La Roche Posay Lipikar + Cicaplast

Struggling with dry and eczema prone skin can be extremely difficult physically and mentally and don't get me wrong, there are far, far worse things you could have but it's not easy especially living with eczema on my face and hands for years and it gets worse during the winter months. Even though I'm going through an awful eczema flareup as I'm typing this, I have been lucky enough to find prescription products and skincare that helps and now I have a few more. Also, yes, I did freeze getting this photo in the snow!

*La Roche Posay Lipikar Baume AP+ Anti-Irritation Body Balm (£19.50, 400ml)

The Lipikar range is suitable for atopy-prone skin on babies, children and adults; it doesn't contain fragrance or parabens. Eczema can make my hands extremely dry, annoyingly itchy and irritated so much so that I have to wear cotton gloves to prevent scratching. This gigantic bottle of cream is definitely helping and I know it's going to last a very long time! If I want to use it as a hand cream during the day then I'll only apply a tiny amount but during my evening skincare routine I'll apply a good layer to my hands, massage it in and then put my cotton gloves on to allow the cream to slowly absorb - usually overnight. Overall rating: ★★★★☆, 4/5.

*La Roche Posay Lipikar Syndet AP+ Anti-Scratching Cream Wash (£10, 200ml)

I think the names of some of these products would definitely put some people off as it's not very simplistic or inviting! Anyway, I have been using this cream body wash as a hand wash for the past couple of weeks and it has also definitely been helping with the dryness and irritation on my hands. I find that some hand washes can irritate or leave my skin dry and stripped but this one is perfect so I'm going to decant it into my hand wash dispenser (from Ikea, love it) so I can use it daily. Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5.

*La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 Soothing Repair Balm (£16, 100ml)

Now onto the last product which happens to be my favourite of the three that I've kindly been sent! I've heard amazing things about the cicaplast balm in the beauty and blogging world for a year or two. I have been using this balm (FYI when the products I've mentioned says that they're balms, they're actually thick lotions, in my opinion) as an all purpose product on my hands, ears and face, wherever I have extra sore and dry skin *sexy*. I've mainly been applying it in the evening and then in the morning, I find that my skin is definitely better - less dry and less irritated which is amazing although it obviously won't replace my eczema prescription creams but it helps in the meantime. Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5.

Have you tried any of these products or others from La Roche Posay? What are your winter skincare saviours? 

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Mother's Day Gift Guide

Today is International Womens Day and I thought it would be a great day to post my Mother's Day gift guide as well. The date for Mother's Day is different depending on the country you live in but for the UK Mother's Day is the 26th March so it is almost here! There are a range of items in today's gift guide, mainly pampering products but also makeup and a couple of special personalised gifts too.

*Tisserand Bath Soaks & Body Washes 

Tisserand is one of my favourite brands, not only as the products smell divine or that the products contain lovely natural ingredients but they are so effective, gentle and calming to use. I adore their shower gels and their hand creams are a daily essential for me - I have a hand cream on my desk everyday, one in my bag and one in the car. I cannot recommend their products enough and I was kindly sent two of their lovely body products recently including the Lavender & White Mint Bath Soak and the gorgeous Neroli & Sandalwood Body Wash. Spend over £25 on their site and receive a free Sweet Dreams Rollerball with the code: NATBED.

*Amphora Aromatics Hydrating & Toning Face Kit (£21.50)

Spring is a great time, or the start of any season, to switch up your skincare products to suit the season. My mum, as with most people outside of the blogging or beauty world, may not know where to start with a skincare routine so this kit is great as it contains the basics you need to start your skincare routine including a cleansing gel, toner and moisturising face cream and then you could start to add in extras such as masks, serums and oils. I love the packaging of this kit, it would make a lovely gift and the products smell floral and fresh. I love the toner and moisturising face cream especially!

*Burts Bees Lipsticks (£9.99)

Burt's Bees have just launched a new range of lipsticks which I will have a full review with swatches of coming very soon! I love the packaging, natural ingredients, shade range and the formula is so creamy, pigmented and comfortable. I cannot recommend the lipsticks enough and they'd make a lovely natural makeup gift, maybe as part of a beauty hamper for Mother's Day?

