Monday, 19 June 2017

Festival Make Up!


Hey All

We love festival style and we've been to Glastonbury in 2014 and 2016 and just loved all the make up and hair. When we didn't get tickets this year we were gutted so we decided to have a night in at mine, play with our make up and drink cocktails and get C to take photos for us of the looks!

We love experimenting and decided this was the perfect excuse. (previous posts on hair here, top ten moments here and some makeup up from 2016 here!)




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Monday, 11 July 2016

Life Lately

Hey All

Today is actually my birthday, I spent yesterday with L we went to Lou Lou's vintage fair then off for food and drinks with some other friends which was awesome. It feels like ages since I've done a life lately post. I used to love doing these but with my blogging being a little more sporadic lately I always want to share some products I've been loving when I've got the time to post but thought today I'd share some things I've been up too.

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A few weeks back I headed to London with my family to watch my super talented friend in Mamma Mia as Sky. I'd seen it with friends but my parents wanted to see it. He makes me so proud. My parents and I stayed in Camden, it was my first trip to Camden and I absolutely loved it. The vibe there is amazing and I fell in love with Camden market. He's in wicked soon so we'll be back to see that. 

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I've been loving my Miss patisserie baths to relax in. L reviewed this amazing one here.

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C came back from a work trip in June but was only home for 3 weeks before jetting back to Saudi for the next four so we treated ourselves to a night at Coldra Court. We loved it there and was great to have us time. Even though we live together it's nice to have nights away.

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It's also been my niece's birthday recently so as tradition goes I made her birthday cake. I'm so glad I finally got to make a princess one. It ended up being way too rushed so didn't turn out totally how I wanted as my dad decided as I woke up he would like me to cook a roast dinner too, so queue mad panic of cooking full roast and decorating this,

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L and I headed off to glastonbury for the second time and took C and one of my friends from back home with us. We definitely felt more tired this time and the mud was even worse than last time but it was absolutely amazing!!!!L and I were loving the glitter and bindis this year. I posted some of my festival hair styles and tips here.

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C and I are trying to make our house a home and making a feature wall of our photos on the stair case. It's so almost finished now and I'm loving it. 

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As C jetted off with work before my birthday we celebrated early and headed to Chapel 1877 in Cardiff. I've wanted to go and sit in the confessionals for ages and we managed to get one. I was so excited and we had an awesome meal and loved it there.

So that's what I've been up to lately. This year is definitely whizzing by. I've been busy organising holidays and things at the moment too. I'll be doing some more travel posts soon too which are probably some of my favourites lately. 

Love M

xxx


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Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Guest Post: Festival Hair Styles

Hey all

Just to let you know I shared some of my tips to prolong hair for festivals season and some of the hair styles I do at festivals. You can check it out here.

The CSI Girls Festival Hair Styles and Tips

Let us know if you're off to a festival this year?

Love M

xxx

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Thursday, 25 December 2014

2014: The Round Up


So a very Merry Christmas to you all!

Hope you are all having a lovely day so far and looking forward to your Christmas dinner as much as I am...

Today's post is a bit of a round up of my year in pictures, I was hoping it would be an easy post to write and read but I seem to have been up to a lot in the last year!

One of my favourite pictures from the year of myself (in a non up myself kind of way - good way to start a post!) is the one below, I finally fitted into a dress that I've had for a while without looking like a right pig. I really liked this dress from M&S Limited Collection when I bought it but although the zip did up it never looked right and I certainly didn't feel comfortable in it.


My actual weight hasn't changed much but my composition of muscle and fat has changed and hopefully will continue to.
Going to the gym initially was something to stop me gaining weight and to get me active again whilst at uni doing my masters. Now it has become habit I enjoy going a few times a week and it feels weird if i don't go; hopefully throughout the next year I will see further improvements as I plan to work harder and push myself even more.


Next up was my first ever festival, Glastonbury. 
I'd also never stayed in a tent before so it was a lot of firsts all rolled into one and I loved it!


I saw so many bands and ate so many different meals it was GREAT. I'd love to go back again but I've no idea what the future holds and the tickets completely passed me by this year, maybe I will have to try another festival.

Not long after I went to Edinburgh on a hen weekend and it was AMAZING. We went to the dungeons and wandered around Edinburgh shops for a bit and also went to the zoo, as well as karaoke and a night out - so much fun and I can't wait to go back to Edinburgh again as it was so beautiful.




I can see exactly why JK Rowling managed to write Harry Potter in a place like this.

A few weeks after this I spent a long time making a decision to leave a job that I thought would be a career that lasted years, if not the rest of my life. It was a massive and scary move to leave a job that I knew I would never be able to get again as they are like gold dust. I also didn't have another job to go to, and leaving a job (albeit one that made me feel like shit) was a pretty risky and some might say stupid move. Thankfully it has all worked out for the best and I have a new job now that I love and feel so much more comfortable and happy in and am really looking forward to the future there.


Around the same time there was a lot of other things going on in my life; my mum was also ill and had to go into hospital to have a tumour removed so it was stressful and definitely taking a big leap into the unknown. Thankfully everything is ok, her recovery has been pretty good and fingers crossed it's all over now and she can enjoy her early retirement (and make me extremely jealous with all of her holidays!).


I'm so unbelievably proud of myself and M for completing a Tough Mudder challenge in August; it was one of the hardest things I have ever done before both mentally and physically and the relief of getting to the finish line was overwhelming. But we both managed to do it and get there to claim our tshirt and most importantly, the headband and the pint.

We've just signed up for another for next year to get the green headband so I feel like comparing it to childbirth (not that I know what that feels like) but in the way that the pain doesn't seem to last as long as the feeling of triumph! Training begins after the Christmas food is out the way.


In fact leaving my job, my mum being in hospital and Tough Mudder all happened within 4 days so it was a pretty stressful, crazy and emotional few days and I'll be grateful for that to never happen again.

I've also been on a lot of walks around Wales that I am really looking forward to doing more of in 2015. My dog loves joining me and with views like this who can blame him?! It has certainly been an active year.







Beauty wise a few things have changed too. I had highlights and ombre in my hair so many times my hair was unrecognisable from its natural state. After a summer in Glasto and multiple hen weekends it certainly took a bashing so I've decided to go back dark again to my natural colour. You can see the massive difference in the photos above! I'll be staying dark for a long time now.

I kept telling myself I'd be restrained in 2014 and not buy so much....I did a lot better than previous years but seemed to have 2 rather large splurges at the end of the year. Oops!


I managed to use a lot of points, vouchers etc to get these and even cashed in a few Back to Macs this year so I definitely can't complain. The Pulp Fiction collection has been a firm favourite of mine and Nars is my latest favourite brand as I've been so impressed with everything I've tried from them.


2014 has been a massive whirlwind and for the first time since I started working at 16 I actually have time off over Christmas; and I'm not just talking the UK holidays, I have a whole 10 days off!

This year I'm really looking forward to spending the day with my family, eating a lot of good food and of course our annual Boxing Day walk on the beach (yep, you read that right!)



Having such a busy year has been both good and bad but I'm keeping everything crossed that next year will be happier and more successful than ever.

What are your plans for 2015? Do you have any hopes and dreams or resolutions to complete?


I'm having a little think about mine before publishing them next month!


L xxx


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Friday, 4 July 2014

Top 10 Glastonbury Highlights


Hey there!

You might have seen our tweets for the last few weeks of noticed our lack of tweets/posts last week. me and M both finally went to Glastonbury festival after wanting to go for YEARS!
We finally got tickets for this year and were so excited we've spent weeks preparing for it, picking up goodies like bars and cider and essentials like new clothes and cat ears (like I said, essentials!)

We've got a whole post dedicated to Glastonbury coming up on Sunday, but I wanted to share my top moments with you as I'm sure M will be doing the same. So in no particular order:



1) Arrival. In through the gates, tent up and off for breakfast with a Pimms in hand by 9am, winner!

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2) Imagine Dragons. Enjoyed their set so much I had goosebumps by the time they ended on Radioactive. The photo below is not mine as I was too busy singing and dancing to BEFORE they came on stage. Me and M would like to party with these guys WHENEVER THEY ARE AVAILABLE!!





