Happy New Year

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a lifestyle blogger who’s spend the last six months deserting her blog…

Hey everyone, It’s a new year and everyone is talking about setting goals and planning the milestones that they want to reach in 2018. I’m not going to do that as I suck at sticking to planned things. What I am going to do is commit to spending a little more time filling up this corner of the internet with fabulous posts. I ended last year with so many unfinished blog posts and unpublished posts. I’m going to leave those in 2017 and start afresh. I have so many ideas for posts this year from get ready with me posts to makeup reviews, recipes and interior design ideas. There will also be lots of tweets and Instagram posts so make sure your following me on social media (click on the links below) so you don't miss out!

Twitter: @LuisaO87

Instagram: burgundyfieldsxx (beauty only)

                      luisa.xo (a little bit of everything)

Here’s to a new year of blogging :)

Luisa

xo

Charlotte Tilbury Look In A Palette Review

On a recent beauty splurge I purchased the Charlotte Tilbury Look in a Palette in Beauty Glow from her summer sale (RRP £49) after seeing countless Youtubers and Bloggers rave about the product. When purchased two of the three palettes were on offer and believe me when I say I would have bought both if my bank balance wasn’t already hating on me. Opting for Beauty Glow as this is the most natural of the palettes on offer I was excited to give it a try as its compact, has everything you need for an everyday look and can be applied in 5 minutes. Yep, 5 minutes.

The palette is made up of 7 products including a bronzer, highlighter, three eyeshadows and two blushers- a swish and a pop similar to her Cheek to Chic blushers. The compact itself isn’t too bulky nor is it too small, you get a good amount of product in each of the pans and the smooth black plastic compact is a perfect size for popping into your handbag for when you’re on the move. I was worried about the size of the pans and not being able to pick up a product without also picking up the product next to it but alas I was worrying for nothing, I can easily pick up a product without multi dipping.

The colours in the palette, as I briefly mentioned before, are natural everyday colours perfect for incorporating into your everyday makeup routine.  I have fairly light skin with an olive tone which means I tan fairly easily so I am sporting just a little colour from the summer at the moment making this palette a little on the pale side but still perfectly wearable. Each of the products are numbered, indicating the order in which to apply them, perfect for a sleepy morning where just brushing your hair is a challenge. The bronzer is a similar colour to Benefits Hoola Bronzer which is usually my go to for daily wear as it isn’t too dark, it gives just a little healthy colour round the face. Of the three eyeshadows I mostly use shade two and three. Shade on is too pink for me, I prefer a yellowish toned shadow to brighten up my eye. The two blushers together make the perfect prink pop of colour on your cheeks which I sometimes apply as directed with a swish and a pop or I’ll mix the two together for a slightly peachier combo. The look is then finished with a shimmery ivory highlighter.

 

This is definitely a perfect on the go palette and makes the daily morning rush just a little bit quicker and easier. Being one of the first Charlotte Tilbury products I have tried, I will definitely be going back for more as the products are of an excellent quality and highly pigmented meaning even on my oily skin, they last all day. Interested in checking it out for yourself, the palette along with the rest of the CT range is available from stores such as Cult Beauty, House of Fraser and Net A Porter. Charlotte Tilbury’s Look in a Palette definitely gets my approval.

If you do try the palette or have tried any other CT products which you would recommend then let me know what you’d think, I’m always on the hunt for a new makeup must have.

Luisa

xo

Bilou Creamy Shower Foam Product Review

So you may or may not have heard of German YouTuber Bibi from BibisBeautyPalace but recently, well in November last year, she brought out a range of shower products. Recently these products have made their way over the pond and are now available the U.K, exclusively at Superdrug (click to be taken to the Superdrug website), so of course I had to pick some up.

The range consists of three different products including shower foam, foam lotion and body spray in some exciting flavours Fizzy Berry, Coco Cocktail, Cotton Candy, Pink Melon and Tasty Donut. I know they sound amazing already. I picked up the shower foam in Coco Cocktail which is supposed to smell like a tropical paradise with coconut and madagascan vanilla notes and Pink Melon which is described as smelling of juicy melons and fruity raspberries-sweet summertime!

