LEE STAFFORD CHOPSTICK REVIEW

Ever since I was little I have been completely obsessed with having curly hair and even at some points considered getting a perm (I later decided this would be an EXTREMELY bad idea and I'd be a waking,talking poodle if I did such a thing..lol) .

Anyhow over the past few months I have seen so many girls post on instagram images of themselves where their hair looked friggin incredible!! and all because they had used the Lee Stafford Chopstick Styler.  It gives you tight bouncy corkscrew curls which I know some of you may not be brave enough to give a go ( I was pretty scared to try it too eek) but when I looked into buying one- which proved a lot harder than I anticipated because they were sold out literally everywhere (that shows something though right?!) I eventually found it on Superdrug for £19.99- Bargain right?! I decided at that price and with warranty included there was no harm in me giving it a whirl so I purchased it last week.

The main reason though behind this purchase is I was genuinely intrigued, especially to see how well it actually worked! Granted my hair isn't all that naturally pin straight but it is also far from the crazy corkscrew curls it creates but my hair is really quite thin and styling it is never easy so I wanted to see if this in anyway could help with that.
  

And..

This is my results! :)

My hair looked and felt amazing after using this! Honestly my hair felt like a big ol fluffy cloud. I must admit at first I wasn't happy with it but then I realised if you give your a big ol ruffle and rake your fingers through your hair it breaks the curls up and its fabby :)

I got so many compliments too and people asking how I got my hair to be like this as normally my hair is always straight or tied up so it was a change haha! I felt like I had gone back to the 80's and yes still looked a tad like a poodle but still i love it! It is really long lasting too I went to sleep and bare in mind I am a fidgety sleeper I woke up and it was just as good!

♥ Tips and Know Hows♥
♥ It takes a long time to do! You have to take really small sections of your hair for it to be able to work so make sure you have at least half hour set aside to do it
♥ Linking to this if you have long hair ( lucky for me i no longer do whoop!) I can imagine it will take a long while to wrap around
♥ The styler heats up really quick and I'm guessing to about 200 degrees so be careful as it gets v hot and I have burnt myself a couple times ( Maybe even wear a thermal glove)
♥ DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CURL YOUR FRINGE ( enough said ;)..)
♥ Always use a heat protector as it does get hot like I said!
♥ And remember to swish that hair

Speak to you in my next post lovelies!

Updated Everyday Makeup Look

Face:

♥ Clarins Extra Firming Day Lotion

♥ Revlon ColorStay Foundation

♥ Collection Concealer (Blemishes)

♥ Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer (under eyes)

♥ Miss Sporty So Clear Powder

♥ Make-up Revolution Contour Kit in Light (used both for contour and highlight)

♥ Lancome Blush in Shimmer Pink Pool

Eyes:

♥ Benefit Stay Don't Stray

♥ Warm Brown Shade from W7 

♥  Darker Brown Shade from Make-up Revolution Essential Mattes Palette

♥ Shimmer Gold Shade Make-up Revolution Iconic 1 Palette

♥ Naked Basics Venus (Highlight)

♥ Benefit They're Real

♥ Maybelliene Lash Sensational

Lips:

♥Too Faced Lip Insurance

♥ MAC Merh

Save on make up wishlist - My new love affair

So recently I've been doing lots of research into different brands that offer high quality make up but at affordable prices so people like me and you who have a massive interest are able to experiment and explore it a lot more. I know many of you are still in school or college and either don't have a job or just a part time one and many of you have come to me asking how you can get all these amazing products you see at a price you can afford. So I did some extensive research and long behold I found SAVE ON MAKE UP.

This is one of the best brands I have found on the blogger programme from what they are about to what they sell. Save on make up have all the brands we love oh so much from L'Oreal to Clinique. They buy in bulk getting fresh stock everyday in order to be able to sell all these amazing products we want at discounted prices and there isn't a catch!

I have teamed up with Save on make up where they have challenged me to produce a wish list of all the products on their site I would love to have and I tell you narrowing it down so I didn't have the whole website on my blog was not easy at all! (haha) but after spending a long time ooing and aahing and contemplating these are the 5 items on save on make up I would love to own!

1. BOBBI BROWN RICH LIP COLOR - DESERT ROSE

First on my list is this beautiful lipstick by Bobbi Brown. Oh my gosh I am just so in love with the colour of this. As you all know I have the tendency to go for very glossy mosturising pink lipsticks and this certainly fits the bill! I have been looking for a new pink lipstick for a while now that offers full coverage but is also light weight and doesn't dry out my lips and at £15 I haven't ever wanted a lipstick more. I AM IN LOVE.

