I'm Back From Portugal

You've probably noticed that I've been MIA for the last week or so and that's because I'm just back from 8 amazing days in Portugal. Before I went I was too busy to schedule any posts and thought I'd just take a little break from blogging while I was away but now I'm back with lots of new posts lined up.

If you follow me on Instagram you've probably seen all these photos but for my readers who haven't I though I'd show you a few snaps. These were all taken on my iPhone as I obviously didn't take my DSLR with me so sorry about the quality. 

I booked up not too long ago to go to Albufeira in the Algrave with my friend Jacqueline. It's such a gorgeous place and I've visited it before when I was a little girl but obviously had such a different holiday to the one I'm just back from. We spent our days lying on the beach or at the pool topping up our tan and our nights partying on the strip til all hours of the morning. We lived off of Pizza and Sangria and tried to nap whenever we could. One day we went to a water park which was so much fun (not so much with a hangover though) and a change of scenery. We also treated ourselves to a lovely meal at a gorgeous restaurant one night, definitely the best steak I've ever had! Although we stupidly ordered a large steak and it turned into a bit of a Man VS Food moment. 

I'm so sad to be home but definitely happy to get some sleep. I also got the best tan I think I've ever had, I hope it doesn't fade too quickly! After 8 days of living off vodka and tequila I think it's time for a detox - only kidding I'm going out again tomorrow night!! I hope everyone has a good weekend, I'm going to enjoy mine before I go back to work on Monday!

The Zara Heel

1. £69.99 // 2. £39.99 // 3. £49.99  4. £29.99 // 5. £29.99 // 6. £69.99 // 7. £29.99

Recently I've been finding myself lusting after all the shoes on the Zara website so I decided to write a post on my favourite picks and managed to narrow it down to 7 (which was hard). I tried to choose a variety of styles at different prices ranges so there's hopefully something for everyone.

I think the first one's I'm going to have to add to my collection are either number 2 or 4 as they're a classic black and will go with everything. I've seen a lot of these styles of shoes on different websites recently but I always seem to go back to the Zara ones. If you want to stick to the classic style but add a pop of colour I think number 1 and 7 are perfect. Number 7 comes in a few colours and at £29.99 why not buy one of each?

If you're more of a statement shoe kind of girl 3 and 6 are for you. I saw the green ones on both Tanya Burr and Carli Bybel's YouTube channels and fell in love with them immediately. If you want to treat yourself then I think number 6 are perfect and one of my favourites. Finally, I think number 5 is the perfect summer shoe and a little bit different as they're inbetween a heel and a wedge. The neutral colour is great for the hotter months and will go with almost all of your outfits, these are also only £29.99 which in my opinion is a bargain for a shoe this beautiful!

I've fallen in love with every single one of these shoes so I better get saving! Do you love Zara heels as much as I do? Which ones are your favourite?

New York Haul: My Gifts

First of all, this post is very picture heavy so I do apologise for that! Anyway...for the past week my Mum and Sister have been shopping til they drop in New York City while I was left here all alone looking after the pets (only joking, I'm going on holiday next week). They arrived home with their suitcases overflowing with almost the entire contents of the Victoria's Secret store among other goodies and lots of lovely gifts for me - I definitely got spoiled!

First of all from Victoria's Secret I got massive bottle of their perfume Bombshell. I've wanted this perfume for so long but never got round to buying it. It's such a fresh scent with a blend of purple passion fruit, Shangri-la peony and vanilla orchid with top notes of pineapple and strawberry - how amazing does that sound?! It's definitely a fragrance that I could wear daily as well as at night, not to mention the bottle is gorgeous. I also got one of the fragrance mists which I've seen quite a lot of recently in the blogging community, however we don't have a VS in Scotland so I'd never purchased one before. I got the scent Hello Darling which smells of white nectarine and peony, it's so light and fruity and I will definitely be packing this in my suitcase for my holiday. As cute little add-on's I got a fragrance atomizer that I can fill up with my perfume to carry around in my handbag and a gorgeous makeup bag.

