My Week In Pictures #24

I apologise for being slightly MIA this week but it's definitely been a busy one! The beginning of the week was my birthday, then it was the first lecture this year at uni that I had to attend and finally the end of the week saw me with a sickness bug which I'm currently still in bed with although the worst of it has definitely gone! So yes, it's been a pretty hectic week and I simply just haven't had time to sit down with my laptop and write a blog post; let alone write any more of my dreaded dissertation.

First thing I wanted to mention was my new found hobby of scrapbooking which I recently did a full blog post on. There wasn't anything particular which spurred me on other than having a lot of printed photographs and not knowing what to do with them all. I headed to the Paperchase website and ordered myself some supplies and got stuck in. I really enjoy doing it and it's just something I can do to relax a bit more, not that I have much time for any of that at the moment. But when I do and when I finish uni, I will have more time to spend on it which I'm looking forward too.

As mentioned it was my birthday at the beginning of the week although it really didn't feel like it. I celebrated with some friends the weekend before and was supposed to be celebrating this weekend; but unfortunately this sickness bug got in the way which is such a pain. However I am hoping to go out this coming weekend to finally celebrate again. On my actual birthday, which I share with my mum, we just went out to a local pub for some food which was nice and chilled. I always say "nothing special" but it was a really nice family meal. Oh and the Spectre DVD was a pressie, I'm soo excited to finally watch it!

I've been testing out the new L'Oreal Extraordinary Clay range recently which I picked up in a bundle from Boots. I'm still testing so I won't give away anything for certain yet, although keep your eyes peeled for a full blog post in the future. Something like this range has always appealed to me as it is exactly my hair type, oily roots and dry ends, so keep your eyes peeled for my review.

That's my week wrapped up in a snappy blog post and I'm honestly now considering bed. I haven't left my bed or pj's in 4 days, I have work tomorrow and would really like to feel better very soon! I hope you've all had a lovely week! P.s. can you believe we're in March this coming week?! Madness.

NYX Cosmetics Proof It!

I know many bloggers prefer the waterproof version of a mascara to the normal version. I haven't fallen into that trap and simply always just buy the normal version of any mascara that I want to try or know that I like. The only reason I will buy a waterproof mascara is if I know I'm going to be in need of one; for example going on a hot holiday for one.

Whilst browsing Boots I came across this product from NYX Cosmetics which I was really intrigued by. It's basically a mascara, that you apply on top of your normal mascara and it makes it waterproof. I couldn't decide whether this was too gimmicky that it wouldn't work or whether it was genius. It was a little cheaper than buying a normal waterproof mascara, and all the products I've tried from NYX I have loved, so I thought I would give it a go.

I had a funeral recently so I tested this product on that day and it worked brilliantly. I used my Rimmel Super Curler mascara underneath this product and it applied really easily. It didn't ruin the mascara I had already applied, you couldn't tell I had applied it and it went on smoothly.

There's not too much more I can say about this product but it really did work! So if there's a mascara that you love that you want to turn waterproof without actually buying the waterproof version (if there even is one) then this is your man! As I mentioned it's cheaper than buying a whole new mascara too so it's a win win situation. I would definitely recommend this product, NYX is a brand I am really rating currently :-)

The Body Shop Lip Exfoliator

 

I guess I've kinda been keeping you guys up to date with my lip story, wow that sounds strange. Anyway a while back my lips simply just became really dry and no normal lip balm was helping the situation. I took to Boots and purchased new, slightly upper market lip balms which have helped but the one product I wanted to try was a lip exfoliator/scrub. I know Lush do a great lip scrub, which I do love, but I wanted to see what else was on the market.

I stumbled across this one from The Body Shop, when I wasn't really looking for it, at one of my friends Body Shop parties. It was a reasonable price, I'm sorry I cannot remember exactly, but I instantly jumped at the chance of buying it. It arrived in my hands a few days later and I can say that I've really been enjoying using it ever since. It has a fresh, minty scent to it which is nice on application and doesn't hang around. The packaging also is great and simple, just like your standard lip stick packaging.

