Retro Finds

Hi guys!

I hope you're all having a brilliant weekend so far! Last weekend was busy with my family arranging the Silverstone plans well in advance, so today was more of a chilled out day, and I took this opportunity to go for a bit of a shop! In an attempt to add a bit more of a vintage feel to coincide with my record player and all, I found myself buying quite a few retro bits and pieces, and thought I might as well share! So, here we go:

Ooh as of late I've been DYING to purchase more Soap & Glory products so first up today was to look in Boots and straight away I spotted their stuff! I noticed the more cosmetic gift sets at the front, and then round the corner was the skincare stuff! It was a toss up between the wipes or this but of course I went for this! It's the Soap & Glory Drama Clean 5 in 1 micellar cleansing water which I picked up for £6.00, one of the cheaper items in the collection. I haven't actually used cleansing water before, but it does promise to be very efficient at removing just about everything when taking off your make-up, so I thought I'd give it a go. Their packaging is absolutely GORGEOUS by the way with the pretty pink and the vintage lady!

Okay this is probably not something I'd usually get! However, when in a charity shop this morning I weirdly felt obliged to get it! I thought it would be a unique little thing to put on my desk and use as storage for small things, plus I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tomato soup lover. Something different but very much welcome into my already extremely cluttered room!

Ooh okay so here is where most of the rest  of my purchases came from! One of my best friends was telling me about this retro shop in my town called 'Most Marvellous' and it was honestly one of the coolest places I've ever been to! There were SO many rooms honestly so much cool stuff to choose from, I wanted to buy everything in there! They also had a cafe too but I spent so long looking at everything that there wasn't enough time to go there. I might go again next week including cafe and plan a blogpost entirely on it! Anyway, I thought this candle looked SO cute in the jar, it is a Hot Chocolate scented Charming Candle and it was just too lovely not to get! It was £6.00 I believe.

They had SO many amazing tin products in Most Marvellous and I couldn't decide which one to get for ages, until I discovered a downstairs section! I soon snapped this vintage style coca-cola tin complete with retro lady and classic 'Home refreshment' title. They had a really similar poster as well that I wanted but I restrained myself as I didn't want to splurge too much in one day! It was dead cheap at about £2.95 and it'll be a great addition to my desk, I'll probably use it to store coins or something.

I was chuffed to find out that they had SO much merchandise here featuring my favourite band! I particularly wanted a teapot with them on - it was so cool, in the shape of an apple and all! However, most of it was far too expensive for my price range, so I settled on this laminated old school film poster of their debut movie 'A Hard Days Night'. It was only £2.00 so I thought why not! 

Last but not least, I decided that I wanted to purchase some of the MANY cards that they had so I could make a retro collage on my wall. These images were far more high quality than what I'd get by printing images on the internet so I thought why not. Of course I went for The Beatles again, but then I also decided to get ones of two of my favourite classic golden age actresses - Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe! The collage is already looking fab on my wall, and at £2.95 I once again thought why not!

So yes thanks so much to one of my best friends Sam for recommending this shop to me as it was love at first sight, if you're ever in Northampton you must check it out! Are there any items that I got that you're particularly fond of from Most Marvellous? or maybe you're also a Soap & Glory fan - any products of theirs that you'd recommend? Thank you for reading as always!

Jade xx 

LADS day out - Silverstone and QPR

Hi guys!

So one thing you should know about me is that nowadays I am NOT sporty whatsoever, and my friends can confirm that I am even known to get out of breath when walking to school. However, I am more impartial to days out that involve observing sport! I thought I'd share my day out with you yesterday as there's a fair amount to talk about and there was PLENTY of photo opportunities. It was definitely a lads day out as such!

So first up was Silverstone! It was only a 20 minute drive away so not too far at all. My dad would be partaking in a thrill drive day that they had! It wasn't his first time, but this time he was far more nervous as he'd never done one of these thrill drives in a proper F1 type car! We waited around for a bit whilst my dad got registered. I had a huge soup craving as well and the cafe had everything but, sigh. We passed the time by listening to music, and me and my brother recreated the photo we'd taken at Silverstone four years prior!

