My……how they’ve grown! Before and After

I have to give you girlies a heads up about this nail oil I’ve been using. I bought it on eBay for £2.45, it is the sample size, so only has 3.7ml product in the little bottle but I didn’t want to waste my money on something that may or may not have worked.

Well I wasn’t expecting these kind of results! I started off by cutting my nails down to roughly the same length *kicks self for not taking a photo* then every night rub a small amount of this oil into my cuticles and gently push them back. After a few days I noticed my nails weren’t peeling or breaking so much and they were so hard and strong.

I found a photo from a previous NOTD post for comparison but here’s the before and after.

I hate nails with no polish on! Yuk!

Pretty good huh?! I’m a clumsy ol’ fool sometimes and have snapped a couple of my nails since taking that after photo, so I have cut them all down and starting them again. I hate uneven nails.

I bought this nail oil for my dry cuticles and didn’t expect much more from it so the length and strength is a bonus!

Have any of you tried nail oils? Any others you can recommend for dry cuticles?

♥

Twitter / You Tube

MAC Melba Blush – Review

A few weeks back I met up with a couple of my girlies Emma and Grace for lunch and a catch up. After scoffing some Nando’s we headed to MAC in Neal Street
to have a look and take advantage of Grace’s MAC pro card.

sorry for the crappy photo with flash

I couldn’t decide between Melba and Harmony blushes and kept swatching them on my hand then wiping it off saying I wouldn’t get anything but then I didn’t want to miss out on a saving haha! So I opted for Melba blush as I am right into my peachy tones at the minute.

MAC Melba blush and MAC Hue lipstick

Melba is a really pretty matte peachy coral blush, the consistency is so smooth and it looks beautiful on the skin. I still want Harmony though so will have to get that another time.

Without the MAC pro discount it would have been £16.50 but I got it for £10.70 with Graces card. *Thank you Grace x* Why can’t we all have a MAC pro card! Although I think I would be dangerous with one with that kind of savings!

If you are into your peachy blushes and not sure what get this is a lovely blush, however my buddy Laura told me there is a good dupe by Collection 2000 called Peach Melba for £1.99, so if you don’t want to splash the cash then try the Collection 2000.

I’m so pleased with Melba, it is my first matte blush from MAC and I’m very impressed.

Do any of you have Harmony? Is it a must have?

♥

Twitter / You Tube

YSL Rouge Volupte review - Tender Peach #26

hands up who’s wanted one of these for aaaaaaaaages?!? *raises both hands*

After what feels like years I have finally got my mitts on a YSL Rouge Volutpe lipstick and I have to say there’s no going back now!

Whilst out shopping for my birthday the YSL stand caught my eye and we walked past Boots, so with Darren’s ♥ bank card in hand I marched in and started browsing the lippies. Choosing a colour was hard work and my hand was a work of art by the time I had decided on this colour.

In these photos it looks alot pinker than it comes out on the lips

I showed my Mum ♥ on the webcam the other night and the first thing she said was “you’re just paying for packaging” I have to say the packaging is lovely and looks so luxurious and expensive but the lipstick itself doesn’t look or feel any different to that of say a MAC which is roughly £10 cheaper, but I still don’t think that would put me off buying another. Since owning this lipstick I haven’t worn any other lipstick so at this rate I will be going through it quite quickly! But lipsticks are the main thing I am attracted to when looking at make up. It’s certainly the first thing I look at at a MAC counter.

getting ready to go out for dinner

wearing YSL Tender Peach #26

Anyway this is the YSL Rouge Volutpe #26 which is called Tender Peach. This lipstick has no shimmer in it at all but is not matte, I would say it was similar formula to a creemsheen by MAC. It’s super glossy and not drying at all. I’m quite impressed with the longevity of this lippie too.

This lipstick was £23.50 from YSL at Boots, would I repurchase? Hell yeah!

Have any of you got one of these? What other colours should I try?

♥

Twitter / You Tube

Sleep In Rollers review with after photo!

Hello darlings!

I celebrated my birthday last week, I made some mahooosive hints to my Sister  Faye ♥ about these Sleep In Rollers that I wanted, by hints I mean I just sent her the link for the website and said here’s what I want for my birthday, she provided……she’s a good girl.

I could not wait to get these bad boys in, girls are going crazy for them at the minute and now after I’ve used them I can see why. I met Faye ♥ on Thursday night for pizza and a catch up but was too late getting home to put them in then so Friday night was the night! I also had the In-laws coming over for some grub on the Saturday.

First off the packaging is adorable, they come in a cute bright pink bag that has a drawer string on it. I have stored mine in these bags after I used them which keeps them at their best. I have the normal Velcro rollers in various sizes but have never had anywhere or anything to keep them in. So these bags are a win win for me.

