Je voudrais s'il vous plaît - Makeup

[Don't forget to enter my giveaway here to win the Sleek Paraguaya Palette and some secret goodies!]

Clockwise from top left - Sleek True Colour Lipsticks in Papaya Punch and Coral Reef, Topshop Nails in Zenith, Barry M Nail Paints in Peach Melba and Blue Lagoon, Topshop Lipstick in Rapturous, Maybelline Eye Drama Gel Liner, Topshop Cheek Duo in Desert Sun

I mentioned back in April that I had been spending far too much money on unnecessary makeup purchases and had decided to go on a spending ban. It's been nearly two whole months now and I can honestly say, that apart from my Sleek sale items, I haven't bought any new makeup at all. It's killing me. Sadly though, I'm not even close to running out of anything, so the ban looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. Yuck. Such self-restraint is made even more difficult when there happens to be absolutely loads of gorgeous products out at the moment. Not only have Sleek released the new True Colour Lipsticks, but Barry M has brought out two pretty new colours (Peach Melba and Blue Moon) and don't even get me started on the Topshop Sandstorm Collection. I'm in physical pain here, guys.

Ow!

Bought anything pretty lately? Please tell me about it! I need to live vicariously through your makeup purchases!

This is a scheduled post as I'm currently in Lanzarote. La la la!

GNASA

[Don't forget to enter my giveaway here to win the Sleek Paraguaya Palette and some secret goodies!]

So, last week I went on holiday. A glamping holiday.

Glamourous + Camping = GLAMPING

Myself and a group of lovely friends (Tash, Lauren, Dot and Nikki) headed across to Berridon Farm in Bradworthy in Devon where we stayed in a luxury tent, played A LOT of Pictionary, learned how to cook on a wood burning stove (here's a little hint for you, cooking anything on a wood burning stove takes a LONG TIME. You want a cup of tea? You're going to be waiting about two hours), met a seriously badass goat and saw literally THOUSANDS of gnomes, but more on that later.

Basically, glamping, as you've probably guessed, is a much fancier form of camping. You stay in a tent, but it has a proper floor, beds, running water and a toilet. There's no electricty, so you do have to go right back to basics when it comes to entertainment (board games are a must), and with no lights apart from candles and torches, it gets seriously bloody dark at night, but it's A LOT of fun.

There was an episode of TOWIE where some of the gang went 'glamping', however, apart from them having a pink floral tent, I don't really understand what made it 'glam'. At one point Joey Essex and Harry tried to make a toilet in the ground by hitting it with a stick. I don't care how you look at it, that is just not glam.

This isn't glamping

THIS is glamping;

On arrival at Berridon, Farmer Dave warned us about Barclay, a "rogue goat" in the field. He proved to be something of a handful...

Our tent.

Inside the tent. Fancy! You can just about make out the door to the loo (on the left), then, at the back of the tent (through the sort of doorway bit in the middle) there was two "bedroom" areas - one with bunk beds, one with a double and then on the right you can see my cupboard bed!

Cupboard bed! It was VERY cozy.

Told you he was troublesome. He climbed onto the chicken coop and it broke. He looked guilty for about five minutes and then just climbed back on. The little scamp.

Pigs! No idea what their actual names were, but Lauren christened them Alfred and Hitchcock. Just because.

One of the first things we spotted on our way to Berridon Farm was a sign that read "Gnome Reserve". We knew that we couldn't leave Devon without finding out exactly what a "Gnome Reserve" was, so on our last day, we took a little trip. Oh, the things we saw...

We discovered that a "Gnome Reserve" is a place where there are more gnomes than you can possibly imagine. And they're all doing different activities. Here, you can see some gnomes who are doing a classic gnome activity; fishing. We also saw gnomes at the fair, gnomes in planes, gnomes at the beach and gnomes on the toilet. Really though.

Wearing our obligatory (fabulous) gnome hats. From left to right, Tash, Lauren, Me, Dot and Nikki.

Apparently, Gnomes drink "Blue Gnome" and their rockets fly from "GNASA". It's all about the little details.

