School/college/university stationary haul!

Some of you may know if you follow me on twitter that I'm off to uni in a few weeks time (eek!) so when I went into Sainsburys the other day and saw that all the school stationary was half price I thought I'd grab myself some bits. September (or August in this case) stationary shopping is quite possibly the most exciting time of year for me, sad I know.

These Oxford notepads tend to be about £5 and I imagine most of you are thinking "why the hell would you spend £5 when you can get one from the pound shop?!" Well I thought that too until I got one last year and omg it makes you WANT to write your coursework just because the pen glides over the paper so easily! I know it sounds weird but just trust me on this one, you really can feel the quality! I actually might go and stock up on a few of these in various colours whilst they're on offer at £2.25 (half price). They really are worth the price and tend to not be on offer for the rest of the year! I picked up the black one just because everything else I bought was very bright and floral so thought I'd tone it down a bit!

I was actually on my way to the till with a different folder when I saw this one which was much bigger and cheaper. You can't really tell from the photos but it's pretty huge and I love the design which is called "Elsie" and they have various bits and pieces in the same floral pattern. This was £1.75 (half price) and will be ideal for my tons of bits of paper.

 I then went back later in the day to buy the matching academic diary! I love these diaries because they run from about September 2013 until July 2014. For those of you in education I'm sure you will agree that your year seems to run from September until the end of the school/college/uni year rather than from January until December. Especially as everything will be changing for me (new area, new house, new people, new uni , new course) I feel like it's a new chapter in my life so writing in a brand new diary that starts as uni starts just feels right! Again - gorgeous floral design. This one is the A6 size which I thought was better for carrying around in my bag than the bigger one and the space for writing should still be plenty.

Finally, I picked up the 2 pack of cute pens in the "vintage heart" design (again, I think they sell lots of matching bits eg notebooks and folders). These were £1.49 and were probably a bit of a silly purchase as it's likely I'll have lost them within my first few days and they might write really crappy but I'm a sucker for cute stationary so hey-ho! I also picked up a pack of 20 black ballpoint pens from the basics range for 56p. These were the last ones on the shelf so I felt inclined to buy them just incase there's a sudden pen shortage or something!

If any of you have done school/college/university hauls I'd love to see them so leave links below! :) I'll also be doing a housey haul when I move into my new house in a few weeks time so watch out for that!

St Grape skincare review!

I was lucky enough to be given the chance to try out three products by St Grape who make high quality natural skincare products which is something I always look for in a skincare brand as I want my skin to be as healthy as it can be! All of their products are hand made or developed using ancient processes and all products are eco-packaged - I'm sure you'll agree that it sounds like an exciting brand!

Exotic Pink Salt | £15 | 600g

"St.Grape Exotic Pink Salt is made up of 100% naturally-enriched pure essential oils. It is produced from high quality grade AHimalayan mineral crystal pink salt - a unique composition with up to 84 minerals with millions of years old. "

The first product I was sent was the Exotic Pink Salt which is such a pretty pink colour and was beautifully packaged and included a little bag to pour the salt into which can be wet and used to massage or hung in a room for scenting. I poured about 1/3 of the bottle into the bag and hung it in the bedroom and the room smells great already. I really struggle to get to sleep but since I've had this in the bedroom I've felt so relaxed that my mind stops working at 100mph and I actually sleep - amazing! All of the products I received have quite strong scents that aren't your usual Soap & Glory girly sent, they have the sort of smell you'd expect from a spa which took some getting used to but I actually really like the smells now! All products also come with instructions which I think is really sweet and they all have more than one use too, for example the salt can be used for foot soaking, full body bathing, massaging and room scenting! This would make a gorgeous gift and would look great on display in a bathroom because it looks such a high end, well made product. I am yet to try it for massage because once I've got the bag wet I won't be able to use it for scenting until it's dried, but once I have I'll update you!

Invisible Skin Massage Oil | £25 | 120ml
"From Europe to Asia, a better result is achieved by combining these massage techniques (date back to 3000 BC) with essential oils that are pure natural aroma oils distilled from plants, trees, roots and seeds."

The next product was the Invisible Skin Massage Oil which I imagine not everyone would have a use for but luckily I have a lovely boyfriend who is forever giving me back massages because I struggle with back pain quite a bit :( So I was really looking forward to trying this out as we've never used any kind of massage oil before. Again, this has quite a strong smell but I found it really relaxing and it definitely made a difference to the massage, my boyfriend said it was a lot better for him too. I will be using this very often from now on. I would say though, I had a shower straight after and I probably wouldn't use it without showering after because I'd feel a bit sticky. The bottle comes with a cork top which can be replaced by the glass ball top which comes in the box, a very cute idea!