*Imagise Personalised Slate Decorations 

I think personalised gifts are some of the nicest to give and also receive, I know my mum and aunties adore the personalised and photo gifts I've given them over the years. When the lovely people at Imagise got in touch, I was very excited to make a couple of wonderful gifts for my mum this Mother's Day. I chose their Slate Heart Decoration (large) and the Rectangular Slate Decoration, both of which are even better than I had imagined! They use a UV flatbed printer to print your image directly onto the slate decoration so you don't loose the textured look of the slate and it blends seamlessly into the slate. I used a photograph of my parents wedding as it is their 25th wedding anniversary this year and I know they will love it; I also used photos of mine and my sisters university graduation for the rectangular slate decoration as my mum has wanted something similar since my sisters graduation last year.

I'm extremely happy with both of the slate decorations, I think they look amazing and they'd make wonderful, special gifts for your mum, guardian or grandma...well they would make an extra special gifts for anyone! One of my best friends is getting married next year and I'm a bridesmaid so I will definitely be buying the heart decoration for her!

*Dr Botanicals Advanced Purifying Overnight Masque (£79 - reduced to £19.99)

Pampering products are such wonderful gifts as mums need pampering and Mother's Day is a great excuse for some me time. One of the products that I always use on a pampering night is a face mask as they're so easy and fuss free to use if your pamper time isn't as long as you'd like it to be. This mask contains lovely natural ingredients including papaya, jojoba oil and sweet almond oil. Unlike most over makes, this one is unique in that it can be applied in the evening and left on the skin overnight. DISCOUNT CODE COMING SOON!

What do you think of my Mother's Day gift guide? Have you tried any of these products? 

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Wearable SS17 Makeup Trends

Spring is pretty much here, although going by the hailstone and snow we have had in Manchester recently, you wouldn't have thought so! I adore autumn and winter makeup but I also love the freshness and vitality that spring makeup trends, products and looks can have. I am one of those people who follows trends but I'm not a makeup artist so while the editorial and creative looks are interesting, I am more focused on the wearable makeup trends.

Some of the main makeup trends for spring/summer 2017 include:

- Dewy and glossy skin (@Armani)
- Minimal coffee coloured liner (@Chloe)
- Full boyish brows (@John Galliano)
- Dark, bold and gothic lips (@DKNY)
- Red lips (@Caroline Herrera)
- Peachy, highlighted cheeks (@Jasper Conran)

As well as these gorgeous spring makeup trends, there are some...unusual looks trending on the catwalk too including pink neon liner (@Wunderkind), orange eyeshadow (@Blugirl), slick 'post swimming' look hair (@Givenchy), grey lipstick (@Acne) and wait for it...ear makeup (@Giamba), yes you read that correctly.

I've taken some of the spring/summer trends that I love and I've combined them using products I was kindly sent by Just My Look to create this wearable, on-trend look. I've taken the red lips, dewy skin with peachy cheeks and loose natural waves a la Julian Macdonald and Moncler Gamme Rouge. I love this look, it's very spring like and very easy to create using inexpensive products all of which can be found on Just My Look.

Let's start with the skin, I prepped my skin with the La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 which gives my dry, sensitive skin a boost of moisture and acts as a primer for my foundation. The foundation I used is the *L.A Girl Pro Coverage High Definition Foundation (£10.99, 28ml) in the shade Fair which is the second to lightest shade and in 'real life' it's only just light enough - it photographs slightly lighter and really well in photographs, it makes my skin look near perfect.

To add in peachy, highlighted cheeks I used the gorgeous and famous *Milani Baked Blush (£9.95) in the shade Luminoso. Back in the early days of beauty blogging and beauty 'gurus' on youtube, this blush was THE blush to have. It's a bright coral pink that gives a luminescent, radiance and sun kissed glow to the skin that is perfect for the upcoming warmer spring and summer months. I only used a small amount as I'm still a newbie when it comes to blush.