The product itself is really nice to apply and it's really down to you how much your want to exfoliate your lips. You can simply just sweep it across your lips lightly or you can go slightly hard core, pressing more firmly. After application I use my finger in circular motions to blend this product into my lips and this is when you can really feel the product working. It really does scrub your lips and you can feel the exfoliating particles doing their job. After doing this my lips feel really smooth and I then apply some lip balm, ready for the day. I also love using this before a night out and I find it really preps my lips ready for any kind of lip product!

Overall this was a great find from The Body Shop and I have really been enjoying using it. I try to use it daily to keep the dryness at bay and then continue applying lip balm throughout the day too. Let me know if you've tried any other lip scrubs/exfoliators that you think I should know about :-)

La Roche-Posay Serozinc

This post has been a long time coming; I actually purchased this product a while back but have only just recently started using it daily, hence why the post is late. I cannot tell you why I didn't really use this product when I first purchased it but none the less I'm using it daily now. It was such a hyped product when it was first released here in the UK and now the hype has died down, I'll give you my review.

La Roche-Posay is one of my favourite skin care brands and I love their anti-blemish range, which this product fits into. This product is aimed at oily, blemish prone skin and aims to mattify the skin whilst soothing after cleansing. You can simply spray this product onto the skin, which is my preferred method, but you can also put this product onto a cotton pad and apply that way. It's such a simple product to add into your current skin care routine and I do believe that it has helped my skin.

So after cleansing I spray this product all over my face, I do have oily and dry patches but this product doesn't irritate the dry patches and is obviously aimed at oily skin so it works fine all over my face. I do try and aim this at my problem areas but the spray is really fine and sprays quite a large area so that can be difficult, not that it matters. As I said the spray is really fine and really doesn't take very long to sink into the skin after application. It leaves my skin feeling very refreshed and clean, which are clearly both great feelings for the skin.

When I wake in the morning my skin still feels refreshed although it has gathered some excess oil overnight, but this is totally normal for my skin however annoying it is. I think this product has helped my spots, especially the small clusters of tiny spots I get which are sometimes under the skin, I find these less irritable and noticeable.

Overall I'm really enjoying using this product and due to it being such a simple product to add into my skin care routine, it's just so easy and makes a difference. If you've yet to try this product then I would definitely recommend giving it a whirl if you have oily/blemish prone skin. Also if you've tried this product I would also recommend checking out La Roche-Posay's other anti-blemish products as they're just as good :-)

Empties #8

I seem to forget how many empties I actually have, until it gets to the point where I physically cannot fit anymore in my little basket I keep them in. It's surprising how many empty products my storage basket can hold, then when it comes to photographing them I know it's going to be a pretty lengthy blog post. So I apologise in advance but there are some great products featured in this empties post.

Firstly the Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder which I absolutely loved. It's a really lightweight powder and doesn't make you look chalky but does the job really well. It kept my oiliness at bay for a reasonable amount of time but I always knew I could reapply without worrying about looking powdery. Next the Mark Hill Turn Up The Heat Spray which you can apply onto dry hair and that's how I used it. I normally wash my hair in the evenings and then style it the next morning so a heat protector which works on dry hair is a must for me and believe it or not, there's not many out there that I've found! There's not much I can say on this product but it did the job and I enjoyed using it. Then the Boots Dream Pillow Spray which is my second bottle of the stuff. It's easy to use and leaves my pillow smelling of lavender which is lovely. I'm not fully convinced this helps me get to sleep but it's definitely a nice product to use.

One of my all time favourite mascaras is the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes which I've repurchased many times in the past. This particular tube was sent to me but obviously I loved the product due to trying it previously. It leaves my lashes looking lengthened and completely natural, no clumps in sight. Next is the Olay Complete Care Moisturiser which I purchased when my skin started becoming drier in places. I really liked it to begin with, then another one came into my hands so I stopped using it but recently I went back to it and loved it. It's really lightweight for a normal/dry skin moisturiser and sunk into my skin nicely. It helped my dry patches stay hydrated and didn't effect my oily patches all that badly. Next I used up the Witch Overnight Clearing Serum and after using it all up, I'm not sold on this product. I used this nearly every night for a long period of time but I really didn't see much difference in my spots in the morning.

