Beauty Rehab

Hey all!

I've got my first Beauty Rehab since moving out - it's been a weird kind of obsession keeping all my empties whilst I've moved and decorated but I've succeeded. What's annoyed me even more was the fact I no longer have my lovely white desk at my parents house, so nowhere to photograph them. hmmmph.

So instead I've taken some pretty awful photos on a dark rainy evening on top of a super old blanket chest in my living room - with boxes full of stuff to sort in the background. It's not ideal but it was time to sort through them all!

Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation - I loved this when i purchased it as my skin must have been a lot better. Nowadays I'm always tired so need a lot more!
Estee Lauder Double Wear - loved this, would definitely repurchase
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish - hated this, keeping the bottle for Back 2 Mac. The finish was awful!
Vichy Dermablend - also love this, it's a long term staple in my make up bag and I have another 2 as back ups!
Rimmel Stay Matte powder - love this too, why pay more when this powder is as good as Mac if not better

Dr Bronner's Citrus Orange Soap - love the smell of this so much, I'd repurchase from TK Maxx or similar as it's much cheaper
Aussie products - love love love Aussie and would repurchase always!

Batiste Dry Shampoo - love this stuff, saves me on a weekly basis when there just isn't enough time for washing hair! Always buy them in bulk in every scent, and especially the dark one
Aussie Dry Shampoo - to be honest this was pretty awful. it was like a well scented hairspray, but stickier, it wasn't a dry shampoo at all which was disappointing
L'Occitane Conditioner - considering this is quite expensive for a conditioner it was pretty average. I'm not fussy with hair products at all but it took me forever to use it up as it made my hair feel like straw
Nip and Fab Detox Blend Body Wash - this was also pretty average which was a shame as I love their skincare line

Nip and Fab Deep Cleansing Fix - talking of Nip and Fab, this is a great buy! Even better when it's on offer, its a cleanser mask etc etc wonder product!
Vaseline deodorant - I wouldn't normally bother sharing my deodorant but I always find these cans disappointing, supposedly compressed but realistically I don't think they are at all
Boots Nail Polish Remover - this was great, full of acetone so not ideal but worked a treat on glitter!
Dove Summer Glow Body Lotion - I'm embarrassed to think how old this bottle is, look at that old packaging! Still a favourite with me though, the best tanning moisturiser

Good Things Argan Oil Facial Serum - this tube disappeared overnight, I need to buy this in massive tubs!
Origins Drink Up mask - this is great, I'd repurchase purely for the smell but the effects on my skin are pretty awesome
Lacura Aqua Complete Serum - a super buy for the £3.99 price tag from Aldi, definitely worth slapping on and I have a few variations of it in my drawer
Elemis Pro-Radiance Cleanser - this was a lovely product to try as I'd never used Elemis before, a great cleanser and I'd love a full size if I could afford it!
No7 Facial Wipes - always in my stash somewhere for saving me when the day has been so long

Effaclar Duo - already repurchased during my trip to Paris, an absolute essential!
Lacura Beautifying Serum - on my second bottle, enough said!
Tigi BedHead Some Like it Hot - not sure if this serum really works but it was a lovely serum that didn't coat the hair and leave it feeling plastic or dry
Gilchrist and Soames Shower Gel - wasn't a fan of this smell, wouldn't repurchase

Soap and Glory Thick and Fast mascara - pretty good mascara but I still find Rimmel the best for the price
Benefit Roller Lash - i love Benefit mascaras, they are definitely the best for me and I'm one of those people that likes both this and They're Real, unfortunately just cannot justify buying it at the moment - this makes me very sad and I'm saving up Boots points
Models Own Nail Polish - I loved this champagne gold colour and cannot believe it's dried up! Will need to buy another
Benefit Porefessional - love this and have kept my minis for travelling so I can get through airports without hassle!
Real Techniques Expert Face brush - sadly this one has died on me and the bristles have started to fall out as you can see. Not much point in keeping it now! Will repurchase another when I'm feeling spendy

So what do you think of my empties? Have you been using up lots or have you been hoarding like I used to?

I think with all of my empty foundation bottles I'm due a treat of a new one don't you think???

L xxx

Life Lately

Hey All

Long time no post from me,  life really has been a bit crazy lately. The dude got back from a trip, I've had two weeks off work and just lots going on. I've got lots I want to share on here but thought today I'd do a little life update on some things I'll probably go into more detail on soon.

Pretty soon after he got back we had a black tie dinner to attend to celebrate our kickboxing club. It was so nice to get all dolled up and I got to wear my bridesmaid dress from a few years ago too! I had so much fun we ended up staying out till about 1ish but by then my ankle was really sore as it was only a few weeks after I'd sprained it!

By the time he got back we'd planned stuff for all our weekends. The following one we headed up to London to see some of his friends from uni. We ended up travelling all over :London using the boats, cable car and tubes to have an explore and ended up at the Greenwich observatory. It was such a cool day and I was glad I finally got myself an oyster card as it made it all so much easier. After catching a super late bus back from London I had a spa day with my mum. I love going for treatments but was left a bit disappointed by the afternoon tea! Me and the dude also decided to let the parents meet each for the first time. Definitely scary but they all got on really well thankfully.

L and I also got to catch up properly. I swear I have no time at the moment. We went for a sushi date as it's been ages and who can resist Yo Sushi! during September blues. We also headed to techniquest which you can read about here. Having never been I was so excited and definitely want to go to an afterdark session again!

