Manicure Monday: First day of spring

Tomorrow, according to the Met Office, is the first official day of spring and I'm surprised at myself because usually I'm not really bothered about it but I'm fully ready to embrace it! I can't wait to drive home from work and it still to be light, it just makes the day feel so much longer and it stops me wanting to curl up on the sofa under a blanket. I'll also be glad for the brighter mornings as it makes it so much easier to wake up! I know it won't exactly be warm weather but just having the brightness is such a nice change.

Usually the New Year or September 'back to school' time is when most people feel like having a big clear out or shaking things up a bit but I'm feeling like it at the moment. The house is definitely due a big spring clean and clear out and I'm now feeling more determined to start up some exercise classes again after being extremely lazy for the past four months or so. I'm thinking of starting spin classes again, just because my legs are feeling like they're suffering a bit from me sitting down all day long at work. I'm trying to move around more and stand up but I feel like exercise is probably the best way to get the blood pumping. I did enjoy my spin classes last year so on Monday I'm hoping to pop along again! I also want to do one other class a week as one isn't quite enough but I can't decide whether I should do some Yoga or something called Block Fit, which is four classes in one - dance, hit, combat and wellbeing. Having written that down I've just realised that the wellbeign portion of the class is probably pretty similar to Yoga so this one might be a winner!

Anyway, I've gone off track a bit...I thought I'd celebrate the first day of spring with some bright and fun, spring-themed nails! It's amazing what shades I find when I empty out my entire nail polish collection onto my bedroom floor. 'I don't think I have any yellow polishes at all' I thought to myself. Oh how wrong I was, just look at the polishes I found.

Nella Milano is a brand whose polishes I've been rediscovering loads of thanks to these weekly posts. This week I dug out the yellow and orange from the 2015 spring/summer collection, which are absolutely perfect for brightening things up a bit! They still apply like a dream and stay put for ages too. They really compliment eachother and are just very classic spring/summer shades that everyone needs to have in their collection.

The yellow polish from Barry M has been with me for years and has come in very handy at all times of year. In spring/summer when I want bright, colourful nails, in Easter when I want to do something Easter-themed and at Halloween when I wanted to use it as a base for my scary Halloween nails.

The orange Rimmel shade, otherwise known as Tangerine Tent, was one I picked up last year when the brand started it's relationship with Rita Ora. They brought out the perfect shades of spring brights and this was just one of the shades. I absolutely love it as orange on the nails is a sure fire way to cheer yourself up a bit.

Together these nail shades are perfect for spring and for injecting some much needed colour in our lives! What do you think? Will you be painting on some spring nail polish tonight? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Mother's Day Gift Guide

Ahh that time of year again...Mother's Day! I find Mother's Day one of the easier occasions to shop for mainly because Mum's are very appreciative of whatever you buy them, even when you're five years old and buy some dodgy looking plant. Speaking of Mother's Day has reminded me that I need to get my own mum a present. Usually I can't go wrong with a book, although I think I may have bought her one last year - eek! If you're struggling for gift ideas then hopefully this little guide will help!

As I mentioned, smellies and beauty products are my first port of call and being a beauty blogger, this should be pretty easy! L'Occitane have such a cute range of gifts that are perfect for Mother's Day. You can go big with a nice gift set collection such as the Cherry Blossom one I've chosen here or you can go a bit more purse friendly with a little hand cream/hand care Shea Butter tin. The illustrations on this one are really cute.

Another item that pretty much all mum's love is perfume. The YSL Black Opium perfume is really popular at the moment. I actually had a quick spritz of it while I was in Boots at the weekend and it is delicious. I'm contemplating spending my Boots points on a bottle as I've almost reached enough! The Dolce & Gabanna Dolce Rosa perfume is also another really nice, feminine scent and the bottle is gorgeous too, pretty ideal for Mother's Day.

I don't know about your mum but mine is a big fan of Yankee Candles. I am too, a bit of an addict actually...my lounge currently has 11 candles in it, which is just ridiculous I know. Anyway, these little tealights always make great gifts and there's so many scents to choose from too. You could always splash out on a bigger candle too if you know there's a scent your mum particularly likes.

Lastly I thought I'd throw a bag into the mix as I know my own mum has a huge handbag collection. I'm not sure she'd necessarily like this particular one but the idea of getting your mum a special handbag is really sweet I think. You can get some really affordable bags that look much more expensive than they are. If you wanted to spend a bit more you could even fill the bag with other little bits and pieces for mum too.

Has this gift guide inspired your Mother's Day gift buying? Let me know in the comments what you're buying your mum this Mother's Day.

*This post is written in collaboration with L'Occitane.

Manicure Monday: Moody blues

I don't know about you but I'm feelin' 22 but I'm totally done with winter. Can it just bugger off already? I'm sick of the wind, the rain, the cold and the dark evenings (although they are very slowly becoming lighter I have noticed). I felt it really badly last week for some reason, I had just had completely enough of the darkness and I felt like I just needed some daylight so Vince and I went for a really long walk on the Sunday afternoon, which did us the world of good!

The moody weather has this week inspired my nail colour of choice - blue! Digging through my nail polish collection I found that I had quite a lot of blue shades, surprisingly. I had bright ones, glittery ones, dark ones, you name it I had it, so it was difficult to choose which ones to feature in this post. I went for the Lottie London 'As If' polish as it is such a firm favourite of mine. Not particularly moody, I must admin, but perfect for cheering yourself up if it is a pretty dreary day.

Collections Gothic Glam polish in 'Poison' is one I've owned since 2013, I can't believe it! It's the perfect moody blue/green shade with a hint of shimmer and I'm so happy I have rediscovered this polish for this post. It's definitely going back on my nails more often.

Of course this wouldn't be a nail post without a bit of Barry M making an appearance. I picked up the Gelly polish in 'Damson' back in 2014 and I'm pleased to say it's still going strong. It's super vibrant and just very blue and it goes perfectly with the 'Blackberry' shade, which I bought at the end of last year for my 'Alternative Christmas Nails' post. The Gelly range from Barry M is definitely my favourite and the 'Blackberry' shade is absolutely perfect for the moody blues look I'm going for.

What do you think of these moody blues nails? What's your favourite blue nail polish shade? Let me know in the comments.

Lottie London Soap Star Solid Brush Cleanser

Something I've not done in a VERY long time is clean my make-up brushes. I know I should be ashamed of myself. I don't actually wear foundation or any skin make-up on a daily basis so I'm not constantly using dirty brushes on my skin, just on my eyelids, so when the new Lottie London Soap Star Solid Brush Cleanser popped up I thought I would give it a try.

In the past I've only really used warm water to clean my brushes and lots of scrubbing them on my hand so the brush cleanser is definitely a bit of a step up for me. The Lottie London cleanser comes in a small round pot and it's like a bar of soap for your brushes basically. You simply wet your brushes then rub them thoroughly on the soap so it creates a lather, then rinse and repeat until clean. It's really easy but it can get a bit messy!

Because I generally wear brown eyeshadows the soap got dirty very quickly so I had to run it under the tap a few times, just because I was cleaning the brushes then putting them back into the dirty brown residue on the soap. The soap contains coconut oil and shea butter so it smells really lovely but most importantly, it really does get the brushes nice and clean and smelling super afterwards! It didn't take long at all to clean all my brushes and there were 30 in total (who needs 30 brushes?!).

I just wish the pot/soap was a bit bigger. The soap moves around inside the pot so you only really rub the brushes in the middle, which I can envision will create a big dip in the soap. It would be good to rub the brushes on the side to even it out a bit but it's tricky when it moves. That's really my only criticism, that and the fact you need to clean the soap up afterwards, but overall the soap really did work wonders on my brushes. It's a really handy little product that I can keep near the sink and after each use of my brushes I can give them a little scrub and keep them clean on a more regular basis!

Have you tried the new Lottie London Soap Star Solid Brush Cleanser? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Manicure Monday: Barry M Speedy Spring Collection

Back in the autumn I wrote about Barry M's Speedy Quick Dry Autumn Nail Shades and I had nothing but good things to say about them so I was thrilled when I spotted a new spring range in the same speedy drying formula.

The shades in the collection are not too far from the ones in the Gelly Spring Collection so you could buy either range and be happy, however, as a beauty blogger I just had to get both ranges and give them a thorough testing.

The Speedy Quick Dry range includes the shades 'In a Flash', which is a very pretty pink, 'Personal Best', which is a soft purple/lavender shade, 'Winning Streak', which is a creamy nude and 'Freestyle', which is a soft pink. All of them are super pretty and feminine as well as being the perfect shades for spring.

I found 'In a Flash' and 'Winning Streak' to both be a bit thin and streaky on application, which meant I needed quite a few more layers to get a good finish. This didn't effect the drying time though as all of the polishes dried in super quick time, more than living up to their namesake.

