Non-Beauty Wishlist #1

Medium Yankee Candle in Pink Dragonfruit / Lily Flame Candle in Lavender and Lime / Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge Book

Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 DVD / Revenge Series 1 DVD / River Island Grey Studded Bowler Bag

Although this blog will always be primarily about beauty, I do want to start doing some more lifestyle and fashion related posts this year. So I thought I'd start off with a non-beauty wishlist!

Top row

 

I have only recently got into candles and now I love lighting a couple of candles in the evening and having a snuggle on the sofa! I haven't ever bought a Yankee Candle before, so I think it's about time that changed. I just love the sound of Pink Dragonfruit! A medium candle costs £16.99.

I bought my sister a Lily Flame candle for her birthday and I somehow resisted picking one up for myself. These cute pots cost £8.50 and there are a range of scents to choose from - my favourite being Lavender and Lime, which is an unusal combination but smells amazing! All Lily Flame candles have coloured wax chunks on top that melt when the candle warms up, which is a nice, unique touch.

I do love a good read and I am obsessed with the TV programme Mr Selfridge on a Sunday night, so I'd love to read the book Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge, which is what the TV programme is based on. Plus it's only £3.85 on Amazon!! Bargain.

Bottom row

I love Twilight and I'm not ashamed. I have all the books and all the other DVDs, so I just have to complete my collection with the Breaking Dawn Part 2 DVD, which is released in a few weeks. I'm so tempted to have a Twilight marathon when I get it!! On Amazon this is only £10.00.

Another DVD I've spotted on Amazon (for £22.75) is the first series of the American TV show Revenge. So many people are raving about this programme and I really wish I'd started watching it when it came out. "Beneath the luxurious lifestyle of the Hamptons lies a dark, dirty secret and a twisted tale of passion, suspense and ultimate redemption." Oooooh!

Finally, I would quite like a new handbag as I haven't bought one for ages! I love my tan Paul's Boutique one, but this grey studded bowler one from River Island has caught my eye! Although grey isn't one of the most exciting colours, it's one of my favourites. I love River Island bags and they're well worth the money - this one is £40.00. I might have to wait until my birthday for this though!

I'd love to hear what's on your non-beauty wishlist?

Beauty Bird xx


 

Bristol Blogger Meetup (#bbmeet) Pt 2 - The Goody Bag

As promised in my Bristol Blogger Meetup Pt 1 - The Day post, here is part two - the goody bag! Although I don't think a goody bag is essential for a meetup, it was something Alessia and I really wanted to do to say thank you to everyone who attended. Seeing everyone's faces when they received and looked through their goody bag was amazing and made it even more worthwhile.

The goody bags were kindly donated to us by Alessia's Dad, and her Mum did an amazing job at styling them with her stamp in the corner and the beautiful tag! Thank you so much to them both.

Here's an example of one of the goody bags!

Everyone received:

- The Little Bubble Co Shower Gel in either Coconut Creme, Vanilla Biscuit, Strawberry Sundae or Mango Delight

- Gardenia of London Body Spray in either Lavender and Sweet Pea or Red Rose and Magnolia

- Dr Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Hand & Nail Cream

- Dr Organic Moroccan Oil Day Cream and Virgin Coconut Oil Night Cream

- N-Spa Hot Cloth Polish

- DGJ Organics Berruti Hair Oil

- Skinetica Anti-Blemish Solution

- Metique Tea Tree Oil Sample Pack

- Dr Hauschka Hand Cream Sachet x 2

- Blinc Mascara and Eyeliner Minis

- Insitu Cosmetics Sample Pack

- Amie Spring Clean Cooling Clay Mask Sachet

- Xen-Tan Luminous Gold Gel or Moroccan Tan Sample

- GlamGlow Youth Mud Treatment Sachet

- The Vintage Cosmetic Company Eyelash Curlers

- Aromatherapy Gold Aroma Squeeze Me Stress Ball in either Energising Grapefruit and Geranium or Relaxing Lavender and Bergamot

- Shearer Candle in Egyptian Cotton, Lavender and Neroli or Amber and Rose Fondant OR a Makebelieve Beauty Lipgloss, Bronzer or Highlighter from the Enhance range

- Various samples from Vichy, Avene, Derma E and La Roche-Posay

- Benefit Fine-One-One

- A glittery hair bow from Head Full of Feathers in various colours (which unfortunately escaped from my photos - so thank you to Alison from Maliberry Makeup for letting me use hers!)

