image c/o weheartit.com

It's that time of the month again - let me tell you a little bit about some of the amazing ladies on my sidebar...get comfy and prepare to add a few new favourites to your list!

Polka Dot Dreams
Oh my goodness, where on earth do I start with this little place of amazingness? You know when you stumble across something when you're having an etsy stalk (we all do it, don't pretend) and you so wish you could make it because it's just so perfect? That's how I felt when  I stumbled across Samantha's shop. Okay, so not only does she sell the most frickin' gorgeous felt accessories (oh my GOD have you seen the fox necklace, I nearly died), she also makes items to order so if you had something particular in mind, she's your lady. Pretty please pop on over and say Hi - I'm bowled over by the wonderfulness of her lovely shop.

Eat Play Shop Love
Okay, this lady is one of my absolute favourites. On Charlie's blog not only will you find detailed beauty reviews, hauls, get to know me posts and notd's - but you will also find a really lovely lady. I get lost in her posts and find myself smiling at the screen like a creep with her relatable writing. You won't be disappointed if you hop on over, although perhaps have a cuppa at the ready - because you'll be there a while.

Beauty Becky
I'm hoping you all know who Becky is, as she was sitting pretty on my sidebar last month too. I'm still girl crushing pretty hard to be honest - consistency seems to be key in this little ladies book. Her posts are detailed - I always find myself wanting to buy whatever it is she's writing about and one of my absolute favourite things about it is her photography. It's so clear and fantastic quality, so if you're looking for in-depth reviews with fantastic swatches look no further. What a good egg :)

Our Little Balham Life
Oh, Nicola. How can I express my love for you and your blog in a paragraph? (not possible) Honestly, when I first read Nicola's blog I knew it was meant to be. From reading just a few sentences of a blog post you feel like you know her, and to me that's what blogging is all about. Reading this blog, you'll mainly discover what it's like to live in London, what she gets up to and some frickin' awesome food recipes. Yep, go on, tell me all how much you love it too...

Beauty & Truth
Aubry is wonderful, as is her blog. She is absolutely drop dead gorgeous, and with that very, very talented. Fancy knowing how to bake some awesome cookies? Some DIY jewellery and accessories? Or perhaps a little bit of fashion? You've come to the right place. I can't help but want to be part of this ladies adventures and go round for a cup of tea and cake. Her words and beauty just make you feel right at home.

Angel's Corner
Honesty is the best policy and I feel that's 100% what you get with this lovely ladies blog. She's packed to the brim with beauty and fashion hauls, lifestyle posts and most recently FOOD ART. How cool is that? Making art from your food, has to be one of the most creative things I've heard of in a long while! I find myself constantly checking back to see if there's a new post and they're always such a pleasure to read :)

L-R: Bourjois Nail Polish Remover. Rimmel Apocalips. Cetaphil Oily Skin Cleanser. MAC Woodwinked Eyeshadow. Urban Fudge Sea Salt Spray. Algenist Triple Action Micropeel and Polish.

Can I just be massively cliché here and say - where the HELL has February gone? This is actually mental. Life needs to slow down a little, it's going to be bloody Christmas before we know it!

So.. I haven't done a monthly favourites post in I can't remember how long. But I'm trying this thing where I become more organised in life and get things done, and it just so happens that monthly favourites is one of those things! (this month anyway haha). 
There are few products in here that probably wont be too much of a shock to you beauty addicts, but I do think I've discovered a few gems too.
Do let me know what you think of the products, and if you've tried any of them :)

Following on from my last outfit post I find myself constantly reaching for comfort at the moment. There’s nothing better than whacking on an outfit that you don’t need to worry about – no your tops not going to fall down and your skirt isn’t going to ride up your bum, it’s just effortless and comfortable.

Enrapture is fast becoming my favourite go-to heat styling company, my totem styler has seen my ghds are made redundant at the back of my drawers; and today I have another one of their exciting tools to introduce to you.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Being poorly means I have little time for making an effort when I have to show my face in public. I apologise if I’m still looking a little peaky in these photo’s, but laryngitis took hold of me and wouldn’t budge for nearly two weeks! It was my little sister’s 15^th birthday (god I feel old) and we all went out for lunch at a local restaurant. I had the yummiest duck salad for main and a berry frozen yoghurt for dessert – quite healthy for me! Any way I wanted to be comfy because I was still feeling a bit rubbish.

Jumper: c/o Mary Jane Fashion. Leggings: Topshop. Boots: H b Hudson of London. Bracelet: Jacey Withers

Hey everyone!!

So whilst I was away in Australia I hit 3,000 YouTube subscribers - I KNOW right, what the actual hell? I cannot fathom how that many people actually watch my videos! I know it's not that many in the grand scheme of things, but to me it is HUGE. And of course, I wanted to say a massive thank you for that. I hate to get all slushy on yo asses (I really don't) but it actually does mean such a lot to me. Vlogging and Blogging feel so perfect in my life and you guys make it even better. I know a lot of you lovelies watch my video's too so I thought what better way to host a giveaway than on both my YouTube and blog?!

Okay, enough of the slush...you want to know what's in it for you, eh? ;)
I was lucky enough to be contacted by the wonderful Casetagram to host a giveaway. If you haven't heard of them - they are a company that make custom phone cases with your instagram, personal and facebook photo's. I've seen a fair few floating around the blogosphere and I have to say I absolutely LOVE mine! You basically pick your favourite photo's and create your own collage (various shapes and sizes available) and voila, you should have something that looks like this!


SO - I want to give you one too!! The winner will be given a code and can design their own Casetagram case online or through their app :)
If you want to get your hands on one you need to enter below. The giveaway is open internationally and I will be announcing the winner on here and my YouTube channel on the 3rd March. Thank you again lovelies - and good luck!
Have a nose of the video to find out what's in my iPhone and more on Casetagram! I know that not everyone has a smart phone, so I will be hosting another few giveaways VERY soon - keep your eyes peeled!! :D

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Design...I’d say it’s something I have an eye for but when it comes to computers, HTML coding or actually drawing something – I suck. I have zero patience when it comes to teaching myself things – if I can’t do it the first time I instantly give up. When I was younger I always wished I could draw, paint, express my creativity;  I think perhaps if I’d pushed myself a bit harder at school I may have been able to pick it up but never mind!

My best friends mum had told me I had to visit - simply for the customer service in the store. The lady talked her through everything she wanted to know about the store and products without bombarding her (did you know everything is completely natural & organic? I expected it not to be with all the bright colours!). She helped her find exactly what she needed and then left her to it. Once she had finished shopping the store lady approached her again and said that every day, the staff were allowed to choose one shopper to give a free product to - and she wanted to give that product to her. How lovely is that? It wasn't a 'Oh, well you can only have this particular product' - no she got to pick whatever she wanted. If nothing else, I think you should pop in to receive a bit of the same. Is it just me or has customer service gone down the pan a little these days? 

When I popped in I was rushing around like a madman doing the Christmas shopping, so I didn't have enough time to stop and chat, but they were all super friendly (especially as it was Christmas eve, very very busy). I wanted to try one thing that my mum's friend had mentioned to me...their Lip Scrub. 

This isn't a 'brainy' product - what I mean by that is you could quite easily make something similar yourself. It's the brains behind it that I love.
This little pot of yummy has worked wonders for my dry, chapped lips. It's jam packed with castor sugar and jojoba oil to create an exfoliant for your lips that isn't too harsh but still moisturises. After one use it left mine flake free and supple enough to not even need a lip balm afterwards. If your a lipstick fan (like me) - this is the perfect product to carry around in your make up bag; whenever I want to reapply my lippy I use this beforehand and it takes all the dryness away that some lipsticks tend to leave in their colourful path!
Not only does the product leave my lips feeling awesome, you can EAT it. Yep you heard, because it's mainly sugar and no nasties you can just lick the excess product straight off your lips. I got mine in the flavour 'sweet lips' which is meant to be a chocolatey taste, I wouldn't say it tastes exactly like chocolate but it is very tasty! 
It's a hefty 25g of product, which is heaps in lip-care terms (so if you fancy eating a few finger-fulls it won't make too much of a dent ;)) and at £5.25 it's certainly worth the price tag given how long it will last.

