Birthday :)

Hey gang, hope you're marvellous

I just wanted to quickly say that it's my birthday it 40 minutes (30th Jan). Woo! So I've been busy/will be for the next few days with festivities, but I'll be back soon with lots more make-up, beauty and health posts :)

Hope you all had a lush weekend,

Livvy

Chocolate and Trainers: The Battle of Lust and Necessity.

Hey gang, hope you're smashing (wondering how many words I can find for 'good', I'm up for the challenge of finding out ;))

I'm in a rush today as my birthday's on Monday and I basically don't plan on stopping celebrating from now until next Sunday... I'm definitely a Princess when it comes to my birthday, everyone has to know about it! (Hey, I'm single, let me enjoy the annual attention ;)) As I type I should be cooking dinner for my friend who's coming for stomach lining pre-drinking. I'm making risotto which is my signature dish, i.e. the one of few things I can cook without a recipe book. It's just vegetables and rice so nice and healthy, although you do get rice belly before you go out which is not too sexy fine. Off topic quite a bit there, what I meant was that I love finding lovely healthy recipes so let me know if you have any/want to know any of mine? (I'm veggie btw :))

On to the actual subject of the title... Today I had one of the daily dilemmas someone trying to be healthy struggles with. My new trainers had arrived yesterday from Reebok.

Reebok Runtone Ready. I'll give a proper review on these when I've used them a fair bit. Apologies for having walked about before photographing them, I'm still new to this blogging business ;)

I was meeting my Dad for lunch (more specifically getting the money off him for the trainers, he's obsessed with buying anything health related. He tried to buy me an exercise and it took me AND my brother to point out to him that we live in a second story flat and didn't want to fall through someone's ceiling sweating/make someone think there was an earthquake beneath them). My plan was to go for a walk after lunch (I had a tomato and avacado salad and dough balls, not saintly but by no means the pizza I had to physically restrain myself from ordering. Pizza = Number 1 weakness). However, my ankle was playing up a bit and my Dad had just given me cash for my trainers. Hideous move for a shopaholic - I ended up in Primark. I also ended up with this...

Temptation in all it's melting, sweet scented, creamy, cocoa-ey goodness. Or badness.

So suddenly I was at home, ankle hurting, trainers walked in for about an hour and eating a massive bar of chocolate. It's not like I was hungry. I think 2 things lead me here 1) Habit; if you're used to getting chocolate you'll get it. Equally if you're not used to getting it you'll only notice you don't have it when you walk up to a chocolate fountain and give it a great sniff. Really want some chocolate now, which leads me to 2) Desire; we all WANT things. People reading this who are in to beauty and make-up for example are used to WANTing things. I want Chanel nail varnish and NARS foundation, but I don't buy it because I know I can't afford it and don't need it. Everyone has a different vice. The trick is to remember it's a WANT NOT A NEED. You'll also find once you change your lifestyle about your wants change, you learn to love you Bourjois foundation and your bank account suddenly doesn't want to punch you. You learn to want to exercise because even though you pant and sweat your way through it, you feel amazing afterwards (after a shower too that is, me and my housemates at Uni used to exercise together. The last person to the shower often looked like the endorphins had warn off a little. No one likes sitting in their own sweat, however much hard work it shows).

I've just reminded myself I think, how I felt after I exercised. Maybe this blogging about a healthy lifestyle is a good plan. Hopefully you can all appreciate I'm coming at this from a genuine angle, after all I've done it before and so I CAN do it again. And if you need to healthy up a bit you can do it with me :) Next time I think I'll choose the trainers over the chocolate.

If you're not interested in health blogs don't panic, I've got a post on my criminally large mascara collection soon. If you are interested in the health side of things please let me know what sort of posts you'd like to read about; my previous experiences, exercise tips, ways to make the gym bareable, at home exercise, what foods to eat, when to eat? Etc.

Ta for reading. If you're interested in health and beauty posts please follow and comment :)
I'll be reviewing this book as soon as I've finished it...

I'm LOVING this no nonsense, motivational book!

Looks like dinner's going to be late, eek ;)

Livvy xo

Weight Loss/Gain Posts?

Hey gang, hope you're all good :)

I've been seeing a few blog posts recently about weight loss and such like. You know January fitness regimes, healthy eating resolutions etc. I mentioned yesterday that I am of the "squidgy" body type. Let's just say I need my arse safely secured on to the weight loss band wagon.

To cut to the chase, I lost 4 stone about 3 years ago, over a period of around 18 months. I was still a chubster but healthy and happy. More curvy than lardy. I still felt inadequate and massive. Anyway I put a LOT of weight on last year as I've previously mentioned it was a terrible year, again I won't go in to that here.

Me pre and post weight loss (pre-weight gain) :(

So I'm obviously just baby stepping back in to the world of health. Given my previous experience I'm hoping I've got some good tips and tricks to keep me motivated/help me be successful. I was just wondering, does anyone want to read about my journey or some good exercise/weight loss tips? Just to be clear my actual weight loss and healthy lifestyle was very successful. I just turned to food when times got rough, which is another thing that needs to be dealt with. But hey ho, 1 thing at a time :)

I just thought I'd see if anyone was interested in that sort of post because I know I love reading them. And ultimately I think being healthy is definitely in the interest of everyone interested in beauty. :)

Let me know what you think,

Livvy xo

P.s. Sorry for the short post, I'm still feeling uncomfortable talking about it all.

