Some August Wins

As I know many of you like seeing my wins, here are a few I've had this month. 

Sorry the top pics are dull but you know my camera is rubbish and my photgraphy skills are little better!
The above pics are self explanatory and the pic below shows a Wheetabix tin that I won on their Facebook page. I think I'm turning into a bit of a granny as I caught myself thinking how useful it would be for storing things. Nail polishes perhaps.

I also had a bit of a surprise last week when I was told I'd won a year's worth of Canderel. I was supposed to ring them up by tomorrow and confirm delivery details but it completely went out of my head. Hopefully if I ring tomorrow morning they will still let me have it.

So there you go, those are the things that I have won this month!

What do you think about this kind of post?

Lauren x

Also, before I go, I want to say thank you to Mill at Stars and Stitches for giving me an award :)

New Nail Art Dotting Tools!

Hello everyone,    

Recently I've really got into doing my nails, as you will see if you come here often. I want to experiment a bit more with nail art so last week I ordered and received these dotting tools from Ebay. They set me back a very reasonable £1.36 including p&p!

                       I played about with them on paper first before painting my nails today like this:

The colours I used are:

George's lilac 'Be Mine'

George's pink 'No Excuses' 

Nails Inc's 'Basil Street'

It took a bit of patience but I like the overal effect. I saw some Twister nails like these that were fab, but I don't have enough of the right colours so that will have to be a future idea. Anyway, let me know what you think of them!

Lauren x

Lemon Drizzle Loaf!

Today I made an easy peasy lemon squeezy loaf cake.

Looking a tad burnt here, but I assure you it doesn't taste it!

You can see the bits of lemon rind in this pic!

Recipe

1. Beat 170g each of sugar and butter.

2. Wisk in 3 eggs (each individually).

3. Gradually mix in 170g of self raising flour.

4. Grate the rind of one lemon into the mix.

5. Line a 1lb loaf tin with baking paper and fill with the mix. 

6. Bake on 180c/Gas 4 for 35 to 45 mins (keep checking  it as the time really fluctuates depending on your oven). 

7. Whilst in the oven add sugar to the lemon's juice to form the drizzle, as thick or as thin as you like. 

8. Pour the drizzle over as soon as you take it out of the oven. Some people like to poke the cake a few time with a knife or something so that the drizzle goes down through well. 

9. Enjoy :)

This really is such a simple cake to make, and yet so delicious. Let me know if you give it a go. 

Btw, this is the first time I've posted using Instagram pics, not really sure about them to be honest, they seem to look much better when other people post them!

Lauren x

Gold and Teal nails

Hi everyone, 

Yet again I'm sharing some nails with you. Lately I've been really good at keeping my nails painted and pretty looking, whereas I used to paint them once in a blue moon, I now change them 2 or 3 times a week. When I take the polish off they look naked and pale in comparison.

Here I used Avon's Arabian Glow polish in 'Teal Infusion' with George at Asda's 'Warrior' (Which I showed you the other day here). I did all my fingers in the teal which I would describe as more of a bright turquoise, then I drew a simple design on my thumbs.

These colours are perfect partners.

Lauren x

17 Va Va Voom Mascara from Boots

I mentioned in a recent post (here) that I've been using 17's Va Va Voom mascara. I've got on really well with it so thought I'd do a review. 

For anyone who is unfamiliar, 17 is a brand of make up that is made by the British chemist and beauty store, Boots. The range is aimed at the younger market, whereas Boots other make up brand, No.7, is aimed at a slightly older market.

This is what it looks like:

The tube is quite a chunky barrel shape similar to Avon's Supershock mascara. I like these as I find them easy to hold but I know that some people prefer something smaller and find these awkward.

My ancient camera didn't want to focus, but you get an idea of the wand.

The wand has the generic bristle brush end. It tapers ever so slightly to the end and is the type you would expect from a volumising mascara. Mine is looking quite clumpy now as the mascara's getting dry. I've been using it for a while now and I like to pump my mascara even though I know better!

The results:

left eye with mascara - right eye without

Sorry for the creepy, staring eye pic but it gives you a good idea of the difference between having it on and not. I think that it's a pretty decent mascara that does just as well as some higher end brands. Like I said, it's a little clumpy - I think this was a combo of my heavy handedness and also the fact that it's been open a quite a while now. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is as to be honest I was expecting it to just be average. This is normally £6.29 but I bought it when all 17 mascaras were on offer for £4 and I had a £2 off mascara voucher from the advantage card machine, so it ended up costing me a mere £2!

What do you think? 

I took advantage of the offer and went back and got two other ones from the range too so look out for reviews on them in the future!

Lauren x

Dartmoor And A Camera Please?

Hello lovelies, 

A bit of a random post today and a question about cameras!

I've been out and about quite a lot this week but am rubbish at remembering to take pics. Poor Jasper has an ear infection at the moment so we've been avoiding his usual park where he's guaranteed to jump in the river. Instead we seized the opportunity to go to Dartmoor yesterday while the sun was out. 

