Don't Be Such A Mermaid!

Hello ♥

Guys, I am so, so, so a million times over sorry for my complete missing in action behaviour! I've been so stressed and busy this month with jobs and my over crazy mind! It has also been my birthday and a lot has been going on so i just have taken a teeny tiny break from blogging and i'm straight back on it!

I am fully back on this now, i just feel you guys really deserve this apology as i have been gone the whole of July! So thank you all very much for not giving up on me just yet :).

Please keep tuned as loads of posts are coming very soon, including what i got for my birthday last week ;).

Any post requests please do also send them my way!

labellavida@live.co.uk

I'll leave you with a hint of what July has consisted of for me now i'm 23! (so old, haha!)...

A♥

Festival Fashion!

Heey ♥

So the focus of this post is to put forward a few different festival appropriate outfits within different price ranges to let you see what's out there and give everyone an option for their budget! I'm not going to waffle on today, i'm just going to get straight to the outfits!

Outfit 1

Cheap But Chic

All £5 each from Everything5pounds.com

Heart Print Jacket // Here

Pink Shorts // Here

Wellies // Here

Outfit 2

Bright & Bold

Denim Jacket // Topshop £45 Here

Crop Vest // Topshop £24 Here

Lace Panel Shorts // Missguided £24.99 Here

Floral Wellies // Fruugo £16.49 Here

Outfit 3

Subtle Florals

Floral Top // Topshop £30 Here

Biker Boots // ASOS £35 Here

High Waisted Skinnies // Missguided £24.99 Here

Outfit 4
Aztec Cutie

All Miss Selfridge

Shorts // £32 Here
Gilet // £22 Here
Aztec Crop // £10 Here
Boots // £20 Here

Outfit 5
Darling Daisy

Daisy Print Skirt // Urban Outfitters £35 Here
Bowler Hat // H&M £7.99 Here
Creepers // Barratts £20 Here
See Through Mac // Topshop £36 Here
Fringed Bag // Next £28 Here

Would you wear any of these festival outfits?
Which one is your favourite?
A♥

Birthday Wishlist!

Hello Beautiful♥

So, it's my birthday next month! And, although i say i don't want to celebrate anymore now that i'm too far past 21, i still want presents, obviously, haha!

Just kidding, i'm not putting this out there for people to buy me presents, i'm just using it as a normal wishlist but as people have asked me what i would like or what i am receiving for my birthday i thought i would just share the things i'm loving at the moment in a wishlist :), so here it is:

I'll go through the items above in order from top left to bottom right and if you love anything and want to buy if for yourself or to buy as a little present for someone you know then simply click the pink writing and it will take you straight to it:

Tiara Charm // Links of London

Passport // Renew or Replace UK here

Crystal Bra // Various places such as Here

Neon Yellow Skater Skirt // Missguided

Mega Platform Shoe // Amazon

MAC Studio Fix Fluid in Colour NC20 // MAC

Chanel Hair Mist // Selfridges

Black Skater Skirt // Amazon

You Can Sit With Us Crop // Amazon

Infinity Type Ring // Various such as Here

So basically, i have liked most of these things for a long time now:

I love my Links bracelet so i love looking through the charms, i like a lot of them on the website just now such as the hedgehog with the apple, the chic handbag and this cute little tiara. Even at 23this July, i still like to think of myself as a princess, haha!

The passport is obviously because i want to go on holiday, i'm planning on bribing my mum into paying for this one for me for my birthday as she has no idea what to get me and it is something worthwhile getting, that i actually need and will use!

Crystal bra, i'm obsessed with these just now, like literally in love. I suppose they could look trashy but i think worn in the right way they are really pretty and can really add sparkle to simple outfits. I just think they're really cute and i desperately need to get my hands on one!

This yellow skater skirt has also been on my wishlist for a while, i love absolutely anything that is yellow just now for some reason and this bright skater has to be mine! Love it and it's so affordable.

