30 day blogger challenge: my favourite perfumes

Another picture post! 

Heres a few of my favourites from my collection. 

 Issey Miyake- L’Eau d’issey summer eau de toilette £41 fragranceexpert.com 
I’m a big Issey Miyake fan and this summer edition of one of my favourite perfumes did not disappoint. I don’t know what I’ll do when It runs out. 😩 but it was definitely my favourite for the summer.

Davidoff- Cool water woman £13.50 fragrancedirect.com  
Another classic that’s always in my fragrance wardrobe. It has a lovely fresh, clean scent. And is very reasonably priced wherever you shop. A nice day time perfume (so I call it anyway) 

Paco Rabanne- UltraViolet £23.99 fragrancedirect.com

Paco Rabanne- Lady Million £39 superdrug.com

 
Both are my ‘evening fragrances’ I switch between the two for nights out. 

Viktor & Rolf-Flowerbomb eau de parfum 50ml £69  

 
My all time favourite! So much so that it was my wedding perfume. 

You know apparently you are supposed to wear a fragrance on your wedding day then only wear it on special occasions and it’s supposed to remind your husband of your special day? Well not me! I drench myself in that stuff at every given opportunity! It smells lush! I’d bathe in it if it wasn’t so bloody expensive. So it’s one I always put on my birthday/Christmas list. I’m yet to meet someone who doesn’t like it. 

Do you have any recommendations or personal favourites? 

Let me know in the comments 

🙂 

Pop by for tomorrow’s post on my everyday make up. 

Sam x 

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30 day blogger challenge: My make up collection

Warning! Picture heavy post full of make up porn!

I must admit I found it rather therapeutic arranging all my make up to show you all. The ocd in me wouldn’t let myself throw it all into a pile. I needed to display my babies in a prettier fashion. So I’ve taken up the dining room table for a little photo shoot with my favourite items in the whole wide world. If I had a decent camera you’d be able to see it in all its glory so I apologise in advance for the majorly poor quality, oddly shaped iPhone pics but you get the idea. (I’ll eventually get a camera I promise!)

Its pretty much self explanatory so I won’t bore you with an explanation of every single item (we’d literally be here forever!) but at the end of the post I’ll list the brands that have been pictured.

Brands in my collection:

1. Rimmel
2. Bobbi brown
3. Barbera Daly
4. George (asda)
5. RCMA
6. Vie
7. Natural collection
8. Too faced
9. Loreal
10. Bare minerals
11. Mac
12. Maybelline
13. Collection 2000
14. NYX
15. Ben Nye
16. Revlon
17. Jelly pong pong
18. Max Factor
19. Benefit
20. IT cosmetics
21. Stila
22. Laura mercier
23. Lord & berry
24. Famous by Sue moxley
25. Urban decay
26. Dr paw paw
27. lancome
28. Glossy box
29. Khroma
30. Wild about beauty
31. Provoc
32. Yves Rocher
33. Astor
34. Sleek
35. Clarins
36. Calvin Klein
37. Mirenesse
38. Model Co
39. Barry M
40. MUA make up academy
41. Models own
42. Dr Jart
43. Front cover
44. ELF
45. Illamasqua
46. Elemis
47. Eyeko
48. Cynthia Rowley
49. Avon
50. HD Brows
51. The body shop
52. Colour Unlimited
53. Bourjois
54. Clinique
55. Caudalie
56. The balm
57. Smashbox

So there it is! I hope you enjoyed.

Tomorrows post is My Skincare regime.

Happy Saturday!

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: A beauty box review -Birch box first impressions

I have been subscribing to birch box for about 9 months and this months is a little disappointing for me especially as it’s their 5th birthday box. Maybe I was expecting too much.

The box is pretty but the samples aren’t great this month, as I rarely swap my regular hair products and this months (as with most other months) are mainly hair related.

I have taken pics holding the products so you can get an idea of the sizes.

Laura mercier facial polish 11.3g/0.4oz (£26 full size price)

This I will use, although it is a tiny sample. I suffer with very dry skin so I can always use a facial exfoliator. And I am a fan of Laura mercier products!
John masters organics- citrus neroli detangler 30ml £16 full size price)

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This will get thrown in a drawer and never get used. I mean, why give me a bottle of detangler and a brush? I’m 30, I think I’ve mastered the art of removing knots from my head thanks. It does smell nice though. Very lemony.
The birch brush £5.99

See above, it will probably live in one of my handbags never to see the light of day again.
Laqa & co cheeky lip pencil in ‘cray cray’ (£17 full size price)

A gorgeous bright coral, chunky lip & cheek pencil. This will go in my make up box and I’ll enjoy looking at its bright cheery packaging but unfortunately it’s not a very wearable shade for my skin tone. But it is a decent sized sample and would lay someone quite a while.

