Flaws and All

£1 MAC Amber Lights dupe?

2012-02-10T19:00:00.001Z

When I bought MUA Shade 30, I realised that it actually looked quite similar to MAC Amber Lights. I decided to post about it because lot of people commented on my MAC eye shadow collection and said that they really liked Amber Lights.

Both shades are a orange based bronze and they are both lovely and pigmented. The only difference is that Amber Lights contains a lot of shimmer, whereas the MUA shade contains more glitter.

So, a pretty good dupe eh? Loads of people have probably posted about this before, but I just noticed it myself a couple of weeks ago.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Project Perfect. Can you help?

2012-02-09T16:00:00.005Z

This is a slightly different post from me today, but I just thought that it would be nice to do something like this for a change. If you follow me on twitter or know a little bit about me, then you know that my aim in life is to train as a doctor of Clinical Psychology and to specialise in children, adolescent and family behaviour. I'm considering conducting my dissertation on body image related to the media as I think that it has been a massive issue in recent years and it can dramatically affect someones psychological well-being.

I am particularly interested in body image in children and adolescents, I decided to watch Gok's Teens: The Naked Truth (which you can still watch online here) and it really made me mad/sad (in a good way, it was an excellent show). He included stories of teenagers who felt like they should look a certain way because of unrealistic images in the media. The people who he featured were all SO beautiful and didn't need to change one bit of their body. They were listing off so many things that they detested about themselves because they didn't look like models and singers who appear online. It really did break my heart slightly. It was a brilliant show and I can't wait until next week. I really love Gok and think that he is a very inspirational person and I think that people really listen to his advice.

So I decided that rather than focusing on the negatives about ourselves, which we are ALL guilty of (including me!) then I thought that it would be nice to do a little blog post about what we DO like about ourselves. I think that young people never want to admit that they like something about themselves because other people would think they love themselves a bit.

SO... I want you to help me out and hopefully it might help you feel better about yourselves whether you have body issues or not. Anyone can do it and if you do decide to do it then I will post your link on a dedicated 'Project Perfect' page. If you do want to participate, this is what I would love you to do:

1. Post a photo that you like of yourself and say in a couple of sentences why you like it.

2. State some things that you DON'T like yourself but say why others may love to be like that.

3. State 3 things that you DO like about yourself.

So, here is my Project Perfect post:

A photo of myself that I really like.

I like it because I love the colour of my hair here (roll on summer when I will be lighter again!) and I really like my makeup.

Three things that I don't like about myself, but turned into positives:

1. I have a really uneven jaw and have quite a large overbite. However, everyone says that my teeth are my best asset and if I didn't have an overbite then my smile would look totally different!

2. I have really naturally flat and straight hair and would love it to be more voluminous and curly. Even though I see this as a negative, loads of people would love naturally straight hair and I don't have to do much to it on a morning.

3. Of course, I would love to be a bit more toned. However, some people find it really difficult to put weight on and would love the hips and boobs that I have.

Three things that I like about myself:

1. I have been lucky to have quite nice teeth and I haven't had much trouble with them *touch wood*

2. I am a size 8-10 and 5ft 8 and even though I would love to be slightly more toned, I would consider myself to have quite a good body type.

3. I have quite chubby cheeks and Connor always calls me 'Muffin Cheeks' and says that they are cute :)

I would really love for you all to participate and link me back to your posts! If you do decided to do it, please tell your readers that if they decide to do it, then they should send their link back to me as I will put it on the 'Project Perfect' page too. If you are a youtuber and want to do a video on this rather than a blog post, feel free :) as long as you send me the link so I can watch it!

I really do hope that a few people decide to complete a post because I think we all need to understand that we are all beautiful in different ways and we don't need to conform to a certain 'look'. Looking slightly different to other people isn't always a bad thing, a bit of uniqueness can make us perfect. I mean as much as I would LOVE to look like a Victoria's Secret model, I know that they have a lot of help from our little friend called 'photoshop'!!

As a psychology student I understand that issues like this are quite common, so if this post has brought up any negative feelings or affected you in any other way please feel free to contact these services for support:

http://www.b-eat.co.uk/ - One of the UK's main eating disorders charity. There is a massive amount of information on the website about how you can help overcome an eating disorder.

http://www.samaritans.org/ - The Samaritans have a 24/7 confidential phone line where you can ask for support of a number of different issues, including body image issues.

If you do decide to take part, thank you very much! Even if I make one person feel slightly better about themselves then I will consider it a victory.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Fearne Cotton inspired look

2012-02-08T19:00:00.001Z

You all know that I love Fearne Cotton. I think she is amazing role model for young girls as she is really professional, works really hard and you never see her crawling out of a night club into a taxi (although I know she loves a gin or two!!). So yeah, I want her job, her Mulberry collection, her wardrobe etc.

Whenever I know she is going to a red carpet event, I always refresh Getty Images because I'm always that excited to see what she is wearing (sad). I thought she looked gorgeous at the NTA's last month and I love the vintage inspired outfit and makeup. So I decided to recreate her makeup for you all. If you want to look closer at the photos that I used for inspiration, please click here.

The look is quite dramatic in the eyes and lips, but a bit more subtle in the brows and the face makeup. It looks like she wore a dark brown matte eye shadow all over the lid and liquid liner along the top lid. The liquid liner starts off quite thin and gets a lot thicker towards the end of the lid. There isn't much of a thick flick at the end of the liner and Fearne actually had it a lot thinner than what I did.

Products used:

Face

Miss Sporty Matte foundation in shade 2

Topshop cream blush in Nutmeg

Collection 2000 powder

Eyes

E.L.F Eyelid primer

Maybelline mono eye shadow in Chocolate Chic (for brows and lid)

MUA Matte black eye shadow (a tiny bit in the crease)

Collection 2000 liquid liner

Bourjois Khol in Black

Collection 2000 mascara (with MAC lash curlers)

Lips

Bourjous Paris - 15 Rouge Best

And yay, all the products I have used are under £5!! (The Topshop cream blush counts because I bought it from a blog sale for less than it's normal price)

Do you think that it's possible to do a face of make up with cheap makeup that is just as nice as using high end products?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Our trip to London and Windsor.

2012-02-05T19:30:00.001Z

Yesterday night I returned from a trip from Windsor. Connor and I stopped in Windsor for 3 nights and went to London for the day on Thursday. I just thought that I would share a few photos with you from the trip! We did mainly touristy things such as the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London and visited Eton College in Windsor. We had a fab time and the weather was so beautiful. I just wish it was a bit warmer!

(please feel free to click on the photos to make them larger. They are much better quality that way!)

Overall, I really enjoyed London. As I have been to NYC and some other touristy cities, I don't mind getting my maps and cameras out and looking like a proper tourist. It made me realise that we are so sheltered where we live and quite naive to what goes on in other places. It seems to me that people who live near London are a lot more independent than us up in the north! I have also heard so many rumours that people in London are really rude, but I seriously couldn't disagree more with that. Everyone who we spoke to and asked for directions was so lovely and couldn't have been any more helpful!!

What are your favourite cities to visit?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

China Glaze Electropop- Aquadelic and Techno

2012-02-04T18:33:00.001Z

This is one of the new releases from China Glaze. It's a beautiful peppermint shade which will look perfect when the weather is warm.

This is one coat of both Techno and Aquadelic. Techno can be built up to a more opaque finish, however it would take about 4 coats (or more!!). I also believe that Techno might be similar to the Barry M polish which has hexagons? I'm not sure though as I don't own it.

I bought this from beautyzone2007 on ebay for about £6 inc shipping.

Have you bought anything from this collection?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

No7 lipgloss in Happy

2012-02-03T19:00:00.001Z

You know you are a makeup addict when your friends keep their no7 vouchers for you hahahaha. So as I had a couple sitting in my purse, I thought I would splurge a little bit. So I stocked up on my hot cloth cleanser (repurchased 3 times now, love it so much) and as I bought my lunch with it, I received another voucher (every time you spend over £5 in Boots you get a voucher).

I decided to buy a lipgloss as I have tried them in the past and I loved them. I decided on 'Happy', a beautiful peachy pink (I'm so predictable) which is only £4 when you have a voucher.

The formula is so beautiful and smooth and not sticky at all. The applicator is a small brush which allows for precise application. It looks perfect over almost any lipstick and I actually think that it prolongs lipstick wear for me (my lipstick always wears off very quickly). When you look at the lipgloss swatched, it has the smallest amount of shimmer which is so pretty.

Love it. No7 really do amazing lipglosses.

On another No7 note, has anyone else seen the new Vital Brights collection which was designed by Lisa Eldridge? I actually love it and want it all!!!!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

China Glaze Electropop collection

2012-02-01T19:00:00.000Z

I have never tried China Glaze before but this collection look way too nice to resist. It's a perfect mixture of brights and pastels and will be perfect for when the weather gets a bit nicer. I only bought four of the colours and will swatch them in separate posts as I am away until Saturday and don't have time, but I will link to some bloggers who have swatched the full collection.

I just thought that I would show you what I had picked up for this gorgeous collection:

L-R- Aquadelic, Wicked Style, Electric Beat and Techno

Full swatches- http://www.scrangie.com/2012/01/china-glaze-electropop-collection.html

I bought mine from this ebay seller. They came from the USA in about a week and I was very impressed!!

Have you picked up anything from this collection?

Stay tuned for my swatches!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Glossybox, Valentines special.

2012-01-31T18:45:00.000Z

Firstly, if you are going to complain about the amount of posts on this product, don't read this review. No one is asking you to read them, it's your choice whether you read the posts on your dashboard :)

So anyways, I was recently asked whether I wanted to try out the Valentines Day edition of Glossybox. As a beauty addict, I love the idea of beauty boxes so of course I said yes. I have always stayed away from becoming addicted on subscribing to them because of financial reasons. Glossybox was the first beauty box to be released in the UK (I think) and lots of other brands have released their own subscription boxes since.

So in this box I received:

Eyeko skinny eyeliner (£9.50 for the full size)- I think this came in every box but in various colours. I got the emerald green shade, which is good for me as I have green eyes. It's soft and has a long handle for when you sharpen the pencil down. Quite a good idea!

Orly nail polish in Ruby (£6.95 for full size)- As a nail polish addict I was very pleased with this choice. I don't have a dark red polish so this is a lovely addition to my collection.

Weleda one step cleanser and toner (£9.95 full size)- I haven't tried this yet, but I love the smell of it!!

First Aid Beauty gentle body wash (£13.00 full size)- I actually didn't read the label and actually used it on my face by mistake. However, it was actually really nice used on the face!! It has really good ingredients in it and isn't scented. Some people love it when products are unscented but I'm not a fan.

Murad Primer (£29 full size)- This reminds me of the Liz Earle Skit Tint. I wasn't a fan of that, but I am going to try this with a bit of powder and see how it lasts!

Overall I think that it's a good box this month. I love the little touches such as the heart sticker, the pink box and the little Glossybox sweet.

If you are interested in subscribing to Glossybox, it is £10 a month + £2.95. Thank you for letting me try it Glossybox!!

Are you interested in beauty boxes?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

*This beauty box was gifted to me for review. However, I am always 100% honest in my reviews because that would make every review on Flaws and All unreliable and pointless!

I love... juiced up blackcurrant bubble bath and shower cream

2012-01-30T18:39:00.008Z

I'm a massive fan of baths and will always treat myself to one once a week to help relax me. I will always use a Lush bubble bar as I think they are fabulous, however they are sometimes a bit of a hassle to cut up. I love bubble bath too and was very excited to be offered to try this limited edition release from I love... Cosmetics

When you smell it straight from the bottle, it has a VERY strong scent of blackcurrants. Some people might find this a bit overpowering (my boyfriend did at first), but I didn't mind because I know that it always smells stronger in the bottle because it's more concentrated. It isn't as strong when it's in the bath and isn't overpowering at all. I don't think that the scent is artificial in the slightest, which is a positive.

It foams up very well and I imagine the bottle will last for ages. I normally put a lot of bubble bath in to make lots of lovely bubbles, however I underestimated this brand and only needed half the amount that I actually used!!

I also used it as a shower wash and only needed a tiny amount and the scent was lovely.

It is priced at £2.05 for a massive 500ml bottle from Superdrug and some supermarkets, which is a massive bargain compared to Lush bubble bath!!

Have you tried anything from this brand?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

*This bubble bath was gifted to me for review. However, I am always 100% honest in my reviews because that would make every review on Flaws and All unreliable and pointless!

We live on fascination

2012-01-27T19:00:00.001Z

Sometimes I get worried that people may think that beauty and fashion bloggers are all vain, superficial and up-their-own-bum type of people. Sure, I want to make myself look approachable, but I love the process and the art of applying make up. However, I know that we all have other interests outside beauty and fashion and I thought that it would be quite a nice time to share my little unusual interests and for you to share yours!

I'm mainly talking about little things that we love to read or watch shows about, but hobbies will be nice to hear about too!

So, my weird fascination (makes it sound a bit like a dirty fetish, but it ISN'T) is Mount Everest. Yup, that's what I was meaning about weird. Well, not weird... but something a bit unconventional. We did a 'topic' on Mount Everest in primary school and ever since I have been totally hooked. I have watched hundreds of tv shows/films about it and read quite a few books about it. I don't know why I love it so much, I'm not that bothered about other mountains!! Alongside this I am also so interested in polar expeditions. My Mum is the same, so maybe I have learnt it from her? Hiyer nature/nurture debate.

I know a few of my blogging friends have these little fascinations too... For example, Michelle, Charli and Sarah are all obsessed with Harry Potter (I'm guilty of this myself), Charli also loves wrestling, Hannah is a self-confessed Disney addict, Louise loves her Doctor Who and Spacey things and Emma is a serious x-boxer...

So, what would your specialized subject be on Mastermind?! I do think mine would be Harry Potter, I don't think I know enough about expedition dates to do about Everest!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

My MAC eye shadow collection

2012-01-25T19:00:00.001Z

I have only recently delved into the world of MAC eye shadows as I have always preferred cheaper ones. For Christmas I was very lucky to receive a quad from Connor's family and 2 single eye shadows from Connor. I had made a list in case he wanted to pick me one or two up for Christmas, but I would never expect to get everything! Very lucky.

Top L-R- All That Glitters, Twinks

Bottom L-R- Amber Lights, Tempting

L-R- All That Glitters, Twinks, Amber Lights, Tempting

All That Glitters- This is probably my favourite MAC eye shadow. It looks perfect just all over the lid and a bit of eye liner.

Twinks- This is such a gorgeous but such a shocking formula. It's probably the least pigmented eye shadow that I own so you really have to build it up. It's such a gorgeous colour though and works really well as a crease colour with All That Glitters.

Amber Lights- Such a gorgeous orangey bronze shade that works really well all over the lid with the next shadow as a crease colour...

Tempting- This is perfect for all over the lid and in the crease. It's not the most pigmented shadow out of the bunch but it isn't too bad.

L-R- Knight Divine, Sumptuous Olive, Wookwinked

Knight Divine- This is one of these really annoying grey shades that come up REALLY blue on me. Any ideas on what I could wear it with? It's so amazingly pigmented though and has very little fall out!

Sumptuous Olive- My first ever MAC eye shadow and one of my favourite eye shadows EVER. It's a mainly dirty green colour with a lot of gold and brown running through it. Actually love it! Love the name too.

