pinterest google instagram
Powered by Blogger.

Lou Loves

New post every Sunday


This month has been another month of very few empties - I don't know what's going on with not finishing products! Anyway, I only finished one thing this month, so I thought I'd do a review of it!

 
This month I finished the Soap and Glory Blur and Brighten concealer. Some of you loyal viewers who have been here from the start will know that I was obsessed with this concealer - I just couldn't get enough of it. Then I found my 17 stay time and just kinda fell out of love with it. But recently, I've been trying to reach for it more and I have very mixed opinions about it.

It is a really nice product, there's no denying that but there's just something about it that I don't like. I think it might be because it's very yellow toned, and when I say very yellow toned, I mean it's practically yellow. I have yellow undertones to my skin but this is even too yellow for me, so if you have pink or cool undertones I would definitely steer clear of this product!

I think another thing putting me off is that it's quite a buttery/watery product. It is a stick concealer, so obviously it's not like a liquid concealer, but I just find this to liquid-y. When you blend it, it just kind of moves around your face and doesn't settle in one place. Contrary to it being liquid-y, I find that if you put it on any dry areas on your face, it makes them more obvious and flaky looking rather than covering them like other concealers do, so that's a bit annoying.
 
 
 
On the plus side, it is a pretty full coverage concealer, which you don't tend to find in high street products. I am always on the hunt for good quality, medium/coverage products and this one definitely fits in the category! I also like how it's quite brightening so it perfect for popping under your eyes just to brighten it up if you have a slightly darker eye look.

Overall. I think it's a nice product, but I don't think I would buy it again purely down to the fact that it's not really my colour and it looks a bit funny on any dry areas (I have really dry skin for those of you who don't know).

Thank you for reading, let me know if you've tried this and what you think of it down in the comments,

Love Lou
xxxx

Links and Prices:

Soap and Glory Blur and Brighten Concealer - £6
June 30, 2017 No comments

Once again, I was scrolling down pinterest and came across these brownie bites - I knew I just had to share the recipe with you!

Ingredients (makes 24) :

For the brownies:

115g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
200g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
65g all purpose flour
40g cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the caramel filling:

20 soft caramel sweets
3 tablespoons heavy cream

To make the brownies:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 24 hole mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter and granulated sugar. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix until just combined.

Evenly distribute the brownie batter between each muffin cavity. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and gently press in the centre of each brownie with the bottom of a measuring teaspoon. Allow the brownie bites for 45 minutes.

Remove the cooled brownie bites from the pan and place them on a wire rack.

To make the caramel filling:

Add the caramel sweets and cream into a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds each time, making sure to stir well each time. Evenly distribute the caramel between the 24 brownies (it'll be about 1 teaspoon per each brownie).

Allow to coll for at least 15 minutes so the caramel can firm up, then top with sea salt.

Thank you so much for reading, and let me know if you give these a go,

Love Lou
xxxx

* Disclaimer - This recipe and photos are not my own and were found at www.livewellbakeoften.co.uk *
June 28, 2017 No comments

June has gone so quickly - I can't believe it's almost over! But, it's the end of another motnh so that calls for another favourites post!..


The first product I couldn't get enough of this month was the Garnier SkinActive Eye Makeup Remover. I don't know if I've ever spoken about it on here but it's so good. I picked this up a couple of month's ago because I was struggling to take off my L'Oreal miss baby roll mascara so I thought I'd give tis a whirl! I'm so glad I did as it makes taking your eye-makeup off a breeze. I genuinely used to hate taking my eyeshadow and mascara off at the end of the day as it was such a faf and took loads of time - this product makes it super, super easy. With this you just shake up the bottle to mix the 2 sections, pour a little bit on to a cotton pad and then I hold it down on my eye for about 10 seconds before gently wiping off any product still left.


Next up is the Tanya Burr Cosmetics Matte Lip in Martha Moo. It's been really hot recently so I've been reaching for this when I want a pop of colour without it feeling like I have any product on my lips. This shade is a gorgeous pink shade, but if you put a balm or gloss over the top, it looks more like a coral shade which is really nice as I don't actually own any corals - I know I can't believe it either! I've been reaching for this nearly everyday because it isn't like any other liquid lipstick - the closest comparison I can give is to the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams but this is more velvety than those.


I know I put this in a favourites not long ago but I am still obsessed. It's the Hollister Pure Cali perfume. I feel like Hollister is quite under-rated for perfumes/scents in general but I love all of their scents! This one in particular I'm obsessed with - it's a really fresh, fruity and floral all at the same time, I can't really describe it to you. Next time you're near a Hollister store you just HAVE to go and have a look at their massive range (one of their body mists is quite a peachy scent and smells insane but I can't remember the name!).





