Springs Arrived

I think its safe to say, Spring has sprung & I couldn't be happier! This was a bit of a spontaneous post this morning on the train and luckily enough I had the photographs to go alongside it in a draft, points for organisations please! This is a shorter post of mine just to welcome in the new season - the first few days of the month have been a bit dubious and just yesterday it was bloody freezing, wet, miserable and gale force winds yet this morning it's as if none of that even happened. 

Luckily enough from our kitchen window we've a view of over the city and it just so happened that whilst I was eating breakfast today the sun was rising so of course I snapped a picture and put in on Instagram (links on the side) if you want to have a nosey - definitely a nice start to the morning. What is it with the sun and lifting everyone's spirits? Usually the dreary train commuters in the morning are just that, dreary and today they were all positively beaming as if it was the height of summer. 

I decided to embrace the weather and ditch the boots & socks I've been wearing solidly since the end of Autumn to my new shoes which show ankle and have cut outs - how daring right? I then decided to put my most spring appropriate lipstick on, my prized YSL lipstick which is pictured above and although I'm not the biggest fan of shimmer, this isn't sticky or overdone, it's perfect! Sadly I left the sunglasses at home, which I'm sort of regretting now as I'm making that really unattractive squinty face when the suns in your eyes out of the train window  - luckily no one can see in! 

As soon as the sun arrives everyone embraces the colour and brights in their wardrobes (or pastels) and it's such a nice change, since my wardrobe is 95% monochrome, I just add a coloured cardigan or the like but still I try. I don't think it's warm enough for crop tops and short just yet but I like that we're on the way - sometimes it's nice to leave the coat at home! And also Easters right around the corner, that's definitely sneaked up on me, 2015s whizzing by and with working all summer I'll definitely be making the most of the sun we do have when I can it the weather has cheered me right up.

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what's your favourite thing about Spring time?  

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High End Haul

I'm probably not the only one with a wishlist as long as my arm but at the start of the year and end of 2014, there were too many sales and bargains to resist purchasing a few things as a little treat. Wonderful news for me, terrible for my bank account. Anywho most of the things I actually ordered were beauty related, are you surprised and then the odd perfume chucked in for good measure and I already love them to pieces so I thought I'd put together a little haul post since they're one of my favourites to read!  

Ever since I purchased my YSL rouge volupte shine lipstick in the summer I've been dying to try more from their makeup range, it all looks absolutely stunning in its gold packaging and that's the only excuse I have. I'd heard plenty about the touché éclat from other bloggers and beauty lovers but I hadn't convinced myself that I really needed it or could justify the price tag, prettiness aside. However when Feel Unique had a cheeky offer on I managed to snatch it up for less than £20 which I was quite proud of. 

The second YSL purchase was the YSL baby doll mascara set, I really wanted to try this and it's usually around the £25 mark so when I saw the set in Boots for £15 I knew it was meant to be, so I not only got the mascara for a bargainous price but also a sample sized makeup remover too! I thought I'd include this as well as I finished my Mac duo over the last week or two but that's a separate post and I couldn't be happier that it's finished and ready to use! It's just so cute and makeup bag friendly. 

Christmas is also just a time for gift sets which are often great value so when I saw the Benefit all about prime on offer, I needed it, not only has the porefessional been top of my wishlist for a long time but it also included a skincare sample too. I'm questioning why I didn't get round to purchasing it sooner actually and I'm so eager to try it. Lastly I bought the One Direction You & I perfume gift set which smells incredible, I own their our moment fragrance and loved it so thought it would be right to get their other fragrance too and the bottle looks soonnice sitting on top of my dresser. I actually bought this without realising it was the 50ml bottle but I'm not complaining :) this may not seem like too much but they're  some nice additions to my makeup collection, I should probably put myself on a spending bank now but I hope you enjoyed reading :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

P.s what things have you all been buying lately? 

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The Best of 2014

Dare I say it the year of 2014 absolutely flew in (although some parts did drag a little), something I realise is becoming more common as I'm getting older unfortunately and there were plenty of ups and downs so I'm happy to have a restart in 2015. If you read my blogiversary post (link here) you'll know 2015 is a big year in terms of things happening and I couldn't be more excited for them to play out. 2014 was a massive year beauty and skincare wise as I branched out a heck of a lot more than usual so I thought I'd share a few of my favourite things. 

Skincare is something I hold my hands up about, until last year I didn't have a proper routine and I didn't know how bad my skin was so at the start of 2014 I told myself that would be fixed, and it was!

The Body Shop has some amazing products and between their Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter and their Tea Tree Facial Wash my skin has improved and then some! Both are incredible and well loved for a reason, the tea tree fights blemishes and spots (which everybody gets) and the cleanser makes my skin silky smooth - what a duo! I also invested in more face masks and I now have a whole drawer full to get through so I'm well set for this year and this Quick Fix mask was one of the first I'd tried, one of the cheapest and one of the best so I thought it needed a mention. Soap & Glory is another brand that I've been loving this year and not just for its unique smell, the products actually work and smell gorgeous as well, plus the pink packaging definitely makes everything more fun.

2014 was also the year that Babylips and the Revlon Colourburst Balms arrived and I'm ever so glad that they did, I always have my trusted Cherry Me in my handbag for on the move and my Revlon matte balm in Sultry which is probably my most used lip colour ever and you're probably all sick of hearing me raving about it but its gorgeous! I also discovered The Body Shop's Honey Bronzer which I wrote a post about a long time ago now (link here) but basically it caters for paler gals as well which is so hard to find in the drugstore these days.

Also I had to give a shout out to my Collection concealer which will probably be with me until I'm old and grey - its incredible and I still haven't find a concealer up to par with this and trust me I've tried a fair few. I also tried a few bases cause you know its all about that base and the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum (the gel version, not the foundation) really stood out in the drugstore. I'm usually a Rimmel foundation gal so this was definitely a bit of a change up but a good one at that, I always wear it to work and know it won't fade.

I also took the plunge this year and bought things higher end a few times as a little treat, one of them being a YSL lipstick. I'd wanted one for ages but couldn't justify the price but in the end I gave myself one final pep talk and pressed 'add to basket' and I'm so glad I did - the formula is amazing and it looks stunning. My absolute gem of a beauty favourite of this year has to be the Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation though, I know its a bit of a love / hate depending on your preference on coverage but for me I absolutely love the fact that it won't budge for 12+ hours plus and its pale enough for my pale skin! A tad pricey (as are most foundations) but I will definitely keep repurchasing it! That's them all, hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what are your absolute favourites of 2014?

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YSL ROUGE VOLUPTE SHINE

Ever since my first days on instagram (which was a while back)  I was always drawn to the gorgeous packaging of YSL cosmetics, more specifically the rouge volupte shine lipsticks, they always looked so luxurious & I promised myself I'd buy one as a treat eventually so when my summer exam results came out this year I jumped at the excuse opportunity to buy one. Since I've owned it for a while now I thought it'd be nice to actually get round to reviewing it.

Awkward arm swatch of Pink in Paris, shade 13.

At first I was torn between the original rouge volupte lipstick and the volupte shine, I'm usually more of a matte-ish kind of girl, me and lipglosses/shine don't get on too well so I wasn't sure whether I'd like the shine or not. Whenever you're forking out so much money, you don't want to get it wrong, so after hours and hours of online swatches and reviews I decided I'd try the volupte shine instead as they had a newer formula and a more impressive shade range. In the end I decided on the rouge volupte shine lipstick in the shade 13 'Pink in Paris' & its my most prized lipstick in my collection. Its the packaging, I swear.

Since I hadn't tried any YSL cosmetics before I was pleasantly surprised by the fruity scent of the lipstick, very summery indeed and much nicer than no scent at all. As I said theres a massive shade range and the YSL emblem on the lipstick case itself is similar in colour to the lipstick inside so every shades packaging is unique. Shade 13 is a lovely rosy pink (and although I own a fair few pinks, you can never go wrong with it) and it applies beautifully.

Once applied it feels buttery and after one swipe there's a bold colour showing how incredible the pigmentation actually is on these lipsticks and can be built up even more so if thats what you fancy. The colour itself is gorgeous and glossy but not too much gloss for my liking and lasted far longer on my lips than I expected. With eating two meals and drinks since its first application it lasted 6-7 hours which is crazy! and when it had finally faded it left a subtle stain all over the lips rather than looking patchy so it appeared I was wearing a coloured lip balm instead. The fact that I can wear it and not have to worry about it bleeding is a godsend for someone who doesn't look in the mirror every 5 minutes throughout the day to check.

Overall I am in love with the YSL volupte shine lipsticks and can definitely understand the hype around them, not just for their unique packaging but the product itself and I really want to buy another so badly, I think I may wait and see if some offers are on though as on a student budget I can't splurge £25 a time. This one I actually bought on Feel Unique when they had a £10 off £25 offer on so technically this only cost me £15 #bargain, I think thats why I love it even more so.

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

P.s what are you're thoughts on the YSL rouge volupte shine lipsticks?

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Higher End Haul

For the past month or so I've been trying to avoid going shopping in town & reel in my spending a little, saying that theres nothing like online shopping and there have been some wonderful offers that I just couldn't ignore resulting in a largeish haul. Most of these thing were on offer so they weren't bought full price and the odd one or two were presents so I most definitely didn't rob a bank to buy it all but most of the beauty items had been on my wishlist for agesss so I could justify the splurge!

The first item, my Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation I bought from a blog sale about a month ago and as I'd heard so many good things about it and it was £20 including p&p I just knew I had to have it and so far I absolutely love it. I'm actually writing a post including it and a mini review soon so keep an eye out for that one.

The second thing, was the YSL rouge volupté shine lipstick - for I don't know how long I've wanted to own a YSL lippy, they look gorgeous and ever so luxurious but I could never justify the £25 price tag, in fact I was deciding whether or not to get one with my Boots points but then Feel Unique had an amazing offer, £10 off if you spend over £25 so I snapped one up & technically this only cost me £15 #bargain and has now taken pride of place on my dresser.    

The third order was again using the Feel Unique code and I purchased the Urban Decay Basics Palette and an Urban Decay Revolution lipstick totalling £27, now I'm not the best at maths but £5 for an UD lipstick sounded pretty good to me. I chose the colour 'turn on', a lovely pinky shade and on a side note the lipsticks individual names are amazing, I hate the whole number instead of a name thing.

When I went to Glasgow there was a Benefit stand on the boat and as I hadn't owned anything from there I just had a look around and my dad kindly bought me the Benefit bad gal duo - I know theres a lot of hype about the Benefit they're real mascara but this one not so much so I'll let you know if I get on with it or not. 

Lastly Debenhams had a £5 off all lipsticks for National Lipstick Day and I might not have been quick enough to get the shades that I wanted before they sold out, bear in mind it was two in the afternoon but I did manage to pick up 2 M.A.C lipsticks for my collection, Crosswires and the famous Rebel (which is being set aside for the autumn months) and then a Urban Decay lipstick in Bang because I own no red lipsticks - which is crazy. It was basically a 3 for 2, since two lipsticks came to the price of three and I love a good bargain. 

Since buying all of this I'm now putting myself on a spending ban for a bit, I think I need one lol! Let me know if you've tried any of these things or bought any nice things lately?

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo

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