Mini haul...

Okay, this consists of four things I bought today. Nothing really exciting but I thought I'd share it anyway.
I went in to town and took my little brother for coffee (or in his case, hot chocolate) and a chocolate brownie, although he had two.. fattso!:) I love taking him out, we've done it a couple of times and I promised him we'd do it more often because we're hardly ever on our own to talk about stuff. He's only nine but he's quite mature and I can talk to him about anything really, and he can do the same with me, love the guy:)
I only bought four things, two of which are obvious because I was in Superdrug so I had to pick these up... Barry M nail paints!

I also bought a brush for drying my hair because I'm getting to the stage where I can't really be bothered to straighten it everyday, so I need to style it when I dry it. It's a square brush, rather than a round one, and it (apparently) adds more volume that round brushes, so I'm looking forward to trying this!

Finally, I got the Benefit Georgia face powder. It's gorgeous aaaah I love it. I'm sure you've all seen it so I wont bore you with the details, but it's a really nice shimmery peach colour, and it's really subtle which I like. I got this online and it came today - I always like ordering online every once in a while because it's so exciting getting something in the post, even though you know what it is!

So that's all I bought today - have you tried any of these products? If so what did you think?
xxxo

In the country...

I went to Scott's View earlier to get some pictures when the light was nice. It's Sir Walter Scott's favourite view and it's beautiful - basically it's the Eildon hills and there's a river winding down the bottom. It's so pretty, especially on a nice night like tonight. Here are a few snaps I took

Delivery from Amazon!

I ordered these books last week and was so excited to get them, they came this morning and I can't wait to start reading them! I bought Style by LC at Christmas time and really enjoyed reading it, so I thought that instead of buying magazines and things that make me fat, that I'd put my money to good use and buy something I'll have forever - books!


The first package that came was the Harper's Bazaar Great Style book. I've had a quick flick through and it seems like a really good book, the reviews online for this book are great too.

The next package contained The One Hundred by Nina Garcia, The Fashion Book by Phaidon Editors and The Little Dictionary of Fashion by Christian Dior.


This book has a really eye catching design - black and pink on silver. It is self described as 'a guide to the pieces every stylish woman must own'. One thing I dislike about this book is that there are no photographs, but I can live with the pretty illustrations, and I love the way Nina writes.

The Fashion Book is basically a dictionary of the the most influential people in fashion from Giorgio Armani to Michael Kors to Levi Strauss. I'm really looking forward to this book!

Finally, the most beautiful of the 4. The cover is a grey material with embossed pink and silver lettering. Describing its self as 'a guide to dress sense for every woman', a statement which I think suits this little book perfectly. Beautiful exterior, wonderful layout and knowledge from the best.

Royal Cosmetic Connections Foundation Brush Review

Hello! I received this brush in the post this morning and thought I'd do a quick review. Being my first foundation brush I didn't really know what to expect, but I was surprised at how easy this brush was to use! The distribution  of product was really even and not claggy at all, which was something I was worried about.

Pros

• Price - it was around £3 from amazon, can't complain.
• Ease of use - Even the most inexperienced hands (me!) can't go wrong with this brush.
• Size - It fits easily into an average sized make up bag without the ends getting ruined

Cons

• Design - Although the brush itself is nice there is no branding anywhere on the brush, the only words being 'foundation brush' which looks a bit cheap. I know it's not a particularly popular brand but I think they should reconsider the design of this brush.

As you can see, in my opinion there are definitely more reasons to buy this brush than not! You can't fault the price, and the application is great. I can overlook the wording on the brush because I think it's a really good brush for people looking for a light/medium distribution of their foundation/tinted moisturiser. I've seen a vast improvement in the coverage and staying power of my tinted moisturiser after using this brush. 

I'd definitely recommend this brush!:)

I went to the beach!

It was so lovely:) The weather was amazing and we were there from half eleven until half eight - I even got a bit of a tan, which for me is unusual (everyone thinks because I have really dark hair and eyes that I'll tan really easily, but I hardly tan at all) Anyway, there was me, my mum, two of her friends and their kids - so 10 of us all together! We got chips for tea and I had such a nice day.
Sorry this post is really badly written - the sea air has made me really tired but I needed to post this now or I'd forget. Here are a few pictures I took - hope this makes up for the bad text, haha. I also haven't edited any of these pictures - sorry!

Freedom at Topshop sale!

All of these pieces cost less than £3, but I can't remember the specific price of each. LOVE the topshop sale! The colour on my nails is Peach Melba by Barry M (of course!)

Do you enjoy the Topshop sales as much as me? Have you picked anything up recently?

Evie x

What's in my bag?

I bought my bag when I was in Lanzarote in a shop called Blanco. I've never seen a Blanco in the UK so I'm guessing it's Spanish? Anyway, it's a red satchel that has a long strap but I prefer to carry it on my arm so I wear it without and just use the handle. I think it was about €20, which I thought was a good price:)

• More than you can say by Paul Torday - I wrote about this yesterday. I started it last night and even though I'm only a few pages in I'm really looking forward to reading this book. It was in my bag because I thought I was going to my Nan's today and I wanted to read it there.
• My phone - BlackBerry curve 3g. Can't wait 'til the end of the month when I can get my proper contract for this phone! No bbm = not fun!
• Hand sanitiser, just in case I have to use a public toilet (although I really try not to because they're horrrrible!) It's just a useful thing to carry around.
• Glasses. They're Jasper Conran and I really like the frames, but the lenses are far too weak and make no difference at all so I'm going to try and see if I can make an appointment to get new ones before I start back at school in August.
• Coin purse, I keep kirby grips in there.
• Actual purse. I got this from the Accessorize sale - £6.
• Rimmel volume booster lipgloss. I rarely use this to be honest, but I've had it for months (yuck?)
• Body Shop lip balms, I can't remember the exact smells because they've rubbed off, but there's a strawberry one, a watermelon one and a passion fruit I think...
• Make up bag. Not normally in here, but I stayed at my Nan's on Tuesday night so it's still in there from yesterday morning.
• iPod. Can't live without this - seriously, I don't know what I would do if it got stolen:( I need one with more space because this one is only 8gb but I have an AMAZING score on ninjump so I want to keep it as long as possible, sad I know. (My score is 10,000+)
• Earphones.
• Vaseline! I hate the rose one, and the blue one seems a bit clinical for me, so the green one is definitely my favourite. I also have about 500million other lipcare products in my school bag!
• Bobbles, because when I'm not at school (I always have my hair down at school!!!) I sometimes like to just throw it up into a bun when I can't be bothered sorting it out.

So yeah.. that's it. It's not much, but it is a little bag so I can't really fit that much in to it. There was also some paracetamol, a yellow highlighter, a pack of Mr Men plasters and about 15 kirby grips. 

My little brother is one!

I'm a bit late with this post seeing as his birthday was on the 25th June... Oh well! The day was pretty hectic, for a one year old's birthday party there was a lot of organising and running round to pick up cakes, food, alcohol etc. It started the night before when I made labels for the bottles of bubbles and made an iTunes playlist, and we all blew up balloons and decorated the rooms with banners. Then in the morning Laura came over and came with us to pick up the food, and help set everything up in the kitchen. Emily arrived and we had about 20 minutes to chat and have a drink before everyone started arriving. I have never seen so many babies in one location before - there was so many! I gave my 9 year old brother my DSLR and told him to take pictures of everything (brave...) and surprisingly he did a really good job! Here are a few pictures of the day, enjoy!:-)

Laura, me and Emily

Presents!

My bubble labels ;)

Happy Birthday!

Emily, Laura and me

Frankie

Books books books

I went to the library today for the first time in aaages! My mum is there all the time, and the two of us used to go quite a lot but over the past three or four years I've lost interest in the idea. I think it's because that is around the time I started high school, and the thought of being seen in a library is just not cool to a 13 year old trying to be 'grown up'! But yes, I went with my mum today for lunch, and she had to return a few books so I went in with her, and found myself being drawn to the fiction isle...
I ended up with Pretty Woman by Fern Michaels and More Than You Can Say by Paul Torday. They both seem like really good books so I'll give them a go and let you know what I think!

While I'm on the topic of books, these are my favourite books at the moment: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (which is actually a childrens book, I remember buying it from Borders when I was about 12) and Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.I've had them all for quite a while but I've recently read them again and I enjoyed them so much! If you've not read them then you definitely should, they're so good!

I've also been reading Style by Lauren Conrad. It's really good for help on everything from winged eyeliner to packing for a city break - LC shares her tried and tested tips with the reader, and I have to say I find it a useful book to own, especially the packing section! (I have to pack a lot and I always manage to forget something important)

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Also, do you have any recommendations for other books that I should read?

Evie x

Mmmmm Barry M nail paints

My absolute favourite nail varnishes ever! They go on really easily, last for ages, and not to mention the millions of colours to choose from! I have collected a few over the last few months. Every time I buy a new one I'm standing at the counter for about five minutes trying to pick which ones to buy because all of the colours are lovely - I think there has probably only been one or two that I haven't liked... ever.

Colours from left to right: Nail Effects in white; Peach Melba; Pink Iridescent; Bright Pink; Pink Flamingo; Coral; Raspberry; Red Black; Nail Effects in black; Navy; Cyan


Are you also a fan of Barry M nail paints? Do you have a favourite colour?


Evie x

I only went for my uniform...

The past few days I've been pretty busy shopping for school uniform, I know it's early but I wanted to get it boxed off before the Edinburgh Fringe starts on the 5th of August because there's no way I would go shopping in Edinburgh when it's that busy - slow walkers annoy me so much, and tourists are the worst!
I ended up buying a lot more than I intended to, but doesn't that always happen?!

I started in H&M, where I found the perfect pair of black trousers for school - they are high waisted and come with a lovely brown belt, and are that 'almost chino but not quite', tapered leg style for £24.99. (There are no pictures though because I couldn't find the right hanger for them.) I also bought a pair of patent black pumps that I bought straight away as they were so cheap!

£9.99 - H&M

I then went to New Look in Princes Mall because since December I have been dying for a pair of wedges, but every time I go in they only have size 4 and 6... Typical. This time though they had size 5 in a pair that I was originally not too sure about - they weren't the pair I had wanted but I bought them because I saw it as fate, haha. I got them home and fell in love, they are so comfy and easy to walk in, and the tan and cut out detail more suited to summer than the black suede.

£24.99 - New Look

Then Jenners (or House of Fraser). I had seen the Benefit Erase Paste reviewed a lot on YouTube and it had received only positive comments, so I wanted to try it for myself. I went in and the assistant was so nice, she tested it on my so find the right colour and then 'touched me up' with a full face of make up! It's so nice having someone else do it for you. She did it really subtly and even my Dad commented on it when I got back - praise indeed! I think I will have to invest in one of their tinted moisturisers once my No7 has run out.

£19.50 - Benefit at House of Fraser

Then Office. I went in to look for a pair of black brogues for school but ended up coming out with a pair of navy Converse. I got my white pair about a year ago and they are just the comfiest shoes ever. You can pretty much wear them with anything and they're just a really useful pair of shoes to have. I'd been eyeing up the navy pair for a few months - they're gorgeous! This colour is exclusive to Office.

£36.99 - Office 

Next up - Boots. I wanted a tinted moisturiser so just went in for a look. I ended up at the No7 counter and the sales assistant helped me choose the right shade for my skin. I can never leave Boots without picking up some new Barry M nail paints. This time i got Peach Melba and Red Black, both gorgeous colours! I also thought I should get a primer just so the tinted moisturiser would sit better, as I heard this helps. I'd heard good things about the 17 Photo Flawless one, so I chucked that in the basket too!

£12.50 - No7 at Boots

Red Black & Peach Melba, £2.99 each - Boots

£4.99 - Boots

I went to The Perfume Shop website because I had run out of my Hugo Boss:-( I bought Diesel Fuel For Life Summer Etd because I had read about it and it is apparently really nice. If I'm 100% honest, I don't really like it - it doesn't last all day and the initial fragrance isn't that great either, it smells a bit too much like aftershave for my liking. At least it was cheap...

£25 - The Perfume Shop


Have you tried any of these products? Tell me what you thought!


Evie x