After seeing a few things in Primark the other day I decided to go back after uni and pick them up.

I do not normally wear shorts but I have wanted a pair of denim shorts for a while now. I came across these high waisted shorts in Primark. They aren't as high waisted as a pair of black shorts I have as they come up to my belly button but they fit me quite well. The sizing however is not that good, I had to buy the shorts two sizes bigger than what I would normally wear. I always find that Primark sizes are not that friendly to the curvy girl. I do not have massive curves, I have an hour glass figure but my hips are quite wide and the girls are quite big. I find it difficult at times to find tops that are in my size that fit the girls and bottoms that fit my hips. I think this is one of the reasons I wear leggings a lot.

The shorts are a light denim which I do not normally go for I normally go for a darker colour but these were the only denim shorts they had in the size I needed. The shorts have a long zip at the front and one button. No pockets at the front but two back pockets. There was also high waisted denim shorts in an even lighter blue but these had 3 buttons and a shorter zip. I preferred the ones I brought as I didn't really like the even lighter blue shorts.

The shorts were £8 which I think for a pair of high waisted shorts is quite good. There was some none high waisted shorts for £10 which if you think about it you are getting more material for less money.

I also brought this grey boyfriend style crop top. Once again the size I would normally get looked far too small. They didn't have many sizes so I ended up getting the top 3 times bigger than I normally would. The crop top is therefore really baggy which I am not sure about, but I guess because it is a boyfriend style it would be a bit baggy than a normal crop top. I think that I will have to get some more crop tops or just make my own. The top was only £3 as it is a plain crop top they do have other ones which have patterns on but I liked this one. The grey is a darker grey almost black, they did also have a range of other colours for the same price.

I have needed a new bag for a while now, at the moment I have a huge bag which my boyfriend refers to it as a doctors bag because it is so huge! I have been using this to carry all of my uni work which is useful but I haven't got a smaller bag which I can use when I am not going to uni. I found this black bag for £9, it is quite unusual as it zips around the top which is a half circle opening. This opening then flops down to the side, so the bag is a lot bigger than what it looks. I will try to show this as best as I can in photos! This was the only bag that I really liked the look of, the other bags were not as big for even more money. So I just decided to get this one as I desperately needed a smaller bag.

I also popped into Boots on my way home from uni as I needed some shampoo, however I got side tracked and ended up buying things I didn't really need oops!

I sometimes use purple shampoo by Touch of Silve to keep my blonde a nice colour, before I have brought the once a week treatment but they didn't have any so I just brought the everyday shampoo. It was on offer 2 for £4 so I brought two and gave one to my mom because she wanted to try it out.

As I walked into my local boots there was a stand for this new product which I haven't seen in there before it was for a nail polish brand called Sinful Colors it is an American brand hence the spelling of colours. There were loads of different shades of nail varnish a lot of the shades reminded me of Barry M. I decided to pick up two colours a pale yellow and a pale blue. I have these colours in Barry M but in the textured effect I wanted them in a normal nail polish anyway so I thought I would try them out. The bottles remind me of the China Glaze bottles, I have never tried the China Glaze nail polish so I do not know if the Sinful Colors are as good or not. The Sinful Colors were £1.99. I think that the names of the colours are very cute, the yellow is called unicorn and the blue is called sugar rush.

I also have wanted to buy some exfoliating gloves for a while, I decided to get the Soap & Glory ones as I couldn't find any of Boots own make ones in the shop. The Soap & Glory exfoliating gloves were the same price as another brand which I can't remember the name of. The Soap & Glory gloves felt like they were rougher which would exfoliated more so I decided to pick these up even though I am not a huge fan of pink and they are very pink! These were £4 which I thought was quite good for Soap & Glory as normally I find their products to be a bit more on the expensive side.

beauty boots haul primark

12:31

Yesterday I popped into town with a friend to get a few things from Primark. I mainly went to get my mom one of her presents for her birthday, she wants some pj bottoms. I am not going to show the things I brought for my mom because I am not sure if she would want me to show them or not. Anyway here are the things that I brought for myself:

I brought myself some plain black pumps for £3 as I needed some new ones and a man's plain black tshirt for £3 I think it was, as I do not have any old clothes that I can stick on to do some painting in. These aren't very interesting so I didn't take a photo of this.

