Recent nails ♥

Bonjour Blogettes!

Here's some recent 'NOTD's' for you :)

I've posted this from my iPhone4 and it always makes the images smaller, if you'd like to see detail/the full size images please just click on the photos and they will enlarge!



Jessica GELeration in 'soak up the sun' and 'merlot' (on Emily) - pretty but I wouldn't recommend GELeration it's crap!!




Barry M Ltd Edition purple with pink irridescent glitter over the top.




No 7 hot pink with Barry M blue crackle over the top.




Models own 'jade stone' with Barry M pink crackle over the top.




Pink and gold leopard with rhinestones.







Nude and gold leopard (my favourite mani I've EVER done <3)





OPI 'teenage dream' :) so sparkly!!

What do you think? If these inspire you or you recreate any of these looks please link back to this post and link me to your post so I can have a peek!!

Lots of love! xoxo

Currently Reading...

Sophie Kinsella - The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

and LOVING IT. The book is so much better than the film :)

xo

A full tour of our flat! ♥

Hiya lovelies!
Here's a little video tour of our new home :)
Hope you all enjoy it lots!

Please feel free to leave comments with anything you'd like to see or hear about in more detail and I'll do my absolute best to accomodate it. Negative comments will just be ignored, this is my home not yours haha! ;) and I absolutely adore it!



Oh and one final thing, if you have any cute ideas for storage or even just ideas in general please let me know! We're lacking inspiration really as it was pretty much furnished when we got here so it's difficult putting 'our touch' on it :(

xo

Current in's and out's ♥

Happy Saturday everyone!



Today we spent the day at Stew's parents' house in Nuneaton (any bloggers from the n-town? let me knowww!) and went strawberry/raspberry picking. In true 'Cat and Stew' style I dropped an ENTIRE box of raspberries on the floor and Stew got stung by a wasp! I had literally spent AGGESSSSS lovingly filling this box with carefully picked perfect plump fruit and I dropped it :( Story of my life!

Anyway, wanna hear some in's and out's? I haven't written a post like this for so long :)

IN:

Weight Watchers: I signed up online on Tuesday and I'm loving the new pro points system, fingers crossed this will work or I'm going to have to have some rather icky scans and 'inspections' to see if I have polycycstic ovaries!

"Summer make-up": a quick layer of foundation (NARS sheer glow or Estée Lauder Double Wear), powder, blush and 3 coats of mascara and I'm out the door dashing to my car whilst applying some lippy (MAC hue or INGLOT bright pink!). Quick, easy, and looks lovely :)

Our new flat and living with Stew 'properly' (as in just us two):



I've never really written too much about myself and Stew on my blog, predominantly because I feel like you guys don't really need to know everything do you? haha! Basically this October we'll have been together 3 whole years! We've always lived 'together' but with friends in student houses. This is our first 'home' and we're so happy, and so proud of what we've achieved. They say that you know when you've met the person you want to spend the rest of your life is and for me, Stew is 'that guy'. He puts up with how ridiculous I can be at times and sticks by me through absolutely everything. My love for him is completely unconditional and spending every day with just each other is only strengthening our bond. We couldn't be any happier. We have a healthy, stable and very very loving relationship and it's going to stay that way :)! (soppiness over!)

i've filmed a flat tour so let me know if you'd like to see it?

Catching up on my favourite blogs and youtube videos: I really missed having the internet and being able to sit in our office/study (ooooohhhhhh! officeeeee!) and blog and watch videos is so lovely!

My new love Diva Hair Dryer: just click here.

My new job: the 23rd August will be my first day as a Human Resources Officer at a massive UK based engineering firm. It's all rather 'grown up' with a (very nice!) salary, private health care plan and end-of-year-bonus... I'll have to wear a suit and I'll be working my bum off every single day doing something I love. I'm absolutely over the moon that I now have a career ladder to climb, and a job in an industry that will never die, without HR departments, there are no staff! I can't wait to go into work every day and have some responsibility. I bet some of you can't think of anything more boring but for me, it's my dream job! I'm all about anchoring myself and climbing a ladder, not flitting from fad to fad and working in the industry thats 'coolest' at the time. I'm business brained! haha ;)

Having my car back: The new flat is a 15 minute drive out of the city centre so I needed my car. I was really lucky and my Uncle (who works for my Dad) drove it up to Derby for me :) At the moment I drive one of these:



Ford Ka, all silver (no shitty black bumpers for me thanks!), alloy wheels ;), 1.3. YAWN. I've had my little ghetto bubble since I was 18!

