My Fragrance Through The Years

Today I thought I’d share a quick look back at my fragrance choices over the years as I have got older and see how my tastes have developed.

The First Fragrances

When I first started experimenting with fragrance, it was just with the typical body sprays. Remember Charlie and Impulse sprays? I loved picking these up in Wilkos when I went shopping. They were the kind of sprays that it was easy to spray too much of and the smell would get to the back of your throat.

The Move Into Perfume

  

My first experience of perfume was Calvin Klein Shock, and I also got hold of Hugo Boss Nuit. I felt so grown up receiving these as presents and my love for fragrance really started to develop.  Later on, I received a giftset of Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue. It was super exciting to have a body lotion matching the scent of my perfume, and wearing this made me feel so feminine which is one of the things I love about perfume. This scent pretty much sums up my taste in scents now, being fruity, floral and fresh.

The Present

  

I would say my taste in fragrance continued to mature, but you’d probably disagree with that when I say my go-to perfume is Cheryl’s Stormflower. Being a celebrity fragrance, it probably isn’t seen as the coolest most grown up scent to wear, but that’s  what happens when I’m a big fan haha! It’s just a stereotype as well, because all 4 of the Stormflower fragrances smell amazing, with the original and Noir probably being my favourites. So if you meet me, I’m probably wearing one of those 4. But I’m not limited just to Stormflower, as I also absolutely love Marc Jacobs. The bottles are always incredible and so are the scents. I currently own Daisy Dream after getting it in Duty Free with leftover holiday money a while back, and it’s so fresh and beautiful. I’d love to purchase more Marc Jacob scents.

So there’s my evolution of fragrance choices. It’s interesting looking back at how my taste has developed. I now don’t feel like me when I’m not wearing perfume, so I hate it when I’m in a rush to leave the house and forget to have a spray. I also love how long a bottle lasts, so even though perfumes can be expensive, this makes it so worth the money.

How have your tastes in fragrance developed? What are your favourite scents? Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you so much for reading. Lots of love

 

 

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October Primark Haul

This post is a bit delayed because of university work, but last week I went on a much needed Primark shop to find some bits to add to my AW16 wardrobe. I normally end up with far too much when I go in that shop, but I managed to do pretty well this time and not go too crazy. Here’s what I purchased this time:

First up I got these jumpers. The pink ‘Do More Of What Makes You Happy’ jumper is very ‘me’ as my style is pretty girly and I love a good quote. It’s also got a high neck so will keep me warm in the cold weather! The one on the right is a navy jumper dress which will be very cute with some warm leggings.

The top on the left has a bit of sparkle which is always good for the party season and it’s super pretty. The one on the right is long-sleeved and has a longer white shirt attached which is longer than the main part of the top which is a cool touch.

A couple more tops- I bought a grey chequed shirt which is always a good staple item in my wardrobe. Also I got this grey long-sleeved top with holes cut out in the shoulders. I have a few tops in this style and I love it because it’s something a bit different and adds something to a plain top.

You always need to some essentials in Primark and PJs are something you always need. They have some really cute ones in there and are obviously such good prices. I decided on this set with a dog on which comes with spotty PJ bottoms. I also got some new boot-style slippers. I love having this style as winter approaches because my feet get so cold and these are so cosy.

Finally, I got some essentials- some trainer socks and this gorgeous scarf. I saw this scarf as soon as I walked into the shop and I just love the colours on it, plus it’s so big and I can’t wait to wrap up in it.

So there’s everything I bought! Let me know what your favourite items are.

Thank you as always for reading. Lots of love

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And Final Year Begins…

Hi everyone,

This was the week I went back to university after a chilled few months off. It’s even scarier this time round, as I’ve gone into my final year so I’m already stressed thinking about all my assignments and my dissertation. It’s going to be such a tough year and I’m expecting breakdowns but I’m hoping it will all be worth it when it comes to graduation! I’ve decided to do this post on 5 reasons of how I will make the most of 3rd year and how I can make it a success.

