Things I learned in 2014

Something a wee bit different over here today. I've got all the feels to right this post so I just thought that I would go ahead. I know in the wide scheme of things i'm still only a little pea but I feel as though I picked quite a lot of useful things up last year. Plus I really love reading other bloggers posts about what they've learn in years or situations.
Sometimes it's okay to let go of things (people even) when they get difficult. By this I don't mean give up on the important things. I mean don't carry on with something if it's making you unhappy, sometimes you just gotta love your self a lil'.If something/someone is making you feel down a lot it's fine just to wave goodbye; life is just too short. I wish I could have turned around to my self in school and just told me that it will be one of the greatest moments in my life when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change. I also wish I could have told my self to listen to my Mum more, parents definitely spot fake friends and crappy situations before you (sorry Mum, ily) If someone doesn't bring positivity, get rid of them.

Following that one perfectly, i've definitely learned to appreciate people more. Actually, not just people, everthing. From friendships to my Nan *side note- also don't ever take the long term health of your loved ones for granted*, as soon as you realise that things aren't promised to be there forever, it makes a huge difference in how you treat/understand them. 

That said- Putting drama behind you is very important. Forgive, forget... Leaving the house without your headphones is never a good idea. Under any circumstances Buy two pairs, order some now. They make a bad day better. spending your wage on good food is perfectly acceptable.
Don't even bother to pretend you hate taylor swift. You know her catchy songs are infectious. Oh my God look at that face. You look like my next mistake... I'm stopping now, I'm sorry.
Don't be mad at someone for doing somehing just because you don't. A common one- the girls that wear heavy makeup getting at the girls that wear no makeup. Vice versa. It's okay to do whatever you want, be whatever you want (within reason, of course).
Don't be sad if it doesn't work out first time, try again. Keep trying until you decide whether it's important or not. AKA me with gcse maths, never again, no thank you.
Be nice to people. Especially old people, they have learned a lot in their time.

Blend Active | Mini Review and Favourite Recipes

So are we all on a little January fitness slurge then? Back in Novemver I was gifted the Blend Active Blender by Breville for my birthday and ever since we've been very good friends. I'm writing this now because I think it will help a lot of you out if you're looking for a very decent blender for a low amount of money. Right now (and it has been for quite a while actually) you can pick this up on amazon for £20.00 exactly and with free delivery if you live in the UK, check it out here. Anyways, it does everything I want it to do, it creates a smooth juice or smoothie, it crushes ice and leaves everything lump free. It's really quick to use on a morning as you just can grab one of the 600ml bottles and screw it onto the blending cap ones all of your goodness is inside and then pop it onto your blender a wizz it up with the one touch blending system. This stood out to me over every other blender purely because it's to easy to clean, it takes a matter or seconds to wash the stainless steel blades and bottles also rinse with ease once you are done. 

In all honesty, I don't know what changes/if any they have made to my weight because I don't really weigh my self (Woops) but I have definitely noticed a change in my skin. Over Christmas I binged, I ate crappy foods, I didn't consider what I was consuming at all. It was trifle for breakfast, chocolate pudding for dinner and icecream and jelly for tea (I'm from the north, it's never been breakfast, lunch and dinner, Sowwie ) So yep as a result my skin was like no, as a punishment you will get breakouts and I did. *Cries*. Since January I've been getting my vitamins again and my skin is so much more clear.  If you're like me and sometimes cramming fruit and veg is a struggle smoothies and juices can be the answer. When I realised how easy it is to make them, I dont think I would ever buy one again. I'm going to share with you all some of my favourite ones. First up is a combo of Mango, Pineapple and Blueberrys and it's delicious. I just add them all to one of the cups in any order and blend until smooth. This is one of those smoothies that is bound to be quite thick because of the ingredience so I just go ahead and add as my ice cubes as I feel like that morning.

Another favourite, especially for mornings is my banana and money smoothie. To be prepared for morning I freeze chopped banana in a freezer bag and then in the morning I pop this into my blender. I then go ahead and add some greek yoghurt, it's my fave mmm. Then I add a little honey and blend that all up. Because the banana is frozen there is no need for ice to chill. Delicious and filling for breakfast.

