Wishlist #1

Hello everyone!

So I mentioned at the beginning of the month I would be going on a spending ban and well, it hasn't exactly gone to plan (oops) but I haven't actually bought that much so that's OK. I do however plan to buy hardly any beauty products (as in, only things I really really want not just for the sake of oh that looks nice, I'll get it buys!) for the next couple of months as 1) my birthday is at the start of March, so anything I want I can ask for, for my birthday and 2) I'm trying to save my money as I will hopefully be going to Florida in the Summer so I want to have as much spending money as possible! So, I thought I'd compile a little wishlist of things I really am wanting at the moment! There's not loads I do want, but these items are top of the list :)

♥ Dermalogica Clear Start Set - After reading a post on this set from dermalogica today on Mia's blog I want to try it even more. I have really bad skin and have heard a lot about this range previously so I think I will definitely be trying this soon. It's just over £20 for 5 small sized products so it seems like it would be good value.

♥ Origins Checks and Balance Face Wash - Another skincare item I have only recently been intrigued by is the Origins 'Checks and Balances' face wash. I like Origins (my HG moisturiser is origins gin zing) and I would like to try a cleanser at some point. Many people have said this works great and it has really good reviews too.

♥ Lanolips Lemonaid Lip Balm - This is currently the lip balm I am desperate to try. I've seen numerous reviews and I really wanted this for Christmas but it was out of stock everywhere! I'm making it my mission to track this down!

♥ Essie 'Marshmallow' - White nails are quite love it or hate it. I think I love it but I really want to get a more sheer, but still opaque, white to try which isn't too stark as no one wants tippex nails! This isn't from the diffusion line so it's hard to come by but I would like to try this, or any other sheer-ish white polish.

♥ Korres Lip Butter - I've wanted a korres lip butter for agess but I've never bought one! I'm not sure what shade to go for but since these have become available at Debenhams recently I think I need to go and look at them...

♥ Macadamia Luxe Travel Set - After getting my hair cut two weeks ago, I really want to keep it in great condition. I'm not a big hair products person but recently tried, and fell in love, with Moroccan Oil. Macadamia Oil is another much raved about brand and seeing as this travel size kit contains six products I think I will give it a go. I'm most eager to try the deep repair mask!

♥ Butter London 'Knackered' - Would you believe I've never tried Butter London? I really want to and the colour which has caught my eye the most is Knackered! It's a shimmery/glittery shade which is just amazing! search some pictures of it to see it in all it's glory.

I'm trying to hold back from buying any of these items but not sure how long I will last, luckily as I said before my birthday is not far off so I can definitely hold off until then! Hope you have enjoyed my little wish list, I'm not sure how interesting they are to read but I like reading them and as they won't be a regular feature, I thought why not :)

What's on your wishlist at the moment?

Jessica

xox

Favourite Winter Nail Polishes

Hi girls, I was in two minds about posting about my favourite Autumn/Winter nail polishes as I'm sure, like me, you are beginning to bore of dark shades and are looking forward to warmer weather, wearing pastels and brights. As I took the pictures a long time ago, I didn't want them to go to waste so decided to post it regardless, more as an insight into what my favourites were that I got lots of use from in the past few months!

♥ Essie Thigh High - I bought this at the end of Summer for the bargain price of £2.99 in TKMaxx (and it's sold in boots for the usual price!), thinking what a great winter colour this would be! A beautiful deep, vampy red which is a classic festive shade.

♥ OPI The world is not enough - Unfortunately, this was from the OPI 2012 Christmas collection so is no longer available but I had to include it no less, purely because I love it so much which is proved by the fact half the bottle has gone! The swatch does not do it justice, it's a taupe with red, green and purple shimmer which is gorgeous.

♥ Essie Bahama Mama - Everyone was raving about this shade throughout Autumn, so I bought it as I don't own a shade like it. It is a deep, deep plum creme and the formula is phenomenal! After trying this shade, my mission is to try more Essie cremes this year!

♥ China Glaze Tinsel Town - This has a slight OPI liquid sand feel about it, in the way it is borderline matte but contains glitter pieces. It's a gunmetal colour with silver glitter and is lovely as an accent nail with a deep red!

