Technological Hiccups

Hello everyone! I hope you're all well. I'm beginning to lose my patience with technology...
I said last week that as I'm now home for the summer I would be blogging a lot more and so you might be wondering why I have been so absent this week. Well, lets just say my computer is being incredibly lazy and inconsiderate.
For some unknown reason it won't let me save any pictures that I've taken or process any videos and so all the things I wanted to show you lovely people I can't, and I can't work out what to do to fix it. It keeps claiming my hard drive is full even when I delete a shed load of pictures and videos and iPhoto won't even recognise JPEGs from my camera, I don't know where to start.
I'm pretty disappointed because I bought my Macbook in September and I know I take a lot of pictures but there's really not that many on here. I'm gonna try work it all out as soon as I can but until then I won't be able to post anything on here, I'm really sorry.
I hope your weeks have all been going better than mine and that you are all happy. Again I'm sorry that I haven't posted but until I sort out my computer there's not much I can do. Hopefully I'll see you all next week.
Love Holly x

Lush - The Mask Of Magnaminty Review

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had the most lovely weekend in this beautiful weather. I'm rather ashamed to say I have spent far too much of it in bed!
Today I have another beauty post for you all, I'm sorry there haven't been many fashiony ones on here recently but there will be more soon I promise. Today I'm going to be reviewing Lush's self-preserving Mask Of Magnaminty face mask, get ready for some rather goblin-like pictures!
Recently I've been trying to take better care of my skin and am constantly on the look out for miracle products and seen as I haven't tried a face mask in years I thought I'd splash out on one! It all started last month...
I originally decided to go to Lush because I was ridiculously bored of my skincare routine and wanted to inject some of their fun into my evening routine. I was stood in the Newcastle store with a lovely lady (whom I'm pretty sure was bored of me by the time I'd made my mind up) for about 15 minutes trying to decide which to buy and finally I did. I chose a delightful face mask called Love Lettuce which I absolutely fell in love with. It smelt of lavender and was full of ground almonds which are really good for exfoliating your skin. When I ran out of Love Lettuce I was, as you'd expect, heartbroken, and I simply couldn't resist running back to Lush to buy another! But this time I thought I'd try a different face mask on the off chance that there was one even more amazing than Love Lettuce!
This time I decided to go for the Mask Of Magnaminty, because:
One: it smells of peppermint (yum!)
Two: it claims it can save you from terrifying breakouts
Three: its self preserving which means it will last longer than others in the range and you don't have to keep it in the fridge (which is good if you're at university because your flat mates won't be scared half to death by a green monster in the corridor on its way back to the kitchen once you've finished applying it!)
You may be wondering why Lush face masks have to be kept in the fridge, don't worry I was too! As I was informed when I bought my first mask, the reason you have to keep them in the fridge is due to the natural materials that make them. Lush are amazing for producing products that actually work and are all made from natural products. Many of their masks contain honey, almonds, peppermint and other gorgeous natural ingredients and to stop them from going off they have to be kept refrigerated. Because of this Lush's face masks only last for about 3 weeks and so you have to use them regularly before they go out of date. Originally I thought this was slightly annoying as I only wanted to use a mask when I really needed one but once you get into the routine of using them every other day its so heavenly and you can really see the effects on your skin.
Now you know the basics, lets get to the mask!

 As you can see, my skin is not looking its best. Its not too bad but black heads are lurking. In preparation for the face mask I've put my hair up in french plaits to avoid getting it in my hair and I've taken my make up off.

Looks weird right? And I am about to cover my face in it! What I like about this mask is that its quite, I don't really know how to say this, watery? It's not runny, as you can see its quite stodgy but it feels very hydrating when its on your skin.

Please ignore the stupid face I am pulling in this picture.

 What did I tell you? Goblin.

 Ten minutes later and its time to get this weird gloop off my face.

Again please ignore how stupid my face looks in the picture below.

As you can see, CLEAR SKIN! There is nothing better than taking off a Lush face mask (except maybe the delicious smell!) and seeing how smooth your skin looks and feels. The effects can be seen immediately and your skin feels healthy and refreshed. Its also reassuring to know that because Lush's face masks are all made from natural ingredients that you haven't had to use any harsh chemicals to achieve clear and smooth skin. I usually use a face mask as the final step of my night time routine and don't apply any moisturiser or cleanser afterwards as I like my skin to breathe after its been naturally striped of all impurities. I am in love with Lush's face masks and as soon as this one runs out I guarantee I will be running straight back to Lush to buy another! I really like the Mask of Magnaminty, it smells gorgeous and leaves your skin feeling refreshed and awake. Do I love it as much as Love Lettuce you may ask? Not yet, but that may have well changed by the time I'm through with the entire tub!
The MoM cost me around £9 because they only had the larger pots in stock when I bought it but the smaller pots cost around £6 and usually last for about 8 or 9 masks. I would definitely recommend Lush's face masks and there are plenty to choose from, all designed for different skin types and all do different jobs so theres definitely something for everyone.
I hope you all enjoyed todays post and let me know if you like this kind of beauty post because if you do I'll simply have to write more! I hope you all have a splendid week and good luck to those of you who have exams. Its going to be a busy week for me as its my birthday tomorrow and I'm going home Friday for Slam Dunk festival so posts may not be so regular but I'll try do as many as I can.
Love Holly x

Burberry Beauty Prize!