I brought this 3D manicure set. It comes with a nail polish colour and tiny beads with a funnel. The idea is that you paint on the nail polish colour and when the nail polish is still wet you pour on the beads and press down so the beads are stuck onto your nail. This was £2.50 which isn't that bad really. It comes in a few different colours, this one which is a more cream colour, a black and white bead and a pastel multi colour bead. I think I may go back for the pastel multi colour bead or even just order some beads off eBay and use them.

I also brought these nail wraps for £1 each, the rose ones where actually in a 50p section but apparently they weren't 50p they were £1. You get 20 in each pack so you can either do your hands and toes or two lots of hands and two lots of toes. I love the dot design, I am not 100% sure on the rose ones but I decided to get them anyway. There are also quite a few different leopard print ones and a glitter one as well. For £1 it is worth a try anyway!

I brought these earrings that were in the sale, I think that they look quite Egyptian which I love and they were £2.50 reduced to £1 so I decided to get them. 

I also went to Boots as I needed to pick up a few things for my mom, but it is also my friends birthday next week. She loves the Soap and Glory selection. I was going to get her a gift set which had 3 or 4 travel sized Soap and Glory items in it. However Boots were doing a 3 for 2 on Soap and Glory items so I decided just to get them individually as I could get 6 for the price of the gift set. The gift set was £10 and the Soap and Glory travel sized items were £2.50 each. So it worked out better this way. I got my friend a body scrub, shower gel, body butter and body wash, plus myself two of the body scrubs. I may keep these for myself as they smell amazing or I may keep them for presents. 

beauty boots haul primark

01:43

I have recently been to Boots a few times, Primark and H&M this is what I picked up:

From Boots it was still 3 for 2 thank god so I picked up two pots of the Lee Stafford hair treatment that I have been using as the product seems to be working really well for me I decided to get some more. Although I could of brought 3 pots for the price of 2 I decided to get something else as my free purchase.

I picked up a Aussie 3 minute deep conditioning treatment, my friends had told me that they are really good, I have never really tried anything from the Aussie brand so I thought I would get a hair mask as I do love a good hair mask. As soon as I got home I opened it to see what it smelt of. My god it smells beautiful!!! Can't wait to put this on my hair.

Another trip to Boots I decided to treat myself to some new nail varnish, I have been wanting some pale blue nail varnish for a while now so I decided to pick some up. I decided to get the textured nail effects in the colour Atlantic Road by Barry M. It is £3.99 which isn't bad for some nail varnish really.

I often go for the Barry M nail varnishes when I go to Boots because I find that they have a wonderful range of colours. I normally get them when they are on offer, which they were, if you brought two Barry M nail varnishes you got £1 off I think it was. I did like the look of the yellow and I was actually going to buy the yellow in the texture effect because I fancied something different to having normal shiny nails. However with the yellow it has tiny gold bits in it, I am not a gold person. Nothing wrong with the colour I am just not a huge fan, I would rather have silver jewellery or a vintage brass type colour. I wasn't so keen on having gold bits on my nails. So I therefore decided against it, I looked at the other range of colours that they have in the collection and none of them seemed to have any gold bits in it so why have this just for the yellow?

I decided to get a clear coat as well as mine had run out. I picked up the Base coat, Top coat and Nail Hardener as it was in the offer so I thought I might as well. I don't know if it does make my nails harder as well but we shall see! It is £2.99 normally.

I also picked up some blush, I have used the natural collection blush in Rose Cloud for so long now I don't actually know when I first started using it. I never used to wear blush when I was younger, as I quite liked being pale and not having much colour in my cheeks. I think that when I did put blush on my face I didn't have a nice shade that suited me. With this shade of pink it is just right, it is not too dark nor too light it is a lovely shade of pink that shows up just right on my face. It is also cheap which is a bonus! £1.99 for some blush.

Speaking of blush I did see this beautiful pinky/orange blush palette in H&M it was I think £2.99, I am not sure on the price but it is cheap. I am defiantly going to pick it up if I remember next time I am in there.

From Primark I just got a few things, I picked up a grey men's hoodie. I find that the men's hoodies are a lot baggier than the women's which I prefer. Also the men's seemed a lot softer than the women's for some reason. I was going to get it in a small but I decided to get it in a medium just so it is extra baggie. I brought it to wear around the house and maybe to the supermarket or something when it is warmer. It was £10 which isn't bad at all for a hoodie. It is so comfy to wear as well, I put it on as soon as I got home and changed into my comfy clothes, I do not want to take it off! It is quite thin and it has a thin fleece lining but it is so comfy and it does keep me warm so it is perfect. (I forgot to take a photo of this so I shall do another day).

