Micellar Waters: A Comparison

Ever since I first read about Micellar Waters and bought my first bottle I've been a total convert. I love how clean and fresh my face feels after using one, and I've definitely seen a marked improvement in how my skin looks since I first started using them. I don't break out half as much as I used to, and my skin looks a lot more 'awake' now. It makes me worry about how much make-up I used to leave on my face when I was only using a simple face wipe! :S

As I've used quite a few different brands I thought I'd do a little comparison for you!

First up: the Vichy Normaderm Solution Micellaire 3 in 1. This was the first micellar water I purchased and I have to say it is really great. It is actually for sensitive/acne prone skin, which although I don't suffer from acne, at the time I was breaking out a fair bit so I hoped this would combat that! The water itself cleans your face really efficiently and only takes a few swipes to get all my eye make-up off. Although I do really like this water, at £10.50 a pop its a bit on the pricey side for me as I've found better cheaper options!

Secondly is my current favourite! I've actually repurchased this three times now, and I have a back-up in my cupboard too....obsessed? Me? Never.. Its the L'Oréal Skin Perfection Micellar Solution! I've seen quite a lot of bloggers saying this is a dupe for the ever famous Bioderma! I've never actually tried Bioderma (mainly due to the price!) so if it really is a dupe then I'm so glad I found it! I really love this solution, it makes my skin feel so refreshed after using and its really gentle on my eyes too. This might be a bit of a sad point, but I really like the simple packaging too! It currently retails at £4.99, although every time I've bought the bottle its either been on a BOGOF deal or has been reduced so you can't really complain! :)

Third is the B. Pure Micellar Water and is the only bottle not to be 200ml in size. The actual solution is very similar to the L'Oréal water in my eyes, but being 50ml less with the same price tag doesn't make me as much of a fan! I would also say that I've found I use slightly more product to remove my make-up than the first two waters.

Lastly is my least favourite. Its isn't actually a water either - rather its a gel formula, which yes I know doesn't really fit with my theme but being a micellar gel I thought I'd include it. Sue me! The La Roche-Posay Micellar Make-up Removal Gel is actually aimed at people with sensitive skin. Like the Vichy water I bought this a long time ago when my skin was more sensitive and prone to break-outs. Initially I was intrigued by the gel formula, but to be completely honest I hated it! It felt like it took me double the time to remove my make-up, and I felt like I really had to rub at my eyes to remove it - not so great for sensitive skin! On reading other reviews it seems I am in the minority as most people love it, but for me at £12 I know I'll definitely be sticking to micellar waters from now on.

I feel like that was rather lengthy! Oops! But I hope it was an interesting read - I definitely recommend the L'Oréal micellar water if your looking for an affordable option :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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The Best of Festivals.

See what I did with the title there?? ;) Now I wouldn't say I'm your typical Festival go-er (considering I couldn't bear the thought of living with a flippy fringe for a weekend and therefore took gas straighteners!) but it is something I've always wanted to do. Something to tick off the 'life list' if you will!

I went to Bestival with two of my best friends, and although we were a little dubious as to whether we actually were 'festival' people, by the end of the weekend I was totally won over! Going to a festival for the first time is definitely a learning curve though, and I now know to take an abundance of socks, take more jumpers (the evenings get cold!) and to bring a man who can do all the heavy lifting!

Whenever I've spoken to a friend about going to a festival, not one person has ever mentioned how bloody hard it is to carry all your things across the site to find somewhere to camp! We were exhausted by the time we finally found a spot! It turned out to be a really great place to camp though, and luckily our tent survived the weekend! The weather was amazing the first day (hence the top picture above!), but our luck didn't last. And it rained on and off every day after! Generally we managed to get inside for most of the torrential parts though. I would say that, aside from the DISGUSTING" toilets" getting soaked from the rain is the worst part of a festival, because its so hard to get warm again! This may be because Bestival is in September though - I'm sure if you go in the height of summer its not so bad!

We saw loads of amazing bands! Some highlights being - Jessie Ware, London Grammar, Bastille, Tom Odell, The 1975, Franz Ferdinand, John Newman, Disclosurem Chic feat. Nile Rodgers and even Elton John!! He was actually really good to be fair, and Your Song was a particular highlight! :) Only having my iPhone didn't make for the best pictures though!

Aside from the few downsides of Festivals - which to be fair are mainly toilet related! - I had such a good weekend and I definitely think I am a Festival person now :) We actually tried to get tickets for Glastonbury last year and JUST missed out! So I'll be trying for Glastonbury tickets again in two weeks time when they go on sale! Wish me luckk!

Aimée
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A Volt of MAC

Back in July I made another sneaky MAC purchase and bought the gorgeous Vegas Volt. I haven't gotten around to actually writing the post until now though!

When I first saw this shade it was amongst an 'orange' collection in the Carnaby Street MAC. I always admire people who can pull off quite a strong orange lip as it can look so amazing and such a twist on the usual statement red. Now I know Vegas Volt isn't actually the brightest of oranges, (being slightly more on the coral side) but its definitely a shade I wouldn't have usually picked so I'm glad I took the leap :)

Vegas Volt is part of the Amplified Creme formula which is so moisturising and creamy on my lips. Its also super pigmented so you only really need one coat to get full coverage. You can always blot your lips a little if you want to pare it down as well.

Its such a great bright colour for summer, but I think it'll definitely still work in the colder months to give a pop of colour to your outfit. :) It seems to be quite long lasting, going at least 2-3 hours before I need to re-apply which isn't bad at all!

Also! Apologies for my slightly moody face in the picture above, if I remember correctly I think I was having one of those days where no photo looked right and I was getting majorly fed up with myself! haha

Let me know what your favourite MAC lipsticks are, cos I'm always on the lookout for more (despite my bank balance screaming no!). :)

By the time you read this I will be on the Isle of Wight at Besitval! SO excitedd! I'll be back on Monday though with a new post soon after telling of my festival weekend :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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My Insta-Wall

If I could only have one social media platform to play with, it would without a doubt be Instagram. I bloody love it, even if my friends do tell me off for constantly posting pictures of food! This in mind, I wanted to print off some of my photos - I hate the fact that you have hundreds of beautifully filtered photos wasting away on your phone! I found the website Prinstagram and immediately fell in love with the picture sizes and designs you could purchase and I obviously made an order!

I got the largest square size (4x4in) which comes in a set of 24 and the mini 'polaroid' style (8.5x5.5cm) which comes in a set of 48. I love the polaroid style prints as you can add a little annotation under the photo! I still haven't decided whether I'm going to do this to the photos above, or if I'm going to purchase a new set for scrapbook purposes which I can annotate to my hearts content.

Each set was $12 and p&p was $12 as well, so it was a total of $36 which came to about £23 - I thought this was pretty good value, considering the amount of prints I was getting. They also came really speedily and the actual quality of the prints is really great, not at all flimsy like some website prints!

When I first bought them I wasn't entirely sure where I was going to put them, but I'm so glad how it turned out. I always lust over 'Insta-Walls' on Pinterest and now I have my own! I'm sure I'll be adding to it soon when I have a few more photos as well :)

I love having lots of photos in my room, its nice to have physical reminders of happy memories to look at. :) Do you print out any photos?

Aimée
Xxxx

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FOTN | Cocktail Night with the Girls

Me and my best girlfriends decided to have a cocktail night this week and I thought I'd share my make-up from the night :) This is loosely based on Tanya Burr's tutorial here, but I slightly changed it to fit me better :) We made amazingg cocktails like Frozen Lemon Daiquiris, Tropical Concoctions and Banana Daiquiris with real bananas - too yummy!!

Make-up I used:

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light 2

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 52

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Translucent

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Pink Gold

Naked Lunch Eyeshadow by MAC

Ebony Eyeshadow by Stila

Night Sky Eyeshadow by Stila

Jemma Kidd Define Eyeliner in 01 Black

Maybelline the Falsies Mascara 'Flared'

Bourjois Bronzing Powder in 51

Sleek Chantilly Blush - Lace Palette

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Rendezvous

I hope you all enjoy the last few dregs of sun this weekend :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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A Primark OOTD

So this isn't exactly a current OOTD as this picture is from my holiday about a month ago! But I've been meaning to share this Primark dress with you forever! I feel like Primark have been on a serious winning streak at the moment with a load of really cute dresses in stock. This red flower number is a definite favourite, I don't think it looks 'primark' at all! So many friends have been shocked at how cheap it was.

