Guest Post..Embracing your unique beauty in spite of Adversity

Hey lovelies i have a different post for you today, Jackie Clark who does outreach for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance contacted me last week, about writing a guest post on my blog, i think her message is important,making people realise that everyone is uniquely beautiful, no matter what your going through, so i happily said yes...

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Embracing Your Unique Beauty In Spite of Adversity

By: Jackie Clark

Every single woman on this planet has the desire to feel beautiful and accepted the way they are. It is a natural need that we are all born with, and all women should all embrace their uniqueness. Women should feel good in their own skin and learn how to accept the changes that their body may go through. Hopefully, every woman can learn to feel this way and realize they are beautifully different.

The changes over time that occur from pregnancy, physical disorders, diseases or injury are like a beautifully woven tapestry of your uniquely special life. One must learn to accept that each little change or "imperfection" makes them the person that they are today. Why should anyone let others tell them that are not beautiful? Be proud of who you are; no one should be ashamed of their body with its battle scars and individual characteristics.

Many have seen friends and family through the adversity of cancer, and know how the physical changes can be hard to handle. Feeling good about one's self is a very important aspect to the healing process when it comes to cancer. Something so simple as a manicure and pedicure can help a woman to embrace their new form of beauty. Lately there have been numerous reports concerning mesothelioma cancer cases from asbestos exposure, and the cancer treatment can make a woman feel as though she is losing her natural beauty. What many do not realize is that feeling beautiful with those physical changes should be a part of the treatment process because someone's emotional well being can affect their physical healing.

Even those who have never faced the adversity of cancer may struggle with loving their body due to weight problems or other physical abnormalities. This can cause depression, because of the inability to gain that "perfect" figure back. This is another time when a woman needs to learn to love their body and find ways to make themselves feel beautiful again. Going out and splurging on fancy makeup to feel pretty, along with buying some new clothes to properly fit their new body shape, can work wonders towards improving that self-image.

Every woman should be able to feel beautiful in her own skin and no longer live with self-deprecation. It is a nasty habit to belittle one's self, and needs to be stopped before it leads to depression. Anyone going through a major physical change like cancer should try embracing their unique beauty and appreciate it.

Jack Wills Hot Pink Lipstick

Hello lovelies, i hope your all well!! in all honesty im not much of a fan of Jack Wills, theres too much hype around the overpriced tops, joggers etc, dont get me wrong there are some lovely pieces, its just the price seems unjustifiable. That being said ive heared quite a bit recently about their makeup range so decided to take a look. Im really loving bright pink at the moment, whether its fashion, nail polish or lipstick, so when i spotted hot pink it stood out straight away. the whole set up of the makeup i dont particularly like, you have to ask the assistant for the said lipstick etc of choice, and watch them rummage through bags upon bags of makeup in the draws below, surely it would make more sense to have them in an organised order? anyway enough of that and onto the lipstick. 

I absolutely love hot pink, my picture from the bullet does not do this beauty justice as its a lot brighter, however once applied it looks a little less in your face, its bright but not too bright not to be able to wear it in the daytime. The consistency is slightly drying, but i have been applying lipgloss on top so that's problem solved. The lipstick itself has that vanilla kinda smell that MAC, does which is nice, and tastes quite yum, not that i eat my lipstick or anything ha. I quite like the packaging i suppose its a little different to the usual black packaging seen on many other lippies. 

Hot Pink will set you back £9 which is quite expensive, but its not much more that what would be paid for a top shop lippie and a lot less than a MAC one. I seriously rate this lipstick, and i would definitely be tempted to try another in the future.

 Have you tried anything from the Jack Wills makeup range?? what did you think??

Loreal Superliner

My beloved SUPERCAT eyeliner is currently on its way out, its got to the point where its all smudgy and the nib has got to thick, so it was time to invest in yet another eyeliner, if i could bring just one item of makeup on a desert island it would definitely be eyeliner i  cannot go without it. after falling in love with the felt tip nib of SUPERCAT i decided to purchase something similar, enter Loreal Superliner. The nib of this is much thinner but i quite like it, making it easier to apply aswell as having more room to cover up mistakes ( i always seem to apply it thicker on one eye to the other ha)..the shape of the packaging is very much like a pen, making it easier to grasp, especially with the rubber top, and the colour pay off is pretty black so high marks all round, best of all this was only about £4 so a little less than soap and glory SUPERCAT.  

What makeup item could you not be without??