Coco Cocktail smells exactly as described, a tropical paradise. When I smelled this I was whisked away on a tropical summers holiday sitting by the pool sipping cocktails from a coconut. Heaven. Upon lathering into the skin the smell dulls but does leave a subtle coconut smell on the skin for hours after showering.

Pink Melon reminds me of Watermelon Candies from America, very sweet and sugary. Another awesome summery scent. Much like Coco Cocktail, the smell of this shower foam dilutes when lathering up in the shower. I think it smells much nicer while still in the can.

I was intrigued by a shower foam, how does it work? The best way I can describe it is like a shaving cream. You have to shake the can vigorously before hitting the pump and being greeted by a fluffy white cloud of product. The Bilou foam felt amazing as I lathered it into the skin, keeping its foaminess but dissolving slightly into a milk. Dare I say that you could always double up and use this as a shaving foam too, perfect for those of you who don't want your bathrooms lined with lots of different products.

To round up my thoughts I really do like both of these shower foams although I do think they are all very summery scents, I’m hoping for some more seasonal scents for the coming months. I like the cute packaging and the innovative style of the product. It is something I would definitely recommend. 

Have you tried any Bilou products? Are there more variations where you live? Be sure to let me know below

Luisa xo

Creme Egg Rocky Road Recipe

When your friends tell you their bored of endless cupcakes and tell you they want something else then you think of something new to make. I’m always up for a challenge. With Easter right around the corner I wanted to make something with an easter theme. The result, Creme Egg Rocky Road. I’ve never made nor tasted rocky road before but it looked simple to make and was packed full of sugary yumminess. After what I think was a successful 1st attempt, I thought I’d share my recipe with you guys.

Just a quick side note, I got about 30 slices from this recipe so feel free to adjust the 

What You’ll Need:

200g Digestive Biscuits (about 14 biscuits)

250g Mini Marshmallows

30 Mini Creme Eggs

300g Cooking Chocolate

10 Creme Eggs

200g White Chocolate ( To decorate)

Yellow Food Colouring ( I used Wilton Gel Colour)

4TBSP Golden Syrup

150g Unsalted butter

How To Make It:

Start by melting the butter, golden syrup and chocolate in a pan. I recommend using a heavy bottomed pan and slightly melt the butter before adding your chocolate and golden syrup. This will stop your chocolate from burning. Set pan aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Now its time to work on your anger management…Wrap your biscuits up in a tea towel or sandwich bag and crush them until you have a mix of drums and chunks of biscuit and set aside. Shell your chocolate eggs. Creme egg wrappers are surprisingly fiddly to remove after the first few! Another top tip from me-prior to using your creme eggs, freeze them for a couple of hours to ensure they don’t melt in your chocolate. Now is also good time to melt your white chocolate over a Bain Marie then you have all of your components preppped for your rocky road. Once your white chocolate is melted, half the mix into two bowls and colour one half yellow.

Mix your chocolate mixture, marshmallows, mini creme eggs and digestive biscuits in your pan, ensuring that everything is well coated in your chocolate mix. Once your happy our your rcoky road mix into a lined dish. Like I said I got a lot of pieces of rocky road so my tin was pretty big. Smooth down your mix to ensure it is evenly distributed. Once happy, it’s time to decorate. Half your large creme eggs and press them into your rocky road so that they'll stay stuck after your bars have set. I then took the white chocolate and pure it over the top followed by the yellow chocolate so that it looked like egg splatters.

Leave in the fridge to chill for a few hours. Cut into chunks, serve and enjoy.

I’m always looking for a new bake to try so If you have any recommendations then please do let me know. Also If you try this recipe let me know how you get on and tag me in your insta posts or pins.

Luisa

xo

Product Review: Lottie London Ready Set! Go Matte Translucent Finishing Powder

A key piece in anyone’s makeup bag is a powder, whether it’s a pressed powder that gives your face a little extra colour or a loose, translucent powder to set your makeup in place. It is an essential. For me, I won’t go out without powder as I have a really oily face meaning that without something to hold my makeup down, it’ll just slide right off. When it comes to powder everyone has a favourite, mines is my trusted Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder but at £29 I try not to reach for it everyday. Instead I am always on the hunt for a new everyday powder. Time and time again I have used Rimmel London’s Loose setting powder which is perfect for a low maintenance day of sitting in the office or going for a casual lunch.