1. The most important of all is to be organised! I’ve got off to a good start with typing all my lectures notes up straight away and doing my pre-readings so hopefully I can continue this to avoid extra stress. I’m aiming to do things well in advance, which can be difficult in terms of assignments when I feel like I need more lectures to make decisions on topics and concepts to bring in, but I’ll do what I can so I don’t have a load of work in one go.
2.  Take full advantage of all the help I’m given. Make full use of the library and spend more time in there than I have previous years, ask questions to my lecturers when I’m not sure about something or need some advice, and attend tutorials with them to talk through my ideas. This especially applies to my dissertation, as I’ve now been assigned my tutor and need to arrange a meeting, however I’m still in the stage of not having a topic so I really need to get thinking so I can make a start.
3. Plan lots of little exciting things to get me through the year! This isn’t hard for me anyway, but I think it’s so important to have things planned that will be fun and make you smile, so it’s not just constant work. You can think ‘I have 2 weeks of full-on work now, but then after I have this to look forward to’. Then have big events to end the year and celebrate getting through it! These things will all help to give me the motivation to work my ass off.
4. Get ready for my future. It’s easy to just put it to the back of my mind and put it off, but with the high possibility that I will have to do a Masters, or at least some kind of extra training, I really need to do my research and get applying and get ready for the next stage of my life, because I know it’s going to fly by. I also need to get some experience sorted to give me the best chance, and fit this around my uni work.
5. Try my best to enjoy it. They say university is the best time of your life, and although I never think that when I’m drowning in deadlines, I know I’ll probably end up missing it when I look back in the future. I’ll make sure there’s time to go out and be sociable, take an interest in my lectures, and enjoy the vibe of university life whilst I still can.

So that’s my plan for the next 8 months or so. It’s going to be tough and stressful, but hopefully I can make these things happen and come out with a good grade and feeling super proud of myself. Are any of you in the same position as me? Good luck to you all, and everyone else who has just started another tough year! We just need to remember that we can do this and get through it, and think of that final result.

Lots of love,

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September Favourites

So it’s that time of the month again! I cannot believe we are going into October and the cold months already! September has been a great month for me, with trips to Italy and to Budapest, spending time with friends and family and making the most of the rest of my summer before heading into my final year of university. So here is what I have been loving this month.

Beauty

• First up is Rimmel’s 60 Second Nail Polish in the colour Lose Your Lingerie. This is a very pale pink colour which is really pretty, but the reason I’ve loved it so much is it’s lasting power. I genuinely don’t think I’ve had a standard nail varnish which has lasted so long. It actually lasted 2 weeks before it got to the stage where it needed to come off. Yes, it had definitely chipped before then, but not enough for me to feel that it looked messy and needed to be removed. You can usually get away with chipped nail varnish for longer when it’s a lighter colour, but I was so impressed with this product considering my nails normally look a mess after only a few days.

 

• I’ve also been loving Grounded Body Scrubs. They are exfoliating coffee scrubs which buff away dead skin and keep you moisturised. Just get your skin wet in the shower, cover yourself in the scrub and leave on for 10 minutes before washing it off. I had a sample size of the Chocolate Orange scent which smelt absolutely incredible as well as doing such a good job on my skin. I tend to get dry flakey skin especially around my waist and this scrub solved that and left my skin feeling so smooth. I loved the product so much that I had to purchase more, so I decided to try the coconut scent this time. As well as on their website here you can also purchase their products from Boots.

 

• The next item was a proper treat to myself. I had money left on the way home from Budapest, and seeing as Hungary have their own currency that I wouldn’t be using again, I decided that it would be a better investment to spend it at Duty Free rather than bringing it home and getting it changed back for hardly anything (that was my excuse anyway ha!). So I ended up buying something that I’ll probably never get to purchase again- a Chanel lipstick! I got the shade 438 Suzanne in the Rouge Coco range, and it’s such a beautiful colour. It’s hydrating so won’t dry my lips out which is useful for me as I’m prone to dry lips. This will definitely be a lipstick which comes out for special occasions!