Unfortunately we couldn't make each bag exactly the same, but the majority of items were the same in each bag just with different scents or flavours. The bags also contained leaflets about some of the products, me and Alessia's business cards and a thank you note, designed by my very helpful boyfriend!

Thank you so much to all the brands and PR companies who contributed, I'm sure I speak for all the attendees when I say the products provided for the goody bag are so generous and that we all can't wait to try them out!

If you use or have used any of the products above I'd love to hear what you think of them?

Beauty Bird xx

Bristol Blogger Meetup (#bbmeet) Pt 1 - The Day

Saturday was the day of the Bristol Blogger Meetup, organised by myself and the fabulous Alessia from Whispers from Angels. It was so surreal that after months and months of planning it finally arrived - it felt like it was never going to! It's safe to say that Alessia and I were nervous wrecks in the run up to the meetup!!

So many lovely and talented bloggers came along to the meetup and were a mix of fashion and beauty bloggers. It was so nice to meet everyone, although I flapped and flustered around a bit so I didn't quite get to talk to everyone as much as I'd have liked, or take as many photos as I'd have liked!

The day started in Frankie and Benny's in Cabot Circus, which gave everyone a chance to meet and chat while having a drink and a bite to eat. I have to mention the waitress allocated to our tables - she was absolutely fabulous! Before eating we kicked off the event with a giveaway to win two N-Spa beauty boxes, each containing a cleansing gel, hot cloth polish, serum and day cream. Alessia and I had brought along the list of attendees, so we put a number next to each name and the waitress randomly picked two numbers. Congratulations again to Jade and Roxy for winning!

Roxy and Jade with their prize!

Once the plates had been cleared away lots of the girls set about exchanging business cards and blog links, which was great. We then handed out our treats for the girls - a goody bag! I will do a separate post on the goody bag itself but you can peek at what's inside below.

Then we set about to do what we bloggers do best - SHOP! We all split up to do this as there were so many of us. Me and the gorgeous ladies I was with (Clair, Poppy, Becky, Carly and JJ) headed to New Look, Topshop, Superdrug, Boots, Lush and Debenhams. In Lush, Poppy was treated to some hand pampering, which resulted in quite a few of us buying the King of Skin Body Butter after feeling Poppy's super soft hand!! The sales assistant also generously gave us all a sample of Ro's Argan Oil Body Conditioner. 

After shopping quite a few of us met back up in Starbucks for a coffee, chat and to share what we had bought. The day went so quickly, but I enjoyed every single minute of it!

Me and Alessia!

Thank you to Roxy for letting me use this picture!

Thank you so much to everyone who came along! I'd also like to say thank you to:

- Alessia for being the most wonderful co-host and organiser!

- Frankie and Benny's for the fab customer service.

- Everyone involved in creating the goody bag (I'll list them separately in the second post).

- My boyfriend for putting up with me in the run up to the event!!

I'm so sorry if I've forgotten anyone!

Let's all do it again one day?

Beauty Bird xx

Tag: 20 Random Facts About Me

I've really enjoyed reading this tag on other blogs, so I thought I'd join in (better late than never!) and share with you 20 random facts about me!

1. When my Mum went into labour with me, my Grandad got stopped by the police for speeding while taking her to the hospital. Once they realised what was happening, they got a police escort the rest of the way there!

2. When I was about 3 I unintentionally locked myself in my Gran's bathroom and couldn't open the lock. I then had to be freed by the fire brigade and when one of the firemen picked me up I did a wee on him. Oops!

3. The first thing I ever wanted to be when I was little was a nurse. Until I realised I couldn't deal with the blood!

4. I've always had really bad eyesight, but I hate wearing glasses and now wear contact lenses.

5. The first band I ever got into was The Spice Girls, I had all their singles and albums.

6. I like a real variety of music, from Ellie Goulding to the Foo Fighters, from Coheed and Cambria to One Direction!

7. My first car was a Vauxhall Corsa. I have now have a Volkswagen Polo.

8. I have three sisters and one brother. 

9. I think if I had to eat one meal forever it would be my boyfriend's Mum's roast dinner. NOM!

10. I have been with my amazing boyfriend for nearly nine years now, since we were 17. I don't think he's fed up with me yet...!

11. In March I will have been blogging for one whole year. It has gone so quickly!!

12. I can be quite quiet and shy at first, but once I get to know someone I won't stop talking!

13. I hate horror films and I refuse to watch them, much to the disappointment of my other half.

14. I love a good rom com, like 13 Going on 30, but I also love action and fantasy films, like Die Hard and The Avengers Assemble.

