Hey everyone, today I am going to be doing the first part of my two part drugstore tag. I made up the questions for the post, but I am in no way trying to say that the idea is original. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all very very soon. xxx

Favourite Eyeshadow :

My favourite shadow is by far , and it is the L'Oreal La Palette Nude in Beige.

Favourite Concealer:

Either Collection Lasting Perfection or Soap and Glory Blur and Brighten.

Favourite Mascara:

By far it's the Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara

Favourite Lip Product:  


Some people may not class this as drugstore but: it's the Kiko Velvet Mat in 613. (No longer sold)

Favourite Shower Gel:

This ones hard... probably Soap and Glory Sugar Crush.

Favourite Skincare Brand:

Obviously Nivea.

I hope you enjoyed this post and part 2 will be up on Wednesday,

Love Lou
xx

As some of you may have noticed, I missed 2 posts last week/week before so I am uploading everyday this week to compensate for them :)

Thank you for reading and don't forget to check out Lou's post! 

Hey everyone, welcome to another baking post, today I am going to be sharing with you the recipe for Niomi Smart's Vegan Chocolate Mousse. I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you very very soon. xx

Cut off the lids of the 3 pumpkins but remember to keep them. Scoop out the seeds and pulp. Then, scoop out the flesh and keep it. Then put the 3 freezer until you are ready to fill them. Steam the flesh in a steamer for 10 minutes. Add all of the ingredients (apart from the cacao nibs) into the processer, add in the pumpkin flesh and whizz for 5 minutes. Get the pumpkins out of the freezer, add in the mousse, put the lids back on and keep them in the freezer for 30 minutes. Add a swirl of orange peel and a few cacao nibs to the top of each one. If you want these as an ice-cream keep them in the freezer and take them out 15 minutes before eating. If you want these as a mousse just keep them in the fridge.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you create this recipe post it on Instagram with #beakingwithlouloves01.

 

Love Lou

xxxxxxx

 

QOTP - Would you re-create this recipe?

 

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another collab. Today, I am doing a collab with Katie so click here to check out her wonderful post. Anyway, today we are going to be sharing with you our idea of "a perfect garden party". I have never done a post like this before, so I hope you enjoy this and let me know in the comments if you want more posts like this. Lets get straight into it...

The first thing that pops in to my mind when I think of a garden party is a cute little picnic in your back garden. A striped picnic rug and some cute little cupcakes. To me, a picnic is essentially at a garden party

The next thing that pops to mind is fairy lights strung in the trees. Fairy lights look gorgeous outside when it's starting to get a little bit dark. They create a really cozy atmosphere that everyone loves!

Another essential for me is bunting. I love bunting. There is some really cute designs that you can find on amazon or even just in your local craft store. If you fancy doing something a little more creative, you could make it yourself and personalise it!

Another thing that sounds amazing is a DIY Photo Booth. I think I will do a quick summary as I might be doing a post on them, so let me know in the comments if you would want to see that! Anyway, this would be such a cute idea and could even use the sunset as a background if you can see it from your garden, if not you could use fairly lights and bunting in the back ground.

Something that goes hand in hand with the photo booth is photo booth props. Again, I won't say too much about this as I will do a post on it. You could create some props personal to you or could even find some online if you don't have time.

This one is probably my favourite so far. You could have mocktails with the picnic. Mocktails are such a fun thing to make and are a much more exciting version of just having some drinks. You could even order some glasses and umbrellas to go along with it.

That's all my ideas for now, but let me know if you would like more posts like this. I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all very very soon,

Love Lou
xx

QOTP - What would be at your perfect garden party?

Hey everyone, today I am going to be sharing with you my favourite drugstore products. I hope you enjoy this post, and I will see you all very very soon. xxx

Concealers

I have 2 drugstore concealer favourites right now, and they are: Collection Lasting Perfection (which I moaned about recently but now I love it!) and Soap and Glory Blur and Brighten Concealer. These 2 couldn't be anymore different. Lasting Perfection is an orange-toned liquid concealer, whilst Blur and Brighten is a yellow-toned stick concealer - so pretty much the exact opposites of each other. I use Collection Lasting Perfection underneath my eyes in a triangular shape to cover dark circles and then use Blur and Brighten on any blemishes. Both of these are super affordable - £4.99 and £6.