Then the start of two weeks off work happened and some exciting developments. Me and the Dude, (I guess I should update him to C now to go along with the theme of things here!) have decided to move in together. We've been looking at places for a while but decided to finally go for it after finding a cute little house. I'm so excited to make it our home for the next year while we save to buy somewhere or travel. I'm already planning what I can make and he's even said I can scratch off where I've been to his scratch map! That's commitment right there ha!

For our two weeks off as loads of stuff was going on we decided to stay in the UK and go glamping after some friends had stayed in a Geo dome in Scotland. We decided to stay nearer to home and went to Hay-On-Wye. We had the best time there and I'll share more on it as it was amazing!

We've also spent a few day's in York visiting Cs grandma. I'd never been and loved all the buildings and little shops. We stayed in a really cute hotel. We also headed down to West Wales for a few days with my family for a break. It's been a busy two weeks but great one's too!

With it being the Rugby World Cup we've had busy weekends to fit in watching it all. I've loved seeing it but was definitely rather grumpy when England got knocked out! I finally managed to watch my first match in the Stadium too. What a match getting to see the Haka!! It was such a great atmosphere and I really need to go more now.

So there is my busy few weeks! It's not going to get any easier either with now a house move in two weeks and busy weekends but it'll all be worth it!

Love M

xxx

Techniquest After Hours

Hi all!

Me and M have been indulging in our sciency sides recently, were super geeks st heart and love learning new things.

We recently went to Techniquest After Hours and had such a great evening! For those of you that don't know, Techniquest is a science museum in Cardiff mainly for children. I say mainly, because even at the old age of 27 I still love it, and my parents used to love taking me too. 

If you haven't been and you have children I fully recommend it as its a great trip, the place is full of fun science experiments that make learning fun!

One of my favourites has always been the one above, being able to ALMOST tough lightning is super cool, it follows your hand around too.

They also had lots of liquid nitrogen to play around with that swirled everywhere!

There really are so many different things to see and do, so I won't explain any more I'll just show you the pictures!

This time there was also a theme of 'The Quest', much like the Cube on TV. It involved taking part in  a number of challenges around the building and we had so much fun doing them. There was a maze with crazy glasses to distort your vision, guessing how many squares flashed up on a screen, and throwing a cube into a box without being able to see. It was lots of fun and we didn't even manage to finish them all!

It's a great evening and you can even buy alcoholic drinks on site for the evening! We indulged in  a cider or two and there was also snacks and vodka slushes available too.

The next one is on the 29th of October....I assume the theme will be Halloween related but you never know!

One thing we would recommend is to turn up early around 6, the tickets are first come first served and the queue was HUGE by the time the doors opened at 6.30 - I don't fancy hanging around outside in the cold through a queue that big ever!

What do you think of Techniquest? Have you been before, now or when you were younger?

We would definitely recommend it for £3, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in science!

L xxx

Gardens of Versailles

Good morning!

Today's post is to show you my photos from the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles, I have honestly never been anywhere more beautiful and the weather was so out of this world it's not hard to see why so many people go there.

I will be writing a separate post on the Palace itself as I took so many photos I couldn't put them all in one!
The gardens start behind the palace, and begin with a a huge courtyard with fountains, statues and hedgerows as far as the eye can see. It's impressive enough to stand here and take in all of the surroundings and no picture would be able to do it justice.

The first main fountain that you come across is the one below, it's absolutely huge!

Unfortunately I had missed the main season and so none of the fountains were on at the time, I can imagine this one is hugely impressive as there were so many spouts and statues to look at.

The amount of gold in the entire gardens and Palace was almost sickening, it's not hard to see why so many people rebelled against them and dragged Marie Antoinette and the King out and beheaded them when they were so poor!

They often have a number of extra exhibitions on at various times of the year, Anish Kapoor is the current artist with a number on show. Sadly this one has been vandalised with graffiti and whilst I was there it was a very big deal on the news.

I've no idea what it says but the Palace is clearly horrified, I don't know if it can be cleaned up so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I wandered for literally hours in the sun to take in the sights and the fountains, gardens and small niches were just so pretty I could have lost days!

I think my favourite area would have to be the gardens inside Marie Antoinette's estate, not only were they generally beautiful but the addition of so many little extra structures and hideaway places were gorgeous. My favourite part was the Queen's Hamlet, and on my way to discovering it I came across so many of these and this one in particular is called the Temple of Love.

The Queen's Hamlet is an area that Marie Antoinette had created to experience the charms of country life. There are many little buildings all surrounding a lake filled to the brim with fish - I can't imagine how they live there as there were so many!

The building below was my absolute favourite, I have no idea what it's purpose is but the spiral staircase up to the tower where you would have some beautiful views would be just like something out of a fairytale.
I could spend days up there reading or painting, in fact I could just move straight in and not ever leave!

Each of the buildings were totally different and unique so I couldn't take my eyes or my camera off them.
Even coming across little hideaways like this one at the end still surprised me, the rocks arranged perfectly over a little river to another tiny building hidden away from view. I could spend such a long time getting lost in these gardens and enjoying the simple pleasures in life.

I can't imagine the amount of work that the gardeners perform on a daily basis, the colours and smells were amazing let alone the overall maintenance of gardens this size.

The absolute best part of the Gardens? They are totally free!

You have to pay to get into any of the buildings, but the gardens themselves are free, Not only can you wander around and enjoy looking at how the Kings and Queens lived back in the day, but you can also enjoy some rowing and other water sports on the lakes as well as cycling, walking your dog....even sunbathing!
I can't imagine how it would be having this on your door step, I would absolutely love it.

Have you ever been to the Palace of Versailles? Have you got lost in the Gardens like I have?

Aren't they beautiful!

L xxx