Free-Styler (Rock the Microphone ;))

Hey gang, hope you're all spiffing (Just watched Masterchef and they were cooking at a Jane Austen convention. Immense).

Today I thought I'd share with you my complete lack of fashion. Now it's not that I have no sense in fashion, I just have two major problems. A) I'm on the 'squidgier' side of life, so trousers make me look like a toffee apple (so sexy ;)) and B) I like statement pieces, so unfortunately I spend all my money on funky items that really don't go together (staple wardrobe items needed). In fact a look I frequent is the 'just fell in to my wardrobe and left the house like that' look. This is not too far from my make-up story a few months ago. I loved make-up but I'd just whack colours on my face that I liked, even if they didn't go with my skin tone (for example pink eyeshadow makes me look like I have pink eye, beautiful). I've learnt a lot about make-up from Youtube and blogs now, although there are still some faux pas (too much white eyeliner on the water line, smokey eyes AND dark lips... If the Pixiewoo sisters are Make-up doctors, I'm at like GCSE level ;)). So as I was browsing for make-up books the other day I thought I'd purchase something a bit different:

Style - Lauren Conrad

I confess (with some pride, as I normally indulge in reality tv) that I haven't watched too many episode of The Hills. Thankfully. My mind is a Snorlax already (big up Pokemon ;)), I think too much time watching it would have started killing off my already lounging brain cells. I've seen enough to know who the people in it are though, and out of all of them Whitney and Lauren are the two I can stand. Spencer needs a smack round the face, but that's not relevant (also irrelevant, I would kill to look like Audrina. Someone fell out the pretty tree and/or surgeon's office). Aaaaaanyway, I do love Lauren's style, so when I saw this book I had a little flick. It's really on my level, a proper back to basics vision of how to look simple and chic. It's not that I want to beat out the quirkiness of my wardrobe, I just want to look put together. So I got the book for £9.99 in WH Smiths if anyone's interested.

There are 3 sections in the book. Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle. I won't lie, I immediately ended up here:

The beauty section of the style book. Oops.

I did learn a few things from the beauty section, as with the rest of the book it's fab for a simple, stylish look (especially simple as Lauren has a phobia of wearing eyeshadow. Partly hilarious, partly reasonable, eyeshadow has got to be the no.1 culprit for 'clown face'). But thanks to my constant viewing of blogs and make-up videos, I quickly got throught that chapter and had to brave the foreign territory. Clothes. The first section I came to was about clearing out your wardrobe of old crap. You'd think that wouldn't be my problem, but I'm a serial 'buy-it-and-if-it-doesn't-look-nice-keep-it-anyway' person. So NOT good. I found like 5 things with the tags on. I've got a GORGEOUS River Island cream dress that is too clingy for me (or anyone I know that's size 14, as it is) to wear, but I can't bare to sell it. I need to find it a happy home. Considering I'm not a clothes addict, I do love them. So I had a little clear out - bar the cream dress.

I haven't got to the other chapters on what are the essentials to have in your wardrobe yet. Partly because I don't have any money, partly because I'm carrying some serious "2011 was a terrible year so I ate a LOT of pizza" weight and partly because it will just highlight to me how much I need to re-landscape my wardrobe (I keep writing wardrobe even though I have a rail not a wardrobe. I think I just miss the word wardobe. Wardrobe. Okay, done). When I've read more I'll keep you posted on my little toddle in to the fashion world. I might even go and buy a copy of Harpers Bazaar which I definitely just buy because I love the name and pretty pictures. I'm hoping it sends subliminal messages to my brain. No luck thus far. ;)

What key items do you have to have in your wardrobe (snuck another one in ;))? What fashion items do you think are over-rated? Let me know, I'm a keen learner. :)

Ta for reading, please follow my blog. I love chatting away to bloggers :)

Or tweet me? @LivCR

Livvy xo

The Nail Varnish Collection.

Alright girls, hope you're all loving life :)

It's time for the big one, my nail varnish collection. I'll warn you now it screams 'addict!' I've photographed my storage for it, then the polishes by brand then a miscellaneous pile at the end. I started off with 57 nail polishes. Eeeeek! I've narrowed it down to 44 now. I know that's still criminal, but you never know when you'll need 7 shades of blue. Right? :/ Haha.

So first off I'll show you how I store them:

My drawer top with my polishes, sprays (deodorant/hair spray), a fruit bowl of body products, 2 spare purses and some lip balm. It looks a bit cluttered but I love that shabby-all-over-the-place-chic thing :)

Up close: My nail polishes in a rose styled white wire rack from BHS.

The empty rack with white card in, to stop the polishes from going walkies, and a turquoise butterfly hair clip my Mum got me from Turkey.

Up close: The white card is just cut to size and folded in half. I saw DollyBowBow use this trick on her Youtube channel :)

I love my pretty wire rack. It doesn't take up much space and I can easily pull them out to have a look at. Originally I had them all on a drawer to lined up, but I kept knocking them over. Not practical. I feel like the rack is a good compromise between sensible and aesthetically pleasing. :)

On to the actual polishes, I'll just name the brands and put close-ups of a few faves. If you want to know a specific shade please do comment and ask, I'm more than happy to check for you:


Essie. Definitely my fave brand for wearable daytime neutrals. Although, you'll notice those shades are few and far between. ;)

Models Own + Models Own Pro (which looks a beautiful, shimmery emerald green in the bottle - it comes out almost black on my nails though. Sigh).



