Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Hello lovelies,

Hope you're all well.

Thought I'd just do a bit of a chatty blog post about things that have been happening recently and just a catch up really.

I haven't been updating my blog as much as I would have liked to have over the last month as my computer is still broken. I've managed to borrow my husband's work laptop tonight which is why all my posts are being uploaded in one go. We're going through a house sale/purchase at the moment so money is a little bit tight but once we're all up and running, we'll be looking into purchasing a new laptop, so please bear with me!!

In other news, September was a pretty rubbish month all round. I seemed to be receiving a lot of bad news and just generally not having a very nice time. I don't want to go into too much detail on here as I don't want invade the privacy of others but in a nut shell, there was two very tragic things that happened as well as some personal things that I am dealing with at the moment.

So anyway, it's now October and I am determined that this will be a better month and with this in mind, I've decided to focus on things that make me happy and not dwell too much on things that make me sad.

With that in mind, here is a montage of things that make me happy, I thought I would share them with you as I don't say very much about my personal life or share pictures etc. and thought I'd give you a little glimpse behind 'Lullahblog' - if you're interested that it!!

Top left is a picture of me on my wedding day in August 2009. It really was the most magical day and I wish I could do it all over again! I'm still as much in love with my husband now as I was then and I don't know what I would do without him. I won't put a picture of him on here as again, I don't want to invade his privacy, hope you don't mind...

Top right is a picture of a Strawberry Muddle ice cream. This is from a lovely little ice cream shop down at the beach where I live. It represents how happy I am in my new life at the seaside (we moved here two years ago now). Nothing beats lazy walks on the beach and an ice cream on a Sunday morning and we're both so happy here in our little (ish) seaside town!

Bottom left is one of the lights of my life, my three year old nephew Charlie. He is such a little star and the most gorgeous little boy. He lives a little way away from me and I miss him lots but I absolutely adore him and love it when he comes to visit.

Bottom right is a picture of me and my husband (the giraffe!) at a charity event we were involved in recently. It's not the most flattering picture of me, I will admit!! The event was for the Foundation for Prader Willi Research which you can read about here if you are interested. It was held in Roundhay Park in Leeds a few weeks ago and was a family fun day and sponsored walk. Lots of hard work but lots of fun as well!

I wonder what October will bring. So far I am going to a Halloween fancy dress party (as a witch I might add!), I've not done fancy dress before so am a little scared but I'm sure it'll be lots of fun. Here's another little montage with some sneak peeks of my costume...

What do you think??

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this little insight into me and my life. If you would like to see more posts like this, then let me know as I'm always happy to bleat on about myself - ha ha!!

Hope you all have a fantastic October!

Lotsa love
Lullahblog xx

NOTD

Hi lovelies.

Here's my nail of the day. It actually came as quite a shock as I didn't expect to like it. Basically I was in Boots today and I had a half price voucher for the Natural Collection. I don't particularly wear any of the make up in the range so I thought - cant go wrong with a nail varnish - and went for this gorgeous red colour. I think it's called 'Burgundy', I'm pretty sure it is anyway!

It went on really well, two coats for it to be completely opaque which I find is pretty usual even for high end nail varnishes. Dried really quick and looked gorgeous when it was done.

Overall impression: really happy with this nail varnish and will probably try more. However, I would recommend a good top coat as this nail varnished chipped so fast!!

Hope you enjoyed this NOTD: Have you tried any of the Natural Collection nail varnishes?

Lotsa love
Lullahblog xx

Favourites: September 2012

Hello lovelies!!

Hope you're all well.

I thought while I was on a roll getting my blog posts up to date I would do my September favourites. I've been loving lots of products this month, but here are my faves!

Phil Smith Be Gorgeous Daily Defence Blow Dry Cream

I've been using this loads this month, well every time I've washed my hair! I squirt a blob into the palm of my hand and then smooth it through damp, towel dried hair and the brush through then I just blow dry as usual. I do use a spray heat protector when I straighten, but that's just as extra insurance as I'm putting so much heat on my hair. I have to say, the condition of my hair has really improved and I have hardly any split ends. I'm so pleased with this product. I'm not keen on the smell, I find it a little masculine but other than that I absolutely love it. It doesn't weigh my hair down either which is a big thing as I hate that feeling in your hair when you've got too much product in. Phil Smith products are available at Sainsbury's.

Superdrug Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

This moisturiser is divine! It's really thick and luxurious feeling and it smells like shea butter! My skin is much less dry since I've been using this and I have the day and night creams so they are a big part of my skin care routine. This is such an amazing line in general and so reasonably priced, definitely worth checking out next time you're in Superdrug.

Rimmel 25hr Lasting Finish Foundation

As you can see from the manky state of the bottle, I have been using this a lot this month! In fact, there's only a tiny bit left and will probably be in my October Empties. This foundation gives a pretty full coverage and leaves you with a dewy glow and it just lasts and lasts and lasts!! I have fallen asleep in this before and still had it in tact the next morning (not perfectly in tact but definitely still on!). The only thing I don't like about this foundation is that it leaves my skin feeling tacky, I like to feel like I'm not wearing anything on my face so if I can still feel it hours later it really puts me off. However, I have stuck by this foundation as it is so amazing in every other way! I probably won't repurchase this for a while once it's gone, just because I have so many others to use, but I will be repurchasing at some point in the future. Also, I love that this foundation comes in quite a large range of colours as well, I hate it when there's about six colours to choose from and you end up looking like a ghost or slightly too orange!!