You can still buy the dress on ASOS here (so loving that they're stocking some Primark items now!) although there is only a few sizes left - the dress has literally been selling out everywhere!

I didn't pair the dress with any major accessories as its quite a bold print on its own, and my shoes are just some cute grey pumps from H&M. You can't seem to buy the shoes in grey anymore, but they sell them in black, blue, white and coral red here.

Do go and check out Primark at the moment if your on the hunt for some new cute dresses - I want to try and drag out my summer gear as much as I can too. I refuse to accept that it'll soon 'technically' be autumn!

Have you found any amazing Primark bargains recently? :)

Aimée
Xxxx

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Bake Off's Back......ALRIGHT!

I do hope you enjoyed my Backstreet Boys inspired title ;) As you may have guessed, I am extremely happy that The Great British Bake Off is back on our screens! Its literally one of my favourite TV shows ever. Of all time. In the world. ....

To mark the occasion I thought I'd make some tasty treats to add to my viewing experience and I thought I'd share them with you :) I decided to make Salted Caramel Tuffles (from Edd Kimbers Say It With Cake) and Macadamia Nut Blondies (from Sainsburys Baking Recipe Collection). Annoyingly I forgot to take photos whilst making the truffles - to be honest it was a pretty intense experience! But here's how they ended up: 

I realise they look a little dishevelled - but hey, since when have truffles looked perfect? They were pretty easy to make, just super messy once you start creating the individual balls! But they're so yummy, so I recommend checking out Edd Kimber's recipe. 

When making the Macadamia Nut Blondies however, I did remember to document! So here we go :)

Ingredients wise you want:

125g Unsalted Butter * 400g Light Brown Soft Sugar * 2 Medium Eggs * 2tbp Vanilla Extract * 125g Plain Flour * 2tsp Baking Powder * 1/2tsp Salt * 80g Macadamia Nuts * 50g Desiccated Coconut * 100g White Chocolate (roughly chopped)

To start with, preheat your oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas Mark 4 and line a 36x24cm baking tray with parchment making sure the paper goes up the sides of the tray. Then you want to whisk together the butter and sugar. The recipe states that you should do this with an electric hand mixer, but if you're like me and had forgotten that you'd lent the mixer to your sister the week before, a normal hand whisk works fine too! 

Once you've killed your arm (if you whisked by hand!) add the eggs one at a time, whisking between each addition - then add the vanilla extract. 

Then add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix to combine until you have a smooth consistency. Finally add in the nuts, coconut and chocolate. 

Spread the mixture out in the tray as evenly as you can - if you have this ridiculously handy angled spatula it will literally be a doddle! Like seriously, this spatula is amazing - and sadly that's not the first time I've raved about it! 

Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate 180 degrees and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Whilst this is happening, please take part in the most important part of baking - licking the bowl. Please do so to your hearts content, as really you're helping yourself on the washing up front! 

Once baked, it should look better than this picture above! I had a few issues with the baking tray I used, which had a dip all around the odd edge of my Blondie. I also accidentally poked a hole in it whilst it was still too hot - lesson learnt! You need to leave it in the tin till its completely cooled, and then according to the recipe chill in the fridge overnight before cutting into squares. I'm gonna level with you - I just ate a load of this (fatty!) and I only made it a few hours ago. It tasted amazinggg - so no biggie if you can't wait till morning! I'll report back if it tastes incredible tomorrow though! 

The Sainsburys recipe does also include the calories per serving - but I'll refrain from giving you that information for your sakes! Let me know if you attempt either recipe - or if you baked anything for the start of the Great British Bake Off! I'm sure I'll bake some more throughout the series which I'll post on here :)

Aimee

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