A photo a day...

I heard about the 'Photo A Day' challenge over at Chantelle's blog. I'm so rubbish at keeping journals etc., but I figured hey, how hard can it be to take one picture every day?! Chantelle has set a theme for each day of March and you have to take a photo that fits in with it in whatever way you fancy. I'm also rubbish at taking pictures, so this could be a bit of a useless idea but I'm willing to have a crack at it, as I think it looks like fun and will be nice to look back over at the end of the month.

Here are the themes:

I can't wait to get started - fingers crossed I can keep it up for the whole month!

I hope you're all enjoying your extra day today,

Sarah x

No. 17 Nail Varnish in Sweet Kisses

So going along with the current trend for pastels, I decided to make another trip to Boots and pick up some lovely pastel nail varnishes which my Advantage Card points (man I love those things!). Even better they were on three for two, which is always a bonus!

I really liked 'Sweet Kisses', which is quite a girly shade of dusty pink. It's a fairly subtle colour for those who want to break themselves gently into pastels. I bought two other pastel colours which I will probably do another post on so stay tuned, but I am a big fan of 'Sweet Kisses'!

Sarah x

Giving up on *@?!

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So after some delicious American-style pancakes yesterday courtesy of my friend to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, it's time to think about what to give up for Lent. I haven't done it every year, but sometimes I think it can do you good, even if you don't go in for the religious meaning behind it. My proudest year was 40 days and 40 nights with CHOCOLATE...I was in school back then and most break times consisted of me and my mates chowing down on a Twix/Mars Bar/Double Decker (my favourite). But by the end of Lent I found that I just didn't really want chocolate every day anymore, something which I've retained to this day. Don't get me wrong I love a good choccie bar as much as the next girl, but now I enjoy it as a treat every now and then.

SO, what am I giving up this year?

Well, my uni years have left me with one very, very bad habit. My language is appalling! I was always really polite and conservative with that sort of thing when I lived at home, but a lot of my friends are constantly flipping effs and blinds, and it has rubbed off on me pretty badly. I know sometimes 'Darn it!' doesn't quite cut it, but I've found myself using totally unnecessary swear words in every day conversation. I definitely feel cleaning up my language would be a good idea and so, for 40 days and 40 nights, I will be giving up SWEARING! I've thought about doing it for a couple of years, but since this is my year of saying YES, there's no time like the present!

Are you giving up anything for Lent?

Sarah x

Looking Forward, Looking Back #5

Looking Forward
I've been getting really stressed about the Masters courses I've been applying for, doing all sorts of totally useless things like lying awake and worrying about it. Now that I've sorted myself out a little bit, I've decided to stop worrying and instead to look forward to hearing back about whether I've been accepted or not. If I do then super and if not then at least I can get on with the next thing and look forward to whatever else the future holds for me! It's not always easy to look at rejection that way, but I'm a great believer that what's meant to be will be and so if I'm not accepted then I know that's it's because something even better is coming along!

Looking Back
I've just come back from a lovely weekend in Northern Ireland with my cousin at her Parish Weekend. We stayed at Castlewellan Castle...

The STUNNING Castlewellan Castle
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The castle is set in a country park next to a lake and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. A weekend in such a beautiful setting what exactly what I needed to relax and recharge my batteries. It was also great to get to see my family and spend a bit of quality time with them. I've been so busy recently that I haven't been able to keep in touch properly with them, so it was a much-needed weekend!

Sarah x

Topshop Nail Varnish in Heart of Gold

I've not been hugely impressed with Topshop's makeup so far, as I felt it was a little overpriced for the product you actually receive. However, I was really impressed with this nail varnish!

'Heart of Gold' is a lovely silver-gold colour and although I used two coats, I reckon you could get away with one if you were in a rush.

The nail varnish has lasted really well for me and although I've been warned it is a bit of a mare to remove, I'm a big fan of varnishes which last a bit longer than a day or two.

I'm still not totally convinced by the Topshop makeup collection, since a lot of the products seem to be in fairly unwearable shades for me, but I was so impressed with this product that I will certainly be trying some more of their nail varnish.

Sarah x

Product Review: Lush 'Sweet Lips' Lip Scrub

I haven't bought anything from Lush in a while and so when I popped in the other day I thought I'd get myself a little treat. I often get peely skin on my lips, especially in cold weather, so I decided to give this lip scrub a go.

The thought of a 'vanilla and chocolate' flavour for a lip scrub actually makes me feel a little sick, and yet since I was wandering around the shop in a bit of a Lush-induced daze I didn't even notice that it said that. However when I actually tried the scrub it was a lovely flavour (perhaps a little too lovely since for a fleeting moment I actually contemplated eating a little)!

In terms of usability I did find the scrub a little tricky. It wasn't really bound together with anything and it was literally like rubbing dry grains of sugar onto my lips. I ended up with a lot of the stuff down my front and in the sink!

Despite that little hitch I did really enjoy the finished result once I rinsed off the remained product after giving my lips a good old scrub. They really were smooth! I slathered them in Carmex (my favourite lipbalm ever) for a bit of extra TLC and left it at that.

That evening I wore bright red lipstick on a night out and it was so much easier to apply. I often find that because my lips are a bit dry or peely the lipstick gets stuck and ends up looking a little on the manky side, but using the scrub earlier in the day meant that I had a great base for a bold lip colour. Well done Lush!

Sarah x

Product Review: Garnier HydraLock Light Moisturising Milk

My skin is never particularly dry, apart from the occasional bit on my legs after shaving, but I like to keep it moisturised, especially in these cold cold winter months. I've tried loads of body moisturisers - I'm a bit of a sucker for stuff like that! However, this is hands-down the best one I've used. I'm so converted to the stuff that I've got through two large (400ml) bottles and have recently purchased another.

I really like the scent of this moisturiser, although I get the feeling that it may not be for everyone. It is absorbed really into my skin, which is brilliant as I really dislike that greasy feeling left on your skin by a lot of creams and lotions. The spiel advertises this as for 'normal-dehydrated skin', and although as I said my skin is pretty normal it is perfect for me. I don't know what it would be like for those of you with really dry skin, but I have also tried the 'rich' version of this moisturiser and although I found it far too thick, that would probably be perfect for drier skin.

I also went out and bought the hand-cream version, which I haven't tried yet but have high hopes for. My hands are probably the bit that gets driest in the winter, so hopefully it will sort that out!

For the price - £5.65 for a large bottle from Boots - this stuff totally does the trick for me. I've tried a few higher end brands, as well as some cheaper ones, but this is by far my favourite and I can't recommend it enough!

Sarah x