Current Favourites | August 2017

I haven't got that many things in the line of favourites this month mainly because I lost my bank card and spent most of the month without access to money, which was super annoying but there are a few little bits I've picked up throughout the month that I'd like to share!

The first thing I picked up was the Body Fantasies Signature in Pink Grapefruit Fantasy from Superdrug and I didn't need a new body spray but I sprayed it in the shop and I knew I needed it. It smells like it should be a Victoria Secret scent except it doesn't last as long. Obviously it smells like pin grapefruit and although I'm not a fan of the fruit I love the smell. It's very summery and fruity and very good for the price.

The next things I got are from Disneyland Paris, they're two collectible pins. I'd never bought any Disney pins before but I decided that I'm going to start collecting them every time I go to Disney, so I picked up two to start my collection. The first one I got is the 25th Anniversary pin as I thought it was cute and it's a good commemoration of me being there then, plus I won't ever be able to get it again so. The second one I bought is the Thumper one, where he's holding a flower in his mouth, I love rabbits so Thumper has always been a favorite of mine, I just think he's so cute. Don't forget you can check out my Disney vlog here.

   

The last two pieces I got from Kiko which I always get stuff while away as we don't have any in Ireland. I didn't need anything in particular though so I just picked up two small items, I got the Smart Colour Eyeshadow 09 Metallic Moonstone in a light grey colour. Although I wouldn't normally wear grey I got this one because it swatches more silvery and light than it looks and I think it would look nice in the corners of your eyes to finish off a look, as I haven't any other colours like it.
The second thing I bought I bought because of how cute the packaging was as opposed to the colour, not great I know. I got the Mini Divas in 01 Practical Rose which is a really pale light pink which probably doesn't suit my skin tone the best but it's such a tiny lipstick and the packaging is so cute I thought I'd just get it anyway. You get a good bit of lipstick for the size and it's so easy to bring around with you.

The above swatches are of the Smart Eyeshadow 09 and the Mini Divas Lipstick 01.

Another thing I've been loving recently is the Addams Family musical. I got to go see the UK tour live twice in the past few weeks and I am obsessed with it. It's one of the funniest musicals I've ever gone to see and the cast and production are amazing, definitely try to get tickets to this tour while you still can. The soundtrack is very hard to find to listen to as there isn't many recordings of it anywhere, although I'm hoping they do a cast recording and put in on Spotify as soon as possible. If you're interested and want to check out a few songs you can watch the full cast perform When You're an Addams here and Carrie Hope Fletcher who plays Wednesday's version of Pulled here, they're both two of my faves.

What has everyone else been loving from the past month?

Mini Lush Treats | Review

It's been a while since I've bought some new Lush products, and although these products themselves aren't new I haven't reviewed them on my blog before and thought I'd share them with you as I have loved them all. I got them while away in France so I don't have many photos of them and it's also why the packaging for each is in French.

The first product I got was a good old charity pot, which I surprisingly have never owned before. I've had the smaller packaged version but not the actual pot, it's always been a product that I've kind of avoided in shops, maybe because it's always suggested that you buy it but I'm happy I've finally given it a try. It's a moisturizer for your hands and body and I really do like the feel of it, it's very moisturizing and easily absorbed, my skin feels so much more glowy after I've used it and I'm not sure what the actual scent of it is but it's very neutral but still smells nice, if you haven't tried it before you should it's one of those must have handy items! The best part about the charity pot is that all the proceeds (minus tax) go toward small and helpful organisations which I love!

The second item was a tester pot of the shampoo Fairly Traded (look how cute the pot is), the man in the shop was nice enough to give me this for no reason. Fairly Traded is a shampoo which consists mainly of honey, which I was actually very skeptical to try in my hair! I got two uses out of the small pot and I actually think that it made my hair very smooth because of how natural it was! I think I would like to try a full bottle in the future!

   

The last product I got was Brightside, which is one of my favourite bubble bars out there. It's so citrusy and fruity and just all round fun there's no way you can't like it. You get a good sized product for the price, which I say you can get about four baths out of! It makes a lot of bubbles as you can see in the picture below. I love the bright colours of it and it makes a great body wash as well as a good bubble bar and leaves your skin with the most amazing smell! 

Has anyone tried these Lush products before? Which one is your favourite?