I washed my hair as normal then done some chores around the house so it dried off a bit, then gave it a quick blast with the hairdryer, I would say my hair was 70% dry when I put them in. Starting at the front sectioned off a piece of hair and worked my way up and over my head. Then I done the sides, I would say it took me about 15mins, but it was my first attempt. I used all 20 rollers. I was expecting a sleepless night ahead of me but you know what they are surprisingly comfortable, almost like an extra pillow. They certainly didn’t keep me awake.

Please ignore my bright yellow 'around the house' vest, maybe I should have thought the 'before' outfit side of things through haha!

big hair with hardly any effort!

You can buy Sleep-in Rollers from HERE for £16.50 incl P&P.

I can see me washing my hair all the time now I own a bag of these! I love big bouncy hair and with these I can achieve that whilst sleeping……Get In!

♥

Twitter / You Tube

Tonights the night bro! FOTN

Good morning girlies!

Over the weekend I had a chance to play with make up, Darren ♥ was at work on the Saturday so that gave me a chance to have a bit of 'me time'. I knocked up this FOTN for a night out, I just hope I get to wear it soon, it’s been far too long since I was out last.

Face

Chanel Prolumiere Shade 10

Benefit Hoola Bronzer

MAC MSF Pearl

MAC MSFN Medium

Eyes

UD2 palette e/s Bootycall, Suspect, Snakebite and Foxy under brow bone

Sleek Oh so Special palette matte brown for brows

Avon Gel liner

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

Lips

MAC Vegas Volt Lipstick

Revlon Coral Reef Lipgloss

I love this look and cannot wait to wear it out soon, I think a girls night out is in order! Faye ♥ and Emma ♥ are you reading this?!!

♥

Take me out! OOTN

Hey lovelies!

Are you all enjoying the Easter weekend? So relaxed and finally have some time to blog!

I don’t post that many outfit looks mainly because I don’t feel I have much style and really need some inspiration from other people. I’d love to go on Gok Wan’s show for him to style me and put me in clothes that suit my shape. For me the Summer months are a nightmare, I feel safe in the winter all under wraps but come the summer my insecurities come back out and the task of finding some new clothes just scares me!

Anyway, I was reading Ree’s blog a few weeks back and she posted an OOTD wearing this shirt, I knew I had to have it! It is everything I love in a shirt, I love the long sleeves, the fact the collar is black and looks gorgeous done up to the top. I had to get a size bigger than I am because it gaped slightly at the bust but other than that I just love it! I really don’t have the body shape to pull off the skinny jeans Ree was wearing too but I dug out my black jeggings from New Look and they look just as good.

Shirt Matalan £16

Black Jeggings New Look £12 (I think)

Schuh black court shoes £58 (bought last year)

What do you think? Are you in love with this shirt too? Check it out here, it’s a bargain at £16, I am in love with Matalan clothes at the minute they seem to have some gorgeous bits and pieces in.

♥

Bomb Cosmetics – Patchouli and Pink Peppercorn Bath Creamer

Hello gorgeous groupies!

I think my house is finally getting there and I’m getting back into the swing of blogging! I’m back with this corker of a post!

On the left is the Shea Bliss Bath Mallow and the right is Patchouli and Pink Peppercorn Bath Creamer

Over the weekend of 24th/25th March was the Vitality Show. It is a ritual that me, my sister ♥, Darren’s sister ♥ and our friend Helen ♥ go every year, we’ve been 3 years on the trott now and just love it every time. If you haven’t been before, check out the website and see what it’s all about. There are loads of stalls there Vaseline, Sally Hensen and Bio Oil to name a few. There is a full list of the brands/stalls on the website. I was a little disappointed that Benefit or Nails Inc weren’t there this year. You get given free samples as you walk around and can buy magazines for £2 or £3 with a shed load of free products. You get a free goody bag with your ticket too. We learnt from the first year of going that you need to take a trolley to cart all your stuff around with you. I picked up a few gems to blog about over the coming weeks.

So, back to the creamer!

The Bomb Cosmetics stall was by far my favourite stall, it was the first stall we had a ‘proper’ look at, took ages to smell the bath bombs and rub moisturiser in, we decided we would go back towards the end and browse again and make our pur-chases!

In this post I’m going to talk about the bath creamers that I picked up, I tried one for the first time last night and I was so so impressed. If you’ve been with me for a while you will know that I am in love with anything smelling of patchouli oil, I just love the earthiness and musk that I get from it. I got 2 Patchouli and Pink Peppercorn Bath Creamers, these were on sale at the show for £2 each but on the website they’re £2.09. I picked one up for Mum and the other for me, she too is a patchouli lover. I got the Shea Bliss Bath Mallow for Darren ♥, he wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he is a secret bath bomb pincher! He raids my stash all the time. He hasn’t used it yet so I will blog about that another time.

The Patchouli and Pink Peppercorn Bath Creamer was so lovely, I ran the water to a nice warm temperature and rubbed the creamer between my fingers to release the fab oils and peppercorns from it. I didn’t want to use it all because I only had the one so kept the other half on my soap dish (until tonight!). The scent was still prominent in my bathroom for hours after and I could smell it on my skin for hours too. It left my skin so soft and silky, I also shaved my legs last night and think it helped to make them as smooth as a babys bum!

