Thursday, 27 January 2011

NOTW :)

Now, shit quality, bad packaging, horrendous prices, awful customer services, ambassador scheme rip offs and scams and lack of availability aside, I've actually quite enjoyed using the eyeko products I bought the other day! Easily my favourite is the 'Chi Chi' polish, a gorgeous rose pink glitter that looks absolutely stunning in natural daylight! Only issue with it is that its practically impossible to photograph so i've combined my own (rubbish, couldn't be bothered to find the SLR) photos, with some from other blogs which will all be creditted!






From here.

From here


So, so pretty! and i love the illustrations on the bottle label!

xo

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Got attitude? A little giveaway!

Hey everyone! A while ago I was contacted by Girls With Attitude to ask if I'd like to try some of their products (alright, I know, I'm known for having a bit of a gob on me... I'll say it before you guys do!!). I thought it was pretty fitting so I said yes! Let me start by saying that although I received the products free, this has not had any impact on my opnion :)

I was sent the Super Lush Glamour Lashes and a sheet of Flower nail art stickers, both perfect items for me as I wear false eyelashes about 4 times a week and love a bit of nail art in my life!

Here are some shots of the products :) The stock photo of the lashes is there to show you what they look like in the box as I obviously had them on when I took the photos! (the lashes you can see peeping out are another pair of GWA ones that I bought for myself as I loved the pair I was sent so much and wanted a back up pair!








and some photos of me wearing the lashes:





^please excuse my eyebrows, they're in dire need of a wax at the moment!

I haven't used the nail art stickers yet as I've just not had time with all my uni work. Regardless, they're absolutely beautiful and have little rhinestones in the flower centres! Just tooooo cute!!

The packaging of these products is absolutely beautiful and really catches the eye! definitely better than plain eyelure/ardell boxes! The lashes are light, easy to apple, comfortable, and don't peel off! The glue is super strong and flexible and didn't stick my eyes together.. a huge plus! This is at least the 6th time i've worn these lashes and they still look brand new, they're such amazing quality!

Also, as I'm writing this, I've been wearing them for 13 hours! (I put them on at 10am this morning and its now 11pm!!). They still look exactly as they did when I first applied them and my eyes don't feel sore, itchy, or weighed down.

These lashes get an absolute 10/10 for me. I'm going to buy some of the other styles from boots or something and try them out because I'm genuinly amazed with how good these are for the £5 price tag. Normally my eyes are sore, itchy and irritated after wearing lashes for 3-4hours so these are top notch. They're actually better than my beloved mac no.7's and that is saying something!

These lashes can be bought on the Girls With Attitude website or over at Boots both online and in store! I highly recommend that you give these a shot, even if you haven't got on with falsies before because these are fool proof and so light and comfy! I've made a little list of eyelashes I want to order from the website both for myself and for my make-up clients! They're holy grail material!

I was so impressed with these I contacted Girls with Attitude and asked them if I would be able to host a giveaway for some of their products. To my absolute delight they said yes! So you have the chance to win:

*One pair of Super Lush lashes
*One pair of Short and Sweet lashes (the same style as the Super Lush just a bit shorter)

To win these products all you have to do is:
*Be a follower of my blog (yes, i will check)
*Leave a comment that DOES NOT SAY ENTER ME. it can be anything else, but bloody hell i don't want to read a million 'enter me's' haha :)
*To get an extra entry you can write about this giveaway on twitter if you like, just be sure to include @imcatwest so i see the tweet!

The giveaway will end on Monday 7th February at 5pm so you have two weeks to enter! Please be sure to leave an email address on the comment so I can email you if you win! I will give the winner 48 days to respond before drawing another one.

xo

Make-up for a lazy day...

Or a not lazy day as the case may be! These photos were taken before i put the purple and lilac in my hair, on a day where i was just doing uni work *sigh* and going food shopping... its nothing life changing but hey, i said i was back to blogging and that i am!






I wore Revlon colourstay foundation (in 150 buff - in case you're wondering i'm NC15), Rimmel stay matte pressed powder, MAC msf in porcelain pink, mac e/s in dazzlelight (highlight) and satin taupe (all over the lid), Rimmel exxagerate liquid liner and Rimmel sexy curves mascara :) on my lips i just have Borjouis so delicate lip cream in 'rose poudre' :)

Super simple but enough to make me look like i'd made an effort when really it took me about 3 minutes :D

xo

Friday, 21 January 2011

Home for a few days:



xo

A little bit of loot..

Hi everyone! Appologies for my sporadic posting recently, I'm having a minor dissertation related breakdown!

With breakdowns, comes shopping!






Eyeko Chi Chi Polish
MAC paint pot in 'chilled on ice'
Maybelline 24hour Super Stay foundation
Eyeko cream with 'extra glow'
Eyeko Graffiti eyeliner pen in black
GOSH eyebrow pencil (Sarah, if you're reading this, it still hasn't grow back!!)
MAC 217 (my first ever MAC brush, can you believe that?! I can't!

