The hype surrounding these Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains was incredible! Everyone wanted them, everyone got them. Almost everyone loved them.

I happened to be sucked in by the hype, but didn't find the need to grab every single shade in the line since they didn't seem all that special.
Honey was the only one which looked unique and like something I didn't already have. 

The name honey is unusual for this colour, a pretty vintage rose shade. I mean, am I the only one who expected this name to be given to a nude/bronzy shade?? Lol ok, I admit it... i'm kinda weird like that =P

Moving on, this is a gorgeous lippy which smells of peppermint! I don't think i'v read anywhere else mentioning this, so when I smelt it after first opening it up, I was surprised!
I do like the smell though, anything minty is right up my alley.
The colour applies sheer if you'd like it to or deeper if you want it to. Its quite versatile like that, but it always remains slightly glossy.
Once the gloss wears off, a light stain is left behind which I love! It's probably more evident with the brighter shades, but this one lets my lips look like they'r subtly shaded with a pink-mauve tint.

I do like these balm stains and the pencil shape makes it fun to work with. I'd love to know what you think of them and which shades you'v tried out, if any =) 

Thanks for reading!

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EOS lip balms have always been on my wishlist. Living in England it's difficult for me to get my hands on them and I refuse to buy them online as they'r so stupidly expensive when I know they retail for just a few dollars in the US. If I ever do another swap with someone living there, I'l be asking for a few of those egg shaped pretties to be added to my package!

But for now, my craving for dome shaped lippy has been quenched by the release of these amazing Body Shop festive lip balms. They'r a similar style to the EOS ones, only the inner balm though, as the outer package is much smaller and mushroom shaped. These ones also contain shimmer, which I don't think the EOS one's do.

Altogether there are 3 flavors in the Body Shop balms, and I hauled each one. How could I not with a 3 for 2 going on?!
Lol so the flavors are festive season inspired and I believe these are limited edition. Damn it. They must release more during the future, as these have proved to be quite a hit down here! Two of the flavors had sold out within a few days of them hitting my BS branch.

From left to right - Cranberry Joy, Vanilla Bliss and Ginger Sparkle.

All of these provide comfortable moisture but do need to be applied often as they wear off... or in my case, I accidentally lick them off since they taste and smell divine!
Talking of which, the fragrances of each are heavenly! Even if you don't wish to buy these, go and smell them!! Seriously, they'r just incredible. They are quite strong so if you'r sensitive to smells then you might not like them, but I love catching a whiff of it every now and then whilst its on my lips.

I adore these balms and even though the pigmentation isn't that great, I don't mind as its a lip balm after all. They'r so easy to throw into my bag and apply easily wherever and whenever. Its also great surprising everyone around me then I whip one out to use; a real conversation starter as everyone wants to look at it and see what it is!

Any of you lovelies tried these out? What do you think of them? And what about the EOS ones, should I be lusting after them??

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You know what i'm in the mood for right now?? 

Fairy Cakes.

Yupp, pretty little, covered-in-edible-sparkly-glitter fairy cakes. =)

But I don't have any. How sad... 

So that's why seeing these pictures hidden away deep in my camera's memory card brought a smile to face. They'v satisfied my lusting for sparkly sweet sugar coated prettiness!

Eeeeee isn't it just gorgeous??!
Don't stare at it too long though, the blurred out picture along with that crazy holo will guarantee major head spinning!

To achieve this eye catching, mouth watering, holo tastic look, I layered a coat of Mavala's Pure Diamond over MeMeMe's Platinum.

Thanks for looking!

Btw, Merry Christmas to all those celebrating! Have a beautiful day =)

Much love, from moi

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*Yepp, i'm still away! Right now I'm probably eating something mega unhealthy from an amazing takeaways near my cousins house. He's so lucky to live so close to it, but then again maybe its for the best that I live an entire countries length away, as i'd be there every day if I was anywhere near it! I should be coming back tomorrow, so will hopefully talk to you live once I get home =) Anyway, I really hope that you'l enjoy today's post =]*

I'm not normally attracted to red polishes. As beautiful as they look when worn I hardly ever reach out for a crimson shade when deciding on what colour to put on. I end up skipping over to my blues and blacks!

But this gorgeous rosy shade by Barry M is an unusual tone of reddish pink, and along with its magical magnetic performance, its a polish I would turn to again and again.