Beauty protector body wash (£8 full size price)

It’s probably enough for maybe half a shower with the amount of shower gel I use. The packaging is cute but it smells very sweet, too sickly sweet for me.
Benefit- the POREfessional (£15.50 full size price)

Decent sized sample. However I’ll never use it seeing as I have DRY SKIN! Come on Birch box don’t you check our beauty profiles?! So this is basically useless to me.
So that was my Birchbox! I’m giving it another month to see if it improves but if not I’ll be cancelling my subscription.
What did you think of this months birch box?

Do you subscribe to any other monthly beauty boxes?

I’d love to check some more out so please leave recommendations in the comments 🙂

Tomorrow’s post is: my make up collection!

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: my 5 favourite films

In no particular order here’s  some of my faves! 

Obviously the First one has to be White chicks!  

 I can literally watch this every time it’s on TV. Which is probably once every 2 weeks knowing what English telly is like. It never gets old! 

Second-Labyrinth!  

 Again another ill never get bored of. I know the whole film word for word, including the songs.  I even saved the soundtrack on spotify to listen to on the way to work. 🙊 Too much? Okay I’ll say no more on that. 

Third- Napoleon Dynamite!  

 No one I know gets it but I laughed the whole way through! I love it. Oh And I’d totally vote for Pedro #justsaying 

Fourth- Father of the bride! 

 Again another that never gets boring. Frank or Fronk as he pronounced, was my fave character.

Last but not least- Drop dead Fred!  

  My best friend & I would have sleepovers when we were young and watch this every week without fail! And I’m happy to say my 10 year old loves it just as much as I do! 

What’s your favourite film? Let me know in the comments. 

Hope you enjoyed 🙂 

Sam x 

30 day blogger challenge: Put your iPod on shuffle & list the first 10 songs

Happy Saturday people!   It’s Only a quick one! Don’t worry. 

I’m being completely honest so promise you won’t laugh! 

I have a really random taste in music (so I’ve been told) and will literally download anything I like the sound of after 5 seconds. 

I think the most random one I’ve ever downloaded was a French song I heard in a water park whilst in Egypt. Thank God for Shazam aye? It’s called Alors on danse by Stromae if you want a listen ☺️Anyways it can’t be that bad really as it ended up in the sex and the city film! 

My poor child is subjected to my random music choices on journeys out, however she clearly has good taste seeing as she knows every word to some Alexander O’neal tunes (criticise is our favourite singalong in the car song) 

So! My 10 songs are: 

1. Say something- Timberland feat Drake 
2. Break of dawn- Rhythm on the loose 
3. You are my starship- Dazz band
4. You give me something- Jamiroquai
5. Come close- Common 
6. Ascension- Maxwell 
7. Tears- Frankie Knuckles
8. Good for you- Selena Gomez
9. Sincere- Mj Cole 
10. Feelings- Shy FX 

Well that’s not as embarrassing as I thought it would be! Apart from ahem- Selena Gomez but let’s say no more on that! 

Do you have a cringey favourite song? Let me know In the comments 🙂 

Tomorrow’s 30 day challenge is ‘Bold lips’ 

See you then 🙂 

Sam x

30 day blogger challenge: things that stress me out

As I pre warned you yesterday this could be a long one. 

I’ll add things as I think of them. 

Driving! 

People who can’t drive, people who think they can drive, people who are on their phones whilst driving, people driving, just driving in general really.

No one on the road is my friend. 

Lateness! 

I didn’t take 2 hours to get ready to wait for you for another 2 hours. Respect my time! 😬

Know it alls! 

We all know them but it’s the ones that go on even when you 100% know they are talking crap that really get my goat. 

Shopping! 

Especially for make up. You go to a shop knowing exactly what for. You walk over and notice there’s one left. You can’t believe your luck! Until you open it and some evil little troll decided to try before they buy.

My eyebrows! 

You know those days when your eyebrows won’t cooperate with each other? That’s mine everyday! It started with an ‘on the phone plucking eyebrows’ incident which as a girl, we all know will end in tears. It resulted in 2 non matching brows and they haven’t matched since. That was 2 years ago! 

