13 Personal Questions

I thought it's about time you guys got to know me a little better, I was thinking of doing the 50 random facts tag but then I saw this sweet questionaire on youralmostalice which is perfect :)

1. What do you order at Starbucks?
It's not very often I go to Starbucks these days but when I do it's a hazlenut hot chocolate, I just can't get enough of them! I bought the syrup so I can make them at home too, but they're my occaisonal treat ;)

2. What's one thing in your closet that you cannot live without?
Black leggings, I wear them with pretty much everything!

3. What's one thing that most people probably wouldn't know about you?
I'm scared of sleeping alone at the age of 22.

4. Name one thing that you want to do before you die
Hmm, have a family of my own. (Aww)

5. What's one food that you cannot live without?
Mash potato, don't even get me started!

6. What quote/phrase do you live your life by?
Don't let anyone tell you how to live your life.

7. What do you like and dislike about the YT community?
I'm not a part of the YT community, so i can't really comment.

8. What's your number one most listened to song on iTunes?
Arctic Monkeys- 505

9. What kind of style would you define yourself as having?
Casusal with a tiny grunge/rocky twist?

10. Favorite number
7

11. Two hobbies
Shopping and reading!

12. Two pet peeves
Noisy eaters and bullies.

13. Guilty Pleasure
I would've said bathbombs but i'm not really sorry.. So erm..?!




Nicola Mai..x

P-P-Pick up some Purple

So I decided I was bored of a typical brown eyeshadow and thought I would mix it up a bit & given that purple is one of my favourite colours (plus my plum lipstick arrived) I thought it would be a perfect place to start!

What I'm wearing:

• Foundation: Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation in Light Vanilla
• Concealer: Rimmel Hide The Blemish Concealer in Ivory
• Powder: Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in Rose Nude
• Eyeshadow: MUA Eye Palette inStarry Night
• Eyeliner (Pencil): Collection 2000 Intense Colour in Black
• Eyeliner (Liquid): Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner in Black
• Mascara: Maybeline Volum' Express in Smokey
• Blush: MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush- Dollymix
• Bronzer: Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades 
• Lipsick:  Maybeline Super Stay 14hr Lipstick in Always Plum                

I thought this look was fun and fresh for everyday wear :) As I was only going shopping it wasn't too heavy but still looks very put together, which is something I like.

What do you think?
Any other colours you think I should experiment with?

Nicola Mai..x

Shopping Haul!

So I popped into town today to do a little retail shopping! I will review these all separately, but I thought I would show you what I bought :)

Make-Up
Boots
Maybeline The Rocket Volum' in Very Black- £7.99
Maybeline Dream Terra Sun in 01 Light Bronze- £5.99
Maybeline Fit Me powder in 125 Nude Biege- £5.99
Maybeline were on 3 for 2 so I actually got the powder for nothing! 
Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation in 100 Ivory- £8.99

TKMaxx
Set Dainty Doll products; blush in You Are My Sunshine, eyeshadow in Teach Me Tiger & a lipstick in Coture- £4.99
Yes, £4.99! The RRP was £18! Bargain of the day I think ;)


Beauty/Bath
Boots
Aussie AussomeVolume Shampoo 500ml- £5.99
Aussie Mega Conditioner 400ml- £5.99
I got these on offer for 2 for £9 :)

John Lewis
Burts Bees Essentials Kit- £12.99
This came with; Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream, Hand Salve, Milk & Honey Body Lotion, Beeswax Lipbalm & Coconut Foot Cream.

Lush
Brightside Bubble Bar- £4.25
The Enchanter- £3.20
I am very upset as I was told today this is been discontinued, so I will have to stock up ASAP!
Mum Tulip- £5.25
The lovely lady in Lush gave me this for free!         


Homeware
Evolution
Heart floral photo frame- £3.50
Floral 'LOVE'-£6

I also bought myself some jellybeans- as if I didn't have enough!

Any of these products take your fancy?
Have you used any of them before?
Anything you can recommend me?

Nicola Mai..x      

Mail on Monday!

I thought I would start a new feature called Mail on Mondays. Now I obviously don't just get mail on a Monday but I thought I would save any online hauls and talk about them all in one post as sometimes things come one day after another. I thought it would save me doing an online haul everyday.

