Wishlist #1

At the moment, I'm craving new things. Maybe this is to do with starting university so I'm feeling an element of 'new academic year, new season, new start' (Gosh, I hate it when people say that!) and I just want to start a fresh with some of my beauty and skincare products, so here's a wish list!

1. Clarisonic Deep Pore Cleansing Brush Head £21

I'm in dire need of a new brush head for my clarisonic, I don't use mine too regularlly but I'm starting too, and after watching Suzy from Simply Suzy I decided that I needed this one, having only used the sensitive one and as Suzy uses the same cleanser as me, I really want to try out her combo of cleanser and brush head. I think I'm also going to do an in depth review of my Clarisonic as it's one of those love it or hate it, is it worth the money products.

2. Origins Drink Up Mask £22

I've heard loads about this mask and my friend Lisa from bought this and mentioned it in her blog post on 'The Triple Threat Face Mask' I really want it! I think I'm going to try track down the smaller size of this and see how I get on with it. I have combination skin but I find the oily, spotty side of my skin much easier to deal with than the dehydration!

3. Tom Ford Shape and Illuminate £55

After hearing much about this product I just SO want to try it! I love to contour and prefer creams and I'm yet to find the perfect highlight but this product looks pretty much perfect. I wonder, that opening the door to Tom Ford Beauty is going to be an dangerous idea, especially considering I could walk from uni to the counter, as the metro station is in Fenwicks...oh dear!

4. Alpha H Liquid Gold £31.50

I think I just need this! after feeling like I've pretty much perfected my basic skincare, but I still feel like I need a few extras to get my skin in tip top condition and my main issue with my skin is the texture, and this promises to help! After hearing about this for months, I think I'm ready to take the plunge!

5. Illamasqua Nail Polish in 'Facet' £14.50

I love nail polish, but I'm a nail biter and useless at painting my nails. After recently getting gel nails and loving them (my nails are so strong and lovely underneath too!) I'm starting to love painting my nails, I love colours like this, OPI Metro Chic is my all time favourite polish and I think this polish looks just as beautiful! 

So here it is, these are some of the things I'm craving at the moment, what things are you currently lusting after?

Kerastase Nectar Thermique Review

My hair, is my pride and joy. After a hair dye disaster I cut my hair short, much shorter than I'd ever had before, and I started growing it out. Much later after that disaster, around 2 years ago I went to a new hairdresser and had my black dye lifted out to a very dark brown. She had used two products on me that made my hair feel so soft! I bought them both (online, for cheaper prices). One of the products, was Kerastase Nectar Thermique, now I'd heard it mentioned before and seen it on blogs, and I'd used one product from the brand before, a hair masque, but I'd never used any Kerastase styling products before as they are quite expensive at £18.90 a pop! This product can be bought for around £16 online.

This product is a hybrid of leave in conditioner and heat protectant as well as smoothing your hair and preventing frizz. It's a thick, white cream, which you apply a 'walnut sized amount' to your hands and then rub through your hair, I apply this mainly to the ends of my hair but as it's my heat protectant, I also take a light amount right up to the root, but very lightly. I find this product gives my hair so much shine, and does product my hair from the heat effectively. This is brilliant if like me, you regularly fail at using a spray in heat protectant (I also hate the smell of almost all of them!). This product smells really good, it's lightly fragranced but I can't described what with, it's a nice, and inoffensive smell. 

I'd actually put my hairs growth in the past two years partly down to this product. Of course, it doesn't make my hair grow, but it does protect your hair from the heat and condition it, and I think this has meant that at my regular trims, my hairdresser has taken much less off and my hair has grown much longer and so much healthier than it did in life before this product! I had a small period of time when I didn't have this product and bought it back as soon as I could. If you're after a smooth blow dry, some heat protection and a little bit of extra conditioning, then this is a great product.

What are your holy grail hair products? 

A Skincare Haul

Over the past year, I've become really interested in skincare. I've always known the importance of looking after my skin, but never really found the right products that gave me the results I was after, not since I tried my first set of proper skincare when I was about 14, Clinique 3 Step, which at the time, I loved and now wouldn't touch with a barge pole. I think my interest in skincare has really stemmed from reading the wonderful, no nonsense skincare blog of Caroline Hirons, (you MUST read her blog) and since applying, slowly her tips, tricks and following her product recommendations, my skin has never been better. 

