Asos Sale Haul

Hey All

My brother is a total sales bargain hunter so is always sending me bargains. The latest whatsapp bargain contained these two belts that ring in at a to cheap to resist £2! I was in need of new belts so couldn't resist a browse. As he's premier he also let me use his account for free delivery as I was heading back to my parents that weeks!

At £2 it seemed silly not to order them! (link here) I couldn't resist browsing the rest of ASOS sale which did prove dangerous. Here's the other bits I grabbed. I could have bought so much more. I tried to have some self restraint (says the girl that bought 4 belts and wanted 5!)

I'm a huge fan of waist belts and bottle green so there was no way this wasn't going to end up in my bag. I love belts like this with dresses as they just add a little something more to a plain dress and make my waist look smaller. This one was more expensive at £5 (link here)

Lastly on belts the colour of this caught my eye! The blue is an amazing matte pastle shade and I loved the rubberised finish of it. I think this colour will be amazing with tea dresses! At only £3 it was being ordered! I think I'd have personally preferred a silver buckle with the colour of blue! (link here)

Next up is loads of jewellery. I'm loving the delicate jewellery that seems to be everywhere but I seem to be lacking it. Also weirdly lately my ears have finally accepted being pierced and are happy to wear cheap earrings after 18 years of only wearing gold or plastic ones!

For £2 these had to be mine. I love the simple delicate design of these. They are also a brushed gold so don't look tacky. I'm definitely usually more of a silver person. I find a lot of my belts have gold buckles though so I am trying to buy more! (link here)

I was drawn to the gem stone bullet setting on this necklace and loved the light blue shade of it! The worn silver holding it looks great! It is a little annoying to wear as it does tend to choke me after a while and the second bit becomes super long! It was the most expensive buy at £5.50 (link here)

I think this is my favourite purchase. I love the layering of dainty necklaces but don't own enough to do it. The contrast of the white against gold I love and the fact one of the chains has squares on. It's so simple but I can see my getting tonnes of wear from it! This one was £4 (link here)

These disappointed me! Mainly my fault as I can't be bothered to complain. The middle bracelet was missing from my set and one of the beaded one's broke the second I put it on so I do only have 3 of this set! I do love little dainty bracelets and have already been wearing these a lot but I do think I need the gold one to break it up. I probably have one n my collection. These were £4. But to be honest I don't think they are worth it. (link here).

Have you been shopping the sales? Have you grabbed any bargains?

Love M

xxx

10 Tips to Live a Happier Life

Hi there pals!

I recently wrote about my choice of 'happiness' by quitting my job which was essentially taking over my life without any benefit to myself whatsoever. (see here for more info!)

I've been reading a lot about happiness recently and have seen lots of articles and debates about it. What is true happiness? How can you achieve it?

Happiness is different for everyone, but there are a few key things everyone should try to add a little but more happiness to your day and your life. There's no point living a miserable existence for the sake of it!

In fact even the Pope has recently released his own top 10 tips for happiness, although in my opinion a lot of his are very similar and a little too, shall we say boring?

Here's my top ten tips for being happier:

1) Take care of yourself, have some 'me' time. Sleep, pamper, curl up in bed. Stuff your face with chocolate and don't speak to anyone for a whole 24 hours if you don't want to. It's important to be alone with your own thoughts, it gives you chance to know what you really want. If not, go and get your nails done as a treat, spend an hour in the bath until you're wrinkly and if all else fails, life is always better with a tan! Just make sure you save some time for yourself.

2) Connect with others and do something to help them, particularly those who are already important in your life. Always make time for your family and friends, they are the people who are and will be there for you when you really need them. Even a text, phone call or a snapchat can be an easy way of communicating with them and brightening their day and it will make you happier too. It can be great to have a bitch fest too, just to get your bad day, nightmare colleague, irritating partner etc all off your chest! Catching up in any way possible will always make you feel better.

3) Learn new things, be curious, read, ask and question everything. There's nothing worse (and I'm talking from experience) than having a bored mind with nothing intellectually stimulating to occupy yourself with.
I'm someone who loves to read, loves to learn and I'm generally quite a fast learner, having that taken away from me made me so unbelievably unhappy that I couldn't even see a way out. Since I've taken back control of things I've been reading so much more and finding everything interesting again. It's good to relax but it's also good to keep your mind busy too.

4)  Revisit old things. I've had a huge clear out recently which is something that I try to do regularly as I just have far too much stuff and seem to be a bit of a hoarder! It's great to declutter and make more space in your room/house. But aside from that, look at old photos, make a scrapbook of some of your favourite memories, reminisce with friends over coffee or cocktails about your school days or holidays you've been on. Memories are all you have that nobody can take away from you!