Barry M. - A.k.a. I have a serious issue. They're so affordable at £2.99 each and for the most part they only need a couple of coats. And the colour range is immense... I realise that has lead me to a few faux pas (bogey green, I'm looking at you) but we live and learn.



Boots No.7 - I.e. The crusaders of the £5 off voucher. Theses are of surprisingly good quality and the speed dry ones are complete gems. I'd never pay £7 for them though. Have a word Boots!

Revlon. Dribble. Facets of Fuschia (left) is my favourite. The more coats the better. Chunky glitter in deep purple, it's just pure heaven. In fact, all the Revlon formulas are beautiful and they have some gorgeous unique shades. Serious thumbs up.

Rimmel. I wouldn't write home about Rimmel polishes as they're quite translucent and need a good few coats. Disco Ball, however, (second from the left) is amazing! It looks silver, but it sparkles like a rainbow and looks like the night sky over a deep blue. A must have at only £2.99 (well I got it for £1.99 on offer, BARG!)



Max Factor. Don't buy these. They're practically see through. It's such a shame because I love their colours! The only reason I have so many is because I bought 2 to get a free gift box, which the other 2 came in. Luckily for Max Factor their Masterpiece mascara was in the gift or I would have been put off for life.



OPI. I love this polish. OPI is £10.99 or there abouts in England though, that's insane! I got this as a gift, I really can't justify spending that much myself (she says, wait until we get to Nails Inc.). That's the cost of 3 Barry M's with some change left over. It is incredible though.



Nails Inc. Oh the beauty. The one on the left is limited edition. It was hideously expensive, I only bought it because I saw Anna from ViviannaDoesMakeup wearing a similar colour which I thought was this. It was actually a previous limited colour and a dupe for Essie's Ladylike, which I bought because it actually looks nothing like this on. On the flip side Victoria, on the right, was free in a magazine (was it Glamour? I can't remember) and I LOVE it. It's like a deep blood red. Paints on like a dream.



I don't even know... I think they were my Mum's. Possibly Marks+Spencers? I just included these to indicate when hoarding goes too far. Oh dear.



Miscellaneous: (Top Left to Right) Miss Sporty x2, MUA, ELF, M+S
(Bottom Left to Right) Miners (No idea, my friend stole that from her Mum and gave that to me when we were about 9. Oops), 17, M+S, Collection 2000 & M+S. Standouts are the blue Miss Sporty, it's a really unique, fun colour, the 17 magnetic blue (which creates a cool way effect, plus it just gets extra points for having a magnet!) and the turquoise M+S colour. Beautiful.

Now for my close up:

Magpie.

Classic.



And that's my humble collection. I managed a small purge, ridding myself of these few:





Max Factor's water in a pot and Barry M's vomit shades took the main hit, along with a few others claiming their pensions. (Nice bit of celotape on my drawers, Christmas left overs. Can't buy class.)



It might not look like many to get rid of, but to be honest I'm always changing up the colour of my nails. My lipstick collection is more of a cause for concern, but I'll save that for another post.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my stash, it took frickin ages to photo/write. I'm appreciating pro-bloggers more!

Do you have a nail varnish collection? What's your ultimate fave polish? Are you team neutral or brights?Ta for reading and please follow/comment if you liked my post,

Livvy xo

Question of the Week - QOTW. (1)

Alright gang, hope you're all dandy :)

I've decided I'm going to do a QOTW for beauty/make-up or maybe even fashion things. I'm still learning about all this stuff so I'd really appreciate the Beauty Blogger Community's help :)

So my question for this week is:

Does anyone else find it difficult to apply mascara to the eye opposite the hand they right with? I.e. I'm right handed and my left eye always looks a little off. I can never get the inner corner without splatting black over my face. Any tips for me?

Ta for your help in advance ;)

I pinky promise my next post will be my nail varnish collection. I've already taken the pics of it! :)

Livvy xo

Naked Hue.

Hey everyone, hope you're all cheery :)

I'm just about to photograph my nail polish collection, but I thought I'd quickly whack a little update post up first. The other day I got a very special delivery and I thought I'd show you what I got:



Urban decay Naked Palette.



MAC 'Hue' lipstick. Hello massive camera shadow ;)

I really shouldn't have bought these, but I've been lusting after both for about 3 months. Neither I could justify spending so much money on, however sheer desire eventually won. ;) The Naked palette was £35. Anyone who's read more than one beauty blog will know what it is, the ultimate cult eyeshadow palette. With it's little sister the Naked 2 palette having been just released in the UK (on the Debenhams website at least), you may be wondering why I bought the original? The simple answer is, I just prefered the wider selection of brown tones. I love it! Although now ViviannaDoesMakeup (how do I tag people? I feel like I'm robbing her info lol) bought MAC Soba recently and posted about it. Oh my gosh, it's like a dark chocolatey brown eyeshadow. I need it. Apparently an addict can never have enough ;) Hence why I'm doing my nail polish collection now, I'm desperately trying to convince myself to cull a few! Eek.

