My Little Box - Cosy

I'm seriously in love with My Little Box! Every month has been completely amazing and this month is no different.
The theme for this month is cosy, which is perfect for autumn/winter!

As soon as I opened it I knew it was in for a treat. It was totally filled up for a start!

There was of course the My Little World magazine which nice to flick though, so I'm looking forward to reading it.

My favourite item in this month's box was this cute little coffee mug! And I love the "happy" at the bottom in response to the question on the side, it really is like a positive reminder every morning!

Included in this month's drawstring beauty bag was an Arcancil Paris eyeliner, a My Little Beauty mascara and and Essie nail polish! I hadn't heard of Arcancil Paris before and I'm presuming it's French, but it was actually pretty good. It was soft and creamy but pretty smudge-proof once dry. The mascara was nice, I didn't notice anything amazing about it but as an everyday black mascara it's great! And the Essie polish, in shade Cute as a Button, was so cute. The colour was so pretty, a sort of corally pink.

The last item I loved. It's a microwaveable heat cushion, which might not sound like much, but when you live with chronic pain like I do, its bliss! I tried it out straight away and it was lovely! The shape of it meant it covered a large area which made it nicely soothing.

I can't wait for the next box! Each box costs £11 plus p+p and is available monthly from their website.

My Picks | November Lovin'

November. How is it already mid November?!? 
I've been so busy with school and work that I totally forgot to post this earlier, oops!
Nails:

November marks the start of stormier makeup trends so I chose four polishes I that I thought would be quite fitting.
China Glaze Midtown Magic: A chocolatey brown with gold and copper shimmer running through it, yum! Deborah Lippman Lady Sings The Blues: A navy blue gelly base with small and large silver hex glitters suspended in it. O.P.I. Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous: A metallic graphite shimmer. Nubar Purple Rain Glitter: A bluey purple gelly base with purple holographic glitter. This one actually looks a million times better in person, it needed a glossy topcoat to bring out its magic.
Beauty:

Soap & Glory Lid Stuff - What's Nude: I picked up this mini palette in Boots a few weeks ago because I've been loving nude smokey eyes recently and this one seemed like a great travel option! It features three mattes and one metallic shade and each are subtle yet pigmented enough to last all day.
Bath:

LUSH Northern Lights bath bomb: Another of Lush's recent releases, Northern Lights is easily my favourite. The divine fragrance mixed with the beautiful colour make it a real treat in the bath. It features a neon yellow and blue core that fizz away and the cute little stars are just adorable! Being cylindrically shaped meant I got two dreamy baths out of this beauty!
Craft:

DIY Wooden Advent Calendar House - Hobbycraft: Since I can't enjoy normal chocolate advent calendars (and the fact that I'm probably a bit too old for them too!) I thought I'd create my own! When I start this little project, I'll keep you all updated!
Ooooh and I just realised it's ONE MONTH till my 18th birthday!!

Review | LUSH Sparkler Bath Bomb

Lush Sparkler - The perfect treat for bonfire night!

Described as "Fireworks night, every night", this was the one from all the latest releases I thought would be especially suited to bonfire night, and I wasn't wrong! 
I'll be honest, the overall appearance wasn't that exciting. It was a simple long thin yellow cylinder shape with a red-ish core and gold sparkles. But as they say, looks aren't everything. When dropped into water it starts fizzing away into a thick bubbly layer of yellowy gold foam. As the layers fizz away the red core begins to produce some pretty swirls in the water and the gold sparkle pours out and fills the bath with a gorgeous shimmer. After a few minutes, as the central core is fizzing away, you can begin to hear the popping candy crackle and pop away. It's a slow burner but well worth it! Like your own mini fireworks display in your bathtub!
The scent is the same as their famous 'Rose Jam' fragrance, a sweet floral scent with a hint of citrus that kind of reminds me of Turkish delight! It's pretty heady when it's in bar form but once it has dissolved it is definitely much more subtler. 
Like everything I've tried from Lush, it was a delightfully relaxing experience and left my skin beautifully soft and moisturised. The gold sparkle stayed on my skin after getting out of the bath and actually doesn't seem to want to budge! The scent lingered on my skin too, which was nice.
Sparkler costs £3.50 each, but the size alone makes it worth the price. I managed to split it into two and still had a lovely bubbly bath with one half. If you wanted to be extra frugal, splitting it into three would probably also work.
I'm off to bed to watch the fireworks outside now. What are you doing for bonfire night?

My Picks | Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I'm never really do anything special for Halloween but I do like to enjoy a few of the goodies released :) The shops seem to be full of themed bits and bobs, and while some of them are pretty cool, most of them are just for fun. Here are a few things I picked out:

Nails:

Okay so none of these were released this season but they seemed particularly festive.