I absolutely love it!

Also, this is just one coat!! Yes, really! Gosh I adore this polish so much. Its magnet was super easy to work with and created those pretty stripes with minimal effort. Simply perfect.

Have you tried magnetic polishes? How do you like them?

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*This is a scheduled post as currently I am probably sitting in our caravan, feeling a little travel sick as we'r driving for 5 hours, going up north to my cousins place. =) I should be staying over theirs for the night, so tomorrows post shall also be scheduled. Anyway, hope you'r all having a lovely day and I shall stop rambling and proceed with the post now!*

I absolutely love blusher! Its something I used to go without but now I find myself reaching for one almost every single day. When applied properly it can give the most amazing glow and just make you feel and look awake and refreshed. 

I'v never tried to find a blush that suits my skin or gives me a "natural flush", I usually just go and pick whatever colour looks the prettiest to me! =P I reckon any colour can suit any person, it all just depends on how you wear it.

Here's a blusher which caught my eye when I was strolling through Superdrug some time ago. It just looked so beautiful sitting there that I had to grab it and make it mine!

I present to you - Accessorize Merged Baked Blusher in Scandal.

This blusher is a berry shade which leans more pink than red, and it has pretty golden 'veins' running throughout it. I love the look and it reminds me of those Mac mineralize blushers. 

The colour is definitely bright but it's easily toned down (we don't dig the clown look round here, ya know). There is shimmer in the blush but its soft, fine and not glittery at all (we don't dig the disco clown look either =P). It's finely milled and the powder is wonderfully pigmented and doesn't produce any fall out. Shimmer all over the face is a no no. So that's why this is quality as it stays exactly where you put it.

I love the blusher for both day and night, but of course blended out far more during the daytime! Its such a flattering shade that gives a pop of colour without being too overpowering. Overall, I love it and am extremely pleased I picked it up. 

Have any of you tried out the Accessorize blushers yet? Let me know what you think of them as i'd love to know =)

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Jacava is a new brand which I'd never heard of until they contacted me to review one of their polishes, out of a collection of 30 pretty shades altogether.

They are - and I quote from their official site - a quintessentially British nail polish brand.
All of their polish is 4-free, meaning it doesn't contain any Formaldehyde, Camphor, DBP and Toluene. To read more on this brand, check out their site here.

I chose to try out this divine deepened nude shade called City Heights. Its such a beautiful colour which is appropriate for any time, any look. Jacava describe the shade as a sleek, smoking hot taupe, which I would say is just about right! =)

Application of this polish was effortless, with its formula gliding on without any issues. It didn't mess with my base coat as many other cream polishes do and just slid on like perfection. The formula is a jelly cream, so its much glossier than a plain cream. 2 coats was all that was needed for perfectly smooth and even nail colour.
Drying time was a little longer than what i'm used to, but nothing a good quick dry top coat couldn't fix.

The polish comes packaged in a pretty looking bottle with a pointed long golden handle. It looks classy and elegant, however the glass of my bottle did have a few bubbles and joint marks within it which unfortunately slightly cheapened its look. I'm sure it was just my bottle though, the pictures online look perfect!
The brushes of these polishes are long and very thin which can make it a little tricky to use if you'r not a pro at applying polish, but I found it to be precise and made application a lot neater. Their site also states that the long brush just touches the base of the bottle so prevents wastage as you can reach every last drop of pretty polish till the end.

The quality of this polish is just incredible! I wore City Heights for a whole week straight and the day I removed it there was just one tiny chip on the ring finger of my right hand. That's it. Pretty amazing actually.
During this week I did a ton load of typing, cleaning, washing dishes (without gloves! - a bad habit of mine but I just don't get on with rubber gloves) and even a spot of diy around my house. The quality is brilliant for it to withstand all that and more. 

Jacava polishes retail at £14.50 each, and can be bought from either Amazon (the price is lower here) or their official site. I do think that its a little expensive, but after trying the polish out and seeing how amazingly well it applied and lasted on my nails, I do think its worth it. They also have a current offer on for 3 for 2 and you can find more discount codes on their official Facebook.

Overall, I'm impressed with this polish and would love to try out some of their other shades. They have some metallic's and shimmers too which look gorgeous. I'd definitely want to try some more and see if they too are just as brilliant as this one was.

