Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation

Hi there!

After a bit of a spend in Debenhams the other day (products shown below) I've been playing around with all of my new goodies and have been absolutely loving all of them. Today's review is of the Naked Skin foundation from Urban Decay.

In keeping with the Naked product collection, the packaging is rose gold coloured and aside from that very simple. The foundation itself is pretty true to its name; it is weightless, peptide infused, and light diffusing as well as being free of parabens.





The foundation claims it will create a flawless demi-matte finish with light diffusing spheres ensuring you look professionally retouched. Not only that it is infused something crazy sounding called Matrixyl 3000 which is a powerful anti-wrinkle peptide, Lichtiderm which is protecting and brightening, as well as vitamins and antioxidant green tea.





There have been many studies into the effects from using this product and you can see how successful they were in the image above.

There are quite a few shades available in the range, and as a person who tends to live in the upper ranges of the spectrum (thank you rainy Wales..) I was pleased that not only are there a lot of pale shades but I wasn't the palest, which is always nice to know there are shades available for those who are paler than me.





The bottle itself is beautiful, its sleek and simple which is my favourite and most of all it's glass. I love glass bottles for foundation as it feels a lot more expensive and luxurious. However I can see this getting extremely grubby in my morning rush getting make up and fingerprints all over it!

Even the dispenser is similar and is very sturdy, it doesn't feel like cheap plastic that will stop working after a few pumps, nice to know it's not going to give up on me after a few uses.

So how is it on the face? It is exactly as it's described; weightless and light diffusing.

It manages to cover all of my flaws without caking, and although it covers it doesn't mask my face if you understand what I mean. It covers most imperfections and whilst it doesn't cover everything I feel that at least my skin does still look real. Some of my spots require an additional cover up with concealer but generally I find this is enough for me.

See for yourself, here's my face with just Naked Skin and then with the rest of my make up on:

In my opinion this foundation gives me enough coverage without caking my face. In the photo below I have the rest of my face on and I really like the glow it gives.

What do you think of Naked Skin? Do you prefer a lightweight foundation or something heavier?

Would you consider trying it?

If you go to the counter and ask the lovely girls they might even give you a sample size to try which should last you at least a week. I've kept my bottle so that I can refill it for weekends away!

The Naked Skin foundation retails at £27 for 30ml.

L xxx

Fitness Friday: Emily Skye

Hey there, happy Fitness Friday!

A few weeks ago I wrote about my current fitness motivations and inspirations which you can read here.

One of those beautiful people was the lovely Emily Skye of the 30 Day Shred and 30 Day Ab Shred fame. You can see pictures on both of her websites of her previous clients and I hope that one day I can look as good as they do!

I bought the Ab Shred a few weeks ago and have been taking a good look at it. It costs $50 (australian dollars), which converts to £28. I bought it when she had a flash sale and so it cost me £12 which I thought was worth paying out for when I saw how much was in the package and I needed some new ideas.

In the package you get:

• 30 Day beginner Ab workout
• 30 Day advanced Gym workout
• 30 day meal plan
• Full shopping list for each week
• 60+ exercise videos all available to watch online

The meal plan is endorsed by a nutritionist and there are low carb versions available as well as bonus workouts and tips and tricks. 

Once you've paid for the plan you get an email through with your login details. You can access the program online and download it in a PDF form, and the workout videos are all in the same place. 

Not only this but there is also a forum on Facebook for you to join and chat to other members, sharing tips and tricks, asking for help and any time you need a boost of confidence.

So far I haven't stuck to it 100% as I bought it for some food inspiration more than anything else. I have my own routine that I like to stick to but the additional ab workouts have been great to add into my own routine. It was nice to see that I already do a lot of the workouts she recommends but her meal plan is one that i am completely in love with!

The meal plan is amazing, there is no way that you will ever be hungry with 3 meals and 2 snacks every day. If you made each meal as and when you need to eat it then you would probably waste a lot of time and ingredients so because of this preparation is key. Some members spend their sundays prepping food for the week which is what I do a lot of the time anyway.

I make up a huge batch of quinoa to sort me out for breakfasts and lunches for most of the week and also grill a huge pile of veggies and a few batches of muffins. One of my favourite things that is on the meal plan are the muffins, you can have cake as a snack??! WHAT THE.


Not only that you can have pancakes for breakfast, pizze for tea and the mixture for the muffins actually allows you to have 3 muffins as ONE snack. I'm in love, and I'm never hungry, never run down and never low on energy.

There are so many recipes that I'd love to share with you and might do in future. I think that if you are totally lost in your diet and fitness regime its the perfect antidote. It has structure, guidance and so many helpful tips and tricks to get you to lose those extra stubborn pounds.

I'd fully recommend this is you need the guidance and support of fellow members, Emily Skye herself also comments on lots of posts and her boyfriend can also be very helpful too with helping to fit the regime around your current life. However this plan isn't easy and requires a lot of hard work and preparation, you do need to be motivated and put the effort in and trust me you will definitely see the results!

