Forever 21: My First Purchases

Gooood morning!

Only 2 days left until the weekend so I will be cranking up the music to get me through the day ;)

A few weeks ago I went to Birmingham for the first time and absolutely loved it.

I'd never been to the Bullring Shopping Centre and was absolutely blown away by how big it was and how many shops there were.

Including Selfridges (which was a lush surprise for me!) it has pretty much every shop you could ever hope to go in and I have already bribed M that we need to go for a serious shopping day ASAP!!

Whilst I was there a small (!) wander in Forever 21 meant that I picked up a few new items for my wardrobe and jewellery collection, as you do.

I must have tried on about 35 items and genuinely couldnt carry them all by the end!

They have such a wide variety of clothes in multiple colours and it left me wishing that it was sunny outside instead of pouring with rain. The bright pastels and neons that basically took over the store definitely lifted my mood a few notches and that was before I'd even found the accessories!

So here's what I picked up, starting off with the beeeeautiful jewellery hence the hearts!

(I took these on my phone....sorry if they come out a bit awful!)





First up the bangles....I love gold and black and cream so these were winners for me.
There were loads available in different patterns and I would have picked them all up if I could have!
They were all so wearable and pretty but would go with anything....bracelets SOLD.



I am neither a big fan of earrings or rings. I'm probably the kind of person who will when engaged/married (when?/if?) will freak out at the thought of wearing the same rings all the time.
I find them uncomfortable and they get in the way, also I couldn't decide on gold or white gold either!

However this ring has 'me' written all over it and I liked the thought of literally having 'studded' ears so snapped them at the perfect price of £3 each....earrings and ring SOLD.



Lastly were my primary finds in the accessory department and the whole reason for me buying an entire new set of jewellery.
The necklace is bold, statement like and pretty all at the same time. It's enough bling to catch your eye but not enough to blind you, I've seen a few similar at varying lengths but this was the best so far. It was also only £7 so a lot cheaper than others I'd seen.
The bangle was also another I couldn't leave alone and at this point was in a frenzy, of course it went straight into my basket! Necklace and bangle....SOLD.

I also picked up some tops as I couldn't resist the prices.

These were all under £12, with the black and cream top only £7.25 not even in the sale!

They're so wearable and the orange cardigan just seems to go with everything. It's so soft and washes really well so I'm half tempted to order off their website.
We don't have a Forever 21 in Cardiff or anywhere near (that I know of?) so it was great to finally go in and have a browse and I'd be a lot more likely to buy off their website now too!

I fell in love with so many items I can't wait to make another trip there. They have the perfect summer clothes and even if we don't get the weather there are still some luscious clothes to brighten up a rainy day.

What do you think of Forever 21?? Have you picked up some bargains there too?

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven in the accessories department!

L xxx

Spending Ban Update 8

This week I broke the ban (so far I don't think I've done too bad, you can see my updates here) I did purchase the gorgeous shoes I had for my graduation that I mentioned last week but I will be having these for my birthday later on in the year so technically not a spend.

I was reading a post on Poppy's blog (this post) where she said how much she loved John Frieda's 3 day straight, being a naturally curly haired girl who love's John Frieda shampoos I practically ran out the door to Asda and left my willpower in the flat. 

My hair has been annoying me at the moment so the thought of some new great wonder products had me wanting them so bad.  When I went to Asda they were on 3 for 2 so it seemed stupid to just buy the one (that's what I'm telling myself)

I picked up the Daily Miracle treatment was £6, Dream Curls Styling Spray was £5 and 3 day straight was £7 so I did save quite a bit. They are still on offer so if you love John Frieda products I'd suggest checking out your local Asda.

I've only properly tried the Dream Curls Styling Spray and was hugely impressed. I swim a lot at the moment  so I'm having to embrace natural hair. My hair is normally quite frizzy not very even curls. This made my hair curl without frizz and much more evenly, it was also left feeling soft. There is nothing worse than crispy hair.

I didn't technically need the products but I'm really glad I bought them and my hair is too!!

As for my wishlist. I actually have nothing to add this week. I will be making a purchase next week as unfortunately I have a funeral to attend and now need a black dress.

My Wishlist.

MAC Brick-O-La (this has been there since the beginning. I've still not seen it in person)

Urban Decay Setting Spray

Illamasqua Pigment Base

Origins Cheeks and Balance

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Daniel Sandler Water Colour Blush

Elf Brush Cleaner

Stocking Tights

Maybelline Colour Tattoo

Laura Mercier Undercover Pot Concealer 

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation or the Tinted Moisturiser. I want to get samples of both of these.

Maybelline Super Stay 10 hour tint gloss. 

Maybelline Super Stay 14 hour lipstick.

Van's

Skinny Jeans

Love M

xxx

Spring Series: Hand and Nails!

Afternoon!

We're back again with another post for our Spring Series.

We've already covered Body Care and Fitness and you can read those here and here.

This week's post is dedicated to hands and nails, so if you're a bit of a manicure lover then this post is for you!

I used to be reeeeeeeeally bad at applying hand cream.

As I'm a contact lens wearer I'm always wary of using any kind of cream or soaps on my hands that may interfere when I put my lenses in, so have always avoided them like the plague.

(By this I don't mean that I never washed my hands, just avoided the thick scented ones that tend to stay on your skin!)

After realising that actually it takes 2 seconds to put my lenses in and I don't take them our for a few hours, I changed my tune and now working in a freezing cold lab I slather the stuff on!

I favour products that are organic and natural as I'm sure M does too so my favourite hand creams are from Crabtree and Evelyn, Dr Organic and L'Occitane.

All smell reeeeeeeeaally natural and sink straight into your skin.

As I'm new to the hand cream crew I cannot be dealing with waiting for it to sink in, unless it's when I'm getting into bed.

I also feel I should mention Soap and Glory's Hand Food as it is very popular and I also love the smell of that, but I don't feel like it is as good as it could be and obviously natural and organic wins out for me!

As for nails I am a firm believer in using a traditional 4 way block to file, shape, buff and shine my way to natural nails.

I have currently been using Model's Own and it's been great, love the bright neon colours too and the price is perfect at around £3.

As for nail colours for Spring....I'm a firm believer in nudes, pastels, metallics and pretty patterns.

You cannot go wrong if you pick any of the shades from the following pictures.

These are all of my favourite shades for Spring and I will making my way through each of them over the next few weeks!

As nail art is still so popular I can also see myself attempting M's Rose NOTD that she did a few days ago, or even a Spring version of my own layered polish pattern.

What are your favourite hand and nail tips? What's your favourite Spring colours?

L xxx

As with L I never used to apply hand cream as much as I should have. After realising how badly hands can age I thought it was time I took care of them. I also work in a laboratory so I have to wash my hands a lot and I find the soap very drying. As with L at first I loved Soap and Glory hand food but the more hand creams I've tried the less I like it and I think there are better out there for a better price. My favourite is an Avon Planet Spa one, in African Shea Butter. I adore the scent and it's a nice thick cream that moisturises without leaving hands feeling coated.



As I wear a lot of false nails now I don't tend to my natural nails as much as I should. To see what false nails I use and the tool I can't be without you can see it in my Rose NOTD linked above. I'll be doing a how I use the cuticle trimmer post this week.



I love using dotting tools and my striping tape to create different types of nail art. I'm not the type of girl who wears a plain colour much. I also favour the accent nail. For spring I think nude nails with a bright pink signature nail is a perfect look. Spring is also a great time to get out the pastel shades again.  Here are some of my favourite colours that I tend to gravitate towards for spring time!



Here is some spring inspired nails we did last year.



What's your favourite colour for spring?

Love M

xxx

Benefit Fake Up Event in Swansea

Hello!

You might have seen ours and a few others tweets about the amazing Benefit Fake Up event in Swansea on Tuesday night.

We were both so excited to attend and ran to the train station after work so we could get there in time for the 6pm start.

Our first thoughts when we got there was that they couldn't have picked a better venue, it was on the 27th floor of the tallest building in Swansea. It's set right on the water front and they'd hired out the function room in the Grape and Olive restaurant which had at least a 270 degree view of the city and shoreline.

We were also lucky enough to get there at sunset and the view was just spectacular!

We were greeted on arrival with prosecco and strawberries which was lovely and met up with some of the other bloggers we've met previously (including....). It was great to catch up with everyone again! Here's us with Jenny from The Pulse of Fashion:


It wasnt long before we were all mingling and digging our hands into the make up box that the girls had brought with them. We were left to play with the products and were eyeing up plenty, L was eyeing up a brow kit while M was loving Watts Up! We were both loving the perfumes too.

We couldn't believe it when 2 of the Benefit girls were the same ones we met at London Fashion Week when M won the tickets, it was great to see them again and lovely that they remembered us! Here's us having a picture with Lisa, she's so lovely!

The FakeUp idea is based around a Sherlock Holmes-esque female with a magnifying glass and pipe, so there were props everywhere and we loved them! The evening started off with everyone gathering round while Lisa gave us the low down on Fake Up. It started with asking what everyone knew about it already. M put her hand up and was extremely lucky to win a full size They're Real mascara. FakeUp is a new type of concealer. It's different than anything we've ever seen before. It has a hydrating outer ring around the concealer that contains vitamin E and apple seed extract. The moisturiser means that it's great for use on spots as it helps with drying out. The concealer hides dark circles and illuminates. Which makes it great for using under the eye area too. The fact it doesn't crease also means it can be applied to crows feet. We also loved that some of the Benefit ladies there had had the product since January to test out so you know they are really loving the product. After a quick chat about the product, we were left to be colour matched for the Hello Flawless powder which we were lucky enough to receive at the event.  While we were playing Alyson (a make up artist specialising in the South West) applied some Fake Up to both us and shared some great tips. Not only is Fake Up great for under the eyes it can also be used for other areas too. It's great around the nose especially in winter during flu season as it moisturises as well.  She also applied it around the bottom lip and to our cupids bow. This made our lips look so much fuller and more defined especially as we were both wearing a red lipstick at the time!  This will be our number one tip from this event, we cannot believe how much of a difference it made to shape of our lips and the amount that the lipstick colour 'popped'. Lastly it was applied around the brows to tidy and accentuate them. We both loved how it looked and again, made our brows look so much neater and the shape was perfect. We were lucky enough to receive all 3 shades of Fake Up (it comes in light, medium and dark). The ladies suggested using the dark Fake Up for contouring. We are both big contour fans (Kim K style contouring can be seen here and here) We both use bronzer and had been after a foundation or concealer to use instead so couldn't wait to test it out. M has been testing it out and is loving it. Although it's moisturising it doesn't add oil to her oily skin. Here's a before and after picture with easy peasy contouring: Another positive is it really does last. M usually sets all her concealers with her Real Techniques setting brush and powder, with Fake Up she's found best results not setting it and it still lasts. Both of us also love the packaging, it's quite simple but still girly and really functional for on the go as well as at home. It reminds us both of the Diet Coke cans due to the silver and writing!  The twist up stick makes it so easy to apply when you're in a rush so there's no excuse. I think it's fair to say we are both already big Fake Up fans. It can be used in so many ways. We have to say a huge thanks to all the Benefit ladies. They were all so friendly, outgoing, shared great tips and we had such a great night, especially with the additional gifts of Hello Flawless, They're Real and Porefessional! We also got told some big news to all our South Wales followers. Swansea is getting a Benefit Boutique at the end of April which is a huge deal. There are actually only around 4 in the world!  L and I can't wait to visit. It expands on the brow bar seen in some department stores and will offer waxing as well as fake ban tans (one of Ms preferred tan brands) and we can't wait to see it.   Fake Up will be available from the 30th of March and will retail for £18.50. Will you be rushing to the stores to grab it? With results like these there is already a waiting list in some stores and it completely sold out in America! Ready, set, ...go?? L and M xxx