THE L'OREAL REVIEW - PURE CLAY PURITY MASK | THE TWELVE DAY OF BLOGMAS

Happy Thursday Everyone and welcome to Day Four of The Twelve Day of Blogmas! For today's post I thought I would do a review on one of the newly released masks from L'Oréal! I believe there are three in the range at the moment but I could only get my hands on one of them a while back! I had heard some amazing things about the masks and so I thought I would give them a try. If you know me or have read my blog you'll know that I am an absolute sucker for a face mask and so when something new is released in the beauty world I need it in my life!

The mask is specifically formulate to help mattify the skin, something that I really need from time to time. Rich in minerals, the formula consists of three pure clays along with eucalyptus extracts, eucalyptus is known for its anti-bacterial properties and so this is a great mask if you struggle with acne. Like all of my masks I like to apply a layer using a brush, I prefer to use a brush so that I can control the amount of product I apply. When I'm using my hands to apply a mask it can sometimes be uneven resulting in clumps of product rather than a light and even layer. It's also so much easier time wise as it will all dry evenly too! The mask is super creamy and has a botanical / herbal scent to it. It seems to sink into the pores to really clean them out. I tend to leave the mask on for around five minutes, which compared to other face masks I use, like Lush, is quite minimal. I think that's mainly down to the ingredients, the only negative I have in terms of the mask is the chemical side to it. You can really feel it on your skin if that makes sense. However I still really love it, the mask promises instant results and I have to say my skin looked so much cleaner and brighter. I don't think this is one of the best face masks I have ever tried but if you're looking for a quick mask to help liven up your skin, this is the one you need, especially if you have oily skin! I would love to try the other two masks in the range, let me know if any of you have tried them out! Hope you guys enjoyed this post and I shall see you on the next one!

| The Twelve Days Of Blogmas |

Day One | Day Two | Day Three

THE JINGLE BELL BALL 2016 | THE TWELVE DAYS OF BLOGMAS

Happy Tuesday Everyone! And welcome back to The Twelve Days of Blogmas, for Day Three I'm going to tell you all about my super amazing experience at the Jingle Bell Ball! I love my blog for all the beauty reviews, fashion posts and food diaries, but one of the main reasons I love my blog is because of the 'Diary' type posts that I can write! I love looking back at my blog to see all of the amazing experiences I've had, and this one is no different! This is going to be a long one so grab yourself a drink and make yourself comfy!

Myself and Tara spoke about going to the ball when they first announced the line-up on Capital, we knew it was something we would enjoy and so when the day came around to buying tickets we were glued to our phones! Turned out the screen I waited about an hour to load resulted in the tickets we wanted being sold out! Looking at websites like ticket master we noticed that the prices had completely shot up! And so we decided to sleep on it before we made a decision on what tickets to go for ... that night I did a bit of research and noticed that the O2 offers a more deluxe service in the form of 'The Deck'. I know it seems a bit odd but these tickets were cheaper than those being sold on any other website and so we decided to book these straight away! We also decided to book a hotel not too far away from the O2 so that we could make a weekend of it ... now without going into too much detail there was a bit of drama surrounding the initial hotel we had booked ... #ThankYouBookingDotCom! Anyway we ended up staying at the Holiday Inn express and I have to say it was perfect for the short stay we had! Tara drove us up on the Saturday morning and it was a drive of pure Car-Aoke! We listened to a lot of playlists and went back in time through the years! All the way back to Holly Valance ... Kiss Kiss! It's safe to say Tara did not enjoy those few minutes haha! But we did both rekindle our love for Sam Sparro, Black and Gold! #Tune! Once we got to the hotel we quickly had a bite to eat and started to get ready! The doors were opening at 4.30 and so we decided to leave at 3.30 to make sure we had enough time to get down and find our way!

The journey down to the O2 was nice and quick ... although Tara might disagree with that statement, haha! She did not like the tube ... I thought it would be quite busy but I think we may have missed the rush, thankfully! Once we got North Greenwich we walked down to the O2, now this year Coca-Cola sponsored the Jingle Bell Ball ... and right outside the venue was the Coca-Cola truck! I felt so Christmassy, I've never seen the truck before but it was amazing ... I thought it might have been a bit bigger but even so! To see it in real life was such a fab experience! After a few selfies and snapchats we made our way into the O2. As soon as we entered we got into a queue to sing Lady Gaga's Bad Romance before Tara made a bee line for the merchandise stand where she picked the both of us up some flashing Minnie mouse ears ... of course! I then realised the queue I was in was full of children and decided to leave the queue ... I mean I didn't want to show the kids up with my amazing Gaga impression, so it was definitely for the best haha! Instead we decided to join the queue for the ball!