Rub the creamer between your fingers to release the oils and fragrance

Silky moisturising bath foam!

The other half for tonight :)

I picked up 3 bath bombs from Bomb Cosmetics too but will blog about these as I use them, I just have to make sure I get to them before Darren! ♥

Have any of you tried Bomb Cosmetics? They are half the price of LUSH and the designs of the bombs are so cute I think they appeal to me more.

Check out the website HERE.

♥

Twitter / You Tube

Where am I? UPDATED with lounge!

Hello gorgeous girlies!

It’s been a while! So sorry for being absent for a couple of weeks, things have been so hectic. Darren ♥ and I have moved into our first house together so I’ve been without internet/time to post anything. I’ve also spent my ‘Stacey Funds’ on some lovely bits and bobs from Next home! (What’s happened to me?) lolz!

Here's a pic of my kitchen, we're in the middle of decorating the lounge/dining room so I will do a post on that when it's done, should be next weekend, maybe I'll do a little home corner section on my blog.

Please stay with me whilst I get back into the swing of things. Having a house takes up so much of your time! I can’t wait to get home every night to just potter about and get everything organised for the next day. I love it!

I went to the Vitality Show this weekend and bought some lovely bits and pieces so can’t wait to blog about those!

Someone tell me what the hype is with these Revlon Lip Butters!!! Are they worth picking up?

♥

Twitter / You Tube

FOTN - UD Naked Palette 1 look

Good afternoon lovelies!

This is probably going to be my last post for a week due to the fact I am moving this weekend into my very own house! *dancing round the room to LMFAO* Please don’t leave me whilst I swap my life around and move the powers that enable me to write this blog! I love you all!!

I have packed most of my make up away ready for the big move, but kept out my UD Naked Palette for work. I had a free afternoon on Saturday and decided I would quickly throw together this look.

I’ve had the Naked palette for nearly a year and I don’t think I’ve ever used the shadows Gunmetal and Creep, both gorgeous colours that were sat unloved in the palette. So this is what I came up with. Gunmetal is such a gorgeous colour, it came out a kinda bluey grey on me and in some lights it just looked blue, it has a gorgeous shimmer to it. I love both colours and I need to use them more!

Face

Chanel Pro Lumiere 10

MAC F&B mixed with foundation to darken slightly

MAC MSFN Medium

FashionistA blush (can’t remember name but peachy colour)

Benefit Hoola to contour slightly

Eyes

Gunmetal and Creep e/s from UD Naked palette

Avon Supershock Mascara

Avon Supershock Gel Liner

Matte brown from Sleek Oh So Special palette for brows

Lips

MAC l/s Hue

MAC l/s Lovelorn

Shame I had nowhere to go, after this it was back to packing boxes and breaking more nails! Boooooo!!

Stay with me girlies, as Arnie says “I’ll be back”

♥

Twitter / You Tube

Chocolate and Hazelnut Cupcakes

Good morning girlies!

A few weeks back I used my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook that Darren ♥ bought me for Christmas to make these gorgeous cupcakes! I am on Weight Watchers at the minute and I won’t lie to you I’m struggling. I was doing so well before Christmas and was 2 pound away from my stone award I’m back up to 8 pound lost, 8 pound in 17 weeks is rubbish, but I’m not giving up. The week that I decided to make these I didn’t go to Weight Watchers and the bad eating carried on for 2 weeks, when I went back to Weight Watchers I had gained 4½ pound! It was well deserved and very easy to do!

Pages 14-45 in the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook muffin cases were used  instead of cupcake cases, with muffin cases this recipe makes 12 and on Weight Watchers they are 10 pro points each. If you were to make them in cupcake cases the recipe would make 18 and the pro points would be 7. I followed the recipe and made 12 in muffin cases.

1 ate 4 of these cupcakes (greedy cow! Haha)

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g butter, at room temperature

120ml whole milk

1 medium egg

120 Nutella

36 whole hazelnuts to decorate

Frosting

250g icing sugar, sifted

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

25ml whole milk

80g Nutella

12 silicone cases or a 12 hole tray

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170’C (325’F) Gas 3.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric whisk with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg and beat well (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cold, hollow out a small section in the centre of each one and fill with a dollop of hazelnut and chocolate spread. (the cute outs are lovely with a bit of nutella on them!)

Frosting

Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed. Slowly pour in the milk, then when it is all incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

Stir in the hazelnut and chocolate spread by hand until evenly mixed into the frosting. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting on top and finish with 3 hazelnuts per cupcake. Voila!

This recipe said to use muffin cases instead of cupcake cases which are a little bigger, however next time I make these I will use cupcake cases because I prefer my cupcakes to be a little deeper in sponge!

Nom Nom Nom!

♥