Aqua Bliss Natural Face & Body Scrub | £12 | 150g

"This magical combination of natural high quality mineral sea salt and natural Oil extracts from around the world was uniquely created to rejuvenate, refresh and heal – at the same time offering a natural calming and relaxing sensation for the whole body."

Finally, I was sent Aqua Bliss which is a face and body scrub. I tried my best to get pictures of me unwrapping the product because it was in a really sweet box and wrapped in floral tissue paper, it felt like Christmas! The best way to describe the consistency of this is almost like wet sand but much less abrasive! In the picture below I put a lot more on my hand than you would use just to try and show the consistency, you can see in the areas where it's applied thinner that the grains are tiny. I have tried a lot of body/face scrubs but I never stick to using them because they either leave me feeling sticky afterwards or tend to feel really harsh on my skin but this scrub I have been using almost daily for 2 weeks because I love it so much! It exfoliates and makes your skin feel so much softer than before without being harsh in the slightest and there's no stickyness at all. This is my favourite product of the 3 and it will definitely be going on my Christmas list (I really think it will last that long!) One thing I would say is that I left it on the floor in my shower and when I go to use it it seems to have filled with water so the lid probably isn't tight enough to stop water getting in? But if you tip the water out it's fine and it can be easily avoided by not getting it wet so that doesn't really cause any issues, just something to be aware of!

Overall, I'm really impressed with all of the products I tried and will continue to use them until they run out. They are quite pricey compared to other scrubs and salts but I think it's definitely worth it because you can tell that they are made with love, they are packaged really well and have so many uses that I'd happily pay the money for what you get. They all feel good on the skin and leave you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. I feel like I'm running my own spa from home!

All of the products can be purchased from the St Grape website so go and have a look! :)
St Grape Twitter
St Grape Facebook

Chi Chi wishlist!

One | Two | Three

Four | Five | Six

I found it really difficult to not include every dress from the Chi Chi website, they are all so feminine and girly - absolutely gorgeous! The six above are my favourites though, they are very me and I would love to own any one of them! Skater dresses are so flattering and they are my go to dress. Combine pastel pinks with lace and you've got my dream dress! I also adore the contrasting baby pink and black lace, it adds a bit of an edge to the girly look whilst still being really feminine and pretty. The art deco on the bodycon dress is so pretty too and the gold and black detail is stunning! They are quite possibly the most gorgeous dresses I have ever seen, I wish I'd had one of these for my prom!

There is currently a blogger competition running to win £200 to spend on their site by creating a wish list similar to mine! For more details go here, the competition closes tomorrow so get your entries in quickly!! :)

I challenge you to find me a more stunning dress!

What's in my bag?

I got my bag for my birthday in the Topshop sale for about £20 which is such a bargain and I absolutely love it!

My purse was also from the Topshop sale for £5, the front is a suede effect material and the back is leather effect with a zip pocket and 2 other sections inside. I know studs have been around for a while but I still love them!

Guess where my paisley e-reader case is from? Yup you guessed it, Topshop sale! I think this was £3 and although my Kobo is too small for the elastic to keep it in place, it prevents it getting scratched or rogue pens drawing on the screen :)

And now the rubbish! From left to right, I have two bottles of water despite the fact I don't really drink water. I have a horrible fear of choking in public and having no drink so always have to have a bottle of water with me, weird I know! My Blackberry is pretty old but it's so reliable I have no need to buy a new phone! I have some pens, lots of paper, receipts, an old theatre ticket and a Superdrug offer magazine. I have 2 packs of tissues which have been so useful recently eg the other week I cut my foot and had blood everywhere and times when there's no loo roll in toilets! I have travel tablets from when I went on holiday a few weeks ago because I only need 5 minutes in the car to feel pretty crappy, my keys with my Cath Kidston key fob, an expired bus pass, a cute keyring from my boyfriend and a hair braid thing from River Island. I also have a Born To Shop diary (which I never use), 2 foundations and a bottle of Hawaiian Tropic sun cream! Phew, so much crap!

If any of you have done what's in my bag posts put the link below so I can have a mooch! Also, I've used rounded edges on my photos in this post...what do you think? Yay or nay?

