Sunday round-up + OOTN

Yes, I am aware that I've been neglecting my blog just lately (although I am still reading). There are a number of reasons for that. Firstly my routine has become a teeny weeny bit more busy. For those that have been reading for a while, you know that I work Mon-Fri 9-5. I also have a house to run and a messy boyfriend to clean up after, so the slog doesn't end as soon as I step foot out of work, unfortunately. I have also been doing a lot of exercise these past few weeks in order to fight the flab ready for Vegas, so I've been spending roughly an hour every night getting nice and sweaty on my wii (for those that are interested, the weight is finally coming off, yay!). I have also got myself another little hobby so I spend an hour or so on that every night too.

Basically I'm a bit of a busy bee of late!

So, I've decided, for the time being I'm going to stick to a weekly Sunday post as that tends to be my quiet slob out day. And if you see any posts in between then you'll know I've somehow, from somewhere, found a little bit of precious time!

I hope everyone's enjoying this glorious sunshine, ooo, makes me feel all summery and motivated.

In the meantime I'll leave you with an outfit of the night (ok, well half of an outfit..). I went to yet another wedding reception last night and decided to wear a dress that has been nestling in my wardrobe with its tags still on for just under a year. I think the reason I havent worn it sooner is because its a little big loose for me round the neckline/shoulder area (hence the cardy to disguise it!). It has a little bit of netting underneath the dress which makes it a little poofy, but I thought the print and style was perfect for a wedding (although I did feel a little overdressed when I got there, what is it with weddings these days, no one seems to make any effort!).

Oh, and ignore the face on the 2nd photo, I had a mouth full of food! Whoops!

The clothing items/jewellery are more than a year old so there isn't much point in me listing where I purchased them from because you wont be able to get your mitts on them!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you mummy's out there, Happy Mother's Day!
I'm not a mother myself yet, but I made sure I was armed with gifts for my own mum this morning.

Money has been a little tight just lately, I've been having major car problems, and I ended up getting a speeding fine, being the little girl racer I am (I was doing 5mph over... harsh!) so I have that to pay. The joys of driving eh?! Also with it being my mum's birthday last week, and a chunk of birthdays coming up as well as my MOT, the cash isn't flowing as nicely as I'd like. Sooo I decided to be a little creative, and wrapped up an old glossy box in some pretty wrapping paper, and that was the basis of my mums gifts. I put a mixture of products in it, I admit the Molton Brown shower gel was from the most recent GlossyBox. I wasn't too keen on the smell so I figured why have it hanging around when I could pop it in there? I also bought a cute pink house plant to go with it which you can just see in the photo.

2 products that I included were from L'occatine's Enchanting Princess Cherry Collection that was released for Mother's Day. I think these (or anything from their range) are perfect for the older woman (although I could have easily kept the hand cream myself, it was divine!). The packaging is high quality, some being embossed with a floral pattern, and everything seems so elegant. The handcream retails at £7.50, which although a little on the pricey side, it definitely is worth it. The consistency is lovely and thick but absorbs fast, leaving the hands smelling so fresh with a hint of fruitiness. The silky body gel retails at £18, but this is for 250ml so should last a long time. They have a massive selection on their website and really do make perfect gifts, so go check them out! http://uk.loccitane.com/FO/Home.aspx

Hope everyone is having a lovely day whatever you may be doing.





FOTN: Wedding Reception

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend! Has everyone been experiencing this gorgeous sunshine today? I've even seen BBQ photo's on facebook... I don't think I'd push the boat out that much just yet!

My boyfriend has been away gallavanting on my brother's stag do since Friday and isn't due back till tomorrow so it's been pretty quiet round here. However I have managed to keep myself half busy... yesterday I spent wandering round a few shops with my mum and then last night I accompanied my friend (and also my future sister-in-law!) to her friends wedding reception as my brother was on his stag so she couldn't drag him! Today is my lovely mum's birthday, so we went round yet a few more shops so she could choose something she wanted. Its a pain having her birthday so close to Mother's Day, I run out of ideas fast!
Anyhow, I took a photo before I went to the wedding reception last night so thought I'd make a FOTN from it, as you do :-) Although I think all my FOTN's look pretty similar as I don't mix my make-up up that often..

Face - Estee Lauder Doublewear Foundation, Collection2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer
Eyebrows - HD Brow Kit (Carbon)
Eyes - Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet Mascara, Revlon fake eyelashes. Eyelids (even though you can't see them, stupid small eyes, I have Urban Decay 'Uzi' (which is a gorgeous silver with fleck of sparkle in) and 'Perversion' to create a smokey eye. These were both from the UD NYC Book. Eyeliner - Rimmel kohl pencil in black.
Cheeks - Elf studio blusher
Lips - Natural Collection 'Rose Bud' (I won this in a giveaway ages ago and wasn't very fond of it till I re-discovered it last night and decided I quite like it!).

Last night's wedding was decorated with heaps of shabby chic candles, lanterns, pretty bird cages and rose garlands everywhere, and anyone that knows me will know that was right up my street. I wish I took some pictures but because I was a guest and didn't know anyone but my friend and vaguely the bride, I wasn't very daring! But along with the fairy lights, it was so pretty. It gave me and my friend (who is the mother of my little niece) the chance to have a good catch up too. Its amazing how time flies.

