Life is beautiful because...of old and new friends

I went out for dinner with a few friends from school, I still can't believe that they have been in my life for over 11 years.  It seems like only yesterday that we were sitting in the front row (yes, we were that cool) of our tutor base getting to know each other.

It was wonderful seeing them, one of whom I hadn't seen in far too long.  there were also a couple of people that I hadn't met before and they were so lovely.  I love it when you meet new people and almost instantly click.  Its such fun getting to know new people and finding out that you had lots in common.  With one girl in particular it seemed bizarre that we hadn't crossed paths earlier considering the number of friends we share.

Overall a wonderful night, good food, good laughs and wonderful people.

What has been making you happy today?

Tuesday TAG - Introduction

I love TAG videos and posts.  I feel as if it help me know the person behind the camera/keyboard.  Soooo I will be doing TAG posts and telling you my answers on the first Tuesday of every month.  I would love you to all do them with me and let me know your answers or any TAG posts that you have seen that you would like me to do.

Life is beautiful because...of gossip

No, I don't  mean catty gossip or even the painfully addictive gossip of Perez Hilton.

I mean the kind where you sit at home with one of your best friends and have a giggle over the stupid things you have recently done (i.e. me answering the door to the postman forgetting that I had a hair mask on and so had a head wrapped in clingfilm.  Though in pure British fashion he didn't mention it or even seem shocked).

Its the kind of gossip you have when you are in  need of having a rant about boys, younger siblings or that bus driver who seems to make it his mission to make you late for everything.  Its harmless, its fun and it usually involves cups of tea and biscuits.

What is making you happy today?

Life is beautiful because...of junk food

There is something about eating food that you shouldn't that is extremely satisfying.  I'm fairly sure if I was told I had to eat chocolate everyday I would quickly go off it.  Equally if lettuce was to be outlawed I'm sure a black market for would appear for icebergs and romaine hearts.

Today I indulged my need to be naughty and went with my sister to a certain drive through near us.  lets just say that we were 'lovin' it '.  So we sat like naughty children on the sofas giggling at the fact that even as adults it feels as if we are getting away with something.  Its that same feeling I used to get when I managed to dip my fingers into the cake batter without my mum noticing.

I like to think I am fairly healthy but sometimes it is lovely to just take a break from the media driven health consciousness and enjoy food.

What has been making you happy today?

Project Pan #4 - Naked Sea Minerals in the Buff Renewing Body Scrub

The 4th item on my project pan list will be the Naked Sea Minerals in the Buff Renewing Body Scrub.  this has been hanging around in the bathroom for a while now and it was starting to annoy me so I made it my mission to finish it off.  I am often very lazy and cannot be bothered with exfoliating my arms and legs but I am always amazed by the difference it can make.

I don't think you can get this anymore which is a shame as I really quite liked it.  I wouldn't say it was the best I had ever tried but it did its job and didn't leave me or the bath feeling oily.  I usually go for sugar scrubs so having a salt scrub was a nice change to the shower time routine.

Would I repurchase?  Yes I think I would if i saw it again.  Naked have really reasonable prices considering the fact that they are natural without all the nasties that we have been told to avoid.  It also makes me want to branch out from just their shower items and maybe experiment with their hair care.

What Naked items would you recommend?

Life is beautiful because...of The Great British Bake Off

I am currently cozied up on the sofa watching The Great British Bake Off.  It takes amateur bakers and makes them compete in various baking challenges and it is addictive.  It is repeated several times a week and is on BBC iPlayer, click here to start from the beginning of the series.

My personal favourite is James, who is absolutely lovely and has a dash of mad scientist to him.  Plus his affinity for grandad-ish jumpers has led to be having more than just a soft spot for him.  It has also made me want to don an apron and rustle up something scrumptious, the problem with that plan being that then I would be forced to eat said treats...what a shame :p

What is making you happy today?

Project Pan #3 - Original Source Tea Tree and Mint Shower Gel

Another empty for you, there will be a few of these in the next couple of days.  So prepare yourselves.  This time it is the turn of the Original Source, Tea Tree and Mint Shower Gel.  This has got to be one of my all time favourite shower gels.  However I did like the previous packaging a bit more, it used to say 'it's like being caught naked in a hail storm of mint imperials'.  Not that this effects the product but it has robbed me of a small giggle every time I use this in the morning.  Plus it could not be a more perfect description (other than it doesn't hurt in the way hail storms often do).

I love using this in the morning as a wake me up because it makes me feel all fresh and ready to face the big bad world.  It is sold at places like boots and basically everywhere else (along with various other amazing flavours/scents) for £2.30.  However these are often on special offer so it worth being patient and then stockpiling.  I, myself, have a huge collection under the bed and so will be pulling out another of these bad boys to keep me company in the tub.

Would I repurchase?  Yes! I have in the past and I will continue to do so.  Maybe not until my stash has been depleted a bit though.  

What do you think of original source shower gels?

Life is beautiful because...of phones

The thing that I am most grateful for today is the good old telephone.  Now I am not a big phone fanatic, I often forget to take my mobile with me (much to my friends annoyance) and never spent hours on the phone as a teenager.

However I do not live with my mum and dad and sometimes you just have days where you need to have parental support.  Enter the telephone courtesy of Bell and Watson.  It is amazing that they can be far away and I can speak to them as if they were in the next room.  Its like magic, you know, if magic made you pay line rental.

What is making you happy today?

Life is beautiful because...of all of you!

Today I hit 100 views on my little blog.  Although it seems like a very tiny thing it means quite a lot to me.  I haven't written many posts and honestly I only write these post because I enjoy it.  the fact that other people are reading them seems really strange but makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  So thank you to anyone who has read my posts and I hope you come back.  I would love to hear from you all and to know what kind of posts you would like me to do more, so please comment any suggestions you have.  Much love

Life is beautiful because...of naps

After a wonderful night out with my friends I was feeling pretty knackered (and my feet were in agony) but I managed to stay awake for a while.  Then at about 1 ish it all caught up with me, so I did what any self respecting 22 year old does.  I had a nap :)

It might seem like an old womanny thing to do but like knitting and baking I feel it should make a comeback and become socially acceptable.  Curling up in bed at 1 o'clock and and sleeping for a couple of hours can change your whole outlook on the day.  I awoke fresh and happy (though fearing that I could have been fb tagged in last nights photos whilst asleep) and have now had a pretty productive afternoon.

So here is my suggestion to you: have a nap, you might learn to love it*

What has been making you happy today?





*disclaimer, I can not be held responsible for any nap addictions.

Life is beautiful because...of girly nights

Tonight is girls night and we are hitting the town.  I cannot remember the last time I went dancing so I will be throwing some (very embarrassing) shapes on the dance floor.  It is so lovely to have a girly natter over a wine or two and let our hair down after a week of work.

What is making you happy today?

Life is beautiful because...of pamper days

I had a pamper day.  There were lots of bubbles courtesy of a delicious LUSH bath bomb, then I sat amongst the smells of honey with a hair mask on a listened to music whilst reading a book.  There is nothing quite like deciding to be lazy and selfish and having a whole day dedicated to yourself.

What do you do on your pamper days?

A little shopping trip

So its confession time, I have been a bit naughty again.  I am having a girls night out tomorrow and needed a couple of bits from town but got a teensy bit carried away.

I went into town knowing that I needed to get shampoo and conditioner and some new black flats, and here is what I came home with...

I am a out and proud flats girl, I own heels but for a night out dancing I choose comfort over glamour.  My favourite flats of all time are from none other than New Look for a mere £7.99.  I must own them in nearly every colour, however I always wreck the black ones fastest as I wear them the most.  You can see the black ones here and the lovely nude coloured ones here.  They are really soft and because they aren't made of a stiff material they don't rub me at all.  Another thing that I love is the fact that they bring out new colours for each season so I can never get bored.

The shampoo and conditioner I had decided on were from John Freida's go blonder range.  I have heard very mixed reviews (for example fleurdeforce's and missbudgetbeauty's)about these products but wanted to give them a go myself as I quite fancy having my hair a little lighter for what remains of the summer.  These were on offer at Superdrug for 2 for £7.49 along with many other John Freida products.  I also picked up the sheer blonde nourishing shampoo as the lid had been damaged so it was reduced to £2.  It was definitely a spur of the moment buy but I am interested to see if it is any good.

The other thing I bought, that wasn't really on my list, was the serum and hair masque from the TRESemme split remedy range.  These were also on offer (got to love a bargain) at Superdrug, 2 for £6.99.    You can see the serum here and the masque here.  I have read some rave reviews for these so am really looking forward to trying them out, plus they smell incredible.

The final thing that I picked up is off my wish list and it is the Max Factor  nail polish in Fantasy Fire.  it is the most beautiful shade, photos truly don't do it justice but you can look at more swatches here to get a better idea of just how much the colour changes in different lights.  I also bought this from Superdrug where it is currently £2.99 instead of £3.99.

I am happy with all of the thing I bought and feel as if I got some good deals on things that I am going to really enjoy using.  Keep you eyes peeled for review of these products.  Now I am off to start beautifying myself in preparation for a night on the town.

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Now on HelloCotton

I have now got a page on HelloCotton :)

http://www.hellocotton.com/mypage/magpiegirl

Life is beautiful because...of sunshine

The sun is shining :) it is so easy to love England when the weather is nice.  I plan on putting on my sunglasses and enjoying the summer whilst it lasts.  Its days like these that make me want to paint my nails ridiculously bright colours.


What is making you happy today?

Project Pan #2 - Dove Colour Care Reviving Hair Mask

Another empty for you all today.  This one is the Dove Colour Care Reviving Hair Mask, I have had this floating around for a while and was putting off using it because I like it so much.  Its actually the second jar that I have used up (the first being ages ago).  I bought it from none other than Poundland (hence the Non-English on the packaging).  That's right this little baby was only  £1.  I bought it a while ago and I'm not sure why exactly other than I love hair masks and it was only one pound.

I recently bleached the end of my hair so that it would be a little bit ombred, however it has frazzled (not the crisps) my hair.  In an attempt to remedy this I have been using hair masks even more than usual.  This one left my hair feeling much smoother and considering what I paid for it I think it did an amazing job.

I had never tried any of Doves hair care but this has tempted me to look into their other products.  Would I repurchase it?  Yes, I would even pay more than the pound I originally spent.  However the huge stash of hair masks and the fact that I am not sure if this is still available probably means that I won't.  The product that they are currently selling that looks the most similar is this.

What do you think of Dove hair care?

Life is beautiful because...of sisters

My little sister is coming home from a 10 day holiday (lucky thing).  Although I have loved having the house to myself I am really looking forward to seeing her face and hearing about all the fantasmical things she has been getting up to.

Plus on a more worrying note I have started to talk to myself even more than normal (which is quite amazing in itself), so I think for my sanity's sake it will be good for me to have other people in the house :)

What is making you happy today?

Life is beautiful because...the house is tidy

I finally got round to cleaning the house.  Nothing makes me happier than doing something that I have been putting off.  Plus now the house looks pretty and sparkly...perfect for a magpie girl :)

What is making you happy today?

Finding the beauty in everyday life

I have started to realize whilst doing this project pan that a lot of the reason why I buy cosmetics and beauty products is that they make me happy.  Now there is nothing wrong with treating yourself but I feel as if I have taken it a bit too far.  I am still struggling to organize my Ikea ALEX due to the fact that I have excessive amounts of things.  I could probably fill a shoe box with eyeliners alone (see below for proof)

Me swatching a few of my many eyeliners, reminds me of the Dr Who
episode  'Day of the moon' where they are all covered in tally marks.

So I have decided that I want to try to notice the things in my life which make me happy and telling all of you out there in the interwebs.  So that even when I am lusting over something I can remember all the other things I have to be thankful for.

This series will be called 'Life is beautiful' and will be updated everyday.  If you want to see all of my posts so far in this series click here.  I hope you share the happiness you have in your life as well.

Project Pan #1 - The Body Shop's Mango Body Butter

I have finally managed to use a few things up.  If I'm honest I used this up almost a week ago but I wanted to wait until the sun was out before taking photos (on the plus side it means there will be a flurry of posts in the next few days).  

So here we have it my first item that will be making its way onto my Project Pan list.  It is the mango body butter from The Body Shop.  This is only a mini that I got free a little while ago but the full sized version can be bought for £12.50.

As you can see I have used pretty much every last bit of this product up.  The Body Shop body butters are pretty well known - and for good reason.  They are absolutely lovely.  Due to the size this didn't last me ages but it did last a fair few months.  It smells delicious, just like mangoes, the texture is nice but it does leave skin a tiny bit oily until it has fully soaked in.  This doesn't make me love it any less though.

Would I repurchase?  Yes, I would, however I have a bit of a stash of other scents.  So whilst I work through them I hope to find out which are my absolute favourites.

What do you think of the body butters?  Have you got a favourite one?

Project Pan List

I thought I would make a list of all the items I have used up during my project pan.  Here I will post the items that have been finished.  The date I finished them and a link to my full project pan item review post.  I am going to enjoy watching this list fill up as my project pan progresses.

