Prairie Charms

Back in August I couldn't resist placing and order with Prairie Charms. They started a project blogger which gave me 50%. 

I'd been wanting a floral hair crown for ages. I absolutely love them and hair accessories in general. At the time it started I was skint so the they were nice enough to hold back a few items for me that I really wanted.

I ordered a floral headband and a cute braided multiwrap which can be worn as a necklace, bracelet or hair band. I also got a glitter bow and if you've read any of my bun ring tutorials you'll know my love of glitter bows! This one is in black a colour I don't have yet and I absolutely love it. There is something about black glitter I really love.

Photos from Prairiecharms.co.uk

These will be featuring in OOTD once I get back into them. My wardrobe is currently boring me.

Onto my favourite item my beautiful floral crown. Unfortunately these are sold out at the moment but I'm sure more stock of these style will come back in. There are some gorgeous rose headbands which are currently wanting to come live with me.

I'm so in love with this one. The colours are perfect for me as my hair is now pink and will soon be lilac.

I love that the crowns have a variety of different flowers in them and the elastic makes them really comfy to wear. The leaves on the back prevent any flowers digging into your head.

I can't wait to get more wear out of this. This will definitely be coming to Glastonbury with me and to my brothers wedding. 

Have you joined the floral crown trend. I'll be ordering more from Prairie Charms for next summer!!

Love M

xxx

Review: Maybelline Baby Lips

Some products get loads of hype. Especially it seems when products are built up pre release or released in America first. We all rush to get them but lately I seem to find myself finding the hype was better than the product turned out to be.

Baby Lips were something I'd heard so much about. Everyone seemed to have them and love them. They were a tinted lip balm that everyone seemed to love.

When L and I popped into our local Asda we decided to pick them up to test out. We both went with the cherry baby lips as we love red lips and colour on our lips.

The packaging isn't something that appeals to me. It just looks bright and aimed more at a younger market in my opinion. I also prefer if they were going to be different colours that they were coordinated to the colour of the product.

As someone who likes fruity smells the cherry in this is very fake cherry. Not something I mind too much but I imagine for some it would be overpowering.

For me the texture was the most disappointing thing. It feels like a thin almost greasy coating on my lips and the tint wasn't anything that wowed me. I guess I'd just come to expect more from the hype.

This shows the colour pay off and was after a few swipes.

My natural lip colour

With the product on. As you can see it leaves a glossy finish with a slight colour change.

They are very purse friendly though but for me they almost remind me of something you'd have as a child. For a lip balm I want something more balmy and for a lip colour I want more colour pay off. For tinted lip balms I think the Korres Lip Butters (review here) or the Carmex Moisture Plus have better moisturising and colours.

That sounds such a negative review but for me they just aren't something I'd buy again.

How did you find the baby lips?

Love M

xxx

Victoria and Albert Museum

A few weeks ago I went to London for the Murad event (post here) and had some time to kill. With little money to my name I did what any other cultural and photo hungry blogger would do.....I hit the museums.

Having gone to the Science and Natural History Museums in the past year my next call was for the Victoria and Albert museum.

I've walked past it a few times wistfully but this time I got straight off the tube, walked through the tunnel and straight into the front door. Woman. On. a. Mission.

The entrance hall was not a disappointment; amazing bulbs hanging from copper wires and an amazing glass octopus/mermaid/creature of the deep type thing! I love arty things like this, they're so eye catching.

There are a MASS of exhibitions throughout the building spread over 5 floors. There are some from Britain, America, China, Japan and everywhere you can think of!
There was some beautiful mosaic pieces from Iran:

There was a stunning hall which suddenly appeared through a tiny doorway and opened out into a cavern like room with amazing portraits and I've no idea what the thing was at the end of the room but it was gorgeous and I was mesmerized by the gold.

I am one of those people that absolutely loves trinket boxes and storage solutions. I am basically obsessed with boxes and drawers, so the following appealed to me immensely!

Imagine hiding away your lipsticks and powders in that bad boy! So many drawers for so many items, I'd have that organised within an inch of it's life if I had the room!

The box below is my absolute ideal box. I'd love to put this on my desk on display but contain items that mean something to me and keep it locked! I love the wood and the metal detail on it.

Having walked into a room that was reconstructed from another property in London, I was blown away by the fireplace. The woodwork was amazing and as the fire place is one of the main focuses of the room this was definitely a show stopper!

There were also some stunning family jewels that I couldn't resist looking at.
There was an intricate ship pendant, a beautiful black/red stone pendant, a stunning book pendant, and a jewelled gold bangle.
I couldn't stop looking at the detail on these and had to fight some people away from them.

This was the most stunning belt I've ever seen. I'm so annoyed as I've forgotten who this belonged to but they wore it to the Queen's wedding all those years ago and the belt and the matching pendant are full of diamonds that are just out of this world.

The only thing I knew was in the museum was a clothing exhibition so I was really excited to get to this part of the museum, which probably accounted for about 5%....if that!

There were dresses from all eras, in all patterns, colours and styles and it was amazing to walk around the displays seeing how fashion and costumes have changed.
The materials were amazing and the stitching and details on the pieces were unbelievable.

I loved seeing the underwear, the petticoat under the dress was also so pretty.

The dress below was one of my favourites, I love black and metalwork on clothing and this dress would be an amazing edition to my wardrobe if I could ever afford it!

Couldn't resist snapping a picture of myself in between the clothing!

I stopped for a quick drink in one of the cafes in the museum and honestly couldn't believe the lighting and decor in the seating area, check out these lights! How amazing are they?!
I'm surprised I didn't dribble my tea everywhere as I spent most of my time staring at the ceiling.

There were some stunning items and I couldn't believe the details; there was this book in the metal work section that was so intricate and detailed I was totally stunned, it's amazing!

I did not see the #no photography' signs outside the jewellery section so apologies to the museum for that....I did snap a picture of this absolutely stunning tiara though. 

I was speechless at how beautiful this was and can only imagine what it would be like to wear one. Maybe I'll have a replica made for my wedding at some point in the future?? Haaa imagine. 

That was my personal highlight of the museum, it was so beautiful!

The lightbulbs at the entrance you could see upstairs on a higher floor through a hole in the ceiling, these were SO TALL! I absolutely loved seeing them all the way to the stop of the building where they were attached and then through to the floor:

This was the perfect trip to fill the spare time I had in between my train and meeting others for the event. It took me around 3/4 hours to wander my way around the whole museum and take a substantial amount of photos.

I really enjoyed doing something completely different to normal and this was COMPLETELY FREE!
I love visiting museums so I will have to do this more often, it's a great way to learn something new, see different things and all without spending any money.

I will have to visit other types of museums in future as I'm always looking for new things to do!

Do you like visiting museums? Do you have any suggestions of museums I should visit?

L xxx

Benefit: Groovy Kind-a Love Make Up Kit

Hello!

I'm sure you've all seen the fantastic Christmas sets from Benefit this year, if not here's a link for you to browse at your leisure!

I have already purchased one of the tins (Love me B.right) which I will be reviewing very soon, but I couldn't resist but snap up this palette as well...

Groovy Kind-a Love is a beautiful palette containing an assortment of products. The back of the box shows the products, colours and names as below:

What excited me most was the dual blusher and the 4 eyeshadow colours, I don't own any eyeshadows from Benefit so I was really looking forward to trying them out.

It also contains the ever amazing Porefessional, Benetint and They're Real which I am a huge fan of.

The tin itself is small and beautifully formed, the pattern and outside images are really pretty and this would be great as a gift.
The inside is also displayed very well and would be a handy weekend kit or gift for someone who has never tried Benefit products before; or even for yourself as a payday treat like mine was. I'm such a bad saver!

Here's a closer look of the palette.

I love the arrangement and that the eyeshadows are in colour order, it would annoy me intensely if they weren't!
I also love that it comes with brushes making it a great kit for on the go or taking away with you.
Plus multi purpose products such as Benetint for lips and cheeks are great value too.

After applying my base as usual I then used the Dandelion and Gimme Fever blushers to give my face some colour and definition:

It's a beautiful colour and the shimmer is just enough to look like my skin has a glow but isn't glittery.
It's a gorgeous colour and I wish you could buy Gimme Fever separately!




I applied the eyeshadows in colour order, with Tickle My Ivory on the inner corner and Gilt-y Pleasure over the rest of the lid:



Shimmer Down was then applied to the crease and Kiss Me I'm Tipsy along the upper lashline:





These are such beautiful colours that can be worn day or night. They're perfect neutral colours for any outfit and occasion and I can see them getting a lot of use from me!

With They're Real applied the look is complete:






I do love how my lashes look with They're Real. They're lengthened, volumised and curled so I really cannot complain! I'd purchase this all the time if I could afford it but for the mean time the miniature versions are keeping me going as I've had a few different sets.



With Benetint applied as well this is a look I can see myself wearing regularly as it's pretty but chic.
I love the eyshadow colours a lot!

Do you like the palette from Benefit? It costs £29.50 and you can get it from Boots and Debenhams.

It's a great present for someone if you're stuck for something to buy and I would have loved to have received it if I hadn't have snapped it up myself already...

I've got my eye on Gimme Some Lovin' with Hoola and They're Real in, and also It's a Love Fest with Porefessional and Sun Beam (both £39.50)

Fingers crossed my mum will listen to my hints! Which would you put on your Christmas list??

L xxx