NYC Rock Muse Smokey Top Coat - Green Day: A beautiful blackened jelly with different sizes of green glitter suspended in it

China Glaze Howl You Doin': A purple based polish packed full of violet and orange glitters

Maybelline Color Show Street Artist Urban Vibe: Actually a topcoat, with various shapes and sizes of black and orange matte glitter

Bath:

LUSH Sparkly Pumpkin bubble bar: Halloween wouldn't be complete without a pumpkin! And this cute offering from Lush is just perfect for cosy night in. The glitter covered pumpkin turns the bath water a bright sparkly orange and full of bubbles when crumbled under running water. It smells absolutely divine!

Home:

And there has to be candles!

Yankee Candle Wax Tart - Candy Corn, Witches' Brew, Ghostly Treats: These were the three scents released for Halloween this year. Candy Corn smells like vanilla based sweets, Witches Brew is more spicy and sort of like liquorice and Ghostly Treats just reminds me of marshmallows!

Waitrose Ghost Candle: This was just too cute to pass up!

Yankee Candle Halloween Votive Holder: I spotted this reduced in Debenhams to £1.80 so I thought why not? Haha ;)

I've already had a lovely soak in the bath, lit the candles and now I'm just waiting for the trick or treater's :P

What are you doing for Halloween? 

My Little Box - Diane Von Furstenberg

OMG. I was not expecting this from the second My Little Box - A designer collaboration!
And with none other than Diane Von Furstenberg!

In this months box I received: an exculsive DVF lip pin, a Kanako illustrated postcard, a copy of My Little World and an exclusive DVF scarf. I love the fact that there is a mix of beauty, lifestyle and fashion items included because it makes it more varied and interesting.

And of course there was the little drawstring bag (DVF edition this month) with a handful of beauty goodies inside. There was a mini L'occitane hand cream, a Kérastase Laque Noire hairspray and a bottle of My Little Beauty Eau Micellaire (a micellar water).

I was actually really looking forward to the My Little World magazine (which is their cute little monthly publication). Suitable, it was mainly focused on Diane Von Furstenberg, with interviews, style ideas and stories. Even after just a quick flick through, I was impressed!

And last but not least, the Diane Von Furstenberg scarf! It's super silky and drapes beautifully. Admittedly, I was initially a little daunted by the bright colours but after putting it on I realised I had nothing to worry about. There were three prints available and this is the one I received:

I can't wait for the next box!
Each box costs £11 plus p+p and is available monthly from their website.

World Mental Health Day 2014

Mental Illness.
Something that 1 in 4 of us will experience in our lifetimes. Yet something that is still surrounded by prejudice and ignorance and still carries an enormous (and totally wrong!) stigma with it.
Be it depression, OCD, schizophrenia or an eating disorder - it affects us all. Whether it is yourself or someone you care about, almost everyone will live or work with someone living with mental illness.
I'm not afraid to admit that I have first hand experience of living with this. What I am scared of however is the blind ignorance of the many people who tell me to just 'get over it'. It is not a choice. I repeat, this is NOT a choice. Why on earth would anyone choose to feel so awful?! 

So how can you make a difference?

There are many ways that you can help make a change. Firstly, just being accepting and understanding can make an enormous difference. You probably wouldn't think twice about being caring and considerate if someone you knew had a physical illness such as a broken bone, well it's just the same as a mental illness. You may not be able to see the pain but it doesn't mean it isn't there.
You can also make it official and sign the Time To Change Pledge here.
Another way to personally help is simply to talk. The difference a conversation can make is huge. It could be about anything, but just letting someone know you are there for them can make such a big difference. Often people will feel very alone and isolated when they are struggling, so simply reaching a hand out to them could change everything.
And if you want talk to somebody about your own situation, there are some tips here.

#TimeToTalk

What is Time To Change?
They are an anti-stigma campaign run by Mind and Rethink Mental Health working to end the discrimination surrounding mental health.
Please, you can help to make a difference.

My Picks | October Lovin'

I genuinely cannot believe it is October already. Where has the year gone?!? Wow. That means that I have been a) working for a whole year already! b) been back to school for almost two months c) need to start getting my warmer clothes out!
Anyway enough rambling, here are my picks for October:
Nails:

For October I picked five shades that were suitably autumnal. My swatches do not do any of these beauties justice! In real life they look a lot more like the bottle colour when on the nail.

 OPI Designer Series DS Indulgance: A fiery gold flecked amber with an amazing duochrome finish!

