Wanderlust

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Sometimes I feel lost, like I have no clear direction of where I’m going in life, no set path to follow. There’s so much out there; so many people to meet and ways of life to experience. If I could, I would pack my life into a bag right now and get on the next plane out of England. I wouldn’t worry about where it’s going - that would be the fun of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love England, it’s my home and it’s full of wonderful people, but it’s only a tiny piece of the jigsaw that makes up the world.

I want to feel the warmth of the African sun, to eat Italian cuisine in Italy, to see the elephants in Thailand, and the skyline of New York. I want to see how other people live their lives and experience what life has to offer. When I read people’s stories and blogs of their travelling adventures, I get goose bumps. It takes my breath away it really does. I think ‘I want to be doing that’.

I know that at the moment, it’s an unrealistic dream to have – I’m 17, I work full time in a 9-5 office job that I hate, and my bank account isn’t exactly overflowing. But give me a few years and I’ll make it happen, I’m making a promise to myself that one day I’ll get on a plane and I will go somewhere I’ve never been before, and I’ll take hundreds of photographs and meet people from all over the world. I can’t wait.

Have you ever been travelling? Where in the world have you been, or where would you love to go?

laura xo

REVIEW: benefit total moisture facial cream

Now that the colder weather is starting to show it's face again, I need a moisturizer that I can rely on to keep my oh so problematic skin feeling fresh and keep the dryness at bay.

I have tried countless moisturizers over the years and I just couldn't seem to find one that I felt really did what it said on the tin. So when I came across this one, and read some good reviews, I thought I'd give it a try.

I was completely won over by the cute packaging of Benefit's Total Moisture Facial Cream. Its held in a glass jar with a plastic 'cork' lid. It's quite heavy but it looks and feels expensive and of good quality, so my hopes were high before I'd even opened it up. It's a nice size, and although there isn't a lot of it, a little goes a long way so it lasts a long time.

The facial cream itself is thick and quite greasy, but it sinks into the skin fairly quickly. I usually leave it around 10-15 minutes if I'm applying it before doing my makeup, but I mostly use it before bed. It smells lovely too which is a bonus :-)

After trying product after product, I was so pleased when I gave this one a go and found that it worked! It sorted out my dry skin within a couple of days and I was super happy. However, I do find that it makes me break out if I use it too often, probably due to the greasiness of the product - or perhaps the fragrance - so it's really one of my go to products when my skin is particularly dry, rather than something I use every day.

I would definitely recommend this if you suffer with dry skin on your face - although if you've got oily skin it might not be such a great option. Obviously everyone will react to it differently, and perhaps it's just my skin reacting to the product causing me to break out, but I certainly don't regret purchasing this because I know I can rely on it if my skin decides to play up. For £27.50, it is quite pricey, but with colder weather creeping up on us and threatening dry skin, I would say it's worth it.

 

What's your go-to product to protect your skin from the cold weather? Have you tried Benefit Total Moisture?

laura xo

glad to be back

Just a very quick post to say 'I'm back' from my very long break (which I didn't choose to have, by the way!). I moved house back in May/June time and it's taken us THIS LONG to get back online! Just ten minutes ago we were finally connected to the internet and although it's actually been quite refreshing to be slightly cut off from reality for a while (we had no home phone and rubbish mobile signal as well!), I can't say I haven't been looking forward to catching up on everything I've been missing in the beauty blogging world :-)

I've got some ideas floating around in my head that I'll definitely be working on and posting soon, so do keep coming back for a peek now and again! And if there's anything you would love to see on my blog, leave me a comment, I'd love to hear your ideas :)

laura xo

NOTD - Barry M Lychee

Hello ladies! Now that Spring is here (or is trying to be here, anyway), I really want to get out of the dark nail polish days and brighten up my nails a little bit. I don't feel ready to dip my foot in the pastel pool quite yet, but I'm sure it will only be a few weeks until I do. That's why I love Barry M's Lychee so much - it's not dark and wintery but it kind of says 'on the verge of Spring'. I picked this colour up a few weeks back whilst I was in Boots, as I already had a few colours from the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Range, and I wanted to purchase a few more. I was instantly drawn to Lychee, it's a beautiful nude shade but what I love about it is that it's undertones are neither too yellow nor too pink, which I often find is a problem with nude shades.