This is a small part of the view from one of the tors we walked around. The fields look like patchwork and on a clear day you can see for miles. It was lovely and sunny and after the walk we went to a cafe in Widecombe ( a small Dartmoor village) and then looked around the touristy shops. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I could never get bored of the moors. 

As you can see the picture quality is not that great, and I'm convinced that it's not just my bad photography! My camera is an ancient Fuji Film Fine Pix A303, I've had it at least 3 years and it was someone else's before that. My good friend Google tells me that it came out a decade ago in 2002! 

So my point is, I need recommendations for a good, under £100 camera, preferably something I can buy with my Argos gift card. I know hardly anything about cameras (except for the fact that you should look for a high ISO and that megapixels don't necessarily mean quality), so any suggestions will be appreciated. 

Lauren x

Quickie Nail Post

Hello lovely readers!

Just a quick post tonight to say something rather than nothing. I thought I'd share what I've got on my nails at the moment. This is another George nail polish, it's called Warrior.

Warrior, £1.75 at Asda

I wear this loads as it's so versatile and goes with almost anything I'm wearing, it also looks really good with a tan. As it's metallic it looks different depending on the light, sometimes gold, other times when the light's hitting it it's more on the silver side. Oh, and if you're seeing a hint of pink it's the reflection from my dressing gown, sorry!

On another note, thank you for all the comments you've been leaving me, I love to hear from anyone who's reading :) 

Also, well done if you got your results yesterday - regardless of grades getting through your A- Levels is still a huge achievement and you now have your lives ahead of you!

Lauren x

A New Buy: George Owl Jumper

Yesterday,while in Asda I had a quick look at the clothes and spotted this jumper. 

I'm a sucker for most things with an animal print and this was no exception. I couldn't believe it was only £10! I think it's quite quirky looking and really really cute. The owl is felt so it's got a bit of texture going on and the colours are really autumnal. They didn't have anything smaller than a 16 but it looked quite small cut so I slung it on over what I was wearing and it just looks like a fashionably oversized jumper. It's cosy too!

What do you think? I read here that owl prints are going to be big this year because Burberry have used them in their new collection. 

Lauren x

Avon Extra Lasting Liquid Foundation

I may have mentioned in previous posts that I used to be an Avon rep a few years ago.  During that time I amassed quite a collection of their products and got to try out all the new things before the customers did. I really enjoyed it but then I moved house which meant I would have had to drop my old customers and start again. At the time I had a lot going on and didn't want the extra hassle, so I stopped. Anyway, that's a different story, but my point is that I've tried a lot of Avon products and this is the one I use the most and would be lost without!

The foundation comes in a glass bottle containing 30ml and is dispensed by a pump. It has SPF12 and is available in five shades with a RRP of £12.50. Avon describes it as 'Long lasting foundation that gives a flawless finish that lasts for up to 18 hours'.

You can just see it blended in to the right half of my hand in this pic

The colour is slightly lighter than my hand when blended in, as I have a tanned hand and a paler face, but you get an idea of what it's like.

I don't know about it lasting for 18 hours, but it definitely stays put during the day and I don't find I need to touch up my foundation (although sometimes I do set it with powder). It gives good medium to full coverage and as I tend to have quite blotchy, blemished skin, it gives me a more evened out skin tone. It doesn't irritate or dry my skin out and neither does it make it oily, but I have combination skin which I think this foundation really suits. If your skin were on the more oily side then I wouldn't recommend this.
The texture of the foundation is right in the middle of watery and thick, with enough body to not just slide off your face like some liquid foundations, but not heavy and it doesn't look cakey. Like many people, I have slight paranoia about walking around looking like I've put my make up on in the dark and been a bit heavy handed. This in mind, I tend to go for a less rather than more approach, but this foundation is easily buildable depending on the coverage you're after. I've also heard but not tested it, that this foundation has water repellent properties so is great for swimming/exercising/humidity.

I use this everyday in the shade 'Ivory'. It's my first choice for a cheaper end long wear foundation and I would recommend giving it a try.

Lauren x

The Liebster Award

What is the Liebster Award?
The Liebster Award recognises new and upcoming blogs that have less than 200 followers.

The Rules
1) Each person must list 11 things about themselves. 2) Answer the 11 questions that the tagger has set for you PLUS you MUST create 11 questions of your own for the 11 people you will nominate with this award. 3) Choose up to 11 bloggers linking them to your post. 4) Go to their page and inform them of the nomination. 5) Absolutely NO tags back. Remember to ONLY tag bloggers with less than 200 followers.

In the space of two days I've been nominated 3 times for the Liebster Award! This is such a compliment so thank you Emily, Alana and Laura! Unfortunately this post would get extremely long and boring if I answered all your questions so I'm just going to answer Laura's as she was first to nominate :)

11 Things About Me

1) I love Christmas

2) I have a sister who's 16 years older than me (beat that Laura!)

3) I spend way too much time online

4) I wish I could speak another language

5) I have no idea what I want to do in life 

6) Gardening is my guilty pleasure, I like the feeling of accomplishment when I've grown something

7) I live in Devon, the best county in England!