2010 

2014

So, we most definitely do not look like our twelve and thirteen year old selves, and my brother still pulls stupid faces in photos! Oh, and headphones are still intact. 

Anyway, the time had soon come and my dad and everyone else also taking part were readily getting in their cars and putting on the helmet that gives you guaranteed hat hair! It was really cool watching him drive at such a speed and waving at us each lap! He made it look so easy, although later admitted he nearly span off twice! Still, I didn't notice. One other driver wasn't quite so lucky as he did spin off. He turned out fine, just a bit shaken. Although apparently he had asked for a refund for the memory stick that films your drive but the people there were NOT impressed with this as he had caused around £5k of damage to the car! Still, at least he was okay and we'd had fun, despite the cold sweater weather!

That pic above is definitely my favourite from the day, me and my mum there with my dad pre-drive! The laddish day did not end after the drive, however. As QPR supporters, we decided to go down the pub and watch the QPR vs Stoke match down there, all in full kit! Luckily we did not get booed, haha. 2-2 the score was, so all in all not too bad a result.

Yay for family fun! Oh also, how could I not have enjoyed it when I had THIS to eat (not this exact one, I forgot to take a pic, but this was from a previous time, exact same meal though!). Chicken Tikka Masala is too good.

A brilliant weekend all in all, sport can be enjoyable sometimes! Hope you guys enjoyed, have you had a good weekend?

Jade xx

Sleek Make-UP True Colour (Plush) Lipstick REVIEW

Hi guys!

So the people over at producttesting.uk.com (spoke to a lovely woman named Sally over email) sent me a lipstick through the post which arrived today! I was VERY excited as I unwrapped the product as I am a HUGE lipstick lover - it's my favourite make-up product, as well as eyeliner of course. It felt so weird to actually be sent something so early on in my blogging life but such an amazing feeling at that! So I'll tell you my honest thoughts as always and more about who sent it to me later, but first here is what I received:

So, the initial thought was "huh? what is this?" because the packaging was so small! I wasn't quite sure what it was, let alone a full-sized 3.5g lipstick! Haha that was a surprise to say the least, but a very welcome surprise! The packaging is very unusual and deceiving in size, but looks very sophisticated and do I dare say... sleek! From the cover I was expecting this to be quite a vampy purple or something, so it was a bit of a surprise when applying that it came out a very much pink colour! Still, I'm so used to vampy lipsticks that it was a refreshing change. I was also interested to try out a Sleek product as I actually hadn't heard of them beforehand!

So the good stuff first - the lipstick is very pigmented and lasts a while! It's also brilliant that it contains Vitamin E as well which protects the lips from premature ageing. The colour is also extremely pretty! However, I think my main issue is that when applied, said colour simply wasn't for me. I think my skin tone just didn't quite work with this colour. Maybe it's because I'm used to more dark lip colours. I also found the application process more tough than it probably should've been - it required a lot of work to fill in the lips - so I wouldn't recommend this for people with dry lips. As I said though, the colour itself is VERY pretty if you can pull it off. I think if I were to ever venture out into more Sleek make-UP, then I'd just try and go for a different colour that didn't feel so strange against my skin tone.

If you want to try it out yourself then they retail for £4.99, I have seen them in Superdrug particularly.

So yes thank you very much to Producttesting.uk.com. 

If you want to check them out then this is what you need to know:

Beauty Product Testing

Twitter

Facebook

So yeah that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed this review. Excuse how hideous I was looking here - the rain took it's toll on my hair and smudging all my make up. Have you tried any Sleek make-UP products?

Jade xx

Weekend in Watford

Hi everyone!

