Spring Favourites 2015

Hi everyone, well it's that time of year again, the flowers are blooming, the sun is finally coming out and so that can only mean one thing, it's time for my Spring Favourites :-)  If you would like to see what lovely things I've been enjoying over the last couple of months, just read on.

Firstly I have really been loving baking over the last couple of months.  I made my very first batch of cookies back in February and have made a few more since then, thankfully they have improved quite a bit with a little practice,

I've also made scones and my own mini chocolates (post coming soon).  I'm really looking forward to making some cakes and many other things too over the coming months.  I've always wanted to get in to baking as it's something I really enjoy and reminds me a lot of the cakes and other lovely things that I used to help my mum make when I was little, so I'm really happy that I've finally started doing it.  I've also been buying quite a few little bits here and there to help with my baking, so if you would like to see a kind of bakeware haul, let me know in the comments.

Yep it's true, I succumbed to the hype!  So in February my friend and I finally went to see the notorious Fifty Shades of Grey movie, I'd had already worked my way through all three books, which I really enjoyed and I was quite looking forward to seeing the film too.  My friend however had not read the books and I think was actually quite brave to go and see the film with me, especially as she didn't really know what to expect!

As usual the film didn't match up 100% to the books but then when do they ever, but even so I thought it certainly had a good go and I really enjoyed it, I think my friend did too.  It certainly had quite a few embarrassing scenes that you would not want to sit and watch with the family, but I thought it got the main storyline over pretty well and was quite a good adaptation.

As for Jamie Dornan, as good looking as the guy is, I honestly thought his acting abilities left a bit to be desired, he didn't seem genuine enough for me as the highly delectable Christian Grey.  But I thought Dakota Johnson played Anastasia really well and made the character very believable, so well done her.  So just a year or so's wait until the second instalment then, it's a good job the dvd is out soon ;-)  I also absolutely love the Fifty Shades version of 'Crazy In Love' by Beyoncé, it's so dark, sultry and sexy, brilliantly re-done just to accompany the film.  You can have a little listen to that here, along with watching a few clips from the film, you're welcome :-)

My favourite YouTuber lately has to be the lovely Jim Chapman.  Now I've been happily watching his videos for about 2 and a half years and I don't think I've ever missed one, but I feel like I've re-discovered him again lately.  His videos always make me laugh without fail, I love the way he's so upfront and honest and will talk about absolutely anything no matter how personal or rude it is!  He is one very funny and friendly guy!

As many of you (who have been a follower of my blog for a good while) will know, I am the hugest Linkin Park fan, their music is just the best thing in life BUT, I am also a huge fan of old 90's dance music, which not that many people know about me.  It takes me back to my boarding school days and I have so many great memories with so many of the songs, I loved it all then and I still love it now!  There's way too many to list so I have created my own playlist on YouTube, which you're quite welcome to go and have a listen to and please feel free to have a dam good giggle at all the cheesy videos and ridiculous outfits :-)  I've got all my main favourites on there including Snap, Corona, East 17, Haddaway, 2 Unlimited, and many others, as well as my all time favourite 90's dance track Mr. Vain by Culture Beat, ooh best tune ever :-)

Keeping on the theme of music favourites for the minute, I've also been loving a few other various tracks and albums.  I've recently started listening to the Clubland cds, mainly one of the last ones, number 26.  It's got some really great songs on there including Paloma Faith's 'Changing', 'Liberate' by Eric Prydz and 'Resonance' by Talal Riley, I also love 'Stay High' by Tove Lo but there's loads of others too, I've just been listening that constantly lately.
I've also been enjoying a few random tracks I found on YouTube, 'Love Rain Down' by Gary B which is a really lovely chilled out song, I also found 'Wish You Were Mine' by Phillip George, I am just obsessed with this it at the moment it's SO good :-)

So my old mobile phone, was starting to seriously get annoying, it was so slow it would take me 5 minutes just open an app!  So I saved and saved and saved and then saved some more and got myself a very lovely brand shiny new phone about 8 weeks ago.  It is a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, it's a good upgrade from my last phone and I love that it has a lot more space on it and a bigger ram, so it takes me seconds to do everything rather than minutes!  If you'd like to know what apps I have on there that I rely on and use all the time, let me know in the comments and I'll do a post about it :-)  I am so, so happy with it and now it never leaves my side, most definitely my favourite new toy :-)

I also picked up a few little accessories for my new phone recently, one of them is this adorable little Koala bear dust plug.  I mentioned this on my Christmas Wish List post and I finally couldn't resist it anymore so sent off for it, I just think it's so cute!

I also picked up these really pretty phone cases from a shop on Ebay called Maggi Chic, they were all less that £5 and I just love the choice of patterns and images, they're quite different to anything else I've found and I think they'll gorgeous.

