Thursday 23 May 2013

In flight beauty essentials

Hello everyone, I hope your all having a lovely week and looking forward to the bank holiday weekend. I am super excited because I am off on holiday to Dubai to visit my dad, sister and step mum who all live out there. I haven't seen them since Christmas so I really can't wait and also looking forward to some much need sunshine and relaxation.

So I thought I would share with you today my in flight beauty essentials, as the title suggests. I know some people might think this is totally over the top but after years of flying long haul flights I know how much flying effects my break out prone skin. I used to find every time I flew I would break out the next day and then feeling extremely self conscious, and feeling the need to wear make up which isn't ideal in the baking hot sunshine. So I now make sure I look after my skin while flying. 

The first thing I do once I am settled on the plane is take all my make up off to allow my skin to breath. I normally use travel size bioderma for this step but i have ran out, so a good old gentle face wipe will do the truck just fine. You may ask what is the point is wearing it to the airport in the first place but I just do t feel comfortable walking around in public bare faced, and I wouldn't wear a full face anyway just the essentials. 

Ok so make up off! Next step tone moisturise and spot treatment. I don't have particular products I will just take travel or sample sizes of products I know will work for me. For this particular flight I have got Liz Earle instant boost skin tonic and skin repair light moisturiser which are both really great little products, if you have read my skin care post you will know I am a Liz Earle fan. I will apply these every half and hour to an hour just to keep my skin hydrated and moisturised. Then I have another mini moisturiser Elemis softly softly, ok yes two moisturisers slightly excessive. However I have good reason promise! As good as the liz Earle mini is its one a light biased cream and the Elemis is a much richer, thicker moisturiser so I find applying a deeper treatment just gives my skin a real moisture boost. I would apply the deeper modituriser every couple of hours or just when I can feel my skin starting to get dry. I know some beauty gurus do face masks on places but I just think that would be too fiddly so I use the richer cream as an alternative instead. Then through out the flight I will apply the Effaclar duo to any break outs I have in a desperate attempt to keep them at bay. 

Ok so skin care, check! Next on the agenda lip products. If you saw my how I keep my pout soft and conditioned you will have seen a review on my favourite lip products, so I will bringing my two favourite Nivea products on the plan to try and avoid the dry, chapped lip look while I am enjoying the sunshine. Then I have just packed a few little bits and bobs like a travel sized dry shampoo just to refresh my hair and deodorant, I don't want to arrive looking like a sweaty betty. 

Now make up wise I just take the bare minimal. I apply this just before we start to land, try to avoid while landing! Bumpy landing plus mascara is only going to end with a mascara brush in your eye, ouch! So I have packed my favourite light coverage foundation of the moment, Chanel Vitalumiere aqua, which I adore. I will do a few review very soon lovelies. Then my loreal telescopic mascara, I have individual eye lash extensions on at the moment (hence the little lash brush, they need a good comb now and again) so I am only apply it to my bottom lashes as my bottom lashes look quite sparse in comparison to my full thick top lashes. Then finally I have brought along my favourite every day lip product of all time, my strawberry shortcake Revlon butter I find its just the perfect pretty pink shade and it really compliments my skin tone. 

I think that's everything beauty related in my carry on bag, I will also take my Elizabeth Arden hand cream, which feels like pure luxuary on my hands, a travel tooth brush and hand sanitizer I just didn't have them handy to snap up. So other then that I will just get snuggled up with my blanket and read a book or watch a film. Oh and enjoy the plane food of course, I am one of the few who enjoy aeroplane food. 

So there you have in my in flight beauty essentials, thanks for reading beauties. I would love to hear if you have any beauty essentials when you travelling. 
Mwahhhhhh 


Saturday 18 May 2013

Would you rather? TAG




Hello everyone

I hope you are having a lovely weekend, after I have finished this post I spending all weekend writing my end of year assignment for my Open University course, oh the joy! Any way I saw recently on Kayleigh at 'Couture Girls' blog that she did the 'Would you rather' Tag, and it was a really fun tag and post so I thought I would give it a try and do something a little bit different today.Take a look at http://x-couturegirl-x.blogspot.co.uk/ for her post, I really love this blog its one of my favorites so if you don't
 already follow Kayleigh go and have a look. Any way enough rambling lets get started!


Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?
Ooh first one and I am already torn, I love my eye shadows and palettes, especially my naked palettes and find myself reaching for them most days. However, eye shadow wouldn't be complete with out mascara and I love my lip products.So saying that I would loose all my palettes but I would be very sad.


Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?
I think I would go for chop all of it off, I love using hair extensions and having full long hair so would much rather never cut it and just deal with the split ends.


Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?
Pink wins hands down. I find pink shades compliment my skin really well, I would like to be a but more adventurous with some coral shades but I could quite happily go for pink blush everyday, creature of habit!


If you had £1000 to spend, Would you rather buy clothes or makeup?
Now I love my make up but I think I would go for clothes and get myself a lovely brand new wardrobe as my make up collection is already pretty huge.

Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
What a strange question, but I would go for liner as lipstick because I used nude pink shade liner by Anastasia on my waterline so could deal with pink nude lips, where as I can't imagine wearing red or bright pink as my liner.


Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
Well unfortunately we don't have a Sepohora in the UK, but if we did I would pick that. Now don't get me wrong I love Mac but I only really use the lip sticks, glosses, shadows and highlighter, ok yes that founds a lot actually. However I don't really like the foundation and could probably find dupes for my favourite mac products in Sephora as there are so many products available.

Would you rather only use one eye shadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?
I think one lip colour, and it would probably be creme de nude from Mac I wear it most days. Where as I change my eye shadow daily, I stick pretty much stick to a neutral shadow but I blend different colours and shades and love playing around with looks.


Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?
Seeing as I live in the UK where it's very rarely warm I suppose I would say winter clothes all year round. Seeing as I am always cold I would cope wearing summer clothes in the winter months very well.


Would you rather dark nails or bright nails all year round?
Erm this is a tough one as I don't wear bright or dark nail colour that often, I do tend to go for nude and pastel colours but if I had to choose I would say dark I do enjoying wearing chocolate or light brown shades.

Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?
Another tough one, but I think I will say lipstick can't imagine not bring able to use mascara with my blonde lashes.


Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a pony tail or a messy bun?
I think I will have to go with pony tail but only because you can style a pony tail with curls or waves in your hair and so on, but a messy bun would literally be the same every day.


Would your rather never being able to paint your nails again or never use lip gloss?
Never paint my nails, I love gloss to much to not use it where as nails look lovely painted but could manage without it.

Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all? or sharpie them in everyday?
I am a fan of big full HD brows so neither sound appealing, but probably sharpie would look ridiculous with no brows at all.

Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?
Nail polish without a doubt, like I said I like polish but to be honest I am a bit lazy with it and constantly smudge my nails, as I far to impatient to sit still. So yes make up wins hands down.

I hope you enjoyed this post, leave me your links in the comment section below to your 'Would you rather posts in the comment section below.

Lots of Love

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Sunday 12 May 2013

Lush Haul

Hi everyone, so I went on a bit of an online Lush spending spree last week so I thought I would share my purchases with you. As I am sure most of you know by now have a slight obsession with Lush. I love a good Lush bath and I find Lush products are perfect for a bit of relaxation and pampering.

So here goes, the first thing I added to my basket was Karma bubble bar (£3.50). I have never tried this bubble bar before but I was drawn in by the bright sunny colours. This bar will 'expand your mind with a hippy trippy that envelops you in an orange haze of heady scents' as you probably guessed the main scent from this bubble bar is orange and it smells delicious. I can't wait to use this bubble bar.

The second product is 'Honey I washed the kids' (£3.40 for 100g) this Lush's best selling soap, and I can see why. This soap smell irresistible with it delicious blend of honey, carmel and toffee scent, now doesn't that sound yummy? I have put this in my shower straight away and love it, not on,y does it smell great but it lathers up really well and leaves my skin soft and moisturised.

Next on my Lush list is the ' Twilight' bath bomb ( £3.20)This must be about my 5th twilight bath bomb it's one of my favourite, I am a troubled sleeper and I find this lavender scented bomb is great way to relax and unwind before heading to bed. It's also really fun to watch explode in your bath, the pink exterior turns your bath a bright pink but then has an added twist of blue shades along with some sparkly glitter, it's actually like watching a firework go off in your bed. Yes, I know I sound like a child but its so fun to watch, once I use it I promise to post some piccys.

Next I went for a French kiss (£4.99) a bath bomb that is. This is another lavender scented product to help send me to the land of nod. I have never tried this before but as soon as I opened my Lush delivery I could smell this product straight away and the scent is so calming but not overwhelming. Lush says this bar will fill your bath with a mountain of foam, I can't wait to try it.

On to another bubble bar I went for 'Dorothy' (£2.99). This bubble bar will not only turn your bath blue, but it will send you 'over the rainbow'. This bar contains yin yang oil and orange flower, it smells lovely and fresh and I can't wait it try this.

Next I bought porridge soap (£2.95 for 100g). This oaty porridge bar of soap caught my eye as it is supposed to be good for exfoliating sensitive skin, I haven't tried this yet as I am going to use my sugar crush scrub at the moment. I have had a good sniff of this soap though and as corny as it sounds it brought me back to my childhood and eating porridge for my breakfast on a cold Scottish morning, so I am really looking forward to see how this works on my skin.

Finally I got egg hunt soap, which was a limited edition from the spring/ Easter collection. Now the whole soap looks amazing, and it's colourful array of eggs isn't translated as well in a single peice so I have also added a photo of the full bar so you can see why it caught my eye. It's smells lovely too with its raspberry aroma. Unfortunately this is know longer available but I am sure it will return with next years Easter collection.

So there it is my Lush Haul, I hope you enjoyed reading it, I would love to hear about your favourite products.

Thanks for reading

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Saturday 11 May 2013

Keeping my pout soft and conditioned

Now I am a self confessed poser and pouter, at the snap of a camera I am pouting away. So as you cab imagine I like to keep my lips in good condition, a dry set of smackers is never a good look, but no matter how hard we try sore, dry, chapped or cracked lips happen to the best of us. So in the post I wanted to share with you some of my favorite lip products that keep my lips in tip top condition. I am focusing on more drug store affordable products in this post. I may do a more high end themed post soon though, but I love these drug store products and its not the the end of the world if I loose them, as I so often to do in my bottomless pit of a handbag. (My Nars Laguna bronzer is my latest loss, as you can imagine I am gutted. However, I refuse to buy another as I know it's around somewhere.)

The first little lip treat I want to share with you is Nivea Lip Butter, Vanilla and Macadamia. There is a range smells available in the Nivea butters collection, including raspberry and caramel. This lip butter comes in a round tin form, now I have to admit I have not a huge fan of the whole sticking your finger in a pot and the rubbing it all over my lips....eeeew germs! So I tend to use this last thing at night after I have washed my hands. However, that point aside I love this lip butter. It smells delicious, the sweet and nutty combination reminds me of freshly baked cookies, and also a slight hint of mini eggs, mmmmm! Quite often I find myself wanting to eat this yummy smelling butter, but don't worry I haven't, I would only be disappointed. Anyway this creamy lip butter leaves my lips feeling soft,and my lips feel lovely in morning after a full night of conditioning. This little tin is very affordable and has lasted me ages because you only need a small amount.

The second product is another from Nivea, the kiss of milk and honey lip balm. I adore this stick balm, it's a handy handbag lip balm with yummy scent. I am a big fan of Honey scent products as I find they smell incredible, yet natural. The scent of this balm is not overwhelming but it certainly gets my nose tingling. This balm has a thick waxy constancy but I like this as it leaves my lips incredibly moisturized and hydrated and i find it a very soothing formula, which Nivea describes will boost your lips natural defensive. The kiss of milk and honey is my favorite balm and have them hiding everywhere, my handbag, car and desk at work, slightly obsessive?

Now the kiss of milk of honey is a great balm product when I want to leave my lips looking neutral but when I want to add a pop of colour I use Maybeline baby lips in 'Pink punch'. Annoyingly these aren't available in the UK but I got mine in the US and I have been informed I can stock up when I go to Dubai later this month, yay. Anyway, I was surprised by the colour pay off of 'pink punch' its is bright neon pink and is super pigmented for a balm, so gives my lips a beautiful pink pop with a slight gloss finish, not bad for £4. I also adore the smell of this beauty it's a lovely lickable mix of sweet and fruity scent. The baby lips balm leaves my lips looking and feeling silky smooth and soft, and how cute is the packaging? A winner in my eyes for sure.

Finally I use Lush lip scrub, my flavor of choice is popcorn, but there is also bubblegum and mint available. This product is my perfect pout secret weapon, it does an amazing job of exfoliating my lips and removing all dead skin from the lip area. If you have never used the scrub, all you have to do is rub all small amount into your lips, give your lips a good scrub and then lick of the excess,( that's my favorite part because it tastes delicious.) Then voila the scrub leaves your lips soft, smooth and good as new. I use the every night and every morning before applying my lip stick/ gloss combination to prepare and condition my lips.

So these are my favorite lip products to leaves my lips kissable soft and moisturized ...Mwah. I would love to hear about your favorite lip products.

Thanks for reading

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Wednesday 8 May 2013

Get to know me TAG

Evening ladies, I hope your all having a lovely week and looking forward to the weekend. I love reading get to know me type posts. I think it's really nice to get to know a bit more about the writer behind the blog, so thought it was time I did my first 'get to know me post..... So here goes.