8) I'm quite thrifty but some would say I'm tight!

9) My family is really small, there aren't many of us :(
10) I spend ages entering competitions online

11) I am 21 again this year ;)

Laura's 11 Questions

1) Why did you start blogging?
I love reading blogs and have spare time so thought I'd just go for it!

2) Who's your celebrity crush?
I actually don't have one.. sorry to be boring.

3) If someone was going to make a film of your life, what actress would play you?
Emma Roberts or Leighton Meester.

4) Favourite make up brand?
How can you choose one?! Seems like I use a different one for everything. 


5) Favourite food?
Do sweets and chocolate count? I have such a sweet tooth and could live on dark choc digestives.

6) What's your signature style?
I don't think it has a name. I wear whatever takes my fancy, normally shorts in summer and tights, boots and dresses in winter. I'll only ever wear something if it's comfy.

7) Favourite memory?
The summer I finished sixth form. It was spent going to the beach, moors, swimming and BBQing and it never seemed to rain that year. After that everyone has gone their own ways and I've lost touch with quite a few people.

8) What's your dream holiday destination?

I've always wanted to go to America and maybe do route 66.

9) If you got stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you take with you?
My dog, an axe, Bear Grylls. 

10) If you could be any animal what would it be?

A bird. They can travel quickly, see everything, and as an added bonus I could shit on people I didn't like!

11) Who's your favourite fictional character?
There're too many. Spike from Notting Hill and Smithy from Gavin and Stacey are two of my faves, and of course Bridget Jones. Funnily enough I seem to prefer TV and film characters rather than those in books.


That's me done. I'm nominating the following lovely people to recieve the award:
Katie from Beauty and the Bitch
Emily from Emily Likes Make Up
Zoe from zoeliannex

Questions for them:

1) What's your dream job?
2) Do you have any guilty pleasures?
3) If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
4) What's the best present you've ever been given?
5) How old is your blog?
6) What's your favourite shop?
7) Do you have any pets?
8) What was the last thing you bought?
9) Favourite time of year and why?
10) Where would you like to go on your next holiday?
11) Name three things you couldn't live without.

Phew, that was a long post!

Lauren x

Pastel Polka Dot Nails

I felt like doing myself some pretty pastel nails today and decided to go for lilac with blue polka dots. I used George at Asda in 'Be mine' and Barry M in 'Blue Moon'. 

Excuse my messy nail painting. I like the overall effect, obviously they're not perfect but I think the irregular shaped dots look quite good and the colours are great together. Perfect for a sunny day :)

Lauren x

Mascara Bargain

I love a bargain as much as the next girl so I thought I'd share this one from Boots. This morning they put up a printable voucher on their 17 Cosmetics Facebook page offering a mascara for £1!

You can find the page by searching for '17 Cosmetics' on Facebook. 

I haven't tried this mascara before but at the moment I'm using the 17 Va Va Voom one, which is really good. At a pound I'm sure it's worth a try, just hope they have some in stock!

Lauren x

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

As you may know by now, I like to enter competitions in my spare time. Last week I was lucky enough to receive not one, but two of these lipsticks that I won through the Revlon Facebook page. They were giving away 100 a day, each day a different colour.

When they arrived they were beautifully packaged which made receiving them that extra bit special.

Cute Candy Striped Paper Bags

I was even more impressed to open them and find some sweets inside!

This was what was inside each bag. Sweets too!

There are 20 shades in the range; the two I won are Peach Parfait and Berry Smoothie. They are both gorgeous and luckily are colours I will actually wear and pull off!

Peach Parfait top and Berry Smoothie bottom

Peach parfait top - Berry Smoothie bottom

I'd describe Peach Parfait as a coral shade, with both peachy and pink tones, whereas Berry Smoothie is a slightly richer, pink shade. Both shades have glittery particles that made the lipstick quite shimmery looking. There are also 18 other shades! The lip butters glide on incredibly well and have all the qualities of a lip balm in a lipstick, with mango, shea and cocoa butters to moisturise lips. They RRP at £7.99 and are available at Boots, Superdrug, etc.

Pretty pleased with these!

Thank you Revlon!

Lauren x

Yankee Candle Newbie

I know I love looking at what other people have bought, so here's one of my latest buys. It's a Yankee wax tart burner. You buy wax discs to put in the top and light a tea light underneath. The heat from the candle melts the wax and releases the scent.

Amazon £5.95

I never used to know about these and just thought they were oil burners. I only found out when I bought this candle, opened it and found it had no wick because it's a wax tart!

A lush, relaxing scent that smells like the garden but not too floral!

So obviously then I had to go and buy some more to use in the burner. Each one is supposed to last 8 hours, but I haven't stuck to one for that long yet. When you blow the candle out they harden up again and you can interchange them, so that's what I've been doing.

Mmmm!

Can't wait 'til all the Christmas ones come back in the shops!

Have you used any Yankee products?

Lauren x