A 'new look' week in photos

Veggie noodles / Shopping goodies / More shopping...oops! / Behind the scenes blogging / Clarins lip balms / Clarins eyeshadow

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Silly me forgot to take any Instagram snaps this week! Luckily I went shopping yesterday so thought I'd snap some of the goodies I picked up as well as some of the bits and bobs I've been photographing today for the blog.

Unfortunately I bought some new jeans in a long length instead of short and two of the tops I bought don't quite fit right so tomorrow I'll be taking them back to exchange. It serves me right for not trying them on really doesn't it? I spent way too much money though, I got a bit carried away. I also got my hair cut and tidied up a bit. The hairdresser offered me a dry cut, which was £10 cheaper so at least there was some money saving going on somewhere during the day.

I've had a lovely long weekend. I didn't do much on Friday except see my niece. She came round with my mum to see Charlie although I don't think Charlie really enjoys her coming round, he gets quite scared!

Today has been a pretty lazy day. I've cleaned, taken some photographs for this weeks blog posts, had a lovely lunch and watched an episode of 24! It's a great feeling knowing I'll get another lye in tomorrow. I'm hopefully going to have a bit of lunch in town with my sister and my niece and then come back and potter about for the rest of the day!

Before I go - let me know what you think of the new blog layout!

Warner Bros Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter

On Saturday (March 23) my friend and I visited the Warner Bros studios Leavesden for The Making of Harry Potter tour and I have to say it was so much fun!

It was absolutely freezing and snowing and we were both so tired from travelling a good three and a half hours on trains and tubes, but we had a great day. I don't want to give too much away but I loved the reveal of the great hall and I loved that we were able to go off and explore, take as many pictures as we wanted and spend as much time as wanted looking at everything. I felt like a big kid and most of the people visiting were actually big kids!

I loved the fact that everything we saw was used in the films and the location was actually where a good portion of the movies were made. I loved looking at all of the props and the costumes. I really enjoyed the green screen department and even got a picture of myself flying on a broomstick!

There were so many teeny tiny details on everything that went into the film. I loved seeing Privet Drive and the Knight Bus and I particularly enjoyed wondering down Diagon Alley. I was a bit disappointed with the Butterbeer though! It just seemed to be fizzy water with some cream on top, not worth the £2.95 in my opinion!

I think the ticket price was pretty reasonable but the gift shop was ridiculously expensive, as you would expect. I did pick up a guide book just as a little souvenir of the day though. Overall I had a brilliant time and we seemed to whizz through it but it is quite a long way to travel if you live outside of London. I can't really put my finger on what was the best bit, I definitely enjoyed the film at the beginning, which was a montage of all of the films. It made me want to watch them all again!

I had such a good day and would recommend it to any Harry Potter fan - I think it just proves how popular the whole phenomenon is.

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Sugar Frost

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Sugar Frost* - £20.50

I was really happy to receive one of the new Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colours from the Spring/Summer 2013 range. I was sent a lovely shimmery, neutral shade named 'Sugar Frost', which I really love. The eyeshadow comes in a twistable stick form and is really soft and easy to apply. I love the shimmering finish and this can be used as a liner or an all over shadow.

The shadow lasts a good eight hours and has very little transfer on application. I usually go for browns/beiges/grey shades on my eyes so it made a really nice change to having something light and fresh on my eyelids.

This has made it straight into my makeup bag and I'll be using it more and more regularly. I'd love to try a few more shades, there are so many to chose from and for £20.50 I think they make a nice little treat for yourself.

This post contains PR samples

A busy week in photos

Fry up! / Kiev / Clarins goodies / Paella! / Pizza / My BBQ Meatballs / Vince's homemade Prawn curry / Dumbledore at the HP tour / The cupboard under the stairs / Me and a Death Eater / Driving the HP car! / At Privet Drive / Tasting some Butterbeer / Choosing my wand / Hogwarts!
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This is a bit of a random combination of photos, it seems to mainly feature meals and my visit to the Harry Potter studios. I went yesterday with my friend and it was brilliant! I really enjoyed seeing all of the sets, props, costumes and special effects and I had loads of fun walking around and taking lots of photos. I will write a proper post about it this week hopefully, I took so many photos!

It still only feels like Saturday today instead of Sunday as I was so busy yesterday. We spent most of the day travelling and only about two hours in the actual tour. We didn't get back until gone 11pm so now I'm really feeling tired! It's my dad's birthday today as well so I've been round to give him his presents and also pick up the new car, it's so lovely!

It's so nice to drive a car that doesn't knock, rattle and need filling up every day with water! I still need to get used to the car though, it's very strange!

What have you been up to this week?

