10 Things I Love (TAG)

Hi Everyone

Thanks to the lovely Sunshine Rose for tagging me in 10 Things I Love. Hopefully it will allow you to get to know me a little better and I'll mainly be letting my photos do the talking. I'm going to leave people out of this and keep it a bit more material (shallow, me?!).

1. Our Wedding Photos - they cost a fortune but I love them, I just need to get some more up on our walls!
2. My Dog - crazy labrador

3. Holidays - especially to Thailand, cannot wait to go back

4. My Wedding and Enagagement Rings - diamond and platinum - what's not love?!
5. My Car - it's kinda big but the parking sensors help!
6. Shoes - my "Sex and the City" Manolo Blahniks
7. My House - I'm a total homebird and I adore our house :)
8. Food - especially eating out! I had a yummy afternoon tea the other day...

9. Black Eyeliner - my one (if I had to pick) make up must have

10. Baking - mainly cupcakes. Here is my attempt for Easter.


Rules of the tag
1) State who gave you this award in your post
2) State 10 things that you love
3) Tag 10 other bloggers, listing them at the end of the post, and notify them

I'm going to be a bit of a crap blogger and tag EVERYONE who reads this post. I'm having to leave work early and don't have time to list bloggers individually. Please add a comment if you have done yours as I'd love to go a nosy at your 10 things you love.

Have a lovely Easter everyone, I'll be back with a GIVEAWAY in the next few days to celebrate ONE YEAR of the blog so keep a look out for it!!

LoubouLush x

NOTD Models Own Lilac Dream

I was pretty pleased with this colour (top pic - one coat, bottom pic - 2 coats). It applied easily, gave a good coverage like most of the range and the price is good. It attracted lots of lovely comments and it's definitely a keeper for my summer collection. I might play around with a matte topcoat and some nail art as I think it has a lot to offer.

What do you think?

LoubouLush x

Jessie J - Nobody's Perfect

Hi Lovelies, just a tiny post from me today though I hope to upload a NOTD from Models Own over the weekend so keep you eye out for that. I just thought I'd share this little video today. You may have realised from my previous "look" (here) that I love Jessie J and her look A LOT. I also really like her music and this song is a good one. If there's one thing I've realised this week, nobody is perfect!

I can't even pick my favourite look from her new video, I think she looks amazing in them all. I might try to recreate one if I can ever decide... do you have a favourite?

Hope you all have a great Friday :D

LoubouLush x

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation

I have to say I'm a bit scared of foundation. I like the finish when it's good but I've seen too many horrible foundations which make me a bit nervous of them. What foundations do I like? Well I am a fan of Estee Lauder Double Wear for good coverage and staying power but I'm not convinced I have found my shade yet (pesky in store lights) and it doesn't come cheap. I like some of the Boots No 7 for something a bit more affordable and my trusty Virgin Vie One Step Face Base is handy when I've got rid of any dry patches. Overall though, like most make up wearing women I'm always on the look out for something... more.

Good drugstore foundations are notoriously difficult to get hold of with there being no advice on colour match and no real chance to try the products out so I wasn't convinced this Rimmel foundation would be a keeper. Given it was reduced from an RRP of £6.99 to £4.99 I thought I had nothing to lose - well aside from £4.99 obviously.

First things first, the colour choice is poor. 6 shades in all. Very poor. As a paley I went for Ivory and although I often mix my white Illamasqua foundation with my Estee Lauder foundation to tone it down I've been using this one as is. It is a leetle bit orange but nowhere near as bad as I expected. It applies nicely - quite like EL Doublewear but it comes with a pump which I'm hoping means less waste. It also dries in pretty quickly though I'd say you have a bit more of a chance to run it over the face than I do with the EL Doublewear before it sets. It sets fairly matte for me and this is a good thing for my combination skin. The coverage is good for me - not too heavy but enough to give me a smoother base and even out my skin tone. As it dries so quickly I'd imagine it could be built up for a better coverage. It describes itself as "25 hour" (yes who needs 25 hour foundation blah, blah) and as "non transferable" and from what I've seen it actually does what it says on the tin. Bottle. Which is no mean feat especially at this price point!

BEFORE

AFTER

(Ick horrible photos - and I'm blaming the wonky mouth on an ulcer - ouch)

Overall I am super impressed with this - the application, the finish, the longevity on my combo skin, the PRICE, the packaging doesn't look too cheap either and the pump is handy. The only thing letting it down is the choice of shade which isn't a huge problem for me personally but I know there are lots of people out there who won't be able to use the shades available which is a shame - hopefully Rimmel will add more to the range soon.

