The Neutral Palette Favourites Post...

Who doesn't love a neutral eye shadow palette..?  There's nothing like having a sea of pale browns and taupes all conveniently laid out in one perfect little compact ready to whip up any lid look.  It will come as no surprise that my favourite neutral post should include the 'Naked' palette or the 'Too Faced Natural eye' palette with them being two of the most popular beauty blogger approved products out there.  You can't go wrong with either of these and they've been a staple in my makeup stash for so long I wonder if I should still be using them - I've probably had them for over 5 years!  I however have attachment issues and could never part with them.  The MAC Cinderella palette is more of a recent addition to the makeup stash and as it was limited edition this was top of my birthday wishlist last year - thanks hubby!  I find myself reaching for this the most with the top two shades 'Vapour' and 'Phloof!' providing the perfect matte and shimmer highlight.  The middle two shades 'Omega' and 'Quarry' are the perfect transitional shades and the bottom two shades 'Satin Taupe' and 'Stroke of Midnight and the ideal outer corner/lashline shades.  For those that managed to get the Cinderella palette when it was released, you probably cherish it just as much as I do.  What is your perfect neutral palette - a girl can never have too many!

NYX Cosmetics comes to Boots stores...

Yes! You heard right... NYX Cosmetics have hit Boots stores.  You could not imagine my excitement as I was browsing through my local Boots store just picking up the usual bits and bobs when I spotted the stand.  Understandably there were women swarming over it like flies on... (Y'know) but I still managed to spend a good 20 minutes just slapping a bit of whatever I could get my little mitts on all over my hand and swatching like a mad woman.  

I knew I wanted  a good look at the soft matte lip creams so after swatching whatever I could I decided on the shades Abu Dhabi and Cannes.  Abu Dhabi being the browner of the two shades and Cannes being the pinker.  I also picked up the liner brush and the brow pomade in black as I actually wanted to try this for eyeliner.  Since picking up these products I've actually been back and picked up a couple of other bits so expect another little haul post featuring NYX and a first impressions post once I've had a good play with them all.  If anybody has any recommendations from NYX then please let me know as I have a feeling I'll be a regular at that NYX stand for the foreseeable future.

The Gentle Cleanser Post...

Anybody that's been a long term reader of my busy little musings will know that my skin does tend to have a hissy fit at the first sign of something it doesn't like, be that something I've eaten or a new product I've used that my skin hasn't taken a liking to.  So I'm constantly on the lookout for gentle cleansers that will be tough on makeup but not cause my skin to freak out too much.  Now these are a few I've been using recently and having given them each a fair trial I thought I would share my feelings.

The Body Shop Camomile sumptuous cleansing butter says it's suitable for all skin types but you know if it has camomile in it, it's going to be calming and gentle on the skin.  Apart from the fact it comes in a tin that you have to dig the product out of I really can't fault it.  It has a light floral scent and you know with The Body Shop you can't really go wrong with the ingredients.  Once warmed up in the hands and applied on to a dry, full face of makeup this just melts away everything you have on including stubborn mascara and all you need is a clean muslin cloth or flannel to rinse away the product.  It's great for my dry skin as it leaves my skin feeling nourished without that tight feeling some cleansers can leave.

Now you may think if you love the cleansing butter so much why buy more cleansers but it was the messiness of it that led me to the Boots Botanics All Bright Cleansing Foam Wash.  This says it 'gently lifts away makeup and impurities' which I would say it only half does.  It has a gel like consistency which you are supposed to massage into damp skin to remove makeup but I always find I'm left with panda eyes from my mascara and eye liner after using this and even if I then go in with a second cleanse I still don't feel as though it's all gone.  I don't really feel as though my skin benefits in any way from using this although it is marketed as containing Hibiscus as 'Nature's brightness booster' and that natural AHA's from the flower act as a mild exfoliant to smooth and brighten.  There could possible be some slight brightening effects with this but aside from that and the convenience of a gel cleanse it's pretty redundant.

