Lokai Bracelets

I stumbled upon these earlier, and I think they’re just the nicest idea I’ve come across in ages.

Lokai bracelets are just plastic clear beads (although there is a blue one that’s now available), one bead is black and the opposite bead is white. I believe the black one contains mud from the dead sea, and the white one contains water from Mt. Everest.

Image from mylokai.com

The idea is to remind you to remain balanced. The Dead Sea and Mt Everest are the lowest and highest points on Earth, symbolising the high and low points of your life. The Lokai bracelet reminds you to stay humble during life’s high points, and hopeful during the low points.

I just think it’s a lovely idea. I’m waiting for payday, because I need one.

They’re $18 on mylokai.com and if you’re from the UK, there are many on Ebay that are £15-20.

What do you guys think?

Beautiful Blogger Award

Hello! I hope you’re all having a wonderful half term filled Monday! 🙂

I was nominated by the fabulous Bambi Leigh  for the ‘Beautiful Blogger Award’! If you haven’t read Bambi Leigh’s blog before, you really are missing out! She has a wicked sense of humour and leaves me in stitches. So gogogo! 😀

As with most of these awards, there are a few ‘rules’… not too many this time luckily!

1) Display the Award logo on your blog.
2) Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them.
3) Nominate 7 other bloggers and say a little something about them.
4) Let them know they have been nominated.

SO, here are my lovely nominees! If you’ve never had the pleasure of having a read of the blogs below, I strongly urge you to pop over and have a look. I love them all to pieces and I hope you guys will too!

1. Little Awkward Fox: Her posts always make me smile, and she’s so honest and positive, even when I get the impression she isn’t feeling 100% about a situation. I hope her ‘take off’ goes well… Plus, she has the most gorgeous shade of hair colour ever! ❤

2. Beauty and Mi: Mimi provides me with my ‘reading on my lunch break’ material, her posts are so informative and easy to read, and I can safely say I’m addicted to her lovely little corner on the internet!

3. Just That Girl Online: Jess is a fellow Lush addict and has a wicked eye for a bargain, I love reading her blog. She also posts a mean cupcake recipe! 😉 I actually had the pleasure of meeting Jess at a blogger meet up a few months ago, and she was even lovelier in person. She’s on Blogger not WordPress, but she does have Bloglovin! *hinthint*

4. Thoughts and Things 1: I can’t remember when I started following Lizzie’s blog, but there is something very satisfying about reading it. She also regularly raises awareness for Epilepsy, which I think is brilliant, I have friends and I did have family with Epilepsy… So I think what she’s doing is bloody fantastic. Rock on sister!

5. That Little Blonde: She’s juggling university deadlines and blogging, but still managing to be fabulous. I love reading her blog, and think it’s amazing that she’s a secret Grease Monkey! (Although that’s not really a secret anymore!)

6. Confetti and Curves: Karen is absolutely gorgeous, and we have very similar tastes in jewelry and beauty products, so I often look longingly at her purchases. Her thoughts on things are always to point and no nonsense! She also hosts ‘Behind the Blog’ which satisfies my nosy side! (And is also how I stumbled upon Mimi’s beauty!) ❤

7. Beverbeee: I started following Beverley because she was a fellow shortcake and I was lacking in short person blogging advice. (I die a little inside when I see these long legged people posting fabulous long leg posts). She posts fab reviews and has a fellow hatred for Valentines day *virtual fist pump*!

You don’t have to accept the nomination, I do know these tags/awards are not everybody’s cups of tea, or coffee… Kayla threatened to serenade anyone who didn’t accept her nomination, but I’m not that brave. So, if you don’t accept, I will just do this face at you through my laptop.

If you do accept, link yourself in the comments and I will be my usual nosy self and see who you’ve nominated! 🙂

The Unloved Empties…

Almost two weeks ago now, I did a post about my much loved empties. Well, here is the sister post, the poor unfortunates that have made it onto my ‘will never ever buy again’ list.

