Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Lightscapade

Hey All

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things post holiday. I will probably do some travel tips posts soon as before we went away we did loads of research and it definitely paid off.

Last weekend L and I caught up with one of our friends for lunch and a little bit of window shopping which of course meant me buying as I have no willpower! I've since put myself on a 100 day spending ban as I really don't need anymore make up and need to start using some of it up.

A few years ago now I picked up my first Mac products included in them was the Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle (review here!). I raved about it loads and it was a firm favourite for well over a year until disaster struck and a drink leaked in a bag it was in and it turned to mouse. I managed to dry it out and it was usable but never the same.

I love highlighters and tend to use the one in my naked flush palette but last weekend decided it was time to finially purchase Lightscapade (which after reading my review of soft and gentle I can see I wanted back then!) The packaging has been updated since I purchased soft and gentle. It's still classic monochrome but looks more modern.

Lightscapade is cooler than soft and gentle which I'm looking forward to trying as I'm so pale I think it will suit my skin tone even more.It has a range of colours from blues, to pinks to silver in it with a very fine shimmer.

On the skin on me it comes out slightly warm toned champagne. I really love how it looks on my cheeks.

As with soft and gentle it's really fine shimmer so no glitter ball look. I love how soft these highlighters feel and how they blend on the skin.

One thing to be aware of that L's eagle eye noticed is that this was also released in a collection on display last week (I can't remember which one) and the one released in the collection had an embossed finish on the powder but had the normal packaging but a gram less product and when it's the difference between 9 and 10g and the product is £23 that means you are losing over £2 worth of product for no difference!

Are you a highlighter fan?

Love M

xxx

Life

Hello!

Today's post is a mismatch of photos I've taken over the last few weeks of places I've been and things I've eaten. I've got a lot better at not taking pictures of everything I eat when out but sometimes, it's just got to be done!

First up I'd like to congratulate myself and announce that I have finally paid off all of my debts. This includes my credit card (ENDLESS!) and also the money I borrowed from my parents to pay for my car and then all of the subsequent things that went wrong with it plus the insurance and tax that I couldn't afford from having still not paid the original money back - phew.

This means I can finally get on with my life and start savings for real! This is exciting and I can't wait to have some savings to fall back on in future and save for things like holidays and moving out.

I cannot wait to move out but I'm not going now until I've got enough to buy my own place - no point wasting money renting for a few months. I love going to vintage fairs now and my mum mentioned Cardiff Indoor Flea Market so we HAD to go and check it out. It's basically in a warehouse but it's a permanent fixture and they had loads of pretty much everything!

I loved that even though it was full of so much stuff they still had some coloured flags and bicycles hanging from the ceiling! It's a very cold place as it's not insulated at all but it's quite happy and busy too.

The furniture in there was amazing, so many old wooden pieces that I would love to get and do up myself. I know where I'll be going when I get my own place!

At home I've had to do some DIY - the inside of my fixed wardrobes were pretty much outside wall and have been letting in damp. They've been there for 33 years and we've lived in this house for 16 but of course my dad decided it had to be done NOW.

It took FOREVER to empty out the clothes and make up residing inside but if I'm honest, the real issue was the books. I'm such a hoarder of books that its a bit ridiculous but the number one thing I want in my house is a bookshelf so I'm saving them up! Here's the disaster I came home to one day after work....

What a nightmare! After a few days it was dry and I had to move everything back again, decorating is hard work but you don't even get to see this work which is even more annoying....

I've been trying to start reading again. I failed miserably with my plan to read more last year so this year I've set myself the target of reading a book per month - this way its doable and I can hopefully make a dent in some of the books I have.

This was a murder mystery that my neighbour leant me and my mum and one Friday things had been so exhausting throughout the week that I sat there with my tub of Nutella (with my name on obviously) and proceeded to eat 1/4 of the jar....whoops!

Normally a spoon of it does the trick for me and it curbs my cravings any further but that week was particularly draining and I went a bit crazy! Made me feel so much better though so I'm convinced it's what the doctor would have ordered....

Another change I've made in my room is finally getting a picture up. I've wanted a globe of the world for absolutely ages but can never seem to find one in sepia tones that I can afford....I found this print and frame in ikea for less than £20 and I knew I just had to get it. It's a map from 1881 so it's not correct at all but that's what I love about it even more. I stare at it all the time now, making a mental wishlist of where I'm going to go :)

I've finally signed up for Women's Health again after my subscription ran out mid year. I managed to get a good new year deal so was really pleased, I'd fully recommend it for anyone who's the slightest bit into health. It's got lots of fitness in it but also beauty, clothing and interviews with people like Britney, and who doesn't want a flat stomach like hers??

I recently realised that my hair has grown loads - look at the length on this! My hairdresser dyed it at Christmas for me but didn't have time to cut it so I drove to her house after work, she put the dye on and I drove home and washed it off myself half hour later! I looked a right mess in the car haha.

By the time I got it cut this time I really felt like the ends were a bit heavy so I also had a few layers put in so that it's not all one big block of hair - even straightened it looks a bit straggly which isn't a good look!

Lastly I've been looking into creating my own palette like the one above. I have a few of those colours but if you have any suggestions for me then please send them my way.
I've recently bought Brule and liked it but it wasn't the white highlighter I was looking for, the more I look into the colours the more I find I need!

You can never have too many nude coloured eye shadows can you??

What have you been eating and drinking this month? Did you manage to make it through Dry January without a drink or complete a month of a clean eating diet?

