Audrey Hepburn: A Fashion Icon

Yesterday marked what would have been Audrey Hepburn's 85th birthday. If you wasn't aware then you probably did see Google celebrating it on their homepage all day and I must admit it made me smile because things like that always do. I thought the Google thing was extraordinary - this woman has given so much to the entertainment and fashion world, she has also encouraged girls for years to step out of their comfort zones and is still inspiring them today... I'm very glad that Google decided they wanted to commemorate her. I'm not lying when I say that this lady has always been one of my greatest 'classic' style icons. She was an amazing woman who could pull off pretty much any chic, feminine look that she set her mind to, and she wasn't even afraid to wear the trousers from time to time! You could tell that she didn't take life too seriously, but still wanted to make the most out of things... and I think that reflects in her wardrobe choices. My favourite quote of hers is "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible' "... so thank you Audrey for giving your talent, knowledge and incredible fashion sense to the world. We will always admire you xx

 

My May Wishlist

                  

Recently I've noticed that I'm constantly on the look out for new things that are completely edgy and different. I have been trying to experiment with my style a lot and have found that now that the summer months are round the corner, I want that extra pop of bold colour whether it's my makeup, my hair colour or even my fashion choices. Whenever I see a ray of sunshine it instantly puts me in a much better mood (I think I have that strange weather disorder called 'SAD' and I'm not even kidding)... therefore exploring the different, quirky products or clothes that are brought out is extremely fun (especially with your girlfriends). 

 Bubblegum Lip Scrub, LUSH

I was in Maidstone the other day and went into LUSH (you know that shop that gives you such a headache but leaves you feeling squeaky clean all the same?) and saw this great product that everyone has been raving about. It's called the 'Bubblegum Lip Scrub' and costs £5.50 in stores and online. Now I know that you're all thinking that forking out £5.50 is quite expensive for a small pot but I've never seen something so perfect in all my life. This lip scrub is like no other... it buffs and exfoliates whilst having an amazing bubblegum taste that won't upset you if you have a sweet tooth like me. A perfect item in anyone's collection for a yummy pout!

Crazy Color in Sky Blue - £4.99

Although I promised myself that I wouldn't be going down the long, treacherous road of dying my hair an unnatural colour again... I have slowly started to change my mind. I will NOT be changing my entire hair colour to blue, however after watching several Youtube tutorials and reading up on some guidelines, I am well and truly looking forward to dip dying my ends for the festival season. I've used Crazy Color before and it's most effective on hair that has been previously bleached or 'pre-lightened' but is still effective if you want a more subtle look. For this I will indeed have to bleach the ends of my hair to a dangerous white-ish colour. I will then have to use a toner on the blonde parts so the blue can go on easily without it turning a horrible green colour (which is not the colour I am hoping to achieve...maybe next time though you never know!) I haven't seen Crazy Color in retail stores but I know their range of funky-punky colours are available to buy pretty much anywhere online - Amazon, eBay, hairdresser suppliers, you name it! 

'Aquarium Nail Effects by Barry M - £3.99

The latest Aquarium collection by Barry M always catches my eye whenever I'm out in the nail polish aisles, and this blue nail lacquer needs to be added to my nail varnish draw as soon as possible. It apparently gives your nails an awesome 'under the sea effect' as if you were a mermaid (cute!) and costs £3.99 online or in most beauty stores like Boots and Superdrug. This is definitely a must-have on my May wishlist!

                                                                               

Did I mention that I'm loving the colour blue right now? This lipstick hue is unlike anything I've ever seen available to purchase before... IT'S BLUE! Yes I get excited about things like this. It's part of the MAC Lustre range and this particular shade is named 'Blast O Blue'. After searching for this lipstick online for a while it occured to me that this may have been a limited edition because the MAC website itself doesn't list it anymore, although I have seen a few of these listed on eBay so if you are extremely keen on getting your unique little hands on this then you'll have to do a bit of extreme, crazy lipstick lady searching!  

'Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Stick' - £4.49

And lastly the Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Stick comes in a variety of eleven bright/nude shades. The creamy consistency means it will be easy to apply and doesn't fade easily. It costs £4.49 online and in stores, and would work well as an eye-catching feline eye on the lids as part of a casual outfit, or for a more striking look when going out in the evening. If you have any of these products then please tell me what you thought of them in the comments section below... I'd love to hear what you have to say about them! If not then what's on your current wishlist? Happy online shopping everyone! xx 

Liebster Award

The other day Beloved Jaine was kindly nominated for a Liebster Award, and I am very thankful that it has been gaining recognition from you fellow online bloggers and followers. I'll be honest... at first I had no idea what the Liebster Award was so I did some research (as you do!). Turns out that this award only exists on the internet given to bloggers by other bloggers. It has German origins – the word 'liebster' has several definitions: dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, BELOVED (yes, I'm easily amused by this one) and seems to have been created to recognize and/or discover new bloggers and welcome them to the blogosphere... which is a great way to establish yourself and build a following in my opinion! 

Chloe from Chloe Wright Writes gave me the nomination and gave me a set of questions to answer. 

The Rules

1. Provide a link back to the blogger who nominated you

2. Post 11 random facts about you

3. Answer 11 random questions set by the blogger who nominated you
4. Nominate 11 bloggers with under 200 followers for the award (excluding who nominated you) with 11 questions for them to answer
5. Let the nominees know that you have nominated them

11 Random Facts 

1. I used to want to be an archaeologist when I was little

2. I'm scared of heights

3. Paris is my favourite place in the world (so far...) 

4. I was sacked from my first retail job when I was 16 

5. I am a massive country music fan

6. I have two tattoos...one on my inner wrist and ankle

7. I'd love to own an Audi 

8. I've kissed Harry Judd from McFly (cringy fan days are over...)

9. My favourite colour is purple 

10. I've been told by a few random people that I look like Zoey Deschannel & Katy Perry (I do hope so!)

11. I want to live in a city someday 

Chloe's Questions

1.    If you could transform into an animal, which would it be? Definitely a cat. I love their attitudes to life and they are also like me in every single way… hygiene freaks, affectionate, everything is on their terms haha… 

2. Your house is on fire, your pets and your family are safe, what one item would you save? My phone for sure! I can’t live without it.

3.    What is your oldest memory? I swear I once saw a bat in my old house and it petrified me LOL (could have just been a bird?)

4.    You're going on a very long journey, what do you take with you? My iPod loaded with brilliant music, fashion magazines and a Starbucks Frappuccino

5.  What are your top three handbag essentials? My purse, chapstick, car keys

6. What is your least favourite colour and why? Orange…it doesn’t really go with anything does it?

7. Stealing this one - Favourite book? The Hunger Games Series!!!

8. Favourite season? I was born at the end of August so maybe that’s why I love both summer AND winter?...

9. What do you consider as a perfect day? Waking up around 9am on a sunny day, going on a shopping spree in London, and then snuggling in bed with a good book

10. You wake up and discover you're a ninja - what do you do next? Show off my impressive combat skills of course!

11. You need some 'me-time' what would you do? Have a pamper night whilst watching reruns of Keeping Up With The Kardashians… face mask, hair mask, nails, boiling hot bubble bath with candles and a glass of wine woo! 

My Nominations

Elana - Life of Elana 
Katrina - Chased By My Imagination
Jennifer - Jennique Creatives
Jessica - JessieCrescent
Sian - Sianasorus
Jenna - Welcome To My Life 
Chloe - Teaspoonss
Frankie - Beauty-ful Opulence
Cindy - MazeDays
Katherine - Girl On a Budget
Krystal - MooreKrystal

My Questions to Nominees 

1. Have you ever faked being ill? Why? 

2. Have you ever been in a car accident? 

3. How would you describe yourself? 

4. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? 

5. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be? 

