Top 10 Missed Items

A little while ago I posted what I managed to pack into my suitcase for my 7 week trip (here).

I needed a lot of stuff as a requirement of the course so with my 23kg limit there wasn't much room to bring many luxuries and as a result of this I'm missing a few things!

Mostly as you can imagine I'm missing my vast array of toiletries, clothes and shoes that I have to mix and match with.

I only brought vest tops, shorts, 2 pairs of jeans and a cardigan as well as the obligatory pack a mac and thin hoodies.

As a girl who wears dresses a lot of the time and loves accessorizing, particularly choosing make up every morning the lack of choice is KILLING me!

I have bought a few items since I've been here that I can mix and match each day and this is satisfying my need for choice temporarily, but there's also lots of other things I'm missing too.

So another more personal post today, as it's all I can think about!

In a sort of order here's the top 10 things I'm missing:

1. My beautiful dog! My dad's recently had an operation so hasn't been walking him, so I've been taking him every day and I miss him so much! I always do, but more so lately, he's so clever and I miss teaching him new tricks!

2. I suppose I should mention my family and friends up here too...haha of course I miss them too and obviously could not fit them into my suitcase as they all requested! I can contact them all when I have wifi which is luckily most of them time so it hasn't been too bad. FaceTiming my dad on his iPad is always entertaining!

3. The gym! Never in my life would I have thought I would miss the gym, but after going 4 times a week for 5 months I genuinely do, and I miss the classes so much I'm tempted to make up my own ha.

They do have a gym here but it has random opening times and as I have to eat meals at certain times too, it gets a bit awkward and I've only made it there once!

4. Tea! Oh my goodness the first week I was here I couldn't find tea anywhere, until I found Starbucks which because of it's opening times and my class hours I could only go to at 8am.

Luckily I've now found 2 other places that have it on campus so I just have to plan ahead, still miss it though!

5. Healthy food! I've been trying to eat healthily since January and have mostly been eating rabbit style food with a lot of chicken so at the beginning it was a big shock to have so much food available that was definitely not healthy but tasted so good!

I've managed to tone it down a bit and am limiting myself to 1 dessert from now on (their cakes are miniature ones and 1 just isn't enough...!)

6. Make up in general! I do have a certain amount of make up with me that should in theory be fine for my 7 weeks away, especially as I did come here to complete a uni course that spends the majority of it's time outside in dirt. 

BUT the inner beauty addict inside me is not satisfied, and at the beginning insisted on wearing make up in ridiculous heat and humidity which resulted in me breaking out in spots for AGES.

I've learnt my lesson now and wear minimal make up and it's got a lot better, doesn't mean I don't play around with it in the evenings though ;)

7. Lipstick. I love wearing it now whereas I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it before! I'm so used to wearing it that here where no one wheres anything except a bit of mascara I'd feel so overdressed but I can't wait to put it back on!

8. Dresses! I miss being able to wear dresses, and generally have a choice of what to wear, as not only do I only have certain things with me, I can only wear long trousers to Uni (because of bugs and plants etc) and hiking boots. So whilst it's absolutely BOILING I have to suffer with trousers on when I'm DYING to put shorts on. Booooooooo :(

9. Alcohol. I'm nowhere near coming out in cold sweats as I'm honestly not an alcoholic....however with the weather being so damn good all I want to do is sit in a beer garden or bar terrace outside in the sun with a cocktail.
Where I am was a 'dry county' up until 2 weeks ago and alcohol wasn't served anywhere bar Walmart so hopefully it will become a little more accessible now!



10. Using products! Strange but true, I miss going through my drawers and cupboards of products to see what I've got left and will be using next. It feels really wasteful to have not brought everyday toiletries with me and to buy them here knowing I have mountains to get through at home!
I'm looking forward to getting back on track with my Beauty Rehab series and hopefully making a dent in my mahussive collection!

What do you think of my top 10? What would you miss if you went away for such a long time with minimal luggage?

L xxx

NOTD: Barielle Shades Bridal Collection

Hello and good morning! 

Currently writing this in my dorm room in America when I should be sleeping but instead I've stunk my room out with nail polish so I'm wide awake!

On one of my recent shopping trips to different malls around North Carolina and Georgia I've picked up quite a few beauties (all for the blog obviously...) the first that you are seeing is this amazing set of 'Bridal' nail polishes from Barielle.

Firstly I'd like to point out that no, I am in no way anywhere near getting married but the colours were so pretty I couldn't resist, who doesn't love a box of nude nail colours!

As you can see from the box there are 5 different colours, a solid white, shimmer white, coral nude, pink nude and general flesh coloured nude.

I did buy these from TJ Maxx (who on earth knew they had the same store but with one letter difference? Anyone know why this is? I'm intrigued!) but anyhow for half the price at $9.99 i couldn't resist picking them up.

They were a little dirty in the box and i had to clean them when I opened them up but aside from the the bottles were all sealed and in tact.

The colours look beautiful lined up, I'm tempted to set them out somewhere in my room as they look so good!

As I couldn't resist testing them out I quickly painted each nail with a base coat, and 2 coats of each colour, you should be able to tell which is which as they are in the same order as shown above:

(Please excuse the state of my nails...they're doing pretty good all things considering but 6 weeks of digging in the mud results in all manner of nail/hand problems and I can't apply moisturiser fast enough!)

I love the three nude colours as they go perfectly with my skin tone which is rare as my skin is so pale! The shimmer white I know won't use as much but it is still a pretty colour and the solid white will be perfect for nail art/french manicures.

In fact I actually love all of them which is pretty cool considering I bought them on a whim with the 'nobody else can have this bargain' kind of attitude!