15. I am a Twilight fan. I'm not ashamed, I could re-read the books over and over again. 

16. Put a spider near me and I will freak out big time!

17. I love dogs and have grown up with lots of them around. Last year, my boyfriend and I got a springer spaniel puppy called Daisy and I absolutely adore her.

18. I have already decided on my honeymoon destination for when I get married - hello Italy!

19. I'm not at all religious and I really don't want to get married in a church.

20. I HATE tomato ketchup. And mayonnaise. Yes, many think me strange! Please tell me there are others who don't like them either?!

I hope you enjoyed reading this tag, please send me the link to yours!

Beauty Bird xx

NOTD: Can You Feel The Love

Hey lovelies! I thought I'd share with you my latest attempt at nail art, inspired by Valentine's Day and one of Grace Kingsley's nail art posts. I haven't had time to post it until now as this weekend I became an auntie! I'm off to the hospital shortly, so I best get on with the post!

For this NOTD I used a Color Club nail varnish called Get A Clue from the Alter Ego collection for the base coat. For the hearts I used my white Models Own nail art pen and Color Club Warhol from the Poptastic collection, which I applied using a dotting tool. I won the Color Club varnishes in a giveaway last year. It's an American brand, but their varnishes can be picked up online over here for about £3.00 each. 

While my nail art seems to be getting better, my actual nail varnish application seems to be getting worse! I've noticed with the second coat I don't seem to apply quite to the edge of my nail, so I'm left with a ridge. I think I'm just too impatient sometimes.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day and a great weekend! 

Let me know what nail art you've been loving recently? I'd love some ideas for my next one!

Beauty Bird xx

Review: bareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer

Back in December I ordered some bits from the Feel Unique sale and one of the things I picked up was the 30ml bareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer. The full price of this is normally £21.00 but it can be picked up online for £16.00-£17.00.

BareMinerals say, "Enlarged pores. Uneven texture. Flaky dryness. We've all had complexion problems. That's why bareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer was created... Apply it first for the smooth, evenly textured complexion you've been waiting for."

As well as this, bareMinerals say that this foundation primer combats excess oil and fine lines, plus soothes and nourishes with plant extracts, anti-oxidants and Vitamins C and E. It is free of preservatives but it is a silicone based primer.

The formula of Prime Time is a clear, thick liquid, which isn't gloopy and is soft and silky to the touch. As advised on the bottle, I use one pump and apply this all over my face (the photo above shows one pump's worth). It glides on easily and absorbs very quickly without feeling greasy afterwards. You wouldn't even really know you'd applied it, apart from the extra silky feeling! 

BareMinerals don't claim that this will extend the wear of foundation by a certain number of hours, but I find that it really does extend the wear of my foundation well into the early evening. Without primer, foundation is usually wearing by the end of my 9-5 day at work. It doesn't reduce the look of my pores on my cheeks as well as Benefit POREfessional, but they are definitely better than without any primer at all. It copes with my oily/combination skin fairly well, especially the drier areas of my face. However I wouldn't say that it lives up to the claim of combatting excess oil - I still have to blot with my Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets in the middle of the day. BareMinerals do an oil control version of Prime Time, so perhaps this may be better suited for my skin.

The Verdict

I don't think I have found "the one", but overall bareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer does a great job at making my foundation last for longer. I do think it is quite expensive, but I really like the fact it contains vitamins and plant extracts, which aren't in a lot of budget primers. I think I may try the oil control version next time though to see how it compares.

What's your favourite foundation primer?

Beauty Bird xx

Mini Haul

We all love a haul, so I thought I'd share with you what I've picked up over the last few weeks!

At the weekend I had half an hour spare before meeting a friend for dinner, so I popped into L'Occitane. A few weeks ago they had a competition on Facebook where if you helped them get to 75,000 likes and shared the competition, you would receive a voucher for a free 30ml hand cream in store worth £8.00. I went for the original shea butter hand cream. Along with the freebie, L'Occitane also offered 15% off an item of choice that had to be redeemed at the same time. I chose a 250ml bottle of Almond Shower Oil, as I've seen quite a few bloggers rave about this. It's normally an eye watering £17.50 but I got it for £14.88 with the discount.

Many of you will know that I can't be without a pack of Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets (full review here) in my handbag. I've heard these are being discontinued and I'll be gutted if they are! At the moment they're on offer at Superdrug for 99p per pack (50 sheets) from £2.99 and it's free delivery until Valentine's Day, so I bought four packs!! These will last me for a good five or six months now. Get ordering ladies!

Plus a haul isn't complete without some products from Boots! I got the brilliant Seventeen Doll'd Up mascara on offer for £5.29 (full review here), Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie £7.99 (see it on my recent FOTD here) and the Barry M All in One Top Coat, Base Coat and Hardener £2.99. I've been having problems with my nail varnish peeling off and my base coat was quite old, so I'm hoping this was why! 

Lastly, after my visit to L'Occitane at the weekend I had just enough time for a wander around Primark. Not a lot caught my eye, apart from the black skater skirt. It's pretty simple, but it's a staple item that I've been missing from my wardrobe desperately as it will go with so much and could be dressed up or down. Plus it was a bargain £8.00! 

I hope you enjoyed my little haul, please let me know what are your most recent purchases?

Beauty Bird xx

Review: Seventeen Doll'd Up Mascara

The recently re-branded Seventeen have brought out a new mascara called Doll'd Up and I knew I had to try it just for the name! So unusally without reading hardly any reviews, I popped into Boots to pick it up. It's normally £6.29 but it's currently on offer in Boots for £5.29 and you can get a Seventeen Doll'd Up Three Way Eyeliner for free!

Seventeen say, "With special lash lifting 24 hour curl and volume benefits and an anti-clump brush, you can make sure that your lashes stay firmly in the limelight."

I quite like the black and red packaging with the cute bow print, it's very Betty Boop. The mascara brush itself is curved, packed full with well defined, spiky bristles. I much prefer spiky rather than "fluffy" style bristles myself. When you pull the wand out of the tube there's no excess mascara to wipe away on the brush at all. 

Now for the mascara itself. It lengthens, it volumises, it curls. It is fantastic! I have long yet completely flat eyelashes and this mascara holds the curl perfectly all day, no top up with eyelash curlers required. I haven't worn this for 24 hours (I'm in bed by 11pm most nights!), so I can't quite test this claim. However the 12 hours I've worn it for is good enough for me! The Doll'd Up mascara does not clump or flake, although I have had a little smudging under my left eye at the end of the day. This is my only negative of this mascara.

The Verdict

Seventeen Doll'd Up Mascara is my new favourite budget buy. I absolutely recommend buying this, because for me, it almost does just a good a job as Benefit They're Real yet it's under half the price (and it's easier to remove!). I wouldn't quite say it has quite the same va-va-voom as Benefit, but I still am so, so impressed!

To view the Seventeen Doll'd Up Mascara on the Boots website click here.

Have you tried this mascara? What's your favourite budget mascara?

Beauty Bird xx

Review: Lush Cupcake Fresh Face Mask

For Christmas my boyfriend bought me a few goodies from Lush and the Cupcake Fresh Face Mask was one of them. I hadn't tried this one before and I think he did well choosing this, as it's designed for oily skin. Cupcake has to be kept in the fridge as with all the Lush fresh face masks and is meant to be used within a month. This one has a thick, brown formula and smells gorgeous, just like mint chocolate!

Lush say, "Chocolate heaven for oily and teenage skin. Helps absorb excess oil and calm breakouts. Cocoa butter, linseed and cocoa powder soften with balancing peppermint, spearmint and sandalwood oils."

Unfortunately it also contains talc, which isn't one of my favourite ingredients as it makes me breakout if applied to my skin regularly. However I decided to give it a try and used it once a week, leaving it on my skin for ten minutes at a time.

Cupcake is a fantastic mask if you suffer with really oily skin. I used it a few times after some long, stressful days, which caused my skin to be much oiler than normal. It absorbs oil brilliantly and left my skin soothed and refreshed. However the rest of the time I found that it was a little drying. My skin type is oily/combination and this mask didn't react well with the drier parts of my face. It didn't really reduce my breakouts, but thankfully didn't cause any either!

The Verdict

Cupcake is a great, delicious smelling face mask, which will be a treat for really oily skins but I think other skin types would find it too drying. I would consider using it again just on my T-zone, but I think I'd just end up wasting some of the product considering it has to be used within a month. Unfortunately this face mask just isn't quite right for me.

The Lush Cupcake Fresh Face Masks costs £5.95 for a 75g tub. To view it on Lush's website, click here.

Have you tried Cupcake? What's your favourite face mask from Lush?

Beauty Bird xx

FOTD: Christening

FOTDs generally make me nervous - I'm not the most confident person and still finding my way with makeup application, but I'm trying to be braver because the support from the blogger community is quite frankly amazing. Plus quite a lot people have responded to the question on my giveaway "what would you like to see more of on my blog?" with FOTDs, so here I am!

