Birthday Goodies!

I was SO excited this time last week, my birthday was last Monday but I decided to go out for it last Saturday.

Me and M both went to Mac to have our make up done for the night out.
It was UNBELIEVABLY the first time M had ever been to Mac, which is SHOCKING in my opinion ;)

Hehe!

So we turned up massively excited wanting similar looks (we always go for smokey eyes, it was time for a change so we went for bright lips and glowing skin instead!)

The end result looked like this!



A lot of effort all week with applying tan, few hours in Mac, a few hours curling hair and an amazing night out!

We had quite a lot to drink, including some of these amazing flaming cocktails which will be coming up in a Cocktail Hour post soon!

We both spent a small fortune in Mac, this is what I bought:

Pro Longwear foundation (I'm NW25), Pressed Powder in Medium, False eyelashes (No3 if I remember!) and 2 lip sticks, Russian Red and Creme Cup.

I've always used Studio Fix compact before but I found it was quite heavy, so this time I bought the pressed powder. I often need a powder to fix my make up and again in the afternoon, so a compact is necessary for on the go!

These are my new beauties!! I've never bought a Mac lipstick before, so I went all out and bought two haha

I wore Russian Red for the night out, was a perfect red colour for me, made my teeth look whiter and looked amazing! (if i say so myself ha!)

Also Creme Cup is raved about by everyone, I've been looking for a nude as always and this one was irresistible!

On my actual birthday I received these beautiful flowers from my auntie which have brightened up my room a treat! Roses are my favourite and pink ones even better ;)

Some of the presents I had included the Birthday Girl set from Philosophy which smells amazing and a lot of money to go shopping with! Looking forward to going shopping with my mum next week :)

I also had an amazing present from M which deserves a post of its own so that will be coming up over the next week :)

Hope you've enjoyed the post, I had such a good time on the night out and even though I was in Uni allllllllll day for my actual birthday (and had a cold! booooo :( ) it was an awesome day!

L xxx

Cocktail Hour!

Another new addition to our menu is the Flirtini!

Neither of us had even heard of this before but we were excited to try it as usual!

As the photo from the menu below shows, it contains vodka, cointreau and pineapple juice shaken together with ice and topped up with champagne, ooh err!

I absolutely love the presentation of cocktails like this!

They look so elegant.

This cocktail maybe had a little too much champagne in as it overpowered the other ingredients which is hard to do considering they included cointreau and pineapple juice!

We probably wouldn't have this one again in a hurry, unless we had more control over the amount of champagne. No one can resist a champagne cocktail but this was a little much.

At some point we'd like to try it without the champagne...but then I suppose it wouldn't be a Flirtini!

What do you think of champagne? Do you like it in cocktails?

L xxx

NOTD - Max Factor Intense Plum

I mentioned in a previous post (here) that I bought a few Max Factor products and got a free gift box which had a few goodies in.

This is the second nail varnish that was in the gift box - Intense Plum.

This was hard to photograph because without a flash it looks like the above photo, and looks a plum colour.

But in reality the colour is much more like the photo below, brighter and bluer than the reddy plum above!

I like the colour quite a bit and think its very wearable.

It did take a few coats to get it opaque, would probably need 3 maybe 4 which is disappointing as most normally need 2, meaning you'll use up the bottle twice as fast!

This was definitely a good choice of a colour for a freebie and I was really pleased with it!

It came with a black eyeliner and black mini mascara which are all useable items, sometimes you can get some pretty horrific colours or useless products for free, and this was a definite winner for me!

What do you think of the colour? Would you be happy with this as a freebie?

L xxx

Dainty Roses

This is a brand I saw on Twitter. They sell the cutest Jewellery and regularly have great offers on their twitter account which can be found here.

They were running an offer on Friday night that I couldn't refuse. Four cute glitter hair bows for £6. On the website they have deals like 5 rings for £10 I couldn't resist as I love so many of the designs. The catch is they are 5 random ones. I love this aspect as it meant they were a surprise.

I ordered late Friday night and they were sat waiting for me on Tuesday. I love the attention to detail in the wrapping of the items and the little bows.

How cute are these little bows! I love how sparkly they are. 

I was so pleased with the rings I received, on twitter after ordering I mentioned I loved the cats ear one and was told that she would make sure I got one of those, I was so excited to see what others I received.

When I opened the packaged, I was so pleased with the selection! How cute is the cat ring. I love the blue stone one aswell, it's perfect for summer!! 3 of the rings are adjustable as well which is really handy. The deer unfortunately doesn't fit me but is being donated to L. Here they all are. What do you think? I've not tried a double ring before, but I really like this one.

