Golden Brown #binthebeds with St Moriz

Ok so, I know when I think of fake tan, I dont think of someone with an lovely golden all year round glow, I think of some kind of oompa loompa looking Jeremy Kyle reject

BUT, I am a HUGE fan of fake tan.

When I go on holiday, I dont tan, I mean I literally cant bake in the sun I hate it. I cant sit still, I get so fed up and restless and I dont change colour anyway, I go a nice shade of pink and then end up whiter than before. So when Im on holiday and everyone is sizzling away, Im usually in a one piece or an oversized tee with sunglasses and a big floppy hat with a book under a big umbrella.

Oh, thats after slathering myself in factor 50.

I know vitamin D is important and I do go out out in daylight - Im not a total vampire! I love sitting by the pool, or in the garden, I juat don't like total exposure.

Ive been this way since I was younger and got burned in Greece. It was horrible.

But my main reason for staying out of the sun is because my Dad died of skin cancer when I was 17.
He was diagnosed in November and passed away the following June.
It was the second time he'd had it.

It was down to the damage his skin suffered when he was younger and would go out in the sun and burn, not every time he went out, obviously, but on those odd occasions when his lotion was a lower factor.

It was a horrific thing to witness, as is watching anyone suffer with an illness.

It has made me so, so cautious with my skin and I vowed to never sunbathe or go in the sun without sufficient protection. And I havent.

And along comes fake tan. I really dont mind being pale at all, it suits me because thats just naturally how I am, but sometimes I just want a little bit of colour in my life!!!

I think fake tans have come so far ...(remember those 'tan towels'?!?!)

I remeber begging my mum to buy me some St Tropez when I was a teenager, because that was the best ever according to everyone else but it was more than £20 so she fobbed me off, but my best friends mum bought her it so we helped eachother out....it was a streaky hot mess!!

But these days there are tans by millions of brands and in a load of different forms (mousse, lotion, spray etc.), and to suit every budget.

My all time favourte two are Fake Bake and St Moriz. I only get fake bake when Im feeling flush or ask for it to fill my christmas or birthday list.

But St Moriz is my all time favourite, go to tan. Its so affordable and such great quality!! It doesnt streak on me and never makes me orange!!

Ive used the mousse for years and I love it. But just before christmas I won a christmas set on twitter (woooooo best set ever!!), and this came with the lotion and I fell in love!! I haven't been able to find the lotion in shops near me yet but I WILL hunt it down, its and absolute godsend.

I am so gutted, they just tweeted that theyre giving samples away in Liverpool today and I cant make it down!! I might shed a little tear.

They're giving samples and tips and are spreading the word on fake tanning, rather than using sunbeds. Which are super bad.

I love that theyre getting out there and actually interacting with people.

Definitely my favourite brand.

So run out and get some and #binthebeds !!!!!!

2012 Favourites.

So 2012 is over. I actually can't believe it. It stresses me a little that  a whole year has gone by and I just feel like I blinked. Crazy.

Just a quick one, just thought I'd share a few of my favourites from 2012.

All L to R.

Top

• Bohemia perfume by M&S. Love this!! £12 for a big bottle and £6 for a smaller handbag sized one!
• Naughty Alice by Vivienne Westwood. This might be my ALL TIME favourite perfume.

Middle

• Bed Head After Party. I love how this makes my hair feel after I've blow dried it!so silky and smooth.
• Eylure lashes (101 & 107) LOVE these. they make my face feel prettier even without make up!
• Muji tin candle in Fig & berry. YUM.
• Princess by Vera Wang. so delicate and girly this is m y 'night in' perfume!
• Butterfly perfume by M&S. I am a sucker for M&S and Next perfumes.

Bottom

• Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturizer. Liz Earle. That is all.
• Barry M Gelly in Prickly Pear
• Barry M in Raspberry
• Estee Lauder Doublewear. Could not live without this. 
• No 7 essential moisture night cream. - ESSENTIAL!
• Kiehls ultimate strength hand salve. Heaven for after all that hair washing!
• St.Moriz tan. I normally use the mousse but I won this! love it!

     

SO, yeah, that's a few of my fave's from this year. There are loads more but I managed to narrow it down!

p.s Might have to wait until my birthday for a new camera as I'm on a new year spending ban (ish) so sorry for the crap pics!

Blank Canvas....

ARGHHHH!!!

I am so bad at tidying my room. I sound like a child, I know, but I have SO much stuff that I can’t bare to part with!! Clothes, shoes, make up, DVD’s, CD’s and loads of sentimental things!! It really is ridiculous though, I live in chaos. It is organised chaos though, I know where most things are. When I do tidy and ‘put things away’, I ALWAYS forget where and it drives me mad.

Anyway, I’ve had a bit of a crappy week, and when this particular type of blaaaah goes down I can’t even lay in my own bed at night without feeling uncomfortable and needing to change things. I’ve also got a pretty grim cold that I can’t shake off, so I haven’t slept for a few nights anyway and today I lay on my bed for a minute and just thought to myself, ‘I NEED TO BURN EVERYTHING’. Yes, I’m slightly melodramatic but I can’t help it. So I set about my mission to get rid of everything I could.

