Song for Sunday #4 Days Are Forgotten -Kasabian

So this weeks Song for Sunday is Days Are Forgotten by Kasabian.

The band holds some strong memories for me, as they were the first band I ever saw live (they were incredible!!) and a few years back me, my sister and my Mum went on a little adventure holiday together for a weekend or so and the whole time we were there we played the new album. So now whenever I hear any of their songs I think of that weekend.

Days Are Forgotten is one of my favourite songs of their's so I thought I'd select it to share with you, but they have so many great songs!

-alex x

Bargain Haul

Well recently I discovered something wonderful, and wonderfully cheap too. Make up from Poundland! Now don't scoff and tell me it'll be cheap crap, it's not their own make up it's high street brands only sold in Poundland. I think it must be end of rail items or re-branded products. So you can find things that would ordinarily be sold for much more at only a pound: bargain!

I've been looking for a grey nail varnish for quite some time now, I'm lusting after the matte shade from Topshop, so when I spotted Sally Hansen Wet Cement for just a pound I just simply had to buy it, I needed to buy it. It isn't matte, but I hadn't expected it to be. But to make things even better, after a little research I've realised that it was sold at around £7 so that means I've saved like £6!!

I found a Rimmel Eye Crayon in 700 flaunt so bagged that also. But was slightly disappointed with the actual shade as I found it much more orange than the packaging suggests. I don't really know if I will use it, as orange eye shadows tend to wash me out and look like one of the walking dead; generally not a look I go for...

Whilst shopping I also picked up one of the Maybelline Baby Lips in shade Peach Kiss. It is wonderful, lovely and moisturising, and my god, it smells so good I could eat it! But bullet does show it to be slightly tinted and I didn't find it showed up aside from a slight shimmer which was a shame but it's a good balm so I'm loving it.

I also bought a couple of items from the MUA stall as there products are normally OK and they are such bargains that you can afford to risk it. I bought another grey nail varnish (before I went  into Poundland) called Koala. But after testing I've discovered that it is ridiculously watery and in order to get a decent colour you'd be there for days painting coats, so I don't think I'll be getting any more of their nail varnishes but it was worth a try. I also got a matte brown eye shadow because I only have shimmery ones and decided I needed to expand my neutrals range (OK, I admit it was a spur of the moment purchase...).

So get your purse down to Poundland and check out their make up because you've got to love a bit of cheap!

-alex x

Song for Sunday #3 Little Talks- Of Monsters and Men

So this weeks Song for Sunday is Of Monsters and Men's Little Talks. I love this song and I think it's a nice warm and cosy song, but the video is a little creepy... But anyway, have a listen and see what you think.

In other news, its September! When did that cheeky thing creep up on us! I am So not ready for Autumn and school... urg. (that describes my mood and the current weather just perfectly).

What's your Song for Sunday?

-alex x

August Favourites

Oh god.. it's September... That means three things for me, firstly that summer is over (*cries into keyboard*), because hot weather never lasts any longer than it absolutely has to in England... But also that school starts again... and these are all thoughts which frankly do not make me a very happy person... But you know what else it means, oh yes, Monthly Favourites time!

So my monthly favourites are going to be made up of not all beauty related products just things that I've been loving throughout the past month.



1. Garnier BB Cream for Combination to Oily Skin- I mentioned in this post that I had rediscovered my love for this BB cream after a short spell away, and I am loving it. The finish is so natural and it feels lovely on your skin, not caky or heavy but you can still build the coverage which is great. My only complaint would be, for goodness sake garnier sort out the tube! Due to the consistency of the BB cream being so thin it just runs straight out the tube and fills up the lid runs down the sides, generally makes a mess, so unless you can somehow balance this thing upright, gravity spills a shed load of the product out into the lid... 

2. Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer- Now before you go "We've heard it all before!!" I know, I know, every beauty blogger there cat, dog and mothers husband has raved about this concealer but I do need to mention it as our relationship has hit the rocks somewhat in the past but I think we're back on track now. 
At first I loved this and used it everyday whilst away on holiday, the coverage is great, it blends in easily, its not too caky, it was great. But when we got back I began to realise that I was getting more blemishes etc.. in the areas where I was using the concealer than in the first place, so it had to stop... and sure enough once I had stopped using the concealer my skin began to clear up and feel so much better. 
But I hadn't totally given up on this concealer just yet, oh no, I've started using it under my eyes to cover my zombie like dark circles and guess what? It works a treat! I am loving this, you do have to be careful for creasing but if you don't slap a whole load in one go, then it works like a dream! So yes, overall I have been loving this product in August!