*Product was sent for review, however I was not paid to publish this post. As always, my opinion is honest and for more information, please refer to my disclosure.*

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Today I'm doing a review on The Body Shop's Wild Rose Hand Cream with SPF 15.

This cream is my essential every day hand lotion. Normally i'm really lazy about spf and mostly only apply it to my face but forget - actually, more like I can't be bothered - to put it on anywhere else.
My hands are probably the most neglected when it comes to spf. So having a hand cream already loaded with it is brilliant and saves so much hassle! On the tube it claims to prevent brown spots (sun damage pigmentation marks) and I believe it certainly will. A higher spf might be better for countries which experience extreme sunshine but for lil old England where the sun rarely visits I reckon its more than fine!

Apart from just spf, this cream also has a delicate rose fragrance, which to me is absolutely amazing. It smells gorgeous and the smell lasts throughout the day on me. I love it, but if you don't like rose fragranced products stay well away! =P

This cream is a lot thinner in consistency than the Hemp one and so has a tendency to run out of the tube! Not a huge problem, though I just thought you should be aware of it =]
The colour of this cream is pale pink, which looks nice and as i'v mentioned before, has a gorgeous fragrance. 

The Wild Rose hand cream goes on easily, absorbs very quickly and makes my hands feel pleasantly soft and smooth. It doesn't last as long as the Hemp one does on my skin, but that's understandable since it's not a thick cream. It does however keep my hands baby soft all day long, because the effects last throughout the day.

Overall, i'm smitten with this cream and I think everyone should give it a go. Its perfect for everyday and will last a long, long time too.

Let me know what you guys think of it, if you'v tried it out =)

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In my last post I said I would review the two hand creams I showed from The Body Shop, and the first one I shall be talking about is the Hemp Hand Protector for very dry skin.

During the winter I get extremely dry skin on my hands, from all the cold wind outside and radiator heating inside. I used to use thick body butters and creams on my hands to heal them, but they'v always been on the gloopy side and are extremely greasy. Not good for when I need to do things like type on my laptop, prepare food for cooking or other jobs which require "clean" hands that aren't slathered in thick lotions and potions!

Ever since getting myself this hemp hand protector, I can easily do all the things I need to without my hands feeling like they'r coated in anything greasy and heavy. This absorbs quickly and the best part is that even though it completely soaks into the skin, it doesn't feel like it hasn't healed my skin. My skin feels smooth, soft, and completely refined without a sticky feeling.

The effects of this cream last a good while too, even after washing my hands. The hand cream is water resistant so will continue protecting my hands for hours after application.

Its quite a thick lotion but it spreads easily and absorbs like a dream. It's a very pale green shade which seems fitting with the tube packaging!

So I absolutely love this cream, however it does have a few things I dislike about it.

Firstly, the packaging. This cream is not travel safe at all! I wouldn't even dare put this in my bag - the way my poor bag gets battered throughout the day, this would not last safely even five minutes! The foil tube is prone to getting pierced easily and even bending so out of proportion that it could tear. Not good at all i'm afraid.

Secondly is the smell of this cream. Its not that bad, but its a smell I'm not particularly fond of. Its just, meh. =P It does seem to last which is bothersome but as I use this cream at night mostly, it doesn't affect me too much. 

Have you ever tried this cream out? There are some rave reviews on it out there, which is what prompted me to buy it in the first place =] Luckily it does live up to the high claims!

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Holla peeps

Here's my favourite hand creams of the moment.... they'r both pretty to look at and so blooming amazing!

The Body Shop's Hemp and Wild Rose hand creams. 

The hemp one is my night time go-to and the rose, since it has spf is my daytime wonder.

Both were half price (non-sale price is £10) when I bought them, so I essentially got two for the price of one =]

Reviews on each coming soon!

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Super quick post tonight, I got back from London just a short while ago and can't believe how tired I am! All I did was visit my cousin and eat way too much... must be getting old and lazy lol =P

Anyway here's a picture of me wearing Milani's Hi-Res, one of the prettiest lilac holographic polishes ever, stamped with MUA's black. I can't even remember when I did this design... must have been earlier this year!

I'v only got one picture... a not so pretty picture either since there's a lot of tip wear as i'd been sporting the mani for a good few days. 

My camera decided to eat all the other pictures I had and this is the only one which survived. Oh well...

What do you think of this stamping design? Have any of you got Milani's holo polishes??