 

Music

• A bit of promotion for my very talented singer-songwriter friend here. Shanna Towner released her first EP ‘Everything Changes’ this month and I absolutely love it. She’s written all the songs herself and her voice sounds amazing. I got to visit her in the studio one of the days, so it’s so special hearing the songs knowing all the work that went into them behind the scenes. Please support her and have a listen to her songs because they really are good and it would mean the world to her. You can find links to her EP here: iTunes   Spotify   Amazon   Facebook

 

• Bastille- Wild World. The band released their new album this month, and after I loved the lead single Good Grief I was expecting great things. It’s such a great album  that I’ve been loving, although I haven’t had enough full listens to decide on favourite tracks yet.

 

• Sia- The Greatest. I absolutely love Sia’s music and her latest single is no exception. I’m just waiting for her to finally come and tour the UK because she is someone that I need to see live!

 

And the Others…

• Zoella Lifestyle- I’m so in love with Zoe Sugg’s new range of products! I’ve gone out and bought the diffuser in the scent ‘Seaside Stroll’ which is so fresh and I get such a lovely smell of it every time I walk into my bedroom. I’m excited to try some of the other products in the range, and I’ll sure be purchasing the Gingerbread Village scent as we approach Christmas for a festive touch.

 

• A very random one but… coffee! It’s strange because I never used to like coffee at all and I couldn’t even stand the smell. But in the past couple of years or so, I’ve come to love it (as long as it’s milky like a latte, can’t deal with anything strong!) and this month it’s been a bit of a saviour for me. On Saturday mornings I now start work at 7am, which is especially difficult when I haven’t been at uni for months so have not had many super early mornings at all. I don’t have time for a coffee before I leave so I struggle through the first couple of hours until my first break, in which I have one from the machine and it literally helps me so much haha! It gives me some life and now I wonder how I ever did early mornings without it.

 

So that’s my September favourites! What have you been loving this month? Let me know in the comments below.

I hope you’re all having a lovely week, and I’ll be back with another post soon! Thank you as always for reading.

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My Trip To Italy

Hi everyone,

So I got back home this week after an amazing adventure travelling around Italy. My friend and I decided to cram 4 cities into one week, so it was a very tiring week but so worth it, and we got to see so much of the country. I thought I’d give you all a little round-up of what I got up to!

Our first stop was Rome. We spent the first afternoon in the Vatican area, and went inside St Peter’s Basilica which was absolutely incredible. It is massive and so beautiful, plus there was a service with singing going on whilst we were inside which just added to the atmosphere, and in a way felt quite magical.

Day 2 was all spent in Rome, basically cramming everything in. We started at the Colosseum which was amazing to see, as it’s one of those famous sights that everyone knows and it’s special to see it with your own eyes. I would recommend buying tickets online in advance, as we were told to do this and it meant we could cut out a lot of the queue and get inside quicker. We spent a while walking around and taking photos from different viewpoints. We then went to the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill, where you could walk around for ages as it’s such a massive area and there’s so many different ways to go that it’s easy to miss bits. Seeing all the Roman ruins in there was incredible, and there were good views of Rome from the highest points.

For the rest of the day, we moved round the other big tourist attractions, starting with the Pantheon, before visiting Piazza Navona, the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. I absolutely loved seeing the fountain as it was so beautiful, and we threw our coins in as a tradition. However, the Spanish Steps were a disappointment as we couldn’t actually see them properly due to construction works going on. I’m not sure how much longer this is going on for, so if you’re visiting soon then I would recommend researching into this first!

Day 3, we travelled to Florence. This was a place that neither of us were particularly interested in when we were planning the trip but it seemed a sensible place to make a stop, however we are SO glad we did because we loved it there! It’s such a beautiful city and has such a nice relaxed vibe, which was a contrast to Rome. We spent a lot of time wandering around and taking in the sights. We went up to Piazzale Michelangelo, where you get panoramic views of the city and it was absolutely incredible up there. The photos do not do that view justice!

Day 4 included a visit to Pisa. It was only around an hour on the train so we thought it was worth going to see the Leaning Tower and take our touristy photos. It’s funny seeing everyone there doing the different poses for their own photos, and it means you don’t feel so stupid when you do it yourself! In the afternoon we headed back to Florence and went to the Duomo Cathedral which is another stunning building. We climbed over 400 steps to the top of the bell tower and once again got to experience some amazing views of the city.

