MAC nudes favourites

A natural look with nude lips are right up my street for an everyday look. 

I'm not very daring when it comes to lippy's because I don't like to attract too much attention to my lips. So, when it comes to lipsticks I prefer nudes over colours. 

Whilst looking through my make up bag the other day, I realised that most of my favourite lipsticks are actually MAC nudes. Since I know many of you beauty lovers are suckers for MAC I thought I'd share these beauties with you :) 

First (from the left) is Pretty Please, this is a baby pink shimmery shade which is part of the MAC "lustre" range. I find this one to be not very pigmented as one coat almost comes out clear on the lips. It is probably my least favourite of the few, but only because I have started to go-off light pink colours. Nevertheless, it is still a very cute colour and I enjoy wearing it on days where I have minimal make-up on.

Second from left is Creme in your Coffee this is a gorgeous winter lippy. I love wearing this on winter days where I am wearing thick plain jumpers as it just add a bit of colour to my face. This is a cremesheen so the texture is quite creamy and dewy-making it even better for winter as it stops you getting dry lips.

The middle one is the V shade that's part of MAC's "Viva Glam" collection. It is definitely one that I enjoy wearing in the summer as it's quite shimmery and I find that the glitter is visible on the lips. It is probably the ones I have used the least as I am not as much of a fan of shimmery lipsticks. But I certainly still really like it. I'd say one of the down sides of this one is that the shimmers make the texture a bit "granulated" and it feels a bit rough on your lips. I also find that as a result of this it can be a bit drying.

This next one is probably my most used from the five lipsticks shown above and as you can probably recognise it it's Creme Cup. This was my go-to lipstick throughout the whole of last summer. Pink is my favourite colour so I literally LOVED this lipstick. Once again it was part of MAC's "cremesheen's" so it's quite a dewy texture which keeps your lips moisturised during the day.

Last but not least is my current favourite Honey Love. I have been wearing this one every day for the past 4 months. I absolutely love it! It is part of the MAC "matte" range- initially I was a bit hesitant to try it because I find that mattes can be a bit drying but actually this one is quite a dewy matte. It's very long lasting (even after meals) and it's a MUST-have addition to a "nudes" collection. 

Personally if I was to recommend 2 of these as "must-have" nudes, my pick would definitely be Honey Love and Creme Cup. I would also add in Hue as it is another one of my fave's that I have bought over and over again :)

Here are some swatches of each one I mentioned (in the order that they're listed above) to give you a better idea of what they look like.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

  ❤️

   Love, ML x

Aroma Zone "Lush-style" face mask

Hello my lovelies,

So today's post is going to be about AROMA ZONE, a boutique (which I like to call heaven) that I discovered whilst I was living in Paris. This little piece of heaven is the place to go to if you wish to create your own beauty treatments from scratch at an affordable price and most of importantly from all natural products. 

Aroma Zone specialise in Essential beauty oils (those that can be found in literally all skincare and make up products) such as "Jojoba, lavender, argan" oils to name a few. As well as this they also offer a vast variety of clays which can be used to create hair and facial masks once you add the suitable oils to them. 

I was amazed by this shop because besides the amazing products that they offer, the sales assistants are also specialised pharmacists and aromatherapists. Thus they are able to give you advice depending on your problem and guide you towards the oils that will help you to resolve or help to alleviate your issues.

Personally, I have a combination skin; which makes it really difficult for me to find suitable products that can combat one thing without working against the other. I often find myself having to use a variety of products particularly face masks, in order to help each skin issue. 

Nevertheless, one of my main issues is black heads and large pores in my T-zone area. I have been combating against black heads since I was a teenager. I have tried them all from nose strips, face scrubs, to ensuring that I maintained a healthy lifestyle. 

Of course these things have helped to tame them down a bit, but not as much as I would have wanted them to.

Whilst I was looking into Aroma Zone I discovered that on their online website they have hundreds of recipes that you could make with the products that they offer, from skincare to hair masks to make-up which you could make yourself at home. So of course, I selected a couple of recipes which I wanted to try out (one for hair and one for my face) before going in to buy the ingredients. 

I chose to try out one of their "anti-spots" face masks and a "princess hair" mask. I am yet to make the hair mask but I have made the face mask (which I already love) last week. 

The "anti-spots" face mask is essentially based on 3 main oils: thyme, lavender and citron. As well as these there are also a few other oils which I hadn't heard of before such as: Nigella (a cumin derivative), Cosgard (a natural preservative) which helps to keep all the runny oils together and Patchouli (plant derivative) which really adds notes to the amazing smell of this face mask. Finally the main product is "Argile" essentially known as a clay which helps to create the thick mask-like mixture that helps solidify the oils. 

