Month: October 2015

Not Just Another CC Cream…

Arbonne is a new find for me, I’d heard about it here and there but as a firm beauty hall junkie I never really gave it a shot, until I had a test of the RE9 Advanced Set, Extra Moisture skin care and the arbonne intelligence CC CREAM and now I’m a complete convert.

I have tried my fair share of skin care (try saying that 5 times in a row!) and my standards are pretty high. I like a different day cream to night cream, I need a lightweight, good under makeup, high spf day cream and a thick, hydrating wonder cream at night. I love a serum as my skin is dehydrated and I have a 16 month old so hard working eye cream is a must. This set is everything I need and more and I saw a noticeable difference in how soft my skin felt after about a week. The day cream and the eye cream are my favourite 2 products I felt they gave the most dramatic results on my skin. You can get sample packs which are ideal, especially if you are unsure which range would be the best fit for your skin’s needs. The sets would make a wonderful gift for the women in your life or if someone doesn’t know what to get for you this is a fantastic suggestion

In the CC Cream I am the fairest shade and even that looks pretty dark when you squeeze it out, but once you blend it in it just leaves a beautiful tint which adapts to your individual skin tone. It is a light coverage and has an Spf of 20 so perfect for a day time base. It gives a luminous but matte finish on it’s own and is perfect as a primer to make any fuller coverage foundation go on more evenly for a perfect base. It truly is skincare meets cosmetics and gives a beautiful, healthy looking complexion.

The whole company does not test on animals and is vegan friendly, a massive bonus.

Have you tried anything from Arbonne? What would you recommend?

Thanks for reading my little review, talk to you soon

Nicola x

*this is not a sponsored post or affiliated link

If I Could Only Pick One…

If I were to go on vacation somewhere exotic these items are the ones certain to make it onto the trip.

Bow Trim Wash Bag Ted Baker

Base / Foundation Vitalumiere Aqua CHANEL

Radiant Creamy Concealer NARS

Eyeshadow Palette NUDE ON NUDE BOBBI BROWN

Bronzer Matte Bronze M.A.C

Blush Diorskin Rosy Glow Dior

The Ted Baker makeup bags not only look exceptional on your bathroom shelf, they are waterproof, roomy and remain in their rigid shape, fantastic for keeping your makeup in tact. I have this smaller pink and gold number as well as the larger version which I use to hold my deodorant and skin care. They are 9 months old and look brand new so I would defiantly recommend them.

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua has cult rave reviews, and rightly so. The luminous, dewy, finish and light to medium build-able coverage makes this a fuss free and reliable holiday option. The truly second skin look and feel of this foundation are perfect for achieving a fresh and glowing base. The low spf of 15 does not create too bad of a flash back for an evening, and for day time you could mix this with a higher sunscreen for better sun protection.

Nars Creamy Concealer and I have had a love hate relationship. I would not bandy about the word creamy when in my opinion it is in-fact an incredibly thick and dry consistency. It always creased on me no matter how I applied it or what I set it with but as it was not cheap I persevered and have found a way to get on with it. I apply this slightly below the socket of my eye, a few tiny dabs and then over extremely thick moisturiser buff in the concealer with my real techniques setting brush. With the lightest hand imaginable I hover a tiny amount of my hourglass ambient lighting powder over it and voila. For hot weather when the skin is effervescent shall we say it will work even better and the coverage is amazing so you really can achieve a flawless base with this product.

Bobbi Brown NUDE ON NUDE Palette is a real golden goddess eye shadow option. I did a swatch post on this palette at the weekend if you fancy a more in-depth look at it. A beautiful and incredibly holiday appropriate must have.

A bronzer that flatters your skin tone is a must. Especially if like me, you have been diligently wearing a hat and factor 50 to avoid further wrinkles and sun damaged skin and as a result your face is now a wildly different colour to the rest of your body ( I’m not alone here… ??) I always come back to M.A.C bronzer, I use it to bronze, contour my face, as an eye shadow and to slim my nose, it is well loved.

Healthy Glow Booster Blush is designed to universally suit all skin tones. It reacts to the moisture in the skin to custom develop and create a naturally flattering shade custom fit to each wearer. Now that is some blush if you ask me. It is easy to apply a light natural flush of colour and it can also be built up be for an evening for a more intense pop of colour.

The next items are hypnose Mascara Lancome

Addict Lip gloss in Sparkle 2015 Holiday Limited Addition Dior

Creme Cup Lipstick M.A.C

Prep and Prime Fix + Spray M.A.C

Prep and Prime Highlighter Radiant Rose M.A.C

Hypnose mascara is one of those ‘why did I never try this before now??!’ items. One layer of this defines, separates and coats each lash for a fluttery look, another coat and you have full on false lash effect. It never looks clumpy, never gives me panda eyes and apart from when I’m running close to the expiration date does not flake.

M.A.C Creme Cup is my holy grail lipstick. I adore it. I’ve been wearing this for years and I love the look and feel of it on my lips. It is a cremesheen finish, and a blue based pink. I have blue eyes and a cool undertone and I think this suits me all year round, but especially with a tan.

Fix + is just fantastic for all stages of makeup application. My favourite use is as a spritz at the end of a full face to dial things back and tie everything together. I do have quite the heavy hand when it comes to contour blush and highlight and a few pumps of this blends everything together.

Radiant Rose has a salmon pink colour which counteracts dark circles as well as adding a highlighted effect under the eyes, on top of cheek bones and down the nose. This has more coverage than touche éclat, which makes it more versatile and if I had children that slept through the night this would be the only concealing product I would use.

I hope you liked this little product review post and if you have any holy grail products I’d love to hear about them.

Thanks for reading gorgeous people, as always Nicola x

BOBBI BROWN NUDE ON NUDE Eyeshadow Palette

What a divine palette. There is no look, season or occasion that this would not be perfect for, it truly is Just Gorgeous.

I received this as a gift and I am absolutely over the moon with it, so that may have tinted my view but I think these 12 shades are so incredible I would have been just as happy if I’d gotten this as a treat for myself.

Firstly the packaging, all black and sleek with a firm closing lid is right up my street. It is sturdy enough for a busy life and still looks luxurious on a vanity or muji drawer.

There are cool and warm shades and a good mixture of matt and shimmery shadows. I don’t wear glitters on my eyes often and have been leaning towards all matt palettes lately, but because these are so buttery and soft they add a sheen or a slight sparkle without looking too chunky.

‘Ivory’, the top left shade is a perfect base shade or highlight. ‘Espresso’, bottom right is fantastic in the lash line for a softer liner option and I love ‘Naked’, 2nd row 2nd column, for my crease colour / transitional shade. I take ‘Truffle’ the shade under ‘Naked’ on a pencil brush under my lower lash line to add depth to the eye and make them look bigger and ‘Birch’, the shade above ‘Espresso’ in the outer v of my eye and slightly blend it out to elongate the eye.

I could not get Ivory to swatch at all, but as soon as I dip my brush in, the colour picks up beautifully, it is a matt off white eye shadow. The shades from right to left are Chiffon a sparkle, Golden Pink a metallic and Graphite also a sparkle.

The Second row is Gold, sparkle, Naked, matte, Nude Beach, metallic and Birch, matt. As you can see the glitters shadows are not super pigmented and give more of a wash of colour so they are great to layer over the matt shades, while the metallics make the shadows underneath them look almost wet. The third row has Smokey Topaz, metallic, Truffle a matt, Golden Bronze, metallic and Espresso also matt.

I have the feeling this was a limited edition palette however all the colours can be purchased as separates or you can custom make your own Bobbi Brown palette, with your favourite shades. I have just seen the ‘Greige’ palette while I was finding links, oh my goodness that’s going on my list to swatch, it looks incredible. If you’ve managed to bag that please leave a link to your website below.

Thanks for reading gorgeous people,

Till next time, Nicola x

The Lovely Blog Award…

I am absolutely over the moon to have been nominated for the one lovely blog award, and by such a beautiful blogger inside and out

Go check out Pick of The Glitter Katie is stunning and her positivity will brighten your day.

The Lovely Blog Award is a way of connecting and sharing other blogs, encouraging and supporting each other and spreading some love. The way it works is you…

1. Thank the Person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.

2. List the rules and display the Award.

3. Add 7 facts about yourself, then

4. Nominate 15 other Bloggers and comment on one of their recent posts to let them know they have been nominated.

So here are my 7 facts

I am a worrier and a massive over thinker, I over think absolutely everything, question and doubt myself and go round in circles in my head. I think my partner is the most wonderful man on Earth for putting up with me

I love to read. Romance novels are my favourite, I would always choose a book over a movie and I could gladly curl up for a day and loose myself in someone else’s life. The three books I have read lately and would highly recommend are The Woman Who Stole My Life, Billy and Me and the One Plus One. Read them they are amazing and you will laugh out loud.

I am 5 foot 4 ish, no probably 5 foot 3, and have daily short girl problems.

I am a Capricorn.

I have a condition called Nystagmus which stops me from driving. This gets me down much more than I let on.

My favourite song of all time is Fleetwood Mac Everywhere, it reminds me of my Mam and being little, I smile when I hear it.

My biggest wish would be to move everyone I love to Australia so that I didn’t have to spend every day of my life with a pain in my heart from missing them.

The blogs that I nominate are…

Holly’s Beauty Thoughts

Please go give them a read, I’m sure you will love them too.

Thanks for reading, as always

Nicola x

1 Down : 91 To Go…

Happy October everyone and happy #project333.

OUTFIT 1/92

Raised Neck Swing Top Ally Fashion

Black Bow Front Shorts Showpo

Classic Sheffield Watch in Silver Daniel Wellington

Wide Brim Fedora Hat Topshop

and a Dove Grey Bow Detail Bag Forever New

The 1st of October is a special day, it is Wear Grey For Brain Tumours Day.
Wear Grey for a Day is a way to raise awareness and support for those fighting brain tumours and their families. All you need to do is find a way of incorporating grey into your outfit today, spend a few minutes to think of how strong and brave the people effected by brain tumours are and let people know why you are wearing something grey.

‘Wear Grey For a Day’ is not principally a fund raising event, it is free for everyone to join in. Of course there is always a need to raise funds for the work they do at brainstrust to support those battling a brain tumour so those who would like to donate £1 can text

WGBT99 £1 to 70070

I hope you all have a little something grey to wear and will proudly share the brain tumour movement on October the 1st. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Speak soon my Gorgeous people

Nicola x

*this is not a sponsored post or affiliated link, this is just an organisation extremely important to me and close to my heart.