating way too much food spending the rest of the night laying about nursing our fudge brownie food babies. I moved back to uni and had a lot of things to sort out, I'm hoping to transfer to a uni closer to home next year and UCAS is a lot more complicated than I remember from last year.

Over all I'm glad I took some time away and had a really good Christmas break. I have a lot of posts planned so keep watch! If you did anything exciting over Christmas/new year I'd love to hear about it!

Hope you are having a great start to 2014!

Baking | Nutella Christmas Muffins

Nutella has got to be one of my favorite things. I love baking with it so I thought I would give Nutella muffins a try! Since it's Christmas I decided to decorate them like little Christmas puddings. (My boyfriend doesn't like Christmas pudding/cake so he loved these!)

Ingredients

I forgot to put the Nutella in the photo... Oops!

• Self raising flour - 1.5 cups 
• Sugar - 0.5 cups 
• Butter - 0.5 cups
• Nutella - 0.5 cups
• Milk - 1 cup
• 2 Medium Eggs
• Dark chocolate - 1 bar cut  into little pieces (or you can buy chocolate chips!)
• Ready to roll icing
• Gel food colours (they need to be gel food colours as they will not affect the icing consistency)
• Muffin Tins
• Cake/muffin cases (I found this mixture made around 20 cupcake size muffins, I cooked them in 2  batches but if you use muffin cases you should get 12 from this mixture.

Method

• Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6 
• Line muffin tins with cake cases
• Mix together butter and sugar
• Stir in Eggs one at a time
• Stir in milk and nutella
• Mix until smooth
• Mix in flour little by little
• Stir in chocolate chunks

Mixture should look a little like this

• Put mixture into cake cases.
• Bake for around 15 min
• Leave to cool on wire rack

• Once cool roll out icing thinly and cut 'drippy icing' shapes (see picture)

• Use a dot of nutella to stick the shapes to each cake
• Split some left over icing into two balls
• Use the gel food coloring to make one ball green and one ball red. (this might get a bit messy so use some icing sugar to stop your hands getting to sticky)

• shape the green ball in to holly leaf shapes
• Stick two leaves to each cake with a dot of nutella
• Roll red icing into small balls
• Stick two or 3 to each cake as the holly berries
• Enjoy your Christmas pudding nutella muffins!

Do you have any Christmasy Baking ideas?
Will you be trying these?

Blogmas Day 12 | MUA Matte Lipstick Wild Berry

I love the MUA £1 lipsticks and my favorite lipstick formula is matte. So imagine my delight when I wander into Superdrug and find MUA have added matte formulas into their collection. There was only 3 colours left in the shop, but out of the ones there this one really stood out to me. It looks very scary, a kind of deep purple/burgundy colour. When its on the lips its a really nice purpley red. I really like it! I'm a bit disappointed it doesn't come out as dark as it looks but i guess that's a good thing for wear ability. (This lipstick is very wearable, day and night!). The formula isn't to drying and its not as 'matte' as my other matte lipsticks but it gives a really nice look. Just make sure you moisturise and exfoliate your lips before wearing it or it will cling to any dry parts.

For £1 I cant recomend it enough and can't wait to try the other colours in the range!

You can find them in super drug or on the MUA store!
Have you tried the new Matte Lipsticks from MUA?
LEt me know what you think! :)