Through Caroline's blog, I discovered the brand REN. Some products skincare products which I lust after are well out of my price range at the moment, but I find REN to be very affordable, and very effective, two things which are my top priority when looking for skincare. At the weekend, my lovely Mum had a 20% of Marks and Spencer voucher, if you didn't know, lots of great skincare brands are available in larger M&S stores and online, so I decided this was the time to stock up on some products, so here's what I got 

Goodies!

First, I decided to repurchase my favourite ever cleanser. Now, I know I've previously raved about my Clarins foaming cleanser, but this blows it out of the water! I still love that cleanser, but I'd choose this one over it. This has a clay base making it feel like a mask each time that you use it. When I'm using this product, my skin is much clearer, brighter and softer. 

REN Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser

Then I chose to buy the Clarifying Toner, now I know some people don't do toner but I definitely do! Toner is NOT for removing the last bits of make up on your skin though! if you need toner to do that, you need to wash your face properly! Nor does it close your pores, this toner balances and lightly exfoliates your face, this one is affordable and easy to get hold of, so I thought I'd give this a try before I think about splashing out on P50.

REN Clarifying Toning Lotion

I also decided to get REN's balm cleanser. This is a balm which you can use you remove your make up, my ClearCalm does not remove make up, and shouldn't be used to do so, so I wanted something that would be suitable for a first cleanse to remove make up and sunscreen, and I decided to go for this one as I've had a sample before and it doesn't hurt my eyes, and I can never be bothered to use a separate eye make up remove before I take off my face make up.

REN No.1 Purity Cleansing Balm

My last purchase wasn't from REN, but instead Nuxe. A brand I'd seen before but never tried, this was sort of an impulse purchase, recently my lips had been so dry they'd been cracking, although I drink my weight in water each day (Okay, maybe not my weight, but I do drink more than 2lt) so I don't think I'm dehydrated. I bought this because I'd heard it mentioned on blogs and thought I'd give it a spin, I liked the texture and my Mum thought it was lovely, so I bought two of them. One for her, and one for me. My Mum is a woman who has, for the past 20 years slathered some vaseline on her lips before bed, and after using this for a few days has told me that she's noticed a big different. 

Nuxe Lip Balm

I think I'm good for skincare for a while now! just need a new moisturiser and a hydrating toner and I think I'm all good! What about you? do you love skincare too? 

50 Fact About Me

So I'm back!
I really wanted to start blogging again because I really enjoy this, but college really got in the way for me but now that's all finished! exams are done, I've gotten into University, so I can finally try and get into what I've wanted to do for years. 

I thought a good way to start would be with a '50 facts about me', I love reading these because I'm a bit nosey and I always feel like you really get to know someone online with this, so here it goes. 

1. My name is Simone

2. I'm 19 and my Birthday is 08/04/1994

3. I live in the North East of England and I have done for 10 years.

4. I don't have much of a strong accent, and I can never tell people where my accent is from. When I'm in the South I'm told I sound like a northerner, and in the North I'm often told I sound like a southerner, no-one has ever placed it to somewhere. 

5. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 9 years, I grew up there and only came home in the Summer and we started coming home for Christmas when I was about 5. 

6. I hold a Dutch passport, because my Mother is Dutch and it was quicker for me to get a Dutch passport than an English one when I was born, although I was born in the UK. We needed my passport fast as we had to go back to Saudi quite soon after I was born.

7. I have a brother who is two years younger than I am. We get a long most of the time, and he's petty cool. 

8. I didn't do A levels, but instead did an HEFC (Higher Education Foundation Course) and I loved every minute of it, no matter how much I complained about it I loved it, even when it was really hard and I wanted to quit. 

9. I always thought I'd do my degree in History, but after studying it at a higher level, I've instead chosen Psychology and as much as I love History, I'm really happy with my decision. 

10. I'm Dyspraxic 

11. When I decided to do my degree in Psychology over History, it was because of the career prospects. I would really love to be an Educational Psychologist or a Clinical Psychologist with children and adolescents. I hope to have a job where I help people on a daily basis. 

12. For my HEFC course, I took History, Psychology and Sociology, and I loved all of the subjects but wish I could have taken more than 3 subjects. 

13. I love Mexican and Japanese food, albeit our British versions of these.

14. Cooking is one of my favourite things to do, I also love baking but I hate tidying up!

15. My favourite holiday destinations are Dubai and Orlando, Florida. I want to visit so many places in the world, but I'd love to go back to these two.