♥ Barry M Copper - I bought this as I missed out on a polish called Warm & Fozzie from OPI Christmas 2011 and people said this is a spot on dupe, and from pictures it definitely is. It's a copper (obviously) with green, orange and silver shimmer. I used this over dark cremes for a subtle shimmer or built up on it's own.

It's unlikely I'll be reaching for these nail varnishes for a long, long time as I've already started wearing some brighter shades (which you will see in upcoming NOTD posts) but come September these will no doubt be adorning my nails. Goodbye darks and hello brights!

What has been your favourite nail varnish this Winter?

Jessica

xox

NOTD: OPI Japanese Rose Garden

Hello Everyone!

For Christmas I received OPI 'Japanese Rose Garden' from my best friend. We both picked one out and I chose this one because I've wanted it for absolutely ages but have never bought it! I remember really liking this back in 2011 so that gives you an idea of how long!

I love pink nail varnishes in general and I just love the colour of this! It's a slightly dusky mauve toned pink which is a creme but has silver duo chrome which is very visible in the bottle and also on your nails in the sunlight. This had a nice formula, the swatch was two coats and it is fully opaque. I must also mention, I also got an OPI topcoat for Christmas which I used for the first time over this and this manicure lasted chip free (not even any tip wear!) for 4 days! I'm going to try it over a few different polishes and see if it's just as impressive so I will report back on that.

The pictures really do not do it justice as it's not as pink and more deep in real life.

What do you think of Japanese Rose Garden?

Jessica

xox

Haul: Post Christmas Sales

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic new years eve/new years day and by the looks of it many of you are making new years resolutions or like me, aims for the new year. Yesterday I posted about what I'm aiming to achieve this year, if you would like to read that you can do so by clicking *here*! But, onto today's post which is a haul! This will probably be the last for a while as I am trying not to buy any more beauty items because I really don't need any more and also it's a way of saving money of course! I went shopping at my local shopping centre on boxing day and the day after I went to Oxford Street and  I also placed a couple of online orders! So here is what I've bought in the sales...

Victoria's Secret - Unfortunately, not many good deals on the clothing (I love PINK!) but all gift sets by both VS and PINK were half price, yay! I picked quite a few VS sets up but only got two in the end, Sheer Love (£7) and Pure Seduction (£10) sets which both contain a mini shower gel, body lotion and body spray (and pure seduction comes with a cosmetic pouch which was why it was a bit more) both scents smell lovely. I also saw the adorable little makeup bag(?) thing which wasn't on sale at £9 and is a little pricey but it's the perfect size to go in my new bag I got for Christmas and I love the pink and sparklyness of it! Pink didn't have many great sets but I saw the Phone Case (£5) and couldn't resist, it was originally £17.50!! So all in all some great bargains and I wasn't even going to go in as I didn't think they would be having a sale!

Selfridges - In the other beauty bit of Selfridges where they have the 'cheaper' brands I saw Nails Inc had lots of sets on sale! I restrained and only bought one thing, a Full Size Nail Trio (£10 was £25) which has three full sized polishes for less than the price of one! I will probably put up a NOTD featuring them all soon so look out for that! I'm regretting not getting more sets now! I also got an EOS Pomegranate Raspberry Lip balm (£5.99) as even though not on sale I finally found where they have them in store so obviously had to get the one I've been wanting for ages!

Boots - Oxford Street boots had such a small selection of gifts this year, I was shocked! In 2012 the whole top floor was covered! There wasn't much there that I wanted so got the Joules Phone Case (£12.50 was £25) which I really wanted before Christmas but I waited as I knew it would be going down to half price and I got it so I'm glad I did! I love the stripy navy and pink print. I also got the Philosophy Raspberry Glazed Shower Gel (£7 was £14) as I love Philosophy and the only time we see new products is Christmas, I was a bit disappointed with the scents this year, this was the only one I liked. I got both for free as I paid with my points I've been saving up, yay!

Debenhams - I wanted another mini of the Purity cleanser (£4.50 was £9) and since boots didn't have them, I bought one in Debenhams. I've had this before for Christmas 2012 and quite liked it but I didn't use it consistently so didn't know if it worked well for me so I bought it again to hopefully use with my clarisonic. 

