Ramble & Chanel Goodies

Hey lovelys! Firstly I want to say sorry for being the worst blogger in the world - this is only my 4th post and already I have been absent for a month. Things have been ridiculously hectic over the last few weeks, I've spent some time away from home in Cornwall with some of my family which has been lovely and then returned to attend T in the Park festival which was amazing, although I did catch a nasty cold and have been recovering since! Needless to say, I am definitely back for good and back into the swing of all things blogy (is that even a word?!).

I'm going to start today's post with a little bit of a ramble and book recommendation, which if you can't already tell from the name of this blog is something I like to indulge in fairly often! For my birthday in June I was given money instead of traditional 'present' gifts from many people, which on one hand is nice as I can buy something nice for myself which I've had my eye on for a while! I was considering buying a kindle with this money as I enjoy reading and I think it would encourage me to read more often. However, it was pointed out to me that I could just use the money to in fact buy more books instead of a kindle which was a valid point I must say, especially as many of the books on my wish list aren't available as ebooks yet, thus making my purchase of a kindle a little fruitless! What do you guys think about kindles? Do any of you have one? I would love to hear your thoughts! Taking my friends advice and just buying books instead, I ordered Lauren Oliver's Delirium and absolutely loved it, it was so hard to put down, I think I was addicted at one point during reading! It has been dubbed in some places as 'the new Twilight' as it is set to be a trilogy and there is the possibility of it being adapted into a film, however I cringe a little at this as I feel it is much better written, has a much more captivating storyline and perhaps my impression of Twilight has been tainted due to the overly enthusiastic fanatics and badly made films (I have actually read all of the books and enjoyed the first one especially, the others not so much!). I will definitely post a full review of Delirium of anyone is interested? Although I am sure there are many reviews available in all the usual places.

I went into Glasgow a few weeks ago with my friend so we could buy a present for our other friend's 21st! There were so many birthdays in June, I've noticed a lot of fellow bloggers had their special day in June too, so happy belated birthday to you if it has been or will be your birthday soon! We decided to get her a Ted Baker Ikon bag as she is quite a girly girl and we thought she would appreciate how cute these bags are! We also got her a Paul's Boutique purse and a photo album to put pictures from her party in. Whilst in town I decided it was time to have a bit of a splurge (or investment depending on how you look at it) and finally purchase Chanel Mat Lumiere foundation. I have previously used Chanel Pro Lumiere in the past which was a firm favourite for a while but I just couldn't afford to replace it whilst on a student budget.

I know this is a product that is raved about quite a lot and there is certainly no difference in opinion here...I absolutely adore it! I was little bit scared that it wouldn't sit well on my dry skin, however, after using it for a few weeks now I haven't encountered any problems at all and have heard it works equally as great on oily skin. I decided to get this instead of Pro Lumiere again simply because I love a matt finish instead of a dewy finish, which this certainly delivers. It isn't cakey, which is something else I feared as it does have quite a heavy coverage, but it looks fairly natural. In terms of application it blends really easily, although I have found you have to work quite quickly with it as it sets fairly rapidly. It also lasts the entire day with the exact same finish and coverage from when first applied at the start of the day which I am seriously impressed by! The only downside of this foundation that I can see is that the price means it isn't exactly affordable for everyone; I used a Boot's £5 off voucher when purchasing this which was a great help. However, I firmly believe with this product you get what you pay for and a little goes a long way.

The lady behind the counter was nice enough to provide me with two sample products as well; Inimitable Mascara and the Hydramax + Active Gel Cream. I have only tried these out once or twice but first impressions are certainly good. When I used the gel moisturiser I found it to be very nourishing and my skin felt instantly better after applying it. I don't doubt for one second that it is a fantastic moisturiser; however, priced at £44 in the UK I simply cannot justify ever buying this when the cheap Simple moisturiser I use is just as good!The mascara was just ok if I'm being honest. It is an intense black shade which is always a plus in my opinion and the brush was great for targeting smaller lashes that bigger brushes can miss. However, I experienced clumping after the first coat which is never a good sign! It also made my bottom lashes look a bit er... scary! I had to remove it from my bottom lashes even though I only gave them a scarce coating. Definately not something I'd consider purchasing, but it was a freebie afterall and I'm glad I got to try it!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying their summers so far! xx

let's finish what we started

Today I have a quick face of the day / failed outfit of the day that I meant to post before I left for Berlin! I went out with my Uni friends one weeknight to celebrate my birthday which was on Monday the 13th. I flew off to Berlin early on Saturday morning for a week as a type of celebration and had an absolutely amazing time which I am sure I will post about soon in more detail. I wasn't too keen on having a party for my 21st so instead decided that going away somewhere would be much more up my street! When I went out with my Uni girls we went to TGI's and had a lush meal, although I have to say the cocktails were the highlight for us all; I had one which I cannot find on the menu online and unfortunately I can't remember the name of it! I do know that it was made from both malibu and amaretto which are two of my favourite drinks, although for me nothing beats captain morgan's spiced rum and coke, yummy! Afterwards we went out for a few more drinks and all in all had a lovely girly night!

Here is myself after spending forever on my make-up, I had just had my eyebrows waxed that day so they look especially tidy! The lady who did them wasn't very good though; she managed to put wax far too close to my eyelid for my liking which hurt a lot. I will definitely be finding a new beautician, that is for sure.

I used Revlon Photoready foundation which I love, Benefit boi-ing concelaer, Sleek's contour kit, the blush included in the kit from Two-Faced featured in the post below, Urban Decay's brow box in brown sugar, my Too Faced naked eye palette, l'oreal superliner in black, Too-Faced lash injection mascara and a little bit of l'oreal glam bronze in blonde harmony as I am very pale! Quite a standard look; nothing too daring here! I find it quite hard to play around with colour on my eyelids as I am so pale - I tend to stick to neutrals, browns and bronzes!

Like I said my outfit post failed as my tripod has been eaten up by my loft and is nowhere to be found! Hopefully I can find it soon as I'd love to try an outfit post. All I managed was this close-up which gives a kind of idea as to what I was wearing!

Now that I am home and have recovered from all the epic walking we did, I'm slowly starting to catch up on reading all the posts I missed while I was away; it's amazing what you can miss in a week!! Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is well and that
 you all have a great weekend! xx

Too Faced: Look of Love Kit

I was in town doing a little bit of shopping yesterday and making the most of the nice weather! I popped into Boots to pick up a new mascara as my usual favourite Too Faced lash injection mascara was running out. When I got to the Too Faced counter there was a special offer which caught my eye - the too faced look of love kit! I had never seen this kit before so I assume it is a fairly new addition to the Too Faced range which I absolutely adore. The kit contains a full-size lash injection mascara, a full-size shadow insurance eyeshadow primer, a small tube of primed & poreless primer, a full-size lip-gloss, a kabuki brush and a compact containing a mirror, two eyeshadows and a blusher. Priced at £36, I was almost instantly convinced into purchasing it as the contents itself is worth nearly £80 if purchased separately!

From my own experience of this product, and from reading other reviews of this product, the Shadow Insurance does exactly the same job as Urban Decay's popular primer potion! It could even be said that as it is in a tube it is much easier to get the most from the packaging as opposed to Urban Decay's rather problematic packaging that requires the effort of de-potting to the most out of it. This kind of product is what I would say is a must-have, especially if you wear eyeshadow as part of your everyday make-up like I do and want it to last all day long without touch-ups!

As previously mentioned, the lash injection mascara has been my favourite mascara for about 6 months now! It gives my eyelashes amazing length and volume without being clumpy or turning flaky! Admittedly, it does smell quite strong when applying but once applied to the eyelashes there is no smell whatsoever. It usually retails at around £16 so was definitely a great deal as part of this kit, although it does last a very long time.

This lip-gloss in the shade barely legally is possibly a new favourite. It is a gorgeous shade, doesn't feel too sticky and has a slight plumping effect. The plumping effect does leave your lips feeling a little tingly but not sore like some other plumping glosses can feel. If anything, i'd compare it to that pleasant tingle that products containing menthol gives! Apologies for the swatch, I haven't quite gotten used to using my camera for things like that!

The compact was what pushed me to buy this set! The two eyeshadows are gorgeous neutral shades which could be used both for everyday make up or for getting glammed up for evening. The blush looks a little harsh in pictures and in the pan, however, once applied it blends beautifully, although it may not be suited for all skin tones.

As for the face primer, I haven't had a chance to test this out properly but it seems to be of a nice consistency, although the tube supplied in this kit is rather small! To be fair, primer isn't the sort of product I use everyday so I'm not too disappointed!

Overall, this kit is fantastic value-for-money considering all the products it contains, which are all of great quality and that I will definitely be using every day!

inspiration

Lately I have found that I've lost almost all inspiration whilst putting outfits together and have ended up looking like a teenage boy most days which is not a look I'd like to go for ideally! In the past I have been partial to phases where I adorn nothing but skirts and dresses, although always with flat shoes as I am rather tall at 5ft 10. However, I am feeling a revival of wearing such outfits after seeing Dionne Bromfield's music video for her song 'Yeah Right'. The video has a great feel, not only featuring some really lovely outfits, but it was also filmed in Draper's Hall where some scenes of The King's Speech were filmed! One of my favorite outfits in the video is this River Island mini dress which I had my eye on for a while but it has unfortunately sold out now. I like everything about this dress, it's leopard print, features a cute bow, and is what I imagine to be a very flattering cut, especially the sleeves. Perhaps I will come into some luck & snap one up on ebay!

It is my 21st in a fortnight & so I am also looking for a nice dress to wear to dinner with my family. I came across this beauty whilst browsing the Topshop website, although I am quite wary of the cream colour. I think I would purchase it straight away if it was in a different colour! I'm also not convinced that I would get a lot of wear out of it as it is definitely an evening dress, which is a type of dress I do not require very often. Thoughts?

I thought I would keep this post fairly short, as I am still getting to grips with this (this being blogging in general hehe!). Thanks for reading! xx

first post!

I always find first posts a little awkward when beginning to use the various social networking / blogging sites I have used over the years! I am hoping to use this blog as a way of documenting the goings-ons in my life (although admittedly it can be rather mundane at times) and  posting my observations and opinions. I currently have a tumblr (www.quietheartbeats.tumblr.com), although I am hoping to use it a lot less for various reasons; mainly that it often feels rather impersonal and is largely based around images. I do, however, use tumblr to blog about some of my interests including kitchenalia,  thrifting, crafts & all things homemade, music and to an extent style & beauty, which I hope to also document here further. 

Thanks for reading & I hope that someone will at least read/enjoy some of my future posts :)

xxx