Recently while getting organised for a trip to Edinburgh I realised I had no setting powder of any sort so I made a quick last minute Asos order of Lottie London’s Ready Set! Go matte translucent finishing powder. After putting it to the test I thought I’d share my opinions  here. 

Lottie London is a new brand for me, I have heard a few people mention it but I have never seen it anywhere or used it myself. Like I said, I found it on the Asos website, they hold quite a few of the Lottie London products and are so reasonably priced. For a 0.52oz pot I paid £5.50 which is amazing. It is really well packaged, in a cylindrical plastic pot with a screw on lid which features the brands logo on a black and white stripy background. So cute.

Moving on to the product itself. The Lottie London finishing powder is a fine milled white powder that when applied leaves a faint white layer on top of my makeup but nothing overly noticeable. It feels almost like baby powder in consistency. It’s not as fine or silky as my Laura Mercier powder but it is much finer than my Rimmel setting powder which is quite grainy. I used it to bake my concealer under my eyes, down the bridge of my nose, the centre of my forehead and along my jawline. I left it to set for around ten minutes while I did my eye makeup then brushed the excess powder over the rest of my face to ensure my makeup was set in place.

How the powder looks before blending

I put the powder to the ultimate test, a day out in our capital city with temperatures of 14 degrees celsius which is practically summer in Scotland. My makeup was tortured with wind from sitting on an open top bus, walking through the new/old towns and my sunglasses rubbing at my face all day. So how did my makeup do? Well, after nearly 12 hours my makeup was still sitting in place, still almost completely matte and there wasn’t any noticeable patches of makeup round my eyes and across the bridge of my nose. I didn’t take any powder with me so for it to last so long was an amazing result. It didn’t look cakey nor did it impact the look of my finished makeup. It really did a goof job of keeping my face looking matte and stopping my makeup from budging.

I can definitely say that after having used the Lottie London Ready Set! Go matte translucent finishing powder for my trip to Edinburgh with amazing results it will become a staple in my everyday makeup bag. Have you used this powder or do you have another favourite setting powder? Make sure to let me know in the comments or if you’ve posted about your favourite powder make sure to leave me the link so I can check it out.

Luisa

xo

Lush Product Review: Scrubee

I am a bit of a Lush fanatic therefore it was no surprise that when I was shopping in Glasgow for a Birthday present for a friend last week, I somehow found myself veering towards Lush (which happened to be across the street from where I was going. I’m sure there was a flashing neon sign shouting come in here) with the intent of having a quick browse. A quick browse? Ha, there’s no such thing as a quick browse in Lush but conscious of the time I sniffed and tried as many of the Easter products as I could and settled on a few to purchase. 

One of the things I picked up was a Scrubee, something I had seen online and couldn’t wait to get my hands on. Scrubee is a little bumblebee shaped multipurpose body scrub and body butter. Personally, I think he is one of the cutest products I have ever seen in Lush, I’m a sucker for something cute. As much as I was drawn to the product by its looks, I was a little hesitant to purchase as it is a cocoa butter based product. I hate the feeling of body butters and moisturisers on my skin but I decided to give it a go.

Along with cocoa butter to give you super soft skin, this product acts as a body scrub with Scrubee’s stripes being a mix of ground coconut and almond shells to give you the ultimate exfoliator. This is the first time I have ever used a product like this so I wasn’t sure whether to use it like a moisturiser or as a scrub that you used in the shower but after a little research and Youtube watching I headed for the shower armed with my Scrubee. I showered as normal and then just before stepping out I used this little bar. Due to his shape, he fits perfectly in your hand so you can really work the product into your skin. I scrubbed in circular motions as I would with a normal scrub and let the product melt into my skin. It did take a few seconds before I could feel the exfoliating pieces but when I did, wow! As coconut and almond shells are pretty rough you really got a good, deep scrub which I love. I like to feel the results of the product. I only used this on my arms and legs as I have really oily skin and I didn’t want to walk around looking shiny.  I rinsed off, with the shower on its warmest setting to get the excess product off my skin. I don’t know if the product is supposed to completely sink into your skin or act as a smooth barrier but there was definitely a layer of cocoa butter left on my skin which, hours after washing, I can still feel sitting on my skin but my skin does feel amazing. 