Once we got through the doors we headed up towards our seats, we did however make a cheeky detour to the O2 Blueroom! We were there a little early so we decided to have a few cocktails and a little seat boogie to get ourselves pumped up for the show! Before we knew it, it was time to head to our seats ... as I said earlier we had seats on 'The Deck' and I have to say if I was ever to go back to the O2 for a show I would definitely get tickets for 'The Deck' again. It's set up like a bar with a glass ledge and some comfy seats ... although it's a nightmare to get out of them, because according to the O2 we're all the size of a cotton bud! Okay, I may be slightly exaggerating but still it was a small gap, haha! Once we were seated we were greeted by our very own waitress, Mariah! She was fantastic, she was so much fun and tolerant haha ... well she did have the drunk versions of myself and Tara to deal with haha! We were sat next to two lovely girls, Maisie and Logan! Together the four of us spent the whole night 'singing' and snap chatting away ... p.s. if any of you follow me on Snapchat I would like to offer a small apology for all of the shout singing haha!

The show started off with a little DJ set by Marvin Humes before Sigala made an appearance to really get things going! They had a really good set with a snippet of 'All I want for Christmas' to get us all in the Christmas spirit ... although it got a little awkward later on in their slot when Imani Williams asked how 'Wembley' was doing #Awks! Next came Olly Murs, who was bloody amazing! I've always wanted to see Olly live and I have to say he really went for it, I loved every second of his set! His voice sounded on point and his dance moves did not let me down! We then had Callum Scott who performed 'Dancing On My Own' ... not one of my favourite songs but he does have a beautiful voice! Someone who I was really excited to see perform was Dua Lipa ... and she did not disappoint! I think this was one of the first performances where we decided to get out of our seats ... or maybe that was Olly? Anyway, she got me dancing which was my point haha! As well as her own singles she also did a cover version of One Dance ... her voice, omg! She was then joined on stage by Sean Paul for their new song together, Don't lie ... and I wont lie, this was definitely one of the highlights of my night! Sean Paul then had a slot ... I can't believe I'm about to say this but I was a bit disappointed? He performed 'Cheap Thrills but really he could have done so much more in my opinion. However things quickly got back on track when Clean Bandit got on stage ... I love Clean Bandit, they're such an amazing group. They performed all of their hits including Rather Be, Real Love, So Good with Louisa gracing the stage and then the big one ... Rockabye! One of the main reasons I love that song so much is down to Anne-Marie! Much like Dua Lipa her voice has such a beautiful raspy tone, I'm so excited that she's making her mark and I was even more excited when she performed Alarm! Next up was Nathan Sykes, who really impressed me! The boy can SING! At the end of his set he did a little fist pump in celebration, which honestly is one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Louisa Johnson was next, she performed So Good and it was ... pardon the pun, SO GOOD! She also did an acoustic cover of Love Yourself which got everyone lighting up the room with their torches! It was amazing! The next performer completely blew it out of the water for me, a massive highlight of the night ... Craig David! He was so good that Mariah decided to take a break from serving us vodka's to getting down with a good old dance with us! It was absolutely fantastic! Another one with an amazing voice, he had so much stage presence and really got the entire Arena singing and dancing! Once Craig had left the stage it was time to bring on all of the sass, in the form of Little Mix! I mean they were carried through the crowd onto the stage! The reaction they got was insane and their harmonies ... oh my god! #YAAS! The final act of the night was Calvin Harris! He turned the entire arena into one big rave ... even the granny next to us was feeling it! And this is someone who kept giving me evils when I was screaming with excitement ... and yes, I did scream louder because of it haha! His set was absolutely mental and one of the things that I loved the most was the lights! I know that sounds a bit silly but I love it when a performer thinks about all of the aspects when they're on stage! Before we knew it, it was the end of the night ... where the time went I had no idea! But like they say time flies when you're having fun and oh, did we have an amazing night!

