A new start.

Ladies,

I'm sad to say my time writing this blog has sadly come to an end.

I'm sure this was all pretty obvious a while back when my posts were reduced to about one per month, and I never really had a chance to write as much as I wanted because I'm just too busy. I still always read everyone's blogs and comment when I can though!

:(

I've loved being a beauty blogger and speaking to so many lovely people through it, but sadly I have a new project that's going to be taking up all my time...

I'm going travelling!!

Yes, somehow I'm going to have to limit my makeup stash to the bare minimum, ditch the heels, and live out of a suitcase for four months without my home comforts I once treasured so much!

Anyway, I have a new blog and twitter to update with my stories when I can: http://little-lost1.blogspot.com/ and www.twitter.com/little_lost1 so, if you're interested in reading about my travels, please do follow and chat to me on there. I've still got 8 weeks to go until I leave, so plenty of time for catching up and chatting before I go!

Keep in touch please...

Nicola xXx

P.S those are not my nails ;)

Spending ban and customising things!

Afternoon ladies, I hope you're all having a great weekend :)

I just wanted to give an update on my spending ban as I've noticed a few things.

Firstly, it is virtually Impossible to not spend anything if you are going shopping with other people, and secondly, I'm crap at sticking to the rules BUT I have only bought 3 things in about a month. Is that good? Probably not. Oh dear....

One was a dress which I really needed for an event at work (which I couldn't go to in the end!) it was only £30 and I love it. I'll put up pictures when I get round to wearing it. The other two things were vintage shorts and a shirt that makes me look like a 'goat herder' apparently. Nice!

I've decided that if I really have the urge to go shopping I'll just have a mooch around vintage or charity shops instead. That way I don't buy loads, and I love vintage one of a kind things so it's all good.

Also, I've been customising a lot since the spending ban which I'm very happy about! I love getting creative when I get the time, designing and making outfits. Here's my most recent creation, I made some patches out of old dresses and used them to jazz up a pair of plain skinny jeans:

They look much better on, promise!

My next project will be replacing the buttons on a plain oversized cardigan with some big vintage pearl buttons I lovingly pinched from Big G's button stash. Love it.

Is anyone else a vintage lover or hardcore customiser or am I just a big cheapskate?

I am FreeFrom!

Hello lassies!

Again, apologies for the lack of posts. I'm just going to stop saying this soon because I'm never going to have the time to write more frequently :(

I know this isn't exactly fashion or beauty related, but you have to mix it up a bit! Plus, you know I love my food!

Basically, I have all these stomach/food problems bla bla you've heard it all before. ANYWAY, the lovely Jayne from my work (and Sainsbury's) has heard me bang on about all of this enough, so she sent me a very generously filled hamper full of Sainsbury's FreeFrom food and recipes for me to get stuck into.

For anybody who's not familiar with the FreeFrom range, it is basically a heap of food especially for people with different food intolerances like wheat, gluten, dairy, etc (what else is there?)

At the moment I'm cutting down on my gluten intake and avoiding any dairy or eggs, so I was particularly excited about the chocolate and cakes in this lovely selection.

I wanted to try a week eating one or two different meals from the range every day but I got a stupid stomach bug half way through the week so I wasn't able to stick to this. However, I still ate quite a lot of them- pre sickness, so here's a little of what I've tried so far...

Chicken Hotpot

(At work!)

Don't judge it on it's looks (although, as a Southerner, I've never had hotpot so I'm not sure what it should look like!) It was very tasty but not quite filling enough for me, I had to have a slice of FreeFrom bread afterwards to fill me up! 3/5

Hot Cross Buns

I loved these buns. I ate all four in two days. FATTYYY. They tasted just like regular hot cross buns, really fruity and full of flavour. I just toasted them and added a bit of dairy free butter and they were delicious. I'll definitely be buying these again! 5/5

Crimbles sage and onion Stuffing Mix

I was really excited to try this as I love my stuffing and I refuse to eat a roast without it! Sadly, I was a bit disappointed when I used it to accompany our roast chicken last Sunday. None of us could eat it! There was far too much sage and the after-taste was so bitter it really took away from the rest of the lovely dinner :( Regrettably, I can only give it a 1/5

Crimbles Bakewell Slices

These cakes were AMAZING. As you can tell by the picture, they didn't hang round for long. Still, longer than the caramel shortcake biscuits which didn't even make a photo!