16. Long-haul flights are the best, I'd rather fly for 8+ hours than 3/4 hours.

17. I'd only drink American style iced tea if I could, I really love the Dunkin Donuts one. 

18. Macaroni and Cheese is my 'speciality' recipe and my boyfriend's favourite meal. 

19. Brownies are a close second, and my brothers favourite thing I cook. 

20. I'm really fussy about my bed, my covers have to be certain ones or I don't like the way they feel against my skin, and I have to shake any little crumbs off the sheet every night, it drives my boyfriend mad but he appears to love me in spite of this. 

21. I recently got in touch with my childhood best friend, we stopped talking when we were 15 after being best friends for 11 years (like 15 years old do!) and we got back in touch this year and honestly, it feels like a missing piece has been returned to me. 

22. I love dogs far too much, I have an English Cocker Spaniel named Caramel, she's ginger and so lovely. 

23. My Mum trains puppies for Guide Dogs, we've trained 3 puppies from scratch and boarded 13 more. I remember every single one of them and I can't wait to have my own labrador one day.

24. My brother and I once worked out that I have been on a minimum of 200 flights in my lifetime. 

25. I wore almost exclusively black for about 2 years, and now I'm starting to inject colour into my wardrobe again.

26. I was bullied until I felt I could not longer attend school, this lead me down a path of anxiety and depression and effected my GCSE's (I only sat 4 exams) and now, 4 years later I think I'm finally happy, and over what happened. 

27. I kill plants. I try not too, but I just fail at looking after them! I'm currently trying to care for my 5th basil plant, and he's still alive! my brother is helping me with this one though, as I appear to be incapable of doing it myself.

28. I find lumps in air, and have Dyspraxic moments that sometimes result in me injuring myself by falling over seemingly nothing, or occasionally my own feet. Some what recently I fell down my drive and sprained my ankle, and 7 weeks ago, I fell over and broke my foot! 

29. I'm petrified of snakes. I can't look at pictures of them, or videos of them and if people talk about them for too long I have to take my feet of the floor. I've not always been so scared of them, and I can't remember when it actually started! 

30. I'm left-handed. 

31. I've loved London every time that I've been, but I don't think I could ever move down south.

32. Making lists makes me happy, shopping lists, lists of things I want to do, places I want to visit, I have all of them, and I keep them up to date. It irritates my Mum because I can't even go to town without a list of where I'd like to go.

33. My short term memory is awful, but my long term memory is quite astounding, even to me. I could tell you in detail about a day that I had years ago, but cannot remember if I've eaten breakfast or not. I like to think of it as a sign of genius, but really it's just irritating. 

34. In the house, when it's just me and my Dad, we listen to 'Sky Radio' online, a dutch radio station that doesn't have adverts and plays a few dutch songs each hour. My Dad and I like to learn to lyrics to the dutch songs and sing them to my mum, while making up traffic and weather and pretending we're translating it.

35. I don't like avocado. I've tried, they're so trendy  and good for you, and you can call them alligator pears! but I just don't like them.

36. I consider courgettes to be a gift from the devil himself, they're vile and I don't understand how anyone can eat them.

37. I cannot grow my nails for the life of me, whenever I'm stressed I bite my nails, and as a naturally anxious person, the nails never make it. 

38. It took me 5 attempts to get my ears pierced. I finally have them done and have done for about 8 years, but I rarely wear earrings because I have metal allergies :(

39. I got my nose pierced when I was 15 and I loved it, but I let it close up because I was so lazy and my studs kept coming out or I had to take it out,  and I keep meaning to get it re-done, but I always forget. 

40. I don't have any tattoos, I'd like one and I love the way they look (My boyfriend has 6) but I can't decide on something that I'll love forever. 

41. Fantasy shopping is my favourite thing (much like list making!) and I like to waste time online adding all the products I want to my basket online and wishing I could click the 'buy' button.

42. My hair grows really slowly, and I want it really long, I think I've been saying '2 more inches and I'll be happy' for around 3 years.

43. I hate painting my nails. I love the way other people's painted nails look but when I do my own they look horrid! I still buy colours and try though.

44.  I'm blessed to have an extremely supportive and loving immediate family. They drive me up the wall sometimes but they love me and I love them. 

