The Body Shop haul & review

When I went to Bangor last week I couldn't resist going round the shops - sorry spending ban!

 I picked up a couple of skirts from H&M - my excuses for this are: one was in the sale and would be good for work/interviews/smart occasions and the other is a really versatile little number that can be dressed up or down and I needed (really, Hannah?) some skirts that weren't skater style.

I also picked up 3 statement necklaces because Helen's instagram feed made me do it (honest, guv'). I do love them! They're so sparkly! They're from H&M & New Look.

Anyways... you read Body Shop haul in the title and that is what you shall get. I say haul, its only 3 things because it was 3 for 2 and I don't have lots of money (unfortunately).

I got the Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream in 01 Light, the Colour Crush Lipstick in 225 - Blushing Pink, and the Concealer in 03.

I'll start with the lipstick & concealer, mainly because I photographed them together. My first issue with these is the packaging. Oh my days. The picture below is them half open. That plastic stuff is impossible to get off. Don't let the perforations fool you, my nails were ruined!

You'll be pleased to hear I did eventually get in. They are worth the effort but I'm not gonna lie, Body Shop people, I don't want to wrestle with my cosmetics. Lose the plastic.

I really like the concealer because it is a giant pencil, I think thats influenced by my inner stationery lover. I also like the really shiny bit of the base of the lipstick. As  I mentioned earlier, I like sparkly things. Look at the gleam on it!

Firstly, then, the lipstick. I saw this colour in the shop and fell in love with  it immediately. Its such a good colour! Its just the right shade of pink.

What do you reckon? I can't get over how much I like this lipstick. The consistency is creamy and it lasts quite a while, too.

Now the concealer - I don't know how much there is to say about concealer, really. While swatching these in the shop I went for darker than normal because the lighter shades seemed more yellow toned, and this was more pinky? I don't know if that makes any sense but that's my reasons for buying it. It covers blemishes and blends well. The picture below is just straight on on the left, and blended on the right.

I've filmed a review of the BB cream, because I'm all fancy and that. It does say on the bottle "instantly spotless looking skin" so I filmed it on a day where my skin was definitely not spotless so I could see if it really worked. See the results here. I can't seem to get the video itself into this post, I've tried everything! So you'll just have to click that link.

What do you think of my haul? Have you tried any of the products I've bought? Any statement necklace fans out there?

Spring Sunshine

Yesterday we had a very welcome warm, sunny day. The kind that reminds you that winter doesn't actually last forever! I still needed a coat, but it was lovely to be reunited with the sunshine! We went for a walk along the estruary and along the old Roman road (its not actually Roman) which goes along the water's edge - there's bits you can't access at high tide!

We're so incredibly lucky where we live to have views like this on our doorstep, I can't imagine living anywhere that isn't by the coast!

I hope you like these photos! Let me know how you've been making the most of the sunshine  in the comments. As I'm writing this the skies are all grey and there's rain lashing at the windows! Hopefully we'll have more warm weather soon.

London & #BloggersLoveLFW

After seeing a lot of hype on twitter I managed to get an invite to Bloggers Love Hub's Bloggers Love LFW event in London. I mainly wanted to go so I could meet fellow bloggers that I've been talking to online for a while (namely Ffion from A South Wales Blog, Annie from The Tales of Annie Bean, Frankie from Crazy Blonde Gal and Anne-Sophie from City Cookie). I did manage to meet Ffion and Annie, but unfortunately Frankie couldn't make it and I didn't bump into Anne-Sophie. I always wanted to meet some good brands!!

I set off to London on the early train from home, getting there at around midday. The V&A was top of my to-visit list, and I was hoping to squeeze in a little trip to Somerset House afterwards.

The Entrance

 I'd been wanting to visit the V&A for a long time, and after seeing Rosie's post about the Wedding Dresses exhibiton last year, I wanted to go even more! Unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos in the Wedding Dress exhibition, so have a look at Rosie's post (she went to the press release) and the website for an idea of what it's like. I've just noticed on the website that the exhibtion ends on the 15th of March - you have 5 days, get your skates on!! I particularly loved Kate Moss's dress!

Ceramic inspiration

 I also wanted to go round the ceramics section, which was way up on the 6th floor and I had to ask for directions just to get to the lift! Because I do a bit of amateur pottery, I wanted to see a bit of history of ceramics and get some inspiration. It worked! Its a shame this amazing museum is SO far away, and I didn't have more time, there's tonnes more to see!

After leaving the V&A I wanted to walk to Somerset House, or at least find a tube station to get me there, but I walked past this small, insignificant little shop...

... and I couldn't not go in! Sorry Somerset House, maybe next Fashion Week? I spent a long time in Harrods. It was funny after walking round the history of fashion at the V&A and then seeing the very latest on display here. I was casually browsing the £2,000+ gowns! I bought some tea in a Harrods tin as a souvenir, and treated myself to a Cath Kidston cosmetics bag.