Ok finally on to a couple of beauty favourites, there's actually been a good few of these over the last couple of months but I thought they deserved their own separate post, so if you would like to read about my Current Beauty Favourites, you can click on the link :-)  Apart from all of those, I've been loving this new eyeshadow palette that I got from Boots a couple of weeks ago.

It's by Collection, it has 6 different shimmery eyeshadows in including a very good pigmented matt black (which is great for eyeliner) and it was only £3.99.  There are 3 different palettes available in this range, but I went for the Nude Grey, as I preferred the slightly more darker grey/beige tones.  I just think this is a really great little palette, it's very affordable and ideal for travelling with as the packaging is quite sturdy too.  I love eyeshadow palettes that are small but have a good selection of shades that will work well for a basic every-day look as well as darker shades for evening looks and this is ideal for that.  The quality of the shadows are really great too, they last well, blend well and give a nice coverage, so a big thumbs up for that!

Another beauty item I've been really enjoying using, has been this Soap and Glory Gloss Stick in the shade Raplumsel.  I've used it such a lot since I bought it and it's now become a staple in my makeup bag!  I love that's it's such a subtle sheer gloss and it even leaves a slight stain, which I really like.  I've tried the famous Nudist shade too but I just think that's a little too sheer for me.  I also have Plum Jam but I've not been brave enough to try that yet!

And finally, a couple of weeks ago it was Easter :-)  I was a very lucky girl and received 4 gorgeous chocolate Easter eggs and have been happily munching my way through them, I still even have a whole egg left to finish!

I hope you all like this post, please let me know what things/music/products you've been enjoying lately in the comments, I'd love to hear about them :-)

Until Next Time Stay Happy ♥

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Spring Favorites

Hi everyone, as you may have noticed I don't like to do 'Monthly Favorites', the fact is I just don't buy enough products each month to warrant doing them, so for me I think it's a better idea to do seasonal favorites!  You may recall my Winter Favorites post back in February; you can find that 'here' :-)

So to start off with I have to mention how much I've been enjoying the warmer weather!  Finally I can go outside without having to wrap up like the Michelin Man, no gloves, no scarf and I've even dug out my favorite springtime grey army jacket :-)

Of course this time of year also brings out wonderful things in nature that I've been lucky enough to see a lot the past few weeks;

Daffodils absolutely everywhere!

Beautiful blossom

Baby bunnies

And adorable little lambs

Including our very own dear little adopted hedgehog Wilf, who's now come out of hibernation and is looking forward to making the entire garden his home, once we've finished getting it all 'hedgehog friendly'.  Making sure there's no gaps in the fences for him to squeeze through and covering the pond with mesh to make sure he can't fall in, with his poor damaged back leg he wouldn't be able to swim or get back out again!

Next on to my other favorites for this season so far –

I have been using this concealer every single time I do my makeup and it's very quickly become one of my staple items.  I'm just so glad I gave it a second chance.  As I explained in my 'Whats in My Makeup Bag' post, I originally bought this last year sometime but I was unhappy with the shade, it was far too dark for me and there were no other shades available at the time, also the smell was just disgusting and put me right off!  But I thought no I'll give it one more try, especially as Boots are now offering more colours, it was a lot easier to pick one that suited me better and boy was I pleased I did! :-)

I first got this lipgloss in 'Smile' with a No7 free gift pack in Boots back in August and to be honest I wasn't that impressed but as usual I thought I'll give it another go.  I have been using it mainly with my Rimmel Color Rush lip balm in 'Not an Illusion', which is a gorgeous every day colour and with the No7 gloss over the top, well I just love it.  I do sometimes even use the gloss on it's own as it is reasonably pigmented and just gives a nice very subtle look.

The next item is this Garnier Simply Essentials 2 in 1 makeup remover.  Now I've been using this for quite a while and it never fails to amaze me and do a very thorough job.  You all know how I love my waterproof mascara's, I wear them every single time I go out and they really do stay put through anything BUT, they are a total nightmare to remove, especially if you don't want to have to scrub your eyelashes off and be left with very soar eyes!!  This is the problem I've always had and I've tried so many different makeup removers and wipes and lotions, nothing seems to do a good job and feel gentle on my skin.  This does!  You literally only have to wipe across your eyes and the makeup comes off, I gently rub my eyelashes for a few seconds and they're clean and makeup free, and it leaves my skin feeling soothed and clean.  We all know when it says 'no purfume' there still always is but thankfully it's not an awful strong scent either and within a few minutes the smell is gone.  I always use this along with the oval cotton wool pads you can get cheaply from anywhere and it just works a treat! I do need to pick up another bottle though as this one is definitely not going to last me much longer :-)

And of course spring also brings one other lovely thing, chocolate!

Who doesn't love an Easter egg lol  I got given these from my lovely man and my family, yum! :-)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin