NOTD - OPI Don't Bossa Nova me Around

Hello Lovelies

Today I have a NOTD (nail of the day) post for you and as always rather than just show you the polish I am wearing I will give you a review of the polish too including application, wear time, removal etc. Today's polish is Don't Bossa Nova Me Around by OPI and is a lovely nude shade with a pink undertone to it. 

I have wanted this shade for quite some time but it was always out of stock when I tried to buy it so when Simon had bought it for me as a Christmas gift I was really pleased. I used to wear OPI polishes all the time and then fell out of love with them for no reason at all and stopped using them and recently I have re discovered them. Don't Bossa Nova Me Around was part of the OPI Brazil collection for spring/summer 2014 and was and still is a very popular shade, I did worry it wouldn't suit me when I first saw it as I am very fair skinned but once I had applied it I really liked it. 

Please excuse my terrible cuticles and my poor broken nail (ouch) I applied 3 coats of the polish to get the opaque look in the above photograph. 

I completely forgot to use a base coat (naughty me) and applied 3 coats of the OPI polish, allowing each coat to dry fully in between. I did use the Orly Glosser top coat as my top coat but stupidly photographed my nails before I applied the top coat so the photograph is without topcoat, however I do think my nails have quite a nice shine considering I don't have any top coat on in the photograph. 

I really like the way the polish applied the brush isn't too thin or too thick, the polish dries well and doesn't take a long time to dry in between coats or fully. It wore well and I only removed the polish after catching my nail when closing a drawer and chipping it but I had had the polish on for 4 days and it would have lasted longer I'm sure. 

I really like the polish, it's a nice nude shade and one I think would suit many skin tones and especially a darker skin tone, the polish also looks nice with a glitter over the top and I do have a post coming showing that soon. I am happy with the application, wear time and drying time of the polish and it was easy to remove with non acetone nail polish remover. 

I would definitely recommend you try OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around and you can find it at one of my favourite places to buy my nail polishes from which is Nail Polish Direct HERE for £8.95, you can also buy the Orly Glosser top coat from Nail Polish Direct HERE for £13.80 both including free delivery. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

Personalised Colouring Books For Adults And Children

Hello Lovelies

Colouring is very therapeutic and great for relaxation and lowering stress levels and adult colouring books are something I have been interested in for a while so when Blossoming Gifts offered me a personalised adult colouring book I was thrilled, if you know me well you'll know I have always struggled to find things with my name on and love finding things with my name or initial on so I am always really happy to received personalised items. Blossoming Gifts also offered me a childs personalised colouring and activity book too which looked lovely and I thought would be perfect for one of my friends little boys.

Personalised Adult Colouring Book

I absolutely love my colouring book, it has my name on the front and on the inside cover and as you can see from the photograph my umlauts are over my E which is very rare for a personalised product, so I was thrilled when I realised that. Throughout the book there is a huge variety of different designs to colour some more intricate than others but there are so many to choose from and another feature I really liked is that my name features throughout the book on lots of the pages and can be coloured in too which I thought was a lovely touch as I have always struggled to find things with my name on. You can also choose to have a message on the first page of the book as well as a name if you wish, so if you were buying the gift for someone or even if you were buying it for yourself but wanted an inspirational quote or other message in the front it's a really nice touch, I chose not to have a message in my colouring book.

The book is a great quality book and the pages are nice and thick meaning when I colour the designs my pens don't leak through onto the next page, the front cover feels lovely and luxurious and has beautiful coloured embossed patterns and my name in gold lettering, it really is a lovely book and one that would make a lovely gift for yourself or someone else especially if you or you know someone who like me likes personalised items. You can find the Personalised Creative Colouring Book on the Blossoming Gifts website HERE for £19.99.

Childs Colouring & Activity Book

When I first saw the A4 Colour In And Activity Book I was quite sad I wasn't a child, it is a fabulous book with lots of different colouring pages and different activities inside and like the adult book Archie's name features throughout the book a lot which is something I think any child would like to see.

The activities throughout the book are both fun and educational with both writing and number activities to do as well as lots of colouring and on some of the colouring pages there are fun and interesting facts too, as a mum I thought the book looked great and would definitely have been something my girls would have loved to do when they were younger and the verdict from Archie's mum was "he loves it" which is great. The activities and colouring pages are aimed at both boys and girls so the book would be great for either and is a fantastic book for young children, I think if you are an adult who uses the adult colouring books it would be nice to be able to sit and colour with your child/children so both of these products bought together for a parent and child or even other relatives or friends who have a special little person like myself and Archie is a lovely idea and we can both colour together now when he comes to visit with his parents which is nice and a really lovely thing for us to do together. It is a lovely book and would make a great gift and if you would like to purchase the A4 Colour In And Activity book, you can find it on the Blossoming Gifts website HERE for £12.99. 