I don't think I can emphasise enough just how many gnomes there actually were. The woman who ran the Reserve said that on the last count she had over two thousand. TWO THOUSAND GNOMES. That's a lot of gnomes.

After the Gnome Reserve, we went to Westward Ho! which is the only place in the UK that has an exclamation mark in its name. That's pretty special. It was lovely and beachy.

The whole gang at Westward Ho!

So that's glamping. If you fancy spending a few days getting away from civilization, but don't want to sleep in a cold, cramped tent, then I thoroughly recommend it! The company we used was called Featherdown Farms - they have loads of glamping locations across the UK, but I picked Devon because I've never been before and like beaches.

Have you ever been glamping? Would you consider it? How do you feel about gnomes?

Moi, j'ai une pêche, moi, j'ai une pomme

If you’re already sick to death of me yammering on about Sleek Makeup, you’re probably not going to like this post. It’s ok, you can go, just please make sure you close the door properly as you leave; we’ve had trouble with cats walking in off the street lately and I just can’t be doing with it...

Right, now that all the riff raff have left us in peace, I’ll get on with it.,

This is a quick review about the Limited Edition Paraguaya iDivine palette, which is part of the Avoir La Pêche collection. Now I know that this is a bit late as the palette came out, I think, in March, but there’s a reason why I’m writing about it now, read on for all to be revealed...

Paraguaya is a typical iDivine palette; a mixture of shimmer and matte shadows, a couple of dark shades for definition, a couple of light ones for highlighting and a nice selection of unusual colours in between, all housed in the classic sleek packaging we’ve come to know and love. The colours are mostly varying shades of peach, pink and coral, with a couple of browns and golds thrown in too. As with all the palettes, the colour pay-off is fantastic and they all blend really well.

I’m very much in a peach/coral state of mind at the moment , so I knew as soon as it came out that I had to buy it. As a general rule though, pink and red-toned eyeshadow is quite hard to wear (because it can make you look like you’ve just been punched in the eye), so I can understand why some people may be unsure about this palette. However, really bright, zingy eyemakeup was all over the Spring/Summer ‘11 catwalks, so if you’re feeling a bit daring, some of the brighter orange shadows that Paraguaya has to offer are absolutely perfect. Plus, there’s enough pale, muted colours in there to keep the less outrageous amongst happy too. And, at £6.49 for twelve shadows, even if you only like some of the colours, it’s still great value!

Top row, L-R - Parfait, Blush, Cameo. Bottom Row, L-R - Bellini, Redstone, Persimmon

Top Row, L-R - Persian Orange, Peach Gold, Sandstone. Bottom Row, L-R - Tangelo, Bittersweet, Stone.

Anyway, another reason why the Paraguaya palette is so flippin’ marvellous is that a lot of the colours double up as blushes! I’ve found myself wearing ‘Blush’ (good name), a very pale pinky coral, obsessively over my Topshop Cream Blush every day since I bought it.

All in all, (surprise surprise) I’m a big fan, and of the four Sleek palettes I currently own, this is the one I reach for the most. Lovely colours, fantastic quality and amazing value, what’s not to like?

...Well, actually there is one problem with Paraguaya and that is that it’s Limited Edition and as far as I can tell, is no longer available in Superdrug or on the Sleek website. Not good. You can still get hold of it on eBay, if you’re willing to pay more than RRP, but who wants to do that? Nobody, that’s who.

Don’t worry though, because I know a way you can get one for free! By entering my giveaway, hurrah! Yes indeed, to celebrate me FINALLY reaching 100 readers, I’m giving away one brand spanking new Paraguaya palette (and maybe a couple of other goodies, too)! How exciting!

All you have to do to enter is;

Be a follower on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin’ (please let me know which one so that I can check!)

Leave a comment below. ‘Enter me’ is fine, but feel free to say other stuff too – quote Shakespeare, write a haiku, whatever :)

Make sure you have a way for me to contact you – email address or Twitter name would be good.

For one extra entry, tweet about the giveaway and leave a SEPARATE comment telling me you’ve done so.

Right that’s everything! I’m so EXCITED! I will draw the winner next month using random.org and then let everyone know who the lucky person is.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! GIVEAWAY!!!

"They like me, they really like me!"

I can't believe how long ago I wrote this post! It was intended to go up last week while I was away on holiday; I was super organised and wrote this and a second post the week before last but then Blogger went crazy and I couldn't access them and then I went on holiday - SO RIDICULOUSLY ANNOYING! So, for once, lack of blogging genuinely wasn't my fault, it was Blogger's. DAMN YOU BLOGGER!!!

Now I should have done this AGES ago, but, because I pretty much fail at life, I've only just gotten around to doing it. The very lovely Catherine, of Catherine's Loves tagged me with this award last month - thanks Catherine!

Here's what to do if you are tagged -

Link back to the person who awarded you

Share 10 things about yourself

Nominate 10 other bloggers and contact them to let them know

Now, back in January, I received the Versatile Blogger Award, which is actually quite similar to this one, in that it asks you to share facts about yourself. Not a lot has happened to me between January and now, so I doubt I'll be able to come up with ten shiny new facts about myself, so I'm going to link to the previous award post, here, which has seven facts, so that leaves me... if my maths is correct (come on brain, don't fail me now!)...with three more facts... here goes;

1. I'm 23 (24 in August) and STILL can't drive. I've never had a single lesson and I actually think now that if I got behind the wheel of a car, I'd be absolutely terrified. My parents offered to pay for driving lessons when I turned 17 but then they said they wouldn't buy me a car or put me on their insurance once I passed my test, so I didn't see the point in learning (FOOLISH girl!) Since then there's never really been a convenient time (and I haven't had the money) to give it a go. I really wish I had learned because driving really does make life so much easier, plus it opens up loads more job prospects for you. So any teenage types out there, learn from my mistakes - if your parents offer you lessons, just take them!

2. I'm a massive wimp. I hate horror films - literally can't bear to watch them at all and on the rare occasion when I'm forced to, I spend a good few hours in bed afterwards jumping at every tiny sound, convinced that something's going to come and 'get' me. I can just about deal with thrillers or really tame horror films that are more jumpy than gory, but I refuse to watch anything to do with ghosts/exorcisms and don't even get me started on 'slasher' movies! I just don't see the fun in watching people be murdered - is that so bad?!

3. When it comes to supermarkets and 'everything under one roof'-type stores, I go mental. Seriously, set me loose in Wilkinson's and you won't see me for a good few hours. I just get so excited by all the things and offers and oh look that paint is buy one get one free, maybe I should paint something! (I've never painted in my life) I swear, it's a genuine problem.

Ok, so those are my facts done and dusted, now time for some linkage. Last time I did one of these, I didn't really bother with this part as I couldn't remember who had or hadn't received the award already, but this time I'm going to do it - it's nice to share the love after all.

I tag;

the red hiney

studmuffin

What Katie Found

I Need More Clothes

Influence

heels and hiccups

Mess Your Hair Up

Chloe Mia

Shortiee's Beauty Blog

Mozzypop

Apologies if I've tagged you and you've already received this award or a similar one, but hey, now you've got two! Yes, they do take up a bit of extra space on the mantlepiece and yes, they do require A LOT of dusting, but in all honestly, I think everyone needs at least one unusually spelt blog award in their life!

"so that people don't walk over you"

This skirt is £6.99 from H&M - I want it. (maybe in the black and the peach)

I've not been shopping in a while, so I wouldn't have even known that this skirt existed had I not spotted it, in its various colour options, on three or four different blogs. That's one of the things I love about fashion blogs - they do the same job as magazines when it comes to keeping you in the know about all the lovely things that are currently in the shops. And, unlike magazines, most of the items of clothing or beauty products that I read about on blogs are things I could actually afford to buy (my fashion magazines of choicIe are Elle and Sunday Times Style, both of which seem to assume that all of their readers are millionaires. Believe me, we're not).