1. E.L.F. Eyeshadow Primer in ‘Misty Mauve’

 Apart from having a giggle-worthy name, this stuff really did make me bash my head against a wall. Firstly, I was naive to think that a coloured eye shadow primer would be a good idea (maybe a neutral shaded one but MAUVE!? What was I thinking…) Now don’t get me wrong, I love the colour mauve, but this was more like glittery fairy vomit mauve, not the nice shade. I don’t know why I chose this, my bad, I hold myself completely responsible. The formula destroyed whatever eye shadow I decided to wear. The brush made application clumpy and a nightmare.

‘That brush though…’

I thought about blending it, which worked in terms of colour, but every eye shadow I wore it with ended up creasing and/or migrating. It looked bitty and unpleasant. Basically, my eye shadow lasts longer without it. There really is no point me using this… in fact, I’m lying, it’s not 100% empty.

2. Anna Sui ‘Flight of Fancy’ Body Lotion

 It’s like heavily scented water with a dash of glitter. I got this with the perfume as a set, and although I like the smell of the perfume, it’s possibly the only perfume I’ve ever worn that smells terrible on my skin, but nice in the bottle. I’ve done a lot of Googling since, and come to realise I have it easy, and some people really struggle to find a perfume that smells nice in the bottle and on their skin… so I wont complain. I thought I could at least smell nice with the body lotion, but it’s so watery it’s unpleasant. It takes forever to absorb into the skin, and left my hands feeling a bit sticky.

3. MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder in ‘Translucent’

 I have some amazing MUA products, but this isn’t one of them. It scores average and below in my books, I prefer the Rimmel London pressed powder or the E.L.F. High Definition Studio powder, same price and the quality is far superior. The packaging set my teeth on edge, if you twist the lid it makes this squeaking sound that is up there with fingernails on a chalk board. The powder gets EVERYWHERE, there’s nothing to stop you from collecting the whole thing on your brush. As for ‘translucent’ I don’t think it was, the powder has an orange hue and looked a little cakey in places once applied. Of course this could be due to the fact it’s so easy to overload your brush… However it did fix my foundation and banished shine, which is what the pot claimed.

4. NYC Smooth Skin Perfecting Primer in shade ‘684’

 Who knew there were that many shades of primer!? This is basically white with silvery particles thrown in for that added fairy look. Although I have no issue with the shade, it was too watery and I felt like my skin wanted more and more. I didn’t notice any difference in terms of make-up staying power, and it didn’t make my foundation sit better. It claims to even skin tone, I’m not sure how it was intending to do that, but shade ‘684’ didn’t do a thing for me. It was pointless, although it did smell pleasantly of suncream.

5. Garnier Simply Essentials ‘2 in 1 Make Up Remover’

I bought this because it looked cool! A bit like the two coloured mouthwash that you shake to wake. Only it turned into a nightmare. You have to shake the bottle like a mad woman to blend the two liquids (a clear blue and a shady grey). You then have approximately three seconds to pop the cap and soak a cotton pad. By the time you’ve wiped your face and pick up a new pad, the bottle needs re-shaking as the liquids have happily separated. If you get annoyed and decide to just soak the cotton pad anyway, it has no effect and feels unbelievably greasy. You have to obey the shake rule. It took too long to keep opening and closing the lid and shaking the bottle. Especially since I wear a lot of eye make-up, it’s going to take a few cotton pads to transform this panda. Zzz…  On a formula note, it left my skin feeling really greasy, like I didn’t want to moisturise in case my pores got blocked kind of slimy. I trundled on though, as it did an okay job at removing my make-up (note ‘an okay job’ and not ‘amazing’), I’m so glad it’s empty. This really wasn’t my cup of tea.

If you’ve tried any of the above what did you think? 🙂

Red Hair!

If any of you are regulars, or just happen to have previously read my post here then you’ll know I have dip dyed or ‘ombred’ hair… whatever the look I was going for. Don’t get me wrong, I was over the moon with the results, especially the second time around when the ginge tinge left and it was a nice warm blonde!

