Current Autumn Random Favourites

Hello Lovelies

Today I have a current random favourites post for you and since we're now into autumn, it's my current autumn random favourites, these are things I've been loving lately that are not beauty related such as TV, film, apps, websites, bloggers, you tubers amongst other things. I am going to be writing a current autumn beauty favourites post too so keep an eye out for that post if favourites are your thing, but now for my current autumn random favourites. 

TV

I can't not mention the X Factor (ITV1 Sat 8pm & Sun 7pm), we love the X Factor in our house and watch every year, Simon says he doesn't like it but still watches every week and has an opinion on who he thinks should and shouldn't get through, strange eh? But we watch religiously every Saturday and Sunday and this year has been extra special because one of my best friends knows one of the contestants, he sadly didn't make the final 12 but he did make the judges houses, if you watch the X Factor he is called Christian Burrows and I'm sure you'll know who I mean, he is a lovely lad and a fantastic singer/songwriter and it is such a shame he didn't make the live shows, saying that knowing a contestant really opens your eyes and I'm not surprised to be honest, lets just say things aren't what they seem on TV. I do like the X Factor though and we will continue to watch the live shows although Christian didn't make it, at the moment we like 5 after midnight, Gifty, Matt and Emily out of the final 12 and there are a few acts we wanted to see in the final 12 who didn't make it, who do you like and who did you want in the final 12? 

We're also loving the return of Cold Feet (ITV1 Monday 9pm) in our house, I am the only person who watched it first time round, the girls were too young and Simon didn't watch it but now all 4 of us love it and are hooked and for me it is like putting on an old pair of slippers, it's just as fabulous as it always was. 

National Treasure (C4 Tuesday 9pm) is something else we've been watching, it is a drama starring Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters about a TV celeb who is accused of historical rape. It is a good drama so far and worth a watch if you like drama's, it's interesting especially in the light of the news the last couple of years but I do also wonder if it is a bit soon for the victims of the crimes the show is based on.  

Hunted (C4 Thurs 9pm) is something we watched last year and is back for a 2nd series, this year there is a £100,000 prize where there wasn't a prize last year. Hunted is a show where a number of the public go on the run and become fugitives and the aim is to try and stay hidden for 28 days whilst they are hunted by a team of experts, the hunters speak to their families, hack their online accounts and phones etc and try their best to find them, it is really interesting and you find yourself willing the hunted to stay hidden, if you watch the show, we like Nick and really want him to win, it's something I wouldn't ever have watched but we fell on it completely by accident last year and were hooked so we're really pleased it's back, the girls love it too. 

We're also loving Paul O'Grady for the love of dogs again (ITV1 Thurs 9pm) we had a Cocker Spaniel, Oscar and sadly lost him in July 2014, he was 14.5 years old and we love dogs, the show is all about Battersea dogs and cats home and follows the stories of the dogs who are being cared for there and how they came to be there, it is so nice to see the happy endings when the dogs are found new homes and they are looking happy but it can also be sad too, there are a lot more happy endings than sad ones though, it also makes us question if we should have another dog. 

The last thing we have been watching is Body Fixers (E4 Fri 9pm) If you have seen the show Tattoo Fixers, this is the new spin off show Body Fixers, Body Fixers has a team of beauty professionals including hairdressers, beauticians, makeup artists and a doctor to help people "fix" their body/beauty disasters. Some of the clients are genuine like a lady who had been through chemo and her hair wouldn't grow but some are a bit different for example Octavio from the X Factor was on the first episode having a shave and some sparkle in rather a delicate area! It's completely bonkers but we just have to watch it, it is easy watching and a bit of escapism at the same time, if you want to try something different, give it a go. 

Film

A film I have watched recently is The Purge 3 - Election Year, we love the purge films in our house and since seeing the trailer for the 3rd one when we went to see The Conjuring 2, we were eagerly awaiting it's release at the cinema, however it's release date was delayed but the film was available on the showbox app so we watched it via that. I have to say we were really disappointed with it, it was extremely predictable and I know they all are to a degree but there wasn't any twists at all and we just didn't enjoy it as much as the other 2 films. If you haven't yet seen it don't let me put you off as I know some people think it's the best 1 out of the 3 but we just didn't like it, I'm just glad we didn't pay to see it at the cinema. 

Books

I'm afraid I am still reading Me Before You, I used to read such a lot but now I just don't have the concentration because of my medical conditions and I get distracted too, I am going to start setting some time aside to read again so hopefully I will have started a new book next time I have a favourites post. 

Music

I have been loving the return of Britney Spears and really like her new material, I have always been a Britney fan and her new releases are really good, she has been on TV a lot recently too promoting her new stuff and she looks really well. If you haven't had a listen to her new records yet, give them a go, they're good. 