I love this range of nail polish as it's so shiny and glossy, so much so that there's no real need for a top coat! I used two coats of this for complete opacity, but you could definitely get away with only one coat. The only critisism I have is that I find the brush is quite small (as it is with all Barry M nail polish's, as far as I know anyway) and therefore application can sometimes be tricky, but I can get over that :-) Overall, I would say thumbs up to Barry M!

I added an accent nail with some gold glitter nail polish, I'm not sure which brand I used as it's one of my sisters (oops, what she doesn't know can't hurt her). But there are a lot of glitter nail polishes out there that will do the job just as well, such as this one here.

What's your favourite nail colour at the moment? Is there any brands you've been loving?

laura xo

New Look Haul

I love a good haul post. I think they're great for nosey people like me who like to see what other people buy and spend their money on. So, I thought I would provide you lovely people with a bit of a haul of things I have purchased over the last couple of weeks. They are mostly items bought with my new job in mind, as I need to start building up my work wardrobe!

This is a pinky/coral coloured blouse that I picked up a few weeks back. I think it was £12.99. I think that although it's a fairly bright colour and could be used on a night out or as a casual blouse, it would also fit in well in my work wardrobe. It's a dipped hem style and has buttons all the way up leading to a cute little collar. I love this style, it's so pretty - and a perfect spring colour and style so I couldn't resist picking it up :-)

I absolutely love this top - monochrome is really in right now and is a big hit for spring so when I saw this beauty on the rails I grabbed it before I could convince myself otherwise. I tried it on before I bought it (which I am guilty of not doing very often) and the top is slightly shorter at the front, but not to the point that I would call it 'cropped', so I think this will also fit in nicely in my work wardrobe. I like that the stripes on the pocket are horizontal but on the rest of the top they are vertical, and I also love the buttons that go all the

way up the back and think this adds a nice edge to it. I really can't remember how much this was and it's bugging me but when I find out I will update.

Next is this black peplum top which I absolutely love, and is something that I tried on and actually thought looked really nice which is rare for me. It's got a round neck and I can't find the right words to describe the material but it's sort of textured which adds a little bit more to it. I think this top will look so good with a big statement necklace. It was only £12.99 and can be worn in so many different ways so a pretty good bargain really!

This vest top is more casual but I tried it on tucked into some black fitted trousers (that you can find down below) and it looked really nice and quite office-chic ;-). It has a racer back and although it's quite low cut, the way it hangs isn't too revealing. It's longer on each side of the top and the hem sort of rises up in the centre. (I'm not sure what this style is called - if any of you do then please let me know!). I really love this top and it will double as a nice spring/summer number and it was £4.99 :-) yay to bargains.

These trousers are something like what I would of worn when I was at school, but minus the rest of the school uniform, they are really lovely and look good paired with a nice top and blazer. They are fitted and actually almost too tight at the bottom around my calfs! But I'm sure they'll be fine once they've been worn and washed a few times. The two gold zips on either side look so pretty and make the trousers a little bit more 'edgy' if you know what I mean. They were £12.99, but the price was written onto the tag with a pen so I'm guessing that was a reduced price - I don't know what they were originally. I have no idea why they were reduced though as there is nothing wrong with them!

Lastly, I picked up this black dress because I like the simplicity of it. It's a kind of, dress length vest top, with a low cut back. It hangs really nicely and is quite fitted, so I might do a few toning exercises before I wear it, but it was £7.99 and I couldn't say no, so it now is hanging proudly in my wardrobe :-)

So that was some of the items I have purchased over the last couple of weeks. I will probably buy some more things in the next few weeks as I still need some more clothes for when I start my new job, so I might do a haul on those things if you guys want me to. And I would just like to add a little note..