Thanks for reading, talk soon =)

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*As you can probably tell, i'v changed my blog template and the name too. Everything is still in working progress though so some things might look a little odd. I'm getting down to sorting it all out asap. Hope you like it so far!! =]*

Today i'm going to show you a swap I did with the lovely Theodora from Red Hair and Black Nail Polish all the way back in March!!

Go and check out her blog asap if you haven't already because she's one awesome girl and does incredible manis. An entire series of nail art inspired by The Hunger Games?? Yep that's right, she's done it! Need I say more??

If you'd like to see what I sent her, have a look Here to go straight to her page and check it out =)

Alright, onto the goodies I received =)

Aren't they all so gorgeous?!

Lets have a look at some close-ups =)

A lovely card, some delicious chocolates (which lasted less than 10 seconds after this pic was taken), an essence stampy plate and a gorgeous essence hot pink dragonfruit lip balm!

All the pretty pretty polishes =] Essence White Stampy, Essence Make it Golden, Essence Time for Romance, Essence Blue Addicted, Essence Circus Confetti, Essence Magnetics Magic Wand, Essence Magnetics Steel Me, Essence Just Can't Get Enough top coat, Essence Feels So Good top coat, Catrice Marilyn and Me and P2 Artful.

Essence White Stampy, Essence Make it Golden, Essence Time for Romance and Essence Blue Addicted.

Essence Circus Confetti, Essence Just Can't Get Enough top coat and Essence Feels So Good top coat.

Essence Magnetics Magic Wand and Essence Magnetics Steel Me.

Catrice Marilyn and Me and P2 Artful.

I was super happy with all these polishes, each and every one is gorgeous! Thank you so much Theodora for helping eliminate a good few of my lemmings and treating me to some stunning extras too! I love them all =)

Thanks for reading guys, hope you'r all having a wonderful weekend!

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Well I completely suck.

Seriously though.

First of all, how is everyone??? I just logged on and saw the whole layout of blogger is completely different to how I remember it! Did this change happen just recently or has it been this way for a while?

Gosh I’ve missed doing this so much.

Not a day went by this past year (yes, it really has been literally that long!) that I’ve not thought about starting to blog again. But every time I thought “right, today’s the day!” something would happen and stop me right in my tracks. 

An absolute ton-load has happened, and without delving into super personal stuff and boring you all to death, let’s just say this year has been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster for me. From doing my university exams to dealing with my father having a heart attack, to passing my driving test a day before my theory expired to finding out someone very close to me has cancer. Yupp, all of that in that exact order, plus much more happening in between.

Everything added up into me becoming a complete mess. I neglected my nails for months and would have them painted in just a coat of sheer pink or leave them as be. All my nail art kits were forgotten about and every other blogger I looked to for inspiration became a distant memory. 
Ok so that does sound super melodramatic but it’s the truth. Because I just didn’t care for my polishes anymore I felt like I had no reason to blog. I didn’t care because I was going through so much, had zero time for anything, was stressed about a lot and just needed some space where I was only surrounded by my family and close friends. 

Which is exactly what I did. And now that things are settling and I’m getting the hang of feeling happiness again, I’m ready to bring it. *jazz hands* =P

I named this post rebirth because for me it feels like I’m starting all over again, from the very beginning. Also I want my blog not to be about just nail polish; it wasn’t ever meant to be about just polish but somehow that’s the direction it took. I named it Pretty Little Things because I wanted to share with everyone every pretty little thing I came across! Somehow that didn’t happen but it definitely will now. 
I’m planning on vamping up my entire blog, reincarnating it =P Some of the things seem so childish and immature now, like that silly little list on the side =P I’m going to need a little help with it all though, so if anyone could give me suggestions on how to make my page look better, please do! =]

Right then, so yes I’m officially back and hopefully with this new direction I want to take with my blog, I can post a lot more often and not have to wait until the next time I paint my nails =P 

Thank you to everyone who kept in touch with me and to everyone who messaged me asking about me, I love you all and your kind words mean the entire world to me. Thank you again, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading posts from the “new me”. 

Talking of which, today is a pretty damn special day – 12/12/12. We’re never going to experience a day like this again and I hope it’s filled with good luck and blessings for everyone =] It certainly is getting off to a wonderful start for me! ;)

Oh and yes, lol that is me in the picture above =P

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