7 Things for June

This is the '7 Things for June' post, as started by Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter (who I heart!).

Basically, it is a way of motivating yourself to get up of your backside and get things done, spread out over a week or a month, or whatever you would like.  The aim is to set yourself goals, targets or aspirations which you will then try to complete within a set period of time.

I am going to give myself until the end of June to complete the following:

1. Book a Holiday: My boyfriend and I are hoping to go on holiday on the 5th July.  We have yet to book anything.  I hope that by the end of June we will have booked and paid for 10 nights somewhere very hot and sunny.

2. Get Organised: I am going away for a few days from this Thursday until Sunday night.  I have been to get some last minute bits this morning but I need to be completely organised by Wednesday night so that I am ready for our little trip.

3. Start Planning: I have been given an abundance of books and documents from my new school, where I start work in September, and need to start getting some ideas down.  This means beginning to plan my topics and lessons for the Autumn term. 

4. Prepare: I  am going on two school trips next week and need to sort some 'ourdoorsy' clothes.  I don't want to wear anything that risks getting ruining so I need to delve into my wardrobes and choose something.  I have already found a REEEAALLY old pair of trainers that I have washed in the washing machine.

5. Get Groomed: As I said, I am going away on Thursday and at the moment my eyebrows are horrendous.  Luckily, this will get sorted on Thursday morning. Phew.

6. Walk: I adore walking my three doggies but the weather recently has been absolutely horrific.  I am talking thigh-deep floods and ruined houses in my area.  We have been forced to stay in over the weekend and as my dogs are all small (and two of them are old men now, bless them!) they don't need huge, long walks.  A run round the garden in the rain is enough for them, but now the rain seems to have moved on, I want to get back out walking.

7. Blog: I love writing blog posts and checking up on how many views I've had or reading new comments.  I am going to try and do a couple more blogs this week and take some pictures whilst I am away so expect more posts coming soon.

For the first seven, I have tried to set myself realistic targets but also targets that I might otherwise try and put off for another few weeks.  I hope that by writing them down I will be more likely to complete them.

Check out Louise's post here if you want to get involved.

If you have set yourself 7 targets, let me know in the comments below and I will check them out!

Much love,

Nikki

Current Obsession: Individual False Lashes

I am a massive fan of huge, smokey eyes.  If I am going on a night out, I love nothing more than layering up my eye shadow, using plenty of black mascara, lining my eyes with gel liner and throwing on a pair of false eyelashes.

That being said, I have never gone out and spent a fortune on a pair of lashes.  The joys of being a student, hey?

My favourite strip lashes are the Girls Aloud ones from Eyelure.  I find that they go on really easily and look fab.

Recently, however, I have rediscovered something which has been lurking in my drawer since my 6th Form leavers prom... 5 years ago!!

They are the Body Collection Natural-Look Eyelashes 'Individual Lashes'.  They claim to give you a natural, fuller look by using 3 sizes of individual lashes to help you create the fullness you require, for day or night.

Now, they say 'individual' lashes but I would say there are between 7 and 10 synthetic hairs on each lash, rather than individual one hair lashes.  They are in lengths of 10mm, 12mm and 14mm.

I have been using the glue that comes with my Eyelure lashes, as I find that this does the job just fine. (Although I am dying to get my hands on the Duo lash glue which I believe is the best one)

Below are some pictures of me wearing the lashes.  I built them up from the outside in, with the longer lashes on the outer corner of my eye.  I finished with a coat of mascara to blend them into my natural lashes.

I love the effect that they give and they are weightless on the eyes - you forget that they are even on!

I am sure these lashes are still available but as I got them so long ago, I can't remember how much they were.  They were really inexpensive and from a shop called Bodycare.  I did see some Eyelure ones this morning in Superdrug and they were around the £6.00 mark.

What do you think of individual lashes?

Much love,

Nikki

Spring/Summer Lips: Bright Orange

As I have stated in a few of my other posts, I am a complete sucker for nude lips.  I always try to branch out into bright pinks or dark reds, but I don't feel as though they suit my skin tone and I end up rubbing them off and going back to a nude.