I think aside from my slip up with Nutella I've not done too badly....

L xxx

Fitness Friday: Fitness Trackers

Hi all!

Apologies for my late post today, normally I'm on the ball with scheduling for the week but I've been away with work and didn't get back until late last night. Its been a pretty poor week in terms of fitness for me; I knew working away would be hard to access a gym but I thought it would be easier to exercise in a hotel room or get out for a run around the surrounding area but it was impossible this week. My room was like a postage stamp and oddly laid out; I couldn't do any pressups/burpees like I'd planned as the room wasn't long enough at any part nor go for a run as it was really dark and on a business park so I did not feel safe at all. 

It's made me feel a bit of a hypocrite writing a fitness post this week but nevertheless I'm determined to write a Fitness Friday post each week for 2015!

This week I want to talk about fitness trackers. I've been lusting after one for a little while now and have been scouring the internet for reviews: twitter, google and geeky magazines have been my friend and I've been trying to decide which one ticks all the boxes.

Image from Fitbit Blog

There's the most talked about Fitbit which have a range of fitness trackers from basic pedometers to the all singing and dancing Surge which was released within the last month. With heart rate, sleep patterns and a screen to give you phone notifications as well as GPS I have to say it was hitting all my buttons and I was ready to part with my cash the moment it came out. But then I read a few reviews on Amazon and the unreliability changed my mind. Plus on this link here some people have had reactions to the strap and with my sensitive skin it has made me question if this is right for me (link here)

Image from Jawbone website

The second most popular is the Jawbone Up range, but the Up3 is the most recent. It also has a wide range of tracking such as sleep and heart rate but for me the bonus factor is the fact that its waterproof to 10m which not only means I don't have to worry about it in the shower but also I can swim with it too which is something I used to do weekly and now would like to get back into. However this one does not have a screen to give you regular updates and the sleep function has to be manually turned on.

I'm fully aware that there are so many more available and I've been trying to make up my mind by the time this pay day rolls around.

Do you have a fitness tracker? What would you recommend? 

The Fitbit Surge is priced at £200 and the Charge HR is £120. The Jawbone Up3 comes in the middle of the price range at £150. They're all fairly similar in price so its hard to make a decision, I don't want to buy a cheaper one and it not have everything I want and then have to buy another in future, but most expensive isn't always best!

What do you think about fitness trackers? Would you pay out for one or do you think they're a gimmick and just another way for people to make money?

Im a total geek so can't wait to get on the apps and analyse my heart rate and sleeping patterns!

L xxx 

Herbal Essences Dry Shampoo

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Only a few more days until a romantic weekend is upon us.........unless you're me and M and you're off to a Harry Potter party in place of doing anything romantic for Valentine's Day. We're too cool!

I don't know about you but dry shampoo is a big part of my life, I use it a few times a week to save me from washing my hair all the time. That way I save time and effort as well as keeping my hair looking bouncy and smelling sweet. I'm a big Batiste fan - the original is usually the best.....but after my mum bought me these Herbal Essences one for Christmas could they be replacing it?

My mum picked up the Uplifting Volume which has a Citrus fragrance and also an original Dry Shampoo with a Natural Tapioca scent.
Both me and my mum have a bit of a thing for scents - we love citrus scents and plain scents. Anything unnatural and strong is totally out of the question and I can't be going near it!

The packaging promises a 1st Day Clean feel by utilising a formula containing natural tapioca.

It works exactly as any other dry shampoo, you spray it in and work it into your roots. I like to leave it on as long as possible and if you want my number one tip.....spray it on before bed and wake up with fully revitalised hair, It works a treat and requires no brushing or the dreaded 'grey halo' effect where no amount of brushing can save you. Now that my hair is back to its natural brown/black colour this is something I am permanently scared of!

The citrus fragrance for this is perfect, it's light and not overpowering at all and I really like it. 

The natural tapioca is also a really light scent and to be honest, I find both of these better than Batiste.

These are both really great and based on this alone I would repurchase as having my hair smell like these would be awesome!

It's also great that there are no parabens or colourants - any products with less chemicals in is a winner in my books though i wonder if something else has replaced them.

The texture of this is a little weird. I feel like it does absorb a lot of oil from my hair, and therefore works well as a dry shampoo - performing the task it was designed to do. However unlike Batiste this feels like a hairspray with absorbent particles in it and so sometimes I feel like it coats my hair in unnecessary extra product and weighs it down rather than giving it 'uplifting volume'.

Overall I'm seriously impressed that Herbal Essences have created absolutely great smelling dry shampoos and I would buy them again for this alone. However when it comes to performing the task it was designed to do I feel like the extra product can end up weighing the hair down and making it look worse than it did already.

It's really a 50/50 on this one and I'd probably suggest using these if you're a gym goer like myself and can't be washing your hair every day - this product is perfect for you with a stronger scent to mask any sweat and it does absorb oil.

However for other days I would stick with Batiste where I just need the crown of my hair to look a bit less greasy to get me through another day.

Both have their place but for different reasons.

Have you tried the Herbal Essences Dry Shampoos? Which scent do you recommend?

In future when I've used these up I'm going to try out the Aussie and the CoLab dry shampoos and compare them also - dry shampoo is such a vital thing in my life for looking good that its way more than an essential now!
Are you hooked on dry shampoo for its' time saving abilities?? Do you have any other brands that you would suggest?

L xxx