Spring time shopping time

I love spring, I love every season really, but I get bored by the end as I am impatient for the next season.

It's not quite spring yet, but I am going to count it anyway as I am tired of winter.

As it's not actually quite spring yet I have done a little spring time shopping to help it feel more like spring. Ultimately it won't really be spring until I don't have to scrape my car it the morning...grrr.

Here is what I have brought to get my all springy

A new blogging notebook. Floral :) I have soo much in here all ready, but having the time to transfer my scribbles into pretty little blog post is time consuming in my busy life. This does mean though I should always have something to blog about for my monthly post...yay. Paperchase, and I am not sure how much it cost as it was actually a very pre planned (and instructed) Christmas present from my Shane.

A new phone case...again floral. I kept dropping my phone recently (because I am so clumsy) and the one sided pink pokadot case was only protecting the back, I was so scared about damaging the screen that I got a fake leather flip case which I absolutely love!!!! It only cost £1.99 from amazon which is always a good start.

I like to get new bed sheets at this time of year, again floral, but on Christmas eve I treated myself to a Christmas set from Asda, half price at £6, and i'm still using them, even though they are wintery. On this basis I did not need any new bed sheets...what this space summer time!

My mum loves to garden, and our garden always smells lovely with fresh summer flower smells in the summer time. By now I am starting to miss that, despite my recent bouts of hayfever. To try and compensate for the lack of floral smells wafting around I purchased some new candles, these are both Yankee, the first is Cut Roses which also remind me of my late nanny. Her garden was always full of roses, and her bathroom had a rose scented air freshener which smelt exactly like this candle :).
The second candle I got was French Lavender, I love lavender, everything about it, I especially love baking with it as it is a unique and fresh ingredient. I have not lit this one yet but I am going to use it in the evening as lavender is good a making me drift to sleep. Although I will blow the candle out first!

Another way I like to bring in fresh smells is via bath time. Lush is definitely my favourite product for a good scented, bath product. My mum always says the bathroom smells "lush" after I've had a bath. This makes me chuckle as she doesn't put two and two together with the products.

I am still making my way through the Christmas and Valentines bubble bars and soap, so when I visited Lush at the weekend I picked up a three of my favourite bath bombs. These are twilight, avobath and sex bomb, I also picked up three which are new to me, tisty toasty, honey bee and blackberry bath bomb. Note how sex bomb never made it to the picture, this one is very relaxing.

I do like to read in the bath, and as I have just finished Girl Online (yes Girl Online 2 has been pre-order p.s Zoella, when is the film coming out?!) I have picked up a few books. These are To Kill a Mockingbird, Love Tanya and Glamour Guide. Slight range there. I do love a good read of all sorts of topics and books. I think it's really nice nowadays how reading is coming into fashion too.


Even writing about these things has me excited for daffodils, snow drops and baby lambs.

♥

Face of the day.

Evenin'

I went back to work today after a lovely long break for the Christmas holidays. I did not want to get out of bed this morning, no way. But some how I did, after snoozing my alarm for 20 minutes. 

Thanks to snoozing the alarm I went to work with minimal makeup.

So first thing I did when I got home, after fussing Henry and eating pizza, was apply some makeup, mainly because my new No7 2014 Illuminated Make-up Mirror arrived today :). 

Here is how I created this "my every day when I do not have to get up at 7am" look.

♥I took off my day long eye makeup using my garnier micellar water.

♥ Applied my Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in the colour vanilla. I like this foundation because it gives a good coverage with a thin coat, and leaves a lovely matte effect, but shines in the light like a natural glow, without looking oily. I am naturally quite pale so this foundation is a tad too dark for me, it's mainly for when I have a tan but with a jumper I can pull it off as you cannot see the rest of my skin. I used my Zoeva 102 silk finish to apply this, sometimes I use my Real Techniques beauty blender.

♥In doing this I created the ever so fashionable foundation lips, so I quickly cleared that up with my Lush bubblegum lip scrub, and then applied my Bodyshop lip butter, in I think, peach. 

♥Then, I moved onto my eyes. For the eye shadow I used my Bourjois Smoky Eyes Eye Shadow Trio £7.99 in the colour 03 Mordoré Chic. I took the lightest shade all over my lid to my eyebrow, the medium shade on just my lid, and brought it down into the corner of my eye, and then I blended the darkest colour into my crease, and brought it down onto the lower lash line to create a smokey brown effect. Sound quick and easy? Meh, not quite. 

The brushes I used are real techniques-base shadow brush, Zoeva 227 & Zoeva 231

♥I then took my L'Oreal Paris Volume Million Lashes Mascara £10.99 on my upper lashes, and a light coat on my lower lashes. 

My mirror reflected in my eyes

♥To finish off I took my Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Shine Lacquer in the colour Charm Offensive £7. 

My current skincare routine

I have recently been inundated with acne, I want to say suffering...but lets face it, there are far worse things I could be going through, so inundated. I would say my skin is normal to combination, and then there's my chin...

It is mostly around my chin area which I have recently learnt is a result of hormones. This link takes you to the dermalogica website and their face mapping page, a very interesting read.  www.dermalogica.co.uk/uk/yourskin

After a trip to the Doctors my acne prescription has now been change to a stronger tablet. (Lymecycline - with most ance tablets you cannot exfoliate but with these I have to be really careful with eyebrow waxing too as they thin the skin, well, any face waxing).

The tablets started to help, a massive amount at first, so I decided to treat myself to a facial at my local beauty salon. They are all demalogica trained beautician and really know a thing or two when it comes to skin care. It was Sam, the lady who did my facial who warned me about waxing and the reasons why surrounding my new tablets.

I wanted the facial to really clean out my pores to give the tablets a bit of help. The facial was really good, and afterwards Sam, and salon owner Zoe (Preens), selected several samples for myself to take away and use to help my skin.

I am not normally very good at using samples, but I decided to give it ago because my skin had been really bugging me prior to. My acne can be quite painful. After a few days I could really see that keeping up a skincare routine helped to keep the acne at bay. A few nights I thought to myself, I really could not be bothered to wash my face over and over, but then I remembered what the results were and could not resists looking after my skin.

Because I had kept a good routine going with the samples, I decided the ones I really liked, and used the most I would purchased and I felt they would be a worthwhile investment having already proved to myself that I would use them religiously.

I feel the main reason I have continued to carry out a skincare routine is because I have made a routine to suit my life style. Mornings are a big no go, I am far from a morning person. So I look after my skin in between cleaning my teeth and bedtime. I also feel that the facial made a huge impact, as my skin was deep steamed & cleaned...and then any left overs were extracted, little bit painful but worth it. This meant that each night all I do is keep the pores clean but if I had not have had the facial, I would be cleaning my skin for the day to day impurities but the ones from prior to the routine would still be there, I am trying to word this with out making myself sound dirty.

My current evening routine

♥I start taking my makeup off with the Bodyshop camomile cleansing butter £12 (not pictured)

♥Then I wash my face with the Dermalogica foaming wash from the clear start range £13

♥Then I cleanse with my Clinque take the day off cleansing milk £19

♥Time to tone with the Dermalogica multi active toner, this is a spray mist instead of liquid, which is good for oily skin. £27

♥Then I moisturise with any moisturiser, as I have soo many samples to get through. 

♥Then I apply the Dermagloica overnight treatment. £13

♥If need be I will apply the Dermalogica emergency spot fix. £13

In the mornings

♥I wash with the foaming wash

♥Cleanse with the Dermalogica ultrcalming cleanser £26.90

♥Apply the emergency spot fix if necessary

♥Any leftover eye makeup I remove with the Garnier Micellar water. £4.99 

Once a week I will do a facemask, my favourite at the moment is the Origins clear improvement charcol mask. £23

Clear skin :) (with makeup)

Did you know?

♥ I am 21.
♥  A summer baby, July.
♥ Accountant (in training).
♥ I am easy to scare.
♥ Big bang theory fan.
♥ Very messy.
♥ The sun makes me happy, very happy.
♥ So do beaches.
♥ I think pebble beaches are sometimes prettier than sand.
♥ If my parents, or my boyfriend's parents cook me food, that's okay. Otherwise I am a surprisingly fussy eater. Not in the sense I wont try new things, I like healthy and knowing exactly where it comes from...yet I have a major weakness for KFC and McDonald's.
♥ I am very shy, but once I get to know someone I am pretty excitable.
♥ I used to be a young firefighter. 5 whole years.
♥  I am now a cub leader.
♥ Used to be a scout leader, 4 whole years.
♥ Out of all of my holidays, only 7 have involved flying.
♥ I do not like flying.
♥ I get travel/motion sick.
♥ I have mild lactose, wheat & gluten intolerance. 
♥ I like vegetables.
♥ I sing all the time when I'm alone but would never properly sing in front of anyone.
♥ My favourite colour is pink.
♥ When I am hungry, I get really grumpy.
♥ My hair is naturally brunette and curly.
♥ My boyfriend, Shane, is my world.
♥ I like to read because I like learning new words.

My wonderful mum made this for my 21st. 

New year, new me?

At the end of 2013 I remember thinking to myself how lucky I was to have such a normal year. To be happy and healthy with my amazing friends and family. I wished I could keep it the same. 

Seeing in the new year last night I was happy to say I have had another wonderful year, and again, I wish for the same for 2015, and I am super excited for it! 

So no new me, maybe some improvements - after all nobody is perfect. 

Reflecting on 2014

♥ January - Saw in the new year with my amazing boyfriend, bestfriend & parents. 
♥ February - First night out in London, Fabric, to help one of my closest pals say goodbye to her teenage years. 
♥ March - My boyfriend brought me flowers for the first time, and had them delivered to work...only took 2 years. 
♥ April -Survived another tax year at work (I am an accountant...yawn)
♥ May - Got a tweed jacket after 3 years of looking at their beauty.
♥ June - started my blog. 
♥ July - turned 21! Went on my first grown up holiday without my parents, and with the boyfriend. 
♥ August - Went to my first festival, cropredy.  
♥ September - swapped from being a scout leader to a cub leader. 
♥ October - Went sailing for the first time. I didn't like it. 
♥ November - Held a snake for the first time...still not keen on them.
♥ December - Saw in the new year with my nearest and dearest. Boyfriend, myself, best friend & cousin. 

Some of my favourite snaps from the year. 

Little aims for 2015...not resolutions, I never stick to them.

♥ Maintain a healthy diet & do at least some exercise. 
♥ Maintain a healthy car...maybe wash it?
♥ Keep my room tidy
♥ Blog regularly
♥ Save some money...look to buy a house with Shane :)
♥ Finish college. Only 1 exam left.
♥ Be more organised