March's Glossybox - 'Harrods Edition'

So excited to receive my box today, what a great start to the weekend!

I've learnt to avoid all blogs and facebook updates on glossybox spoilers, so apart from knowing the colour of the box, it was a complete surprise to me.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm used to the pale pink box that were regularly receive, but I think I prefer the glossy finish as opposed to the matte finish. Thinking about it, considering it's called 'Glossybox', why on earth aren't all the boxes glossy? This picture isn't showing its true colour, but for those of you that aren't aware, the Harrod's addition is a white box, which to me adds sophistication and luxury and feels a little more grown up than the pale pink?

Contents

Clarins Extra-Firming Body Cream. Lifts, tones, comforts. 30ml

YSL Youth Liberator serum. Anti wrinkle lift. Plump. Radiance. 5ml

Narciso Rodriguez - For her Eau De Parfum. 1ml

Burberry Lip Mist. 0.8g

Molton Brown Heavenly Gingerlily Moisture bath and shower Gel. 50ml

Sporting the Burberry lipstick

Opinions

Overall I am hugely impressed with this months box. There's a fantastic mixture and all very high end products.

My favourite product is the burberry lip mist. Absolutely adore the packaging and the colour is right up my street (I received 202 'Copper', although the photo above doesn't show its true colour so I added one of myself wearing it). Because this is a lip mist, you do have to apply several coats to achieve a noticeable finish, and because of this I'm a little worried due to the size of it and knowing it is going to reduce in size pretty fast! So I'm gonna keep this for my weekend break in London because it's the ideal travelling size.

The YSL youth liberator serum is yet another anti-ageing product, however I am going to give this a bash, simply because of the brand, haha.

The perfume I was a little apprehensive about because every perfume I have received from GB since it started last May, I have not liked any of the perfumes, so I thought this would be yet another one to join the never-ending pile of neglected scents, however I was pleasantly surprised. It's not something I would normally go for (I tend to like sweet girly smells), this is a little more grown-up, but I wouldn't put it into the category of the 'mature' lady, like I have the others. This is definitely another I will be taking away with me.

If I'm extra picky I could say that although Molton Brown being a high end well loved brand, I'm not too keen on the scent of this shower gel due to its spiciness. However that is down to personal preference but I'm still happy with the product I received :-)

Also the Clarins Extra firming body cream - due to its size, I'm guessing you probably wont be able to see huge results with this, I can imagine within a few applications this product will be gone before the magic can really start, (due to having to apply it all over the body) so if you're into your body firming products a repurchase would definitely be on the cards.

One more thing... for some reason the prices of full sized products weren't stated on the cards this month and I kinda missed that. Whether Harrods didn't want to put customers off before reaching their site who knows?!

Overall a great box and a great start to the weekend!

What did you receive this month? I love comparing boxes!



All you London pro's!

My boyfriend has surprised me with a weekend away to the West End in London to see a show. If any of you don't know, I live about 3-4hrs drive from London so I'm not a regular visitor there unfortunately. In fact I've only ever toured the city once before, and that was 3 years ago when we went to see Take That. There was so much that I wanted to do and see so we crammed as much as we could into the 3 days, but now I'm getting another chance to fill in the parts we missed out, I'm so excited and this is were I need you!

I'm not going till May, so I have a fair few weeks to plan, but because I found last time you spend half your time jumping on and off tubes, I want a little itinery going..

We're going just before my birthday, so hopefully the cash will be flowing nicely, so I want somewhere good to shop. I'm not talking mega expensive designer boutiques were all my money will go in one item kinda thing... I'm talking a good array of affordable high street shops. I also wouldn't mind sampling a good ol' market or two... I've heard good things about Camden market?

I need ideas on things I definitely need to see or do too. The only thing on my list so far is the Dungeons which I'm too excited about! I noticed London is laden with museums.. I can hack museums up to a certain extent, I tend to get a little impatient if they're not interactive (or don't include a ride!) and stand there wondering what I could be doing with my time whilst my boyfriend spends a lifetime looking at each and every individual thing. Yawn. In fact we did the Natural History Museum last time, and it did look pretty good, however my feet were torn to shreds with blisters from some silly shoes I purchased (and no, not heels!) so I had to sit on a bench for the majority of the time whilst he went round alone!

Unique places to eat... I get excited about eating somewhere different, but I'm looking for something unusual about a restaurant (affordable one at that) I've always wanted to go to one of those restaurants with the interactive menu's inside the tables! The only place I remember eating on our last visit was Giraffe which overlooked the Thames. The restaurant itself was pretty average but the Thames aspect of it added that little bit of excitement and luxury for me (you can tell I'm a tourist, haha).

I'm actually staying in the Earls Court area, so any recommendations on anything round that area would be grand!

So if any of you could recommend shopping areas, markets, things to do/see, and unusual restaurants that are all in an affordable price range then that would be great!

Hope everyone's having a good week! My days off work start today. I'm going for lunch soon with an old friend I haven't seen in months, so lots of gossip to catch up on, always good!