45. I'm never content or relaxed, once I've achieved something I'm onto the next thing before it's even fully finished, like I'm looking in depth at post graduate things now, before I've even started undergraduate! 

46. Trashy TV is my favourite. I love to watch serious, deep and profound documentaries (ooh look at me sounding all smart) and more 'serious' shows but give me some 16 & Pregnant, Teen Mom (1,2 or 3), bit of the Kardashians and maybe some E! True Hollywood stories and I'm happy. 

47. I'm 5ft 8in tall. This tends to surprise people and my friends have often gone 'I didn't realise you were so tall!' and this baffles me...

48. I remember birthday's. It's like my thing, tell me your birthday 2/3 times and it's stuck in there. 

49. I'm useless at keeping things overall tidy. I like to organise little things meticulously but overall, my room is messy! My vanity is terribly messy and unorganised. 

50. When we have our own house, James and I would like 4 dogs, yes 4 dogs! A Labrador x Retriever, a Boxer, a Newfoundland and an Alaskan Malamute. I also want a dyson hoover to go with the dogs haha!

Well, that's 50 facts about me! I hope that you've enjoyed reading this post and maybe felt like you got to know me a bit. I always love reading these posts myself so hope that you enjoyed this too! 

The Need For Something New

Now, I don't know about you, but I constantly crave new products. Even when I'm happy with what I'm using I always want new. I always think there must be better out there! So here's my list of what I'm lusting after right now

REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask

My skin, although is often now free of blemishes, always seems clogged and bumpy, with a  horrible texture that never seems to go away and it looks horrible! I've heard this mask mentioned a few times and for the price of £30, it may soon be mine! I've heard great things about REN, so I really want to give this a go.

Illamasqua Powder Blush in 'Katie'

This was actually one of my first ever Illamasqua purchases, I think I got this for Christmas in 2010. I used it almost every time I wore make up, until I hit pan, the remaining product then crumbled and I couldn't use it anymore, but since we parted ways earlier this year I really miss it! nothing quite gives me that glow and lasts as long as this does. It costs £18 (Does anyone else remember when Illamasqua blushes were £15!)

Hydraluron 

Hydraluron needs no introduction. After hearing Caroline Hirons rave about this product back in August, I've wanted it! My skin is chronically dehydrated and I don't know why, but this product promises to help! I'm up for anything that could improve the texture of my skin, and more hydration can hardly hurt can it? this is priced at a reasonable £24.99

Chantecaille Just Skin 

This tinted moisturiser has nothing but rave reviews, it promises good coverage and a light feel, I've looked at it and felt the texture many times in SpaceNK but I'm yet to try it out, partly because I'm scared I'll love it, and at a whopping £57 it may just be way to much money for me to ever justify, even to myself! Maybe a Christmas present...

Kerastase Ciment Thermique

After running out of my beloved Necter Thermique in July, I've struggled on with different products but none are quite as good, nor seem to be as good for my hair, as my hair is starting to get much longer, and I have plans to change the colour in December (I know, I plan ahead!) I need to look after my hair much better than I am now. This is supposed to strengthen your hair from the inside out and protect it from heat styling, while making it smooth and soft to the touch, which all sounds pretty good to me! This costs around the £18 mark.

So that's what I'm currently wishing for, what are you currently after?

Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Tamarind

Back in April, I decided to change up my skincare. I had unhappily using Liz Earle for a few months with no results, and wanted my skin to look great for my trip to the Netherlands with my Mum that month, so I decided to try Clarins.
First, my skin. My skin is combination, I can get a teeny bit of shine during the day but that's it, I'm also acne prone and I get horrible clogged pores. My skin is also dehydrated even though I drink a shedload of water.

Clarins is a brand I had never really been a big fan of, I thought they were a bit boring and outdated on the make up side so I never really had a good look at them, but my Mum suggested to me that we have a look and I could see if there was anything I'd like. The first thing I loved was that they gave out samples! I've wasted so much money on loads of products that didn't work for me or made my skin worse, so I was so happy to get samples of the products. 
The sample of this cleanser lasted me about 4 days and honestly, using the products together made a huge difference to my skin! it was amazing, my skin looked brighter and clearer almost straight away, I've tried different things since and this is definitely what keeps my skin clear.