I also used the equally famous *Sleek Contour Kit (£6.95) in the shade Light which again in the earlier days on blogging, this was one of the only contour products available and it was a favourite all round. I have wanted to try it for so long and now that I have it, I've been using it constantly as it gives instant definition to my cheeks and a subtle glittery highlight. If I'm completely honest, I do prefer the NYX blush in Taupe but this is better for the warmer months as it isn't as grey/cool toned as the NYX blush.

Finally for the main focal point of this look and that is obviously the red lip! Another inexpensive product from Milani and it's the *Milani Matte Lip Creme (£9.95) in Amore which is a stunning bright cherry red that makes my teeth look whiter and my complexion appears clearer. It applies easily, quickly and the pigmentation is amazing...however, once dried the matte lip creme flakes off awfully on me! The flaking is worse with more layers which is such a shame as the shade is incredible and the stain it leaves is so long-lasting so if it wasn't for the flaking it would be the best red lip product ever! I definitely want to try some of the natural shades from this range!

What do you think of my spring/summer trends inspired look? Do you follow makeup trends? Have you tried any of these brands or products? 

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February Reading Wrap-up

February has been a fantastic reading month, especially compared to last month! I've read one cookbook, one novella and six books and two short story collections. All of these books were very kindly sent to me either via the publisher as a physical book or via Netgalley as an e-book.

*Someone Is Watching by Joy Fielding - ★★★☆☆, 3/5

Some of my favourite book genres are: mysteries, historical fiction, unique short non-fiction and magical books as well as thrillers and crime novels. This book is a mixture of contemporary, thriller, crime and mystery genres which I love! Let's start with the basics, the cover is very simple and I'm not a massive fan of it; it's published my Bonnier Zaffre and it is approx. 364 pages.

The book starts out very dark as we are introduced to Bailey, her job and the horrendous crime that happened to her. Usually I would go into detail however I'm not going to as I don't want to give anything away but I feel like I need to warn potential readers about the topics of this book as it was a surprise to me - the book contains crime, family drama, revenge of sorts and potentially the most triggering aspect, rape. There's a lot of mentions, flashbacks and descriptions of the rape that occurred in this book so if you don't want to read that then don't pick this book up.

The rape came as a shock to me and it did make for very uncomfortable reading for the most part and it is throughout the book as well as various sexual incidences so I'd say that maybe it should have an age guidance on the book, in my opinion.

Anyway, the book was very compelling throughout, I wanted to know what happens next and to figure out the mystery of Bailey's unusual family situation and to find out who raped her. The writing was very easy and quick to get through and I managed to finish this over 350 page book in two days - it was definitely the quickest read of the year so far! Despite the uncomfortable topic, I did love the characters of Bailey and Jade but there were a lot of unlikeable characters too. I was disappointed with the ending, it wasn't as shocking as I think the author wanted it to be but I did enjoy the book (maybe enjoy is the wrong word but you know what I mean!). I would recommend this book as a very quick mystery crime thriller but be aware of the constant mentions and inclusion of rape within this book.

*Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed by Liam Hogan - ★★★★☆, 4/5

First of all, I adore the cover! I haven't read a short story collection before so I didn't know if I'd like the style but I loved it; the writing style is a wonderful mix of witty, sarcastic contemporary language and fairytale/folktale connotations and themes - yes, yes, yes!

Some of the stories in this collection were VERY short and I mean a few pages long which I'm not used to so it was a little strange and for some of the stories I just wanted more and more rather than a few short pages. For quite a lot of the short stories, there were strong magical, fairytale and folktale vibes which I loved such as the stories: Snow-White, Whiteclaw and Blaxley and The Painted Platform but then there were some mediocre ones, in my opinion. There was only one negative and it's not about the actual book but the formatting on my Kindle app - throughout the book some of the beginnings of sentences had mouse head emojis and on other pages a group of words were smushed together rather than being separate - it was very distracting! Overall, I really liked this short, quick and magical short story collection that left me wanting more!

- Hygge by Charlotte Abrahams - ★★☆☆☆, 2/5 (I'm being very generous with my rating)

This is at least the third book about hygge that I've read and I adore the previous two so I thought I would love this...but I was very wrong! The cover is quite uninspiring, the photos weren't particularly striking (most of them in the e-book version via Netgalley were missing) and the first third of the book is so focused on interior design, specific designers and furniture that for me, someone who is interested in design but not incredibly passionate about, it became quite boring and tedious.

Now, there are some interesting bits about Danish life, the Danish view of hygge and a slightly more balanced view of hygge (there were quite a few negatives about hygge mentioned) but the rest seemed to be a combination of the authors rants about her disjointed family, her life choices and divorce or sections that were just copied and pasted studies/wikipedia entries. At the beginning the author states that she isn't an expert or Danish...so why is she writing this book. I did not enjoy this book and towards the end I was frequently just flicking through; sadly I would NOT recommend. Buy the Little Book of Hygge instead; also it's far prettier, more interesting and composed by not only a Dane but an 'expert' too!

- United States of Absurdity by Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - ★★★★★, 5/5

One of my reading goals for 2017 was to read more non-fiction and unusual, historical and unique non-fiction are my preferred genres so when I noticed this non-fiction on Netgalley I had to request it immediately and I'm SO glad I did as this non-fiction read was very quick and enjoyable, unusual and eye opening read...sometimes in a disturbing way.

The book features unusual people and events during Americas unique *I think it's safe to say that* history and I found it thoroughly fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. There were a couple of people and stories that I already knew of but most were new and delightfully OMG and 'what the hell' that I had to tell the nearest person, albeit omitting the swearing. The only section I wasn't as interested in was the sports section as I have no interest in reading about anything to do with sport but the rest was so entertaining. If you like dark, sarcastic humour and tales of amazement, uniqueness, freak shows and yes, a lot of absurdity then this is for you! However, if you're squeamish or are uncomfortable with the dead bodies, vampires, mistreatment of humans and animals and all round grossness then...read it anyway!

*The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden - ★★★★☆, 4/5

Firstly, how stunning is this cover and secondly the main themes in this book are magic, fairytales, family and Russian folktales - yes, yes, yes! The book follows Vasya, her family and the community her father lords over as well as the magical 'old' gods throughout the wonderfully atmospheric and beautiful Russian forrest setting.

I love the writing style, it was quick to get through and I loved the story as a whole as well as the characters of Vasya, Dunya, Alyosha, the gods and the magical folktale characters but there is one thing I didn't like about this books, well two, the first is the christian themes and the second is the character names which for a non-russian are difficult anyway but every character seems to have at least two names, sometimes three so it can be a little tricky to know who is who on occasion. However, I adored Vasya as she is such a memorable, magical and endearing character (the story as a whole, even though it is quite bleak, is endearing).

The ending was a little bittersweet and I wish it was a little different but overall it was such an enjoyable, magical and endearing story about adversity, family, old religions and gods and to an extent, breaking the stereotype of women. I'd definitely recommend this book!

*Is Canada Even Real? by - ★★☆☆☆, 2/5

I've been loving the non-fiction I've read recently so I couldn't wait to start this book as it seemed like a fun, quirky non-fiction about Canada but sadly for me it turned out to be 60% boring, unrelatable and unusually formatted (although I think that's just because of the e-book format) and only 40% of the book was genuinely interesting and informative - I think Canadians would find it more interesting and nostalgic compared to non-Canadians such as myself. Also the photographs were unusual, blank or a little amateurish. I did however find the sections about Canadian prime ministers and mascots interesting but that's not enough to save the rest of the book from a low rating!

*The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell - ★★☆☆☆, 2/5

I have seen the first book in this series everywhere when I am casually browsing for books on a Saturday night *wild* but I've read that you don't have to read the first book before this one so I started with this second book in the series/world. I love the cover, the themes of the book which are of witchcraft, ghosts *kind of* and friendship as well as the English country village style setting.

I love the writing style, it's so quick and easy to follow and I finished this novella in a day or so; it is such an easy story but it does have a bit of an atmospheric feel in some parts but for most of the book it has a contemporary vibe which isn't usually what I go for. Even though there were aspects that I loved such as the writing style, the relationship between the three main characters, the setting and how easy to was to get through; I found that I wasn't really interested in what happened, it wasn't as interesting or as creepy, atmospheric or horror filled as I thought it would be sadly. I would recommend it as it's so quick and I definitely want to read more by this author however it just isn't as good, interesting or as witchy as I thought it would be.

*Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson - ★★★☆☆, 3/5

I have wanted to read Shirley Jacksons work for months and I have bought 'the haunting of hill house' but I haven't read it yet however now I can't wait to. This is my second short story collection of the month and I'm starting to get into them although I personally find short story collections quite jarring but I love how quickly I can get through them and the variety of stories. I wasn't as impressed with this one as I was with Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed earlier in the month but I'd still recommend it.

The theme of all of the stories, as the title would suggest, is dark, atmospheric and usually family, marriage or relationship orientated which I liked as I find that any horror or darker stories related to family are really creepy. Some of the stories were very short but most where long enough to really get into the story and get to know the characters and the settings. I would say that 60% of the stories were darkly entertaining and interesting but for me about 40% of the stories were a little boring. I love Shirley Jackson's writing style and I definitely want to read more from her but this wasn't quite for me, probably only because my expectations were so high going into it.

*Those Who Lie by Diane Jeffrey - ★★★☆☆, 3/5

I'm part of the blog tour for this book so I can't really say anything about it now but it follows Emily after she has been part of a tragic accident and all that follows as well as her disturbing past. I liked the writing style, it was very quick to get through but there are difficult and sensitive topics of rape, family issues, stalking and much more. My full review will be live later this month!

I'm currently reading Earth by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Linda Elkins-Tanton (I'm finding it quite boring) as well as Heretics! by Steven Nadler and Ben Nadler and The Spy of Venice by Benet Brandreth.

Have you read any of these titles? What are you currently reading? Are we friends on GoodReads? 

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Pancake Day: Vegan Savoury Pancakes

Today is Pancake Day, one of my favourite days as I have always loved pancakes, well, I love savoury pancakes! I know savoury pancakes or crepes are unusual to some but the thought of putting lemon juice or sugar on pancakes is wrong to me although that being said I do want to try and make vegan nutella for pancakes.

The lovely people at AO have kindly sent me the *Breville Crepe Maker (£20) which is something I've wanted to try for ages as I usually have pancakes every weekend but for all of 2017 so far, my diet is 90% vegan so I haven't had any until I discovered and then adapted a vegan pancake recipe - now I'm having vegan savoury pancakes every chance I get! I adapted the recipe from The Vegan Corner but it's very difficult now that I've changed it.

As with all pancakes or crepes, whatever the ingredients or tools, it does take practice and the first one is always a throwaway but this crepe and pancake maker is fantastic! My dad is the self confessed king of pancakes but I always end up ripping them, making them too thick or managing to burn the outside while the inside remains uncooked...however with this crepe maker, I haven't burnt, ripped or ruined any pancakes! I think if you're a pancake destroyer, like me, then you need this crepe maker in your life as it makes a stack of crepes and pancakes in minutes with none of them having to be thrown in the bin!

The crepe maker is quite large which is my only negative but other than that it's so quick and easy to use and clean; also none of the pancakes I've made on it so far haven't stuck to it. It does become very hot so you do have to be careful but the temperature scale is easy to alter, I've been keeping it on 3/4 for my pancakes. Now for my recipe:

Ingredients: 

- 100g of plain white flour or wholewheat flour
- 200g of plant based milk - I use oat milk (g not ml)
- Seasonings and toppings of your choice

1. Weight out your flour and plant based milk and add your batter seasoning - I used garlic granules, salt and white pepper but you could also add dried herbs or nutritional yeast. Mix well and leave for five to ten minutes for the flour to soak up the milk and for the bater to become smooth and thicker.

2. Plug in and switch on the crepe maker and lightly spray or wipe with oil - I use a oil spray or olive oil on a paper towel to distribute a thin layer of oil onto the hot plate of the crepe maker.

3. When the crepe maker is heated and your batter is thicker, use a small ladle to dispense the batter onto the hot plate and use the wooden spreader to distribute the batter in a thin layer. Depending on the temperature of your crepe maker or pan, it should only take a 10-20 per side. Keep flipping until it's cooked through and crisp - add a little oil to the hot plate every couple of pancakes to keep them all crisp.

4. I get about seven mini pancakes using this recipe or three large crepes. I spread the Sainsburys garlic and herb vegan spread cheese over every other pancake and top with fried onions, fresh basil, salt and black pepper but you could top your savoury pancakes with anything you want.

I love these pancakes, you wouldn't know that they are vegan as they taste and look just as good as regular pancakes/crepes. They are soft inside but crisp on the outside when you use olive oil; you don't have to use oil if you use this crepe maker as they don't tend to stick or if you have a very good non-stick pan but I love pancakes with a crisp outside so I always use olive oil!

Will you be making pancakes today? Have you tried a crepe maker? Pancakes - sweet or savoury?

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Sudio Sweden Rose Gold Earphones

I don't know about you but I am constantly listening to youtube videos or music throughout the day and before I go to sleep *which is awful for my sleeping pattern but that's another post all together*. I've bought so many earphones and they never last more than six months before they are a tangled mess with exposed wires. The best earphones I've tried, until these, were the JVC Gummy Earphones but they aren't easily available now, they aren't super comfortable and as with all wired earphones, they become a tangled ball of wires no matter how careful you are with them.

When the lovely people at Sudio Sweden got in touch, I was excited to choose and review a pair of their earphones; I chose the *Sudio Sweden Vasa BLA Rose Gold and White Earphones (£80). The Vasa BLA range is wireless, so no more tangles and frustrations trying to untangle the earphones while simultaneously breaking the wires. The earphones come with a quick start guide, owner's manual, extra earphone sleeves, metal clip, battery, charging cable, quality assurance card and a genuine leather travel case, all of which come in a box making it an aesthetically great gift.

I chose the white and rose gold earphone colour option but there are three others to choose from. They are all suitable for bluetooth enabled devices, it works perfectly with my iPhone 5C. It has 12 metre wireless range with up to eight hours of listening - it can be quickly charged in 10 minutes but a full charge will be two hours. I've only had to charge mine twice so far and each time, I've fully charged my earphones.

They are very quick and easy to charge and use, I already had some big, ugly wireless headphones so I knew how to use them but even if you haven't they have very simple with a basic bluetooth remote that you use to switch the earphones on/off as well as changing the volume and it has an inbuilt microphone.

As well as the tangle issue, I find that the majority of earphones to be really uncomfortable but when I switched out the sleeves to the smallest included, they were so comfortable - I can wear them for a couple of hours at my desk without my ears being uncomfortable which is amazing! What is equally amazing is the sound quality, my Apple earphones pail in comparison to these and I don't think I'll be able to go back to cheap wired earphones after using these!

I'm visiting York in a couple of months time and I am visiting various cities in Norway in the summer and I will definitely be taking these along with me as they already come with a travelling case, they are super light and comfortable and they won't tangle up in my bag while travelling.

My only issue is that while they are on, there is a flashing blue light which is a bit annoying and if you forget to charge them then you have to wait for them to charge which obviously you don't have with normal wired earphones so you'll have to decide which you'd want; however I think these earphones are so aesthetically gorgeous, comfortable and the sound is wonderfully rich and clear - I cannot recommend them enough! Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5.

Sudio Sweden have an amazing offer on currently where you can get a free phone case with every purchase as well as free express shipping! Additionally you can get 15% off with my code: ofbeautyand15. 

What do you think of these earphones? Have you tried these or any other wireless earphones? 

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