Cherry lips!

Snagged myself Sleek's True Colour lipstick in Cherry the other day. I'm late to the dark lip party, but I have odd shaped smackers so I feel a bit self conscious if it's anything other than nude.

My lower lip is like my dad's - plump and pillowy, whereas my top lip screams geisha-meets-Queen Elizabeth I...they just don't match!

Love it when it's new and the light reflects off the tip!

This is officially my go to lippie at the moment - i'm obsessed! I think i'm ready to experiment with more colour now, so i'm rapidly whipping up a lipstick wishlist. I could be here for a while...

REVIEW: Barry M sequin nail effects nail paint

So I had a little snoop in Superdrug on my way home from a snoop in Primark (as one does). 

I'm a HUGE fan of Barry M nail paints - HEE-UGE. I'd read about the sequin effects nail paints a few times already, and came to the conclusion that they wouldn't be for me. From what i'd seen in blogger reviews, they looked like a mixture if nail polish, sparkly bits...and sand. Ew.

However, being such a fan, I decided I had to have one. I just had to. Aside from the fact that the lighter colours looked crazy unappealing, i'm more of a dark polish kinda gal in general, so I decided to go for black one with gold sparkly bits. I think you'll agree it looks pretty amazing in the bottle!

The first thing I did when I got home, was to go straight for this polish and get painting. Ew. It was like I'd stumbled across some sort of nail exfoliant!  The first layer was horrendous - patchy as hell with all the little 'sand' particles resting at the base of my nail . I waited a while and tried again, this time making sure the brush was dripping with the stuff...not really any better.

First time around, I have to say I strongly dislike this. It was so 'meh' that I didn't even bother to let it dry, subsequently some of it ended up on my jeans as I was hitching them up. Whatever is left on my nail feels like sandpaper - very useful if you work for Wickes.

I decided i'll try layering, as to be fair it does say to use a base coat but I was in such an excited rush, I skipped that part. Will give this another shot tomorrow and see if I can grow to love it - it is Barry M after all! 

DIET: Rise and shine

This morning's breakfast is watermelon followed by some Rose Violet tea - the latter smells like a fairy tale in a cup!

On another note, I have 3 things up for review - 2 of which won't be anytime soon as I need to give them a few weeks before I see results, but the other I may post over the next day or so.

MAKEUP: Current daily makeup

Thought i'd share my current daily lineup for a fresh, neutral face :)

Lez go!

First off it's Rimmel's 'Lasting finish by Kate' lipstick in shade 26. I. LOVE. THIS. LIPSTICK. It's the perfect nude shade for me - not too pale, not shimmery, no hint of pink *Le sigh* it's just perfection in a tube and I seriously need to buy a couple of backups.

Secondly it's MAC's mizeralize blushin 'Utterly Game'. This is from their 2012 Fabulous Felines collection, and it's my absolute favourite EVER blush. I love it so much, I try to conserve it - I haven't even put a dent in it yet, and long may that continue. I'm not too heavy handed with blush in general, so that's a plus.

Third in my current daily routine, is Maybelline's Fit Me foundation, both powder and liquid in shade 210. It's a great NC25 dupe, and is a pretty good match for my skin tone. I'm debating on whether to grab the next shade up now that it's getting a bit sunny outside.

Lastly is Rimmel's Glam'Eyes mascara. It's not amaaazing, but it's not bad either. It definitely gives length, but the volume isn't spectacular. Definitely need to grab a couple of new mascaras!

And that concludes my current daily makeup. No eyeshadows, liners or anything other than 'simple'  :)

RECIPE: Cajun baked Salmon with Olives & Tomatoes

Thought I'd share tonight's dinner with you all. Very quick and easy to make, and full of flavour despite not being having to marinate overnight - RESULT.

The end product is nothing short of amazing (not even trying to toot my own horn - a child could make this). The salmon is SO tender and juicy - there's nothing worse than dry fish. Ick. Ew.

Just follow these easy steps and you'll have a meal on your plate within half an hour!

Dry off any moisture

Told you it would be easy! A couple of things I hadn't mentioned, is that once you've whacked everything into your baking tray/dish/vessel, add some water. Don't splash it all over the top, as you'll end up washing off your seasoning. Just pour into the corner of the dish until you can see it peaking up between the tomatoes and other yummy bits. 

Also don't forget to cover your dish with FOIL! This paired with the water we just added, will keep the fish nice and moist, making for a juicy and tender end result.

One more thing you can do, is once everything has cooked, transfer to a pretty presenting dish, and keep the juices behind. Pour the juices into a saucepan, and add a mixture of 1 heaped tsp Plain flour and 5 tbsp milk. Separately, crumble half a fish stock cube into a a small amount of boiling hot water, and once it's fully dissolved you can add that to the saucepan along with a dash of the Cajun seasoning, and a splash of ketchup. Keep stirring everything until you have a thickened sauce to serve with your fish. 

Now, dish up your little salmons with steamed veggies and rice, and get nommin'!

Being healthy...again.

After being up all night on Pinterest, I came across a weight loss board, crammed with before and after photos. Well that just did it, didn't it? I'm so bored of lugging these extra tyres around everywhere I go!

I've woken up with a fresh attitude and determination to finally change my habit SO many times in the last few years - the last was in January, and I managed to keep going for about a month. I lost almost a stone, and to be honest I didn't notice any difference in the way I looked or how my clothes fit. How much of a cow would my life be, if the scales just at that time decided to go on a funny one? They worked perfectly fine in the years running up to my almost-a-stone weight loss, they couldn't have possibly decided to just pack it in when I needed them the most...could they? Evil scales.

This morning I

woke up made my breakfast with that same termination I had back in Janvier. I boiled me an egg, smothered some light mayo onto a slice of wholemeal bread, tossed a chopped apple onto the plate, and topped it all off with a few olives and a sprinkle of black pepper. According to Fat Secret, my calorie total is 342 - not bad!

I can't lie - i'm so peckish right now. Do I really want another apple? Uh, nope. I want chilli Doritos...guess i'll just have to suck it up and face the fact that I need to stick to eating clean. Oh GOD I want Doritos!

The first.

Everyone needs their own place to rant, boast and share photos - the plus side is knowing that there are most likely folk out there that take an interest in said ranting, boasting and overzealous sharing of photos :)

I now have my own personal little piece of the internet, where I can witter on about my plan to lose a good few stone, make lots of pretty or yummy things, clothes, makeup, shoes...yep. I'm afraid its going to be one of those ones :)

And 1..2..3...