The Lumie Clear: What IS this?

Well, that's a really great question, and the very same one that I was faced with when looking for a way to put an end to all this acne nonsense on my face.
Light therapy, that brings two thoughts to mind one being 'that sounds a bit hippyish' and the other being 'that sounds a bit 'overly medical'

As far as I understand it is a mains powered, combined light therapy treatment for the skin with the red lights doing one thing (attacking the spots, killing bacteria) and the blue lights doing another (healing the skin) I may have got those in the wrong order...
Combined it creates a violet coloured light that yes IS harmful if you look directly into it, beyond just dazzling my eyes and hurting, it can cause serious long term damage so it is absolutely best that if any light can and is getting into your eyes to use the gorgeous goggles provided (they are horrific).

So, this is what you do:

• Press the one and only button on the side of the machine

• When the light illuminates decide if you want to target it at the whole face, or pick it up out of the stand and hold it against a particularly troublesome area (I prefer the second option)

• Wait for the light to automatically switch off after 15 minutes

• Repeat daily

I've been using this for a week now, of course video recording my progress to compile into a YouTube video at some point to let you guys know if it is worth it's £100+ price tag *gulp*

I have not noticed any difference at all, but it's not fair to judge this properly without giving it at least 4 weeks to work it's light magic.

From ASOS with love

Woopsy I accidentally went shopping for one single blouse and instead came away with 2 blouses and 3 pretty little dresses!
I must say, I was bedazzled with the quality of this end of season sale, reflected in my purchases which of course never look as sassy on camera as they do on a person...

I couldn't resist the print of this dress, it's fabric is soft like rose petals and it's colours bold like summer, I think that there's a certain femininity with thin straps on dresses  that can't be found on strapless or more vest style dresses. I'll have to save this little gem as a treat for summertime!

 This is my absolute guilty pleasure dress, it is so Betty Boop with it's dropped waist and sweetheart neckline, I just cannot get enough of it. It's a bold black that the flash has washed out a little, it's also made from that comfy and stretchy jersey fabric, forgiving fabrics are always a favourite.

 What I came for.. a beautiful blouse, an even bigger bonus is the adorable colour and button accents- but the very best part is the cape affect that carries through from the sleeves to the back of the dress, I love little capes on clothes it adds instant fun!

 And then another perhaps less practical blouse, but the gold tipped collar was what sold it to me, but it has a front and back cut out which is great because with long hair back detailing never gets noticed but now it looks pretty from the back too. The connecting collars with a button create a 'bow tie' look from afar which is never a bad thing.

 Finally, a classic and comfortable (comfort is a recurring theme with me and dresses) jersey dress, it has a little bit of back detailing but it fits nicely, swishes around the hips and flatters the waist, it's casual style makes it great for afternoon and evening, shopping and parties and will probably become the most loved of all.

Urban Decay Festive Gold Sparkle Makeup Tutorial!

Woohoo,
Getting my Christmas groove on because lets face it, winter makeup is about 100 x more fun than summer makeup which is quite often 'no' makeup makeup looks (I have a few on my channel, just in case you were interested...)
I've created a very very glittery eye, golden glitters for that matter- and added some brown glitter and brown eyeliner accents to keep it all very warm.

On my lips I am wearing Mac lip liners in Cherry and Chestnut, I only ever use these liners together- No exceptions! It creates a velvet lip look with a whole lot of festive POP
There's plenty more where that came from...

My Magical Primark Finds

Primark and I, our relationship isn't good.
It's not that we have had any particularly bad experiences in the past, I just find that a suggestion of visiting a Primark strikes fear into my heart because once I walk through those doors and the flourescent lights I just find a maze of chaos laid out before me, shoes and vest tops and dresses and blouses strewn from left to right with poor over worked staff running around trying to piece the store back together.

Every single branch that I have been to quite frankly always looks as though it is in a state of utter despair and a mini earthquake has made it's way around the store. The whole experience from the moment that I walk through the door is one of urgency to get around quickly, squeezing past obnoxious prams left in the middle of aisles and getting on my hands and knees to rummage for my size.

It has had one or two brand makeovers which have included a paper carrier bag opposed to plastic, and a new brighter blue font.
But the inside is still the same as ever, with the corners of changing rooms crammed with torn off tags from sticky fingered shoppers.
I won't even get into how Primark considers it's 'relaunch' of a brighter blue font to justify the 50% increase in prices for the same quality product...

Anywho, one fine day (today) my friend suggested that we nip into Primark- looking through those oversized glass windows to see the Christmas chaos inside and the queues stretching all the way to the pyjama department at the back of the store.
I took a deep breath and agreed, and I'd just stick to the main aisles, follow around my friend and not look at anything and try not to get involved in any eye contact confrontation with angry mothers.
As we pushed through the doors the warmth, lights and familiar sound of screaming toddlers filled the air.

I traveled around, in Primark you are essentially swept around with the general flow of people, if you miss your turning off into the knitwear or blouses, then you'll have to go up the escalator, come back down and try again. To my surprise, I saw some lovely little gems crammed on wall hooks that I didn't think I'd be able to get to.

I came across some cute designs for the winter collection including a baseball jersey with coca cola on, very seasonal I know.

A distressed tee with roses and little gold detailing

and finally, a Disney princess castle tee!

I did end up getting them all but I am well aware that after one wash, they will never look the same again and with each additional wash slowly fall to pieces.
More fool me, but I probably, hopefully won't make another trip for a year or so.