Modern Renaissance ABH Palette | Review

I have been eyeing up the Modern Renaissance palette for so long and it is so hard to get your hands on in Ireland without paying a fortune for postage somehow. While I was in Paris we took a trip into Sephora, which I had never been in before and absolutely loved. There were so many amazing things I was looking at to treat myself with but I knew if I was going to get anything it had to be something from Anastasia Beverly Hills as I've never even seen any of their products in person before and definitely wanted some. I know that they have their new palette out Subculture, which they didn't have but even if they did I would've got this one as the shades are amazing and so perfect for Autumn coming up!

The packaging of the palette is something I actually like but I know a few people dislike it. It's a pink velvet-y suede casing and although it can get dirty very easily, it looks very pretty and feels very soft and good quality.

   

It comes with fourteen shades, eleven matte and three metallic. The shades are mainly pink, orange and yellow and they're very good quality and it comes with a dual ended brush. The shades are very autumnal I definitely bought it in the right season. The eye shadows are some of the best quality that I have tried yet it has a lot of fallout, every time I use it a lot of powder falls out, I've heard that this is such a big problem with the new Subculture palette so I can't imagine how bad that one is. You have to be very gentle when applying as they are very powdery shades. My favourite shades are Golden Ochre, which is a bright yellow gold, but I love how matte most of the shades are. My other favourites are Realgar, which is such an unusual colour and also Love Letter which is such a pretty pink when blended with other colours. All the shades go so well together and blend so nice together I'm having a lot of fun playing with the different combinations.

The above swatches are Tempera, Golden Ochre, Vermeer, Boun Fresco, Antique Bronze, Love Letter, and Cyprus Umber.

The second photo of swatches is of Raw Sienna, Burnt Orange, Primavera, Red Ochre, Venetian Red, Warm Taupe, and Realgar.

I know this palette isn't very new but it's still worth the hype that surrounded it when it first came out, it's my favourite palette now!
Has anyone else tried this palette before? What do you think?

Paris & Disneyland Paris | Photo Diary

If you didn't know I recently went on holidays to the beautiful city which is Paris! I visited some amazing places in my time there and thought it would be good to share some (my favourite being Disneyland Paris which I actually have a vlog of up on my Youtube here if that's your kind of thing). I had an abundance of pastries and macrons over there and loved literally everything, we did the most tourist-y things also so if you're planning on visiting Paris soon you might want to check these places out!

Obviously the most tourist place in Paris is the Eiffel Tower so that was first on our list of spots to visit, and we were so lucky with the weather in the week.

This is the view from the Eiffel Tower, not from the top though that's waaay to high for me.

 

The view from the Arc du Triomphe onto the Champs Elysee.

The outside of the Louvre which I have to say was very impressive.

    

The inside of the Louvre and of course Sleeping Beauties Castle in Disneyland (My favourite place in the whole world).

The Tower of Terror which is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite ride.

    

The entrance to Hollywood Studios and my other fave ride Hyperspace Mountain, which is better than I remember it being.

    

Main Street USA on the 25th Anniversary.

Notre Dame Cathedral, in which I sang the Hunchback of Notre Dame songs continuously. 

My favourite meal of the trip which had a view of Notre Dame just along the Seine.

The view of Notre Dame from the very top, which was a lot of stairs.

    

The Eiffel Tower at night and when it sparkles is my favorite thing ever, it only sparkles between eleven pm and five past so make sure your there then!

Has anyone been to Paris before? What's your favourite place to visit?

Too Faced Natural Matte Palette | Review

I've been meaning to post this for a while but never got around to it as it's one of my favourite palettes of the past few months. Normally when I buy an eyeshadow palette I choose it for it's vibrant and shimmery colours, although I don't wear the adventurous shades, they're so pretty to look at. Yet I always wear neutral browns, beige's and pinks on my eyes, so what better a purchase than a palette that's full of neutrals and natural colours. Especially because the colours I normally buy are glittery, I was in need with a wide range of matte shades for more natural and lazy days. I always look at the Too Faced Chocolate bar palette and the Sweet Peach palette but I knew this Natural Matte palette was for me. 

I love how small and portable this palette is, and it has every day to day shade you could possibly want. It's magnetic and the case is tin material and I bring it almost everywhere with me. I also love the lace detail on the case, it's very classy and pretty. As you can see from the picture the rows are split into day, classic and fashion, which is meant to be three separate looks that come with the palette, obviously there's not only the three though. Also as you can tell most of the shades are well used. The quality is very good and the payoff is high. My favourite shades are Strapless, a pink toned light brown, Lace Teddy, a pale pink toned nude, and Honey Butter, a soft honey toned brown. I love that all the shades are matte and non shimmery, they go well together in different varieties and they also suit as bases and shade for more dramatic looks with other more outgoing palettes. 

