How much is your face worth?

Sometimes the urge takes me to just sit down and empty everything out of my make up bag so I can see what I'm using frequently and what can be put back in my drawer until such a time I'm going to use them. This week in particular I emptied everything out and then thought to myself about the cost of all the make up I have. Like most other make up junkies, I have gathered quite a lot, and although some of it has been given to me as presents and what not, I would imagine it all still adds up to a fairly large amount. So today I thought I'd do something a bit different and discover how much the make up I actually use on a daily basis adds up to, therefore telling me 'how much my face is worth', well for today at least!
I could be cheating a bit by not putting in my moisturisers etc, but that's for another day!

Let's get cracking!
First up is the face products:
Primer: Benefit The Porefessional: 34.00
Foundation: Rimmel Match Perfection Cream Compact Foundation: 9.45 (A present)
Concealer: Catrice Camouflage Concealer: 3.49
Blush: Sleek Rose Gold: 5.49
 Total: 52.43 (ouch)

Eyes:  
Base:Maybelline Colour Tattoo On and On Bronze: 10.49
Eyeshadow: MUA Undressed Palette: 4.87
Mascara : Mac Opulash: 18.00 (This was part of a giftset at Christmas) 
Total: 33.36

Lips: Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub: £5.50 (so around 6.69 euro)
Lip Gloss: Catrice Infinite Shine Lip Gloss: (Not sure of exact price, around 4 euro)
Lip Balm: Lush Honey Trap: £5.75 (part of Christmas gift set,) around 6.98 euro
Total: 17.67

Total altogether: 103.46

Wow. I honestly didn't think it would come to that, and OK its not as high as it could be in comparison to others say that use more high end products, its still a lot of money to be putting on your face, that instead say you could be putting towards a holiday or a new car or something like that. But that's the joys of make up I guess! And what harm, sure we could be doing worse! ;)


What about you?
Have you tried this before? How did yours compare to mine?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

Valentine's Day Wishlist

Hey ladies, hope you all had a lovely weekend. January is finally over, although you wouldn't think it with the rotten weather that we've been having. Seriously, what is with all this rain?? Anyway, it now being February means that a lot of people are already thinking about Valentine's day and gift giving and all the rest. Me, not so much, because I told my other half not to get me anything because we're going to New York in April so I figured we could just save any money we would spend on presents for our holiday. Sensible me eh! However, it has definitely not stopped me eyeing up a few bits online.. So am.... Paul, if you are reading this.... Wink Wink.... ;)

I have really gotten into my statement jewelry in the last few weeks, and this neck piece from The Button And Bow Factory has really caught my eye! Its has such beautiful pastel shades in it that would really stand out in the Summer with a plain white tshirt and jeans and pumps... Ah... I don't know what else to say except I REALLY WANT IT!! Its 21 euro HERE and they also offer free shipping worldwide! Yay!

I know I'm seriously late to the party with this one, but I've been so close to buying it on so many occasions, even today I nearly did but the angel on my shoulder just holds me back! The colours are so pretty in it and this one is just way more appealing to me than either of the other Naked palettes. Unless someone buys this for me, or MUA bring out a dupe for it, I think I shall be picking it up in the US OF A. 

Our house has always been a Yankee Candle house, and there's always some fragrance burning in nearly every room! I've really gotten into burning the wax tarts in my bedroom lately, but I would love to try some of the large jars. I'm more into the fruity sweeter scents, but this Strawberry Buttercream one just sounds divine! Although it will probably make me hungry! 

 Pandora are renowned for their charms, and anyone that knows me knows how important a role my family play in my life. I am yet to have something to represent that on my Pandora so it would be nice to get a little charm like this to put on it! 

Ah good old LUSH! You really can't beat them for gift's for any occasion! This Lots Of Love gift set is made up of 5 of Lush's most well known products which are perfect for your loved one this Valentines. It contains Prince Charming Shower Gel, Sex Bomb Bath Bomb, Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, Neon Love Soap, and Tender is The Night massage bar. 

These are just a couple of things that caught my eye so far, I'm sure there's plenty more to come! However, just to be clear, although it has become quite a tradition to give gifts for Valentine's day, presents aren't the most important thing! Whether it be your mother, your granny, your best friend or your boyfriend, you don't need gifts to show them you love them! Who knows, maybe I'll just buy some of these myself... ;) 

Any of these catch your eyes? 

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx

Lip Lovin!!

A lot of the time we often overlook our lips when it comes to our skincare routine. Its only when our lips get so dry that they start to crack, (mine at the minute, ouch), or when we apply a matte formula lipstick that we see just how badly our lips suffer, and perhaps regret not looking after them aswell as we should have.
Which is why from now until Spring creeps in, (and Valentines day, wink wink,) I'm going to aiming to give my lips some serious looking after, which will make it much easier when it comes to applying lipstick, the only thing it won't help with is deciding which one to wear...

                                  Picture taken from oneclickbeautycare.com

Exfoliating: This is probably the key thing when looking after your lips. We all exfoliate our bodies and faces using varying exfoliators, so the lips aren't any different. Obviously the lips are more sensitive than the rest of the body, so a less abrasive scrub is ideal. You can go out and buy a ready made one, or you can make one yourself!!

• If you really don't want to spend money on a lip scrub, then it is quite easy to do it yourself. The easiest way to do it is with a toothbrush and some Vaseline, which lets face it, everyone has in their house. Dab a bit of Vaseline onto the brush and rub the toothbrush on your lips in circular motions. Lovely soft lips in an instant without spending any money! 
• Make your own! This is simple, and again its not going to cost you anything, because pretty much everything you need should be in your kitchen. The basic ingredients for a lip scrub are sugar, (brown works best but ordinary sugar will work aswell,) and olive oil. You just have to mix the two ingredients together and rub onto the lips. You could rub it on with a face cloth if you wanted to really give them a good vigorous scrub! When your done all you have to do is wash it off, and apply a lip balm of some sort because your lips will be slightly dry afterwards. (But super soft). You can add other ingredients to it if you so choose, such as honey, or lemon, or coconut oil. Its amazing what you can find in the kitchen!
• Buy one. The most likely option for us all, because lets face it most of us don't have the time for all these DIY beauty products. If we had the time I don't think we'd need to buy another beauty product again! The most well known lip scrub that can be bought on the high street are definitely the Lush ones. They come in a variety of flavours, Bubblegum, Pop Corn and Mint Julips. All of them smell equally as tasty as the other, and depending on your taste you'll definitely find one to suit. My personal favourite is the Bubblegum one, it smells like sweets, or the pink Hubba Bubba from back in the day! It works well, and it lasts for ages!! I'm still using a pot that I got back in February last year! And if you're so inclined to eat it, you can! Although I don't think eating dead skin from your lips mixed in with sugar would be too tasty... For what it is, its slightly expensive. Its around 6 euro, and if you can get past paying that for a tub of sugar then you're sure to love it!
  

                                                    Picture taken from Lush.com

Moisturise: Again this is common sense when it comes to our face and body, but we somehow over look it when it comes to lips. Once you've exfoliated your lips they will be super smooth, but slightly dry. The next step is to use a good moisturising lip balm to put some moisture back into your lips, which will give you a great base for whatever lipstick you may choose to wear. I currently have a few on rotation, one for my handbag, one for my bedroom, and then  another just for the sake of it! Its personal preference really, but I am loving a Lush one that I got for Christmas by the name of Honey Trap. Its by far the most moisturising Lip Balm I have ever used. Its no surprise really considering its made of up of ingredients like Shea Butter, Almond Oil,Beeswax and Honey! Oh and it also smells like chocolate... ;) 

The next step after that then is to try and decide which lipstick you want to wear.. .Which my friends I'm afraid I can't help with! 

So do you look after your lips, or do are they as dry as the Sahara desert?

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx

Spa Sessions!

Ever have one of those weeks where everything went wrong? Ok well that's an exaggeration, but it was one of those weeks where I was feeling sorry for myself and nothing could cheer me up.. (Until I went and saw Last Vegas, it was so funny I was still laughing on the drive home).. But anyway, I decided the other night in the midst of my 'I hate the world' rant, that I would treat myself to a bit of pampering. No I didn't hot foot it off to a spa for the day.. Instead I did the thing that every Irish mother hates to hear.. 'I'm turning on the immersion for a bath'..

I'd say I was about 10 when I last had a bath, shower's just took over and became more convenient and all the rest.. But my brother treated me to some Lush goodies for Christmas... And well I HAVE to use them don't I? 

Everyone does things differently, and some of you might think I'm a bit daft or you may have other products you'd use instead.. But you never know, maybe you'll get some ideas and have your own pamper session! 

So first of all I did the most important thing and removed every trace of make up on my face and applied a face mask. The one I'm using at the moment is No 7's Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask or Dry/Very Dry skin. Lately my skin has been feeling very dry and tight, and I had gotten this at Christmas so figured I'd give it go! This is the first time I've seen or felt a noticeable difference in my skin after using a mask. It instantly made my skin feel more hydrated and I know its not a radiance mask but it did make my skin look a bit more alive after use!

For my actual bath I used Lush's Creamy Candy Bubble Bar. I'd never used a bath product from Lush before so I was only glad of the chance to do so. The first thing that hit me was the smell. Typical of the brand it just smell gorgeous! This bubble bar is made up of super moisturising ingredients like almond, cocoa butter, and vanilla, so its a lot more moisturising than the standard bubble bars. To make the bubbles I crumbled the bar under the running hot water, and just stood back and watched the bubbles and the water turn slightly pink! It was lovely and I'm really looking forward to the next bath I have with some of my other Lush goodies! 

Picture taken from Lush.com

As an extra treat i opted to use my Lush Snow Angel shower gel. A limited edition at Christmas it is the girliest shower gel available. Its pink with slight glitter through it, and smells like sweets! Its divine. I think I got out of the bath smelling like a big bag of sherbet!! :D

And lastly I decided to bring my book in with me. Kindles and virtual books are all the rage these days, but I don't think anything is as good as reading an actual physical book. I'm currently reading Mitch Album's 'The First Phone Call From Heaven' which is about a small town in America which becomes the centre of attention after some of the residents have been getting phone calls from Heaven! Its one of those books that you can't put down no matter how tired you are or no matter how much work you have to do! 

I have to say it did help me feel a lot better afterwards. I'm the type of person that lets everything get on top of me, and worries about things that haven't even happened yet, or things that there's no point worrying about at all, and after my half hour of me time, I felt a lot less panicked. My New Years resolution is to try and stop it if I can, as I know its not good for me or the people around me, so hopefully I'll be able!

So what do you do if you're feeling under the weather or need a little pick me up?

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx

What I Got For Christmas 2013

Hey everyone! Its nearly time to wrap up another year and look ahead to a new start in 2014... Madness! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and got lot's of nice goodies off Santa Clause! :) I myself had a quiet enough one, I spent it in the company of my family, and saw my boyfriend Xmas Eve, and then popped out to visit his family on St Stephens day, and then hit the town with my gal pals on St Stephens night, which for once was really good!
I thought I'd do a quick post on what I got for Christmas this year, I'm NOT showing off, but I have been watching videos on You Tube from various bloggers on what they got, and I just find them really interesting to watch for some reason! So I figured I would show you all some of what I got! I was really lucky this year and got some amazing gifts, so I'm just going to show you some of the bits I got... :)

So I know some people wouldn't find books very exciting... But I love reading, and am really trying hard to get back into it! My parents picked me up this book from Mitch Albom, entitled 'the first phone call from heaven' and so far I'm loving it! My boyfriend gave me this tourist guide of New York City, and at first I was a bit confused... But the main part of my Christmas present is.... A trip to New York!! How exciting is that! My jaw nearly hit the floor when he told me!! He gave me a choice between Paris and New York.. And of course I opted for New York! I've already started hunting out the different make up brands that we can't get here to pick up when I get there! Sad or what!! :)

The next two pictures are a couple of the presents from my brother, and I have to say he did well this year! He picked me up a heap of lovely goodies from LUSH, including some bath bombs and melts, and I also got another set which contains some shower jelly, some bubblegum lip scrub, some lip balm and some other bath bombs and bubble wands etc... I am so excited to try them as I've never tried any of the bath products from LUSH, and I'm more of a shower person, so I'm going to use it as an excuse to have more baths!! :D  This jewelry set was also a gift from him, and I love it!! I have earring like these anyway, so the necklace is perfect to wear with them, and I love the teal colour for something different! Thanks bro!!

This watch is my new baby, I absolutely love it! My parents bought me this, and it is absolutely beautiful, its a rose gold colour, and the face is a white kind of shell colour, (I'm sure there's a word for it but I can't think of it). The best thing about this is that it doesn't need a battery! Its a mechanical watch, so you give it a wind up as much as you can and its good to go for 2 to 3 days before it needs to be wound up again!

My boyfriend's family were very good to me again this year. I got this Ted Baker Sitting Pretty set from his parents, and its lovely! The bag is gorgeous and will be perfect for putting make up in, and the products in it smell lovely too, slight floral but fresh at the same time!
And from his sister and her husband I got this little pedicure set! It contains some really pretty nail varnishes that I can't wait to use, and also some toe separators, and I think the little owl is a nail file, how adorable!!

I have to say I'm very luck and privileged to have gotten such amazing things from such wonderful people. I know there's a lot of people out there who may be sick in hospital, and there may be a lot of families out there who don't know how they'll get food on the table, never mind get each other presents, and for that reason I consider myself so lucky.
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all the best for 2014, and to anyone who has ever looked at my blog, even if it was just for a brief look, thank you so much!

Thanks for reading guys,
Alisha xxx

Lush Wishlist

Ah good old Lush. The only shop that I go into that gives me a pounding headache thanks to all the lovely goodies contained inside its 4 walls....Its not very often I get to visit a Lush shop because unfortunately there is none located in Galway, (Lush, sort this out), and its only when I'm either in Dublin or visiting my brother in the UK, that I get to go in and wander!
So if someone was to give me access to a Lush store right at this very moment, and a pocket full of cash to buy whatever I wanted, then here's what I would pick!

Let The Good Times Roll Face and Body Cleanser: I've heard Khila from Miss Budget Beauty rave about this and ever since I've been dying to try it. Its a cleanser, with possibly them most amazing ingredient in it..... Popcorn!!! Popcorn in a cleanser, imagine that! But anyway, this is a limited edition rolled cleanser that has been released for the Christmas season. Its made up of ingredients such as maize flower, polenta,cinnamon powder, and popcorn!! This is a cleanser that gently exfoliates the skin so it would be perfect for the party season, and the fact that it smells like caramel is only an added bonus! 

Snow Fairy: Another  Christmas product that has been raved about by bloggers all over the world that has peaked my interest. A bright pink shower gel  that apparently smells like sweets, what's not to like about this! I may have to ask my brother to bring me home some of this... Purely for research purposes of course! ;)

Golden Wonder Bath Bomb: I hadn't planned on this wishlist being all Christmas products... But that's just how its looking! Can you blame me though, look how pretty this is! It would actually be a shame to use this, but I guess leaving it sitting on the window would be a bit of a waste.. This is one of  the Lush bath bombs, which all have a surprise of some sort when you put them into the bath, usually in the form of some scents and colours, and sometimes even glitter! This particular one contains ingredients such as orange and cognac oil, and apparently turns the bath water all sorts of colours. I'm not one for baths, but this could be the thing that changes all of that!

Big Sea Salt Shampoo: A big trend this year in hair was volume, everyone wanted big hair! This shampoo from Lush aptly named 'Big' is packed full of coarse sea salt for volume, seaweed and coconut for softness, and lemon and limes for shine. It also contains fragrances such as neroli and vanilla so your hair actually won't smell like a big tub of salt, which can only be a good thing! 

Catastrophe Cosmetic Fresh Face Mask: A few years ago I got a really really bad dose of spots on my chin, which I tried and tried to get rid of and nothing worked. I was so self conscious of them I packed on the make up, which really didn't help matters. It was only until a trip up the north that I was given a sample of one of the fresh face masks (cosmetic warrior) in a Lush store that the pesky buggers finally cleared up! Now I only tend to get spots the very odd time, and if I was looking for a cleanser to keep my skin clear I'd be looking to try this particular mask. Packed full of blueberries, calamine powder, Irish moss gel, among many other ingredients, this is a mask that gives a good deep clean, and so keeping the pesky spots at bay!

I could've kept going with this post really, there's so much amazing stuff in the Lush store at the moment, but I figured I'd restrain myself! 

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx