New year Make up look...

New Years is upon us and its a great time to experiment with make up looks. I myself am not going out this New Years as I'm going to spend the evening with my friend Jenna who has just had a baby :)

Even though I am not going out I thought I would try out a look for the occasion. 

So first lets start with a before and after....

 Here I am no make up or nothing hair scraped back and ready to apply the make up.

Here is the finished look, I definatily look more awake if thats the only thing this look achieved, well I'm happy :) If i was going out with this look I would wear my hair down and with loose curls. I also think I would change the lipstick to some thing brighter.

Lets go right from the beginning......

First of all I need to create the base for my face. To do this I applied The Body Shop BB cream in Shade 01 all over my face.This product is great because the formula adapts to your skin tone leaving a even skin tone and even though it is lightweight it cover any blemishes you might have.

Then to set the BB cream I have used Body Shops All in One Face Base in Shade 02. This is a lovely powder it leaves your skin matt but not cakey looking.

For contouring I used Body Shops Honey Bronze Powder in Shade 02. I placed this along the hollow of my cheeks just under my cheek bones. 

After this I used the Kroyolan Blush I got in the December Glossybox. I really do love this colour its great for the winter/ spring months. 

The last thing to do on my face before we move onto eyes it to apply concealer to my under eye area. I have chosen to use Collection 2000's Lasting Perfection concealer in shade number 02. This concealer had been talked about by lots of other bloggers and reviewed as being amazing and I do not disagree it is super. If I feel tired or like I have huge dark circles I pop this on and my eyes instantly feel and look more awake.

Right onto the eyes. My first eye product is from my E.L.F little black book in warm. I have chosen to use the dark cranberry colour and I applied this all over my lid. 

Once that is all over my lid I need to blend it out so that there is no harsh edges I want this colour to be smudged out across my eyelid.

I then apply the Pale silver from my Body Shop blue Shimmer cube into the inner corner of my eyelid making sure to blend as I go. Using the same Shimmer cube Im going to take the black and apply this to my crease.

Once all these colours are blended together I went back in with the cranberry colour and put this in a circular motion onto the centre of my eyelid creating the look I wanted.

As this is a New Years look I wanted it to be quite dramatic with big lashes and lots of eyeliner.

First I am going to use two eyeliners both from The Body Shop. One is a liquid and the other a pencil. I applied the liquid one along my top lash line and the pencil one on my water line.

Finally for mascara I used Rimmel's Glam eyes Day2Nnight. I got this mascara for christmas from my mam and when I first looked at the product I was sceptical because I didn't understand what the different sections did or how they worked but after trying it out and experimenting with it I fully understand how its meant to be used. I love the effect it has had on my lashes its made them look full and volumised.

There we have it step by step on how I achieved my New Years look. I really like it now its finished. For a more sparkly look I would add a glitter pigment over the top but unfortunately mine had a date with my bedroom carpet and I havn't had time to replace it.

How are you going to do your make up for New Years?

Tarra x

Christmas 2012

So christmas is over and youtube is concentrated with hauls of what people received for christmas so I have decided to do a post on what I got for christmas. Some things I got are not in the pictures as I didn't have enough room in my suitcase to bring everything back to university with me :/

My main present this year was a Canon Eos 1100d Digital Camera, which I got off my dad! Its so awesome and much lighter than I thought it was going to be which is good if I'm going to be carrying it around :) This camera also films in hd so I might start filming videos soon.

My mam made me a lovely quilt for my bed it is made of different pink and purple patchwork materials and on certain panels it has embroidered birdies. I really love it and know she has put a lot of effort into making it for me :) My mam has a website where you can have your own personalised quilt made, here is the link. The other collection of gifts from my mam were all polar bear themed because its my favourite animal. As you can see in the picture above I got some polar bear pjs, needle felt polar bears, a polar bear necklace and many other things!! Loves it!

