I've not done a Beauty Wish List before, and as I've been finding more and more products that I want but, alas, cannot afford, I thought I would console myself by writing about them, in the hope that the Beauty Fairy might come along and drop them by me one day!
1. Tanya Burr Lips and Nails Collection
To be honest, I'd like pretty much anything from YouTube Beauty sensation Tanya Burr's new collection, but the things that have taken my particular interest are a few of her polishes: Peaches and Cream (in the photo), Little Duck, Mini Marshmallows, Bright and Early and Mischief Managed.
2. The Body Shop Coconut Eau de Toilette
Coconut is one of my favourite scents, and after they discontinued the coconut oil spray stuff they had a few years ago, I've been waiting for something as delicious as that one smelled to replace it!
3. Elizabeth Arden 8-Hour Cream
This has been on my list for a whiiile. At this time of year, my lips get so, so chapped and my skin can get very dry, and after hearing over and over again how incredible this stuff is, I need to get my hands on it!
4. The Body Shop Banana Conditioner
Another scent I love is banana! I've battled with Soap and Glory Glad Hair Day conditioner, and I think it smells divinely like bananas (I don't know if it's meant to!) but unfortunately it just doesn't agree with my hair, so I've been wanting to find a banana conditioner that smells just as good and manages my mane!
5. Stila 24-Hour Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner
Ever on the search for the perfect long-wear eyeliner for my oily lids, I've read many good reviews about this, so think it's about time I give it a try!
6. Urban Decay Eye Primer
Something which will be an old favourite for many, but I've never had the privilege of using! As I've just mentioned, my eyelids can become oily, so wearing shadow with no base isn't only a problem for pigmentation, but after a few hours, it has usually slid around so much that it looks like I'm not wearing any at all! I neeeed this in my life. Not want. Need. (Oh dear...)
Have you tried any of these things? Would you recommend them or are they a disappointment? What are your Beauty Wants for Spring?
It
was almost a whole year ago when I did my first Amazing Weekend post, and honestly I wasn’t planning on writing
another, but after this weekend, I just have to. I feel so thankful today that
I feel I must put it into writing!
*WARNING* This is going to be a very soppy post! :)
Basically,
a couple of weeks ago I got some bad news about a close family friend who I’ve
known basically my whole life. It was very difficult and emotional for me not
being at home with my family, or being able to go to the funeral on Friday and
all the while having tonnes of work
to do for school.
However,
coincidentally, one of my absolute best friends, Lucia – who, incidentally, featured
in My Amazing Weekend #1 and currently
lives in Cyprus with her husband – came over to the UK this weekend and her
first port of call was with me! I feel so honoured that she wanted to use a
whole quarter of her trip to come and stay with me in London as she has plans
to see so many people this week, and
even moreso that she came to see me first. It couldn’t have been better
timing as, after an especially tear-filled Friday, this weekend has been filled
with laughter, catch-ups and junk food.
She
arrived on Saturday night and although her flight was unfortunately delayed by
over an hour she made it safely to Ealing, I met her at the tube station and we
proceeded to head home for a spaghetti bolognese dinner and catch-up.
Yesterday
we had a fairly early start and a relaxed morning getting ready together and
chatting, after which we went into town to do a bit of shopping and met up with
2 of her friends/bridesmaids, Rose and Cat. We headed to Bond Street and
managed to get a couple of things on Lucia’s extensive shopping list (shopping in Cyprus is apparently so much
more expensive, it’s just not worth it!), then headed to Waterloo to meet the
girls for some grub. We went to Vapiano,
which I’d not been to before, and had a beautiful Italian lunch. Lucia was so
lovely and treated me, and the food was just stunning (I had the Pesto con
Spinaci Pizza if you check out the menu here),
affordable and the ambiance was great (with basil pots on every table!). I
certainly hope to go there again.
We
followed lunch with a coffee at Pret a
Manger, then said goodbye to Rose and Cat, who both had other evening
engagements. So we headed back to Bond Street to find Lucia some new make-up. I
had a great time checking out all the stands without spending a penny! Lucia
opted for some NARS Sheer Matte foundation
in Monte Blanc, some NARS Pro Prime Multi-Protective primer
and Benefit They’re Real mascara (an
old favourite). I’ll make sure to get her opinion on the NARS products once she’s
had a chance to try them out properly! We headed home and had a lovely chilled
out evening, with lots of junk food and nail-painting, then fell asleep in
front of Silver Linings Playbook (one
of my favourite films).
I
dropped Lucia off at the station on my way to school this morning, and although
I was very sad to see her go, I’d had such a great weekend and felt so much
love for her, I just couldn’t help but feel happy!
Thank you so much Lucia for cheering me up and making this weekend wonderful! xxx
Bride and Maid-of-Honour on Lucia's Big Day last August
So
that was my weekend; how was yours? Tell me about your besties! I can’t wait
for My Amazing Weekend #3, whenever it
may come!
I've just spent the last half-hour doing my nails all pretty and Valentine's-inspired! So I thought I would share it with you :) Unfortunately my camera has died (waaaa) so the photo has been taken on my pants phone-camera. (I've also just noticed that I have nail varnish all over my thumb, woops!)
Base coat: Nailtiques Protein Formula 2 Block colour: Barry M "Matte White" Love-hearts: Max Factor Nailfinity in "Red Passion" Dots: Barry M "Bright Pink" Top coat: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
My, did January fly! I can't believe it has come and gone in what feels like a matter of seconds. Since starting back on the 2nd Jan, I have been a very busy bee at
school and feel like a big Wendy-shaped sponge soaking up tonnes of info and
absolutely loving it. My Drama School really is AWESOME. Anyway, after
Christmas and December shopping, I have quite a few favourites to share with
you, so let’s get started!
Seche Vite
First on the list is an old favourite of many bloggers and
YouTubers alike: the amazingSeche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. Like I
say, for fans of beauty blogs and YouTube channels, this is old news and a
long-time Holy Grail nail-product, but after requesting one for Christmas, this
is my first time using it. And I don’t actually know how on earth I managed
without this for so long!! I’m one of those people who has their nails painted
all the time, and I re-do them every 2-4 days. Usually, I’ll do them just
before bed to wind down (painting nails is so relaxing!), but of course that
isn’t great when you’re about to get under the duvet, risking spoiling your bed
sheets and – more importantly – your nails!! It dries so incredibly fast
(rock-hard within a few minutes), and leaves your nails feeling so
strong and shiny. I love this stuff and hope to never be without it ever again!
Nails Inc polishes
Staying on the subject of nails, I got a whopping 14 Nails Inc polishes from my sister for
Christmas, bringing my collection to 32 (all from gifts!). I have been working
my way through them and realised that they are definitely my number 1,
favourite nail brand. Every single colour I have is wearable, its formula is
fantastic making it last for ages before chipping, and most of the time I only
need to use 1 coat as it is so pigmented, ultimately meaning that the bottle
will last longer!
<< Here are 3 of my favourites Nails Inc. polishes: (l-r) King Edward Street,Trafalgar Crescent and Brompton Place.
L’Oréal Micellar Water
I only learnt about Micellar Water a few months ago from
reading about Bioderma, which, at the
time, was not available to buy in the UK. Recently, brands like B. (at Superdrug) and Garnier have brought out dupes for this
hyped-about cleanser, so I picked up the L’Oréal
version from Superdrug a few weeks ago. Basically, I really, really like it! It
cleanses my skin without feeling like it’s attacking
my pores (like many non-rinse cleansers do), it removes most of my make-up
thoroughly and it leaves my skin feeling soft and clean without feeling dry.
The only downside is that it seriously struggles to remove my waterproof
mascara, but I’ll just continue to use my trusty make-up wipes for that!
Soap and Glory Pulp Fiction
This was another gift at Christmas. This is by far the best
body-scrub I have ever used. It smells lovely and fruity; its super-thick
formula means that it almost clings to your skin so it won’t be wasted by
slipping down the plughole before you’ve got the benefit of it; and as I have
naturally oily skin (on my body as well as my face) I really like how it hasn’t
got any overbearing oils in it but still manages to moisturise. My skin feels
lovely, soft and fresh after use. I highly recommend!
Lee Stafford Breaking Hair Treatment
I generally use this about twice a week, and I think it has
done wonders for my hair! When I was given it, I thought it was a leave-in
conditioner but it’s actually a treatment that you leave on your hair for 5
minutes after your shampoo, before rinsing off and applying your conditioner.
My hair naturally gets split-ends quite easily, so I always use tonnes of
conditioner and a bit of serum in
attempt to avoid getting so many so quickly. But even without tonnes of
conditioner and serum, this stuff makes my hair look and feel like I’ve just
come back from a cut and blow-dry at the hairdresser’s! I see no split-ends,
like they’ve been cut off or actually repaired, and the rest of my hair is soft
and shiny. Really impressed.
Disney’s Frozen
If you’ve read many of my past posts, you’ll probably
already know that I, like many, am a big fan Disney. I saw Frozen a couple of weeks ago, and have been pretty much obsessed
ever since. I listen to the soundtrack on YouTube every morning before school,
then I sing the songs all day, then listen to it even more when I come home! I
can’t wait until the DVD comes out (supposedly in March/April) as I hate not
being able to afford to go to the cinema to see it every day!
(Taken from Google Images)
Shakespeare!
I have learnt so much
Shakespeare at school this month.
I posted about how much I was getting into
Shakespeare just from reading a few of his plays almost a year ago (read the
post here), and now I’ve actually been taught a tonne about him, I love him even more! The man was a
GENIUS. Now I am starting to fully understand why his plays are so incredible
and put on so much. I have just finished working on and performing in Macbeth
(of course one of his best-known tragedies) where I played the infamous Lady
Macbeth in a couple of scenes, the role of which I would love to play fully in
my future professional career. Apparently, another film-version of Macbeth is
to be released this year, so I’m excited to see that. I started work on The Comedy of Errors this past week, and am already having a great time with it! Looking forward to seeing how the whole thing will turn out. And to
magnificently top all of the Shakespeare-ness off, 2 weeks ago I got up at 4.20am (on a Saturday!) and
made the journey to the Barbican Theatre for 6am to wait in queue for 4.5 hours
to get a £10-ticket for the matinee (and penultimate) performance of the Royal
Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard
II, starring David Tennant. Well… words cannot describe how much I enjoyed
it, but to give you an idea of how good it was, once it finished and the
applause started, I was so overwhelmed, I automatically rose to my feet and burst
into tears. The company was incredible and David was OUTSTANDING. I am so glad I managed to see it; it was well-worth
the effort!
Here's a great modern version of Brush Up Your Shakespeare from Kiss Me Kate (by Cole Porter).
So those are my favourites from throughout January. What were yours? Have a wonderful February, everyone! :)