I was super impressed with these four polishes. I painted my nails on a Sunday and they were still chip free on the following Thursday and even on the Friday/Saturday there was still only very minimal chipping so they lasted really well. I thought because a couple of them needed more layers it meant they would chip easier but that definitely wasn't the case.

Have you tried the Barry M Speedy Spring Collection? Let me know what you thought in the comments.

Look Fantastic February Beauty Box

This is the last box of my three month subscription. I have actually cancelled my boxes now just because Vince is out of work at the moment so spending money on luxuries like this isn't the best thing to be doing at the moment, but I'm hoping once he's working again I can re-subscribe as I've been really enjoying all the boxes I've received so far. You can read my thoughts on the January box here and the December box here.

This month's box is the #LFLoves edition so has a bit of a Valentine's Day theme, which I guess is quite a common and easy theme to go for at this time of year but none the less, it's still a great little box. Inside you will find a mini Monuspa Bali Massage and Body Oil that can be used on a daily basis to leave your skin super soft or it can be massaged into your muscles and even poured into a bubble bath. I love having baths with nice products in and an oil like this is perfect to just soak away in so I'm really looking forward to using this.

Keeping on the soft skin theme, there's also a Bliss Pink Grapefruit and Aloe Body Butter that's perfect for using after your morning shower thanks to the zingy grapefruit tones.

Also in the box is a Pureology colour care spray for dyed hair, which is not something I have much use for unfortunately but I do have a sister with bright red hair who might be interested in giving this a try!

There's also a Hi Impact Brows palette, which can be used on eyes as well, which I'm really glad about because I literally don't do anything to my eyebrows except have them waxed every 4 to 6 weeks. I just don't understand the whole filling in/drawing on eyebrows so I'm totally disinterested in eyebrow products, luckily this can be used as eyeshadow too as I'm a regular brown eyeshadow wearer so this is perfect to add to my collection!

Another thing that I never bother about is lipstick or lip products aside from lip balms so I'm not sure if I'll have much use for the Lord & Berry matte lipstick pencil. It is an absolutely lovely shade though, perfect for Valentine's Day, so I might just give it a little go!

Lastly and probably my favourite product is a mini keyring Denman hairbrush. This is fab and I am putting it on my keys straight away!

Overall I am happy with the box but as I mentioned I'm not a huge lip or eyebrow product fan or user so I'm not sure these items will get much use. I also don't have coloured hair but you can't forget that the point of beauty boxes is to discover new brands and products so you can't always absolutely love everything. I'm sure I'll find a good home for the items I'm not keen on! I'm really sad about potentially missing the March box but I'm hoping to sign back up in April time!

Have you got the Look Fantastic #LFLove beauty box for February? Let me know what you think in the comments!

A Valentine's Day treat to yourself with Baylis & Harding Pink Magnolia & Pear Blossom

If you don't have a special someone this year, or even if you do, then you can treat yourself to a night of luxury pampering with the lovely Pink Magnolia & Pear Blossom range from Baylis & Harding. I certainly will be as there's nothing better than a pamper evening and treating yourself to lots of bubbles and heavenly scents.

The range blends top notes of magnolia and cassis with fruity pear, infused with sandalwood and creamy vanilla. In other words it smells amazing. The three wick candle is absolutely huge and it fills the room with scent almost instantly - the scent is very fresh and although fruity, it's not over the top. It's the perfect spring/summer scent and ideal for burning when you're in the bath as it isn't overpowering, instead it creates a lovely relaxing aroma around you.

The Body Wash is also absolutely huge and for only £8 you get a massive 750ml. It comes in a gorgeous gift box so would make the perfect Valentine's Day gift and incorporates the delicious Pink Magnolia & Pear Blossom scent. It's super gentle on the skin and a little bit goes a really long way so this will last forever I'm sure! As well as using it as a body wash I also like to pour it into my bath under a running tap as it helps create a few bubbles and also allows you to sit and bathe in it, leaving your skin smelling heavenly afterwards and feeling lovely and pampered.

Baylis & Harding is a brand I have been familiar with for SO long but haven't properly given it a chance in the past. Things are definitely going to change now as many products in the range are so cheap and such good quality. The candle and body wash featured here for instance are really purse-friendly and you really get your money's worth, so next time I spy some Baylis & Harding on the shelves of my local shops I will certainly pay it more attention and possibly pick something up to build on my collection.

Have you tried Baylis & Harding or will you be trying the new Pink Magnolia & Pear Blossom range? Let me know in the comments.