I went to a christening on a Saturday and wore a blue lace shift dress (you can just see the top of it in the picture), so with this outfit I knew I wanted black eyeliner and pink lips, but nothing too dramatic. Unfortunately I have a big piece of static hair here (the boyfriend clearly didn't think to mention this while taking the photo!!).

 Base: Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation, Collection (2000) Lasting Perfection Concealer, The Body Shop Lightening Touch Pen

Blusher: Jane Iredale Pure Pressed Mineral Blusher in Parfait

Eyes: No7 Stay Perfect Eyeshadow in Wheatsheaf, Collection (2000) Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner, Seventeen Doll'd Up Mascara

Lips: Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie

The Seventeen mascara and Revlon lip butter are new additions to my makeup stash, but so far I'm loving them both! I'd love a lipstick in this colour, so please let me know if you have any recommendations!

What products were you wearing on your face, lips and eyes this weekend?

Beauty Bird xx

My Guest Post Over At Beautifully Superfluous

Hi lovelies!

This is just a quick post to tell you I have a guest post entitled "How Many Products Do You Use Before Bed?" over at the lovely Helen's blog Beautifully Superfluous!

So if you don't already follow Beautifully Superfluous, please take a moment to check out her blog and my guest post here.

Thank you!

Beauty Bird xx 

January Empties

I can't believe January has gone already! The end of another month means another empties post! Just a quick note - I've decided to stop including deodrant/body spray in my empties posts, as I use them up so often and tend to use the same ones. It's not that I don't bother haha.

The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel 250ml - £4.00

You really can't wrong with a shower gel from The Body Shop can you? I have so many of them building up in my bathroom cupboard! Strawberry is gorgeously fruity without smelling too artifical. It's not my favourite Body Shop scent, but it's one you can't go wrong with really!

Re-purchase? Probably.

Dermalogica Active Moist 50ml - £25.99 (online price)

I've used this moisturiser for a couple of years now as it's suitable for oily skin, is lightweight yet hydrating and not at all greasy. 

Re-purchase? I already have, but the price keeps going up (I think I bought it for about £22.00 last year), so next time I may start looking around for something else! 

Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets (Pack of 50) - £2.99

I couldn't go out without these in my handbag! I blot one of these purple sheets over my face every day to remove excess oil and shine. Better yet, they don't affect my makeup!

Re-purchase? Yes - apparently they're on offer for 99p at the moment at Superdrug, so I will stock up!

Benefit They're Real Mascara - £18.50

I've finally accepted that I must throw this away as I've had this about 8 months now. I really do love this - it makes my lashes look long, curly and voluminous! The things that I don't like quite as much though are the price and that it's a pain to remove!

Re-purchase? Not yet - I've bought the new Seventeen Doll'd Up mascara to try first! (Does it match up? Review coming soon!)

Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara (mini) - Magazine Freebie

I got this mini mascara free with Tatler last year and thought it was time to throw it away too. It's about 6 months old and is starting to flake off through the day when I wear it. It definitely gives my lashes volume and curl but it does clump when applying. The brush has both rounded and flat sides - you're meant to apply the mascara to the base of the lashes with the flat side and work it up through with the rounded side. It's just a bit of a faff really!

Purchase full size? No - the full size is £22.00 and for me, it isn't worth it.

What products have you used up this month? Any suggestions for a moisturiser for oily, problem skin would be much appreciated!

Beauty Bird xx 

500 Follower Giveaway!

I couldn't believe it when nearly two weeks ago my GFC follower count clicked onto 500 followers! Words cannot fully describe how thankful, honoured and amazed I am. To say a big huge thank you to you all, whether you follow by GFC or a different platform, I am giving away the below:

Real Techniques Blush Brush

Benefit They're Real Mascara

Maybelline Gel Eyeliner in Black

Rimmel Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick by Kate Moss in 101

Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Eyeliner in Nude

MUA Undressed Palette

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel 100g

I chose these items as they make up almost all of the products included on My Favourite Makeup Discoveries of 2012 post (here) and as you can probably guess from the title, I love them! Ok, the Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel wasn't in this post, but I picked one up after Christmas and couldn't resist including it in the giveaway!!

You can enter by filling in the Rafflecopter form below. I will check all entries, which unfortunately means I haven't included following me via Bloglovin as an option, as this is something I can't verify. 

This giveaway will run for three weeks and is open internationally.

GOOD LUCK!

Beauty Bird xx

a Rafflecopter giveaway