Finally, a handful of blueberrys,one banana and milk, again super simple. For this one I add two bananas, a hand full of blueberrys or/and raspberrys if I have them in and some low fat milk of your choice (If I was allergic to nuts, I imagine Almond would be amaze). I blend that all up and I add whole ice and Just crush lightly in the blender . 

 let me know your favourite recipes! 

Lets talk brushes | Zoeva

I feel like the makeup brush world has gone a little wild over the festive period. Many of us recieved gorgeous brush sets from Santa and then Real Techniques went and threw out there that they were releasing 7 new precious range called the 'Bold Metals collection' and there's no denying that they're super beautiful in colour and shape and everything. As a lover of real techniques I can't deny that I wasn't expecting them to be quite as pricey as they are. In the beauty world, Real Techniques are our budget brand. Picking up a collection of 4 e.g core collection for just over twenty pounds was great! Were as in this new line, if it was that you wanted 4 of the face ones you would be £64.20 down. Eeeek, high end prices. However, having said that, they do look such amazing quality and I really want to try some out so bad.
I was on a little Beauty Bay splurge (FYI, amazing website, so many brands) and I was checking out the Zoeva section and hey presto, I ended up ordering some. Zoeva are a brand that for some reason before I did some research I regarded as super expensive. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say they were really cheap but they're at least reasonble. I went a head and picked two. When they were delievered they came in sleek little packets with brush guards on. I chose the 110 Face Shaper brush and the 104 Buffer brush. 
Review time. Me and my 110 have been getting along so well I pratically haven't put it down. This brush is designed for precision and detailed contouring of the face (or where ever you please). It cost me only £8.95 which is so super cheap for the quality. I have never had a softer brush. This brush is vegan friendly. It has became my ulimate tool for blending my contour to leave to harsh edges. When I first got it I thought that it would be too small but its perfect to slip into the hollows of my cheeks. Love, love, love. if you've read my previous review of the Anastasia Contour Kit you will know that the Zoeva 110 and those powders are the perfect duo. They lead to the perfect killer cheek bone.
Next up is the more popular 104. I've never had a brush quite this shape before, I've had the buffer brush from Real Techniques which is lovely however this one seems to have a quality that makes my foundation blend right into my skin.The density of the brush allows you to buff right into your skin to avoid those dreaded lines. Again, this brush is vegan, the bristles are actually made from Taklon. This means that when you are applying your makeup you can go for anything from a liquid to a powder and the brush will not absorb the product *woop*. This brush cost me £12.95 and is 100% worth the money. 

If you're thinking about picking some of these up I definitely recommend Beauty Bay they had my products on my door step on time which I am so greatful for. 

That Killer Cheek Bone | Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Oh Hi there, here I am again with yet another palette review. I wish I could be sorry but there's absolutely no chance that I could not be feautring this on my blog as soon as possible. Anastasia Beverly Hills are a Brand that are everywhere in the beauty world right now. I guess everyone that reads blogs and watches videos about makeup will have had to serious have done some hiding under rocks to have missed out on the current hype for their products such as 'Brow Wiz' and 'Dip Brow Pomade'. All of their products seem to get amazing reviews and no one can get enough. The contour palette was calling my name (however, I might have just placed a little order for the 'Dip Brow pomade' too. A first impressions might be on the cards). 

Anyway, since having this sleek little palette in my possession I can stop putting it on my face. The packaging is pretty simple, black with silver and rose gold detailing. The packaging is that type of packaging that does get very dirty easily, I find my self wiping my finger prints off the top. It's also not the strongest but we all can get over that for a good product can't we? the packaging it's self claims that it is to 'sculpt and define your features with 6 powders designed to contour and highlight'. It comes with 3 shades for highlight (two of which are matte and one thats a little shimmery and 3 shades for the contour it's self (all of which are matte). Onto the names the highlight shades are 'sand', 'vanilla', 'banana' and the contour shades are named 'java', 'fawn' and 'havana'. 

I can hands down say that I have never had a sculpting shade like the ones in this palette. The colour called 'fawn' is the perfect colour to create a shaddow under the cheek bone. I just grab my Zoeva '110 Face Shaper' (*hint* review coming soon) and use the tiniest bit of product to give my self that desired sculpted face. My next most used powder has to be 'Banana'. It's perfect for setting my under eye concealer. My skin most definitely has yellow undertones more than pink ones. So I guess it highlights my under eyes without them looking too yellow. The pigmentation of this palette is so amazing. You need the tiniest amount and it blends out beautifully. One of my most favourite things about it is the ones you run out of one of the powders the are refillable. Or maybe if you really dont enjoy one of the colours, you can pick up a completely different shade and just swap it over *high five Anastasia*. However I do thing that these colours will be very universal for so many skin tones. If you would like to check out how it looks on my face click right here because I used it in my Kylie Jenner inspired makeup!
I did recieve my palette for christmas however they're going to be available very soon at Cult Beauty for £39.00 which you can check out here!
Let me know if  you've tried this out before!  All my love x

NARS 'Virtual Domination' Palette

Ahh, finally I get to post this on my blog! Until very recently NARS and I had never met. Of course, I had lusted over all the populars like 'Sheer Glow' foundation and 'Laguna' bronzer but the nearest counter to where a live is quite a journey. So is MAC actually but thats another issue. I had been thinking for a while that I really need to start wearing blush. I have 100% just been a bronzer and highlight girl for far too long. I just like a contoured cheek bone and a shine on the tops. Enough was enough and I bit the bullet. Christmas is the best time to pick up sets/palettes that have multiple shades of blush in. I knew that I wanted the Benefit 'Cheeky Sweet Spot' already because it is a beauty however when I came across the 'Virtual Domination' palette and I completely fell in love. It is stunning.

Firstly before I go on to mention what beauty the palette holds I have to say that it is amazing value for money. I recieved mine for Christmas which was from Space Nk. It was £45.00 and contains 3 blushers, 1 huge bronzer and 1 highlight. 'Laguna' bronzer is bigger than a full sized bronzer as it is 10g. The bronzers Nars sell are £27.00 pounds alone for a smaller bronzer. With the blushes only being 0.3g less than a full sized blush it means that the total blush in this palette is worth over £67.00 (Wow, I know). Then if you add on the price of the highlight too? All I have left to say is that it is a massive steal and get your hands on one as soon as possible.
Miss Liberty is 4.5g and a super shimmery pearly gold. It's gorgeous for those girls that love a good highlight. I don't really enjoy highlights that have larger chunks of glitter in them usually but I just can't get enough of this one. Sex Fantasy is a blush that NARS have released before. It's described as a lavander pink colour. It shows up beautifully on my skin and so far it is my favourite from the palette. I just think it looks so natural and beautiful. Deep throat must be one of the most talked about, loved and desired NARS blush ever. I have to admit it is beautiful. It is rose gold in colour and I imagine will look so gorgeous on people that have a tanned complexion. Final Cut is a peachy, coral. This in my opinion is the most pigmented of the palette and has the best staying power. I wore it the other day and it stayed on my cheeks from morning to night. I can't deny, I was very impressed. Laguna, how you didn't disapoint me. I've heard people say that you can't use this for contour however I have been and the little flecks on glitter in it are so suptle it doesn't really make a difference. 

The light washed them out, sigh.

 
Let me know your favourite NARS products! I'm keen to buy more!

Kylie Jenner inspired makeup

Just a little post for today. I haven't ever really posted my face on my blog before (scary eek). Today I was really channeling my inner Kylie Jenner. Along with everyone else on this planet, I love the Kardashians and the Jenners. I am not ashamed okay. I love Kylie Jenners makeup so I thoughts I would go ahead and share my re-creation. 

