Introducing... Viktor

Hey Guys,

So I know I haven't posted much recently, I've been preparing for the arrival of this little guy :) He is an African Pygmy Hedgehog and he is 5 months old. I adore him!




Do you have any interesting pets?

Enjoy,
GEM x

Something different...

Hey Guys,

This will seem completely random but I just felt like sharing this with you all. I am a huge fan of hip hop dancing and this crew just amazes me every time i see them! Check it out ... the ReQuest hip hop dance crew from New Zealand.



Who runs the world? GIRLS ;)

Enjoy,
GEM x

High-quality photos

Hey guys,

I thought it would be nice of me to share a little trick with you all today :) For those of you have a lovely camera and would like to show it off at it's best... here is a little treat I found that will make sure that all of the pics you upload on your blog look clean and crisp. Before finding this handy wee treat, I used to simply upload my pictures by clicking on the 'Add Image' in the blog post section. Howeverrrr, I will not be doing that ever again!

Ever heard of Picasa? You can download it here for free and it is absolutely marvellous! Basically, you will have the Picasa software on your computer - this has lots of awesome features for editing pictures etc. You simply choose a file, click "Share" and this will send the image to an online album of your own. From here all you need to do is copy and paste the code for the image into your Post. It really is simple!


This image was added through the Image icon in the Blog Post section - quite blurry yah?


This is the same picture uploaded through Picasa - much clearer right?

Both of the images are the exact same and taken with the same camera - I couldn't believe the difference! Why settle for blurry images when you can do this?! Hope this information will be helpful to some of you! Being a web design student it was really annoying me that my pictures didn't look as good as they should do! It's really easy and also allows you to control the size of your images too!

If anyone would like some more help, that's what I'm here for :)

Do you have any tips and tricks for blogging?

Enjoy,
GEM x

Makeup Storage

Hey Guys,

So todays post is just a little bit about storage and where I keep all my makeup, nail polish and other goodies. I recently purchased a small shabby chic style set of drawers to store some of my makeup and I love it so much. I have it sitting on another set of drawers and it is so cute :)



Above is my lovely new purchase which I found on eBay for around £20. I was then having a lookie on some of my favourite shabby chic sites and found the exact same item here for only £14.95!

I'm not really sure where the other item is from, if I remember correctly I got it as part of a Chrismtas present a few years back. Anyway, it's really handy for storing my makeup brushes, nail files etc and keeps all of my goodies in one place!





I have had this set of drawers for a couple years now, I believe it was from IKEA? (Not to sure!) It came as just a simple wooden box and I decided to paint it the same colours as my bedroom. It is a wonderful size to store all my makeup and things but keep them all separate at the same time. As you can see I have all my eye products and my lip products in separate drawers :) Some of the other drawers contain jewellery, other basic makeup items and even some stationary.



Finally, my nail polish. I keep all of my products together in a nice pink box that came with a perfume gift set. These boxes always come in handy and you should never throw them away... you will eventually find a use for them! So anyway, I store all of my nail polishes in this box along with some cotton balls and swabs which I use when I am removing nail polish.

All of these are positioned in my wee makeup corner of my bedroom. I unfortunately don't have a lovely dresser to sit at whilst I put on my face so I just have to kneel on my lovely fluffy cushions on the floor and I'm sorted :)

Do you have any handy storage tips? Where do you buy your items?

Enjoy,
GEM x

Winter walks...

Enjoy,
GEM x

OOTD - Casual Lunch

Hey Guys,

So I was out for a wee casual lunch with a friend today and thought I would share my outfit with you...



I bought my Black Aztec-Print jumper from Vero Moda (I know the picture above says Zara... I made a mistake. Oopsie!) a few months back but I don't think they have it on sale any more. It is lovely and cosy :) The denim shirt I wore underneath was purchased from Topshop last year.

The Mischa Barton "Karla Knitting Bag" I wore today was purchased on the ASOS website. It usually retails at £59.00 but is currently in their sale for only £32.00! I love it... the handles are so unique and funky. It also comes with a longer shoulder strap too.

My beautiful brown brogues were purchased from New Look last year and have lasted so long. This could however be because I have quite a fair amount of shoes ... anyway, I love these ones!

Enjoy,
GEM x

FeelUnique January Beauty Box

Hey guys,

I know I'm on a roll today ... 3 posts in one go! I'm just trying to get a kick start in this blogging-malarky and hopefully will soon get a list of followers. :)

Anyway, a couple of days ago I received my first ever beauty box in the post and oh how excited I was! There are a lot of "beauty box" type things out there and I have been thinking about it for a while, in the end i decided to go for the Feel Unique beauty box. Compared to other versions out there that provide testers of high-end products that are very expensive, this one contains products that are reasonably priced and are great quality. I wanted to subsribe to a box that will allow me to test products that I would actually be willing to go and purchase at their full price.

So here it is...



1. Dead Sea Spa Magik Salt brushing
This product is applied to dry skin before bathing or showering. I personally don't bathe a lot and prefer to shower, this made it a bit difficult to massage the product into my skin whilst allowing the majority of it to fall onto the floor! I can imagine this would be a lot easier if you were standing in a bath... anyway, I am quite impressed with this product. It was nice to indulge and feel like I was at a spa in my own home. I personally have quite dry/sensitive skin and this left my skin feeling lovely and soft - it also helped to exfoliate the driest areas and takes away all dead skin and dry patches. I will definitely be testing this product again.

2. Lierac Silky Moisture Gel-Cream
Not sure what to make of this product yet. The box contained only one packet which I have tested and can't make up my mind on it. As this product is a gel-cream it is quite thick in consistency and felt dense on my skin. I think I will just stay clear of this product but wouldn't say any negatives about it as I haven't used it enough.

3. Lierac creme mesolift (anti-aging radiance)
I really like this product so far. I applied it to my face (dry) after a good deep cleanse. Although I don't feel like I'm quite at the age that I need to be using anti-aging products I really like using this cream as a way to moisturize my face. It is lovely and light in texture and unlike other products that can either dry out my skin or leave it feeling too oily.. this one is very nice :) I checked it out on the FeelUnique website and it retails for £26.80 (for 50ml tub), although this is quite expensive just to moisturize my face I think I will go ahead and purchase this product when I finish the tester.

4. Caudalie - Nourishing Body Lotion
Another lovely product! I have used this three times now after showering and I am very impressed. As mentioned before, I have quite dry/sensitive skin. This makes it difficult for me when choosing skincare products as I find a lot leave me with redness or just do not agree with my skin. This particular product is lovely and light and has a really nice fresh smell. I will also be purchasing this one once the tester is finished. This retails at £13.75 on the FeelUnique website.

5. Phyto Express conditioner for colour-treated/highlighted hair
This product has been a confusing one for me. I have previously seen blog posts about this and a lot of girls out there seem to like this product. Although I have only used it a couple of times so far, i don't think I will continue. I have been gifted with naturally soft and shiny hair and unfortunately after using this product my hair didn't look so wonderful and possibly slightly oily. I will not make any negative comments about this as I haven't used it enough but I will just stick to my good old Dove shampoo and conditioner :)

6. This works - Clean skin daily wash
And finally, the last of my lovely wee testers. I have used this face wash a couple of times now and it is quite nice. It has a nice smell and felt smooth on my skin. However, I am one of the millions of fans of the Liz Earle products and I am going to stick with my Hot cloth cleanser and exfoliator.

Overall, I am impressed with my first ever beauty box. I will continue to test these products and will keep you updated if I change my mind about any of them. I am really getting into skincare at the moment so I am also experimenting with some other products that I received over the Christmas period... I will share these with you at a later date once I have made my mind up about them.

If you have any suggestions of skincare products or even just to share your thoughts about these products feel free to comment below.

Do you subscribe to any beauty boxes?

Enjoy,
GEM x

New Year, New Camera

Hey guys,

I would like to share with you my new beauty of a camera. My boyfriend was very kind this year as usual and bought this baby for my 21st birthday. I am so chuffed with it, it's going to be so helpful for taking all my blog pictures!



Behold.. the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150. It is wonderful :)

If any of you are thinking about updating your camera I would definitely recommend this beauty. It is so good to use in a variety of situations. I used it on the night of my birthday when I was having a small party with friends and I've been out on many winter walks to practise taking some lovely pics.

Here are some snaps I have taken over the last few weeks...





So there you go, you have met my lovely new friend. I will be using this from now on for all of my blog pics and I may even get adventurous and start videos ;)

Enjoy,
GEM x

Face: FOTD

Hey guys,

So today's post is just your average FOTD (Face of the Day). I was just having a nice relaxing day so went with a simple and natural look.



FACE: Jemma Kidd Light as Air Liquid Foundation in shade No.1 (Ultra light). As you can see i have pretty pale skin and this is the lightest shade which matches perfectly. I apply my foundation using the Sigma F80 Kabuki brush and i lovvve it. The blusher i was wearing is a combination of E.L.F Natural Radiance blusher and L'oreal blusher in 'True Rose'.

EYES: I'm not one who usually wears eye-shadow but today I felt a bit adventurous. I used three colours from my E.L.F eyeshadow pallette - white in the inner corners, a light brown sparkly shade on the middle and I then used a slightly deeper brown in the outer corners of my eye-lids and in the blended over the crease. To top it off I used my L'oreal Telescopic Carbon Black mascara which my lovely boyfriend got me for christmas as a little stocking filler. I am quite impressed with this mascara, I have naturally long lashes but this emphasises them and gives lots of extra volume!

EYEBROWS: Rimmel London eyebrow pencil in Light Brown.

LIPS: I went for a simple natural look using the E.L.F plumping lip glaze. I purchased this in my ELF haul before christmas and I really like this product. I struggle to find lip products that don't dry out my lips or aren't long lasting but this lip glaze is lovely. First of all you apply the clear glaze and this is followed by the natural pink coloured gloss :)

If you have any suggestions on products that would suit my fair skin please let me know :) What products do you use every day?

Enjoy,
GEM x