Beauty bites 2

Hey peoples! I haven’t wrote anything in a little while, I had a few posts lined up….in my mind…I’m not very good at actual drafts, so here I am catching up.

Now as you know, one is not a beauty type blogger, but I still like to share an opinion on if something is worth it or not……

Misfit Cosmetics Blackhead Extraction Paste ; I have pretty porous skin and of course my nose always suffers, despite using all sorts of bitty scrubs I still always have a bit of a subtle strawberry effect going on. I’d seen this particular mask advertised on FB and as it was originally £18 (on special offer at £5) I thought I’d try it. I’d also seen some promising, and painful looking videos all ending in super clean results, never the less, I thought I’d chance it. I followed the instructions…cleanse face..blah blah…apply and wait 30mins. Grand! I was a little nervous about actually pulling the top layer of my skin off on removal, as it’s pretty sticky stuff, but it came off pretty easy. I AM so glad I didn’t pay the full whack for it, as my skin is either alot cleaner than I thought, especially my nose area, or it was actually a bit of an anti-climax. It didn’t pull my skin off…thankfully, but it also didn’t remove any deep rooted blackheads, and I’ve tried it twice now to be extra sure. It did, however, leave my skin feeling really soft and if you enjoy pulling dead skin off…ya know when you get sunburn…well peeling this off will help curb your winter sunburn peeling needs.

Rimmel London Magnif’eyes shadow & kohl; I lovvvve an eyeflick but by jayzus aren’t they a pain in the hole to achieve? You end up with one perfect and the other looking like your 6 year drew it, which in turn leads on to you having a slightly pink tinged eyeball from rubbing it out and starting again, leading onto the “feck it I’m not going now, my life is ruined” hump! Anyway, I seen this in Superdrugs on a BOGOHP offer so I picked it up. The eyeshadow end is lovely with a glittery sheen to it and the kohl was actually pretty easy to apply too. It just seemed to glide on pretty smoothly. The “knib” does sorta lose its point slightly so it’s not ideal for really fine lines after the first few uses but otherwise I liked it, plus it’s everything for a smokey eye one one place.

 

Hot Pink Hair; Last November, I had my hair done at home in Shaz’s. Kim put a gorge little section of rainbow colours in at my request and I’ve been reluctant to say goodbye to it. As I was going to a festival in September and couldn’t really afford to have it done properly, I took matters into my own hands. Luckily for me, my home hair dying went so well, I had several random people stop me on the street to ask what salon I’d gone to. #delira . How did I achieve this level of gorgeous hairness, you ask….well read on… Firstly, about a week before the pink, I dyed my hair brown, using an Olia dye. Now as my hair is brown anyway, kinda like what it’s been dyed to in these pics but with more grey, the BBlonde bleach worked quite well in it. If your hair is very dark brown verging on black, it may turn kinda orangey like my SiL’s did…be warned!! The BBlonde powder bleach and peroxide cost just under £6 and easy to make up. The hardest bit of what I was trying to achieve, was trying to bleach and even slice of hair, when I couldn’t see it.(I didn’t want clumps of pink on top of my head but peeping out from underneath, with that said, as it’s underneath, it was easier to hide the uneven section.) I just pulled out the bits of hair I wanted to bleach and tied everything else up out of the way. I cut some tinfoil in strips, alá the hairdressers and used them to keep the bleached bits separate from the rest of my hair. Once the bleaching was done, I let my hair dry and used tinfoils again to apply and keep separate the Schwarzkopf Live 093 Shocking Pink dye I then put in to get the end result. Et voilá….pink hair, don’t care!! Costing roughly £11.

 

**Obviously, I would have much rather have gone to the salon to have me hair done, but on this occasion I had neither time nor money, and I think if you were planning on doing your entire head, most certainly go to a proper hairdressers.

Anyway guys, I hope ye found this useful and stay gorge ’til next time,

Donna xx

 

 

You should go & love yourself.

