Got a friend/girlfriend/mum/sister/gran who LOVES shoes? Online Avenue has got you covered this Christmas! This online footwear store stocks shoes for women, men and kids, but I'll be focusing on footwear for the females as this is more my forte! 
Thanks to EtailPR, I was sent a pair of shoes of my choice from Online Avenue's incredible range. I went for the Kylee Lace Up Tassel Ankle Boots in Mocha Suede which you can see on their website here. I don't own many heeled ankle boots and I loved the tassel and shoelace detailing of these. I thought they'd look great during the winter paired with some tights and a skirt or with skinny jeans to dress up a more casual outfit. If you're a fan of the tassel detailing on these boots, I also love the Zelda Side Tassel Suedette Ankle Boot which I think is a slightly more subtle option and also comes in a wider range of colours.
I often find it hard to find a pair of heels that I can spend more than an hour walking around in, but I found these boots really comfortable despite their height. In terms of quality, the boots feel robust and well-made, and the suede material is super soft! 
Whilst having a browse on their site, I was amazed at how well priced all their shoes are! My Kylee ankle boots retail at just £20.49 - such a bargain considering how on-trend they are and how good quality they feel. In fact, I noticed that the majority of the women's shoes retail for less than £30 - most of them being priced around £20 - which is superb value for money in my opinion. Being a student, I'm quite money-concious and I feel that these boots would make the perfect gift for someone (or as a little treat for yourself!) if you too are feeling slightly strapped for cash this Christmas. 
Moreover, you can get 20% off these boots (and so many more women's shoes!) with the code LAUNCH20. Be quick though, because this code expires on Friday 4th December 2015!
I'm hoping to show off these boots in a full outfit post closer to Christmas so stay tuned for that. For now, happy shopping!

Last Tuesday, I attended the Lush Christmas 2015 event in their Cardiff store after receiving an invite from the lovely @urikachiu. I'm one of those annoying people who starts getting excited for Christmas super early, so I really couldn't wait to try out all the sparkly, winter-y scents that Lush bring out every year! I went with Teri who blogs at A Cup Of T and we were greeted by cinnamon-infused sparkling water and mince pies - the perfect start to Christmas! 

We were given a VIP tour around the whole store by Eleri who was absolutely lovely! She gave us demonstrations of the gorgeous Christmas products and I quickly jumped on the Snow Fairy scent bandwagon - a princess pink sweet scent that's enough to make anyone feel like a million dollars! We even got to have a go at making our own bubble bars which is actually a lot harder than it seems (although I'm pretty sure I picked it up fairly quickly - future career?). 

We were totally pampered upstairs, trying out body conditioners, hand creams, face masks and more until our hands were the silkiest they'd ever been! We were also joined by Melanie - another member of the Lush team - who was just as lovely and accommodating as Eleri. We made our way over to the make up, which is something neither Teri nor I had ever tried from Lush. I was amazed at how pigmented some of the lip tints were when I swatched them on my hand - one of them didn't disappear until the next day! I definitely think I'm going to have to go back and treat myself to one before Christmas!


We finished up our purchases and I picked up a candy mountain bubble bar, which has the same scent as Snow Fairy. Teri and I also picked up one of the tea tree toner tabs because it's such an interesting concept I've wanted to try out for ages! We were also kindly gifted a goody bag which along with the press release with information about all the Chistmas products, my bag contained a Yog Nog bath bomb, a Bar Humbug bubble bar and The Magic of Christmas reusable bubble bar. 

I can't wait to try out these pieces I got from Lush - they smell beautiful and have put me in the perfect Christmassy mood! Have you tried any of Lush's Christmas range? Let me know below!

When I first set eyes on these products at a blogging event (which you can read about here!), it never crossed my mind that they might be for your... ahem.. nether regions. That's right. These perfectly packaged products from Sass are feminine hygiene products and these are a necessity I never knew I needed! 
Sass is a small brand made up of just three people who provide a prettier, more specialised alternative for all women. Of course feminine hygiene is a must, but do all the products have to look so dull and clinical? I know I always feel embarrassed going up to the tills buying pH-balanced shower gel which looks and sounds like it's been prescribed by a doctor for some kind of contagious disease, when really all I want to do is look after my lady bits! 
I'm so glad I came across this brand because they've honestly changed my perception of intimate hygiene products. I don't mind having them displayed in my bathroom (which I share with my male flatmate) because not only do they look "normal", in my opinion they look like luxury skincare! And as a student, looking like you can afford cool stuff is always a winner for me. They even cleverly hide the name of the product from the front of the packaging so you can proudly display them wherever you please. I'm not saying feminine hygiene is something to be ashamed of - I am literally right now telling you all about mine - but it's not a particularly glamorous side to skincare, and so having pretty-looking products definitely helps to make it seem more bearable.
Another thing I love about Sass is the product range - from a pH-balanced purifying cleanser to use in the shower to prevent irritation often caused by harsher shower gels, to a recovery serum for the sportier types to soothe and cool down post-workout. To see the whole range of products, visit their website here.
I was given a few samples at the blogging event so I've tried these products, and without going into too much detail I can tell you THEY WORK. The scented ones are lovely and refreshing - not artificial at all - and I've felt much fresher and cleaner since using them. ALSO if you visit their website at the moment and scroll down their homepage, you can apply for your own samples to try before you buy! The full Sass range is available at Boots so it's super accessible for us UK girlies! 
Have you ever tried the Sass range? Let me know what you think below!

It's almost that time of the year! Halloween might be characterised by carving pumpkins, watching scary films and kids knocking on your door in terrifying fancy dress begging for sweets, but for me it's ALL about the "adult" (as if) fancy dress parties! I love any excuse to dress up as something ridiculous and this year is no different. I probably won't be wearing this look I've created on the night but I've always loved the pop art/comic strip make-up look for fancy dress so thought I'd give it a bash and give you my thoughts as a first-timer (oo-er). I'm no make-up artist WHATSOEVER and unfortunately my GCSE Art qualification doesn't help me much nowadays, so I like to think of this as a tutorial for pretty much anyone! 

I started off with just the make-up I'd been wearing during the day (because I'm lazy) and the main things I used were a black liquid eyeliner from MUA, a white kohl eyeliner also from MUA, an old lipstick in the colour Cherry Pop from Collection and a lipstick from Makeup Revolution in the colour Luscious. 

I started by stencilling the detail on my face using my MUA liquid eyeliner, so I drew a line down the front of my nose and defined the crevices around it. I then defined my chin and around my eyes. I drew on fake cartoon-like eyelashes and filled in between my waterline and the eyeliner line beneath my eye with the white eyeliner pencil.

I wanted to properly define and contour my cheeks, so I used a bronzer along my cheekbone and then defined this with a thick eyeliner line. I used a couple of strokes of the liquid eyeliner brush to make a thicker line, and then filled in any gaps.

One of the pop art characters I took inspiration from had the comic strip-style tears coming out of one eye so I tried to mimic that. The eyeliner brush was quite thick and stiff though and it was hard to curve around, so I'd definitely recommend using a felt tip liner or a very thin brush to do this bit. I also didn't have much blue make-up to add a pop of colour, so I made do with a light blue eyeshadow. This step is totally optional though so if like me, you don't have all the fancy resources, it can definitely be left out. I also added definition around my chin with the liquid eyeliner, which I think made a hell of a difference!

The final bit of definition was in the lips. I first filled in my lips first with the bright red lipstick from Collection. Then, using the liquid eyeliner again, I outlined my lips, making sure to get right into the creases so you don't look weird(er).

The last and most important step is the renowned pop art cartoon dots. For this, I used the coral-coloured lipstick from Makeup Revolution. Starting with my forehead, I dotted methodically in lines until my whole face was complete. And that's it! I'd say if I'd done this without having to take photos in between, it probably would've taken me about 30 minutes, so very do-able on a time budget as well in my opinion! If I'd created this look again I probably would've filled in my eyebrows to make them look more cartoon-like just to complete the look.

And here it is all finished! I hope you like it and perhaps gives you some Halloween inspiration! Have a fantastic time whatever you're doing and let me know what you're planning on dressing up as in the comments below!

Photo credit: http://www.adelesmith.co.uk/2015/10/plb-south-west-blogger-meet.html On 10th October I attended my first blogging event since I moved away from London, and I must say it did not disappoint one bit! The event was organised by the lovely Adele and Kirsty at PLBloggers (@PrettyLBloggers on Twitter) - they put on multiple events for bloggers in the South West/Midlands ranging from meetups to blogger sleepovers! I would thoroughly recommend you check them out.
The event was held at Cosy Club in Bristol which is an absolutely gorgeous venue - perfect for lots of photo opportunities! There were two brands there on the day: DryU, a new brand that produce high quality waterproof bags for any occasion in a range of sizes and colours; and Sass, a company that create intimate skincare products for women, that have the most gorgeous packaging to take away the embarrassment of buying clinical-looking tubes and bottles. The brand representatives were so friendly and we were all able to spend time chatting about the products and our own blogs.


We also ordered some super yummy drinks and food to see us through the meet-up and I loved spending time with the other girls there, chatting about all things blogosphere and everything in between! 
I've already used my DryU waterproof bag for the gym multiple times - it's the perfect size! And I know it'll come in useful for other things such as festivals and travelling next summer. I've introduced my flatmate to Sass (which is sold nationwide in Boots store) and she agrees that it's a great idea! I'm hoping to do a more in-depth blog post about the products too as female intimate skincare is such a taboo topic that really needs to be talked about more!

A massive thank you to Adele and Kirsty for organising such a fantastic event - I can't wait to attend more in the future! If you're a blogger and interested in attending events, see my post I wrote a few months back giving some tips to first-time attendees here!