But for my birthday my Dad bought me a new car and he's currently in the process of ugrading it a bit and generally just making it a bit 'better' but it's one of these:


image:google

Vauxhall Corsa, 1.5TDI, generally much better and bigger and more powerful!

I'm SO excited to get it because I just want something a bit more powerful and substantial, I don't feel particularly safe in my Ka really!

OUT:

'Work Limbo': I finish my current job on the 29th July and obviously don't start my new one until 23rd August! This means lots of boredom and very little money. Annoying! One thing that makes it better is thatI'm seeing H2O (my all time favourite band) on the 21st August and staying in a hotel with my very good friend Lu! Can't wait! H2O the 'hardcore' band, by the way... not the group who made that AWFUL 90's song!

Not seeing my best friend enough: My bestie Emily recently moved to Warrington (if you live in Warrington hit her up on Twitter @TheEmzilinie so she can make new friends!) and I really miss her! When we had to say 'goodbye' I just hugged her and ran away so she wouldn't see me cry haha! Luckily we're both road-trippin' home (Cambridge) next weekend so I'll get to see her!

Blog Related Bullshit: being bullied by another blogger about my weight (low blow) and dealing with anons (that are from aforementioned blogger - IP trackers are awesome!) claiming I 'only blog for free stuff' really sucks. Luckily for me, there are a few absolute BABES who are so lovely to me that it makes all of this worthwhile :)

An important note: I know that about 28% of my readers are 13-18 which is the sort of age where you might experience some form of bullying. I think it's really important for anyone who is currently experiencing any form of bullying to remember that the person is only doing it to make themselves feel better about their pathetic/lonely life. It's proven that 9 times out of 10 the bully has a bad home life, school life, work life or love life. They turn their anger on other people to drag them down and make themselves feel better about their life or themselves as a person. Recent studies have also shown that bullies are 85% more likely to bully people they are jealous of. Perhaps you've just got great school grades, a new job, new car, or new boyfriend and they're jealous of those things? Perhaps you do a lot of charity work/really lovely things for people and they wish they could be that nice? No matter what the circumstances you do not have to put up with it. You can speak to the police, your school, your parents or even Childline if none of those are appropriate then take a look at this website. I was bullied a lot throughout my entire school life (and its still continuing now) so if you wish to talk to me, I'm always here to listen and try to help you.

I'm not in this for drama or for 'freebies' and definitely don't ask/'beg' PR's for free things! If I'm lucky enough to get sent an email offering me something and its relevant then I'll try it but if not I say no! I'm 100% honest and have told you guys everything about what I've been sent/bought, sponsored articles and how much I've been paid, and what affiliate programmes I'm part of (just sigma, by the way). In all honesty, money is really tight right now (moving into the new flat cost a LOT of money) so I'm perhaps more willing to accept things for review literally because I wouldn't be able to afford to buy them in order to review them for you guys but that's literally it. I've recently replied to a few PR's politely declining their offers and linking them to some bloggers that I think would enjoy the products more than me so if anything, I actually pass the 'PR freebies' onto someone else!

I've been writing my blog for the best part of 3 years now and I've always stayed true to myself instead of being two-faced. I may be a bit gobby at times, but at least you all know I'm genuine!

'Professional Image: For me professional image means taking out my lip piercing (tongue and nose are easy to hide), having my bleached hair toned down to a Lauren Conrad/Whitney Port 'sunkissed caramel' and wearing thick tights to hide the tattoo's on my feet! I'm currently spending all my spare time looking for 'professional' clothes that still allow me to express my personality! guhhhh

Crikey this ended up being a lot longer than I'd planned! If you read it all the way through thank you very much!

Love you all loads xo

The best hairdryer in the world?

Iya!

I appear to be on a blog roll recently! you guys have had updates from me almost every day I'm sure! Considering my internet doesn't get connected until the 23rd July I think this is a bit of a miracle!

Recently I was given the chance to try some products by Diva Pro. These hair styling items aren't available on the high street and are designed specifically with professional use in mind. I obviously jumped at the chance and recently tried out the Beautiful Diva Pro Ultima 5000 Hair Dryer.