Woodwinked- Amber Lights more bronze sister. Love this shadow and it looks amazing with any other eye shadows. Really love it with Sumptuous Olive too.

What is your favourite MAC eye shadow? Do you find some of the formulas a bit hit and miss?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

P.S. You may realise that I have given my blog a little makeover. I spent all afternoon illustrating the blusher brush and the nail polish in the header so I hope you like it :)

What's in my bag?

2012-01-22T19:00:00.000Z

Quite a few people have requested this post so I decided I would finally do it. I don't know why I love reading these posts so much, maybe it's the nosiness coming out in me.

Bag- £35 Topshop (about 3 years ago! Still going strong, brilliant quality)

Nothing exciting at all!!! I bet I have missed off something VERY obvious.. If so please point it out to me.

Do you tend to carry excessive amounts of things around with you?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

New MUA eye shadows

2012-01-21T18:45:00.000Z

I recently bought a few MUA single eye shadows to try. I have tried a palette of theirs but I have heard that their single eye shadows even exceed the quality of those.

Shade 30

A lovely gold glitter shadow which is SO amazingly pigmented. I wish MUA would give them names though. If I was MUA, I would call this 'Gold Rush'.

Shade 11

This chocolate shimmer colour is so beautiful and soft and is lovely to apply.

Shade 20

Everyone needs a matte black in their collection and this is a lovely one to have.

Shade 12

This has a very similar formula to the chocolate shimmery shade and is so, so soft. It has been compared to a cheap alternative to MAC's Club eye shadow, but I don't own it so I can't compare. It's a very interesting colour, a dark brown with green and a warm brown shimmer running through it. It's very unique!!

Shade 30, 12, 11 and 20

Overall, these eye shadows are superb quality for £1 a pop. I don't like the packaging and found it hard to remove all the sellotape that Superdrug plasters over every single product. I will hopefully try and depot them somehow and put them in their own little palette. I also think the shadows can be a little too soft as they are packed with talc.

However, the colour range and overall quality of the eye shadows is amazing and I will be picking up some more if any other colours jump out to me!!

Have you tried these?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Lipstick collection- Nudes

2012-01-20T18:45:00.001Z

Here is my penultimate lipstick collection post. I love nude lipstick but I think that they are a bit hit and miss... I do enjoy wearing them though. As long as I am not looking like a corpse with concealer lips then I am happy with wearing them.

(the photos of the actual lipsticks are in the same order as the swatches)

L'Oreal Nude Treasure- I recently got my hands on this one as it came as a free gift. It's quite glittery and frosty, but it's a lovely everyday lipstick and looks even nicer with a bit of lipgloss over it.

Avon Pink Sunrise- This is a nude pink and again is lovely for every day wear. I wear this one to work quite a lot!

MAC Creme D'Nude- This is actually too cool and pale for me, but it's ok when in winter when I don't have fake tan on.

Gosh Darling- Very similar to Creme D'Nude and I use it to make lipsticks a bit peachier! It actually works really well. I love wearing it with MAC Shy Girl!

Maybelline Luminous Beige- It looks a bit dark and out of place on this swatch but it's the perfect nude for me when I am a bit more tanned!

MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2- It looks very similar to the Maybelline lipstick on this swatch, but it's actually a shade or two lighter. The formula is amazing and is perfect for when I am wearing fake tan!

What' is your perfect nude?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Passport photos day!

2012-01-19T19:00:00.000Z

I recently had some new photos taken for my new passport and I thought I would show you what makeup I wore for it. On my last passport photo and provisional licence it looked like I wasn't wearing a scrap of makeup so I didn't want this to happen again this time as the passport will have to last me until I am 30 YEARS OLD (that's scary).

I wore all matte shades on my eyes as these show up better on camera as opposed to shimmery shades. I kept it natural and wore a light matte brown all over the lid and then used a darker shade in the crease and an even darker brown on the outer corner. I wore my favourite fake eyelashes as my natural lashes never show up on camera and a bit of black liquid eyeliner with a small flick. Even though this might sound a bit excessive, it actually looked really natural and I'm kind of pleased with the photo (I mean how happy can you be with a passport photo really?).

Products used:

Face:

Estee Lauder DW Max Coverage

Collection 2000 powder

Darker Collection 200 powder for contouring

MAC Melba blush

Lips:

MAC Jazzed and MAC Angel (mixed)

Eyes:

Naked (lid) and Buck (crease) from the Naked Palette

Maybelline Chocolate Chic eye shadow (for brows and outer corner of eye)

Star Eyes false eyelashes

Collection 2000 liquid liner

Collection 2000 mascara

I really think that we should have to have new passport photos every 5 years because we change SO much in 10 years. Does anyone else think this too?!?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Cheap storage ideas #3

2012-01-18T18:45:00.000Z

Than you so much for all the feedback on my last cheap storage post last week! I will carry on doing these posts because it seems that you like them. So my third cheap storage idea is perfume gift boxes. I have absolutely loads of these and store so many different beauty items in them. They are also really sturdy and will easily fit in drawers.

A lot of people commented on my last post that you could also use empty beauty boxes to get the same result, which is basically the same thing as using these perfume boxes!

Best of all, they will normally have 2 equal halves so you can get two uses out of them! You are also recycling these boxes so they won't be heading straight to the landfill sites and going to waste!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Lipstick collection- Reds

2012-01-17T18:45:00.002Z

I don't wear red lipstick often as it's quite a scary colour and I would rather wear corals. However, as I said in my previous lipstick collection post, I am aiming to wear different colour lipsticks this year.

L-R- Maybelline- Passion Red, Bourjois-Rouge Best, MAC Vegas Volt, NYX Femme, MAC What Joy!

Maybelline Passion Red- This is the perfect red for me. The colour is VERY pigmented which is slightly daunting sometimes, but it's a lovely red which doesn't have blue undertones.

Bourjous Paris Rouge Best- As you can see, this is a blue toned red and is a lot less intense than the Maybelline red.

MAC Vegas Volt- My favourite red toned lipstick ever. The formula is perfect and the muted orange toned red works with my warm skin toned. This is one of my favourite ever lipsticks.

NYX Femme- This is very similar to Vegas Volt and I have done a comparison post here. Love NYX lipsticks so much.

MAC What Joy! - This is the perfect autumn lipstick and the colour is SO long lasting. Love it.

Again, if you want any specific lip swatches just give me a shout :)

Do you sometimes shy away from wearing red?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Amazon Kindle review

2012-01-15T18:45:00.000Z

You may remember that I bought myself an Amazon Kindle last month as a little Christmas present to myself. I thought that I might as well review it and let you all know what I think about it.

It might be a bit of a lengthy post, but if you are interested in possibly buying a kindle then this should hopefully be useful to you.

This kindle is £89, but there is a 3G with a keyboard which is £149. However, I only paid £69 as Emma told me that if you get a free trial of Lovefilm (it's a special link that you have to go through) then you can get a £20 amazon voucher. So thank you Emma! Saved me a lot of money!

This is the home screen. The words in bold are folders that I created to house different genres of books. This is very helpful and allows organisation. There is a battery logo in the top right hand corner.

These are the buttons which you use to turn the page. There are buttons on either side, which caters to left-handed readers as well.

On the bottom it shows you how far you are through the book

If you are unsure of a word in the text, you use the navigational arrows to hover over the word and a definition appears. I'm not the best with long words so this is so helpful for me! It will also be very useful when reading the 'classics'.

You download your books through the amazon website, or the store on the kindle itself (I don't think this is very good though) and the books reach your kindle within seconds via the inbuilt wifi. There are numerous books which are available in kindle form, and there are a lot of free books too. There are loads of 'classics' which are free such as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Oliver Twist etc. There are also cheap classic collections which are available to download. I have the full collection of the Sherlock Holmes books (which I am reading and LOVING at the moment) and I think that was 77p. I also love my chick lit and was a bit disappointed to find that they are generally the same price/more expensive than paper versions. For example, Sophie Kinsella books are around the £5 mark on a kindle and in paper form, but I would normally buy them out of a charity shop for £1-2. However, there are some chick lit books which are only about 99p, but you have to look for them.

Amazon also have a daily deal, where they reduce a book to about 99p. They also change the prices of books regularly. The first book I read was a free download, but a few days later it went up to £1.

So is it for you? If you like reading (obviously) and you like reading a variety of books then I think you will love this. If you JUST read chick lit/autobiographies then paper books might be the best for you as the kindle versions are quite expensive.

Pros

- Small and easy to hold

-Free books are available

-Inbuilt dictionary is very helpful

-Lots of 'classics' are free

-Long lasting battery life (they say a month)

Cons

-Some chick lit books are expensive

-Not a lot of free chick lit books

-More gender neutral/male free books (in my opinion)

I hope this helps someone. Do you own a kindle?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Accessorize A/W nail polish- Heartbeat

2012-01-14T19:00:00.000Z

A few days ago I reviewed an Accessorize polish which I was kindly sent for consideration. This is the other polish which I kindly received. It is called Heartbeat (gorgeous names) and is a mid to dark mauve pink.

Again, this polish only needed one coat which is brilliant. It dried within minutes and the colour is beautiful and not so outrageous that it couldn't be worn at work.

I also applied a little bit of Models Own- Juicy Jules to create an accent nail and I think that it looks lovely!

Well done Accessorize!

This is part of the A/W nail collection and each polish retails at £4 from Accessorize, Superdrug online and selected Superdrug stores.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

*This nail polish was gifted to me for review. However, I am always 100% honest in my reviews because that would make every review on Flaws and All unreliable and pointless!

Another use for Autumn/Winter lipsticks

2012-01-13T19:00:00.001Z

The winter has been very mild in the UK and this is stopping me from wanting to wear my dark lipstick. As I write this, it is beautiful outside as the sun is shining and I would be hesitant to wear a plum lipstick in case some people may think I look like a vampire. These kind of lipsticks are quite seasonal, but I still want to get my money's worth.

One night I was lying in bed and it suddenly came over me that I could use it as a blusher instead.

All I did was apply the lipstick from the bullet onto the back of my hand and buff it into an old foundation brush. Then I applied it on my cheeks and voila, a gorgeous dewy and long-lasting blush.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Accessorize A/W nail polish- Amethyst

2012-01-12T19:00:00.004Z

I have always wanted to try the Accessorize makeup range as the colours look perfect, but I have never seen it in our local Superdrug or Accessorize stores. However, I was contacted about the new A/W nail polish collections and obviously jumped at the chance of reviewing a couple.

Like most makeup ranges, Accessorize brought out a collection in the Autumn to cater to Autumn and Winter makeup trends. They have brought out a a selection of creme, metallic and 3D glitter polishes. This polish is one from the metallic range.

(sorry about the ridges in my nails, they have been peeling a bit recently!)

This polish claims to be 'metalized' and only needing one coat. I am always wary of these types of claims because I can't tell you how many times I have picked up a 'dries in 60 seconds' nail polish and it takes about 5 minutes to dry!! However, they have got this spot on and this polish was completely opaque in only one coat. Bravo Accessorize!

It also had a short drying time too which was brilliant. Combined with the polish only needing one coat, this makes it perfect for if you are in a rush to get ready. As a side note, even though this colour was brought out as part of the A/W collection it also is perfect for spring as it's a pastel shade.

This and other Accessorize polishes are available from Accessorize, selected Superdrug stores and Superdrug online for £4 each.

Have you tried Accessorize makeup before? What are your top picks from the range?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

*This nail polish was gifted to me for review. However, I am always 100% honest in my reviews because that would make every review on Flaws and All unreliable and pointless!

The sun goes down, the stars come out.

2012-01-12T16:52:00.003Z

Just snapped these photos of the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. This was at home too. Who says that you need to go abroad to find amazing sunsets? I was going to add these photos to tonight's review, but I think they deserve a whole post of their own. Gorgeous.

I have seen a lot of sunset photos tonight on twitter and facebook, have you had a pretty one too?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Lipstick collection- Pinks

2012-01-11T18:30:00.000Z

A lot of people have requested a lipstick collection which I have always put off for some bizarre reason. I have decided to do it in colour groups as it is a lot easier and less confusing. I wouldn't want to do one masssssive post because that would just be boring! So, the first post is about my pink lipsticks. I wore A LOT of coral lipstick in 2011, so one of my beauty resolutions this year is to wear more of my other colours.

L-R- NYX Spellbound, E.L.F Mineral lipstick in Nicely Nude, NYX Tea Rose, NYX Fig

L-R- Barbara Daly Darling, NYX Paris ( :( :( :( ), MAC Chatterbox, MAC Angel

I have posted about a lot of these lipsticks to I will link you to the full blog post as well as giving a quick summary:

NYX Spellbound- A super pigmented hot pink which is said to be similar to MAC Impassioned

E.l.f Nicely Nude-Not the most moisturising lipstick, but a beautiful everyday pale pink colour

NYX Tea Rose-A brilliantly pigmented warm pink. A more muted version of Chatterbox.

NYX Fig-A more everyday version of Tea Rose. Again, NYX do amazingly pigmented lipsticks!

Barbara Daly Darling- A perfect colour for every day wear. Perfect for work.

NYX Paris- One of my favourites (it's dead though, look at the bullet :( :( ). It's a bright lilac/pink shade and is very unusual. Love it so much!

MAC Angel-Not the best formula but a gorgeous pink nude which again is perfect for work.

MAC Chatterbox-This lipstick got so much wear on holiday. It's so pigmented and a gorgeous bubblegum pink.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

O.P.I Excuse Moi?

2012-01-10T18:30:00.003Z

I received the O.P.I Muppets mini set for Christmas and this was included. As everyone knows, Rainbow Connection was seen to be the 'stand out' nail polish and everyone flocked out to buy it. It's a shame because this kind of overshadowed all the other polishes in the collection which in my opinion were a lot nicer.

Excuse Moi? is a strawberry pink glitter polish with holographic hexagons. This was 2 coats of the polish and I was very surprised that it took so few coats! This is because the colour of the polish is actually pink, as compared to most glitter nail polishes where the base colour is clear. It literally took one minute to dry which I was pleasantly surprised with as I think O.P.I polishes take longer than average to dry. However it was quite rough to the touch when it was dry, so I applied 2 thin layers of top coat to sort this out.

Overall I am SO please with this nail polish. It's absolutely gorgeous and I will be buying the full sized bottle when this runs out!

Do you think Rainbow Connection overshadowed the rest of the Muppets collection? Which polish is your favourite out of them all?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

J'adore Paris

2012-01-09T18:30:00.000Z

Thought I would post a little face of the day for you all today. One of my new years beauty resolutions is to wear more lipsticks that aren't coral, so I decided to wear one of my favourite pink lipsticks today. I was actually going to work today so I only applied it lightly because it is a bit too bright and pretty sure my boss would kill me.

Face

Estee Lauder Double Wear Max (this allows me to wear no concealer)

Collection 2000 powder

E.l.f studio blush in Candid Coral

Eyes

E.l.f eyelid primer

Urban Decay shadows in Sin (inner corner), Hustle (all over lid) and Toasted (in middle of lid)

Collection 2000 Mascara

Lips

NYX Paris

NYX Paris is one of my favourite lipsticks ever, but it actually melted in Turkey so I'm a bit devastated. It's just a bit of a mush in the bottom of the tube. It's really gorgeous though, it's a bright lilac-pink and I love it. NYX do the best lipsticks ever.