Eyes

My favourite drugstore eye palette is the L'Oreal La Palette Nude in Beige - this is the only drugstore palette I have tried. The pigmentation of the shades is incredible and the colours are really wearable and long lasting. This is also amazing value for money as it's only £14.99. A lot of people have said it's a dupe for the Naked Palettes, so if you're thinking of trying the Naked palettes, try one of these first. My favourite mascara from the drugstore is, you guessed it, Smashbox Full Exposure. This mascara is incredible (and also a little pricier than most drugstore mascaras) it lengthens, volumizes and separates lashes. It is £19 for a full size but it's totally worth it.

Lips

There is a clear stand out, product for me in this category. That is Barry M Matte Me Up in 2. I rave about this all the time, so I wont go on too much about this, but it's a matte lip crayon in a bright pink colour that stays on your lips all day but is super moisturising This is also only £2.99 which is incredible for quality!

Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all soon,

Love Lou
xxx

QOTP - What is your favourite drugstore product?

Hey everyone, and today I thought I would do something a little different. I have never done a bath cocktail before so I though I would give it a go. I hope you enjoy this post, and I will see you all very very soon. xxxxx

The products I used are:

Lush Comforter
Zoella Mini Fizz Bar
Zoella Foam Sweet Foam Shower Gel
Soap and Glory Scrub 'em and Leave 'em

First of all, whilst the water was running, I crumbled in my bubble bar. The comforter, is a fruity, berry scent which is my all time favourite scent Lush. This creates loads of lovely bubbles and pink-y coloured water. Once the water had run,I got in and plopped in my fizz bar. The one I used was from the original collection but obviously, you could use which ever you have or whichever is your favourite. Then after reading my book for a bit and letting the fizz bar dissolve, I use the scrub 'em and leave 'em body scrub which had the original soap and glory scent, which is my favourite of all the scents. I then use the zoella beauty foam sweet foam shower gel which is from the tutti fruity collection, which is joint favourite with the new sweet inspirations range.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this post, and I will see you very very soon,

Love Lou
xxx

Hey everyone, I feels like forever since I last did a products I want to try post so I thought I would do one for you all. Today, I am going to be focussing on one of my favourite high street stores - Lush. I hope you enjoy this post, and I will see you very very soon.

Rub Rub Rub Scrub

As you probably already know, I am obsessed with body scrubs but I have never tried a Lush scrub before. This scrub has sea salt, lemon juice and orange flower absolute in it. I'm thinking this would be the perfect scrub for summer as it will have quite a citrus-y scent. This comes in 2 sizes - 350g which is £8.95 and 665g which is £14.95. I think this is such reasonably priced as Lush is amazing quality :) (The prices listed above, are for the scrub in the pot but a solid scrub is also available).

Refresher Shower Jelly

I am a huge fan of shower jellys but I wasn't until recently. That means I haven't tried many jellys from lush but this one I really want to try. This shower jelly, looks amazing! As the name suggests, it smells like Refresher sweets so it has a lemon-y scent which I think would be really nice if it was paired with Rub Rub Rub. This again, comes in 2 sizes - 100g for £3.75 and 240g for £7.50.

Happiness Cream Eyeshadow

I feel like the make up range at Lush, is such an under estimated part. When I was looking through the products, this shadow immediately jumped out at me. It is a gorgeous gold toned shade that would look lovely paired with other shadows as well as on it's own. This is £14.50 for 5g which is pretty pricey but all reviews say the quality is amazing so I feel as though it would be worth the money.

Razzle Dazzle Bath Oil

I have surprisingly, never tried a bath oil from Lush but they look amazing. Razzle Dazzle, is scented with raspberries and bergamot oil which sounds incredible! I also think, that it will be pretty moisturising as it contains shea butter. These oils are just £2 which I think is amazing (compared to the bath bombs which range between £3 and £5). They also do the Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment which I have smelt before and smells like heaven!

Blueberry Shower Roulade

I had never heard of these before today so a lot of you probably haven't. The blueberry shower roulade is scented with blueberry (hence the name) and I expect it to be very moisturising as it contains a few butters and milks. These come in 2 sizes - £8.50 for 100g and £21.25 for 250g. Personally I would go for the 100g as I don't think I'm prepared to pay £21.50 just yet :)

Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all very very soon

Love Lou
xxx

QOTP- Which lush product do you want to try?

Also, I wanted to say a huge thank you to Leah who I spoke to under the "Chat to Lush" section, for helping me find these products. I 100% recommend this service if you want to discover some new products or have any queries about products.