3. Collection Angelic Eye Palette- Well this is something I received as a gift many months ago but always just cast it of as full of unusable bright colours and only ever touched the two browns but as my make-up knowledge and interest has grown I've really loved using these colours to create some more interesting looks! At the moment I am really loving blending the grey, pink, purple and blue into a dulled and shimmery look.

4. Blogging again! -It has been so lovely to begin blogging again, I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I've enjoyed the freedom of writing such a loosely themed blog (my last blog was a baking blog) but also just how lovely all the other bloggers are. I think last time I was too busy stressing over, baking, photographing and posting (baking bloggers work damn hard so appreciate their work!) to realise what a friendly community bloggers are! So, I'm loving being back on the blogging train!

What are your August favourites?

-alex x

Liebster Award!

Well, this was a nice surprise!

So, I was nominated (awarded, given, whatever you want to call it) for the Liebster award by the lovely Iqra from The Blushing Giraffe. Lets all take a minute to appreciate just how damn cute her blog name is, and then for you to go over to her blog.

Now, on to how this works. You probably already know but, whatever, basically its an award passed between bloggers and when given the award you have to do a number of things. Firstly tell your followers 11 facts about yourself, answer the 11 questions given by your nominator, nominate 11 bloggers, and think of 11 questions to give your 11 nominees, (honestly, what's their thing with 11?!).

So, lets crack on... Eleven facts about me:

1. I used to run a baking/lifestyle blog over at: http://rainingcakeandcookies.blogspot.co.uk/ so I'm not actually new to blogging itself just this blog and beauty blogging.

2. I have a lot of siblings, like a lot-a-lot! 1 "real" sister (that sounds like the others are imaginary I promise their not ^.^), 2 step-sisters, 1 step-brother, 1 half-brother, and one more half-ling on the way. We also have a dog, who may as well be a sibling because he is my mother's baby.

3. My sister runs a lovely blog (*brownie points*) over at: http://hello-you-blog.blogspot.co.uk/

4. I have a grade 4 in tap and am currently practising for my grade 5. I also do contemporary dance.

5. My cat snores and malts on my bed >-<

6. I love beauty and skincare but have a habit of impulse buying things which I probably dont need or are in the wrong shade... 

7. I have weird music taste... This will become ever more evident in the Song for Sunday series... 

8. My favourite shop is H&M because I haven't enough money to buy everything from Topshop, as I would wish...

9. I can never sleep,  -_-

10. I love swimming and the beach and all things water sport related!

11. I really don't know what else to say...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for my answers to Iqra's questions!

1. What is your favourite high end and drugstore brand? I am too skint to buy high end, so am yet to know... but my favourite drug-store brand has to be Rimmel, some of their products are just Amazing! But L'oreal comes a close second... 

2. Flowers or Studs? Depends... Probably flowers....

3. The one beauty rule that you stick to no matter what? Wash, Cleanse, Tone, and Moisturise before bed and in the morning!

4. What is the best part of blogging for you? The community feel everyone is so lovely, and designing my blog, I love tinkering with it and am in no way done with it yet!

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? New Zealand, it looks amazing... So many different things there and I could visit my Australian friend, but its the spiders that put me off... 

6. If you had to live off of either cheese or cucumbers for the rest of your life which one would you pick? Cucumbers because they're juicy and I don't really like cheese at most I'll have some cheddar on my pasta but I hate "squishy" cheeses like Camembert, urg.

7. Glossy or Matte? Matte for lips as lipgloss just makes me feel sticky and too made up. 

8. Do you have any HGs? If so what are they? Hmmm, my Nivea Soft moisturiser. I kept stealing it off my sister for ages then gave in and got some of my own and haven't looked back its amazing!

9. Are you generally a spender or a saver? Saver, I hate parting with my cash. If something is over ten pounds it literally pains me to buy it, often I just won't. But, somehow I just spend it a little bit at a time so I have no money... and if I'm carrying money, it will get spent... so actually maybe I'm a bit of both...