So here is Week One!

This is a half Superdrug (S) half Boots (B) haul, starting from L-R I received;

• Bastiste Dry Shampoo in Blush- £2.99 (S)
• Peaches and Clean- £7 (B)
• Face Soap and Clarity- £7 (B)
• Boots Cucumber 3 minute clay face mask- £2 (B)
• MUA Lipstick in shade 8- £1 (S)
• MUA Lipstick in shade 16- £1 (S)
• Maybeline Super Stay 14hr Lipstick in Always Plum- £6.99 (B)

Also as I have a card for both Superdrug and Boots I got awarded points too which is brilliant! I'm going to get stuck into these products and I'm sure they will be scattered into various other blog posts :)


What do you think about Mail on Monday? Is it best to haul everything together?
Have you used any of these products?

Nicola Mai..x

Just a Quickie!

I'm posting quickly from my bed as I'm again feeling under the weather- it's been over two weeks now so I think I better go pester the doctor again!
One of the 4 lipsticks arrived in the post this morning but I'm going to wait and do one big lipstick post (Lipstick Collection) rather than do individual posts :)
I also have a What's In My Make-Up Bag/My Everyday Make-Up post planned so keep your eyes peeled!
If you'd like to see anything in particular then give me a shout and ill see if it's plausible! Hopefully ill be well enough soon to get blogging properly again :)
Lots of love!

Bomb Cosmetics

My boyfriend took this rather artistic picture of Vintage Rosehip whilst running me a bath :)

If you know me, or have read my blog before you will know that I LOVE having a bath. I am a massive Lush fan, but I came across this website called Bomb Cosmetics and I must say I am now addicted I can't wait to make my next order! I think the packaging and general look of the products is super cute and there is so much attention to detail I just can't deal with it.

 The first thing I picked up was this soap called Middle Earth- it smells so so good! Like sweet velvety chocolate it leaves my skin feeling silky smooth and I would like to check out some of the other soaps that they have on their site.

I chose some Bathbombs also or as they're named- Bath Blasters. I chose Fantasy Island, In The Mood and Vintage Rosehip all at 160g each and priced at £2.29 each I think these are perfectly priced. They leave the bath in great colours, the Fantasy Island leaves the bath in a yellowy colour which is rather amusing... But I think these are great value for money and I would recommend them for anyone who loves having a bath!

 I then chose something called a Whoopie Blaster- fondly named after Whoopee Pies. I chose the Knickerbocker Glory Whoopie Blaster, priced at £2.99 for 140g. I loved this, it had a real fresh citrus smell and fizzed really quickly while leaving the water with a soft foam. The middle layer to the whoopie blasters is like the butter in the products I will talk about below- it leaves your skin so smooth and when I got out of the bath I was having a serious 'feel how soft my skin is!' moment to everybody!

 This is a Jar Of Hearts Cocoa Swirl, at £2.99 for 110g. You can use these in your bath up to three times, which makes it even better value for money at under £1 a bath (maths whizz here! ;)) Made with pure butters, ylang ylang and rose essential oils, this smells divine! The butters this is made with made my skin stupidly soft and I love the cute little details that go into these products.

I then got intrigued by the Bath Tulips, they're £2.99 each and you can use these up to four times... Which again makes them amazing value for money. (Left) is Forest Fruit and (Right) is Gypsy Rose, Forest Fruit as you'd expect is an amazingly powerful fruity smell and Gypsy Rose as you might expect smells like roses ;) The tulips are made from cocoa and shea butter which leaves the body smooth- like seriously I didn't even feel the need to moisturise after I got out of the bath my skin was so smooth.

I did get some other stuff but as I made quite a big order I haven't yet got round to using them all- but I would say Bomb Cosmetics is the place to go to if you love a good pamper in the bath. The website you can find here: BOMB COSMETICS

They do all sorts of stuff that I want to try- I have my eye on the candles for example. There's also so many smells I can't wait to try!