Hey everyone, and welcome to another Lou's Guide To. I hope you are enjoying reading these posts as much as I enjoy writing them :) Anyway, today I will be sharing with you my summer essentials, I hope you enjoy this post, and I will see you very very soon. xxx

Bright Lip Colour

During the summer moths, I always find myself reaching for a brighter lip colour. Over time, I have collected some firm favourites, and they are : Barry M Matte Me Up Lip Crayon in 2 and Rimmel London Colour Rush Lip Crayon in 100 Give Me A Cuddle. These are all drugstore products and really affordable - especially the Barry M one

Gold Toned Eyeshadows:

Also in summer, I prefer a gold toned, shimmery eye. It was harder for me to get firm favourites in this category as I always tend to change it up. My top 3 however, are : Urban Decay Half Baked, Tanya Burr Gold Coin and the 2nd shade in L'Oreal La Palette Nude (it doesn't have a shade name).

Fruity Scent

I have only just discovered a fruity scent that I absolutely love. Unfortunately, it is coming off shelves now but if you see this, make sure you pick it up. It is the Zoella Beauty Lets Spritz body mist. This is from the Tutti Fruity collection which came out last summer. All of the Zoella Beauty sprays are super affordable - they are only £8 for 45ml.

A Good Body Scrub

I feel like this is so important for summer. This is because when you have been out in the sun, your skin can get quite dry/flaky so I find that a good scrub helps get rid of any dead skin particles. I like to use the Soap and Glory scrubs and my two favourites are Scrub of your Life and Scrub 'em and Leave 'em. Obviously, if you have burnt skin, this might not be the best option for you. :)

A rich, moisturising Body Lotion/Butter

After using a body scrub, I like to use a nice, rich body butter or lotion otherwise I find it can dry my skin out more than it was before. My favourites right now are the Jack Wills Hope Cove body lotion and body butter, as well as Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter.

Light Moisturiser

In summer, I tend to prefer lighter moisturisers as heavier moisturisers can feel like they are clogging up your skin. My forever favourite is the Nivea Dry/Sensitive Rich moisturising day cream. This also has SPF 15 in it which isn't loads but it's better than nothing.

A Tv Series

Over summer, I find it's really nice to sit out in the sun and watch a good TV show on my kindle. Right now, my favourite is Love Island. This started about a week ago but all past episodes are on the ITV Hub so you can catch up if you missed any episodes.

Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all very very soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

QOTP - What are your summer essentials?

Hey everyone, today I am back with any other collab. This collab, is with the lovely Marti so click here to check out her post. Today, I am going to be talking you through my blogging routine, I hope you enjoy and I will see you very very soon. xxx

1- Write down ideas

I am a person that loves to write things down, so as soon as I think of an idea I jot it down on a day in my planner and that's pretty much it until the week before that post goes live.

2- Plan the post

The next thing I like to do is write down notes connected to that post. So, for example, on this post I wrote down the names of the steps I wanted to do and some key points.

3- Take photos

A lot of bloggers like to take photos after they have written a post. I like to do it before as then you don't have to sit with the physical product, you can look at a picture of it instead.

4 - Transfer photos

As I don't yet have a camera to take photos on, I email the photos to myself which I then download onto my laptop, ready to add onto the post.

5- Write the post

This is pretty self explanatory, I just sit down with my laptop, my notes and photos and just write the day away. I often like to write the post the day before it goes live, I don't like the pressure of writing it on the day.

6- Spell Check and Proof Read

I didn't used to do this, when I started blogging, but now I make sure I do. (In the past I have been known to say " I will highway you very soon". It is so important to read through posts so you don't make yourself look really strange like I did haha.

7- Add in photos

Again, there isn't much to say about this, apart from I just click the little photo icon in the corner and import my saved files.

8- Schedule the post

Obviously, if I have pre-written a post, I may forget to click the upload button the next day, so to stop this from happening I always schedule all of my posts.

9- Share on Social Media

As soon as a post goes live, I always share it on my social media platforms. If you want to know where to find me, I have a page on it, so click the "Contact Me". Also, let me know if there is any other social media platforms you want me to get.

10 - Reply to comments

About a day after my post has gone live, I reply to every single one of the comments you guys leave as they just mean so much to me. You took your time to write them., so I should spend some of my time, replying to them :)

Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you very very soon,

Love Lou
xxx

QOTP - Which is your favourite season?