The cleanser is a thick cream consistency, it also has these little blue beads that 'pop' when you rub it into your skin, they're not at all exfoliating. I just rub the cleanser onto my dry face until the beads have popped, then add a little water to allow it to foam up, and remove it with a flannel or muslin cloth (whichever, I don't mind!). After my face feels super clean and all make up is removed, although I do always cleanse twice, this tube has lasted me since April and is starting to get super hard to get it out of the tube! It's amazing and makes such a difference to my skin, my skin is clear 80% of the time now, when I always used to have at least one or more spots. I've tried another cleanser since and my skin started to break out again, I'm so sure that it's this product that keeps my skin nice.

The only thing that it doesn't do, is help with my horrible congested pores, but I'm yet to find anything that does, so if you have any recommendation for a product that helps, let me know!

This cleanser costs £17.50 in store, but I found it online for £15.75 

Boring Haul of Boringness

After an extremely long and boring UCAS talk a college, I went to check my bank balance and buy some textbooks (why do textbooks cost stupid amounts of money?) for college and found I had more money than expected, so on friday I decided to haul some essentials I had been after for a while. 


First I took a trip to MAC, I never really shop at MAC anymore as their collections bore me as it's all the same thing over and over again, and it's no longer exciting, but I do still love a lot of things in their regular line. 

Blanc Type Eyeshadow 

Blanc Type is the most boring eyeshadow ever. it's a creamy white-beige with a matte2 finish, it's really smooth, buttery and soft and really opaque, I've tried many other eyeshadows of this type but they're all must sheerer than this one is. I use it as the base for just about every make up look.

Select Cover Up Concealer in NW15 

This is a great concealer, it's light and sheer in texture but has great coverage and a skin like finish, it goes great over blemishes and under the eyes even though it's a pink toned colour. I don't like dry concealers like Studio Finish or Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage , and I hated the collection 2000 one everyone loves, I like a creamy liquid, if that makes any sense.

MAC Bulk Wipes

Oh I'm bad. I will admit that when I have evening classes, I get home, get into my jarmies, tie back my hair and wipe my make up off with a wipe. Yes a wipe. I'm awful, I know. I am really fussy with wipes though, they have to have a plastic lid and they have to be really wet feeling. My favourites are the No.7 ones, or the Soap and Glory ones, I used to like the age perfect ones from L'oreal, but they've changed the packaging. The reason I decided to get the MAC ones, was because they are my favourite and I think they remove make up best, but also because of the price. Per wipe the Soap and Glory wipes are 18p per wipe so 100 of them would cost you £18, the No.7 ones are 23p per wipe, so would cost you £23 for  100, the MAC ones are £19 for 100, and I feel they remove make up much better than either of the other brands mentioned, so to me, they're 100% worth the money. Plus the packaging counts to towards Back 2 Mac
On the subject of Back 2 MAC, I had been hoping to return my empties for Rebel Lipstick, but they were out of stock! as it was the one I really wanted, I've decided to wait and get it when it comes back into stock rather than pick an alternative.

I then took a trip to Boots and I got;

Smashbox Photofinish Primer

I decided to get a Primer as I have really dehydrated skin, foundation skins in and looks awful on my skin, so I decided to try to see if it helps keep my make up on for longer, and create a bit of a barrier to stop my skin looking so crap with make up on! when I wore it later that day my make up looked nice and it felt nicer than when I wasn't wearing it, it also kept my make up on better and stopped me from having that feeling of wanting to wash my make up off the second I am no longer in a public place.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder

I bought this after trying to hunt down the Maybelline Dream Matte powder (Love that packaging) but couldn't, so I decided to go for this one instead. it's a fairly boring product, it works, stops me looking oily but isn't super matte and is quite finely milled and feels nice on the skin.

Real Techniques Blush Brush

I bought this is as powder brush cause it's massive! it's really soft and not super densely packed like my eco tools blush brush (Great to blend, crap to apply) so dusts powder all over the face lightly, I think it is way to big for blush though, but I may try it.


I also bought some metal cuticle nippers, but they're REALLY boring so I won't show you those, they do look like a torture implement though.


So that's my haul, I still have a few bits and bobs to get to be really happy with my make up (Ive condensed down a lot of what I did have) and feel like I have everything I need...one of them is a foundation! I did like the new one from YSL but the colour isn't perfect for me (BR10 is too pink, B10 is too yellow and dark) one day, I'll get one that works for me!