10. Share one blogging photography tip? Remove the white shadow border and increase the size of your pictures to as large as you can! You have lovely pictures so make the most of them! I think it really does improve the look of a post.

11. Which oil could you not live without? I don't really use oils that much but the Body Shop Shea beautifying oil was a god send when we were away.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for my nominations!

1.http://gingerlypale.blogspot.co.uk/

2. http://bethanyworrall.com/ (The rules do say, only bloggers under 300 followers and Bethany has just hit 300, but I love her blog and she's only just over so... please forgive me, I had to).

3.http://www.shonaelizabeth.blogspot.co.uk/

4.http://peanutbutterandchocolatelife.blogspot.co.uk/

5.http://pippa-love.blogspot.co.uk/

6.http://citronandguavaberry.blogspot.co.uk/

7.http://newbeautyrevolution.blogspot.co.uk/

8.http://rollerbladesandvintage.blogspot.co.uk/

9.http://rosyblossom.blogspot.co.uk/

10.http://hannah--belle.blogspot.co.uk/

11.http://beautybucketlist.blogspot.co.uk/

They are all amazing blogs so go and READ THEM!

And my questions! I had to think hard bout this as I didn't want to repeat questions said by Iqra but sometimes it just felt necessary.

1. Why did you start blogging?

2. Beauty or Fashion?

3. Fruit or Vegetables?

4. What are your top three favourite shops?

5. Concealer before foundation or after?

6. Do you have any pets?

7. Favourite drugstore brand?

8. Earliest memory?

9.Are you on the beach or in the sea?

10. Dream for the future?

11. Any advice for a new blogger?

So, there we have it! That ended up being rather a long post, hope you don't mind and now know a little more about me.

-alex x

Song For Sunday #2 Innocent- Stereophonics

So this weeks Song for Sunday is Stereophonics Innocent. I have a love hate relationship with this band, at the moment it's love. But, in the past their album seemed to be the only CD played in my Dads car and I suppose after a while I couldn't stand the sound of it any longer but recently I've rediscovered my love for this band and Innocent is my favourite as of the moment!

What's you Song for Sunday?

#1: http://somedays-sunshine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/song-for-sunday-1-phoenix-fall-out-boy.html

the wide wide world.

-alex x

Garnier Fresh Essentials

Apologies for the crappy photos. I rely on natural light, and.. there wasn't any.

Over time I've built up quite a number of the products in the Garnier Fresh Essential Enriched with Grape Extract range so I've decided to share my thoughts on the products.

Firstly, what I've got: The eye make-up remover, the cleanser, the toner, and their scrub. 

Lets start with the eye make-up remover as that was the first product from the range I used. I love this eye make-up remover, its lovely and gentle but does what it's meant to. I don't know about you but I find that quite a number of eye make-up removers often sting or burn my eyes, which, as you can imagine, is not pleasant! But, in all the time I've used the Garnier one I've never felt any stinging. This does mean that it can take longer to remove mascara than a stronger alternative, but I'd happily spend a little more time than have sore eyes! So, over all its a thumbs up for this one.

Moving on to the cleanser, this has to be my favourite product out of the range (that I own) because firstly it smells divine, so fresh, but also it just feels amazing on your skin. I use this after the Witch Foaming Face Wash as I don't think that lotion cleansers truly cleanse deep down and remove every trace of make-up on there own (I have spot prone skin so don't want to leave anything to chance). It applies like silk and is so cooling and refreshing, leaving my skin feeling soft, clean and totally make-up free! As someone with combination skin this is great because a lot of cleansers leave my dry areas feeling tight and totally stripped of all natural oils, but others leave the oilier patches of my skin feeling, well, still greasy. So this is a great middle ground product, I use a moisturiser afterwards and this works really well!

Now for the toner, it's a nice toner (note the word nice) but I wouldn't say its anything amazing. I don't find that it really does anything for my skin if I'm totally honest. It feels refreshing on the skin but as far as making my skin "refreshed, brightened, and toned" nope. Although, I must say that this is something I find with toner's in general... they don't really do anything for me. As far as feeling nice I prefer the Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Facial Toner, but I'm totally open to suggestions if anybody knows any great toners.