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are all having a pleasant week and if any of you have exams I hope you're surviving revision and aren't too stressed!
I'm still in Newcastle at the moment but today I thought I'd show you some pictures I took whilst I was at home over Easter. And drum roll please, because this is going to be my first ever beauty post! I've had this blog for six months now and I've always steered away from beauty because I don't know much about it, but this summer I want to get more into beauty and find out more about how to look after my skin and what to dress it in. So from now on you can expect the odd beauty post and review here and there as well as fashiony stuff. I'm also planning on doing favourite videos at the end of each month however these will feature all sorts of things and not be exclusively beauty-related.
But anyway back to today's post! I was lucky enough to attend the Vogue Festival back in March and whilst I was there I entered into a prize draw with Burberry and about a month ago I received an email telling me I'd won! The prize was a collection of Burberry make-up products which they very kindly sent to me as I couldn't go down to their Covent Garden store to collect them. I was shaking with anticipation when they arrived and could not wait to get them open. When I did remove the oodles of layers of packaging I was in awe of these delicious products which is why I thought I'd share them with you today.

First of all, I would like to say I did get slightly too excited when I saw how beautiful the bag was. Secondly, yes I do have Mr Men bedsheets and yes I am aware of the fact that I turn nineteen next week.
Inside my beautiful Burberry bag, I found a hell of a lot of tissue paper, covered in the iconic Burberry check of course, and some of the most beautiful make-up I've ever seen. I was given five products: a tube of lipstick, eye shadow, a bottle of primer, a tube of mascara and an eye liner pencil. I was immediately obsessed.

Lets start with the lipstick...

I love this lipstick, its simply beautiful! Its Burberry's Soft Satin Lipstick in the shade "Romantic Rose" or No.24 and it is wonderful. The colour is gorgeous and looks completely natural when on your lips, I would show you guys pictures of what I looked like with all of the make-up on my face rather than my arm, but I could not get a good picture for the life of me! The lipstick has a really nice glossy texture but it still looks like a lipstick when you're wearing it, my lips felt quite hydrated with it on. Its honestly really lovely I am sold! Also the tube has a magnet in it and makes a really satisfying click when you put the lid back on!
Next on the list: eyeshadow...

Again, I really like this product. This is Burberry's Sheer Eye Shadow Eye Enhancer in the shade "Taute Brown" or No.7. The colour of this is really nice, its a very soft brown and made my eyes look a lot brighter of a blue. Unfortunately I don't wear eye shadow very often because I have really small eye sockets and it did look slightly like I'd been punched in the face. On any other blue eyed person however I think it would lovely!
And now to the primer...

Now this is a bit of a black area for me, I literally know nothing about primers! As I've said I want to learn more about beauty and this will definitely an area I'm going to investigate, if anyone reading this knows anything about primers, please educate me! This is the Fresh Glow Luminous Fluid Base in "Nude Radiance" or No.1. As you can see from the swatch it is very shiny however when I'd put my foundation over the top of it you couldn't tell. It did make my foundation look a lot brighter and this may reflect a poor vocabulary but the only word I can think of to describe my face afterwards was "radiant". I like this product but as its the only primer I've ever used I haven't anything to compare it to. I wish I knew more about primers to give you a more educated answer and if I'm talking nonsense please tell. I'd rather not be preaching ignorantly.
Now moving back into my comfort zone...

This is Burberry's Effortless Mascara Volumising Lash Enhancer in "Midnight Black" No.1. I'm usually quite hard to impress when it comes to mascaras as my lashes a little on the short side, and this mascara, well...it was alright. It does what it says on the box, it does look effortless and the effect it gave my lashes did look very natural which is great if you've got lovely long curvy lashes but for us girls with slightly rubbish lashes, we need a bit more oomph. I usually rate mascaras on length and natural aesthetic and although this mascara was subtle and effective it didn't quite give me the length I need. I liked it but I don't think this product is for me.
And last but not least, the eye liner...