I also got some black and grey leggings from Primark but they're boring and stuff ;)

I was actually appalled with the service from eyeko, I didn't receive my free ambassador gift and my products weren't packaged well at all! I like them all but I'm reluctant to order again, Eyeko just isn't what it used to be :(

Everything here was bought with my own money, with the exception of the MAC goodies, which were bought with part of the £100 gift card he gave me for christmas! :)

Have you bought anything nice recently? Link me to your posts on it :)

xo

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Everybody loves Liz!

A while ago I was sent, quite frankly, a sh*tload of Liz Earle products to review! Sadly this was just before I had a bit of a break from blogging and i only managed to write up the infamous cleanse and polish (which i sadly didn't get on with). Now i'm back to my usual blogging self, i'm going to write about the rest of the skincare i received, a face mask, and the haircare :) not all in one post though!





First up: Liz Earle 'instant boost' skin tonic. I was sent the 200ml bottle and its still going strong! its going to last for ages :) The 200ml bottle retails at £11.75 which is perfectly reasonable for a product of this quality. This is suitable for all skin types and the Liz Earle website claims that it 'refreshes, soothes and brightens your skin. It also adds a fine layer of moisture'. I can add nothing else to that description at all, i use this twice a day, morning and night, and i'm elated with the results. I suffer with a bit of dry skin on my nose and sometimes on my cheeks and this really freshens and brightens my skin up without it feeling greasy or anything like that :) I've also had no break outs at all since using it! Not even on my chin which is a miracle to be honest!! I'm extremely happy with this product and will 150% be repurchasing it as soon as this bottle gets close to running out as i don't want to go a day without it!



Next: Skin Repair Moisturisor for normal/combintion skin. I was sent the 50ml jar of this which retails at £17.60 which is a bit expensive in my (student) opinion. Although i love this moisturisor, i do save it for 'emergencies' or 'special occasions' as i can't really afford to replace it once it runs out! I normally use this at night time as i feel that its a bit heavy for daytime use, then again i don't really suffer with dry skin too much. If you skin is really dry then this could be perfect for you for daily use :). I find that it gets rid of any dry patches and really helps my skin to look fresh and radiant. The Liz Earle website claims that this 'softens, smoothes and conditions skin for a naturally healthy glow', and again i can't really add alot to that, i think the descriptions of the products on the website are fantastic and really accurate, its rare to read something then find that the product does exactly that! I'm only about a third of the way through my pot of this as i only need to use the tiniest amount ever so again, i think this will last pretty much forever! haha :)

These two products (and some others that i'll talk about another time) have completely changed my previous opinion of Liz Earle products, which is just proof that you should never judge a brand on one product :)

xo

Saturday, 15 January 2011

My new video camera!



won't be blogging again until wednesday! love you all! xo

Less work more play...



Or not as the case may be. Stew bought me a Tamagotchi for christmas (YES I KNOW!! A F*CKING TAMAGOTCHI!) and i've been absolutely, completely, utterly, 100% obsessed with it since. It went baby>child>teenager>adult, then got married and had a baby :| Apparantly i'm supposed to look after all 3 of them (mum, dad, baby) and eventually the parents fly away and the baby is your new Tamagotchi to look after (i know, mindblowing isn't it)!

Today I've been focusing on my uni work a lot so it's been on pause (WHY didn't they have a pause function when we were kids?! WHYYYYY?!) i'm gutted, i just wanna play with it all the time :(

You can see the dad (on the left) baby (middle) and mum (right) in that photo. too cute not to share really isn't it?

xo

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Changes to my diet :)

A few days ago, I tweeted that i was going to make some big changes to my diet, i've been doing this for about a week now and have lost 2LB so far! I thought i'd write a quick blog post detailing the simple things i've been doing :)



*I've been using this app on my phone to calorie count, record exercise, and to help with my water intake.
*I've swapped my usual snacks of chocolate, crisps, and sweets for cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, dried cranberries and dried mango. I also have the odd special k bar or a packet of snack a jacks.
*I've swapped things like cheese sandwiches, bowls of pasta and super noodles for soups, salads and yoghurts.
*I've swapped coco pops for porridge.
*I've swapped large dishes of pasta and other unhealthy evening meals for fresh meat and steamed vegetables, with very, very small portions of carbohydrates, lentil dishes, ad other healthy high protein, low fat meals.
*I'm sticking to 1200cals a day.
*I'm making a huge effort to drink the recommended 8 glasses of water a day.
*I'm walking to town instead of getting a lift with stew.
*I'm having a cup of tea when i get the urge to eat naughty things.
*I'm cutting out takeaways and drive thru's.
*I'm taking multivitamins and fibre tablets.
*I'm using sweeteners (tablet and powder) instead of sugar.
*I'm reading (read:studying) the backs of packets before buying things.
*I'm trying to cook as much from scratch as possible.
*I'm allowing myself the odd treat (a few mini eggs, a handful of popcorn, a low cal chocolate bar) every now and then.

