Thursday 30 May 2013

May Loves - The Beauty. The Book and The Rest

I normally like to do a favourite's post that's specifically beauty related however this month I found it quite difficult as I haven't really bought many new things. I've been trying to save a bit of money so instead of trying things out I've mainly been sticking with things that I've been using for years which has been kind of nice. I do have a few little beauty items to share with you as well as a few random things I've been loving this month.

The Beauty.
Up until this year I wasn't really that bothered about primer's, oh how starting a blog changes things and now  I've realised just how much of a difference it does make. I found out pretty early on that my skin doesn't like  primers that have a lot of silicone (Gosh velvet touch, Smashbox Photoready etc) so I began searching for a primer that wouldn't upset my temperamental skin and after reading a lot of reviews I decided to take a chance on Nivea Express Hydration Primer and I haven't looked back. I reveiwed it myself when I bought it which you can read here and you can find out exactly why I love it so much. I've also been really in to painting my nails this month and by that I mean the one's on my toes as I've been at work a lot and I can't wear nail polish (boo) and I've found that the only thing that makes me happier than looking down and seeing shiny red polish in my toes...is seeing bright pink polish on my toes, seriously It actually brightens up my mood to have slightly nice(er) looking feet as dancing and nice feet do not go hand in hand. I've been loving Essie's Bachelorette bash  whish is described as a 'bright, juicy fuschia' which is in apt description of this lovely summery colour. The next item I've only had for about a week as I popped into superdrug for some Ibuprofen and suddenly there was three for two on all makeup and we all know how the story goes from here. I know I've just done an entire post about another mascara (read it here) but I'm a mascara lover, always will be, so I can't resist a new mascara and the maybelline volum express line has never let me down (well they did once but I'm pretending that mascara doesn't exist.) Their latest offering is the Volum Express Mega Plush Mascara which I'm loving so far. It has a bristle brush which I mention all of the time how much I love, which has a strange bendy bit which I don't really know what it's supposed to do but It's a really great mascara so maybe they're on to something with this. If you would like me to do a full review of this let me know as I love any excuse to put mascara on. Lastly for the beauty side of things is the Aussie Dual Personality Curl definition and soft feel serum (try saying that really fast, it doesn't work.) My hair is naturally wavy bordering on curly depending on it's mood and left to it's own devices it has one style - big. So a little taming is needed which is where this little lovely comes in, a few pumps of this and the frizz is mostly banished and I'm left with soft, shiny waves, there's still a few frizzy bits here and there but my hair has been bleached from black to blonde so I'm not expecting miracles even if it does use that word on the bottle.

The Book.
I love to read, I always have and books are something that are in every room of our house. When I was younger I'd read anything and now It's still much of the same story except the only thing I can't get to the end of are the crime novels most of my family love. When it comes to my bed time reading I tend to choose pretty girly books aka 'chick-lit' (I don't like that title but I can't think of anything else.) as they are easy to read and I don't really have to think about the story which is better for me because if I started thinking deeply into things at night then I'd never sleep. I thought this book would be a nice bit of fluff to help me relax, I was wrong,This book lulled me in to a false sense of security with it's love story and then broke my heart in the last chapter. Now that my rant is out of the way I will say that this is really great book, it tackles a very difficult issue in the case of disability and the controversy that can often surround the choices of the person and their families. The story centres around Lou, a slightly dippy waitress who becomes a carer for Will, a man who became a quadriplegic in a motorcycle accident, despite having no experience with looking after anyone or anything and not actually knowing what the word quadriplegic actaully means. As the story developed I really began to understand the struggles of all of the characters and I ended up loving them all and wishing for a happy ending from halfway through the book.  don't really want to give too much away but It really did make me think about an issue that I've never personally been faced with before. It is very well written and I actually been and bought two more of the authors books to see if this wasn't a one off for me. If your looking for a book that will make you laugh and cry from chapter to chapter then you should give this a read but make sure not to forget the tissues.