I have painted my nails with the coral coloured nude (middle finger) to see how they fare over time as I'm not sure they're very thick so could chip easily.

We shall see!

Have you heard of Barielle before? Do you love going into TJ/TK Maxx and picking up some bargains??

I absolutely love it and bought quite a few things....I have bought lots from departments stores and Sephora too. 

Would you like to see a post on what I've bought during my 7 weeks in America??

Let me know!

L xxx

Tea Pigs

Today is a bit of a random non beauty post. I hope you don't mind. As I'm think L has mentioned in some of her America posts (or it may be one coming, sorry if it is) we are both huge tea lovers. Non tea lovers this may not be a post for you.

Since the new year I've tried to reduce my intake of regular tea. I was on 7-8 cups of tea a day and thought it was too much so switched to healthier options such as green tea and peppermint after the obligatory cuppa in the morning (milk no sugar please, made for me each morning by my OH, we have a deal going so he makes me tea. Nothing better than a cup being bought to you haha).

Getting used to green tea took a while. L struggled and couldn't face it. It's a unique flavour that takes getting used to. I like the fact it boosts antioxidants etc. If you fancy trying it I'd recommend trying green tea with pineapple or apple and pear, I know twinings do these as it adds a slight sweetness. To be honest switching from normal tea to green tea I can't say has made a huge difference but I feel it's better.

So the point of today's post. My new 'high end' love. Yes I believe tea pigs are the high end of tea. I was introduced to them by one of my lovely work ladies. Instantly I was intrigued by the silk tea temples the tea sits in and couldn't wait to try them.

The next time the lady I work with placed her order online at tea pigs she ordered me some too. I got the chocolate flake and green tea and peppermint blend.

I also got sample packs of these. You can buy tea pigs online or there are local stockest listed online and cafes local to you that sell them. Link to that here

I was blown away by the chocolate flake. The tea comes in silk tea temples and is leafs that swell up when water is added to them. The chocolate one has actual pieces of chocolate that melt into your tea. I personally prefer to drink this black. It has a subtle chocolate flavour but not sweet or overpowering the tea.

How pretty are they. (ok I sound weird now)

I like that on the back of each tea if gives a description of the base tea and how you should drink it. Being a tea novice I'm not sure what should and shouldn't have milk. The more I try the more I prefer non milk. My mum is kindly buying me the mix and match set where you get 12 different types of tea and two of each type.

Sorry if my tea talk has bored you but I really would thoroughly recommend these to anyone and the sample packs are a great way to test it. The average price for 15 tea temples is between £3.49 and £4.29 (I think) and some teas can be bought in 50 packs.

Have you tried tea pigs. Everyone I know that has loves them. I'm saving L a chocolate one for when she gets back from America.

I'm off to brew a pot of chocolate tea now.

Love M

xxx

I'd love to know if any of you try these xx

Save, Spend, Splurge - Eye Make Up Remover, Baby Oil, No7 and Clinique

I've been wanting to do posts like this for a while. I like reading posts like this to see if it's really worth paying out for the higher end products. In some cases I think it is while in others the high street alternatives are sometimes just as good if not better.

Lately I've started to use a separate eye make up remover as I was noticing using wipes was tugging at my eyes and I'm very conscious of being gentle to my eyes as I'm doing all I can to prevent wrinkles. I like to remove make up before I cleanse (I don't like my cleanse and polish clothes not being white, I'm odd I know, and it just makes me skin feel cleaner)

So the 3 eye make up removers.

Save is Baby Oil, which can be picked up so cheap, I like this handy travel size Johnson's one, perfect for travel and is only £1.30 for 100ml or boots own brand can be picked up for as little as £1.49 for 300ml

Spend is No7 Eye Make Up Remover is £7.75 for 100ml. Or stock up when the vouchers are out (which is a lot of the time) and it's £2.75 :)

Splurge is Clinique Take the Day Off Make up Remover for Face, Lips and Lashes and is £15.50 for 125ml

Save

First up is Johnson's Baby Oil. Oil based products are great for remover eye make up remover as they can dissolve it off so to speak and tackle tough waterproof make up without having to tug at eye lashes. This one isn't one to be used if you don't like greasy products. For me it doesn't bother me as I'm cleansing my face after so the oil is removed. This is the softest of  three on my eyes and has the least amount of pulling but is the greasiest. Even though I have oily skin I like to use this and it's great for those months when you have a little less money.

Spend

This was the first of the three I tested. This is a two liquid solution that needs to be shaken well to mix the two products. It has a subtle oily feeling but doesn't leave to much of a coating on the eyes like the baby oil does so is good for those nights when you want to be a little lazier. It gently removes the eye make up without tugging and with ease. My only issue is it's a small bottle and gets used quickly. I think it would last between 4-5 weeks so for me I don't think I would spend £7.75 on it but for £2.75 (when using the vouchers) it's amazing! This will be repurchased and is my favourite out of the three.

Spend

This was the least oily of the three products and felt gentle on the skin. This is aimed to be a multi purpose make up remover and due to this made removing eye make up a little harder. This felt the most pulling on my eyes and required more product and didn't remove all of my eye make up as well. I think this was due to being a less oily based remover. It does feel nice and light on the skin though. Personally I don't think it's worth the money when you can pick up others that do the job better for cheaper. 

I also wanted to mention the pads I used with these as I think these are the best for removing eye make up. I personally prefer a pad over a ball as it can cover the whole eye in one go. These ones are great as they have two different textures on either side and are only 20p dearer than the others.

What eye make up remover do you use? Do you use a separate one? Are posts like these something you like to read?

Love M

xxx

Apologies for the photo quality for some reason uploading from my phone to the bloggers app if ruining the quality. Have you found this?