recent treats...

hey! so i've been really good lately and not even touched my bank card in ages! then i slipped and well...this happened. (over the past month or so but still, i'm meant to be saving for a car!) i wanna kick myself every time i buy something but it's just so hard to save every penny and i just couldn't resist picking these things up over the last month or two!

i adore this top from primark. i think i paid £6 for it in the sale and got it in a few sizes up so it was slightly oversized on me. i love the floral detail and the collar. so cute and i think i'll get a lot of wear out of this right through spring and summer.

this chunky gold necklace is from boohoo. i paid £8 which i think is pretty good! i've been wearing this with pretty much everything - it's so simple but adds a bit extra to a plain outfit.

i also spotted this cute cath kidston style notebook in home bargains today! they had this pink spotty one and a few different floral ones practically identical to cath kidston and for less than half the price! i love making lists. to do lists, shopping lists, 'to read' book lists...it goes on and on. i've already filled a few pages of this notebook and i only bought it this afternoon! i may have to go back and buy the other designs.

on wednesday i ventured into York which was absolutely lovely despite the horrific weather and the worry of whether or not we would be able to get the train back with the flooding and things. i had a good old look around the cath kidston shop while i was there and picked up this lanyard for my keys to help me try find them a bit easier in my bag as i always think i've lost them! i love the cute little bird design and i think i only paid a few £s for this which is a bargain considering how long i'll probably use this for.

today i also picked up the famous aussie three minute treatment. i got the 'take the heat' one as i straighten my hair most days and i hate the feeling of the ends of my hair going dry and horrid, a nightmare when i'm trying to grow my hair! hopefully this will keep those dry ends at bay and i won't have to trim them off. a while back i also bought these two lipsticks from mac. 'captive' and 'girl about town.' i love both of these shades, i think they both suit my pale skin tone and give me a nice pop of colour when i need it. i love plum shades and deep pinky purple colours at the moment. i think they're a good colour to use during these wintery months, especially on paler skin, and i would recommend both these shades to anyone looking for something similar!

i picked this barry m nail polish up the other week for my friends birthday and loved it so much i had to buy myself one too! it's one of the sequin nail effects polishes and i chose the baby pink one with different coloured glitter in it. it's so nice!

finally i just had to buy this movie on dvd. i saw 'About Time' when it first came out at the cinema and went in to the showing thinking it would probably be either totally awful or kinda okay. how wrong i was! i honestly think this is up there with all my favourite films ever! such a cute film with lots of twists and turns in it. it's a bit weepy at points but also made me smile a lot too. i watched it the other night with my mum and she loved it too. also i just love Rachel Mcadams and want to have her face a teeny little bit.

and that's it! i really need to be good and not spend any more of my wages because i have a week off work in march and i'm wanting to have my car bought by then so i can spend my holiday driving round new places and doing different things! have you treated yourself to anything nice lately? xo

payday treats...

hello! i thought i'd share with you all a few things i've treated myself too with it being payday on friday. every month i love to treat myself to new things and i haven't really bought myself new clothes for a while so i thought i'd get myself some new wintery pieces. 

the first thing that caught my eye was this dress on the boohoo website. i'm not usually too keen on the whole 'tartan' trend apart from my tartan scarf, but i absolutely love this dress and can't wait for it to arrive so i can wear it everywhere! i think it'll look super cute paired with thick tights, some ankle socks and my winter boots with a chunky necklace or scarf. it was £18 which i think will definitely be worth it.

the next thing i bought was this jumper, also from the boohoo website. i've been after a slightly oversized, cosy jumper like this for a while now but have always refused to pay the price for one. then i found this one for just £15 so immediately snapped it up as others i'd been looking at from the likes of topshop/river island etc were double the price! i think this will look really nice paired with skinny jeans and converse and will be great for layering and keeping me warm over the next few months!

i spotted this necklace in my 'you may also like' section on the boohoo website and it was only £8 so i thought 'why not?' this will go with just about any outfit i think and i love that it's chunky but not overly so which is something i hate with jewellery at the moment! 

lastly from the boohoo site i got this chunky knit scarf for £10. i have one quite like this but in a mustard yellow colour which i've worn for a few years now and it's all stretched and in need of a good replacement. i liked this one as it's pretty thick and warm looking and it is quite long which is something i prefer in a scarf. i am definitely looking forward to wrapping up in this over the coming months!

