Hey everyone, today I'm going to be sharing with you my favourites through out the month of August. I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you very, very soon. xxxx

NYX Make your own palette

I love this. So, you go into your local boots (that has a NYX counter) and buy a 4 or 9 shade palette. I selected the 4 shade palette and it was £3.50. You then choose the shades you want to put in the palette. I have the shades : Naked Truth, Sin, Velvet and Over the Taupe. Naked Truth is a matte nude shade which is a really nice brow bone and inner corner highlight. Sin is a really shimmery pale pink tone which looks really nice with the shade Over the Taupe in the crease. Velvet is a slightly shimmery warm brown shade which looks really nice on it's own or with Buck from my Naked palette in the crease. Over the Taupe (is, as you guessed) a dark taupe which is gorgeous in the crease.

Kiko Velvet Mat lipstick in 613

NO LONGER SOLD!

I have been wearing this lipstick nearly everyday through out August. It's a really gorgeous dark pink nude colour. It has a matte/semi matte finish but it's drying at all and is actually quite moisturising. Unfortunately, this exact lipstick is no longer sold but I'm sure Kiko do very similar shades.

LUSH Pink Peppermint Foot Lotion

This was a new release from Lush this month and I already love it. It (obviously) has a scent of peppermint which reminds me so much of Christmas. This is designed to have a cooling effect for tired and aching feet. It is also really moistursing as it's enriched with peppermint oil, arnica and cocoa butter. This is pretty pricey but definitely worth it ; £12.95 for 225g or £24.95 for 450g.

Great British Bake Off

I am so excited that this has come back on! For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a show where 12 amateur bakers from across the UK travel to the Bake Off tent. Each week they do a Signature bake, a Technical bake and a show stopper bake. I've been watching Bake Off since series 3 and it's now on series 7 so I've been watching the show for a pretty long time. It's on every Tuesday at 8pm on BBC 1.

LUSH Blackberry Bath Bomb

This is one of my favourite bath bombs from Lush. It is really fruity scent and very hydrating (it kind of feels creamy in a way...). It's enriched with frankincense oil and bergamot oil. I don't really have too much else to say about this apart from that it's £3.35 which is such a good price for the quality.

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

Love Lou
xxxx

Links:

NYX Palette (Not sold online)
Lush Pink Peppermint foot lotion
GBBO website
Lush Blackberry Bath Bomb

Qotp - What's your dream holiday destination

Aotp - America.

Hey everyone, a few weeks ago I went on holiday to Spain and whilst we were there we went to a gorgeous place called Mijas. Today, I thought I'd share with you some pictures from the day. I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all very, very soon. xxx

Hey everyone, today is my one year blogging anniversary! So, today I am going to be talking to you about my blogging story so far... I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all again very, very soon. xxx

So, on August 27th 2015 my blog was created, but the story didn't start there...

For a few months before that, I had been debating creating a blog and I even had a name planned already. But, to be honest I didn't really know what blogging really involved so it was pretty scary when I actually created my blog.

Flash forward again, it was a Thursday if I remember and just after mid day, I sat down and thought. I am going to do this... I am going to start Lou Loves. On the first day of my blog being live I got 5 pageviews and I was over the moon!

Back at that time reaching even 100 pageviews seemed impossible, but a week or two later I logged in and I was on 99 views. I kept madly refreshing the page, and after about 10 minutes that 99 flicked over to a 100. I was so happy I honestly didn't believe I had 100 views!

Then, that number kept growing and that 100 became 500. Then that 500 became 1000. Then that 1000 turned into 5000. Then that 5000 turned into a 10,000! I am now on nearly 11,000 views and I feel as though I have come such a long way since that day I had 5 views!

Through out my blogging time I met so many lovely people and have done many, many collabs with them. (Marti, I'm looking at you). It's honestly been so lovely getting to know these girls, so I will leave the links to their blogs below so you can go and check their blogs out.