Check the results out on the links above and you will see what i mean!
I will be taking recipe ideas and ab workout ideas from the program and adding them into my own routine over the next few weeks and fingers crossed I'll see some good results soon.


Would you buy a program like this? Do you want to see some recipes from the program that will help you blast ab fat?

Let me know what fitness programs you've been taking inspiration from recently! I always love finding new ideas and ways to stay fit and healthy.


L xxx

Festival Essentials Pack

Hello lovelies!

I've got a totally random and fun review for you today. A few weeks back my brother got me a birthday present that 100% confused me. Imagine being faced with opening up a present looking like the bag below:

I was so confused! What on earth was in this drawstring bag??

Well let me enlighten you....

Very important ear plugs for starters! I've heard that whatever you take with you, if you intend to get any sleep at all you 100% need these, or some hefty ear phones that will block out noise from rowdy partiers walking past your tents.

Sun lotion sachet; very handy. I will of course be taking a full bottle with me but this can be my emergency sachet for times of last minute sun that appears. So many people I've known have burnt to a crisps at festivals because of the rare sunshine in the UK and I don't intend to be one of them! Though a golden glow would be LOVELY!

Next up some real hygiene essentials. Deodorant, a festival must have, It should rate up there with oxygen and water. Do not leave home without it for the sake of everyone.
Tissues, pack copious amounts of these! Saving you from the sniffles induced by crap food/drink/no sleep etc, the inevitable toilet trips and spillages of any kind. Saviours.

Hand gel; when those inevitable toilet trips arrive you should be armed. Sanitise those hands of yours to protect from unthinkable germs, imagine over 100,000 people using the same toilets for a week. GERM HEAVEN. Protect yourself as much as possible!

Lastly a few girly essentials. Carex wipes will also help against sticky spillage, I'm talking pints of cider flying everywhere, falling over in the mud and those dirty dirty burgers you'll be chowing down on. (I'm drooling already, cider and burgers yummmmmm)

Plasters and toothbrush are also essential; for the love of GOD do not leave home without a toothbrush EVER. Festivals included, your breath should still be smelling fresh and a lack of a sink is no excuse!

The torch is a nice little touch really, I hadn't thought about taking one of these but without any electrical lighting in a tent how on earth would you be able to do anything otherwise! Can you tell I've never actually been proper camping?? Cue a big shock coming my way!

And last but not least........a nail file. One of the most important tools known to women kind, imagine breaking a nail and not being able to file it away for 7 days? Unthinkable!

You can find this specific set on ebay here, but there are tonnes on there that would be great gifts for a festival goer this year!
It's a genius present and I love it, cannot wait to take it to Glastonbury and put it to good use.

What do you think of my festival essentials? Do you have anything to add to the list?

Would you love to give or receive this pack as a gift?

L xxx

China Glaze Be Bright Nail Polish Set

Hi there!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had a friend in the US who sent me a few goodies just after Christmas, this nail polish set was one of them. It was a Christmas set but lets be honest, it's not like there's a ban on glitter and metallics for the rest of the year is there?!

This set is Be Bright and contains 1 metallic nail polish and three glitter top coats.

Here is Your Presents Required over Essie's Fiji. This polish doesn't look much in the bottle but once I'd applied it to my ring finger I then had to put it on all the others too! It has so many colours in it that it looks perfect over a nude colour like Fiji

There are also multiple sizes of the different colours of glitter too which make it look a lot more authentic and less perfect making it look a lot better, in my opinion. This one is my favourite out of the whole packet!


This nail polish is Mingle with Kringle, a gorgeous super shimmery gold polish.



The photo above shows one coat, and the photos below show two coats. Two coats are definitely required for opacity and the colour is gorgeous. It's a true gold and extremely shimmery! I really like this shade but I do have quite a few polishes like this already.




For the next glitter, Bells will be Blinging was applied to my ring finger over an Essie polish called Parka Perfect. The photos below shows one coat of the glitter polish:





And the above shows 2 coats. You can see it definitely needs two coats for the full amount of sparkle, I can't say this is one that I'll use too often as I much prefer the first polish for glitter and don't often wear blues generally. But I was impressed how well this showed up after one coat, but as always you'll need 2 for the full effect!

Lastly we have Be Merry, Be Bright another multicoloured and multi sized glitter which I have applied over Ballet Slippers.

In all honesty I didn't think I'd like this at all, I'm not sure why, maybe it was the blue glitter in it. In the bottle I think the blue glitter looks a considerable amount more than it does on the nails and I've surprised myself by actually loving it!

Which is your favourite? I really have surprised myself by which ones of these are my favourites. China glaze is one of my favourite nail polish brands and I love every collection they bring out! 

Do you have any China Glaze favourites?

L xxx