1. Are you named after anyone?

No, I think my mum and dad just thought Emma Louise had a nice ring to it. My mum insists I was the first Emma Louise she had heard of them they started popping up everywhere (there was 5 Emma Louise's in my year at school). she is adamant everyone copied her :p.

2. When was the last time you cried?

A couple of days ago my eyes were streaming because of my hay fever, and they just wouldn't stop, I was at Oulten park watching my fiancé racing (he is a motorbike racer eek) think everyone thought I was having a little emotional moment haha.


3. Do you have kids?

No, I would love children in the future but not right now.


4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?

I'd like to think so, I am quite shy and quiet at first. Sometimes people take me to be stuck up or ignorant as a result of my shyness but I'm really not, once I feel comfortable with people I literally don't shut up.


5. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Yes, probably too much....but that's just my sense of humour :)


6. Will you ever Bungee Jump?

No I don't think so, I am over think things way too much and I would manage to convince myself that the bungee strap would break.....ridiculous I know.


7. What's your favorite cereal?

Cheerios, as a child I loved honey nut loops, and Cheerios are pretty much the same thing. I love cereal quite often have it for lunch too.


8. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Sounds shallow but I have to be honest quite often I notice appearance, whether it be hair, style, looks or make up (if its girl) and not in a critical way at all I am just a very observant person and pick up most of style ideas by people watching. So it's a compliment really :).


9. What is your eye colour?

Blue


10. Scary movie or happy endings?

Happy ending, I am not a fan if scary film would much rather sit and enjoy a funny/happy film then sit on the sofa shaking.


11. Favorite smells?

Love the smell of lemon and lime, I just think it smells so refreshing and fruity, I have some 'zesty' smelling fabric softener and love how it leaves my clothes and bedding smelling.


12. Summer or winter?

Aaah I really can't decide, I love the sunshine and warm weather in summer, but on the flip side I love winter nights wrapped up in my onsie, drinking hot chocolate with the fire on. So I love both really.


13. Computer or television?

Computer, I rarely watch television but I do love watching films but can watch those on the computer, and need a computer to feed my YouTube and blogging obsession.



14. What's the furthest you've ever been from home?

Las Vegas

15. Do you have any special talents?

Walking in incredibly high shoes lol, a talent that has taken years of perfecting.


16. Where were you born?

Aberdeen


17. What are your hobbies?

I uses to love performing and went to stage school where I did a lot of singing, dancing and drama, but I haven't practised in years, but I still enjoy dancing and singing around my living room. Also enjoy going to the gym, spinning classes and swimming.


18. Do you have any pets?

Not at mine as I live in a flat, but I have a family dog called rusty who lives with my mum and my dad has two dogs Dylan a d Lulu.



19. Favorite movie?

Oh not sure I could pick just one, but love Harry Potter, lord of the rings, Sex and the City, and Disney films of course tangled is my current favourite.


20. Do you have any siblings?

Yes one sister and three step brothers.

Thanks for reading beauties I really enjoyed writing this post I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please post your links below of your get to know me posts so I can read yours :)

Lots of Love

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Nearly Naked.......

So Summer is around the corner, and hopefully warmer weather on the way. Now in Summer time I like try and tone done my full coverage make up slightly to a more natural look. So I have been on the look out for a foundation that can help achieve this fresh faced look, and what could be better then Revelon's Nearly Naked range? I bought the foundation and matching powder while on one of my (many) shopping trips to Boots, and become very found of the combination of the two.

The Nearly Naked foundation is light coverage, but i do find it is build-able to medium coverage finish. I love how easy the light texture of this product blends into my skin, i have been using a real techniques stippling brush to apply. I don't really like using my hands or sponges to apply make up and find foundation brushes give an overall better finish. I almost feel like the foundation melts into my skin, but doesn't leave my face looking like its greasy like I find some lighter base foundations do.

The foundation really lives up to its name in that in literally feels like I'm not wearing anything, but yet still achieves an even skin tone and covers redness. I did find I had to use a bit of concealer on any blemishes, but i expected that with it being a lighter based foundation. I used the light weight powder to finish of the naked look. I found the combination of the two lasts throughout the day and I only had to re powder my face after 8 hours of wear, when I was leaving work, so I was really impressed with how the products kept all day.

The foundation also contains SPF 20. I am sure I don't need to bang on about the importance of protecting our faces from the sun, but I am always really keen on foundation that have added SPF generally because I always forget to put on sun screen unless I am on holiday so it's nice to let the foundation do the work for you. I think this will be a perfect foundation for the warmer seasons, it gives a perfect ' no make up' look if like me your not quite confident enough to go totally naked.