There 2wks ago I donned my 50’s style Lindy Bop dress, put on my face, failed to pin curl my hair in a 50’s style do, and headed off in search of Collectif Clothing‘s store on Commercial St. I was heading to Abby Russell‘s (AKA Curvy Living) “Self-Love and Style” evening.

me in Lindy Bop, apres hair do!

*Just to be clear, when I say “self-love”, I mean, like, love yourself for who you are not “manual self-love” ye dirty feckers!

I don’t think I’ve ever been 100% body confident in myself but I don’t think I’ve ever really let it affect me to much. I like to think I wear what I want, be it in fashion or not, if I like it I’ll wear it. If I’m suffering from a “bad skin on my back” day I’ll wear something to cover it and if I’m feeling fat then I’ll wear something that makes me feel less fat or covers my lumpy bits. If I feel comfortable and I’m happy wearing it, then why shouldn’t I? The choices I make, I make to suit my height and my shape, I make them for me. Of course I love people to say, ooh you look great or I love what you’re wearing, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you can’t win them all lads!  Obviously, if you’ve read my previous post Slima-marinky-mee! or follow my FB page you’ll know I’m a Slimming Worlder, so yes my weight did bother me but even when I was heavier, I like to think it didn’t affect my clothing choices to much, or made me feel like a bad person. Yes I do feel better that I’ve lost weight, but I wore a jumpsuit at my size 16 heaviest, I loved it, I feel like I rocked it, just like I love my new size 12 jumpsuit….my weight does not define me…it annoys me but it’s not the sum of me.

I was a little bit nervous as I was going on my own and so knew nobody. Normally I’d see an event like this and think well nobody to go with so not going, but as time waits for no man, one must seize every opportunity, and so I booked it. Thankfully I was greeted by a smart looking waitress with a glass of prosecco. Phew! At least I could just stand and drink…it would make me look like I was doing something. Anyway once I was in the door, armed with my prosecco, I could take in my surroundings. I’d never been in a Collectif shop before and I was obviously missing out, looking online is just not the same. Everything is so bright and colourful in store. So many colours, so many fab items of clothing….and sweet baby Jesus, there was a sale on!! It wasn’t only the clothes that were so bright and lovely looking though, there were amazingly dressed ladies of all shapes, heights and sizes everywhere and one cool sales guy. The outfits! The hair!! OMG the hair!!

Myself & Abby…total babe!

As I was coming in there was a gorgeous blonde with an amazing figure and the biggest victory rolls I think I’ve ever seen greeting the ladies who came in before me, this was Abby, the hostess. It’s hard to imagine that this gorgeous lady ever had any body confidence issues…or any confidence issues at all tbh, I’m pretty sure her atoms are made of sunshine!

Fuller Figure Fuller Bust, Moi & Ivory Lovelust

On walking around some more, I spotted Georgina Horne (AKA Fuller Figure Fuller Bust or as I like to call her, the woman who can work everything, she’s the shizz!). It was through her FB page that I learned about the event. There was another babe, with close cut hair and one of the few of us not wearing a dress, that looked so familiar, like you know when you feel like you know someone from somewhere but you can’t think where or how…turns out it was Miss Leyah Shanks, Mother of The Body Confidence Revolution #TBCR.

Leyah

It was so weird, like meeting celebs, although I only know these people through social media, it was kind of surreal meeting them in really real life. I wandered about the clothes rails, making mental notes of what I obviously NEEEEEDED in my life, cos I have “NO” clothes and made conversation with a few people. Inside I might have been slightly nervous and wondering why I came alone, but I normally just suck it up and go for it, so I did, and nobody thought I was nuts. I really wanted to say hi to George as she’d helped me choose an outfit via Snapchat the week before, but I thought I’d seem like a sack so took a seat. As I watched ladies have their hair teased into retro up-dos, Abby made her way over to say hi. She was really sweet, we had a great chat about where we were from, work, the event and she suggested I go get my hair done too. So I joined the short queue and Abby introduced me to another girl, who’d come alone. Whilst loitering I went in for the kill and tapped George on the shoulder. I explained who I was and was delighted to find she remembered our snap convo annnd I just had to tell her her boobs were even more mahooosive looking in really real life….haaa #starstruck!

