JOTD

Pearl Bracelet - Primark

Bow Earrings - ASDA

Necklace - Can't Remember 

I also want to say a huge thanks to Katie for picking me as the winner of her competition. Sadly I can't make it to the event but i'm really grateful for the opportunity.

x

Save A Life, Give Blood

This is a non beauty related post but I really wanted to share it.

I gave blood a few weeks ago for the first time and I want to share my experience with you all. Before I went I was nervous as I was expecting it to hurt but they really proved me wrong! I'd rather give blood than have a filling at the dentist!

It took around an hour (although they were running late), this included having my finger pricked to check I had enough iron in my blood, discussing my health questionnaire, giving the blood (this took 10 mins) and having a drink and a biscuit afterwards.

If you are in good health, are aged between 17 and 60 and weigh over 7st12 then I would definetly consider giving blood.

There is no pressure to give blood so you could always go along to a session and see if it's for you - my mum came with me but didn't donate so you could go with a few friends. The nurses who run the sessions are lovely and are always grateful for every donation, they will answer any questions you have and make sure everything goes well.

A few weeks after you donate you should receive a letter in the post which tells you what blood group you are and a little blood donor card. My blood group is A- only 7% of the population have this blood group so it's quite rare. There is a reward scheme for regular donors - you can find more details about this here. 

The blood website has a huge range of info about it so i'd have a look if you're interested. You can also book your first appointment online using the new Blood Donor Online service.

Below are some links that I found useful:

Find your nearest venue

Donor health check (see if you can give blood)

Watch the virtual session (animation)

Enrol as a blood donor

If you have any questions please leave a comment and i'll get back to you :) 

Snowy NOTD

Barry M Flamingo Pink with Konad M57 Leopard Print Pattern 

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Products I Regret Buying & A Special Mention

I don't buy a lot of bad products really, most of the ones I buy are recommendations and i'm pretty careful with my money anyway so I try not to make many mistakes. That said, there are a few products to show you.

1. No17 Lipstick in Dare To Bare
I hate this lipstick! When I picked up the tester I thought 'shame it's got someone elses lipstick on it' I then swatched it & it looked like a nice nude so I decided to buy it. When I got home I tried it out, it looked quite nice and not like concealer lips which is always a bonus. Fast forward about an hour, and my lips were bright pink! I couldn't believe it! I hadn't done anything except apply a nude lipstick! It turns out the 'lipstick' that I thought was smeared on the tester was actually the true colour - this was obvious when I checked my lipstick - once it touches moisture it changes the colour. I doubt that this is the intention of this product - it's not a nice surprise anyway! So don't waste your £3.49 on this, it's not what you'll expect!


2. Colortrend Pressed Powder
This was one of the first pressed powders I tried but sadly wont be using again. I'm quite pale but I thought getting translucent and not translucent tan would be ok. I was wrong, it made me orange. It also smells a bit funny, I can't work out whether I like it. This product would only suit a few people and as there are only 2 colours to choose from its unlikely many people will find a good colour match. This is £3.75 from Avon.


3. No17 Nail Polish in Moonstruck (£2.99)
I bought this a while ago when grey nails were really on trend. I was really disappointed when I put it on my nails and they were metallic! I felt like a robot with metal fingers! This isn't really a bad product it's just my bad colour choice so although I don't like it, some of you might. Im thinking of using it with my Konad instead as it might not look as bad as a pattern. I managed to get Wham by Collection 2000 which was the colour I was looking for originally.

Happy 2nd Birthday Parsley! (she's not a product I regret buying ;))

NOTD - ASOS Paint by Ciate in Mary Kate

After wearing Collection 2000's Big Hair all week I thought it was time for a change. After a few requests from my haul post my nails are now sporting ASOS Paint by Ciate in Mary Kate. I love how it looks black until you catch the glittery bits in the light.

What are you wearing on your nails?

x

Review: Skin MD Naturals Moisturiser

This product has been sent to me to review. 

I know this product has been 'doing the rounds' on blogger recently so some of you might not be interested in reading this. This is the first product I have been offered to review and as i've been using lots of different moisturisers and body butters recently I thought i'd give it a go.

The product is priced at £14.99 for a 250ml bottle. In my opinion this is expensive for a moisturiser so I did have high expectations of it.

It has quite a thin consistency so a little bit goes a long way. It has a 'clean' smell but it isn't strong so would probably be a good product for people with sensitive skin. I put some on my hands and it made them really soft but with a rubbery feel - this sinks into your skin fairly quickly so it's not really a problem.

My brother suffers from really bad dry skin on his hands and he saw an improvement in it after using this for a few days.

This product is brilliant for people who have dry skin as it is moisturising for a long amount of time. I think this would be a worthwhile product to purchase for people who suffer from skin conditions as it will last a long time and makes a noticeable difference.

There are quite a few scientific claims made by the company; I agree with most of these in the sense that it isn't just a moisturiser but also that it shields your skin preventing it from getting dry.

When i've used up this bottle I will consider re-purchasing but I still think that it is expensive for £14.99. I haven't seen any similar products to this so I think this product would be a good purchase for people with dry skin or eczema.

For more information about the brand and their products, please click here. 

Cupcakes!

I was inspired by all the lovely cupcakes people have been posting recently so I thought i'd make some myself. I was quite pleased with how they turned out and they taste as good as they look!

How to make them:

Ingredients:

115g (4oz) Sugar

115g (4oz) Butter/Margarine

115g (4oz) Self Raising Flour

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

A few drops of pink food colouring

You can see how I made them below:

For a better recipe click here

To make the frosting you will need:

80g Butter

250g Icing Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

If you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment :)

Valentines Purchases

I went shopping to find something to wear for a night out last week and as usual, ended up picking up some other things too.

Primark:

Floral Print Bangle - £2.50

Silver Earrings - £2.00

I also got some plain black pumps

Lush:

Magic Mushroom - £2.25

The Ex Factor - £1.95

Sugar Scrub - £2.70

& lastly, Happy Valentines Day! 

x

Happy Birthday thisiscaz!

I can't believe it's been a year since I first started blogging! It's amazing to think of how far i've come - I would never have believed i'd get over 100 followers let alone 400! Thank you all so much!

I started my blog accidentally; I wanted to follow other bloggers but ended up setting up a blogging account. I wrote my first post on Friday February 13th (not such an unlucky day!) and looking back it was actually about music.

I've written just over 100 posts which to me doesn't sound like a lot but for the first few months I wrote very little. My first beauty related post was a review of the Lee Stafford Shine Spray which is still a product I love today!

Thanks again for reading my blog and being so supportive, I love being a part of this community and every single comment I get makes me smile. Hopefully i'll be writing a similar post in a years time.

xxx

*Don't forget to enter my 1 Year of Blogging/ 250 400 Follower giveaway here*

Beauty Judge UK Beauty Awards!

I'm so excited! I've been nominated for an award in the category  “The Everyday Woman Award” in the Beauty Judge UK Beauty Blog Awards.This category is for up-and-coming beauty bloggers and vloggers, with under 500 followers/subscribers. It would be amazing if you could vote for me! I'm up against a lot of other amazing bloggers so I don't mind if you want to vote for them instead (I think you can vote for 2). I'm not sure if I got nominated for this by one of my followers but if I did thank you so much! 

Click here to vote - my voting ID is EWA1078

Every voter is in with the chance to win a fantastic hamper of prizes including the ones below! 

For more info about the awards click here

Thank You to everyone who votes - your support means a lot :) 

Nice Things from ASDA

I picked up a few nice things from ASDA yesterday which I thought i'd share with you:

George Swallow Earrings

There are so many nice pieces of jewellery in ASDA at the minute - I love the nautical earrings and necklaces! I've seen lots of similar Swallow earrings in places like TopShop and Accessorize so I thought i'd get these as they were only £2!

N-Spa Kisses Limited Edition Strawberry Bubble Bath

I've heard lots of nice things about this range and as it smells like Strawberry Milkshake I couldn't resist! It's Limited Edition for Valentines Day and there are 2 other flavours to choose from: Champagne and Chocolate. I think this was £1 which is really good for 500ml especially as the regular 500ml bubble baths in the range cost nearly £3.00. 

I also picked up 2 more bottles of nail polish remover as they are 2 for £1 :)

Have you found anything nice in supermarkets recently?

ASOS Nail Polishes

I made a little order with ASOS as I liked a few of the nail polishes in their sale.

ASOS Paint by Ciate in Mary-Kate - black with gold glitter

ASOS Paint by Ciate in Agyness - purple metallic

These were £2 each, reduced from £6 - I mainly bought them for the cute packaging!

You can get them here - now £1.50

Models Own Set - £2

This was a bargain as these polishes are £5 each on the website!

The set came with Red Alert and Carat Gold 

These are my first Models Own polishes so im excited to try them :)

You can get them here

I'd recommend getting the Super Saver delivery (£1.95) as it only took 2 days to arrive! I also got 20% off using the code ASOSINSTYLE but im not sure how long it lasts for.

xx

250 Followers Giveaway! (Closed)

I've finally sorted out some prizes for my 250 Follower / 1 Year of blogging giveaway!
My blog is 1 year old on February 13th (yes it was a Friday when I started it!) so maybe not such an unlucky day! I can't believe that i'm actually thanking over 250 people for following my blog so thank you so much for all your lovely comments and support!
I've tried to find a selection of prizes so if you win at least there will be something in there you'll like :)
Here's what i'm giving away: 

Sleek Storm Palette

The Body Shop Strawberry Body Butter

Barry M Lipgloss (number 1)

ELF lipstick in Natural Nymph

Lush Comforter Bubble Bar

Lee Stafford Poker Straight Shampoo

Revlon Nail Polish in Sequin

Burts Bees Lip Balm
Boots £10 Gift Card (not pictured)

Some of the products in the picture are my own; I will be purchasing brand new ones for the winner :)

To enter: 

- You must be a follower

- Write 'Enter Me' into the comments below

- For an extra entry write a blogpost, leave a link in your blog's sidebar or tweet about this (leave a link in your comment if you do this)

My giveaway ends on Saturday 28th February at Midnight GMT so you have around a month to enter :) It is open internationally and I will be picking the winner using random.org 

Good Luck! 

x