1) The Body Shop Mango Body Butter (11/08/12)

2) Dove Colour Care Reviving Hair Mask (19/08/12)

3) Original Source Tea Tree and Mint Shower Gel (24/08/12)

4) Naked Renewing Body Scrub (26/08/12)

5) The Body Shop Love Etc Perfume (4/10/12)

6) Beauty Formulas Cooling Mist (20/11/12)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

15)

16)

17)

18)

19)

20)

Controlled Naughtiness

It has been almost 3 weeks since I started my Spending ban (see my reasons for doing so here). When I started I gave myself 5 (seemingly) simple rules.   One of which was "If I see something from my wishlist heavily discounted I can buy it as long as I don't use it until Project Pan is over."  

Well, whilst browsing my beloved ASOS I spotted that they had #3 on my wishlist - Benefit 'Hello Flawless' powder foundation in Shell in the sale for only £17.50.  So I caved in a bought it along with a couple of other, non-beauty, items.

Indeed as I was writing this post the doorbell rung to tell me that my lovely postman (who is probably relieved to be lugging less parcels to my house) had brought my ASOS package.  I was pleasantly surprised as I only ordered a couple of days ago.  Well done ASOS.

So I decided to document my opening of said parcel and turn this into a mini haul post .  Enjoy :)

All my goodies :)

Here is the  Benefit 'Hello Flawless' My Holy Grail powder foundation.  I cannot wait until project pan is over so that I can use this lovely new one.  I will do a full review soon.   As you can see below it comes with both a brush (that I'm not super keen on) and a little sponge so that you can vary how much product you apply.  This was £17.50 (down from £25)

Next up because of the fickle weather we are currently suffering in England I bought this beautiful umbrella from Ella Doran for Fulton.  I have a huge love of all things butterfly particularly when they remind me of old natural history prints.  It folds up lovely and small, perfect for my bag and doesn't weigh too much either.  I am looking forward to seeing how it holds up in the next lot of showers.  This was also in the ASOS sale for £12 (down from £20)

Another sale item that I just couldn't resist at £3.50  (down from £9) was this beautiful Pieces Noam Scarf.  It is a really peculiar shape, almost a kite rather than a square.  I bought it to tie onto the handle of one of my bags to make it look a little more summery and more 'me'.  I am really glad I picked this up as I reckon it was a bit of a bargain.

Lastly, and probably my favourite, is this amazing bird print satchel from the amazing Kate Sheridan.  It was £36.50 (down from £155)  It is just wonderful, the fabric is really sturdy and the straps are made from leather so it will last really well.  This is my third Kate Sheridan bag and I wear my other ones all the time.  She is fast becoming one of my favourite British designers.  I love that it is subtle but still quirky.  The colours mean it will go with pretty much anything and the size means that I may have found my new day bag :)

 Have any of you purchased any of these things...or anything else good from the ASOS sale?

Caudalie Beauty Elixir ON OFFER!

Hey guys,

I know its not on my wishlist (whoops) but I am super tempted to try the massively hyped Caudalie Beauty Elixir.  I had always said I wouldn't due to the crazy price but I have found it on BuyaPowa where it currently £24.50 but if more people (ie. you :p)  join then it could go as low as 22.50 Check it out here. I am staying strong because I have already been naughty once (details soon) but I wanted all of you to be able to take advantage of this offer if you want to.  Let me know if you go for it and whether it needs to be on my wishlist.

Hallelujah - I have an ALEX

This weekend has been fairly exciting.  Me and a friend made the journey to IKEA in Southampton (only getting lost once).  I had forgotten how hectic Ikea can be on a summer holiday Saturday and also how heavy flat-pack furniture is.  The reason for this trip was to purchase a certain well known set of drawers that are often seen on blogs as a beauty storage system.

So without further ado...meet ALEX

This bad boy is an absolute god send.  Although I had looked on thousands of blogs whilst I was deciding between the this and the, equally well known, HELMER I was surprised by it.  It was thinner than I expected and slightly taller.  However I am totally in love with it and am very glad that I can start organizing my makeup and beauty products in a way that works for me.

I spent most of today putting it together (the lack of the right tools and my ridiculously short attention span meant it took me longer than most normal people).  My friends offered to help but I was adamant that I wanted to do it myself.  Although I hugely regretted this half way through I am so proud that I can stand back and know that I managed to put it together myself.

I haven't put things in it yet but once I do I will post photos so you can see the way in which I am using it.

How do you all store your makeup?  Any good tips for me?