*This post contains PR samples

A little blogging behind the scenes: Picture the scene...I'm in my bathroom that's not really big enough to move in, I've got my DSLR to take photos with and a bath running as well as a three wick candle burning. It could all spell disaster. I had visions of me dropping the camera into the bubbles or accidentally setting fire to the pretty, pretty roses I carefully placed around the candle but thankfully this shoot went without a hitch.

Manicure Monday: Valentine's Day nails

So it's that time of year again. This year, as my boyfriend currently doesn't have a job and I'm trying very hard to not overspend, we're keeping the celebrations very low key. I knew I wanted to do a VDay nail look on the blog so instead of buying the latest red polishes I thought I'd just raid my stash as I was sure I had some. I was right. I had loads. So many that it was hard to choose which ones to feature, but in the end I went for some traditional reds and a pastel and a bright pink, which I think all work really well together. I also got some Christmas nail stickers last year that for some reason included the words LOVE and HATE on them so I decided the LOVE stickers would work really well for this look. I did contemplate using the HATE stickers for an alternative VDay nail look but decided against it in the end.

I'm really glad I dug these polishes out because they're so pretty. I particularly like the bright pink matte Barry M polish. It's called 'Rhossili' and I featured it on the blog way back in 2014. You can read my thoughts on it here. It's lovely to apply and because it's a matte polish it dries super quick!

The Nella Milano polish was one I received last year and is actually part of an Easter polish collection, but it's such a lovely red that it can be used for Valentine's Day and even Christmas if you wanted to!

The Nails Inc polish is absolutely ancient and one of those ones I got free with some sort of Coca Cola deal in Boots years and years ago or free in a magazine. I don't think I've actually ever bought a full-priced Nails Inc polish, just because they're so ridiculously expensive so I always make good use of magazine freebies or offers.

Lastly, the pastel pink polish is one I received last year from Freedom Makeup's Les Nudes collection. The whole range was absolutely gorgeous so again I'm super happy to have raided my stash and rediscovered this. It's still lovely to apply and not to thin that you need loads of coats either.

All in all I'm pretty happy with my Valentine's Day nail look and it's my own little way of celebrating the day without having spent any money!

Tweet me a picture of your Valentine's Day nails @cherryp13 or let me know in the comments what your fave VDay nail look is.

*This post contains some PR samples.

Five blogs for great beauty

Hello and happy Friday!

Today I thought I'd start a new mini-series featuring some of my favourite blogs around. It's always nice to share the love and I know how great it feels when another blogger recognises your hard work so I wanted to tell some of my favourite bloggers how much I love them.

I'm not going to commit to this being a weekly thing as I have a lot of posts planned out already so I'm not sure this would slot into a weekly spot so I'll do it as and when I can. I think I have probably featured a couple if not all of these girls on the blog in the past but because they are still ones I check on a daily basis and because they are my go-to when it comes to beauty, I couldn't not include them here.

So without further ado, here are my five favourite blogs for beauty!

Hope Freedom Love
Stephanie's blog is absolutely fab and one I check very regularly for the latest beauty news. I really enjoyed her recent Budget Beauty Week, it was such a great idea and it really appealed to me as I'm a high-street beauty girl through and through. My favourite thing about Stephanie's blog is her Thursday Tittle-Tattle posts, which give me news about the latest beauty releases. As a fellow blogger I find this really helpful and I often note down the dates products are being released so I can make sure I pick them up when I'm next shopping.

Haysparkle
Hayley's blog is another one that I really enjoy for highstreet beauty. We get sent a lot of the same products for review so I'm always really interested to read her opinions on the same products I've tried, although unlike mine Hayley's isn't review after review as she tends to throw favourites posts and wishlists into the mix as well, all of which I really enjoy. I also can't get over how much Hayley posts, she is absolutely on fire with regular, quality content. I could learn a thing or two from her!

Tales of a Pale face
I'm planning a 'five blogs for great photography' post in the future and it was really tricky to decide whether to feature Kat in that post or this one. I suppose I could do both because she's knocking them both out of the park. Whenever I look at Kat's blog I feel super inspired. I really enjoy the mix of highstreet and more higher end beauty, I think she does both really well.

Jodie Loue
Jodie's blog was another that would easily fit into the great photography slot as well. Her blog is one of my more recent finds, I probably discovered it towards the end of last year but I click onto it almost daily and it's another one that inspired me to up my own blogging game. This is another blog that mixes things up a bit too and doesn't just settle on review after review, she features lots of products all in one post, much like a magazine would for an article and this is something I just love in the blogging world and wish I would do more of!

