Beauty | L'Occitane Love

 

Hi,

 

L'Occitane  have been on my radar for quite a few years, however it's not really a brand that I'd ever thought about trying, until now.

 

I'd heard so many good things about their precious cream that when I got one in a my little beauty box last year I was very happy! It was in the My Little Box, if you are looking for a beauty box to subscribe to I would recommend this one, each box I received had was beautifully packaged and have a good mixture of beauty and lifestyle items.

  

I had put it away in the drawer and then forgot all about it until now, so as we were going away for the weekend I thought that I would take it with me to try. After I cleansed I popped some on and let it sink in before using my make up, not that I needed long, within a few minutes the cream had sunk nicely into my skin, any dry patches disappeared and my face felt incredibly smooth and glowing. I could still feel the effects of using it later that evening. I haven't been using it every day as it does have a price tag of £48 but I feel like I might have to save up and invest in some of this, no time like the present to try and keep those wrinkles at bay! This is one of those creams that is definitely worth the hype.

 

Have you tried an L'Occitane products?

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

x

Style | Into the woods

Hi!

I took some photos from the Spring Lookbook I did, this is the only look from the video that I put together especially for it but I think that I'm actually going to put this together one day, maybe throw on my N cardigan to give it that slightly preppy 'grease' look, if that makes sense!

 

 



 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

x

Style | Pastel

Hi!

 

I found another item in my wardrobe to dust off and re-visit, this pale pink skirt. I purchased it from Hollies blog sale last year in order to bring a little colour to my wardrobe. When I first got it I was nervous about wearing it, light colours and me don't usually mix well together especially when I'm eating! 

 

I put this outfit together based on memories of an outfit I had when I was younger, I had a lovely pale pink cotton skirt from Woolworths and a white t-shirt, wearing this with my knee high socks with bows I thought I was the bees knees! Now I'm an little bit older I've had to ditch the knee highs in favour of bare legs and these pointy pumps from Dorothy Perkins!

 

Cardigan - Gap (old)

T-Shirt - Gap (old)

Skirt - Dorothy Perkins (old)

Shoes - Dorothy Perkins

 

 

It was cold when the sun went in!

 



 

Here comes the sun!

 

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

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Style | A Colourful Wobble

Hi!

I have been going through my wardrobe recently and picking out items that I haven't worn since last year and reviving them ready for Spring/Summer 2016. Although at the time of writing this I'm sat with thick winter socks on and a huge scarf!

I had a slight wobble with my confidence towards the end of last summer and packed away most of my patterned and colourful items. I had put on some weight due to stress and then started a new job, I had gone back to my old ways of not wanting to draw attention to myself and not really loving my body. This is something that I'd done for years, whilst I know there will be a few people who will understand where I'm coming from there will be a few who won't believe this, assuming that I must be very confident because I blog and share my photos on the internet. Even though I have come so far in my body positivity journey I still find myself having those moments of self doubt, especially when going into a new place or unfamiliar surroundings.

 

After sorting and clearing out a vast chunk of my wardrobe, and working on building up my confidence again, I've decided to bring back some of my favourites for the warmer weather. One of the items is this Lindy Bop skirt, unfortunately its no longer available but do have a look at their website for similar ones.

 

 

 

 

I paired it with this shirt from New Look that I got last year as well, this has also been sitting in my wardrobe so I really want to try and get some wear out of it this year. I love the combination of these items together, I just need to add a cardigan and I'm ready for the British Summer!

 



 Have you tried any items from Lindy Bop? Any favourites?

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

x

 

Thank you to Mr C for taking these photos, despite the sunshine it was so cold!

Fashion | Stripes Lookbook Collab

Hi!

Todays post is a lookbook and its a collab with Hanna from The Poor, The Pretty and the Curvy !

 

Click on the video above to watch.

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

x

Beauty | Sephora Skincare Set

 

Hi!