Marti (Pink Smarties)
Emsi Rose
Beth May
Lauren Joannee
Eve Nicholls

So, I guess what I want to say now is simply thank you! Thank you for your constant support. Thank you for always commenting on my posts!

I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all again very very soon!

Love Lou
xxxx

Hey everyone, the other day, the lovely ItsElla nominated me for the blogger recognition award. Click here to read her post, but let's get into this post...

So the rules are...

1) Write a post to show your award
2) Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you
3) Give a brief story about why you started blogging
4) Give 2 pieces of advice to new bloggers
5) Nominate up to 15 bloggers/blogs for the award.

Pop over to ItsElla and say hello

I started blogging exactly one year ago today! I started blogging as a past time and to be honest I didn't really know how long I'd stick at blogging, but I fell in love with it. Now, a year on I am blogging 3 times a week, have met so many lovely people and thoroughly enjoy blogging.

Some advice for new bloggers:

1)Comment on other blogs

This is such a good way to get noticed among other bloggers. If you comment on blogs with more followers, people will read the comments, see the link to your blog and then maybe go and check it out! Don't be fooled though, this isn't an overnight process and it can take a very long time to gain followers but, don't give up.

2)Get a regular posting schedule

Your readers then now when you're going to upload, so know when to come and check out your new posts.

(For those of you who didn't know, I post on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday).

I nominate...

Marti Stelling (From Pink Smarties)
Beth May
Emsi Rose
Lauren Joannee
Some Girl Talking
Eve Nicholls
4 Bloggers Blog
Geraldine (From Geraldine's World)
Alice (From Girl Abroad Blogs)
Grace (From Grace x Kate)
Rebecca (From Rebecca Jade)
Emily (From a Cup of E)

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

Love Lou
xxxxx

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another collab! Today's collab is with the lovely Marti, so click here to check out her post. Anyway, today we are both sharing the things we have loved through out summer. I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you again very, very soon. xxx

Barry M Boots Limited Edition Nail Varnish in Golden Sands

I have loved this shade in summer (It's actually the one I wore w
hen I went on holiday to Spain). This is a gorgeous peach/golden nude. The golden tones in it come from the small specs of glitter that are in the varnish. The shimmer is super sparkly and looks gorgeous when the light hits it. Like I mentioned, this is a Boots Limited Edition product so get it whilst you can!

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul
You all knew this was going to be somewhere in this list... This has become my staple lip product this Summer! It's a vibrant pink nude that looks lovely in spring and summer. I pair this with golden eyes for the perfect Summer-y make up look. Even though I managed to get this, not all boots stores have a NYX counter so make sure you check online before hand to see if your local store has one. If not, don't worry as you can still order it online (it can be delivered to your house or your local store).

Girl Online : On Tour by Zoe Sugg

WOW! This book was incredible. This is the second book in the Girl Online series and the 3rd bopok is being released in November! I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but I am going to say that some things aren't quite as you expected them to be...

Zara Femme Perfume
I got this for my birthday and I literally haven't stopped wearing it! As you will probably all know by now, I am terrible at describing scents, but this smell fruity and floral at the same time. It also has a bit of a vanilla scent to it- that's probably why I love it so much!

Handwritten (Deluxe)

For those of you who don't know what this is, it's Shawn Mendes album that was released some time last year. I however, only discovered it this summer. If you read my 10 songs in my head post (click here if you didn't) you will know that I included the songs Never be Alone and Imagination. But, my top 3 songs from the album are: Kid in Love, Aftertaste and The Weight. (Although, I do love the whole album!)

So, that's all for today, but don't forget that 2 posts are going up tomorrow to celebrate my 1 year anniversary! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post, and I will see you again very, very soon,

Love Lou
xxx


Qotp - What's on your Summer Love List?

