Treasures from the Old English Company

Happy National Stationary Week everyone! I saw that this was a thing today on my instagram and knew there was no better time to share my new bits and bobs from the Old English Company* with you all.

If you've followed me for a while, or even if you've just landed on this page and have had a first glimpse, you'll know that I have a real penchant for beautiful notebooks and anything pink. You can imagine my delight when I found the Old English Company's website: a sanctuary of dreamy homeware, stunny planners and subtle colours. Swoon. 

Old English Company hand letter all their own products with cute quirky messages. I for one am obsessed with the selection of unique fonts which make each one of their products extremely instagrammable. Their website is really easy to navigate (or ahem, spend hours on) and there's even a cute little feature which pops up to tell you who is buying what as you browse. Maybe it is just because I'm nosy but I love this. I guess it's like when you're in a shop and see someone pick something up to buy and suddenly you need it too. 

After a long time of umming and arring I finally narrowed my selection down to:

The Blush and Gold A5 Planner

Don't Worry Bee Happy Mug

You've Got This Keyring

Love Heart Keyring

I love the gold theme of what I got. I'm going to be straight with you - I did get the 'Love' keyring purely in honour of Louise from St. Louis. The 'You've Got This' keyring is for a little reassurance whenever I need it. I had my last EVER university deadline on Tuesday and although I am so happy to be finished and have lots to keep me going for the next couple of months, I think it might be easy to slip into panic mode about the big wide world or the rest of my life. So, this will serve as a friendly reminder to take my worry hat off. I don't even need to explain why I love the mug - between the copious amount of tea I drink and the sheer cuteness of it, I'm sure you can guess. The planner is simple and gorgeous: a very pale pink cardboard cover with 'Old English Company Made in England' embossed in gold on the back and each page inside printed with bullet points for 'Today's Tasks', space for 'Notes', and a header to mark in the date. Nothing motivates me like being able to tick a task off my to do list.

I am so glad I discovered Old English Company - it is such a gem and the perfect place to buy unique gifts and treat yourself.

*These lovely products were sent to me for consideration for review, but all opinions are my own.

Ted Baker Makeup Bag DUPE £2.99

As you can probably tell from looking at my blog for two seconds, I am a sucker for anything dusty pink, vintage-looking, rose gold or floral (aren't all bloggers?) 

So, you can imagine my utter excitement when I was in Home Bargains of all places and spotted this makeup bag for only £2.99! It reminds me so much of something you'd see in Ted Baker - at only a fraction of the price. This was too good not to share. 

It is wipe-clean, has a rose pink lining, is the perfect size to hold all my makeup and has rose gold hardware. I hardly needed another makeup bag but who could say no at that price? Even the tag is cute and has a little 'To... From' if you want to give it as a gift. I imagine these will sell out fast.

L'Oreal Collection Privée Julianne's Nude Review

Hey Everyone!

How many times have you justified a purchase by the fact that the product 'has your name written all over it?' If you're anything like me, it'll be quite a few. So, you can imagine my absolute delight when I discovered that L'Oreal had launched a new collection of nude shades named after their ambassadors with one named Julianne. It literally has my name written all over it (well its written twice; that's good enough). It is safe to say I was nearly floored with excitement. To add to that, when I done the test online to discover what shade suited my complexion, I was matched with: myself. Talk about meant to be. With a name like Julianne, all the named things like keychains and rulers and calculators that everyone had when they were younger just passed me by. This has more than made up for it.

From the off therefore, I was in love with this lipstick without even trying it. I didn't care if it was £8.19- it was already worth it.  The packaging is ultra luxurious- it reminds me of a Channel or some other high end brand. The black with gold is very sophisticated and I love that 'L'Oreal' is embossed (is that the right word?) on the bullet. Usually when you think of a 'nude' shade, you think of a kind of caramel beige. For rosy lips like mine- this is far from a 'nude'. I think its fab that L'Oreal has created a line which caters for (more or less) every skin tone. 'Julianne' is described as 'Barely peach' and is designed for very fair and rose complexions.

The formula feels creamy on the lips and doesn't dry them at all. Another plus: application is pretty much fool proof (unlike those oh so pigmented vampy lipsticks I was loving over winter). The only negative is that it doesn't have immense lasting power- you'd have to reapply quite a few times throughout the day. However, it doesn't bleed or disappear leaving that awful line around your lips.

This is my first ever L'Oreal lipstick and I have to say I'm in love. While I'll opt for something a little more bold for the likes of a night out, this is my go to for everyday purposes. And I was worried that as the seasons changed I wouldn't be able to part with my Topshop Depth. How wrong I was.

PS. Apologies for the quality of the pictures. I took these on my phone instead of my camera because I was lazy.

Bubblegum is LUSH

Hey Everyone!

You will know if you follow me on instagram (julz_obsessions - hint) or youtube (Julz' Obsessions - hint hint) that a few weeks ago I purchased my first products from Lush. Looking back, I find it quite odd that I've never tried any of their products as I am quite into bath products on the whole. If you know Lush you'll know that they offer an endless variety of scents, but I decided to pick up a selection of bubblegum themed products, and boy am I glad I did!

Snow Fairy Limited Edition Shower Gel 250g- RRP £6.25

Partly due to the hype and partly due to the fact I can't resist a yummy smelling product, I got Snow Fairy. Getting straight to the point: this is amazing. The packaging is really bright and cute. The bubblegum scent literally makes you want to eat it and it actually looks really pretty- a kind of salmony pink with blue sparkle. I get on really well with the formula- it lathers well and you don't need a lot (meaning hopefully it will last me till next Christmas when it reappears in store!) Its not the most affordable shower gel I've ever bought, but I made an exception because its just so luxurious.

_________________________________

Magic Wand Limited Edition Bubble Bar- RRP £4.95

This is simply a star product (excuse the bad joke)- its pretty, smells amazing and actually works. My bath taps have really weird pressure meaning bubbles are usually impossible- but not with this! I actually get a proper bubble bath (no bubble beards- honest ;-) ) and the most amazing thing ever- the water turns pink! I was so, so amazed when I first used this- it was definitely the best bath I'd ever had. The scent is a very powerful bubblegum and it makes my whole upstairs smell amazing. I was a bit apprehensive to spend nearly £5 on something that I could only get a few uses out of but so far I've used it 3 or 4 times and I think I'll get another 1 or 2. It is definitely my favourite Lush product.

_________________________________

Bubblegum Lip Scrub- RRP £5.25

Ok I know this isn't technically one of the seasonal limited edition Lush products but I thought since its bubblegum too I could include it in this post! Until now, for lip exfoliation I have simply used my tooth brush (I still think this is a good technique) but I am a sucker for a product and when I tried this I knew I had to get it. Essentially its just dyed sugar, but it is a great pick me up for chapped, flaky winter lips. You rub it all over your lips then lick it off. Not only does it get rid of those dead cells, it tastes amazing! I frequently have the urge just to snack on it! The only thing I don't like about this product is, for want of a better word, its a bit 'crummy'. Its a dry formula so it can sometimes drop on the journey from the pot to your lips. Other than that though, I think this product is really good and will last me ages as you use a small amount at a time.

What are your favourite Lush products? I want to try more!

Polish Post 6 | Pink Ombre and Glitter

Hey Everyone!

I've been painting my nails a lot recently- experimenting with different techniques and colours and I've been happy to discover unlikely combinations of my collection. However, I'm terrible for biting my nails and picking my nail polish off- so much so that I can't keep a colour on my nails for more than a day. I realise that this must be doing my nails a lot of damage, so for the time being, I am going to leave them bare. While I'm doing that though, I'll post recent NOTD's. Though since I'm on this topic- does anyone have any suggestions of what to do to stop biting my nails and to strengthen them?

Anyway, onto the actual post and today's nails consist of 5 shades of pink and my topshop ice crush.

To achieve the ombre (ish) effect on my thumb, I just painted stripes of colour adjacent to each other whilst the last was still wet and they seemed to just sink into each other and dry together. My fingers then correspond in descending order to the colours on my thumb, and I put a topcoat of glitter on every nail.

I am in love with these- they're so pretty and girly! Also, pretty easy to create- no messing about with sponges or anything. 

Do you like them? Would you consider giving nail ombre a go?