 

 

Back in January my sister kindly bought me a Sephora set back. I had seen it online and kept my fingers crossed that she would be able to get it back home in her suitcase in one piece! Luckily she did a great job of wrapping it up and it got here safe and sound! Thanks Sis!

 

After going for a facial last year the therapist mentioned that my skin was quite dry, this was quite a shock to me as I've always suffered with oily skin and drink plenty of water. She explained that it could be to do with the weather, the cold wind and having the heating on at home as these can all have quite a drying effect on the skin. This made me think about what I was using on my skin and how to combat the dryness. 

 

This Sephora set is specifically aimed at putting moisture back into the skin so that was why  I chose it.

 

 

The first items I tried were First Aid Beauty ultra repair cream and the Peter Thomas Roth  Marine Algae mask.

 

 

I cleansed my face with the face wash from La Roche Posay, this has been a long time favourite of mine and works really well at keeping my skin clear and any spots at bay

 

I then put a thin layer of the face mask on. It goes on clear on the skin and feels quite sticky at first but after 5-6 minutes it begins to sink into the skin until you can barely feel anything. It reminded me of one of my favourite face masks, the Elemis Tri-Enzyme in terms of how it feels on the skin, not too heavy and cooling.

 

It has quite a strong scent in the jar but once it's on the skin it seems to disappear slightly. I left it on for the recommended 10 minutes  and then rinsed off with luke warm water. It came off really easily and quickly . After I had dried my skin I didn't really notice much of a difference, my skin didn't feel any softer which was quite disappointing. It does say on the back to use it either daily or 2-3 times a week so I'm definitely going to give it another try.

2nd use update -

Well I still haven't changed my mind on this even after giving it a second go. I'm assuming that this mask would retail for around £34 as on the Cult Beauty Website the other masks from this brand are around this price. If I'd paid that much for the face mask I expect some good results and pretty quick ones too!

 

I also used the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream to try hydrate my skin as much as possible. This was decent size sample in the box so this is going to last me quite a while. The first thing I noticed was that the cream doesn't have any scent, this is something that I really like, I'm not a great lover of heavily scented creams, unless they are amazing then I try and persevere!

 

 

 

The cream doesn't sink in very quickly, I did have to massage it into my face for a couple of minutes, it kind of sits on top of the skin and then sinks in slowly. I wasn't overly impressed at first but an hour later my skin felt so good, glowing and fresh.

 

Even though I was not impressed by the facemask I continued to finish the pot, it's not one that I would purchase on its own and is not as good as the Elemis mask. The cream however is a product that I really liked, even though it took a bit of time to sink in. I would recommended this more as a night cream as I don't think it would sit well under make up if you applied it soon after.

 

 

You can purchase the face mask here and the cream here.

 

Have you tried either of these brands?

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

x

Style | Woburn Wandering

Hi!

I love a good blog sale, it's a great way of updating my wardrobe on a budget. Whenever I see a sale I set myself a budget and only buy pieces that I know I will get a lot of wear out of.

I got this jacket from Hollies blog sale and I LOVE it! It's a relaxed fit blazer in this cool asymmetric pattern, I'm keeping an eye out for a dress like this now as I love the print.

I wore it for a day a few weeks ago and it was ideal for this odd weather we have been experiencing. I added a scarf as the wind was quite cold later on in the afternoon.

Jacket - George at Asda (old)

T-Shirt - Gap

Shoes - Gap

Jeggings - Sainsburys

Scarf - Primark (old)

 



The sun came out briefly!

 

A few pictures of beautiful Woburn

 

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

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Style | Spring Style

Hi!

So, I have put together a few of my favourite Spring outfits into a video!

 

Thanks for watching!

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

x

Lifestyle | If you go down to the village today..

Hi!

This is the second part of my Bicester Village post, if you missed the first one you can read it here.

Today I'm talking about food and where to eat when visiting Bicester Village. I've seen a number of different places to eat open and close during the 20 years of BV but right now I think they have the best selection of restaurants. You can find out more here.

1. Villandry

Ohhh Villandry! We still make trips to Bicester to go here for breakfast, the scrambled eggs on toast, the full English, croissants, orange juice and a nice flat white. It's the best place to eat in my opinion, I have been there many times and never had a bad experience. The staff are always super polite and friendly, this is important for me as I feel like the waiter or waitress, along with the food, can make or break your time at a restaurant. Expect to pay around £16 - 25 for breakfast for two. They also do a lunch time and evening menu as well.

2. Pret

Pret is great if you don't want to eat into your shopping time and just want a quick bit of lunch! I do find it gets very busy in here, I've had to wait behind 2 rows of people to get a sandwich, this is not good when I'm super hungry or HANGRY!

3. Itsu

Yum! I was so happy when I found out that this had opened! I really like the food from Itsu but as there was not one near where we live it was a very infrequent treat! I don't know how busy it gets as when this photo was taken it was 11.00am and there were only about 6 people in there.

Just outside Itsu is this super cute seating area, there are patio heaters around so you can rest those weary feet and keep warm.

Those are my favourite places at BV but what about Bicester itself? I feel like a lot of the time people go shopping but forget about the town itself, although small it has a fair number of restaurants and a handful of shops.

 

If you don't want to eat at BV then head into Bicester town, if you want a familiar place to eat then head to either Prezzo, Nandos or my favourite, Pizza Express. There is also a Subway and a small café in the Sainburys.

 

Two of my favourite restaurants though are Denis' and Copper Kitchen, both of which are highly recommended from myself and Mr C.

 

We recently had a meal at the Copper Kitchen and I had to control myself so that I didn't lick the plate. The chicken was tender and full of flavour, I could have eaten it twice over. Inside the restaurant has a real warm and rustic feeling, low ceilings, exposed beams and subtle lighting. Service is excellent, the food takes a little bit of time to come out but it's well worth the wait!

 

Denis' is a Turkish restaurant just across from Copper Kitchen and is just as good. Inside is very colourful and spacious. We've eaten here a number of times and each time the service and food have been outstanding, the lamb shank and chicken shish are two of my favourite dishes.

One thing we do recommend, especially for the Copper Kitchen, is to book ahead as it only has a limited number of covers it can do due to the small and intimate dining area.

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from eating you can have a look at the small selection of shops, New Look, Dorothy Perkins and Superdrug are all on the main street. There isn't much but it's quite nice for a little wander around and after all the spending at BV do you really want to see any more shops!

 

 I hope that you enjoyed this post and thank you for reading it!

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

x

 

 

 

Style | Easy Like a Saturday

 

Hi!

 

I've been trying to be more conscientious with my any new purchases for my wardrobe, clearing out four bags of clothes last month made me realise that I tend to impulse buy way too much. I see something nice, buy it and then only end up wearing it once or twice, then it gets put to the back of the wardrobe and forgotten about.



 

 

I knew when I bought this t-shirt that I would be able to style it many different ways. I've styled it with a gorgeous stripe skirt from Sainsburys which turned out to be one of my favourite outfits of 2016 so far. In this post I've styled it for more of a casual Saturday. I wanted a comfortable outfit for a recent weekend trip out and I definitely got it with this. I bought these ASOS Peg Trousers last year, I wanted something a bit smarter and more comfortable than jeans. They are so easy to wear and go with many different items, the only downside is that they come up quite big, I originally bought a 24 and then had to order a 22.

 

I finished the look with a printed jacket I got a few years ago from Sainsburys, I'm always nervous about clashing prints but I think the t-shirt and jacket work well together.

Jacket - Sainsburys

T-Shirt - New Look

Trousers - ASOS

Bag - Kate Spade (Similar)

Trainers - Converse

 

 

Much Love

 

Natalie

 

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