the final thing i bought was from asos. i am in need of a new pair of blue denim jeans as my pair from topshop are stained and i just can't get the mark out - so annoying considering i've not long had them! i'm so clumsy. i've never really tried any other jeans apart from topshops, but looking at these, which are the 'ridley petite jeans' on asos i'm pretty sure i'm going to like them just as much, or even more than my beloved topshop ones! i paid £30 for these which i think is pretty decent for jeans - hopefully they will fit okay. fingers crossed!

have you bought any nice treats for yourselves lately?

xo

favoutites #1

i'm super late with saying this but happy 2014 everyone! this is my first blog post of the year (oops), i can't believe i've not had a chance to write anything up yet and it's almost the end of january - i've been so busy with work and other things and i feel like this month is just going far too quick for my liking! i want to make 2014 the year i properly stick to uploading things to this blog. i feel like writing posts for this blog is a far more productive way to spend my free time than just scrolling through my tumblr and twitter feed, or worse - internet shopping (my downfall!) every time i'm on my mac. i'd love to get a decent blog post up either every week or every other week.

anyway, i thought i would maybe make the first blog post of the year an easy one, a recent favourites post of pretty much everything i've been loving throughout december and january! also apologies for the rubbishy iPhone pictures - i'm clever and have misplaced my proper camera's charger. what a good start to the year ey!

first things first, i am in love with these moomin pyjama leggings. they're super cosy, really comfortable and just so cute! i've been practically living in these and a big t shirt which i'll put straight on as soon as i get home from work. i can't remember how much they were but i know they were from primark so they were definitely cheap. :)

this little beauty balm by clarions is incredible stuff. it's a great base for makeup and smells lovely. it is quite expensive but i managed to snap this travel size bottle up on ebay for around a fiver. i like that only a tiny amount covers all of my face so i'm sure it'll last me quite a while!

my sister bought me fall out boy tickets for the end of march at newcastle metro radio arena and i couldn't be more excited! fall out boy were one of the bands i grew up listening too and ahhhh my inner emo can't wait to finally see them live after always wanting too.

my next favourite - these two cute little bracelets i picked up in the h&m sale at the beginning of the month. i love jewellery like this that can be dressed up or down, plus they are adjustable in size which is a god send for people like me who have stupidly small wrists. usually bracelets just fall straight over my wrist and hand and it annoys me so much but these ones can be made as small as you want. :) i think i only paid a couple of pounds for the pair.

oh my goodness l'oreal - i am in love with this foundation! i picked this up while i was in new york in october, however i only recently started to use it on a regular basis and now it is up there with my favourite foundations (it even beats a lot of my more 'high end' foundations!) it doesn't feel heavy on my skin at all but the coverage is still amazing, covering my super pink cheeks. plus this shade (light ivory) is perfect for my skin. and it lasts all day without needing to apply more.

obviously starbucks' festive drinks have been in my favourites this month. i am a sucker for a hazelnut hot chocolate but i also love the salted caramel hot chocolates and their caramel hot chocolates and vanilla hot chocolates. and yes, i do like hot chocolates...

this is a bit of a two in one picture. firstly i am a bit obsessed with wearing my hair in a fishtail plait. i remember when everyone first started doing these a few years back and my hair was too short to do them. :( i only just remembered about how much i love them a couple of weeks back and to my delight my hair was more than long enough to do one! i just love how easy and quick they are and that they look good no matter how messy you do them. perfect for people like myself who hate faffing around with their hair. i also adore this top i got in primark. i'm sure i paid around £8 for it which is amazing. it's so pretty and floral and i love the collar on it. it looks so nice with high waisted skinnies and a big cardigan.

a couple of skin care loves. liz earle cleanse and polish (who doesn't love this), if you haven't tried this already then GO BUY IT NOW. you will not regret it! this is my favourite way to remove my makeup at the end of the day. it's super creamy and thick and it smells beautiful. all you do is massage it over your face, then using a muslin cloth wrung out in hot water, wipe your makeup away in seconds and you're done! i love how my skin feels after using this too, i feel like i've gotten rid of every bit of makeup from my face and it also leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised. another skin care love is the indeed labs hydraluron. this makes my skin feel so plump and healthy and gives me a lovely glow. it's products like this that dry skinned girls like myself love and should use every single day to get rid of flakey dry skin. 