Have you tried any NYX products? I really wish they were more accessible here.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

E45, the ultimate 'does everything' cream?

2012-01-08T18:30:00.000Z

E45 reminds me of when I was about 6 years old and suffering from a bit of Eczema. I would never think that I would be using it when I was 20 years old as a facial moisturiser!

This is my face moisturiser at the moment and I think it's brilliant for making my skin feel more 'glowy' during the winter. My skin has been unusually dry recently, probably due to exposure to our fire, heating and cold weather, however this has more or less sorted it out.

I have used E45 for a multitude of things such as makeup removal (as a cleanser), soothing skin after waxing and intensely moisturising areas of really dry skin. I bet it would be great for soothing a bit of sunburn too.

I got complimented on how clear and soft my skin was by a makeup/skincare counter worker, so it must be doing some good! I don't think my skin has looked this good in a long while.

Best of all, E45 is one of the cheapest products out there. I can't state an exact price as it varies from shop to shop, but it's VERY cheap.

Who needs a £20 face cream when you can use something cheaper?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

1000 GFC followers

2012-01-08T12:23:00.006Z

Last night I reached 1000 GFC followers! I was on my break at work and could have screamed "OMG!!!" (but resisted). I know that blogging isn't about the numbers and is about writing about a passion, but it is really nice to get rewarded when you put so much hard work in. I would dare anyone to not get excited when they reach a 'whole' number of followers ;) I know that there are loads of people who follow me on other platforms such as Bloglovin' and Hello Cotton too so hello and thank you to you as well!

Source

So just out of interest, what would you like to see more of on my blog? I understand that I do a lot of nail posts and I hope that no one gets bored of these, but I really do LOVE nail polish. So any requests will be welcome and I will try to include most of them. I understand that over 1000 people is a lot of people to be writing to, so I want to make sure that you all like the posts that you see.

So thank you all so much!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Cheap storage ideas #2

2012-01-07T17:30:00.001Z

I'm not going to lie, there is no way that I would ever pay £20 for some cardboard boxes that will rip and spoil if any product is accidentally spilled. I am going to share how I store my makeup and hopefully inspire some of you if you want to save a bit of money! I posted about my cheap necklace storage a while back and it got a good response so I thought you might like to hear more.

This first one is rather obvious and self-explanatory. These are just cheap plastic baskets which can be bought from almost anywhere. Yes, they aren't the prettiest thing to display, but my makeup is in a drawer so I don't need it to look that nice! I have a basket for eye shadow, lipsticks, face products, eye tools and blushers. Best of all these were only about 60p for 5 from B&M. These can be bought in supermarkets, markets, any basically any other shop. I also use empty takeaway containers for some things and they are free!! They can also be wiped down if there are any spillages.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Nubar- Treasure. The fairest nail polish of them all?

2012-01-06T19:24:00.003Z

Back in February 2010, I came across Imogen's youtube channel when searching for a prom hair style. I didn't even know beauty bloggers existed then, so when I clicked on her link under her video and discovered that people had ACTUAL WEB PAGES to discuss make up, I couldn't believe my eyes. So Imogen's blog was the first ever beauty blog I ever, ever read and this inspired me to create my own (this story does have a point, please stay with me). So when Imogen posted about Nubar-Treasure, I knew I would have to get this polish sometime in my life. However, you know that I don't like paying a lot of money for things so I decided I would just wait for a bit before I got it. It took me until this Christmas until I found it in the bottom of my stocking, and I seriously love it so much.

It looks lovely in natural light, but when it really turns into something beautiful when under artificial light.

Oh my gosh, isn't it so perfect!? The only downside I have with the polish is that it is very sheer and took three coats to get to this opacity. As it contains holographic shimmer it is VERY easy to remove and means there is no need for tin foil malarkey.

I purchased this polish from beauty bay for £6.50 (well, Father Christmas did!)

http://www.beautybay.com/cosmetics/nubar/treasure/

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

L'Oreal glam bronze sun radiance trio

2012-01-05T19:17:00.001Z

A few weeks ago, Connor arrived with two items of makeup which his mother had recieved as a free gift but would never used. As his mum has 3 boys, her closest female family member is me (woooo) and she knows that I love makeup and kindly gave me them.

She recieved this when she spent a certain amount of money on L'Oreal in Boots. I can't tell you the exact amount though because the boots website is down (anyone else think this is a bit weird!?).

This is a bronzer which can be used for a highlight and over the cheeks. The pink adds a lovely warmth to the compact and means that this could easily be used on the apples of the cheeks too. I wouldn't use it as a contour powder though, as it's quite shimmery and would look better to draw light to the tops of the cheekbones to make the face appear slimmer. The compact houses three different colours, all of which could be used as eye shadows too.

(Last swatch is all three colours mixed. Also, apologizes for the goosebumps, I had just been outside taking photos of the actual product and it was freeeeezing)

L'Oreal says that these shades would be best for blondes (I think they have a brunette one too), but I'm not too sure... I think they might come off a little orange toned on blondes with fair skin.

I don't think this will be dark enough for me when I am tanned, but when I am a few shades paler then I think it's perfect!

So if you are wanting some L'Oreal and this offer is still on (thanks again boots.com for being down) then I would advice you picked one of the free gifts up, because this bronzer is lovely and is perfect to make your face look more bronzed in these winter months!

Are you one to embrace fair skin or do you like bronzing yourself up a little bit?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Warning: This post may contain Mulberry

2012-01-03T19:22:00.001Z

I'll always remember the time when I discovered Mulberry actually existed. I was a naive 10(?) year old reading my favourite magazine Mizz. They had a competition where you could win a baby blue Mulberry bag (I can't remember which one it was) and then had a photo of my idol Fearne Cotton with the same bag. So I entered (obviously) but never heard anything back... Imagine being a 9/10 year old with a Mulberry bag!?! So since that day I have LOVED Mulberry and always dreamed of the day where I would be able to afford a little piece of my own.

So when the Mulberry online sale opened on Christmas Eve last year (well, it was only a week ago!) I was SO excited. My dream bag is the Mulberry Tillie Tote in deer matte brown (if anyone would like to buy me one, I will love you forever. Thanks!), so when I saw that the Tillie French Purse was on sale I just HAD to get it. I would have got the tan purse, but I wouldn't want anything in the bottom of my bag marking it.

Sorry for the excessive amount of photos, I'm just a bit besotted by it. The quality is amazing and all the little features really set it apart from a high street purse.

It's such a nice feeling when you save up for something for ages and you can eventually buy it yourself!

Does anyone else have a dream designer item?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

O.P.I Rumples Wiggin

2012-01-03T19:00:00.000Z

This was one of the polishes that I picked up in Tk Maxx a couple of months ago. It's from the Shrek collection a few years ago which was a mixture of brights and pastels.

I did take a photo in daylight, but it has been deleted somehow so I'm afraid you will just have to put up with the flash photo. To be fair it kind of got washed out on the daylight photo because it's so pale!

To be honest, it's a bit of a pain in the bum to apply. It requires 3 coats (I am only wearing 2 coats in the photo above) and takes a while to dry. The colour is absolutely stunning though and it doesn't chip that quickly.

Did you manage to pick up any OPI polishes from TK Maxx?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Festive nails + bye bye 2011

2011-12-31T18:19:00.000Z

Hi all! Are you all looking forward to the new year? I don't know why, but new year's eve always makes me slightly nervous. Maybe it's because I never want to leave the current year behind as the new one is unknown.

I have been meaning to post my Christmas nails for a while, but I have an essay to be in for Monday 2nd Jan (What a STUPID deadline..) so my concentration has been elsewhere.

So I wore O.P.I Your Royal Shine-ness, which is a beautiful silver polish with tiny particles of glitter. I also used a random red polish to make it slightly more festive (I understand leopards aren't normally associated with Christmas, but it was easy ok?!?)

Finally, thank you to all who has supported my blog in the last year. I feel that it has really grown throughout the year, and none of that would be possible without all of you! So thanks to every single reader on GFC, Bloglovin', Hello Cotton, or even those who aren't followers but still read my blog on a daily basis from my twitter account. Thank you to all of you who leave me comments, I really do try hard to get back to you, I just wish blogger made it easier for us to reply to them! And thank you to all the lovely people who I speak to on twitter on a daily basis. It's soppy but I love blogging so much and I really have made some great friends thought doing so.

My highlight of 2011? Definitely going on two holidays with my C. He is perfect to me and I can't wait to spend our fifth year together in 2012.

So all the best for 2012. I'm excited (and apprehensive) to see what this year is going to be like for me. Who knows what the future holds?

What are your new years resolutions? If you have any!

Lots and lots and lots of love,

Amy

xxx

O.P.I Sparrow Me The Drama

2011-12-24T19:44:00.004Z

Firstly, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!! I might do a post of what I got, but I'm not sure whether I like the idea of that, so I might just do separate posts when I'm reviewing them.

I loved the Pirates of The Caribbean O.P.I collection when they first came out, but I never got round to buying any. However, a couple of weeks ago I decided that I would finally treat myself and buy one.

(Those drops on the nail polish are actually snow if you were wondering what they are!)

(One coat)

This is SUCH a beautiful colour. It's not the most wintery polish, I know. The formula was actually perfect, the colour is stunning and it lasted for around 6 days with no chips.

I can't wait to pick more of the collection up! I know this is kind of drastic for me, but I think my love for O.P.I is overtaking my obsession with Models Own.... I KNOW. How can that be?! The polish is just higher quality and it lasts A LOT longer than Models Own. It comes at a price...but it's so worth it though.

What is your favourite brand of nail polish?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Time for presents, and exchanging kisses

2011-12-23T20:22:00.003Z

Helllllo everyone. I hope everyone is getting geared up for the weekend for whatever you're doing. This time is quite a busy time for our family as we have so many birthdays. It was mine at the end of last month, my Mum's 50th on Dec 12th, Connor's Dad's birthday the same week, and my Grandma and Uncle's today. My Grandma turned 80 today so the whole family went around to celebrate. As it was my Uncle's birthday too, he came up from London to be with us too (imagine giving birth on your birthday!!?! poor woman).

Here are a few pictures from the day. I have had really good responses from more personal posts, so I hope you like them (apologies in advance that most of these are food related!!)

Grandma kind of used this cake as her birthday cake. It's the cappuccino cake from M&S Food To Order. If you haven't used this service I would really recommend it, especially if you regularly have little family get-togethers. Unfortunately I don't like cake or coffee, but I tried a bit and the coffee wasn't overpowering. It tasted a bit like Tiramisu.

My cousin Claire made some sticky gingerbread, which was actually delicious As I mentioned before, I don't like cake, however I LOVE gingerbread. To make it a bit more festive she added a small amount of mincemeat and it just tasted amazing

My Grandma received this card from her young neighbour and I thought it was the cutest thing EVER.

Finally, look what arrived today...

My Kindle! I ordered this from Amazon YESTERDAY at 2:30pm and it arrived here today!? Even with the free super saver delivery which can take up to 7 days?! Amazing, Amazon (nice alliteration there). I can't believe how fast it has arrived considering it's Christmas. If you have any book (cheap or free) recommendations, please let me know!!

Isn't the food around Christmas just great? I think these photos explain exactly why *collapses into food coma*

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Bloggers Christmas party!

2011-12-21T19:00:00.000Z

Hi everyone, a couple of weeks ago Sarah invited me to her bloggers Christmas (online) party! I accepted the offer straight away and got looking for a designer and high street outfit! So here is what I chose:

total= £2097.50 (..say what now!!?)

When I saw photos of Tulisa wearing this GORGEOUS dress from Forever Unique, I knew that this had to be my Christmas party dress. If I did ever buy this, I would have to cut down on the Quality Street and Christmas treats before hand! Love it. The Jimmy Choo's are basically perfection (I would never be able to walk in them though.. )and I HAD to choose a Mulberry clutch. I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't pick a Mulberry bag. Ahhh, if only I had the money.

total= £71.97 (that's more like it)

I will always remember Gok Wan saying "If you had a big chest, get them out!". So in this outfit I am! This stunning forest green dress will suit my figure and the long sleeves will keep me warm. LOVE the shoes from Priceless, you have to have a bit of glitter in a Christmas party outfit?! Surely it's an unwritten rule? I asked Connor which outfit he preferred and he chose this one! I'm kind of glad because the whole outfit is so much cheaper (I like the designer one better though)

As you may have gathered from past posts, I am better with make up than what I am with fashion. As I am generally a beauty blogger, I decided to create a face chart with the make up what I would wear with both of these outfits. Please don't steal this, it took me a long time to do in person and then scan onto my computer!

Products used:

MAC Melba blush

Urban Decay eye shadows in Half-baked and Creep

MAC lipstick in What Joy! (only lightly applied)

Please go and see what everyone else at the party has decided to wear, I'm so excited to find out for myself! Hope none of us have same-dress syndrome ;)

Becky

Lucy

See you on the dance floor girls!

Lots of love
Amy
xxx

May your days be merry and bright...

2011-12-20T19:30:00.003Z

Hi everyone, hope everyone is enjoying their run up to Christmas. I thought I would just give a little update on what the last week or so has been like for me.

Firstly, I waxed my own eyebrows yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I loved having my eyebrows threaded but the regrowth was WAY too quick for me. It would be a week before I needed them redone and it's just a bit of a hassle. My friend Dora gets hers waxed every 6 weeks or so, so I decided I would get mine waxed instead. I was going to get it done at my hairdressers, but I realised that I had some wax strips left over at home. I cut them into 1cm strips and proceeded to do it. Seriously though, omg I can't believe how much less painful it is compared to threading!!!! I didn't think threading was the most painful thing in the world, but it always made my eyes water like crazy. This was no bother though and I am SO pleased with the results. I have popped a bit of sudocrem on to soothe the redness (the oiliness in the photo) and they aren't tender at all. Result.

The other day I was taking some blog photos outside and the weather went odd all of a sudden... It started like this, VERY foggy and VERY white. This photo looks so overexposed, but it looked EXACTLY like this.

Five minutes later

Ten minutes later

So it was realllllly snowy! Made me feel a bit more festive anyways. Have any of you had any snow?

Connor and I have also watched these:

...And munching on these.... omnomnomnomnom

I've also been spending a lot of time reading this:

If you are interested in polar explorations then it's a brilliant book. Really loving it! What books have you been reading? I'm getting a kindle after Christmas, so excited!

Sorry it's a bit of a rambling post, but I think that it's sometimes nice to have a little personal post :)

Are you all looking forward to Christmas? What is on your Christmas list?

Lots of love
Amy
xxx

W7 Green Dazzle polish

2011-12-16T19:30:00.001Z

For as long as I can remember, Models Own Emerald City nail polish has been at the top of my wishlist. However it also must be on other people's too as it is always sold out first when Models Own have a sale. When I found this O.P.I Rainbow Connection dupe, the seller was also offering this beautiful polish so I thought I would pick it up.

Ahhhh, it's so pretty isn't it? 2 coats of this was good enough to build up an opaque glittery finish.

So will I be buying Models Own Emerald City?! Nope, this one is gorgeous enough!!

Here is the polish, it's £1.99 plus £1.99 delivery.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

By the way, the other polish is Revlon 'Smoky Canvas'

* apologies if my nails are tatty today, this was after wearing the polish for about a week!

Get a perfectly polished manicure... from TK Maxx?!

2011-12-14T19:35:00.000Z

If you don't live in the UK, TK Maxx is a shop that discounts all sorts of brands. They have every type of item under the sun such as clothes, ski wear, candles, kitchen items, toys and beauty items. I found this set of O.P.I polishes among the Christmas gifts section and I nearly hyperventilated when I saw the price. I will leave you hanging a bit longer though...

They were packaged in a little clear plastic box which makes me think that the people at the store have packaged them themselves. I might have been a little bit naughty and swapped one of mine for one out of another pack... I do genuinely think that they were put together by the staff though as they weren't in any particular order or in special boxes. If they were in special boxes I would haven't changed any.

From left to right- Your Royal Shine-ness, Rumple's Wiggin' and Grape...Set...Match.

I can't wait to do swatches and get better photos of each one, but I will do separate posts. The two outside polishes are from the new Serena Williams collection and the lilac polish is from the Shrek collection.

So, how much are they?

TWELVE GREAT BRITISH POUNDS AND NINETY NINE PENCE. Seriously. For three full sizes bottles of O.P.I which are normally £10.50 a bottle. Call me dramatic for getting so excited, but it's such a brilliant bargain!

So get yourself into TK Maxx and have a little look.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Celebrations all around...

2011-12-12T19:35:00.002Z

Hi everyone! Today is my lovely Mum's 50th birthday. It was a good opportunity to take some photos so I thought I would share a couple with you.

Mmmmmmm. Oh my word these photos are making me salivate! We went out to her favourite restaurant yesterday and this is what we had (I'm one of those saddos who takes photos of their food, OK?!?!?!). Everyone had the carvery but I had beer-battered fish and chips (I always have to be the difficult one). Yum.

Look at the AMAZING cake that my auntie (grandma made the actual cake, my auntie just iced it) made for my Mum. I can't wait for her to ice my wedding cake one day. My parents spend a lot of their free time walking for miles in the Lake District, so she made this little scene of them. It's pretty amazing. Love the boobs and the hair clip detailing on Mum, they are awesome!

We also put our Christmas tree up today. It's very traditional and looks the same every year, but I love it. We don't really have a colour scheme, we just use baubles that Mum and Dad have collected throughout the years. Some of the baubles aren't the prettiest in the world, but the one pictured below is about 30 year old and was bought when they moved into their first house. As cheesy as it sounds, I love how each one has a story behind it!

(My favourite baubles and my Rudolf stocking in the background!)

(We hadn't hoovered up by this point if you couldn't guess!)

Who else has put their tree up? Have you all finished your Christmas shopping?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Fearne eye pencil in Bronze

2011-12-08T19:30:00.004Z

If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I am a MASSIVE fan of Fearne Cotton. I would go as far to say that she is my idol. She is a brilliant role model to young girls compared to others *cough, Rihanna* . So, when I found out she was releasing a makeup range I was VERY excited. I was most excited about the nail polishes, I didn't pick any up as I have similar colours (and really don't need any more!). Fearne was also doing a meet and greet in Boots in London last week and I was lucky enough to go..... oh wait. I live 300 miles away and can't afford train fares :( :( At least I got to see her in the flesh at Radio 1s Big Weekend in my home city!!

I know one of Fearne's favourite products from the range is the chunky eye pencils, so when I saw them in Boots for half price I was very excited! I chose the bronze pencil as it's quite a unique colour. I wouldn't call it bronze though... it's more like an olive. It's the eye liner version of MAC Sumptuous Olive. But I LOVE it. I'm not a fan of eyeliner, but I seriously love this. I would also recommend this specific colour for people with green or brown eyes, it's stunning!

(natural light)

(Flash)

(The Christmas jumper made it's first appearance today!!!)

It's beautifully pigmented and really easy to blend. With a bit of my e.l.f eyelid primer it lasts all day too! You can see that it creates a really simple but striking eye look. I REALLY love it.

For £2.50 this is an amazing product. There is a black, grey, 'peacock' blue and nude pencil. So get your skates on and get down to Boots NOW.

On another Fearne related note, did anyone hear Michael Buble on her show this morning?!?! AMAZING. Those who know me well also know that I'm a massive geek when it comes to The Chris Moyles Show (I have about 80 of their podcasts/videos/shows on my ipod), so when Michael did a duet with Chris I nearly died. Ahhhhhhhhhh. *breathes*

Has anyone else tried any of Fearne's make up line?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own Turkish Delight and Pink Fizz

2011-12-06T19:30:00.001Z

When I first bought Pink Fizz, Sarah suggested that I should wear it over a dark pinky/purple polish as it looks amazing. I agree. Look at this beauty:

Pink Fizz is probably the best glitter polish I own. Unlike some Models Own glitters (Juicy Jules I'm talking to you), it's jam packed with glitter and only needs 2 (or 3 at a push) coats. It just also generally looks amazing.

Do you own pink fizz? Do you find glitter polishes a pain to apply unless they are full of glitter like this one?

In other news, I have dyed my hair! I still LOVE ombre hair but mine was just feeling really flat and damaged due to all the bleaching. I've coloured it a medium brown (more like my natural colour but more vibrant) and I'm really liking it! My hair feels so much healthier now.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Zebra nail art

2011-12-02T19:30:00.000Z

I'm not that creative when it comes to my nails. I will normally add a glitter accent nail, but that's about it. I decided to have a go at Zebra nail art and it turned out surprisingly well.

I used my Models Own nail art pen to get the effect and it was actually quite easy. It was a lot harder to do my right hand though and I was shaking from the concentration! I used OPI Alpine Snow for the white base colour.

Has anyone else tried this out? I think it's easier to do than leopard print!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Winter beauty essentials #1:Lips

2011-12-01T19:30:00.000Z

Winter. Frosty mornings, crackling warm log fires, the Christmas edition of the Radio Times , warm snuggly scarves, steaming hot chocolates, chapped lips, flaky skin, windswept dry hair... those last three don't sound appetizing do they? But that's the reality. No matter how beautiful the winter is, it causes havoc to our lips, skin and hair. As vain as it sounds, we have to protect our body against the winter cold. But at the end of the day, no one wants cracked, bleeding lips and itchy skin do they?

I'm going to start a little series on what I use to try and protect by body throughout the winter months and hopefully you can share yours in the comments too!

First up is lips. You know I'm a bit of a lipstick junkie and I know many of you reading this will be too! It's important to keep our lips moisturised all throughout the year, but especially winter. If we don't keep our lips healthy throughout the winter, they would be dry, cracked and generally sore.

These are the two lip products I swear by. I apply them every night before I go to bed so I wake up in the morning with lovely and soft lips.

Lush Bubblegum scrub- Just like our face, our lips need exfoliated too. This Snow Fairy smelling sugar scrub is perfect to get rid of dry skin before we apply the lipbalm. However if you have REALLY severly chapped lips, I wouldn't use this as it might irritate them further and cause them to bleed etc. You can also make your own sugar scrub from Vaseline and sugar but I prefer to use this as a quick fix, it also lasts a while too. This is also approved by Connor, he loves the bubblegum taste!

Blistex relief cream- This is the perfect lip product for me. It's not a lipbalm really, it's more of a medicated cream, but it can be used to help dry lips and it's amazing at doing so. It's a white cream, so I never use it when I'm out in public because otherwise I could end up looking a bit of a weirdo. However, it's perfect to use in the house and especially at bedtime. Another reason why I don't take it out of the house is because of the crappy packaging. As soon as you open the lid, it product comes flying out and you can't stop it! I've also heard of it bursting in people's bags, not a good thing to have your mobile phone covered in minty white cream! So Blistex, PLEASE change the packaging. Other than that I love you. Does anyone else have the same opinion?

Other products I use to keep my lips happy in the winter:

Sleek Pout Polishes, Chapstick, Carmex.

What do you use to treat your lips in the winter?

BY THE WAY: I hit 900 GFC followers today. Thank you so much to all my followers and those who comment on my posts! Seeing other people buzzing over products that I love too makes me so happy! So thank you :) If you do want to follow me on Twitter, please do! LINK. I love talking to fellow bloggers!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own Beetlejuice collection: Pinky Brown

2011-11-30T19:30:00.001Z

On 1st Novemeber, Models Own released the Beetlejuice collection. I wasn't going to buy any of them until there was a sale (because I'm tight), however Adrienne from The Sunday Girl had a problem with her order and ended up having some spares. She kindly asked me if I would like them and of course I wasn't going to say no! So now I am the proud owner of Pinky Brown and Golden Green. Thanks Adrienne!

This is 3 coats but you could probably leave it at 2 if you really wanted to! It's a really glossy finish and the staying power is A LOT better than most Models Own polishes. Just look how pretty the duo chrome is. The copper and dark pink work really well together.

Overall I am SO pleased with this polish. It's so eye catching and unlike any other nail polish I own.

So thank you Adrienne!

Have any of you picked up any of the Beetlejuice polishes?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

My birthday

2011-11-28T19:30:00.000Z

So yesterday was my 20th birthday, which means I am obviously no longer a teenager *sobs*. I had quite a quiet day, I made some cupcakes, went out to my favourite restaurant with Connor and then watched my favourite film with him (Inception).

Here are a few photos of my lovely day:

Opening my blu-ray player from Connor!

My chocolate and banana cupcakes!

Never been SO excited to get a dvd!

Before we went out for tea to my favourite restaurant

Thanks so much for all the twitter messages!

Lots of love

(a 20 year old) Amy

xxx

E.l.f Studio matte lip colour in Coral

2011-11-25T19:41:00.000Z

E.l.f had a 40% voucher code on their facebook page a couple of weeks ago so I thought I would make a cheeky offer and buy some back up brushes as they were so cheap.

I bought this after reading a few reviews of it on other blogs. I decided to go for the 'Coral' colour because I get the most wear out of coral products. I'm so predictable aren't I?!

As it's a matte product, it is VERY drying and you need really moisturised lips to wear it. Otherwise it will sit in all your dry cracks and will just look horrible. Niiiice. I pair it with a bit of Carmex as it's quite sticky and doesn't slip around my lips.

It's quite a pale coral, so if you have a tan or darker skin I wouldn't really recommend it as it could end up looking quite 'peachy concealer like'. I do think that this is an excellent product for those of you who have slightly paler skin as it won't make you look quite as washed out.

These are £3.50 each and available from e.l.f cosmetics

Have you tried these? Are you a fan of matte lips?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

OPI Rainbow Connection dupe?

2011-11-23T19:30:00.000Z

When I bought my OPI Mad As A Hatter dupe, this one popped up in the suggestions box so I went ahead and bought it. I'll be honest, I wasn't overly keen on O.P.I Rainbow Connection to start with but this one has changed my mind. It didn't say which brand it was, but now it's arrived I know that's it Technic. You can get Technic in Bodycare, so if you were wanting to buy this polish then that would be the place to go. You can have a look at a swatch of Rainbow Connection HERE.

So, what's the polish like I hear you ask me?!?

This was about 5 coats, but it dried quite quickly so it wasn't too bad. However, if you were to use this on every finger then you would empty the bottle quite quickly.

The only gripe I have with this polish is the brush, it's just flipping awful. It's not straight and it looks like some scissors have been taken to it!

So yeah, rather pleased with this dupe and considering it's only about £1.50 then it's brilliant value. It's not exactly the same as Rainbow Connection but it's still similar. It's my birthday on Sunday so it will make the perfect birthday polish! It looks like my nails are having a party!

If you don't have a bodycare near you, I got mine from HERE

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

O.P.I Mad As A Hatter dupe?

2011-11-21T19:30:00.001Z

Ever since the Alice In Wonderland O.P.I collection hit the shelves last year, I've always wanted Mad As A Hatter more than any of the colours. Hundreds of other people must have loved it as much as me as it was always sold out. Now it's one of those products that ebay sellers are trying to sell at double the price. No thanks, O.P.I is already expensive as it is!

So, a quick google showed that Barry M in 216 (Silver Cascade) is a very close match. I bought it without hesitation and put it on my nails as soon as it arrived. As stated previously I do not have Mad As A Hatter so I can't directly compare it. However, photos on google such as THIS and THIS show how beautiful it is. So how similar is the Barry M polish?

(I wore it like this for work as we aren't meant to wear any nail polish! The other polish is Models Own Nude Beige if you were wondering)

Sorry for the a million and one photos, it's just too pretty to only have one photo!

Overall it is QUITE similar. I think Barry M is more pink whereas O.P.I is more purple. The Barry M one also has more green and red glitter in I think. I would still LOVE the O.P.I one, but this one will do perfectly for now! It's certainly a bit of a statement polish too as all my group of friends noticed it and complimented it.

I think this polish has actually been discontinued by Barry M, but you can still buy it from ebay and amazon for less than £4! Bargain.

Does anyone else have a polish that you have always wanted but can't justify the price of it?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Nails Inc- Holbien Place ft. E.l.f Twinkle

2011-11-18T19:45:00.001Z

Last year when I started uni my lovely friend Dora used to bite her nails. They were those kind of nails were they didn't come off the top of the fingers (I'm not explaining it very well, am I? type 'bitten nails' into Google, you'll see what I mean). One of my other bezzies Jody is a total nail polish addict like myself. We spent many conversations talking about nail polish but Dora could never really join in because she bit her nails (this is resembling a bit of an x factor sob story isn't it?!?). ANYWAYS, throughout the summer, Dora decided to get Shellac and Minx type manicures to try and grow her nails. Like me she realised that if she painted her nails all pretty then she wouldn't want to bite them.

Anyways, so Dora has got into nail polish. She bought a massive set of Nails Inc polishes from TK MAXX and very kindly gave me one because she knows how much I love them (eeek!).

The thing is, this polish is quite hard to get hold of... but if you search the t'internet/ebay there will be ones floating around.

I love how British this looks? It really reminds me of the union jack. I also love how it changes in different lights (hence the million and one photos of it).

Has nail polish ever converted someone from a compulsive nail biter to an addict like myself and Dora?!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

(PS. REALLY sorry if you are hatin' the one finger manicure... I've done it SO many times now. But I still love it. Wait until you see the next couple of ones I have lined up to show you, Dora loved them too)

Ebay nail art brushes

2011-11-16T20:00:00.001Z

I mentioned on my Models Own nail art pen post that it has a terrible, terrible brush. I thought that I might as well buy some more brushes in case I ever needed them. So of course I went to my first outlet for cheap goods... Ebay. Of course.

If you type in 'nail art brushes' into the ebay search bar SO many options come up so you would never have difficulty in finding any that would be suitable for you. These ones cost about £2.00 including delivery and so many other sellers offer a similar price.

These are the brushes that I recieved in my little kit. I don't think you would need any more brushes?! They have tiny brushes, long brushes for awkward bottles with long necks (No7 I'm talking about you!), a dotting tool and other fancy contraptions.

But yeah, I like them. They do their job!

I'm pretty sure that you could maybe use a couple of these brushes for gel eyeliner? I don't use eyeliner though so I can't say for certain that you could...

