#NottsBBMeet Daytime Shopping & Kiehls Visit

Wow. What a day!

This was my first blogger's meetup so I wasn't sure what to expect but I assumed it would be fun to meet people with similar interests. Safe to say it far exceeded any expectations and I had one of the best days in ages! :)

I thought the name badge idea was brill and super cute!

Everyone was so friendly and it was great to meet so many of you!! For once it wasn't weird to obsess over beauty items in shops...very refreshing from the usual blank looks or raised eyebrows!! :P

I enjoyed having a browse through New Look, H&M and grabbing a Greggs with these lovely girls:

(Left to right: Sammy @ Bellini Beauty, Gemma @ Gemma Means Jewel, Me, Sally @ Rainy Day Faces & Joanna @ Minty  Essence)

Thanks for the photo Joanna! Not going to lie, very envious of your fab camera!! :D

I enjoyed speaking to everyone I met! It's impossible to remember everyone, so sorry if I miss you, but it was lovely to meet Katy @ Sirens and Bells, Natalie @ Floral Republic, Megan @ Megan's Beauty Blog, Charlotte @ Lil Miss Chickas and of course the lovely Sophia @ Tattooed Tea Lady. A massive thank you to her and the other organizers for arranging this brill day!!! Some serious kudos to you!

The shopping continued with visits to Mac, L'Occitane and Space NK. I was seriously eye-ing up one of the Archie's girl's eye shadow quads but was able to self-restrain and save the approx £40. It was so pretty though...

Photo from makeupandbeautyblog.com :)

I was looking forward to checking out Space NK and despite not buying anything I was able to closely admire the Nars products! I've decided that I prefer the Orgasm blush to the Super Orgasm...I've corrected my wishlist! :)

Also popped into Ark...I found I really liked a lot of the clothing in here so may have to head back in soon!

Group 4! :)

And then for the Kiehls' Visit. Despite being a Notts girl, I hadn't actually been to the store before and so I was excited to hear more about their products and see what they would personally recommend for me.

Safe to say my oily skin was noted and I was interested in their products geared towards this! I really liked the Powerful Strength Serum. It was like velvet on the skin and the science behind the product made me sure it would help my troubled skin. However with a hefty £49 price tag I've added it to my wishlist!

Another product to catch my eye was Kielhs' BB Cream. I like the idea of swapping my heavy duty liquid foundation for something a little lighter every now and again and although I find bareMinerals works well for this I've always wanted to try a BB cream. Luckily I found the Kiehls' BB Cream tucked away in my huge goody bag when I got home, so stay tuned for my thoughts on the product in a little while! (I will do a separate post about the evening part of the meetup shortly!)

I thought this was such a lovely little piece of motivation!

I found the whole Kiehls' experience really lovely. The staff were friendly and having a glass of Bucks Fizz along with a cupcake made it even more welcoming, not to mention refreshing after a hectic morning of shopping! :) I enjoyed getting to know all of you Group 4 bloggers and it was great to meet Rhiannon @ The Barbelle who like me, shares her interest in fitness in her blog too!

One of the last stops had to be Boots. Gosh I love this shop and I love it even more when it has 3 for 2 deals on! As always it's a shame not to take advantage of their offers...

This is everything I bought during the meetup. I'm very happy to finally have the Origins Super Spot Remover...it seems to be well worth the £13 already!

As for the Lush stuff, I got a bit excited that I now have a bath (now I'm home and not at my Uni house) so I had to grab a few bubble bars! I'm giving The Comforter to my mum though.

As I said, it was great to be able to get excited about something in a shop and this to be totally acceptable because everyone shared your enthusiasm! A fab day...and evening...post soon to follow!

Ellie
x

Mother's Day

Hello. Hope you are all well!

So, Sunday is the day when Mums or Mothers are recognized for the super job they do! For being there when nobody else is. For always having your best interests at heart. For being truly selfless and giving you all the love in the world.

Me and my Mum- Christmas 2012

That is my understanding of Mums. I know I'm lucky to have a great one! And I know not everyone still has one... which upsets me, a lot! I mean personally I feel like my Mum is always going to be there and I guess sometimes I take that for granted.

Recently a friend of mine lost their Mum to cancer...the most awful of diseases! And I cannot imagine how hard Mothering Sunday with be for them. Likewise to anyone else who has lost their Mum or perhaps have never known what having a Mum is like. I cannot even begin to imagine how this must feel and I'm praying I won't have to know this for a very long time.

I am a mummy's girl...well a parent's girl I guess. I love being at home, even at the age of 23, and after 4 years at uni I still often get homesick and I ring home on a daily basis, sometimes a few times a day! If this makes me sad or immature or whatever then so be it...I wouldn't change it! :)

Anyway, being a Uni student, with the majority of my upkeep coming from my parents (student loans are not what everyone thinks they're cracked up to be!) I often get told not to bother with the likes of Mother's Day and Birthdays etc. "Save your money, I don't want anything" are the types of things my Mum will say. In the past I've listened, but I don't like not being able to treat the people I love.

So this year I decided I would surprise my Mum with a couple of gifts from two of my favourite shops.

Sadly I won't see my Mum on Sunday as I'm back at my Uni house, but I've already planted the gifts at home! I've been travelling back there quite a bit over the past couple of weeks for various visits around schools (job hunting has begun!) and I had the brainwave at the end of Feb.

My Mum is possibly lipstick obsessed. It's very rare you'll see her without her pink lippy on! However she's only ever had high street products and although I am a big fan of the likes of Rimmel and Max Factor etc, I believe everyone should have a least one Mac lipstick. They are just lovely! The smell, the texture, the finish...just FAB! So, I headed into my local Mac store and carefully selected one, after much deliberation!

Finally, I popped into the Lush store. My Mum is the queen of baths...she never takes showers but will have a daily soak. For Christmas I got her a selection of bubble bars which she really enjoyed, so I had to pick her one of these up! Couldn't resist!

So...hidden away in my drawers at home are my Mum's surprise gifts! She literally has no idea! :D She works nights so as soon as I know she's awake on Sunday, I'm going to direct her to her presents over the phone. I'm quite excited ha!

Want to know what I selected? Ok...here's a sneak peak... :)


...

Mac's Frost in Bombshell & Lush's Creamy Candy Bubble Bar

What did you get your Mum? :)

x

Travel home make-up

Hello lovelies :)

So, last week was half term in Nottingham which meant I got to go home...see my mum & dad and all that :P

Above is what I call travelling light. In fact, I did take more makeup home but I decided to only include what I actually used whilst there!

I love my Paper Planes by Disaster Designs Wash Bag...it's not only cute in the form of a parcel but it's rather large so it can hold a lot. I bought mine here. 

I'll start with essential brushes. 

From the left is my Mac 129se which I love for applying blusher; 

my Sigma f82 rounded top kabuki great for foundation; 

another Mac 129se to apply my face powder; 

a cheap angled-eye brush for my brow kit; 

and finally the brilliant Mac 217 blending brush for eye shadow.

Face stuff.

From the left... No More Shine Setting Spray by Skindinavia. This is one of my holy grail products. A must have to keep my makeup in place and take away that powdery finish. I ordered mine from the Skindinavia site but it's cheaper here.

Pressed powder by 17. It does the job and it's pretty compact :)

Enzymion moisturizer from Lush. I love the citrus-y scent, it's brill for oily skin and helps prep my face for makeup. 

A Bobbi Brown blush in Slopes. Pretty colour.

bareMinerals Matte foundation. I used this the most whilst home...on those days when I wanted a lighter finish.

Benefit's Porefessional. This is a brill foundation primer...however I only used it once as I find it doesn't work too well with mineral foundation.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere...I love this foundation A LOT. However I only needed this heavier duty foundation on the one occasion whilst home.

Lastly, Mac's Studio Finish concealer. Very important for me, especially with my recent acne outbreak!

Eyes.

The Naked palette by Urban Decay. Enough said. 

Max factor's Clump Defy mascara. I'm enjoying using this purple tube atm!

Urban Decay's 24/7 glide on eye pencil. I'm all about the black eyeliner and this one is a beauty. It has serious staying power. Next to it, I also took home my liquid eyeliner by Rimmel which I used on the same occasion as my Chanel foundation (I went pubbing it :P)

Benefit's Brow Zings has been a part of my essential makeup for over a year now and I can't imagine ever not using it!

Liiiips!

As you can see I was quite strict with myself in terms of lip products. 

Generally I just used Lush's lip scrub in Popcorn flavour. This is simply delicious and it helps keep my lips nicely exfoliated. 

Afterwards I'd put on a bit of my Pomegranate lippy lip balm, from The Body Shop, to moisturise my lips and keep them nice and soft.

Finally, on more special occasions, I applied my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stain on top to add a pop of colour. I love the build-able red colour that the shade Romantic gives!

...And that's a wrap!

Disappointing Products!

Hello beauties :)

This week is half term in Nottingham, so I left my uni abode and came back to home comforts for a bit! 

And, upon opening up my make-up storage (currently a weird shelved wardrobe thingy magig) I was surprised at how many products I'd left behind, like the 'Renford rejects'...Give me a comment if you remember this classic 90's kid programme! :P

But on closer inspection I realised why they'd been forgotten and thought about how disappointing each of them had been. So, maybe in an attempt to prevent others from suffering the same disappointment I thought I'd share what they were and tell you why I don't like them, or why they aren't worth the money. Of course, it's only my opinions so you can take my advice as you will. With a pinch of salt if you wish? :P

If you'd rather watch me talk about these products click above! But if you fancy a read...scroll on down :)

First up, MAC's Cleanse Off Oil. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you might love it, but for me I just can't get on with it! Agreed it does literally 'melt off' your make-up without any effort, but for me it also finds a way into my eyes and temporarily blinds me! No matter how carefully I try to remove my eye make-up, it seeps in somehow. Give me Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish any day thanks!

Goodbye cellulite?! Hmmm. I'm afraid it's true...I fell for the gimmick. I mean as if there's a product to essentially disguise fat cells?! Sure it gives a nice cooling sensation, application is pleasant, and I suppose it helps to moisturise your skin but hard work and exercise is the only thing I've found works in regards to cellulite. Don't fall for the nice idea like me!

Rimmel's Scandal Eyes Mascara. To be fair I think Rimmel are actually doing a fab job at the moment and are definitely in the running for the best high street/drug store brand imo. But, I guess there's always the odd anomaly or 'blip'. The brush is far too big for my liking and this makes application really difficult and darn right fiddly. I'm not a big fan of the formula either which seems to take ages to dry, but perhaps that's to do with the many a clumps this attracts?! It's cheap and cheerful at £6.99 but nope, it's not for me!

Avon's Colour Trend...eye shadow/liner stick? Had this one a while and only used it once...says a lot really! The quality of the cream shadow and crayon liner just isn't great. It blends...with effort, but there's nothing that nice about it. Just a big thumbs down to be honest!

Nicola Robert's Dainty Doll WHITE Foundation by Jelly Pong Pong. Yep, I guess the shade is enough to put you off, unless of sure you're Snow White. But I thought maybe the idea behind this would be to mix it with those foundations that are perhaps a little too dark for you? Waste not want not and all that. Wrong. In fact this questionable foundation contains serious sparkle! I mean I like a bit of shimmer and all that but not over my entire face! It's just odd. Enough said. 

Laura Mercier's eye lash curlers. I'd say be aware of these. Sure the design is really cool and you think 'ahh they're so compact and nifty', but they over-curl like a bi-atch. They don't fit my eyes particularly well either and I remember them to be fairly pricey. I'll stick to my bog-standard cheap curlers for now I think!

Lip stains/ lip pen markers. I guess this isn't all that personal to Maybelline's Color Sensational and Max factor's Lipfinity versions, but they dry out so quick! I mean under the month mark. And then you get that scratchy feeling when trying to apply them. I don't think I can warrant the money for just a few week's worth of use. However, I must say the Maybelline one smells absolutely delicious...like summer fruit berries! Yum.  

Max factor's Lipfinity two step duo. I really like the concept of this, with the glossy texture drying quickly. Application is fairly easy and it leaves a nice finish. It seems to withstand perhaps more than many lip products but it's staying power starts to crumble after an hour or two...literally crumble. You're left with a flaky peeling effect that looks to me like you either haven't applied your lipstick well or indeed you have the driest lips ever known...I mean seriously grab yourself a Carmex quick! These aren't personally looks I like to go for, so I'll pass on this. 

And that's a wrap...some of my most disppointing purchases!