NME Awards Tour @ Rock City 12/2/2013 (Miles Kane)

As I mentioned in a previous post Ollie and I booked tickets to stay in Nottingham so we could go to the NME Awards Tour to see Peace, Palma Violets, Miles Kane and Django Django... I unfortunately became ill at the end of the week before we were meant to go.. But decided I didn't want to lose the money we'd spent on the tickets for the train, hotel and gig.. (What a trooper!) So when we arrived I went straight to bed to rest up and we settled on going to just see our favourite of the bands, Miles Kane, we did manage to see two of the Palma Violets songs and one Django Django..

Palma Violets
I found them boring, nothing out of the ordinary at all and I actually wondered what they were doing playing an NME Awards Tour. However a lot of people seem to like them, so it may just be me but I certainly didn't enjoy the songs I heard from them. They also played a 5 minute instrumental with some weird hands in the air shaking type of stuff which I just didn't get- maybe I'm getting old?!
Setlist can be found here and it has snipets of the songs for you to listen too :)

Django Django
We saw the first song from their set as they were headlining and it was actually pretty good, if I had not of been ill I would've stayed and listened to the whole set but my bed was calling me! I could see what the hype was about surrounding this band and they certainly knew how to put on a performance, plus they sang which was an added bonus to the previous lot ;) They were upbeat and inviting, something I like to see when I don't know a band too well and they don't have much of a name for themselves. Here's a video of them from the night, take note of live recording and iphone cameras:

Miles Kane
I love love love Miles Kane, this was the 6th time I have seen him live and everytime he just gets better. Miles Kane and his band never fail to put on a good show, they are always lively and up for it, I also have a theory that Miles isn't content with leaving a stage until he knows every person in the audience is buzzing as much as he is. They just throw themselves into tune after tune without dropping in energy or enthusiasm once and it really is an amazing thing to see. There's nothing I like more when going to watch someone play their songs than an artist that loves it as much as the audience, someone who you can tell lives for it. Also he's an artist that sounds just as good live as on the album and you don't end up disappointed(I'm looking at you The Vaccines).Already a fan of Miles I was extremely excited when he started playing some new songs from his upcoming album; I would now like to be released so I can release my inner rock goddess around my room. But yeah, another top class performance from Miles and the lads and I look forward to seeing you again soon! Here's a video of his new song that he opened up with, obviously account for the non professional camera/live sound :)

MAC

 So my MAC order arrived earlier the other week and I got very very excited when it did. I chose the products online but when they arrived they looked SO much prettier than I first imagined. I was bought a MAC lipstick for Christmas by my lovely boyfriend, which was a nudey type colour that I could wear everyday. But as I am a lover of red lipstick and that's what I tend to wear when I go out/get dressed up I decided I needed to order a red one. So that's exactly what I did! I may have also slipped a blusher in, whoops ;)

 

Sheertone Shimmer Blush- Dollymix- £17.50

I love blusher, I am starting a blush collection in fact! I think blush is perfect for Spring/Summer as it makes the face look fresh and alive. This blusher is perfect for that, as the name suggests it's an incredibly girly pink with a tiny shimmer running through it for some extra glam. I thought the colour was a tiny bit daunting when I first looked at it online, but then figured it can always be toned down with powder. I should definitely point out that a little goes a long way with this, so it's easily buildable, start with a little and work your way up to lose risk of looking like Co-Co the Clown rather than Co-Co Chic ;) Overall I am very happy with the colour, texture and formula of the product, I have not yet delved into cream blush (it scares me slightly?!). But I would strongly recommend this for a first time buyer like myself :)

 

Matte Lipstick- Russian Red- £14

EEEEEE! Lipstick and red lipstick at that! I literally couldn't of been more excited than when this lipstick arrived, I seem to have an unhealthily obsession with lipstick, especially those of the red shade. This colour is so pigmented and fierce; which is exactly how I feel when wearing it. The shade pops out against my eye colour and skin colour and it's just ahhh. I cannot get enough of it and in fact even though I bought this as more of a going out lipstick I have slipped it into my everyday make-up bag..

This is the finished look- although I am wearing bronzer so the blush is not as noticeable as when used by itself. As I am pale I feel the lipstick pops, which is something I like as I tend to stick to a simple eye. Overall I am happy with both products and am looking into buying more from the brand and these particular types of product.

Is there any MAC products you could recommend for me?