So, today I fancied blogging about my weekend! We spent the weekend in my hometown of Watford (driving to my nan's house, where the whole of my dad's side of the family would be sharing the day with us) for my dad's 40th birthday celebrations (he turns the big 4-0 tomorrow, btw!). Yeah it was so much fun! On the Saturday, we all caught up as a family and had a laugh over pizza and drinks which is always a killer combination. Here were some photos of Saturday:

Hah! Saying goodbye to the cat pre-journey, bless her and her cute facial expression!

Myself and the birthday boy in the middle of speaking, hah!

Aw, mother and daughter!

With my beautiful cousin, Sophie!

Caught off guard! 

Happy 40th! Hah my brother photobombing, too!

So yeah that was so much fun! Also though, we went shopping this morning and I had a bit of a New Look haul (and got a new school bag from BHS) so I'll show you that stuff too:

Delicate treasures nude bag - £25 (BHS)

Green vest - £6.99 (New Look)

Heritage Check Blazer - £34.99 (New Look)

Pastel blue pumps - £7.99 (New Look)

Cameo Rose blue joggers - £17.99 (New Look)

What it'd all look like as one outfit...

So yeah that's all! Had a great weekend surrounded by family and managed to pick up a few things as well - result! Glad we've managed to make my dad's 40th a special one. Tomorrow on the actual day we're getting a Chinese takeaway and it's been far too long since we've had one so yay! 

Hope you enjoyed, did you guys have a good weekend?

Jade xx

Back to School

Hi guys!

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday and hopefully you're having a very lazy one like myself (blogging with my record player on spinning some 80's tunes, bliss!). 

Anyway I thought the most relevant thing to talk about in my life right now was back to school! I went back on Wednesday and it is my LAST year of school as I've just began year 13 aka the second year of Sixth Form. Pretty daunting to say the least, but my educational journey won't completely end there as Uni is definitely on the agenda! But yeah so far I've gone through a subject change - keeping English Language, Media Studies and Sociology but dropping Psychology in favour of Extended Project - which makes my timetable look a LOT more free as Extended Project is heavily reliant on independent learning. 

I'm quite enjoying year 13 mainly down to the fact that I'm feeling far more academically motivated after Uni open days spurring me on. Of course though SCHOOL isn't the most enjoyable of places, I still have that mentality at seventeen years old. It's been great seeing friends on a daily basis again and learning some interesting stuff (and the bloggers' dream of forking out for new stationary!), but my sleeping pattern was SO erratic over the holidays that it's been pretty hard getting back into the routine and I've found myself very withdrawn and just plain tired at the moment. The workload this year is also VERY heavy so that won't exactly be pleasant, but I guess this year is all about keeping my head down and working as much as possible as well as making the most of every day with my current friends before Uni next year.

My brother turned sixteen last month which means he starts college tomorrow! Unlike my linguistic self, he is more of a practical person so college will be the perfect fit for him. He's feeling very nervous right now with the change but I'm sure he'll settle in no time. 

What about you guys then? Have any of you gone back to school or Uni? Perhaps that's all behind you now and it's the working years. If so, what was your final year before Uni like? To those who HAVE just gone back, good luck on the impending year and make the most of it so that next year I can be celebrating with you at a brilliant set of grades. 

Thanks for reading as always,

Jade xx

August Favourites

Hey guys, it's time for the monthly round-up of what I've been loving - deliberately not including anything from my birthday though otherwise it'll be too samey to that post. I hope you enjoy!

Okay I'm pretty sure I've mentioned every single one of these products as of late - as I did a review post on the mascara and mentioned the others in my Carboot Sale/New Look/Superdrug haul post. Nevertheless, these WERE my top products that I discovered this month and have subsequently been loving the most. Firstly on the left is the Essie Turquoise & Caicos nail lacquer, which was £7.99 from Superdrug and is already my favourite nail polish - my absolute dream colour and it lasts for absolutely ages! Next to that is a 75ml fcuk polished body spray which I managed to pick up for just 50p at a carboot sale on a make-up stall! Gorgeous strong and sultry scent. Next to that of course is the highly praised Benefit They're Real mascara which I managed to pick up from Boots for £19.50 as part of the Real Steal package which also came with an accompanying eyeliner and make-up wipe set. As I mentioned, I already did a review post on that so if you wish to check out what I thought then please click here! Lastly to the right is the Rimmel Moisture Renew Glam Plum Fulham #470 lipstick that I picked up from Superdrug for £6.49 and it's my dream shade - just the right pigmented plum that's not too dark for my pale skin but not too light that's hard to pull off. Lovely!

