Beauty update

I've had some fantastic new additions to my beauty kit recently that I thought I would share my thoughts on.

I know that every man & his wife have the Naked shadows... however I had to join them &  yup I love them too! I picked up the Naked 2 palette as I think it's the best colour mix for paler skin. Since I've had the set all of my other shadows have been made redundant. I can't recommend this enough! I also think this makes a great present.

I've recently replaced my trust St Tropez for the Cocoa Brown 1 hour tan. This has a lot to do with my last minute decisions to do a tan. I think this is fantastic & have even been known to put this on before going to work! I personally don't think the developing smell is too strong. It's also good to know that I only need to leave it on for one hour before I can shower of the top layer.

On one of my more rushed days I actually put this on before a gym class and showered after. Although I wouldn't recommend it, it did actually work and saved me from showing off my pale Scottish skin! 

Finally, when i was in america I picked up this ultra repair cream. I picked mine up in Sephora. This is a really handy cream to have around, I have been using this whenever my skin flairs up. It's done a good job of moisturising and calming down my irritated skin. Considering my skin was at it's worst when I picked this up, I was really impressed. 

Have you used any of these products? What did you think?

A long weekend in Milan

I recently had a lovely weekend in Milan with my mum ... to celebrate a rather big birthday (for her)!

One of the best things that we did was the food tour. We were really lucky to have a day when it was just me, my mum and the guide. We were taken around a range of different foodie places & even included a wee Aperitivo! Aperitivo is my absolute favourite part of Italy. Our guide was so enthusiastic and gave us so many ideas for the weekend - I really felt like we learnt a lot from the tour.  

The tour really informed the rest of our trip & we ended up spending a lot of time in the Brera district. Mostly looking in shoe shops and tasting the Prosecco!  We visited N'ombra de vin - where we had a lovely glass of prosecco. We spent quite a lot of our time admiring the Milano fashion, The D&G Martini bar & Armani hotels were fantastic places to check out the fashion.

Our one very touristy activity was going to the roof of the Duomo. The views are absolutely unmissable!

xxx

Moisturiser switch up

After finishing my latest Elemis Pro Collagen  moisturiser I decided (again) to try to find a more affordable substitute. 

I've been through this process quite a few times but I always return to Elemis slightly disappointed in the rivals. This time I ordered Emma Hardie AM/PM moisturiser to see if it was up to the challenge!

The 50ml size was much more resonable than my normal 30ml Pro Collagen moisturiser. I ordered this from Feel Unique and got the normal super quick delivery. Time to get testing!

So far I am really enjoying using this moisturiser. It's thicker than Pro Collagen however I don't find it too thick on my skin. The moisturiser absorbs quickly making it easy to wear under make up. I tend to put on a little more at night. Plus, the smell is Devine!

Now that I've tried this I'm not surprised I've heard a lot about Emma Hardie. I certainly want to try her cleansing balm now.

So will AM/PM moisturiser replace My staple Elemis Pro Collagen? I'm not sure that I would go that far ....but I am sure I will be using this in between my ProCollagen  splurges!! 

Getting out of our food rut

Sometimes we fall into the worst food ruts... you know when you eat the same thing every night! More pasta pesto anyone?  

I've been making an effort recently to switch things up and try to have a few more exciting dinners. I thought I would try to share a few of my ideas and recipes with you.

I always aim to make something quick that I can throw together after the gym, the other night  home made fishcakes were on the menu for the first time.

My first attempt at fishcakes - tasted pretty good too!

I was surprised how easy these were to make.

Combine mashed potato and cooked salmon with some Piri Piri sauce (to add a little spice!!) chives and seasoning. Once fully mixed through this mixture can be shaped into fishcakes and breadcrumbed. At this point I did have a small panic that we would end up with glorified mash - trust me with persistence the shapes will hold!  Dip the fishcakes into the flour, followed by egg & breadcrumbs. Once complete fry off the fishcakes and serve with salad & a slice of lemon.

Let me know if this recipe works for you too!

xxx

Flower School

I spent my evening a couple of nights ago at an Easter Flower workshop. I had such a lovely night & I wanted to share it with you. I wasn't sure what to expect when we signed up for flower arranging... was it going to be full of old biddies making floral displays for their front rooms?