However, a week or so ago, my sister decided she needed a model for her hairdressing assessment. After throwing around some options we decided to go for purple! Yesterday, was her assessment, and my sister poked and prodded my hair and decided red would go better. By this point I was really excited and like JUST DYE ALL THE THINGS!

I really have no idea what went on that day, I am a little confused as there was a lot of technical shade names and mixing and I just sat there pretending I vaguely understood what was going on. Considering my wonderfully talented little sis was being stalked by her tutors, she kept her cool. And LOOK! LOOK AT MY PRETTY HAIR!

I am so happy with it I could burst! She has dyed the top part of my hair a darker brown, it’s such a gorgeous shade. The red is obveously red! It’s a fantastic shade, looking bright in the light and a lot darker, almost like wine, if the lighting is low.

❤ Feeling the sibling love. So proud of her right now. ❤

One Lovely Blog Award

Evening! 🙂

I was nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award a couple of weeks ago, but one thing has led to another and so posting it has been a bit, er… delayed! I was nominated by thoughtsandthings, so thank you! 🙂 I’m sure she would love it if you hopped on over and cast your eyes on her gorgeous blog! If you’re nominated for the award, then follow the steps below too! 🙂

The Rules:

1. You must display the award logo at the top of the post.
2. You must thank the person/people who nominated you and leave a link to their blog in your post.
3. You must add this set of rules so your nominees will know what to do.
4. You must add 7 facts about yourself in the post.
5. You must nominate 3-5 other blogs and leave links to their blogs in the post.
6. You must let the people know you’ve nominated them.
7. You must follow the person who nominated you on Bloglovin (if you don’t have Bloglovin, then obviously skip this!)

7 Facts:

1. I have a gorgeous 1 year old Horsfield tortoise called Nozzy, he is my shell baby.

2. I am 5ft 1.5inches in the morning, 5ft and a half an inch by the evening. Every .5 of an inch counts when you’re a short cake. It scares me to think that I shrink an inch during the day.

3. I grew up with the most perfect and lovable fluffy ginger cat, he used to let me pretend he was a horse and I could do anything with him. For some reason I’m now terrified of cats, I think they’re cute and will ‘aww’ over pictures, but holding one, um. No. Not happening.

4. I go into a state of mourning when they stop making ginger bread lattes. There’s a small cafe in Lincoln that does them all year round, it is my summer home.

5. I used to use sellotape on my nose to get rid of black heads (I know, gross…) It worked really well, but dried out my poor nose! 😦

6. I don’t really like meat. I’m not a vegetarian, I just don’t get the meat hype. I hate the way it looks, and I can’t eat it if there’s fat. If I find gristle it puts me off and my biggest nightmare is streaky bacon and fatty stewing steak. It’s chewy, doesn’t taste great… what is the point *sigh*.

7. I often wake up with ‘amazing ideas’ that I write down. If I read them in the morning they’re just plain weird, like ‘banana pens with a reusable skin’ and the most recent ‘a kettle you can boil fish and peas in’. I worry about my subconscious mind, I really do.

Nomineeeees:

Marvolous Matt 

The Teen Beauty Blog

Beverbeee

Eek! Don’t feel like you have to do this, if you’ve already done it or you don’t have time, but if you do, leave me a link and I look forward to reading them! 🙂 x

Horror Movie Essentials

Today’s post is going to be a little different, because the lovely Alex over at Man Crates Gifts for Men has asked if I would do a post on what I would like in a Horror Movie Survival Crate. Man Crates are like a bigger burlier version of Glossybox, Birchbox, Geekbox… you get the idea. They’re packed full of awesome ‘manly’ themed stuff, so if you’re in the US/Canada area, go check them out! 🙂

I must admit this sounded really easy, until I actually sat down and tried to pull it all together… What do you mean it needs to fit in a crate!? The list I have needs to go into a cargo container!!!

Oh well… I’ve sat and narrowed it down to these. The list seemed to lean towards mass zombie invasion, but I’ve tried to make each one appeal to other horror themes.