Primark sale haul

 I got my a-level results today, I didn't do as well as I'd hoped but I did get into my first choice uni! So I'm currently excitedly looking at houses, how scary! Anyway, I decided I deserved to treat myself :) I didn't get much but I really like the bits I did get and they were all such bargains that I wanted to share them with you!

 I've wanted some t-bar shoes for a while now but I find that they don't look right with jeans and I rarely wear skirts/dresses because I hate getting my legs out so couldn't justify buying some for the odd occasion. However, I'm going out tonight and didn't want to wear heels and thought these would be ideal to wear with my skater skirt and they were reduced to £4 which is a complete bargain! I'm really liking Primark shoes at the moment.

 I also couldn't help picking up this red textured skater skirt reduced to £3!! It fits perfectly and it looks really good quality considering! It's a bright red colour, a lot brighter than it shoes up in the picture, it's gorgeous and I can't wait to wear it. I usually get rid of Primark belts straight away but I actually quite like this one, the contrast of the black with the bright red really works and the buckle is rustic looking, not the usually plasticky cheap tacky belts they put on everything.

I have a bit of a sock/underwear obsession and can't seem to go into Primark without coming out with some fluffy socks or a pair of pants, it's really bad! I have Primark underwear coming out my ears! I saw these in the reduced section though and they're not something I would usually buy. I have steered clear of all the "Geek" etc tshirts but I feel like I've been missing out so grabbed these socks to fulfil my slogan trend needs :) The "swot" and "geek" pairs were previously in a pack but had been separated so were 50p each and the camo socks with diamonds were 50p from £1.50 which I thought was a bargain so hence I got all three!

MUA Undress Your Skin Illuminating Foundation review

You may be able to tell by my previous MUA posts that I'm a little bit MUA obsessed! I'm a massive fan and almost everything in my make-up bag is by MUA. 

 "Covers imperfections and blemishes whilst maintaining your skins natural glow with light-diffusing particles of shimmer that creates instant radiance."
The only real down side for me is the packaging as it feels half empty and if you tip it upside down the foundation pours out without you having to squeeze it which has led to it dripping down the mirror and narrowly missing my jeans a few times but I suppose that's just my fault for never learning! :)

I purchased it in Porcelain which is the palest shade as I am so pale that usually the palest shades of foundation are too dark for me which is so frustrating however after going on two holidays in the amazing British sun that we had, this is actually too pale for me! After applying foundation, bronzer, blusher etc it's not noticeably pale and in the winter when my tans disappeared I think it will be the perfect shade for me.

As you can see it really is very shimmery although I don't think this is as noticeable when I was wearing it on my face, I hope I didn't look this shimmery anyway!! I find it gives a really good coverage and is very buildable however it's a bit difficult to blend in the tricky areas such as around the hair line and around the eyebrows but I just try to apply less in those areas. It lasts all day and doesn't feel too heavy, I hate feeling like I'm wearing a mask after I've finished doing my make-up but I really like the feel and look of this foundation. 

I have combination skin so do get an oily t-zone and on a particularly oily day this foundation can look shiny but this is easily fixed with a powder top up that turns you from from shiny to radiant! I definitely recommend this foundation, especially for the £2.50 offer price I paid! 

FashionistA The Double Collection 2 Step Mascara Review

 You may have seen in my MUA haul that one of the products I purchased from the FashionistA range that MUA recently took over was the Double Collection Mascara. The mascara has two ends, a lengthening base coat and then a black mascara wand the other end. The mascara was originally £8 but reduced to £1.50 - bargain!

Step 1 Ultra Lengthening Base Coat - the base coat is white so as you can imagine gives you really creepy looking eyelashes! My boyfriend was highly amused and said I looked like a snow fairy! I found this really easy to apply, it didn't go on too thick so was quite easy to apply the other end of the mascara over it and it dried pretty quickly. However, don't forget to leave it a minute or two to give it chance to dry otherwise you'll get white bits all over the black mascara wand. 

Step 2 Intense Colour Coverage and Volume - this end just looks like your standard mascara, with quite a thin long wand. I ordered the mascara in 'Ultra Black' however I found it looked a bluey grey colour so didn't give the dramatic impact I was after. It looks good on the lashes and like the other end isn't clumpy at all so doesn't stick your eyelashes together but because of the lack of colour it was quite difficult to cover some of the base coat. I've now started using the base coat with my Benefit They're Real mascara which gives a much more dramatic look as the mascara is a lot blacker and it also covers the base really easily, I find using this combination works better for me!

Photo on the left having used the first step, on the right having used both steps.

What do you guys think? I think it looks pretty good in the photos but you can tell that there's some base showing through and the mascara colour isn't very dark, it's definitely not what I'd call "Ultra Black" however I am really impressed with this, especially for the price. My lashes stay separated, look pretty natural and the curl lasts too! It's now got a permanent place in my make-up bag and considering the expensive mascaras I've brought that have been really crappy, I'm really pleasantly surprised by this!

Mini shopping trip haul - Primark, Superdrug & Asda

 Me and my boyfriend went on a trip to Birmingham today and I just thought I'd show you some bits and pieces I picked up!

 I mentioned this Superdrug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser in my last blog post so made sure I picked this up while it's half price at £2.99. It's been compared to the Liz Earle cleanser so I am very excited to try this, watch out for a review soon!

We went into Asda on the way home (I was desperate for the loo!) and I was mooching around the skin care aisle hoping there would be some bargains I could pick up. This nspa brand has always intrigued me and this shower & body wash was reduced to 75p so I couldn't say no! I love the packaging of these products and the way they label them step 1 for cleanse, step 2 for exfoliate and step 3 for moisturise, such a clever idea!

Whilst in Superdrug I also picked up the Colour Effects Cool Blonde which I also mentioned in my last post. I ombred my hair last week and I hate the brassy colour of the blonde but this seems to be sold out everywhere so I was extremely glad when I saw it today! I'm expecting big things for this but it was only £1.99ish so I'm really not sure what to expect... ombre hair blog post to come soon!

Finally, whilst in Primark I picked up a 2 pack of bras from the Secret Possessions section (the more expensive underwear). I adore the vintage, girly look of these and whilst they aren't very padded, it was £8 for the two which I think is quite a bargain! The black one has white lace detail with pink ribbon, a pink bow and pearl in the middle and lace straps whilst the white one has tiny dots all over it with white lace, white ribbon, a white bow and pearl and the same lace straps! Love them!

I'm lusting after...

1) Superdrug Effects Cool Blonde - I've just ombred my hair (pics to come soon) and the ends are quite a brassy orange so I've been desperate to get this to tone it down a bit but it's sold out online AND in my local shop!!

2) Matalan satin plunge bra - I adore this bra, I think it's gorgeous and I love how Matalan has pictures of people wearing the bras. Creepy as it sounds, I like to see how boobs look in a bra before I buy (especially if I'm buying online).

3) Topshop blush in Afternoon Tea - Honestly? I just want it for the name.

4) Virtue Queen of Hearts stacking ring - I got one of the Virtue stacking rings for my birthday last month and I love it and unlike Pandora they do sizes small enough for my stupidly skinny fingers. I REALLY like this one but considering it's a heart, I don't think I can really buy it for myself. Might have to give the boyfriend a nudge!

5) Suede effects chunky cut out nude wedges - These wedges are from the Ebay shop I did a blog post about; Hidden Fashion. I think these are the perfect "I'm now 18 so need some clubbing heels that won't kill my feet" shoes!

6) Soap & Glory Mist You Madly - I got the body butter in this scent in a big gift set for Christmas about 3 years ago and it's the best thing I've EVER smelt so I've been meaning to get this ever since but always forget!

7) River Island Tshirt - My go to item at the moment is a boyfriend fit tshirt and the saying couldn't describe me better, I just wish it wasn't £15... can I really justify spending that on a tshirt that has such an ironic slogan?

8) Superdrug Hot Cloth Cleanser - I've read such good reviews of this cleanser and people have said it's as good as the Liz Earle one but I've been waiting for it to go on offer before buying it because for a Superdrug own brand product I think it's quite pricey (£5.99). It's half price at the moment so will have to make a trip to Superdrug soon.

9) Revlon Urban - Finally, I saw swatches of this nail polish on someone's blog and it reminded me how much I love really dark nail polishes, I think they really suit my pale skin. It's not exactly a summer colour but I can see myself living in this in the autumn/winter.

Nails of the day - Revlon 'Girly'

I gave into temptation and purchased the Revlon nail varnish in 'Girly' the other day. It was on offer at £5.49 and I also had a £1 voucher so managed to convince myself that I needed it! In the bottle it's a gorgeous muted pink/purple colour with specks of blue, purple and pink glitter in various sizes. I fell in love with it but found that trying to get the actual purple colour on the nails is quite difficult. This is two coats and whilst I love the glitter, it's almost a sheer colour, I can see my nail through it.

I think next time I'm either going to have to either put lots more layers on or apply a colour underneath it. One advantage is that you wouldn't notice any chips! :)