What are your favourite MAC products?

Nicola Mai..x

Apologies!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been ill with the flu for a week and a half now- while I am still not recovered fully I am able to come on the laptop and sort a few things out :)
-So today I have been looking at new blogs & following some.
-Planning some posts!!
-Finishing some posts I had planned previously...
-Planning some essays for uni (not as fun but it needs to be done)
-Pampering myself (no make-up and feeling groggy for so long means I am LONG overdue a good pamper!)

Soap and Glory! Recent uses and favourites :)

Now I know I am not alone with my love of Soap and Glory products, all over the blogging world there are many other lovers! I am addicted to Soap and Glory, officially a member of the club. I don't know whether it's the smell of the products, the cute vintage style packages or how they work but something certainly dings my dong.

Handbag essentials

Hand Food- £2.50/£5 depending on size. 

This hand moisturiser has to be one of the best I have ever come across. I suffer from chapped hands a lot in the Winter and being as impatient as I am like something that I can use instantly and on the go, this is the perfect product. Not only does it smell absolutely amazing, it dries within seconds without leaving my hands with that horrid greasiness afterwards. I don't have to keep applying it countless times throughout the day either as it's long lasting and with it being so cheap I'd say it goes above and beyond for the price you pay.

Mist You Madly- £6.50

This is something I pop into my handbag for a quick spritz on the go, it smells floral and girly which for me is the perfect kind of scent. The smell is super long lasting and I find myself smelling my scarf to get a whiff of the smell hours later (does anybody else do this with fragrance?). I think this is ideal when you don't want to carry around a perfume bottle or don't have any travel size perfumes. I will definitely re-buy.

Hand Maid- £2.50

I probably shouldn't get as excited about hand sanitiser as I do but hey ho! This is amazing, seriously. This is great for popping into your handbag and super easy to use for a quick freshen up to make you feel that little bit cleaner. The smell is again as you'd expect from Soap and Glory divine, floral again for this product and doesn't leave you with that horrid hospital kind of smell afterwards. I normally use this alongside my Hand Food mositeriser mentioned above and using them both together leaves my hands silky smooth and smelly lush. So for £2.50 I think it's great for females that get excited about hand sanitisers.

Bathtime!

Glad Hair Day- £2.50

Now this is one Soap and Glory product that I haven't been overally happy with and because I love the brand so much I am saddened to say it to be honest. Now the smell of this product is amazing, it smells fresh and spring like- fresh peaches to be exact. However, when it came to using the product I was left disapointed, it just didn't seem to 'clean' my hair and I was left with greasy hair after a few hours, I did of course re-try a couple of days later but the same thing happened. Now my mum has used it after me -I kindly passed it onto her- and she has had no problems and actually is loving this so it left me thinking that maybe it hasn't worked for me because I have long, thick hair while she has short and thinner hair. It hasn't put me off trying some of the other hair care, in fact I'm thinking of trying the conditoner next :)

Sugar Crush Body Scrub- £8

Now anyone who has tried Soap and Glory or read up on Soap and Glory will have heard about this product i'm sure. I cannot rave about this enough, seriously I would be here all day! I am not usually the biggest fan of the citrusy smell, but this sweet lime, almond oil and macadamia smell really does it for me. It fresh and lively, I bought my first tub of this just before Christmas and it got me excited for Spring/Summer just by the smell. The scrub itself is great quality too, it has finer grains in it than the other body scrubs from the Soap and Glory range but still left me with super smooth and unflakey skin. I for one have become a tadge addicted to using this and use it most times that I get in the bath -which is everyday or every other day mainly- I just can't get enough!

Sugar Crush Body Wash- £6.50

Of course after trying the scrub I spotted this bay boy and had to buy it ;) with the same scent of the other Sugar Crush products it left me feeling bright and uplifted. I would say this is ideal for those kind of mornings where you don't really want to deal with life -cough cough Mondays- as it's the perfect scent to give you some get up and go! I know i'm not the only person loving this either as i'm pretty certain my mum keeps stealing some for herself :P

The Scrub Of Your Life- £7

I'm not normally a big lover of skin care as I find my skin to be alright without using anything, but after suffering a minor breakout a few weeks ago I delved into some new stuff. Now I use this just on my face to lift off the dead skin, which I tend to get mainly around my nose, but you can use it on other places of the body too. It left my skin feeling really smooth and didn't lead to any inpurities as sometimes facial scrubs can do. I would recomend this to anyone really, as I tend to have sensitive skin and didn't have any negative reactions to the product.

If you feel like using any of these, or perhaps something else from the Soap and Glory range Boots is having a 3 for 2 deal at the moment as part of a Valentines offer- I am trying to restrain myself....

So is there products I haven't mentioned that you think I would like?

Do you have any alternate brands that you think I could have a look at?

Tell me your positive and negative Soap and Glory experiences :)

Nicola Mai..x 

Anxiety

So late in January I went back to uni and even though I have been majorly organised with diary writing, choosing essay questions, ordering and reading the books I'm meant to, I am still left with this overwhelming feeling in dread. Now I suffer from an anxiety disorder which makes even the smallest of everyday tasks seem mountainous, it's also worsened by the fact that not many people seem to understand what having anxiety means and can more often than not make a person feel worse about how their feeling without realising.
My anxiety causes a lot of problems for me which all roll into one big problem and make up a vicious cycle. These are just a few of the fears that anxiety can bring on:

• Fear of going places
• Fear of being alone
• Fear of something going wrong
• Fear of not being good enough
• Fear of never being prepared enough
• Fear of crowded places
• Fear of lots of noise/people
• Fear of public speaking

These can make it very difficult to even go to the local shop, I for one always feel like people are looking and judging me, which makes my anxiety much worse than it would be already. Feeling like this can sometimes cause something called panic attacks, I also get night terrors when I am feeling especially stressed.

Panic attacks are one of the most scary things I have ever had to endure, they can come on out of the blue and anywhere they feel like. How I usually feel when I'm suffering a panic attack:

• Trapped
• Struggling to breath
• Like I can't breath at all
• Heart palpitations
• Dizzy
• Over aware of my surroundings
• Hot
• Sweaty
• Lack of concentration 
• Like I am about to die

 As you can imagine these are not nice things to have to deal with and I do whatever I can to avoid situations where my anxiety is going to be higher than normal. Other forms of prevention can be used but they are not always helpful as I mentioned before panic attacks can strike whenever they feel, but these are some of the things I do to try prevent the onset of a panic attack;

• Breathing exercises
• Planning everything ahead
• Being in control as much as possible
• Tablets such as Kalms (sometimes medicine from the doctors)
• Thinking things through before I do them
• Making sure I'm with someone/someone I trust
• Avoiding places of high anxiety risk (town centre on a Saturday)
• Knowing bus/train times in my head

As you can imagine trying to do all of this can be tiresome especially when you are trying to lead a 'normal' life. I tend not to be too open about my anxiety and try to deal with it alone as best as possible, but I feel there is too much ignorance and intolerance for this illness, because an illness is exactly what it is. People need to be aware of the symptoms of anxiety so they are not misunderstood to why people can act in a certain way, I can often be mislead as being shy and in extreme cases rude just because I am stressing on the inside and not able to concentrate properly on what's going on around me. 

Another thing my anxiety makes me suffer with is insomnia, now that is not missing one nights sleep and thinking I have insomnia it's months of only getting an hours sleep every few days. Insomnia in itself causes many problems for me and makes studying for my degree/doing anything fun or productive very hard. It  brings my drive and motivation down to zero, I am always tired and feeling lethargic and in turn can be in a very down mood most of the time. Of course I do take sleeping tablets as often as I can and they can work, but they do not sort the problem entirely and I am not a fan of being reliant on drugs to aid something my body should be doing on its own. But again as I feel I cannot be open about my anxiety and how it affects me I feel I can be seen as lazy, especially when it comes to uni things, when in fact I am struggling to even get out of bed in the mornings.

Even though I have an amazing boyfriend and the most supportive family I feel like I am battling anxiety alone, I feel like I am alone. But I want to make that stop. If you suffer from any of the symptoms above or are just interested in anxiety and what it entails I'd love for you to email me: missnmai@hotmail.com

It's time anxiety sufferers didn't feel alone.

Nicola Mai..x