5) Get active, get outside. I'm a firm believer that exercise is a massive factor in happiness. I would never have said this years ago but it truly is the main thing that keeps my stress and food intolerances at bay. I now think that there really is no excuse for you not to get some exercise in a few times a week; whether it be walking, dancing, running, swimming or any kind of exercise class or gym that you can find. I find that mixing it up and doing different things is the best way to go about it, hiking up a hill getting tonnes of fresh air, seeing new scenes and following it up on the way back with fish and chips is one of my all time favourites things to do! Fresh air literally works wonders, get out in it.

6) Move on, live and let live, there's so many sayings I could list but sometimes there's just nothing you can do but walk away from something. Whether it's your job like in my case, your relationship, a friendship or any number of things, sometimes it's best just to move on and leave it all behind. The negativity can drag you down and it's not worth it when you could be having such a better life. Surround yourself with happy people who support your choices.

7) Cut down on the social media. I'm a firm believer in taking pictures on a night out and sharing them with my friends; but constant photos, tweets and statuses can't truly mean you're having a good night? I almost always tweet a picture on the night, it's lovely to be able to share your new dress, hair etc with your friends but for day to day life sharing every meal and constantly comparing yourself to other people's feeds isn't healthy. Social media is a portrayal of someone's life as they wish you to see it not how their life really is. Take a break from it for a few days, and you'll see that really, you're not missing anything.

8) Set yourself goals, make plans for the future, be organised. It can be great to just live each day as it comes but if, like me, you want to get loads done in your life it' a good idea to make a loose plan. 

9) Don't take life seriously. Throw those shapes on the dancefloor, have an eating competition, pull faces in photos. I haven't done any of these things in a long time, it's high time I had a little more fun with life and wore something crazy and danced like a loony!

10) Choose your own path; never give a fuck what anyone says you should or shouldn't be doing. They don't know you, they don't know what you want and you should never do something to please somebody else who wouldn't do the same for you.

If in doubt; refer to Harry Potter:




L xxx

Nivea 3 in 1 Micellar Water

Happy Friday lovely readers!

I hope you've got some great things planned. I have work for the final time on a Saturday but only til 11am so I'm planning on getting some gym action and then having another quiet weekend to conserve my energy for Tough Mudder the weekend after!

Today I have a review for you on another micellar water. There are quite a few on the market now and it's about time seeing as before there was only offers from Bioderma and Etat Pur which were a little difficult to get shipped all the way over from France.

I've since tried the L'Oreal and the Garnier before picking up the Nivea version for Glastonbury. I still had the Garnier one in my stash but as the bottle was so big I didn't want to carry it all the way to the festival with me nor did I want to run out, so I picked up this one for a change.

I mainly chose this one as it was a smaller size (200ml) which was perfect for 5 days of festival antics and it was one that I hadn't tried. It was also tailored for sensitive skin which I knew i would experience after a few days of being unable to wash my face properly.

It claims to be a 3 in 1 micellar water which aims to cleanse deeply, remove make up and moisturise whilst also being free of parabens, colours and perfume which all sounds like a pretty perfect package to me!

I used this morning and night at glastonbury, I was hoping it would help keep a break out at bay by keeping my skin as clean as possible without stripping it. I also, as expected wore a lot of eye make up and copious amounts of glitter which needed quite a lot of help to remove.

It contains dexpanthenol and grape seed oil to help combat the main signs of sensitive skin; redness, tightness and dryness.

Using this every day had absolutely no negative effects on my skin whatsoever, it was a massive pain that i could only use face wipes and this to cleanse my face as I missed my hot water and wash cloth terribly! My skin did get a bit greyer, blotchy and definitely not as smooth but that's to be expected.

I didn't suffer too many breakouts, nor did my skin feel tight, sore or experience any redness other than what I would normally experience if I hadn't washed my face properly.

I thought this cleansing water was another great micellar water at a reasonable price from the high street. I do think it is a more expensive version though. This bottle normally clocks in at £4.07 for 200ml (but is currently on offer for £2.03 on the Boots website!) and so is £1.02 for 100ml.

The Garnier micellar water that I've previously posted about (here) is £3.33 for 400ml and so 83p per 100ml. I personally prefer the bigger bottle, I use a cleanser of this type regularly so a bigger bottle is much better value for me. But that aside all of the micellar waters I have tried have been on par with each other in performance which is great for the high street brands to be doing such a good job.

What do you think of high street cleansing waters such as this one? Which is your favourite?

L xxx

Beauty Rehab

Hello there!