Finally, is an oldie but a goodie. Everyone, by now, will know my love of Urban Decay's original Naked palette. The shades are really pigmented and easily blendable and it comes with a really good brush as well! I have had this palette for nearly a year now and I've barely made a dint in any of the shades because little goes a long way with these as they are of such a high quality! I was pretty sceptical as to how good they were before I actually had one myself, but now I definitely understand the hype and if you're unsure whether to get it or not, I would 100% take the plunge!

Thank you all so much for reading, and share your favourites down in the comments,

Love Lou
xxxxx

Links and Prices:

Garnier Eye Makeup Remover - £3.49
Tanya Burr Matte Lip in Martha Moo - £5.99
Hollister Pure Cali -£19
Urban Decay Naked Palette - £39.50
June 26, 2017 No comments

Who else had been loving this summery weather? I know I have! So, I thought I'd share with you 10 absolute summer bargains for under £10 ; insane right!

1- Boohoo Hi Low Strappy Maxi Dress - £9


2- New Look Lilac Off the Shoulder Top - £8

3- Bershka Mom Fit Shorts - £7.99


4- New Look Wide Fit Black Comfort Block Heel Mules - £10
5- New Look Pink Balloon Sleeve Bardot Neck Top - £8
6- Topshop Tiger Crop Top - £10
7- Boohoo Alice Bomber Jacket - £10


8- Primark Black Embroided Gingham Top - £8
9- Primark Blue and White Cut Out Pattern Bardot Top - £10
10- Primark White Floral Peplum Top - £8
I hope you all enjoyed this post, and share some of your summer bargains in the comments,

Love Lou
xxxx
June 23, 2017 No comments
I don't know about you, but I am always completely obsessed with Gigi's make up, so today I;m going to try and create a look that resembles this:
 
Lets' start off with eyes, in this Gigi has quite golden, shimmery eyes so that's what we're gonna go with! First off, primer your eyes - I really enjoy using the Smashbox 24hr Photo Op shadow primer! I used my Naked palette to recreate this look as it is a very nude look. I first put the shade 'naked' all over my lid (it's a gorgeous warm pale brown that creates the perfect base), then I applied a small amount of 'buck' into the outer corner and lightly blended it up into the crease. Gigi's look is very shimmery so I then went and put the shade 'half baked' all over the lid to create the shimmery golden look. To create a little more definition to the eye, I added a mix of 'smog' and 'darkhorse' to the outer corner and blended it in really well. Finally, I added the shade 'virgin' to the inner corner of my eye.
 
For lashes, I used the L'Oreal Miss Baby Roll as Gigi's lashes are really long, fluttery and natural. If you wanted to you could add some individual lashes to add to the length and flutter.
 
We all know Gigi is a fan of glowing skin to create this, Bourjois' Healthy Mix foundation is perfect to create the dewy and fresh look. I then used my Rimmel match perfection concealer under my eyes to brighten up the look. (I used 17 stay time on blemishes as it's a better match for me than the match perfection one.) I then went in to set the look with my Rimmel Stay Matte powder with the Real Techniques powder brush all over my face. This look is pretty bronzey so you could bronze up with a bronzer but I chose not to (Benefit's Hoola or Holla Lite would be perfect!) To finish off the skin, I used the NYX illuminator in 04 ritualistic which is a golden/cream highlight.
 
Onto brows, Gigi's are quite natural so all I did was fill them in lightly with the shade 'naked' as it's a pretty much perfect match for my brows but you can use whatever works best for you.
 
Finally, onto lips, I used the Tanya Burr Pink Cocoa lipstick, blotted it to within an inch of it's life an then added a thin layer of the Tanya Burr Cotton Cane lip gloss.
 
So, I hope you all enjoyed this slightly different post and let me know if you recreate it!
 
Love Lou
xxxx

June 21, 2017 No comments

I've seen this post circulating recently and I think it's such a lovely idea. For those of you who don't know, basically, you pick your favourite bloggers right now - spread some love in the blogosphere!

1- Life as Tilly Rose


You guys probably get so sick of how much I talk about Tilly, but her posts are just so good! They're always really unique and I genuinely get really excited whenever she uploads!

2- Daisy Josephine Blog (previously known as Daisy Chains and Paper Planes)


Daisy's blog and instagram are just the cutest! Her posts are always super useful and she does THE best!