Lush - Lush has 50% off their Christmas stock and unfortunately despite going on boxing day about 20 minutes after it opened, they didn't have the gift set I wanted so I bought Golden Wonder Bath Bomb, Candy Mountain Bubble Bar and Magic Wand. I love Golden Wonder and I hadn't had the magic wand this year so thought I'd get one and I hadn't had candy mountain but oh my, I regret not getting more it smells so good! I know that it is basically creamy candy from the normal range but it just smells quite different and better! At the till I quickly got the Santa's Lip Scrub which I kind of regret, it doesn't taste that good and it feels weird it's all mushy like it's wet? not sure why but I'll be finishing this quickly.

My friend who is a fellow nail polish hoarder lover, alerted me to the fact the Ciate Mini Mani Month (£21 was £42) had gone down to half price! I looked in selfridges but they didn't have it and I looked on the website and they had sold out too but luckily I tracked it down on John Lewis website and did click and collect! I picked it up the other day and I am so happy with it, 23 mini bottles and one full size for £21? yes please! I'm opening one a day in January as I don't need to take them all out at once (even though I did and looked at them all before putting them back haha) so I'm looking forward to trying these all out.

Finally, an order I placed while waiting for dinner on Christmas day. I ordered the Philosophy Fruitcake Mix (£12 was £24) and Shortbread Cookie Shower gel (£7 was £14) from Debenhams, thinking they would be sold out - wrong they were in the shops when I went out the following day! Anyway, I did click and collect for these too and just need to get down to the Oxford Street debenhams again to pick them up!

♥  ♥  ♥

Phew, a lot of things! As I mentioned though I am now on a sort of spending 'ban' and will be doing 'project pan' along side it to try and use up more products. I will have a detailed post soon as I am going to document it etc! Hope you enjoyed reading about all my bargains and I'd love to know what things you managed to find this year, let me know! :)

Jessica

xox

Changes in 2014

Hello Everyone and happy new year!

I actually cannot believe it's 2014, it really doesn't seem like a whole year ago I was saying I can't believe it's 2013 already! 2013 was an ok-ish year with not much to report on, it just went very quick! For me, 2014 is quite a important year which will see some significant changes. Come May it will be my last day of school which I'm kind of happy about because I don't like school but I'm also sad about it as it's all I've been used to from the age of 4! I will of course be starting sixth form/college which I'm really scared about too! I'm not looking forward to my GCSE's but I'm looking forward to finally finishing them and fingers crossed getting good results then having the very long Summer ahead. Aside from that lengthy ramble, the point of this post is to write down some things I would like to achieve/see happen this year. I haven't called it 'resolutions' as that has a sort of stigma attached to it when you won't follow it through - but all of these I am hoping will be a success!

Re Start My Business - I did a post a while all about my little handmade business, Petal Dreams, however since then not much has come of it. I sort of rushed the last bit of it and it wasn't as organsied as I would have liked it to be. This year I'm hoping to start from scratch with it, sort of like a 're launch' and figure out exactly what I'm doing and everything like that. It's fun and exciting but also hard work - I think Summer will be the time I will be working extra extra hard on this.

Use my Clarisonic more - I bought a Clarisonic Mia agesss ago and I haven't used it that much in the last year. I really want to start using this every other day in the evening and hopefully I will see a difference - I don't want it to go to waste as it was a lot of money!

Finally sort out my skin - I'm not sure how much I've talked about my skin on my blog but well, it's pretty awful. I've had acne since about 11 or 12 and it's still going strong now. Summer/early Autumn last year it looked really great - my skin tablets (started taking them in Feb) were working good and I was really happy however at the end of December my doctor changed them and I had about 3 days when I didn't take any and it's flared up really bad and I'm not feeling good about it :( I'm hoping this year I will finally see the back of it (or the worst of it gone)

Have more fun - I want to become more confident and just do more things, go to new places and have fun. In the summer holidays I really want to do lots of things I haven't done before!

Manage time better - I want to make adequate time for everything in my life which includes blogging but also spending a lot of time on homework and revision.