I am so glad that we managed to go in the end and even more so that I got to spend it with Tara! I really hope that we can make it a little tradition of ours! Did any of you guys go to the ball? If so which day? Who was your fave! I'd love to hear all about it! Leave a comment below or get in touch via twitter or Instagram ... cheeky links are in the top bar under the banner! Hope you guys have a lovely day or evening depending on when you're reading this! And I'll see you on Thursday for another very exciting post for Blogmas, Day Four!

| The Twelve Days Of Blogmas |

Day One | Day Two

THE NIP AND FAB REVIEW - DRAGON'S BLOOD FIX PLUMPING SERUM | THE TWELVE DAYS OF BLOGMAS

Happy Sunday Everyone! And welcome to day two of The Twelve Days of Blogmas! Whilst you're reading this I'll probably be on the drive back from London, because last night ... I was at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball! I'm obviously writing this a few days before I've actually been but I am so sure it's going to be a fab night! Make sure you check back on Tuesday for a post all about it! Anyway back to today's post and probably one of my favourite skincare items this year! Everyone goes through a bit of a change with their skin during Winter, for me my skin tends to go super dry in certain areas and so I really need to take care of my skin. I'm still a massive fan of The M.A.C Volcanic Ash Exfoliator and I use it every other day to make sure I'm removing any dead skin, but I'm finding that a normal moisturiser just isn't doing the trick anymore. One of my best friends and also my very own Beauty Guru has been using Nip and Fab for a while now and she raves about their Dragon's Blood Fix Plumping Serum ... long name but oh my, this stuff works absolute miracles!

The serum has a really gel like texture, something that you would naturally expect from a serum. I don't really know If I've just had bad luck with the serums I've tried but most of them are quite rough on the skin and tend to be too thick to be able to get a really nice even layer? This stuff however is amazingly smooth, I tend to use around two pumps if I really want to give my skin a bit of a treat! It melts into the skin like butter without feeling heavy, and leaves your skin feeling instantly smoother and hydrated. It's recommended that you use a regular moisturiser over the top if you need further hydrations, this isn't something I do on a daily basis. Usually it's an either or kind of job? But If I'm using the serum at night I will pop on a light layer of The Body Shop Vitamin C Glow Boosting Moisturiser! Together they make my skin feel amazing! If you're looking for something to help give you a boost of hydration I would definitely recommend this serum, it really has helped my skin and I tend to notice a massive difference when I've not used it for a few days! If you guys have tried any of the other goodies from Nip and Fab make sure you leave a comment below! I'd love to see if there's anything out there that I need to pop onto my list for Santa! Hope you guys have a fab day and I shall see you again on Tuesday for day three of Blogmas!

| The Twelve Days Of Blogmas |

Day One

THE GIN AND TONIC BATHING GEL - PREZZYBOX | THE TWELVE DAYS OF BLOGMAS

Happy Friday Everyone! And welcome back to The Twelve Days of Blogmas! Last year I did exactly the same and it was honestly so much fin and so I thought why not carry it on and turn it into a little tradition of ours! To start things off I'm going to tell you all about something new I've been using in the shower ... a Gin and Tonic Bathing Gel! Sounds amazing right? Well I'll tell you know it smells and is more amazing than it sounds! The lovely people at Prezzybox got in touch with me a while ago and sent over two amazing goodies from their website, so make sure you don't miss out on the second product that I'll be featuring during Blogmas!

So first impressions and probably the only negative I have for this is the packaging, part of me absolutely loves the packaging it is glass and therefore feels super expensive! But another part of me thinks of all of those times I have dropped any one of my products in the shower ... yeah, you see what I mean! But luckily no such thing has happened! Yay! Moving onto the product ... it smells bloody amazing! If I'm completely honest I didn't completely know what to expect, I didn't know how it was going to work ... was I going to end up smelling like an alcoholic! The answer to that is no, I actually smelt like a fresh citrus garden! I don't know if that exists or even makes sense haha but it smells so good! I don't know if it's quite lemony or lime but it's definitely from the citrus family! Another thing I love about this stuff is how little you need to create a super fab lather, which means you also get a lot for your money! Once lathered you can really tell how beautiful this stuff smells, it's also super soft and quite moisturising on the skin! Like a lot of things on Prezzybox, this would make a really nice gift! Especially if you love a G+T! You can head over to Prezzybox by clicking *here* and see what other goodies they have! Hope you guys enjoyed my first post for The Twelve Days of Blogmas! I can't wait for you guys to see what I have planned! It's going to be so super exciting ... and like anything I blog about I'm gonna love looking back on it to reminisce! Have a lovely day and I shall see you on Day Two! 

| The Twelve Days Of Blogmas |

THE LUSH REVIEW - PRINCE SHAVE CREAM

Happy Sunday Everyone and Happy Diwali to anyone who is celebrating today! This week I thought I would do a little review on a shaving cream that I picked up from Lush a few weeks ago. I know things seem a little Lush heavy on my blog lately but it's autumn! And this is just one of those seasons where I really get into Lush and so I've been going a bit crazy for Lush products recently!

