Tuesday 26 June 2012

7 Things for June


This is the '7 Things for June' post, as started by Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter (who I heart!).


Basically, it is a way of motivating yourself to get up of your backside and get things done, spread out over a week or a month, or whatever you would like.  The aim is to set yourself goals, targets or aspirations which you will then try to complete within a set period of time.

I am going to give myself until the end of June to complete the following:

1. Book a Holiday: My boyfriend and I are hoping to go on holiday on the 5th July.  We have yet to book anything.  I hope that by the end of June we will have booked and paid for 10 nights somewhere very hot and sunny.

2. Get Organised: I am going away for a few days from this Thursday until Sunday night.  I have been to get some last minute bits this morning but I need to be completely organised by Wednesday night so that I am ready for our little trip.

3. Start Planning: I have been given an abundance of books and documents from my new school, where I start work in September, and need to start getting some ideas down.  This means beginning to plan my topics and lessons for the Autumn term. 

4. Prepare: I  am going on two school trips next week and need to sort some 'ourdoorsy' clothes.  I don't want to wear anything that risks getting ruining so I need to delve into my wardrobes and choose something.  I have already found a REEEAALLY old pair of trainers that I have washed in the washing machine.

5. Get Groomed: As I said, I am going away on Thursday and at the moment my eyebrows are horrendous.  Luckily, this will get sorted on Thursday morning. Phew.

6. Walk: I adore walking my three doggies but the weather recently has been absolutely horrific.  I am talking thigh-deep floods and ruined houses in my area.  We have been forced to stay in over the weekend and as my dogs are all small (and two of them are old men now, bless them!) they don't need huge, long walks.  A run round the garden in the rain is enough for them, but now the rain seems to have moved on, I want to get back out walking.

7. Blog: I love writing blog posts and checking up on how many views I've had or reading new comments.  I am going to try and do a couple more blogs this week and take some pictures whilst I am away so expect more posts coming soon.

For the first seven, I have tried to set myself realistic targets but also targets that I might otherwise try and put off for another few weeks.  I hope that by writing them down I will be more likely to complete them.

Check out Louise's post here if you want to get involved.

If you have set yourself 7 targets, let me know in the comments below and I will check them out!

Much love,

Nikki

Monday 25 June 2012

Current Obsession: Individual False Lashes

I am a massive fan of huge, smokey eyes.  If I am going on a night out, I love nothing more than layering up my eye shadow, using plenty of black mascara, lining my eyes with gel liner and throwing on a pair of false eyelashes.

That being said, I have never gone out and spent a fortune on a pair of lashes.  The joys of being a student, hey?

My favourite strip lashes are the Girls Aloud ones from Eyelure.  I find that they go on really easily and look fab.

Recently, however, I have rediscovered something which has been lurking in my drawer since my 6th Form leavers prom... 5 years ago!!



They are the Body Collection Natural-Look Eyelashes 'Individual Lashes'.  They claim to give you a natural, fuller look by using 3 sizes of individual lashes to help you create the fullness you require, for day or night.

Now, they say 'individual' lashes but I would say there are between 7 and 10 synthetic hairs on each lash, rather than individual one hair lashes.  They are in lengths of 10mm, 12mm and 14mm.

I have been using the glue that comes with my Eyelure lashes, as I find that this does the job just fine. (Although I am dying to get my hands on the Duo lash glue which I believe is the best one)

Below are some pictures of me wearing the lashes.  I built them up from the outside in, with the longer lashes on the outer corner of my eye.  I finished with a coat of mascara to blend them into my natural lashes.





I love the effect that they give and they are weightless on the eyes - you forget that they are even on!

I am sure these lashes are still available but as I got them so long ago, I can't remember how much they were.  They were really inexpensive and from a shop called Bodycare.  I did see some Eyelure ones this morning in Superdrug and they were around the £6.00 mark.

What do you think of individual lashes?

Much love,

Nikki

Sunday 17 June 2012

Spring/Summer Lips: Bright Orange

As I have stated in a few of my other posts, I am a complete sucker for nude lips.  I always try to branch out into bright pinks or dark reds, but I don't feel as though they suit my skin tone and I end up rubbing them off and going back to a nude.

As you many already know from this post, I adore the Revlon Lip Butters and as such, I wanted to try a different colour.

I visited my local Boots store and headed to the Revlon stand where 015 Tutti Frutti caught my eye. It is a bright neon orange.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in 015 Tutti Frutti (RRP: £7.99)
I was intrigued.  But as I am such a coward I didn't buy it there and then.  I actually came home, applied some clear lipgloss and then pushed orange eyeshadow into it, so that I could decide whether or not an orange lip colour was worth buying!

Crazy, I know.  But the lip butters aren't cheap and I wanted to be sure I wasn't wasting my money on yet another lip product that would get put in my lip gloss box and be forgotten about.

Strange experiment done, I decided that I liked the look and would buy the lip butter next time I was in Boots.  When the time came, I also stumbled across this lip gloss.


Revlon Colorburst Lip gloss in 046 Sizzle (RRP: £7.99)
I like wearing a lip gloss over my lipsticks so I bough these at the same time to wear together.The lip gloss is glossy (shock, horror) but not sparkly. It isn't too sticky either and when worn together these product seems to have quite a good staying power.


Swatches: Left - Tutti Frutti, Right - Sizzle

Both products worn together on the lips

I am really enjoying wearing these colours, especially in the summer.  I think they'll look lovely when I have a bit more of a tan.

You can buy both of these products in Superdrug or Boots.  A bit of surfing has just revealed that Boots are currently offering 3 for 2 on all Revlon cosmetics, which you can access here whilst Superdrug are currently offering £2.00 off the lip butters here.

Do you enjoy wearing a bright pop of colour for Spring/Summer or due you stick to neutrals? Can you recommend any more orange lip colours I could try? Next on my wish list is Topshops 'Infrared' lip stick.

Much love,

Nikki

Friday 15 June 2012

Lush Review: Dragon's Egg Bath Ballistic

Oh. my. goodness.

I don't think I have ever been so excited in the bath before! For those of you who have not tried this Lush creation yet, I urge you to go out and buy it.

What they say:

Like an everlasting gobstopper, this ballistic keeps on revealing layer upon layer of surprises. It gives up its gifts in an unfolding drama, leaving you in a bath of molten gold. Along the way you will experience a firework display of colour, a fiery crackle of popping candy, a swirling landscape of creamy foam and a drift of paper dragon scales.
To complete the fantasy we rounded this off with a fragrance of sexy jasmine and uplifting citruses and bergamot. Leaves you ready to come out of your cave and soar!


The Dragon's Egg bath ballistic is quite plain and unassuming from the outside.  It's chalky white with just a hint of orange peeping through.

My gorgeous little girl Roxy having a cheeky sniff of the Dragon's Egg!
 Now if you are planning on using one of these then don't read any further otherwise you may ruin the surprise...

Once plopped into the water the 'egg' reacts much in the same way as any other bath bomb.  It fizzes and foams around the bath, realising lots of lovely soft bubbles.  The little coloured 'scales' also end up floating around the bath.




The bubbles are white to begin with but as the bomb dissolves the foam becomes orange.  This seems to errupt from the bomb like a volcano.  I like to think of this as the 'yolk' of the egg! 

After the orange layer comes the best, most exciting and most surprising bit.  The core of the bath ballistic is GOLD! It turns your bath water a shimmery orange colour and fills it with tiny particles of gold shimmer.  It is absolutely beautiful!


I love the little surprises that always seem to be inside Lush products.  They make me very happy!

I have since repurchased this ballistic for my boyfriend, although I have to admit that his didn't seem to errupt quite as dramatically as mine.

The price of this bath ballistic is £3.15 for one.  You can purchase it here or in store.

I guess it is fairly expensive for something that only lasts for one bath but I adore it.  For a treat to yourself, it is definitely worth it.

Have you tried this one yet?