Overall I love this foundation it got a lovely light texture to it, which glides effortlessly into my skin. It leaves my skin looking glowing and bright and lasts all day. My only slight complaint is the packaging. I am not a fan of foundations that you have to pour out the bottle. I much prefer a pump application as it eliminates mess and product waste. So with that in mind I am rating this foundation a 9 out of 10.

I got my foundation here at Boots in the shade 'Shell' for £8.99 and don't miss out on the good old three for two offer. http://www.boots.com/en/Revlon-Nearly-Naked-Make-Up-Foundation_1298536/

Have you tried any of the Nearly Naked range? I would love to hear what you think?

Thank you for reading.


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Before

After foundation is blended in 


Wednesday 1 May 2013

New month, new hair story.

Now if you have seen my hair story blog post you will have seen I change my hair a lot, I have been blonde, black and everything in between. No matter what I always come back to blonde and for the last two years I my colour of choice has been a white toned blonde.

Now I love the pearly platinum blonde look but my poor hair was getting very dry and damaged, so I felt it was time to tone it down slightly. My main reason for coming to this decision is I am getting married next year (aaaaah), and I am desperately trying to grow my hair ready for my big day so I have my options on hair styles for the big day.

So I had a chat with my hair dresser and she suggested having a darker shade of blonde colour on top and ashy blonde and light brown tones through out the bottom. That way I could keep my beloved blonde locks but by adding an array of tones my I could give my hair a bit of a break from the full on bleach, and this way it would be more likely to grow.

I am so pleased by the finished colour, the tones and shades are very subtle but have really changed my hairs overall look and it looks so much healthier.

Now I am also a big fan of hair extensions and really hate my hair without them. Not necessarily the length but my hair is quite limp and fine and I like using extensions to give it some extra body and volume. So I dragged my fiancé to meadow hall, to a shop called extras. I have got my extensions here before and the staff in the shop are very helpful and colour match your hair and help you find the perfect set of hair extensions for you.

The colour numbers of my match were #10 and #613, and I went for 16inch, any longer looks a bit too much on me because I am so small. The extensions are very soft and great quality. There not quite as thick as my beloved foxy locks extensions, which unfortunately don't cater for mixed toned hair, but I do love my new ones and they were half the price.

So Overall I am really pleases with my new look and hope by the time summer 2014 comes around I achieve my dream wedding hair.

Thanks for reading


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Bioderma Sebuim Review

Evening ladies, I hope your all having a lovely week. I recently did a post on my favourite skin care products and mentioned the Bioderma Sebium H20, Micelle Solution (quite a mouthful). Seeing as it made my skin care favourites obviously I am impressed with this product, so felt it deserved a full post.

As I am sure you all know, bioderma has become a cult skin care brand in the beauty and blogging world and up until recently it wasn't available in the UK, so fans from the UK had to resort to eBay or stocking up in Dubai if your me to get hold of this gem. I have never really been keen on buying make up or skin care from ebay, as there is no guarantee of is genuine. Instead on every trip to my dad's I would try and squeeze in a few bottles, along with a collection of bath and body works candles. So I am sure you can imagine my delight when one of my favourite skin care treatment would be available a hop, skip and a jump away.

I had always used the original formula, Bioderma Sensibio and it worked really well on my skin but I really fancied trying the blue solution Sebuim and see what suited my skin type more. I have normal combination skin and I prone to break outs and imperfections (lucky me), and the Sebuim is designed for combination to oily skin. The Sebuim Solution is described to Purify and cleanse your imperfection-prone skin with the Bioderma Sebium H2O which is a regulating, non-rinse micellar water cleanser. I know it sounds very technical.

I have been using this cleanser every morning and night for the last month and I am in love with the results. I used my original sensibio to remove my eye make up, however the Sebuim is a stronger solution so it advises not to use this particular product around the eyes, at first I was a bit disappointed with this. However I think the stronger is much more suited to my skin type, my skin appears much more even and my breaks out are much more controlled and manageable, yay! So I am really pleases with this product and even though I was a fan of the Sensibio I am sold on the Sebuim cleanser and I am pretty confident it's going to be a staple in my skin care routine.

The Bioderma Sebium H20 - Micelle Solution is available for UK customers from http://www.escentual.com/bioderma/bioderma020/?b=100321, along with a range of bioderma skin care products, the two cleansers are available in full size 250ML bottles for £9.99 and a travel size 100ML bottle for £4.50, a great way to try these lovely products.

Have you tried either of the Bioderma Michelle solutions? Which do you prefer?

Thanks for reading
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