So far I have used this mask twice on my skin and you can really notice the difference. When I put it on I start to feel a slight tingly sensation which you get used to after a couple of minutes. The recipe says that it should be kept on between 5 to 10 minutes, however I always like to leave my masks on for slightly longer so on both occasions I have kept it on for 15 minutes before rinsing it off. 

Overall, I have found that my pores and black heads are a lot less visible, in fact this face mask has certainly got rid of some of the black heads that I had in my T-Zone area. So I am super happy and satisfied with it :) 

I definitely reccommend Aroma Zone to those of you who wish to make you own beauty products from scratch. Currently they only have stores in France, however you can order their products online and have them shipped to the UK. The only downside is that their website is currently only available in french. However, it is pretty easy to search for things. 

I hope that this blog post was helpful for some of you, particularly those amongst you who can speak french and are able to order online through a french website. 

Do be warned that you may be required to buy separate equipment, such as pots, spatulas etc. which are all available on the website. Although each recipe will tell you exactly what equipment you will need to make it. 

Another helpful thing is that not only do they tell you which oils you will need for the recipe but the website also states the exact mesurements for each one. This is super handy to ensure you have the right quantities and sizes of each one of the ingredients. 

Do let me know if you have liked this post. I would be more than happy to help you find a recipe and to get you through the process.

If there are any of you who have heard of Aroma Zone do let me know which recipes you have tried. Or even, if you have made your own "lush-style" face masks with different ingredients do let me know what you used :) 

Thank you so much for reading. Take care! 

  ❤️

      Love, ML x

All-time favourite fragrance empties

Lets talk fragrances! :)

I have worked in the fragrance industry for quite some time now and during this time I have learnt a lot about fragrances. One of the perks of the job is that I have had the opportunity to be one of the first to smell new fragrances when they are released. 

For the fragrance lovers out there, this must be your dream job... but let me tell you one of the down sides of it... with time, all perfumes start to smell the same to the point that you get so used to them that you start to dislike them. I guess, it is probably the only downside of this job which is a shame because as a result I struggle to find a fragrance that I actually like when I want to shop for myself. 

 Two of the only fragrances which I continue to love and have been wearing ever since I can remember- despite the fact that I pretty much dislike all other fragrances are Chloé and Daisy by Marc Jacobs. 

I don't know what it is about these fragrances but I love them! I find them very long lasting and they are the two fragrances that my relatives and family recognise me by. When someone I know smells one of these they'll instantly say "Oh that smells like you!"

Lets start with Chloé which is probably my favourite out of the two. This is the fragrance which I started wearing when I was 14. I can still remember being in Boots with my mum trying to look for a new perfume and the instant I smelt Chloé I knew I wanted it to be "my" smell. 

The Fragrance Shop describe this fragrance as a "fresh and feminine suited to a free spirit with an utterly innate sense of chic". Chloé is made up of a combination of floral powdery notes with hints of peony, lychee and freesia. It is then accompanied by rose, magnolia, lily and "elegant" cedarwood. 

Personally, I can really smell the powdery and rose notes- it's what you'd imagine a woman would smell like, hence why it is described as an 'elegant' fragrance. 

What I really love about Chloé is that it is very long lasting but it is not an overpowering fragrance. By the end of the day others can still smell it but it's not one of those "POW in your face" smells either. 

The bottle you see above was a gift, hence why it was a smaller size. However with fragrances I usually go for the biggest size as it is usually better value for money ;) (tip for those of you who didn't know)

Next up is the Marc Jacobs, Daisy. Just the name of this fragrance tells you that once again it's quite a florally one. I love it because it is very girly but it's not a sickly fragrance. 

It contains a lot of fruity notes, in particular strawberry and red grapefruit; whilst being enhanced by vanilla, jasmine, gardenia and violet. 

I find that you can really smell the jasmine in this, which is what makes it really floraly and girly. I tend to wear this one when I fancy wearing something different from the Chloé. 

Both of these perfumes are on the mid-high end price scale. The Daisy is at £76.00 for a 100ml. Whilst the Chloé is at £65.00 for a 50ml. 

Either way I find that they last a long time and I am happy to spend a bit more for a fragrance that I actually love :)

Thank you for reading, let me know what you guys thought and feel free to share what your favourite fragrances are :)

  ❤️

Love, ML x

Primark BARGAIN!

Hello my lovelies!

So today I have something slightly different to my usual posts as its not beauty and lifestyle related...

As you can tell from the title, this post is about a little Primark purchase I made a couple of days ago.

Before I begin, let me just say that I know that it's summer in the UK, however let's face it, we're not about to have a tropical heat wave any time soon, so you can get away with a pair of boots on chilly evenings!

Now I saw these beauties in the middle of the sale section and I instantly fell in love with them!

Usually I don't have any luck when I look for footwear as I have teeny tiny size 3 feet (36 for those in Europe), so when I see a shoe that I love, chances are that they won't have it in my size. However, god knows what happened on this day but they had these in my size, and guess what they were only £10! Of course, I couldn't let them slip away so I HAD to have them...BARGAIN!

(Honestly though, how nice are they?!)

I think that lately Primark have improved the quality of their clothes and they seem to be having a few nicer bits here and there which is great because they've kept their prices low. Honestly, you wouldn't think these are from Primark! They are also really comfortable to wear and the quality is really good. You could easily find something very similar in New Look for triple the price.

All in all I was super happy with this purchase so I just had to share it with you :)

I hope you liked this post and let me know what you guys think!

❤️

Love, ML x

Parisian Nostalgia

Paris also known as the 'City of lights' was my home for the past year. 

Yes that's right, I was lucky enough to live in this beautiful city for a whole 12 months.

You must be asking yourself what I was doing out there?

I am aware that so far I haven't shared any personal information about myself on this blog.

Therefore, I was hoping that this post would tell you a little bit more about me... 

The reason why I was living in Paris is because as part of my university degree, I was required to take a placement year abroad in a French speaking country. So of course what better option did I have than to choose to live in Paris?

On Sunday mornings I had gotten into a routine of going for walks around the city. Part of the reason for this was because I wanted to stay healthy and do some exercise, however, it was also because I wanted to make the most of it because I knew that soon enough it would all be over :(

Since I have been back, the weather in the UK has been rainy- of course that's nothing new. So on this rainy day, I was feeling a particularly nostalgic about Paris. 

Whilst looking through my pictures, I thought you'd like it if I shared some of my favourites with you...

This is probably my personal favourite, taken exactly one year ago. Can you guess where it is?

For those of you who are soon to visit Paris or even for those lucky ones amongst you that live there. I'm not afraid to say that I'm jealous of you right now :')

Make the most out of it because honestly, the saying is true, 'You don't know what you have until it's gone'. 

Living in Paris was an amazing experience for me. However I didn't appreciate it enough because like most cases, when you live somewhere, after a while you stop to appreciate it's beauty, culture, lifestyle etc. 

It's only now that I realise how lucky I have been to have had the opportunity to live in such a beautiful place.

How about you, where do you live? 

I hope you enjoyed this little post and if you wish you can share and tell me which one of the pictures was your favourite.

❤️

Love, ML x

Cute and cheap DIY home decor

I have wanted to add some decorative touches to my bedroom for quite some time now. So, since summer is finally here, I thought it was about time that I started to change things up a bit.

It had been a while since I had gotten creative and done some DIY activities, so I decided to go and have a look at Hobbycraft to find bits and pieces and look for some inspiration. There was an awful lot to choose from, I honestly think that nowadays you can have so much fun and be creative for just a few pounds.

I picked up some Wicker hearts a pack of dried botanicals and some tacky glue as I wanted to experiment gluing the dried flowers to the hearts to make them look more rustic; with the aim of adding a bit more colour to the plain white.

They were extremely easy to make, in just over 10 minutes I had decorated all 3 hearts that came in the pack, plus a larger heart which I already had in my room.

I loved the end result! I found these hearts really cute and they’re great to add some extra decorative touches around a room.

I will definitely continue hunting for more DIY home decors and inspiration online. I also recommend making your own decors when you can because it’s fun and also helps save those extra pennies.

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any ideas for home DIY decors do comment down below!

Thanks for reading :) 

❤️

Love, ML x

Peanut Butter Balls

I have been seeing these being featured all over fitness blogs, Instagram, Twitter, you name it they're everywhere!
Now, I don't know about you but I LOVE peanut butter and when I first saw these, my jaw dropped at how delicious they looked.

I knew I had to make them, so finally this afternoon I had some spare time to give them a try :)

I was rather impressed with my first attempt at making these, I know that generally they're supposed to be "mini" balls, however I was too impatient and eager to eat them so I made large ones instead ;)

I used a recipe that I found on the food network website which you can find here but alternatively you can follow any online recipe's for "Peanut butter balls".
They're really easy to make and the prep time is only 10 minutes. I used crushed almonds and walnuts to coat them and after 20 minutes in the fridge they were ready to eat. This recipe made 15 balls, however I'm assuming that smaller portions could make between 20 and 22.

Next time, I will definitely stick to making smaller portions as I couldn't manage more than two consecutive balls...Oops!


How about you, do you like PB balls?

If you give this recipe a try, let me know how you got on :)

  ❤️

Love, ML x