My "auntie" in Sweden got me this lovely satchel bag from the brand L.Y.D.C London. The bag is a Purply-maroon colour with brown/ beige detailing on it. I love this bag it is right up my street the only slight shame is the strap as its not long enough to wear as a over the body bag but I can wear it on my shoulder :)

I think my favourite part of this bag is the bow detail as its really subtle but adds a feminine touch to the outside of the bag.

As you might of guessed looking through my blog I'm slightly obsessed with nail varnish and I was not disappointed with the polishes I received this christmas. I will detail and link them from left to right.
1) Maybelline Forever strong pro in Devine Wine.
2) Maybelline Express finish in Turquoise Green.
3) Barry M Chameleon in Blue.
4) Rimmel Lasting finish in Orange your Life.
5) Barry M in Blue Glitter.
6) Rimmel Precious Stones in Diamond Dust.
7) Barry M in Gold Mine Glitter.
8) Maybelline Forever strong pro in Metal me Teal! 

My favourite of all my gifts is probably my iDuck my dad got me. You plug your iPhone/iPod into the egg part and take the duck where ever you go in your house and you can get signal. This will be handy for me to use in my shower so my iPhone doesn't get condensation damage :)

All in all I think I was a very lucky girl this christmas and love every single one of my gifts!!

What did you get for christmas?

Tarra x

NOTD...

The weather is super cold this week and rainy, so I decided to do a kind of x-massy ice themed nail :)

So I used two nail polishes for this nail look. Number 17's Moonstruck from the christmas mini set and  Rimmel's lasting finish in Disco Ball.

 I painted my nails with one coat of this polish first as a base coat :)

So like I said before I got this nail polish in a gift set last christmas. Number 17 are doing the same set again this year you can get it here.

you get 9 different shades of polish, I really like all the colours in this set and have used them all lots.

If you wanted to just get this colour polish you can get it full size here for £2.99 which is a bargain.

So now we have are dreary gloomy sky lets add a bit of rain to our nails.

I put the first coat of disco ball on my nails from 3/4 of the way down my nail. Then the next coat 1/2 way and finally just a coat on the tip of my nail.

This leaves a gradient across your nails which is like rain fall.

I love this polish because its not just a single colour glitter there are bits of silver, blue and even a little bit of pink in there. I think the blue makes this look feel really icy and cold, which is what were aiming for :)

This polish is £2.99 also and your can get it from any drugstore or here.

I think this NOTD is super wintery and I love it... Do you?

Tarra x

Christmas wrapping.....

So tonight I'm finishing off my christmas wrapping and I have decided it would be nice to show you all the stages of my wrapping :)

 So here are all the thing I'm going to wrap today, they are mostly for the kids I know including my goddaughter Emily Mae. Most of my gifts are box shaped so they will be easy to wrap there is only a couple which will be tricky to wrap :)

So lets get started, my wrapping paper is from Wilkinsons and was £3 for 10m which is a bargain!! I really like the xmassy Fair Isle pattern, it is super pretty :) The paper ribbon I have is fro Wilkinsons to and it was a bargain price of £1!

You can pick up this paper and ribbon in store or online


I like wrapping as I find it really relaxing and theraputic. I think when a present looks good, the contents always seems more appealing :) just me?






So below is a picture of all my present wrapped and ready to give to people :) I hope they all like their gifts!

I think the paper ribbon really compliments the wrapping paper I'm using and gives it a home made shabby feel.

How do you wrap your presents? Leave a comment and let me know :)




Tarra x

The Snowman and the Snowdog...

Next tuesday is christmas day and in my house we have a tradition of watching The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. I love this animation, its a christmas classic!!

                                        Picture from google edited in Pixfx.

Imagine my excitement when I find out there making a sequel for this christmas called The Snowman and the Snowdog! This one is set when the boy is a little bit older and as well as The Snowman he creates a Snowdog to go on an adventure with.

                                       Picture from google edited in Pixfx.

The animation is still hand draw but the creators have added a digital enhancement to the way its put together.

Here is a clip I found on youtube about the making of the Snowman and the Snowdog. It's  extremely fascinating how they create the final piece. 

Do you normally watch The Snowman at christmas? What is your favourite bit? the music? the images?

Tarra x

December Glossybox!

This is my 3rd Glossybox but only my 1st review. The december box arrived friday and I must say before I even saw any of the products I was impressed. 

The box design was lovely a silver box with usual Glossybox logo but once opened instead of the usual pink tissue and pink ribbon I was greeted with silver ribbon and black starry tissue paper :) very lush!

So time to look at what actually is in the December box, normally you get 5 samples but this month because its christmas Glossybox treated us to an extra product :)   

So lets start with the bad. The Lemon by Mary Greenwell eau de parfum sample. The packaging is really striking and appropriate for the scents name.

Im not going to lie after smelling this scent which, can only be described at toilet cleaner, I am not very impressed with Miss Mary. Why would she create a perfume like this its just gross! The price of this perfume is rather expensive too 100ml is a wooping £90 pounds!! The sample received is 1.5ml so equivalent to £1.35

Next product is Rituals Magic Touch. This product is basically a body cream, but what makes it different is the fact it has been whipped to give a lovely light feel on the skin. The smell of this is amazing its a cross between lush and christmas if that makes any sense.

The packaging is simple yet really feminine, but the best part about this product is the effect it has on your skin.. I have been using this on my skin since Friday and my skin feel so soft and nourished :)

The full size price of this product (200ml) is £15, which makes the sample I received £5 for 70ml, not bad really.





I was quite surprised to see a full size Seche nail polish in my box I have heard about there top coat which has won awards for being super fast drying and amazing. I got the shade Lumiere, which if I'm honest isn't my favourite colour ever but I'm sure one of my friends will like it. I did try it on my nails though to see how the quality was and I must say it was lovely left a great shine and protected my natural nail.

Like I said before this is a full size nail polish and the price of one of these is £9.95, so its not your cheapest but I think if I found a shade I really loved, as a treat to my self, I might purchase.




Up next is Sebamed Anti dry Night cream I'm not too sure about this product as I havn't really ever used a night cream but I have used this on the dry patches of skin I have on my face and they have drastically cleared up so I guess it must be doing some thing good to my skin even if I'm not sure what.

The full price product of this is 50ml for £9.99 which makes my sample worth £1.99.








My favourite product in this Glossybox has to be the Sleek Lipstick I received. I had my work xmas party last night and had been planning to buy a new red lipstick for the event but thanks to Glossy box I didn't have to. I had a few complements on the colour which was nice :)  The colour I got is called O.M.G which is possibly the best name for a lipstick ever!!

So Sleek isn't the most expensive brand but after trying this lipstick I definitely think I will be looking into getting more of their products.
This lipstick is a full size of 3.5g and its worth £4.99.


So that was all the samples I received now onto the surprise gift from Glossybox. A blush from Kryolan in the shade rosewood. Its a lovely dusky rose colour and perfect for this time of year. As its a surprise Im afraid I don't know how much the product is worth but I'm glad to have received it anyway.


I really like this months box like I said my favourite product was probably the lipstick but every thing will be used. ( except the lemon perfume yuk!) The total price of my Glossybox this month is £23.28 which is great.


If your interested in joining Glossybox visit their website!!

Tarra x

NOTD...

One of the nail polishes I got yesterday was the Rimmel  precious stone in Ruby crush. I have my Xmas party at work tomorrow and felt this was a great polish for the holidays and my party.

You can get this polish from most drugstores of from this website. It comes in at £3.99 which I think is a reasonable price.

The polish did need a couple of colours to be a full glitter look after on coat I could still see my natural nail underneath. I used 3 coats and it is fully opaque.


Tarra x

Last day of Uni for Xmas 2012....

So today was the last day of Uni and after a stressful presentation finally I can chill out and get ready for Xmas.

I brought gifts in for my friends today and they all really liked them which was great. I also got some really awesome gifts from them.