Holy-Moly. Not only is this hair dryer a thing of utter beauty, it performs better than any dryer I've ever tried.

As BrionyLou said on Twitter:
"I love my Diva hair dryer, it's like a reverse Dyson!"

I couldn't put it better myself :)



Boasting 2000watts, 4 heat settings, a 77km/h air speed, 3 speed settings, 'true cold' shot and ionic conditing - this is the Veyron 16.4 of the hair dryer world.

The dryer comes with the following 3 attachments:


Two air-directing-nozzles and an 'air styling wand'

I've been using the slightly wider nozzle (centre) as my hair is really thick and frizzy and its amazing! For my second Dyson-related-comment of the post, the air coming out of the nozzle feels like the air in those Dyson hand dryers in public toilets... the 'air blade' :)

not sure whats with the whole dyson-diva-thing...sorry!

Here's a before and after pic of my hair:



To some people, the image on the right wouldn't be particularly impressive but my hair is a thick, frizzy mess normally! With my old hair dryer it would take me roughly 10-12 minutes to dry my hair then 20 minutes to straighten (read:fry) it. The Ultima5000 dries my hair in 4-6 minutes (yes, I've timed it) and I don't need to straighten my hair afterwards. Sometimes I'll run my straighteners through my fringe or over the ends if its extra-scruffy that day but that's it! This is genuinely revolutionary for me, the 'after' image above is the smoothest my hair has EVER been when i've dried it at home and not had a salon blow dry ♥

I've tried around 15-18 hair dryers over a number of years ranging from £30-£250!!! (my dads ex girlfriend was/is a beautician) some high street, some 'pro' brands bought from trade wholesalers and this is hands down the best one I've ever tried. I would strongly recommend that if your current dryer just isn't quite cutting it, that you pick one of this up ASAP!

The Diva Pro Ultima 5000 is ONLY available at Sallys stores, Sally Express or on the Diva Pro website.

It retails at £79.99 which is an absolute bargain for such an incredible hair dryer and is available in rubberised black, gloss black and metallic pink.

10/10 from me!

xo

Some serious Liz Lovin'

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a fab day?!

A few days ago I was woken by the buzzer/phone in the flat (eugh) and it was the postman with a lovely parcel from the incredible people at Liz Earle! Lovely!

I've featured Liz Earle quite a bit on Reaching for The Stars and I'm yet to use anything from the brand that isn't amazing... I had a weird phase with Cleanse and Polish where it broke me out but now it really agrees with my skin and I've had no further problems.

Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent! Back to the parcel of love. (haha)..

I was incredibly lucky to be sent the Liz Earle Botanical Essence No1 and the SuperSkin Body Cream as well as a gorgeous beach/tote bag!




Botanical Essence No1:





please excuse my finger prints on the bottle! Silly flash!

This comes beautifully packaged in its own little dinky box with a blue ribbon on the side to slide the fragrance out. The bottle itself is glass, heavy and basic whilst still looking 'classy'.

On the side of the box, it says this:

"For our first ever fragrance we’ve used the finest natural botanical ingredients from around the world and the expert skills of a distinguished perfumer from Grasse, France. We gave him the time to indulge in the age-old art of perfumery, skilfully hand-crafting this complex scent with true passion to create this vibrant, sparkling fragrance translating into warmth and sensuality."

And inside the box there is a little note from the lovely Liz:


The fragrance is fresh and very 'clean' smelling. Heavy in patchouli with a slight hint of lavender. It also contains bergamot, geranium, lavender, coriander, mandarin and vetiver essential oils :)

I normally go for very sweet, sickly scents (britney spears fantasy, katie price stunning, etc) but this has completely stolen my heart. I literally haven't stopped dousing myself in it for days! A few of my friends have commented saying I smell 'grown up' and I've even had 'gossssh you smell amazing, normally you just smell of skittles' as well!

This bottle (50ml) retails at £40.35 which is a great price for such a gorgeous, good quality scent.

I'd love to think that as this is called 'No1' Liz has a few more up her sleeve! I can see myself filling a drawer with these bad boys!

