SPRING NEW LOOK HAUL

Having not shopped with New Look for a long, long, long, LONG while, I was pretty impressed when I went for a little browse. I had been seeing so many of my favourite bloggers with their bits and pieces from NL, so I wanted to see what I could pick up. Spring is seriously springing and I am so over wearing big teddy coats and my Dr. Martens. Overall, I am hella impressed with my little haul. I didn’t spend an awful lot; New Look is actually on the higher end of my budget when it comes to shopping (Oh, Primark, how you have spoiled me!) but I did find three pieces that I am in definite *lurve* with.

NYX LIP LINGERIE LIQUID LIPSTICKS COLLECTION + SWATCHES

It’s hard to imagine a time where I didn’t have a liquid lipstick plastered on my face…well, unless you count the 6 days a week I exclaim “I can’t be bothered!” and head out bare-faced. But the fact still stands, when I can be arsed to get some slap on, trust and believe I’ll be using a liquid lippie. The hype boomed in 2016, and we saw loads and loads of brands try to jump on the bandwagon that was dominated by the likes of Kat Von D, Jeffree Star and Huda Beauty’s products. 

I wasn’t about to clean out my bank account investing in the whole collections of the giant brands, and I really wanted to find more affordable options. Some of the cheaper ones were okay for a while…I remember dabbling in Gerard Cosmetics’ offerings, along with some La Splash and Sleek variations too. But even after frittering all those pounds, it wasn’t until I discovered the NYX Lip Lingerie Liquid Lipsticks that I really fell in love.

MY NIÇOISE SALAD RECIPE

If seeing the words ‘niçoise salad’ doesn’t immediately make you think of Heather and Megan Vandergeld from White Chicks, then please go, now, and watch White Chicks. We’ve been having a few really beautiful sunny days in February so far, and it’s making me crave ice lollies, Pimm’s and 99s with flakes. And for the first time in literal years, I’m starting to fancy a salad. Now, I completely live by the Bible passage that states: Thou Shalt Not Go Into A Restaurant And Order A Salad, because as eeevvvveeeryyyyone knows, it’s not real food; you’ll want to demolish a burger within an hour or so of polishing one off. And no salad on this earth is worth some of the prices you see on menus nowadays. However, I am definitely of the opinion that for about six or seven quid, you can make a family-size version of one of the most delicious salads around. 

SOME REALLY GOOD HIGH-STREET FACE MASKS

Between eating Scotch Eggs, crying over who was eliminated on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars last week and having various existential crises, I like to give myself ‘pamper nights’. These usually involve running a bath (at a comfortable hundred-degree temperature), a bath bomb, a true crime documentary and definitely a face mask. I’ve tried loads and loads of face masks in the past, and like to think of myself as a bit of connoisseur. My bathroom cupboard is filled to the brim with half-empty tubes of face masks; high end and high street ones. I thought I’d write a couple of posts on my favourite from each of these price points. These are the more affordable options, but ones I really love…

URBAN DECAY | NAKED CHERRY PALETTE REVIEW

After repping a particularly persistent case of conjunctivitis when I was about 12 years old - and running around with pink eyes for months because of it - I vowed never to wear pink or red eyeshadows. I managed to re-infect myself with it every week or so because I simply couldn’t face going into year 7 without my Dream Matte Mousse and Great Lash Mascara slathered on. The sore, weepy, crusty, bruised-looking state my peepers were in wasn’t a great look. So obviously, as soon as I kicked the conjunctivitis once and for all, I invested in the most fetching blue and green eyeshadow palette (alas, I cannot remember the name!). I was living. the. dream. 

But then when I started to get a little bit older, and began retiring the makeup products of yesteryear, I realised that maybe my white eyeliner/concealer-lips combo wasn’t the one. And maybe, just maybe, nudes, pinks and reds were actually supposed? to? look? good??? After much Instagram-based research, I made the exciting discovery that one didn’t have to appear to have an eye infection when wearing these colours on their lids. Who’d have thunk it?

So, since then, I’ve frittered what little money I have on eyeshadow palettes. Less of the ever-so fetching blue and green variety - and much much more of the neutrals, nudes, pinks, purples and reds. The first one I got was the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette (a cult favourite, and I definitely can see why), then I got the Naked 3 Palette, then the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette, some of the Zoeva Palettes…the list goes on and on (the last time I counted my eyeshadow palettes, I had 28. *erk*).