My Beauty Resolutions

So we may have just hit February but I've been thinking a lot about what I want to achieve this year for the past month, and something I really want to work on is beauty, make up and skincare.

I've always loved make up, but I'm definitely more of a budget friendly kind of gal, but with a fair number of beauty blogger friends, I am quickly being educated on the perks of spending a little more on my make up.
They're also very good at completely unintentionally making me very guilty about my pretty much non-existent skincare routine. I'm a make-up wipes, quite often sleep in my make-up, wash with shower gel type of lass, and although my skin is pretty great (even if I do say so myself) I really don't think it's going to stay that way and I am not getting any younger!
Then there's my hair, which has definitely been through a lot recently from pregnancy and then the ever-loving tugs from small chubby hands.

Mumma multitasking skincare with Bee Good

Life is a bit manic as a parent. So much time is dedicated to looking after your little ones and making sure they are happy, healthy and cared for. Free time is not exactly in abundance, and that free time is usually used for eating, downing a glass of wine, and catching up on your favourite TV shows before getting that much relished sleep. Skincare really isn't high on the agenda, and unfortunately after giving birth and dealing with lack of sleep and general day to day skin trauma, your beauty regime is very much needed.

Luckily there are multitasking skincare options out there to give us mums a helping hand, minimising our time spent in the bath room, whilst giving us ladies beautiful skin again. 

NectaPerfecta Beautifying Mask* from Bee Good is the UK's first multi-usage head-to-toe enzyme treatment mask, and it is a must for every mum.

Westquay's Your 5

What girl doesn't love to shop? And with us heading straight into Autumn and Winter right now, the fashions are a'changing and that means a wardrobe update is required.

And what shopping trip is complete without a little personal shopping.

Last weekend, Westquay's team of personal shoppers and stylists were helping out us ladies of Southampton with our five key wardrobe items for AW16 - Your 5. 

Liptensity with Mac Cosmetics

You all know about my love of lip colours right?
I'm usually a budget girl when it comes to make up. Yes I like good quality but I don't relish paying out lots of money for lipstick - well that is until recently.

Being close friends with a number of beauty bloggers means I'm getting a real education in make up and the pros of paying a little more for a great brand.
I have to admit the two brands on the top of my wishlist for lipstick is Urban Decay and Mac, so when Mac Cosmetics in Southampton's Westquay invited bloggers to their recent lip launch I was really excited to learn a little more about the brand and what they had to offer. 

BEAUTY: Lush Summer Bloggers Event

As a bath lover it makes sense that I'm a little bit of a Lush addict. 

Admittedly I was a little late to the party, in terms of obsession, having drifted away from it for many years. But I'm back to my old lover, and it's better than ever. 

Last week I was kindly invited to spend an evening with the team at Lush Southampton, along with a few of my favourite girls for an night of smellies, fruit and bubble bar crafting, all in the name of Lush Summer 2015. 

All the ingredients for our fruit cocktails and drinks were in the Lush products, as they pride themselves on many natural ingredients. 

^^this is the new Avocado Co-Wash and boy does it smell utterly amazing. It's a solid shampoo and it is high on my next wishlist from Lush as it just smells so good.^^

^^can anyone actually resist a bath bomb from Lush?! I thought not! Check out my Instagram to see some in action, including the Experimenter which is just AMAZING!^^

Probably the highlight for everyone was learning how Lush create their infamous bubble bars. All are hand-made in their factories and shipped out to over 100 stores in the UK. The team in Southampton made up a small batch of Creamy Candy, and whilst it sat to rise, we had a little explore of the new products. 

Once the mix was ready, we all got the chance to shape our own! I went for a little heart shaped one! Cute right! Wait to set for 24 hours and jobs a goodun. I'm actually yet to use it at the point of writing this, but I love Creamy Candy* and its oh so sweet smell so I know this will be a heavenly bath time treat. 

And last but by no means least... the goodies. 

Of course I had to buy a few bits for myself, to top up some of my absolute favourites, including Brightside. The Comforter Shower Gel and The Experimenter. 

On top of this, Lush also created us some goodie bags filled with some of the brand new products. Mine included:

Intergalactic*

Kinky hair mask*

Sugar Daddy-O*

Pumice Power*

All in all, spoilt completely rotten!

^^photo courtesy of Alice and her selfie stick!^^

We had such an amazing evening, filled with lots of laughter. And we all came away with the always amazing products from Lush. 

You can keep up to date with all of Lush's products on their Twitter and Instagram, and follow Lush Southampton if you're in the area on their own Twitter and Instagram. 

So over to you? What are you eyeing up for your own collection?

Check out all the products as I test them over on my instagram here!

*post contains PR samples

BEAUTY: Maintaining dyed red hair

For the last couple of months I've been a red head. A fake red head but none the less, very red. I went from a brown to blonde ombre to bright red in two steps. 

Freshly dyed - super red hair

First I bleached the lot with a home dye kit. Needless to say this did not bring out a gorgeous blonde bombshell, rather a yellow reminiscent of an egg yolk. So in a spur of the moment/mild panic, I bought a bright red to cover.

It was the brightest I'd ever been, but it looked fab. But although lush to look at once first dyed, it fades fast. Three weeks later I had a red/orange with a peachy ombre tip. Pretty, but not ideal. So I re-dyed in red again and its still looking rather good two weeks later.