Much love,

Nikki


Wednesday 13 June 2012

Outfit of the Day: Maxi Skirt

The weather in England is, as always, ever changing.  One week it is scorching hot with temperatures higher than those in the south of France and the next it is torrential rain.

I wore this outfit out for something to eat on a Sunday evening.  The weather was pleasant but quite cool.

For a bit of background, I am a UK 6/8 (depending on the item of clothing or the store), I am about 5'3" and I carry my weight around my hips and bottom!

Black blazer (H & M), Black tassle scarf (A present from Italy), Vest top (H & M), Grey maxi (Primark)

With my Armani navy blue patent handbag


Minus the scarf and blazer (Black cami from Primark)

I wore this outfit with my FAVOURITE nude shoes from Topshop.


Sorry for taking so long to update my blog.  Things have been hectic for me at the moment.  I finished my final teaching placement and have since secured a full time teaching job starting in September this year. I am SO excited. 

Thanks for sticking with me and I'll be sure to update more frequently now I have some spare time.

I hope you enjoyed this post, thought I'd do something a abit fashiony for a change.

Much love,

Nikki

Friday 20 April 2012

New Purchases: Lipsticks


 As you may know, I love nude lips.  Because I have become so obsessed with my Creme Brulee lip butter (read my blog post on it here), I thought I would pick up a couple of other nude lipsticks to add to my collect.

The first one I picked up was the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse lipstick in the colour 501 'Nude Ingenue'.  I had heard pretty positive things about the Caresse range, with some comparing them to the Revlon lip butters.

This lip stick, although creamy, is not as moisturising at the lip butters, but I do really like it.  It is a browny nude and it smells lovely.  I really like the packaging to and I think the way the lid clicks back on makes it feel more expensive than it is.


Secondly, I got Maybelline's Colorsensational Pearl in 842 'Rosewood Pearl'.  This lipstick is more of a frosted finish (being a pearl) and looks slightly metalic on the lips.  It is a pinky nude with purple undertones.  A lovely colour but the smell of this one is not as nice as the L'Oreal (or the Revlon lip butter).  Again, the packaging is lovely.  I like how they have matched the colour of the lipstick to the colour of the packaging.

All in all, these are both nice products but they have not replaced Creme Brulee as my go-to lip colour of the moment.
Left - Maybelline, Right - L'Oreal
Left - Maybelline, Right - L'Oreal
Colours swatched on my hand.  Top - L'Oreal, Botton - Maybelline


Personally, I would say go straight for the lip butters but if you do prefer a more traditional lip stick you may disagree.

The L'Oreal Rouge Caresse is available from Boots, priced at £7.99 (Get it here) and Maybelline's Colorsensational Pearl £7.19 (Get it here).

What do you guys think? Have you got any recommendations?

Much love,

Nikki

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow

As much as I love the look of MAC Paint Pots, I do not own any.  There isn't really any reason for this, other than I've never really paid much attention to them when I have been at the MAC counter.  Only when I watch beauty gurus on YouTube do I see the products being used and think 'Ooh I fancy one of those!'

When I heard about the new Maybelline Color Tattoos and people compared them to MACs Paint Pots, I was keen to try one out.  I don't live near a MAC store so the idea of nipping to my local Boots was much more appealing.




The colour range stocked at my nearest Boots was pretty poor, with only 3 colours.  I plumped for 35 On and On Bronze.  It is a gorgeous metalic bronze colour with a hint of copper.

I am actually really impressed with the texture, quality and pigmentation of the product.  It is super creamy and therefore it glides on really smoothly, with a finger or a brush.  It is also really easy to blend.  The colour is also highly pigmented.  This is great as it means that it can be worn on it's own for a quick sweep of colour or as a base for other shadows.





In terms of it's longevity, I am not sure if it does last for 24 hours or not.  This is because I wash my face at least twice a day! But I wore it for a night out last night and not only did it stay put, it didn't crease and it held my other eyeshadows on too.

I really recommend this product, and although I cannot comment on the other colours, I highly suggest you check these out.  I have my eyes on 'Permanent Taupe', 'Eternal Silver' and 'Endless Purple'.

Have any of you tried these out? Can you recommend any colours?

Much love,

Nikki

Monday 16 April 2012

Absence makes the heart grow stonger...

The time has come..... It is the end of the Easter Holidays! *booooo*

That means I am back to school and to my lovely Year 2 class to finish my final ever placement as a trainee teacher. Yipee!



It also means that I will be super busy for the next 5 weeks.  I will try my upmost to not neglect my little blog baby as I am loving seeing it grow, but I thought I should warn you that things will quieten down (a little bit!).

If you click the 'follow' button (up there, on the left), you will be notified when a new post goes live, so you won't miss out.

Thanks for your support.

Much love,

Nikki


Sunday 15 April 2012

Nail Obsession: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

For the last several years, I have had acrylic nails.  I love them because I never have to worry about my nails looking neat and presentable for work or a night out, as they are permantly french manicured and glossy.  I know they are not the best things for your nails but my natural nails are pretty terrible and are always breaking, so for me, acrylics are something I could not (and would not) go without.

For this reason, I rarely paint my finger nails.  On the other hand, my toe nails are always painted and presentable, but generally due to a quick sweep of polish an hour before I go to my yoga class!  This generally limits the colours I choose to use as I look for a quick drying nail varnish that I can brush on and forget about.

Until I discovered Insta-Dri! This clear, anti-chip top coat not only helps my varnish to stay glossy and chip-free, but it also dries any nail varnish in 30 seconds. Fab news!



Directions for use: Paint your nails with a nail varnish of your choice.  I usually apply two coats, depending on the one I choose.  After 2 minutes apply 1 coat of the Insta-Dri top coat and within 30 seconds any nail varnish will be dry to touch.

Since finding this top coat, I have not stopped painting my nails! I love that I can have two coats and a top coat done within 15 minutes or so.  I don't think I could do without this product now.

There are some more top coats available in the Sally Hansen range, that I'd really like to try, namely 'Mega Shine' which is an ultra glossy top coat.

I got my Insta-Dri for free when I purchased a couple of other products from Boots a few weeks ago.  It retails at £5.99 and you can buy it here.

Are there any nail products that you couldn't live without?

Much love,

Nikki

Friday 13 April 2012

Review: Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Creme Brulee

There has been a lot of hype over the Revlon Lip Butters for some time now.  It seemed to take forever for them to finally arrive in the UK and make it to Boots but they are now here.

So many people have reviewed the full collection but I just picked up one colour to see if the products lived up to the hype and they are indeed fab.

I picked up Creme Brulee which, in the tube, looks to be a nudey brown colour - right up my street! I am a sucker for nude lips and no matter how hard I try, I cannot pull myself away from nude lip sticks and lip glosses.





When on the lips, Creme Brulee is a very subtle but lovely nude.  I have naturally quite dark lips and this colour just tones them down slightly and adds a lovely glossy finish.


The most unexpected and perhaps impressive thing about this lip butter, aside from how moisturising it is, is the staying power.  I put this on in the morning and my lips still feel 'balmy' and glossy hours (and several cups of tea!) later.

I will definitely pick up some more of these as they are great for throwing in your hand bag and complimenting any face of make-up.

I got mine from Boots where everything is currently 3 for 2.  They retail at £7.99 and you can pick them up here.

Have you tried the lip butters yet?  Which colours can you recommend?

Much love,

Nikki

Thursday 12 April 2012

Contact Me

I thought it would be nice to set up an e-mail address so that you lovely readers have a way of contacting me if you need to :)

This is for any questions, queries or requests...

obsessionsofagirlygirl@hotmail.co.uk

I look forward to hearing from some of you soon!

You can also follow me on Twitter: @nikkilovesroxy

If you do start to follow me then send me a tweet to say 'hello'! 

In the meantime, thanks for your support so far.

Don't forget to comment and follow.

Much love,

Nikki

Forever Make-up Obsessions: Top 5 Make-Up Products of All Time

I thought I would share with you my favourite make-up products of all time.

Some of these products I wear on a daily basis but a couple of them are used less frequently (trust me, if I could wear a sparkly pigment every day to work then I would!). So here goes...

Foundation: Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in '2N2 Fresco'

I am not going to talk about this too much as I have already blogged about it here.  I absolutely love this foundation and I have worn it for years.  Nothing else I have tried has come close and so I have no intention on changing to anything else.  I wear this every day.



Blush: MAC Powder Blush in 'Mocha' (Matte)

I got this blush whilst I was in the states and I adore it.  It's a dusky, rosy pink with almost browny/purple tones to it.  It looked lovely with a tan whilst I was away and still looks good with my pale, winter skin.  I use it on the apples of my cheeks and it really warms up my skin tone and gives my cheeks a natural flush.




Mascara: Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Lash Multiplying Volume Mascara

I have always been a fan of Estee Lauder's Sumptuous Mascara so when I heard that they were bringing out Sumptuous Extreme I was very excited.  A lot of people don't like the big brush that comes with this mascara but I have never found it a problem.  The great thing about this product is that it doesn't dry on the lashes and leave that awful powerdy black dust under your eyes.  It makes my lashes look full and thick without being clumpy.

I use the colour 01 Extreme Black.




Eyeliner: Clinque Brush-On Cream Liner in '01 Black Honey'

This cream liner is fantastic.  It comes in a small glass pot, similar to MAC's fluid line, and I apply it with a MAC 266 liner brush.  Although it is called Black Honey, it is actually more of a reddish brown colour.  I have green eyes and I know that any eye products with a red tone make my eye colour really pop, so I was instantly drawn to this product when I spotted it at the Clinique counter.

The consistency is really creamy and a swoop of this across my lash line lasts all day.  Love it!

(Pictures taken with the flash on so you can see the colour a little bit better)




Eyeshadow/Pigment: Illamasqua Pure Pigment in 'Static'

I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to anything shiny, sparkly or glittery and so this pigment fills my heart with joy!  It is a shimmery white pigment with oodles of purple, pink and blue glitter running all the way through it.  It is absolutely stunning!  The pigment is very finely ground so the shimmer can be very subtle or built up for a beautiful hit of irredescent amazingness!

It is best to layer this up over another colour and I love teaming it with a lilac eyeshadow underneath and a flick of black liquid eyeliner.  Yum.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post!

What are your 5 must-have make-up products?

Much love,

Nikki




Wednesday 11 April 2012

Fragrance Obsession: Thierry Mugler Angel EDT

Oh. My. Goodness.

I cannot put into words how much I love this perfume....but I will certainly try!



I was never a fan of the original Angel EDP, I just don't really like the smell.  I love sweet perfumes but for me that is too sweet.  So when I heard (way back at the end of 2011) that Thierry Mugler was releasing Angel in an Eau de Toilette, I wasn't really too bothered.... until I smelt it!

What they say...

Angel Eau de Toilette - a sparkling comet in the glamour galaxy. A new invitation to addictive dreams...

An Powdery Oriental Gourmand composed of three sensual waves that melt into one captivating harmony: the CELESTIAL WAVE with the soft notes of bergamot, the DELICIOUS WAVE with its delicately sweet notes of red fruits and praline and the SENSUAL WAVE with its unique blend of patchouli, vanilla, cedar wood and white musk.

This fragence is ultra sweet but light at the same time.  However, it has huge staying power and is the sort of smell that clings to your clothes, giving you a pleasuable waft of it the next time you put on the same coat or scarf!

The bottle, as you can see, is beautiful but is also refillable.  I think my bottle was around £45 (I got it as a gift for Christmas) but the refills only cost £33.50, which is great.

I am terrible for saving my favourite perfumes so that they last longer but with this I cannot stop wearing it.  I said to my mum a couple of days ago I am not bothered if it runs out because I will go out and buy a refill straight away.

If you haven't smelt it yet, get yourself down to a perfume counter NOW and give this a whiff.

What is your favourite perfume at the moment?

Much love,

Nikki