For my base I used NARS Sheer Glow in the colour ' Deauville'. I love the effect this foundation has. I buffed it right into my skin with the buffing brush from Real techniques. While I let my foundation set a little, I went and filled in my brows while aiming for that traditional Kardashian Arch.I then added some Rimmel's 'Brow this way' in the medium shade. I contoured both my cheeks and nose with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit. I adore this kit so much. For under my cheek bones and the sides of my nose I used the shade 'Fawn' and down the bridge of my nose and tops of my cheek bones I used 'Banana'. I went for a little more highlighter at the very tops of my cheek bones with a tiny little brush in the form of MAC's Mineralize skin finish in 'Soft and gentle'. I firstly sprayed my brush a little and the touched the highlighter. This way it picks up the most amazing sheer. Ah I love. And for the eyes now. I firstly went through my crease with a little 'Laguna' bronzer from NARS for some definition and then 'Walk of Shame' from my Naked Basics to highlight my brow bone and inner corner. I finely lined my eye with L'oreal super liner with just a little wing. Finally I added a little mascara and then I applied some dramatic flasies. The ones I chose are Kirei lashes in 'Sassy'. I finally finished off the look with my MAC lipstick in 'Velvet Teddy' and thats it. 

1st Birthday giveaway! | Real Techniques and Lush

On the 2nd of january my blog is one year old and I cannot explain how fast it has gone. As a huge ''Thank You!'' to you all I thought I would host a little international giveaway. I've been so excited to host this and anyone is welcome to get involved. I decided to go out and shop for some of my favourite things to giveaway. I knew from the start I wanted to have some real techniques in my giveaway as I looooove them and they're super amazing quality. I chose the Duo-Fiber collection just because they can be used for everything. They're so soft, it makes me happy.  Then I also went for a couple of my favourite lush products too. Didn't we all just got insane for the christmas range this year? Well I'm giving you a last chance to win my favourite pair of things. Firstly I chose for you all the 'Drummers Drumming' reusable bubble bar so you can fill your baths with strawberry mounds of bubbles. Then I picked up some 'Rose Jam' shower Gel. I hope you like and all you have to do is enter below!

My Rules:

- It's open internationally.

- It closes on the 09/01/2015

- 1 winner will be chosen randomly by the generator and will have 2 days to reply to my email to claim the prize!

- I will be checking through the winners entry to make sure that they did the steps that where mandatory e.g followed me on Bloglovin. The rest of the steps aren't mandatory, but give you a better chance of winning the giveaway as you will gain more points!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thank you for all of your support over the past year!

 

Rocky Road Cookies

Who made Rocky Road cookies? I did! I thought I would just share with you all my recipe and how I did them because they are so super easy to make and they taste amaze! They're just perfect to have in the kitchen around the festive period as little treats.

My first step was to switch up my oven to 200 degreese (Gas Mark 6) and grease my trays I going to cook my cookies on. The ingredience I used were as follows:

• 120g of Butter (unsalted)
• 180g of Plain Flour
• 60g of Cocoa Powder
• half a tsp of Baking Powder
• half a tsp of Salt
• Two medium eggs
• 120g of Caster Sugar
• Two hands full of Marshmallows
• 150g of Chocolate (just pick your fave)

My method I followed was just to firstly blend together the butter and sugar until it was light and fluffy. Then I went ahead and added one egg and some flour, the baking  and repeted this until I had a mixture that was smooth and the flour, salt and baking powder combo was all gone. After that I got out my sieve and added my cocoa powder until I felt as though it was good to go. Finally, I just added my marshmallows and chocolate. When I had my final mixture I split it into twelve equal parts and put six on each tray. I only cooked them for 12 minutes each. They turned out so amazing!

Let me know if you try these out!

An E45 Hand Cream Dream

We all get those annoying dry hands in winter, right? I've never found a hand cream before that I really loved. I've found ones I like, Soap and Glory 'Hand Food' is always a good, safe option. Some hand creams I have tried have not made my hands even feel any different. Some have even made them feel worse. I decided to try next a brand that I know I've trusted previously. E45 are a brand with 60 years of experience that works hard to meet the real demands from our skin. Over the past months of trying the E45 Overnight Repair & Protect hand cream and it's been a life saver. 

