January Boots haul

Today I am spending all day in bed.. I bet you're thinking that's the best way to spend a Monday right? Well normally I would agree but right now I'm suffering from a horrible cold/flu thing, so it's not so great. I thought about which post to publish and thought what's better than a haul post to cheer not only me up but hopefully you guys too on this dreary Monday. One thing for thought... How weird is it that at the end of this week we're going to be in February?! Crazy.

Onto the haul, in the last bbloggers chat on Twitter (last week sometime), I was asking about a good product to help with scarring that you can use on your face. I got lots of replies saying rosehip oil, tea tree oil, bio oil and then I came across this Palmers oil. I absolutely love the Palmers range firstly because of the smell! Oh my, it gets me every time it smells divine. Secondly they are an affordable brand which you can't not love obviously. I was reading up about this on the internet and then when I went into Boots to find it, it was half price! Normally £9.99 I picked it up for £4.99, bargain. It's a simple oil that can be used anywhere on the body, including the face hence why I picked it up, and you just massage it into problem areas, it says three times a day which I think for most people working full time etc can be a bit excessive but we shall see. Hopefully it will help the scarring on my face from spots etc.

Next I had a voucher for Soap and Glory make up so I couldn't resist, it was a must. I absolutely love their make up range and have enjoyed every bit I've used in the past. (I also believe these were on offer for buy one get one half price!) So I ended up getting the Kick Ass concealer and the One Heck of a Blot powder. Again two products which I've heard quite a bit about but have never tried myself. The packaging for both these products is so cute and compact so perfect for on the go. I haven't yet tried the concealer properly but I will tell you I have tried the powder (yes before properly photographing it, bad blogger) and my goodness, it seriously is amazing! So keep your eyes peeled for a full detailed review on that soon.

Finally Maybelline products were also on a buy one get one half price offer and seeing as the new Baby Skin had just been released I couldn't help but picking it up. Supposedly a dupe for the Benefit Porefessional which I adore so I really wanted to see how this compared with that. I'm still sitting on the fence with this one so again a full detail review will be on it's way. Seeing as there was an offer I then picked up the infamous falsies mascara which I know Tanya Burr always raves on about, this is the only one my local Boots had left but I got confused as I think there's another falsies mascara? Yeah confused. But hey, again I'm yet to try this, mascara always seems to be the one thing I always buy but never really need at that time.

Anyway that's my small Boots haul for you, I'm super excited to continue trying these products and then giving you a full detailed review on them in the future. As I said there's definitely a couple of these which I am already loving so keep your eyes peeled. I'd love to know if you've tried any of these products and your thoughts? :-)

Maybelline Brow Drama

The last eyebrow product I spoke and raved about was Soap and Glory's Archery brow pen, I absolutely love the product and still do don't get me wrong. But those days when you're in a hurry for work and literally just want a slight filling in of your eyebrows then this product is definitely for you. It's such an effortlessly easy product to use that I can't not rave about it.

As you can see from the pictures the packaging is nothing special just black plastic but nice and compact for you if you travel a lot. It's just a simple round brush, exactly like a mascara basically, and it claims to sculpt your eyebrows into place whilst giving them colour and filling them in. I mean what more do you want with a eyebrow mascara? You want a nice cheap product too? Then this is definitely it, I can't remember the exact price but it definitely retails for under £5, bargain.

The shape of the brush is different, it has a round head at the end which did take me a while to get used to but once I did it's so much easier and saves you from getting the coloured mascara anywhere but on your eyebrows. I just simply swipe this through my eyebrows a few times, setting them in place and applying the right amount of colour I want through them. Honestly it takes no time at all to fill them in and make them look as if you've spent more time on them than you actually have, who's to know?

It keeps my eyebrows in place all day there's no question about that. If you're after more of a night time look from your day time brows then I would simply just swipe this through my eyebrows a few more times. It really does build up the colour intensity and simply just makes them more stand out and defined, something I don't need during the day but it's nice to know that you can use the same product to create a different look.

