Wednesday 28 January 2015

The Versatile Blogger Award - I Got Nominated :-)

Hi everyone, just before christmas I was very kindly nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, by the lovely Rebekah from The Rebekah Koontz Site.


So on to the rules:
1. Show the award on your blog.
2. Thank the person who nominated you.
3. Share 7 facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers (I agree with Rebekah, that's is a lot of people to find!)
5. Add links to your nominee's blogs and let them know they've been nominated.

7 facts about me:
This next step was actually a lot harder to do than you'd think!
1. I live in North Wales and I love it here, it's beautiful.
2. I've been blogging for over 14 months and I've learnt SO much.
3. I love to read books but rarely get the time to do it, although I am currently ¼ way through Stephenie Meyer's The Host which is brilliant (and I love the film).
4. I have a total addiction to plain Pringles.
5. I know a lot about the powers and uses of gemstones.
6. I love going on Instagram every single day.
7. I'm a total procrastinator!

Ooh that was difficult lol.  Right these are all the lovely blogs that I nominate, apparently they don't have to have a certain number of followers (as with the Leibster Award, which I was nominated for a couple of months ago, you can find that here), so I have picked ones that I visit often and a few others that I think deserve the award.  So please take a minute to go and check them out and I hope you find some new ones to follow.

Jasmine Color U Bold
Karolina
Brunette Wavez
Becky
Milk Bubble Tea
Chloe Marie
My Crazy Beauty Journey
Heather
Porcelain Beauty x
Sofie
It's Just Sofie
Katie
Katie Lou
Lauren
Lauren Rellis
Elish
A Piece of Elish
Beth
All Things Beautiful
Rosie
A Red Lip and a Nude Shoe
Rebecca-Louise
Autumn Leaves
Rachel
Beauty and The Bird
Cherry
Cherry Pie
Vanessa
Circle of Chaos

Thank you again to Rebekah for nominating me and I hope you all liked this post.  Please feel free to leave me 7 facts about yourselves in the comments, I'd love to hear them :-)

Until Next Time Stay Happy
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Thursday 22 January 2015

Urban Decay Naked On The Run Palette Review

Hi everyone :-)  Whenever there's a new limited edition product up for grabs, it's very rare that I'm able to get my hands on it, but this time, I just had enough pennies saved up just at the right time and I treated myself to the gorgeous new Urban Decay Naked On The Run palette.!
I was so excited to get this, as I've not only recently become quite a fan of the infamous Urban Decay, but I'd heard so much about this palette before it had even hit the shops especially from our American friends and various bloggers 'in the know'.


The official UD description promotes this palette as the perfect travel companion, holding everything (other than base products) that you might need for a weekend away.  It also boasts that you can use the shades and extra items in the palette to go from a daytime to a night-time look really easily.  Priced at £37 ($54), it may seem a little steep but considering the individual price of the UD eyeshadows are £14 each and the other added items normally range from £14 - £17 each in full size, this is a absolute bargain!


Now lets just talk about the actually packaging for a minute, how gorgeous is this box!  It has gold text on a 3D-marble effect background and a beautiful rose gold case, it clips shut nice and safely with a magnetic clasp - which is great for knowing it'll be secure in a suitcase and I love that the lid of the box also includes a very large decent quality mirror, which stays put wherever you position it, again perfect if you're trying to do your makeup on the train!


Ok so what do you actually get inside; 6 brand new and exclusive eyeshadow shades, yes 6 - '50/50' is an eyeshadow but it can also be used as a highlighter too, hence the slightly larger pan.  You also get a very large amount of blusher and bronzer, a travel size Perversion mascara, a travel size 24/7 eyeliner and a very generous full size lipgloss, and it's all very nicely labelled with the item names on the back of the main box.
All the eyeshadows are very pretty, blendable shades that you can build up and add too, going from a very basic nude look, right up to a dark sultry night-time look.


And now for the all important swatches!


All the shades a really pigmented so you get a great colour pay-off from each one, the only one I was a little disappointed with was 50/50, which I used on the inner corners of my eyes and under my brow bone to highlight but to be honest I couldn't really see anything there!  I put it down to me having such pale skin that the colour wasn't really able to show up.  I really loved several of the other eyeshadow shades including Resist (the shimmery taupe) and of course Dive which is the most beautiful rose gold shimmer.  The bronzer and blusher are extremely strong pigmented shades and believe me when I say, a little goes a long way!


