Homeware Haul

Back in February me and the boy moved in together... scary stuff I know!

We were very lucky to receive a lot of the furniture we needed from friends and family rather than having to buy new.

We also received some gorgeous presents and I wanted to share some of them with you along with a few bits I got too!

First off are these gorgeous tea light,lantern type holders. They have some beautiful rose gold colouring detailing with the heart and it goes really well with the cream ribbon. The glass also has a rose gold tinge to it so it's not completely clear. I haven't actually used these yet as I am yet to find the perfect place for them and they are currently making my kitchen windowsill look pretty. They were a mega bargain too! I found these in The Range and they were about £2 each I think?! Love me a bargain I do! But how pretty!

My mum brought us this gorgeous wine carafe, it's simple yet got a bit of character with the imprinted seal. Not going to lie... we don't drink masses of wine here... I'm more about the cider and prosecco and Jack is a beer and ale man... so we have been using this for flowers but I love it on my windowsill with some beautiful blooms in it. So it may stay here for now at least... maybe as I get older wine will taste better?! Who knows?! :)

One of my most favourite purchases we made together, was this storage unit. I had seen a similar one in Argos and made the mistake of putting it in my wish list... fair enough for about 3 months... and when I went to go and get it they no longer stocked it... anywhere... rude much!
So on our trip to IKEA I found this beauty and haven't looked back. It's so handy to keep all of our essentials and I'm sure a lot of unessentials in too.
The boxes on the first two shelves were also from IKEA and were dirt cheap! Super handy and I love it so much.

The next thing... admittedly I did already have. It was a Christmas Present from my mum and step dad a couple of years ago I believe but I'd never put it to good use or showed it off enough. It now sits in our front room next to our log burner and I keep all my nicer candles inside. (I do also have a drawer with... no joke... probably about 500 regular tea lights in... because you never know when you may need them...!) I love that it's now pride of place and everyone comments on it when them come over.

Lastly, I have now been able to put up a few DIY projects I had worked on before moving on show also. The first one was one I did for Myself and Jack documenting our first year together with receipts and ticket stubs which will... eventually... end up on our living room wall behind the sofa. The second main one is in our bedroom and is a small one at the moment as I need to find the rest of my tickets but they are in the loft as I have so many what I call "keepsake" boxes that I need a day (or two) to go through them all properly. This makes me smile every day as it showcases such good memories from so many years of the amazing shows I have seen. I love musical theatre and studied it at college, so although I have seen a lot, there are so many more I want and need to see! My mum is taking me to see Jesus Christ Superstar in London this August and it's an open air screening... to say I can't wait may be an understatement.

These are just a few things I love in our house, there are many more and I will show you more in the next few weeks along with our gaming room. (Mainly jacks things tbh... but my Harry Potter bits are in there too... I made sure I had some space!)

Much love

Tklou
 xx

Younique Flawless Four

Ok... as mentioned in a previous post, one of my lovely friends is a Younique presenter and because of this I have access to a lot of pretty amazing make up and skin care.

See my previous blog about their amazing charcoal face mask here

This week It's all about some make up!

I have been using the Mineral Touch Liquid Foundation for a while now, although I only had one shade which was for when I'm tanned (Taffeta) and I haven't got round to tanning for a while so decided to get one for every day having run out of my daily foundation in the shade Velour. 

I have a lot of love for this product as it feels sooooo good on your face. Epic coverage without feeling like you're caked.
It's a liquid to matte finish, and you really don't need much product at all, plus It's got a handy pipette included into the design of the bottle which makes application super easy.
If you're anything like me, this comes in handy too as it means you don't end up wasting a load of product on your hand.

This time I also got the foundation brush which has a small indent in the middle of the brush which it says to use with this foundation. I feel this soaked up the product than anything else and I preferred to use it to build the layers up if needed and buff it out, but actually preferred applying with my good ol' beauty blender. The brush is super soft though and I'm going to give it another go with one of my thicker formulated foundations to see if it works better as I'm thinking it may not soak up the product as much.

I also picked up another one of their Touch Mineral Skin Perfecting concealers in Scarlet.
Again, I already had this in Organza, a slightly darker shade but wanted one to use for highlight and under my eyes to brighten. I have fallen in love with it all over again! 

It's slightly thicker than you would expect but it's easy to blend and the results speak for themselves. I've seen some people use it to cover tattoos just to show you how much it covers! Insane! And it lasts forever.