So far i feel much better about myself, i have more energy, and i'm happier!
I weighed myself today and i've lost 3.5lb so far, i'm absolutely thrilled! I think I'm going to update each Thursday with progress and how my week has gone etc if you would like to see that?

xo

xo

My return and loot video!!



this video is proof of how strange and hilarious i am, enjoy!
xo

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

A few snaps...


diet

parents

sleeping with best friends

reading this ♥

going to the shops in my slippers

partying

petrol stations

too much tea

tron in 3D

haircut

fangirl status

honour over glory and pastrys for a shopping trip

skype with a sexy (and single, girls!) best friend ♥

posing in NYE make-up

going out for drinks in the cold

mid blink photos


i dunno whether i like this sort of post because its hard to choose which photos to use so let me know if you like this or not, i'd appreciate the feedback!
xo

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Getting glammed up...

As many of you already know, I work at a dance school/theatre/café-bar part time whilst studying at Uni. I never thought it would be the sort of job i enjoyed, as aside from my make-up stuff, i'm not that into the arts. Well to put it simply, i've never, ever been happier! The people are amazing, my shifts are fantastic, and i've learnt more than i ever dreamed i would (sign language, first aid, dance styles, etc)... A few weeks ago we had a Burlesque show, we do them every month and i get to watch! its not pervy or anything like that, for those of you that don't know much about it, think Dita Von Teese, fire eating, piano playing, ukulele playing, naughty humour, nipple tassels and more glitter than you can woop and cheer at!!

Anyway, this is how i wore my hair and make-up, I've been really reluctant to post these photos as they were taken at a bad angle and make my face look a lot fatter than it actually is :( regardless i was super happy with the look so here they are!! No nastiness please!





My hair was just curled using my straighteners with my extensions in, i haven't written about it on my blog but i put little pink and purple streaks in my extensions about two months ago so they matched the pastels in my hair! I absolutely adore how they look, different, but not too in your face :)

Face: Nars Sheer Glow, Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder, no concealer or anything :D wooo!!

Cheeks: Maybelline dream mousse blusher in '04 mauve' (for some reason i couldn't find this on the boots website, annoying!), and the Sleek contour kit in 'light'.

Eyes: MAC eyeshadows in: dazzlelight (highlight), woodwinked (all over lid), tempting (through the crease) and carbon (in the outer corner). Rimmel liquid liner along the upper lash line, Urban decay 24/7 pencil in 'zero' (black) in the waterline (upper and lower). Then i put Collection 2000 glam crystals glitter liner in silver under my lower lashes and about 15 coats of MAC studio fix lash mascara in black!! I finished the look off with some Girls Aloud for Eyelure Nadine lashes!

Lips: MAC creme cup lipstick :)

I mentioned that i was going to try to improve my blog and my writing by including much more detail in my posts and i really hope thats apparent here as its taken me flippin' ages to link all of that! (for those who care i write all of the html into my posts in raw format, i don't use the blogger text editor or picture uploader or anything! geek central!!)

hope you enjoyed that and don't mind that i look like i have a hippo face in it!

xo

Monday, 10 January 2011

Todays little loot :)

Hey everyone! its been literally yonks since i posted with things i've bought or whatever... blimey! Today i popped into town after watching Kelly's latest video and finding that i had the overwhelming urge to shop! I had originally planned to buy some vans authentics and some leggings from primark but apparantly the colour i want (pink, naturally!) is the rarest colour to find! Luckily Stew and I shop in a tiny little boutique-ish shop in derby LOADS and the guys in there said they would custom order them for me :D eeeee! oh and primark didn't have my size :/ i still managed to get a few bits though! :)



First up, in Lush I got Sexbomb, Twilight, Keep it fluffy - Purple, and Ickle baby bot! For some reason the amazing lady in there decided to give me a free Cupcake face mask as well! Score!!

Also in the above photo are some insoles and heel grips i bought from Clarks for about £2.50 (recommended by Charlotte) to put in my New Boots, I originally bought them in a 6 but they were way too small when i got them home, so i swapped them for a 7 (which are a bit too big!) huge pain in the bum but hopefully the insoles etc will solve that :)

And some deodorant that i got on offer (2 for £3!!) from boots, i hate buying it as its always so expensive but its pretty necessary really isn't it ;)

Next, Accessorize!! Some of you may have seen on my Twitter the other day that stew had bought me a cute necklace and earring set as a surprise little gift to cheer me up as i've been doing a lot of uni work...



Well I didn't mention it at the time but he also bought me a ridiculously cute Cat ring (pictured below) and when I looked online I spotted a little panda that quite clearly needed to be the kitty's friend! I picked that up today for £4 along with some leopard print hair grips for £1.50 and an amazing rabbit in a hat ring for £2.10!! They're SO CUTE its almost sickening! Totally 'me' :)





So yeah, that was it for today!! not much really, just a few little bits and bobs to keep me going throughout this dissertation work *dies*.
So thats it! I'm officially back to blogging and have decided to try and include much more detail, links etc, into my writing, hopefully you noticed that in this post? I'd definitely appreciate some feedback and even constructive criticism! I really enjoyed writing this, I think the blogging break was exactly what I needed :D

xo