The Sunday Girl
Every day I pop onto my blogger feed and every day Adrienne has loads of new blog posts published ready for me to read. I feel like there's definitely something for everyone on every budget and I love the variety. It is quite a review heavy blog, which is by no means a bad thing, but alongside the traditional reviews Adrienne also pumps out some really interesting, well written and researched posts and some super helpful blog advice pieces too. The Sunday Girl is absolutely a daily read for me and yet another blog/blogger who I look up to immensely.

So there you have it, my five favourite blogs for beauty. Be sure to leave me a comment with your favourite beauty blogs so I can check them out and you never know, maybe discover some new loves. Also be sure to give the lovely ladies featured a follow!

Lottie London 'Cherry Pie' Balm Ball

This past weekend I popped into Superdrug with the sole intention of buying the new Lottie London brush cleanser, but while I was browsing the counter I came across a collection of cute little lip balm balls. As I had a look through the range of scents I came across one called 'Cherry Pie'. I pointed it out to my boyfriend as it's the same name as my blog and he said I absolutely had to buy it and feature it, so here we are!

I am a sucker for a lip balm. You should see the bottom of my handbag...it's absolutely overflowing with the things. My current go-to lip balm is an unscented Chapstick because the brand seems to have discontinued the medicated Chapstick I was using previously, but that's a rant for another day.

After using this Lottie London balm, I am beginning to think spherical shaped lipbalms are the future. They're much better than the awful twist up ones I'm used to and which always, always break and eventually stop twisting. They're very cute and very handy for popping in your bag too. The 'Cherry Pie' scented balm is super sweet, which I personally love. It doesn't leave my lips dryer than the desert after about five minutes like most other scented balms do. The Lottie London Balm Balls really moisturise the lips, leaving them really soft and smooth. It also leaves them looking super shiny so no need for a lip gloss!

I found the £4.99 price tag a tad steep personally. It may be because I'm used to buying Chapsticks, which are only around £1, but I guess with these you pay a bit more for the novelty packaging and shape. I'm glad I did pick it up because I'm always looking for new lip balms and this one has been a big hit, so I'd definitely recommend.

Have you tried the Lottie London Balm Balls? Let me know what you thought in the comments.

PS. I did buy the brush cleanser and will be featuring it soon!

Manicure Monday: Barry M Nail Care Range

Last week's Manicure Monday post, featuring Barry M's new Gelly Spring Collection, went down a treat with you guys so I'm pretty pleased to be bringing you another range from the budget highstreet brand this week. If you've had your head under a rock then you might have missed the release of the new Nail Care range from Barry M. It's a collection of four polishes that aim to have your nails looking in top condition in no time.

Each polish is £3.99 each, but I'm sure they will be on sale/offer in Boots and Superdrug so you can pick up the whole collection at a more purse friendly price. Included in the range is the Super Mani 7-in-1 Treatment, which is a twice weekly basecoat and treatment that aims to encourage growth, strengthen with Keratin, nourish with Argan Oils, promote shine, hydrate with Vitamin E, smooth the nail surface and protect from breakage. If you only buy one of the polishes from the range I would encourage you to get this one because it pretty much does everything you need. I have seen great improvement in my nails since using this polish, after only two to three weeks of use my nails aren't breaking nearly as much as they were before and they definitely feel smoother, when previously they were prone to flaking a fair bit.

Also in the collection is the Iron Mani, which is a nail hardener, working to strengthen, smooth and protect nails from breakage. It does a lot of similar things to the Super Mani but is much more targetted to strengthening, so a great one if you're nails are particularly weak.

Lastly are two polishes, Mani Masks, which camouflage, colour and condition. These two polishes are perfect for when you want to give your nails a little break from vibrant colours. They come in two shades 'Bashful', which is a light pink and 'Birthday Suit', which is a more creamy nude. Using these mean you can have your nails painted without them looking painted as the finish is very natural looking. They give the nails a nice, just manicured look and they're perfect if you're not allowed nail polish at work or at school.

Overall this is a great budget nail care range. You can really pay through the nose for some nail care products but this range has pretty much everything you need. You could even pick up the Super Mani treatment and that would be more than enough to leave your nails in great shape. I have seen a great improvement in my nails so I'd really recommend giving this a try and treating your nails to some TLC every now and then!

Have you tried the new Nail Care Range from Barry M? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

*This post contains PR samples.