'm sure I've mentioned it before, but when it comes to fashion and beauty, I'm very easily influenced and pretty much want to buy every lipstick/dress/skirt/cagoule I see, especially when it's being shown off to it's full fabulousness on several different blogs. I've already seen this skirt here, here and here and no doubt it's been featured on loads more, because it's super versatile, flattering on pretty much any body shape and crazy cheap. Excellent skirt all round I say. Plus it's available in loads of different colours (and there's a very similar patterned one too). Well done, H&M , well done.

What do you think? Will you be buying this H&M lovely? Have you already bought it? What colour should I go for?!

May day, mayday!

Wow, it's May already, this year is flying by like crazy! Thought I'd do another summary type thing, the last one seemed to be quite popular...

I'm currently loving;

Royal wedding-o-rama. I think it was hard to not get caught up in all of the excitement on Friday. I'm not particularly fussed about the Royal Family at all, but let's be honest, what girl can't resist a good wedding? Plus, it's nice to have something that we can all 'take part' in as a nation. Usually the news is full of depressing stuff; naughty politicians, celebs having affairs, Katie Price existing, so it made a pleasant change to turn on the TV and see coverage of a genuinely happy occasion. I think Kate looked beautiful, though I've only just made the connection that she wore a McQUEEN dress - hahaha! I went to a house party where muchos cake and tea was consumed. My very clever friend Jenny made this lovely Union Jack cake (above) - it was amazing!

Chocolate chocolate chocolate. Although Easter was a week ago, I've still got A LOT of chocolate left over. I have quite a big family and all of the aunts/uncles/grandparents etc buy Easter eggs for all of the kids. Fortunately for me (unfortunately for my waistline) at 23, I'm still considered one of the kids, so I received SEVEN eggs. So far I've eaten three. I've still got two more Cadbury eggs, a really fancy Marks and Spencers one and a Green & Blacks one to eat. I should probably do something sensible and use loads of the chocolate for baking, rather than gorging myself on it over the next couple of weeks, but let's be honest, I'm probably not going to...

WAH nails. The very clever people at WAH got me all inspired yesterday as I was having a browse through their blog and decided to do a mix of drippy and two toned leopard print. I find drips really difficult to do - does anyone have any tips? Also, can anyone recommend a good topcoat as I'm currently using a Sally Hansen one but it takes about twenty five years to dry.

Summer Heights High. If you've never watched this show, I seriously recommend it. Basically, the idea is it's a documentary (a bit like The Office) filmed in a school in Australia, but the creator of the series, Chris Lilley, plays three different characters - a ridiculously camp drama teacher, a spoiled, bitchy girl and a Tongan boy who's always getting into trouble. It is hilarious! My friend Liam put the series onto DVD for me, so I've been re-watching it all recently, but you can probably find it on youtube. Here's one of my favourite clips;

I'm currently hating;

When it feels like your razor is punishing you. I bought a pack of BIC Miss Soleil razors a couple of weeks ago and oh my goodness I coudn't recommend them less. I've used BIC razors before; I imagine most people have, but I've never tried this particular line. They're a pretty standard disposable - three blades, moisturising strip etc, but for some reason every time I use them, it feels like I'm shaving with a particularly malicious cheese grater. So very, very painful! I hate shaving my legs anyway because it's such a faff, but these razors make me want to do it even less. I think it's time I took up waxing...

Blogger's formatting issues. I'll hold my hands up and say that I'm a bit OCD when it comes to paragraph formatting in my blog posts. I hate having big gaps between paragraphs and I always make sure that everything is fully justified because I just think it looks neater that way. For some reason though, Blogger seems to have gone mental and whenever I write a post, I have to spend ages battling with Blogger to make it look nice and neat. Why are you adding unnecessarily massive spaces between lines, Blogger? Can you just stop please? Has anyone else been having this problem? And how do I make it stop?!

Continuing with my aim to keep sharing the love through the mystical world of the blogosphere, here's five ladies whose work I've been enjoying of late;

Couture & Crumpets

ghostparties

being little

Writer Extraordinaire!

Sophie Isobel