now a bath melt by soap & glory. i was given this for christmas and i've almost finished the tub already! this stuff smells absolutely aaammaaaaazzzzziiiiing! it's such a relaxing, wind-down kinda smell which makes it perfect to use when i get in from a long day at work. it makes the water turn pink, creates lovely little bubbles, and makes the bath water feel so soft it feels like you're being given a giant water cuddle. 

last but definitely not least, my favourite body moisturiser has got to be dream cream by Lush. ohhh i can't even remember how long i've used this for, i always go too and from different body lotions, just because i like to try new things out, but i always come back to using dream cream. although it is kind of expensive, it's definitely worth it as one pot lasts absolutely ages and i also find that you can still feel that you've applied this hours and hours later, which is something i find doesn't often happen with other body moisturisers that just sort of sink in and that's it until you apply more. my skin feels so soft and lovely all day wearing this and it doesn't go sticky or anything like quite a lot of moisturiser can do when you apply them. it just rubs straight in to the skin but lasts all day/night and i couldn't rave about it any more!




FINALLY, other things i have also been loving but can't really photograph are:

music -
deaf havana
mumford and sons
taking back sunday
beyonce
brand new

books -
gone girl by gillian flynn
into the darkest corner by elizabeth haynes
a demon in my view by ruth rendell




what have you been loving this month?

xo

a very lazy weekend...

gooood evening! i honestly can't believe it's december! where has this year gone? i'm properly in the festive spirit now it's december. i have lots of things to look forward too this month - opening my advent calendar every morning because i'm still a complete child at heart, my 21st birthday, i'm travelling up to Edinburgh the day after my birthday, i have my work meal and night out, seeing all my family, christmas!!, anddd the possibility of buying my first ever car if things go to plan. (yay) 

anyway, i had the whole weekend off work which rarely happens and i made plans to just do as little as possible and have some time to myself to be super super lazy. and that is what i did! 

i hardly ever have baths but i treated myself to a super deep, hot bubble bath and smothered myself in victoria's secret body wash, moisturiser & body mist. i am in love with the victoria's secret products and i'm so glad that while i was in new york i picked up so many different things!

i spent the majority of my weekend laying in bed and watching movies. on saturday i was watching loads of classic cheesy christmas films and today i have watched a few disney films because i'm so cool...

this afternoon i got ready and went christmas food shopping with my dad. we got loads of nice things and we went a bit mental buying chocolate which was supposed to be kept for christmas but we kind of ate it all after about five minutes of being back home! oops!

and last but not least, look at my gorgeous flowers i was given for passing my driving test! this is one of three vases, it was the biggest bunch of flowers i have ever seen! i am such a lucky girl right now.

what did you get up too over the weekend? i can't believe there's only three more weekends until Christmas! I seriously need to finish my Christmas shopping. I've not even done half of it yet and I feel like I'm leaving it so late this year. Have you started or finished yours yet? 

xo

hello! this post has been a long time coming. as some of you may know i went to new york at the beginning of october. it was honestly the best holiday ever and i was completely blown away by how incredible everything is over there! you can just imagine how excited/nervous i was - i'm almost 21 and had never actually been on a plane before this holiday!! i kinda threw myself in to the deep end with a super long first ever flight. considering the furthest i'd ever traveled away from england was paris (by ferry) when i was about 13 years old, i think i coped okay! though i'm sure everybody who shared the two flights to get to america with me may disagree - i talked super fast, non stop the entire way there because it's what i do when i'm nervous haha! 

the feeling when we stepped out of JFK airport and in to the taxi to the city was something i can't really put in to words. the sun was shining, it was boiling hot and, well, we were in new york!! what could be better? the best thing was that that feeling stayed with me the entire holiday. i cant believe i did so much shopping, eating and walking in one week. i'd love to go back because there was just so much to do and see that i could easily go back for another week and not do the same thing again twice!

anyway, here are some photos of my holiday, they were just taken on my iPhone so apologises for the rubbishy quality.  

walking through the streets on an evening was so surreal. it was so busy everywhere you went even when it was like 1am!

this was the view from my hotel room. you could just see central park in the distance! it was so cool! especially the night i took this photo when it was a bit misty in the distance and all the lights were shining through the fog.

times square was about five minutes walk from our hotel. we would go for a walk down there every night after we had dropped all our shopping off at the hotel for the day! there was so much to do and so many good places to eat - i miss it!

so many tortilla chips! and avocado!