Mulberry Charm Bracelet

Hello lovelies,when i recently posted my valentines post i mentioned that my boyfriend had given me a mulberry bracelet! ive been dying to wear it but sadly there was a problem with one of the ends of the band and therefore had to be sent off for an exchange..i will be totally honest and say that Mulberry's customer service has been absolutely brilliant, they've been so helpful and have replaced the bracelet pretty quickly..now its safe to say that i was excited enough to finally receive my bracelet, as was the boyfriend who had been upset at having to exchange it, but i was totally thrilled when i saw what had been added to the bag aswell as the bracelet, as part of London fashion week Mulberry added a tote bag along with other goodies, which i will sadly admit excited me alot ( i can finally say i have an alexa even if its just a picture on a tote ha) :S haha..All i have to say is thank you to my amazing boyfriend for purchasing my bracelet and a thank you to Mulberry for being so extremely helpful!!

NOTD..its all about pastels

 i mentioned in my previous post that im loving the pastel and brights trend..ive been meaning to try the nicki minaj polishes since purchasing them and i haven't had a go at nail art for a while, so being the lover of the whole painting the ring finger, i decided to go stripey and summery ha, whilst incorporating all things pastel..i used my beloved OPI Rumples wiggins as the main colour and then used did it on em, fly and pink friday on my ring finger, aswell as Modelsown Snow White, tbh i cant say ive created the straightest of lines but im liking the effect all the same  

 l-r- rumples wiggins, did it on em, fly and pink friday

In all honesty although i used to rave about rumples wiggins, and have used it in several NOTD i think  my love for it has dwindled out, yes i love the colour but i find that within a day it chips even with a top coat :( 

Pretty in Pink

Hello lovelies, so with all the gloomy weather lately its no surprise that im desperate for summer to arrive (aren't we all!) and nothing shows this more than my current love for all things pastel and bright, but without being to out there, my current lusting has been towards pink nail polish, glittery, neon, pastel, bright you name it and im drooling over it haha..with all the summer spring/summer collections being released, presenting the beauty world with yet another beautiful pink shade, its safe to say it has left me with quite a wishlist, my faviourite of the above has to be Butter London's Disco Biscuit, its so girly and summery and sigh haha 

Are you craving for summer to begin??

Valentines in Instagram

Hello lovelies, i hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday whether it be with the special someone you love or even the special friends/family in your life :)..i must be honest ive never been overly fussed by the whole commercial kind of side of valentines, for the past three years for Tim and I spending time together is special as im always in uni, and we only really get weekends together so valentines to us is usually a perfect day to spend quality time together, cooking a meal and watching a film. the pair of us are really bad for surprises we always seem to spoil them so i actually got my pressie on Saturday, a beautiful mulberry charm bracelet and tim received his lostprophets tickets (i have never been so panicked trying to get presale tickets in my life ha)..we were both working yesterday (which sucked) but when Tim came to pick me up i had a massive shock, he presented me with roses, a DVD, a massive tub of tiramisu and a beautiful Disney couture bracelet, to say that i was spoilt is an understatement, i really am blessed to have an amazing best friend aswell as boyfriend ..the best bit of all?? we got a lovely evening together aswell as Tim sitting down and watching 'one day' with me kerchiing ;)..although a word of warning if you want to look like a crazy panda, dont watch this film i blubbed like a baby ha 

I hope you all had a lovely day, apologies for the lovey dovey post but its the one time that such a post is acceptable ;) pahaha 

LOTS OF LOVE 

MAC Blue Brown Pigment..Review

Hello lovelies, after receiving a MAC quad for Christmas (post here), i have fallen hook, line and sinker, so much so that i haven't touched my naked palette since i received it (shocking i know). So during my recent trip to MAC i had another shadow in mind, but the blue brown pigment caught my attention instead (oops).

Blue Brown is such a gorgeous colour. A bronze/brown with blue (and somewhat green)..its such a hard colour to capture as it changes with different lighting..obviously i couldnt leave this beauty behind and gone was my plan to buy a shadow. Im obviously not the only one falling for its sparkly charm as it was the last on the shelf (aswell as online).

Although it will set you back £16.50, its a pretty large pot and for how pigmented it is, a little definitely goes a long way..i haven't yet had the chance to use this properly as i think its perhaps a bit to dark for every day use but from swatches it seems highly pigmented, and my hand has been stained for a while by use, which surely cant be a bad thing..im going out for the first time in ages on Saturday, so i think i will be definitely be putting it to good use (watch this space for a FOTN haha) 

FOTD Chanel Perfection Lumiere (review)

 MAC Prep and Prime

Benefit Erase Paste

Chanel Perfection Lumiere (30 beige) 

MAC blush-Mocha 

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Shadow- urban decay (sin & toasted)

Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara

Soap&glory Supercat eyeliner

Hello lovelies, i hope your all well, please bare with me, i am awful at trying to pose for photos like this (so apologies if i look awkward) today i road tested Chanel's Perfection Lumiere in 30 Beige..like most of you probably did i purchased elle magazine this week (basically for the free soap&glory mascara) and the tester for Perfection Lumiere was in it. Now im not one to usually test something from a magazine but it was Chanel, was a pretty good match and i couldnt resist. 

The foundation itself has quite a strong perfumed scent to it, im not overly fussed but im also not bothered by it at the same time..it was easy to apply with my usual foundation brush and a little definitely went a long way, i had enough to touch up throughout the day.

When i first put this on i really liked it, i liked the matte finish, and the colour seemed perfect for my skin, however as the day went on (this photo was taken this evening) as you can see it began to be somewhat patchy and looked darker than when it was originally applied..okay it may be because i haven't been matched for a shade and this is to dark!! id definitely be matched and get a tester again to see, as i really liked the lightweight matte finish to it!!..with my MAC Studio Sculpt my face tends to look quite shiny at the end of the day but with this it didn't!! 

Altogether i have mixed reviews on this, im tempted to get matched and see how that goes, but if it does go patchy throughout the day this is definitely not the foundation for me!! although it seems to be a nice foundation im not sure if i could justify the £30ish price tag

Have you tried Perfection Lumiere? what did you think?

Nicki Minaj for OPI

Hello lovelies i hope your all well. So its safe to say that i have a MASSIVE obsession with nail polish, so much so that im trying my utmost to stop myself from purchasing anymore (i have a big box of polishes and still tell myself i dont have a colour to use :S)..So when i heared that the Nicki Minaj collection had been released, i tried to ignore all temptation, such as beautybay and reading reviews, but i didn't think my biggest temptation would be at the hairdressers..in the month or so that i haven't been they have introduced Moroccan oil and OPI to their new brands (so you can understand any strength went out the window) aswell as my beautiful hairdresser declaring how lovely and in season the colours were, so i left the salon with new hair, new polishes and £12 shorter than i originally expected :S.. anyway enough of my rambling and onto the colours.

Im not exactly a fan of Nicki Minaj so the names of the polishes mean nothing to me.. but the little set comes in:

 Did it on em-an almost lime, perhaps yellowy green, which does not seem to unsimilar to OPI's who the Shrek are you?..however i dont own this polish to compare, anyone who does, id love to know whether its a dupe or not!!

Fly- A lovely teal colour, im a total fan of this colour on my nails, so i think this will definitely be getting alot of wear out of this 

Pink Friday- a lovely light creamy pink colour (im really loving the pastel theme going on)

Metallic 4 life- tbh im not to fussed on this polish, its basically silver glitter within a black base, my opinions could completely change when i get around to using it!!

Altogether- im really impressed with this collection, although i would have preferred Save me (a blue holographic glitter) than metallic 4 life, but that's just personal choice. The colours are lovely (im a definite fan of Fly and Pink Friday), however the shades are not to dissimilar to others out there. 

Price- £12ish for the set which is pretty good when a single OPI polish is usually about £10 

Quality-like all OPI Polishes, you need about two coats for an Opaque look

So have you tried anything from the Nicki Minaj Collection? Any similar dupes?

Have a LUSH Valentines

Hello lovelies, hope your all well..so its safe to say that ive been somewhat AOL from blogging lately, the tedious work of third year doesn't leave much time to do anything else but stress and read books, ugh..however, after finishing my recent essay, iv'e given myself a free afternoon to do a bit of blogging!!

I think i must be one of the seldom few that has never been enticed by LUSH ..the amount of products i have ever purchased can be counted on one hand, although its safe to say things are changing. After purchasing the yummy smelling snowcake at Christmas i have become somewhat addicted to the 'lush' smelling products with the quirky designs, so when i saw that the valentines products had been released i had to take a look. The two items i left with were the Love Potion Massage Bar and the magic mushroom Bubble bar. OMG the bubble bar smells so delicious, its such a sweet scent of vanilla and strawberry, i literally cannot get enough of it.. and for £2.45 you cannot go wrong, although i shall definitely be breaking this into reasonable pieces, im savoring this when i can. the Love Potion Massage Bar has a somewhat spiced but sweet smell, im awful at describing scents, but all i can say is it definitely smells yummy, this is currently £5.95 which is pretty expensive but worth it i think.

 So what do you think of Lush? have you tried anything from the Valentines Collection?