Glossybox April - Au Natural

I was super excited to receive this month's glossybox as although I've heard rumours of the natural theme I've been ridiculously good and not looked at any spoiler posts on it. Which is probably a first for me and reminded me of the reason I first subscribed - for the surprise :) 

I love the themed boxes and the different coloured boxes are so useful - especially this one as it fits in my bathroom perfectly! I'm not crazy into organic and natural products but I do like to use them when I can so I was very excited for this box to try out some products I'd never tried before. 

Caudalie - Vinosource SOS Thirst Quenching Serum 

Full Size £29 - Sample worth £9.66 

I've read lots of good things about Caudalie recently and have quite a few things on my wish list. I've also wanted a serum for ages - this smells divine a real fresh skin care kind of smell if that makes any sense at all. I'm so excited to this was in the box and I can't wait to try it out properly as a full size serum definitely needs to be bought by me soon. 

Inika Cosmetics - Organic Eyeliner in Green Lagoon

Full Size - £11.75 - Sample worth £11.75 

I've never heard of this brand before and I'm always loving getting something like an eye-liner in my glossybox. I love the consistency of this its super creamy and comes in lovely gold and black packaging. I also like that I got green as I have a whole host of black eye-liners so being able to try something different I wouldn't normally buy is always a plus for me. 

Monu Professional Skincare - Body Cream 

Full Size - £23 - Sample Worth £3.45

I received a Monu face cream in a previous box which was far too fragranced for me and just broke out my skin so badly. This smells gorgeous and I always like receiving little body creams because I haven't had to buy any since starting my glossybox subscription last November! I don't think you can really go wrong with body cream really other than awful scent I find them all pretty similar I wouldn't pay the £23 full size price for this though as I do find £1 supermarket brand creams do the same. 

Figs and Rouge - Balm 

Full Size - £3.29 - Sample Worth £3.29 

Adore this products kind of old Parisian packaging - its gorgeous! It smells of peppermint and tea tree and really feels like it instantly wakes you up. It says it can be applied lip, face and body. I think I'll be using it mostly for lips and blemishes or dry spots of skin as the tea tree will be perfect. This is ideal hand bag material! I love it! 

Phillip B - Drop Dead Straightening Balm

Full Size - £17 - Sample Worth £1.43 

I feel like I've kind of got my hair routine down to a tee at the moment so haven't bought any new products in a while. Always open to trying new things I wear my hair mostly curly at the moment so this will definitely be pulled out when I have a straight day. 

Overall this box comes in at £29.56 which is brilliant. As always I know it's not about the worth but it just is reassuring to know you've got a little bit of value for money. I love this box - it's full of products I probably wouldn't have picked up but all ones I love and it's got a really good variety for me. Well done again to Glossybox I think they keep pulling it out of the bag recently. 

Loreal Caresse Dating Coral & Aphrodite Scarlet

I haven't particularly jumped on the lip butter wagon as they didn't really appeal and I was a little unsure what I would get from them in comparison to a lipstick or lip balm. However all loreal products are currently on buy one get one half price at superdrug and the beautifully packaged caresse range jumped out at me. I can't find the link on the superdrug website but they are £7.99 and also available here at boots. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from them as it was my first 'lip butter' type experience. I actually have fallen a little bit in love with these two shades. They are super creamy in application and even though they don't last long in comparison to most other lipsticks I own they just ooze day wear and so easy to apply. I really love the packaging and think the colour range is spot on. I bought 'dating coral' which is a super gorgeous nudey coral and 'aphrodite scarlet' which is the perfect amount of pink. They are packed with far more colour than you ever get in a balm but still ooze the real creamy consistency I love. 

Aphrodite Scarlet

Dating Coral 

Has anyone else tried the Loreal Caresse range are there other shades I need whilst they are still on offer? 

Real Techniques Stippling Brush

Since taking the plunge with my first stippling brush from ELF (mentioned in this post) I've been looking for another more long term addition as I found the fall out from my ELF brush a little too much for an every day flawless finish. Lots of lovely bloggers recommended a whole host of other brushes but in the end I went for the real techniques brush because I've read some lovely reviews on it from other blogs, it was super easy to get hold of as it was in boots when I went and finally it was pink :)

I really love this brush its quality is fantastic in my opinion and really does give my foundation an absolutely flawless finish. It was only £11.99 from boots  and its made me want the whole collection of real techniques brushes. I really like the way the brushes are colour coded to face, finish and eye I think it makes the whole brush buying process much less daunting in a world where there are just so many.

So ladies which real techniques brushes do I need next? All recommendations welcome :)

Nail Art - eBay Style.

1. Nail Art Pens: 24 colours with pens and brush £9.99 delivered
2. Nail Art Dotting Pens: 5 double ended dotting tools £1.68 delivered
3. Nail Art Rhinestones: 2400 multi-colour diamonte's £2.28
4. Nail Art Glue: 4x 3g 99p delivered
5. Nail Wheels: for nail art practice £1.48 delivered

I've wanted to do this post for ages now because I've seen so much nail art stuff on the high street recently and I'm just like 'its all about eBay' some of the above items probably look familiar as I have seen them re-branded by quite a lot recently. I've bought every item listed so I can vouch for them and I just think if your messing about with nail art or want to try some designs out - eBay is most definitely the answer. Can't wait to get a little bit more time to do some more designs soon :)

Holiday Wish List

1. Misguided: Carmina Cross Over Pleated Dress £22.99 2. ASOS FREESTYLE Leather Sandals with Toe Post £15.00 3. Mark Hill Holiday Hair Sun, Sea Frizz-Free Anti-Humidity Spray 125ml £5.99 4. Mark Hill Holiday Hair Cover Up! Protection Spray 50ml £5.99  5. No7 Beautiful Skin Blemish Defence Serum £16.99 6. River Island Olivia Sunglasses £13.00 7. ASOS Slot Through Portfolio Clutch £20  8. Jamilla Chain Print Playsuit £23.99 9. Gold Ash High heel shoes £80  10. Ralph Lauren Ralph Eau De Toilette Spray 30ml  £28.00

This year I'm super lucky to be going away twice within the space of 2 months. May holds a post-dissertation holiday with my best friend to the canary's and June holds a half finishing uni half birthday present to Cyprus with my boyfriend. These are literally the only things getting me through endless days alone writing dissertation hour after hour. So I thought I'd procrastinate a little bit and put together my holiday wish list. I'm trying to not do that thing of 'shopping for holiday' and ending up with clothes I will never wear in England so most of the items are a bit of everything and actually not that holiday specific. Eeek can't wait!

Is anyone else going away this year? I also need sun tan lotion but it seems to have rocketed in price since I last went away!

Coral Ombre Summer Nails

I've seen a few nail designs similar to this on Pinterest and since I have the weeky dilemma of 'which coral shade do I wear?' as it is a firm summer favourite! I thought this would be perfect at dissolving that dilemma all you need is three or more shades of one colour - or just colours that go together. I'm thinking rainbow would look gorgeous! You also need a clean make-up sponge. You can get them anywhere (think pound shop ladies) but I had some left over from ages ago from Boots they retail for about £4 for a massive bag of them.  

So how to get the look: 

Apply a decent base coat to your nails

You need to dunk the sponge into a glass of cold water

Then paint on your shades in lines in the order you want them on your nails 

Apply once across all nails then let dry 

Continue on all nails until the colour is built up to your desired shade (I did three coats) 

Building it up also gives a more graduated effect rather than strips of colour 

Clean up the sides of your nails with a cotton bud soaked in nail varnish remover

Let it all dry then seal with a clear top coat :) 

I used Barry M Coral and Peach Melba and Models Own Fuzzy Peach 

Voila! 

This is probably the easiest nail art I've ever done and I think it's so effective. I love it - perfect summer nails in my opinion - now just need to finish this uni malarkey and make my way to the airport :) I have some delicious yellow's that I think would suit this so well with a tan! 

Has anyone else tried ombre nails? 

Instagram - April is nearly over.

Left to Right - Top to Bottom: Matte Red Nails <3, A sandy nosed doggle, Meon Shore, Posing Doggle, Chinese wraps are weird, a wedding invite as a couple (we're officially grown up), Alpen Light bars, clearing out my wardrobe *team cheryl*, Concrete Mixer Nails, Can not stop eating frozen fruit, 'i'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her', taking RSVP'ing very seriously, pale fingers with utopia and carnival, neon nails :), lots of Aston dolls for £3.74 (I thought he was favourite), more frozen fruit .... 

My life has been a little dull recently if I'm honest, in the midst of dissertation writing I seem to just eat frozen fruit or alpen light bars (can not get enough of them) and take pictures of Oscar the dog ... and I always seem to find time to paint my nails. Today I'm trying to catch up with a bit of blogging and thought I'd post my recent instagram's as they sum up my life better than I could with words. 

Hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend and hopefully doing things more exciting than writing essays. 

22 days to go ... countdown is on!