Through the wonderful world of Twitter, I discovered a lovely little shop called Dixi which you can find here. I had a look through and chose to purchase this pretty little necklace, which also had the option of turquoise colour although I opted for pink. I also bought some high waisted wet look leggings which I love. I haven't photographed these for this blog post as I've left them at my mums, but I might feature them in my next haul. Dixi is a beautiful little shop and sells a huge range of clothing and jewellery, both modern and vintage, at some great prices. Definitely check it out if you haven't already!

Now I'm going to love you and leave you... sorry for babbling on, once I've started I can't seem to stop! What do you think of my purchases? Is there anything you've bought recently that you love?

laura xo

Glossybox or Birchbox?

There's been a lot of hype around the whole 'beauty box' idea, particularly the famous Glossybox, and it's close competitor Birchbox. I love the idea of it and think it's a brilliant way to find new brands and products that you might not of come across otherwise. Now, I am one of the worlds worst decision makers. I got as far as deciding that, yes, I do definitely want to invest in a beauty box subscription. But after that, I found myself a little bit stuck and confused, so please grab a cup of tea/coffee/vodka or whatever takes your fancy and prepare for a rambly post...

Which box do I go for?

So, I read up on both boxes and looked at the pros and cons of each. The prices of each box appear to be fairly similar, Glossybox being £10 for a monthly subscription, £27 for a three month subscription (saving £3), £50 for a 6 month subscription (saving £10), and £100 for a yearly subscription (saving £20). The prices of Birchbox almost follow suit - £10 monthly and £100 for a year's subscription, however the three month deal cashes in at £30 which may appear to save you less money than a Glossybox might. However, looking into it more made it clear to me that with Birchbox subscriptions, you earn more points, which are then redeemable for discounts in the online shop. All very confusing you might think, but essentially, neither box offers a 'better' deal, just different ones. It comes down to personal choice - if you're not going to be spending money in Birchbox's online shop, then you probably don't want discounts for it. 

So, after deciding that the money saving aspect of each box wasn't all that different, I had a look into the actual value for money that each box can offer. Brands. Glossybox provides travel sized products from the likes of Caudalie, Clarins, Elizabeth Arden and Illamsqua, as well as a fairly large selection of other high end beauty brands. Birchbox, whilst partnered with just as many different brands, including China Glaze, L'occitane, and Laura Geller, perhaps provides users with more products that are less well known or less raved about. But does this necessarily mean that these products are inferior?

Both boxes tailor the products to your personal online profile, so that in your monthly box you will receive products that are suited to you (you wouldn't want to receive something that helps sort out oily skin if your skin was as dry as a bone would you?). Perhaps one advantage that Birchbox has over Glossybox is that with each box it sends out a Birchbox magazine, as well as original tips and tricks to help the user with the products that box contains. I think this is a nice touch and I for one would find this very helpful, but does it give Birchbox the winning hand? I'm still undecided, and think that the answer for me may be to try out both boxes and decide from there - so watch this space!

Are you subscribed to any beauty boxes? Which do you prefer - Glossybox or Birchbox?

What's In My Bag? - My 'Emergency' Kit

When I'm out and about, I like to think that I am prepared for anything. Ok, maybe not anything, but I do like to be ready for those beauty-related problems that life likes to throw at me at the most inconvenient times - like a stray eyebrow hair, or a blemish that's outstaying it's welcome. This is where my little 'emergency kit', as I like to call it, often comes in handy.