On day 5, we travelled to Venice, which I think was my favourite of all the cities! It’s so beautiful and you can just wander around the narrow streets for hours taking photos because everything is that pretty. We didn’t care that we didn’t know where we were as it was so nice to just walk around and let ourselves and get lost, as it was one of those places where you could do that and be relaxed. Our B&B was out of town so we had to find a bus and work out where we had to get off which was confusing and stressful but we managed to do it and find where we were staying! On day 6, we went to do some more exploring in Venice, saw San Marco and some of the main bridges and also went on a gondola ride! That was something I really wanted to do, and I feel like a trip to Venice would not have been complete without it. We booked through a tourist information place by the train station which I would definitely recommend doing! If you pay for a ride from the many people around the water then you will be paying so much more money, so don’t let yourself be ripped off! They advertise their price as 80 euros, whereas we only paid 28! It was an incredible experience and something that can be ticked off the bucket list.

Day 7 we travelled to Milan and walked round by the shops. We went past all the designer shops that we would never even be able to set foot in haha! We managed to find some more affordable shops that we could actually go inside, and I finally managed to go in Sephora! We don’t have any stores here in the UK so when I realised they had them in Italy, I knew I had to pay a visit. It was actual heaven in there and I could have bought so much, but I managed to restrain myself a little and purchased a lipstick and some make-up remover.

 

The next day we headed home after an incredible week. We saw so many amazing sights, ate so much delicious food and had a lot of laughs! It was lovely to be able to see so much of the country in one go, even though it was exhausting but it was so worth it. The trains were so easy to get around on and we were lucky to find some good places to stay on our budget. I’m so happy I got to visit Italy and I would definitely recommend a visit to at least one of these cities! They all were so different so it was good to experience all 4 of them and see what they each had to offer.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip!

Ciao,

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Private Life Invasion

Yes, people choose to go into career’s which put them into the public eye. Yes, they all need some form of publicity and media to start off and help continue their career. But they don’t choose to have everything about their lives splashed over newspapers, lies spread about them or people camping outside of their houses demanding photos. We all want to make the most of our lives, achieve our dreams and do something we enjoy. So why are these people punished for doing exactly this by having complete invasion into their private lives?

It just makes me so angry how we can in some ways dehumanise people just because they are famous. Their job does not give them any less rights than the rest of us. It also confuses me how we respect these people in terms of their talent and who they are as people, yet we disrespect them and pry on their lives. Even ‘fans’ can show this disrespect and be so caught up and so desperate for a photo that they forget that they are a human with feelings which is really sad. Of course people are going to want photos and autographs with those they admire, but this can be done in a way which is less intruding. Go to events rather than following them round and waiting outside their house. Talk to them rather than screaming in their face. Yes, you’re a fan but they’re still only human.

I don’t understand how newspapers and journalists get away with making up lies and printing them for all to see. Why are they allowed to twist people’s words or make up stories which can be damaging to an individual’s reputation? This has got even worse with the increase in use of social media. Tweets can be misinterpreted, fans tweets are looked into by journalists and used in articles to create stories, and these stories can be out there in the world so quickly for everyone to see. Even when stories are true, who are we to splash their private lives all over the front of a newspaper? If we were going through a tough time, the last thing we would want is to have it shared with the world, and to be followed round by paparazzi. When did we even get so interested in celebrities lives? Shouldn’t we be concentrating on their music/acting roles/sporting talent rather than who they’re dating? There’s so many TV shows, magazines and social media accounts just dedicated to celebrities private lives, and it’s sad that we’ve lost the real meaning of why we support these people.

Another thing that makes me angry is the way that these people in the public eye are expected to look ‘perfect’ at all times, and if there’s anything which is a step away from the ideal then they are slammed for this. What does this do for their self confidence? And also for the self confidence of people who are insecure about their looks and their body, and see these news articles. The media should be embracing everyone’s differences and helping us to feel good about ourselves, not bringing these celebrities down, or the public down. Because, again, we are all human and we all have feelings and our own insecurities, whether we are in the public eye or not. Celebrities should not have to develop this thick skin that is required to do the job they love just because of disrespect from the public and the media.