I've been using The Body Sop - Maca Root Shaving Cream for a few months now and I have no problems with it at all and I'm sure it will always be a staple for me! But when you're like me and you have an obsession with beauty and grooming products you need variety ... well I do anyway! And so I thought I would have a look at what else was on the market! hen I went into Lush there were actually quite a few options when it came to shaving creams but this one was highly recommended by the member of staff who was showing me around. The cream was available in two sizes, I went for the smaller one ... a decision I totally regret making now! I love this stuff, it was really weird at first because I'm so use to a foam / cream to foam formula whereas Prince is simply a cream formula. I still use a shaving brush to apply the cream to my face however I use it to smooth cream on rather than buff the cream on to create a lather. Now in all honesty I do think you have to use a fair amount on each shave and I pretty much shave every day so the small tub has lasted me just under a month. So I'm definitely going to have to get the larger tub next time! Whilst using this I noticed that I achieved a super close shave, something that I really like ... stubble looks great on some guys but sadly not on me! Prince does have a scent but it is super subtle, nothing that lingers on the skin which is nice and because it's a cream it's really gentle on the skin. You could probably get away with not moisturising but I do it anyway ... you have to take care of your skin guys!

All in all I think this is a fab product! I ran out of it this week and I have to say I was actually quite upset haha! I get really attached to my beauty products ... #SorryNotSorry! If you're wanting to switch up your shaving routine I would definitely give this cream a go! I know there were a few more options at Lush so if you've tried any of them out make sure you leave me a comment and let me know how you got on! Hope you guys have a lovely week and I shall be back again next Sunday!

THE WEDDING DIARIES - NIKHIL AND SHALINEE

Happy Sunday Everyone! Today I bring you a new diary style blog post, I don't go to many weddings and so I don't think you'll see very many of these but like always whenever something happens that I know I'll want to read back on I blog about it ... and this time it just so happens to be a wedding! Now normally I don't have much involvement in family events but I will always be there for those who show me, my mum and brothers love! My cousin Nikhil and his family are one of those families that very much do and so when the invitation arrived ... a very beautiful invitation I have to say, I knew this would be one those family events that I would want to be at!

The wedding was taking place in London and so we all booked a hotel within short distance from all of the events that were taking place. The first event to take place was the Mehndi Party which we sadly missed due to myself and brothers being ridden with a cold! There was definitely something going around! But we heard all about it the very next day from my mum who did go and it sounded like so much fun! That morning there was a few ceremonies taking place at the Raja residence which we weren't planning to go to but we had got to London by the time the ceremony was supposed to start so we decided to head down! Although we were seriously underdressed haha ... I had ripped jeans on, enough said! I'm really glad we went though as we had a good chance to meet everyone ... I hadn't seen some of these people in ages and so it was nice to catch up with a few of them. A little while into the ceremony me and two of my brothers were asked to take part in one of the sections within the ceremony ... the third brother was the designated photographer haha! Now this may seem silly but it really meant a lot to be asked to take part in something that had such meaning to the wedding, we're not awfully close to our family, but my Mami and Mama have always shown us such love and that really came through with this lovely gesture. Once this part of the ceremony over next came something called the Pithi, now I don't know much about this ceremony but Nikhil ended up covered in a lot of turmeric paste ... it's supposed to make his skin glow! After some food we all headed back to our hotel to get glam for the Sanji! The Sanji is a bit like a party on the eve of the wedding where we all play garba and dandya! We'd decided to go in shirts and waistcoats etc ... but everyone else went for the indian vibe! I felt a little anxious because I really stood out but once the music started and the dandyas were out I had arrived! It was so much fun, a really fun night! After about an hour and a half I was officially shattered! We headed back to our rooms to get some beauty sleep ... boy did we need it! The morning came aound SO fast for us! I can only imagine what it was like for Nikhil and Shalinee, bless them! It was panic stations all around on our floor ... there were so many ladies running from room to room in their sarees, it was hilarious! We ended up just fashioning a little door stop because I had simply had enough with closing and opening my door! Mum had somehow caught our cold, she was not in a good place but she managed to get glam and ready just in time for some photos! Impromptu photoshoot done we quickly headed down to my Mama and Mami's for some more photos before driving down to the wedding venue! It was about a 40 minute drive before we reached this beautiful hotel where the wedding was in full swing! Think music, dancing, drums and LOTS of people! The wedding was absolutely beautiful, both the Bride and Groom looked amazing and they had a room full of love! What more could you want! Shortly after the wedding ceremony came to an end there was another quick photo opportunity before we all headed outside for some canapés and champagne ... yum! About an hour later we all headed back into the hall, which had been transformed for the reception party! The room was filled with these huge round tables for everyone to sit down and have some amazing food! Now this may sound sad but you know when you're on a large table and you want something from the other end, it's just so much drama! But! The tables all had Lazy Susan's so you just turned it to get the food from the other side ... okay, yeah, I just realised how sad that was! Haha!! Once we had eaten some lovely food it was time for the first dance ... it was beautiful, I actually really got emotional! But don't worry because the dance floor opened up to everyone and the dance moves were on fire! We even had a dance off between the grooms and the brides side ... it was a tie, but we definitely had it in the bag! We left at around 7ish, we were pretty tired and just wanted to get a breather before the celebrations continued back at the house! The first thing I did when I got back was take off my suit jacket and put on a comfy cardi! It was like heaven! At around 8ish we headed back to the house for the bride's arrival and some games! I don't really know how to explain the traditional games that they played but they basically had to find a ring in some red water and untie a piece of string on each others hands as quickly as possible ... probably doesn't sound fun but it was!! It was time for some gift giving and another round of photo's before we called it a night! I've probably rambled along in this post a LOT, so I think it's time to wrap things up with some random photos I took on the day of the wedding!

