Fancy Restaurants | Filing | Mini Boots Haul

Good afternoon, how has your week started off? I hope with lots of catch up coffees and maybe a cream cake...hmmm I wonder what time the bakery closes.

 

 I think I might have blinked and missed last week, but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of nice restaurants, an unplanned, April shower induced Boots mini spree, a spin / silks class and nope not a single gym session...or is that a lie? I might have gone Monday, either way last week was yet another gym fail.

First lovely restaurant I went to was Café Rouge, which although there are two in Norwich I had never been too. In case you don't  know it's a French restaurant, and it was really lovely and every single course of mine was heavy on cream - tasty! I went with friends during the week and had a lovely evening, and although debated I passed on the snails...

Second restaurant meal of the week (pictured below), was the always on point No.24 in Wymondham. It is one of mine and Joes favourite restaurants, and we went on Saturday night with his dad and partner. The food as always was exceptional, and made even better by the fact they had sticky toffee pudding on the menu - my favourite!

On Sunday I was in a "OMG I need to organise everything, and why is nothing ever where I need it to be, and I don't think I've filed since 2014!" mood. So I popped to Staples and purchased some files to (re)organise all of our paper work, as it had gotten out.of.hand. with piles of paper stuffed in every draw our house can accommodate and then some. So I spent all of Sunday with our paperwork all over the living room floor(with 3 pups in the house, good thinking Carla!) and have it all nicely organised now. 
Feeling accomplished! 

So here is the result of my dart into Boots to avoid the damn showers that have plagued us all weekend.

Hail in April - no thanks!

Truth be told, I didn't break the bank so I don't even count this as a splurge (technically means I'm still entitled to a splurge this month as I'm not counting this right..?!) 

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush - an absolute babe of a product, and if I could upgrade a product to friends status it would be this baby. 

Soap and Glory Body Wash & Body Scrub - The Sugar Crush is the only scent of Soap and Glory that I do like, and its one of my go-to brands as you just get so much product for your money, especially as it is always on 3 for 2.

Cotton Wool Face Pads - I actually purchased 4 packs of these, because who doesn't always need these?

Oral B Toothpaste glamorous shine - Not sure my teeth need to shine glamorously, but they were buy one get one free and they match the make of my teeth whitening strips so in the basket they went.  

Massage sponge - purchased solely for the white scrubby bit, as anything that helps with exfoliating in my books is a winner.

And then the two products that I'm really excited about

Garnier Micellar Oil Infused Cleansing Water - I've read good reviews about this beauty, and I use the standard micellar water at the moment, the one with the pink lid. But it doesn't remove my mascara with scrubbing, which leave my eyes sore, and I still wake up with panda eyes. Also my skin is getting dryer as I get older, and my usual moisturiser isn't cutting it so I'm hoping to give it a help in hand with the oil from this product - I will report back how I get on with it.

Rimmel Sun Shimmer In Shower Self Tan - Now I am a fake tan virgin! I've always just been way to paranoid about it going wrong, or streaky or orange or GREEN! and then theres the fact that seriously who cba! But when I noticed this advertised, I thought if I saw it in store I might give it a go. Mostly because I will do anything to prolong my shower, secondly it's buildable, so I'm hoping it will be pretty light and forgive any poorly applied-ness! and thirdly I don't want to be as pasty white as I currently am *sobs* I haven't read any reviews on this, but again I will update you.

Wish me luck!

I hope you've had a lovely Monday (and Tuesday as I didn't get this up on schedule), I'll see you Wednesday with a wedding update!

Much love

Carla x

28th March 2016 | Gone But Not Forgotten

Good morning you chirpy lot!

 

Sorry I have been away, it started as a long weekend, and ended with me feeling a bit poorly and so I have been absent for almost a week.

 

But in that time away I have so much to update you with, so grab a coffee as you know I like to natter!

 

The holiday started off with an unexpected days holiday. We weren't planning on taking the bank holiday days off, but Thursday evening the green eyed monster rose it grim head from the depths and convinced us we needed it. It turned into the nicest day ever, the sun was shining both Jenna and Vicki with little Freya in tow were all free for brunch, so we headed off into the city. After the obligatory bank holiday lay in of course! We met at the Britannia Café in Norwich Centre, in the little church next to Tesco express if you are local. Cant remember what I actually ate now, but I remember it having lots of fluff in...nice.

Oh side note, prior to my meeting the girls in the city, I popped into the local Fiat dealership in Norwich to price up a sparkly new Fiat500 Lounge, which hopefully will grace the presence of my life in the not too distant future - raise your hand for being a blogger cliché.

After eating we went for a bit of a browse and a ticked a few things off our combined to do lists, followed by a smoothie before parting ways.

The rest of the day I honestly cant remember (my fault for zero blogging motivation due to my fail at taking ANY photos, which made me sad), but I think it went something along the lines of lay on the sofa with Joe, play with the pooches, eat a take away with friends, drink some wine, sleep.

Perfect!

 

Saturday to my best of my knowledge was miserable, and spent wallowing in the fond memory of the previous days sunshine.