Complete my spending ban - My bank account was well and truly battered October - December and although I love buying things the past year I have become way way better at saving money apart from my occasional large splurges. Since getting new things for Christmas and buying myself stuff I am putting myself on a one month spending ban but I will have a separate post on it!

Blogging

Improve my pictures - I'm hoping for a new camera for my birthday which will not only help with taking pictures for my business but will be great for blogging, I love clear pictures on blogs! I also want to become more creative with how I take pictures.

Join in with blogger chats - There are so many blogger chats on twitter now and I rarely join in! I used to regular join in but I haven't been lately :( It's a great way to interact with other bloggers and find new blogs to read so I'm hoping to join in fully with at least two a week.

Read and comment on more blogs - I hardly ever comment on others blog posts but I will definitely be making the effort as it's always nice to receive a lovely comment! I also will be replying to all of mine which I am so bad at, sorry! I also want to discover more blogs to read which I'm sure the blogger chats will help with.

POST MORE - Yes. I'm sure you can gather I really don't post much! It's no fault but my own, I am just so lazy! I'm hoping to start posting 3 or 4 times a week.

♥  ♥  ♥

This was a really long rambly post so well done if you read it all! It was probably quite boring but it was mainly for myself to use and check back on. I will definitely do an update on this half way through the year so sometime during June or July and then in one year from now (feels crazy thinking that far ahead) 

Let me know what your 2014 aims are!

Jessica

xox

2013 Favourites ♥

Hi everyone!

This evening I'm bringing you my 2013 favourites! I've only done a couple of monthly favourites this year because I usually forget to do them or I just don't have 'favourites' of a month. My aim for next year is to have a favourites post every month as I want to start using lots more things and discovering new and old products which I enjoy using. I will be talking you through products I have loved in 2013 and have used lots and lots and will hopefully continue to love just as much during the new year!

♥ Lush Buche De Noel & Angels on Bare Skin Cleansers - I thought I'd try Angels on Bare Skin cleanser again back in early Summer and I loved it! It's full of natural ingredients great for your skin and it doesn't leave my face feeling tight or dry, it just cleans it really well. In October I picked up the limited edition Buche De Noel which is basically the same but more conditioning/hydrating for the skin, when my pot is out I will be buying AOBS again though. Definitely one of my best skincare finds of the year.

♥ Origins Ginzing Moisturiser - After not giving it much thought when the initial hype went round when this moisturiser from Origins was released, I ended up trying a sample sachet as I was trying all different moisturisers out at the time. When I finished my sample I knew I had to get this so I did! This has become my holy grail moisturiser as not only is the scent so tantalising and awakening in the morning it's gel bases which my skin needs, it sinks in really quickly and leaves my skin so soft. It also lasts for ages, I've used it every single day and I've still got just under half the tub left! I'm so happy I found this moisturiser!

♥ EOS Lip Balm 'Strawberry Sorbet' - I finally tried an EOS lip balm in March! I got this from Harvey Nichols when I was shopping one day and well, I really like it! I'm not going to say it's an outstanding lip balm you must try but I find it gives just the right amount of moisture and it doesn't feel greasy. I think many people are disappointed in the UK when they finally try one as they're so talked about but I think one of the main reasons they are so talked about in America is purely because they're cheap and really easy to find! I recently picked up another flavour to try too so that proves how much I like it!

♥ Bath and Body Works 'Be Enchanted' Triple Moisture Body Cream - I can't remember if I bought this this year or at the end of last year but either way when Autumn arrived this year I began applying this nearly everyday! This is very moisturising but the thing I love most is the scent and I really want to try some more products in 'Be Enchanted'! I buy my bath and body works products from *here*

♥ Umberto Giannini Pure Beauty Shampoo (not pictured) - I've been using this shampoo for at least half of this year and it's definitely my favourite. It doesn't do anything particular special but it leave my hair so soft, smooth and controllable and it just feels so so clean!

♥ MAC Lustre Lipsticks (not pictured) - OK so technically not one product but back in April I bought my first lustre finish lipstick from Mac, you can find the review *here* and ever since then it has fast become my favourite formula. I've gone on to buy another and I also got one for Christmas so yes, you could say I like them a lot! They're quite sheer but buildable and are really glossy and lightweight and the three shades I have are gorgeous.

♥ Seche Vite Topcoat - I've been using this much raved about topcoat since around February and I'm sure it made it in to one of my few monthly favourites! Some love it and some hate it but I really enjoyed using it until my bottle became gloopy. It does exactly what it's supposed to do - dries insanely hard (and rock hard at that!) and left my nails super glossy and chip free. I got a new OPI topcoat for Christmas instead of Seche Vite as the downside is it contains one of the bad chemicals (forgot the name, beginning with T?) so thought I'd try another but yes, I really really did like how this worked.

♥ Models Own Pastels - (Ignore the neon pink - I liked it to but I didn't mean to include a picture of it OOPS) I loved the Spring Fruit Pastels collection Models Own released, in fact they were my very first blog post which you can view *here* they are such pretty milky pastels which I can't wait to wear again come Spring.

♥ Barry M Gelly Paints - Another Spring/Summer love were the Barry M Gelly paints! I did a post *here* on them. I have two lovely colours and they had a nice formula and dried oh so shiny!

♥ Essie and OPI (not pictured) - Some more expensive polish loves since the start of Autumn were Essie and OPI! I love the formula's of both brands and Essie in particular their wide brush. I can't wait to add more in the new year.

♥ Nicole by OPI 'Tip of the iceberg' - This was my only topcoat glitter until November and this was usually on top of a cream finish polish throughout most of the year! Just a simple silver glitter which I found myself wearing a lot.

So there we have what I've loved this year! I'm hoping, as I said at the start of the post, to be using more things all the time so I can do monthly favourites because I really enjoy reading them on blogs. 

Let me know what you have loved this year!

Jessica

xox

What I got for Christmas 2013!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas if you celebrate it and got lovely presents and had a great day with whoever you celebrated with! I had a good day and got some amazing presents which I am going to be showing you today as when I asked on twitter last week if you like reading these posts there was a resounding yes! I also enjoy seeing what other people got so if you have done a similar post leave the link below :) Of course, also as a *disclaimer* I'm not bragging and I'm so grateful for everything I got so without further ado onto what I received...

My Main Present

My mum and dad are divorced so I get separate presents and my dad usually gets me one big thing and then some smaller bits. This year I decided I would quite like a bag, when I saw this one! DKNY was never somewhere I would think to look but I was walking by and saw this bag and fell in love! I am really into cream lately so loved the colour and it is so simple yet pretty and it's the perfect size for me. It has a few different pockets and it can be worn as a cross body or the chain can be pulled through so you can have it over your shoulder. It feels such good quality and it is so soft, I LOVE it and can't wait to use it more.

The Beauty Bits

From these bits, my dad got me the pretty box from 'Miss Patisserie' in the left hand corner which has lovely smelling bath bombs, the PINK body spray collection (I love PINK and there scents are lovely!), the VS body lotion (but this was free with a perfume he bought) and the Chanel lipstick which I will definitely be reviewing. My Nan got me the Nails Inc magnetic polish and OPI hand cream set, my little sister got me the light pink OPI and my best friend got me the dark pink OPI! Then my mum got me everything else.

Other

My mum also got me a wire card holder which matches my room well which I really like and the Hollister top which is like a thin sweatshirt but it's lace all over the front (FYI, I like Hollister because they do have nice things and they are soft and good quality, I don't like the gaudy overly branded stuff!) and a plain white hoody which yes says Hollister but I liked it, soo cosy! (and not pictured because I was wearing it when I took the pictures haha) From my other nan and grandad I asked for something to go in my bag...a gorgeous Ted Baker purse in the pale pink colour! Ahh I love this, it's the smaller size but is perfect for me. The gloves and watch were from other family members.

~ ~ ~

So that is what I got this year, as well as loads of sweets and chocolate which I'm currently working through! I love everything I got and am so grateful to everyone who got me stuff :) I wasn't really sure how to set this out so hopefully this was ok and you enjoyed reading. I would love to know what you got or how you spent the day so do please let me know and also on Christmas Eve I reached 300 bloglovin' followers!! Wow! Thank you to ALL of you!

Jessica

xox