Current Favourites

It's been a while since I did one of these so let's have a lot at what I'm loving at the moment.

First up, face, hair and body.

Lancome Mousse Eclat foaming face wash is a product I've been using for months.  Actually, it must be over a year.  It lasts FOREVER.  A little squirt of this face wash foams up loads and gets my skin so clean.  It wouldn't be a good buy if you have dry skin but for my normal skin it's brilliant.  I don't think my skin has ever looked better so although £20.50 is a lot for a cleanser, I will definitely be buying this again.

Palmolive Nourishing Delight Shower Milk with honey and milk is just gorgeous.  I bought the huge size because I love using this as a shaving cream as well.  Such a great bargain basic.

Lee Stafford's Sea Salt Spray is my salt spray of choice at the moment.  This doesn't leave my hair dry and frizzy like some salt sprays can be.  It is a fairly small bottle (150ml) for £7.49 which is pricey but the range is always on 3 for 2 so I just look out for the offers.

Umberto Giannini's Catwalk Beauty Hairspray is the lushest smelling hairspray I've ever used and the packaging is gorgeous.  I love Umberto Giannini products for that- I really feel like they've made such an effort to make them pretty and fit for display.  

Lastly this Sanctuary Protective 24 Hour Moisture Lotion SPF 15 is a new addition to my routine.  I actually stole this from my Mum when I left my previous moisturiser at Rich's house and it's really good non greasy SPF moisturiser.  I haven't seen it in any Boots branches locally though so I don't know if it's a discontinued product.

I've blogged about this Rimmel bronzer before but it's still my favourite for giving me a light bronzed glow but  not turning me into an Oompa Loompa.  I can't recommend Rimmel's Sun Shimmer Bronzing Compact Powder in Light Matte enough for an affordable and non glittery bronzer.

Bourjois 10 Hour Sleep Effect Foundation is still my favourite summer foundation.  It smells gorgeous and is perfect at the moment when I have a light tan that I don't want to cover up with a heavy foundation.  

DKNY Be Delicious is the perfect summer fragrance and I keep coming back to this every year.  I won this 100ml bottle so long ago and it's still going strong.

Sheer Cover Duo Concealer is another product that just doesn't run out!  It's a miracle I ever run out of anything really.  I love how the pale shade suits me perfectly sans tan but then I mix in a little of the more yellow shade and it suits me with a tan.  Lovely.

The packaging may have changed and it has a curved brush but I still worship Max Factor's 2000 Calorie mascara.  And at £7.99 it's still one of the cheapest drugstore mascaras out there.  Bargain. 

Lastly NYX's Mega Shine Lipgloss in Salsa is just stunning.  I've got my eye on so many of these stunning shades although I'm trying not to buy any new products.  It helps that it's not sticky and smells like sweets- my 2 favourite things in a lipgloss.  

What are you loving at the moment?  Any must trys?

Monday's Good Stuff

Well hello there.

How was your weekend?  Mine was pretty awesome mainly because

1)  I did next to nothing.  After an exhausting week I just needed a really relaxing one and luckily that's exactly what Rich and I did. Apart from a trip to Meadowhall and a trip to the pub we didn't do anything.  It was amazing.

2)  I'm really looking forward to next weekend already.  His friends got married last month in Malta and they're having their UK wedding reception thing next weekend so we're going to along.  Being the total girl that I am, I've already planned hair, make up and outfit which is part of the excitement.

3)  It's my class' assembly this week and practicing is going really well.  It's all about the Olympics and I'm really proud of them already and I'm pretty sure I'll be an emotional wreck by the time they've performed it.

4)  I've finished writing all my reports!  Wahoooo!

5)  It's 2 months today until we move to Valencia.  Not that I'm counting down to 5.20pm on 25th August.   No, not at all.

So all in all, it's a pretty good week.  Lots of good stuff going on and lots to look forward to :)

What are you looking forward to at the moment?

And just because I love this...

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Monday's Good Stuff

Argh!  So busy at the moment!

The only good thing I can think of today is that this will be over soon.  I've never found myself wishing time away at school, but at the moment all that's keeping me going is that this term will be over 4 weeks on Thursday.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a more exciting week planned than I do.  Tell me your plans!

*heads back to work again*

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Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

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Stressful day tomorrow.  Going to sing this in my head to remind me of Rich and how he sings it to me when I'm a stroppy Madam :)

50 Reasons To Be Happy

I'm totally buying this 50 Reasons To Be Happy print for our new flat when we move.  I absolutely love it.  There are others that I love too, all from this Etsy seller.  

Which ones do you like?

Monday's Good Stuff - Valencia Baby!

I think that title hints at where I've been this week.  Let's get on with it shall we?

It being half term last week, Rich and I packed up and headed off to Valencia.  It was a much needed trip- I hadn't seen the school I'll be working at and neither of us have ever visited the city.  I'm happy to report that we both loved the city though so we don't have any worries about moving!

We flew late on Monday and were only there til Friday afternoon so it was a short trip but we made the most of it, saw the city, met my colleagues, saw the school and also found time to chill by the pool too.

I loved how green the city is.  The river bed park that winds through the city is amazing and I'm sure we'll spend lots of time walking, running and cycling through it.  There's also just so much to do in Valencia.  We're both so bored of living here where the weather's rubbish and there isn't much going on at all.  It was weird being on holiday and not trying to fit everything in, because we know we'll be back in a few weeks to live there so we have plenty of time to do it all.  I mean, the European Grand Prix is there in 2 weeks, so it's slightly more exciting than living in little Lincoln.  It's also a very Spanish city- so many people don't speak English and wherever we ate, none of the menus were translated so it'll be important for me to learn Spanish as quickly as I can and I can't wait.

We were also very impressed by the beach.  It goes on for miles and there's some lovely restaurants down there for paella. Cue a couple of pictures of said beach and me relaxing with a glass of wine.  I think it's the fact that it's such a great city with a fantastic beach that really makes it for me, it's the best of both worlds.

Most importantly though we got to spend time with my colleagues.  I'm happy to report that they are a fabulous bunch of people.  I'm leaving a great team at my current school so this is really important to me; it's the people who make a school in my opinion.  On Tuesday night Rich and I went for drinks and tapas with my boss, the Director of the school, and then met up with the other teachers for drinks and more tapas on Thursday night.  What better way to welcome new people?!

We both found it such a wrench to leave and can't wait to get back again so I'm on countdown for moving day now- 10 weeks on Saturday!

I've been thinking about blogging once I move and I'm pretty sure now that I'll be keeping this blog and changing the content a bit.  I also might change the name to reflect my new location but generally it'll still be pretty similar.  I'll keep up the MGS posts and probably blog about beauty stuff every now and then too.  What I'm really hoping is that I will have time to blog regularly (this year has just been manic and it's been impossible) and that the mix of posts about moving to Spain, learning Spanish, living with the boy for the first time, teaching in a new school and the odd make up post will be an interesting mix for people to read about and also give my family and friends a way to keep up with us.

I've been blogging for 2 and a half years now and it feels like a good time to change the direction of the blog a bit.  I still love blogging but I don't have the same passion as I did in the beginning so hopefully this will refresh me.

Does this sound good?  Will you still be reading? :)

Summer Nails- A Few Favourites

It occurred to me the other day that I've been painting my nails a lot recently (but not showing you because of my atrocious cuticles) and I though I'd post about my favourites.

First up we have a couple of stunning metallics- Revlon's Gold Coin and Topshop's Hyperreal.  Both apply like a dream, dry ultra quickly and look fab with a tan.  These probably get more wear than anything else in my collection at the moment.

Next up we have a lone glitter.  Models Own's Ibiza Mix is a new addition to the collection and a rare one at that.  As I'm moving soon I've pretty much stopped buying any new make up.  Anyway, I love the mixture of colours and the big and small bits of glitter, it just rocks.

You can't go wrong with a bright shade in summer, especially on your toes and these 2 are both stunners.  Leighton Denny Glamour Puss is a hot pink with a pinky purple shimmer through it and Revlon's Pretty in Papaya which is a bright coral with a papaya scent when it's dry.  Admittedly you can't really smell it under a top coat but it's a cute gimmick and a lush shade.

I'm not a big fan of pastels but Revlon's Minted is gorgeous and has been a favourite of mine for a couple of years now.  I used to love Revlon's Blue Lagoon too but that's gone weird and bubbly and had to be chucked.  Sad times.

But of course our summer isn't exactly predictable so I haven't ditched the dark shades completely.  Leighton Denny's Vamp has been my toenail shade f choice for this reason in recent weeks.  You can't go wrong with a deep, dark red at any time of year and this is a beaut.  Hopefully we'll get a bit more sunshine soon and I'll have an excuse to keep busting out the brights.

It occurs to me that I'm loving Revlon polishes but that really is no surprise.  They do some stunning shades and I find they last brilliantly on me.

What are your favourite summer shades?  Link me to any NOTD posts you've done with them so I can lust over them even if I'm not buying at the moment!  I will do some NOTD posts again soon, once I have the chance to sort my nails out because these lovelies need to be shown off.

Pampering with Montagne Jeunesse

I love a mini pamper.  I'd love a non mini pamper too but I don't have the time so a mini one will have to do.

After a week away with very few products (damn hand luggage requirements) my skin was in need of a pick me up.  A little scrub with Benefit's Honey Snap Out of It and my skin was ready for a mask.  I always have a few of these in the drawer; they're so fab and cheap.

The Chocolate and Orange one is a favourite of mine but this was the first time I had tried the Olive Oil and Shea Butter one.  I usually find there is enough for 2 uses in these sachets but this time I only got one, because the consistency is a bit less dense.  It smelt natural and light and left my skin feeling incredibly cleansed and soft after 15 minutes or so.  I'll definitely pick this one up again. 

I'm sure there are great face masks out there that don't cost 99p a sachet.  And to be fair there will probably be ones that are better value but I love that I can get these in any supermarket I pop into.  I will always be an impatient girly and I love being able to buy things exactly when I want to.

And just because a post about a face mask is a perfect opportunity for me to look daft...

Aren't I stunning? :)

~I bought one of these myself and was sent 1 to review.  I can't remember which is which but I buy these all the time and think they're fab anyway.~