Day off wasted

 

Sunday was also grim as far as the weather was concerned (I'm such a typical Brit, having to note on what the weather was like each day) I had a visit to Pauline's new house in the morning, which I can confirm is flipping gorgeous! although a bit further away from me than I would like *sobs*. After the complimentary tour, we spent the time measuring up for curtains, and setting up her new TV. It was nice to get a bit of catch up time, as life is so busy and I miss her.  

Later in the day me and Joe, along with the rest of my family tottered off to my Nanny & Grandad's for our Easter Sunday get together. We do this every year for a few differed occasions, it's lovely to catch up and test our family bonds by seeing how long we can all tolerate each other with minimal alcohol. Ha, I obviously love them all very much, and really enjoy a get together especially one that involves chocolate. Although I was good this year and managed to avoid all but one, which I can confirm is gone and was delicious.

Zero regrets

 

Monday was back to work with no motivation and my headache which seems to hit me every evening at the moment started to get worse, and I also have a rash which keeps popping up and disappearing, and then popping up somewhere else, which is fun!

 

But fast forward to Wednesday which is when things got exciting as I toddled into the city to buy my first ever big girl blogger camera! The highly recommended, blogged about and loved Olympus Pen Lite E-PL7 in retro silver, with the 14 - 42mm lens and as it is a now no longer produced the price had dropped dramatically. I also managed to nab the last one Jessops had, which they got sent to the Norwich store for me to view, but as it was the last one it was ex display, meaning it had the minutest of scratches on the bottom from being plonked on and off the stand, so I got a further £20 off - thank you very much Jessops. Also the silver version is already around £40 cheaper than the black or white, which was perfect as the silver is super retro looking and by far my favourite of the three.

So I now I just need to learn how to work this beauty!

Free camera lessons anybody...?

 

Photos to follow, as you can imagine there will now be a bombardment of (hopefully) beautiful photos crammed into my blog, and also on my Facebook.

 

If you have made it this far, and don't already, come like my Facebook page as it's where I most regularly update - especially since the Instagram spat about notifications.

Find me here

 

 

As always, much love

Carla x

21st March 2016 | L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Clay - A Word of Warning Review

Good morning lovely people, todays post comes in the form of a review / warning of the much raved about new collection from L'Oreal, a re balancing clay collection for people who suffer from oily roots and dry ends - can I get a hallelujah!

When I first saw a review of these shampoo (which was pretty hard to avoid seems everybody and their sister had been sent the collection for review) I was like GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE!

Not only did they promise the holy grail of hair care for us poor folk whose roots refuse to make cute manageable second day hair a thing! But they were impressing the heck out of the beauty gurus. So I trotted off to my local Boots (As they are conveniently on 3 for 2) and grabbed the trio you can see pictured above, Shampoo, Conditioner and a pre shampoo mask, there is also a dry shampoo, but I have enough of that in my possession to last me till approximately 2045.

And they were amazing! my hair was clean, refreshed, light and most importantly gave me great hair for 3 whole darn days (the dream) I was singing their praises to anyone that would listen. 

BUT THEN...

I started to notice, mainly when going to bed that my scalp was starting to get super itchy, and a little sore . I ignored it because you-know super nice hair! But it started to become unbearable, my scalp was getting dryer and dryer and I was using the product twice a week as opposed to 3 / 4 times a week with my usual shampoos and conditioners. I stopped using the pre shampoo mask, and it eased it a little but it was still there and annoying as hell.

BUT EVEN WORSE...

Finally it became too much and I stopped using the products all together, and the itching / soreness has stopped but now my hair gets oily twice as quick as it did before I was using the products!!! I can wash my hair in the evening, and by the next afternoon already feel its needs doing again - FFS.

Now I'm no expert, but in my opinion I feel like the product has possibly stripped my hair of it's natural oils giving me this wow look at this fantastic oil free hair you've always wanted! But now my hair is over producing oil to compensate YAY!

So back to my ex I go - dry shampoo with an apology that I tried to rid you from my life.

 

Have you had this problem? please let me know, you can find me on

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

 

Much love

Carla x  



Rimmel || Provocalips Review

When I purchased this apparently 16hr kiss proof lip colour I was more than a little sceptical of the claim. I also don't usually rate the two step lip products very highly - you might wonder why I bought the thing?! but that's the day I realised my blog has become a justification to purchase pretty things that I would usually think twice about. Oops.

 

Luckily for me I freaking love this product! and have worn it almost everyday since I purchased it a few weeks back.

The packaging is snazzy and as usual with these products it has a doe foot applicator at either end, which works as well as all the rest. The colour is beautiful and very seasonal, the one I purchased was 230 Kiss Fatal. You apply the colour coat first, which goes on lovely, I then leave that on for a few moments until it goes a little less tacky. 

Then you apply the top coat to "lock in" the colour and make it all kiss proof and amazing. And it works perfectly! I would add I think the top coat dulls the colour ever so slightly as it leaves the finish somewhere between matte and glossy which over time (hours!) gives into the matte.

Below I have the product on (I'm not sure why I look quite so  shocked...)  

 For £6.99 this product is fantastic, the wear time on it is incredible, the colour lasts all day, (and all night if you forget to take it off ) so that's the 16hr promise ticked, how often does that happen?! The original finish lasts for a good few hours before it goes more matte. But unlike some matte products it doesn't dry your lips out.

 The only things to note with it that aren't such positives is one, if you already have badly dry lips it doesn't sit too well on them, but what lip product does! and two you can't re-apply the product throughout the day. I thinks its because you have applied the top coat and then the colour coat doesn't sit well on top of it, it starts to roll up and makes you feel like you have chapped lips. but I'm sure if you wanted the shiny finish you could apply a lip gloss maybe?

 

And lastly the product DOES live up to its kiss proof name, my mug after finishing my cup of tea.... no lipstick stains here!

 

I am 100% going to be purchasing more from the line soon!

 

Love Carla  

Sanctuary - Skin Perfecting BB Cream SPF15

Review time! and I have a new found love for you, and I can't believe I forgot to add it to my favourites this month (actually I forgot to add lots of things, note to self - make notes!) I stumbled across this beauty whilst trying to find Origins VitaZing, I was off to a festival, had seen a review, this was the product that I needed! But my local Boots store failed me big time as they don't stock Origins. So I was left wandering the isles in search of another BB cream with sun protection. Having never used BB creams before I was a bit lost, I am usually a no make up, or full face make up kinda girl - once I start I tend to get a bit carried away. So here is the one I went for: Sanctuary - Brightening Facial - Skin Perfecting BB Cream SPF15.

Currently on offer for £10! Here

 

This little tub of wonder is fantastic! Its everything you need from a BB cream, light on your skin, has SPF 15, blurs imperfections, highlights, balances out redness and does a little to cover pesky break outs. although I would suggest a concealer too if your skin has few flare ups (like mine constantly grrr) as this is quite light coverage.

 

I don't honestly see myself going back to using foundations, I have really oily skin and its a nightmare when wearing foundation, practically impossible in the current weather conditions in the UK, but this has oil control also! If I had read the description properly I would have known this, but I was unaware of it's claim and it came as a unexpected joyful shock to me when I looked in the mirror at lunchtime and my face didn't look like it was slipping off! Seriously its the best (big claim) oil control product that I have come across in all my oily years. On a good day, I don't even have to powder at all! and it still lasts me the whole day. I can't actually put into words how happy that makes me...

On to the "meh" things about the product; I have the light to medium shade, which I'm pretty sure was the lightest one, and its very tanned, perfect for the summer (as obviously intended) but not everyone has a tan Sanctuary...and what about when I want to use you in the wintery months? answer me that. Although its a glorified moisturiser you have to apply it with a brush, if you try to apply with your fingers it rolls up as you do so, also when dispending the product you always have to remove the top bit as it will have dried up a bit and so won't blend onto your skin, its merely slightly annoying but still worth mentioning. But I can't find any other faults, and I have been wearing this for a couple of months almost everyday so not bad, also I still have loads of product left, maybe 3/4!

 

Overall I am totally in love with this BB cream, and will repurchase (maybe right now as its got a fiver off!) the biggest thing I love about this is the oil control, but as a general BB cream its fab too. also it saved me £14, as the Origins VitaZing is a whopping £29. I feel a holy grail product developing!

 

But maybe I shall purchase the VitaZing in the future when I'm feeling flush and do a little comparison for you, see if its really worth the extra £14...I'll leave you with a few photos of the product on. Apologies I didn't take these photos for the purpose of this, so its just a general idea of the coverage.

 

Carla x



Review - Eyeko Skinny Liquid Liner

So here comes an early morning review for you all, I picked up this Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in Black with a Glamour magazine a few weeks back, and since then I have seen a few reviews dotted about the web, obviously it flew off the shelves quick as the magazine cost £2, and this eyeliner retails for £12 (Bargain!) even if its a dud, who cares you got a glossy magazine out of those pretty pennies too! 

So this little beauty claims to be smudge proof, fade proof, fool proof, Long Lasting proof...ok that one doesn't work but basically life proof! which is what every girl needs from her eyeliner right?! I wasn't expecting much, I didn't know the brand and it came free with a magazine, but this eyeliner has really impressed me. its super skinny felt tip nib allows you to get right along the lash line, but its great for building up a thicker line also. I much prefer felt tip nibs anyway (can I fathom gel eyeliner...no I cant!) but this really gives you precision when applying.

 I've seen on a few reviews that they are having issues with the eyeliner drying out super quick, when applying. I've had mine for way over a month now, probably nearer 2 and use it almost everyday all I can say is I haven't noticed any signs of drying out yet.

The colour is super black, and stays put (like seriously stays put!), even on my oily skin, and as it gives you such good control, and a super thin line its perfect for practising those wings!

Here's a few pictures with the eyeliner on, I am really chuffed with this find, I'm not too sure about the £12 price tag, seems a little steep for me - but if I have no luck finding a cheaper option that performs this well in the future, I still have a fail safe in this little wand.

 

All in all I LOVE IT!

 

Carla x