These platform shoes are massive, and might break my ankle but i think shoes like this look really cute with skinny jeans and a nice top on a night out and i need a new pair of closed toe black heels to replace my Primark ones which absolutely kill my feet like nothing else!

MAC studio fix fluid is a foundation i love and i just want to go back to it after using Max Factor for some while now, we all need a change every once in a while!

The Chanel Hair Mist obviously isn't essential ad is probably quite a waste of money as i could just use my perfume to mist through my hair, i just thought this was a cool idea for hair lovers and a good present to give anyone you know who likes this kind of thing.

Can't have too many skater skirts and i actually own loads, none of which are black! This one is particularly cheap and well worth a purchase as a wardrobe staple!

You Can't Sit With Us Crop - Literally my favourite saying and movie quote, i've wanted this top for ages and ages so quirky and simple and yet again Amazon have come up trumps! Love it.

Infinity Ring - I look at infinity rings online all the time and i think they are so cute! I have always wanted a really simple cute one maybe with a little bit of sparkle on one side or something and i love the ones that are engraved in the inside, so personal and sweet! Some i have seen online have "I Love You", "Best Friends", "Forever" or some personal sayings engraved inside just for the person you are giving to. Too cute. Probably wouldn't pay a lot for one of these unless it's for something really special, i just really like the affordable cute ones like the one i've linked above :).

So that's basically my July wishlist! Which items do you like from it?

Would you like to give or receive any of these items as a gift?

A♥

YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Baby Doll Mascara Review!

Hey ladies!♥

Last weekend my £5 credit on my Debenhams beauty club card was about to run out, so as you can imagine, in a mad rush, i had to get to Debenhams and buy some makeup!

I browsed for ages as there is nothing i really wanted to get, but then i saw this little beauty and it was pretty much love at first sight, i had to have it.

It is the YSL Baby Doll Mascara, this retails for £24.50 in Debenhams but with my £5 points balance i picked it up for £19.50.

First of all, can we all just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of YSL's packaging. So simple yet effective. Packaging always draws me to a product and will often be a deciding factor in my actually buying it and YSL never fail me on that front.

The mascara itself is applied using a plastic wand with short spikes all over. Personally, plastic wands are my prefered mascara applicator over brushes and bristle wands so this was a plus for myself.

To show you one coat of this compared to my natural eyelashes with no makeup on:

No Mascara (creepy)

 Left Eye Mascara, Right Eye None

Both Eyes Mascara

 From Underneath the Lashes

I think these pictures give you a good look at the coverage and the lengthening properties of the mascara and you can really see that they accentuate my lashes quite a lot.

I think the easiest way to do this is to just tell you guys my own personal pro's and con's of this mascara and you can tell me your opinions too! So here goes:

PROS

Comes in four different shades so suits a lot of different people's needs.

Beautiful packaging.

Really lengthening.

Hardly any clumping at all and no flaking so far.

Nice formula, not sticky or too wet.

Nice smell!

Pretty name, i'm a sucker for names!

CONS

The price, i really cannot justify even £19.50 on a mascara never mind it's full price of £24.50.

It in comparison to YSL Shocking, not sure if i like it better, or the same?

I also am unsure if i like it better or just the same as my much cheaper L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic.

So, although there are more Pro's than Con's and i really do like this mascara a lot, i have to admit i probably won't repurchase as, to me, this is just not worth the price. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely and it really does look good on the eyes but is it the best? In my opinion, i like it just the same as i like my all time L'Oreal fave.

I don't regret this purchase though as i love YSL products and i do love this mascara too.

Have you tried YSL Baby Doll mascara?

What are your opinions?

A♥

Bourjois BB Bronzing Cream Review!

Heeey ♥

If you follow me on twitter you will know that i am a massive fake tan fan! 

I love being bronzed. I know some people don't and they are all for embracing the white but for me, being as pale as a milk bottle is not what i am after! I get so excited when new bronzing, fake tan or tinted products come out and i have to literally try them all!

So, while i was in boots walking past the Bourjois stand i noticed this little beauty:

Here is a swatch on my hand of the product pumped straight from the bottle, rubbed in, then blended to my hand. 

