The Liebster Award

I was lucky enough to be nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by the lovely Mina of anibblebit-http://anibblebit.blogspot.co.uk/.
I was also nominated by Holly of  http://littlemisswheely.blogspot.co.uk/

I was really surprised that I'd been nominated, so thank you very much Mina and Holly!

If you're not sure what the Liebster award is, it's an award given to bloggers by other bloggers. The word 'Liebster' is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely,  kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.  The award can only be given to blogs with under 200 followers, so it's a good way to get to know smaller blogs. I think it's a great idea and I'm really happy to be nominated.

As part of the 'rules' you have to answer 11 questions set by the blogger that nominated you, and then nominate 11 blogs of your choice and set them 11 questions to answer. 

I thought I'd be here a while if I answered 22 questions, so I'll just answer some of each set, if that makes sense! 

1. What inspired you to start blogging?

I've always been interested in makeup, and love to read, and always liked to read blogs, so it seemed like a fun idea to start my own. I also used to write a lot of poems and stories, but I haven't for ages; however I wanted to carry on writing in some way, so blogging seemed ideal!

2. What is your favorite genre of music, and artist of that genre?

I'm not really sure how I'd describe my music tastes, but I guess it's probably alternative, or kind of folksy.  I like Avalanche City, Noah and the Whale, Young the Giant, Lucy Rose, Missy Higgins and The Lumineers. 

3. What would be the first thing you did if you won the lottery?

hmmm....tricky. Probably go out and buy lots of clothes books and makeup, then persuade my parents to let me get a horse, then put the rest in the bank!

4. What was the first make up product you ever bought?

Mascara, when I was in year 9, when I was about 13.

5.Who is your favourite youtuber?

Sammie, of Beautycrush

6. What do you like to do in your free time?
In my spare time I like to blog, obviously! I also go horse-riding on weekends and I like to read, listen to music and play my tenor horn. 

7. Favorite vacation destination?
This is tricky! I love Scotland, but we went to Iceland last year and it was AMAZING so I guess I'd have to say that.

8. If you could be any profession you wanted, what would you be, and why?
I have no idea what I want to work as, but a dream job would definitely be designing playmobil as I loved playing with them when I was younger and it would be great to design my own.

9. In three words, describe yourself in three words?

Weird, Sarcastic, Kind

10.What is your fashion staple?

Jeans 

11.What is/was your favourite subject at school?

I love Art and English.

I'd like to nominate these people for the award:

Ruby- redrubyross.blogspot.com
Connie- connielovesbeauty.blogspot.co.uk
Laura- lauraann-xo.blogspot.co.uk
Nicola- ncolesnotes.blogspot.co.uk
Millie- millierosemake-up.blogspot.co.uk
Zoe- nuggetstumpblog.wordpress.com
Beth- bethht.blogspot.com
Andrea- andreaolarte.blogspot.com
Sophie- misssophierose.blogspot.com
Stephie- dearstephiiie.blogspot.ca
Ayesha- definingayesha.blogspot.in

And the questions I'd like to ask you all are:

If you could only use one makeup item (i.e.mascara) for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Would you like to move to a different country at some point in the future? If so, which?
What is/what your favourite subject at school?
What's your favourite food?
When did you start wearing makeup?
Do you have any pets?
What do you do to relax?
What is your favourite makeup brand?
Favourite band?
Favourite film?
Favourite book?

Thankyou again Mina and Holly :)


Helen x
P.S sorry it's taken me so long to do this!

Beauty Bargain of the Month

Each month I'm going to post about an amazing sale or offer that's going on, or just a really good product at a really good price.

I've never really been to Poundland before but I went in last weekend and I was really impressed. There was lots of branded shower gels and face wipes which I was tempted by, but then I spotted the nail polish! There was lots of different brands and colours, but there seemed to be a lot of Sally Hansen polish. I chose 3 polishes, but there was so many good colours I could easily have away with more. I picked out two Sally Hansen polishes and a Maybelline polish. 

First is this Sally Hansen polish. It's a magnetic nail polish which I'd never used before but it was really easy to use and gives a great effect. It's a really nice colour.

This is my second Sally Hansen polish. I haven't tried it yet but it's a sugar coat polish, so it has a textured finish. It's a nice deep teal colour, and I'm looking forward to trying it.

This is the last polish I bought. It's a Maybelline 40 seconds dry and its a lovely turquoise colour.  I like quick dry polishes as it means you don't have to sit around for ages waiting for them to dry, so this is perfect for me.

Please let me know if you've found any beauty bargains!

Helen x

Best Winter Nail Polish Shades

I love to paint my nails and I got a lot of nail polish for Christmas so I've been painting them even more recently as I want to try out all my new shades! I thought I'd do a post on my favourite winter nail polishes, as although I don't exclusively wear them in Winter, they are very good wintery colours. 

First is this lovely O.P.I deep red colour. I got a set of 10 mini O.P.I polishes for Christmas and they're a great size as I tend to find that polish goes gloopy before you run out of it, so I end up throwing out bottles before they're empty which is a waste of money. This red is so lovely and is a great colour as you can see. I'd never tried O.P.I before but I was quite pleased with the results. I really like the brush-it's nice and wide, although I did find it a little tricky to get an even covering.

Next are some paler shades. The one on the left is a Rimmel 60 seconds dry in the shade 510 Euphoria and on the right is another O.P.I miniature though I'm not sure of the name as it doesn't give it on the bottle. I love Rimmel polishes as the brush is really wide and so they're very easy to apply-I need to get some more! This is  lovely pinky shimmery colour and can be quite subtle depending on how many layers you apply. The polish on the right is a pale pink and is really subtle so would be suitable for school. 

On the left is a Barry M polish. It's a limited edition glitter and is shade 343. I apply two layers of this to get a nice solid layer of glitter, but this would also look great on top of another colour. I love a good bit of glitter to make dull rainy days brighter! On the right is a Make Up Academy colour in the shade Koala Bear. I like this but you have to apply two shades, but it looks really good with big baggy jumpers!

Next are some more reds. On the left is a W7 polish which my friend got me. I'd never have even looked at W7 polish,  but I quite like this one. I normally put this on one finger and then paint the rest a brighter red. It is red with red glitter dispersed in it and gives a nice coverage. On the right is an O.P.I slightly shimmery dark red which is a good winter shade and very Christmassy.

Hope you all liked this post and please let me know what your favourite winter shades are!

Helen x

Books of the month

I love reading, and read a lot of books. I always have one in my school bag, to read in form time, or in case a lesson is boring!

Each month, I'm going to write a short review of the book(s) I've been loving that month.

                                   

The Vacillations of Poppy Carew by Mary Wesley

First is an older book which my mum lent me. It's a nice easy read, for when you don't fancy something that requires too much concentration.

It's about a girl called Poppy who's father dies, and all starts with her organising his funeral. It's very funny at times, but some parts are also quite sad, as she tries to come terms with her fathers death and as she feels guilty for not knowing him properly. The book is about her finding about more about her father, and herself, and all the people she meets as a consequence of her father's death. It has a very neat ending, which was kind of predictable but which I enjoyed anyway, as I'd become quite attached to all the characters and so wanted them all to be happy at the end. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a nice light read. 

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies is the first book in this amazing trilogy by Scott westerfeld. It's been out for a while but I've recently re-read it. You can tell I love this book as it's quite battered! Uglies imagines a future universe where the desire to look 'perfect' controls society. It's actually quite worrying thinking that a less extreme version of this might exist in the future. I found this book really interesting as it talks a lot about the ideal human, and how anyone who comes outside that category is seen as different, and discriminated against. 

Tally and Shay live in Uglyville, the place they will live in until they turn 16 and get the operation to turn 'Pretty' which all Uglies look forward to. I won't give too much away, but basically Shay decides to rebel and so Tally is forced to make an awful decision which she comes to regret. I would definitely recommend this, and I think if you like The Hunger Games and the Divergent series, you'll like this. 

The Archers by William Smethurst

Next is a slightly unusual book. All my friends tease me because of it, but I love 'The Archers' (for those who don't know it's a radio drama on Radio 4) I listen every night and like to discuss the plot with my family. So for Christmas my sister bought me this book which documents the history of The Archers. It was definitely my favourite present! The author was the producer of The archers for many years, so it's very detailed. If you're an Archers fan like me, I'd suggest getting this as although it doesn't go up to the present day, it's interesting to find out more about characters when they were younger. 

Let me know what books you're loving at the moment :)

Helen 

2013 Favourites

As it's now 2014, I though I'd make this post about my favourite health and beauty products of 2013. 

I'll start with something a bit different. 

 This is referred to as the Forehead Glue in my family, as it's basically a Pritt stick. When you have a mild headache, you apply the stick to your forehead. It makes your eyes water quite a lot, but it works really well. You can buy it from Boots for about £3.50.

My next favourite is VERY popular, but I love it, so I'll give it a quick mention . I used to use a Garnier concealer, which was alright, but after hearing so many people talk about the Collection concealer I thought I'd give it a go, as it's only around £4. I bought the shade Medium, but that was a bit orange, so I now use the shade Light, which is much better. It also comes in Ivory and Dark. It has a really high coverage and covers imperfections very well. I tend to blend a little onto any imperfections, then apply my bb cream and if I need to, apply a little more on any remaining redness. The only downside is that I don't think it works hugely well on under eye circles and can look a little cakey if not blended. 

This next product also seems to be quite popular with Instagrammers, and I can see why. It is an edible lip scrub, and just gets rid of any dry bits which is really good in winter, as your lips tend to get a bit sore. I try to use every day, but sometimes I forget, and I can really tell when I do! I have the Christmassy one so I'm not sure whether you can still get it, but there's lots of other nice flavours. I got this from Lush for £4.50.

Next is a skincare product. I've been using this for ages now, and I love it. It is described as a 'brightening  cleanser' and whilst I wouldn't say my face is visibly brighter after using it, it does make my face feel really clean, and removes any traces of makeup. It also smells really good! It comes with a muslin cloth and you apply it to your face, then get the cloth wet in hot water, wash it off using the cloth, and then splash your face with cold water. I can't remember how much it is, but you can get it from Superdrug. 

Last, but definitely not least is a lip product. This is a Make Up Academy lipstick, and I have it in the shade 11, which is a lovely subtle pink colour. These Lipsticks are only a £1 from Superdrug and I'm going to buy more as I love the one I have. They're really moisturizing and stay on for a while. They also have a little bit at the bottom which screws off and has more lipstick inside. I'm not really sure what the point of this is, but it would be useful  if you had a lot of lipsticks to quickly select the one you wanted as the colour is really visible. 

I'd love to know what other peoples 2013 favourites are!

Helen  x

Paperchase Nail Art

For Christmas I received some Paperchase nail stickers. I'd never used nail stickers before, but they were surprisingly easy to apply. You get 24 stickers in a pack, so there are enough to do them twice. You paint your nails with a base coat, allow it to dry and then select the right size sticker. You have to place it quite carefully on the nail to avoid any wrinkles and then smooth it down. To help them adhere to my nails, I held a hairdryer over them for about 10 seconds. Then cut the sticker a bit shorter, fold the excess over your nail and gently file it off before applying a base coat. It took me quite a long time to apply them, but I am a bit of a perfectionist! They lasted for 5 days and were only slightly chipped when I took them off. They were £4.50, so considering you get two sets, I think they're really good value.

Helen x