In The Garden...

Hello! Today I am super excited to share with you an absolute gem and a bargain! This is the Stila In The Garden palette and I managed to bag this for just £10. I found this at my local TKMaxx, which isn't my favourite place to shop for clothes as I'm too lazy to browse every rail. However, their makeup section shouldn't be overlooked. Every so often they have some higher-end brands for great prices, I've managed to pick up bottles of Essie and OPI Polish for a couple of days quid. What makes this even better is that Stila isn't available at my local Boots or Debanhams so I was surprised to see it at TKMaxx. I had a little Google and this palette is selling for £25 online so this is a great saving.

 The palette itself consists of ten shadows made up of mostly cool toned neutrals and shades of green which are perfect for spring/summer, as well as a hot pink, cobalt blue and a gold. It was the brights that really made me need this palette, and they mesh so well with the neutrals. Each shadow is amazingly pigmented, one thing I've noticed is that even the more pale shades are true to pan. I think this is where you definitely get what you pay for with high-er end eye palettes. These are so pigmented I over loaded my brush upon first application! However when you apply a normal-person-amount these shadows blend together beautifully, and I love how the neutrals are just the right shades to blend with the brighter colours. Also included in this palette is an Eyeliner in Starfish, which is a khaki green shade with flecks of golden glitter. This is super long-lasting and budgeproof. This retails online for £13 alone! This is all home in a gorgeous green cardboard casing. The metallic writing is pretty cute, and the quote on the inside is a nice touch. But I'm still not sure what the packaging can withstand. I definitely think this will be more of a dressing table asset than something I take on my travels. The set is made complete with a booklet of looks, some of which I have tried. I think this is so great for any beginners who want to branch out with the looks they create.

Where do you search for your beauty bargains?

Essence Lip Liners;

I've never been a big lip liner user, it's always seemed more of my mum's forte. But I have always used it with red lipstick to prevent bleeding and it works and the lip look lasts a lot longer. I'd heard great things about the Essence Lip Liners before I bought them and now I want to share with you why you should give them a shot even if you're a non lip liner wearer like I was.

These are lipliners are pretty much anything you could ask for in a lip liner. They are highly pigmented from the first swipe. In fact I often find myself reaching for these to wear alone or with gloss. The finish is matte so it stops any lip product on top of them from bleeding and helps them to last longer. But when applied they feel creamy and don't dry out your lips. I honestly couldn't recommend that you pick up one of these enough. I picked up 5 of these and at only £1 each so will leave you with enough money to browse the rest of Essence's range, over the past year Essence have quickly become a brand I am always keeping my eyes on. My only minor complaint is that they aren't retractable and they're so creamy that they need sharpening quite frequently, but at £1 I think I can afford to replace these.

Satin Mauve

A purple toned nude, this is such a Kylie Jenner-esque colour. I love just pairing this with gloss.

In The Nude
This nude is not too peachy, too pink or too 'concealer on the lips'. This is such a good nude for the low price, and this looks great worn alone!

Soft Berry
A muted berry, which is perfect for autumn. This looks great paired with darker pinks and purples, however this one does tend to show any dry patches on your lips.

Wish Me A Rose
This is a perfect mid-pink, I have so many glossy pink shades of lippy and this makes them last so much longer.

Cute Pink
A deeper pink, that looks perfect worn with a more vibrant pink.

My favourite shade is Satin Mauve, but I honestly couldn't recommend that you pick up one of these enough. They have a lot more colours in the range, including a clear liner that I'm eager to get my hands on. Has anyone tried it?

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Slide The City!

I thought I'd leave the makeup in my dresser today to tell you about something I got up to over the weekend, that you totally need to try! This weekend me and a group of friends decided to Slide The City of Shepton Mallet (which I'm still convinced is only a town but the internet is always right, right?).

If you've never heard of Slide The City its an over 300m slip and slide set up usually set up in the middle of the city, however ours was actually the hill of a field but that's typical Somerset. Its perfect for all ages, there were children and big kids (me) and adults. It has traveled all over the world, and currently has dates all over England. The slide and most of the staff have come all the way from America managing to snag some local volunteers to hold hoses and escort people around all day long. Trust me, even if you think this will be fun we were all in agreement that it was way better than we thought! Burger vans, music and ice-cream trucks were set up so it lead to a fantastic day out.

Temp tattoos and high-necked bikinis lead to such awkward tanlines. Bikini - H&M.

Tickets are available from the Slide The City website for events all over the country. Its just £10 for a single slide, £20 for 3 goes, or just £35 for unlimited slides! We opted for the 3 slider, and were lucky enough to get an extra slide as it was their first UK event, this left us with enough time to chill out in the sun (the weather for once behaved) and really make a day of it. You also receive a bag for all of your wet stuff, and a waterproof phone case that truly didn't let in a drop of water. Some of my friends caught some really snazzy videos, however I just got a great recording of the sky. You're also provided with inflatables, we even got to keep ours as they are apparently swimming in inflatables.. pun intended. Which is the only thing you had really had to queue for as the staff keep you moving. But you can also bring your own, we've seen every blow-up crocodile in existence I'm sure. I can't tell you enough to go along if there is an event near you. But make sure you bring sunscreen, even if it is cloudy out, you don't want to risk taking cold showers for 3 days (and counting) and being unable to wear sleeves when its grey and drizzly out...

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Project 10 Pan;-

My New Years resolution this year was to buy less of what I didn't need, that also counts for makeup. So I agreed (with myself) I'd only buy what I'd finished, ie if I finished a whole foundation I'd by myself a new one. Unless I felt my collection was lacking something... which seems to be a clause I've been dipping into a lot lately. So after my birthday splurge I decided to reign in my spending by starting Project 10 Pan. If you're unaware of what Project 10 Pan is essentially you pick 10 products, and you finish all 10 before buying any new makeup. Most people that take part in this tend to doctor the rules a little. Mine will include makeup and skincare items. I've seen a lot of people use products they don't really like because they don't want to waste the money, but I'd rather throw them away than have the money I spent on them staring me in the face every time I open my makeup drawer. Instead my products are mostly ones that I have replacements that I am waiting to try.

Apologies, its not easy to take nice photos of old and worn products!

My main aims with my project pan are to reduce my makeup collection, use up products to the full before their use by date and cut down on splurging. I'll obviously be doing a lot of makeup window shopping but I'm hoping this will also help me not to buy products based on hype and to pick items I really want and that will be good for my skin. Before I ramble further I'll show you the products I will be using up and tell you a little about them.

I have decided to include one body care product being this N-Spa Coconut Body Butter as I've already used a lot and I like this but I need to push myself to use the last bit. I don't normally use this everyday as it's quite thick and it takes a while to dry, but it does do a good job. Summers coming up and my legs could do with the extra hydration before I bring out the short shorts anyway.

My only face product is this Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer. I really liked this when I first got it as its medium coverage and feels nice and moisturising on the skin. But the glitter in the 'Wake Me Up' formula is becoming more prominent, but I want to finish the last of this before I move onto another concealer.

As for eyes I have chosen to use up this Revlon Eyeshadow Primer, which is a great drugstore primer that helps to keep your eye looks on for longer without creasing. It also has a light coverage if you have any veins or discolouration. Lately I've been switching between this and my Mac Paintpot but I want to use the last of this as I have an MUA eye primer I want to try out and review when this is finished.

I really like using this Rimmel White Eyeliner to brighten my waterline, but it's one of those steps I easily forget. But this is a great liner and I've had it for a while so I really need to finish the rest of this up.

The last eye product is Soap and Glory's Supercat Liquid liner I really like this and it's really black, but pen liner's tend to dry up quite fast and I just want to get the most out of it before it does.

I only have one cheek product as I tend to switch up my blush a lot. Benefit's High Beam is my favourite liquid highlight, but I have a lot similar that I need to use when I've finished this one. This is also only a sample size from a gift set so I hope this will make it easier to use up.

I'm including a fair few lip products but I do own a lot of lip products as I like a lot of choice. My first lip product is this Lush lip scrub. Although I use it frequently during winter I tend to neglect it in the Warmer months, so much that it's just expired. But it seems to still be working fine so for that reason I want to get as much of this use as quickly as possible and my mum bought be a new one for my birthday that I want to atleast open for it expires.

Up next is my Maybelline Babylips in Pink Punch. For me this didn't live up to the hype, as I don't think they provide long-term moisture but it is good for keeping your lips soft under lipstick. There isn't a lot left of this and I have a collection of lip balms I need to move onto.

I also have included my Topshop lip bullet, this is a lovely brownish nude colour that goes with everything. I've only included it as its a sample size from a gift set again and it's the only lip colour I have chance of finishing as I have so many and like to switch them up.

Last but not least is my favourite gloss, Soap and Glory's Sexy MotherPucker. I've only recently started wearing gloss again and although I love this the applicator is looking worse for wear, and I have a lot of unopened glosses from gift sets that I really should test out.

I'm hoping that documenting this will spur me on a little and help keep me on track, watch this space.

LUSH Shampoo Bar;

I thought I'd shake things up today and review a hair product, which will come as a shock (at least to myself) as I very rarely shake up my hair care routine. A few months ago I decided I'd try one of LUSH's famous Shampoo Bars, Jumping Juniper.

These are pretty much bars of soap but for your hair. Liquid shampoos generally contain a lot of water, so these bars leave the water to your shower and instead are jam packed full of essential oils and scalp loving ingredients. These are also highly concentrated so can last as long as 2 bottles of shampoo.

Jumping Juniper was suggested to me in store as I tend to have greasier hair, rather than dry. It is supposed to deep clean your hair and scalp to remove dirt and product but without stripping it. I can definitely agree as leaves my hair clean but without any irritation to the scalp. There are also oils in this bar to add shine to the hair, so it is clean but not dry. Which is great as a lot of shampoos aimed at greasy hair leave your hair limp, but this is completely different. Jumping Juniper lathers up just as well (if not better) than any liquid shampoo. However my one qualm with this is that the product doesn't travel as far as a liquid would, so if you haven't covered your hair in lather it won't be clean. But if you make sure you've rubbed the bar all over your head, or lathered it up a few times in your hands the jobs a good'n!

As I said I've had this a while and its only about half way used. I think on me it will last atleast another 2, months which isn't half bad for £5.75. So I think if you haven't tried one of these yet, you need to get down to LUSH right away. (Just make sure you have somewhere to let your shampoo bar dry out because if you leave it on the tiled shelf next your bath it isn't coming off, trust me!)

May Favourites;

2 months have passed since my last favourites post, one of which was my birthday month. So its safe to say I treated myself to a few new things, so I have a lot of things to share with you and my god did it take some whittling down to keep this post short(ish) and sweet. But look forward to a lot of upcoming new product reviews.

I have a new little shower goodie to share with you first, the LUSH Shower Jelly in Sweetie Pie. This is a quirky shower gel, jelly hybrid. The instructions read; 'rub our wobbly bit all over you wobbly bits'. Getting the jelly out of the pot is a bit of a challenge, but I add this to a shower puff and it turns into lather. It lathers up so well that a little really goes a long way. 'Sweetie Pie' is a purple, glittery jelly, thankfully the glitter doesn't seem to stick to my skin. I don't think the Edward Cullen look is too 'this season'. This smells kind of like glacier cherries, or sugary berries, and its a scent that fills your bathroom when you use this, and I'm really enjoying it.

I picked up this Rich Moisture Face Cream from Avon a little while ago for about £3 as I was suffering with some dry patches and my usual face moisturiser just wasn't cutting it. Seriously this stuff cleared them up straight away. Its a little thicker than your average cream and so doesn't sink in straight away, but I've been using this daily and it works well under makeup, doesn't make my skin more oily and is continuing to keep my skin soft. It doesn't smell of anything much, and hasn't irritated my sensitive skin, all in all a £3 well spent!

I have also caught up (finally) to the hype surrounding Argan oil with this Leave In Treatment from Avon. I run this all evenly through my hair when it's wet and it makes my hair noticeably smoother and visibly shinier. The thing I love about this is that the shine lasts until my next wash and it only cost me £2.50 on an offer which is the cheapest I've ever seen an Argan oil treatment.

Onto the makeup favourites I have been loving this Makeup Revolution Ultra Eyeshadow Palette in Flawless. I raved about this in a full review here so I'll keep it to the point. This has every neutral shade you could need in one palette, the pigmentation and blendability is amazing especially when this costs just £8 for 32 shadows. Another great product from Makeup Revolution, I just wish I purchased this sooner.

Another product I wish I'd purchased sooner is the Sleek Blush By 3 in Pink Lemonade, which I got in the Sleek Party Box which I reviewed here (shameless self blog promotion, I know but I've actually keeping up-to-date on my blog and I'm proud!). These are truly as good as everyone claims, two of shades are powder blushes, which have just the right amount of shimmer. They are so eyecatching yet perfect for everyday, my favourite of the two is 'Pink Mint'. The middle is a cream blush, which I haven't used to much of but it is really pigmented for a cream blush.

Something I've recently rediscovered are my Revlon Matte Balms, I bought them about a year ago. They've spent a long winter in the back of my lip drawer as these shades are more spring-y, but since the sun has decided to make an appearance I've been able to bring them out of hibernation. I have them in the shades: Unapolegetic which is a truly unique, bright coral-pink. But showy is shade that has seen the most lovely recently, it is  a statement blue-toned bright pink. I love the formula of these because they're matte, but not drying. And you don't have to reapply often as when the color fades it leaves your lips stained.
Last is a candle favourite, I picked this up in a little store in St Ives when I was on holiday. This is by the brand Our Own Candle Company and is a large Mason Jar candle in the scent Very Berry. I was first drawn to it because its in a mason jar, and they have teeny, tiny ones which my mum picked up one of that are adorable! Secondly it has 3 colours running through which looks awesome, I hope they smell different but I haven't got that far yet as after burning for half an hour my room is filled with the scent. The scent smells like warm berries, the kind you'd put in a pie, which is lovely for this time of year. Plus when its done I have another mason jar cup, what's not to love?

What have you loved this month?