3) The randomness. Nothing can prepare you for the sheer crazy things that you will see and experience during your time there. Banksy also made an appearance in the form of a slaughter truck filled with squeaking and moving stuffed toys - mental.

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4) Arcadia. I'd heard many a thing about this bug-like beast but nothing compares to the real thing. Check out the pre festival picture and then 2 from Nero's DJ set on the Friday night. Unbelievable!

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5) Brother's Cider. Festival strength at 7% one of these was all we needed a day to keep us 'happy' I would fully recommend visiting this stand if you ever go!

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6) The ability to wear glitter, crazy eye make up and any kind of head wear and clothing imaginable and it all be perfectly acceptable! We didn't venture much further than glitter, coloured eyes and cat ears/floral crowns but some people wore catsuits and all sorts!

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7) Skrillex. One of the coolest dudes ever, spaceship on the stage and involved the lion king in his Friday night set. What a cool guy!

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8) I'm not sure I can fathom my love for the man that is Ed Sheeran. Amazing singer/songwriter and a genuinely nice guy it seems, asked the crowd if they minded him taking a picture and he certainly wooed me during his set on the Sunday. Bonus points for a cool video courtesy of swirling around clothing above your head during 'Sing'. LOVE.

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9) The smaller stages. I loved seeing the big hits on the most popular stages but loved seeing up and coming acts such as Kiesza and MNEK (both below) on the Sonic stage and others on BBC Introducing etc. Managed to get right down the front which is a bonus on the photo front too!

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10) Ending on a cheesy one - spending my first festival and first camping experience with my best friend was LUSH. We had an awesome time watching acts together and making our food choices for the 5 days as soon as we'd done a lap of the site, we clearly know how to have a good time!

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Did you go to Glastonbury? Did you watch it from the comfort of your home?

I'm constantly scrolling through my pictures and missing my can of warm cider at 10am. however I do not miss my wellies, 5 days of 10 miles plus a day and they're in agony!


L xxx


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Sunday, 22 June 2014

Festival Must Have Products

Hey All

We thought we'd share the top beauty and skincare products we'll be taking to Glastonbury with us. We've both never been before but have been doing a lot of research and these are the bits we won't be leaving home without*.

First things for me is sun cream! Glastonbury has little shelter so even if it's not the sunniest I'll be slapping on the sunscreen to be on the safe side. For me I love Piz Buin. I used to be sensitive to sunscreens and this is one I know I'll be ok.

Factor 50 for the face. (£6.79 from click fragrance) and 15 for the body. The lazy person in me loves a spray! (£9.00 from click fragrance).



I don't think any girl would go to a festival without dry shampoo. I'm lucky and my hair doesn't get too dirty but I won't be going without my batiste. (£2.99 from Superdrug)


We decided no matter how much we like our Naked palettes we aren't risking them going to glastonbury! We have the MUA versions so in case we decide to wear eyeshadow we'll be sharing these! (£4 from superdrug)

Along with the few bits of make up we will be slapping on some fake tan before we leave. Milk bottle legs is not the look to go for even if it's raining! Fake Bake have a great range of tanning products and the Airbrush Instant Self Tan is perfect for a layer of colour the night before we leave. 


It costs just £14.30 from here which is a massive saving of almost £14 off the RRP, magic! Even better that it has two tanning agents for a better colour, is easy to apply with the spray and fast drying.

What are your festival essentials?

M xxx




Hello there!

I've been scouring the shops and internet for products and kits to take to Glastonbury to keep my bag as light as possible but not miss out on fun make up products and essential skincare items.

First up was this amazing Make Up Removal Travel Kit (priced at £13.70 here) from Clarins.


It contains Eye Make up Remover to melt away your eye make up, Cleansing Milk to soften skin and remove grime, and Toning Lotion to refresh the skin. It's great for normal or dry skin and the travel sizes (30-50ml) will save so much space in your bag for either more stuff or to be compact and concise, either way is a winner!


Another festival essential....body spray. There is nothing worse than being a smelly individual although it can be hard to find a body spray in a plastic bottle (no glass at Glastonbury! poor cows wouldn't appreciate that) that smells decent. We've been smelling bottles for weeks and can only find super synthetic scents in the plastic bottles but Victoria's Secret have been life saving! 