And finally the No 7 Beautiful Skin foaming cleanser for normal/oily skin.  You're probably wondering why I would buy a cleanser targeted at more oily skin types but I don't use this everyday.  This is more a cleanser for those evenings after a sweaty long day at work or for a quick cleanse after a good gym session.  This again does nothing for removing mascara or eye liner although it says it dissolves makeup I beg to differ and because this is targeted at removing oil and tightening pores it does leave a little bit of a tight feeling just after washing but as long as I only use this once or twice a week and I go straight in with a good toner, serum/oil and moisturiser that feeling doesn't bother me too much.  I will however continue to hunt for the perfect gentle cleanser and if anybody has any suggestions please do pop them below.

Out with the old, in with the new...

Brace yourselves for a very cliched post about new years and new beginnings, about spring cleans and de-cluttering and ways to feel better both inside and out, body and mind.  Oh yes! it's that wonderful new year post filled with high expectations and low achievements, broken resolutions and more ups and downs than you can stomach.  But it has to be done right?! and new year wouldn't be a new year if you didn't sit yourself down and give yourself a good talking to about how not to repeat the mistakes of yester-year and how this one will be the best year of your life because lets face it it probably wont be and in about 350 more days you will be right back here re-living this whole experience but it's a tradition I kind of never want to break..

Although it wasn't the best year of my life it certainly wasn't the worst and there have been lessons learnt along the way i.e.

1. how to be less of a twat and learning to tolerate others that are bigger twats.

2. how to never let others try and define who you are, yes you may be a twat but if that is part of who are then embrace it and move on, there's always this great need to try and fit in with society and it seems as though it's drummed into us from a very young age but the older you get the more you realise you don't want to be a part of that gang anymore.

3. Taking time for yourself is not selfish nor should you scold yourself for doing it, slip off into the sunset, drift off inside a good book, take a long drive with no real destination and then pull yourself together and carry on, you have no other choice but to so appreciate what you do have and live for the moment.  Spend atleast 10 or 15 minutes a day in just your own company and do a little something everyday that makes you happy.

4. Appreciate those around you, speaking solely from experience, tell your mum you love her as many times as you physically can, you can never say it enough, because should the time come you no longer have the option to, you will want to say it more.  Say please and thank you, it's the way you were bought up and it's the way I hope to bring up my own children one day.

5.  It's a new year which means we're allowed to wipe the slate clean and start again, remove everything that doesn't make you happy from yourself be that the clutter of your surroundings or certain people that bring you down and give yourself room to breath.  That means getting rid of the things you no longer have a use for, using things that can be used and storing the rest for the many rainy days we have to come.

6. And last but certainly not least, take care of yourself.  Feed from within and only with good things.  I read somewhere the other day that 'Food is the most abused drug for anxiety and depression and exercise is the least utilised antidepressant'.  I couldn't have put it better myself.  You will never regret going for that run or even taking a quick walk through the park and eating good things instead of junk and you will look and feel better for it.

This year I'm not calling them resolutions because that means they are made only to be broken in a few months, I'm calling these my lessons learnt of 2015 only to be improved on in the following year.

Do let me know if there are any lessons you have learnt in the past year that I haven't mentioned and what your ambitions are for the coming 12 months.

New MAC purchases...

So recently I made and impromptu pit stop into a MAC store which doesn't bode well for any beauty addict's bank balance but I hardly ever buy anything from MAC ( I think I have about 5 products in total including those pictured above) and sometimes the things you pick up on impulse tend to be your most treasured.  Case and point on this particular occasion where I spent all of 2 minutes swatching all the nudes I could find and I ended up taking Angel and Velvet Teddy home.

For an impromptu purchase I couldn't be happier.  Don't let the picture fool you they look very similar but they are very different.

Angel is a Frost finish so a bit sheerer than Velvet teddy and it is most definitely a pinky nude with a slightly glossy/shimmery finish on the lips.  Velvet teddy is a bit more of a browny nude and a Matte finish so gives more of a Kylie Jenner-esque finish that everybody craves these days.  Velvet Teddy is very close to my natural lip colour, just slightly browner in tone and although it is matte it's not drying in the slightest and leaves a comfortable feel.  I can't believe it's taken me this long to try MAC lipsticks but I think this may have started a new found love affair which may be very bad for my bank balance but very very good for my inner beauty addict.

What are your MAC favourites and do you guys have any lipstick recommendations? 

Nip and Fab Bee Sting Eye Cream...The verdict

After posting this picture on Instagram a fair few weeks ago it got quite a bit of attention and I promised a full review with my thoughts after I'd spent a bit more time using it so this is what I'm sitting down to type up for you today.

Having used this now for quite a while, about 9 weeks to be exact I'm still a little bit torn.  Nip and Fab is a brand that always intrigues me when I step into a Boots store and I often spend a fair few minutes perusing their interestingly named products which claim to contain quite innovative ingredients.  Not only do they have a Bee Venom range but also a Viper Venom and Dragon's Blood range to name a few.  Not going to lie it's the Bee Venom that initially attracted me to this product but actually when I started using it my under eyes just drank this up and loved me for it.  There is a slight feeling of a tingle or tighten when first applied but now I don't even notice when I put it on but it's become a staple in my daily routine and am quite enjoying the thick creamy texture for my dry papery skin.

The reason why I say I'm a little bit torn about this product is because before using this I was using nothing for an eye cream and so I can't differentiate between whether  it's actually the Bee Fix that reduced the puffiness and dark circles or whether ANYTHING would have given the same results given the utter deprivation my under eyes were experiencing.  I will however give the product its dues as it has reduced some of the puffiness, my dark circles seem to be lighter and although I haven't noticed a huge difference on the fine lines I was concerned about I think it will take a lot more use and persistence to impact those crows feet but I will continue using it as the Nip and Fab website does claim big things from this little yellow tub of craziness and I'm hoping it delivers.  I'm intrigued to try some of Nip and Fab's other products so if anybody has any reviews or has tried any of their other products and has any thoughts on them please do let me know...

Adjusting to a Gluten Free life...

I'm writing this post as somebody who is still very new to this whole Gluten Free way of life.  I've pretty much exhausted every avenue of educating myself on how to adjust and how to make the changes without feeling like it's all a chore.  I'm hoping that this post will not only help others that are feeling a bit lost on the whole subject of Gluten but also help myself to break it all down and absorb everything.

So lets starts with what gluten actually is..Gluten is the name of the composite protein present in wheat, rye and barley and their various cross-breeds.

For those suffering with Coeliacs disease there is an autoimmune reaction to Gluten which leads to very physical symptoms such as Diarrhoea, Cramping abdominal pain, Weight loss, Fatigue and Joint pain. Having suffered with a fair few of those symptoms on and off for many years, I recently said enough is enough and began experimenting with different food types.  I began keeping food diaries and noting which foods resulted in the worst symptoms, I tried cutting out all dairy to see if this made a difference which it didn't.  So i knew I wasn't lactose intolerant.  I then decided to trial a few weeks without any gluten and almost instantly felt much better.  I had the occasional flair up but nothing as extreme as what I had been suffering with for years.  So I made an appointment with my GP who booked me some blood tests but for an autoimmune reaction to show in the blood tests it meant I had to bring back as much gluten into my diet as I could, the more the better she said but as I did I noticed I was constantly tired and fatigued, constantly in pain and just felt horrid.

Although the blood tests showed nothing significant I am still in the process of having lots of investigations and food allergy tests to rule out Coeliacs, but in the meantime I'm adopting a completely GF lifestyle (as much as I physically can!)

I do have the occasional relapse and eat something with gluten in just because it's easier and let's face it...tastes so much better!  But I always regret it and vow never to touch anything with gluten again.  I think my mind hasn't totally accepted this way of life because I haven't had a physical diagnosis of anything but until then I'm doing what feels right for my body.

Now this Gluten Free journey is all very new to me and I'm still not a hundred percent sure it's what I'm intolerant too or if it's other foods that are contributing to my symptoms but I'm going to keep you all posted on my new food journey.

I would love to hear all about other's Gluten Free journeys and how you found the adjustments so if there is anybody else out there going through a similar journey please do leave me a comment as I'd love to hear about it.