Now finally the scrub. I really liked this product as the beads (or scrub particles, or whatever you want to call them) weren't to big or too harsh but they still gently exfoliate leaving my skin feeling soft and fresh, just as promised. This is one of my favourite scrubs and I don't think I really use it enough if I'm honest because it's quite dry in  consistency but when I do use it I'm always pleasantly surprised by how my skin feels afterwards.

So overall I'd say a big thumbs up for the eye make-up remover and the cleanser, a slightly less exited thumbs up for the scrub and in the middle for the toner. But as a range I would say they are lovely products and really refreshing.

Have you tried the Garnier Fresh Essentials Range?

-alex x

Daisies In My Hair

Well, this was going to be a face of the day to show you my new Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick but... well, to say the least we got a bit carried away and it is what it is. Some pictures of me, a face of the day, and an outfit of the day all rolled into one!

So whats on my face: My Garnier BB cream, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, Natural Collection Blush in Peach Melba, Eyebrow Pencil in Blonde, Vaseline in Rosie Lips, Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 01, and L'oreal Voluminous Mascara. Firstly I'd like to apologise for the fact that most of the products are a little battered... I never realised how scruffy my makeup was looking untill it came to taking the pictures (Ooops!).

I've rediscovered my love for the Garnier BB cream after tking a short holiday from it where I switched between just my Collection Concealer and Rimmel Stay Matte foundation, I wanted to wear something less full on whilst we were away hence only using concealer but that ended badly as I've realised it was breaking me out so in the end I was using more concealer to conceal the yuck that was caused by the concealer... clever. But, now I'm back to the BB cream and loving it! I would seriously recommend the garnier BB cream to anybody who is looking for a lighter base, especially if you have problematic skin as I find it doesn't clog up my pores or cause breakouts, which is just lovely!

Moving on to Blusher and I am currently loving this natural collection blush, its nicely pigmented and I find it really easy to get a flush of colour, nothing to strong and it gives a lovely natural finish. You cant really appreciate the full wonders of this product in the pictures as it was rather sunny and that has bleached me out a little... But take my word for it, they are lovely and for only £1.99 you cant go far wrong! I did also have the highlighter from the sleek contour kit on but for reasons unknown to me I just forgot to photograph it... I love this highlighter it gives a lovely glow to the cheekbones and isn't too strong.

As far as eyes go, I kept it very simple only using mascara and my trusty favourite L'oreal Paris Voluminous, not much to say really except that this is wonderful! Now, I have an apology... My eyebrow pencil... In fact I don't even know if its a pencil... It's a turn-ey thing I bought from a stand in a shopping centre I can tell you its great and in the shade blonde but I can't for the life of me remember which brand its from... And to top things off all of the packaging has rubbed of, so apologies for that!

Now for lips! I freaking love this lipstick! Its the Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick and its bloomin' gorgeous, so smooth and lovely to apply not at all drying which is a big thumbs up from me! And to make things even better, it was a bargain! In Boots at the moment they have £1.50 off the Kate Lipsticks meaning that instead of them being £5.50 they're only £3.99! YAY! So, all I can say is Go Go Go!

I thought I'd include the Tony & Guy CASUAL Sea Salt Texturising spray seen as that has been my go to hair product of late. Its Amazing for lazy hair days (everyday.) it doesn't dry your hair which is great but it adds texture and accentuates my kinks curls to make them a little more controlled, and it smells lovely which is always a bonus!

Anyway, enjoy the lovely weather!

-alex x

What I'm Wearing:
Top: Primark
Jeans: New Look
Shoes: Topshop
Bracelets: French Markets (eek!)

Ps. Apologies (again) for having only one hand painted.. the other totally chipped and had to be removed... Ooops! Bad beauty blogger. Xx

L'oreal Colour Riche Lipsticks Reveiw

Hello,

Well, I'm leaning more and more in the beauty direction of things with this blog. But, that doesn't mean posts will be solely beauty based from now on because, everyone needs a bit of variety, right? I suppose we'll settle into a routine fairly soon.

Anyway to the point, today I'm doing a review of the L'oreal Colour Riche lipsticks for you (oooh think yourself lucky!). I have two shades from the range 241 Orchid and 373 Magnetic Coral, Orchid is a natural nude pink sort of shade and Magnetic Coral is, as you would expect, a bright orange-y coral.

I would say both are very versatile colours and can be worn both day and night, Orchid is great for a natural everyday make up look if you don't want anything too bold, it also works well with something simple for a more sophisticated evening look. Magnetic Coral on the other hand is as bold as can be and looks great with block colours or monochrome, I love wearing it with my Topshop Aztec Print dress. I wouldn't wear this as an everyday lipstick as I prefer a more natural look but on days when it matches my outfit I do really love this shade.

The lipsticks are both fairly well pigmented and give the expected colour, although Orchid is a very natural shade so can be hard to notice. They don't stay put for that long but with a touch up every now and then its not really an issue.

My main annoyance with these lipsticks is that they have a tendency to fall into the creases of your lips a little, obviously this is partially my own fault for having dry lips but, I find that it is a real issue with these lipsticks and it doesn't bother me with others. Another thing that I would say is a draw back is the packaging. The case is a sort of matte gold colour with the band across the middle saying L'oreal Paris, nothing flashy but it doesn't look cheap. That is until you keep it in your handbag or a drawer for a couple of months and it begins to rub of at the edges leaving the black underneath showing. It also shows up fingerprints Very easily which is annoying. But I do like that on the bullet it has L'oreal Paris engraved, I think this gives a more high end look.

Although I must admit the packaging has got a whole lot better as Orchid is in the old style and instead of having a matte gold case. It was shiny, meaning that fingerprints show up almost instantly and the bullet doesn't have any engraving.

Overall I think the L'oreal Colour Riche lipsticks are really good. Not my all time favourite but they come in some truly beautiful colours and are a good quality product, so its a thumbs up from me.

-alex x

Song for Sunday #1 Phoenix- Fall Out Boy

Well I think I'm going to make this a weekly thing on the blog. Song for Sunday is my favourite song of the week or just a song which has been in my head for what ever reason and this week it's Phoenix by Fall Out Boy.

Fall Out Boy are one of my favourite bands and there music just has to be played loudly, no bad thing in my opinion! The reason I've chosen Phoenix as my "Song for Sunday" is because recently we went away on holiday to the south of France (it was Amazing!) and for the car journeys we all made a CD of some of our favourite tunes. Phoenix was track 2 on my CD and every time it started I would think "What the hell is this?!".... then... "Oh... I know now" to say the least I'm not great at recognising songs but this will always remind me of driving down twisty roads in the Pyrénées.

I would recommend their album Save Rock and Roll as I think it's amazing, but I might be a little bias as I'm a big fan...

What's your "Song for Sunday"?

-alex x

hard as nails.

Hello,

Before summer I vowed that I would paint my nails and generally use nail polish a whole lot more. I figured I'd have loads of time on my hands that I could use to paint my nails, pah, how wrong I was... but with then end hurtling ever closer (oh no...) I decided enough was enough I would sit down and be patient and paint my nails.

Lets just say I'm not going to be hired as a processional any time soon... but we got there in the end and I'm very happy with how the colour turned out! I used Miss Sporty Lasting Colour in Blackberry, I think. I say I think as nowhere on the bottle did it have a name or a clear number! So that would be my main complaint about this nail varnish... where's the name miss sporty?

But despite this miner drawback I would definitely recommend the miss sporty nail varnishes the packaging isn't anything flash but for the money they are great nail varnishes. The larger brush makes application much easier (great if you, like me, struggle to make your nails not look like they were done by a 5 year old...) and the product itself is a nice consistency. You don't need an excessive number of coats to get a strong colour I found that two coats did the job just fine. As far as drying time goes I'd say that this one is pretty quick!

The brand claim that it lasts for 10 days but, in the past when I've used other colours from this range I haven't found that it stays for the full ten days but that could just be me being a little ruthless with my nails... but all in all a great nail polish and a budget buy that I would highly recommend!

Lets face it, the colour's not all that summery but it's lovely and rich and makes me think of Ribeena, can't go far wrong with that! What d'you think? Can I get away with it?

What's your favourite nail polish brand?

-alex xx

Ps. Just look to your left a little... over there's some links to where you can find me..do enjoy! xx

hello again.

Hello again internet,

Once more I find myself sharing my thoughts with you, and whomever might read this. Writing a blog. Writing this blog: Someday's Sunshine. Who knows what direction this little patch of internet will go in, but that's just all part of the fun.

Join me on my adventure: into the unknown.

-alex x