Apps 

This was in my favourite apps last time but I'm still loving Snapchat ( add me - mammafulzo) I love the filters on there and it's nice I can chat to you all too, I'm still loving Instagram and like their new stories but hate the way it's changed because I miss a lot of posts from people I follow. 

Websites

I have been looking for clothes recently online as I am in desperate need of some new ones, I have recently ordered from H&M and usually I hate ordering from them because my order takes forever but it was super fast this time and I noticed they now have a express delivery option too, so much better and if you have been put off ordering for the same reason, give it a go, it's much better. 

New Look have some lovely things in for autumn/winter too as do River Island, Oasis and Next, I have been enjoying browsing their sites for some new clothes and may have placed some online orders recently, let me know if you would like a fashion haul, I'm thinking of doing a "try on" haul blog style. 

Food & drink

Simon has recently been making what we call Fajita pasta, it's basically pasta sauce with chicken, peppers, onion, garlic and spices which he mixes into the pasta, adds mexicana cheese into it and stirs it in until it's melted. It is really yummy and tastes a bit like fajitas, we have it with garlic bread. If you would like me to write a post on the recipe, let me know.

Blogger 

A favourite blogger of mine and not just a current blogger favourite but an always blogger favourite is the lovely Roxie who writes the blog The Beautiful Bluebird, Roxie has recently had a beautiful baby girl, Penelope and it is a joy to read about her, Roxie also writes beauty and lifestyle posts and I really enjoy her blog, I have lots of things written down on my "to try" list that I have seen on Roxie's blog, she is a lovely girl and her blog is fabulous and seeing posts about the adorable Penelope is a definite added bonus, she is beautiful. I'd love you to check Roxie's blog out, you can find it here. 

Youtuber

My current favourite you tuber is the lovely Emma, she has a channel and blog called brummymummyof2 and as you can probably guess from her channel name she is from Birmingham and has 2 children. Emma is fabulous and very very funny, she has my sense of humour and makes me laugh so much, she is the sort of person I would be friends with and it was 2 of my friends Emma and Khila who told me to watch her because they knew I would like her. She makes all kinds of video's including vlogs, hauls, favourites, Q&A's and lots of other good stuff and as soon as I see a new video in my sub box, I watch it and know it will be brilliant before I've started to watch. I could waffle on for ages about how wonderful Emma is, but go and check her out for yourself, you won't regret it, and if you do check her out, tell her I sent you. You can find her channel here. 

So those are all the random things I have been loving recently, what things have you been loving recently? Let me know your random favourites in the comments below what things you recommend on TV or films I should watch, books I should read or blogs I should read, and let me know any yummy recipes to try or websites you shop on and who your favourite you tubers are, leave me a comment below to tell me. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

SaveSave

Rimmel Fresher Skin Foundation

Hello Lovelies

I don't know if you feel the same, but I feel like I am always on the look out for my "holy grail" foundation. I have tried a lot of foundations over the years, some I have bought in full size, some samples and some I have been sent but I am still on the hunt for "the one" that foundation that I can say I love and will re purchase for ever and a day because I love it so much, is it just me? 

So in my quest to find the one, I recently picked up a couple of new foundation launches from the drugstore/high street, and if you are a regular reader of my blog, you will have read my autumn drugstore beauty haul post where I showed the foundations I picked up and one of those foundations was the Rimmel Fresher Skin foundation, and I chose the shade 100 Ivory. 

The foundation comes in a glass pot with a screw on lid, there is an extra plastic cover to stop the foundation transferring into the lid. 

The foundation is available in 6 shades and I chose the shade 100 Ivory, choosing a foundation shade online can be quite tricky but I have the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation and use 100 Ivory in that so I took a gamble and picked up the same shade. 

The 6 shades available are; 

✿ 010 Light Porcelain

✿ 100 Ivory

✿ 103 True Ivory

✿ 200 Soft Beige

✿ 201 Classic Beige

✿ 400 Natural Beige

What Rimmel Says About The Foundation

Fresher Skin Foundation offers light breathable coverage for an even, natural-looking, fresh finish that stays shine-free all day. 

The ultra-smooth texture is easy to apply & blends perfectly, for a barely there feel that does not clog pores and lets skin breathe with added SPF 15. 

Natural mineral powders help absorb excess oil presenting shine, while the formula with Aloe, Chamomile & Sea Algae extracts help reduce redness and evens out natural skin tone. 

For a freshly applied natural-look and feel, shine-free throughout the day!

My Thoughts

My first thoughts were that I wasn't too keen on the packaging of the foundation but due to it's consistency I completely understand the need for a pot rather than a bottle with a pump, I do think that a small spatula type tool inside the lid would have been useful but it isn't a huge deal. 