Pen-ultimately I used up my Origins Super Spot Remover which I absolutely loved and would you believe it this tiny pot lasted me such a long time. I definitely think this product works better on the larger, more painful spots rather than those pesky little ones. You get the stinging feeling and it really helps reduce the size and redness of big spots. Finally my Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover has all dried up so I have invested in a new one. This product is genius and makes removing nail varnish so, so much easier and much less hassle. It's definitely worth it and as I said I've repurchased already so it goes to show how much I need this product in my stash.

And that's my lengthy empties post complete! I hope you found a new product which takes your fancy that I've raved about in this post. Let me know your thoughts on any of the products I've mentioned in this post :-)

Scrapbooking

At the end of last year I ordered around 100 photographs to be printed and prior to that I had some more printed. I love keeping photographs but recently I thought, what am I actually going to do with them all? Yes I have a photo album and love the ones that are in there but then they just end up sitting there and not all of them fit in my two albums that I own. Procrastination was at it's best and somehow I ended up on the Paperchase website. There was a nice, separate section for scrapbooking and I couldn't resist having a look.

I clearly ended up purchasing quite a few bits to get my scrapbooking started and the crafty bits on the website actually inspired me. I thought this would be a great, artistic way to present my pictures and therefore something that I would enjoy looking through. To begin with I didn't want to go crazy and buy loads of things in case I didn't enjoy doing it for any reason. Although once I placed the order I was super excited for everything to arrive. A shout out to all the students out there, Paperchase also do student discount which was a nice surprise when I placed my order.

So I purchased just a few bits including this lovely scrapbook which ties with a ribbon, I knew this was the one I wanted straight away and it was only £8 which I thought was a bargain. I then purchased some photo mounts which were raved about in the reviews on the Paperchase website and I totally agree. They make sticking in your photographs super duper easy, without ruining the actual photo, a scrapbook must! Next I chose all the craft bits such as washi tape, paper string, coloured postcards, stickers, glue and a nice pen. Can you believe as well I got all of this for just over £20, which was such a bargain in my eyes.

Since receiving this parcel I've really got stuck in and I'm loving it! It's a nice and relaxing hobby to do in my spare time, when I'm not at work or writing my dissertation! I think I will definitely be on the look out for different scrapbooking crafty items. I will keep you guys updated on the inside pages of my scrapbook in the future, once I've done a few more. If you're like me and have a lot of photographs laying around, gathering dust then I would recommend doing something crafty with them if you're interested in scrapbooking. I can definitely say I'm not hooked on doing so and love looking back at all the memories whilst doing so!

All the items pictured in this blog post is purchased from Paperchase :-)

Jimmy Choo Flash Perfume

I actually received this perfume for Christmas from my Grandparents, I did pick it out, but if I'm honest it was on offer online and I had actually never smelt it before. I had heard good things and read reviews but perfume can smell so different from one person to the next. So I was unsure if I was going to like the scent but this bottle was less than half price and my current one was on it's last legs so I was in need of a new one.

The bottle of this perfume is absolutely beautiful, it makes paying more money worth it when products have good packaging. This just has designer written all over it which I love and it really does look classy. Now onto the hard part, describing the scent... Well the description from the website is..

"Sparkles of Pink Pepper, Tangerine and Strawberry introduce a flash of White Flowers and Tuberose to this Eau De Parfum fragrance."

 

 

I mean it definitely does smell like one of a kind but I really think it's a scent a lot of people would actually like. Me, my sister, mum and nanny all loved the smell on Christmas Day which I think actually says quite a lot. I think you would normally get at least one person saying they're not keen on the scent but this one seems to appeal to the majority. There's the fruity notes and a hint of floral notes in there which I think just makes this scent perfect. I can't say whether I like floral or fruity scents more so for me, having the combination, is just great in one perfume.

 

Overall I'm so in love with this perfume and I cannot recommend it enough. However I would say to test it out in store before buying, I was lucky that I love it so much without even smelling it beforehand but I'm sure that's not the case with everyone!