This is definitely my go to eye brow product for those days when I'm in a rush or am not feeling the fuller eyebrow look. It's so easy to use and quick! Have you tried this product? What's your favourite brow product? Hope you've all had a lovely weekend :-)

Batiste Dry Shampoo

Today has been a long day of waiting around.. Waiting for no.1 my new iPhone 5S (exciting) and no.2 waiting for a new windscreen for my car (not so exciting but expensive). Also the whole day I've been without internet so the fact that I got no uni work done whilst I literally sat on my arse all day slightly pains me. But now I have internet my uni assignment is the last thing on my mind, procrastination at it's best.

A staple hair care item which I'm sure everyone either uses this product themselves or knows someone who loves and uses it. Although this seems to be a staple product that I've never blogged about! I used to just buy normal Batiste with no hint of colour and yes they had some ones with nice scents but getting rid of the white chalky residue in my hair pained me I'm not gonna lie. So a while back I noticed Batiste with a hint of colour in, problem solved.. it certainly was! I've been using this for a relatively long time now and god knows how I hadn't seen/tried this earlier.

There's no white mess with this one, it is simply just a brown which matches perfectly with my hair colour. You still need to do the normal massaging it in after spraying it on etc but you don't have to do it half as much as you do with normal Batiste. It really is a life saver product for in between hair washes and really refreshes it. I wouldn't be without this product and am constantly repurchasing it. I believe it's £1 more than normal Batiste making it £3.99 (I think) so it's a bargain.

Batiste isn't going anywhere for me, what's your favourite dry shampoo?

No7 High Shine Lip Crayon in Daydreamer

The thought of having to return to my normal routine of work this week is depressing enough so here's a lipstick post to brighten up those dark mornings we are still enduring, I couldn't think of much better. I know many of you have probably already started back at work so I'm rather lucky but can safely say that I'm really not looking forward to those early mornings. Although one highlight is that I do not return to university until the 30th of this month - say whaaat?!

Onto this gorgeous lip crayon - the perfect colour for these winter months that will still continue and as ever I picked this up with one of those Boots vouchers for No7 make up with £3 off, bargain. I was browsing for a new lippy and this one took my fancy simply by it's colour. It's a lovely dark plum but is very pigmented, buildable and has a lovely shine to it; taking away any dryness. It simply glides onto your lips effortlessly, as I said it's buildable so you can have it as I did in the picture above, very subtle (not the best picture to show you I'm sorry!!) or heavier and darker. This means it's perfect for everyday as if you're not feeling like wearing much lipstick then you can just glide this over your lips a couple of times and voila! For more of a night out look then you can adapt to it.

The lasting power is great but if you're only opting for a slight hint of colour then obviously it's not going to last you as long as it would if you built the colour right up. Saying that it does last a good couple of hours and when it does start to fade it does so naturally so you're not needing a touch up asap! Like the name suggests it is high shine so no need for a gloss on top for those of you who would normally which is a bonus. I've never been a lip gloss fanatic but that's another story.

It simply is just the perfect winter colour and so easy to apply and throw in your handbag, day or night! I'd definitely grab hold of one of those vouchers and get your hands on one, they'd also be perfect for spring/summer in the other shades available! :-)

2014

I'm never really one to celebrate the new year or fall for any of that 'new year, new me' cliche business. Don't get me wrong many of my friends love it but I'm definitely one for more of a quiet night in, eating food and having the odd drink here and there. But this year has been filled with good news, a dozen memories and new faces. I became an aunty for the third time, started university, met new people, started a new job and continued enjoying as much family and friend time as possible.

2014 is shaping up to look pretty good itself. It's my 21st birthday and my mum is taking me to Paris for it, somewhere I've always wanted to go and I'm super duper excited! I'm going to be an aunty for the fourth time and the little'un is due the end of June. I'll be finishing and starting my next year of university which is scary and will probably no doubt be stressful. My boyfriend is going to study in Rome for the best part of this year so no doubt I'll have a little getaway out there. Me and mum are also going to see Miranda live which I'm so looking forward too, it also means a little weekend away in London which is also cute. And as always enjoying quality time with both friends and family.

I hope you all had an enjoyable new year however you spent it and enjoy 2014 as much as possible :-)