My Blogger Travel Tag

I have created my own tag, scary, and I think I will be the only one to do it but I couldn't find that many travel/holiday tag posts so I thought I would make my own with the help of my sister. Also I thought this post would be appropriate as I am going on holiday very soon, can't wait!

1. If you could pick any three people to travel with,who would   you pick and why (celebrities etc)?

I would pick, Johnny Depp (for obvious reasons!), Angelina Jolie as she is my favourite actress and the Irish comedian Dara O'Brien. 

2. What is your favourite holiday destination?

Venice! I loved Venice - the shops, sites, views, history, markets and food were just amazing and I would definitely go back. 

3. What are your five beauty holiday essentials?

A setting powder such as the Revlon nearly naked powder, the Simple rich moisturiser, my amazing Caudalie beauty elixir, a lip balm (any will do, I love the Caudalie lip conditioner) and the Becca Radiant Finish Foundation which is my recent summer fav. 

4. What is your dream place to visit?

Probably, Greece, I have been to Athens and Crete but I love Greece and I would love to go again as we only saw a small part of the wonderful country. 

5. Three travel beauty or fashion tips?

*Always take bobbles/hair ties/clips to keep your hair away from your face while in hot weather. 

*Plasters and comfortable shoes are a must, especially if you walk a lot like us while on holiday!

*Setting powder, setting powder, setting powder.

6. Skiing, camping, beach, adventure or city holiday, you choose!

A city or adventure holiday as I cannot ski (I tried when I was younger and failed miserably) and I am not that into the beach or camping anymore. 

7. Three travel songs

Vampire weekend: Diana Young and A Punk. And thirdly, Gypsy boots by Hanoi Rocks. 

8. Can you speak any other languages?

I can speak some German and words/phrases in French. Also I am learning Italian (Rosetta stone). 

9. Most memorable travel/holiday?

My favourite holiday memories are probably from when I was younger and myself and my sister/parents went on camping holidays to Wales & Scotland with our friends and we would visit the beaches/farms. 

10. Favourite travel/holiday hairstyle?

Probably au natural, I like to leave my hair to do what it wants most of the time while on holiday because my hair is naturally wavy/curly and with some smoothing product in my hair looks fine when left to its own devices. Although I do like to curl it sometimes in the evening. 

There are the questions and here are the five people I have tagged to do this post, if they want: Evelyn @ we were raised by wolves, Emily @ Ahem it's Emily, Kayla @ Style Vancity,Charlotte @ Charlotte Havs and Louisa @ LouiseMaryMUA. Although everyone feel free to do this tag post yourselves!

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Week in photographs # 31

Here is another week in photographs, is it just me or are the weeks passing very quickly! My week has consisted of: sale shopping (not a surprise there!), writing summer/holiday blog posts, looking for hair style/cut ideas, getting ready for holiday, thunderstorms and being in the local newspaper! 

Firstly, I was in featured in my local newspaper because of my First class degree which I am really happy about. The newspaper editors also mentioned that I am going to donate my hair (about 8/9 inches of it) to the Little Princess Trust which is a UK organisation that makes real hair wigs, free of charge, for children suffering from cancer - I am having my hair cut on the 1st august and I will make a separate post about it and the Little Princess Trust but if you want to check out their site - click here. 

Also this week I have been writing some summer/holiday/travel themed blog posts that I will publish while I am on holiday, I will be away for two weeks from the beginning(ish) of august to mid august. I have been doing some panicky last minute holiday shopping this week which is ok because all of the final reductions are on now and there are some amazing bargains, especially on Newlook, Oasis, House of Fraser and Dorothy Perkins. There will be some sale haul posts coming soon. 

Finally, this week I have been missing the hot sunny weather because it has been raining and horrible here - there were some really strong thunder and lightening storms this week that physically shook the house! I guess the British summer is over now! Oh and the royal abby was born and named this week which is exciting.

My favourites = Perfume: Diptque Vetvyerio. TV/Movies: The Heat, Modern Family and Dexter. Food: watermelon and noodles - not together! Apps: A Beautiful Mess and Instatext. 

I hope everyone had a great week x

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June/July Beauty Buys

Here are my beauty buys for the months of June and July from SpaceNK, Primark, Ciate, Asos, Superdrug, Illamasqua, Topshop and Love-Makeup...phew! Some are sale buys because there are some amazing sales at the moment online and instore. The sales on Spacenk and Love-Makeup have been fantastic!

Primark: From Primark I bought two of the new Lip Smackers lip balms. I used to buy lip smackers balms from Claires accessories as a child and I loved them. The new ones have the old fashioned 90's Walls ice cream/ice lolly flavours that I loved growing up. I bought the Feast and Twister flavours and I love the packaging and the Feast flavour is just gorgeous - to smell, not to eat! They were £1.50 each which is a bargain as they are £3 in Topshop! 

SpaceNK: SpaceNK always have INCREDIBLE sales, I always buy a few things from their sales. This time round I bought the Diptyque Paira fragrance in the scent 'Vetyverio' which is similar to my beloved Prada Infusion D'Iris. This fragrance is 100ml and it was in the sale for...wait for it...£17! A gorgeous 100ml Diptyque fragrance for only £17, I had to get it and I am so glad that I did because it is a lovely fragrance. Full review coming soon.  

Ciate: A good few weeks ago (I ordered on the 30th June), Ciate were selling their polishes online for £4.50 each and I had a 30% off code too - I tweeted about this at the time so if you want to know about sales, offers or codes then you can follow me on Twitter because I usually post codes and sale info on there - twitter user name: ofbeautyand. Anyway, I bought four Ciate polishes and in total I paid just over £12, amazing! I bought Stiletto, Pepperminty, Iced Frappe and Red Hot Chili and I love all of them. Again a review coming asap. 

Love-Makeup: Lovemakeup (a fantastic website) had a sale on and again I tweeted about the sale. I bought the Becca Radiant Skin Satin Foundation in the lightest sale 'Porcelain' for only £9, it should have been around £38 - bargain! I have tried the foundation and a couple of times and I really like it so far. I also bought a Becca nail polish in the shade 'summerdaze' which is a lovely peach shade for £2.50. 

Asos, Superdrug, Illamasqua and Topshop: Finally some other bits and pieces from online shops. I bought a sale Topshop nail polish in the shade 'stardust' which is pretty on its own but it is annoying to remove. I bought one of the Rimmel Kate Moss nail polishes in the shade 'rock n roll' and I have to say I love the formula and brush of these polishes and I may have to get some more of them. From the Illamasqua sale I bought a lip pencil in the shade 'ascend' which is a gorgeous rosy shade that looks natural and pretty on the lips. Finally, I bought a hair dye from Superdrug, the Schwarzkopf Live XXL dye in the shade 'dark chocolate delight' which has to be the messiest hair due I have used. 

There are my beauty buys from the past couple of months, well a couple more have arrived today (oops). I hope you like this post, if you have any questions leave them in the comments below x

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Week in photographs # 30

Well, this week has been a bit busy but amazing. My week has consisted of: lots of sale shopping, getting ready for holiday in 2 weeks, sunshine and...graduating from university! 

The main thing that happened this week is that I graduated from university - I made a separate post on the day so if you want to hear about my graduation and tips then click here. I was really nervous about graduation but it was great and I received the Zara office city bag as a present from my parents. 

The other main thing is week has been sale shopping and getting things for holiday. We are going on holiday from the 6th to the 20th August so I will have to create some posts to upload while I am away or I might ask some other bloggers to write guest posts. We went to Bury (The Rock) yesterday and I bought some things from Primark - including the two Lip Smackers Walls Lip Balms in the Feast and Twister flavours (£1.50). The Feast flavour is gorgeous and they are half the price in Primark when compared to Topshop. I also bought a pack of stud earrings for £2 which I love. This week I also bought some cheap Becca makeup, a super cheap Diptyque perfume from Spacenk (love their sale right now) and some nail polishes and clothes for holiday. There will be a few quick sale haul posts coming soon, along with some holiday packaging/travel posts. 

This week, until today, has been so sunny and hot at about 30 degree celsius which is really hot for England! The weather has been gorgeous! And I did treat myself to some cinnamon rolls and American mac and cheese after graduation, oops! Also I was featured in a blog post by Kayla Lee at Style Vancity so click here if you want to check out that post.

I hope everyone had a great week x

Bloglovin' - Instagram - Pinterest - Twitter - Google+

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Sale Outfits # 1

Here are six of the latest items I have bought in the mid season sales - the items are from House of Fraser and Zara. 

1. Zara Black Ribbed Button Neck T-Shirt (£3.99, sale): I bought this online for only £3.99, I think it is the final reductions now on Zara. There is a grey version of this top available too and I may have to get it. It is made from a super soft material, it is quite stretchy so it may get bigger in the wash. The top is quite long especially on me but I just tuck it into jeans. The top is slightly see-through. I bought the size M, going off the size guide but I could have easily bought a size S (I am a UK 8-10 in tops).

2. Zara White Cap Sleeve T-Shirt (£5.99, sale): As with the previous Zara top I bought this in a medium but I could have easily bought a small, because the top is a bit oversized and the fabric is a but stretchy. This top is soft, it is great for casual days and it is a bit long so again I just tuck the front into jeans.

3. Vero Moda (House of Fraser, £4): I bought this online and it was only £4 in the sale. I bought it for holiday and it is a bit out of my comfort zone because it is bright pink but I like it and I thought it would but nice for my holiday in August. I cannot find this online anymore.

There will be a couple more parts to this mini haul series because there have been some amazing sales and I needed to buy things from my holiday x

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Week in photographs # 28/29

I haven't done a week in photographs post for the past two weeks as they were basically the same so I have combined them. The past two weeks of my life have consisted of: lots and lots of sale shopping (I think I have a problem), looking for a graduation outfit, sunshine & photography, holiday packing (we are going in about three weeks but I am just too organised), writing reviews and meeting up with friends and family. 

Firstly, sale shopping! I bought the black trousers and white shirt for graduation from Newlook and I love the trousers (even if they do make my thighs look a bit fat) as we are not allowed to wear dresses for our graduation! I also bought some items from superdrug, topshop and urban outfitters. I love the topshop nail polish in the shade 'stardust' (£3, sale) and the UO sale necklace (£5). There will be some sale outfit posts coming soon from House of Fraser, Zara, H&M, Free People and some makeup orders - I don't do feel guilty but they are all sale items....Also the weather has been gorgeous with lots of sunshine and 28°C!

The past couple of weeks have also been spent hating my internet connection - or lack of and watching Wimbledon, Dexter and the Tour De France. I have also been looking for a graduation outfit - I don't know whether to wear the black skirt and blouse outfit above or the black trousers and a white shirt! Help!

My favourite TV shows have been Dexter and The White Queen. Favourite movie: A Royal Affair. Favourite perfume: YSL Parisienne. Favourite apps: Days, Instagram, Pinterest, InstaText and A Beautiful Mess. 

I hope everyone had a great week - my graduation is on Tuesday (16th) so my next week in photographs will probably feature some graduation photographs (hopefully none of me falling!) x

Bloglovin' - Pinterest - Instagram 

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New Makeup Buys & Initial Impressions!

Here are four of my most recent makeup buys, they should all still be in stock. I have been using them all of a few days/one week so I thought I would create an initial impressions blog post. 

 B.Radiant BB Under Eye Concealer (£5.32, offer): I bought this in the shade 'light' as I am super pale and I bought it because I have wanted to try the Dior under eye BB cream but it is really expensive so I thought I would try out a cheaper one first. The shade is great for me and the packaging is ok. The concealer doesn't have a lot of coverage, it is light to medium which is not enough for me and my very dark circles. The concealer applies quickly and easily and it blends well. Although I find that this product can look caky fairly quickly and it can emphasise dryness to an extent which isn't great for me as around my eyes tends to be really dry due to eczema - overall not a great product so far which is disappointing!

Topshop Bold Liner Eye Crayon (50p, sale): I bought this product purely because it was only 50p! I actually bought two and I am going to include the other in a giveaway. The RRP of this product is around £8 and I have only ever tried one/two items from Topshop cosmetics before. I bought the shade 'burnish' which is a matte dark brown. The chunky pencil applies easily and smoothly with little dragging and the shade is perfect for everyday. I didn't expect it to be matte but I am glad it is. It is easy to blend but I will have to test it out more to see if it creases.

Max Factor Wild Mega Volume Water Resistant Mascara (£6.99): I bought this because I needed a new waterproof mascara and it is a new product and I am all for newly released beauty products! I have never tried a mascara from Max Factor before but I have heard so many good things about their mascaras.  The brush for this mascara is fairly big and chunky which I like and the mascara itself looks quite wet and on the wand it looks quite clumpy. Although the mascara isn't clumpy really, it applies very well, it is super black and it gives fantastic length, separation and definition - although little volume unless I curl my lashes well. I tested out its water resistant claims and it fails - it does not stand up to a splash of water on the face - very disappointed with this claim because it is not water resistant/waterproof.

Sleek Oh So Special Palette (£7.99): I received this as a competition prize a few weeks ago and I really like it. The shades are gorgeous, the pigmentation is fantastic, there are some matte shades and the texture of the shadows is super smooth/soft. The shadows apply and blend nicely, it is a great value palette and the packaging is nice/sleek, in my opinion. Overall, a fantastic palette, the next one on my list is the au natural palette.

Thanks for reading & visiting my blog x

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Recent Purchases Outfit #5

Here is the fifth part of my recent purchases look book style post series - showing all of the clothing/accoessories/footwear that myself and my sister have bought over the past couple of weeks - some of the items in the post are recent Primark buys and others are from H&M, Monki, Zara etc. This is one of my sisters purchases!

1. Primark Stripe Midi Dress (£10): Although this is a midi dress it is a maxi on myself and my sister as we are fairly petite! Love the stripe design and cinched in waist which makes it look like it has a cut/shape. Light, floaty, no zip, fairly loose fitting - great for spring/summer. 

2. Primark Black Faux Suede Wedges (£10): I have a pair very similar to this from Debenhams but these were only £10 - my sister really likes them but the only negative for them that she can think of is that the bottom of the shoes is not textured/rubber - it is fairly slippery. 

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Magazine Freebies: August Editions!

Here are the magazine freebies with the August editions of the UK beauty/fashion magazines. Last months magazine freebies were amazing and this month is pretty amazing too!

Glamour Magazine (£2): There are some amazing freebies with Glamour magazine this month from the brand Balance Me including the Balance Me Super Toning Body Wash which is the freebie I wanted. There is also a face wash, moisturiser and lip salve - I think I am going to get the face cream or lip salve as well! Gotta love Glamour mag as they always have amazing freebies. There was also a duo sample of the new Herbal Essences Bee Strong shampoo/conditioner with Glamour too.

Harpers Bazaar: Harpers Bazaar, a magazine I used to buy almost every month but I don't really buy it anymore but my mum bought it this month because it had a good sized L'Occitane immortelle precious cream with it. Unfortunately I had a sample of this cream last year and it irritated my skin so I can't use this sample so my mum has it. 

Maire Claire: I am going to have to pick up Marie Claire this month as it has a mini Eyeko liquid pen eyeliner with it, in black. I haven't tried this product before but I have heard a lot of good things about it. 

There are other magazine freebies with Cosmopolitan there is a range of three products to chose from, from Nip and Fab - a brand I haven't tried but I will have to pick up a couple of Cosmo magazines to try their products. There is the Nip and Fab dry leg fix, Bust fix and Body glow fix. Red magazine has sets of REN products with it and I love REN skincare but I have too many skin samples so I think I am going to pass on this one. Finally, Instyle has a free Rituals mascara with it, I purchased the waterproof version of this free mascara in the John Lewis sale for £6 and I am not in love with it. 

If there are some magazine freebies I have missed out then leave a comment below x

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Recent Sale Buys: Clothing # 1

Here is one of my recent sale buys from Zara. The sales recently have been fantastic, especially H&M, Zara, Urban Outfitters and Topshop, although most things are already sold out on Topshop! 

Zara Star Print Blouse (£19.99, sale): I saw this blouse a while ago on the Zara website and I featured it in one of my wish list posts a while ago and I loved it - then when I saw it on the zara sale for £19.99, I bought it immediately - well, along with four pairs of shoes...oops. I love the blouse, it fits well and it has a cute mini black star print. The blouse is lightweight and sheer so I have to put a white cami underneath it but it is still cute and I wear it tucked into jeans as it is a bit too long on me. I am definitley taking this on holiday with me to northern europe in august. I can't find this on the zara website (UK) anymore but you may find it in stores.

I am also wearing my trusty Dorothy perkins skinny petite jeans (£15 or two pairs for £25) and my Newlook black/cork wedges.

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Recent Sale Buys: Beauty & Random

Here are my beauty and random sale buys from the past week or so - there are so many amazing sales right now! There are great makeup sale buys on John Lewis, Body Shop, FeelUnique and there are also amazing clothing sales on Zara, H&M and Urban Outfitters (ps. new items added to the H&M and Urban outfitters sale). 

John Lewis: I made a small order on John Lewis online, they had a really good online beauty sale - especially on Rituals makeup. I bought the Rituals Sunrise shower foam which I have wanted to try for ages but it is a bit expensive, so when it was on sale for £2 I had to get it. I also bought the Rituals Performance waterproof mascara which was only £5 - I have tried it a few times and it is ok but it only gives length, no volume and no curl at all - and it clumps almost immediately.  

Topshop: I bought three pairs of knickers/underwear from Topshop, I don't feel weird about showing them as they are just as they would be if you saw them on their website or in store. They were £2 each so I had to get them! You can get student discount even on sale items online, register with NUS Extra or Unidays - I am with Unidays and it is free = fantastic!

The Body Shop: From the body shop I bought a 250ml bottle of their papaya shower gel/body wash which is one of the few scents I haven't tried. It smells so gorgeous! I also bought two chocolate scented gift sets, they were only around £3 each. The chocomania products smell like brownies! I did have a 30% off code (which works on sale items). You can always find body shop codes online. 30% off code: ENDING. 

Amazon: I also bought one item from Amazon, it was not in the sale but it is a re-purchase. I bought my trusty Cosmopolitan beauty blender dupe (£4.95) and it is amazing - I highly recommend it, especially if you have dry skin as it makes my foundation apply in a way so that it doesn't look caky or cling to drier areas. 

Stay tuned for some more sale buys posts! Oh sorry for not posting or replying to comments recently, my internet has been down and it has only just started to work again. Happy shopping x

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OOTD: Rain Rain Go Away

I thought I would post my outfit of the day, I quite liked it! It has been raining for the past few days in Manchester which is depressing and to top it off I had a contact lens check eye test today as well...how exciting is my life! 

Well here is my outfit! Photographs taken by my sister using my new iPad mini (which I lOVE). My jeans are from Dorothy Perkins, they are the petite skinny jeans (£15) and I couldn't recommend these jeans enough! My boots are from La Redoute (old) and I love them, they go with everything but I am looking for more, as you can't have enough boots and shoes, am I right? Jumper is from H&M (old), I think I bought it in the sale last year but H&M always have striped jumpers - oh and they have a really good sale on now. Finally my bag is from Newlook a while ago but there are lots of brown gorgeous bags on Newlook. 

Hope you like my OOTD post, look out for some sale haul posts coming this week! x

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Clothing Calculator # 6

I know it has been a while since my last clothing calculator post but as it is sale time (always my favourite time) I thought I would make a clothing calculator post with some sale items I like. If you are not familiar with this series of posts, then I make up an outfit from the latest items online or in this case, the sale items from this week! This outfit is festival/summer inspired.

1. USA Peace Hand Crop Top By Project Social T @ Topshop (£10, sale): I love this top, I have wanted a top from Junk Food that is similar to this for a while. I love charcoal top colour and the American flag design! 

2. NewLook Parisian Light Blue Faded Aztec Print Shorts (£19.99): Shorts are a wardrobe/summer staple and I love these boho/hippy style denim shorts from Newlook. Also student discount is available at Newlook (it is only 10% but every little helps when you are a student). 

3. Topshop Lipstick in the shade 'Screen Siren' (£8): I have been lusting over Topshop lipsticks for a while and I have just never got round to buy some but this one is just divine! It is a gorgeous deep red shade that I think will go so well with the hot summer feel of the outfit!

4. Riverisland Backpack (on Asos, £28): I love the design of this backpack, it is so versatile and it goes with numerous outfits. This backpack is in the mens wear section of Asos but it is pretty unisex, in my opinion. 

5. Womens Oxford White All Star Converse (£45): I have a few pairs of Converse, I had more when I was a teenager and I just love Converse. I think they never go out of fashion, they are versatile and timeless. Converse are great for summer and they are comfortable.

I hope you like this latest clothing calculator post - ps. GFC is supposed to be going today, but nothing has happened!

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