 

After having the opportunity to shop, try things on, get our hair & photos done, eat yummy canapes, drink prosecco annnnnd receive goodie bags, Abby asked us to take a seat. Herself, Georgina and Leyah all spoke about how they’ve all had issues with their bodies, their weight, their shapes, their confidence, anxiety and how the media has affected how we think we should all look. There were three totally different shaped ladies standing in front of us and I wanted to look like all of them, but at the same time why? There is only one of me, I am so rare I should be on an endangered list lads! There may have been somebody in that room wishing they looked like me! It’s so hard to remember everything that was said but one quote that stuck with me was from George, “try finding influences in YOURSELF that don’t make you feel sh*t”. We can look to others for inspiration and we can look at others in admiration but we still need to be us, not a copy. None of these women have said they are 100% happy with themselves every day, they have all said they have crap days where they don’t like what they see, as I think all of us do. What they are trying to say is what we see on the glossy pages of mags has been tweaked and airbrushed to Barbie-like proportions. For the most part it’s not what a normal woman looks like. For a start not “every” woman in that mag should be a size 6-8 and 5’7 because not every woman is a size 6-8. Most women will have blemishes, or scars, or stretchmarks or uneven skin tone…some even have tattoos, piercings and God forbid…..BODYHAIR!!! Nobody is saying don’t strive for YOUR version of perfection if it makes you happy but make sure you’re doing it because it makes you happy, not because it’s how society says you should look. Shur if we all looked the same it would be pretty boring eh?

I don’t think I’ve said everything I want to say here but as this post is getting quite long, I need to draw to a close. I know that I came out of the Self-Love and Style event feeling confident, feeling positive but the whole time I was sitting there I kept thinking of how much somebody very dear to me along with one or two others could really, reeeally benefit from being here and hearing from all these really cool, stylish shapely ladies. Just to hear from people you don’t know, that you don’t have to be tall and slim to be beautiful. If any of you ever get the chance to attend  one of Abby’s events or an event like this, I’d highly recommend it.

I’ll finish by telling you about a conversation I had with a friend…. I sent her a couple of pictures of what I might be wearing to this event. She text back to say I look amazing and that she has no fashion sense. I replied saying, you probably do (have fashion sense) but you have convinced yourself you can’t wear something because of your shape. I told her about an epiphany I had whilst ironing a few nights before. If something bad happened to me where I ended up not dying but maybe paralysed but with full brain function, something where I was pretty much bed bound forever, I would hate to have all that time to think about all the things I should have done or worn but didn’t because I was afraid of what other people might think or say. Better I just do it now while I still can and not regret when I can’t.

i just wanted to show you one of the dresses I picked up at the event from Collectif!

 

*I hope I haven’t offended anyone with my “epiphany”…it’s not intended that way.

Love
Donna xx

 

Beavergate.

I’m going to start this by saying if you’re somebody who believes your partner’s perfectly coiffeured lady garden or manscape naturally grows (or doesn’t appear to grow) in the pretty shape you see, then stop reading now. If your my brother, you probably won’t wanna read this either!

For the rest of us, who live in the real world of plucking and waxing, please read on.

Photo credit to Allie Dragoo on Flickr

I dunno what possessed me Friday, to go and have a bikini wax. I mean I’ve had them before, they’re not fun. Maybe it’s the hot weather, tricking my brain into falsely preparing for a holiday I’m not going on…I dunno, I normally just DIY it with a tube of Veet at home. (I tried home waxing once. NOT.WORTH.THE.SAVING! First strip was manageable but forget about it after that, your brain now knows the pain you’re about to inflict on YOURSELF again and won’t allow it. The wax then starts drying, making it harder to pull off ensuing in an even more painful, slightly bloodier experience.)  Anyway, I normally go a little bit out of my area, I don’t need anybody I’m likely to run into at the nursery knowing what my lady bits look like. Plus the place I normally go to, in the grand scheme of waxing one’s nether regions, is amazing. However, these precious couple of child free hours are hard to come by (and no it’s not a 2hr job to cultivate my booosh, smart ass!) so I thought I’d chance a local salon……..