Both books are fabulous and will no doubt get a lot of use but if colouring books aren't for you Blossoming Gifts have a huge variety of other gifts including a great choice of personalised gifts and fresh flowers and they offer next day delivery if you order before 9pm. 

Do you use adult colouring books? And do you like personalised gifts? Let me know in the comments, I'm off to do some colouring in! 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

✿ Post contains PR Sample or Gifted Item

My Wednesday Wishlist - Fashion

Hello Lovelies

I love reading wish list blog posts and when I wrote my Christmas wish list post back in December 2015 so many of you contacted me and said how much you enjoyed reading it and asked if I could feature more wish list posts on my blog, I love on line window shopping and do 99% of my shopping on line so creating wish lists is something I do in my head all the time so I thought why not transfer them from my head and onto my blog to share with you? Today's wish list is my first of 2016 and is a fashion wish list, I do have a beauty wish list coming too if beauty is more your thing. 

1. ASOS Oversized Slouchy Top - £12.00 - I love this top it's casual and other tops I have similar to this from ASOS are really comfy and easy to wear so I imagine this one will be too, I like v neck styles and I like the split sides too and think it's quite a good price, the top is available in sizes 4-18.

2. Next Khaki Utility Skirt - £22.00 - I really like this skirt, it is also available in black (here) and I like the black too but always go for black so I thought the khaki might make a nice change and I could wear it in the spring and summer too. The skirt is a pull on style and the buttons are decorative and don't unfasten, I didn't realise this until reading a review on the website but for me it is better so I am pleased, the skirt is available in sizes 6-20.

3. River Island Black Denim Leggings - £25.00 - I have these leggings in blue denim (see this post) and they are so comfortable, if you don't like wearing jeans but like the look of them these are perfect, they feel exactly like leggings but look like skinny jeans and when I bought my blue ones I said how it would be brilliant if they were available in black and now they are, perfect! The leggings are available in sizes 6-18.

4. Adidas Silver Metallic Superstar Trainers - £70.00 - I absolutely love Adidas superstar trainers and wore them for years and years until I started to wear Converse but recently I have been looking more and more at Superstars again and when I saw these I was instantly in love, now whether or not I have the guts to go out in silver glittery trainers is another matter but I do love them.

5. ASOS No Probl llama Longline T Shirt - £12.00 available HERE I love this t shirt, it's so cute and quirky and ideal with jeans for a casual look, the t shirt is available in sizes 4-18 and in the Curve range 16-30.

6. ASOS Tunic With Side Split - £22.00 I have a couple of the longer length tunics with side splits from ASOS and they are very comfortable and wash really well too, I love this pale grey one and think it would be nice with the black denim leggings and some ankle boots or my Ugg boots, the top is available in sizes 4-18.

Those are all the items on my Wednesday wish list, which one is your favourite? And do you have anything on a wish list? I love on line browsing and am thinking of making my Wednesday wish list a regular thing, what do you think? Would you like to read more of wish list posts please let me know either in the comments or via social media and if you would like to see more would you prefer fashion, beauty or a mix of the two?

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x





Clip art on first image taken from google images 

Favourite Beauty Products Of 2015 - Base Products

Hello Lovelies

Today I have the first in what will be a series of blog posts sharing with you my favourite beauty and make up products of 2015 and rather than write a mammoth post which would take you about 2 weeks to read I have decided to split my favourites of 2015 into categories which are base products, lip products, eye products, skin care, nail products and hair care and today I am going to kick off the series with my favourite base products of 2015. 

Primer

My favourite primer of all time is the Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer, I have extremely dry and dehydrated skin but using this primer means my skin looks flawless after applying foundation, I have tried numerous primers over the years but the Smashbox Hydrating Primer is the only primer I have ever re purchased and will continue to re purchase. I do have a full review of the Smashbox Hydrating Photo Finish primer here on my blog if you would like to read a more in depth review. I would highly recommend this primer to anyone with dry or dehydrated skin it is amazing and makes a huge difference to the way my foundation looks, it isn't the most affordable primer but you only need a small amount meaning it will last a long time, if you would like to try it you can find it on the Boots website here for £28.00 for 30ml. 

Foundation

The first foundation I am going to talk about is Illamasqua Skin Base,  I use the shade 07 which is a perfect match for my cool toned skin, skin base is available in 26 different shades and is brilliant for my extremely dry and dehydrated skin, if I am asked which high end foundation I recommend I always say skin base. It is described as a medium build-able coverage, I personally think it is more of a medium to full coverage and one of the things I love about it is that I don't have to wear concealer when I wear it, it covers my under eye darkness and any blemishes I may have. Skin base doesn't contain any SPF so is a perfect foundation to where when being photographed and it applies beautifully. My preferred method of application is with a beauty blender, I find this gives flawless results. I can't recommend skin base highly enough and if you haven't yet tried it give it a go you won't be disappointed, you can pick up a sample at an Illamasqua counter or have the foundation applied so you can "try before you buy" I love it and have been purchasing it for years and will continue to do so. If you would like to try Illamasqua Skin Base, you can find it on the Debenhams website here for £32.50 for 30ml or on the Very website here for £32.00 for 30ml. 