I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone in the family that made us feel so welcome and loved. I had such an amazing time and it meant a lot to be involved in something that is filled with so much love and joy! I wish Nikhil and Shalinee all the best for this amazing journey that they have embarked on! I hope you guys enjoyed this post, sorry again if I rambled on but I really wanted to add to the collection of all the lovely memories I have shared on my blog!

THE LUSH HAUL - HALLOWEEN EDITION

Happy Sunday Everyone! There's a chill in the air ... and as everyone knows, once it gets to this time of year I love having a good old bath! I haven't been able to go into Lush in so long, like I said in my last post my life has basically been work, work and more work! But the other week me and Arti were in town and she needed to go into Lush to pick up a present for someone, as I walked in I spotted the display they had out for all the Halloween goodies! I picked up a few bits from the range and also some other bits that I'll do a review on in a few weeks ... I did however refrain from picking up anything Christmassy! I want to do a big shop for all the Christmas things after pay day!

The first thing I picked up is my all time favourite shower cream ... I like it even more than Snow Fair, I know! Lord Of Misrule has an unforgettable scent, its musky but sweet at the same time. It's a very warm scent if that makes sense, like kind of spicy? Which probably comes from the peppercorn! I honestly can't say enough about how much I love this stuff! This is definitely one that I would recommend you try! Along with the Shower Cream I obviously had to get the matching Bath Bomb! This has a very similar scent but is a lot more subtle, so if the shower cream is a bit much for you this would be better suited! The green bath bomb slowly fizzes away in the bath revealing a gorgeous wine coloured inner! Not only does it look and smell amazing it also tingles with your sense of hearing once the popping candy comes in to play! The next two things I picked up were new to me and I'm pretty sure they were new to the range this year as well. Lets start with Boo the Bath Melt ... isn't he just the cutest! I love some of the melts Lush do and I cannot wait to try this one out! Packed with a bunch of oils and cocoa butter this is going to do some serious work on your skin! I'm hoping its going to be a bit like the golden egg Lush do at Easter time! Last but definitely not least is Pumpkin! I opted for this Bath Bomb over the Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar, mainly because the glitter gets everywhere! No one wants to spend an age cleaning they're bath when they've just had a super relaxing bath right? This has a tasty sweet scent with an almost baked goods vibe? The main ingredients listed are Vanilla and Cinnamon ... YAAS!

Well, that's the end of what was a super rambly post I'm sure! But I do hope you guys have enjoyed this post! Let me know if you have tried anything from the range! Or if there's any Christmas bits that you've picked up that I need to add to my list! Have a lovely week and I shall be back again next Sunday! See you lovely people then!