B. Complete 162 Woodland: A dark earthy green with an emerald shimmer. Ciate Paint Pots Wait Until Dark: A metallic petrol purple with a slight duochrome finish. China Glaze Champagne Kiss: An amazingly opaque fine champagne glitter. Barry M Gelly Chilli: A beautifully consistent brick red.
Beauty:

Sleek MakeUp Arabian Nights Limited Edition palette - £7.99: This is the latest release from Sleek and I think it's perfect for October! Don't you think the bottom row would make some awesome smokey looks? As always they are beautifully pigmented and with the exception of the second shade on the top row, have minimal fall-out. (p.s. that blue isn't that bright!)
Fashion:

New Look Navy Butterfly Print Scarf - £7.99: I bought this scarf a few days ago and I love it! I'm a huge scarf wearer and this is a lovely addition to my collection. It's wide enough to wrap around nicely and light enough not to weigh you down.
Home:

Yankee Candle Wax Tart - Honey Glow and Amber Moon: I love burning a wax tart in the evening to wind down and Yankee Candle make some of the best. For their latest release, Indian Summer, they released four new scents and these were the two I chose.

Currently Loving | MAC Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners

I love eye makeup. I think it can totally change your look. But the problem I face is that I never have enough time to do it properly! Even a basic smokey eye is often out of the question. So I've come to rely on eyeliner to add a little interest to my otherwise simple everyday makeup.

And my favourites at the moment are the MAC Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners.

As the name suggests, these are incredibly pigmented, intense eyeliners. They all have a sparkly, but sophisticated finish and can be dressed up or down. I love them so much because they glide on effortlessly and are pretty much budge-proof all day!

I own five out of the seven colours available: Black Swan, Lord It Up, Black Line, Undercurrent and Petrol Blue. I normally wear them on both my upper eyelid and waterline, but because of the sparkly particles this may not be suitable for everyone.

Black Swan is a rich black with silver sparkle

Lord It Up is a rich brown with copper sparkle

Black Line is an earthy black with golden sparkle

Undercurrent is a vibrant teal with gold sparkle

Petrol Blue is a striking blue with silvery blue sparkle (My favourite bright eyeliner EVER!)

My favourite thing about these is the richness of colour! Seriously, they are instantly opaque and require almost no effort to apply. They don't tug or scratch in any way and are buttery smooth to use. Also, if you're quick, I've found that you can smudge them out into an instant smokey eye straight after applying before they set to their smudge proof finish. 

Have you ever tried any of the MAC Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners? What do you think?

My Little Box - Parisienne

I’ve always loved the idea of a monthly beauty box subscription, and often wanted to sign up for one. But the ones available in the UK just never really appealed to me. They just seemed like an expensive way of getting samples of products that I probably wouldn’t buy anyway. It just seemed far too generic for me. But that’s all changed.

Enter My Little Box.

This month was a ‘Parisienne’ theme – fittingly so since it’s the first one to be launched in the UK, directly from Paris! They have over 80,000 subscribers in France and have just landed in the UK. And from what I can see already, I think they're going to be a huge success over here. Seriously, his has got to be the cutest subscription box I’ve ever seen!

The idea is that each box is a hand-picked mix of beauty, lifestyle and fashion treats based around a different theme each month.

Upon opening the box I could I was going to be in for a treat. The attention to detail and un-fussy approach was much appreciated. It seemed very chic and cute. In this months box I recieved: a notebook, a laptop/tablet case, a sheet of stickers, a postcard and a little beauty bag full of goodies.

In the little drawstring bag (which is especially designed to match the theme of each box every month), there was dry oil from Nuxe, a foundation primer from Laura Mercier and an illuminating pen from their own in-house beauty line My Little Beauty.

The notebook had some pages with a bit more about the brand and the rest blank to use for whatever you wish. I thought that was a nice touch. I loved the idea of including the postcard too, its like a mini piece of artwork to display.

The adorable illustrations by Kanako Kuno make it even more special. Seriously, I would so buy it just for her work alone!

Each box costs £11 plus p+p and is available monthly from their website.

So what do you think about My Little Box? 

Gardening Girl

You know those days when you just wake up with a desire to do a certain thing? Yeah yesterday was one of those days. And my desire? To grow stuff!  Haha okay that's a bit unusual for me I know. But for some reason I really wanted to start up my own little garden. The only problem was: I know nothing about gardening. So I walked down to the nearest DIY store (which happened to be Homebase) with the intention of buying some seeds. Simple enough right? Wrong! I never knew how many varieties you could get! So in my completely overwhelmed state, I chose a multi-pack of ten vegetables. It worked out cheaper than buying individual packets and meant I could try a variety of things out.

As soon as I got back I dug out the compost and something to plant them in and got planting! It was easy enough albeit rather unorganized, because silly me forgot to label each pot. Ooops!

And then in the afternoon I went for a walk and had a little mooch around Lidl and spotted these:

They had loads of different things including herbs and flowers, but I decided to get these four because they were the only ones that I would actually make any use out of. And the best thing? Each kit was only £1! Inside, each had a packet of seeds, a decent amount of soil and its own growing tray. I decided to plant them in my large pots instead though so I wouldn't need to transfer them when they started growing.

And ta-dah - my own little garden!