I got changed in Harrods toilets into my outfit for the Bloggers Love LFW event - it was supposedly Gossip Girl themed and I'd done loads of research into what to wear but when I got there I needn't have bothered. Firstly there was nowhere to put my coat and bag so no-one saw my outfit anyway, and everyone else was dressed in whatever they liked - there was no obvious theme!

It was so so so busy in there, as you might have already read. I met the lovely Sam in the queue and we bonded and we'd both come on our own. I bumped into Annie and Ffion pretty much as soon as I walked in but quickly lost them in the crowds.

Ffion, Me & Sam (photo courtesy of Ffion)

inside the Hoxton Arches

 The amount of people made it really difficult to get to the brands and speak to them which was a shame. It did seem quite poorly organised! One brand I did speak to were the lovely people from Sniffy Wiffy. They make absolutely gorgeous smelling hand cream and shower creams, and with the mission to raise awareness of breast and testicular cancers - they donate a portion from each product sold to CoppaFeel and Ball Boys charities. A truly lovely brand!! My favourite was the Hibiscus & Rhubarb hand cream, but they all smelled divine!

Sniffy Wiffy's lovely products - you can see their "check yourself" labels on the left.

I bumped into Rasida in the crowds and we got chatting, it turned out we were both going home in the same direction so we went to get the train together. This went well until we realised we were on the wrong train! And we'd told another lady it was the right train so we were all in the wrong place. Eventually we got the right train and I made it back to my friend Meg's flat.

Rasida and I mid-train-debacle

A long and tiring but enjoyable day in the big smoke, (and the first time there by myself!) I hope to go back soon!

Catch up!

Hi! Remember me?

February was a mad busy month, I travelled to Cardiff, Bristol, London and Bangor, my laptop was sent away for repairs and I joined a Youtube collaboration channel.. all in all, not leaving me a lot of time to write something on this little old blog!

So here I am, again, at last! This post is just to keep you updated... in the line up for the next week there'll be a post all about London and the Bloggers Love Hub event, a book review, and maybe even a haul post if you're lucky (can you guess I failed at the spending ban? :/)

For now here's some pictures from the last few weeks adventures!

I went to Plymouth at the end of January

Sunset in Aberystwyth, early Feb

The bar at my local cinema - its independant and it's awesome - more to come!

The Victorian and Albert Museum, London - a taster of my next post!

Thank you for patiently hanging around - I promise exciting content to come!

In the meantime have a look at the Elysian channel and follow @ElysianYT on twitter! Ffion, Ness and I have been busy!

Spending Ban

I saw a few spending ban posts around the beginning of the month from and Rachel and Donna, and I thought I'd just do one in my own head, rather than making official and in writing, of course that didn't work! I've spend far too much money this month when I really need to be saving up to fund accomdation when (if!) I go to uni in September, as I won't be able to get Student Finance for a second degree :(

A few things this will cover: I won't buy any clothes, I won't buy any make up or toiletries until I use up what I've already got, and I won't buy any books.  One exception to this is that I will buy clothes for work, as I work in retail and I need (I use this term rather loosely) (heavily discounted) new season clothes for uniform. I will try and buy less though!

I plan on majorly reducing my wardrobe, so expect links to eBay items over the next few weeks!

I'll also look into selling academic books on Amazon, and donating others to charity.

I also plan on using my local library a hell of a lot more! I have so many books on my shelves and on my kindle that I haven't read, so I'm going to work my way through those, but if I want that "new book" excitement I'll be on my way to the library straight away.

I'm going to stop donating monthly to charity through direct debit, and instead donate more items to the charity shops in my town.

Hopefully this will stretch my funds a little bit further and I might make some money on eBay, which will all go into the pot!

Are you trying to save up for something? What are your budgeting tips?

The 'me-time' tag

Danielle tagged me to answer this set of questions - hope you enjoy finding out a little bit more about me and what I like to do when I'm lazing :)

1. What do you watch or read during me-time?
Anything on my kindle, blogs, or catch up on a TV series such as New Girl.

2.What do you wear during me-time?
Pjs, onesie, cosy jumpers, slippers, trackie bottoms, etc you get the gist!

3. What are you me-time beauty products?
Lush bath bombs, Body Shop face masks, and whatever nail polish takes my fancy!

4. Current favourite nail polish?
Hmmmm. Rimmel Salon Pro in Punk Rock, though having just been on the website to find that link there's loads more I want to try!

5. What do you eat or drink during me-time?
Tea, hot chocolate, coffee, choloate, cake, ice-cream, biscuits - you know, anything that's really good for me ;)

6. Current favourite candle?
I love the Apricot Blossom scent from Next.

7. Do you ever have outdoor me-time?
Yes! I love walking the dog or going for a (rare) run by myself.

8. Would you ever go to the cinema alone?
 In theory yes, if I really wanted to see something and no-one would/could come with me. The cinema isn't very social anyway, its not like you can chat while you watch the film!