As you many already know from this post, I adore the Revlon Lip Butters and as such, I wanted to try a different colour.

I visited my local Boots store and headed to the Revlon stand where 015 Tutti Frutti caught my eye. It is a bright neon orange.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in 015 Tutti Frutti (RRP: £7.99)

I was intrigued.  But as I am such a coward I didn't buy it there and then.  I actually came home, applied some clear lipgloss and then pushed orange eyeshadow into it, so that I could decide whether or not an orange lip colour was worth buying!

Crazy, I know.  But the lip butters aren't cheap and I wanted to be sure I wasn't wasting my money on yet another lip product that would get put in my lip gloss box and be forgotten about.

Strange experiment done, I decided that I liked the look and would buy the lip butter next time I was in Boots.  When the time came, I also stumbled across this lip gloss.

Revlon Colorburst Lip gloss in 046 Sizzle (RRP: £7.99)

I like wearing a lip gloss over my lipsticks so I bough these at the same time to wear together.The lip gloss is glossy (shock, horror) but not sparkly. It isn't too sticky either and when worn together these product seems to have quite a good staying power.

Swatches: Left - Tutti Frutti, Right - Sizzle

Both products worn together on the lips

I am really enjoying wearing these colours, especially in the summer.  I think they'll look lovely when I have a bit more of a tan.

You can buy both of these products in Superdrug or Boots.  A bit of surfing has just revealed that Boots are currently offering 3 for 2 on all Revlon cosmetics, which you can access here whilst Superdrug are currently offering £2.00 off the lip butters here.

Do you enjoy wearing a bright pop of colour for Spring/Summer or due you stick to neutrals? Can you recommend any more orange lip colours I could try? Next on my wish list is Topshops 'Infrared' lip stick.

Much love,

Nikki

Lush Review: Dragon's Egg Bath Ballistic

Oh. my. goodness.

I don't think I have ever been so excited in the bath before! For those of you who have not tried this Lush creation yet, I urge you to go out and buy it.

What they say:

Like an everlasting gobstopper, this ballistic keeps on revealing layer upon layer of surprises. It gives up its gifts in an unfolding drama, leaving you in a bath of molten gold. Along the way you will experience a firework display of colour, a fiery crackle of popping candy, a swirling landscape of creamy foam and a drift of paper dragon scales.
To complete the fantasy we rounded this off with a fragrance of sexy jasmine and uplifting citruses and bergamot. Leaves you ready to come out of your cave and soar!

The Dragon's Egg bath ballistic is quite plain and unassuming from the outside.  It's chalky white with just a hint of orange peeping through.

My gorgeous little girl Roxy having a cheeky sniff of the Dragon's Egg!

 Now if you are planning on using one of these then don't read any further otherwise you may ruin the surprise...

Once plopped into the water the 'egg' reacts much in the same way as any other bath bomb.  It fizzes and foams around the bath, realising lots of lovely soft bubbles.  The little coloured 'scales' also end up floating around the bath.

The bubbles are white to begin with but as the bomb dissolves the foam becomes orange.  This seems to errupt from the bomb like a volcano.  I like to think of this as the 'yolk' of the egg! 

After the orange layer comes the best, most exciting and most surprising bit.  The core of the bath ballistic is GOLD! It turns your bath water a shimmery orange colour and fills it with tiny particles of gold shimmer.  It is absolutely beautiful!

I love the little surprises that always seem to be inside Lush products.  They make me very happy!

I have since repurchased this ballistic for my boyfriend, although I have to admit that his didn't seem to errupt quite as dramatically as mine.

The price of this bath ballistic is £3.15 for one.  You can purchase it here or in store.

I guess it is fairly expensive for something that only lasts for one bath but I adore it.  For a treat to yourself, it is definitely worth it.

Have you tried this one yet?

Much love,

Nikki

Outfit of the Day: Maxi Skirt

The weather in England is, as always, ever changing.  One week it is scorching hot with temperatures higher than those in the south of France and the next it is torrential rain.

I wore this outfit out for something to eat on a Sunday evening.  The weather was pleasant but quite cool.

For a bit of background, I am a UK 6/8 (depending on the item of clothing or the store), I am about 5'3" and I carry my weight around my hips and bottom!

Black blazer (H & M), Black tassle scarf (A present from Italy), Vest top (H & M), Grey maxi (Primark)

With my Armani navy blue patent handbag

Minus the scarf and blazer (Black cami from Primark)

I wore this outfit with my FAVOURITE nude shoes from Topshop.

Sorry for taking so long to update my blog.  Things have been hectic for me at the moment.  I finished my final teaching placement and have since secured a full time teaching job starting in September this year. I am SO excited. 

Thanks for sticking with me and I'll be sure to update more frequently now I have some spare time.

I hope you enjoyed this post, thought I'd do something a abit fashiony for a change.

Much love,

Nikki

New Purchases: Lipsticks

 As you may know, I love nude lips.  Because I have become so obsessed with my Creme Brulee lip butter (read my blog post on it here), I thought I would pick up a couple of other nude lipsticks to add to my collect.

The first one I picked up was the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse lipstick in the colour 501 'Nude Ingenue'.  I had heard pretty positive things about the Caresse range, with some comparing them to the Revlon lip butters.

This lip stick, although creamy, is not as moisturising at the lip butters, but I do really like it.  It is a browny nude and it smells lovely.  I really like the packaging to and I think the way the lid clicks back on makes it feel more expensive than it is.

Secondly, I got Maybelline's Colorsensational Pearl in 842 'Rosewood Pearl'.  This lipstick is more of a frosted finish (being a pearl) and looks slightly metalic on the lips.  It is a pinky nude with purple undertones.  A lovely colour but the smell of this one is not as nice as the L'Oreal (or the Revlon lip butter).  Again, the packaging is lovely.  I like how they have matched the colour of the lipstick to the colour of the packaging.

All in all, these are both nice products but they have not replaced Creme Brulee as my go-to lip colour of the moment.

Left - Maybelline, Right - L'Oreal

Left - Maybelline, Right - L'Oreal

Colours swatched on my hand.  Top - L'Oreal, Botton - Maybelline

Personally, I would say go straight for the lip butters but if you do prefer a more traditional lip stick you may disagree.

The L'Oreal Rouge Caresse is available from Boots, priced at £7.99 (Get it here) and Maybelline's Colorsensational Pearl £7.19 (Get it here).

What do you guys think? Have you got any recommendations?

Much love,

Nikki

Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow

As much as I love the look of MAC Paint Pots, I do not own any.  There isn't really any reason for this, other than I've never really paid much attention to them when I have been at the MAC counter.  Only when I watch beauty gurus on YouTube do I see the products being used and think 'Ooh I fancy one of those!'

When I heard about the new Maybelline Color Tattoos and people compared them to MACs Paint Pots, I was keen to try one out.  I don't live near a MAC store so the idea of nipping to my local Boots was much more appealing.

The colour range stocked at my nearest Boots was pretty poor, with only 3 colours.  I plumped for 35 On and On Bronze.  It is a gorgeous metalic bronze colour with a hint of copper.

I am actually really impressed with the texture, quality and pigmentation of the product.  It is super creamy and therefore it glides on really smoothly, with a finger or a brush.  It is also really easy to blend.  The colour is also highly pigmented.  This is great as it means that it can be worn on it's own for a quick sweep of colour or as a base for other shadows.

In terms of it's longevity, I am not sure if it does last for 24 hours or not.  This is because I wash my face at least twice a day! But I wore it for a night out last night and not only did it stay put, it didn't crease and it held my other eyeshadows on too.

I really recommend this product, and although I cannot comment on the other colours, I highly suggest you check these out.  I have my eyes on 'Permanent Taupe', 'Eternal Silver' and 'Endless Purple'.

Have any of you tried these out? Can you recommend any colours?

Much love,

Nikki