Recent Favourites

Bonjour!

Been very quiet again - sorry about that! But no worries - I have a shiny new blog post for you of all my recent favourite products…just in time for payday!


1) Revlon Nail Enamel in Scandalous (761)
This is a really pretty and dramatic shade I bought in October, having had the purple glitter catch my magpie eye! It goes on beautifully evenly and dries super fast, and the glitter goes on with every stroke. A lovely nail polish!

2) Benefit Porefessional Agent Zero Shine

This was a shaky start, but I have grown to love it. I know it's a recent release from my favourite cosmetic brand of all time but I do really love it. Having waited eons for Benefit to release something that is specifically anti-shine (See my last post on matte skin!) I snapped this up straight away. Putting it over make up a few hours after you've applied it is not a good idea - it highlighted where my foundation had settled on dry patches and rubbed away slightly - but having applied it as my normal face powder over fresh foundation, it gave my skin a flawlessly matte and soft finish. Yet ANOTHER must-have from Benefit…THEY CAN DO NO WRONG!

3) Seventeen Backlash Mascara

I have raved about this mascara to anyone who would listen. This builds up to an amazing volumised, lengthening and blackest black lash look, making your lashes look so fanned out and big, it leaves people wondering whether they're real (People ask me on average 3 times a day.). It's a brilliant mascara…go and buy it now! And check out the rest of Seventeen's range, I use so many products of theirs now and they're all pretty damn good.

4) Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in Shade 107 

Burgundy. Burgundy everything. I must have it. I bought this lipstick a while back and it's fabulous. The colour, the matte finish, the sleek red and black packaging, all of it is perfect. I use this both everyday and in the evening, and always feel confident wearing it. A great choice if you want to embrace the new burgundy/berry dark lip trends.

5) Valentina Acqua Floreale EDT by Valentino

I love my classic, feminine scents, and on a recent trip to Dublin I made this purchase rather hastily in Manchester Airport's duty free. I was searching for something new and different from my usual Dior and Chanel purchases, and this smells gorgeous. Subtle enough for day but luxe enough for night, it literally smells like the beauty floor in every department store you've ever been in, except nicer. The bottle is also beautiful and it lasts all day. A new firm favourite - worth a try if you like feminine classic fragrance.

6) Groovy Kind-A Love Make Up Kit - Benefit
I received this (extraordinarily gratefully) as a Christmas gift, as luckily my family know of and embrace my clinical obsession with Benefit. The kit is fabulous, containing miniatures of my favourite everyday products (POREfessional Primer, Benetint, Dandelion Box-O-Powder and They're Real Mascara) and also gave me an opportunity to try new ones like the eyeshadows, which are highly pigmented and infinitely blend-able, and the sparkly highlighter 'Gimme Fever', which is long-lasting and flattering. I think this is only available at Christmas time, but all the kits are worth the investment with benefit as it gives you chance to try lots of different things at one price before splashing out on the full sized versions. SO worth it though.

7) Dove Hair Therapy Leave In Conditioning Spray 

A while back I had hideously frizzy dry hair, and after a small personal epiphany that hair oils do not make thin hair greasy (Thank my hairdresser and her liberal use of Moroccan Oil), I purchased this as part of a 3 For 2 deal with some deep conditioning Shampoo and Conditioner (What I actually went in for). I am now on my third bottle of this stuff. I spray it in towel dried hair and I'm left with smooth and manageable locks which smell like HEAVEN. Mmmmm. I have a feeling this will work wonders on every hair type, hair oils are really really worth a go. 

Well done for making it to the end if you did!! On tuesday I am off shopping with Abbie from kittensintophats.blogspot.com so no doubt I'll have purchased more - I could do a blog haul for you!

What products are you loving at the moment? What left you disappointed? Have you used anything in my lovely little list?

Have a good week!
GG xx

A Very Big Decision

Bit of a different blog post this evening.

I love this time of year, I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the gifts for loved ones, every little national and family tradition that you absolutely must do (Watching Dr Who, drinking Buck's Fizz and not even THINKING about opening a 'main' present until after dinner) and of course the SPARKLE. However, there is also vast amounts of beautiful, indulgent, luxurious and hideously calorific food. As always, with Christmas also comes the inevitable; parties, endless Facebook and Insta selfies, and most shops brandishing their latest and greatest (and tightest) party wear.

Now I am curvy. I am a bit of a chub. I have curves that Nigella would look at and go;
'Now there are some hips and boobs'.
I am also seemingly outgoing, confident, loud and I like to think witty.
This is not entirely the case, however.

I constantly feel crap about the way I look. This is not news to around 85-90% of people these days, low self esteem and body hating are the norm, but I am fed up now. Aside from blogging and being a crazy cat lady I also do a lot of performance and dance. This surprises people. They look at me and think, 'Uh huh, course you do. Zumba's not dancing love, and neither is the YMCA at your second cousin's wedding'. Actually, I am a hip hop, ballroom, contemporary, lyrical, musical theatre and street dancer. And I hate walking into that studio three times a week and having to look at my horrible body in wall to wall mirrors next to girls who, despite being my oldest and dearest friends and some of the kindest and funniest people you will ever meet, practically disappear when they stand side on to the mirrors. And I hate having to prove people wrong. Why should they presume that because my dress size is double figures I look like one of those Disney pink elephants when music is played?

Let's get this clear I am not the biggest woman you'll ever see. I am not unfit, I am incredibly strong and I do have a kind of vaguely hourglass 1950's pin up figure, but I am not happy. I look at myself and see a blob. Much like the secretary off of Monsters Inc.

So my dearest internetty Chumlas, I have made a decision. After I have consumed most probably a goose and a turkey, 56 loaves of bread, 5kg of potatoes in various forms, 30 gallons of wine, 78 boxes of Ferraro Roches, 3 boxes of the most delightful truffles called Monty Bojangles Abbie and I found in Waitrose the other day, anything with the word Cadbury written on it and enough pringles to last me until Christmas 2023, I will be losing weight. And by blogging about it, I see it as a commitment to actually do it. I cannae lie to you, can I? I will be hungry and moody and annoyed and tired and hungry and upset and hungry and exhausted and hungry - but I have to do it. My goal is to walk into a room of all of my friends far away at various Uni's across the country and for them to not believe I am the same person that they left in deepest darkest Dorset.

I plan to run, and swim, and go to the gym, and make my lovely but scary-ass South African/Portugese dance trainer motivate me. And by next christmas, I want to be slipping into a little Bodycon number with a statement necklace and strutting into all of those Christmas parties. I don't see it as losing weight anyway, I see it as trying to gain confidence. I genuinely believe that as long as you're happy with yourself and dress fabulously you are gorgeous. I think that I need to do this to be a happier me. I think that what is portrayed as 'normal' in the media is borderline anorexic and wrong. I also think that Sam Bailey was right to win the X Factor. She's amazing.

So there you have it. Wish me well Chums. Have an amazing Christmas, eat what the hell you want and join me in January to blast it away with a kick ass running playlist and eating grilled chicken. Mmmmmmm.

Be happy.
xxx

Determined Stage Make Up Face