Ever heard of the ‘eyebrows should be sisters not twins’ saying? Yep, well mine aren’t even related! 

And it stresses me out Every.Single. Day! 

Tomorrows topic is my make up brush collection. Which ones I rate and hate in my collection. 

Sam 🙂 xx

30 day blogger challenge: Favourite palette

It’s day one of my ’30 day blogger challenge’ that I’m setting myself. 

 
Choosing my favourite palette was harder than I thought. It’s like someone asking you to chose your favourite child. But I decided on one in the end. It was the smell that won it. (Yes the smell!) No I haven’t lost the plot (yet) all will be revealed shortly.

The winner was……

Too faced semi-sweet chocolate palette! 

  

Eyeshadow & chocolate, 2 of my favourite things combined! What’s not to love? 

16 shades of chocolatey deliciousness made with 100% natural cocoa powder. The smell is to die for! But on the downside if you’re on a diet maybe this one isn’t for you. 

  
It’s a mixture of mattes & shimmers that can take you from day to night in an instant. And for those that sometimes struggle with which colours go with which or where to apply what, the too faced palettes will really help you out as they all come with the how to’s leaflets which will help you recreate some of the looks on there. 

Here’s a quick swatch taken in natural light   
 
Colours from top to bottom:

• Licorice 
• Coconut crème
• Nougat
• Truffled
• Hot fudge
• Cocoa chili 
• Pink sugar
• Puddin’ 
• Blueberry swirl
• Peanut butter
• Frosting
• Rum raisin
• Mousse
• Caramel
• Bon Bon 
• Butter pecan

See what I mean about the diet thing? Just listing the names has made my belly rumble.

I purchased this from Debenhams for £38 so it is on the pricey side. It’s not something I would buy on a whim and I had admired it from afar for over a month before taking the plunge. 

So that was my fave palette. Have you tried any of the too faced palettes? Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments 🙂 

 Day 2 of my challenge will be ‘things that stress me out’ so prepare for a long one! You have been warned 

Sam x 

Urban Decay: Naked smoky palette, review & swatches

 It’s here! Sorry this is a little late! Been a manic week!   

I actually recieved this on the 3rd just before store launch so I’ve been itching to swatch this baby since it arrived. 

First Impressions: The packaging is gorgeous,it looks and feels expensive. I think it looks so much nicer than the other naked palettes too. The colours look amazing and I’m already inspired just after a little peek. The looks you can create are endless. 

  
  I’m also loving the brush. There’s a small pencil brush which is great for fine details/lining the lower lashes etc one end and a blending brush the other. 

  
 The colours: There are 4 matte, 4 satin & 4 shimmer shades shown below with & without flash.

Matte shades: Top to bottom: Thirteen, Combust, Whiskey & Password

   

   

Satin shades: Top to bottom (Whiskey, Password,)Smolder, Black market, Dagger & Slanted

   
    

Shimmer shades: Top to bottom (Slanted), Armor, Radar, Dirtysweet & High

   
    

To be completely honest I wasn’t overly impressed with the pigmentation of the satin shades, they needed layering quite a bit which is a shame. However, I’m not normally a fan of shimmers but I’m loving Armor, Dirtysweet & Radar. They apply exactly how they look in the palette. 

Combust & thirteen are ideal base shades for all over the eyelid.
Whiskey is a perfect transition shade.
High is lovely for highlighting the inner corner of the eye & brow bone.
  
   
Top to bottom- Thirteen, combust, whiskey, password, Smolder, black market, dagger, slanted, Armor, radar, Dirtysweet, high.

I Had a quick play and did a soft smokey eye this morning using a few colours from this palette.
   
 
I’ve been partying pretty hard this weekend trying to relive my youth so excuse the dark circles (I’d call them bags but they are more like suitcases under my eyes!)
Eyes: Thirteen all over the lid up to brow, High on brow bone & inner corner, Whiskey in the crease & outer corner also used as liner on bottom lash line, Dirtsweet on the lid. Mascara is too faced better than sex in black
Face: Urban Decay naked foundation in 5.0, collection lasting finish concealer in fair. Mac prep & prime loose powder to set, Illamasqua blush in lover and Mac soft & gentle for the highlight. 

Have you purchased the smoky palette? What did you think? Let me know, would love to hear what you guys thought 🙂 

I have a few posts coming this week (lots of birthday make up purchases!) so keep your eyes peeled. 
See you soon 🙂 x