First Day at Work OOTD

Today I started my new job, an apprenticeship where I will be working in Marketing, within the head office of a huge company (I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to say which one!)

At first I was amazed that I got the job, then so nervous, but now I'm excited to finally be moving on from college and my part time job. I won't lie, I am happy to wave goodbye to all the rude, messy and generally annoying customers that I won't have to 'serve' any more!

The office dress code is 'smart casual' so this is what I wore...

Shirt: New Look Click Here

Skirt: Topshop Click Here

Bag: Primark

Shoes: New Look Click Here

Do you have a dress code for work? Do you have any smart but fun outfit ideas? xx

Maybelline Instant Anti-Age Eraser Eye Concealer REVIEW

What a long post title! I can't figure out if this is the proper name for this product as the writing on the packaging doesn't really make sense - 'The Eraser Eye'? Anyway, I picked up this relatively new product recently, as part of a 3 for 2 offer on all Maybelline products in Boots. 

The most striking thing about this product is the unusual applicator, a rounded spongey tip which I don't believe I have seen in similar concealer products before. In order to bring the product up into the applicator you simply twist the red band. 

Honestly I was not really impressed at first, as I sat twisting and twisting for what seemed like ages, before the tiniest amount of product appeared, and I could not seem to get a decent amount out. However after being 'worn in' it seemed to work better with every use.

The coverage was a lot better than I expected, so much so that I have surprisingly been using this instead of my trusty Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection. It feels a lot lighter than the Collection concealer, which makes it much easier to blend and also much more comfortable to wear around the eyes. In the photo below I am wearing only this product, (excuse my makeup-less face) around my right eye (left hand side of the photo.)

You can see the difference for yourself! My dark circles and veins are almost completely covered, without any foundation on top. The only negative side to this product is how rapidly it is being used up - I have only had it for no longer than a fortnight and already just under a quarter of the product has gone. Maybe I'm applying it too liberally - I don't know!

Overall I give this product a thumbs up for ease of use, great coverage and lightweight feeling :)

Have you tried this product or  can you recommend anything similar? 

Lauren x x

Festival Essentials!

Trying to get back into the swing of blogging regularly again! I'm going to Global Gathering festival this year (is anyone else?!) so thought I would share my list I made of things I plan to take to make life easier when camping :)

1. POP UP TENT - Call me lazy but I just can not be bothered to struggle putting up a tent after a two hour drive and probably a very long queue. This one is less than half price in Argos from £59.99 to £20.99.. what a flipping bargain! Plus the print will hopefully stand out a bit and make it easier to find in the sea of tents.

2. BUM BAG - Definitely an essential if you want to take money/phone out with you, and hate having a shoulder bag flapping around while you're dancing and having a good time! I also get really paranoid about nasty people stealing from my bag as it has happened to me a few times before :( So having it around my waist feels so much safer. I have seen loads of cheap Primark ones around on the internet, as well as some cool home made studded ones on Ebay.

3. HYGIENE - These are all pretty much a given, along with toothpaste and deodorant... I most probably won't be able to shower there, but leaving on Friday and being back home on Sunday won't be too bad and it's the festival experience after all :)

4. MAKEUP - I don't want to worry too much about checking my makeup during the day, so it's gonna be stains and waterproof all the way! The neon face paint is just a bit of fun and I know from experience that the Star Gazer ones don't budge easily. (Revlon Just Bitten lip stain, Collection 2000 concealer, Rimmel Scandaleyes waterproof mascara and eyeliner, Star Gazer neon face paint)

5. SUNGLASSES - Hopefully it will be sunny, but even if it's not, everyone knows it's perfectly acceptable to wear sunglasses at night at a festival :) I don't plan on spending much money on them as I have a habit of breaking/dropping/giving away my sunglasses when drunk so will probably turn to New Look for some affordable pairs. (All from New Look)

6. FOOD/DRINK - Okay I know this all looks really bad, but my reasoning is; I want to take stuff that will fill me up quickly so I can save money. I will probably try to eat as much fresh fruit and veg as I can before I go, but it's only one weekend so I'm not going to worry too much :)

7. MISCELLANEOUS - Cups for drinking on the campsite, plasters in case of blisters/cuts, and painkillers and allergy relief because I like to be prepared haha.