I carry it round in a pretty little Cath Kidston purse that's just big enough to hold all the things I need. I have a compact mirror with a gorgeous floral pattern on it, and the mirror being so small comes in very handy for quick make up checks or touch up's. I carry a packet of Me To You tissues, because, well they're just so cute and I like them. I've got my trusty tweezers, some bobby pins for those annoying fly away bits of hair, and some Nivea raspberry Lip Butter, which smells absolutely delicious and works wonders on my lips. Lastly, I always carry around my favourite concealer of the moment - Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection, which I've heard endless raves about in the beauty blogging world and have to agree, it's wonderful. And one of my favourite products, Soap and Glory Hand Food, which is like a little treat for my poor hands in this cold weather. So there you have it - my 'emergency' kit (none of this would be very helpful in a real emergency, obviously). 

What do you carry around with you on a day to day basis? Do you always take a full bag of make up, or do you have a little collection of things like I do?

laura xo

March Wishlist

Its finally starting to look a little bit like Spring! This makes me very happy indeed. I know you might be thinking I'm jumping the gun a little bit having a bikini on my March wishlist - but I have my reasons! I'm off to Australia for Christmas 2013, and I can safely say that the weather is going to be a lot nicer than it is here in England! But whilst I am still here counting down the days until I jet off to the other side of the world, I guess I'll have to make the most of what's on offer weather-wise! I can't wait for it to be warm enough to wear casual summer dresses, and I especially can't wait to get my pastel colours out on my nails again and say goodbye to dark, winter colours! But perhaps the most important thing, for me anyway, is finally giving my skin a break from the cold, harsh winter months! My skin suffers at the best of times, and recently it's been so cold that I have nearly given up trying to do anything about keeping my skin in good condition. But with the sun trying it's best to shine through and spring edging closer, I feel that now is a good time for a fresh start, and the beauty products on my wishlist this month have been endlessly raved about for so long, it's about time I gave them a try myself! I have a feeling I'm really going to upset my bank balance this month...

1. Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish - John Lewis

2. Moto Tribal Denim Dress - Topshop

3. Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream - Boots

4. Essie Mint Candy Apple - Superdrug

5. Tangle Teezer Salon Elite - www.tangleteezer.com

6. Pink Lurex Texture Bikini - Topshop

7. Nars Sheer Glow Foundation - www.sephora.com

laura xo

NOTD - Matte Black

I have an unhealthy obsession with nail polish and I can't seem to stop myself from purchasing a new one every time I go out. I hate having naked nails - they have to be painted at every possible moment! Tonight, I'm going out for a meal to celebrate on of my friends' 17th birthday. The dress code is dressy/casual, so I decided my nail polish should also match this theme.

I chose to paint my nails in Black by Barry M. I think that with black nails, you can easily make them look dressed up or casual, depending on your outfit. I love Barry M nail varnish, I think they have a good consistency and with two coats, the nail polish looks great. The only criticism I have is that the brush is slightly small and not the best for a neat application. 

I applied two coats of this nail polish and let it dry. I then chose to mattify my nails using Rimmel London's Pro Matte Finish. I absolutely love this nail polish; you can mattify any other polish that you use on your nails and it completely transforms the look. You just brush it onto your nails and you can see the effect within seconds - like magic :-) I absolutely love Rimmel London's Pro nail polish range as the brushes are amazingly easy to use and make the experience of painting your nails a lot more enjoyable. 

Rimmel London's Pro brushes are super easy to use

I love the overall result of my nails and will definitely be purchasing another bottle of Rimmel's Matte Finish when mine has all gone!

Please excuse the length of my pinky finger nail. I broke it last week :-(

laura xo

Bedroom Revamp

Hi everyone! I've been a busy bee today. I thought that whilst the weather is like it is (around the -1000000 degrees Celsius mark) I would use my time wisely and give my bedroom a little bit of a revamp. I haven't been sleeping very well recently, and I was getting a bit bored and fed up of seeing the same old duvet covers on my bed. So, I took the opportunity to go out with my lovely Dad and buy a new duvet cover set. There's a shop in my town called Ponden Home, which sadly is closing down. I think this is a shame as there's some wonderful items in there and LOTS of choice when it comes to bedding and curtains etc. However, looking on the bright side of life... a store that is closing = bargains!!! I picked up a lovely duck egg blue and white floral duvet set for only £14 which is fabulous.