1. The shoes, Daaaaarling!

No high heels, not even pretty ballet pumps. Going to go all out here and go with Lara Croft style boots. They’ll need steel toe caps too, and perhaps a zip rather than damn laces (who even has time for those in today’s world!?). Don’t want to trip over them bad boys when I’m trying to outrun the zombies or escape the demon possessed house either.

Although these do look useful… and fashionable…

Plus if all else fails I’m sure the smell of my boots after several days of non stop wear will drive away any suspecting axe murderer or zombie.

2. Herbs, Spices and Garlic!

I figured a whole rack of these would be good for summoning things and warding off the odd vampire or two. Plus the thought of facing bland and boring roadkill after we’ve been driven out into the middle of nowhere (not a McDonalds in sight!) is rather unappealing.

3. Someone Who Can Use a Sword (and also has a sword!). 

If anyone has seen the Walking Dead, then I’m thinking Michonne, the really cool lady who has attitude and wields a katana against hordes of zombies. I’d like them to be a bit less withdrawn and grumpy though, a cheerful upbeat attitude goes a long way in a horror film, unless it’s the kind that is going to get on my nerves and make me want to shove them out the door as zombie bait.

Ninjas Wanted – Apply Within

I came to the conclusion long ago that guns may be good for dealing with things from a distance, but they have too many opportunities to jam, run out of ammo and deal with things quietly.

4. A dynamo torch.

I’ve been torn between a battery torch and a dynamo torch. On one hand the batteries will run out one day, so go dynamo! On the other hand the only dynamo torches I have ever come across are all quite noisy… not good if I’m in stealth mode…

Fun way to die no. 32: Torch quacks with every squeeze. Making attracting zombies and mass murderers 10x more fun! Quack Quack.

5. An Armoured Vehicle.

I guess you can’t really cram a huge car into a Man Crate, but perhaps a tiny model one instead? I want a huge armoured car of some sort that I can use to ram down zombies, murderers and monsters without them getting caught in the wheels or smashing through windows. It needs a sunroof too! So Michonne can lean out and chop zombies with her sword. 😉

6. (Bonus Item) A Clean Pair of Undearwear.

I figured that personal hygiene is an issue in horror films. They never seem to wash (or even go to the loo for that matter…) and so a clean pair of underwear wouldn’t go amiss. Especially if you’re likely to have an accident at the thought of being munched on, chopped up or possessed.

If you guys were dumped in the middle of a horror film scenario, what things would you want to hand? (I would also love to know why!)

Is there anything you would have added to my list? 🙂

❤ Thanks for Reading ❤

20 Things Tag

The lovely Sophie at Sophie Deaks has challenged anyone who read her post ’20 things about me’ to do the same, and write 20 things about themselves. So, here we go! 🙂

1. I am the oldest of four children, my poor mother.

2. I hate ice cream, the Mr Whippy stuff makes me want to throw up. When kids mush jelly and ice cream together it’s worse than fingernails down a chalkboard.

3. I used to have a reoccurring nightmare about the Genie from Disney’s Aladin. He would drop me in a pit and the monkey would attack me.

4. I could eat pasta until it comes out of my ears.

5. Even on a cold day, I prefer cold drinks over hot ones!

6. Noodles and cheese. That is all.

7. I am a serial duvet hogger.

8. I used to write stories in little note books and hide them so people couldn’t read them.

9. Me and my Dad had a secret code, because he knew this girl I was ‘friends’ with used to bully me and she used to try and make me go to her house after school. Hand him my book bag first for ‘yes I’ll go’, lunch box first for ‘no, rescue me!’.

10. I like summer fruits (strawberries, raspberries etc.) and I really don’t like citrus ones, lemon and lime? Ew. No.

This meme describes my hatred for lemons and my feelings towards mess perfectly. Thank you Earl of Lemongrab.