This hand cream is stripped right back. It doesn't really smell of much (what it does smell of is pleasant though). It's white in colour and rubs into the hands to leave no greasy palms. I've being enjoying it the most however because of the changes it has made to my winter hands. It really does give long lasting moisture to my chapped hands. It's priced at only £3.99 you can't really go wrong. I apply it every night before I sleep and I wake with softer hands. It contains vitamin B3 and promotes cell regeneration which I don't really know the science of... I'm guessing thats a good thing (I wouldn't do it any justice anyway). I'm definitely going to be trying many for E45 products in the new year.

Do any of you have a favourite hand cream? Leave them below I'm interested!

W7 Cosmetics | Budget Buys

This year has been the year of the budget makeup brands. I'm a lover of an bargin and who isn't now a days?  W7 cosmetics are a brand that can have you looking glam for this christmas with over 100 products for you to choose from! W7 sent me some products to test and trial and I have being nothing but impressed with their quality. I've definitely found some products I will be repurchasing when they run out! 
The first product I discovered In my little package was the mascara 'Asbolute Mascara'*. It's priced at £6.95 and it's an absolute joy.  Now, we cannot all deny it looks like a dupe for 'They're real' from Benefit. There's no denying that it works exactly like it either! However the price difference is outstanding. With Benefit being £12.50 more, I think we know who the real winner is here. With the wands being Identical, it leaves my lashes clump free and long. I'm not going to say too much because I think that the lovely Jordan From Keep Dreaming has summed it up perfectly here.

Next up is the Candy Blush by W7 also. I had never seen these before until recently. I got mine in the shade 'Explosion'*. In the packaging it is a gorgeous coral colour. It applies to the cheeks a soft peachy colour and looks perfect with a bronzed, gold look over this festive period. I do believe I will be getting some good use out of this over summer 2015. Priced at 4.95 you cannot fall off. The little mirror is also handy too.

Matte lips have been all of the rage this year, matte this, matte that. W7 sent over this lovely matte liquid lipstick. It teams up perfectly with their blush 'Explosion'. This one is in the shade 'Rose'* and lasted on me for around 3 hours pretty well before it began to smudge and fade. I must mention, that some matte lipsticks I have owned have made my lips feel dry. This one is more of a matte lip cream if that even makes any sense (they aren't super matte, more semi matte). They glide effortlessy onto the lips and i'm definitely going to try and collect the whole range as they're so handy just to throw in a bag!

Finally on my list it's the lavander corrective concealer*. I've always being curious about these kind of products, green, purple concealers etc. The lilac concealer is the hide away dark circles under the eyes and can be applied to blemishes and also to other dark spots. It works by eliminating the dark tones in your skin and giving you a flawless look. When I first tried this I wasn't expecting them to totally go away, which they dont however it does seem to make a difference. I must admit, adding something lilac to where you wouldn't normally does feel a little weird however it cannot be seen once blended it. I'm really enjoying getting to grips with this product and am going to carry on using it. It's priced at £4.95 and you can check it out on the website here. They also do different colours for different issues such as yellow for evening out your natural skin tone and also green for neutralising blemishes and redness.

Advertising competition

IT'S MY BLOG'S FIRST BIRTHDAY SOON *doing a little dance*. Actually that is not what i'm going to be talking about yet though. My blog recently hit 300 followers. In celebration of that I got my self a new little theme! The lovely Sarah from www.trisarahtopssmiles.co.uk designed it personally for me and I cannot recommend her enough! Months of playing around with my HTML code just was frustrating me. Sarah only charges £15.00 for a fully personal design including all of the features I have right here. She personalised my header and took all of my ideas and made them beautiful. Thank you so much, if you're reading!
Aside from that, I'm also going to celebrate by having a little advertising competiton. If you want to get involved just enter below. I'm giving away five spaces on my blog for a little promoting. The competition ends on the 19th of December just in time for christmas. I'll be leaving the 5 winners up on my blog for a whole month and will be doing a post to tell you a little something about each of them just because I love the little blogging community and i'm feeling the festive spirit. 
As I mentioned earlier in a little outburst at the start of this post it is my blogs birthday soon. I'm going to be hosting a giveaway to celebrate it being one year old on the 2nd of january when I brought it into the world. My only question is though, what would you like to see in my giveaway? Please leave all of your suggestions below because I need your help! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jewel Candle | A Jewel In Every Candle