Of course I got the orange Crossley Record player as seen in my 17th Birthday post, and I've accumulated quite a decent little record collection as of late. You've already seen the ones I got for my birthday and those I found at the carboot sale, but these two I was particularly chuffed with receiving. My granddad was a HUGE Beatles fan during their heyday and had a few doubles of some of their albums - and he happily gave me the spares which was amazing! It's these two in particular that I've been spinning the most this month, though. 'Revolver' is one of my favourite albums of all time, let alone my favourite Beatles record! Simply sublime and started to give us an insight on their more experimental endeavours, the closer of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is so ahead of it's time and mesmerising! 'Rubber Soul' is always a great chill-out record too, I particularly love the Lennon moments of the gorgeous 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)' and 'Girl'. Great stuff! Cannot thank my granddad enough as these do not come cheap.

A bit more 21st century now, haha! These are the CDs in particular that I've been loving. On the left there is Clean Bandit's 'New Eyes' which I also received in vinyl format for my birthday. I absolutely cannot get enough - their instrumentation is second to none - so inventive, sonically outstanding. Next to them is a bit more teenage girl like myself - 5 Seconds of Summer's eponymous debut album. It's SO Busted but as someone who listened to them during my childhood, it's like a whole new wave of nostalgia! Such catchy pop/punk tunes here - highlights include the singles and 'Heartbreak Girl' for me. Hah next up is Girls Aloud with 'Sound of...The Greatest Hits!' and 'Tangled Up' which are in no way new... the former was released in 2006 and was one of the first albums I ever bought, and the latter was released in 2007. However, lately I've been re-visiting their back-catologue of slick Xenomania produced pop explosions and it's been a great rediscovery - they were my absolute childhood favourites! Lastly on the right has been an inescapable album - Ed Sheeran's 'X' which is a clever, mellow follow-up for him, a bit more edgy in places but not completely ditching his down-tempo nature in tracks such as 'One' or 'Thinking Out Loud'.

How cute is this?? Lately I have been wearing a fair amount of blue, and I was looking through my jewellery box in order to find some complementary accessories when I came across this! It is a handmade charm bracelet that my best friend Emma made me quite a few years ago. Look how lovely the charms are - a blue girl and heart making it an essential blue accessory, along with a silver bear, heart and star. Who needs Pandora, eh!

How cool does this look?! It's a Bluetooth Jam Classic Wireless Speaker that I believe was about £19.00. I love the packaging as it's designed to look like a jam jar and fits the little device inside. I'd been wanting a new speaker to plug my iPod into for AGES and I came across this one and loved it straight away. Really crisp sound quality - I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for this kind of thing. Very handy and less fiddly that you can connect via Bluetooth as well as by lead, and it also comes with a charger! 

Haha so recently I was cleaning out my room and didn't have the heart to throw these out, instead using them to decorate and spruce my room up a bit! They aren't exactly fancy ornaments - one of them is missing a leg and one an ear, but I think it makes it all the more endearing. I adore cats, they're my absolute favourite animal, so I found these dead cute and had to decorate my room with them!

I thought this would be a good way to round this off in a way of rounding off the summer - because I recently made my first winter purchase! I found this is a charity shop and had to get it as it was SO cute with the Mickey motif and the material is just SO soft, therefore essential for a cold British winter. I'd always wanted a white jumper too, so I was chuffed with this!

So that's it guys, hope you enjoyed. What were your favourite products here, or own August favourites? feel free to link if you wish.

Jade xx