So yep these are some of the items I need to make sure I have before I go next month, I haven't mentioned clothes I'm taking because I will probably do a separate post on that nearer the time. 
Please leave a comment if you know of any other helpful items that I've missed, especially food-wise! And let me know if you are going to a festival this summer :) xx

Banoffee Cheesecake

A few months ago, I made a chocolate and clementine cheesecake from a recipe card which I picked up in Sainsburys (click here) and it had the best texture out of cheesecakes I'd made so far. So I decided to use the basic measurements to experiment and create my own Banoffee recipe, which turned out to be one of the tastiest (although definitely not the healthiest) things I have ever made :)

• I used:
• 150g butter
• 400g digestive biscuits
• 1 tin Carnation Cook with Caramel
• 100g  caster sugar
• 200g full-fat soft cheese 
• 250g mascarpone 
• 3 medium eggs
• About 5 very ripe bananas (depends on the size)

Grease and line your tin (the recipe said a 23cm tin but anything that looks as if a cheesecake would fit in is probably fine)

Put the biccys into a food bag and make sure it's tied tight! Then bash the hell out of them with a rolling pin/your weapon of choice...

Et voilà!

Melt yo butter

Empty the crushed biccys into the butter and mix it gooood, then squish it into the tin as tight as you can (yes that is a potato masher)

Chop your bananas

Put some of the banana on top of the biscuit base

Spoon over as much of the Carnation caramel as you want and don't eat it off the spoon like I did because you will feel sick after

Blend the rest of your banana, I think I blended about 3 

Chuck the rest of the ingredients (cheeses, sugar, eggs) into a bowl and give it a really good mix with the blended banana

Pour the mix into the tin, bake for around an hour and then leave it in the fridge until it is fully set - in the photo below it wasn't fully set but I was just too impatient to wait >:)

Okay so it wouldn't win awards for it's looks but it did taste amazing and I'm sure someone else could have served it a lot more neatly than I did!

I kept the cheesecake in the fridge for around 4 days and it was fine, but I would say you wouldn't want to keep it for too long because of the already very ripe bananas inside.

What do you think of this recipe, would you try a slice? :) xx

Haul: Boots, Primark, New Look

It feels like I haven't blogged for ages :( Partly due to lack of inspiration, however given the amount of stuff I've bought over the past week I have plenty of new things to talk about now! So please leave a comment if you would like to see a review of anything below :)

(Johnsons Baby Wipes, Garnier Fructis Style Big Volume Hairspray, Broadway Jet Dry Nail Glue x2, 17 Flawless Photo Primer, Revlon Colorstay Foundation, Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascara, Rimmel Apocalips Nova & Luna)

I won't ramble about every single one of these but I can justify some of it! Boots had an offer on Rimmel to spend £10 and get the Scandaleyes mascara free :)

This is my best Primark find in a while! I wore it out to a very nice bar/restaurant on Saturday night for my boyfriends birthday and felt very grown up - almost classy ;) I think it was around the £12 mark.

I grabbed these in a bit of a hurry as my local Primark was so busy, as a replacement for my battered black studded flats. The quality isn't great but for around £8 (I think) they are comfy and I can't complain much.

I'm not ashamed to say, I love Primark's fake nails and lashes! As you can see I've already worn the top pair once, if they are still in decent condition or if I've only had them on for a few hours I don't see any harm in re-using them.

This dress looks much better on than it does on the hanger! I thought it would be easy to wear with loads of different stuff, belted/with a statement necklace etc and it was only £12.99. Link Here

All Time Favourite Youtubers!

I have been watching Youtube on an almost daily basis for many years now, and it was through discovering the 'beauty gurus' that I actually discovered the world of blogging.

There are a lot of now very well known beauty gurus that I first started out watching, who I really loved! However I have fallen out of love with a few of these Youtubers as I found that as they gained more success they seemed to ditch the content I enjoyed watching (such as drugstore makeup reviews, tutorials, high street clothing hauls) in favour of ridiculously expensive high end or niche products that I could never realistically afford. I'm not saying I don't enjoy watching high end product videos at all, but I would only follow a channel if they included some lower priced/NORMAL PERSON products, so that I can actually relate to them!

