Carboot Haul #4

I've been away travelling for a while, so when I got back, one of the first things I was looking forward to doing was going carbooting because summer is over which means soon they will finish! In the meantime however, I dragged my sorry self out of bed at 7am and I'm so glad I did because I got some amazing stuff this week and it cost barely anything! It was a happy haul :)

I'll split this into fashion and beauty stuff because I didn't get that much in the way of fashion, just a few bits and bobs.

First thing I purchased was this navy blue and yellow aztec print dress from Zara for £2. It was in perfect condition, barely been worn and I though it would be a great transitional piece into autumn, just chuck a leather jacket and chunky boots over it and it'll look great.  Then I got these cat eye, leopard print sunnies. They were only a £1 and I'm sure they're not certified sun glasses with UV protection and all that jazz but I thought they looked cute and they were cheap :)

Next onto more beauty items and there are quite a few! Starting from the left, I bought Snow Fairy by Lush. I think it's past its expiry date because it's become quite thick but it still smells smazing, its completely full and it was only 50p. Next is the Elle Macpherson 'The Body' Exfoliator, in an attempt to make my body look like a different body....probably won't work but for 30p, I was having it either way. Then we have Soap and Glory's Flirtigo, which is a spray body moisturiser. It smells exactly like all other Soap an Glory products - amazing - and it's really convenient to spritz all over when I get out the shower because I'm lazy and cba to put on body lotion (y). Last on the back row is a Teatree Mint conditioner by a company called Organic. This was also only 50p and I like the idea of something mint and refreshing in the morning. On the front row and the last things I purchased in this rarely large carboot haul are these L'Oreal Color Mineral pigments. They are loose powder eyeshadows and I wasn't overly keen on the colours (blue and bronze) but they were 30p each and I thought I could work the bronze in some way shape or form even though I am not an eye shadow kinda gal.

That's all for this week (that's all....as if I didn't buy enough!) But I love a good bargain and will be sad to see  the Carboots go as we approach winter. There's still a couple of weeks left however so I will continue to scavenge!

tarraa xoxo

How much is my Face - Tag!

A lot of these have been circling around and now that I am finally settled in my new place with internet, I can finally do this post! I love an excuse to go through my make up bag and celebrate the products I use on a daily basis because, as I've got older, more and more products have become staple, 'holy grail' products for me and surprisingly, they are mostly drugstore. This is from years of testing and trying but finally this is what I use on my face everyday and how much my face is worth.........this will probably depress me a bit because I'm broke at the moment but oh well! haha


Base:

Simple Purifying Cleansing Lotion (200ml) - £2.99
Neutrogena Visably Clear Rapid Clear Treatment (15ml) - £3.99
Nivea Daily Essentials Express Hydration Primer (50ml) - £4.99

Total: £11.97

This is my everyday routine before I apply my make up in the morning. I don't necessarily rate the Neutrogena Rapid Clear, I think I use it more out of habit than because of how good it is. I always make sure my skin is cleansed and clean with the Simple Cleanser and then I apply the Nivea moisturizer that doubles up as a primer - this product is amazing. It makes skin so soft and smooth and acts as a perfect base for make up application.


Face:

Revlon ColorStay 24 Hours in 180 Sand Beige - £12.49
M.A.C Studio Scuplt Concealer in NC20 - £16 (roughly, it is now discontinued)
Benefit Hoola Bronzer - £23.50
Benefit High Beam - £24.50
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Transparent - £3.99

Total: £80.48 (holy f*ck.....ha!)

Oh man, I wish I hadn't calculated this now haha! Although through years of trying every  foundation, powder and concealer there is, this routine is working really well for my combination skin and I like how long lasting the products I use are. This is probably the most 'expensive' part of my make up routine as most of the products I use are from the drugstore/high street. Now that the studio sculpt concealer is discontinued, I'd definitely think about purchasing M.A.C's Select Moisturecover concealer instead because it is not as heavy duty as the sculpt concealer and it also works fantastically as an under eye brightener.


Eyes:

Sleek Brow Kit in Light - £8.49
M.A.C Brow Set in Show Off - £13.00
Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner in Nude - £3.99
Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara - £19.50
MaybellineThe Falsies Volum' Express Mascara - £7.99
Rituals Volume Mascara - Free with a magazine
ModelsCo Fibre LashXTend Lengthing Mascara - Free with a magazine
L'Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim - £8.99

Total: £61.96


Apart from the Benefit mascara, all the products I use are high street because I think brands such as Rimmel and Maybelline are on par, if not better than high end products when it comes to Eye and Lip products. I'm not sure if it's cheating by putting in mascara's that I received free with a magazine, but if they weren't free, I wouldn't have them.....if that makes sense... haha :) I'd only use the Benefit and Maybelline mascara's so that doesn't effect the total.


Lips:

(Top to Bottom - Big Bang, Nude Eclipse, Prune)

Nivea Lip Butter in Vanilla & Macadamia - £2.25
Rimmel Apocolips Lip Lacquer in Nude Eclipse or Big Bang - £4.99
Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour Bold Matte Lip Cream in 830 Prune - £8.99

Total: £7.24 (everyday basis)

On an everyday basis, I'll be wearing the Apocolips in Nude but if I feel like changing it up, Big Bang or Maybelline's Prune are my 2 favourite colours, and I'll wear them all year round, even more now that fall is coming! they are very long lasting products so I don't have to worry about topping them up during the day and they're very affordable so I love using them. The Nivea lip butter is the most incredible lip balm I have ever used, this is my 3rd pot and I've made all my friends buy it so they can stop stealing mine - just go to Boots or Superdrug and pick one up, they smell amazing and Nivea seems to do the best job at keeping parts of my face soft.


So that's the end of this tag. If anyone wants to do it and know how much money you are putting on ya face, then I tag you! I found it enjoyable to write so I hope you enjoyed reading it :)

taaraa xoxo

Return of the Mack

So I've returned from an extremely long, not entirely well - deserved break! This summer has been crazy - I've moved into my new flat up north, been chilling down under in Australia and then working here there and everywhere. The flat move has definitely been the most stressful, moving out of my parents place and into my own little nest in Liverpool. I finally got internet today, and after painting my room, falling off a ladder and fracturing my foot, I have no better excuse to sit here and fill in the all blanks on my blog :) Furthermore, my laptop has decided to blow up (quite literally) so I am in the process of moving all my stuff from one laptop to another.

I fell in love with this city this summer

I have a lot of up and coming posts and promise to be more on the ball now that everything has finally settled down :) glad to be back

xoxo

Blue Mondays

Another NOTD post - I'm just obsessed with painting my nails, sorry! It's rare for me to be seen with the same colour on my nails for more than a day because I'm so indecisive and to be honest, I get bored very quickly. But recently, I can't seem to get over these two blue hues. They are perfect for summer and the Barry M shade in particular is just god-like.....it's just perfect! And it's buy 2 get one free for Barry M in Boots at the moment so it would be rude not to :)

 Miss Sporty - Pastel Blue

Barry M Hi-Shine Gelly Paint - Blue Grape

As a quick side note, I've broken my iPhone (I know...) so my Instagram is currently unusable but I should be getting a new one any day now so look out for me on there; my username is @lilitaljaard

xoxo

#NOTD 3

So I've been away in ages - I'm sorry! I've been in Australia but more on that later :) I recently got my nails done at a pop-up shop in High Barnet. They were doing an offer on acrylics, doing them for £15 for a full set so I thought I would treat myself as I have loads of events coming up like my friends wedding and 21st's :)

So I thought I'd just paint my nails myself because I'm so indecisive with colours, I change them all the time. But here is the first installment of my newly crafted nails haha

Rimmel - Marshmellow Heaven

Carboot Haul #3

I'm off to Australia on Tuesday so this is one of my last times to go carbooting til I go back up to uni in Liverpool, so although I had to force myself out of bed at 7.30am, I'm so glad I did!

I'm going to be travelling for over 24 hours so I picked up some books, each one was 20p. I also picked up this St Moriz spray tan because it was only 50p and also, Australia is in winter right now so I doubt I'll come back glowing so I need a helping hand.

This is probably my favourite thing I picked out - it was only £1 and it's this gorgeous grey, flower print silk kimono from Topshop. I think if you just sling it over a simple outfit like black skinnies, a white top and chelsea boots, it just pulls the look together and adds a bit of interest so I can't wait to properly style this!

To be honest, I bought this because it was also only £1 and I was absolutely freezing this morning! But I do like it as well, I always throw crew-neck jumpers on when I can't be bothered at uni and their comfy & baggy....all I need!

The last thing I got was this Swarovski necklace - It's this mis-shaped star and originally was about £80 but the woman was selling it for a fiver so I just grabbed it! I'm not really a jewellry person anymore, I only ever wear my plain midi ring but this was such a good deal that I didn't mind 'splashing out' on it.

So that's it for this carboot haul. I really like the things I picked out and I never feel guilty about spending when I go because things are so cheap! Hopefuly I'll be able to do some vlogging/blogging while I'm out in Aus but if not, I shall see you in a month :)

xoxo

#NOTD 2

Apparently, summer is here. The weather's been a bit crap and beige/grey so I always try and brighten up my monochrome wardrobe with bright nails. This shade from Barry M is a bright neon green, and I had to add some nail art because when I spend a while on my nails, it makes me really look after them and not pick off the varnish! So this is what I'm sporting on my nails this week :)

Barry M's 'Greenberry'

How to: Strip Your Hair Colour At Home

So I've been experimenting with my hair since I was about 12.....that's a good solid decade of ruining my hair. I recently tried to bleach my own roots myself, and ended up sacking the whole thing off and going dark again......

from that ↑ to this ↓

I really liked my blonde hair, and with summer coming up, I'm annoyed at how dark my hair turned out - I used L'oreal Casting Creme in Chocolate Brown twice and Schwarzkopf's New Colour Mask Hair Dye in Dark Brown 400. The Schwarzkopf dye is permanent and this is what led my hair to being an almost black colour, which is way too dark for my skin tone.

So I've been trawling the internet and YouTube to see if there is any way I can lighten/strip my hair at home in order to make it a tiny bit lighter for summer; I don't want to put any more colour on my hair because, quite frankly, it needs a break! So the following concoction I've come up with is non-damaging to hair, cheap and uses ingredients that most people will have lying around.

Things you will need:

1 Tablespoon Bicarbonate of Soda

Half the juice of a Lemon

1 Tablespoon of an Anti-dandruff Shampoo

• You simply mix the ingredients together in a bowl to form a texture similar to normal shampoo. You wet your hair and lather in the mixture.
• Put a shower cap over the top of your coated hair and leave on for 30 minutes. The shower cap is important, because you don't want the bicarbonate to dry onto your hair, so do not leave this step out!
• After 30 mins, wash the mixture out, and wash a further time with just the anti-dandruff shampoo. It was at this point that the dye started running into the water and I knew it had work a little bit.
• You then need to apply a deep conditioner or a nourishing conditioner on your hair for 30 mins wrapped up in a towel. Although the process is not damaging in terms of there are no harsh chemicals, it can dry out your hair so make sure you leave a conditioner on long enough to counter act this.

And that is the process! I've only done this once, so the results aren't too noticeable to others but I intend to repeat this process in a couple of days and will do a full review then :) Hope this was helpful!

xoxo

Car Boot Haul #2

It's sunny and a Sunday so you best believe I was up at 7am going to the car boot sale this morning. The one we go to is in Cuffley and today was a good day....

So the first things I picked up were these metal tins with these cool vintage designs on them. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but I'll put them in the flat somewhere, maybe I'll store hair/make up stuff in them. I then got this glass bottle with a flip top - I am obsessed with flip top jars and bottles - and for 50p for each of these things, they're probably the best things I bought.

Next are the make-up & body stuff. I got this benefit Hoola bronzer for 50p; it's half finished, but brand new they're £24.50 so wasn't going to let that go! Then I picked up this Bio Oil and St Tropez tanning lotion (there's  a running theme in these hauls.....) for 20p each so was really happy with those. And the last few things I got were these body exfoliates from Clarins, and one was barely touched and the other was un-opened, so I got those for £1 each. All in all, pretty successful :)

The only clothing bit I picked out was this Pull and Bear leather jacket, and I got that for a fiver and I'm so chuffed with it, because I actually don't have a decent leather jacket so this one is perfect.

That's all on the spending front....for now x

MUA Nail Paints

A while ago, I posted a pic of  my nails featuring MUA's Pistachio Ice-cream (a bright mint green). Since they are £1 each, and I can't control myself, I made a stop into Superdrug and felt the need to pick up 5 more.......yes.....5!

From L-R: Lush Lilac, Plum Noir, All Nude, Moody Mink, Pistachio Ice-cream, Koala Bear

These nail varnish are cheap and cheerful, and come in a wide range of colours. I love all the colours  I picked up, the only problem is the varnish is not very opaque and it usually takes me 3 coats to get a nice, even finish. However, for the price, I really don't mind taking time for an extra couple of coats.

Have you used any of the MUA Nail Paints yet? If not, the are definitely worth a go for the price tag :)

That's all for today x

Car Boot Haul

So uni is over until October, all my work is done and I can finally concentrate on little Oskar here :) I went car booting this morning, one in Hertford and one in Cuffley and picked up a few bargains.

Firstly, I'm moving into a new flat in August and every time I see anything remotely home-orientated, I get excited and buy it. These farm-style glasses were 50p each and I just think they are really cute and jar-like. I then found these 2 benefit YouRebel Lite tinted moisturiser samples. Back in the day, I had the original red one, and it was always too orange and looked awful on me, and I always wanted to try the lighter colour when it came out but didn't want to pay £24.50 for it. These cost 20p for both of them and I'm looking forward to trying them out.