Now this product is not for the faint hearted, its fierce. This is Burberry's Eye Definer Eye Shaping Pencil in "Midnight Black" No.1. And when Burberry say "Midnight Black", they mean midnight! Its a pencil eyeliner and very strong and very matte. Its not as soft as others I've used but I don't wear pencil eyeliner very often so again I could be talking nonsense. However, even though make-up is not my forte I do know that this will definitely define your eyes!
So there you go everyone that was my first ever beauty post! I'm sorry if I've made no sense throughout this post and offended any of you beauty brain boxes out there but as I've said I don't know much about beauty and it is something I'm trying to learn more about so please forgive my ignorance. Hopefully the next time I do a beauty post I'll be slightly more educated on the subject!
I've got another week in Newcastle before I head home to Leeds for Slam Dunk festival and summer so I'll try do you all some Newcastle related posts next week, maybe I'll show you some of my favourite spots in the city if the weathers nice. As always more is coming and I've got posts in mind for when I'm home and have space to shoot some more fashion-related photographs so keep your eyes out for them. I hope you all have lovely weekends and I shall see you all soon. Love Holly x

New York Video Diary!

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your week, mine has been spent rather lazily I'm not going to lie, but I'm free of uni work so who cares! For those of you who do have exams I hope its all going well and you're not too stressed.

As promised here is my extremely overdue New York Video Diary! The reason it has taken me so long to upload this is due to the confusingness of iTunes and new computers so I apologise for the delay but now its here I am quite proud of it. Anyway I'll stop making excuses, enjoy!

So I hope you all enjoyed that and coming along with me during my adventure in the Big Apple. I'm going to start filming more videos for my blog so you may see some more on this channel soon!
As always I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I shall see you soon!
Love Holly x

New Jumpsuit For Cam's 18th!

Hello everyone! That is if there's anyone there and you haven't all abandoned me for being the most unreliable blogger ever! I am so sorry about the lack of posts this month I truly have been rubbish, I'm sure you can all guess my excuse, uni work. And believe me, there was a lot of it! 

I finished my first year of Fashion Communication at Northumbria University on Thursday and as there are no exams on my course and it is all coursework there was a lot of work to be done before then! The last week in particular was very stressful, I can't think of one day that I wasn't up by 7am nor one night that I went to bed before 2am! Thankfully I got it all done and I'm proud of what I have achieved. I have met some of the loveliest people on this course and throughout my first year of uni and I'm so grateful to them all for making first year as amazing as it has been.
Moving on to today's post, it was Cameron's 18th birthday bash on Saturday night and seen as he is one of my best friends I thought the occasion deserved a new outfit. Cam is one of my closest friends which is handy for one of my other best friends Katie as he is her boyfriend, which means the three of us hang out all the time. Katie and I are currently at uni in Newcastle but Cam is a year younger and is currently finishing his A Levels back home in Leeds.
Katie and I arrived home Friday evening and planned a trip into town for Saturday to find new outfits for the party. We had only intended to be in Leeds for a couple of hours however we spent the entire afternoon frantically running around the city centre desperately trying to find something wear. We tried Topshop, River Island, Zara, H&M, Dorothy Perkins, Oasis, Mango, Warehouse, Coast, New Look and Next without even trying anything on! As a "what have we got to lose?" we tried USC a place that neither of us ever shops in. Miraculously we managed to find Katie not one, but two dresses and got both of them for under £40! The high street gods were obviously feeling sorry for us.
Then being the idiot that I am, I had completely forgotten that Miss Selfridge was only round the corner so we popped in desperately hoping to find me something to wear. Luckily I did.

Obviously these are not pictures of me at the party, I forgot to take my camera and so didn't take any pictures, well done Hol. 

The entire day I'd been looking at jumpsuits and Katie had been rolling her eyes every time I touched one but finally I found what I had been looking for. This jumpsuit has a lovely aztec print and the colours are gorgeous, the legs are also slightly gathered at the bottom giving it a more elegant edge. I paired it with my glittery silver heels from Dorothy Perkins as I felt the navy on the jumpsuit would clash with my black heels a little too much. Seen as I was going to cover my feet in that much glitter I felt the jewellery should be a little more understated so I opted for my silver Tiffany & Co necklace and bracelet. And as always my hair was, well my hair.

The jumpsuit was £39 however with 20% student discount I got it for £31. I thought it was a little much but it is very versatile as I can dress it up (as demonstrated above) or I can dress it down with my denim waistcoat and a pair of sandals for the summer. 

We had such a good night at Cam's party and saw friends that we haven't seen in a very long time which was lovely. As Cam is such a good friend of my entire family, my parents were invited and so I spent half my night stood outside on the balcony of the venue hiding from my Dad's HORRIFIC dancing. But apart from that it was fab. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post as I haven't done one like this (or any at all) for a while and I promise that now I have finished uni until September posts will be much more regular. I'm going to make it my mission to do at least two a week and I'm trying to learn more about beauty so maybe you'll see some beauty posts on here in the near future. Hopefully you'll see some videos on my blog some time soon as well!

Thank you for reading my blog, it means so much to me. I'll see you all soon! Love Holly x