That Shop Around the Corner

You know when you stumble across a real treasure of a shop, and part of you wants to keep it a secret, so no one knows where you bought that amazing gift from and part of you wants to rave about it so everyone can go? Well, I  have found such a shop and decided to do the latter...rave about it and, more precisely, blog about it!

I work in Kensal Rise (just off of Ladbroke Grove) and it is a little hive of activity. Cool, little independent shops and restaurants, a smattering of celebs, a canal with pretty barges and a laid back vibe. It's an area of London I have never worked in before (and I have worked ALL over London) so I was a bit unsure of it at first, but I have actually grown to love it.

During lunch breaks, I like to go out for a wander, either down by the canal or to check out the local shops and cafes. I always pass a little gift shop called Rise and I have always been so tempted to go in, but often found myself in too much of a rush. The shop frontage is so intriguing, that most people stop to have a little peek when they pass. The shop's sign is that if an old fairground sign. The word RISE spelled out with light bulbs surrounding the letters and a general vintage look about it.  There is a black chalk board outside the shop, which always has a fun or witty quote or slogan written on it in white chalk. The shop window contains all those gorgeous little bits and bobs, which I always find so difficult not to buy - homeware, jugs, candles, mugs, Jelly Cat teddies...things basically saying "please buy me!"

Last week I actually had a genuine reason to venture in. It was my parent's anniversary and I wanted to get them a present and card and I thought that Rise should be able to rise (sorry) to the occasion!

I popped along during my lunch and had a lovely schmooze. The shop is small but beautifully presented. Signs, candles, jugs, cushions, gorgeous cards and wrapping paper, door mats and door stops, incense and delightful bits and bobs all called to me and I instantly fell in love. A Russian Doll water decanter was very almost purchased, as was the giant white Jelly Cat rabbit (a favourite of Elijah) and the beaten leather cat door stop almost found its way home with me, when my eyes fell upon a gorgeous display of Rob Ryan pieces. If you are not familiar with Rob Ryan, he is an amazing artist who creates intricate illustrations of sweet, whimsical scenes. Displayed on a lovely wooden display case, were Rob Ryan mugs, jugs, plates and the most gorgeous white ceramic vase with a blue design of a boy and girl smelling some flowers, with the words "Smell Us" written on it. My dad recently (accidentally) broke one of their vases, so this seemed like the perfect choice!

I was asked if I would like it gift wrapped for an additional pound and the choice of wrapping paper was so adorable and kitsch, I couldn't say no! I chose a beautiful pink paper with Bambi and love hearts in white silhouette decorating it. Topped off with a yellow ribbon, the gift looked too good to open! While it was being wrapped, I continued to look around the shop. Gorgeous kitchenware adorned with illustrations of animals caught my eye, along with displays of glassware and beautiful cushions. The greeting card display was filled with fun and colour cards, the kind you always take ages to look at and read because they are all so delightful and sweet.

Fast forward a few days and my parents loved their present. I loved buying it, which always makes the process so much nicer. I can't wait for another excuse to go back to Rise and choose another present...but then again...do I really need an excuse?!

If you fancy paying Rise a visit, you can find them at 21 Kilburn Lane, London, W10 4AE. Maybe I'll bump ino you there! Enjoy x

Dr Bronner's Magic Soap

You know when you hear about those products that you always want to try out but never get around to actually buying?

Well the amount of amazing things I have heard about Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap has always made me want to try it, and amazingly, I was offered to be sent some of the samples to try out myself. Cue squeal of delight.

Now this soap has been heralded as a little miracle. It is described as; "A combination of organic extra virgin coconut, olive, jojoba and hemp oils, together with pure essential oils, creates a unique soap that cleans effectively without being aggressive and produces a velvety-lather that leaves the skin silky-smooth and refreshed." 

This basically means that it can be used for anything and everything - skin, hair, teeth(!!), clothes, as a massage oil, to clean make up brushes...apparently it has 18 uses in one. Bargain. I was sent two of the liquid soaps - the lavender one and the green tea and hemp one and then two of the soap bars, the peppermint and the baby mild one.

So far, I have used them to clean my hands, my face and my make up brushes (amazing, the make up literally dissolves off of the brushes). The smell of the soaps, in particular the lavender one, is gorgeous. As they are made from oils, they feel and smell beautiful. They even recommend using them as a massage oil. I actually massaged a tiny bit into my temples at bed time and I slept like a baby!

Speaking of babies, I have used the baby mild soap bar on Elijah, who has quite sensitive skin, even for a 9 month old, and it caused no reaction and left him skin soft and smelling even lovelier than normal.

I have a way to go to make my way through the rest of the 18 uses, but so far, I am a Dr. Bronner Magic Soap lover!

Have you tried the Magic Soap? Enjoy x

Discovery Club from The Fragrance Shop

I received an email from The Fragrance Shop about their new venture, Discovery Club and was offered the opportunity to try out a box to review.

If you're not familiar with Discovery Club, think of it as a perfume version of Glossybox or Birchbox. The Fragrance Shop Send out the Discovery Club box quarterly with an annual subscription costing £25. 5p from every subscription and subsequent transactions at The Fragrance Shop is donated to Rays of Sunshine children's charity and so far over £100,000 has been donated!

I was sent the 4th edition of the box, which contains 6 new fragrances and vouchers to purchase the fragrances £10 off!

Upon receiving the box, it was presented really nicely in a smart black box, with the samples and voucher booklet wrapped up in chic tissue paper. This edition contains Si by Armani, Jour by Boss, Untold by Elizabeth Arden, Aura by Loewe, La Vie Est Belle Eau Legere by Lancome and Made to Measure by Gucci (for men). I actually received Si by Armani for my birthday and I love it! It's a very elegant scent with pretty floral tones and almost a pink grapefruit smell. So pretty and I will definitely be using the £10 voucher to repurchase this one.

Jour by Boss is a crisp fragrance with a blend of white flowers and citrus. It's very pretty and perfect to wear during the day. Untold by Elizabeth Arden is gorgeous! So pretty and feminine; it's floral and fruity and has the kind of scent, which will keep heads turning all day. Aura by Loewe is my least favourite. It's floral but slightly too woody and spicy for me. It smells a bit too grown up for my taste. La Vie...by Lancome smells like femininity in a bottle! Very fruity with a touch of jasmine and vanilla. So pretty! Made to Measure by Gucci is the only men's eau de toilette in the box and it is fronted by the gorgeous James Franco, so I'm sold. Very masculine with notes of lavender, bergamot, nutmeg and leather. I spritzed it on Darren and it smells goooooooooood!

If you're interested in trying out the Discovery Club box by The Fragrance Shop then click here.

Would you try out the Discovery Club? Enjoy x


*the Discovery Club box was sent to me as a PR sample. All opinions are my own and honest.

Maybelline's The Eraser Eye

Since having my little man, I probably haven't had more than about 6 hours sleep a night. After the initial few weeks, which meant on average 4 hours a night, I started to develop seriously dark circles under my eyes.

I basically look like I've been punched in both eyes. Very attractive. Therefore, a good under eye concealer has been on my "to buy" list for a while. I was all set to spend a fair chunk of change on one, and go for a Bobbi Brown or Nars concealer, that I've heard such rave reviews about, but then, I thought I would just check the high street one more time, to see if they had anything relatively close to offer.

Just as I had given up swatching, my eye fell upon a Maybelline product I had never seen before. Behold, Maybelline's The Eraser Eye! A slimline but chunky enough to hold tube, with a sponge applicator. It comes in 2 shades, light and nude...so that definitely needs improving on! I picked up the nude shade, which seemed to suit me. To get the product out of the sponge applicator (not the most hygienic way to apply make up) you have to twist the base. It takes about 50 clicks to get the product out, but when it does, you only need to twist it once to get plenty of product.

The formulation is light and cooling and applies easily. Its coloured pigments perfect the under eye area covering flawlessly. Enriched with Goji Berry the formula cares for the eye area that suffers most from a sleepless nights! Once applied under the eye, I just blended it in gently with my fingers or a buffing brush and then applied foundation or tinted moisteriser on top as normal.