Charles Worthington Glossing Spray

Just jumping back to hair care just for a second, I wanted to mention this glossing spray. My hair is a dark red colour at the moment and when I use a light spritz of this product when my hair is straightened it shines like nothing else. I have honestly never known my hair to be as shiny as this makes it, it's gorgeous. I think I got this from Boots and I urge you to give it a go, you won't regret it!

M&S Limited Collection Blusher

I had heard great things from the M&S make-up line so thought I'd try one of the products out. This is a gorgeoys rosy pinky colour and is very pigmented. It goes on really nicely with a blusher brush and lasts all day. It has a slight shimmer to it but nothing too 'jazz hands' - a really really nice blusher.

MUA Every Lash Mascara

The hype surrounding this mascara in the online beauty community has been unbelieveable and, as I'm a sucker for a bit of hype, I had to give this a go. It reminds me a lot of the Collection 2000 Skyscraper Mascara with the flexible wand and it is a really nice mascara, nicely lengthens and volumises my lashes. Smells of apple as well which is a random bonus! Honestly, for four quid you can't go wrong with this!!

Mac Moisture Cover Concealer

Aaaah my trusty old Moisture Cover concealer, how I love it! Hides my (substantial) eye bags and has a dewy finish which fits in nicely with my favourite Bourjois and Rimmel foundations that I am favouring at the moment. I can't find anything wrong with this concealer, I absolutely love it and am getting a little scared that it may be about to run out so am going to get a back-up just in case!

17 Lasting Finish Nail Varnishes

These are brand new to Boots and they are amazing! The one on the left is called Potion and is a greeny, goldy metallic colour and the one on the right is called Copper and is a metallic copper colour. Both absolutely stunning colours and perfect for the Autumn season. I wish my camera would do them justice as tghey are absolutely beautiful - worth checking out when you're next in Boots!
So there you have it, all my favourite products of September.

What are your current beauty favourites?

Lotsa love
Lullahblog xx

Empties: September 2012

Hello lovelies!

Hope you're all ok.

Can't believe it's empties time again, September went so fast. I'm still on Project Use-Up but don't feel like I've really made that much headway with it, which is so annoying as I'm dying to go shopping!!

Anyway, not too much to show you but here goes anyway:

Benefit Bad Gal Lash

I've had this sample size mascara for so long now and it's not so much used up as completely dried up! I liked it when I first got it and used it quite a lot but I don't think I would go out and purchase the full sized product. I think this mascara is a little dated now and there's just so many others out there that I want to try - such as Benefit's They're Real, which I really must purchase soon!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

I love love love this foundation and have bleated on about it quite frequently in my previous posts!! It gives a medium coverage and leaves a gorgeous dewy finish to your skin, ideal if you have dry skin but I probably wouldn't recommend it for oily skin. It smells gorgeous as well and is just an absolutely amazing foundation. I've recently been and bought the Revlon Photoready foundation and I'm gutted that I didn't repurchase this instead - I'll definitely be repurchasing next time I'm in town! It makes me sad just looking at this empty packaging!! :o(

Lush Happy Hippy Shower Gel

I got this as part of a gift box a little while ago and have just got around to using it. It's a gorgeous citrussy smelling shower gel and shampoo. I don't use it on my hair but it leaves my skin feeling fresh, cleansed and moisturised. I suffer from dry skin on my legs and this totally sorted it out. Gorgeous and on my list to repurchase when I do my next Lush shop!

Nivea Invisible 48h Deoderant

I don't usually harp on too much about roll-on deoderants. They usually just do their jon quite happily and never really get any attention! This one is really nice, it smells really fresh and doesn't leave white marks. The mark of a good deoderant to me is how fresh it makes me feel and how long it lasts and this deoderant lasts from 7am in the morning til I get in the shower at night, it's really really good. You can smell it on you (in a clean way not in a manky way!!) and it's just a really nice product. Definite repurchase and recommendation!!

Sex and the City Perfume

This is a bit of a surprise entry really. My husband knows how much I love Sex and the City and he came across this cheapy perfume set in Savers. I think it was about £20 for 5 different perfumes in this set and it was bought as a jokey/novelty gift. However, I absolutely love the smell of all five of them! I've now used up three of the five out of the set, this being the third one. It smells quite fresh but a little musky as well, it's just a really easy to way, day perfume. I can't really recommend you go out and buy it as I think it was a special Christmas set last year but it's Empty so I have included it anyway!!

Freederm Sensitive Facial Wash

I bought this when I had my last break out and thought I'd give something new a try and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed using this face wash as it wasn't really strong like some of the spot control face washes can be. It was really gentle and could even be used on my eyes to remove mascara which I love as I'm nothing if not lazy and hate having to use different products, I love a good 'all in one'!!!! It did dry my face out a bit which I always expect as I do have quite dry skin on my face and I always slap on the moisturiser anyway. Definitely worth a shot if you're looking for a new spot control fae wash.

So that's it for September! I haven't got through as many products as I would like to but I do have a few that are on their last legs that I will include next month. I have loved all of this month's empties and I think it's because if I don't love something I tend to lose interest in it and not use it up so if I've managed to use it all, you know I love it - ha ha!!

See you next time!

Lotsa love
Lullahblog xx