11. I named my phone Wallace, the car Zaph and my tablet Tabitha.

12. I’ve always wanted to be able to handstand and cartwheel. Never managed it though…

13. If I didn’t hide away in my room with my music on writing at least once a week, I would probably go insane.

14. I’m bordering on OCD with cleaning and tidying. I think I annoy people tidying up after them sometimes.

15. I am a morning person. Which is great, unless someone wakes me up at 3 or 4am and then I can’t get back to sleep. 😦

16. I’m still waiting for my Hogwarts letter, but Pottermore put me in Ravenclaw, that’s a start right?

17. The first concert I ever went to see live was Emilie Autumn’s Asylum Tour. I used to love Captain Maggot, and she crowd surfed! She high fived me and let me touch her bum (that sounds SO weird… but it wasn’t).

Captain Maggot – Schrodinger Deviant Art.

18. My shoe size ranges from a UK 3 or 4 in flat shoes and a 5 for boots.

19. I once ate sequins to stop this mean girl from stealing them out of my tray. The were special ones, from Christmas I think. I realise now how gross and dangerous that is. I was five though…

20. I have yet to break a bone.

Keeping in style with Sophie’s, anyone who reads this far, I challenge you to post 20 questions about you!

🙂

Finding a Coat…

I’ve been debating what type of coat to get this year. I do usually try and make a coat last two years, but this year I need a new one! I’ve been searching the web for coat ideas and I’ve come to the conclusion there are some freaky and awful coats out there this year. They make me cringe. I can’t even say I like them on the catwalk examples. Urgh. Why fashion, why!?!?

I want a fitted coat, having bigger boobs means anything loose makes me look like a round textured marshmallow. The wrong coat can make my UK 10 frame look like it’s a UK 20, thanks to my boobs. 😦

I have been sat drooling over these for the past day or so but I think I need to find a Miss Selfridge and try them on.

They’re all between £60-£80. Which my brain is screaming ‘NO TOO MUCH MONEY FOR A COAT!?’ but I’m really struggling to find anything cheaper that I like. My usual haunts, Topshop, River Island, Asos, New Look… they seem to all be big on these floaty huge coats that I’m sure look great when you’re 6ft, long legged and willowy, but not when you’re 5ft, short legged and have bigger boobs than necessary. *coat rant over*.

Where have you got your coats from this year? Have any of you found some really nice ones that aren’t stupid amounts of money? I would love to know! 🙂 x

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Hola! *tilts sombrero* … just kidding, I don’t even own a sombrero. 😥

I have been nominated for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers award by the lovely Eleanor over at Blush and Bluebells! She is linked so take a gander! I love her blog and I’m sure you guys will too. Thank you Eleanor!!! 😀

Ze rules are as follows:

The Rules

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.

2. Put the award logo on your blog.

3. Answer the ten questions they have set you.

4. Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.

5. Nominate ten people

1. What is your favourite foundation?

At the moment I’m using the Rimmel London Wake Me Up foundation, shade ivory to be precise. I have to admit this is my favourite drug store foundation find to date, although I have read a few reviews and may branch out a little when this bottle runs out.

2. What’s your favourite face mask, if you use them?

I like the LUSH ones, but I know they can be a bit on the expensive side and they don’t keep for long. I admit that they do wonders for my skin in a way no packet mask has ever done before but recently I just can’t be bothered with the LUSH hassle as there isn’t one close by. But failing that my favourite drug store masks are the chocolate range by Montagne Jeunesse. I found a pack of 5 masks for £1 in the Co Op the other week and they are great value for money. You can also get two treatments out of one packet as well. Bargain! Amazon do the Food Feast versions quite cheap too 🙂

3. What are some makeup products you have and like but don’t use very often?

Usually certain shades of lipstick that I either can’t get away with at work, or shades that only have a select few outfits that they go with. I also like the Collection mosaic bronzer, but find that it can be quite glittery. Oh! And the MUA Starry Night pallet, I love the colours but sometimes find that they’re a bit too much for everyday wear.

