5 THINGS TO DO IN AUTUMN

1. Refresh your wardrobe. With a noticeable drop in the temperature, now is the perfect time to indulge in some A/W staples. Treat your hands to a fabulous pair of gloves and make sure your warm and toasty thanks to that beautiful scarf you have been eyeing up. 
2. Give your makeup a well overdue shakeup. As much as i love my vibrant fuchsias, Autumn is the perfect time to adorn 50 shades of red. Lately I have been re acquainted with a long lost gem, que Tom Ford Moroccan Rouge, the ultimate transitional shade.
3. Make the most of Halloween. Dressing up, ghoulish recipes, Pumpkin Spiced Latte's, an abundance of candy, lazy days cuddled up watching horror movies and most importantly pumpkin carving. Whats not to love. 
4. Embark on a leisurely walk in the countryside or an evening wander across the beach. Where I live I am blessed to have the best of both worlds. Theres nothing better than looking up and admiring the changing colours of the trees, listening to the waves hit the pebbles at dusk, or running through a field of crunchy leaves.
5. Watch the rain pour whilst Indulging in Afternoon Tea in a beautiful country house or spend a miserable evening at the Cinema or a show. 
What are your favourite things to do in Autumn?

Bitesize Beauty

As a makeup hoarder enthusiast (oh the shame) I often find it hard to condense the contents of my makeup bag when it comes to the gruelling task of packing. As I cant pack up my Malm drawers each time I go on my jolly's (oh if only its was a practical idea) procrastination often ensues. Then comes the important questions such as, how do I decide what lipstick to bring (theres just to many shades), theres that foundation for good skin days and that foundation for bad, then do I bring the neutral palette, or the one perfect for a smokey eye. It will come as no shock that instead of getting anywhere, I end up sitting in a sea of cosmetics, whilst filling my makeup bag to the point of breaking point. . 

However, things may be a changing. During my recent trip to London I somehow managed to condense my makeup bag to 8 items (excluding beauty tools). 8 items!!! Thats a new record compared to the 20+ items I shoved into my suitcase for Paris. So what made the cut?! 

A while back I invested in the Jouer Blushing Beauty Collection, a must have travel essential. Aside from providing endless hours of fun (grown up lego anyone?!) this little beauty is the ultimate companion. Perfect neutral peach shadow, check. gorgeous chocolate shadow for creating a smokey eye, check. the most beautiful tint and highlighter, check, and finally a bronzer and matte powder perfect for setting everything in place, check. With the Blushing Beauty Collection doing all the hard work (if you hadn't already guessed im not the best at decision making), all I needed to do was pack the essentials, easy right?! 

I bagged the Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow in Trench from a blog sale for the grand total of £5 and have been smitten ever since. I like to apply this velvety soft neutral on the brow bone, or as a base shadow to help the peach and chocolate shades pop. With a weekend of serious shopping on the horizon I needed a foundation that would stay put all day, que Estee Lauder's Double Wear. Finally last but by no means least the Wet n Wild Mega Length Mascara, and Loreal Super Liner, the perfect companions for creating the impression of luscious long lashes were added to the mix.

So you maybe wondering about lip products?! Lets just say that I resurrected a few forgotten gems from the depths of my handbag (Please tell me im not alone here?!) So there we have it, my bitesize beauty picks!!

What are your bitesize beauty essentials?! 

Burberry Lip Glow

Many moons ago you may recall that I went on a rather indulgent Harvey Nichols spending spree, aided by the prospect of being rewarded a goodie bag worth £130 for being so good bad (you can read the post here!) With this being the case I decided to treat myself to some luxurious high end products Id had my eye on for a while, with one of those items being the Burberry Lip Glow in No. 14 Nude Rose. 

Please please dont judge me for my next statement. I always used to associate Burberry with chavs. In my head I picture the Ed Hardy tees and Burberry peek caps that were all the rage during the early noughties (imagine Buster Brady on Mrs Browns Boys and you'll kinda get the idea haha). But I take back my words about Burberry, especially when it comes to the brands beauty line. 

I love the sophisticated, decadent feel of the simple packaging with the classic plaid design on the lid. Its in another league to the Plain Jane packaging that houses my trusty Barry M glosses (note: this isn't the type of gloss to throw in your bag for a night on the tiles). 

Nude Rose is a barely there neutral pink, perfect for layering with a nude lipstick for a glossy finish, or worn alone as a subtle 'your lips but better' shade. This natural gloss claims to 'reflect light to create illusion of plumper, fuller lips', a statement I would definitely agree with. Unlike most lip glosses I dont find Nude Rose to be sticky at all (we all want to avoid the whole hair stuck to lips scenario, right?!) 

So is Nude Rose unique? NO ... Is it a show stopping gloss? NO ... Can it make any beauty addicts heart flutter with its jaw droppingly luxurious packaging? YES

If im brutally honest its a product that I could probably have done without (you wont see me rushing out to get a backup when it runs out), but we all need a little luxury once in a while right?! 

Nude Rose will set you back £18 and can be purchased from the likes of Harvey Nichols & Selfridges

Have you tried anything from the Burberry beauty line?! 

Harvey Nichols Gift With Purchase

 With payday just on the horizon and a rather extensive wish list of beautiful high end beauty products, just willing me to purchase them (lets face it I am a total shopaholic), it didn't take much for me to make a very naughty (gulp) unnecessary and indulgent purchase, with the prospect of being rewarded a Harvey Nichols gift with purchase for being so bad good!! 

With my constant late night shopping antics getting a little out of hand, I have slowly reached joking terms with my local DPD courier, so I excitedly greeted him at the door this morning with my box full of wonderful treats. 

In terms of the gift with purchase, it is without a doubt the BEST freebie I have ever received, with 14 decent sized samples (included in that two full size) sitting pretty inside a gorgeous makeup bag adorning Fifi Lapin in all her haute couture glory, whats not to love. Altogether the gift with purchase is worth a whopping £130, amazing I hear you say?! well the only downfall is that to receive this beautiful bag of goodies, you must spend £110 in the Harvey Nichols beauty department!! So if you've been after some high end luxury for a while, nows your time to be a little naughty. 

Opening up this beautiful treasure chest, whilst admiring Fifi's beautiful illustrations, it did feel just a little like Christmas had come around again. So whats got me all excited this morning? the gift with purchase includes:

Fifi Lapin Makeup bag

Butter London Polish in West End Wonderland (full size)

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer (15ml)

Serge Lutens Eau De Parfum (5ml)

Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil (20ml)

YSL Volume Effect Mascara (2ml)

Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask (10ml)

Bare Minerals Eyeshadow in Pond (full size)

Lancome Advanced Skin Corrector (5ml)

ESPA 24-Hour Replenishing Moisturiser (7ml)

Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (13g)

Elemis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Facial Wash (50ml)

Clarins Advanced Extra-Firming Neck Cream (30ml)

Eve Lom Cleanser

Overall I am seriously impressed! I have heard rave reviews about a lot of the products, especially Butter London and Laura Mercier to name but a few, so im really looking forward to giving them a try. The only product im not too sure about is the Bare Minerals Eyeshadow due to the colour (I think the name gives the shade away), but im willing to give it a shot!! 

Right im off to act like a big kid and play around with my new things!! I will leave you with a picture below of the guilty purchases I made to receive my bag of goodies!! 

What do you think of Harvey Nichols Gift With Purchase?

Will you be taking a trip to the Beauty department? 

Burberry Body..you gotta love a freebie

Hello lovelies,

So about a week or so ago, the brill Fleur from Fleur De Force mentioned that Burberry were giving away a 4.5ml, yep 4.5ml's tester of their new fragrance Body on their Facebook page..being a fan of all things scented i happily visited their Facebook page and requested my free sample which arrived today!!

As you can see its a pretty big bottle for a tester, usually its only a little swipe from a teenzy bottle..the packaging is lovely and clean (basically a mini of the full size bottle) also perfect to put in my handbag..as for the scent its such a lovely fruity and sweet scent..this lovely scent is a mix of rose, freesia, peach and iris with green absinthe, cashmerean musk and vanilla..i definitely would consider buying a full size bottle of this

here's a picture of the full size bottle courtesy of temptalia

if you fancy requesting a sample of this fresh scent you can do so by visiting their Facebook page here, all you have to do is fill in your address, simples :)

has anyone else tried this scent?? what do you think of it??