Even though the mascara and eyeliner are only travel size editions, they're still a really great size and I think they'll last me a good while.  I love that UD have also included the full-size lipgloss, mainly because if I decide to buy any of their other lip glosses, I know I can just pop it in the box and it'll fit snugly.  I've also tried it with several of my other favourite glosses and balm sticks and they fit nicely too :-)


The Perversion mascara - although it doesn't state it on the tube, this is really long-lasting and quite waterproof too, which I'm personally really happy with.  I was also quite pleased with the over-all look and volume it gave my lashes.  I usually can't be parted from my Seventeen Doll Lash mascara but I would be quite happy using this as an alternative.


The 24/7 Glide On eyeliner in Stag Another exclusive shade.  I was also very impressed with the eyeliner, I love the idea of using a dark brown liner instead of a black.  I'm not the neatest person when it comes to applying eyeliner and usually opt for a black shadow instead but I actually found this really smooth, blendable and easy to use.  Again it was very long-lasting too, I think I might even have to invest in a few more shades!


The Naked Lipgloss in Sesso This shows up as a beautiful 'my lips but better' shade when swatched but on my lips, I felt it didn't really do a lot for me.  Although when used over a slightly darker lipstick it did look quite pretty.  And I did love the feel of it, not too sticky and very smooth and moisturising, so again I'm very tempted to try out some of UD's other shades.  I also fell in love with the packaging, it's just so pretty!

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Finally here's a couple of pictures I took last weekend when I tried out some of the shades and the other items from the palette.


Other than the palette, I also had to use some of my usual basic products to complete the look -
Urban Decay's Naked Skin foundation
Collection concealer
Soap & Glory powder
Rimmel Brow This Way kit
MUA eyeshadow primer
No7 lip pencil in Nude

From the palette I used - Fix for a base, Resist all over the lid and Stun on the outer corner, 50/50 on the inner corner and Stag to line my eyes.  I then used the mascara and a little of the blusher. I'm usually pretty fearful of bronzers especially with having such pale skin, and as this one looked so bright and gingery when swatched, I didn't even dare try it!
I also used the Sesso lipgloss over the top of my No7 lip pencil on my lips, as it seemed to look better that way.


This Limited Edition palette is currently still available from urbandecay.com, from selected stores of Debenhams and debenhams.com.
I hope you liked this review.  I've really enjoyed using this palette and I'd love to know your thoughts on it too.  Do you have it, what item or shade do you like the best?  Let me know in the comments below :-)

Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Saturday 17 January 2015

Another Happy Little Find ... From Etsy

Fabric and lace Flower, Etsy Shop, Designs By Fleur Petite

Hi everyone, sorry for the late post this week guys but I was waiting for this little beauty to arrive in the post so I could write and tell you about it.


I found this gorgeous little fabric flower on an Etsy shop called Designs By Fleur Petite, last week.  I've been looking for something pretty to add to the shabby chic style of my bedroom for a while, and you know how I love my pink roses and little floral prints, so when I spotted this I was over the moon, these pictures do not do it justice at all.


This lovely little shop has SO many beautiful flowers, it was really difficult to decide which one to go for, I just decided to buy this one for now but I will definitely be going back for another look soon, as there's already 2 or 3 more I have my eye on! :-)  They're priced quite reasonably too, this one was only £5.35 and you can find it here.


Apparently all the flowers are made to order too, so each one is handmade just for you. As I was about to place my order, I noticed that the lady who makes them also does custom orders.  Some of the other flowers in her shop had lace all in between the folds and petals of the flowers and it looked so, so pretty but the one I had chosen (because I loved the little floral print fabric so much), didn't have lace.  So I sent her a message and she said yep that was fine, she would add that in when she made up my flower :-)  I was really excite to get it and thankfully I didn't need to wait too long.


It arrived on my doormat yesterday morning, all nicely packaged in a pretty cream organza bag (which I forgot to photograph) and then in a posting box to keep it safe and I was thrilled with it straight away :-)  It's made so nicely that you can't even see the stitching.


It has a white felt circle on the back, so I can easily fix it on to one of my keepsake boxes or maybe a brooch pin.  I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it yet but I have lots of ideas.  At the moment it's sat on my bedroom shelf next to my pretty birdcage looking beautiful, I might even put a clip on the back and wear it in my hair in the summer :-)


According to the item description, the flower is made of 100% cotton print fabric, poly-cotton lining and cream lace, the lady has even put this adorable lace covered button in the centre, it's so cute!


I can't wait to get a couple more to add to my collection and when I do, I will certainly let you all have a peek.


If you have any mums or sisters birthday's coming up or if you want to have a look for an early Mothers Day gift, go and have a look because any of these gorgeous flowers would be perfect!


I hope you liked this post, if you did please give me a little like and leave a comment below :-)

Until Next Time Stay Happy
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Friday 9 January 2015

What I Got For Christmas

Hi everyone, this week I'm happy to say I can finally show you what I was very kindly given by my friends and family for Christmas!  As I explained in my last post, I wanted to wait until a few last minute gift had arrived in the post from one of my friends before I finished this post.


Before I start off, I just need to mention couple of things.  I've decided it would be better to keep the gift givers private and not mention any particular names, like so-&-so got me this, and this person got that.  I just feel that this way I won't offend anyone and if there's anyone who wants to remain anonymous they can.

Also, I should just mention the usual note, that I am purely showing you these things because I know you all love seeing what each other was given and I am not boasting or showing off in the slightest.  I am very happy with everything I was given from everyone, so thank you VERY much, you know who you are!  And please feel to leave any comments below and let me know what lovely things you were lucky enough to receive this Christmas.
I hope you all enjoy my post :-)  So on to the first item -


Tatty Teddy 2015 Calendar.
I love to have one of these every year and it's been a tradition of mine now for about the last 7 or 8 years.  I like jotting down any major things that have happened during the day and ticking off the day before I go to bed.  This lovely calendar is now already in use :-)



Cushion Cover Craft Kit
This is just gorgeous, I was given a similar one of these fabric craft kits last year, to make up three floral patterned hanging hearts, you can click
here for a post about that.  And I really enjoyed making them up, so I was thrilled to receive this one.  This will make one lilac and white floral cushion and one plain lilac and white lace cushion, gorgeous :-)  They have also included some pretty white lace to go around the cushion edges and some ready shaped fabric to make a love flower to fit on the plain cushion.  Ooh I can't wait to get started!  If you would like to see a post about the finished cushions and how they, just comment below or tweet me @DaniJ72.


Pink Sparkly Slippers
You all know how much I love these types of slippers, so I was very happy to be given these ones.  They are such a pretty pink with little silver sparkly threads and wow they're comfy! :-)


Tatty Teddy Notebook and Bear
Ever since I was 3 years old, I have been given a teddy bear for Christmas, big ones, small ones, and yes I have quite a few now!  I think this little one is so adorable and it even has a little matching notebook, which of course will come in handy with my constant note writing and list making.  You can never have too many notebook, fact!


A Teddy Top
Did you spot this rather squashed looking teddy's face in my main photo at the top of the page?  Well it's actually a seriously cosy poncho-style top. . .


I spotted it in Tesco a couple of weeks before Christmas and was very kindly bought it for a gift, so I did know about this one and it wasn't a surprise but I think if you like something particular, it's better to be given that than something you don't like or wouldn't use!  Anyway, I love to wear this over a long sleeve T'shirt just to lounge around in, especially when it's really cold, you can cuddle up in to it like you're wearing a big cosy blanket, and I love the hand-shaped pockets too :-)


A Selection of Jewellery
I just love the purple crystal stud earring, aren't they the most stunning colour?  I love all these bits as I just love receiving jewellery, another thing you can never have too much of lol.


Other Little Random Extras
These are a few other smaller items that I was very kindly given from various friends.  I love all the bits and I'm more than grateful.  I love the little diary because I needed a new one for this year and it's so pretty and all the jewellery bits are just gorgeous!  Of course I was also quite thrilled with the £10 Boots gift voucher, I shall enjoy spending that wisely ;-)

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Finally there's a couple of 'gifts' I bought for myself with some money I had been saving up for quite a long while. . .


The Limited Edition Naked On The Run palette and a very snazzy new Canon camera, so no more taking blog photo just on my smartphone!


I will be doing a full review of this palette in about 2 weeks time, so look out for that if you'd like to know what I think of it, it's already been tried and tested once so far.



I can also do a review of this little gem if you would like me to as well.  I'm still getting to grips with it and wow there's a lot to learn!  But I'm looking forward to trying to get the best out of it and doing even better quality photos for you guys to see :-)
So, that's it for this week.  I you all had a wonderful New Year and you're all keeping to your new years resolutions so far!!

Until Next Time Stay Happy
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