9/11 memorial. it was so moving seeing this in real life and not just on the tv / on pictures. 

grilled cheese mmmm (apologises that every other photo is a food picture ha!)

the buildings were so tall! 

one morning we went on an adventure right through central park. i couldn't believe how big it was. i kept chasing squirrels like a child and pointing out all the really posh pedigree dogs everywhere! you could easily forget you were in new york, one of the biggest, busiest and noisiest cities while walking through central park - it was strangely quiet and peaceful! so nice! 

i took this walking across brooklyn bridge. it was so so hot this day even though it looks cloudy. there was a hurricane warning over the city and it was super humid! i've never felt anything like it. in the uk we never get weather like that.

obviously i had to try pancakes one morning for breakfast!

just some of the things i bought! saving every penny of my money for months before coming here was so worth it.

and lastly, a giant cookie from a cafe next to our hotel. it was the size of my thigh and it took me three days to finish it!!! 

have any of you been to new york? or anywhere else in america? i'd love to travel back to new york and i'd also love to do a road trip across america some day. hmm who's with me!?

xo

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

there is nothing better than coming home from a bad few days at work, having a super hot shower, making a cup of tea and then curling up in bed with a movie on. i’m watching the notebook (yes, cringe but it's so cute) and then i’m gonna try and get some sleep. tomorrow i have a driving lesson and am going to try and pop down to the hairdressers to see what they can do about my hair (i'm wanting to go slightly lighter and more my natural colour). i kind of just want tomorrow to go really quick because on thursday i'm going for a cinema date and then going for a look round town at all of the christmas stuff in the shops which i haven't had a chance to do yet - i'm so excited haha... i turn in to such a child over the run up to christmas.

have you started getting excited for christmas yet? what's your favourite thing about this time of year? i think my favourite thing has got to be wrapping up warm when it's snowing outside, hot chocolates, all the classic old christmas songs being played everywhere, decorating the christmas tree and buying loads of presents for those close to me!

xo

new york makeup haul

now if there's one thing i love it's buying new makeup, and where better to go buy some new products than when i was on holiday in new york last month!? the best thing? - everything is a lot cheaper over in america than the uk so i was a bit naughty and spent a crazy amount of money on stuff i would have usually picked up, looked at the price of, and put straight back down!! 

the first place i headed was MAC in Macy's. i spent so long umming and ahhing over which lipsticks to buy, and eventually narrowed it down to three colours. i got 'creme cup' - a repurchase. 'girl about town' - a sort of deep pink which looks crazy bright for someone like me (who likes to keep things neutral!) and 'captive' - an almost purple isn berry colour which i thought is the perfect way to add a little bit of colour to my ghosty face over the autumn/winter months.

whilst at MAC i also picked up a powder blusher in the shade 'tenderling' which is just a pale dusty pink, quite similar to my natural cheek colour. i also bought some mineralise skin finish natural in 'light' which i use to set my foundation. i've used this for a couple of years and i thought it would just be a good thing to repurchase in america where it was a little cheaper!

my next buys were my 'i kinda shouldn't have but did anyway' purchases. i went to sephora (love love love) and the first thing i got was the nars sheer glow foundation in the shade siberia. i also bought the foundation in the matte version too because reasons! in another trip to sephora i then treated myself to the laura mercier silk creme foundation aaaaannd my favourite thing i bought - the radiance primer which makes my foundation look a dream when i've applied it over the top of this primer. while i was waiting to be served i spotted the urban decay naked basics palette and thought it would be rude not to pick it up too. i love this palette, it's not often i find one that i'd actually wear every single colour from but the basics palette definitely does it for me.

i went in to ELF looking for some new makeup brushes as mine were in a sad sad state and it was definitely time to get some replacements. i love ELF brushes, my previous ones have lasted years and for how cheap they are i'd recommend them to anyone! i got a flat top brush which I've been using to apply powder to my face. i also got a little blush brush which is the perfect size for applying bronzer, blusher or to contour with. i did buy a fluffy concealer brush too but i forgot to photograph it. - fail! 

on the top picture of this post i've also shown the bourjois java rice powder. i didn't actually buy this in new york...i got it when i was back home in newcastle but i thought i'd include it in this post as it's the only makeup i've bought since i got back from my holiday and i felt mean leaving it out as i love it! it gives you such a nice glow without being too in your face obvious and you only need the smallest amount when you use it. 

are there any products you've recently bought that you're loving? or have you tried anything i've mentioned? leave me a comment and let me know. :)

xo