The rest.
Over the past few years I've really gotten in to burning candles as I've found it's so relaxing to sit on my bed blogging with far too many candles burning on my windowsill especially with all this miserable weather going on. This time it's not a blogging things, this is a addiction that has been happening for a long time and I have an enabler in the form of my mother who I think I inherited my love of candles from. She actually gave this Chocolate Truffle Scented Candle to me as she isn't a fan of chocolate scented candles (she's more of a citrusy person) but she knows's I love them however It did make me question whether to put it in this post as she has no idea where it came from and I feel bad that you guys can't buy one for yourselves. So I won't go on about it too much and make you want one, all I will say is that is smells amazing and if you see a chocolate scented candle anywhere, buy it immediately! Nothing makes sitting inside with the rain beating down on the window and candles burning better than a nice cup of tea...except having cookies with said tea. Any cookie will do but I do have a soft spot for Millies cookies, especially their white chocolate one (which didn't make it home to be in this photograph) and their coconut and milk chocolate one which is the one front and centre on my little heart plate there. I've also been looking for the perfect travel mug for my early morning bus journeys and I think I found it, check out this little cutie, it even has a little spoon, you never know when you might just need a spoon. On the opposite side of the weather I was loving the sunshine we had over the bank holiday weekend, even being at work all couldn't ruin my good mood. I do love the sun and it does make me so happy even if it's only for a little while before the miserable weather makes me grumpy again. Which meant that of course the sunglasses had to come out. I (Jon) bought this pair in Rome as we went when the heavy snowfall happened in the uk and we weren't expecting the sunny weather. We got them from a little tiny shop near the Trevi fountain and at the time we were thinking that we got slightly ripped off however after a quick google I've found that Glassing is a pretty expensive brand so thank you to the little old Italian man who sold us these for less than they would cost in British pounds. 

Also don't forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter - @rosaliejayne
That's all from me as the title of this post has made me want to watch Beauty and The Beast so now I'm going to get my cup of tea and cookies, light my candles and do just that. What have you been loving this month?
xx








Sunday 26 May 2013

Happiness is a Sunday #2


I hope you guys are having a lovely bank holiday weekend and have been enjoying the sunshine.
Here's the things that have been making me happy this week:

1. The sunshine, Nothing makes everyone happier than a little bit of sunshine.
2. Having an impromptu Bbq with my mama, we decided to have one after smelling someone else's and half an hour later we had it going.
3. I bought a blender so now I'm going to be obsessed with smoothies this summer- Strawberry, banana and mango was a hit.
4. Had my first frappachino of the year - Triple Caramel - it was beautiful, I love Starbucks happy hour!
5. Getting to see the second years perform their musical theatre  production - They all did so well!
6.Spending time with Jon - Even if we did end up staying cuddled up in bed all evening because of the rain, I'm not complaining.
7.It's payday this weekend so I may be taking a little trip to Zara.
8. Finally decided what I want to do and where I want to go next year, fingers crossed it all works out!
9.My cold has finally gone away (and left me with with a lovely coldsore, boo!) but I'm finally feeling bouncy and ready to take on the world again.
10. Millies Cookies, I don't think I need to say anything else. Except try their coconut and milk chocoate cookie, it's amazing!

What's been making you happy this week?
xx

Friday 24 May 2013

Beauty Staples - Clinique High Impact Mascara - The Review

It's not very often that I repurchase an item, especially when It's quite expensive so when I'm on my third tube of the stuff, that's when you know that I love it. The 'stuff' in question is Clinique high Impact Mascara and I do in fact have quite a lot of love for it. 



How it looks.
The way that I see Clinique as a brand is basically that they give you products that work without any gimmicks and without any fuss, so the packaging is usually a little bit on the simple side. Case in point: Grey tube, silver lid, bit of silver writing so nothing exciting there, It did come in a nice floral box but once that's gone it's just a normal tube of mascara. So there isn't really a lot to write about packaging wise, which is fine because in all honesty I think most of us would rather have a product that works and has boring packaging than one that looks so pretty but doesn't do it's job. It also has a pretty bog standard brush, made of bristles, normal kind of length, you know how it is and I have to say there is something refreshing about using a mascara where you don't have to figure out how it works first, what the little sticky out bit does or why they even expect that your going to want to put something that scary looking close to your eye. There's none of that with this brush: it's very easy to use, the bristles mean you can really work it in to your lashes and it separates my lashes instead of sticking them together the way most volumising mascara's do, I'm still waiting for a lot of makeup brands to realise that a clump doesn't count as volume.


Does it work?
In a word, Yes, But that isn't enough for a review so I'll say a bit more. When It comes to my everyday makeup, I've started to favour products that I know are going to work for me every time whether I have thirty seconds to sort out my face or thirty minutes, over products that only look good if put it on a certain way in a certain amount of time because I generally just don't have the time for that in a morning, basically If I can put it on whilst I'm on the bus and still look decent then I'm a happy woman. This mascara is one of those products that I can use without any kind of fear of it not going right and It gives me both volume and length in one coat. As you can see from the pictures below I do have quite long lashes however they are very pale and very fine so I like to wear mascara most days just to stop my lashes from looking like they have disappeared completely. With one coat of high impact my lashes are both volumised and lengthened whilst still looking quite natural. A second coat adds more volume however my lashes do still look a little spindly but I've never found a mascara that can counteract this and I think this is just down to me having fine lashes, If you have thicker lashes than mine then two coats will more than likely make your lashes look amazing. 


From L to R - No Mascara | With one coat of High Impact | With two coats of High Impact
(Also I'm not wearing any eyeliner with it as it may seem in the photo, I tried out benefit they're real before I took the photo's and I couldn't get the last little bit off for the life of me, there won't be a review of that at any point, it's just not for me)

Anything Else?
There are two colours, Black and Black/Brown and I always choose the black version which is exactly as it says - Black, There's nothing worse than buying a 'Jet Black' mascara and ending up with grey lashes. It also has pretty good lasting power, If I put it on at 7am it still looks good at 7pm, by 11pm or so it does tend to flake a little but I don't think that is too bad and I don't get any smudging under the eye either. It's also very easy to remove and doesn't cause my lashes to come out the way a few other long lasting formulas do.

Also I would say that this is a mid price mascara at £16.00 for 7ml which isn't much more than the more expensive high street offerings as a good 'cheaper' mascara will be around the £12 mark and I'm happy to pay that little bit extra for the quality that I get from this product.


Overall
I genuinely like this mascara and I think It's worth it's price tag. It's not innovative and doesn't have flashy packaging but it does exactly what it's supposed to do and I like that in a mascara. If your looking for an easy to use mascara that will give you lovely long lashes every time without fail then this is the product for you.

Clinique High Impact Mascara is £16.00 for 7ml from Clinique counters Nationwide.
Have you tried this product? What are your thoughts?

xx

Friday 3 May 2013

Blue Moon.







Leather Jacket - Topshop|T-shirt - Next |Skirt - Primark|Shoes - New look|Bag - River Island| Nails - Barry M Blue Moon

Yesterday Jon and I took a trip to Nottingham to buy him some new clothes, I never realised how hard it is to get a man to choose clothes but that's a whole other story. As it was sunny I felt that it was the perfect maxi skirt weather, I have quite a few maxi skirts, they're just so easy to wear and it means I don't have to worry about the state of my pale legs just yet. After a small relationship meltdown in the menswear departement of Next where I may or may not have considered strangling Jon with a pair of 32W 34L jeans and Jon may or may not have considered not taking me home with him, we sat in the town square for a while which was so lovely in the sunshine before popping into starbucks for a caramel latte (for me) where I found that they've brought back my favourite Banana nut muffins from a few years ago which made my day as they are my favourite muffins in the world (just a hint in case anyone ever wants to donate one to me) Is anyone else as excited about this as me. In the evening we went to see Iron Man 3 (good but very, very long) and go for a Nando's. I had my usual beanie Pitta with mash and Side Salad in case anyone would like to know and I've come to realise that I could live off of Nando's for the rest of my life. It was definitely the kind of day that I needed, Life's been very hectic lately, I seem to have been busy being busy but hopefully life can get back to it's usual stressful but copeable level soon.

Also you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter - Both @rosaliejayne - If you would like to see pictures of my face and food or like to read about beauty, style, starbucks, more food and rants about life in general (by that I mainly mean my hatred of bus drivers and food. Again.)
Have you guys done anything exciting this week?
xx

Wednesday 1 May 2013

May Luxury Wishlist

I've been slacking a little on the blogging front lately, life has just been kicking my arse for a while so how better to relax than looking at pretty clothes I can't afford whilst drinking a proper cup of tea, spoiler: There is no better way, unless you have cake too, that always makes things better.


The Row Hunting Stretch Jersey Dress - £415
 Every one needs a perfect little black dress and If I had the pennies this one would be mine. Long sleeves to hide my usual fake tan disasters as I always fail on the bit of my wrist that goes into my hands (you all know where I mean) Low shoulders to show off the only bit of me that tans nicely, bodycon style and short enough to get the legs out but not so short the world can see everything that I don't want them to see. Which is a lot of words to describe such a simple dress but basically I just really like it so if anyone knows where I can get a cheaper version please let me know.
Chanel Vintage Black Leather Quilted Shoulder Bag - £2,300
It's a little bit materialistic but one of my goals in life is to be able to buy myself a classic chanel bag, I don't want anyone to buy it for me, I want to earn the money all by myself  so that everytime I look at it I'll feel a little sense of achievement. When I do it'll be one very similar to this as it's such an iconic style and of course black and chanel goes with everything.
Vivienne Westwood Mini Bas Relief Pearl Bracelet - £90.00
I love Vivienne Westwood jewellery and this little number is just perfect. The pink toned pearls are so lovely and I love the diamond detailing on the orb. It's another symbol that's instantly recognisable but it's not too in your face and of course you can't go wrong with pearls.
The Row Fefon Silk Organza Maxi Skirt - £1,345
I have a little bit of a thing for maxi skirts and by that I mean I own about ten and I practically live in them all summer. They're so much easier to wear than mini skirts and I don't have to constantly worry about my legs burning, the perils of being so pale (thanks Dad.) It's such a simple piece but it make a statement because of the lovely raspberry colour and it's a great piece for the summer, I'd probably end up wearing this with black accessories but there are so many colours that would work with it.
One Vintage Jeanette Tunic Dress - £1,100
The thing that mainly drew me in to liking this dress is that it looks like a purple version of the dress Kimberly  Wyatt wore to perform on got to dance last year, I love her and the dance was beautiful, you can see it and the dress here (Also just realised I took a class by the guy she's dancing with which is a bit exciting.) That little anecdote aside,  it's a stunning dress and I'd love to find a cheaper version of it for the summer.
Michael Kors Resort Tweed Motorcyle Jacket - £320
I love that this is a mix of two classics, the biker jacket and a tweed jacket but it works so well. It's difficult to see here but it has gold chain detailing on the pockets which is such a nice touch.
Saint Laurent Studded Leather Sandals - £945
I'm not very good at spring/summer style, I wish I could be one of those people who happily buys cream pr nude accesories and shoes but I never feel right wearing them, it's just not me. So these shoes are perfect, they're sandals so I wouldn't look silly wearing them in hot weather but as they're black and studded they have just enough toughness, for lack of  a better word, about them to keep me happy.
Astley Clarke Moonstone Timbrel Ring - £110
I always feel that when it comes to jewellery simple and gold is the way to go, this doesn't look like much but it's just so elegant and it could be worn with any outfit to add just a little bit of something special.
ChloĆ© The Alice Medium Leather Tote - £1,175
I'm still loving the monochrome trend and I probably will be for the rest of my life, it's just such an easy combination to wear. This bag is a lovely nod to the trend and will look good for years to come as it's such a timeless style but then again ChloƩ have always known exactly what they're doing when it comes to making stylish handbags.

What are you favorite luxury items this month?
xx