Links:

Golden Sands
Soft Matte Lip Cream
Girl Online
Girl Online : On Tour
Zara Femme
Handwritten (deluxe)

Prices:

Golden Sands - £3.99
Soft Matte Lip Cream - £5.50
Girl Online - £5.59
Girl Online : On Tour - £9.09
Zara Femme - £7.99
Handwritten (deluxe) - £8.99

Hey everyone, I'm here with some good, and bad news.

The bad news is, that I'm not going to be putting up a post tonight...

But,

I am uploading 2 posts in Saturday as its my 1 year blog anniversary. One of the is going to be the Blogger Recognition Award, and the other, well you get to decide!

The three choices are:

- A Pamper Routine
- Back to School Make up Look
- Q and A

You have until Friday at 8 am to decide in the comments. (If you choose Q and A, a post will go up on my Instagram asking for questions, if you don't have Instagram just include a question or 2 in the comments along with your choice) For those of you wondering, my Instagram is @louloves01.

Thank you so much for your support, and don't forget to comment!

Love Lou
xxxxxx

And good luck to those getting results back tomorrow!

Hey everyone, today it's a collab post! Today's collab is with the lovely Emsi Rose and we thought we would each share a recipe from Tanya Bakes and then say what we liked about it. So, I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all very, very soon. And don't forget to check out Emsi's post here.

Ingredients (Makes 20):

150g of Unsalted Butter , softened
150g of Caster Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
220g of Plain Flour
1 tsp. of Baking Powder
200g of Nutella
100g of White Chocolate, melted and cooled

Method:

In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, followed by the egg and vanilla extract.

Stir in the flour and baking powder and mix to form a smooth dough. Split the dough into 2 equal sized sections.

And nutella to one half of the mixture and stir it thoroughly until fully combined.

Now, melt the white chocolate in a bowl and wait for it to cool before adding into the other half of dough.

Roll out dough on a floured surface to form to equal squares about 1cm thick. Lay out a large piece of cling film and then place one square on top of the other. Roll up the whole thing like a Swiss roll, as tightly as possible, and wrap in cling film and twist the ends slightly. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F/Gas Mark 6. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap the cling film and cut the dough into 1/2 cm disks. Place the disks on the trays and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

What I thought:

Well, these didn't exactly go to plan...

If you ordered on Amazon, there was a mix up with some of the book, and mine was one of the ones which were printed wrong. My book didn't mention the fact that you had to cool the  white chocolate so the cookies felt and tasted very greasy. They still tasted really nice though.

I think I probably would try these again now that I have the new (and improved) recipe. p.s. don't worry, I put the updated recipe in this post :)

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

Love Lou
xxx

Qotp - Would you try this recipe?

Hey everyone, today I am going to be sharing with you a recipe for melt in the middle chocolate puddings. These are an absolute favourite of mine so I hope you enjoy making them as much as I do! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all again very very soon. xxx

Ingredients (for 8):

125g of Butter (plus a little extra for greasing)
200g of Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa and chopped)
2 large eggs (plus 2 more yolks)
100g of Caster Sugar
25g of Plain Flour
Cocoa Powder for dusting
Cream and berries to serve with
8 mini pudding moulds

Method:

You will need to get 8 mini pudding moulds and your electric whisk ready. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C/160 Fan/ Gas Mark 4. Fully cover the inside of the mini moulds with butter and then dust with cocoa powder. This makes them easier to turn out after they've been cooled.

Melt the butter and chopped dark chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir together until there is no lumps of either component left and the mixture is smooth.

Crack the eggs into another large bowl, then add the extra yolks and sugar. Use a hand held electric whisk to mix the mixture until it is thick, fluffy and very pale in colour. Fold in the melted chocolate and butter using a spatula and then sift over the flour and mix well  to combine . Don't worry if you knock the air out of the mixture; you don't want it to rise like a soufflé)

Spoon the mixture into the prepared moulds; filling each mould 2/3 full. At this point you could drop a few berries into the middle as a little twist.

Bake the puddings for 8-10 minutes. The puddings should have a thin crust on it but, the centre should still have a wobble to it.