The foundation has a gel like consistency and felt thick and also quite wet when I first felt it , but it doesn't feel as thick when I apply it and it applies effortlessly to the skin. I have used my fingers, a brush and my beauty blender to apply the foundation, and my preferred method of application is with my beauty blender. I take some foundation from the pot on my finger and dab it in areas around my face and then use my beauty blender to apply the foundation. 

The foundation has a light coverage so if you have any area's that need concealer, you will still need to use it, but it can be layered to provide more of a medium coverage, again you will still need to apply concealer if needed.  The foundation has a lovely fresh scent to it and it feels lovely and cooling on the skin and as the name suggests it leaves my skin feeling fresh. The foundation blends in really well and as I said I prefer to use my beauty blender to apply it, it leaves a matte finish to my skin but doesn't look powdery or cakey at all. I agree with Rimmel's claims that it leaves a shine free finish, covers redness, it feels and looks natural on the skin and it doesn't clog my pores. 

I wore the Rimmel Fresher Skin Foundation for 9 hours and it lasted really well, it didn't go patchy, it didn't settle into my dry skin or fine lines and it still look great when it came to me removing my makeup. 

Overall Thoughts

I really like the Fresher Skin foundation, it does do exactly what it says on the tin as they say, as you will see in the above photograph where I am makeup free, I have quite a lot of redness to my skin and the foundation covered my redness without me using any concealer, in the photograph of me wearing just the foundation, I am not wearing any concealer at all purely just the foundation and hopefully you'll be able to see that my redness and dark circles under my eyes covered really well. I did apply some concealer under my eyes before I finished my makeup and I added a light dusting of loose translucent powder all over my face, I have used the foundation without using any powder and it was fine, my skin stayed shine free all day, I do have very dry skin though so that is probably why, if you have oily skin you may need to powder the area's of your face that get oily through the day just to stop any shine that may occur. 

I am really pleased with the Fresher Skin Foundation and would recommend giving it a try, I can't say yet that I have found my "holy grail" foundation but it does exactly what it says on the tin and is a great product especially for the price. 

If you would like to try the Rimmel Fresher Skin foundation, you can find it on the Superdrug website £7.49 or the Boots website £7.49, or the Feel Unique website £7.49. Boots and Superdrug both have a 2 for £10.00 promotion on Rimmel products at the moment. 

Have you tried this foundation? What do you think? What is your "holy grail" foundation or are you like me and still on the look out? Let me know in the comments. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

Leighton Denny Large Crystal Nail File

Hello Lovelies

You may have seen in my huge beauty haul post back in August that I picked up the Leighton Denny Large Crystal Nail File after one of my lovely blog readers Victoria recommending it to me because she had been using hers for a few years and loved it. 

I picked my nail file up from Boots and bought the large size, there is a small size available also but there was only £3.00 difference so I went for the large. The nail file came in a clear plastic packaging with a cardboard insert which folds over and fills the bottom and back of the plastic packaging, I keep my nail file in the packaging all the time to keep it protected. 

The Leighton Denny Crystal Nail file is made from the finest lead crystal and a is professional size (195mm) the nail file is described as the Rolls Royce of nail files. The surface of the nail file is hardened so it will last and the file comes with a 25 year guarantee which is absolutely fantastic. 

I have bought so many nail files over the years and have never ever found one that lasts longer than about 3 or 4 uses, all my nail polishes, products and tools are used by myself and both my daughters and I always bought the cushioned nail files usually from Boots or Superdrug but they just don't last at all, the first use is great and then after they've been used a few times they are rubbish and I was sick of buying them so I asked on Twitter if anyone had any recommendations for a decent nail file and Victoria recommended the Leighton Denny. 

I was a little dubious when I went to pick up the nail file, £15.00 is a lot of money and is the most I have ever spent on a nail file in my life but like Simon pointed out, if I bought a couple of nail polishes it would cost the same and if it was a good nail file and worked better than the cushioned ones it would be worth it, so I bit the bullet and picked one up. 

I am so pleased I bought the nail file, it is brilliant, I have used it numerous times since I bought it in July, my daughters both use it too and it is fabulous and still performs exactly the same as when I bought it. The file is brilliant and shapes my nails so much better than any other nail file I have ever used, it is so smooth and not "draggy" like a normal nail file, my nails are left feeling so smooth without any snags. I find it works much faster than regular nail files too, my nails have smooth edges and are shaped in no time at all. Once I have used the nail file, I rinse it under warm water, let it air dry and then pop it back into the plastic sleeve packaging to protect it. 