6. What was the last film you watched? 

7. Are you a morning or a night person? 

8. Do you have any phobias? 

9. What makes you happy? 

10. What makes you sad? 

11. Where do you want to be in ten years time? 

Have fun guys and don't forget to spread the love and add the Liebster Award photo to your side bar! :) 

xx

Keeping a Journal: You Are The Author of Your Own Life Story

Over the past couple of days I have been thinking about starting to write a journal. Why you ask? Because I love the idea of owning one; it enables you to document and capture all of life's important moments, emotions, thoughts, events, the ups, the downs and everything in between. Although I have quite a few early memories about my childhood, all I have is a few photo albums to glance at every now and again. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to refer back to a certain time in your life through a journal collection? To reminisce over what you were going through emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally and how you overcame/celebrated those feelings? Or even being able to see how you have developed and matured as a person over the years?

Whenever I sit down at my laptop ready to start writing a new blog post, I am aware that it is 100% public and everybody has access to read what I choose to reveal or discuss. This may be a cyber activity but I genuinely feel that at times blogging is much like confiding with a best friend. I'm letting them know about what I've been up to, the things I have purchased or I'm giving them some advice. I believe that this would all apply if I were to start keeping journals...although it will be a much more private affair. The comfort of knowing all my secrets won't be out in the open and the freedom to say whatever I please about the doubts I feel (without being judged for it) appeals to little old me very much. I still need to buy the right sort of scrapbook and design it to suit my personality, but till then all I have are a few pictures I found on Pinterest (only one below... I'm keeping some ideas to myself haha!)  

We all need to remember that we are the authors of our own life story, and that is a very inspiring thing indeed. 

Happy National Cleavage Day: Be Breast Aware

In celebration of National Cleavage Day, I wanted to make everyone aware of their lady lumps and the importance of checking them regularly to rule out any possibilities of breast cancer. Most women who notice a change in their bosoms will often go and visit their doctor, but for the girls who don't normally think about it (and it is easy to forget when we're always so busy...) here's a few handy tips to make sure you are more informed so you can get into the habit of making routine inspections.   

A brilliant website I've been looking at is called Breakthrough Breast Cancer and you can visit it here: http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/ They have an easy to remember slogan called 'TLC' and it is extremely useful...

TOUCH. Make sure to feel around for anything that is different than usual.

LOOK. Have a look at them. Keep an eye out for any strange changes. 

CHECK. And most importantly, if you have any doubts whatsoever go and see your GP.

I hope this post has encouraged you to look after yourself and what your mamma gave you! Have a great National Cleavage Day ladies :)

POTM: Killer Queen by Katy Perry

I can happily admit that I'm a celebrity fragrance addict. This latest fragrance by Katy Perry is my Perfume of the Month. It makes me feel sexy, radiant and above all, royal (see what I did there?!) It's top notes include scents of dark plum, wild berry and bergamot. Middle notes of red velvet flower, jasmine and plumeria are beautiful, and the lower notes of cashmeran, patchouli heart and liquid praline help to establish this as a truly unique and exotic fragrance in the current market. I was bought this as a Christmas present, but I know that it's available to buy for about £22.99 in Boots, Superdrug, and The Fragrance Shop to name a few. The perfume isn't too harsh to wear and has a lovely, sweet smell to it which lasts all day. Perry's bottle design is inspired by a Queen's Sceptre... and if you're wondering about the name choice it's because after hearing Freddie Mercury sing as a teenager, she had an epithany to become an empowered Killer Queen. 'Guaranteed to blow your mind'... Have you tried this fragrance yet? 

It's Freebie Friday!

I told you I had a surprise didn't I? Well I've been thinking really hard about different creative ideas to get more of you on board and I want to pay you readers back in the nicest possible way! 

So here's the deal... Every Friday I'm giving away FREE COSMETICS! (yes ladies, you heard that right!) The giveaway rules will be different every week, but this week I would like you all to do this: 

Everyone who FOLLOWS ME via GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT (right hand side of the screen) and/or BLOGLOVIN will be entered into a prize draw to win a free NYC Ultra Moist Lipstick. The winner will be announced next Friday. I will contact you myself and will give/post to you! 

Thank you everyone and good luck! 

xx