The colour is actually quite scary when you first pump it out of the bottle and initially i was scared to even put this on my face! But as you can see, when it is properly blended it just gives a sheer tint to my hand as if i have a subtle tan.

The product is a facial bronzer that only comes in one universal 'adapting' shade and it claims to have 8 benefits in one bottle!

These are:

1/ Evens Skin Tone.

2/ Sheer Tint.

3/ Boosts Radiance.

4/ 16 Hour Moisturisation.

5/ Smooths Skin.

6/ Prolongs Tan.

7/ SPF 15.

8/ Refreshing Sensation.

All of these are appealing qualities to me that really make me want this product so i just had to pick it up while it was on a special introductory price of £6.99.

I decided to put all eight claims of this product to the test for you guys so here goes:

Looking a lot more tanned and healthy!

I do find this product needs quite a lot of blending to achieve an acceptable colour using a very little amount of product if you begin with skin as white as mine. I don't think i would be able to wear this on my face alone with no other makeup on a normal day though as it's just not enough coverage for me, maybe if i was on holiday or had a nice tan already!

Anyway, onto testing the eight claims since i have now tried the product out!

1/Evens Skin Tone?

I already have pretty even skin tone to be honest but this does mask my little red blemishes a bit and gives a much more even, healthy complexion.

2/Sheer Tint?

So you can already see that the tint is sheer as you can still see my face, it's not cakey at all and it gives a nice subtle glow about the face. Would be amazing for a subtle sun kissed look while sunbathing on holiday as it is really light on the face.

3/ Boosts Radiance?

It does make your skin look a bit more radiant and light, it gives a sort of dewy look and makes you look a lot more fresh which i love about this.

4/ 16 Hour Moisturisation?

So i left this on all day and my skin does feel nice and soft but i don't have dry skin on my face really anyway and makeup doesn't really drastically affect the hydration of my skin usually, but extra moisturisation is always a bonus!

5/ Smooths Skin?

This one is a hard one to prove. My skin is pretty smooth anyway i think and as this product is pretty thin it's difficult to tell if it makes your skin look more smooth or not? I'd say my skin looks as smooth as my skin looked before. It definitely feels smooth and soft with this on.

6/ Prolongs Tan?

Impossible for me to say that my tan has been prolonged as i don't have a tan on my face due to Scottish weather, haha! But it does make me look like i have a subtle tan and glow about myself which i really like.

7/ SPF 15?

SPF content is a major factor for me in picking facial products so this is always a good one!

8/ Refreshing Sensation?

This one is a good one too as it does feel sort of cooling and refreshing on the skin and i think especially when it is really warm outside this will be the perfect product! It stays quite wet (not annoyingly so) on the skin which is really refreshing too.

It also claims on the bottle to have an 'Addictive Fragrance' which to me smells exactly like the Bourjois Bronzing Powder which is my all time favourite bronzer and smells delicious like chocolate!

Overall Opinions

Basically i do really love this product and i think in the Summer months when it is a lot warmer i will use this a lot more. For now, i think my face still needs a little more coverage than this gives me so i have been using it as a bronzer and contour over my usual heavy coverage foundation which looks like this:

Using it like this, i really like! It defines my cheek bones and gives me a healthy tint to my cheeks on top of my usual foundation and powder.

So, overall i really like the product both on it's own when i want a thin layer of makeup on hotter days as well as over a base of foundation as a bronzer and cheek bone contour when i want a heavier coverage.

What i would say though, is that a LITTLE product goes a VERY long way, it is a dark cream and if you use too much on skin as white as mine you do look a bit daft! So i would say work with a tiny bit at a time and build if you want more as it is easy to go overboard with this product and look a bit like an oompa loompa!

Have you tried this?
If not, will you be?
A♥

My Links 
Twitter/ @labellavida2
BlogLovin/ Click Here
Instagram/ @ashlee_yy
Email/ labellavida@live.co.uk

Summer Hauliday!

Aloha!♥

I'm not going on holiday, instead, i am just going to keep shopping for Summery things that i will probably not even get a chance to wear, but i can still share them with you guys! I am however, apologising for advance for the bad picture quality, i just really wanted this post up so sorrrry, just bare with me :)!

I'll just begin shall i!

These are all the beauty related things i purchased recently:

Along Came Betty - One Pot of Polish // Tesco £2.99 (will be £5.99 after 3rd June)
Dove - Summer Glow // Boots £4.99
Faking It - Fake Tan Mitt // Primark £2
L'Oreal - Lumi Magique Foundation // Boots £10.99
Bourjois - BB Bronzing Cream // Boots £6.99 (will be £9.99)
St Tropez - Gradual Tan // TK Maxx £7.99
Bobby Pins // BodyCare 89p
Along Came Betty - Hands That Do Wishes Hand Lotion // Tesco £1.99 (will be £3.99)

Happy to do a review of any of these if you just leave a review request in the comments :).

Onto fashion then!

Bag // Primark £12

Sandal Heels // Primark £12

WonderBra - Red Lace Strapless // TK Maxx £7.99

Ombre Floral Cross Crop // Matalan £3 sale.

Nude Skater // Matalan £3 sale.

Striped Skater // River Island £10 sale.

Exposed Zip Playsuit // New Look £8 sale.

Polka Dot White Dress // H&M £12.99

Peplum Shimmer Panel Long Sleeve Top // River Island £12 sale.

Swirl Maxi Dress // In Love With Fashion £38

Dark Skinny Jeans // F&F £14

Polka Dot Bikini Pants // F&F Holiday Shop £3 sale. 

Floral Dress with Crochet Waist // Primark £10

Do you think i like polka dots? haha!

What is your favourite item i've been buying?

What have you been buying recently?

♥

Nivea In-Shower Body Moisturiser Review!

♥

Right, i've been dying to try this ever since i seen it advertised on the TV:

For lazy girls like me, i'm sure you all seen this advert and thought it would be a miracle product that you simply must have in your life.. or at least this is how i felt. So i rushed to tesco this weekend and picked up the Nivea In-Shower Moisturiser 250ml at a special limited time price of £3. 

I picked up the one for dry skin as, although i don't actually have particularly dry skin, i do get dry hands, elbows, knees etc from fake tanning etc.The version for dry skin is the blue bottle and the one for normal skin is the white.

Basically, what this product claims to do is moisturise your skin while you are in the shower to save time doing so when you get out. You can simply moisturise, rinse, dry, dress and go! So i thought i would put this to the test and share my opinions with you lovely lot.

The bottle tells you to cleanse your skin the way you normally would in the shower and rinse. Apply the moisturiser while still in the shower then rinse off, dry yourself, get dressed and go!

So, my shower went a bit like this.. 

Jumped in the shower and washed my skin using a normal shower gel, grabbed my exfoliating sponge and exfoliated using a scrub. I then shaved my legs, rinsed my whole body then grabbed for this In-Shower Moisturiser.

Obviously i am not going to take pictures of myself actually applying this in the shower, but i did want you guys to know about the consistency of it etc. 

I initially thought this was going to be just like a shower gel that you would apply, it would lather and go bubbly, then you wash it off. But i was very wrong. So this is what the product looks like out of the bottle:

(i am wearing pjamma shorts!)

This picture is pretty rubbish at showing but it's the best one i managed to get. So the product is a creamy, white liquid and is actually quite thick compared to what i thought it would be. It does not lather at all it just feels like a normal moisturiser although obviously as you are applying in the shower it is impossible to rub it into the skin until it is dry as you would with an ordinary moisturiser.

So what you do it apply all over your body while still in the shower, then rinse it off. I won't lie, at first i thought.. am i not just washing it all straight back off? But i did what i says to do anyway, rinsed it all off then got out the shower and dried myself off with a towel.

So did it work? 

