recent purchases

hey everyone!
so i thought i'd share with you some things that i've brought recently. it's not much, but all of these things were offers and stuff so i thought it was worth sharing :)

so in new look at the moment (im assuming all new look) they're holding a buy one get one free offer on ALL hair accessories. so that includes these wire headbands, those turban things & hair grips and stuff. i thought it was a great offer! and i love the designs of them all!

the wire ones are £4.99 each :)

and in superdrug, it's 2 for £4.99 on barry m nail paints! (i know they do this regularly but i thought i'd tell you so you know it's on.) i got the basecoat topcoat and nail hardener - because a natural collection clear nail varnish just wasn't cutting it! - and the nail paint in raspberry. i tried to take a picture of it on my nails but the lighting wasn't very good!

so yeah! sorry if you thought this post was a bit pointless but i like to let you know about offers that are around!

i hope you're all having a great summer so far! :)

maddie xx

tag: questions

hey everyone!
so i wanted to do a post today but i didn't know what to do, so i thought i'd do a tag because i like to read them and hopefully you do to? sorry if it's a bit boring :(
so lets get into it!

How many times do you wash your face daily?

well, i exfoliate my skin every morning (some people will say thats bad, but i find its the only way my skin stays cleat!) and moisturise every morning. sometimes, i'll use a cream cleanser at night but that's if i can be bothered, normally i chuck a face wipe over my face and i'm done. 

What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo) i have normal combination skin, and i don't break out that often, just get blackheads on my chin and a few random spots now and then.

What is your current facial wash? 
hmm, well i've used garnier's pink grapefruit one and i liked that but i haven't re-purchased it. may have to again! 

Do you exfoliate?
yeeep everyday, as i said :) 

What brand do you use?
my exfoliator is clean and clear, my moisturiser is simple, my cream cleanser is ponds and my toner (sometimes use one) is nivea, the pure and natural range :)

What moisturiser do you use?
simple kind to skin moisturiser
Do you have freckles?
many

Do you use eye cream?
nope. but i should because i keep getting dry skin around my eyes! :(
Do you or did you have acne prone skin?
nope

Did you ever have to use Pro-activ?
nope

MAKE-UP

What foundation do you use?
maybelline dream matte mouse (bit of a love hate product!) or natural collection tinted moisturiser 

How about concealer?
don't really use one because my foundation is quite heavy coverage, but if i do it's natural collection cover up creme

Do you know your undertone color? i think i have a cool undertone to my skin? had to look that up ;D
What do you think of fake eyelashes? erm, they iyt. if you get natural looking ones they can look okay. i never use them though, i think my natural eye lashes are long enough :)

Did you know that you are suppose to change your mascara every 3 months?
Yes i did, but i don't hehe. i only throw out a mascara when i've finished the one i have or if it dries out or goes all nasty.

What brand of mascara do you use?
 i enjoy collection 2000 mascaras!

Sephora or MAC?
well, we don't have sephora in england and i've never been to mac but i would love to. but isn't mac in sephora? and there's loads of other brands in sephora, so yeah, sephora.

Do you have a MAC Pro-card?
 nope

What makeup tools do you use in make up application?
brushes

Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes?
 i use concealer, and sometimes a skin colour eyeshadow to absorb any oil on my eyelids

For the face?
i don't use a  primer, but i use my moisturiser as a base

What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?
i have an avon 8 in 1 pallette in neutral tones, and i love all the colours in that

Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner?
 don't use either, just a gel one

How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil?
 don't use an eye liner pencil

What do you think of pigment eyeshadows?
never used any, but i think they'd be good for makeup artists because they are multi purpose.

Do you use mineral makeup?
no, but i want to try some!

What is your favorite lipstick?
 natural collection rose bud and maybelline (i think) vintage pink

How about lipgloss?
 natural collection lipgloss in raspberry ripple is laaaavely

What is your favorite blush to use?
 posietint

Do you buy your makeup on ebay?
 i never have but it would be good if i ever want to try any makeup products :)

Do you like drugstore makeup?
LOVE drugstore makeup

Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets)
 we don't have them in england, at least i don't think we do.. (tell me if we do!)

Did you ever consider taking make-up classes?
 no, it's more of a hobby

Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?
  i can be, especially if i'm tired

Name a makeup crime that you hate?
 bad foundation or mascara gloops in the corner of your eye. ew!

Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones?
 erm, i can't really pull them off! i would love to be able to wear bright lipsticks, but my skin is so pinky red that its hard to find a colour that goes!

Which celebrity always has great make up?
 alexa chung always has such pretty, natural makeup. i just love alexa chung anyway.

If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item,what would you use?
 foundation, my eyelashes are black and i could live without putting mascara on them, but i feel really consious of my skin if i'm not wearing foundation!

Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on?
 erm, depends where i'm going. but the even if i'm just going to the shop i put on tinted moisturiser, powder and mascara. i just feel much more confident with makeup!

In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?
natural collection, maybelline or benefit

What do you think of Makeup?
its marvelous!

summer nails

hey all!
so this is just a quick post on my new favourite nail colour - berry ice cream (or berry i/c  as it says on the bottle.. took me ages to find out what 'i/c' stood for.) it's a gorgeous lilacy colour and i've absolutely fell in love with it!
and excuse the messy lid xD
what's your favourite nail colour? any recommendations?

maddie
:)

brand focus: natural collection

hey everyone!
so today's beauty post is a review on the brand - natural collection. you can only get natural collection in boots, and all the make up (they also do bath and body things) is £1.99, which is a bit of a bargain.

right, so this is all the natural collection. i thought it was pretty nifty because there's 3 things for all aspects of make up: eyes, lips and face.
i'll start with a general comment about all of the products: i bloody love them all. yeah okay, some of them have their faults and the packaging isn't all that great but come on, for the price the quality is VERY good.

i'll review the eye products first:

right, so i don't have any eyeshadows or eyeliners from natural collection but i do have three mascaras which i love a lot. as you can see from the picture, i have a lash defenition one, a clear one (lashcare) and a waterproof one.
lash defenition: this is probably my least favourite out of the three. i don't use it a lot and that's because it doesn't give me the volume that i like. i like really thick long voluminous mascara, and this doesn't give me that. however, it is very good for putting over the top of your mascara and really, well, defines them as the name suggests! 3/5
lashcare: this is a clear mascara, and i use it every single day. you're not aloud to wear make up at my school, and even though people do i know, because when i put black mascara on my eyelashes go really long, i'll get told to take it off. so i use clear mascara to make my eyelashes look longer and it does a great job of that.
however, the reason i love it is because it does an amazing job of setting my brows! seriously, i'll do my brows, but this over the top and they don't budge all day. this is AMAZING as a brow set. 5/5
water guard: this is a waterproof mascara, and a very good one! i've only used this once because i brought it last week because i went to thorpe park on wednesday (was amazing!) and obviously needed a waterproof mascara to avoid looking like a panda/raccoon/the joker. and it didn't run all day which is, obviously, everything i want from a waterproof mascara! 5/5

lips:

              (top picture) l-r: rose bud lipstick, sandcastle lipstick, rasperry ripple lip gloss

(botttom picture) l-r: rosebud lipstick, sandcastle lipstick

lipsticks: i will start with the positives! i love the colours of these! by the way, for rose bud lipstick, the bottom picture is more of a true colour for it. the swatch looks really vibrant, when really it's a dark pink. i really love the colours, and the brand do loads of colours which are all really pretty! i also love that they do a sheer range (sandcastle) so that you can build up the colour.

however, there are some negatives. they are as drying as HELL. the rose bud lipstick is from the 'moisture rich' range but it's not. they are really drying, and you have to apply lipbalm before applying them, which leads on to the second problem of the fact that they are not long wearing at all, and when you're out and about you can't be applying lipbalm, waiting for that to sink in, then applying lipstick. 3/5

lipgloss:LOVE THE NATURAL COLLECTION LIPGLOSSES. granted, i don't really wear lipgloss that often but when i do i love it! they all smell and taste so good! the colours gorgeous and they're not too sticky! my only critisism is that they're quite drying, but no where near as bad as the lipsticks.

face:

tinted moisturiser: i wear this a lot and i love it! it's so nice and light and pretty long wearing. i wear it to school and in the summer, and it's a really nice consistancy and a joy to blend into the skin. however, and this is a personal critisism, i don't like dewy skin and obviously because this is a moisturiser it is very dewy - i couldn't wear it without powdering, but when i've powdered i love the finish of it! 5/5

pressed powder: as you can see, this is well loved. i use it everyday, and it keeps me matte all day. i sometimes wear it on it's own and even on it's own it gives quite a nice finish to the skin. i've gone through loads of these - they are so amazing! i don't really know what else to say about it because just a powder but it's probably my favourite natural collection product! 5/5

cover up creme: right, sometimes i use this as a concealer and it's brill! i love it! it's a great concealer, but my foundation covers up most of the imperfections on my skin. so mostly i use this as an eye primer and set it with powder and it really evens out my eye lids, makes them less oily, (i have extremely oily eyelids, its weird) and really brings out the colour of whatever eyeshadow i put on. and they stay put for quite a while! not all day, but deffinately 4 hours+. 4/5, because it's not really really amazing.

so yeah! i hope you enjoyed this extremely long blog post! you can buy the products from here: http://www.boots.com/ and just search natural collection :)

thanks for reading!

maddie xx

rip amy winehouse♥

very sad news about amy winehouse!
if you didn't know, she was found dead about an hour ago today in her flat in camden.
i think it's so sad - i know so many people are going to say that she brought it on herself, she was a drug addict, she wasn't a very nice person bla bla bla but actually, i felt quite sorry for her and i also thought she was an amazing musician and extremely talented!
above is not only one of my favourite amy winehouse song, but one of my all time favourite songs.
rip amy
♥

crazy accerssorize sale!

hey all!
so i thought i'd get this post out today so you'd know about it and get your butts down to accerssorize.. they're having a 70% off sale!
is this for real?! i hear you say, but oh yes, it certainly is, and i thought i'd show you my purchases as evidence:

so first i got this bracelet. it's like those religious images bracelets with the christianity images on which everyone is wearing (me included,) but this one is images of hinduism (i think.) i think it's so unique and pretty!
these come in a pack of two, a yellow one, and a purple one, but i went halves with my friend lydia and it cost me a grand total of... 75p! yes, you read that right. a bracelet from accerssorize cost me 75p. obviously they were £1.50 together but if there is a pack of two bracelets, its such a good idea to go halves!

secondly is this gorgeous necklace. my only fault of it is that it has an 'R' on it, but obviously that's my own fault for not looking, and anyway i don't really care because when it's on you can't really see it.
it's one of those really expensive looking ones, and it was with an RRP price of £12.00, and i paid £2 something! (i lost the recipt.) i think it's an absolute steal, and it looks so puuuurty.

GET DOWN TO ACCESSORIZE NOW!

maddie xx

my favourite perfumes

hey all!
this is just a quick post about my favourite scents :)

l-r:

• miss sixty rock muse
• anna sui - lucky star
• sarah jessica parker - nyc
• matthew williamson
• burberry london (tester bottle)
• gok wan's how to look good naked perfume
• vesace red jeans - all gone now :(
• i also missed off mariah carey's perfume because it was in my bag :)

Music.♥

hey all!
bit of a random post, but i felt like blogging and wanted to do something other than a beauty post :)
i was reading jessie's (http://findingdaisies.blogspot.com) post and she was talking about music in her 5 confessions post, and it made me want to do a post about my love for music.

i've always loved music, since i was really little. i never played an instrument apart from the violin when i was 7... i think my family were EXTREMELY happy when i decided enough was enough! i prefer to listen to music than to play it.
my mum has always encouraged me to listen & dress how i want to, and to not follow the crowd. i think the earliest band i can remember loving was oasis. my brother used to blast out wonderwall from his room and i used to love it! so when i met liam gallagher in covent garden you can imagine i was a very happy bunny :)

(hate the picture of me.. BUT OMG ITS LIAM!)

yeah.. we chased hin down covent garden..

the past year of my life has been the toughest, and i know it sounds so cliche but music has helped me through it! when i'm feeling down i would listen to my ultimate feel good songs: born this way by gaga or god only knows by the beach boys. mumford have also helped me through some tough times, as has frank sinatra.

probably my favourite bands ever are oasis & coldplay. (can't express my love for coldplay! in fact, i've decided my wedding song will be yellow by them, i don't even care what my future husband says!) my other favourite bands/singers are kings of leon; mumford and sons; adele; frank sinatra; elbow & foo fighters. you should deffinately check them out if you haven't before! :)

some people will probably think this is a bit of a pointless post, but i thought i'd tell you one of the main passions in my life. it's so important to me, and i know it will always be there.

thanks for reading!

maddie

xoxo



favourite body moisturisers!

hello lovelies!
today's post is going to be about my favourite body moisturisers. there's only three, but they leave my skin feeling soft as a baby's backside! so, onto the first two:

bodyshop body butters:

i love these body butters too much. they leave my skin leaving so so soft and come in loads of yummy flavours! these are two of my favourites - mango and coconut. some other favourites are olive (destroyed a tub of that) and pink grapefruit. those are just some favourites but i love them all! (please note that the coconut packaging is really old packaging and has changed now, but don't worry it's still okay!)

i only really use these at night because they tend to be really thick. i know all body butters are but these are REALLY thick. these are 5/5; 5*; 100%; A+; etc!

the big tubs retail at £12.50 which is pretty expensive but they do last a really long time! but you can also get smaller tubs which retail for £6 and are perfect for in your bag or to try some scents :)

soap and glory 'the daily smooth':

i really rate this body butter! other than the scent being lush (smells floral with a hint of blackcurrent) it is a really good daily (obviously) moisturiser. it isn't as heavy as the bodyshop body butters which can be a good thing because when you want to moisturise before you go out it sinks in really quickly which is great!

i really like other soap and glory products, but in my opinion, other than hand food, this is the best soap and glory product!

this is my second favourite moisturiser, and only because the bodyshop one comes in more scents! and is much more moisturising.

this one retails for £8.43, which is also quite expensive. i would go as far as to say it's quite overpriced, but only by a pound or two. i got it in a set for christmas though!

SOO that's that! i know there was only three, but i do really like these & plan on trying more in the future. i might do a post on cheaper body moisturisers, but that will be some time in the future :)

up coming posts will be:

•  review of natural collection lipsticks
•  my favourite perfumes

thanks!
maddie
xxx

hello hello hello! & requests..?

hi dolls!
BIG FAT SORRY for my lack of blogging. i've had exams so hell loads of revision, amongst going out with friends and such. i know its that age old excuse but - I'VE BEEN BUSY OKAY?!
plus.. i'm really having a mental block of what to blog about!
so yeah, this is just a drop in to let you all know that i'm still alive hehe.
i don't know how often i'm going to be blogging but i'll try and make it at least once or twice a week. summer holidays are round the corner so i'm sure you'll be guaranteed quite a few then aswell!
but when i go back in september it will be gcse year sooo.. loads of prep and stuff for that! boo :(
if you have any ideas for me please comment! :)
love you!

maddie
xx