I have also found that some of the videos now just seem extremely commercialised, scripted and cringey  which I don't like as I don't see it as real. So if you notice that I have missed out some well known youtubers from my list below, it is probably due to either of those reasons ... but that is only my personal opinion and they clearly have thousands of subscribers who do not share my opinion :)

Here is a list of links to all of my current favourite Youtubers, I love discovering new channels so please leave a comment with your favourite channels and Youtubers so I can check them out! xx

• essiebutton 
• LoveLaughandMakeup
• lillieloves
• itssimplybeauty
• fayesfix
• Helon Melonlady
• clothesencounters
• LilyMelrose
• DollyBowBow
• beautycrush
• Patricia Bright
• FashionRocksMySocks
• voussontbeauetbelle
• SuperBeautyNerd
• GoodGollyMissHollie
• pixiwoo

And a few music channels I enjoy:

• SubSoul 
• mixmagtv
• UKF Music
• UKF Drum & Bass
• YesJustJumpUp
• ThinkDNB

FOTD: Big Red Lips!

I used:
Collection 2000 Lasting perfection concealer in shade 2
Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation in 100 Ivory on Real Techniques Buffing Brush
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 001 Transparent on Real Techniques Powder Brush
MUA Powder Shade 3  and Benefit Coralista on Real Techniques Contour Brush
MUA Intense Colour Eyeliner Pencil in Jet Black
Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Eyeliner
MUA Extreme Curl Mascara
MUA Intense Colour Lip Liner in Brooding Plum
Vaseline
17 Supreme Shine Lipstick in Rich
Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Gloss - I highly recommend the sexy mother pucker gloss as it tingles strongly for quite a while so you feel like it is really doing something, and I think my lips do look a bit more plump here!

I wore this makeup on Friday, for no special reason other than I had lots of spare time to get ready in the morning so thought I would try something different. 
You will almost never see me wearing a red lip even at night time, I usually stick to pinks, orangey corals and peachy nudes. To be honest this is partly because I'm not that good at getting a perfect red lip and I know I'll end up smudging it...  like the last time I wore a dark lip on a night out ages ago and it ended up on my chin! NOT A GOOD LOOK as you can see here....

Hahaha :( 

Anyways thanks for reading this far! Do you have a go-to favourite product or trick to get the perfect red lip? xxx

Woo it's Friday, and a Haul!!!

I think TGIF is the expression! Not that my weekend will properly start until I finish work tomorrow evening... boo, but anywayyys! Here are just a few things I picked up whilst in town today.

This shirt from Primark was only £10!!! I think it has a really understated classy look to it (surprisingly Primark haven't ruined it with something tacky, I really like the gold buttons) and could easily pass off as a Topshop shirt. I bought it in a size 20, as just by looking it it on the hanger I could tell I wanted it to hang nice and loose and also to cover my bum to wear with leggings etc. 

 I did have the navy blue version of this tee which says RAD, I bought it as the slogan was a little different from the Geek/Nerd/Dork tops that a lot of people have been hating on recently (I guess just because they're everywhere.) I loved how comfy it was and how it hung on me. But it bloody shrunk in the wash and I couldn't see it in Primark again :( So I gave in and picked this one up, not the most original, ground breaking item of clothing I know but it is comfy and flattering and to be honest my long hair covers up the NERD slogan anyway.

Another brush to add to my RT collection, it was definitely worth the £12 as it is so lovely and big, and amazingly soft.

I always get sucked in by the £1 items at Primark! I have tried about 5 of the different fake nail designs now and all have impressed me apart from one. The only thing is you need to use a better glue to make sure they actually stay on your nail. I will probably paint over the french manis, but how cute are the polka dots?!!

I had used up all of my Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit daily scrub which I got on with quite well, so thought I might as well try another Neutrogena product. I chose the Garnier soft essentials toner because I have been getting patches of dry skin recently especially on my nose :( So didn't want a toner that would feel drying in any way. 

Finally, I also recieved an order I made yesterday on Missguided, as they currently have free next day delivery up until midnight tonight! I ordered the Kadira Shiny Disco Pants in Black - I know, a bit late on the disco pant bandwagon! But even though the weather should be getting warmer I still think I will get a lot of wear out of them in the evening/nighttime :)