Leave the puddings to stand for 2 minutes. Then run a small palette knife around the edge of the mould and then turn the puddings out. If you wanted to play it safe, you could leave them in the mould to serve. Serve with a nice dollop of cream and a few fresh berries.

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

Love Lou
xxx

Qotp- What is your favourite thing to bake

Aotp - Tanya Burr's Triple Chocolate Cookies :)

Hey everyone, a couple of weeks ago, I was reading the lovely Emsi Rose's blog and I stumbled upon a post called "10 songs in my head". Today, I thought I would do my own version of it - go and check out Emsi's post here. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all very very soon. xx


Never Be Alone by Shawn Mendes

"I don't know to stop, but slow it down"

Crybaby by Fickle Friends

"Rethink everything. Sorry don't mean the same"

Yours by Ella Henderson

"But with you, I've learnt to just let it out"

Kill 'em with Kindness by Selena Gomez

"Your lies are bullets, your mouths a gun. And no war in anger, was ever won"

Ruin by Shawn Mendes

"Do you, do you think about me at all"

Don't let me down by The Chainsmokers ft. Daya

"Right now I need a miracle. Hurry up now I need a miracle"

Cheap Thrills by Sia

"I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight"

Riptide by Vance Joy

"I wanna be your left hand man"

Imagination by Shawn Mendes

"I want to tell you how beautiful you are from where I'm standing"

Close by Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo

"Space was just a word made up by someone who was afraid to get close"

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

Love Lou
xxx

(I had to resist to make this just Shawn Mendes songs. Haha)

Qotp- What is your favourite song right now?

Aotp - Never be Alone by Shawn Memdes

Hey everyone, today I am going to be sharing with you the make up I did most nights whilst on holiday. It's perfect for summer and super quick and easy to do! Hope you enjoy this post and I will see you all very very soon. xxxx

The first thing I do is prime my eyes with the Smashbox 24hr Photo Finish Shadow Primer. Especially when it's hot, it's really hard to get eye shadow not to crease without a primer. This one is quite expensive but definitely worth the money (I think it's around £14).

The next thing I do is quickly fill my brows in using the shade Naked from the original Naked palette. To put the product in my brows, I use the Real Techniques Brow Brush.

For my eyes, I first apply Nectar from Smashbox all over my lid (this is a gorgeous peach/nude shade), I then put the shade Naked on the outer 2/3 of my lid. To create definition to my eye, I add some Buck into the crease. Next, I mix together the shades Darkhorse, Creep and Gunmetal and put a small amount of it on the outer bottom corner of my lid -I do this to deepen the shades and make the crease shadow stand out more. Then, I get Half Baked and put it all over my lid (apart from over the crease - so inner corner to the crease). This adds a pop of gorgeous golden colour. Finally, I add Virgin (the highlight shade) to the inner corner of my eyes and on my brow bone.
Next up is concealer, I put 17 Stay Time in Extra Fair under my eyes. This is a little too light for me but that is perfect under your eyes as it then highlights which covers dark circles more easily. As this is too light to put over the rest of my face I use the Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer in Light over any blemishes and down my nose.





The next thing I use is Nude Delight from Tanya's Hollywood palette and I put this along my water line - this makes your eyes look more open and more awake. I then blend the shade Buck underneath my eye and apply a thin line of Soap and Glory's Supercat Skinny liner across my upper lash line.

Next, I put on a few coats of my trusty Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara. I put this on my top and bottom lashes.


Finally, I apply one thin layer of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul to my lips. This is a vibrant pink nude which looks amazing with a tan/in summer in general.


So, that's it for today guys. I hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you very very soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

Qotp - What is your staple lip product?

Aotp - Right now, it's Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul.