2. W7 IN THE BUFF LIGHTLY TOASTED NATURAL NUDES EYE COLOUR PALETTE

Okay so the next item I saw and of course fell in love with is this palette by W7. So many of you came to me asking for a natural nudes eye palette which you could also create smokey eyes from just like this what was affordable and of high quality and I really wanted to and finding one seemed impossible until I came across this!.Unlike other palettes this one has a good range of both matte and shimmery shades that can be used during the day and night. From the pictures on their websites they look really pigmented and so lovely just like the packaging. It has very similar shades to that of the naked 1 palette and also comes with a really good double ended applicator. And the best part? It's only £4.66

3. EYE CANDY DRAMATISE YOUR EYES STRIP LASHES

These days I much prefer where false eyelashes to mascara, there is something I just love about putting on a pair of false eyelashes and the way they open up your eyes. These ones by Eye candy are absolutely gorgeous and have a really good size band for when it comes to applying ( lash adhesive is included). Eye candy have a really good range of different lashes to suit all occasions whether you are looking for everyday natural ones or more adventurous glam ones. They are lightweight and extremely comfortable to wear and only £1.99!

4.ESTEE LAUDER ADVANCED NIGHT REPAIR SYNCHRONIZED RECOVERY COMPLEX II

This is something I have seen a lot of people rave about and feel like because I haven't tried it I am missing out! This is a overnight serum that works to keep skin looking young and fresh by reducing wrinkles and fine lines without clogging pores or leaving skin greasy or oily. It is suitable for all skin types and although it is a little pricey it is almost half the price on Save on makeup (£29 and RRP is £50) and will be sure to last you a long time. it is enriched with hyaluronic acid so you wake up with a visibly luminous and more radiant complexion. This product just fills me with excitement!

5. LANCOME BLUSH SUBTIL POWDER BLUSH - SHIMMER PINK POOL

The final thing on my wishlist is this gorgeous blusher by Lancome. It is honestly the most beautiful shade of pink I have ever seen. It is said to have great staying power and has moisture balancing ingredients. I love the packaging it's slim and can easily be taken about with you and basically I just love it I can say no more. 

I just wanted to finish this post off by telling you what i think to Save on make up overall and it's website. I have to say I love it! The website is really easy to navigate and has all the different product areas down the left hand side really clearly plus a search bar so if you are looking for a certain item you can find it really easily and quickly.They also have a sort of bargain area so you can all your really good high quality products even cheaper which in itself is AMAZING! It allows you to buy a few more things than you might be able to if they were more expensive and have more of a play around with make-up. They also have a good variety of different fragrances on offer which is something all of us on here love. The tabs are really clearly labelled i.e "contact us" so you can find any information you need easily and without any hassle. Delivery prices are really good. Although I am yet to personally order anything from them I know of many people who have said its very quick and the customer service is excellent! Overall I am really excited to order something from them and I really do love this brand :)

** All opinions are my own**

** GIVEAWAY**

So I hope you enjoyed this post and if you did be sure to let me know! I am going to hold a giveaway of all the items in my wishlist so if you want to know more about that and get involved make sure you are following my blog and subscribed to my YouTube for more details :)

I will see you in my next post lovelies xxx

BOBBI BROWN RICH LIP COLOR - DESERT ROSE

A snap without the crack or pop - Weekend Baking

Hello there my lovelies so as we are at that time of the year where leaves are changing colour, autumn is here and we are all cosying up with hot drinks, the one thing that excites me as much as Halloween and Christmas is knowing the bake off is back on our screens. Now I know we have reached the end of the series but all this bake off watching has inspired me to get up and do more baking myself. Baking is something I have always loved to do after everything make-up and fashion but I always tend to stick to the same ol classic bakes whether it's lemon drizzle cake, flapjack, butterfly cakes or jammy biscuits. Therefore I have set myself the challenge of baking something completely different at least once a week and I am going to share this with all of you and this week I have chosen...

Brandy Snaps

Okay so they don't sound that exciting or brilliant but according to Mary Berry herself they are classed as a technical challenge (and they aren't as easy as you'd think) . I've never really had brandy snaps before so they were something new for me to try too and I must say I had a lot of fun making them and to my surprise they don't actually have brandy in.. weird huh?..

So what does go into them? Read on to find out

Ingredients 

50g butter

50g plain flour

50g demera sugar

50g golden syrup

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2tsp ground ginger

Method

You want to begin by  putting your oven on to 180 degrees celsius and lining a baking tray with non stick grease-proof paper (I just used a non stick tray and that worked fine). Next, mix together your butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved using a low heat  (it takes about 15 minutes).  You want to make sure the mixture doesn't crystallize so keep dragging your spoon across the bottom of the pan till it doesn't sound gritty. 

Then you want to leave the mixture to cool slightly for a few minutes before sieving in the dry ingredients (flour and ginger). Then add the lemon juice and give it a really good ol mix.

Then all you want to do is drop four teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto each of the prepared baking trays to make neat circles, about 10cm/4in apart. (when it comes to a later batch don't worry if the mixture has turned into a dough it still works fabby!)

You want to bake them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are well spread out, look lacey and are a dark golden colour. This is the difficult part because when they come out you have to work super fast shape the brandy snaps and trust me you will be going oo eee ouch! (its easier if you bake one tray at a time). Leave for a minute or so to firm up slightly, then lift from the baking parchment using a fish slice. The mixture needs to be just firm enough to remove, but pliable enough to shape. Mary says to check by releasing around and under the edges with a small palette knife.


Quickly roll a circle of the warm mixture around the handle of the wooden spoon, having the join underneath. Press the join lightly together to seal, then slide the brandy snap off the spoon and leave it to firm up on the wire rack, again with the join underneath. If any of the circles on the sheet harden too much to work with, put them back in the oven for a few seconds to soften again. Repeat until all the mixture has been used. 

I will be honest the shaping part wasn't easy especially because my hands did not like having to work with something that hot but overall I was pretty pleased with how they came out. It says that the mixture makes 12-15 but I got 8 out of it - I do think mine were a lil too big though haha..I did burn the first lot for no other fault of my mine own ooops! but the other 4 came out amazing and I was so happy with them and they really do snap! I definitely will make these again no doubt about it because they actually tasted really good if not a bit like putting 20 stone on in 30 seconds, I hope you enjoyed this post and if you want to see more things like this be sure to let me know! eek and also just ton let you know I am back to doing my YouTube now so make sure to check that out if you'd like. I love you my beautiful human beings and I will speak to you in my next post, bye!

Hello again!

What do I love to do? I love reading blogs. For me being submersed in reading somebody else's blog is something actually quite special whether it's the most simplest of posts such as OOTD or more detailed and serious conversational posts about matters surrounding us at the this current time . Like many bloggers I also love to watch videos especially those which document day to day life (I'm a complete sucker for this because it's like catching up as if you know these people and they are your friends) but sometimes just reading words is really nice, like times you are all cosied up in winter and you just want a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and to read a book or have a bath. Another thing that I love is just being able to look endlessly through other peoples images and photos. I have always had such a love for photography and the whole concept behind it, how there is so many things you can do and explore when it comes down to it. My first photography teacher ever,told me if you have the passion for it and you work hard it is even possible to make the most obscure and seemingly ugly of things (let's go with a cabbage) look beautiful. I  sit there scrolling through blog posts with the heart eye emoji glued to my face especially when it comes to the likes of blogs such as In The Frow and even smaller blogs I'm sure you probably haven't even heard of.

This past month and a half there has been a lack well actually no posts from me. This was for a lot of reasons but I'm not going to sit here typing you a list of what you would probably say were "lame" excuses. But I think one reason which did definitely play a role was a lack of confidence not only in myself but in my blog and the content. I felt a lot of what was going onto my blog didn't scream out enough about me and who I am as a person to you guys and a lot of my posts were repetition repeat posts nothing that made me think people are going to want to read this and that's something I want to change because it  suddenly dawned on me that maybe other people feel the same way as I do when it comes to blogs and they have that with mine but there wasn't anything there for people to become engrossed and submerged in. Having had my blog on and off for a year now, it’s been one of those things that I go through phases of absolutely loving and then just really not liking at all. Over this past month my "schedule" has become a lot busier especially with going back to college .Multi tasking for me isn't easy especially when it comes to social media platforms such as blogger which takes a lot of creativity and hard work. Over time I feel like my blog has just got a bit dusty and tired and needs a good up lift, fresh content and really show my passion for all things beauty, fashion and life.

i didn't want to put any work into redesigning my blog too much just at the moment because the way it looks now I am quite happy with. The simplicity complete with the vibrant flowers at the top is something very me and the blog is really easy for you guys to navigate around. However I have gone through old posts edited and removed those that made me face palm and think what I was doing and lined up lots of new content so I can start to share everything with you again from how i'm feeling, places I have been and all bits fashion and beauty. Going through my old posts was like opening my old diary and digging up forgotten memories which in a way was really nice. If you are someone who has been here from the very beginning then hello again, welcome back, both me and my blog hasve missed you very much so and if you are new I hope you enjoy sitting back cosing up with a beverage and experiencing the crazy life of me "Carlisa"