Before using in the shower

Before using

Something else that drew me to this product was the scent. This product has honey, bergamot and Brazilian oil, a smell associated with the ‘Honey, I washed the kids’ range which happens to be my favourite Lush smell. It’s such a warm and comforting smell and reminds me of caramel, yes it smells good enough to eat and when I’m not using it, it leaves the room smelling amazing so really it also doubles up as a room fragrance.

After using in the shower

After using in the shower

At £6.95 this is definitely a worthwhile product as after one scrub it had barely looked like I’d used it so it will definitely get a few uses. Despite my reservations with the feeling of the product on my skin, it is definitely an amazing product. It smells amazing, looks fab and leaves my skin feeling buffed and smooth and is something I will be bulk purchasing before it disappears off of the shelves.

Luisa

xo

If You Need Me, I'll Be Over Here Perfecting My Cat Eye

Makeup. Always a last minute thought when on holiday yet one of my first thoughts of the day when I’m at home. While baking in the hot sun, its easy to see why makeup doesn’t play a huge part in my day however at night when you make an effort, dress nice and attempt to tame that afro gifted to you by the humidity, I do tend to think about makeup. With my mind constantly thinking about booking a summer holiday I thought I’d share my holiday makeup bag from my last trip.

I always carry a tube of concealer as you never know when Mt Vesuvius is going to erupt from your chin. After a few days and a lot of praying, the sun should have cleared my skin enough for my (now 3 shades too light) quick fix to be put away. On holiday, I tend to take my Collection Lasting perfection concealer as it has amazing coverage but doesn’t feel heavy on your skin. 

One of the main pieces in my holiday makeup bag is eye makeup.  Topping the list is of course eyeliner, what would my eye makeup be without a statement flick, currently I’m using Rimmel’s Scandaleyes. Ensuring I packed the essentials I also brought a pair of false eyelashes by Kiss Lashes and a black mascara from Rimmel.  My hand luggage is always crammed full of as many eyeshadows as I can pack, both singles and palettes. Believe me, pre holiday packing is not fun when you have a box full of eyeshadows to contend with and limited space to put them. Depending on where I’m going and what I’m wearing will depend on what makeup I take, but on this particular trip this is what I took.

My other holiday essential is lips. While I do not apply a base of any kind, I do like a pop of colour on my lips. For my recent holiday, I may have brought a colour for every day but hey, a girl needs a lipstick. I brought my current favourite, NYX’s Tea n’ Cookies which is a pretty mauve pink colour. I also brought a bright orange by Maybelline, it is definitely not a colour I’d wear at home, it doesn't pair well with Scottish skin but with a tan it is fabulous. I also brought Revlon’s Ultra HD Matte Lipcolor in Flirtation. This is again a pink but unlike NYX this one is more of a brighter pink but not quite a barbie pink. I also brought yet another pinkish shade, (are you sensing a running theme here) this time from Tanya Burr cosmetics and is in the shade Martha Moo. Like many, I love this colour and I love that it is a matte lipstick although sometimes I do feel it has a strange texture on the lips after it has tried. This is a mauve pink but has slightly more of a blue undertone than my NYX shade.  To mix up the pink shades I brought an orange toned red, Muse Red by Kate Moss for Rimmel London. This is a beautiful summer shade with such a hydrating formula, a perfect lippy to pair with a tan. Last up is another pink shade by Rimmel from the apocalypse range. This is a slightly blue toned pink but is still fairly bright and is yet another matte lipstick which I love. The bullet for this lipstick no longer has the colour name and it appears it is no longer sold in shops so I am unable to share its name.

The last thing that makes it into my holiday make bag are some brow products. Since my eyes are the focal points of my holiday makeup then I ought to have nice eyebrows too. In my kit is my Tarte Amazonian brow mousse, this is my holy grain brow product and it is waterproof making it an essential. I also brought Benefit’s Gimme Brow. This product is amazing, it makes my brows appear fuller but leaves them looking au  naturál. 

So there is it, my holiday essentials. I definitely don’t put a full face of makeup on, that’s too much effort for it all to sweat straight off, but I do like a little. In my holiday makeup kit is only the essentials. What do you take in your holiday makeup bag?

Luisa

xo