I'm back with another beauty rehab post today, I've been churning my way through my stash and although there is seemingly no avail to the end of my products I am somewhat working my way through as I haven't bought any more products so it must be decreasing right???

I have to say that i really enjoy writing these posts, it's a great way to show progress through your stash, revisit products you may have forgotten about and remember if you wanted to repurchase them or not.

I also think it's great to have a nosy at what other people have been using up too!

Simple Soothing Shower Gel - this was bought for me at Christmas and it took me a while to get round to it but it's a lovely 'simple' product. I'd repurchase if I ever run out of shower gel!

Aussie 3 Min Miracle Conditioner Luscious Long Hair - I don't think the variations in the 3 Min Miracle range make any difference but the different conditioner types do vary in smell and consistency so I think it's just a matter of working out which one you prefer. I will always repurchase these especially as they're always on offer somewhere!

Vita Liberata Tinted Self Tan Gel - Love this, worth every penny though I try to buy during the 1/3 off promotions (£15 then!) really lovely even tan in a believable colour. Already repurchased!

Batiste - I do not need to say anything about this product! Already have 3 more cans in the sidelines!

Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream - Love how thick this product is and was a lovely surprise how good the skincare range from Benefit was. I have a mini of this to keep me going for now!

Origins Ginzing Face Cream - WONDERFUL smell and amazing results, just cannot go wrong with Origins for my skin, it drinks it up! Will repurchase when I've worked through some more.

Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer - love this product and is my favourite primer for the price. Will surely repurchase though there are a few i want to try in the mean time

Clarins HydraQuench Cream Mask - given to me and I loved it, wouldn't repurchase as I'm an Origins lover and have lots of Drink Up mask to use but it is a lovely product that has made me want to try a lot more from Clarins in the future.

Barefoot Orgasmic Body Lotion - this was really nice but seems to have gone a funny smell! Wouldn't repurchase.

Balance Me Cleans and Smooth Face Balm - this came in a beauty box so it was great to try it out. I've always enjoyed every Balance Me products that I've tried and am definitely interested in trying out more in future.

St Tropez Tan Optimiser - love this really fine scrub but I don't think the price is reflected in the effects from the product and I'd personally prefer a Soap and Glory one for a better smell!

Garnier Ambre Solaire spray tan - Great tan that's super easy to use, dries quickly and doesn't produce an orange or streaky colour. Always my back up tan!

S&G Greatest Scrub of All - lovely small grained face scrub that would be a great alternative to more expensive scrubs especially when they're in the 3 for 2 deal. You cannot lose with Soap and Glory!

L'Oreal Micellar Water - a lot of these micellar waters are very similar but I did like this one and I would repurchase.

S&G Peaches and Clean Face Wash - used to love this and still do like it but I'm not sure that my skin still does as it did break out a little towards the end of the bottle. I will be sticking to my Origins one for now.

Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Sugar Scrub - I don't think an expensive scrub is worth the pennies and any kind of scrub is fine by me! This one had the typical cocoa butter smell but it wasn't too overpowering. Wouldn't repurchase as I'd prefer a different scent.

Macadamia Deep Repair Masque - there is NOTHING better than this hair mask and I really need to save up for the pot and save my hair from its dry and nasty existence it's currently living! NEED.

Coral blush - if I could find where this blush came from I'd be over the moon, it's a perfect dupe for Coralista (my all time fave) but unfortunately it's so old I have no idea where it came from!

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - always the best, always repurchased.

Skin Life Serum - another beauty box product, very nice thin moisturiser that my skin constantly drank up. Was lovely but i believe it was expensive!

Rimmel Scandaleyes Flex Mascara - I always think Rimmel mascaras are great value for money but this one unfortunately seemed to go very thick very quickly and my lashes looked quite clumpy so I wouldn't repurchase this one.

Benefit They're Real mascara - love this mascara as the brush is really good at getting every lash. I was lucky enough to win some minis in various make up events so have a few to keep me going but I'm not sure if I'd spend over £20 on it as I'm a germ phobe and throw my mascaras out after a max of 3 months! So I can't really justify it at the moment.

Bioderma SPF 50 sample - Bioderma are one of the best at what they do and having tried this product I can't disagree. Easily absorbed and hasn't irritated my skin at all. Would repurchase if i was going abroad.


So what do you think of the products I've used? Are any of them your favourites?

Hopefully I can work my way through even more next time. I've just had a super clear out in my room of books, uni work and other crap that I've accumulated. It would be great to have some additional space in my room rather than fighting for it all the time!

Are you any good at keeping control of what you're using?


L xxx