  

The above swatches in order are, Heaven, Cashmere Bunny, Sexspresso, Lace Teddy, Strapless, Risque, Nudie, Honey Butter, and Chocolate Cookie.

I think this is a basic palette that everyone should have as all these shades are makeup staples. It's a go to palette for me and goes with every natural and neutral look I need. I love the quality of Two Faced products and this doesn't disappoint. 

Has anyone tried this product before? What do you think? 

Collection Pieces | Review

It seems like you always run out of all your products at once and I ran out of all my face products at once so I needed to update my makeup promptly. If you've read my blog before you might know that I'm a really big fan of Collection's lasting perfection skincare. I have done a review of the foundation before in previous favourites posts and I've been using it for quite sometime now. I decided to get all the face products I needed from the same collection to see how well they fit together, and let me tell you, they're wonderful. 

Firstly, I got the Lasting Perfection foundation, which I have had before and loved. I buy a shade darker then I am, in which I bought Ivory 2, the foundation itself is a little bit thick and heavy so it's not for people who like light coverage. I really like the way it covers any imperfections on my skin and it doesn't take a lot of product to cover your face so it lasts quite a long time. It lasts all day and doesn't fade even in the sun and heat it stays on without any top up, it's my favourite foundation at the moment. I'm open to suggestions though as I do want to try some new ones!

The next product is from the same collection, the Lasting Perfection concealer, which every Youtuber and Blogger raves about, which I will rave about in this post also. I got the concealer a shade lighter then the foundation so it brightens up my skin. It has a very nice consistency and definitely covers any imperfections and brightens the area. It matches the foundation perfectly and they blend together like a dream.

The last product I got isn't the Lasting Perfection powder, but the Primed and Ready Setting Powder. I got this one because it contains witch hazel which is really good for your skin and reduces breakouts. I find that this powder doesn't do much for your skin, you can't really notice it, but I think that it's somewhat of a good thing. Especially as it contains products good for your skin. I usually don't buy invisible powders but I think that this one still does the job well and is light and fresh on the skin.

These are always products that I'll repurchase when looking for cheap and good face products, has anyone tried them before? What do you think?

Printing Memories with Printiki

If you're anything like me then you're probably obsessed with taking photos of everything every time you go somewhere. I take photos constantly and I'm always running out of phone memory and camera storage, and the one thing I don't do as often as I should is getting my pictures printed out to have. As photos are essentially like pieces of memories that you can keep and look back on I think it's really important to keep them safe and have physical copies to cherish forever. 

I usually print my photos in photo stores and kiosks in places like Boots but I hadn't done so in a while as I find it takes forever to chose your photos in store and also just a little bit pricey. So I was offered to try Printiki's online printing service and it was something that I have been meaning to try for ages. Printiki is an online printing service which allows you to chose pictures from various types of media such as your own laptop or social media apps such as Instagram and Facebook which is super easy and I love being able to pick my favourites instantly. I found the website really easy to use and chose photos from my social media outlets and my laptop itself and it was so easy to navigate I was really impressed. The longest part of the process was picking my favourite photos to print! 

You can chose a variety of different types of prints small and large and you can completely customize the way you like, like the retro Polaroid style prints that I think are super cute, you can even personalize them with your own messages. I decided to chose the square prints with no border on them to maximize the picture, I also opted for a matte finish but you can also chose between that or a glossy finish. 

I printed out some holiday photos and wanted to display them on my wall and do something creative with them, so I picked up some hanging photo clips from Primark Home to display my favourites on my wall. Although my wall is quite chipped and it really needs a fresh coat of paint the pictures look super cute hanging on the wall and I need to buy extra clips to hang more up. You can head over to Printiki's Instagram to check out other creative photo ideas and inspirations, and also lots of other pretty pictures!

As I only had eight clips to hang up the photos on the wall I decided to make a scrapbook with the other photos as it was something I've been meaning to do for a while, I can't wait to design the scrapbook and continue to fill it up completely with memories.

   

Overall I really loved how easy the pictures were to upload and edit and I love the size and matte finish of the photos, also the quality is great, I will definitely be ordering more soon! They took just a little over a week to arrive which isn't too bad and the price for the prints is super affordable for the quantity and quality. If you would like to order some of your own printed memories, you can get free shipping when you buy prints by using the code H7C2R28B at the checkout!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my photos and what I have done with them! Let me know if you print some photos of your own! 

*This post is in collaboration with Printiki