Yes, I’m in fanbases and of course I have an interest in the people I support. But I would much rather they had their privacy than me knowing everything about them. I love them as people and when you support people it’s only natural to have this interest in them as a person and to wish them well. But I respect their lives, and I support them and their music. The media and the public should focus on promoting their talents and their projects, giving them recognition as people without the intrusion.

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August Update

Hi everyone!

As we go into August, I’m really loving blogging as I actually have enough time to do it properly at the moment with no university work. I’m definitely not the most experienced blogger but it’s something I enjoy doing in my free time. For this reason, I’d love to try and grow my blog a bit further and be more in the blogging community. Therefore, I am now signed up to Bloglovin and The Blogger Programme. The links are below if you’d like to give me a follow! It will be great to find new bloggers to read their posts and see what they think about mine, so I’m excited to get stuck in. I love blogging so I hope people enjoy what I post. It always means so much to me when people read my posts and like/comment!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

          https://www.thebloggerprogramme.com/profile/hankelson/

 

Starting from today, I’m also starting to keep a diary/memory book. I would sometimes keep a diary as a child but now I’m in my twenties, I decided it was a good time to start something a bit different to keep to look back on. So many positive things happen in my life that I will forget about, but I think it is so important to have a record of it all because one day, you’ll look back at it and be glad that you did. It brings back those times that you didn’t want to forget. I think it’s also good to have somewhere to put your feelings down and vent, and that will also be interesting to look back on! It’s different to keeping a diary as a child but I wanted this kind of concept to keep my memories, even the smallest things that have made me smile or feel a certain way, just in a more sophisticated way. Yesterday I purchased this beautiful notebook from Paperchase which will be used for this purpose. It’s hardback and has plenty of pages to keep me going, so perfect for what I wanted!

I hope you’re having a great start to your week. And thank you again for taking the time to read my posts, it means a lot!

Lots of love

 

July Favourites

It’s the end of another month, so it’s time to share some of my favourite things from the past 31 days.

Make-Up

• I’m absolutely loving matte lipcolours at the moment. They last for so long, even when eating and drinking, which is perfect for days out. My favourite this month has been Martha Moo from Tanya Burr Cosmetics. It’s such a pretty colour and has really good staying power, so I’ve been wearing it most days since I bought it.
• I’ve heard so many people raving about the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer that I had to give it a try… And it is incredible! It’s probably the best concealer I’ve used for covering up my blemishes, and it costs only £4.19 from Boots & Superdrug.
• I love using bronzer in the summer months to give my pale skin a summer glow. I have been using the Rimmel Natural Bronzing Powder which does the job without making me looking orange. I actually got this bronzer for free a little while ago, as there was an offer at the time as I was buying other Rimmel products, but it only costs £5.99 anyway. Plus, it has SPF 15 in which is always a bonus when you’re going out in the sun.

Fashion

• I have been looking for a jumpsuit for ages now, but I’ve never found one that fits me well. Finally I’ve found one that I love, and it was only £13 from Primark. I love the pattern on it and because it has sleeves, it will be good to wear at home as well as on holiday.
• The black shorts were only £10 in the sale from H&M. They’re such a comfortable fit, and they’re so versatile because they will go with so many different tops. They can definitely be worn to dress up and go out!
• The sandals were £15 from Forever 21 and I thought they’d be really good for my holiday walking around Italy. They seem really comfortable but are really fashionable too. Even better- they were on Buy One Get One Free so I bought a different pair of sandals too for no extra cost.

Music

I’ve struggled to find anything new for this month, as music that I’ve been loving has actually been around for longer than the past month, rather than being released in July. But here are a few summer songs I’ve had on repeat this month:

Bastille- Good Grief

M.O- Who Do You Think Of?

Clean Bandit & Louisa Johnson- Tears

Calvin Harris & Rihanna- This Is What You Came For

TV

• How To Get Away With Murder- my brother and I have been watching this together so it’s taken us longer than usual to finish the season, but we’ve finished the first one and are now desperate for Netflix to upload the 2nd season because it’s ended on such a cliffhanger! The series has been so gripping and interesting so if you haven’t watched it I would definitely recommend it!
• Celebrity Masterchef- I’m such a foodie and I love watching this show with all the different challenges and seeing what people cook. The final was on Friday so it’s now over but I’ve enjoyed watching another series.
• Gossip Girl- I’ve finally been watching it! It’s something I’ve been meaning to watch for a long time because it’s completely the kind of programme I love and I’m absolutely loving it. I’m on the second season so still have plenty of episodes left to watch.