Have you ever bought cheap nail art equipment from ebay before?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Red Velvet cupcakes

2011-11-14T19:00:00.002Z

You many remember that last week I had a bit of a baking disaster... I was trying to make red velvet cupcakes but they didn't turn out red and I forgot loads of ingredients. Idiot. So I tried again and they turned out PERFECT. You know I don't really like cakes, but I've had a couple and they are just divine!

If you don't know what red velvet cakes are, they are basically a chocolate cake with red food colouring (and other bits and bobs) and a cream cheese (Philadelphia) frosting. Amazing. They were JUST cooked, which meant they were a bit like brownies and they are honestly the nicest sponge cakes I've ever tried. I will be using this recipe forever from now on!

(they are more red than this, it was dark and this was under a weird light!)

However, the only thing I was concerned about was whether I should keep them in the fridge or anything because they have cheese in the frosting? I've never put cupcakes in the fridge before, just didn't want the cheese going funny. Does anyone have any ideas?

Would anyone be interested in seeing the recipe? If anyone wants it, I will edit the post and put it up later :) It's not my own recipe, it's a very famous one indeed...

EDIT: I used this recipe http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/475341/Red-velvet-cupcakes

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

"For their tomorrow, we gave our today"

2011-11-11T11:44:00.003Z

The 11th November is a very important day in the world. I'm not sure how other countries view it and I don't want to make presumptions about what they do, so I will just be writing this from the British point of view.

At 11:00 on the 11th November 1918, Germany and the allies agreed that the First World War would be over. So from then on, on this date we remember people who fought for our country. I'm sure that many people would have had relations who have served for our country. My Dad's Father was in the Royal Navy and my Mum's Dad was in the RAF (not for World War 2 though, they were slightly too young). Also, Connor's grandparents met in the war (his grandma was a nurse and his Grandad was also in the medical services. They got close to each other and had to leave each other. However, later on by chance, they came across each other again and later became married, so sweet).

So many of you will have similar family stories to this, because back then a lot of people had no choice whether they signed up or not. Today is a very different story, so many people sign up out of choice as they want to help our country and help other countries. I think this is one of the bravest things a person could do.

When I was in Hawaii, we went to the memorial at Pearl Harbour (which was seriously one of the most amazing days of my life) and an American WW2 veteran just happened to be there. We had a chat with him in the actual memorial and also on the bus and he was so lovely. I think in Britain we take our elders for granted, but they have so many amazing stories to tell. We should really look up to them more.

WW2 veteran in Hawaii

So today we remember everyone who has fought and are fighting for our countries. In 2008, the first British woman who was killed in Afghanistan. Corporal Sarah Bryant was tragically killed in an explosion when working on an operation. Sarah lived about 10 miles away from me and also went to my secondary school (a few years before my time though). I was really gutted to have missed the memorial service for her in our school, but I was unfortunately away on holiday. People are killed in war every single day and it affects so many people around the world. One of the most important people to me was directly affected by another case of this and the bravery of their family amazes and humbles me. Even though we remember these people on this day every year, the families affected by war have to remember people who are fighting or who they have lost in war every single day of their lives.

So to everyone who has served and is serving our country, thank you. God know what the state of our country would be like if it wasn't for them.

I wear my poppy with pride.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own- Grace Green ft Juicy Jules

2011-11-10T19:30:00.001Z

I'm really getting into my khaki/grey polishes at the moment. I own 2 Models Own glitter polishes and I have to say that they are the BEST glitter polishes ever (I'm going to be doing a glitter specific post soon, keep your eyes peeled).

(natural light)

(flash)

(out of focus to show preeeeetty glitter)

This is about 3 coats of Juicy Jules, but I love how much you can build it up. This means that you can have a small sprinkle of glitter over the nail, or you can build it up to have full on blingy nails (I like the latter).

Grace Green was lovely to apply, it dried quickly and it only needed 1 or 2 coats.

I bet there is a lot of love for Juicy Jules out there?! LOVE IT.

I also did a bit of baking today. I originally set out to make red velvet cupcakes, but basically I didn't put enough cocoa/red food colouring in (and NO bicarb of soda, salt and vinegar in- disaster) so they just turned out as vanilla fairy cakes. I was also going to make marshmallow cupcakes, so I decided to turn them into them instead! I scooped out the top middle bit of the cake and put melted marshmallows in (yum). I then made vanilla frosting and put a few marshmallows in there too. As I've mentioned before, I don't really like cake (I'm more of a feeder than an eater!) so I will let my parents and Connor eat them. Bit of a hassle! Never mind, Mam has tried one and said it was lovely, hopefully my Dad and Connor will think the same!

(melted marshmallow, yummmm)

Have you ever had any baking disasters? I'm normally a good cook/baker, but everyone has 'off' days where everything goes wrong!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

PS. I have given my blog a little festive makeover! Hope you like it! :) I don't care whether it's early or not, I'm getting in the Christmas mood ok!?

These boots are made for walkin'

2011-11-08T19:45:00.000Z

Sorry for the generic and obvious title, I wish I was creative when it came to titles but I'm really not.

Anyways, I bought these beauties when I went to Manchester. Believe it or not, they were only £20 from Primark. Can't beat Primark.

For some reason, they don't look as nice on photos, but in real life they are seriously stunning. Sorry to go all Mum-like on you, but they also have a really good sole so they will be really good in the upcoming winter months. They are so comfy too, I really love them!

I can't believe it's November already... my birthday is quickly approaching (the 27th) and before you know it Christmas will be over!

I really love Autumn because it's still sunny and it's not too cold. Also, there's just something lovely about feeling red and orange leaves crunching under your feet.. anyone else feel the same?

We have a gorgeous tree in the middle of our garden and I love watching it transform through Autumn. I took these photo 2 weeks ago and now the tree hardly has any leaves on it!

Anyone else feeling Christmassy yet? Hands up who has started their Christmas shopping? I have to admit, I have wrapped some presents already!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

MAC Glitter and Ice lipstick- What Joy!

2011-11-07T19:45:00.003Z

I have been lusting over a dark maroony/plum colour for a while now. However, a lot of the dark lipsticks in the high street are literally dark purple and I didn't want that. Anyways, I rejoiced when this beauty of a lipstick was brought out with MAC's holiday collection Glitter and Ice.

(Sorry for the blurryness on the top lip, I must have moved and it was out of focus! It's not edited, otherwise I would have edited out my spot hahaha)

(crappy webcam photo)

It's a satin finish, which I haven't tried before but it feels lovely! It's VERY, VERY pigmented and goes on so smoothly. It feels like a more pigmented version of a lustre finish.

The colour is EXACTLY what I wanted. However, my word you need a mirror when applying this because otherwise it could end up looking disastrous. It also makes me look REALLY pale. But it's winter so I don't really mind it.

The white packaging is absolutely gorgeous! I thought it could end up looking tacky, but it's SO pretty, especially with the shiny silver.

LOVE IT.

This costs slightly more than a normal MAC lipstick, at £14. I buy all my MAC from Debenhams with my beauty card because it gives you points like a boots card! They always send little samples too, today I got a Marc Jacobs perfume sample and a benefit cleanser sample!

Have you picked anything up from this collection? I have to admit, I was very disappointed with the other items in the collection..

EDIT: However, after seeing Holly's post about what she bought, I think some other things look amazing! *locks bank card away*

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

The Body Shop- Passion fruit body butter

2011-11-04T19:37:00.000Z

You know I love my body butters from The Body Shop. I currently have about 5 which I need to use up (I finished Shea butter, boooooo) and this is the one I am currently using.

It smells so gorgeous, but I like the passion fruit shower gel A LOT more because I think it smells less artificial. The smell does linger too, so if you aren't the biggest fan of it then that's not the best thing in the world... However, if you really like it then it's obviously brilliant.

Like all the body butters from The Body Shop, it's VERY moisturising and can take a while to sink into your skin. Like I have said before, some people may hate this but I personally don't mind it.

So would I buy it again? Maybe not the same scent, but I would definitely buy the 'normal to dry skin' body butters again because I think they are brilliant and in the coming winter months I think they will be great as they are so thick.

Like everything I buy from The Body Shop, I didn't pay full price for it as I used a 50% off code. They are always around, I know there was one on last week!

Has a scent of something ever put you off using it, even though you think the product itself is brilliant?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Goldilocks...

2011-11-02T19:45:00.000Z

A lot of people have been saying that ombre hair has been overdone, however I still love it. I ombred my hair back in May and I also highlighted it before I went to Turkey so it didn't look AS ombre. I decided to redo my ombre a few weeks ago because I wanted it slightly brighter.

This is the highlighting kit I use (well Mum uses, she does it for me because she used to be a hairdresser)...

SERIOUSLY WELLA?! HIYA 1980S!!! Jeeez. I think it needs a revamp (bit of an understatement)

(edit: the reason why I picked this one over all the lovely packaged ones is because it was cheaper... You should all know by now that I'm really stingy ;) )

So will anyone be donning the blonde hair dye for winter rather than dark hair? *raises hand*

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Nanoblur, worth the hype?

2011-10-31T20:00:00.003Z

As I write this review, I am also currently browsing the review section for this product on the Boots website. It has only been awarded 3.2 out of 5 by customers, but I am going to give my two cents and add my thoughts on it.

Nanoblur is a cream which you can use in a number of ways to help minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It is NOT an anti-aging product and it is not a permanent solution.

I won a year's supply on twitter from Beauty Seen PR and decided to give it all to my Mum, as she would benefit from this product more than I would myself.

This is my mum, she turns 50 in December. She is always complimented for how nice her skin is. However, like the majority of 50 year old women, she has fine lines and wrinkles.

Mum has really lovely skin on her face, however she does have quite a few wrinkles and lines on her chest and neck. I encouraged her to use Nanoblur on this area as well and see what happens...

So Nanoblur, can you really make someone look 10 years younger in 40 seconds?

(It's easier to see the difference if you enlarge the photos)

Exhibit A- Before

Exhibit B- After

You can easily see that her appearance of her wrinkles reduced and her skin also looks a lot more matte and tighter.

Yes I know there is a tiny light difference, but it's impossible to catch the exact same light twice. But yeah, urm pretty amazing right? The area of skin is just below her neck for reference. Also, it's on the exact same part of skin, see freckles for guidance...

Mum likes using it on her face too, but I don't think the result is quite as dramatic. But is it really worth £19.99 for quite a small tube? If you feel uncomfortable about fine lines on this area then it's brilliant. My mum has to wear a tunic when she is working so she doesn't 'get it out' everyday. But if she was going for a meal out, wedding, night out etc then it's perfect. It also really helps tighten skin (mum said she could feel her skin tightening on her face) and it also is good for those people who have oily skin. But would I recommend it to someone who doesn't have fine lines or wrinkles? No, not really.

Who has tried Nanoblur? Do you think it lives up to the hype? Women asking for a refund? Bit dramatic I think...

Thanks beauty seen pr!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Like a candle in the wind...

2011-10-28T20:00:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you, but I LOVE candles. I love how they make me feel instantly relaxed and how they can make a room smell amazing. You know I'm stingy, so as much as I would love to, I would never pay ridiculous prices for a Yankee Candle.

So, I set off on a quest to find a cheaper alternative. I found them in an unlikely place.. Semi Chem.

The best thing is, they are natural soy candles, which are more eco-friendly and give off more scent. And they are really cheap too. The larger one of mine was £3.99 and the smaller one was £2.99. I would definitely get the smaller ones again because as you can see the top of the larger one has gone black because it's more closed in.

I know other cheap shops such as Home Bargains and B&M have similar ranges, so if you don't want to pay £15 for a candle, have a little look in those shops.

What's your favourite candle scent? Got to say, these ones smell beautiful!

Lots of love
Amy
xxx

Revlon in Smoky Canvas

2011-10-26T20:00:00.002+01:00

Connor recently brought this like gem round to my house after his Mum bought it but didn't suit it. She knows that I LOVE nail polish, so she thought she would give it to me, yaaay.

I haven't tried Revlon polishes for YEARS, just because they are a bit too expensive for me. However, if you type in 'discounted revlon nail polishes' on google, so many sites come up where they offer them for about £2.50 a pop.

I will DEFINITELY be getting more Revlon nail polishes. I would go as far to say that this is the best polish I have ever tried?!?! Seriously though, it's so pigmented, beautiful colour, big and pretty bottle, lovely and smooth application and it doesn't chip FOR AGES. Love it.

So yeah, I will be definitely be getting some more of these beauties. What are your favourite Revlon polishes?

These cost £6.29 each from Boots, BUT they always have 3 for 2 on AND you can collect points on them so they aren't that bad when you think about it?

Maybe I should add a couple to my Christmas list?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

PS. I've just heard the results from the Cosmo blog awards and I'm so happy for everyone! A lot of the winners are linked on my 'blogs i heart' page so take a look! So pleased for everyone, even if they didn't win. It's still a pretty amazing achievement to have. Well done everyone xxxx

Samy Fat Hair amplifying hairspray

2011-10-24T20:00:00.001+01:00

I've wanted to try out Samy Fat Hair for SO long, but I begrudge paying full price for it. I always wait for an offer to come on in Superdrug, but it must be REALLY popular because there is never anything left in our store!

I always really wanted to try this hairspray, as Emma always championed it, so when I saw that it was in stock I grabbed some like a mad man and protected it in a Gollum style way.

Emma has beaaaaautiful hair, so I asked her about how she uses it. She told me to get out the shower and leave it to dry naturally WITHOUT BRUSHING IT (I NEVER do this so I was very apprehensive), shove it up in a top bun when it's dry (I do this overnight anyways), spray it and then spray it again in the morning when you take it down.

My hair is naturally SO flat (thanks for that gene Mam) and has a very slight wave to it. So, cue natural hair photo with Samy fat hair, hairspray... has it created volume in my hair?!

(Taken at 8am, hence why my bed isn't made. I apologize to all you tidy people out there!)

I'm pleased to say the results were pretty amazing! I never thought I would ever come across a hairspray as strong as this before. I wouldn't use it every single day because it has extra extra extra hold and it can create a bit of buildup. It would be amazing to use for a night out, or if you just feel like your hair is lacking something special...

I bought this as part of a 2 for £6.99 offer in Superdrug. I'm not sure whether the offer is still on, but they bring it out every couple of months so it's not that bad.

Have you tried Samy Fat Hair before?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

2011-10-21T20:00:00.003+01:00

On Wednesday, Connor and I went to Manchester to go and see Peter Kay. Because we live quite far away from Manchester, we stayed over in a hotel so we could make a full day of it. We met Emma and went to Starbucks and went shopping. She's flipping lovely, so please go and follow her! Peter Kay was also hilarious, so glad his material hasn't dwindled since his last tour. I did a lot of shopping, so I will try and put a post up next week on what I bought, it might be the week after as I have a lab report to do for uni. Got some beauts to show you all though!

I really loved Manchester, way more than what I expected. Connor will be applying for graduate jobs soon and Manchester is an option for him (he's actually started applying tonight, eeek. Any advice for him would be great thanks!). I was a bit daunted by this because it seemed quite scary thinking that I might be moving to a massive city from a tiny (not even) hamlet in rural Cumbria, but it seems a lot less scary now.