I notice as I walk in the door, there’s a special on “The Hollywood” today…hmm…no thanks, not my style. Now although the salon is full of ladies getting primped and preened, I still don’t feel comfortable shouting “hey-ay, I wanna get me fananny waxed please” over the hum of the hair dryer, so I just mumble an answer to the lady asking. Who in turn, very loudly relays that I’m here for a hollywood to her co-worker. I’m not but we can discuss styling once I’m not standing in the bloody doorway.

Said co-worker…we’ll call her Tina, for handiness sake, beckoned me to follow. I explain I’d just like a brazilian. Brazil’s always appealed to me more than Hollywood anyway. In Irish terms, your one basically says, “grand job, no bother, drop your knickers and hop up there like a flattened buddha”, and so I do. Now since attending the non-local Mecca of waxing, I’ve been forever seeking the local version annnnd I’m still currently searching, everything is compared to them. Tina has assured me she’s great at what she does, with people complimenting her on how little pain she causes, she even waxes pretty much all of her own body herself. Grand job Tina…but we shall see. She started at the top of my thigh, first strip off, it wasn’t to bad….now if you’re a beautician and there is some sort of order that mingeinas should be stripped in, then forgive me, Tina may very well have followed that order but it’s all a painful, breath holding blur to me. Unfortunately I don’t have solid upper thighs, shur listen we can’t all be perfect, and I’m no expert and I feel like Tina isn’t either, cos she is just ripping those wax strips off my inner thighs like annoying wall paper off a wall. I suggest to her that I should hold my thighs taut…lord jayzus, I’m clearly the guru here lads. Maybe it’s the fact that she feels like she shouldn’t be at work today as she’s just started her period and her tum and back are killing her. In fairness if I felt like this and had to come to work do defluff somebody else’s foof, the same thing that’s causing pain in me, then I’d probably give it a going over meself! She then has the cop on to ask me to hold my Mum-tum (why are these so hard to get rid of??) taut and attacks there…a small mercy I suppose.

Now, now…now the fun really gets going…Tina pops her head up and says “oh, I’m sorry, I forgot”. Huh? Yep…she’s only gone and scalped the lot! FFS!! She’s kinda looking at me as if to say, what will I do…she may even have telepathically asked me the question. Shur what the jayzus could she do? Stick it back on? The look I gave her said that, but my mouth betrayed me and said ah, shur what can you do, it’ll be fine! Don’t worry she says, I’ll give you Hollywood at no extra cost. Oh jee…fcuking thanks love, was the look I shot her but my mouth once again betrayed me and said “ah don’t worry I’ll pay for it!” DAM YOU MOUTH!!! I swear to God the non-local place must put some sort of calming, numbing gas in their air con cos I really don’t remember this happening…or maybe this is how the Hollywood goes….I actually really thought she was gonna give me an internal exam at one point and she most certainly burned the barn doors twice…despite me wincing and saying “wow, that’s hot!”. There was a knock on the door then, how long will you be Tina? Ten minutes. Ten minutes!!! Ten FECKING minutes…ah listen T, leave me be, I’ll make like a baby hedgehog suffering alopecia and leave. Thankfully though, after a rather close head-almost-in-my-vajayjay- inspection Tina seems happy enough and starts slathering on cream followed by clouds of talc. Oh thank God for small mercies, I go to get up. I’m not sure how it happend or how she managed it but as she’s saying turn over to me, she’s kinda managed to flip me like a burger onto my tum!! WTF IS GOING ON??? Yeah lads, shur didn’t I forget, I was upgraded to the Hollywood!! FML!

 

I’d just like to add, on later inspection, I’m pretty sure Tina removed skin in places, she IS not from Mecca Minge Defluffers and sadly is unlikely to ever make the grade. On a happier note my hoo ha is feeling alot happier now the whole ordeal is behind it….haa behind it!

The things we do to be fluff free!!

Love Donna x

 

 

Beauty Bites

Last night I decided to do a little post on some “beauty” stuff I love and I feel is pretty affordable. I got my favs out to do a little photo shoot and tonight I was ready to roll. HAH!! There about five minutes ago, I confirmed to myself exactly why I’m not a beauty blogger…one of the items, I lovvvve to bits is discontinued and the other, well I seen it in the shop last week so either their website is very poor or I’m seriously slow on the beauty scene. Actually, I am….I am reeeeeally slow on the beauty scene. Up until Christmas, I had make up circa 2000 lurking in my bathroom. I know, I know…ugh! It’s gone now though, I never used it anyway. Anyway, shur listen, I’m still gonna tell ye about this stuff, ye might fancy it yerselves……………

Numero uno! Nivea Daily Essentials Tinted Moisturising Day Cream. Aggggh! Ooooh! As I write this and go to attach a link, it’s gone down in price!! Wooo! Bargain at the minute! Anywho…I don’t wear make up everyday, mascara if I remember it and sometimes if I’m going out and it’s not “Out, Out” I don’t want to use my MAC foundation, it makes me feel like my face is overdressed and so my bestie recommended this to me. It’s Nivea too, a brand I really like and it goes on so easy, just like you’d expect a moisturiser to BUT it gives a really nice light coverage to your face. For me, I feel like I’m still everyday me but with a nice light filter over me. So if you’re looking for something for light daily use with an economical price tag, I’d recommend giving this product a try…..it’s down to £1.79 in Superdrug at the min…go, go, go!!

Next up St. Ives Apricot Body Scrub. I. LOVE. THIS! I love the smell of it, I love the consistency of it, it really is one of the best body scrubs I’ve used. My legs can go really dry during the winter and this is just the stuff to pep them up, it just works so well from the first go, my skin feels like new! It’s also really good to use in preparation for tanning. The tub is pretty big too and although I do quite like the tub, it’s a bit annoying trying to use it and keep water out of it whilst in the shower…but then where there’s a will there’s a way! I think the price is pretty reasonable too for what it does.

I stole this pic off the Boots website.

(Unfortunately for me, when I went shopping for it last, neither Superdrug or Boots had it so I’ve picked up Superdrugs own Sugar and Oil Body scrub to try but it has big shoes to fill for me on this….I’ll let ye know what I think.)

I use this lad, pretty much every day; Superdrug Deep Action Exfoliating Daily Wash. I have pretty porous skin and I find around my nose area is really prone to blackheads, using this wash though really makes a difference. It feels a bit sticky but has just the right amount of grittiness to clean your delicate facial skin. I see results straight away and my face just feels so clean, like the grime of the day has been lifted off and I can breath again. I’ve tried the more expensive products too but I feel Superdrug have done really well here with their skincare products so I’ll stick with them…the also do a really good Blackhead Clearing Scrub as well.

Pic stolen from Superdrug website.

The odd time, when I’m feeling like a proper beauty queen, I actually take the time to slap on a face mask. At the minute I really like Superdrugs Purifying Witch Hazel Face Mask…this is also the item I can’t find on their website but obviously did in store. I picked it up for the witch hazel element as my face can be a right bitch at times and is prone to spots. Witch Hazel is a natural cleanser and soothes irritated areas. The mask doesn’t dry super hard, but does “tighten”, I don’t know if it’s the smell of this alone or what it is but my skin instantly feels “lighter” as soon as I put it on. I’ll post a link to another from the range here.

I’m a bit sad as I write this piece…These little L’oreal Glam Shines have been discontinued. (You can still buy them off Amazon but still, if you were in a hurry like….) A friend of mine introduced me to these a few years ago and also gave me a few bottles supply (of which is coming to an end) and I just love them. They have great staying power and have a cute little heart shaped wand for application, which works well with your lip shape. The darker one is my absolute favourite, I wear it rather than lippy sometimes and it’s glittery…like why? Why would you discontinue this??

I looked on the L’oreal site and it suggested these as an alternative so we shall see….

Now last but not least….hand cream! I have a bit of a thing for hand cream at the minute as me hands are in absolute bits for some reason lately. At the top end of the price scale is L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream, (£8 for 30ml) I actually got this free with a magazine, granted it has lasted me ages as you only need to use a little but if I went into a shop and seen the price I’d be scared off a little. As a treat though, this is really nice and pretty good cream. It’s quite thick so as I said you only need a little but it is very moisturising and it smells nice too. Mid price band (£4 for 30ml) are the Body Shop hand creams which I treated myself to at Christmas. Again with these creams,  they are quite thick and a little goes a long way, they absorb really well too. They both smell amazing especially the strawberry one, I just want to lick my hands every time I apply that one. Last but not least, my bargain Nivea Soft hand cream (75ml) which I picked up in Poundland. I love Nivea creams anyway and this hand cream doesn’t disappoint me. It’s pretty light and compared to the others will seem watery in consistency but it does a good job and my hands feel much better after applying it.

So there ya go…my little stab at helping to “beautify” the world, I hope you found it helpful and let me know if you’ve tried any of the products or what you think…any recommendations of your own?

Stay clean, stay soft,

Love Donna x

P.S You can also check out my reviews for Cocoa Brown Tan here and Dove Hair oil here.

 

Eyebrows on Fleek!!

Ya know when you go into the bathroom ‘cos you’ve been rubbing your eyebrows and you can feel a little tough one resprouting?? Yeah…good…well here’s how I ended up! 😀

I’m standing in front of the mirror, I’ve pulled out that annoying hair and now I’m examining me mush, as ya do…to see what new creases and ailments it’s acquired. My eyes drift back to my eyebrows and a little thought of sadness passes my mind. Oh, to have gorgeous silver screen eyebrows, like Katharine & Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors or even my gorgeous Italian work buddy, A. *sigh* Dam you Lily for ruining my dreams!!

I went into Lily’s a little while ago and decided today was the day I’d get my eyebrows re-shaped into the arched lovelies I really wanted. I had done my research….I Facebook stalked A’s pictures until I could find the perfect picture of her eyebrows to show to Lily. (Sorry A!) I presented my picture to Lily and said, I want them please. Oh no, no says Lily, these eyebrows do not follow the natural shape of your brow, we can’t do these. Huh? What? I thought I’d go in and Lily would whack the wax on in the shape I wanted, et viola…I’m transformed into a starlet!! Nope! Not happening! I didn’t challenge Lily, I didn’t want to end up looking like a Vulcan (much as I think Spock is “The Man”), what do I really know about this beauty malarky. Seriously, I only “learned” (I use that term loosely) to put on foundation at 30…I also got my very first eyebrow pencil then too! Thanks Lolli!

Anywho, so there I am looking wistfully into the mirror and I think, shur what else have I got to be doing now, let me just draw some eyebrows on for the craic! I’ll send some pics to Ash and it’ll make her smile anyway. So away I go! Fifteen minutes later, some messing about on a phone app and here are the results….

Glamorous eyebrow, standard eyebrow.

Aren’t I gorgeous?

Gaw-jus!!

Can you seen how A and myself could easily be mistaken for eyebrow twins??

Eyebrow twins!

Yes it is essential that you take lots of ridiculous selfies, when you’ve pimped your face like this, you need to know what pose works best.

The Joker eyebrows.

Yeah, whatev’s eyebrows.

Moody eyebrows.

Is it weird that I actually quite like the grey hair (at the rate I’m going this is probably a good thing!)? My sister actually text me back asking if I’d lost the plot…. why I would pay to get my eyebrows done like that and what did I doooo to my hair??

Eyebrows & hair on fleek!!!

Hah Lily…I too can have eyebrows like that! BOOM!!