I got this lovely plushie toy from my friend catherine which was awesome enough but then when I delved deeper into the bag I discovered 6 nail varnishes! 
The six different ones I got are linked below:
- Maybelline express finish in Flash Cosmic
- Maybelline forever strong in Green Miracle
- Maybelline forever strong in Lilac Charm
- Rimmel precious stones in Ruby Crush
- Rimmel lasting finish in Disco Ball
- Rimmel lasting finish in Block your Green


My friend Tanya got me a lovely MeMeMe nail polish. It is 3rd along int the picture of polishes, the name of it is Dignified. As well as the polish she bought me some yummy chocolates from Thorntons which came in a cute tin :)

But the best present she got me has to be the MUA nail constellations.  This basically is a tube of tiny balls which you add to nails when there wet and it leaves your nails with a 3d look.

I used the constellation on my index finger just so you can see what it looks like. The constellation I have is called Pisces you can get it here.


The last gift I recieved was a card from my friend Mark. Inside the card it had a note that says I should expect my first gift in January and then below that it says it is a 3 month subscription to glossy box :)








The card from mark, such a cute robin design on the front!

After we finished Uni we all went to Weatherspoons and had a few drinks! It was lovely and I hope you all have great christmas!


Tarra x

Burt's bees lip balm...

Over the past couple of weeks my lips have been so dry and sore, I've tried Vasaline, Nivea and nothing has worked. Whilst watching a youtube video I caught wind of a product by Burt's Bees.

I had heard of this brand before but never really thought much about it and defiantly never considered buying any of it. But whilst in Debenhams I saw a sign for the lip balms and decided to take a look at the range.

 There were 7 different flavours to choose from, I chose the replenishing pomegranate one.

The product says that the pomegranate oil in the lip balm is really great at hydrating your lips and I stand by this statement.

After using for a couple of days my lips felt so soft and all the dry, sore skin was gone. :)


The lip balm leaves no colour on the lips which is great because you can wear alone or under lipstick/gloss.

The Burt's Bees lip balms are £3.69 a piece which is more than your average Chapstick but in my opinion there not just average. I would recommend this product to anyone in search of a lip balm that will actually soothe and rehydrate the lip.

Get your Burt's Bees lip balm here :)

Tarra x

NOTD....

Todays NOTD is a golden glitzy nail all ready for the holiday period.

I used two nail polishes to create this look. E.l.f's Blush and Barry M's Pink Iridescent. 

I really like the finish of this combination even though the glitter is pink it dosn't cover up the gold :)


So first I put a coat of the E.l.f polish but it was still quite sheer. I ended up using 3 coats to get a decent coverage.




Next I put 2 coats of the glitter polish, I like the quality of this polish. I find with some glitter polishes that it leaves my nail feeling bitty but this one is smooth. Really finely milled  :)

The cost of the Barry M polish is £2.99 and you can pick it up from most drugstores I got mine from Superdrug.  There are quite a few different colours of glitter polishs from Barry M and I think i'm going to go back and get the blue and red ones :)

 The cost of the E.l.f polish is £2.50 and you can get it from the E.l.f website. I got my blush polish in a set from E.l.f which had three nail varnishes all together Blush, Cranberry and Golden Goddess this set was £4.00 :) The set is a great idea for a little stocking filler for a family member or friend.




The nail polishes lasted for 2 and a half days before some slight chipping occurred so its not really a long lasting look but for a night out or christmas party its great!

Tarra x

Christmas list apps...

So its christmas time again and everywhere is starting to feel a little bit christmasier, and with christmas comes presents.

Usually around the time of buying gifts I will set a budget on how much I will spend in total.... and every year I go over!

So this year I've found a couple of clever little apps (all free).

These apps mean I can set a budget, make a list of all the lovely gifts I need to buy and track my spendings as I go along!

 This one is called Christmas Shopping IList and is the one I ended up downloading.

 This app was really easy to use and the easy to set budget system really made creating my list simple.

My favourite feature is the tick box. So when I have bought a present on my list I can tick it off and then I can keep track whats left to buy :)




Others include:

1) Xmas Budget
2) GiftShare
3) Christmas Gift Lists




So if you struggle at keeping to a budget too these apps are great :) Happy Shopping!

Tarra x