TAG | 10 little secrets!

hey everyone!
sorry (again) that i haven't blogged in over a week. and its the same old excuse - school. oh its manic in year 11 haha! but i break up for easter friday so two weeks off - more blogging :D
anyway, i saw this tag on Sammi's channel so i thought i'd give it a go because i really liked the look of it :D

1. What is one product that makes you feel like a million dollars?
ooh mine is definitely red lipstick. i only really where it when i go out at night but sometimes i do wear it during the day and i just absolutely love it! i use the max factor fire lipliner and an avon lipstick, its in a red packaging and its just called 'red' haha. i think there is a shade of red to suit everyone!

2. What is your skincare secret? / A passed down skin care tip
mine isn't really a secret, everyone does it haha! but i really think exfoliating your skin is the best way to get clear skin. you can get loads of different kinds of daily scrubs! its a really great way of getting all the muck out of your skin and you don't have to do it everyday! i do it every other day and i use the clean and clear blackhead clearing daily scrub but i find i do have to moisturise well afterwards cos it really takes all of the oil off your skin!

3. Share your hair care secret?
erm, to be honest i don't really do that much with my hair. i'm getting into the habit of using a deep conditioner once a week, usually on a sunday so i can have a nice relaxing bath too! i use the aussie 3 minute miracle and its great :) oooh another one is salt spray. i LOVE salt spray! makes my hair all toussled and lovely! i love the umberto giannini salt spray!

4. What is your biggest diet rule?
i've just started to eat more healthy so i'm not the greatest person for this! but i'm gonna start just eating sweets and chocolates and all that naughty stuff on the weekend!

5. Any workout tips?
i've also started doing the stepper for 15 minutes each night! it's basically a cross trainer without the arm bit! i also walk home from school everyday, even if its all down hill it still makes me feel good. AND at my school there's this massive towerblock and three of my subjects are at the top so that's gotta count right?!

6. Which perfume is your secret weapon?
sarah jessica parker nyc without any shadow of doubt. it smells so gorgeous - definitely not for people who don't like fruity, sweet, girly perfumes! it stays on my skin for a while i find and i just absolutely love it!

7. Show us a clothing item of yours which always turns heads
erm.. i don't think i really have one? i only wear dresses and skirts really and i don't have any that turn heads i don't think! haha, sorry i have to pass this question! :(

8. What is your most treasured piece of jewellery?
definitely a ring my mum and dad gave me for my 16th birthday. it's a vintage ring and its marquasite (is that how you spell it?) and i wear it a lot - absolutely love it! it's not very statement so it goes with pretty much everything and you can wear it with any other kind of jewellery!

9. Who is your style crush?
i get inspired by people i see in the street really! but if i had to pick a celebrity i'd have to go for everyone's favourite - alexa chung! now SHE has such an amazing style! but i mainly get ideas for outfits from people i see in the street. especially in london! i always see amazingly dressed people in london haha!

10. Tell us something we don't know about you
okay this is gonna sound really lame and not very interesting but i have a dog which i actually love to pieces. he's a chocolate labrador called fudge and he's the most loveliest thing in the world! he doesn't bark at all, only when he dreams! and we treat him like a human pretty much but yeah he's amazing hehe!

thanks for reading!
maddie xx

first outfit post!

hey everyone!
omg i'm so excited about this post because its my first outfit post! yays!
i love clothes and fashion - i'm probably more passionate about it than beauty products and makeup etc, which is what my blog's been primarily about since i started it!
i didn't make any outfit posts literally because i couldn't find anywhere to take them! excuse my messy bed in the background :P but now i have i'm really excited that i can start featuring fashion and style posts on here!
i'm off out to my dad's friend's birthday party and this is what i'm wearing :D

my outfit:
cardigan: topshop (sale)
dress: topshop (sale)
bangles: debenhams
boots: river island

makeup:
sleek new skin revive foundation
maybelline gel liner
max factor lip liner in 'fire'
avon lipstick in 2000 red

current beauty favourites!

makeup:
prestige mineral baked blush in natural
prestige white eyeliner pencil
maybelline gel liner
sleek new skin revive foundation
collection 2000 xxl volume sensation mascara

hair:
umberto giannini glam hair salt spray
umberto giannini morning after dry shampoo
aussie dual personality heat protecter and leave in conditioner
samy fat hair thickening creme

skincare:
simple rich moisturiser
boots tea tree and witch hazel foaming cleanser
clean and clear black head clearing daily scrub

hey everyone!
so these are the things i'm loving at the moment. after i uploaded these photos to put in the post, i realised that you've probably seen most of these things on my blog before! oopsies!
i forgot some things though, such as carmex lipbalm and vasline rosy lips, and my current shampoo which is the tousle be softly by herbal essences!

hope everyone's well! :-)

thanks for reading!
maddie xx

catch up

hey everyone!
so i've just been into town to have a mooch around with my friend maddie. didn't buy anything but i made a discovery! you know that green barry m lipstick?! it's actually pink! i heard about it the other day but i had to see it for myself. i'm actually shocked! it's magic :o

also, i've just finished a block of exams at school and it feels so good knowing i have a bit of a break from revision! especially for maths - all i want is a c and if i get one this time round i don't have to re-take so fingers crossed! i also did my spanish speaking which i'm really happy with and got some english results back - i have to re-take one of them but that's okay :-)
and i've finally decided what i want to do for my a level choices! i'm going to do re, english literature, spanish and i.t! have any of you taken these a levels? are you studying them now? let me know!

i'm currently reading never let me go by kazuo ishiguro, and i liked it when i first started reading it but i'm not so crazy about it now. i'll probably persevere with it but its getting a bit boring now! do any of you have any good book recommendations?

thanks for reading!
maddie xx

review | soap and glory - the righteous butter

hey everyone!
firstly, let me apologize for the fact that i couldn't take my own picture for this review! my camera's almost dead and it's dark now so i couldn't get as good pictures, but i really wanted to do a post tonight :-)

i've had this for a while now, but i kind of went off it for a while and re-discovered it!
firstly, the smell. it has that famous soap and glory smell - floral yet vanillary (word?) and makes me want to eat myself. well, not literally, but it actually smells so lovely! and it's one of those smells that lingers - when i put it on in the morning, throughout the day i can smell it every now and then and it makes me happy :D
secondly, its so so moisturising! it leaves your skin so soft, and it stays soft a fair amount of time! i wouldn't say it stays soft for the longest out of a few of the other body butter/moisturisers i've tried, such as the body shop body butter, but on the other hand i find that the body shop body butters, and other body butters like it, are so heavy and moisturising don't sink in to the skin quick enough, because i don't like it when you can feel it still on your skin! i'd say that the righteous butter takes about 5-10 minutes to sink into the skin.

another bonus for me is the packaging! i think it's so cute - as is all the soap and glory packaging! i also like the little jokey things on their packaging. i know the packaging doesn't make a difference to the product itself, but for me it's a bonus!

do you like this body butter?
and do you guys have any other body butter/moisturiser recommendations? :-)

thanks for reading!
maddie xx

lipbalms!

hey everyone!
does anyone else have annoyingly dry lips? it seriously drives me mad, ugh.
today i thought i'd share with you some of my favourite lipbalms - they're predictable, but they work for me :-)

firstly, carmex.
carmex is my saviour for when my lips are really dry and cracked. i feel like it really moisturises my lips well and makes them tingle hehe! i like that because it makes me feel like it's actually working. it doesn't linger on my lips for ages, it sinks in pretty fast and when the job's done, my lips feel so soft.
i also love the smell! i got the cherry carmex, which smells like cherry with kind of a minty smell to it. you can also get the original and i'm pretty sure there's a mint one too.
it looks yellow in the pot, but there is absolutely no tint to it, which is good because you can slap it on on the go without having to worry if you've put too much on. you can pick this up in boots, superdrug and i'm pretty sure topshop for around the £2 mark which i think is really good considering the fact that it's like a god for your lips! definitely reccommend if you have extremely dry lips which need a bit of tlc!

vasline!
i think everyone must own a few tins of vaseline. i've personally never tried the original or the green, i belive aloe vera one. as you can see from the picture, i own the cocoa butter one, the creme brulee one and the rosy lips one.
i also think that there are very mixed views on vaseline. granted, it's not ideal if you have really dry and cracked lips, because it isn't like carmex in the sense that it gets to the root of the problem. but for people who have normal lips and just want them softened a bit this is perfect! my lips go through stages - they're either really dry or relatively normal. when they're normal i use vaseline because it makes them feel really soft. it almost puts a moisturising film over them, which is really lovely!

i've taken a seperate picture of the rosy lips vaseline because it leaves such a lovely tint to the lips! please excuse the ugly dent in it, i was a wolly who thought it would be smart to put it on on the bus, the bus jolted, the lid went in the vaseline :( but i can get past this because i use this as my lip colour most days! it also has a reasonable staying power aswell! :D

thanks for reading!
maddie xx