Another favourite foundation of 2015 is the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation, I have the shade 100 Ivory which is a great match for my skin, I find it really hard to find drugstore foundations because they are usually more suited to a yellow toned skin and I have a pink toned skin and finding a foundation for dry skin from the drugstore can be very hard too as most are more suitable for an oily or normal skin. Wake me up is a lovely foundation, it has a light to medium build-able coverage and applies well, again I find using my beauty blender to apply the foundation leaves me with a flawless finish. I do have a full review of the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation which you can read here if you would like some more information and to see a photograph of me wearing the foundation. I would highly recommend the wake me up foundation if you have dry/dehydrated skin and are looking for a drugstore foundation it is a lovely product that applies well and leaves a flawless finish and at an affordable price. If you would like to try the Rimmel wake me up foundation, you can find it on the Superdrug website here currently on offer for £5.99 (full price £8.99) or on the Boots website here for £8.99.

My last foundation favourite of 2015 is the Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder foundation, I have the shade 3 fair which is a great match for me. I love this foundation it's a light to medium coverage and applies beautifully with my beauty blender and leaves my skin looking flawless. There is 40ml of product in the Light Wonder where there is usually 30ml in most high end foundations meaning it should last longer too, I love the packaging of this foundation it's a plastic tube with a rose gold lid and it looks lovely on my vanity, the foundation feels lovely on the skin and isn't heavy at all and doesn't feel like I'm wearing make up at all, I do have an in depth review and photographs of the light wonder foundation on my blog which you can read here if you would like to and if you would like to purchase the foundation you can find it on the Selfridges website here for £32.00 for 40ml. 

Concealer

My favourite under eye concealer of 2015 and of all time is the MAC Select Moisturecover concealer in the shade NW15, I absolutely adore this foundation and it is perfect for my under eye concealer, it doesn't crease at all or settle into any fine lines. Having very dry and dehydrated skin means I suffer from fine lines, that and being the wrong side of 40! The select moisturecover doesn't crease at all and is fantastic for covering blemishes too. To read my full review of the MAC Select Moisturecover concealer click this link for an in depth review including swatches and more photographs, the concealer has a lovely texture to it and blends beautifully with my beauty blender or with a fluffy brush, I prefer to use a MAC 217 if using a brush. The shade NW15 is perfect for me as it is a little lighter than my skin tone so is brilliant for brightening my under eye area or for using on any other area's I might want to highlight. If you would like to try the MAC select moisturecover concealer you can find it on the MAC website here for £15.50 for 5ml.

The MAC Pro Longwear Concealer is another 2015 favourite of mine, I have the shade NW20 in the pro longwear and use it to cover blemishes or use it as an all over base instead of foundation, it is a fabulous product and I adore it although I cannot use it as my under eye concealer as it does crease on my skin but if you are young and don't yet have fine lines and you do not suffer from dry/dehydrated skin it will be fine and would be an amazing all round concealer and if I could use it as an under eye concealer I would only ever buy the pro longwear. I have also tried mixing the pro longwear concealer with my Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder foundation and my MAC Face and Body foundation to give them a little more coverage and both look incredible so if you have the products I would highly recommend trying to mix them and use as your base. I do have a blog post all about the pro longwear here if you would like to find out more information and see photographs and if you would like to try the pro longwear concealer you can find it online on the MAC website here for £17.50 for 9ml. 

Powder

I have tried numerous powders over the years but I always go back to the MAC Blot Powder, I use the shade Light, blot powder is a finely milled pressed powder, it is available in 5 shades Light being the palest although it is colourless. I use a MAC 187 brush to apply the blot powder, the 187 brush is a large duo fibre brush and I find it applies a light dusting of powder without it being cakey. Having dry skin finding a powder can be a nightmare but the blot powder is brilliant for my dry and dehydrated skin as it doesn't cake or settle into any fine lines, I really like it and have re purchased it many times. If you would like to try the blot powder, you can find it on the MAC website here for £20.50 for 12g of product.