9. Favourite online shop?
H&M! I make fantasy baskets that run into hundreds of pounds. Its a shame that when I do order anything it takes so long to arrive!

10. Anything to add? What else do you do during me-time?
Its mainly online shopping and blog reading to be honest, but I do like cutting up old magazines to make collages or add bits to my Wreck This Journal. I'm trying to do a bit more drawing/painting aswell.

And I Tag....

I don't like this tagging business, I always feel like I'm bugging people to take part! I'll encourage everyone to take part, and if you do answer the questions, let me know here!

Liebster Award

I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by the very lovely Little Bones, and also Jessica! Thank you both so much! It great to know that people are reading my blog and they like what they read. The Liebster Award is a great way of sharing the blogger love and finding out a bit more about the bloggers themselves.

The rules are:

• Thank and link the person who nominated you
• Answer the questions given by the nominator
• Nominate 11 other bloggers who have less than 200 followers and link them
• Create 11 new questions for the nominees to answer
• Notify all nominees via social media/blogs

Here are the 11 questions Kourtney asked Little Bones, and she in turn asked me...

1. Tea or Coffee?

I'm going to have to say Tea. In 2014 I trained myself to like coffee, but I'm still quite wimpy and only drink lattes, so it has to be the old favourite that I've been drinking forever and ever. Milk, one sugar please.

2. What is your favourite accessory?

I thought about jewellry but I don't want to single out one piece so I'm going to go with my Fat Face Darthaven shoulder bag, which you can read all about here. Its the perfect size for everything I need.

3. What is your number one perfume?

I've loved Lancome  Miracle ever since I was given a tiny sample in Bloomingdales in 2010, and Mark gave me a bottle on our first Christmas together.

4.  Who are your favourite Youtubers/Bloggers?

Ness is the only blogger I know in real life, and her blog is fantastic too! Also watch her booktube videos if you want recommendations of what to read.  I also love Cider with Rosie, her blog is just lovely to read and her dog is gorgeous. Finally Becky Bedbug - she seems like a lot of fun and she also posts really helpful tutorials (and she's always helpful on twitter too, and funny - follow her!)

5. What are 5 songs that make you happy?

Good Morning Baltimore - From Hairspray
Accidently In Love - Couting Crows (from Shrek soundtrack)
10/10 - Paolo Nutini
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Bring It All Back  - S Club 7
Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede (Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack)

Some absolute classics there. I know there's actually six but who cares?

6. Thunderstorm or Sunshine?

Ooh tricky. I love some good thunder and lightening. I don't think its ever scared me. I love the clap of thunder and watching out for that fork of lightening. Who knew weather was so exciting? Then again I love sunny days where its warm enough to swim in the sea, but I also have to plaster on Factor 50 and I hate being really hot. Sooo... Thunderstorm it is!

7. Who is your ultimate woman crush and man crush?

Zooey Deschanel and Captain Jack Sparrow (not Johnny Depp, just Captain Jack)

8. What would you do during a zombie apocolypse? 

Get myself to an island. Perhaps I should take flying lessons now, or learn how to sail... Failing that I'll just go zombie - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

9. What is your favourite pasttime?

Curling up with a blanket, a cup of tea and a good book.

10. Would you rather have no hands or no feet?

No feet. Hands are so useful! I wouldn't be able to do pottery or make up or hold hands or wear rings or bake... (I chose no feet on the assumption I'd get a prosthetic for either of these options, and prosethetic feet are easier to manage.. I think)

11. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why? 

To be able to apparate. Just to click my fingers, spin around and disappear in a poof of smoke and glitter (all for dramatic effect, of course!) It would make visiting places so much quicker! And save a fortune on fuel, trains and flights.


Hope you liked my answers, they're quite intersting questions and they were fun to answer. Now to think of some questions for my nominees...

1. What is your favourite genre of books? 2. Fruit or veg? 3. Where would you most like to visit? 4. What size shoe are you? 5. Choose 5 songs/pieces of music to relax to. 6. Jeans, leggings or skirt/dress? 7. Do you prefer the country or city? 8. Which car would you most like to own/drive? 9. What do you prefer to have with dessert? Cream, ice-cream or custard? 10. Which extinct animal would you bring back? 11. Who are your favourite bloggers?

 I nominate (based on bloglovin' followers - under 200 is quite hard! Some might be a little bit over)
Sarah of Miss Sarah Louise
Abigail of Snug
Sara of Dear Skim
Ffion of A South Wales Blog
Anne-Sophie of City Cookie
Kathryn of Nimble Note
Katy of The Lilac Scrapbook
Hall Of Happiness

Sorry that's not 11... 200 followers is quite limiting! Thanks again to Little Bones and Jessica for nominating me, make sure you check out their blogs with the links at the top.