SuperSkin Body Cream:

This cream is ultra-rich and formulated with 25% plant oils making it really intensive and great for parched, dry skin. It has the trademark Liz Earle herbal/fresh scent and is a thick cream (more of a body butter consistency than a cream consistency).







I've been slathering this all over my legs, feet, the tops of my arms and my chest/stomach after I've had a bath/shower in the evenings and I've noticed a real improvement in the condition of my skin. I even prefer this to my Elizabeth Arden 8 hour body cream and that is saying something!!!

This retails at £12.25 for a 50ml tube or £28.10 for a 200ml tube. Yes its pricey but you only need a tiny bit (it goes a really long way) and it's really good quality and effective. In my humble little opinion its worth every single penny and I'll definitely be purchasing another 200ml tube when this one runs out.

Beach/Tote Bag:





This is navy and cream, with a little 'Liz Earle' logo on the front! It's made of a thick, sturdy material and is absolutely gigantic! It also closes with a little magnetic snapper thingy that you can see in the last photo :) Since I received this I've been using it constantly, for shopping, or my lunch and bottle of water, or for notebooks etc... It's so, so useful and I love it so much! ♥

Have you tried any of these gorgeous products? Do you love them as much as me?

xo

Boho, Tropical, Extra Large?

Hullooooooo!

My love of dry shampoo is no secret, and I talk about Batiste quite a lot here at Reaching for The Stars... But with good reason, it's easily my all time favourite brand and I'm yet to try a product by Batiste that I don't love!

Today I just wanted to blog quickly about the new supersize cans of Batiste and in particular, the Boho and Tropical scents :)

blah blah small print: I was sent the boho as a PR sample and won the Tropical on Twitter so didn't actually buy either of these... as always this hasn't altered my opinion in any way.




If you haven't noticed, Batiste have recently bought out new mega-huge cans of their dry shampoo (and some mini ones!).

Batiste is now available in the following sizes:

50ml mini: £1.55
200ml: £2.99
400ml: £4.99




I have never found product effectiveness to differ between scents with Batiste at all and these two are no exception. They both eliminate any grease/oils from my hair and help it to feel freshly washed and clean without weighing it down or leaving any residue. These two in particular help my hair to smell absolutely gorge!

The Boho has a strong (but not overpowering) sweet scent. I cant quite pinpoint exactly what it smells of but if I had to describe it I'd just say 'summer' - it's divine!

The Tropical smells predominantly of coconut and pineapple but there's definitely a hint of citrus in the mix too :)

I love that you now get 200ml for £2.99 as it means I don't have to buy as often, however these cans are a little bit too big even for my handbag! I'm just going to buy a couple of the mini travel sized ones though - so it's not a problem at all ♥

Do you love Batiste as much as me? What do you think of the new sizes and these particular scents?

xo

ps - I much prefer the white lids! Nice one Batiste!!

Instantly Luscious Locks! ♥

Bonjour Blogettes!

Long time no see eh? Last night I signed up for weight watchers online in an effort to lighten up my lifestyle and get a bit slimmer ;)

So I thought it would be quite appropriate to also speak about lusciously light-er hair in an instant!

Yes, thats right... I'm talking about Aussie Lusciously Light MEGA Instant Conditioner ♥ I mentioned in a previous blog post that I had attended the Aussie Lusciously Light Soiree with a whole bunch of Aussie Angels!

Unfortunately I had to leave super early because of my flight to Paris the next day but I was lucky enough to be given a lovely goodie bag containing macaroons, nail polish, some hair accessories and a bottle of really cute bubbles!

Oh, and this bottle of joy...




This conditioner is for day-to-day happy hair and can be used as often as you like without weighing your hair down or causing build up.

Kangaroo Paw Flower (which gets its name because of its furry, paw-like flowers... cuuuute!) makes this conditioner super extra nourishing to give you healthy, bouncy, aussome ;) hair!

I've been using this every other wash since the event and I absolutely love it! It leaves my hair smooth, silky, nourished and really well moisturised yet my hair feels like I haven't used anything on it and it's just naturally that luscious (which isn't true!). There is certainly NO residue, build up or nasty slightly-greasy-crown-area (caused by some hard to rinse conditioners). Just lusciously light, nourished tresses!

I'd really recommend this for anyone who hates that 'just conditioned' weighed down feeling, or for anyone who has naturally gorgeous, nourished hair (lucky you!).

It (obviously) has the trademark amaaaaaaaazing Aussie scent and you can get the 'matching' Shampoo for extra-super-luscious hair ;)

You can buy this at Boots (£3.67), Superdrug (£3.49), Tesco, Asda (£3.48), Sainsburys and lots of other good retailers :)

Get down to the shops and snap it up whilst you can, its definitely a must have product for me now!

xo

Artful Teasing

No, not that sort of teasing! How rude are you lot ;) I'm quite obviously talking about bath salts...



I was sent samples of these Artful Teasing bath salts for review purposes. One little bottle of 'myrtle, sage, thyme, and eucalyptus' and one of 'lavender and tea tree'. I've used about half of each 30ml sample bottle so far and they just really aren't for me :( they definitely help to keep my skin hydrated in the bath, and it is relaxing... but I just can't get over how much they stink! I like my bath to smell of sweets and fruityness, I'm just not a big fan of 'relaxing aromatherapy odour' :/ maybe its something I'll grow into, or learn to love, but for now it just isn't for me...

Have you ever tried bath salts? Did you get on with them or do you like your bath water pink and sparkly like me?

xo

Brighter, Blonder Barnet!

Yes, that's right! Two posts in one day! Who'da thunk it eh? ;)

I'm just about to go for a run but I'm having a bit of blog withdrawal at the moment so I thought I'd tell you about some gorge products that I've been using lately to keep my hair as bright and blonde as possible!

Organic Surge Blonde Boost Shampoo and Conditioner



These products are free from parabens and contain no sodium laurel/laureth sulphate. They also aren't tested on animals and contain no harsh foaming agents. Thus, they fit into the 'natural series' rather well!

The Shampoo:



250ml

This has a fairly runny consistency so you don't need to use much to get your hair nice and clean. It also has a very fresh and clean scent that has hints of citrus.

The Conditioner:



200ml

This has a fairly thick consistency but is runny in comparison to something like the Aussie 3 minute miracles. I found that I didn't need much to feel like my hair was nice and 'slathered' in it. I leave this in for about 3-4 minutes and when I rinse it out my hair feels smooth, nourished, silky and very moisturised.

I didn't use any products on my hair when I dried and straightened it the first time I used these so I could judge the effectiveness of the shampoo and conditioner as well as possible.

I found that my hair was smooth, frizz free and incredibly soft. It was also easier to blow dry and was visibly much brighter than normal :)

I've been using these for every other hair wash since and they're definitely keeping my hair really really bright and stopping my bleach from going dull or brassy! I'm massively impressed with them and would recommend them to anyone with blonde hair, natural or coloured.

My only teeny weeny complaint would be that the conditioner is smaller than the shampoo as I use more conditioner than shampoo haha! But that doesn't affect how brilliant these products are :)!

You can get the shampoo and conditioner here:
http://www.organicsurge.com/

And they cost £4.99 each - really good value for money!

Do you have blonde hair? Are you interested in the Organic Surge shampoo and conditioner? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

xo

Bagging a bargain!

Bonjour blogettes!
I hope you're all well?

I just thought I'd write a quick blog about some purchases I just made!

Since we had to move house unexpectedly (and therefore hadn't budgeted for the move) money is pretty tight. That coupled with the fact our Internet won't be connected until the 23rd July has meant I've been pretty bored!

So, today I drove to the Westfield in Derby and popped into 'the works' to see if they had any good books for me to read. Boy did I get a surprise!



(silly phone has got this the wrong way round, sorry!)

'Sunshine' by Robert Mighall




RRP: £16.99
I paid: 49p!!!

'Re-Gifters' by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel


RRP: £6.99
I paid: 99p!!!

'Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar' by D J Connell



RRP: £10
I paid: 49p!!!



These 3 were on a '3 for £5' offer!

'My Single Friend' by Jane Costello



RRP: £6.99

'Sugar and Spice' by Lauren Conrad



RRP: £6.99

'From Notting Hill with Love...Actually' by Ali McNamara



RRP: £6.99!

All in all I got a mega bargain! 6 books for £7! Proof that you should always shop around, these books would have cost me roughly £54 had I bought them all in WHSmiths or Waterstones or somewhere :)

I can't wait to read all of these, would you like to see book reviews on any of them?

xo