I'm already eyeing up my next purchases from the website. I love finding great Jewellery sites. She does the most amazing Golden Snitch necklace from Harry Potter that opens up to a cute watch. Found here, next time this is on offer I'll be purchasing. What do you think of my purchases?

Love M

xxx

My First Trip to MAC

This may be a little surprising for some but until last Wednesday I'd never tried any MAC make up, only the odd pigment borrowed from L for a night out. I'd been wanting a lipstick for ages, I've lusted over there colour range from afar for a while. You may have seen me wanting one in my February Wishlist.

My purchases, I couldn't resist

As we were going out for L's birthday on Saturday night we decided it would be a great excuse to have our make up done in MAC and for me to try products.

I've been very naughty with buying products! I'm addicted already, on Wednesday we popped to MAC to get colour matched as we knew we'd be tanned on Saturday so wanted to get colour matched to our natural colour. After having Pro Longwear foundation applied I just had to purchase it there and then. It felt so pretty on my skin and I was so impressed. I had to pick up the brush she applied it with as well. Probably a more unusual foundation brush as she applied it with 168. I will be doing a full review on this soon. I was matched with shade NW20 the palest they did NW. 

brush £26.00 pro longwear £22.50

On Saturday we both decided we didn't want smokey eyes and were going to do a dramatic lip. I decided to go for a bright pink. As flamingo was a limited addition I went with Chatterbox. A bright pink amplified creme lipstick. I also couldn't resist picking up Angel a nude pink frost lipstick. I love both these shades, the staying power of Chatterbox is impressive and it leaves a slight stain to the lips. There are already lots more lipsticks I want.

Lipsticks £13.50 each

I've been searching for a highlighter for a while, after seeing mineralize skin finish in soft and gentle I knew it would be a product I'd use a lot. I use it as an eyeshadow, to hightlight and it looks great over blush to add a pretty shimmer.

Skinfinish £21.50

I also picked up some eyelashes. I love them. I think I'm getting a pricey addiction. What do you think of my first buys? Any products you'd recommend?

Love M

xxx

NOTD - Models Own Thunder & Lightening

Hey guys, Sorry for the lack of COTW post yesterday. After a few too many cocktails for L's birthday celebration on Saturday night I was too tired to write it.

Hope you all had a good weekend! We had a great day and night on Saturday. This week I finally purchased my first Mac products. I was so excited and may have spent a bit too much. I want so much more already. I love all there lipsticks. I'm going to do a Mac haul tomorrow. I'm so impressed with all their products and think I should have definitely gone there sooner. On Saturday after having our make up done we had cocktails and donned are pretty dresses in the evening! Did you go out this weekend?

Anyway on to today's post. A quick NOTD for you, we are both obsessed with painting our nails and do it a lot! On Saturday I painted mine with Models Own Thunder and Lighting.

I bought this nail varnish at Christmas time, and it got put in my nail varnish bag and neglected. It's a gorgeous black jelly like polish packed with a fine holographic glitter. In sunlight it sparkles a gorgeous mix of shades which is stunning, I can't stop staring at my nails. When in false light it's an equally pretty silver. I really love the contrast with the black. I've been hunting a black glitter for a while now but can't seem to find one.

After repairing chips to it on Saturday night (I rushed and smudged them) it's stayed put for a good three days. Due to the glitter in it, it does need a good top coat to make it shiny or it has that slightly rough texture. I'm loving the No7 one at the moment. It's super shiny and a Bargain £2 when the boots vouchers are out. Also as the glitter is held in a jelly base, it did need 4 thin coats to get a strong black colour.

Do you like Models Own polishes? I'm getting more used to the bottle shape now. At first I found the lid uncomfortable to hold. I think they are great value for the quality and Models Own regularly have offers online like buy 5 and save £7 what a tempting offer!!

Love M

xxx

Review: Percy & Reed Finishing Polish

I had to pick up another Glamour magazine last week as I fancied trying the finishing polish. It's not a product I would normally pick up so while it was only £2 I thought I'd give it ago.

Since having my extensions I felt I needed something to finish off the ends when it was curly. Once I've curled my hair I rub this through the ends and it leaves the curls more defined and softer.

I'm really into hair care atm, what's your favourite miracle product at the moment. I all for the conditioning. I really want to try Redken Anti Snap product next.


This comes in an impressive 100ml size, which for a freebie I think is brilliant. It gives a chance for you to decide if you really like the product.

Due to the ingredients in this product such as methylchloroisothiazolinone it is a good idea to only apply this to the tips of your hair. This ingredient can cause some people skin irritation but mainly that's only in high concentrations but a thing to be aware of if you have sensitive skin. For me it hasn't been a problem and I will continue to use the product but with care. I does worry me the ingredients that make up our products and I definietly pay more attention when I'm looking for a new shampoo.


I do like this product but won't be repurchasing, I can't seem to find it to buy except in packs with other products. Have you used finishing polishes? What ones do you find good?


Love M


xxx

Cocktail Hour!

Here's another cocktail from our favourite cocktail bar: Dark and Stormy

It's another rum based cocktail, with 50ml (normally of Havana rum) topped up with ginger beer and some lime juice, nice and easy!

It's served up in a long glass or a highball glass with lots of ice and a wedge of lime for decoration.

I don't normally drink ginger beer, so this was definitely a change for me and I absolutely loved it!

It was really refreshing and I will definitely look forward to drinking it over the summer!

We also had a few nibbles with these, mixed olives, pistachios and fried corn which we thoroughly enjoyed!

Do you like ginger beer? What bar snacks do you like? 

L xxx

NOTD - Max Factor Disco Pink

It's Nails galore at the moment!

I had a splurge in Boots the other day (bad bad bad! Supposed to be banned!) seeing as all of my foundation was suddenly too orange for me to wear!

I went and bought a few Max Factor goodies (review coming soon) and when you spent £15 you got a free gift box.

In it was a make up bag with 2 nail varnishes, mini eyeliner and mini mascara.

I was quite pleased with the colour of the nail polishes as purple and pink are good all round shades.

This is the pink:

It's conveniently called 'Disco Pink' which makes me love it even more!

It was really easy to apply and was opaque in 2 coats.

I thought it might have been difficult as I'm used to the No7 and China Glaze size bottles and this one is tiny in comparison!

But the brush strokes came out just fine.

What do you think?

I love the colour, looks good on my pale skin and although the flash was on in the photos making it appear a little bluer than it actually is, I think it would suit almost all skin tones.

It's definitely filled a little niche in my collection!

Have you picked up the free gift? What did you buy to get it?

L xxx

Review: Tigi SLS free Shampoo and Conditioner for Thick Massive Hair

After writing a post on SLS (which you can read here) I've been looking into finding products that do not contain it.

Tigi have a Sulfate free shampoo and (I think) conditioner that I managed to find in my local TK Maxx (meaning it was cheaper than the RRP!) so I grabbed it as fast as I could!

The range is their Superstar range for Thick Massive Hair, which in my book is ALWAYS a bonus!

My hair is fairly long and I have a lot of it, but I still like to maximise it as much as possible and make it big and bouncy, so I was looking forward to seeing the results of the products and the effect of them being sulfate free.

 

The shampoo is harder to lather up than your normal shampoo, due to it being sulfate free but I noticed absolutely no difference in the cleaning of my hair which ultimately is what a shampoo is all about.

If a product can lather up and do as good a job as it can compared to a product with the sulfates in, I don't see why using a product with them in is necessary!

I will definitely be looking into using sulfate free products more often, and have recently bought a Naked shampoo and conditioner set to try.

I also quite liked the pump on top of the bottle which worked really well and is quite solid, some of them are flimsy and don't do a very good job.

 Also the packaging......BRIGHT PINK = LOVE!!

I'm quite girly but normally prefer things to remain simple with packaging, this works for me as the shape and design is simple and in one of my favourite colours

 

The conditioner doesn't state on the front that it is sulfate free but the contents as far as I have read do not mention any kind of sulfates so I'm a little confused with this.

 

Anyway, it's a good conditioner, not too heavy but feels good enough being applied to the hair that you know your hair will feel silky smooth afterwards.

I wouldn't rave over the conditioner and tell everyone it's amazing, but it definitely does leave my hair feeling good and if it doesn't contain sulfates then that can only be a bonus!

I would definitely like to keep using sulfate free products as I believe using products with sulfates in do lead to irritation of your skin. However mainly I would like to see if it reduces the amount of hair that I lose each day.

Even though I have a lot, and a certain amount of hair shedding is natural, I do seem to lose quite a bit of hair each day, and I'm interested to see if this changes!

Do you use sulfate free products? Would you be willing to pay a little bit extra for them?

L xxx