I've eaten a lot of bakewell cakes before courtesy of Mr Kipling and I would go as far as to say these were probably even better! They are quite big too, so you don't feel like you have to eat two to get your full deserts worth (is it just me that gets this?!) 5/5 definitely getting these again!

I still have lots of food to get through, but these will do for now! Has anybody else tried anything from this range? What did you think of them?

Tag- Beautiful Blogger Award (with links this time!)

The lovely Victoria sent me this award and demanded I pass it on :P So, here are my 7 random things about meeee!



1) I love singing, dancing and generally performing. Back in school I was in a ‘soul band’ (cringe at the name!) We sang some great songs, played a fair few concerts and won battle of the bands twice! Ahh memories :D

2) I don’t eat dairy or eggs. It’s not lactose intolerance it’s just one of the annoying diets I have to stick to for my IBS. My favorite food always used to be cheese! Doom.

3) I’m a massive lightweight when it comes to drinking! 2 glasses of wine and I’m gone! (Cheap date!)

4) I’m terrible at making decisions and when I eventually get round to making one it always seems to be the wrong one! I need a life advisor!

5) One thing I do know and have always known is that I really want to travel the world. There are so many amazing places out there I feel like I need to see every single one of them! I’m a proper hippy at heart, I can’t wait to let go of all my material possessions and do tons of crazy stuff while travelling :D

6) I’m a bit of a germophobe. I’m ill loads but if someone else is ill I can’t stand it I have to run away from them. My immune system is bad enough on it’s own I can’t be dealing with someone coughing all over me! Haha.

7) Although I’m a happy person (contrary to popular belief…) I do cry a lot. I can’t bottle it in! I cried at strictly come dancing last night, that’s how bad it’s gotten!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my random 7 things. What are yours? I tag these beautiful bloggers:

-HiFashion
-Girl with the Golden Touch
-Panda does Makeup
-Dainty Dollymix
-A Pocket full of dreams
-Lipgloss86 aaand
-Lauren Loves


Enjoy! xx

Spending ban and top 5 things

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, this is my second post of the week! I've decided to have a very lazy weekend for once making the most of having some me time :)

I have to tell you guys, I've imposed a spending ban! EEEK!

Sad times :(

It's killing me already but I really have to cut spending for a little while. I'm planning a few exciting things coming up which I will need a fair bit of money for, so in the mean time it's no more buying things I don't need and throwing money away when I have so many things already.

So from now on I'm going to be one of those points collecting, home-made soup making bargain hunters. My mother basically!

Anyway, enough rambling, here's my top five beauty and fashion favourites I've been using the past few weeks...

Garnier tinted eye roll on: The lovely Natalie at Headstream PR sent me this a few weeks back to try out (Thank you!) I was already a fan of the original eye roll on for those horrible 6.30am starts when I literally have to force my eyes to open! The formula for this version is the same in that it really makes my eyes feel fresh and more awake, but it also has a tint which helps conceal dark circles too. It doesn't give the best coverage for really dark circles as it is quite light, but it's really nice for freshening up the eye area :)

MUD lipglaze in 'Bare': A little something I picked up at IMATS and mentioned briefly here. It's the perfect peachy nude to stick on when I'm not feeling a lipstick day. It's also really long lasting and not too sticky, so a great gloss in my eyes.

No7 Colour Calming primer: I GOT A PRIMER! I've never bothered before as I don't like to spend too much time putting on makeup in the mornings, I'd rather be in bed! But this little beaut is great for smoothing out my complexion and providing me with an even colour base to counter out my blotchy red faced break outs. (Especially when drinking!) The colour is a little strong, but mixed in well with a good foundation (Revlon Colourstay mostly) it works wonders and doesn't leave me looking like the grinch. Oh and it doesn't dry out my skin too so I get a good dewy finish.

Neutrogena Rapid Clear face wipes: Ok, not the most exciting of all products, but it is a must have! These wipes come in very hand on nights when I can't face the old cleanse tone and moisturize routine . Most wipes do the job for taking off my makeup in a hurry, but these are also amazing for getting rid of spots and clearing up my skin. I had the hugest spot on my face the day before Amsterdam, then I tried out these babies and BAM, no spot. Hurrah! There is a spot fighting cure for us lazy folk after all!

And last but by no means least:

These beautiful bargains from H&M! They were about £15 if my memory serves me correctly (probably not!). I love the style, love the colour and even love the cute inside detailing. They're comfy too which I suppose is the most important part :P I can't wait until it gets a little warmer so I can wear these without my toes freezing off.