I also picked up this letter top which I have seen a few of the beauty youtubers that I follow purchase. It is a square sort of shape with rolled up sleeves. I got it in a larger size than what I would normally get just because I prefer things to be bigger and longer. The material is very see through so you would need to wear a top underneath or one of those bandeau type tops. It still isn't as long as normal tops that I would buy as it is quite short but I thought I could put it with a maxi skirt or some shorts and it would be fine. The top was £12, I was surprised at the price as normally Primark tops aren't that expensive, their prices seem to be increasing lately. Has anyone else noticed?!

I picked up this orange maxi skirt as soon as I saw it I knew that I had to get it! I wasn't having much luck in Primark until I saw this skirt. Myself and my friend had gone around the bottom and first floor and this skirt was right by the escalator on the top floor and I loved it! I have two other maxi skirts that  are both black one is straight up and down and the other is pleated. The orange is quite bright it is almost sort of a burnt orange not too in your face but it is still a nice pop of colour to add to my wardrobe. I could wear it with some darker tops as I mainly do have quite dark tops anyway. The material looks as if it would be see through like the top I brought but it isn't at all. This is good because I can get away with wearing this in the summer with bare legs and some shoes or even on the colder days with some tights and boots. The skirt was £10 which isn't that bad for a maxi skirt that is quite thick.

On another trip into town I decided to invest in the yellow Barry M textured nail varnish, I know I said I wasn't too keen about having the gold bits in but it has been on my mind since I had brought the blue one. I found that nail varnish to be great, I really love it (I shall do a review on both once I have worn both). So I decided that I would give in and buy the yellow one, Station Road! I am glad I did and I can't wait to wear it! £3.99

I popped into H&M as well while I was in town getting a few things for uni. My cousin had posted on her facebook a photo of herself wearing a maxi grey dress. She told me it was from H&M and was only £10, she said it came in quite a few colours. I have wanted a maxi black dress since last summer. I remember seeing some in H&M but they never had my size so I never got a chance to get one. So I decided I would grab one while they might still have my size. I looked at the ones that my cousin had told me about but the material was thin, I did try on a grey one as the black the material was far too thin. However even the grey one you could see my underwear so this was a defiant no no for me! There was a slit each side of the dress as well but the material was so thin I didn't feel very comfortable in it.

While I was walking around H&M I saw this other maxi dress in their basics range, thicker material but a little bit shorter than the grey one my cousin had told me about with no splits. They have four colours in this dress, black, grey, blue and a white and blue patterned one. A basic straight up straight down maxi dress with a scooped neck. I tried it on and I loved it, I decided to get it in a bigger size than what I tried on just because it would be more flowy. I didn't want to be walking around in the summer with a not too tight dress on boiling hot I want it to flow and allow the air to circulate. I tried it on when I got home and I felt much more comfortable in it. I will need to invest in a plain black bra though because you can see a bit of my bra when I put it on. This dress was a bit more money, it was £12.99 but I am glad I found a nice black maxi dress at last!

While I was in H&M I picked up the blush I spoke about above. It was only £2.99 so not that expensive and you get a range of colours in the blush. Orange, corals, pinks and glitter! I opened it up when I got home as it was sealed in a little plastic bag at the shop. If you lift up the blush powder there is a mirror on the other side with a brush to apply the blush with. I won't be using this as I prefer to use my Real Techniques brush set to apply my blush with.

beauty boots clothes haul HM primark

07:03

The Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stain in charm I had ordered came in the post a few days ago!

I sometimes find that the colour that is on the packaging to show what colour the product is most of the time incorrect. However I found that the packaging colour was almost the same colour as the product, it is such a good match that you defiantly know what shade you are getting. I quite liked the fact that you don't have to sharpen it like a normal 'pencil' type makeup product. You just have to twist the silver bottom and it turned up, but don't turn it up to much because you may break it! 

The colour is a little pigmented although I have heard that this lighter shade isn't as pigmented as some of the darker shades. As it is sort of a nude coral shade it doesn't need to be that pigmented as it just looks like that your lips are slightly tinted. 

Before:

After:

(The natural lighting in the pictures is slightly different because of the sun!)

I have quite naturally dark lips so I found that the colour made my lips a bit paler but with a hint of coral which I do quite like. It has quite a minty scent as well which I thought would bother me at first because sometimes some mint scents can give me a headache, but I didn't find the mint scent to be a problem. 

