Valentine's Day Rocky Road

Happy Valentine's Day for yesterday everyone! I hope everyone had a sweet day. I personally don't think much of the over-commercialised element of it all, but hey, it means we can make cute food. 

Rocky road is the easiest thing to make. Here's the very simple recipe I used:

125g butter

200g chocolate (dark/milk/a mixture)

3 tablespoons of golden syrup

A dozen crushed rich tea biscuits 

Two handfuls of mini marshmallows 

A sprinkling of coco pops

Melt the butter, chocolate and syrup in a large pan, adding each part in small pieces. Add the crushed biscuits, marshmallows and coco pops, stir well and pour the mixture into a lined baking tray. Leave in the fridge to set for at least three hours. 

The jelly beans are from The Treat Kitchen in Nottingham. They were actually a birthday gift from my boyfriend but seeing as this rocky road is mainly for him then it's like the circle of life etc...putting them to (cute) use instead of eating them all myself. They have so many sweets in store and it's just a nice little shop in general. If you're in Nottingham you should check it out. 

So there you have it. Perhaps the easiest treat to make, ever. Have a lovely day!

Product Review: Botanics Cleansing Foam Wash

Today I'm reviewing the Botanics Cleansing Foam Wash. I have recently been loving the BB cream, so thought I would investigate the range further. Read my review of it here.

It's usually £3.99 but is currently on sale. The fact it's for all skin types didn't fill me with much confidence: I like oil reducing washes usually, but hey, oily skin is included in all! It claims to be brightening, so I hoped it would help my skin from looking dull and wintry. 

First impressions: Okay so it's got natural ingredients in it...hibiscus and plants and stuff (it's developed with Kew gardens, and that's what they're into I guess) but seriously...this cleanser smells not good. Not antiseptic but it definitely has a hospital vibe to it. I've read other people's reviews and they seem to like it, claiming it just has an absence of scent. Everyone is different I guess but the smell for me is a big downside to this product. 

After that I was in a mood with this product. I didn't want to like it. Damn when something works, eh...

Conclusions: Does it brighten? Yes. After a week or so my skin was looking that extra bit perkier. It also does a brilliant job of removing foundation...it seems to melt away. 

It's a very good cleanser that leaves your skin feeling clean but not stripped, like so so many of the popular brands. It's almost as though we're used to feeling products 'work' on us (generally just being abrasive, probably), when we should be looking at the way a product actually makes our skin look. 

If you're not fussy about how stuff smells, try this out. I really like this range and will be buying more in the future. 

Product Review: LaRoc Concealer Palette

Today I'm reviewing a buy I stumbled upon whilst trawling Amazon. This is the LaRoc Concealer Palette. Beauty experts will already have figured out that this product is just a massive dupe of the famous Lorac. Horay! If you know me, you know I just love finding dupes. Partly because it's just fun to test but obviously, let's save some cash please. 

I've been wanting a concealer spectrum to work with for contouring for a while. Originally, I was simply going to buy a Revlon Photoready concealer in a darker shade, as I've seen so many people are loving (including my angel Carli Bybel who I will put below.) 

However, I stumbled on this palette whilst looking for something totally random (getting lost on Amazon, as always) and thought I would try it out.

Firstly, this arrived super fast. Secondly, the packing is very nice. It looks sleek and professional, and the opposite of the price tag. The colour spectrum ranges from virtually white to dark brown. You can also see on the first picture that this palette contains some unusual shades: namely a yellow, a green and a purple. 

• These shades are known as 'correction' colours. 
• Orange concealer is used to cancel out bruise-coloured pigmentation whilst green and purple will minimise redness. They can be used on the under eye area or on imperfections. 
• You apply them before your skin-coloured concealer, either all together or just one or two shades depending on your needs. The below video demonstrates how orange concealer can help you out.

I pretty much follow this pattern of contouring. Below I've labelled the shades I'm using and where. I've mixed some and had a play around too. This is obviously for fair skin, but I don't think it's too hard to figure out which contour colours you need for your skin tone. I just like to make sure my nose contour colour is lighter than my cheek contour colour, but that's just personal preference.

You can purchase this palette here. It's got 4 stars on Amazon from a lot of reviews. I think it's a really good, affordable addition to any collection. 

Current Obsession: Barry M Gelly Polishes

Truth be told, I never have unpainted nails. I remember how when I left school for the freedoms of sixth-form, one of my first thoughts (apart from I'm going to avoid maths forevermore) was: I'm going to wear nail varnish every single day. And so I do...quite literally. I like my hands and I just feel totally 'un-done' with bare nails. This however does mean that when I buy nail varnish I'm looking for one thing in particular: longevity. I do not have the patience to paint my nails every few days and chips are very frustrating. 

So I put this one to the test. Barry M's Gelly Hi-Shine nail polishes claim to have the effect of a gel manicure. Which, as a student, is a habit that can't be upheld. So I tried it in a bottle.

Firstly, the colour choice in this range is gorgeous. This is the shade Damson, a gorgeous deep electric blue. This one was actually a gift but wow this colour makes me so happy. 

These glide on so well. The formula is thick but easy to work with, and I find you're more likely to get a cleaner finish with gel-type polishes. They seem to radiate across your nail and fill in all the gaps. It's brilliant technology. 

With a decent top coat, these last perfectly chip-free for up to 5 days, in my experience. That's pretty decent wear in contrast to all the hundreds of nail varnishes I've ever tried. There's a real shine on this polish too. It's just a glossy, perfect pop of colour.

Shade: Watermelon

As this is a Current Obsession and not a review, I hope you've guessed that yes, I'm in love. I have a few shades, namely Damson, Watermelon and Prickly Pear. I love the themed names as well. I think my dream job would probably be naming nail varnishes...

All shades can be found online here or in store. They're only £3.99 and some of the best I've ever tried. Let me know if you like them!

Product Review: Benefit Roller Lash Mascara

I hope I wasn't the only one who had to send my boyfriend on a mission to find this for me (not that I'm not an independent woman and all, but these are getting increasingly hard to come by.) Elle is selling super fast this month, and no it's probably not because of the impeccable Keira Knightley (soz Keira.) Instead, they've only gone and put a brand new, not-on-the-shelves, new technology mascara as a free gift. Yep, go and scour the land for a copy of it if you're wanting to try out Benefit's Roller Lash Mascara. 

Inspired by the lifting, curling technology of velcro rollers, this all new product claims to curl your lashes and add length so that you'll never need eyelash curlers again. Here's what I thought of it:

I'm not usually a fan of rubber wand heads but this one doesn't feel painful on your lashes. It does indeed curl your lashes as you go.

My eyelashes grew before my eyes. I've never seen them so long. 

The packaging is gorgeous, and the full sized bottle looks to be even nicer. I just think Benefit get it right every single time with their packaging; it's tasteful, unique, and thoroughly high-end whilst still being really cute. 

One slight downfall: It's not as great on bottom lashes. Might just be me though! It's a bit tough to make my lower lashes thick whilst not being spidery with this wand. 

Nevertheless, I am certainly getting this when it's released for purchase. It's rumoured to be the end of this month, but there's no official date as of yet. 

Definitely go and try this. It's totally free with Elle, which is a grand total of £4 for a really great mascara that I'm certain is going to be a big thing this year. 

Liebster award #2

Very pleased to announce that I've been nominated to do the Liebster award again! Seeing as I've already done it once, I won't be doing another tagged round but I will however answer the questions the lovely Alyssa left for me. Check out her blog in the link.

Why did you start blogging?
I've always been a big fan of two things: beauty and writing. I love reading beauty/lifestyle blogs and I have big obsessions when it comes to beauty YouTubers. I just wanted to have a go for myself and see if I could do it, really! I love recommending things and trying out new products. I rep the drugstore a lot because I do believe you don't have to spend a lot of money to look and feel great: I want my readers to feel the same way. I've wanted to blog for a long time but was so nervous to start and didn't really know what I was doing, but I am so pleased with the response I've got so far. I'm glad I challenged myself!

What is your favourite post that you've written?
I loved reviewing the looks on the Golden Globes red carpet.

What is your go-to look? 
I like getting that great skin look, with smokey brown shadow, big lashes, winged liner and a good bit of contouring.

Favourite lip colour?
At the moment I'm obsessed with dark dusky rose-esque lips. The Max Factor lip pencil in Mauve Moment is such a perfect colour, and their pencils work well as a total lip cover.

Who inspires you? 
Happy, creative, humble people who are interested in things.

What are your goals for this year? 
Just to strive to be the best person I can be. Just healthy and happy really... I'm trying to work out more, eat better, be grateful and just use my time wisely. Read about my New Year resolutions here.

Favourite season?
Autumn

What should every girl have in their collection?
Some decent makeup brushes.

Favourite quote? 

Favourite animal?

Wolf

If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself?

I would tell my thirteen year old self: know your worth and worry less. Keep reading, read all the time; it's the best favour you'll ever do for yourself. Your parents are very cool people, be friends with them. Look after your hair (don't try and go blonde, you definitely won't have more fun) (how I wish I'd taken that last bit of advice.)  

I'm super thankful that I've been nominated twice and for all my readers who are so supportive. I have some really good product reviews coming up this week so stay tuned and have a wonderful day. 

Product Review: No7 Moisture Drench Lipstick

Hi lovelies! Yesterday I rushed out to town partly because I remembered that the No7 discount vouchers were ending and I really wanted to grab this (also purchased other goodies that I will review later this week.) Even without money off, this only sets you back £9.95 which I personally think isn't too bad for a good quality lipstick. I chose the shade Ginger Rose.

The colour is almost autumnal; although we're moving into spring, I'm living in denial. I think this colour is super wearable anyway. It's an orange toned red- not quite burnt orange- more gentle and classic. It looks as though it would apply opaquely, but as it's a Moisture Drench lipstick the effect is a bit different.

I've purchased Moisture Drench lipsticks by the brand before, so I know I like them! (sorry, biased reviewing.) Whilst I love the look of matte lipsticks (which are everywhere at the moment) I would rather not wear them, especially in the day time. They're too heavy for me, and even if they last all day I would rather re-apply. 

These lipsticks feel like lip balm, which is something I personally like. However, the pigmentation on this one isn't brilliant. It's good, but not great, and re-application is probably needed every few hours at least. For some people that's an issue, but I honestly don't mind if it means my lipstick feels comfortable.

trout pout not necessary

For me, despite the slight want of pigment, I love this and would purchase more. The full range is only available in store (including this shade), but you can purchase a good selection here. 

Have a great day!