The MAC Hue lipstick (£13.50) is permanently listed in people's favourites on Youtube. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not the biggest 'nude shades' fan, but I'm learning to appreciate them. I am in love with this lipstick and I can't stop wearing it, but I can't put my finger on why? It's a paleish pink (nowhere near as bright or pale as the 'Saint German' shade - I'm trying to branch in to subtle) and really creamy. It almost feels like a lipblam and as a Glaze finish it is very sheer. My lips are SO dry though so it still looks a bit patchy. Can anyone recomend a really good lip scrub? I have Lush's Pow Wow popping candy scrub, it's okay but I need a miracle worker! Anyway, I piled my purchases on to my face, as I'm prone to, and this was the finished look:



FOTD



Naked and Buck eyeshadows, Max Factor Masterpiece and YSL mascaras :)

Firstly I know that's a really weird angle for a FOTD, but I used my MAC Fix+ and it gave me MEGA SHINE. Lesson learnt. I like the matte shadows with the lipstick because I think they make a quite natural but put together look. I'm also a new found fan of foundation in a shade that matches my face, although I'm not sure I'll ever be converted fully from my 'foundation tan face' love. ;)

I love how this is my version of a short post. Oops. I'm going to photo my polishes right now so I don't forget, so stay tuned and please follow my blog if you're a fan of nail polishes/obsessive collections.

Ta, Livvy xo

F.O.T.D. and the Storage Dilemma.

Hi everyone, hope you're all fine and dandy :)

Sorry I haven't posted in nearly a week. My friends came to visit so shopping and gossiping took precedent ;) Luckily for me these particular friends LOVE make-up. One time me and one of them stared at the Boots make-up counters for 2 whole hours! This time I branched away from them slightly as they shopped, a smart decision as they spent half an hour staring at Barry M Dazzle Dust. I know I would have bought some if I'd looked, but with a drawer of eye make-up I really couldn't merit purchasing any. Sad, sad times.

First I thought I'd show you my 'FOTD' as I went full on "homage to Pat Butcher". She was a character in Eastenders who died recently :( (RIP Pat). If you aren't familiar with her, leopard print and giant earrings were her game. Not that I watch Eastendes any more, but my new leopard print dolly bow style hair band from Primark inspired me:



Above: FOTD. Below: Hair of the Day. (By the way I'm not naked, I was wearing a strapless dress. Really awkward). :P



On my face I have my Boujoir Healthy Mix Foundation (the serum one) in shade 53. This is a new addition, I previously used 55 but I'm going to save that for summer as I was starting to look a little mahogany. Not my natural shade unfortunately. I also used NARS orgasm blush, Maybeline One by One and YSL mascaras, ELF brow kit, ELF cool bronzer and the main feature - Studiomakeup (is that 2 words, it's written as 1 on the packet?) lipstick in 'really red'. I acquired it in the special Christmas edition of the Boudoir Prive box (before they became Jollie box). As you'll see in my nail varnish collection (coming soon) I am a big fan of brights. I know, shock! Most bloggers/Youtubers I see are all about the neutrals. And although they have lead me to appreciate our muted friends, brights will always be my BFFs ;) So when I saw this lipstick I was a bit like, that's definitely darker than I'd go for. That's the beauty of beauty boxes, they introduce you to new things. Not that I'm subscribed to any, I'm too sceptical that the month I subscribe they'll give out a shoe horn and a green hair dye. Back to my point, this lipstick is gorgeous. It's a classy red, and I'll freely admit my fave reds whisper 'I stand on street corners'. Lovely. On top I've just whacked a bit of the bright red Glam Shine Reflexion gloss by L'Oreal. I'd give you the specific shade but it's been so loved the label's rubbed off. This post is not painting me in the most favourable light ;) Oh dear.

For my hair I just put it in a high pony tail, but didn't pull it all the way through, giving it a sort of 'fanned out bun' effect. I saw Nikki Phillipi (I'm still a blog cave-man so I can't tag her) do it on her Youtube and thought I'd have a go. I love it, I really felt fun with it and the leopard print head-band together. My hair's nearly always in a scraped back bun, but it's always nice to break the rules every once in a while. ;) In my ears I'm wearing some gorgeous earrings my friend gave me for Christmas, they're from Accesorize. :)

With my face on I went for lunch with my Dad. Yummy and free. Win. When I got home I was feeling pro-active... Or guilty because I shopped a bit on the way home. Such an addict. So I decided to do something I'd been meaning to do for about 5 months. Buy a clothes rail. In my bedroom there's not really space for a big wardrobe, well there is but I like floor space to sit and do my make-up, so I had to find an alternative. After months of procrastinating I settled on this:

2 tier clothes rail.

This is a two-tier clothes rail. It's amazing, I'm just hoping it doesn't break. As you can see by the epic tower of plastic drawers next to it I'm trying to get as much storage as I can for as little money. The drawers are stackable set of 3 from Wilkos and the rail is from Argos. I'm so proud of myself, a) that I put the rail up by myself, DIY pro ;) and b) that my clothes are actually hung up. I can only dream of being like these girls whose room tours I watch on Youtube. Am I the only messy person on the planet? The only down side to the rail is that it's not tall enough for dresses. I've folded the bottom over the hanger of most of my dresses and hung the maxi-dresses on the end. I'll keep you posted on my rail's ability to cope with my clothes ;)

That's it for today folks. Stay tuned for my nail varnish collection. If you like my blog please follow it as I'm still a bit of a loner on here ;)

Link me in the comments if you have any storage or FOTD posts for me to nosey at :)
Ta, Livvy xo

(Oh P.S. I kept calling my MAC blush 'Pink O'Peach' in previous posts, it's actually called 'Pinch O'Peach'. What a doofus!)

Lush, disco and sensibility. (I went to the shops and I bought...)

Heya, hope you're all okay :)

In the summer I moved in to a flat, it came with the double edged sword of being a five minutes walk away from the town centre. Now if I need to meet friends or pop in to Boots for some essentials it's fab, however once I'm in town I can't stay away from the shops. In fact, the quickest way home is through Boots. That's just asking for trouble. I am not one of those people that can pop in for some toothpast and leave, knowing full well there's a floor of make-up above me. After lunch with my Dad the other day I came home via the shops. With the addition of a few other recent purchases, I thought I may as well haul the lot. Needless to say I'm not bragging, I just love having a nose at other peoples shopping, so I thought I'd share my lot :)

First up I went in to Presence, which is like a stationery/candles/cool random bits and bobs shop. I bought something I'd been eyeing up for ages and managed to steer clear of buying any Yankee candles, which was like walking away from a fidge with a magnet strapped to my back. My favourite scent BY FAR is Lemon Lavendar, but I already have that. So I bought this:



Waldo Pancake 'I could have been a notebook' Notebook. £6.99



I bought this because I really want to write a novel, so it's just to remind me to follow my dream. Someone got their feet out? Smells like cheeeese ;) But it's true. To me £6.99 is literally ridiculous for a notebook, on this occasion I felt the splurge was necessary. Although, it's not like I'll be writing the story in it. That would be classic cave-man. I may as well have bought a slate and some chalk.

Next I went to Lush. My intention was just to inhale the concoction of smells that just IS bath time, but naturally the one day I didn't want something I got the over-eager assistant. I was guilted in to purchasing, or that's my excuse ;) I got:

Left to right: 'Sweet Soap of Mine' - 2 soaps (1 The Godmother + 1 Rock Star), (top) 'Charity Pot' moisturiser tin, 'Veganese' conditioner.

After a consultation with the lovely/eager guy that worked there, I rejected all of his help. Purely because he was showing me skin care and I bow to Liz Earle's superiority. As I casually side-shuffled away from him I found myself at the soap counter, sniffing the most incredible sweet smell. After shoving my face in almost all of the soaps I found 'Rock Star' to be the source. Like an eagle waiting for it's prey a second assistant ceased the chance to help me. Bugger, I thought. I was wrong, she directed me to this multi-pack. The soaps smell very similar, sweet and fruity. Amazing. Sold. Then I wandered to the hair area. My head has been so dry this winter so I was searching for a natural shampoo that didn't smell like something a cow had eaten then projectile sicked back up. I went for Veganese. This was stupid on two levels; first it smells like lemon and grass, fail. Second, it's actually a conditioner. I now have FOUR conditioners and an itchy head. What a wally. Eventually I get to the til, practically throwing myself towards it to avoid any more help. Little did I know that the charity pots were at the til. Only £1 and that goes to charity. To avoid any further discussion, I purchased it. It smells like chocolate and is actually quite nice, it doesn't dry quickly though so it leaves your skin a bit soggy. I didn't even ask what the charity was. Lush trip = 'saved by the soap'.

Last that day was the unavoidable trap that is Boots. I would love to work there but I don't think my wages would ever make it home with me ;) On this occasion I got:

Left to right: TRESemme 'Naturals' shampoo in Nourishing Moisture, Rimmel 'Disco Ball' nail varnish and Natural Collections 'Peach Melba' blush.

The shampoo doesn't really need explaining, I was rectifying 'Veganese-gate'. I normally use TRESemme anyway, it's only the harsh winter that's dried my scalp. I thought the natural version might do the trick. My head hasn't exploded so... win. Rimmel's 'Disco Ball' polish has been sold out of my local Boots and 2 Superdrugs for ages. Apparently I was going to buy it ages ago, but I thought it was just a plain silver (it's actually rainbow glitter, which reflects beautifully in the light). My friend reminded me of this as she displayed what looked like the night sky on her nails. Disco Ball over a dark purple by Barry M I was assured. That was it, mission Disco Ball was deployed. It took me about 2 weeks to get my hands on it. Two lessons; 1) If you love something, buy it (especially if it's £3, it was reduced to £1.99 when I got it though ;)) and 2) Perserverance pays off. The blush I just bought because I've seen it recommended quite a lot on Youtube. I've only tried it once and to be honest, I didn't really rate it. Basically because it didn't show up on my skin tone/the tone my skin is when I put my make-up on, my 'I'm going to pretend my face is tanned' colour. I'll keep you posted when I re-try it though.

So that was that trip, not particularly epic compared to the jungle adventure I've hyped it up to be. When I got in though, there was also a package for me. It was just some shoes I ordered in anticipation of needing a job/interviews for internships. These black moccasins from Asos are the culprits:

Just realised I haven't priced anything, comment if you want me to check for you :)

They are a bit pinchy, so I definitely need to wear them in. Feet dripping with blood does not scream 'hire me'!

Last and probably least, I popped back in to Boots today (I might as well initiate the staff in to my family, I'm there that often) to spend my No. 7 voucher. For anyone who doesn't know, every few months Boots give out £5 off vouchers for their No. 7 brand with any purchase. It's amazing, except you spend it and get given another one. Normally I'd buy a nail polish. However, I know have over 50... I know. Get me some help. Or comment if you'd like to see the collection ;) So, I thought I'd best avoid buying one for now. Instead I came across this:

Boots No.7 'Nourishing Nail and Cuticle Care'.

I've not heard anything about this, but with the vouceher it was £2, so I thought 'Why not give it a go?' Considering I'm such a nail polish freak, I've never owned a product that actually cares for my nails. In fact, my nails are almost never 'polishless'. Today is their first naked apperance, I think they're blushing ;) I've put on the cream which has the smell of a moisturiser, good start, so I'll let you know how I get on.