Christmas is the perfect time of the year to light all of your candles and cosy round the fire. The lovely company Jewel Candle sent me the 'Merry Christmas Classic Edition'*. Do not be fooled for this candle is no ordinary candle. It's my first ever candle where it contains something special inside. I'm like a magpie for anything silver and shiney so this drew me in so many ways. Inside each of Jewel Candles ranges they have different types of jewellery that is all above £10.00 and below £250! Incase you that worries you a little, each of the 925 sterling silver pieces are wrapped in heat proof foil and have no direct contact with the candle wax. I'm so excited for my little ring to float it's little self to the top so I can pinch it out (I almost feel as though it is a game) I'm a huge candle addict and I love everything about candles. This was a huge yes for me because firstly it's christmas themed! Secondly it's the most beautiful shade of green.

Personally, I've never owned a 'fruity' christmas candle however this one is. The fruit is smells of is a secret that Jewel Candle keep from us. I did spend a good while this afternoon giving it a good smelling to and I really cannot tell. Despite all this fruity talk, it does still smell festive and is going to be my candle of choice for the run up to christmas. Just as an added little bonus they're also handmade form eco friendly resources.

The pricing of these candles are more than you're typical Yankee however how can you complain when you have a piece of Jewellery inside? They cost £24.95. Worth every penny. They're said to burn for 120 hours which does seem like a pretty long time to me! The company say that it will take 10 to 15 hours of burning, glowing candle joy until your little foil parcel will pop up. However, if your curious, nosey, impatient (like me) they do say that you can use something like a spoon to scoop it out!

The lovely people from Jewel Candle have also being so kind to give me a little something to share with anyone who cares to read my blog. They have created a 10% off discount code 'antonia10' for anyone who wishes to own a beauty of a candle like this one!

Jewel Candle's details: JewelCandle.co.uk|Facebook|Twitter 

My other top three picks from Jewel Candle are:

1. Cuddle Candle (limited edition)
2. Cinnamon Bun (classic edition)
3. Passion Fruit (classic edition)

Antonia xxx

Purple lips | Revlon

Revlon is just one of those make-up brands that we all know, love and trust, correct? I loved the Colourburst lip butters for so long. Recently in Boots their 'three for the price of two' got me again. Something in me that day must have just wanted purple lipsticks so I went ahead and bought three Revlon purple lipsticks. It was about time really, I couldn't continue wearing MAC's Rebel for the rest of my years (however that one still is one I find myself reaching for more than I should) Since that day, I havent been disapointed. I am definitely loving working the purple lips currently.

First up is the one that I assume has been around the longest and that is the Revlon Super Lusterous lipstick in the shade 663 'Va Va Violet'. This looks the most scary in the bullet as the shade looks super dark however I really like it when its on. I actually think it complements my skin tone. The overall staying power is pretty good however when my lips are sore it really does accentuate the dryness. Love the packaging though, so cute and classic. 

Next, something I have read very mixed reviews about: Revlon's Colour Stay Moisture stains. I purchased mine in the colour 'Parisian passion' 005. I had being looking for this certain colour for a little while but it always seemed to be sold out. When I found it, no questions asked, it had to be mine. I love the formula of this product because it's super glossy like a traditional lip gloss however it is not sticky in the slightest (perfect, huh?) The colour range is pretty good. I'll for sure be going back for more.

Finally on my mini boots splurge list is Revlon's Colourburst matte balm. The colour pay off on this product is my most favourite of the bunch. It leaves the softer edges and is so wearable. I love it for both everyday and in the evenings. Unlike some matte balms, when it fades it isn't in the slightest bit patchy or drying. I got mine in the shade 'shameless' which is number 215. Favourite matte balm ever.

From left to right: Colourburst matte balm, Colourstay moisture stain, Super lusterous lipstick


What's your favourite Revlon product?
Antonia xxx