Lastly, I decided to pick up their Glorious primer. I ran out of my daily one a while back if I'm honest and just kept forgetting to pick a new one up. I know, I know... super naughty of me!

Now... I don't know about you... But I'm all about packaging, it gives me a similar thrill to that of stationary... 

I loved the streamline look of these products all being in black boxes with strong white font. Plus the foundation bottle is a gorgeous frosted glass effect with the writing in black.
However, you will need some scissors near by in order to get into this primer.  I didn't use it for a few days as I kept forgetting and didn't have the time to search around first thing in the am. Although frustrating to open... once opened... it is the nicest feeling primer I've ever used.
 I wouldn't be able to say it kept my make up on all day, but I think my skin is as much to blame for that as the product, and once I have got my skin under control I will report back on that. All in all, it's a lovely product and I would recommend it.

I picked these items up in their Flawless Four collection which they are unfortunately no longer running, but keep your eyes peeled on Emma's page as they always have deals going on and I would definitely recommend trying Younique if you haven't already.

I will do another blog post soon on some of my other favourites from Younique as there are some goodens! 

My Favourites whilst being ill.

So as you may or may not know, I haven't been very well recently and ultimately had to have surgery.
I figured I could get some blog posts written up whilst I'm laid up recovering as I'm not able to do much else.
It's very frustrating not being able to do anything for yourself and having to listen to your body a lot more with regards to moving around so it's taking a while to do anything!

Leading up to my surgery I had a LOT of baths as they really helped ease the pain I was experiencing.
I love a good bath and after living somewhere that didn't have one, it's been a god send here that we have such a nice bath. I have some faves since moving in but as I'm not allowed to have a bath currently due to my dressings, it's actually been nice to use some of the products I wouldn't have been using due to my love of baths.

One of my favourite ever shower ranges is from Original Source, and I'm sure I'm not alone. I think they smell amazing and leave my body feeling so refreshed. My faves are the lemon and the mint ones out of the ones I've tried although I need to try some more I feel as I love these so much. Are there any you guys recommend?  I am currently using both and have the tiniest amounts left not wanting to completely finish them. Not sure if this has something to do with a need to have closure... I watched an episode of Big Bang yesterday and Amy was trying to rid Sheldon of his closure issue... let's just say it made me think!
If you are the only person on Earth not to have tried them, you really need to. Most supermarkets have these on special offer every now and again. Although a good dupe is the Boots own range, they are pretty good too and are something silly like 70p!

I've also, of course, been loving my Lush stash. I've been sparingly using my unicorn horn bubble bar along with northern lights bath bomb for a super colourful bubbly bath. As with everything lush, it makes your bath look and smell awesome. As soon as I'm allowed a bath again (stupid dressings) I'm getting my Comforter out as it's my absolute favourite and I need that scent in my life!

Beauty wise, I haven't really been using much as I haven't worn make up for a couple of weeks now as being in bed doesn't call for much of a made up face...Although I'm sure those around me would be grateful for a no-make-up-i-woke-up-like-this make up look... But I neither have the time or energy to do that. *chuckle*
I have however, been trying to make sure I moisturise to make sure my skin is still getting some sort of looking after and have been mixing it up between my Simple moisturiser and my Younique one. They are both lovely and make my skin feel gorge. They are both fab because you need the smallest amount and they have lasted me for ages.

I've also been using my Honey lip scrub from Lush as my lips have been rather dry, so I use this and then chuck on some Carmex to help moisturise them too. I'm all about the face moisturisation it seems! I'm usually shocking at remembering, so my face has definitely felt the benefit and is thanking me for it.

The last skin care item I've been using loads is this Simple Kind to Eyes Revitalising roll on. I may or may not have stolen this from my boyfriend... what he doesn't know won't hurt him. The metal ball on this coupled with the moisturiser feels so lovely under your eyes first thing in the morning and really helps me to wake up. Plus, lying around is surprisingly tiring, so I have been using it during the day too.

Lastly, I have been loving my current book of choice. A colleague lent it to me after I'd mentioned loving the film and wanting to read the book. It's taken me a while to pick it up, but while I've been off work I gravitated towards it and am struggling to put it down. I would say regardless if you've seen the film or not, the book is a must read!

If anyone has any ideas of what else I can be doing or any reading  recommendations whilst I'm holed up in bed, I welcome the suggestions with open arms!

Much love

T xx