That's it, my mini haul. Do you like reading hauls? Do you always 'accidentally' buy a few extra things? What are your recent guilty purchases? Be sure to let me know in the comments :)

Livvy xo

Boys Love Cars, I Love Nars.

Heya, hope you're all okay :)

Today I thought I'd share my love for Nars. Like a man's (and woman's, but that would've made for an epic title) love for cars, a make-up addicts love for Nars is often one of 'admiring from a far'. As a high end brand it is understandably out of a lot of people's price ranges, mine included. It is loved and admired, but is it worth the money? I have invested in 2 Nars items to test the waters:

Left - Nars Scarlet Empress. Right - Nars Orgasm.

Swatches: Bottom - Scarlet Empress. Top - Orgasm.

Immediately most of you will have spotted the Orgasm blush on the right (top pic), a cult product in the make-up world. What's up with the name though? I find it a bit vulgar to be honest, definitely felt uncomfortable asking the lady at the counter for an orgasm. Oh well, it's not like it imprints the word orgasm on to your face. The packaging just looks expensive. The simple black and white and the rubber texture, although a word of warning, the rubber collects foundation if you still have any on your hands. Not pretty. The product itself is beautiful, there's no denying it. It's quite sheer but it just adds an effortless glow to the cheeks. It's warming and inviting, it has a peachey undertone but like I said it's very sheer. So is it worth the money? I'm not sure. I definitely think my judgement has been thrown off kilter by the cost and the hype. I love it, I know I do, but I wonder if I would love it as much if I hadn't been told to? It's definitely worth a purchase if you fancy splashing out. Although if I had to pick between this and my MAC Pink O'Peach I think the MAC would win. Possibly. They're both incredible.

The lipstick on the other hand, Scarlet Empress, is just divine! It's really pigmented and stays on your lips for hours. I took a pic of it on my lips, which if anything highlights the need for lip liner: ;)

Fit angle ;)

This is it when dabbed, straight on it is a deep purpley red. I know a lot of people would say if you're splashing out on high end, go for something wearable. However I find that lots of high street/drugstore brands do day-to-day amazingly. If I'm spending loads of money I want something that makes people stop in their tracks. This is my number 1 favourite lipstick at the moment. I obviously don't wear it daily, but it is absolute perfection for those special occasions.

So is Nars the Lamborghini of the make-up world? In my opinion, definitely. I feel indulgent wearing it and get the biggest buzz buying it. In a strange way it's nice not to be able to afford lots of it, because it's more of an occasion when I can buy it. Next on my list is definitely the 'Tropic' eyeshadow. OMG, you have to swatch it to see it's beauty. I almost purchased it out of sheer need one day, but that would have meant spending my dinner money so I saw the light. Just about.

Do you have any Nars products? What products are on your dream list?
Livvy xo

FOTD (Face of the Day) - Current Fave.

Heya, hope you're all well :)

I thought I'd do a quick 'face of the day' post as I'm wearing my current favourite blusher/lipstick combination:



Face of the Day (09/01/2012) POUT ;)

It's a MAC duo I'm sporting. Firstly I have 'Pink O'Peach' on my cheeks. It's a beautiful pink with a peach undertone (funny that, wouldn't have guessed it from the name). It adds a real flush of colour but in a natural way. You can tell I'm wearing blusher, but it's not fake or cakey which I love. It's also really feminine, especially when paired with MAC's 'Saint German' lipstick. It's an amplified finish which means it's super pigmented and really stands out. The lipstick definitely isn't natural, but paired with the glowing cheeks it doesn't look over the top for the daytime. I think the look says 'I've made an effort for you but not too much, so don't flatter yourself.'

The lips and cheeks are the focus of the look, so I've just left everything else really simple. Jemma Kidd 'Light as Air' foundation, Elf brow kit in dark, a bit of an old Rimmel bronzer to contour and Soap + Glory highlighter (LOVE) and some Max Factor eyeliner on my waterline. Then it's just lashings of mascara. I did get particularly carried away so there's L'Oreal Telescopic in waterproof, carbon black as the base followed by an array of YSL, Maybelline and MAC mascaras layered on top. Too much. Way too much. Ooops ;)

I've got some serious yellow undertones to my skin so I was quite surprised I could carry off all the pink. That's why I love experimenting. Has anyone else tried this look? Are there any other blushers or lipsticks you can recommend for my skintone? I don't just use MAC, in fact I'm all about a bargain! Although I will say my favourite lipstick is my only NARS one... But I'll save that for another post :)

Livvy xo

Career Soul Searching and the Sweet Smell of Success.

Heya, hope you're all good :)

I am currently on a quest to decide what I want to do with my life. I finished University last year so I've got the world at my feet. Only that's my problem, there's a whole lot of everything in the world and for a long time I've been totally stuck as to which direction I should go in. I'm very creative, but a sort of jack of all trades. I don't mean that arrogantly. I mean I'm quite good at a few different creative areas, but I have no area of expertise. I'm the heptathlete of the creative world, but like club level, not Olympic ;) Painting, singing, playing guitar and baking are all things I enjoy and have a reasonable capability in, but I'm not really good at them. You won't see me at the Brit Awards (cry face) and as much as I wish I was Nigella, I'm more of a 'follow the recipe like my life depends on it' type of girl.

After mulling over all these ideas, one thing that stuck in my mind is how much I enjoy writing. Minus the fact I spell some words like a five year old, for whom English is their second language, I feel like I can get a point across. And more importantly I want to get a point across. I want to make people laugh and enjoy reading, maybe whilst learning something or maybe just to distract themselves for five minutes. Hence the birth of this blog, which as yet is still without a distinct purpose. Much like those career plans of mine ;)

So the blog was born. But before that I'd already started a sneeky little project, writing a book. For everyone who I've told thus far, their reactions have been to pretend something urgent has happened in the distance and to walk off. It's funny how people preach hard work and following your dreams, but if your dream hasn't got a mainstream route to success everyone reacts with 'judging, panic and look away face' (why don't they have that as a bbm face ;)). Anyway, fortunately for me I couldn't give a rats arse. It's all the more reason to become successful and indicate to people which passage they can shove their unsupportiveness (word?) up.



Hence my latest epiphany. I love writing, I now love blogging, I love tweeting, I love Youtube and MOST importantly, I love celebrity gossip. It seems to have a reputation for numbing the mind, but judging people from afar is exactly what sports supporters do. Celebrity is my sport, as is evident by the size of my arse. Spectator only. I've got sidetracked. My next idea was that I should become involved in the magazine industry. Everyone loves a magazine, even if it's a secret 'guilty pleasure'. I guarentee if you leave a gossip mag in the bathroom your dad/brother/man friend will ask you why Cheryl Cole didn't hang Ashley up by the goolies? Or how the TOWIE girls manage to apply Ronseal quite so thickly to themselves ;) (not hating, I love a bit of TOWIE). That's a world I want to be in, one that reaches and entertains everyone. That being said, journalism is notoriously hard to get in to. Internships (i.e. working for free) are they only way to get experience before anyone would consider hiring you. And work for free I will! I'd do it for a year if I thought it'd get my foot through the door.

So that is my plan of action, apply for an internship. I say 'an' internship. That's not an intense enough approach for my liking. I'm going all guns blazing, so I picked up a err 'few' magazines to spark some ideas:



A serious pile of magazines.

I want to make sure I sell myself properly, I'm very serious about this idea. So I've got a copy of almost every magazine in the Universe (exaggeration station) to ensure my cover letters are tailored to the style of each mag. Posting this blog could well be a bit of a risk, exposing no particular loyalty to one magazine. But it does show a dedication to writing and I'm fine with that. So that's what I'm going to do, apply like I've got job application tourettes.

Anyone who reads this blog for it's 'beauty' element, regain consciousness here. For with the drive for a healthy career, one must exude the 'sweet smell of success' ;). Cue me grasping at straws to segway towards showing you this:

My Perfume Collection: From left to right - (Back row) 'A Scent' By Issey Miyake (pink bottle), Body Shop's 'Japanese Cherry Blossom', Brintey Spears' 'Midnight', Christian Dior 'Miss Dior - Cherie'. (Front row) Christian Dior 'Miss Dior - Blooming bouquet', Bulgari 'Omniscience', Stella McCartney 'Stella' + a mini Marc Jacobs 'Daisy'. Pheeeeeeeeeew.

I thought I'd show those of you beauty addicts my little collection. As you can probably see I sit nicely on the fence between floral and sweet. I love smelling feminine. Definitely not a musk fan, bar my Bulgari perfume which I love for the evening. It's definitely the elephant in the room... Or collection. Are there any scents anyone can recommed for me based on my mini-collection? Anything feminine I'm missing? Apart from Gucci's 'Flora', which I'm oh too aware of. Sad face. What's your favourite perfume?
One last addition to this epic compilation, I thought I'd show you where I store them:

My amazing drawers (Prescence), perfume, pictures, candles and room-smell-beautiful-afiers... The name will come to me ;)

My room isn't too big so I like how I've utilised the top of a chest of drawers for these.

Right I better stop writing before I'm called to court for boring people to death ;). Let me know if you like these type of posts? The perfume or the life stories? They probably should have been a seperate post, but my life is a precarious balance of the two atm.

Ta for reading, gold stars if you've reached the end.

Livvy xo

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates.

This year I've not made a list of New Years Resolutions. Not because I have nothing to resolve, far from it. Last year had some great ups and some rather gargantuan downs, so I'm starting off this year a bit all over the shop. I haven't got a routine of any sorts, or a purpose really. This has lead to a lot of down time, in both senses of the word. However it has really got me thinking about what I want to get out of life. I worry so much about what I'm not doing that it takes up all my time, and I end up doing nothing at all anyway. On one of my deep and meaningless day-dreams which seem to fill my days, I thought about Forest Gump's famous quote;
          "Life is like a box of chocolates."

My first thought was, I can relate to that. It's not as stupid as it sounds. As one of my many permenant over-hanging resolutions I try not to eat too much crap (permenant because 'try' is the key word there). It got me thinking, life is like a box of chocolates. If you just rush through it and don't live in the moment it's gone, booom. Bye bye. But if you savour each peice, each moment, you can be genuinely happy.

Another little thought is that as humans, or maybe just Brits ;) we dwell on the bad bits. I opened a tin of Celebrations at Christmas and immediately thought 'Grim, there are a LOT of Bountys in here'. Instead of focusing on that, and trying to power through the bad moments to get to the good ones, I should have thought 'Ahh lush there's a good few Maltesers in here'. (I could have just bought a bag of Maltesers, but I find it's those little moments of surprise at finding what we love that make us smile/salivate :)). I'd have been better off offering the Bountys to somebody else, after all one girl's punch in the gag reflex is another's treasure (or something to that effect ;)).

What I need to learn this year is not to linger in unpleasant moments and to strive towards better things. I need to dig around my metaphorical tub of chocolates to find what makes me happy. Hopefully by next Christmas that might be something bigger than a Malteser. :)

Livvy xo

My Christmas Pressies.

Hi, I hope everyone's all good.

So this is my first proper blog. I imagine it will be epic in length and spellingly (not a word, should be) challenged. First I just want to do the little typical disclaimer on these sorts of present blogs or videos, I'm really not gloating or bragging about what I got. I'm very grateful for everything I recieved and I know I absolutely love having a nosey at what other people get, so I thought I'd just start off with something simple and in my opinion, fun. That being said, let's have a cheeky peaky at what Santa dropped off this year :)

I'm just popping up a few things I got because I think you can all just use your imaginations for the chocolate wrappers whose insides didn't make it to photographing day ;)

First up I got some amazing presents from my friends:



Barry M Nail Paints in 'Foil Effects 144' (Left)
and 'Silver Glitter 140'.



Front Cover 'Top Drawer' Pencil Collection.



Ted Baker - Nude toned patent purse
(Not sure if it has an actual name).



I love Barry M! It was the perfect sparkle for New Years. Not that I did anything, but I'm sure my flat appreciated the glitz ;) The eye pencil collection from Front Cover is such a cool gift. It's got 6 funky coloured jumbo pencils and a black kohl one. I'm particularly in love with a coffee coloured one called 'Moccasin' in the set, which I use on my waterline to brighten my eyes. All I would say is some of the colours are quite sheer, so if they're being used on the eyelids they'd be best over an eyeshadow. The next gift is just one of those 'OHMYGOSHIMSOEXCITEDICOULDWEE' presents. I have been in love with this purse forever. I can't believe my friend bought it for me, it was so generous of her. I bought my three friends that got me these little Soap and Glory gift sets. The purse of my dreams definitely overshadowed my gifts majorly, so I went back out and bought her some Marc Jacobs earrings. Much better ;)

The next present I got from two of my friends was huge:



Soap and Glory 'Big Splendour' gift set.












Until recently I hadn't owned any Soap and Glory products. I'd heard the hype but to be honest until about 3 months ago, the whole beauty/make-up scene wasn't for me. Oh how times change and bank accounts squirm.

I had purchased a mini 'The Righteous Butter' and 'Hand Food' just before Christmas. I was immediately in love with how silky soft the products were. They have the softness of Nivea Smooth but are also scented with a heady, rosey, soapy smell. Obviously that is not a technical description, I'm still toddling in the beauty world, but I'm sure most of you will have smelt them anyway.

I saw this giant case of beauty when I was with my friends and it was on sale. In a spooky case of  coincidence, they had already bought me one for Christmas but live half way up the country and couldn't haul it on the trains. So fortunately for me, they repurchased it. I say fortunately for me, I've heard 'Santa' let them keep its predecessor. :P

You might be thinking, wow that is a seriously huge present from your friends. Never fear, as we've earlier discovered I don't leave the present scales unbalanced. In this case it was them re-balancing it, bless them, because I'd got them tickets to see a certain group of boys for one of their birthdays:

One Direction :)

I'm 21 and I don't care if you all want to judge me for seeing them. They were frickin amazing. Guilty pleasure number 2. Guilty pleasure number 1 is...

The Wanted 2012 Calendar.

The Wanted. Amazing. I'll keep that under my hat for the rest of time ;) My Dad bought me the calendar which I'm seriously impressed with. He once bought me a Hear'Say annual about 5 years after they split up. Big improvement.

Okay so if you're still reading you are either a hero, procrastinating from work/essays/tidying or you've just looked at the clock and realised an hour of your life has just soaked up in to the black hole that is this blog post. I'll round up now and gradually include the rest of my gifts in other posts.

Finally, I had to include these dvds I got:

Downton Abbey Series 2 box-set (Left) +
Greg Davies Live - 'Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog'.

My friend gave me the Downton Abbey Series 1 box-set to borrow when I was ill earlier in the year. It was just as the second series was running on telly so I missed it all. It is seriously addictive. There's a big range of characters, some you love to hate and also some ridiculous but utterly unmissable plot lines. I'd certainly recommend it if you need a box-set on your shelves ready for a poorly day. I haven't watched the second series yet because it's set during WWII and I know it will be sad. I get so emotionally attatched to dramas and films, it's unhealthy. ;)

Lastly is the Greg Davies dvd, if you don't know who he is and you're British then you've bought shame on our nation ;) For anyone else, he is a Comedian. One of the best, not even in my opinion, just a fact. He was also the teacher in The Inbetweeners tv series/film. Again if you haven't seen that, I hope you're already opening up Channel 4 catch up to watch it. Basically, I love him. I'm going to say in a borderline creepy way ;) Joking, but I do think he's amazing. I belly laughed through 70% of the dvd, to the point where I couldn't inhale fast enough to laugh more. I thought I might just be being biased, but I left it for my brother to watch and sure enough I heard the echoing laugh of someone taken off guard at how piss funny something is. Greg Davies is my number 1 recommendation.

If you've somehow trudged through this post, please follow my blog:

faceofthunder@blogspot.com

If you have any questions for me, recomendations for blogging or anything like that feel free to leave a comment :)

Livvy xo