I have to say it was the opposite! bringing the cool to flower arranging! The class was around 3 hours long and was held in a big empty warehouse in Edinburgh. With a few well placed decorations the warehouse was transformed into a more glamorous version of itself - ready for our attempts at making beautiful arrangements.

Lovely welcome to Narcissus Flower School!
Some potential wedding inspiration too?!

We were welcomed with a lovely glass of fizz when we arrived. They even a selection berries in the glasses - lovely! We were given a little time to enjoy our drinks before the first demonstration.

Some sparkles to start the evening

We were making a relaxed Easter display in a large vase followed by some Easter baskets and eggs. 

Now how to turn this pile of flowers into a lovely display....

What do you think? The aim was to have a relaxed floaty flower display. I struggled with this unstructured look at first however it's now really grown on me. Particularly as the tulips and blossom have bloomed.

Step two was the eggs & nests. I wasn't brave enough to balance mine on the arrangement!

I really enjoyed my evening and would highly recommend heading along to Narcissus Flower School!

xxx

Bed Head Haul!

I'm having a bit of a Bed Head moment in my house at the moment... as you can see! I've used Bed Head Masterpiece Hairspray for a few years now, at full price this is a little steep for a hairspray. Although it's the only hairspray that I turn to on almost a daily basis. I'm not sure if it's the great smell or the fact that my hair still feels natural after using it but either way I'm totally hooked on this hairspray despite the price tag.

Since I've enjoyed using other Bed Head products in the past (and there was an offer on) I thought I'd try out the Oh Bee Hive dry shampoo & Small Talk.

Again at full price I think Oh Bee Hive is a bit steep for a dry shampoo however having used it a couple of times I do really like it. It won't be replacing the trusty Batiste dry shampoo on weekdays however I think it's going to be  a handy addition to my hair arsenal! It does seam to add volume to my up do when I've used it, and I think there's less white powder left in my hair compared to other dry shampoos that I've used. That being said I did notice a couple of white strips in my ponytail a few hours after putting this in the first time.... lesson learned to be more careful! I'm a total sucker for the amazing smell of the Bed Head products and yet again I love the smell of this.

I picked up the Small Talk mini version for just $3... who couldn't resist that?!  After reading the bottle I wasn't exactly sure what the aim of this product was (yes I still bought it). Now I'm a little wiser and as I thought it is aimed to add body and volume. So far I've not been over impressed by this product, it's ok.  I normally use the Super Star Blow Dry Lotion and I don't think this is a patch on the lotion. I found the cream quite thick to run through my hair and I was conscious of avoiding product build up. I won't be pushing this to the back of my drawer yet, I think I'll be limiting this to days when I'm putting my hair up at the moment.

Finally, a non Bed Head product ... I'm sure you've heard enough from me on Bed Head for a while. I would highly recommend the Tangle Teezer brushes. I never thought I'd be such an advocate for these little brushes. I picked this up for after the gym, my hair is normally pretty good and doesn't knot up. However even for hair like mine this brush makes life so much easier. Plus it's small enough to throw into any handbag and for weekends away.

xxx

Skin perfection?

L'Oréal Paris Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution 

There's been a lot of blogs written about Micellar Water and they are the reason that I NEEDED to get my hands on some to try some for myself. The Boot's near me didn't have any (much to my distress!).  I was delighted when I popped into a Boots in London and found the L'Oreal version. You know that you're a beauty addict when you get this excited about cleanser!!   I've been using this for a couple of months now so I thought I would add in my tuppence worth....

The L'Oreal version wasn't the version that I was planning to buy, however I didn't have a lot of options so L'Oreal it was.  Plus it was less than £5 so I didn't feel guilty buying yet another cleanser. 

I don't have another water to compare to but I've been pretty impressed with this.  I've found this really handy to have in my cleansing armour I really like the natural feel of this and it's more soothing than my normal lazy day fall back on face wipes. The water is great as an addition to my normal cleansing routine  and I'm still on my first bottle, which is a bonus for my wallet too!

I did get lazy for a few days and only used this as a cleanser, for my skin this isn't good enough to keep my skin clear and I still found traces of make up even after 2-3 cleansing pads worth.... and I don't wear a lot of foundation! In that respect I don't think it lives up to "skin perfection".

 I will be keeping this in my routine as an addition to my cleansing routine to freshen up my skin/ sort me out on late nights and the perfect way to remove mascara!  I will be buying this again & I can't wait to try other versions. Have you tried this version, how does it compare?

xxx