I have also been busy today as I have been baking some scones! You might be shocked to hear that I actually don't really like cake, the only cakey things I like are scones and gingerbread. I love making cakes though, I just don't eat them. If you want to see some amazing cakes, I seriously advise you to go to Holly's blog. She is in the progress of making an Angry Birds cake and it's the most amazing thing EVER, I was admiring the photos last night! She's so talented.

So anyways, I just really fancied some scones, so I got Grandma's recipe out and got cracking! They are delicious. Can't beat a warm scone with a bit of butter and strawberry jam! I'm not one for cream though! Way too sickly for my liking.

God bless Grandma's and their baking recipes!

You know you want some...

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own nail art pen

2011-10-19T20:00:00.001+01:00

I've been able to play around with this for a while now so I can finally give a proper review! I've used it a few times, for my leopard print nails and also my aztec nails and a couple of other times too. I bought it when Models Own had their 50% off code, so I only got it for £3.

The tube has a nib on the top for more precise application and when you twist it, the lid comes off and a brush comes out. The nib is BRILLIANT, the brush? Not so.

Evidence:

What good is that going to be? Seriously? There's no way I am using that... (there will be a post soon on what brushes I am using instead)

The nib is great though and create a wide variation of designs (apologize for them being a bit shaky, I was rushing!)

You can buy it here http://www.modelsownit.com/nails/nail-art-pens.html

What's your favourite nail art designs?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

No7 polish in Violetta

2011-10-17T20:00:00.000+01:00

A while back, Connor came in and said that his mam had went a little crazy and bought me 3 nail polishes with her no7 vouchers, bless her. I couldn't really wear them straight away because they are quite Autumnal.

So this is the first one that I have tried and I really love it.

Natural light

With Flash

It took 2 coats to get to this colour, so that's great. Drying time was a bit slow though because as you can see I have a bit of a duvet imprint... At times like this I wish I didn't hate Seche Vite.

At the moment, the Boots no7 vouchers are running so you will be able to get this polish for only £2! Bargain.

What have you picked up with your no7 vouchers?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Wear pink for breast cancer awareness!

2011-10-15T20:15:00.000+01:00

I have read a couple of posts similar to this one so I might share my thoughts too as it's all about spreading awareness!

As everyone knows, breast cancer is a massive problem all around the globe for both men and women. However, every year breast cancer charities try to encourage people to donate a small amount of money so that many of these people can be helped and also to help try and find a cure/prevention. To make it slightly more fun, they encourage people to wear pink, to help spread awareness of the disease. I don't actually have many pink clothes, so I'm going to share some of my favourite pink products which I will be wearing on the day! (28th October by the way).

Nail polish

L-R. Models Own Pastel Pink and Pink Fizz (LOVELOVELOVE), E.l.f Bubblegum, Models Own Sophie's Pink, Barry M Pink Flamingo

Blushers

L-R- Vivo baked blush in Rouge Shimmer, Barry M in shade 1 (I think.. it's not that clear) , E.l.f in Shy, Nars Orgasm

Natural light

With Flash

Lipsticks

L-R MAC Chatterbox, MAC Angel, NYX Fig, NYX Spellbound, E.l.f Nicely Nude

Natural light

With flash

Finally, if you haven't heard, Nicoletta is hosting an AMAZING charity raffle on her blog in honour of her Mum who sadly passed away from breast cancer. So many companies have been in touch with her and donated some lovely prizes, so everyone should enter by donating even a small amount of money. All the money will be donated to Breast Cancer Campaign. So please donate, even just a tiny amount, every little helps!

Her original post: http://nicolettasbeautyspace.blogspot.com/2011/10/breast-cancer-awareness-month-my.html

The raffle page: http://nicolettasbeautyspace.blogspot.com

The Justgiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/nicolettasblog

Also, thanks for Connor for being my swatch model today, sorry about the minging manly veins in the photos! It's just easier to photograph on someone else rather than having to move myself into all sorts of positions so I can still hold my DSLR!

So yeah, hope you wear pink to spread awareness of breast cancer! If you are doing some other fundraising, I'd love to hear about it.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

PS. thanks to everyone who has followed Holly , I love everything that she has posted so far! She has also got me into MAC eyeshadows and I ordered my first one yesterday! Oh deeeear.

Vivo Cosmetics palette in Paparazzi

2011-10-11T19:50:00.002+01:00

This is my final post on the items which I got sent to me from Vivo Cosmetics, the new make up brand who are exclusive to Tesco stores. I would have done three separate posts, but I wouldn't have been able to write a sufficient review because I would be scared of making it too long. You all know that I like to waffle on at the best of times..

When I originally looked at this palette, I was quite scared because the colours were very vibrant in the pan. However, when applied to the eye (even with a primer) they really don't come out half as pigmented and bright unless you REALLY layer them up or use them wet. I suppose this could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it! I think it's quite a good thing because I'm not into wearing really bright eye shadows, so I might not have been brave to wear them if they were extremely bright!

Swatches in order. Left swatch is dry and the right one of each colour is wet.

The palette comes with a blush and 4 eye shadows. They are all baked, so like my other Vivo blush, they are all domed shaped and are so gorgeous to look at. With a primer they last all day without any creasing which is fab, as does the blush. However the colour does slightly fade, but this doesn't particularly bother me, most eye shadows will after being on for about 8 hours!

Blush blended on left and straight swatch on right

Yay. This palette is only £6 too, so a bit of a bargain! There is another palette, but they are a lot more neutral colours so if you were into those then I think it would be perfect for you! I would pay £6 for the blush alone!

What do you think about bright eye shadows?

How are you all anyways? I've managed to find a bit of spare time out of essay writing to do this post. Tomorrow I am going to see The Lion King 3D. Excited doesn't even cover it!!! Best film of all time? And definitely best soundtrack! Have any of you been to see it in 3d? If so, what's it like?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

By the way, I have a new beauty blog for you all to follow and I've got a massive feeling that it's going to be fabbbb. I bravely outed my blog to Holly on facebook after she wanted to see some of my nail art that I posted on there. I don't really know Holly that well, but always knew her through mutual friends so it's nice that we have both found someone who is just as obsessed with make up as eachother hahahaha. She also makes cakes for people who order from her and they are AMAZING. I have told her she needs to upload photos and I know you will actually love to see them, they are a proper work of art hahaha! So here is her blog, please give her a follow because she is just starting out and I remember when I had no followers and I was just writing to myself!

http://tillyglitter.blogspot.com and her twitter is @tillyglitter

xxx

My new little haven...

2011-10-08T18:16:00.004+01:00

As I've started back at uni, I'm finding it hard to crack out the posts because I'm really trying to work hard this year. To help productivity, I've bought myself this desk because before I was sat doing my assignments on the floor/in bed and I just don't think that is particularly good. Anyways, Connor (with the help of dad) made my desk up for me last night and I'm SO glad I bought it.

It was from Tesco direct and was only £50 (However I did get it for £45 because of my Mum's staff discount). I thought it was such a good price considering how much desks normally are! It's really sturdy and a perfect size so I'm really happy with it.

I'm trying to make it a relaxing place to be because I tend to get very stressy when I'm doing my assignments. I've got my linen candle and a beautiful photo frame (that Connor's Dad bought me for my birthday) to make it a bit more homely. No idea what I'm going to fill the frame with yet... I tried putting a photo in of my new baby cousin Livvy but it was the wrong size.

My view from my desk, cold and wintery Cumbria :(

Also, this band have been getting me through everything at the moment. I love me a bit of Coldplay, I do (even though they make me sob, I would love to see them live more than anything. Hint, hint Connor?).

So, it's the first live show on The X Factor tonight. Who are you all backing? I've got to say that I love Nu Vibe, Amelia Lily, Misha Bryan and Janet Devlin! If the rumour is true about the judges each having to vote off an act from their own category it's going to be an exciting one. I feel sorry for Tulisa though because I think the girls are better than ever this year. Who do you think will go? I think if it was down to the public, Kitty would go in an instant!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Vivo Cosmetics Primer

2011-10-07T20:00:00.004+01:00

This was another product which I was sent from the lovely Kerry at Vivo. Apart from using the Witch primer that I mentioned a while ago, I hadn't really used them before so I'm still quite new to the idea. Although, saying that I have used my E.L.F Eyelid Primer for over a year and still singing it's praises!

They say that it's 'super-soft' and oh my word they really do mean it! It must dry to a powder consistancy because it's so soft and light you would never know you even had it on!

My face make up still looked in tact with minimal oiliness after 2 8 hour shifts and some days at uni so I'm really pleased with the results. I'm planning on using this all the time in the winter because the bad weather always plays havoc with my make up and makes it fade so much. Does this happen to anyone else?

The only gripe I have is that when you squeeze the tube with the lid on, it lets loads of air out. This sounds stupid, but I really wouldn't want any precious product to be escaping from it ;) My tube also didn't feel totally full... maybe it was because it was just a sample, who knows. But if you do want to buy it, I would make sure that it feels quite full.

So yeah, for £6 I would really recommend this if you have problems with your make up fading/slipping off etc! Vivo cosmetics are sold at Tesco stores if you do not already know :)

Have any of you been picked to do it?

What's your favourite primer? I hear the GOSH one is rather good?!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Vivo Cosmetics blush in Rouge Shimmer

2011-10-05T20:00:00.003+01:00

I received this blusher in the post last week with a couple of other Vivo products (I will post about them soon), so since then I've been giving it a little trial to see what it's like. It's a baked blush, so it of course is GORGEOUS to look at with all the veining. I actually didn't want to start using it because it looks so pretty and I didn't want to spoil it (sad).

It's a neutral pink blush which slightly verges on the cool side when swatched. I'm quite glad at this because if it was a lot cooler, I just wouldn't suit it at all. It's a nice and natural blush, but a slight iridescent tinge gives it a unique edge compared to most blushers (and doubles as a highlight!).

I wore this for 2 8 hour shifts at work over the weekend and it lasted surprisingly long for a high street priced blusher. I would say that it lasted about 6 hours, but after then it faded really nicely (after a tough night of fighting off pervy customers, again. I actually fear for my safety in there at times :( ). It also didn't go all patchy like some blushers do, so this was a bonus. I find that MAC MSFs are reallllllly glittery, but this actually isn't. If you are a fan of matte blushers then you won't like this, but if you don't mind it quite shimmery like myself, this is a one for you.

Left- blended, right- neat swatch

Quite like the packaging, I especially love how thick and heavy duty the plastic is. I know for a fact that if I dropped it on the bathroom floor it would probably stay in one piece.

Best of all? It's only for £4. Say whaaaaaat?! They are quite large too! There are 3 other colours and I have to say that I would love to get my mitts on Peaches and Cream as it's right up my street!

Vivo is avaliable from a large number of Tesco's nationwide and they also have a twitter account which is here .

Just started my second week back at uni yesterday and it was such a long day. The morning was fine, but in the afternoon lecture I just didn't understand a single word and was losing the will to live (luckily my friends were the same so I didn't feel as guilty!)

(not sad at all)

Also, I was hobbling around uni as I have a sore foot due to getting stung by a wasp on Sunday. It was in my sock in the drawer and I put it on and it stung me on the bottom of my foot, it was a massive wasp too (20 minutes before I headed off to do an 8 hour shift...how convenient). I think I've had an allergic reaction to it so it's really swollen and sore and I'm hopping around like a weirdo. Annoying. Hopefully it will calm down by tomorrow for when I'm back at uni.

On a happier note, I reached 800 followers today! Eeeeeeek, so thank you all so much!

LUV U GUYZ

(ignore that I have no make up on, today is not a uni day so I'm being a tramp hahaha)

Anyways, what products from Vivo catch your eye? Are you a fan of baked blushes?

Lots of love
Amy
xxx

Models Own- Turkish Delight ft. Gosh Holographic

2011-10-03T20:00:00.004+01:00

The other night, I kind of read Milly's back catologue of blog posts... Not sure why because I always read them when she posts, but never mind. I loved this NOTD that she did and my Gosh Holographic was feeling a bit unloved, so why not? Her's looks a million times better, I need to get myself some of those french manicure tips! I used Turkish Delight as my base colour to make it slightly more autumnal. After I applied my base colour, I used sellotape to create the (kind of straight...) lines.

Turkish Delight was lovely to apply and dried quite fast too. I can tell that I'm going to get loads of wear from this polish this winter. Gosh Holographic is such a pretty polish, shame the application is just crap... If you want to see the original post I did about it ageeees ago, click here.

I started back at uni last week so at the moment I'm in a bit of a journal induced coma, listening to Coldplay and feeling sorry for myself. Why do they have to word everything so complicatedly? Irritating. Never mind, a few cups of green tea and the aforementioned band got me through some of them. I'm going to try and improve on the productivity this year, so I bought myself as desk because the kitchen table just isn't good enough when my mam is pottering around!

Did you all have a nice weekend? Was it sunny where you were? I was at work both days, but luckily it wasn't even sunny up here anyways!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Lacura Aqua Complete Moisturiser

2011-09-29T20:00:00.001+01:00

A bit of another unexpected product review! Never in a million years did I think that I would ever buy a facial moisturiser from ALDI of all places! If you've never heard of Aldi, it's basically a cheap supermarket and now that it's now selling some popular brands, you can save a lot of money shopping in there!

A while a go, I asked on Twitter on Connor's behalf, asking people whether they knew a good but cheap moisturiser what he could try. Emma suggested we went for a Boots Botanics one and I was all set for getting him it, but when I went to Aldi during my diet (FYI, Aldi do amazing cheap fruit and veg) I just thought I would pick this one up for him to try.

Connor loved it so when we were on holiday, I decided I would give it a shot too. Let me just say, this is another product that has made it into my skin care routine. As you know, my skin is picky, but once again it's actually liked it!

It smells really fresh and has a hint of the cucumber/aloe kind of smell. The one thing that I don't like about it though is the colour of the cream. I mean I love the colour itself, but I would just prefer it was white because it means they have probably added a colouring ingredient into it and I think it also looks a bit cheap too. I love the rest of packaging though, it's all frosted, heavy and pretty!

It's not the thickest of moisturisers but it's brilliant at it's job as it really helps my skin feel replenished after the face wash has dried it slightly. I thought that it would make my skin even more oily than what is already is, so when I found out that it doesn't, I was chuffed.

Best of all? It's only about £1.49. That's just crazy! Considering it's a generous amount of product, that's just amazing price. You can pick this up along with other Lacura products in Aldi stores nationwide.

Has anyone else tried Lacura? Maybe I should let Connor pick my skin care products more often!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own- Peach Puff

2011-09-28T20:00:00.001+01:00

Today (and probably for the next few months ;) ) I'm bring you another Models Own nail of the week! Today the colour is Peach Puff, which I actually featured last week on my leopard print nail of the week.

It's a beautiful peach polish, which is basically EXACTLY the same as Beauty UK- Peach Melba. So if you really want a cheap alternative to it, that's the one to buy!

Inside with natural light

Outside with natural light

To be honest, the application wasn't all that brilliant. It was a bit streaky, it took a while to try and it also has some bubbles in it, which you can kind of see in the photos. But it is a beautiful colour and if you have the time to apply it, then that doesn't really matter I suppose.

I also added a little aztec design to one of the fingers and I actually quite like it. I won't show you my right hand though because it's shocking as I used my left hand! I'm sure it will get better with practice.

What do you think of peachy polishes?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

No7 For Men face wash

2011-09-27T20:00:00.001+01:00

Yeah, not the kind of review that you would expect from a 19 year old girl is it?

I've been looking for a new skincare routine recently since Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish seriously knackered my skin. Connor was harping on at me for months telling me to try this face wash because he really loves using it, so I decided I would have a go with it to basically shut him up. The reason why I didn't want to use it was because my No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser was brilliant at removing makeup, but this is actually really good too. Even though it's marketed as a man's product, it's just basically packaged in a more masculine manner and has a more manly scent. It says on the front that men's skin is generally more oilier than women's, so I thought I should try it seeing as my skin is extremely oily anyways!

It really helps me with removing the excess oil from my face before I apply my makeup and before I go to sleep. So much so, it actually verges on making my face feel slightly dry, but nothing a bit of moisturiser can't fix!

It smells manly (obviously), but I love those kind of scents so I do not mind this at all. Another thing I love another this face wash is that a little bit really goes a long way. Even though I use the wash 2 of 3 times to make sure every last scrap of make up is off, I don't even use the equivalent of one pump of the No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser! Most importantly, I haven't really broke out using it, which is the main positive point of the product for me. Also, as Connor and I both use it, it saves me carrying one around when I go to his (and then leaving it in the shower by mistake so I have to use face wipes for the next few days) bonus!!

Overall, I'm SO impressed with this face wash and it's managed to wriggle itself into my every day skin care routine! I also really love how Connor LOVES the whole range. I think it's a really good bit of marketing because I know my Dad and also Connor and his brothers would go for a men's range over a normal one and the rest of the No7 range is very girly so they would have acquired so many more male customers from introducing it! The products also seem quite sleek and professional so they make brilliant little presents for boyfriends/family members.

It costs about £7, but it's always on offer for 3 for 2 (one for Connor, one for me, toss up for the other one?) and when the no7 vouchers are floating around, you can manage to get it for only £2.

Have you ever used your other half's products? Or even just been pleasantly surprised by a product?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Superdrug dry shampoo vs. Batiste

2011-09-26T20:00:00.004+01:00

In the last few months, I have really started to embrace using a dry shampoo on my hair. I really do think it helps freshen it up and also makes it a lot more voluminous. You know I love finding a cheaper alternative to a something, so I thought this would be a good product to try as I have heard brilliant reviews about the normal one.

So here are some comparisons between the two:

Price:

Superdrug comes out on top as their dry shampoo is about £1.75-£1.99 (Superdrug's website is awful so I canny find the exact details). However, Batiste is about £3.99 for a larger bottle, but at the moment it's on offer for £1.95.

Results:

I love Batiste. I love how it makes my hair feel instantly lighter and also improves volume. Superdrug is a totally different story. Basically it just doesn't work. It makes my hair feel even dirtier than what it started as, so that just totally defeats the object. So yeah, basically I hate it. It just doesn't do the job at all and it leaves my hair feeling 10 times worse and disgustingly heavy. It also cakes it to my scalp and clumps in little sections of grease. Nice.

There's one more thing....

This is my fingers after using the Superdrug dry shampoo. This alone would stop me using it! The thing is, my fingers only turned like this after doing the top section of my hair, let alone the rest of it! I love refreshing my hair with Batiste when I'm on the go, so there is just no way that I would be able to do that anywhere apart from at home because it's so messy and makes me look like a tramp. Luckily the Batiste one doesn't do this to the fingers, all hail Batiste.

*Cue sound of 2 Superdrug cans hitting the side of the bin*

Batiste, I'm so sorry I ever doubted you. Luv u 4evs <3

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

For a full review on the Batiste one, click here.

A/W H&M spending!

2011-09-23T20:00:00.004+01:00

After coming back from holiday where the temperature was mid 30s everyday, I discovered that I really need to invest in more Autumn/Winter warm clothing (as well as drinking more cups of tea, it really does work help warm you up!).

Basically, H&M is the best shop in the world and I want to buy every single piece of clothing from that beautttiful company.

So I went in and bought 5 jumpers and I will certainly be returning for more! I went into New Look the same day and I just couldn't believe how expensive it was. A jumper which was SO similar to the yellow one I bought from H&M was nearly triple the price of the H&M one! I think that's the case with New Look now, I remember when jumpers from there only used to be about £12!

(All these jumpers are long sleeved, I just always roll mine up)

From L-R

Brown and black jumper- £9.99

Yellow jumper- £7.99

Grey with cotton elbow pads- £7.99 (From H&M Kids)

Stone coloured jumper (same as yellow jumper)- £7.99

I also bought a cardigan from H&M Kids but forgot to take a photo with the other jumpers (doh), so treat it as an outfit of the day from when I went to town the other day! I think shopping in H&M Kids is actually a really brilliant way to save a bit of money! I mean I am not that petite because I'm 5ft 8(ish) and a lot of the clothes are similar to the adults section, but a lot cheaper!

Cardi- H&M Kids- £12.99

Top- Charity shop

Skirt- Primark

Tights- Primark

Necklace- Topshop

Shoes- Primark

On a side note, you may remember me going on about those shoes from Primark? Well, I got them home and they ended up being too small. This was a problem for me because we don't have a Primark here, but luckily Laura said that she would send me some over from Newcastle! So sweet of her!! So now I have the next size up and they fit perfectly, so thanks Laura! If you don't follow her blog, please do! Also, if you are a lover of the North East accent like I am, please subscribe to her Youtube channel, I could actually listen to her for years!

I'm SO tempted to go back and buy all the other colours in the jumpers, I actually love them all!

What's your favourite high street store?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Naya Rivera inspired look

2011-09-22T20:00:00.002+01:00

I originally made a video of this, but the focus of the camera is just shocking and it was so hard to edit. Not only was it bad for me to do, but it also wouldn't be that pleasant for you to watch as it was just awful! So I'm sorry if you were looking forward to watching it, I wish the camera was better at recording :(

Anyways, I just decided to do it into a blog post as it's easier and better. As much as I would love to do videos like this, it's took me about 3 hours to sort it out and I do actually want to have a life ;)

Annnnnnyways, I thought Naya (who plays Santana in Glee) looked amazing at the Emmy awards. So much so, I decided to have a go at recreating her makeup. I do love me a good smokey eye.

If you want to have a look at loads of photos of her from the awards ceremony, click here.

The look was basically the blackest smokey eye EVER, with a neutral peachy/warm blush and a beige with a slight pink undertoned lipstick.

Products used

Witch liquid concealer (no foundation as I've just been on holiday)

Maybelline pure liquid minerals foundation (to darken concealer)

Collection 2000 powder

Topshop cream blush in Nutmeg

Boots 17 instant glow bronzer

Black from the E.l.f Everyday Eyes Beauty Encyclopedia

Dark pink from the Sleek Storm palette

Black shimmery (top corner) shadow from MUA Starry Night palette

Bourjois Khol and Contour eyeliner in Black

False eyelashes from Home Bargains

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes

Barbara Daly 'Darling' lipstick

Maybelline lipstick (can't find the range) in Luminous Beige

For the eyes

1. Prime the eyes, I used E.l.f's eyelid primer as it's my fave!

2. Apply a matte black shadow all over the lid, just up to the crease. Don't worry if it's messy!

3. Blend the upper line slightly above the crease with a blending brush.

4. Add more black over the lid to make it more intense if the blending has taken away some of the colour.

5. Blend a shimmery black and a dark pink above the crease

6. Apply black eyeliner and smudge, smudge, smudge!

7. Apply false eyelashes (optional) and lashings of black mascara and you are done :)

Whose hair and make up caught your eye at the Emmy's? I've got to say the Glee girls Heather Morris (Brittany S Pierce, bitch (sorry)) and Dianna Agron and also Kelly Osbourne stole the show for me!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own- Jade Stone feat. 1st attempt at leopard print!

2011-09-21T19:50:00.001+01:00

As a big fan of nail products, you'd be surprised to know that I haven't really immersed myself into the world of nail art. I actually am quite creative, art was one of my favourite subjects at school and I managed to get an A in GCSE Art and Design. However, I've just never had the patience with nail art, mainly because you have to be so precise and those kind of things give me a literal headache with the concentration! Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous to look at, but it's just a pain. A bit like my relationship with shoes really, they are so pretty to look at, but they cripple my feet so I try and avoid them! However, I've bought myself some nail art brushes from Ebay and I am going to give it a go!

For an introduction into the (scary) world of nail art, I thought it would only be fitting to start off by doing something easy and classic: the leopard print nail.

I used Gem's tutorial to do them, which basically includes painting the nail with the base colour, applying dots of another nail polish (I also used her tip of using the end of a kirby grip to do this) and then using a nail art pen and giving the dot a really rough outline. Simple as anything. Even the most un-artiest person could do that!

So here's how they turned out:

(Please excuse the really tatty polish. I have been wearing it for a few days and managed to smack my nails off everything possible! Typical :( )

What I used- Models Own/ Wah Nails black pen, Models Own Peach Puff, Models Own Jade Stone

So impressed with the results, I can't wait to get started on other designs!

On a side note, Jade Stone wasn't as nice to apply as some Models Own polishes and required 2 coats. However, it was still better application than most other brands of nail polish! And the colour just speaks for itself, beautiful!

Any advice for starting out at nail art? And most importantly, how do I do my right hand when I'm right handed?! I don't want to wear false nails because I like my own nails :)

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

Models Own 50% off sale

2011-09-20T17:45:00.001+01:00

I apologize if you have already read a million and one posts on what Models Own's polishes everyone and their mother have bought, but as I am a polish addict and a lot of my posts surround nail polish then I think it would just be fitting for me to add what I bought too!

Like a lot of people, I had problems with my order... I placed it on the Tuesday night and paid by Paypal which took the money. However I got in touch with Models Own via their facebook page who said that the payment had gone through but the order hadn't been sent to them (tut tut paypal you cheeky sods!). So I made another order after they refunded me but paid by card so it didn't happen again. I also made a slight change to my order (and I forgot to reorder Utopia, grrrrr) because I couldn't justify getting even more! So 2 days later my order turned up... it was the first order I made through Paypal, so it obviously had gone through and I got my other order as well! So basically a free box of polishes worth £50! So I sent them back before my holidays and now I'm left with the order which I wanted.

I've got to say, I literally can't fault Models Own's customer service. If anything, the whole mess up with the orders has helped them a bit as it's allowed them to show how dedicated they are to their customers. So well done Models Own, I salute you.

Top L-R- Concrete Mixer, Grace Green, Pink Fizz, Gun Grey, WAH nail art pen

Bottom L-R- Blooboo, Turkish Delight (fitting), Slate Grey, Juicy Jules, Jade Stone, Peach Puff

L-R- Juicy Jules, Jade Stone, Peach Puff

L-R- Concrete Mixer, Grace Green, Pink Fizz, Gun Grey

L-R- Blooboo, Turkish Delight, Slate Grey

I will just show you what I bought and then upload individual posts with swatches whenever I wear them!

What did you pick up from the sale? Did you have any problems like me?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

PS. Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards. It's lovely to see some of my favourites up there, you all really deserve it. It was SO hard to choose who to vote for, I think I might vote again on another computer in a couple of categories.

I'm back home!!

2011-09-19T20:00:00.001+01:00

Hiiiiii everyone! I'm home from my holiday after 17 days away! Hope you enjoyed the posts which I had lined up for you, thank you all so much for the comments left on them. Hope everyone is ok. I thought I would share some photos from my holiday to Turkey with you all. I took nearly 1000 photos... maybe that's slight excessive.. Never mind!

Posts will be resuming as normal soon, but as I am going back to uni soon then there won't be as many, obviously.

I used (and discovered) some AMAZING beauty products on holiday so I'm so excited to share them all with you!

Anyways, enjoy some photos of my amazing holiday...

The resort had the most amazing sunsets EVER.

That yacht had Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg on! They were travelling around Turkey on it. Amazennn.

The apartment complex was covered in the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen, all the walls were covered.

Connor bombing me :( :(

We also went to the mud baths. Have you been? It's the weirdest feeling EVER. If you are in Turkey, you need to go to a mud bath, it's brilliant!

Have you been to Turkey? Did you love it like we did?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

PS. I guest blogged over on Amy's blog as she was away on her honeymoon, so please check it out. If you don't follow her blog already, please do, it's wicked :)

A brilliant way to save some money!

2011-09-11T20:00:00.002+01:00

I inherited (or learned from my dad, nature/nurture debate anyone? I need to get back into my psychology degree and vent these kind of debates to someone who cares hahaha) one certain personality trait, which can be sometimes be VERY annoying (my mam hates it...). I am VERY tight with money. I will not buy anything full price, literally. I'm not one of those people from 'Extreme Couponing' who will pay for a full shopping trolly using £150 worth of vouchers (does that even happen in the UK?), but I live by the thought"why should I pay full price for something when I can get it cheaper?!".

So... about 2 years ago, my also stingy Dad came across this website where you can get cash back from hundreds of online shops. The brilliant thing is, you can also use it alongside voucher codes! You may only get about £1.25 back from some orders, but it really builds up. Then you claim back your cashback and they send you a cheque. Here is the website.

For example, my Dad has also got cashback for airport parking and £50 back for car insurance. I also got £20 cashback on my new camera a few weeks ago and also got £60 cashback on my Blackberry contract. So is it worth it? In my opinion? Yes.

Now I'm going to show you how you use it using The Body Shop as an example.

1. First, go to the Top Cash Back website. Don't go straight to the shop website, it won't work. This is what the homepage looks like.

2. In the top search bar, type in the shop which you would like to get cashback for. The results will then show. If your shop is avaliable (not all aren't) then click on where it says 'get cashback'

3. This page also shows you how much cashback you can earn. Sometimes it might have cashback rates for different things. I know Play.com does for definite, they have different rates for whether you buy dvds, games, clothing etc. So it shows here that you get 12.12% cashback.

4. Then click on 'Get cashback now'. It will redirect you to the website which you wish to order from.

5. Make your order like normal. It will NOT show up on on your checkout page or anywhere that you have used it, so don't panic.

6. A little while after your order, it will show up on the 'earnings' page on your account. Different companies vary, it might take up to a week to show up. Then in it's own time, it will confirm it for you.

So that's it really!!

Have you got any tips to save some money?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

A cheap and cheerful necklace storage idea!

2011-09-09T20:00:00.001+01:00

If you are anything like me, you will ALWAYS get your necklaces tangled. I have always found it so hard to store them and I don't understand that even if you put them into a jewelley box straight they SOMEHOW managed to get really mangled into the tiny little ball?! Does anyone else find this?! Oddest thing ever. However, my mam came home from work one day with these two things and I have no idea what they were for. She suggested that I used them to store longer necklaces and I LOVE them.

So what are they? Mug stands!

The perfect thing about these is that you can also hang bangles off them and you can also paint them to suit your room. I would love to paint them white if I had a bedroom which was a little shabby chic haven.

The best thing, they only cost about £1.50 from more or less anywhere!!

How to do you store your necklaces?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

MAC Vegas Volt vs NYX Femme

2011-09-06T20:00:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone! If you watched my Youtube video the other week about which make up I am taking with me on holiday, you will see that I mentioned that these 2 lipsticks are very similar. I thought that I would compare them in a blog post as the NYX lipstick is a nice little cheap one compared to MAC.

I often find that red lipstick is a little hard to wear sometimes, hence why I enjoy wearing coral as it is a nice little alternative to it. Both lipsticks are a bright coral shade and they are also both very pigmented, so not for the fainthearted!

So, on with the swatches!

L-R- NYX Femme, MAC Vegas Volt

Top- NYX Femme, Bottom- MAC Vegas Volt

So... are they similar? YES. Is Femme a full on dupe? No, not 100%... but it's a fab cheaper alternative! As you can see on the hand swatches, Femme is ever so slightly darker than Vegas Volt. However, once applied to the lips I think they are very similar. Formula is amazing for both lipsticks, Vegas Volt is an Amplified Creme formula so it's so lovely to apply and all NYX Round Lipsticks are beautifully creamy and opaque.

So, if you aren't too bothered about a cheap packaging issue compared to the more expensive lipstick, I think you should go for Femme! It's very similar so I don't see why not!

You can buy the NYX lipstick here, or you can find them floating around on ebay if you want to make multiple NYX purchases!

Have you tried any bright coral lipsticks? Are you brave enough to wear them out in public?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

My favourite highlighters

2011-09-04T19:30:00.003+01:00

I don't highlight every day, it just depends on whether I can be bothered really! But I do enjoy doing it and I do believe it makes a difference. Today I thought I would share my favourite ones with you all! I sometimes shy away from highlighters because I don't really want any more light reflecting off my face than what I already have because my skin is shiny enough!

I use these products in 2 ways, sometimes I apply it straight onto the tops of the cheekbones or sometimes I mix it with a bit of foundation and apply just to that area (looking like a discoball would not be a good look, especially with my oily skin!)

L-R Benefit High Beam, The Body Shop, E.l.f 'blush' in Gotta Glow, Avon cream eye shadow

As you can see by these photos, the Benefit and The Body Shop highlighters are VERY similar. I literally couldn't choose between them, they are so alike. So if The Body Shop has a 50% off code for their website soon, I would recommend it! (link here . My tube is only a small one which I got with a set and it has lasted me AGES) Bit of a dupe? I think so!!

The E.l.f studio 'blush' is said to be very similar to Nars Albatross. However, this contains quite large chunks of glitter and the powder formula can sometimes look like it's sat on top of the skin which isn't very flattering... However, the colour for this is a lot better for warm skin toned gals like myself so this is why I continue to use it.

Avon cream eye shadow- I know, it's a cream eyeshadow. But when blended out it's so pretty. Perfect as an actual eye shadow base too. Not sure whether Avon still do this product, but if they do I would also reccomend it.

What's your favourite highlighter?

Also, enjoy a photo from when Connor and I took Murphy for a walk when I stopped at his last week.

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

My Top 5 Eyeshadows

2011-09-01T20:00:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone! As you read this, I am currently in Turkey enjoying my holiday! I wasn't actually going to post anything when I was away, but as I went to Portugal in June too I didn't really not want to post for so long. So throughout my summer holidays I have been gradually writing a few extra posts for you to enjoy while I'm away.

I love eye shadows, nearly more than lipsticks (which is saying something). I love how you can basically create anything you want on your eye and it can totally transform your make up. Here are my top 5 ones.

1. No7 single eyeshadow in Truffle.

I got this with a free gift when I bought a certain amount of no7 products so that's why it isn't a full size eyeshadow. It's just beautiful. No7 have the most amazing eyeshadows, they are so silky and buttery and are a delight to blend. I have about 6 of these eye shadows and they are just brilliant. If you have a £5 no7 voucher they are only £3 too which is pretty amazing. Buy.

2. Urban Decay eye shadow in Toasted

This shadow really stands out for me in the Naked Palette. It's different to the browny shades as it has a hint of purple in it. It's a lovely formula and blends very well so I love it. It can be used as an everyday look, or teamed with a black to form a more dramatic evening look.

3. Urban Decay eye shadow in Smog

This is just a brilliant all round every day bronze colour. I normally wear this in the crease with Half Baked over the lid and a bit of Truffle (above) on the outer corner. It's just a really pretty colour which can be worn for all occasions.

4. Eye shadow from Sleek Storm palette (no name unforutnatley)

I didn't even acknowledge this shadow until Tanya Burr mentioned it in one of her videos. It's a different shade to what I would normally wear, but it's really gorgeous. It's a navy shadow which looks grey when the light shines on it. It can be worn as an everyday smokey eye, or built up for a night time.

5. Barry M Dazzle Dust in 51

I only recently aquirred this eye shadow as I won it in a Barry M 'goody bag' a few weeks ago. Its quite similar to Toasted but slightly more grey and it is slightly more purple toned. As this is a pigment, it's very easy to blend and can create such a stunning eye look. I larrrrve it.

Swatches: L-R, No7 Truffle, UD Toasted, UD Smog, Sleek Storm Navy, Barry M

What are your top 5 eye shadows? I would love to know!

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

MUA Pro Starry Night Palette

2011-08-31T20:00:00.001+01:00

As I said in my Primark video, the Superdrug in my city doesn't actually carry the MUA pro line so we have to make do with the normal £1 range. So as I headed over to Newcastle last week, I thought it might be a nice opportunity to see whether anything from the range jumped out at me. I had had my eye on this palette for a while so I bought it before I would regret not getting it! I think it's a bit like 'Heaven and Earth's' unloved sister, but I think the colours are so much nicer and unique.

Let the colours speak for itself...

Aren't they beautiful? What I love about the shades is that they are so versatile as they can be worn throughout the day time, but can also transform into a beautiful and sultry evening look.

Swatches are in the same order of where they are placed in the palette.

Pros-

-Very pigmented colours

- Easy to blend

-A gorgeous array of colours

- So cheap (£3.99!)

Cons-

-Some colours are very similar and can tend to look the same once swatched

-Packaging is a bit flimsy

-Some of the eye shadows are a bit powdery and produce a bit of fall out

So overall for the price? Go for it! They are only £3.99 and they are great eye shadows so you aren't losing anything, just gaining a beautiful new palette.

Have you tried this palette? Or are neutral shades your thing?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

By the way, I'm off on holiday tomorrow morning at 4am so I have prepared scheduled posts for when I'm away. Hope you enjoy them and hope you all stay well xxx

Bank holiday happenings

2011-08-29T20:00:00.001+01:00

So it's a bank holiday in England today! I was meant to be working today, but it was a bit of a kerfuffle so now I'm not. Shame, as it was double time, but never mind because I have been SO busy anyways. So this is just a bit of a rambly post telling you what I've been getting up to today.

1. Rejoicing.

As I wake up every morning, I knock twitter on straight away on my ipod because it REALLY helps me wake up (does any one else do this?!) and today I saw a number of tweets regarding this topic. BEYONCE IS PREGNANT. I'm a massive Beyonce fan and have seen her twice (once with fan club tickets!). The photo is of my mahuuuuusive poster of her in my room which I bought from when I went to see her. This very blog is also named after one of the titles of her amazing songs 'Flaws and All', obviously. I know she has wanted a child for ages but was just finding the right time in her career for her to do so. Her and Jay are going to be brilliant parents, I know they absolutely dote on her younger nephew! I've also just watched the video of her announcing her pregnancy and it made me cry hahaha (fangirl moment). It wasn't due to Beyonce or Jay-Z, but Kanye West's reaction, it was so cute (also, look out for Gaga jumping in the background as her male alter ego, too funny. So congrats to them both!

2. Baking.

A couple of weeks ago, Connor's Grandad sadly passed away so we are going to see his Grandma before we go on holiday to give her a little bit of company. I've only met her once, but hopefully she will be happy to see us both. Her house obviously resembles a florists shop at the moment so I thought it would be nice to take her some biscuits instead (She isn't having all these though, I'm saving some for when I come off my diet muahaha). The larger biscuits are Ginger and Honey snaps which I made from a recipe out of my favourite baking book:

The smaller biscuits are Shrewsbury biscuits, my Grandma always makes them and they are so gorgeous. Just a plain biscuit (also added some sultanas to another batch) so they are so easy to make. Literally 20 seconds ago as of writing this, my Dad just popped his head around my window and shouted 'LOVELYYY' and gave me a thumbs up, so I think he likes them! Shame I can't really eatthem... which leads me very nicely onto the next point:

3. Dieting.

As I mentioned a few posts back, I have been dieting this week in time for my holidays. I am on the Ketogenic Diet which is a high intensity no/low carb diet used by bodybuilders to reduce body fat before competitions (Connor suggested this to me as he is a massive gym/nutrition addict). It's actually gone so well so far and I have lost 6lbs in 5 days. However, it was hard at work on Saturday and Sunday as I basically work in a sweet shop... I resisted though! However the hardest thing is the support from my parents... I am slim and healthy anyways, but I just wanted to lose a few more lbs as I could enjoy my food on holidays. Never mind. I think they now know 5 days into the diet that I haven't had any bad side effects of it and I'm not starving myself! I'm probably eating more than normal. I'm living on chicken, eggs, bacon, sugar free jelly and nuts, yum yum!

4. Trying to sort out this monstrosity

I go on holiday on Thursday and I haven't packed yet! I have just thrown stuff into my suitcase and hoped for the best... So I WILL sort it out today. I'm normally so organised but I think it's because I've already been away once this year so it doesn't feel like I'm going away again. It's weird because I'm normally really organised when it comes to things like this!

So, what have you been up to this bank holiday Monday? (if it is one where you are!) Have you been a busy bee like me?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

A beautiful vintage discovery

2011-08-26T20:00:00.003+01:00

Whilst glancing around the charity shops out of the city centre today, I found some actual gems. Meet my lovely new vintage skirt. I presume it's vintage because there is a bit of wear on the seams and it has an old label on it.

I think it was only £1 too so it's just such a gorgeous little bargain. With vintage clothing, I love the idea that each piece has it's own little story as it's been owned by another person before I got my hands on it. Someone could have found out they passed their degree or been proposed to in this skirt and I think the idea of that is really sweet.

I also bought the bag, I don't think it's vintage though... not overly sure. But it's pretty and that's all that matters. Especially with all the mustard hues gracing the clothes racks in high street shops, I thought that it would be a good little bag to buy. Best of all, I think it was only 50p. Whaaat. This is why I love charity shops. *edit* I just realised that the bag says 'Pierre Balmain' on it. If you follow me on twitter then you will have witnessed my "OMG JUST FOUND OUT THE BAG I GOT IN A CHARITY SHOP TODAY FOR 50p IS BALMAIN" (totally playing it cool) Then reality kicked in and I realised that there was probably 99.9% chance that it was a fake. Boo.

Credit to Connor for the photos, I think he's done a smashing job considering he hasn't had much experience with the manual settings on a camera (credit to me for editing them though, I don't think he's ever opened photoshop in his life!)

Oh yeah, I do know that the purple and navy doesn't go at all, but I couldn't be bothered changing my top. I could just use the excuse that I was trying to be fashionable and clashing colours?!?

What's the best thing you've ever bought in a charity shop?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

No7 Polish in Oyster

2011-08-24T17:20:00.001+01:00

I've actually had this polish for ages...when I mean ages, I mean a couple of years. I just don't seem to wear it that much because it just doesn't seem like a stand out colour to me among my collection. However, I should wear it more because it is actually such a pretty colour.

Application was ok, it's not the most pigmented of polishes but it doesn't seem to require 45 million coats so I'm not too fussed. It did take a while to dry though, which really annoys me in a polish. I wasn't expecting it to take that long as I painted them before I went to bed. However it took AGES so I smudged my thumb nail on something so I had to do it again! To save drying time, I put Seche Vite just on that nail (put my beloved Sally Hansen on the others) and it dried in an instant. However, 3 days later, the only which has chipped is the thumb nail. Coincidence? Sally Hansen top coat- 1 Seche Vite- 0. My hate for Seche Vite continues.

Anyways, this is a really pretty colour and perfect for every day wear. What do you think?

If you have a Boots no7 voucher to spare, they polishes are only about £2 with a voucher! Bargain!

In other news, I start my diet tomorrow. It's a low carb high impact (only a week) diet and I'm quite nervous. So basically this week I am eating chicken, tuna, greens and nuts. Yummmmmm. And a bit of watermelon as it's a low carb fruit. Hopefully I can stick it for a week. If anyone else has done a low carb/high protein diet, please leave me some food suggestions! I will love you forever.

Also, poor Sheba was stuck outside in the rain today and peering through my window. I wanted to bring her in and cuddle her. If only she was my cat and was allowed indoors :( :(

Lots of love
Amy
xxx

Superdrug Vitamin E hot cloth cleanser

2011-08-19T14:16:00.005+01:00

I had read many good reviews on this product and as my beloved no7 hot cloth cleanser was running out, I thought it would be the ideal opportunity to try it.

Unlike the no7 cleanser, this comes in a squuezy tube. Now I don't have a massive problem with this, I quite like it actually, but I like the no7 pump slightly better because it's easier to see how much product is left and it's also easier to get the product out with wet hands. The cleanser comes with a muslin cloth to help remove the cleanser, but I never use these because I find that flannels are a lot better for doing this.

When I bought this, I didn't realise that it was for 'dry to normal skin'... I have very oily skin so there was a massive chance that my skin just isn't going to like it. I have broken out really badly in the last week and there is a good chance that it is down to this product as it's very moisturising, but I can't be 100% certain in saying that.

The scent of this is very unique for a skin care product, I think it smells like the chocolate bars 'Bounty'. It isn't coconut overload, but there is definitely a sweet hint and it's a very 'holiday smelling' product. The cleanser itself is very thick and really nice to use, nicer than the no7 one I think. It's brilliant at removing all traces of make up too, including pesky mascara!

So would I reccommend this? For people with oily skin, no. But if you have normal or dry skin then give it a go! It's only £2.99 at the moment so it's hardly breaking the bank. I might pull this out again in winter to give it another go, it's such a shame that it just doesn't cater to my skin type in the summer because I really think I would like it otherwise!

Have you tried this? What's your favourite hot cloth cleanser?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx

E.l.f Bubblegum polish

2011-08-17T19:49:00.005+01:00

Hello everyone. Hope everyone is enjoying their week and looking forward to the weekend! I am stopping at Connor's for 3 days so I'm enjoying a little change of surroundings (even though it's only 10 minutes away from my house!).

Today I am wearing E.l.f's polish in Bubblegum, which is a pink very true to it's name! It's cheap and cheerful and a gorgeous colour which will make me feel summery even though the weather isn't brilliant and the shops are stocked with beautiful tan and plum Autumn pieces (even though I haven't been on holiday yet so shopping for bikinis is a nightmare!)

Application was lovely, really nice and creamy and only needed 2 coats. Drying time wasn't too bad either. I really do like e.l.f polishes you know, but they do tend to chip easily if they don't have a good topcoat on it.

This polish is £1.50 from http://www.eyeslipsface.co.uk

Meanwhile, I have been a bit snap happy today. Enjoy some of the images I have snapped:

Our topiary rabbit 'Roger'

Took a million photos of flowers, I really think they are the best things to photograph

Also took a gazillion photos of Sheba, she's a beaut isn't she??

She thinks she is a tiger

Silly cat

Finally, I took some photos of Connor's dog Murphy, what a lovely chap he is.

Not too bad considering I got the camera a week ago today?

Lots of love

Amy

xxx