Zing-a-ling teeth!

I know that this is a strange one, what could possible justify dedicating a whole blog post to how I brush my teeth. Well, I'll tell you.
Nothing has ever made my feel quite like this before, not even the dentist!
This is the:

Philips Sonicare HX5350/02 CleanCare Rechargeable Toothbrush

Using this honestly feels like a completely different experience to other electric toothbrushes. I never enjoy using the manual ones and when I have to for long periods of time, I swear, I feel my teeth loosening in my gums, and my teeth kind of ache too after a while, or maybe it's all in my head!

I got this very toothbrush for my birthday as I missed having an electric toothbrush once I had moved out from my home.

What makes this brush so special (to me!)

-It doesn't have the small circular heads that rotate round and around, this brush buzzes backwards and forwards with such force and speed that you feel like bees are buzzing in your brain

-It self times and switches off automatically after 2 minutes, and if you're not done, you can switch it back on and brush for another 2 minutes

-The battery lasts and lasts and lasts without the power dropping for at least a week, and that's using it every day, twice a day for at least 4 minutes.

-It has a plastic brush guard which is overwhelmingly important to me, especially when traveling around with it

-The feeling afterwards is like a fresh Atlantic wave just swept through your mouth

The drawbacks:
It's in no way something that I would consider 'affordable' However... This model should last me many years, changing the heads every three months of course.

Buying replaceable heads is annoying, as annoying as buying ink for your printer or batteries for your camera, but there really is no way around it. They are not as cheap as other replaceable toothbrush heads but what you get isn't your standard 'end', it's like a mini feat of engineering! Using a freshly opened toothbrush head is the same sensation as sleeping in freshly washed sheets, really really good.

Cooking with F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I think I have a bit of a problem, most people before they go to sleep would read a magazine or check Twitter, or read a normal novel, but all I keep doing lately is poring over cook books, pictures of cakes and pies and soups and sauces which is not so ideal because I have to try and drop asleep with images of warm plates of food rolling around in my head.

My most recent cook book gem is the hilarious cook book based off the TV show 'Friends' I hate writing it as F.R.I.E.N.D.S but it seems to be the only way to type it without people assuming that it is a cook book about cooking in groups with a generic set of friends, no no no, every dish is based on some 'Friends' reference from the show, and they quote it along the side of the recipe to prove it!

It is such fun if you have seen every episode and really get every single reference, so for me it has made for some very light reading before I drop asleep too. The only real down side is that instead of having pictures of the dishes, it has pictures of scenes from the TV show, so that's a shame, I think.

So far I have made:

Brocolli stir fry with Lemon-Garlic sauce, which was really really good, I made my own egg fried rice to serve it with.

Mrs Gellars Simple spaghetti, it was indeed simple and tomato based, but tasty.

Mr Gellars Pasta with sun dried tomatoes, I added olives to try and differentiate it from Mrs Gellars dish above and it was a lot more smokey and interesting in flavour but generally a drier sauce.

I am really enjoying working my way through it, although I think that the sad part is that the book was produced too soon. It came out long before the series ended so there are a lot of missed opportunities for some great dishes and ingredient references in the later episodes.

Some dishes that could have been really fun to include!:

Joeys Peanut Butter Fingers - TOW Cheap Wedding Dress
Not-Rachel's Salmon au croup - TOW Rachels new dress
Rachel's Surprise Sneezers - TOW the joke
Phoebe's 5am Chinese Food - TOW Chandler gets caught
Chan-berry sauce - TOW the late thanksgiving
Jam Good, Custard Good! trifle - TOW Ross got high
Greatest Meatball Sandwich in the World - TOW the ride along
Monica's Get-a-room cake - TOW Chandler gets caught 
Fried stuff with cheese - TOW the truth about London
Chandlers #3 macaroni with cut up hot dogs - TOW Unagi


Buckets of brownie points to you if you 'got' all of my references!
I had probably more fun than I should have thinking up references and fun names for all of these!

Creating a pretty and glamorous up-do in 2 minutes or less!

I have no real flair for hair, which is why as soon as I had the chance, I* took a pair of shears to my hair and cut it all off so that I could get back to the short and sassy hair that I love, and the impact that it has had on my on a day to day basis is just astounding.
Call me vain, but it has made a difference to my life.
Having to grow my hair out for a wedding meant that for the last 6 months leading up to the big day I just came to hate my hair, I didn't feel like myself, I never knew what to do with it, washing and drying it was such a laborious task - it's cut and uniform length really made me feel very dowdy at times, now I feel like I am fueled on helium, my hair is light and moves and has such a lot of natural volume that I don't really have to do much for it to look polished.

I'm not super sassy with hair styling, or even hair care. Caring for long hair is a hell of a lot different to caring for shorter/medium length hair. So the only real problem with my hair is now that it looks pretty much the same every day (which it did when it was long, but I suppose I had the choice of hair up or hair down). It's too short to go properly into a ponytail, which is hardly the height of fashionable hairstyles anyway, so I decided that I would give it a try to essentially randomly pin up sections of my hair, twisting some into pin-like curl formations on my head.

I got better and quicker with this as I'd do it and I loved how it looked a lot more intricate than it was. So I figure this is just ideal for situations when I'm looking for something a little more dressy than 'hair down'

*it wasn't actually 'I' but a trained hairdresser, thank goodness