Lust List #1

Today’s post will be short n’ sweet because I’m heading out to The O2 Arena for my brothers birthday meal, and I’m a terribly unorganised person.

I’m on a spending ban for August, on account of saving for my holiday in October, so I’ll just have to make do with lust lists for now (expect a lot of these)…

It’s taken me a while to get on the satchel band wagon. I could never quite find one the right size for me, they were either too big or too small – I’m the goldilocks of satchels. So this one is perfect with it’s structured frame and roomy but not oversized appearance.

Following on with accessories, I seem to be addicted to sunglasses. As much as I’d love a pair of Ray-bans, and I’d definitely get a good wear out of them, I just can’t part with the cash (and I’m extremely clumsy and heavy handed). I love the shape of the Wayfarers and I’ve found a few similar copies from other brands, but the ones I’m currently lusting over are a little bit more delicate looking in the frame area.

My last lust for the fashion side of things are the jeans. I love a good skinny jean, you can so easily dress them up, or casually dress them down. Everyone seems to be going crazy for ripped jeans again, but I think they’ve had their day with me and my cake-loving legs.

Moving onto the beauty side of things, my choices have been pretty standard, I’ve thrown in some haircare that I’ve heard a lot about recently, along with a new yet-to-be-released lipgloss that I’ve heard rave reviews on, and a couple of luxury cosmetic items that are perfect for summer.

Let me know if you’ve tried anything from my lust list, and tell me what you thought!

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River Island Satchel | £30.00 | link here
Ted Baker Sunglasses | £90.00 | link here
Topshop Leigh Jeans | £38.00 | link here
Nails Inc gel polish (Kensington High Street and Porchester Square) | £14.00 each | link here
Revlon Colourburst Stain | tbc | not released in the UK yet
Bumble & Bumble Hairdresssers Invisible Oil Travel Set | £17.00 | link here
Charlotte Tilbury Full Fat Lashes | £22.00 | link here
Charlotte Tilbury Beach Stick | £30.00 | link here
Stella McCartney STELLA perfume | £52.50 (50ml) | link here

National Lipstick Day | my top 4 picks

What better cause to celebrate a random Tuesday than National Lipstick Day.

I think it should become a national holiday, everyone should have a day off and free lipsticks (preferably Chanel) should be given out.

While the big bods mill over that idea, to celebrate a Debenhams are giving you £5 off any lipstick (T&C’s apply) today, yes that’s right you can bag yourself a MAC lippie for £10.50 ladies.

It would only be fitting that today’s post is lipstick related, so here are my current favourites that I’ve been carrying around with me.

From top to bottom (and left to right on the swatch), I’ve picked Chanel Rouge Allure in La Raffinèe*, Bourjois Rouge Velvet in Ole Flamingo, Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm in Standout and finally, a MAC classic – Rebel.

All of these, I usually and love equally – they’re a mix of budget friendly and high end, but all are brilliant for colour pay off, quality and wearability.

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Chanel Rouge Allure | La Raffinèe | £24.99 | link here
Bourjois Rouge Velvet | Ole Flamingo | £8.99 | link here
Revlon ColourBurst Matte Balm | Standout | £7.99 | link here
MAC | Rebel | £15.50 |link here

L’Oreal | Miss Manga Mascara

I’m going to kick start this by saying I really had no interest whatsoever when L’Oreal first released the Miss Manga Mascara. I disliked the advert for it so much. I just felt like it was aimed towards teens more than anything, so I really didn’t pay much attention to it.

Then when it came to picking items for a beauty box subscription, this popped up as an option, and with little else to pick from that month, I decided to try it out.

The packaging is standard for drugstore, with quite a chunky plastic tube. It’s pretty enough to look at with it’s black and metallic pink detailing, but I still get that hint of teen from it. Usually I find that L’Oreal’s packaging is aimed more towards the higher end look; it’s quite chic and delicate looking.