I honestly can't recommend the nail file enough, it is absolutely brilliant, in the time I have had it which is around 7/8 weeks I would probably have purchased at least 2 or 3 packs of cushioned nail files which are around £2.00 so I would have spent around £6.00 on nail files meaning the Leighton Denny Crystal Nail File will pay for itself in around 6 months and with a 25 year guarantee, if it does last 25 years, goodness knows how much I would have spent on cushioned nail files over 25 years. 

This really is the Rolls Royce of nail files, and I never thought I would be passionate enough about a nail file to dedicate a blog post to one but this deserves it, it really is fantastic and if you are constantly buying nail files or you have wanted to try one of these but were worried it wouldn't be worth the price, it really is, I am so pleased I bought it and can't thank Victoria enough for recommending it to me. 

If you would like to try the Leighton Denny Large Crystal Nail File, you can find it online at John Lewis £15.50, they also have the smaller size £12.51 and both files come with an aluminium case and not a plastic sleeve like mine which I think is much better. 

You can also find the large crystal nail file on the Look Fantastic website £17.00 inc free delivery, they also have the smaller size £12.50 inc free delivery and again they come with the aluminium case. You can also find the large crystal nail file on the Boots website £15.50 they also have the smaller size £12.50. 

At the time of this blog post going live there is a discount code for Look Fantastic which is PARTY and enables you to either 20% or 15% discount, so I would say if you want to order the nail file that would be the best option as they also offer free delivery.

Have you tried the Leighton Denny Crystal Nail File or any other crystal nail file? Let me know in the comments below what you think. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

SaveSave

My first Gel NOTD - Sensationail Precious Peony

Hello Lovelies

I recently received a Sensationail Deluxe Gel Starter Kit (see full review post here) I absolutely love the kit and so much so that I have bought some more gel polishes to use with it and have my eye on quite a few more. One of the polishes I have is Precious Peony by Sensationail and today I have my very first gel nail polish NOTD (nail of the day) post using it, I also added an accent nail and in today's post I will let you know how I created the look and also let you how the polish wore and how long it lasted, so I will give you a review of the products used too.

Creating The Look

I created today's look on my daughters nails, Cole really wanted to try the Precious Peony so she was my guinea pig for today's nail look. I used the Sensationail Deluxe Gel Starter Kit to create the look, it is a fantastic kit and contains everything needed to create 10 gel manicures. 

Creating The Look

The first thing I did was cleansed the nails using the cleanser and a lint free wipe, then applied the primer to all the nails and let it air dry, I then applied the base coat and cured under the lamp for 15 seconds, then I applied 1 coat of Precious Peony to all the nails and cured it under the lamp for 30 seconds, I then applied a second coat of Precious Peony to all the nails and cured for 30 seconds. 

Next I used the MAC Reflects Transparent Pink glitter and applied it to the ring finger, I applied it by dabbing it onto the nail with my finger until all the nail was covered. 

Finally I applied a coat of the top coat to all the nails and cured under the lamp for 15 seconds and to finish I wiped over all the nails with some cleanser on a lint free wipe.

The Finished Look

I really like the pink sparkly accent nail and it goes to show you don't have to use a glitter gel polish to achieve this look, you can use any glitter you have but I thought the Reflects Transparent Pink glitter would look lovely, I hope you agree. 

The polish wore really well and lasted for 2 weeks before Cole had to remove it because of the re growth she had on her nails. Her nails were still very glossy and the glitter accent nail was absolutely fine, I worried it wouldn't last because I'd used a MAC glitter and not a glitter gel polish but it was fine and Cole received so many compliments on her nails with people asking where she'd had them done and what brand and shade it was. 

To remove the polish, Cole cut up some large square cotton pads into small pieces and soaked them in acetone nail polish remover, she then wrapped them around her nail then wrapped her nail in some tin foil and left for around 20 - 30 minutes and then used a wooden cuticle pusher to scrape the polish off, it removed really easily as did the glitter accent nail. 

I am really pleased with the way Coles nails turned out, and think this is a really pretty look. When I did Coles nails it was only the second time I had used the Sensationail gel kit so I am really pleased Cole got so many compliments on her nails, I think the accent nail looks lovely too and I am really pleased how well the polish and the accent nail lasted, they both wore really well and still looked great when it was time to remove the polish. 

I hope you enjoyed my very first gel notd post, let me know if you would like to see some more gel polishes in my notd posts and if you would like me to use some different glitters for accent nails too. 

If you would like to re create this look, you can find the Sensationail Deluxe Gel Starter Kit on the Boots website for £49.99, the Precious Peony gel nail polish is also on the Boots website £15.00 and you can find the MAC glitter in Reflects Transparent Pink on the MAC website - £16.00. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

✿ Post contains PR Sample or Gifted Items