I got straight under the bed – my favourite hiding spot- and started pulling out all sorts of things, magazines, shoes, clothes....a random fork? make up...literally all sorts!!

The only thing I actually like about tidying my room is the little things I find that I treasure and had forgotten all about! Like today for example, I came across a letter I got in 2004 from an old boyfriend, it was the funniest thing ever, it was all random bits of memories and things we had done or things we had watched together and then something he had to get off his chest about my boyfriend at the time (one of his so called best friends, yes, I know that sounds bad on my part, but it wasn’t like it sounds!), he had to tell me about my boyfriend cheating on me and how sorry he was and that he would never treat me like that and breaking up was such a mistake etc. It was actually a really funny/sweet letter and then at the end to cheer me up he insisted I watch Battle Royale because he knew I’d like it....I still watch it when I’m feeling sad to cheer myself up. I haven’t seen it, but Battle Royale is kind of what I imagine The Hunger Games to be like, but for kids?? But yeah, I love finding little gems like that!!

I also noticed that I hoard sunglasses, I have over 20 pairs....I did not know this.

So far, I have a bin bag full of clothes and about 10 pairs of shoes to get rid of and I still have no room for the stuff I’ve kept. Gotta keep going I guess.

                                      

When I’m finally done, I’m going to paint my room white, like a blank canvas, cover up the things I want to forget. Yep. I’ve spotted some bedding in good old Primark that I want too. I’m supposed to be saving for my holiday, but it’s something I just have to buy! Haha.

Also on my list is;

fake tan (St. Moritz – best ever)

eyelashes (Dimples)

earrings (River Island...£1.50 – can’t resist!)

hair dye

Couple of t-shirts to DIY

I can’t wait to DIY some more stuff for my holiday. I’m obsessed with dip dying and studding.

Might colour my hair too! it’s ombre at the moment but I keep thinking about colours. It used to be Alpine Green. I loved it maybe it’s time to go back?.......

I’ll ponder that thought whilst I get on with my room.....after I've finished painting my nails....

(Red Wine, Barry M)

Holiday Face!

So I’m going on holiday in 3 weeks and need to sort out my holiday/sun products!!

This is always stress. I’m quite fair skinned and can’t deal with sunburn at all so I wear SPF 50 all the time. Even here in dull old England, if it’s a little bit sunny.

I’ve got my sun cream sorted but make up is a nightmare for holidays.

I wear Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation when I’m here and I used to use Lorac ProtecTINT tinted moisturiser when I was away but I ran out last year and my Aunty hasn’t been to America this year so I haven’t been able to stock up.

My mum picked me up a Stila tinted moisturiser SPF 30 which I’m hoping will do the trick as I don’t like wearing heavy make up in the heat, and it will just end up a waste and sliding off anyway.

I think I’m going to stick to my rose Vaseline for my lips for a little bit of colour and I think its SPF 15?

I never know whether to use a bronzer or blusher when I’m away, my sister uses bronzer but she’s got a more olive tone to her skin and dark eyes so it looks fine on her. If I’ve kept on top of the old fake tan then it looks ok, but if I’m honest I’m kind of lazy, so most of the time that doesn’t happen, but then I can never decide on a peachy toned blusher or a dolly pink (which I wear everyday).

I suppose I’ll have to see how I go with the tan!

I’m going to take some lashes away with me this time because for some reason mascara always tries to run away from my eyelashes and just ends up sitting on my cheeks about 5 minutes after I’ve put it on. My favourite ones at the minute are just from Home & Bargain, they’re by Dimples and are £1.99 for 2 pairs!! They’re pretty natural looking too, which I like for holiday, I can’t stand the thought of being caked in make up in the warm weather.

I have really dry skin too, so I need to start drinking wayyy more water than I have been. Does anyone else find it hard to drink loads of water?...or just me?...

Well yeah, my skin is stupidly dry, so dry that I sleep with Vaseline on my face at night ( and also on my feet with fresh clean socks because it makes them baby soft!) and then have to apply some moisturiser before I put make up on if it’s feeling ok, if not I have to put bio oil on before my make up, which isn’t ideal because, well, because it’s oil!

My best friend gave me the Olay beauty fluid which I think is really good before I apply my make up, but she also bought me a Frankincense and Rose face cream which is soooo thick and luxurious feeling  and smells amazing! She says it works wonders so I’ll have to give it a proper go!

My mum however, insists I use Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish. I do love it, but to be honest, I don’t usually spend that much on products like that. I do get it as a gift for birthdays and christmas though, so I use it when I have it and would definitely recommend it!

I actually found that Superdrug do their own hot cloth cleanser and vitamin E range. I tried the ‘Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser’ and it was great! It came in a box with a muslin cloth and it worked really well and my face felt so nice after using it and it is a total steal at £5.99!!

I might buy the whole range when I don’t have any Liz Earle left and try it all out.

I am a fan of hot cloth cleansers though, I feel like they really do clean your face and leave it feeling fresh!