Another powder I loved in 2015 is the Charlotte Tilbury Air Brush Flawless Finish powder, I have the shade 1 Fair, there are 2 other shades available medium and dark. I do have a full review post of the Charlotte Tilbury airbrush flawless finish powder on my blog which you can read here for an in depth review and photographs of me wearing it. I bought the powder with some birthday money I had and since buying it I have used it a lot, it does give a lovely luminous finish and doesn't cake or settle into any fine lines but it is very expensive at £33.00 for 8g of product so £12.50 more expensive than the Blot Powder which has 12g of product,  both powders give the same results and I love them both but have hit pan massively on the Charlotte Tilbury and not at all on the MAC Blot Powder despite having the Blot Powder for longer. I would say if you like luxury products and nice packaging and money isn't a problem then go for the Charlotte Tilbury but if you don't want to spend as much and you want the product to last longer then go for the MAC, I get exactly the same results from both powders and love them both but for me I wouldn't buy the Charlotte Tilbury again because of two reasons, one being the price, it is very expensive and the other reason being I have hit pan massively and considering I only purchased it around the beginning of April 2015 and by the summer I had hit pan massively and I don't wear make up every day so was only using it around 3 times a week isn't great and I think if I wore make up daily I would use the powder up in around 3 months or maybe less so for me it is far too expensive. I do however love the powder and it is a definite favourite of 2015 and is beautiful just unfortunately not economical for me at all. If you would like to try the Charlotte Tilbury airbrush flawless finish powder you can find it on the Selfridges website here for £33.00 for 8g of product. 

Blush

The first blush I want to mention is the Primark blush in the shade Pink, this blush was just £2 and is huge, I bought it after I was asked if I could try some of the Primark make up and share my thoughts and to be honest I didn't expect to love this blush as much as I do. It is a lovely shade of pink that gives a nice flush to the cheeks, it does look quite scarily bright in the pan but it does transfer onto the skin as a nice pink flush, I used this blush non stop for months after I bought it and the above photograph was taken just last week and as you can see I haven't made a dent in it despite using it many times. I do have a blog post on the Primark blush showing swatch photographs and a photograph of me wearing the blush which you can read here if you would like more information on the blush but I would highly recommend the blush and if it is still available in Primark I would snap it up, it's stunning and an amazing price too. 

Another blush I loved throughout 2015 is the MAC Royal Sunset blush, this blush was part of the All About Orange collection in summer 2013 and I would go as far to say is my all time favourite blush, it is absolutely stunning. It's a peach/coral blush with a pink undertone and looks beautiful on the skin and is my most worn blush every summer, I just wish I had bought more than one because it was limited edition, luckily MAC do often re promote products though and if this is ever re promoted I will be snapping up another 1 or 2 of them as backups. After much researching I have never found a dupe for this blush and after searching the internet it seems neither has anyone else as I couldn't find one online for you either so it seems we will have to keep our fingers crossed for a MAC re promote but if ever you do come across this blush in a blog sale or a CCO I would snap it up as it really is stunning. 

MAC Mocha blush is another of my all time favourite blushes, I love it and it's the blush I wear most throughout autumn and winter, it is a lovely pink/plum toned neutral blush that goes well with any lip colour and a blush I recommend a lot when asked about MAC blushes, I love it and would happily re purchase it over and over again, a little product goes a long way as I have used this blush so many times over the years I have had it and have not yet made a dent in it, MAC blushes are expensive but they are worth the money, the colour payoff is incredible, they last forever and are available in stunning shades with a shade to suit everyone, I have quite a few MAC blushes on my wish list. I would highly recommend Mocha, it is a stunning shade and one that would suit many skin tones, if you would like to try it you can find it on the MAC website here for £18.50.

Highlight

The highlight I chose as my 2015 favourite is the highlight from the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow palette, it is absolutely stunning and I adore it, the highlight has a golden tone to it and has a beautiful sheen but isn't overly glittery, I use a light hand when applying the highlight as a little product goes a long way and I have used it so much without making any sort of dent in it at all, I use a tiny amount on a Real Techniques setting brush and brush over the tops of my cheekbones and it gives the most incredible finish, I do have a full review of the Charlotte Tilbury Bronze and Glow palette on my blog which you can read here if you would like to see photographs of me wearing the highlight and swatches too, it is a stunning product and one I am so pleased to have in my collection. If you would like to try the palette you can find it on the Selfridges website here for £49.00. 

Those were all my favourite base products of 2015 and what a lot of products there were! Some of the products were new products that I tried for the first time in 2015 and some are old favourites, it was hard to narrow down products to put into this post as I love so many products but these are the products I have reached for the most over 2015 when doing my make up. What category of favourites would you like to see next, would you like to see nail products, skin care, hair care, eye shadows and products or lip products? Please let me know either in the comments or via social media or email. 

Do you have any of the products that I featured in today's post? And please tell me what are your favourite base products of 2015, it's always good to get product recommendations and to try new things so I would love to know what your favourite base products are of 2015. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x