I couldn't find mine on the website (I think it might be new?), but there's a few others here. 

Have you tried their lip scrubs? Or do you have a must-have product from LUSH? :) (not bath bombs, I don't like them!)

c/o Semichem

Today is just a quick and easy 'nail of the day' post. I am writing this from my sick bed (ahem, dedication right there). Typically my immune system is pretty shoddy - but it seems to have taken a real hit this time. I have the most hideous chest infection which makes me sounds like a teenage boy hitting puberty, my entire body aches and I have conjunctivitis. Truly I am such a pretty sight at the moment (hence the face free blog post haha). Off to the doctor's this evening for some harder drugs ;)

Enough about me! Let's talk about this fruity little number... Rimmel's I <3 Lasting Finish #705 in Tangy Tangerine (*gasps* Jeez, rimmel like their hefty product names dont't they!) - I'm quite partial to a spot of orange lippy but I've never really been one for bright nails (think more deep plums or golds) - but when I spotted this bad boy I couldn't resist. I'm not one for fiddly nail art, so plain and simple is pretty much a given with my nails - however I think this colour does the talking perfectly on it's own. 
This collection hosts a range of gorgeous colours from Double decker red to Pear drop. It promises to be hard wearing and chip resistant and I have to say I was really impressed. I am ridiculously heavy handed and seem to smack my nails against anything I possibly can - I usually chip my nail varnish within a couple of hours. But no no, good old tangy tangerine took 4 days to start wearing down (approx 10 days on any normal person!). I applied two coats to achieve this finish - the brush fans out beautifully hitting the majority of your nail with one swipe. And my very favourite thing is that it's only 8ml, personally I never get through a giant bottle of polish so prefer the dinkier sizes, and it's only £2.99 (baaaargain).
I just love love, love it and shall definitely be sporting this little baby in to the spring.

Do you have any shades from this collection? What's your favourite? If you wan't to pick a couple up, they have the 3 for 2 across all Rimmel products in boots!

My skincare history is just like my personality – a drama queen, completely over the top. Before I even touched Clinique my routine was extremely basic – it just involved Cleansing, toning and moisturising with the brand Simple. When I got older and my skin broke out I moved over to Clinique, and when I discovered that wasn't at all appropriate I moved over to NUDE. For a long while their combination of cleansing and moisturising with a facial serum every few days worked wonders for my skin, the breakouts were minimal and my complexion as a whole was much clearer and even. If you’ve been reading for a while you’ll probably have seen the post I wrote about it . Now don’t get me wrong, I still swear by NUDE for my skin type, it really is an incredible brand and the serum and moisturiser are something I swear by. Unfortunately, my skin seems to have fought back and decided it doesn’t want me to use the cleanser anymore. My spots were coming back fast, fierce and painful – at first I thought it might be stress (this was just around Christmas time, and I had a lot going on prior to Australia), so I waited until I was away in the sun and when that didn’t even slightly help with clearing it up I started to panic. I was going to be in Australia for a month, and my skin looked horrific – not only that but when you have a tan none of your foundation matches, so I couldn't even cover up!

Tired Eyes - Soothing Eye Rescue £15.00 15ml

The rest of it: The remainder of my make up that I use on a semi-regular basis, i.e. nights out or a little extra for weekends is stored in a  little carry case I picked up from a local vintage store for £5. It's perfect really, because it fastens at the front I can throw all the make-up above into it, combined with the extras and take it away with me, and it also looks quite pretty just sat on my table!

You lot know how much I love to discover new upcoming quirky shops with something a little bit different to offer. Well a dear family friend of mine has recently taken the plunge and started her own little company to that exact description.

Valentine’s Day – for some it’s a time to celebrate your relationship with your partner, for others it’s a time to moan about the fact there shouldn't need to be a specific day to celebrate & for the singletons it’s a time to get merry with your best single friend and love one another!

For some of you, this post might not be at all interesting. This little product has been making it’s way around the beauty blogosphere for the past year like no tomorrow and I’m finally reviewing it.