3- Bethxkate


I don't know what it is about Beth but her posts just always seem really friendly and chatty! She also posts about quite a range of things, from DIY posts to beauty, she has it all!

4- Emsi Rose
 
I have collabed with Emsi so many times, so you probably all know and love her by now but I couldn't not include her! Emsi is one of the most sincere and lovely people I have come across in the blogging community, you all have to go and read her blog!

So, I hope you all enjoyed this post, and let me know who your favourites are right now in the comments,

Love Lou
xxxx

Instagrams: @lifeastillyrose @daisyjosephineblog @bethxkate @emsirose
June 19, 2017 2 comments

I found this recipe whilst flicking through a magazine and thought I'd share it with you guys as it's actually pretty healthy!

Ingredients:

180g buckwheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
125g unsalted butter
125ml rice malt syrup
1 egg
100g chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 160 C (gas mark 3). Line two baking trays with baking paper).

Combine the flour, baking powder, vanilla powder and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and rice malt syrup with a electric mixer until creamy. Add the egg and beat until combined.

Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon. Fold through the chocolate chips.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place 4cm apart on the lined trays. Press down slightly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. These cookies are delicious and almost cake like in texture. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy the cookies warm out of the oven, or cold if you prefer. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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

Love Lou
xxxx

Recipe - Sarah Wilson's I quit sugar, Kids cookbook, found in YOU magazine from the Daily Mail.
(www.dailymail.co.uk  www.you.co.uk)
Picture - www.dailymail.co.uk
June 16, 2017 No comments

I have seen a lot of people writing "beauty wishlists" recently so today I've put together a little list of the top 5 beauty products I want to try!

1- Spectrum Glam Clam - £59.99
2- Lottie London Slay All Day Lip Kit in Werk It - £8.95
3- Becca X Chrissy - £45
4- Rimmel Scandal Eyes Eye Crayon in Taupe - £4.49
5- Too Faced Love Light Highlighter in Ray of Light - £25
 




 
I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I'm wanting to try! Which products are at the top of your wishlist? Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you very soon,
 
Love Lou
xxxxx
June 14, 2017 No comments

At the beginning of this year, I set myself some goals from my little corner of the internet so today I thought I'd update you on how I'm doing! (If you haven't read the first post, click here to read it)

1- Try and reach 40,000 views

When I came up with goal, I genuinely thought I wouldn't reach it as it was just under double the amount of views I had at the time. I now think it's safe to say I have 100% reached this goal (I'm currently on 51,000 views! I know, I can't believe it either).

2- Reach 500 Instagram followers

This is where things go down hill... I have been in the high 2 hundreds for about 4 or 5 months now and I just can't seem to get past the 300 mark! I get there and then I get a lot of unfollows but I didn't used to post very often so now I'm trying to post more regularly to try and make some more headway into the one.

 3- Reply to all of my comments

So far, I've been doing okay on this one. I have been replying to them all but often not very quickly so in the next few months I'm going to try and reply a little more quickly!

4- Have every single post go up in time

At the start of the year, I thought this was going to be quite tricky as a lot of times last year I was hours (or maybe even a day) late putting up posts, but so far all of them have gone up on time!

So, I think I've been pretty successful with my goals so far! I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank yu so much for reading, and I will see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx
June 12, 2017 No comments
 
Recently I have been testing out some new products, so today I'm sharing with you some of the brilliant new products I've found as you all went mad for my first post like this!


 
The first thing that I've discovered pretty recently is this Spectrum A10 "Feeling Fancy" small fan brush. This is the first ever brush I've tried from Spectrum and I'm really impressed! This normally retails at £4.99 with £3.99 shipping but there is often a discount code or something you can use! This brush came within 4 days which is a lot quicker than some of the other "standard shipping" options on other sites. (There was also an option for quicker delivery if you wanted it quicker). Besides it's quick arrival I was super impressed with this. It evenly applies powder highlighters really nicely and smoothly and it's much higher quality than the other fan brushes this price!

 
 
 A skincare related discovery is the Garnier SkinActive micellar oil-infused cleansing water. This cleanser is for dry and sensitive skin which basically just sums up my skin! I found that this product is pretty similar to the regular micellar cleansing water but it has the oil on the top so when you shake it up, it feels really soothing and moisturising on the skin. It removes all my make up really easily and it's not greasy like you'd expect an oil to be! This was just £5.99 which I still can't believe as it's such a high quality product!