Well usually when i get out of the shower after exfoliating and shaving my legs feel extremely dry and have a sort of stinging sensation, but when i got out of the shower after using Niver In-Shower Moisturiser i didn't experience this.

After i was completely dry i threw my clothes on and i can honestly say my skin does feel moisturised, it feels soft to the touch especially the top of my arms and my chest area and my legs haven't felt that stingy after shaving before moisturising sensation which can only be good!

I was really sceptical about this product especially as i thought i would just be washing it all off straight after applying but the bottle does claim that it is quickly absorbed by wet skin and leaves you with soft skin straight from the shower without the need for any other body lotions afterwards!

I actually really do like this product so far and am going to keep using it to see how i feel about it after a longer period of time. The only bad thing is that i can tell the bottle isn't going to last very long so it would be an expensive habit to use every single shower!

This is still on offer of £3, or £4 for a bigger bottle from Tesco, and my mum actually tells me it is even cheaper just now in Morrisons so if you want to give this a shot then i recommend you go pick it up just now!

Will you be trying this out?

Have you already tried it? What did you think?

A♥

Perfect Summer Perfume Picks!

Heyy ♥

I'm majorly obsessed with perfume, i love pretty much every perfume i smell and it's rare that i find one i really hate, although there are a few out there!

I love to smell nice so perfumes are my must-have product everywhere i go, i always have a little sample in my bag to touch up during the day and i always have a few on my shelf in my room. However, i hate sticking to the same perfume for prolonged periods and like to switch it up all the time and go back and forth to different ones. Therefore, i thought i would quickly share with you guys my top five picks for this Summer!

These are just the five fragrances i think stand out and are really fresh, fruity and summery! It was hard to just pick five as i had about ten that i would have loved to include but, i managed to just pick five of my faves that i am going to be wearing through Summer 13!

At No.5 i have Forbidden Euphoria by Calvin Klein.

This is a beautiful sweet, floral perfume. It is a bit of a modern, young fragrance in my opinion but it is really lasting and it is great on a night out or when you want your perfume to be quite noticeable  I also love the bottle of this, it has an unusual shape to other bottles and it's purple transparent glass makes it quite girly and pretty.

No.4 is Miss Dior Cherie by Dior.

Another of my all time faves. I buy this a lot and i wear it pretty much all year round not just one i go to for summer months. It is a real all rounder, really fresh smelling and girly with an equally girly bottle. It is an amazing perfume. My one, if you're wondering is the 2012 edition of this perfume as there are a few versions since it's launch in 2005.

Ok so up at no.3 i have Dot by Marc Jacobs.

This fragrance is really summery! It's fruity and girly and really appropriate for Summer. First off, the bottle! I could not love this bottle more. Some people probably hate it but, i absolutely love it. So pretty and summery and it's just something that really appeals to me. This fragrance is really fruity and reminds me of a summer holiday somewhere sunny and beautiful. It's just lovely.

No.2 is J'adore by Dior.

I am a massive fan of Dior perfumes  i think they are really mature and quite sexy but fun and fresh at the same time. This particular perfume is quite feminine and floral rather than sweet. It is definitely one of my go-to perfumes and i have re-purchased this, as well as others from Dior quite a few times. Really long lasting and a major fave of mine.

And up at my current Summer No.1 i have Chance Eau Tendre by Chanel.

Oh, what can i say about this? It is amazing. I love all the Chanel Chance perfumes but the Eau Tendre has to be my favourite. It is quite a floral one again with a bit of a fruity tone, it lasts quite a long time and the bottle is just classic Chanel, simple but effective. Definitely worthy of my number one Summer fragrance. 

I genuinely love all of these perfumes and as a review i would absolutely recommend each and every one of them if you are looking for a new Summer fragrance! 

What are your top Spring/Summer perfumes?

Any you can recommend to me?

A♥

Sleep In Rollers Review!

Hey Guys ♥

I am such a bad blogger, you can all virtually slap me right now! I, once again am so sorry that i've been missing in action on here for a while, life is busy busy! 

Anyway i'm here again with a bit of a beauty product review. Sadly, i've not done many beauty reviews of recent, mainly because i haven't been finding many new beauty products i'm actually loving! This is sad for me as usually i don't find this a problem but, nothing new is standing out for me just now :(!

However, i have eventually jumped on the Sleep in Rollers bandwagon! I use normal rollers ALL the time, but as i tend to go out on Saturday nights, and i work during Saturday afternoon, i don't really have long enough to leave them in and have a good curl. 

I had heard loads about Sleep Rollers since last year and debated whether to buy them on and off and eventually just never did. However, i have eventually invested and decided to give them a wee go!

If you don't know, Sleep Rollers are basically a softer velcro roller with a squishy sponge center to makes them comfortable to sleep in, basically giving you amazing hair from the minute you wake up! So i put the rollers in my previously blow dried, clean hair. I did however, use a spray bottle to dampen each section and after rolling secured each section with a kirby grip.

This is what i looked like before going to bed (please ignore my makeup-less face!):

Then, for the sleeping. I must admit, and if you follow me on twitter already, you will know i found this difficult to begin with and genuinely threw a little diva strop.

Basically, when you first put your head down to sleep they feel awful! You have to sort of move the rollers around slightly to get them in a comfortable position. Now this is all fine and good if you are a heavy sleeper and are able to sleep in one position all night, but if like me, you wake up at any noise and move around all night like a worm, these are hell to begin with. I moaned and moaned to the point where i was almost ready to rip them out, throw them across the room and eventually get some sleep. However, somehow, at about 01:30, i managed to fall asleep. 

I think i woke up around three times during the night and eventually got up from bed at half seven. In the morning they don't hurt but some do feel a little tight for the first little while. 

Although i absolutely hated the feeling of these in my head when i first went to bed, i would say that i did get used to it once i had found a position comfortable enough to sleep in and did fall asleep with them in. I think after a few times of wearing them to bed i will probably get more and more used to them and be able to get a longer sleep with them in. Someone even suggested to me that you sleep with one of those long, curved pillows and i can see how that might be a bit more comfortable, so if you are having trouble sleeping with your sleep rollers in maybe give that a shot!

Anyway, i left the rollers in while eating my breakfast and doing my makeup in the morning, got dressed, then began taking them out. 

One tip i would say, is to try really hard not to comb the section after you have removed the roller, just twist your hair around your finger and let go, spray it with hair spray and leave it for a while, then if you want to comb it try using your fingers gently through it first or use a really wide-toothed comb. Doing that helps the curl stay and stops it dropping. Here's me just before taking the rollers out:

This, is how my hair looked when i took the rollers out without brushing through:

Then for a function i went to, i styled it with a flower but i only managed to get this really awful picture while the sun is shining right in my eyes and i look really weird but, i don't mind you guys seeing me weird haha!..

Then later, i was still impressed with the volume of my hair and the body it still had after the day:

Overall, i really love the effect the rollers had on my hair and in my own opinion this outweighs all the bad points! I actually think if i kept wearing them and got used to them i would be able to get a better sleep with them in and therefore would mean that the only con i found with them (sleeplessness) would be gone!

Have you tried Sleep In Rollers?

Do you love them, or not a fan?

A♥

Barbie Gal!

Hello!♥

How lovely is the weather this week? I'm getting so excited for Summer and i bet it starts raining tomorrow now i've said that..

Anyway, since it's been nice i thought i would crack out the short shorts again while i can and i'm just going to share a really quick OOTD with you guys before i head outside and enjoy the sun while it's hanging about!

Dress/Karma Shorts/RiverIsland

Shoes/Primark

Bag/F&F

I love this Karma dress but as a dress, its pretty short to wear without leggings or tights so i've tucked it into my beloved high-waisted river island shorts and paired it with my casual cream and black contrast pointed-toe flats from primark and a n oversized cream. tan and brown bag.

How would you style this barbie dress?

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine!

Oh and i'd be a very happy lady if you could please follow me on Bloglovin' - Here

A♥