The wand is where the magic happens. When I first opened it I really wasn’t sure how exactly it was going to work. The bottom part of the wand has a small indent in it, which lets to brush move and bend 360 degrees. Usually I prefer to have quite sturdy brush to give something to push onto and really coat the lashes, but actually this mechanism works really well. The flexibility of it means that it gets pretty much every lash, without overloading and layering up.

The shape of the brush was new to me too, as it’s quite chunky but cone shaped one, which I’ve actually wanted to try out for a while now. It’s great at getting every lash, even the small ones, with the tapered end meaning that it’s a lot less tricky manoeuvre.

The formula is brilliant; no clumping, no flaking and is kind to sensitive eyes. The wear time is good to and the colour payoff is really true with the black being quite a bold pigment.

The Miss Manga range comes in a variety of colours, so finding something to suit your taste should be a doddle.

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L’Oreal Miss Manga Mascara – £8.99 – link here

HER | 300 Trecento Hair Treatment

Hello heat, hello heavy hair.

My hair is thick and pretty long and naturally curly, so in the hot weather I do tend to just rough dry it and leave it to pot luck, with hopes it behaves itself. The heat can dry my hair out, especially when I’m on holiday, so I saved the HER Hair Rituals treatment to use specifically while I was away, and for a few washes after I got home.

The 300 Trecento treatment is designed as a pre-wash treatment, so you wet your hair and apply, then leave for 300 seconds (5 minutes) and wash out, then apply shampoo usual – I used my usual container on my first wash and found it was far too much for my hair to handle so I left it out after that and the results where much better.

I used this twice in the week I was on holidays, then once a week for a few weeks once I was home. It left my hair feeling beautifully soft and easy to manage, especially in the humid temperatures.

If you have dry/damaged hair that’s thick then it’s a perfect treatment to give your hair a nice pick me up. If you have fine or oily hair then I’d recommend using it on the ends of the hair only, and shampooing twice to make sure you’re not left with any build up whatsoever.

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HER Hair Rituals 300 Trecento Hair Treatment – £14.00 – link here

Lush | Sex Bomb

For years and years I’ve dreamed of snooping round Lush, and leaving with arms full of bath bombs, but alas, sadly we only had a shower at home for a very long time.

However, I’m sighing a big relief that we’ve not long had a nice big bath installed, and I’ve taken to lush, like a moth to a flame.

I was looking specifically for a nice, relaxing bath bomb that smelt good, and would be a quite moisturising. The sales assistant recommended Sex Bomb, and also said not to take any notice of the name, it was perfect for relaxing as it contained a fragrant blend of jasmine, ylang ylang and clary sage.

It also turns the bath into a beautiful swirl of pinks and purples…

It fizzes and dissolves really well and doesn’t leave any grittiness or hard to clean residue. It smells beautiful and it great to pair with a face mask and a good book!

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Lush Sex Bomb bath bomb – £3.25 – link here

Bourjois Instant Dry | Nail Enamel Dryer

We’ve all been there. You paint your nails, then for some reason you realise that you don’t have the time to sit around waiting for them to dry, what do you do?

Me, I usually end up in a bad mood, with a few smudged nails.

When I heard that Bourjois had released a new nail drying oil, I umm’ed and ahh’ed for a while about it. I’ve tried various nail drying sprays and top coats before, without much joy – they either never lasted very long, or they dried out really quickly, so I wasn’t really pulled in to buy it. Then a friend told me it was worth it’s weight in gold, and that it had saved her on various occasions.

The Bourjois Instant Dry is an oil which you apply with a dropper over the nail area to seal in the polish and dry it quicker than if you let it air dry.

It is a brilliant little product, and you don’t need a lot of it as one small drop spreads evenly over the nail nicely. Now it does dry the polish, however it’s not instant – you can drop the oil on then start washing up, or pulling on your clothes, however it does dry it out in about a minute and a half, maybe two minutes depending on the formula of nail polish.

As it’s an oil it also helps to nourish the nail area and just give it an extra bit of TLC. I actually like it a lot more than any other quick drying formula I’ve tried before, as it’s compact and will probably last for a while before I have to repurchase.

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Bourjois Instant Dry Nail Enamel Dryer – £5.99 – Feel Unique – Link Here