 
A couple of months ago, my favourite concealer was discontinued so I did a bit of research and discovered this lil' bad boy. This is the Rimmel Match Perfection 2-in-1 skintone adapting concealer and highlighter in the shade ivory. It also contains vitmains C and E so it's really good for you skin and it also lasts a long, long time! It adapts to your skin tone so it is literally a perfect match for any skintone! I completely love this product and cannot get enough of it! It was just £5.99 which is pretty good value for money (even for a high street concealer!)



The final product I have been loving is the NYX illuminator in the shade Ritualistic! I did a full review about this (click here to read it) so I'm not going to go into this much. If you want to find out more about it click the link above!

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

Love Lou
xxxx
June 09, 2017 No comments

I never really talk about cooking on here, I tend to just ramble on about baking so today I thought I'd do something a little different!

*Little side note - This recipe is very interchangeable, you can swap and change to put anything in that you want. If you've got any questions, just ask in the comments!*

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. oil
1 onion
150g long grain or risotto rice
1 vegetable/chicken stock cube in 550ml of boiling water
250g sweetcorn
100g chorizo
2 chicken breasts

Heat oil in a pan over a medium heat ; add onion and chicken and fry until onion is soft.

Stir in the rice. Add the stock, sweetcorn and chorizo.

Simmer for 15 minutes, until rice is tender.

That's it! It's really easy!

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

Love Lou
xxxx
June 07, 2017 No comments

This past month I've only finished one thing! I know, I can't believe it either, but instead of putting it into next month's empties post, I thought I would take this chance to do a full in-depth review of this lil' guy!

 
I have the smallest size bottle of this and it has lasted me just over 3 weeks - little goes a long way with this! Happy Hippy is a Lush classic but this is only my first ever bottle of it! I can't believe I'd never tried it before now because it's so good. It's grapefruit scented which is really refreshing and uplifting. Unlike some of the other Lush shower gels, this one lathers up really nicely and the scent stays, it doesn't fade at all like most other Lush shower gels do!
 
 
As with all Lush products this is cruelty free. I've never really said much on the topic of animal testing so I thought I'd let you know where I stand with it! I'm one of those people who are half-and-half. I don't purposely not buy products that test on animals but if they don't it's a bonus. I obviously disagree with it so that's why I love Lush products so much! This shower gel is also vegan for any of you out there who are wondering!

 
Prices and sizes: 100g = £4.50 
                            250g = £8.75
                            500g = £14.25
                            1 Kg = £22.95

So, I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank you so much for reading and I will see you all again soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx
June 05, 2017 2 comments
Newer Posts
Older Posts

About me

Hey! I'm Lou and welcome to my cosy little corner of the internet! I cover everything from the trends of the season to my favourite recipes! Have a look around and don't forget to follow me via the social media links below!

Follow Me

Labels

Advice Baking Bath/Shower Beauty Blogging Blogmas Cooking Empties Fashion Favourites Hauls Homeware Instagram Lifestyle music Other Review Skincare Sponsored Summer Tags Travel

recent posts

Blog Archive

  • ►  2018 (32)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  August (3)
    • ►  July (2)
    • ►  June (4)
    • ►  May (3)
    • ►  April (5)
    • ►  March (4)
    • ►  February (4)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ▼  2017 (141)
    • ►  December (25)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (5)
    • ►  September (6)
    • ►  August (9)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ▼  June (13)
      • June Empties 2017!
      • Salted Caramel Brownie Bites!
      • June Favourites 2017!
      • 10 Summer Bargains under £10!
      • Gigi Hadid Inspired Look!
      • The Bloggers Love List!
      • Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies!
      • The 5 To Try!
      • Blogging Goals : Update 2!
      • New Beauty Discoveries #2!
      • Quick and Easy Risotto!
      • Lush's Happy Hippy Review (May Empties)!
      • DIY Strawberry Mud Mask!
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (12)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ►  February (12)
    • ►  January (13)
  • ►  2016 (168)
    • ►  December (26)
    • ►  November (12)
    • ►  October (13)
    • ►  September (13)
    • ►  August (16)
    • ►  July (12)
    • ►  June (10)
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (12)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ►  February (12)
    • ►  January (14)
  • ►  2015 (78)
    • ►  December (20)
    • ►  November (12)
    • ►  October (20)
    • ►  September (22)
    • ►  August (4)

Report Abuse

Translate

Pages

  • Home
  • Advertising
  • Contact Me
  • Privacy Policy

My Bloglovin'

Follow

Created with by ThemeXpose | Distributed By Gooyaabi Templates