The set looks beautiful next to the fairy lights that I have on the bottom of my bed, and the colours are super relaxing and not too busy or overwhelming. I love the pattern, its so shabby chic and very 'in' at the moment.

I was surprised at the difference a duvet cover could make to the overall feel of my bedroom, but I absolutely love it! I can't wait to get into bed tonight and snuggle up under my crisp new bedding. 

If you feel like your bedroom is looking a bit sad and in need of a change, I would definitely say see how you feel after you add a pretty new duvet cover. It made all the difference to my bedroom, and works perfectly if you're on a bit of a tight budget like me!

laura xo

GET TO KNOW ME TAG - 21 questions

I thought I would do a 'get to know me' tag as I'm still getting started out here in the world of beauty blogs, and this will give you guys a chance to get to know me a little better!


1. Are you named after anyone? No I'm not.

2. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday with my mum, as we were both laughing uncontrollably!

3. Do you have kids? No

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself? I think so yes :-)

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Not very often - only when im in a certain mood!

6. Will you ever bungee-jump? Yes, I have been on a fairground bungee jump (which is a seat inside a metal cage attached to elastic that flings you up into the air.) I was terrified but I'm so glad I did!

7. What's your favorite cereal? Special K Red Berries 

8. What's the first thing you notice about people? How they come across - if they smile at you or say hello. I don't like being around people who are unfriendly.

9. What is your eye colour? brown

10. Scary movie or happy endings? happy endings all the way! Although I love a good scary movie.

11. Favorite smells? my current perfume - Intimately Beckham, Aussie hair products and my Grandma's house.

12. Summer or winter? summer, I hate being cold. 

13. Computer or television? computer. I very rarely watch tv, I catch up online.

14. What's the furthest you've ever been from home? Florida

15. Do you have any special talents? I can draw pretty well. (quite upsetting that that's the only answer I have to this question ha)

16. Where were you born? Somerset, England.

17. What are your hobbies? I have recently started learning to play the guitar. I also keep a journal.

18. Do you have any pets? I have a dog, who I dislike, and a cat who dislikes me.

19. Favorite movie? This is a tough one! It would have to be between 500 Days of Summer, The Notebook, and The Pursuit of Happyness.

20. Do you have any siblings? I have a younger sister who is 10.

21. What do you want to be when you grow up? I would love to have my own vintage style tea shop in a little village. I would sell tea and scones and cakes. There would be lots of lovely scented candles dotted around and I would have double hung windows (ones that slide up and down). I would hang fairy lights around the whole room and have an old fashioned till. I could go on forever but maybe that can wait for a separate blog post.

laura xo

Hello!

Hi everyone!

My name's Laura, and I'm from a small town in the south west of England. I'm 16 and love everything beauty/fashion related. In fact, I drain my bank account every month treating myself to new clothes, and even more so - beauty products. Maybe I should of just left my introduction as, 'Hi, I'm Laura and I'm a Shopaholic'.

I spend a lot of my time watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts within the online beauty community in order to find new products, people's opinions, and beauty inspiration. I enjoy doing this so much that I have decided to start my very own beauty/fashion based blog, with posts on favourite products, reviews, tutorials, hauls, OOTD's, FOTD's, and anything else you guys might want to read (possibly with a few off-topic extras along the way).

I appreciate that I'm a complete newbie around here! But I'm sure that I will settle in soon enough. I would love it if you would keep an eye out for my posts and give them a read. Any feedback would be massively helpful! 

Please leave your blog links in a comment below and I will be sure to check them out!
I really hope that this will be the start of a wonderful journey :-) 
(too much cheese)

Thank you!
Laura xo