Elemis Freshskin Face Masks

Elemis Freshskin Deep Clean Purifying Face Mask and Magical Moisture Quenching Face Mask - £14.99

I adore the Elemis Freshskin range. I have incorporated these face masks into my skincare routine. I often rotate between these and the Origins Intensive Overnight Mask as I love all of them so much. The Magical Moisture Quenching Face Mask does exactly what it says on the packet in all fairness, but I much prefer the Deep Clean Purifying Face Mask as it's a lovely thick clay mask that leaves my skin feeling rejuvenated after use.

The clay dries really quickly and it becomes quite tight, so tight that you can't really move your face, but it's all worth it in the end! It brings out all of the impurities in your skin and once they've cleared up you're left with quite lovely skin. As I said, I use this probably every other week or so and it's worked wonders for my skin.

The only thing that annoys me about these face masks is that they come in these annoying packets. Once opened you don't use hardly any of the product so it dries up and it's difficult to get out of the packet when you come around to using it again. It would be great if these came in some kind of tube with a screw top that kept them fresh.

I would definitely recommend these to anyone that has sensitive skin as they cause no irritation and leave you feeling lovely and refreshed!

No7 Beautiful Skin Night Cream

No7 Beautiful Skin Night Cream for Dry/Very Dry Skin - £13.50

I swear by No7's Beautiful Skin range. I've previously reviewed it here and it's worked wonders for my skin. I use the Day Cream religiously so thought it wouldn't hurt to purchase the Night Cream as well.

At first glance it looks pretty much the same as the day cream, so much so that I compared the ingredients of each one. The ingredients are very different and it's obvious from the texture that the products are not as similar as I expected. The night cream is much thicker and leaves your skin feeling lovely and plump and well moisturised. It dries really quickly, which is great as there's nothing worse than going to sleep and your face sticking to the pillow!

Admittedly I do forget to use it every evening, but when I do remember it makes my skin feel so much fresher and there's no strong scent, which is ideal for a night cream in my opinion. These tubs last absolutely ages. I've repurchased the day cream already and I will definitely repurchase the night cream as well. Let me know if you've tried it.

Wednesday Wishlist #71

Topshop: Ozzy Osbourne Leather Trim Tank By And Finally - £25, Floral Tee - £18
New Look: Blue Crochet Shoulder T-shirt - £12.99, Parisian Pink Distressed T-Shirt - £12.99, White and Red Paisley Henna Print T-Shirt - £9.99, Pink Roll Sleeve T-Shirt - £4.99

Sometimes all you want to do is throw on a tshirt and a pair of jeans or a skirt. Sometimes you don't want to have to put in much effort and just want to get on with your day, who needs to think about whether it's on trend or not. Sometimes the most stylish people are the ones that don't put much effort in at all, which is why I decided to focus this weeks wishlist on some pretty basic tshirts.

Some tshirts that are available are actually pretty cool and stylish and would look great with a simple pair of jeans and a jacket. I've mostly scoured Topshop and New Look to find these beauties and they're all rather reasonably priced too!

What's on your wishlist this week?

Spring has sprung

It probably doesn't feel like it right now what with the cold weather and snow in parts of the country, but I feel like spring has definitely sprung! I've got bunches of daffodils dotted around the house and a delicious smelling Hyacinth growing away brilliantly!

I love having flowers around the house, they really brighten the place up and the Hyacinth means there's no need for scented candles at all as they smell so amazing. Once the summer comes around and the weather is actually a dryer and warmer then I really want to get out into the garden and tidy it up. I want to plant lots of flowers and see if I can actually grow something properly!

Do you think spring has sprung? Will you be getting out into the garden this year?

A daffodils week in photos

Barry M Texture polish / sweets / Hyacinth / Daffodils / nail wraps / hello Hyacinth! / Teriyaki meatballs / All you can eat carvery / Laura Mercier eyeshadow / Vince building Charlie's new toy / King of the castle! / Daffodils / Homemade curry

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My four bunches of daffodils have finally come out! The house smells lovely, although Vince says it smells disgusting, but what do you expect from a boy. It feels much more spring like recently. There is still some cold weather but it's definitely lighter in the evenings, which I love, mainly because I hate driving in the dark!

On Friday evening we decided to go out for dinner to a local pub that does an amazing all you can eat Carvery. The portions of meat they give you are ginormous so we were both absolutely stuffed and practically falling asleep at the table! It was so yummy though and was nice to go out and do something a little bit different.

We've had quite a relaxed weekend. I had to take my car to my dads as the brake lights were stuck on - as we found out when we were driving home from dinner on Friday night and Vince couldn't tell when I was stopping, oops! We took Charlie to the vets for a check up and then hit up the pet shop where Vince bought a ridiculously priced scratching post. Charlie has chewed the dangly toy off already!

Vince actually has the day off today so we're going to have some lovely breakfast then I guess I'll get on with some cleaning and blogging!