That's all for the moment. Hopefully I will still have lots to write about despite the fact that I can't really buy anything new. Hmmm. Anyway, I'm always welcome to new ideas/questions/tags/suggestions etc so feel free to send them my way.

Have a good weekend :) xx

Face painting!

They're going to kill me for this but it has to be done...

I got a little bored a while ago and started attacking my little brother and friend with some of my old make-up. It's not massively creative, just a bit of fun!

Charlie sporting a lovely (and totally masculine) lightning bolt

Tim looking so creepy with some wonky drawn on eyes

He looks too much like me when I had short hair here!

What do you think?! Does anybody else do this or do you all have much more entertaining lives? :P

New Tumblr

Hey ladies,

I've been so crap AGAIN! I literally have no time in my life right now for regular and in-depth blogging it seems. I have tried but alas, juggling a job with long hours, an on/off long distance relationship and an (occasional) social life is proving virtually impossible right now.

So, in the mean time I have turned once again to the faithful world of microblogging. It is so much quicker and easier. I originally hated Tumblr and called it the lazymans' blogger, but, now I suppose I am the lazyman, I'm finding it pretty useful for quickly popping a few notes down and a nice picture here and there!

I'm keeping it pretty broad so it's not all fashion and beauty I'm afraid, but if you fancy having a look it's here: http://little-lost.tumblr.com/ (A work in progress might I add!)

If you're a fellow Tumblr kid, feel free to follow :)

Britains next fail model

I like to try and make sure I do something different and spontaneous every now and then, so when I saw a photographer friend advertising that he needed a model for a day, I thought, why not!

Carlo and Fabiana are two of the genuinely nicest people I have ever met so it was an absolute pleasure to help them out when a model fell ill the day before Carlo was due to hold his 'Shaping Locations' course.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun, I met some lovely (gorgeous) models and I got to see some great photographers at work. I didn't even moan too much that it was freeeezing outside :P

Here are a few photos from the day *cringe*!!

Somebody order a hooker?!

Check out the crazy eye makeup! I wasn't keen on it to be honest but I posed regardless

Definitely needed a hair stylist!

EEeeek! I am certainly not model material but anyway, it was fun and that's what it's all about :)

New makeup!

This was a good weekend for new purchases! IMATS on Saturday contributed tremendously of course, and I now have lots of new things to amuse myself with until my next 'haul' (still hate that word, sorry!)

First things first, IMATS was SO busy I didn't get to go to any of the seminars, and some counters were so rammed I couldn't even see the products on offer.

The best thing about the event (aside from gawping at the amazing models) was getting to discover new products which I would never know about or get to try out.

The only word to describe this picture is FIERCE!

I was a bit in love with this one!

Babooooon!

There were a few brands that really stood out for me, including Naked cosmetics, Crown Brushes, Eve Pearl makeup and MUD.

Naked cosmetics had the biggest range of pigments I have ever seen! The come in little pots similar to Barry M and they had literally every colour imaginable. I was fascinated at how they could be mixed with water and even lip gloss and still look amazing. I really wanted to get some samples of these to try out, but I wasn't feeling generous enough to fork out the £60 they wanted for a stack of six colours.

Next there were the Crown brushes which I know a lot of bloggers have already been using and loving. I had hoped to get a brush set (with roll) for a very reasonable £20 but the crowds were so big and they wouldn't let me pay on card there which was a pain, but I will probably be buying these online soon :D

Eve Pearl cosmetics were also really impressive, the pallets were great for all complexions and also, how nice is Eve?! Sherin and I were talking to her for ages and watching her work her magic!

Sherin and Eve modelling her award which we kept calling the golden globe- oops!

Now, on to my favourites... Make up designory (MUD). I was drawn to this stall as I am a sucker for eyeshadows and they had a large range on display staring at me! I got to speak to the vice president of the company and he gave me lots of gorgeous products to sample which are so perfect for me. I got a 12 pan pallet of neutral shades which I love as well as a lip glaze and lipstick in a nude/pink colour (another favourite) and some lip liners too. So yes, extremely happy with these. The colours are brilliantly pigmented, they have a very extensive range and all the products were designed by makeup artists, so they really know what we want :)

Lots of lovely stuff to try! Also check those feather lashes I can't wait to crack them out!

Woah I have written way too much already. I have lots more to share with you but I will save it for another, more structured post, sorry!

Has anyone else tried any of these products? Am I just really slow off the mark? Probably... Still, thoughts please!

xXx