Overall, for £7.99 this is a great little product. It definitely gives more coverage that I thought and blends perfectly into the skin and leaves my eyes feeling hydrated. I probably will need to invest in a more heavy duty product at some point, which will cost me more, but for now, this is perfect and easy to pop into my (changing) bag for when I'm on the go.

Have you tried The Eraser Eye? What do you think? Enjoy x

Butter London "Black Knight"

Have you heard of Butter London? If you are a keen blog reader, like myself, then you probably have. They are a fabulous new(ish) cosmetics brand, who create their amazing products to go alongside the trends each season as well as doing the make up and nails for shows during Fashion Week.

I LOVE their nail lacquers. They have some stunning colours and effects. Costing £12 a bottle, they are not cheap but they are definitely worth it, especially if you have a nail varnish habit like mine!

I recently saw a colour called the Black Knight and instantly fell in love. A deep black filled with tiny specks of purple, blue and gold glitter, which gave it more of a shimmer than glitter effect. I tried tracking it down, but it's quite tricky to find stockists (they are stocked in Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and large Boots stores to name a few) and after searching (and tweeting) I finally found one, the last one, at my favourite Boots store in London Colney (just outside of London and it's huge) a couple of days ago.

I applied it as soon as I got home and I love it. Perfect transitional colour. I don't care that it is technically still summer, I'm bored of pastels on my nails, it's time for a bit more drama!

What do you think of the Black Knight? Will you be tracking down a bottle? Enjoy x

The Perfect Natural Glow

After reading so much blog love about Palmer's Cocoa Butter Natural Glow Body Lotion, I decided that I had to try it out for myself.

For just a smidge under £4, you get an awful lot of product for your buck. I've used Palmer's Cocoa Butter for years. It's such an affordable and yummy smelling product, which leaves your skin super soft and well nourished. I used it on my baby bump when I was pregnant and it left it really smooth and soft.

So when I read about the Natural Glow version of the lotion, I wanted to put it to the test against my Snow White skin.

Apart from that slight biscuity smell, which you tend to get with most self tanning products, this lotion is AMAZING! It goes on beautifully and sinks into the skin so well and after just two applications, I had already developed a gorgeous natural looking tan, with lovely soft skin as an added bonus! Result. The instructions say to apply once a day or as required, but I found once a day to be perfect.

Make sure you wash your hands really well after applying though so you don't get those tell tale orange bits between your fingers! 

I would definitely recommend this product, it does exactly what it says on the bottle and with the added benefit of it being cocoa butter, it does wonders to the skin tone.

Have you tried this out before? Would you recommend it? Enjoy x

After one application, the self tan is already starting to take effect

A New Mum's Beauty Essentials

As a brand new mama to a gorgeous baby boy, I didn't realise that I would have practically NO time to do my make-up, especially when it's just me and him in the house. When a little man demands your attention constantly and always wants cuddles, it's very difficult to find 5 minutes (let alone my usual half an hour) to make yourself look presentable.

I know to a lot of new mums, putting on some make-up after 2 hours sleep and a loooooong day ahead may seem pointless and a waste of valuable resting time (you are meant to sleep when the baby sleeps...yeh right, when there is a million jobs to do) but I promised myself that when my baby came, I would not lose who I am, and I am someone who loves wearing make up and (attempting) to make myself look somewhat presentable.

Now I am not talking about putting on a smoky eye, a layer of foundation, a full on red lip and cheek highlighter, I am talking about the bare minimum of product to help you look more awake and gorgeous...with minimum application time. Now that Elijah has a nap in the morning, I know I have maybe an hour to myself to run around the house doing all those annoying odd jobs, brush my teeth, my hair, get dressed and put on enough make up to make me look (and feel) like my old self.

So with that being said, here are my new mum beauty and make up essentials.

Primer

A good primer will hold your make up in place for a whole day, will create a flawless base and help create a smooth overall look. I personally am loving Benefit's Porefessional at the moment. It is slightly pricey (£23) and you don't get a huge amount of product, but you don't need a lot. Squeeze a pea size amount onto (clean) fingers and smooth over your whole face (I even put some on my eyelids). This primer smooths over pores and makes them appear smaller.

BB Cream

I am not a fan of foundation. I've never used it. I get why it is such a beauty essential but I have just never been a fan of how it makes me look - it could be because I have such pale skin and such dark features, it can make me look slightly, un-me! Anyway, I used to use tinted moisturiser, but over the last few months I have been obsessed with BB Cream. In particular Garnier's BB Cream in medium. This light weight cream feels just like a moisturiser but covers flaws and evens skin tone without making it look like your wearing any make up at all. It's perfect for masking a tired mum's skin while giving you a touch of colour (plus it contains an SPF - bonus!)

Concealer

To cover up those bags under the eyes, blemishes from hormonal break outs or any red patches, a concealer is any girl's best friend. Quickly whip it out an apply for immediate skin perfection. I've been using Rimmel's Wake Me Up concealer recently, which also has an SPF and is slimline and easy to apply with a sponge application at the end of a wand. Perfect for popping into your (changing) bag for quick touch ups.

Under Eye Roll On

Another essential I can't live without at the moment. I use the Garnier Roll-On for dark circles. This little miracle worker isn't a new product, but it is a must-have for all new mums out there. With a little roller ball, you roll the product under your eye and it leaves a cooling concealer, which contains caffeine to help reduce bags, while covering them up. I apply it a few times a day!!

Cream Eyeshadow

Perhaps not an essential for everyone, but I prefer wearing a touch of colour on my eyes (to detract from the tiredness of them!). If you are going to make an eyeshadow one of your must-haves, make it a really decent cream one. The reason to go for a cream shadow is because the decent ones last all day, while providing a gorgeous pop of colour. I recommend Maybelline's 24 Hour Colour Tattoo in Immortal Charcoal (perfect for creating a smoky eye in seconds) and Benefit's Birthday Suit - a pretty neutral, which would suit any skin tone. I also recommend cream shadows because you can apply them quickly and evenly with your fingers, perfect if you only have a couple of minutes to do your make up!

Mascara

If you only have a couple of minutes to apply a dash of make up, make sure that mascara is included in your routine. There is no better product to make you look more awake, feminine and gorgeous. Mascara opens your eyes up and, when applied to the top and bottom lashes, creates a more lasting and gorgeous look, and makes your eyes look bigger and brighter. I recommend a volumising mascara, which thickens, lengthens and adds volume. I've been using Maybelline's The Rocket in black. You only need a few strokes to create thicker and longer looking lashes, and the brush makes it easy for applying to the bottom lashes too.

Moisturiser

A must have for everyone, not just new mums! A new mum's skin can be particularly prone to dehydration, especially if you are breastfeeding too. It's so important to keep your skin moisturised to keep it looking and feeling healthy and well nourished. Don't scrimp on a good moisturiser. It's important to get one, which works for your skin type and also feeds it with what it needs. I've been using since the new year Tropic Skin Revive. Easy to slip into your bag, this comes with a pump for easy application, and is so packed full of gorgeous nutrients, you only need a small amount to give you maximum benefit. I apply in the morning and evening and it really does give you a pretty glow and a more refreshed looking face. I've even convinced my sister-in-law and fellow new mum Michelle to give this a whirl, and she loves it!

Dry Shampoo

I used to wash my hair and style it every other day. Now I am lucky if I can wash it twice a week! Luckily, I've had my hair cut shorter so it's easier to style with minimum effort, but if I am going out and simply haven't had the time to wash, then dry shampoo to the rescue! I am usually a Batiste gal, but recently I have been using Tresemme's Instant Refresh dry shampoo, which removes oil and boosts volume. It really does do what it says on the tin. It's worth picking one of these up and giving your hair a spray to make it look instantly better.

Quick Drying Nail Polish

I am a nail polish addict and I wasn't going to let that obsession go when Elijah came along. What I discovered was that if I wanted to do my nails before my hubby got home (when I can pass the little man over) was that I needed a quick dry polish. Although not technically a quick dry polish, a matte finish varnish dries super quickly (normally in a few minutes) and allows you to get a gorgeous look...fast! I love Models Own Hedonist from their Hed Kandi collection - a bright neon coral, this colour is perfect for adding a pop of colour to your look. If you want a glossy finish, apply a top coat when you have the time!

So those are my new mum beauty essentials. I hope this helps any new mums out there, who might be feeling like they don't have the time to make themselves look and feel a bit like their old selves! x

Smell My Nails!

L to R: Strawberry Tart, Apple Pie, Banana Split, Blueberry Muffin, Grape Juice

Well I never. Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a product, which takes you be surprise. 

One of my favourite beauty brands, Models Own, have created a brand new nail polish concept - scented varnishes! The collection is called Fruit Pastels. Remember those stickers, which, when you scratched them, they released a scent? Well, essentially that is the idea. There are 5 different colours - all pretty, feminine pastel shades (just like the collection name suggests) just perfect for summer. Soft lilac, blue, mint green, lemon and pink. All very cute. I love the names -

Before you buy, you can scratch and sniff each polish, which are named after yummy treats - Strawberry Tart, Apple Pie, Grape Juice, Blueberry Muffin and Banana Split...yum! I picked up Apple Pie - a gorgeous pale mint green and Banana Split, a soft yellow. I scratched the lid, as it suggests and low and behold I got a whiff of apple and banana.

When you apply the polish, instead of the acrid scent you usually get with nail varnish, you instead are treated to the smell of apples, bananas, strawberry, grape or blueberry...or snozeberries...I'm kidding...there's no such thing as a snozeberry ;o)

Anyway, the novelty of the scent aside, the colours are just gorgeous, right up my street. I think I'll be heading back to pick up the other three colours very soon - especially as Boots are doing buy one get one half price. Bargain!

What do you think of these scented polishes? Something you'd try? Enjoy x

Banana Split and Apple Pie

Apple Pie

Scratch and Sniff!

Benefit World Famous Neutrals

Benefit World Famous Neutrals

I've been a bit under the weather recently, so my mum, being the oh so generous mum that she is, bought me a little treat from my favourite make-up haunt, Benefit, to cheer me up...and did it ever!

Benefit launched their World Famous Neutrals kit a little while ago, and I have wanted to try it out ever since, but have never got round to buying it...I always feel a bit naughty when I buy Benefit goodies for myself, I usually save them for birthday and Christmas present wish lists, as the price points are slightly on the high side.

Anyway, back to the product.

The packaging is Benefit at its best - kitsch, cute, stylish and gorgeous, with a beautiful illustration of "Eyenessa" on the front. The sweet little box opens up to reveal a set of 4 pressed eye shadows and 2 cream eye shadows, all in stunning neutral shades, ranging from barely there nude to a deeper natural brown.

"Birthday Suit" is the first cream shadow. It's a slightly nutty brown with almost a hint of plum. It glides on easily and leaves a gorgeous crease free finish. I haven't tried out the longevity of the cream shadows yet, but I have in the past and they all last well, better if you apply a primer first.

"My Two Cents" is the second cream shadow and is a more bronzy shade. Again, it has a lovely creamy consistency and glides on well.

The 4 pressed shadows are "Call My Bluff," a barely there nude, which leaves just a glimmer of natural colour, "It's Complicated," a soft pinky bronze, "Gilt-y Pleasure," a natural, subtle gold and "Kiss Me, I'm Tipsy," a beautiful plummy brown.

The kit also includes a mirror for on the go touch ups and a fold out "Tips and Tricks" guide for ideas on how to create gorgeous day and night looks.

I really love this kit, it incorporates all the things I love about Benefit, with my favourite shades of eye shadows. The best thing, these colours suit pretty much every skin colour, so it's a great treat for you or will make a fab gift.

Have you tried out this sweet little kit? What are you thoughts on Benefit make up? Enjoy x