Days

• All my birthday celebrations! My night out with my friends, meals out, my birthday itself and my birthday trip to London were all so much fun- I was spoilt! (read all about my birthday and the presents I received here: What I Got For My Birthday
• Seeing Joseph in the last week of the UK tour in Southampton. If you read my blog post a few months ago (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Musical- UK Tour review) then you’ll know that I’d already seen the show, but it’s absolutely incredible and I’m a big Joe McElderry fan as it is, but the whole cast were so talented and the show was so much fun. And Lucy Kay (the narrator) was so sweet to me this day, she’s lovely. Theatres are promoting Joe as doing the tour again next year, and it’s coming very close to me so it looks like I’ll be lucky enough to experience it again!

Random

• I am loving my Fitbit Alta I received for my birthday. As I talked about in my birthday blog post, I’d wanted one for ages so I’m so happy I finally have it.
• Youtube!- I’ve never been much into watching Youtube videos but this month I’ve really got into some Youtubers and watching their vlogs. Zoella and Tanya Burr are definitely my favourites.

 

So there we go, that’s my July favourites! I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend, and let’s see what August brings us!

What I Got For My Birthday

On Monday it was my 20th birthday. I’m no longer a teenager which is pretty scary! I always love reading/watching blogs of what other people got for their birthday because I’m pretty nosey, and I’m pretty sure many other people are the same, so I thought I’d do one myself so you can all have a nose into some of the presents I was lucky enough to receive.

The first thing I’m going to share with you is this really pretty bangle that my friend bought me. I’m such a girly girl and I love beautiful jewellery so I’m looking forward to wearing this when I next get dressed up.

Next up is this shower speaker (available on Amazon). I love listening to music in the shower, but with mine being a cubicle, having my phone outside of the shower with the water on means I can’t actually hear the music. So this speaker is perfect for what I need. It can stick inside the shower so I can hear the music perfectly, and can change the song, or even answer a phone call.

I love this nightdress. I really do love sleep so it sums me up haha! It’s so perfect for warm summer nights where you want to wear something baggy and comfy.

I absolutely love cute personalised things because they’re so special and you know a lot of thought has gone into it. So this ‘Friends’ photo frame made me so happy when I opened it. It’s such a beautiful frame and I love what it says on it.

I never was into the whole Lush craze. Until earlier this year, I’d never bought a product from there in my life. However, when I went into the store one time to buy a present, I ended up trying their Charity Pot and it left my hands so soft that I ended up buying it later that day. I’ve bought a few more things from there since, so thought I’d ask for some more for my birthday. I wish I’d taken a photo before I’d opened it up as the paper the box was originally wrapped in was so pretty. It’s full of fruity-scented products including a bath bomb, bubble bar, body conditioner and soap. I’m looking forward to using them!

I’ve been wanting a Fitbit for a while now, so I’m excited to finally have one! I have the Fitbit Alta which I love because it’s smaller and more dainty than a lot of the other styles. I’ve been interested to track my sleep and also to count my steps when I’m at work or other times where I don’t have my phone on me to track it that way (plus a Fitbit is a lot more accurate). And hopefully it will give me more motivation to be more active and go to the gym too!

I absolutely love River Island handbags. They’re always so beautiful so I asked for a couple for my birthday. The one on the left is a cross-body bag for a day out, and the one on the right is a large bag for taking away when I have lots of things. A girl can never have too many bags!

The last thing I’m going to share with you is this cute hand-painted mug and matching coaster with my initial on.  It’s from a small local shop so it’s good to have something a bit different, plus it’s a good size for a large mug of coffee.

In addition to all these gifts, I was also treated to a day in London on Wednesday to watch Wicked. It’s my favourite musical and I’ve previously seen it on the UK tour but I’ve always dreamed of seeing it in London. I was so excited for my mum to see the show too because I’d always go on to her about how good it was and I knew she would love it! It was absolutely incredible and so magical; I had such a lovely day. We even managed to fit in some shopping on Oxford Street and a dinner sat outside in a cute little side street.