After a few hours my lips were a bit darker but the stain was still showing up. I even tested it out not long after I had put it on by drinking a cup of tea and the stain still seemed to be on my lips as nothing showed up on the mug unlike some lip products may do.  Normally with lip products I only wear them sometimes on a night out, however because this shade is quite subtle I find that I am wanting to wear it out in the day time. 

I would recommend this product as I think that it is worth the money, I am glad that I took a leap and brought a lip stain after having no luck with lipsticks. I did look at cheaper versions of the same style of product but because of the good reviews I had seen/heard I am really glad that I brought this one instead of a cheaper version. I am not saying that the cheaper versions aren't good because for all I know they could be brilliant, I just haven't tried them out. As I have had some success with this shade I may go out and buy some other shades because Revlon do have some beautiful colours that are from what I have heard are wonderfully pigmented. 

beauty just bitten kissable review revlon

14:33

I have been wanting to try the L'oreal Feria Pastel Toning Conditioner for a while now but I haven't got round to buying it. I decided when I was out shopping the other day that I would pick one up, I decided to get the pastel lilac for £6 at Asda.

The instructions say that you need to apply the toning conditioner to wet hair. I therefore wet my hair and put on an old T-shirt incase it stained. I sectioned my hair into two and applied it to the tips as this is where I wanted the lilac to go. It also says that you can brush it through with a comb which I did as well. I used about a 10 pence size of the conditioner for each part of my hair. It says that you should leave it for 15 minutes, however my friend used the pink one and it didn't really show up on her hair so I decided to leave it on for longer. I left it on for about 45 minutes and then washed it off after and left it to dry naturally. I could see that the tips had turned slightly purple when it was still wet so I hoped that this was a good sign. You can't see that well in the photo but the tips are slightly purple.

I then put my hair up in a bun and left it to dry over night and part of the next day. I could see that my hair had slightly turned lilac-ish at the tips but it seemed to look more silver than lilac. I am not sure if my hair wasn't light enough to begin with that it hasn't turned full pastel lilac or if I needed to apply more of the toner than I did.

I decided that I would apply the toner again to see if it would turn my hair any more lilac as now it was more lighter than it was before. I applied it this time on dry hair and I put a lot more of the product on making sure I covered the area I wanted to be lilac. I left it on for about 45 minutes again, I found that it turned out a lot better than the first attempt as it was a lot clearer in natural light that it was lilac. 

I washed my hair and the colour is still there, it isn't as lilac as it was it has faded slightly but as it only lasts 3-5 washes that will happen. 

Overall I am quite impressed with the product, although you would defiantly need a very light blonde base for the toner to work. With the lilac because you can get purple toner to cancel out the yellow/orange tones it will help lighten the hair. I will defiantly be trying out the other toners as well. I have found that I have got loads of the product left so for £6 it does go a long way if you are only doing a small amount of your hair like I have done. 

If you don't want to go down the toner route there are temporary hair dyes which I have previously used which would work as well. They are a bit cheaper and if you mix say a tiny bit of purple with conditioner it will turn it into a lilac pastel colour. 

I shall post an update on how long the colour stays in my hair. I am guessing now that my ends have been toned with a purple that once the dye clears the ends will be a lot lighter than the rest of my hair. However as I have ombre hair this shouldn't matter too much it should easily just blend in with the rest of my blonde. 

E xo

beauty L'oreal conditioning toner review

02:26

Hello,

As I have quite pale skin I always find it quite difficult to find a shade of foundation that doesn't make me look orange and actually last most of the day. I thought I would talk about my foundation experience over the past year or so. 

For the past few months I had been using the L'oreal Infallible makeup lasting perfecting foundation in no.15 porcelain. I found the shade to be the best out there for someone with pale skin who doesn't want to pay loads. 

However the problem I had with this product is the fact that I have combination skin, I have oily areas, dry and normal. It says in very small writing on the back of the product that it is for all skin types, but even with primer I found that the foundation didn't last very long. I found that I kept on having to powder my oily areas throughout the day even though it says that it 'fights the signs of make-up meltdown' for me this wasn't the case. I even changed my primer to see if this helped but sadly it was the same. 

The price for this foundation is just over £12 which for me was quite a lot to be spending on foundation  as I am a student and I don't have a lot of money. Still I brought the foundation again and again for about 8 months or so. 

The primer I changed from was 17 Photo Flawless, I found that this primer was perfectly fine but it just didn't seem to work well with the foundation. 

The primer has a clearish colour, quite gel like and goes on quite well, it makes your face certainly feel smooth once you put it on.

I had a coupon for Boots for some money off No7 products, as a friend of mine works in Boots she helped me find a good primer that would work on my skin.

 I picked up the Beautifully Matter primer as it says it 'stops shine for a matte finish and improves blemishes'. It is £10.50 in Boots normally, I got a couple of pound off it with the coupon so it only cost me about £8. I found that this primer was a lot better than the 17 one I had been using and I plan to get it again once I run out. 

This primer is white, almost like a thick cream when you put it on you can feel your skin smoothing over and becoming a matte canvas. 

While I was using the Infallible foundation I still looked out for other foundations that would be better for my foundation needs.

I did buy a few cheaper foundations such as 17 Miracle Matte foundation in soft ivory. As it was a Matte foundation I thought that this would help my face look less shiny which wasn't the case. 

The colour was too dark for my skin as well even though it was the lightest they had. 

As I was running out of the Infallible foundation I was planning to buy some more when I saw that the L'oreal True Match foundation was on offer. I can't remember exactly how much it was I think it might have been buy one get one half price, but I am not too sure. The foundation itself is just over £10 in Boots, I got it in the shade R1-C1 rose ivory. 

I tested it on myself in the shop and I found that it was slightly darker than the Infallible foundation but it was something I could work with, I found that if you blended it in quite a lot it did match my skin. 

I have been using this foundation for maybe about a month and I am so pleased with the results. I have quite a bit of red pigmentation in my face and the foundation completely covers it. I have found that it lasts a lot longer than the other foundations I have used and I do not need to powder my face as often as I did before. I have also found that a little foundation goes a long way although this might be thanks to the Real Techniques brushes I use to put on my foundation they are amazing! 

The powder I use is one I have been using for years, I have had no problems with it and I don't plan to change it any time soon. 

It is the Collection 2000 Pressed Powder in 18 ivory. 

E xo

beauty foundation review

15:05

Hello,


I have been growing my hair since about October last year after I decided that dying my hair a light blonde often and wearing extensions wasn't the right path to go down anymore. I therefore changed my hair, dying it a dark blonde near the roots (to match my natural hair colour) and giving it an ombre effect to allow my natural colour a dark blonde to grow through. My hair has seemed to have grown quite a lot since October maybe about 3 inches maybe more, as it was just below my shoulders to begin with. Since I have now decided to grow out my fringe after having it for the last god knows how many years I would like my hair to grow a bit faster and it better condition! I looked up a few different ways to make hair a better condition and for it to grow quicker and I decided to buy this as the reviews I had read/watched were good so I thought I would try it. It says that it will stimulate my roots to allow my hair to grow and to also keep the rest of my hair in a healthy condition. 

I brought it from my local boots at £7.99 it was on offer for 3 for 2 but because it was my first time using this product I didn't want to buy loads of tubs of it just in case it didn't work on my hair. I have only used the product twice so far as I brought it at the beginning of the week. I normally wash my hair every 2-3 days and so I plan to use the hair treatment each day I wash it. 

It says that you need to use an 'egg' sized amount and leave it on the hair for 5 minutes. I did not use an egg sized amount I think that an egg size would be far too much product to use on my length of hair. I therefore took small amounts of the product and worked it into my hair until it felt like the roots were covered, I then finger combed my hair to distribute the remaining product that was left on my hands through the rest of my hair. 

I found the product to be a great consistency, it wasn't too runny nor too thick. Although I am not a fan of pink I found the packaging and colour of the product not too bad. I did make me feel quite girly! I have read about some people not liking the scent of the product or loving it. To be honest I expected it to smell quite floral because of the pink theme but this is not the case. I can't quite put my finger on what it actually smells like but the scent isn't bad at all. I did find that the scent is sometimes left in my hair, but when I use the other products I put on my hair it fades slightly. 

So far I have found that my hair feels a lot smoother and healthier obviously there is no rapid hair growth! It isn't going to make my hair be mermaid length in just a few washes. However it will hopefully stimulate my roots to make hair grow! So I am hoping that my hair will grow a bit faster and healthier than it normally does! My hair grows about half an inch or so each month now with this product hopefully a bit more. I shall be writing on here my hair progress to see what happens! 


(Sorry for the dark photos I took them at night! I shall replace them)

E xo

beauty hair growth treatment lee stafford review

13:58