Brushes Used:

EcoTools Airbrush Concealer Brush
Real Techniques Concealer Brush
Urban Decay Brush from the Naked palette
Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush
Real Techniques Shading Brush
Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush
Real Techniques Brow Brush
L'Oreal Brush from La Palette Nude
Real Techniques Accent Brush
(Sorry for no link on the Base Shadow, Deluxe Crease, Brow and Accent brushes. This is because the link on the boots website isn't working currently but I will try to get it on as soon as possible)(For those of you wanting to know, the brushes can't be purchased individually, only as part of the Starter Set along with the fine liner brush)

Products Used:
Smashbox 24hr Photo Finish Shadow Primer
Urban Decay Naked Palette
17 Stay Time Concealer (I have shade Extra Fair)
Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer (I have shade Light)
Smashbox Photo Op Eye Trio in Screen Shot (Nectar is the palest shade in the trio)
Tanya Burr Hollywood Palette
Soap and Glory Supercat Skinny Eye Liner
Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul

Hey guys, I don't talk about homeware very often on here, so today I thought I would do one based on homeware. I hope you enjoy this post, and I will see you all very very soon. (These aren't in any particular order, they are just my top 5)

The first thing I wanted to talk about was fairy lights. I love fairy lights, I feel as though they can add a really cosy and homely feel to a room which is really nice in winter. The fairy lights I have are from Gabriella's Primark range. They are clear and the top half is covered in rose gold sparkles. They weren't too expensive but all primark ones aren't too pricey. However, they are really good quality, this really surprised me as I didn't know what to expect from them. They are battery powered and I have they wrapped around the top of my bed.

Another I wanted to talk about was plaques. I have little plaques up around my room with quotes on them. I feel like they can really add something to an otherwise bare wall. OI have two - one says "Do more of what makes you happy" and the other says " Live. Laugh. Love".  You can get these from anywhere really, one my sister got me from a local market and the other one was about £5 from Tesco. I then have one plaque that stands on my desk and it says "Friendship is a special gift, generously given, happily accepted and deeply appreciated" - and friend got me this for my birthday last year so I don't know where it was from or even if it is still sold!

Something else that can really add something to a room is picture frames. You could have frames that all match or you can go for a mish mash of styles. I have one on top of my desk but I am going to add loads more with photos of friends, family and places I have visited. I know Paperchase do a really nice range of frames in all shapes and sizes, so definitely check it out if you are looking for some new frames.

A slightly bigger thing that can make a room look gorgeous is a dressing table. Mine is from IKEA and it is the HEMNES dressing table and with it I have the INGOLF stool. I then have the SKURAR pots to keep brushes in. Mine was pretty expensive but compared to some dressing tables it's quite cheap. It really just depends on how much you have to spend. But don't always think that a dressing table that costs thousands is going to be better as sometimes it than a slightly cheaper one.

The final thing I am going to talk about today is reed diffusers. I love reed diffusers and my favourites are the collection from Sainsbury's. I actually preferred these to the Yankee Candle as the smell of the Yankee Candle faded away no matter how many times I rotated the sticks. My absolute favourite is the Madagascan Vanilla one which I actually out in my 2015 favourites I think.

So, they are my top 5 picks. I hope you enjoyed this post, and I will see you all very very soon,

Love Lou
xxx

Qotp - What is your top homeware pick?

Hey everyone, I can't believe I have never done an everyday make up post! So, here it is, I hope you enjoy this post, and let me know if you want more like this. Also, thank you so much for the overwhelming amount of support recently, it means the world to me - you guys are amazing!

First off, I apply the Smashbox 24hr Photo Finish Shadow Primer. This stuff is amazing in summer, to stop your shadow from creasing!





Finally, I put on one coat of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shade Istanbul (this has become my staple lip colour). Even though this is a liquid lipstick, it doesn't dry out my lips (sometimes I do put a lip balm on underneath if my lips are dry in the first place).

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

Love Lou
xxx

Qotp - Do you use any of the products I mentioned?

Links :

Smashbox Eye Primer
L'Oreal La Palette Nude
Naked Palette
Stay Time Concealer
Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream