Boom Baby!!

Have you heard of Lip Boom?! Well if you haven't then I'll explain.. A certain Miss Alexandra Burke has teamed up with the geniuses at MUA Cosmetics, and come up with this little beauty!! It's a lipstick with a luscious highlighting lipgloss which you can wear 4 ways for different looks!

1. Lipstick alone for a matte look.
2. Lipstick with highlighter applied just to the centre of your lips to create a full volume illusion.
3. Lipstick with highlighter all over for a super-glossy look.
4. Highlighter alone for a sheer pearl finish.

I was in Rayleigh last weekend and popped into Superdrug to pick up a Lip Boom, annoyingly they didn't have them in stock. So once I got home I looked online and found MUA were doing a cracking promotion. Purchase a Lip Boom and you also bag yourself a lovely 24 colour eyeshadow palette for absolutely nothing! Result. (FYI the promotion has now ended)

 

All in all a fab bit of make up for a bargain price. The Lip Booms come in 8 different shades and the one I purchased is called Bring It! It's such a bright matte red lipstick which looks great on its own (totally reminds me of my Nan's lippy colour) or with the highlighting gloss for a super slick shine! I really like the smell of the gloss, it's a scrummy sweet smell that I just can't get enough of.. Almost vanilla like! Yum! My daughter is a fan of the glitter in the gloss too.. I'm going to have to hide this one from her!!

Have you tried Lip Boom? What's your favourite colour?

Till next time.. M x

Rainy Day..

The wonderful River Island launched a sale a few weeks ago and I took advantage of it purely to get my hands on a lovely little mint green skater dress that I'd seen. It's got a glittery effect to the stretchy material, which was unexpected but quite nice. I had seen a similar one in Topshop and I'm glad I held out and got my hands on this at a bargain price. Obviously due to the weather, my legs have stayed well and truly covered - it's abominable out there! I hate the rain!

Not much has been going on this week, I'm due to get my hair cut and coloured on Saturday which I'm a little excited about. This red on my head is seriously dead (apologies for that)! I'm a little nervous though as I'm going for the dip dye effect that I've longed for but put off for so long. Here's hoping that I'm channeling Drew Barrymore's ombred luscious locks when I walk out of the salon! One somehow doubts it..

 

Dress @ River Island

Jacket @ Coleen Rooney for Littlewoods

Boots @ Next

I had a bit of a shoe sort out at the weekend and threw some oldies in the charity bag - I seem to be parting with a few items in my closet of late. It's something I never used to do 'just in case' I ever needed that particular item again - I'm a major hoarder! I had forgotten about these cute black ankle boots that I got from Next a few years back. I love an ankle boot and the height of this heel and the purple sole (which you can just about make out in the 3rd picture) just sold it for me. So cute!

Anyone else take advantage of the River Island sale? Get anything good?

Till next time.. M xx

Kenneth Jay Lane..

Kenneth Jay Lane is one cool cat, not only has he designed shoes at Dior, but he has also created the most exquisite pieces of jewellery I've seen recently. I stumbled across his pieces on www.asos.com but they can be sourced on most designer websites, Net a Porter, Outnet, etc. Everyone from Liz Taylor to Sarah Jessica Parker have fallen for his fabulous costume jewellery and I'm no different.

Kenneth uses the most amazing coloured metal and gems in his creations but for me the turquoise and gold combo just kill it every time. The colours just look so beautiful together and really stands out. So I've decided to focus on this colour combination and showcase some of Kenneths work. These two costume rings are gorgeous, the octopus ring is just amazing eh?.. I absolutely love it!

  

   

My favourite piece however has to be this necklace, obviously Kenneth is way out of my price range, but imagine my joy when H&M announced their Blue Crush collection. This necklace was part of the range and as soon as I saw it on their site I ordered, £7.99 was a bargain price, and I'm so glad I did as it is now sold out! The turquoise ring was kind of a no brainer for me as I'm totally obsessed with big rings.. Can't wait till they get delivered.

What do you think of this colour combination? Have you heard of Kenneth Jay Lane? Own a piece of his jewellery?

Till next time... M x

Monday Eve..

My blogs seem to be getting more and more sporadic these days. I thought I would create a massively lazy post today after lunching with the girls and indulging somewhat on too much food and wine. So here is a rather lazy picture post - rather cleverly done on a wonderful site called Mosaic Maker! Check it out..

Floral necklace, Sold Out, Friendship Bracelets, Love Drew, Titanic 100 years, Lips, Nails, Little Man, Marilyn, H&M Dress, River Island Dress, KK, JNL with Glutes that Salute, Shredded Wheat, The Husband and little Mi's, Hair, Floral Print Trouser post, Tan, Varnish, Organised Chaos!

Little tip for all you make up addicts, I have a promotional code for MUA Cosmetics. For all those that don't know Alexandra Burke has launched a lip gloss/stick called Lip Boom for MUA and if you order one (cost £3.00) then you can get a 24 piece eyeshadow palette, that would normally cost £8, for absolutely nothing! The code is FB20000 - the site is http://www.muastore.co.uk. Enjoy!

Till next time... M x

St Moriz Tan..

I bought this tan on a whim whilst I was birthday shopping on Amazon for my daughter. Generally I spend far too much money on branded tans such as L'Oreal or Garnier and as a rule of thumb I stay away from the cheaper alternatives. However I've read on blogs and beauty sites that this was a decent tan, and with the other options burning a hole in my pocket I thought 'why not give it a go!'. I decided to order the Dark Instant Mousse which came with a free applicator mitt for just £2.99 plus postage. Really good value!

 

You really need to shake the bottle as the mousse can be a bit watery if you don't, and be warned, it comes out the bottle really dark in colour. This worried me somewhat so I added a bit of my Nivea moisturiser to the mousse, as I really find that this helps even out the colour and reduces streaking and patches.

And here are the results (beware of almost transparent skin on display!).. Not bad at all eh?! I was pleasantly surprised actually, I didn't smell that bad either which is always a bonus when you fake tan yourself.

 

 

I'm loving my new sun kissed glow and I'll definitely re-apply this tan in time for my meet up with the girls this weekend.

Have you tried this brand? What's your favourite tanning product?

Till next time.. M x

Floral Print!

So after a few weeks of waiting, my lovely tropical flower print trousers from H&M turn up, just as the rain arrives.. Sigh! They are such a lovely fit though, which is quite surprising for H&M trousers. I was half expecting to begrudgingly return them. I can't wait for the warmer weather to come back so I can make the most of these. They are so versatile that you can wear them with anything, heels or flats and you can either mix your prints up or stay safe with plain colours as I have done in my photos.

My bright coral blouse is from Next, it's such a lovely material and colour and I'm really struggling to refrain from purchasing the white and mustard ones in store - I already have the black. A girl can never have too many shirts right?

 

It's definitely a hair up day today (this last photo was the first taken before I decided to stick it up!) - this weather is appalling and the frizz that consumes my hair will actually take over altogether if I leave it down in this windy rain. Yuk!.

Till next time.. M x

Shellac Off!

Opting for Shellac was easy as being a mum of two and a total cluts, the thought of having a perfect manicure for up to two weeks was too tempting and not bad for £15. So Hot Pink nails it was!

   

 

Fifteen days on and the polish was perfect, albeit a little grown out at the cuticles. The problem with me though is I don't have time to keep getting them re-done, so I sat down last night with varnish remover, cotton wool and some cuticle pushers and attempted to remove it.

After nearly bloody half an hour the removal was complete and let me tell you, my poor nails have seen better days. A few patches of the top layer of nail peeled off when the polish came off and now they look worn and dried out. Ouch!

I was warned of this when having a Shellac but I decided to take the risk. So although I had lovely chip free nails for two weeks was it worth it? To be honest I'm not a fan, I think I'll stick with my own polish in future! I'll have nails in a better condition if anything and I can remove the polish with ease whenever I want to.

Have you tried Shellac? What did you think?

Till next time... M x

The Queen of Ombre..

I was going to jump on the dip-dye bandwagon a few months back, but decided against it for a dark red. Now that the red is washing out though, very frigging slowly mind you, I've decided to dye my hair brown and get an ombre tint put in.

There are many different colour combinations that can be used with this trend and all manner of celebs are getting their locks dip-dyed. Drew Barrymore has long been an advocate of this colour style and as far as I'm concerned she is the Queen of Ombre.

What do you guys think of the ombre look? Done it? Over it?

Till next time... M x

Here's to friendship..

If you thought that friendship bracelets were a trend left in your childhood then think again! Whether it be beaded, braided or chain, friendship bracelets are all over the high street. If you don't fancy splurging on loads of different ones then get hold of some patterns, beads and threads and get braiding!!

The only way to wear them is stacked high up your wrist, so experiment with different styles and colours for that boho look.

Till next time.. M x

Flowers in the Rain..

So glad I didn't go out today, it's been getting darker and darker all morning and has now just started pelting it down. Got to love the April showers!! On a good note however, it's the 12th April which means only one thing.. H&M have released their Conscious Collection. Yay!

I featured a few items in my blog a few weeks back that were a bit out of my price range, and have already sold out this morning! I've found some nice affordable pieces on their site though and I urge you to have a look. Lovely flowery patterns and broderie anglaise adorn most of the items. I've got a bit of a thing for a strapless dress and this powder pink version is so lovely, it's a nice length, such gorgeous pastel shade and under £20.

  

I'm lounging around the house today in this shirt and jeans. I completely forgot that I had this necklace, I bought it off the Next website a few years ago and I hardly wore it as it is quite heavy. It's so detailed and one of the flowers has already fallen off, looks kind of cool under the collar of this shirt though. Will definately be wearing it again.. I love a statement necklace!

  

  

 Till next time... M x

Body Chain..

Loving these body chain necklaces at the moment. Long gone are the spindly little tummy chains you used to get for wearing on the beach. These are cool and quirky necklaces that seriously make a statement with any outfit!

My favourites are these 2 chains from Topshop. The golden coloured cross chain is quite a subtle chain whereas this gold block chain is such a dramatic look, and only £10 in Topshop's sale at the moment. Both would look awesome with a plain tee or an LBD!

 

I recommend you take a look on www.etsy.com too. There are some amazing handmade and vintage jewellery pieces on there. These two chains stood out, this ombré style chain by Chicago designer Atomik Bomb is lovely and bang on trend with the dip dye pretty pastel colours.



Also loving this bronzed chain mail style chain. Looks brilliant with the blue.. Gorge!



Are you loving these body chains? Have you seen any nicer ones?

Till next time.. M x

Belated Easter Tidings..

I hope everyone has had a good holiday. Back to work tomorrow for most of you.. Enjoy! I've eaten shed loads of chocolate this weekend and somewhat abandoned my post pregnancy shape up.. So I've bought a Wii-fit. It's ridiculously addictive and I hope it stays that way.

Here's a small festive egg pic featuring my favourite and most consumed Easter confectionery this year.. Mini Eggs!! Yum!



Well done to Rowan who won the giveaway! Please message me and I'll get the lashes in the post to you!

Till next time... M x

Waterfall Braids..

I love braids. I've always envied girls that can pull off a decent looking fishtail plait as mine always comes loose.. Rubbish! But these Waterfall braids are a must this Spring and they are fairly easy to do. Add a curl or even some flowers to your hair for that stunning boho look.

There are plenty of decent tutorials on YouTube so check them out and try these braids yourself! I know I'll be practising again when the kids go bed tonight.

Till next time... M x