The Amber Romance spray can be found here priced at £9.84 for 250ml. The notes can be seen below, it sounds perfect for daytime wear!

Top Notes: Cherry, milk and sugar.
Middle Notes: Aloe vera, chamomile and sweet notes.
Base Notes: Vanilla, sandalwood, amber and musk.

Lastly, after ensuring I can remove the grime from the day and that I smell like a dream even after a few days without showering, it's time to consider make up. I'm a big fan of eye make up and for me, I don't EVER leave the house without mascara, and if I've got time some eyeliner for definition event better. Eyes are the window to the soul and all that yes?

I've heard a LOT about Model Co and their Fibre LashXtend mascara has definitely hit my radar for the amazing looks it has given people with fibres in the mascara. This set found here comes in at £8.95 for the mascara AND an eye pencil which is such a bargain!


Model Co ensures you will get voluptuous clump-free lashes which are smudge and tear proof whilst providing the ultimate in false lash effects. The eye liner defines eyes too for the ultimate party look in two easy products! Festival glamour in two easy steps!



On top of this we've stocked up on some serious packets of baby wipes, beroccas and a few bottles of vodka and cans of cider! If anyone has any additional tips let us know. We'll be packing all of today and hoping we don't have any last minute panics!!


L  xxx




*This was a sponsored post, our first ever actually! Click Fragrance have some great products at awesome prices, we've already made a list for after festival fever. Although this was sponsored our opinions are genuine because let's face it, who doesn't love a bargain?! You can check them out in all their wonder here


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Sunday, 1 June 2014

Life Update



Hey there!

Today's post is a sort of photo diary of the last few weeks. M is doing her Colour Run today in London which I'm sure most of you have heard of! Mine is in Bristol and will be in 3 weeks and I cannot wait.

M won tickets on Friday for a rugby and music festival in Cardiff which we were VERY excited about, we didn't have any plans before it so it was a lovely surprise to find out we could go to this!

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It was the Cardiff 7's Festival of Sport and Music and runs over 2 days. As M is away today we just went yesterday and watched a lot of rugby matches! We had to restrain ourselves from staring at their beautiful shoulder and muscley thighs!



Luckily for us there was also lots of food outlets for us to try things from, we couldn't resist the wood fired pizza van and made a bee line for it! We split 2 pizzas as we couldn't decide what flavours to get and went for a margherita and a chicken, bacon and pesto one. They were amazing and there was so much cheese! 



There was also a salsa van, hog roll stall and all manner of others. It was getting us EXTREMELY excited for Glastonbury in a few weeks. Neither of us have ever been to a festival before and I'm not sure about M but I've not even been proper camping before. So as you can imagine I'm pretty excited for the whole festival feeling and cannot wait for all of the food stalls! I hear there's going to be a massive variety of food and I'm starting to get hungry already....

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On our way back from the festival we stopped off to start our supply stash for the festival, picking up the super important things: cider, vodka, squash and glitter. We also picked up some crazy accessories too, flower headbands in the shape of cat ears anyone??

We need help though, having never been to a festival before we need as many tips and tricks as you can possibly think of for festival life and surviving 6 days without a shower or clean toilet facilities! Any help will be VERY much appreciated.



Were hoping its not going to be like the photos above which was a few years ago. This terrifies me and i seriously cannot hope enough that its going to be good weather! I'm fine with no sun....but constant rain will put a huge downer on the experience. fingers crossed!

I am hoping it's going to be a lot more like this! 



We've already planned to have a BBQ on the first night so we can save some money and get the whole camping thing going on by cooking our own meal to start with. We had a quick run the other day with some BBQs from Asda and they worked pretty well.

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We had a feast with burgers and chicken, cider, salad and followed by the King of all ice creams, the Peanut Butter cup ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. There is NO OTHER flavour in our opinion!

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What have you guys been up to recently? Have you been to a festival and have any tips for us?


We tried out the portaloos at the Cardiff 7s festival yesterday and they weren't so bad, they'd only been there a few hours though and there was nowhere near the 200,000 people there will be at Glasto.


ANY TIPS PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!!


Hope you're enjoying your weekend :)


L xxx


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