From Bloomingdales they picked me up a Little Brown Case from my iPhone which I absolutely love and a Little Beauty Bag. I already have a Little Brown Cosmetics bag but it's a bit small to carry all of my makeup in for travelling, this one is the perfect size.

Now on to the beauty bits... before they even boarded the plane they picked up a few things in duty free as you do. For me they got one of the new Chanel Stylo Eyeshadows in Moon River which is a gorgeous gold shade. I swatched this on my hand and was so excited about it that I was quickly applying it to my lids  - this has to be the most gorgeous eye product that I own (bold statement)! It glides on so smoothly and has such good staying power (it took a cotton pad drenched in Bioderma to get it off). I will definitely be doing a full review on this. I opened my Sephora bag to find the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask. If you follow me on Twitter, you will probably have seen me tweeting how much I wanted this mask (clearly my sister did) so I was so excited to receive this. Once I've used it a few times I'll let you know my thoughts on it but it's been hyped up in the blogging world recently. My sister also picked me up a lovely Essie polish in the shade Plumberry which I'm wearing on my nails right now, I love it.

Another few other little things I got were a DASH key ring, some M&M's from M&M World and an over-sized Central Perk t-shirt that I'll be wearing to bed and to lounge around the house.

Thank you so much Mum and Rebekah for bringing me back all these amazing gifts, I feel so lucky. I'm sure you'll see my sisters New York Haul over on her blog very soon!

Barry M Summer Gelly Nail Paints - Blue Grape & Mango

Ever since the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paints launched I've been a big fan of them. I loved every single one of the Spring 2013 shades and when I saw some blog posts on the new Summer ones I knew I had to have them all. There are five new colours; Key Lime, Guava, Blue Grape, Passion Fruit and Mango but I was sensible and only picked up two. The two colours I chose (it was a hard decision) were Blue Grape and Mango.

Blue Grape is a bright Cobalt Blue colour which I've been wanting in my collection for a while now so this shade was top of my list. I've heard a few people say that this is a good dupe for Nails Inc Baker Street but in person it looks quite a bit darker, although I'd say it's definitely a great alternative if you don't want to pay Nails Inc prices. I got a lot of compliments when I wore this and I can definitely see me wearing it a lot during the Summer - it looks so glossy!

It took me a lot longer to decided on the second shade but I went for Mango which is a bright yellow-based orange. I always love an orange nail in the Summer and think this will look lovely with at tan. I do really like this colour but it's nothing special and I kind of wish I picked up Passion Fruit which is a pink/red instead.

I love the glossy formula of these nail paints but the only thing I'd say is that I'd prefer the brush to be thicker. To be honest I can't really comment on the longevity of the Gelly's because I change my nail colour every 2-3 days, they do last the 3 days though. I think the Barry M Gelly's have such a great range of colours for Summer I know I'll buy the other three shades at some point - at £3.99 it would be rude not to! Have you purchased any of the new Summer shades yet?

Summer Holiday Skincare

One of the things I love doing before I go on holiday is shopping for toiletries and this year I went a bit crazy in Boots and Superdrug (and online). I took full advantage of both their 3 for 2's and left with everything I could ever need while I'm in Portugal. My favourite thing about going on holiday is sunbathing and getting a tan and I like to keep my skin looking and feeling good as the sun and sun cream doesn't exactly do wonders for my skin. I thought I'd share a few things I picked up that will keep me looking (hopefully) half decent in the heat.

Garnier Ambre Solaire After Sun: While I was reading Beth's blog I came across this after sun in her May favourites post and loved the sound of it. I always use and after sun on holiday to soothe my skin and hydrate it after hours of lying at the pool/beach trying to get the darkest tan possible. The thing I love about this is that it deepens and prolongs your tan as it contains a subtle self tanning ingredient. I always lust after the Lancaster Tan Maximiser After sun but at a fraction of the price I'm hoping this works just as well. It was on offer in Superdrug and I paid about £3.50 for it.

La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water Spray: I was drawn to this little spray when I was looking for a 3rd item to pick up in Boots 3 for 2. It contains natural anti-oxidants to soothe and soften skin that has been irritated by the sun and also helps prevent skin ageing, perfect for going abroad. I know this will come in handy when I'm lying at the pool and needing something to refresh my skin and cool me down. It's actually on offer on Escentual for £2.33 at the moment - bargain!

Bioderma Photoderm AKN Mat SPF 30: I hate putting sun cream on my face, it always stings my eyes and skin and breaks me out - you can just feel it clogging up your pores! I also use oil on my body and there's no point in buying a big bottle of sun cream just for my face so I searched the internet looking for a face cream with a high SPF. I am so happy I came across this little beauty as it's mattifying formula sounds perfect for a hot climate (no greasy looking face for me this year). It's UVB and UVA protection prevents sunburn and premature ageing while the balancing Fluidactiv complex helps to keep your skin looking clear and prevents spots. What more could you ask for? Again, this is on offer on Escentual and you can pick it up for £9.13 which is pretty decent for this 40ml bottle.

So these are some of the products that I'll be using every day on holiday - less than 2 weeks to go!! I'll also do a post on what's in my holiday makeup bag and some other beauty essentials that I'll be packing. I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Summer Haul

Bikinis: All H&M (Clockwise - Top & Bottoms both £3.99, Black Top & Bottoms both £3.99, Ombre Fringe Top £9.99 & Bottoms £7.99)

 Lace Crop Top: New Look £14.99

 Top/Dress: H&M £7.99 Playsuit: New Look £14.99

Clutch Bag: Primark £6, Earring: Primark £2.50, Necklace: Primark £4, Sunglasses: H&M £6.99

 Lauren Conrad Books: Amazon £4-£8

Essie Maximilian Strasse Her: Boots £7.99, Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation: Boots £8.99

Recently I've picked up a few things for my Summer and for my holiday to Portugal so I thought I'd do a haul post. I'm going away two weeks on Wednesday and have almost got everything I need apart from toiletries (my favourite thing to shop for). The one thing I struggle with is packing lightly, especially when it comes to bikinis! Last year I went to Ibiza for a week and took 8 with me but this year I'm going to narrow it down to 4. I've bought three new bikinis this year and they're all from H&M which is my favourite place to shop for bikinis. They have such a big selection at really reasonable prices (even better that I get my staff discount), I absolutely love the green ombre fringe one that I've seen a few bloggers with which also comes in brown/orange.

I still have a lot of holiday clothes from last year but thought I'd pick up a few new things for night time. I love the lace crop top I picked up in New Look and can't wait to wear it with my high-waisted shorts. I also got a dress from H&M to wear with a gold belt and gladiator sandals and finally my favourite outfit for wearing on holiday - a playsuit. I always take at least 3 playsuits away with me because they're so easy to chuck on and dress up or down.

This year I've been really disappointed with the Summer clothes in Primark, I couldn't find anything that looked nice on and the rare pieces I did like weren't in my size. However, I did manage to get a few accessories and will probably go back for another look. My favourite is the clutch bag, I think it looks much more expensive that £6 and the laser cut out with the neon yellow underneath is gorgeous. I've also been wearing my H&M sunglasses ever day that the suns been out.

I've already got Lauren Conrad's Style book and the LA Candy trilogy so I decided to get the Beauty book and the first two books from The Fame Game trilogy. So far I've been loving reading all the tips in the Beauty book and have a post lined up of a Lauren Conrad inspired makeup look. I meant to save the two novels to read on holiday but I'm already half way through the second one - oops! I love a bit of chick-lit.

Ever since I bought the Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer, I've been dying to try the foundation. So far I'm really liking it but it's slightly too light for me and the darker shade was too pink for my skin. I'll do a full review on it soon. And finally, my most recent purchase Essie Maximilian Strasse Her. This polish is part of the Spring 2013 collection so I wanted to get my hands on it before it was sold out (I might have raked through the drawers below the stands in Boots to find it). It's a cool grey/green shade and I can see myself wearing it a lot this Summer.

So that's some things that I've bought recently and I'll definitely do a post on which skincare and makeup I'll be buying for my holiday. Hope everyone had a good weekend!