Next, I found this L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tanning Mist and with summer coming, I always like trying out tanning products. This is practically unused, still full and  cost me £1. And lastly, I found this Philosophy Brightening Peel Face Mask. It is meant to be similar to an acid peel and just take away all the dead skin lying on the surface on your face so I'm intrigued more than anything. And it didn't cost me anything, she gave it to me with the tanning mist :)


So that's everything I picked up this week, not a lot but a few good things in there that I've been wanting to try. Hope your all having a lovely Sunday :)

Peace x

#NOTD 1

So now summer is finally round the corner, I've been donning a lot more brightly colour nail polishes. This is my current favourite - MUA's Pistachio Ice-cream. They're £1 each, which is a ridiculous bargain, and I will definitely be stashing up on a lot more colours! To view all colours, click me  :)

The Music Tag

There's a music tag floating around so I thought I would join in....

What’s your favorite type of music?

I'll listen to anything, from chilled remixes to hip hop to folk. i love getting recommendations as well so please leave some links/suggestions below :)

What’s your least favorite type of music?

it depends what mood i'm in but i never see myself reaching for anything too hardcore rock, screamo or punk. I quite like being inspired by lyrics so anything nice......lyric-like.........

(what?)

What’s the best gig you’ve been to?

 We have loads of local gigs in Liverpool so i enjoy going to those (check out my friends, they are siiiiiiick) but I recently went to Bastille and Alt J, who were both amazing. And of course, Rihanna was just ridiculous.

What albums are you listening to at the moment?

if you have youtube, find majesticcasual and give anything on there a listen. I've got Ray Charles' 'The Genius Hits the Road' album on a lot right now as well and Alt J's 'An awesome wave'. Dan Croll is also a Liverpool local and I love his music so I like supporting him :)

What’s your favourite bands/artists & favourite album?

I love Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett......all the gang! But I'm also enjoying Mood, Action Davis, Alt J and Frank Ocean. As i said, i'll listen to anything!

If you could instantly know how to play any instrument, what would it be?

i'm currently studying music and i was fortunate enough to learn many instruments when i was younger. so i play bassoon, piano, guitar flute and violin.

I wanna be looking at something like this when i listen to something like this

hopefully a little insight into the inner workings of my mind, i tag anyone that wants to do it :) leave your blog links below, i love finding new blogs and don't forget to follow mine as well xo

New Start

This is a bit of a different post today, more of a lifestyle, health, fitness and finance rant more than anything!

Firstly:
I'm imposing a spending ban on myself. My loan comes in three times a year, and within a couple of weeks, I'm desperately selling things on Ebay and typing 'how to make money easily' into Google to try and make ends met; I couldn't even tell you where my money goes. So starting from today, my money will only go where's necessary - on weekly food shop (no more than £10.....it can be done!) and friend's birthday. Apart from that, no money is allowed to leave my bank!

Secondly:
I've decided that this year is the year I am finally going to get healthier and fitter. I know we all say this around this time every year (well I know I do) so I'm finally doing something about it. With only have a £10 weekly budget for food, I can't afford to spend money on junk food, so hopefully that will be the first change! I have a few 'rules' to stick to, nothing too strict because I know if I mess up, I'll just give up altogether. I'll keep this updated with my progress, wish me luck!

On a beauty note, here are my nails today :)

Blue 'Nerd' Jumper - Topshop

Nail Varnish - Gelly Nail Paint by Barry M in 'Satsuma'

Mini Haul

Revlon ColorStay Foundation in 150 Buff, £12.49

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint, £3.99 (L-R - Lychee, Blueberry, Grapefruit, Blood Orange)

I made a quick stop into boots the other day because all my foundation had run out and also, my loan had just come in so naturally I ended up picking up a few more things......naughty

I've tried a lot of drugstore foundations out, and without a doubt, my favourite has been the Revlon Colorstay - I just find it to be the perfect colour, perfect finish on my skin and its long lasting and I'm so happy I picked it up again because I was really upset when it finished (....really upset. i'm so pathetic! haha)

The second things I picked up, and I know I'm late on these, are the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paints. I've heard absolutely everyone raving on about them, and I've wanted some for ages so because it was 3 for 2 in boots.....I picked up 4 (I couldn't justify buying 6 new nail polishes!) I love all the colours I got, now that spring is here I can't wait to wearing brighter shades. I'm wearing grapefruit right now, which is a neon pink, and it's lasted for about 5 days now without chipping or losing it's shine. I highly recommend picking some up if your passing a Boots or Superdrug, they really are amazing.

That's it, just a mini one today. I hope your all enjoying the sun. I leave you guys with the one today, click me :)

Food for the Soul

short and sweet for the first post. don't we all wish we could be at coachella?!

Earl Sweatshirt - Chum

Mood - Love is Real

Action Davis - Japanese