This is definitely going to be my new every day foundation, especially coming into the summer when I need something with a bit of staying power and don't fancy using something more expensive day in, day out.

So any of you tried this or tempted to? I definitely recommend it and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it :)

LoubouLush x

NOTD Revlon Scented Nail Polish Beach

Another day, another scented nail polish.

As part of the 2 for £8 offer I also picked up "Beach". Mainly because I was intrigued as to what beach should smell like (I'd love a scratch and sniff label on the bottle) and also the colour looked like it might be fun for the summer.

The photos show 1 coat to 3 coats.

Again the polish takes quite a bit of building up for colour which is a bit disappointing. The polish itself is quite watery but applies easily and dries relatively quickly. The colour isn't too bad - a sort of lemony lime green with a touch of metallic. I think it would work nicely as a base for some nail art or a crackle top coat too. A solid base coat of a nude or white polish could help things along too.

The major disappointment of this though was... the smell. It's um... I'm not sure how to describe it. It seems stronger than the Peach Smoothie reviewed previously. I guess I can't complain as well, what should it smell of?! But it smells like a weird fruity shampoo with a hint of plastic. Not overly pleasant if I'm honest. And while the colour is a bit of fun I can't find anything special about it and if anything the scent is pretty off putting. I doubt I'd repurchase.

Have you tried this one? Will you be trying any of the others?

LoubouLush x

Slimming World - Week 3 & 4

Week 3 Last week was week 3 and I put on 1/2 a pound. I was a little bit disappointed but can't pretend it was a shock either. I haven't been sticking to the plan as well as I should be.

Week 4 I missed official weigh in this week due to work but suspect from my home scales that I'd have stayed the same. I'm aiming for a 2-3lbs loss for Week 5.

I really need to get my act together now and make a proper effort at this because it should work if I stick with it. I thought I'd share some the little things I'm doing...

- I'm snacking on lots of fresh fruit (though it is £££) - favourites are mangoes, strawberries, melon, apple, grapes, raspberries and blueberries

- Pasta with passata and fresh herbs and a little mozzarella is a big hit dinnerwise and cheap!

- Slimming World chips are MUCH nicer than expected

Really I'm finding with SW I'm eating fresher stuff - less processed and less fatty which all in all has to be a good thing in my mind.

Anyone else on the Slimming World wagon?

LoubouLush x

NOTD Revlon Scented Nail Polish Peach Smoothie

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fab weekend and Mother's Day? Mine was fairly quiet which given how manic work can be is always a good thing...

Last week I FINALLY spotted Revlon's Scented polishes on sale in a local Boots. I'd tried shops all over NI until I finally found Ballymena's Tower Centre Boots came up trumps! Now I've been intrigued about these since I first heard about them. I love nail polish with a bit of a twist and thought these sounded fun. I wasn't sure what colour I wanted or indeed what scent. It is a strange dilemma really - go for the colour I like most or the smell?!

After much deliberation my first choice was the Peach Smoothie (345). The colour looked nice for the summer - a soft peach with a hint of gold shimmer and I thought the scent should be good too. It's so disappointing that you can't get a hint of the final scent from the wet polish (yes, I AM impatient). Excitedly I applied a clear basecoat and added the first coat of the polish and waited for it to dry. It dried quickly and the peach scent was apparent. The coverage however was quite poor and I hoped a second coat would rectify it. It did help but in my opinion the coverage wasn't great which I found disappointing (photos show 2 coats of the Peach Smoothie).

The colour is quite pretty but given the price of the polish (usually £6.49 though currently on offer at Boots for 2 for £8) I don't fancy regularly painting 3-4 coats with it. The scent has lasted about 3-4 days I would say with the scent now barely there. The scented thing has actually been quite funny. I touch my face a lot and the waft of peach scent has taken a bit of getting used to, especially when I'm eating - I can't taste anything but if I happen to breathe in would food near my mouth the combination of peach smell and taste of whatever food has been a bit weird!

The Bad It requires 3-4 coats in my experience. It's difficult choosing between colour and scent and maybe a little scratch and sniff label on the polish would help in knowing what scent you liked best.

The Good Overall, I love the concept. The colour is pretty. The scent is nice too. It hasn't chipped which is quite impressive as I didn't topcoat. The price isn't TOO bad but I would be tempted to use over a cheaper "normal" nail polish rather than building 3-4 coats with this (the bottle suggests 2 coats are enough...)

Would I repurchase? Um, probably in other colours/scents to play around with. Have you tried it yet? What was your verdict?

LoubouLush x