1000 Kisses - Nothing But Nude

Have a bit of a thing for lipsticks, and lip products at the moment. After my pure love for the Revlon Just Bitten range back in February I thought it was time a nude stain entered my life. I adore the bright pink of my Revlon stain but it just isn't an every day kind of colour for me. So I thought I'd give Rimmel 1000 kisses ago. It can be bought here from boots for £6.99. I adore the name 1000 kisses I think it completly sums up lip stain products and is super cute so thats probably what drew me into buying this over a Revlon Just Bitten in a similar shade. 

So this was the result...

without Balm 

 With balm 

I actually found that this product didn't apply to evenly as the colour alone came out kind of patchy and sunk in heavily into any creases my lips may have had giving a really uneven finish. Putting the balm on top kind of evened out this problem and gave a much more even finish. I actually find though that the shade I bought (nothing but nude) is a little too close to the natural colours of my lips so doesn't really do much for me. I've taken to using it as a kind of lip base as I find it really brings out the colours of other bright lipsticks I have really well. 

As always though alone a lip stain is drying so if your lips are too dry this isn't for you. I wasn't that impressed with the application or colour of this stain but its maybe due to the fact that the nude didn't have much differentiation from my own lips. 

Has anyone else tried Rimmel 1000 kisses? What did you think in comparison to Revlon Just Bitten? 

eBay listings - April

I'm so low on money right now and I've also got a busting wardrobe so the only answer was of course eBay :). I've done this post to basically show you the items I've listed today. I start all my items at just 99p and they will all be listed for 10 days (so will finish on Sunday 29th April) I only ship to the UK and all items come from a smoke free and pet free household. Ashamedly I have quite a few brand new things amongst them that have been gifts or I've bought in haste (often in the wrong size) :/ If you have any questions please ask I've left all the links underneath each item but my eBay seller name is caloni24

H&M Bodycon Mini Cream Floral Dress 3/4 Sleeves Size 12

River Island Mini Cream Floral Dress Long Top 3/4 Sleeves Size 12

River Island Mini Strapless Dress Pink/ Purple Size 12 NEW

Ralph Lauren Sport Cream Jumper Cable Knit with Pink Motif Size M

H&M Black and Cream Lace Mini Dress Bodycon Size M 12/14

New Look Black with Gold Detail Bodycon Dress Size 10

H&M White Floral Butterfly Design Dress NWOT Size M

Dorothy Perkins Halterneck Playsuit Floral NWT Brand New Size 14

Dark Brown Accessorize Quilted Clutch Bag with Gold Clasp

Faith Platform Cerise Pink Heels Peep Toe Size 6 NWOB

New Look Black and White Striped Open Back Swimsuit Size 12

Coral and White Striped String Tie Bikini Size 12

Peruna Floral String Tie Bikini Size 12

Black String Tie Bikini Size 12D/DD

Models Own with Hed Kandi - Hedonist & Beach Party

I was ridiculously excited when the post man came with my models own order yesterday as these little beauties were inside. I've been lusting after the Hed Kandi and Models Own range but couldn't find it any of my local stores. I was very tempted to buy the entire collection of 5 colours that currently fill their homepage but decided on these two. Also in the range is Ibiza Mix - a gorgeous glitter, Balearic Cool - a bright blue,  and Disco Heaven - a gold glitter. I went with Hedonist a crazy bright neon coral and Beach Party an equally as bright neon orange. 

I absolutely love these colours. After buying I was a little worried that Hedonist would be too similar to Pink Punch  but Hedonist is definitely more coral whereas Pink Punch is a much brighter pink toned neon colour. 

I've teamed them together and they are just screaming holiday at me - I literally can't wait to get abroad and team these with a natural tan! 

Has anyone else tried the Hed Kandi range or any other colours? I am tempted to buy Balearic Cool as the blue just looks amazing! 

Magpie Obsessions.

So I've been thinking about doing this for a little while as 'Little Pretty Things' just wasn't doing it for me. Also as there's a whole host of little pretty things out there in the world I didn't think it really allowed me to put my stamp on my own little bit of the web. So I've gone for a name change and thought it was either time to do it now I'd never get around to doing it. 

I've gone with 'magpie obsessions' as it kind of sums me up - I like anything that sparkles, it just sticks out to me and it ends up in my life. Obsessions just because since starting this blog I've realised I'm pretty obsessive I go through a lipstick faze and end up with 20 then a blusher one and the same will happen. I think this name just fits and will be around to stay. 

I just wanted to give you a little introduction and let you know I've changed the link - 

http://www.magpieobsessions.co.uk/

I hope it doesn't cause too much confusion - I figured to get it done within the first few months of my blogging life would be easiest :) My love of make-up and pretty things continues just with a bit of a different name.