4. What is your favourite lipstick/lipgloss?

The Kate Moss lipsticks from Rimmel London ❤

5. How long do you spend, on average, doing your makeup everyday?

Er, it I’m off to work about 10 minutes tops, if I have time and nowhere really to go I can take ages. I don’t even time myself haha. On a night out I usually give myself a good 30 minutes.

6. What is your favourite palette?

MUA Heaven and Earth. I have so much love for the MUA pallets.

7. Name the hair care products you couldn’t live without.

TRESemme. They’ve always pulled through when other shampoos and conditioners have failed.

8. What makeup products have you used that were raved about, and you found to be just as good as everyone said?

The Bourjois bronzer (the Delice de Poudre one the smells like chocolate). I have it in shade 52… not really sure what the difference is between shade 52 and shade 51, I did sit and stare at them in Superdrug for ages trying to decide which was best. Luckily 52 suits my skin perfectly. *fist pump*

9. What is your favourite mascara and why?

I have yet to find what I would class as my perfect mascara, still on the long road of mascara discovery. I basically buy what looks nice, what’s on offer and what’s waterproof! At the moment the GOSH Waterproof Volume Mascara is what I’m currently loving 🙂

10. What brand does the best nail polish in your opinion?

My mum used to use Revlon at lot, so they were my first proper nail polishes. (Well not mine, I would borrow them!) So I have a soft spot for them. They do some lovely rich colours and I can get about 4 days out of them before my nails chip. I also like Avon nail polishes, they’re pretty cheap and they do loads of colours. The bottles are pretty big too. Providing you use topcoat etc. Avon polishes last for a good few days without chipping.

MY QUESTIONS:

1. How old were you when you started wearing make-up?

2. Would you ever buy a high end make-up product without reading a review?

3. When was the last time you had a make-up stash clear out?

4. What is the oldest item in your make-up bag or stash, and how long has it been there?

5. Favourite item of clothing and why?

6. What do you have a habit of buying even though you have plenty already? (eg. nail polish, lipsticks, eye shadows…)

7. When it comes to lipstick do you favour Nude lips, crazy colours or the Vampy look? (or another, I can’t think of any more!)

8. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

9. What was the last beauty product you finished?

10. What’s the most expensive piece of make up you’ve bought and was it worth the purchase?

Nominees:

The Stylish Bum

Gracie Beauty Fashion Lifestyle 

Jadie Beauty

You Saucy Minx

OMG Kitkat Beauty

Sshhbeauty

Glitter Pots and Lipgloss

Rainbows and Polkadots 

Olivia’s Teen Beauty Blog

Been Using Bobby Pins Wrong? Me too…

I was going to do a rant post about not being able to find any bobby pins, despite only buying a pack of 50 new ones about 2 months ago. This time around, I even dedicated a small tin to putting them in at the end of the day, despite this I only have about 6 left; even Dora the Explorer wouldn’t be able to find the rest.

So I have come to the conclusion that I have mice, that take them and use them for furniture building or something… or they’re building an army and plan on using them as weapons. Hmm…

“Quick… there’s another pin!” … “Oh boy, she’s going to go mental trying to find this in the morning!”

Anyway,I was looking for an Beatrix Potter image to illustrate my bobby pin stealing mouse point (not that I’m obsessed with Peter Rabbit or anything…), and for some reason I ended up stumbling onto an article that claims there is a right and wrong way round to use a bobby pin. Mind = Blown.

Wiggly side down girls! (And guys). Not the flat side. Who would have known…

*Image from Pintrest*

This is because the wavy bit is supposed to stop the hair from sliding out of the pin by giving it a bit of extra grip. And the flat side blends in better with your hair, making them less noticeable.

Apparently I have been using them the wrong way round. Although in my defense I swear my mum used to put them in like that when I was little and she did my hair for dance shows. 😉

PLEASE tell me I’m not the only person that has been using a bobby pin with the wiggly side up and the flat side against the hair!? 

*Side note: if your bobby pins are still being a pain in the butt, and aren’t staying where they should (even when you’re using them the right way round!) then spray them with some hair spray before you put them in your hair and they stick so much better.*