Collection : Lasting perfection ultimate wear foundation!

Hi ladies! The sun is glorious and once again I appear to be stuck inside an office, boo! I've been thinking about what I could review recently (please tell me i'm not the only one that occasionally gets stuck for ideas?!) and it occurred to me that i'm currently using a fabulous, affordable foundation. The Lasting Perfection range by Collection is fantastic and I thought I would put it to the test on a night out last week. I have to say the coverage for how light a liquid it is, is superb! It brags 16 hours and although I think I was only wearing it for 12 hours, it gave me the impression it would have survived so much longer! 

Since using this (as well as the Micellar Water by Garnier that I previously reviewed) there has been a noticeable difference in my skin. It seems brighter, healthier and less tired! I'm not sure if this foundation has aided that but I think it makes a difference as my old foundation was a lot thicker. This one is perhaps allowing my pores to breathe?!  

Let me know if you try this! It can be found in most Superdrug stores and at £5.99 it is another bargain of a find!

Thank you for reading!

Garnier: You never cease to amaze me!

Evening ladies! Part two of today's blogathon is a quick review on Garnier's Micellar Cleansing Water, which can be found in most drug stores or supermarkets! Previously, I had been a fan of the make up wipe ( I know, shock horror!) but using this as an alternative for the last 3-4 days I am already starting to see a noticeable difference in my skin. I have less pimples around my chin area and my cheeks seem less flushed!

 It is very easy and quick to use as well. I find that I do use a lot of cotton pads to take my make up off BUT you don't need much of the cleansing water for it to work effectively and I am utterly convinced it lifts more make up and dirt off the face than a make up or baby wipe ever did! if this product continues to work for me then I will definitely continue to purchase it!

Thank you for reading!

Hair Straighteners : Prohibited until further notice!

Hi ladies! I hope everyone is chirpy and cheerful because although it is a Monday the sunshine is absolutely glorious! Definitely worth smiling about! If you're not stuck inside today go and get some Vitamin D!!

Today, I have a few thoughts so more than one article may end up being published!

24 hours ago I made up my mind to cease using my hair straighteners and embrace my out-of-control, bouncy hair with a life of its own and a flat out refusal to stay sleek and quite simply behave! After a night out with friends on Saturday, I looked back at the photographs that had been taken (as you do) and I realised my hair straighteners were making my hair look really fine, lifeless and a little bit dull to be honest. So, that's it. No more. 

No flat, lifeless Sarah! 

I am hoping that by avoiding using my straighteners and using my hair dryer on a much cooler setting that my hair will be restored to its former glory! I still continue to use my favourite hair product; Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance! I think I have been using this product continuously for about a year or so now and I cannot fault it. It's a light spray which means the hair is not weighed down with product and it smells like candy!  One of my pet hates is using product on my hair that smells like like chemicals! With this hair is left soft, more manageable and protected!

"There's more to life than hair, but it's a good place to start!" The Aussie Philosophy!

So there you have it, I dare you to do the same! Put down the heat and embrace the natural body of your hair!

Hair Product of the week: Hask Keratin Protein Hair Oil!

Happy Sunday ladies! This afternoon after procrastinating far too much over the last few days I decided to review a hair product I have been using for quite some time! It's another bargain, which happened to stare at me at the checkout in Primark. Do you ever get that urge to randomly drop items you do NOT need into your already more-than-full basket when  you start queuing? If it isn't an abundance of multicoloured socks with soft, enticing textures or animal faces on (that, let's face it, nobody needs but they are so freaking cute so yep, they get added too) then it is sweets, lip balms or at the time Hask hair products!

Pictured above is Hask Keratin Protein smoothing shine oil, which is a sweet smelling, light, hair oil. Looking back if I remember rightly this beauty cost me between £1 or £2. 

Now, I live for my hair straighteners. It's got to a point now where my hair only gets a day off when I am not going anywhere (so basically Sunday!). This can take its toll, leaving your hair dry and split. I use this oil about once every 2-3 days and as instructed on the back it can be used on both wet and dry hair. I use it after towel drying usually, before spraying Aussie Leave-in conditioner as well! It is exactly as it says, weightless. I've always avoided hair oil in the past with my hair being so fine; not wanting to weigh it down or make it look greasy. For a bargain product as well it smells gorgeous so no complaints here!

Finally, as a bonus tip, I sometimes feel my hair needs some extra pampering so I will soak the ends in this and leave it in over night, hair pinned back (messy for your pillow so I usually pop a towel around it).

There you have it, Hask Keratin Protein Hair oil. Give it a go and see what you think!

Thank you for reading! 

Spa Treatment...Supermarket Price!

Hello beauties! Tonight I have a real treat for you and would you believe that I discovered it in no other place than Tesco?! You're probably thinking I am crazy! This gorgeous product is one from the Calcot Manor Country Spa Retreat range that seems to have popped up in Tesco very sneakily! Either that or I have had my eyes closed on that aisle! This is a sweet smelling, gorgeous feeling dry body oil spritz spray! 

Usually, I purchase Sanctuary Spa products from Boots but having not been able to get there recently I dared to be different and sought something similar from my local supermarket. I've been using the product three days now and I have to say I LOVE IT! It smells fabulous (it contains a hint of patchouli and lots of Vitamin C) of flowers and citrus! I use it mainly on my arms and legs to give them a healthy glow and it really works! My skin feels softer, younger and even appears more sunkissed as a result! Pay special attention to your elbows with this product too, if you're anything like me and you sometimes get dry skin there this is perfect!

So there you have it! You don't always need to spend loads to grab yourself a treat and really pamper yourself! I'll let you into a little secret: This was on promotion for £2.49p!

Goodnight ladies and if you try it out yourselves let me know how you got on!

Thanks for reading

Scribbles x

(I was not endorsed by Tesco to sell you this product, I just think it's fabulous!!!!)

MOTD : Featuring Loreal and B.

So the products today that I will be reviewing are Loreal's True Match the powder in R1/C1 Rose Ivory (which can be found in Boots for about £9), B. Precise long wearing eyeliner in black 100 (which is in Superdrug at around £6.99) and lastly B. Rich Intense colour lipstick in shade 54 Eton Mess. Apologies for not finding a link for the true match powder. The compact I have is square and includes a mirror. This particular square style may have been discontinued in the last 3/4 weeks!

The lipstick was a free gift I received as a result of spending a certain amount on B products that day (lucky me!), hence why it is so tiny and cute!

I may have mentioned the eyeliner before but it is a product very dear to my heart! The little application brush makes it very easy to apply. It literally just glides onto the eyelid, which makes it very easy to shape the eye liner exactly how you want! I get on a lot better with this than liquid eyeliners and due it to being quite thick it lasts a long time making it true to its name!

The True Match powder by Loreal is quite pale in comparison to other Ivory powders I have used in the past. That may sound strange as Ivory is one of the paler tones for your skin but placing next to my other products I can see a difference. However, it goes on evenly and smoothly and is not as heavy as some powders. This makes a stark contrast when using a bold lipstick and eyeliner!

Here is the finished look! Let me know what you think and as usual thank you so much for reading!

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GOSH Cosmetics : Nail Polish swatches!

This afternoon I was wondering what to post that would interest you all and it occurred to me I have yet to write a review on nail polishes! GOSH is a fantastic brand; personally I have yet to purchase a product from them that has made me unhappy! Retailing at around £3.99 per polish, GOSH is a wonderful combination of affordable price and great quality! The town I live in has two Superdrug stores so I am always spoilt for choice! 

The four polishes picked out from left to right are 626 Kind of Pink (Special Edition), 09 Frosted Soft Green, 569 Flamingo and 540 Ocean! These are my favourite ones so far but I am unstoppable and aim to have more of these very soon, which I will share in a future post!

The first, 626 Kind of Pink is exactly that! I would have really categorised this as a red until it sets. After two layers on your nails you can really see the pink undertones and the glossy look you get is fabulous! Secondly, 09 Frosted Soft Green is a very subtle colour. The glitter pieces mixed in with the polish give it an almost 'mermaid-like' appearance! 569 Flamingo is by far my favourite and is constantly coating my toe nails at the minute! It's a bold pink with pastel undertones and really stands out from the generic pinks! Lastly, but not least is 540 Ocean, a metallic mix of deep blue and green to give it an aquamarine shine!

These are my favourites so far, let me know if you have purchased some and what colours you would recommend!

Thank you for reading!

MOTD : It's all about the lips!

As promised here is a run down of today's make up! I use a mixture of different brands and products, all of which can be found in Boots or Superdrug. I'm in love with the 'B' range in Superdrug at the minute. I use their day moisturising cream, make up primer and make up range! Specifically their primer is fabulous.

When applied to the skin it leaves it feeling baby soft and acts as a perfect base before foundation. It can also be used on its own if you fancy a make up free day to give you that fresh and awake look! Second, I use Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation stick!

I adore this, it can be dotted or applied to blemishes and it also goes really well under your eyes to get rid of dark circles or that tired, baggy-eye look (we've all been there!). I will go into detail with my favourite products in the B. range another time because there is also a really good eye pen which helps eradicate tired eyes! I then use MUA Beauty Balm and Rimmel Stay Matte foundation in colour 100 Ivory.

MUA is a great budget product, I think most or all items are sold in Superdrug for £1 each! The beauty balm is very pale and I use it as a base to build up the colour I want. It's a very light balm as well, leaving the skin smooth not sticky or greasy. The Rimmel foundation is quite like a mousse so a lot thicker in comparison. I chose a shade or two darker than the balm so I could build up my foundation base and yet still keep a pale look going. I then follow this with Natural Collection foundation powder in Ivory. Another budget product, this is one of the only pale powders I have found that goes on lightly and does not make my face feel heavy or overdone! Both are applied using a small application sponge; I find these help to get a really even coverage. My eyes are not something I concentrate too much on in this look. I used a very light line of B. eyeliner. This comes in a really cute pot and with a small applicator too! I then finish off with one or two coats of Collection 2000 Volumising Mascara!

I decided to contrast pale skin with bright, bold lips! Previously, you may have seen my post on Revlon's collection of Just Bitten Lip Balm stains! My favourite so far has to be 015 Cherish Devotion! I love have bold these are and even with long wear it leaves a stained coat on your lips, which I can then just layer a clear gloss over!

And there it is! The products I used today for this look! Thank you for reading!

                                              

OOTD - Everything5pounds Apricot Bodycon dress and Onado green wax jacket with Primark sandal heels!

Hello beauties! Today's outfit is inspired by my recent weight loss and feeling confident enough to show off some curves I didn't realise I possessed! Ooh lala!

Both the Aztec Bodycon dress by Apricot and the dark green, wax jacket from Onado were great finds on the everything5pounds.com website, which I previously wrote about! If you like them I ordered them last week so they may still have them or something similar! Hard to believe each item is £5, right?!

To finish off the look I popped on a pair of heeled sandals I bought from Primark a few weeks back! They are surprisingly very comfortable and I got them for £6 in the sale! Their neutral colour means they will go with a lot of outfits!

I like to keep it simple so I haven't added any accessories this time. The dress stands out in itself, don't you think?! To follow : Make-up of the day to go with my outfit! 

Thanks for reading!

Favourite outfit of June!

I was recently invited to the evening party of a friend's wedding and of course, I needed something new to wear!

The dress is AX Paris and cost me £35, an absolute bargain! A size 12 was perfect and it fitted me very well. I love the Bodycon style, it's so figure hugging and comfortable at the same time! The only mistake I made during the night was carrying my clutch over my shoulder using the chain strap - the lace on my dress kept getting caught! Near catastrophe! The shoes are River Island, also £35 (they were comfortable until the very end of the night!) and the clutch bag was in the Very catalogue sale for £8! A very affordable outfit and i'd quite happily wear all these items again.

Thank you for reading!

Budget Hand and Nail cream of the week!

Creighton's Argan Body Hand and Nail Cream has to be my favourite budget hand cream so far! At only £1 I was fairly pessimistic about its results before trying it out. It brags ingredients of Moroccan Argan Oil, Pro-Vitamin B5, Sweet Almond Oil and Shea Butter; all aimed at improving the strength of your nails and enhancing moisture in your skin. Firstly, the product smells fantastic! A real mixture of ice cream and sun tan lotion; a fragrance that reminds me of the summer and holidays! The cream itself is not too thick and rubs in lightly without leaving a greasy, sticky feeling behind. After only a few uses my hands felt softer and through frequent use over a few days my hands felt less dry and looked younger! It just goes to show that in some cases money does NOT have to be spent for you to find a product that works for you! try it out, I dare you! Thanks for reading.

High Street fashion. Online rummage required.

I absolutely love shopping! There's nothing like a nice saunter into town, meeting a friend for a spot of lunch and then ploughing through the crowds to grab the latest must-haves! However, if you're anything like me sometimes the monthly budget just won't stretch that far. This is when I refer to my favourite online shopping site everything5pounds to satiate my constant need for new pretties!

This website is fantastic if you have time for a rummage and are very patient. I stress the need to be patient because with them being in such high demand sometimes you will be frustrated to find something you like but NOT your size/preferred colour. I see a lot of 'hate' towards this website on social media and I think some of it is unfair. However, I love the site because each time I go on there it's completely different and who knows what you will find! Later I'll post some pictures up of items I have already purchased and go through sizing and quality! The only thing I find is postage can be quite steep as they use Royal Mail. HOWEVER, who can complain at spending £5 on postage when you've picked out four items of clothing for just £20?! As promised here are a few pictures to show what I bought recently; apologies for the Iphone pictures!

Both dresses fit really well and as a size 12 they got my sizing almost perfect! The dark green skinny jeans are also a perfect fit! Not bad! Thank you for reading!

Revlon : Just Bitten Balm Stains

Twice bitten? I know the feeling. These lip stains are fabulous and I only have two! I chose colours 020 Lovesick (a blood red) and 015 Cherish Devotion (a pastel pink/lilac). They are easy to apply and because of their thick, balm like texture they do not dry out your lips. Also, even though they do wear off over time they stain the lips leaving a matte colour behind which I quite like!

I would say 020 Lovesick is more a night out lip stain whilst the 015 Cherish Devotion is a daytime wearer, however I would happily wear either of these all the time! I may have even been seen wearing the red one at work today! Office lippy, I'm not even sorry!

At £7.99 each these are a real steal! Come next payday, I may have to get the rest! Thank you for reading!

Reoccurring dreams...

Does anyone else get the odd repeating dream? I have one in particular and it returned again last night! Whenever I fall asleep thinking of my family, without fail. Here is a poem written to depict it in the best way I can. Thank you for reading :) 

Day Two...Tweet Tweet!

Twitter was always the one social media I could not get addicted to. Those of you that know me well will already be aware of my constant barrage of shares, likes, statuses and comments on Facebook. I am not even sorry. My LOVE and HATE for that site has grown over the years; there is a cure. Deciding to go cold turkey, I tried deactivating it for a whole week (I know, a week!!!) but that bird landed right back on my plate again. Anyway, back to the real reason I write to you this morning. Twitter. Recently having gone back onto my account it has helped me touch base with a world outside the nearest and dearest. Bloggers, musicians, presenters, poets, photographers - you name it people are on there using it constantly! So, I guess it has pulled me back in. I am not sure how long it will last, a few days, a week, a month, a year? We shall see, but for now, without much shame I plug my page Poetry_Poise and i'm there to stay. For the foreseeable future. If you do not already use it, have a go - I highly recommend you follow the 'Big Ben'!

Day one...

How long is too long?

I read an interesting article this afternoon on the Metro News, whilst trying to forget about the washed out, pink bedding mishap. A burglar has sent a written apology and a cheque for one hundred pounds to a pub landlady in Cheshire, in relation to a crime she committed twenty two years ago! It's that long ago that the pub owner openly admits she barely remembers it. This has caused me to ask myself a very big question; how long should we wait before we say sorry? We have all at some point in our lives done something wrong to someone, whether it be telling our parents as a child that we hate them, breaking someone's heart because of poor choices we made or maybe something worse. I think it's important to always apologise, eventually, but how long do we wait? Also, what makes us wait? Is it fear of how the other person concerned may react, fear of rejection and our sorry being thrown back in our face or is it just simply pride? I am quite guilty of the latter and would often in the past write people out of my life over things that had been said rather than try to fix it. Recently, I reunited with my friend Kat after almost three years of us not speaking over what we have now decided was petty. Luckily, Kat came to me and we both apologised and will be able to look back in years to come and laugh about the things we said. Not everyone is so lucky and it's taken this to show me that sometimes you do have to let your guard down, hold your hands up and say "sorry". So my challenge for my readers is this. If you know that you have recently upset or hurt someone, whether on purpose or not and you have been meaning to say the dreaded 's' word, do it. Don't wait for a day, a week, a year or like the lady in this article - 22 years. Thanks for reading.

Day one...

It's that realisation of screwing up and having to watch your mistake play out in front of your very own eyes that gets me every time. You know you have messed up and now it plays with your head a little; twisting that knife in just a little further. Sat cross legged facing the washing machine, head sinking into my hands I watch my white bed sheet turn a baby shade of pink. There is nothing I can do but wait. Trapped in a swirling, vortex prison it sloshes around happily in pink foam. There was absolutely no coming back from this. This pretty much sums up my life.