So there is a selection of this year’s birthday gifts. I received so many lovely things and I’m so lucky to have such great and generous friends and family. I hope you enjoyed being nosey and having a little peak into what I got.

Happy Friday!

My First Beauty Box-Glamour Summer Edit from Latest In Beauty

Hi everyone,

I’d been looking into beauty boxes for a while. I’ve always loved make-up and beauty products but I’m getting even more obsessed recently, so the idea of having loads sent to me in the post to try was a very exciting idea. I was so tempted to try Glossybox because that element of surprise appealed to me, not knowing what products I would get delivered each month, and being able to try products which I wouldn’t usually buy. However, when I thought about it properly, I realised that I’d probably end up paying for a lot of products which I probably wouldn’t use. Also, I’d heard many stories of people cancelling their subscriptions and still being charged, which put me off the idea of a subscription. Therefore, I decided to have a search round for alternatives and came across Latest In Beauty (www.latestinbeauty.com). There is no subscription service so you can just purchase a box whenever you like. They offer a ‘Build Your Own’ box where you can select either 3, 6 or 9 products out of their selection, so you can ensure you are sent products which you will make good use of. They also offer boxed collections, and the Glamour Summer Edit box is the one which I purchased this time round.

 

The products in this box are worth £104, but it can be purchased for just £20. It includes the products you’ll need during the summer and on holiday, and there is a good variety. Although I already knew what I was getting, it was still exciting to unwrap my first beauty box and have the products in my hands.

 

The first product included is the St Tropez Self Tan Classic Bronzing Mist. Personally, I’m not a user of fake tan and the only time I’ve ever had a tan that wasn’t natural was my spray tan I had done for prom. However, now I’ve received this, I definitely feel like I should give it a go. With it being a light tanning mist, I feel like it’s a good product to use for my first tanning experience so fingers crossed it will be a success when I give it a go!

The next product is the Ladival SPF 30 sun protection spray. This will be great to use on my holidays when I actually get some sun (there’s never much of a summer in the UK). It protects from UVA, UVB and infrared A rays, as well as being water resistant so it protects in the sun in many ways.

Also included was a Grounded Coffee Scrub. I’m so excited to smell this because it has a chocolate orange scent which sounds amazing. This will be so useful for me as my skin gets very dry so this will help to leave it smooth. It will be a good product to use when preparing my skin for the fake tan.

I’ve also received a WOW luxury face mask, which claims to minimise pores and hydrate skin, with the results lasting up to 7 days. This is something which will definitely be of use for me as my skin isn’t in a good condition so any products like this I’m always grateful for!

 

 

The Nuxe Prodigieux Shower Oil has a hint of gold shimmer to give your skin a slight bronzed glow, ideal for summer when you want a bit of colour on you but the weather isn’t going to give you a tan and you don’t want to bother with fake tan. It also smells beautiful with an almond, vanilla and orange scent.

Also pictured is Oribe Texturizing Spray, which I’ve heard good things about. It claims to create a tousled texture whilst absorbing oil and lifting the roots. This travel size spray is worth £19 on it’s own, so I am worried about liking it too much haha!

 

This Aurelia Miracle Cleanser removes makeup and impurities to leave the skin feeling clean and smooth. It sounds like it shouldn’t be drying so hopefully will be perfect for my skin! It also comes with a muslin cloth which can be used buff away dead skin cells, so my skin should be left in a good condition from these products together.

 

 

The final product is a Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolour in the shade ‘HD Devotion’ which is a really pretty pink colour. I absolutely love matte lipsticks at the moment and the fact they have such good staying power, so this will probably be my most used and favourite product in the box.

 

So there’s all my products I received, and all for only £20. I think I’ll definitely be purchasing more beauty boxes from Latest In Beauty and I’m glad I stumbled across this company! I’m so happy with everything I’ve had delivered in this box and I can’t wait to try it all out. Have any of you purchased from this website before? Or tried any of these products?

Have a lovely weekend!