AOTP - Summer!!!!

Hey everyone, I can't believe it's June already! It seems like two seconds since my April favourites. Anyway, on with the favourites. I hope you enjoy this post, and I will see you all very very soon!

Tanya Burr Hollywood Palette


I rediscovered this palette at the start of May and now I am completely obsessed with it! It has four really long wearing, pigmented shades. Tanya released 3 of the palettes, and this is the brown nude palette. The shades all have gorgeous and fun names: Nude Delight, Gold Coin, Enchantment and Bookworm. I think, that the shades would look good on any skin tone and this palette was also very affordable (it was only £6)!

Zoella Beauty Two Balmy Set


I got this when it was released in the limited edition Christmas range back in December and I can honestly say these are up there with my favourite lip balms ever. The Vanilla Cream scented one is a really nice bright pink that is perfect for spring/summer. The other scent (Sweet Mint) is a nude shade that doesn't have loads of pigment but leaves a really nice glossy shine on the lips which I think would look really nice if you didn't want to go really heavy on the lips. They are so moisturising and pigmented. Unfortunately, you can't get your hands on these anymore as they were in the limited edition range but hopefully, Zoe will release something similar this year!

Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush


This brush is incredible! I don't know if I have put this in a favourites before (but if I did sorry) so I thought I would throw it into this favourites to tell you all a bit about it. This came in the Starter Set and unfortunately you cannot buy it individually. This brush, is the best brush at packing eyeshaodw onto your eyes and leaving a really nice finish. They are so soft and I think, if you have one of these but you use a different brush for base shadow, you could use it as a blending brush as it's really fluffy and reminds me a bit of the MAC 217 brush.

Zoella Beauty Lets Spritz Body Mist


THIS IS COMING OFF SALE SOON SO GET IT WHILST YOU CAN! This was the body mist which was released with the Tutti Fruity range last year and that range is being replaced with the Sweet Inspirations so stores, and online, have limited stock left. I think I can honestly say that Zoe releases the best body mists. This is a gorgeous scent for summer as it is a light fruity scent but I think it would nice all year round really. The packaging of this is also so gorgeous - the spray itself looks pink in the bottle but doesn't come out pink and then there is a lace detail on the back on the bottle that you can see from the front. I have been loving this all the way through May and I'm really sad it wont be sold for much longer. Zoe's sprays are also super affordable as they are £8 for a 45ml bottle

EcoTools Airbrush Concealer


I have been using this brush for a fair few months now but it has only been through out May that I have really started to love it. It blends concealer gorgeously on any blemishes and under the eyes which is a bonus as some brushes can't do both. The brush itself feels really nice to use and it's really soft. I found, that at first the brush would moult a little and would have to brush the bits off my face but that doesn't happen anymore. I find this is really good quality for the price it is (£5.49).

Zoella Beauty Fizz Bars


This favourites is turning into a bit of a Zoella shrine but oh well. I am obsessed with her fizz bars. For those of you who don't know what a fizz bar is, it's a bar of bath bomb that you break of into squares and plop into your bath and it makes the water smell super nice (it's kinda like a bath bomb chocolate bar). Zoe has released fizz bars with every range so far and I think they are such a lovely, unique idea. The only one I currently have left, is a mini fizz bar from her Limited Edition Christmas Range, but they are still being sold in the full size in the Classic Range (a fresh floral scent) and the brand new range, Sweet Inspirations - the fizz bar in that collection is called Le Fizz which is probably my favourite name out of the whole collection.

Happy Hippos


I am obsessed with these right now!!!!!!! They are cute little wafers in the shape of hippos which have a hazelnut filling and a milky filling. Then, on the outside there is crunchy little meringue bits! They are amazing, and I don't really have much else to say about them to be honest. (By the way, they are £1 from Sainsburys).

Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer


My final favourite of the month, is this under eye primer. It basically sits under your eyes, and hydrates the skin as well as making concealer sit so much better. The only downside is the price, I have a mini version from a set I got. For the full sized version it's £21 and I just can't bring myself to pay that much for an under eye primer, so I have decided to save up my advantage card points in Boots. haha. It will be a sad sad day when I run out of this. If you know if this comes in any sets, let me know down below.

I hope you have enjoyed this post, and I will see you all very very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx

QOTP - What have been your favourites through out May?