Treacle Moon Body Scrubs....

Treacle Moon is a brand that I am extremely fond of & have been using for years now, it still seems that not many people tend to know about Treacle Moon & how fantastic their products really are so I thought I'd share the wealth so to speak! I love everything about the Treacle Moon products, from their clean packaging to the quirky little stories that accompany each scent...& speaking of scent these body scrubs smell amazing! I've found all of their products to be thick & luxurious with a beautiful scent that actually stays on the skin. I chose to focus this post on the body scrubs because they are my constant go to product especially before self tanning. 

You need to exfoliate really well before getting the tan on & although I love Soap & Glory's Scrub Actually  there is something that I can't quite put my finger on that I prefer with the Treacle Moon body scrub, I think it's the fact it's so creamy which you never tend to find in a body scrub & the delicious fresh smell. It's also not overly abrasive but does leave your skin silky smooth & also an added bonus is it doesn't leave your both full of grit! Think more along the lines of a creamy shower gel...but with added grit bits here & there, that's the best way I can describe it which I know doesn't do it justice (I apologize Treacle Moon!). As far as I'm aware Treacle Moon is exclusively sold at Tesco but you can purchase them from their website & they do have a Facebook.

 There is quite a vast product range by these two scents are my favourite by far other than Cool Melon Fresca. They do also have a "sweet shop range" which I haven't seen in many stores but I have seen the range at the larger Tesco Extra stores.

The good news is they only retail for £2.99 & very often are in the two for £3 deal which is a complete steal! I'd definitely recommend these products especially if you're after a good body scrub, I'd even give Treacle Moon products as a gift as they are so pretty & they have such a vast range there is certainly a scent for everyone! I also have sensitive & dry skin...especially on my legs & this product doesn't aggravate or irritate them. 

Note; This wasn't a sponsored or endorsed post in anyway, I just bloody love Treacle Moon!

Livingroom Details....

 I love my home & think the key is the details. I redecorating my living room from the awful pit that it was to this beautiful warm cozy room it is now. Don't get me wrong it's not perfect nor is it finished by any means but it is my sanctuary. I love to mix patterns & textures, as well as adorning with walls with off whites & Perfectly Taupe by Dulux. I have lots of silver, black & horns/antlers I'm slowly creeping in more crystals & coral but our little home collection is growing well. I'm forever finding treasures in Homesense, eBay, Tk Maxx, H&M, Zara Home & Etsy. I have a clear view of what I want my home to be like & Pinterest has helped a lot with that.  

 Sadly we are moving from this little cottage soon & hopefully to a bigger & better house. Although I've lovingly crafted this shell of a house into a home there is SO much more work that needs to be done to it & I honestly don't have the time or the energy. We plan on moving ASAP & we want somewhere that doesn't have a jungle for a garden & somewhere that is stress free. It's bliss living high up on a Welsh hill with a lovely view of all of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot & the sea but this house has more drama than I think I can honestly deal with. Time to move on to something bigger & nicer. Somewhere we can start a family & a new chapter.

Striped....

I can feel another obsession brewing. I've gone off patterns for a while & have been very much in to my basics, such as zara & topshop. There is something so chic & effortless about a basic tee that I just love. It's the ease of throwing an outfit together & knowing you can pair it with different items to get different styles. That being said I seem to have fallen in love with stripes all over again. It all started with THIS dress/tunic from Topshop which has since gone out of stock in every size known to man ever (can you sense the bitter resentment?!) & now I am hooked! I decided to purchase a striped black & white tee from Zara along with a long sleeved black & white striped tee.I think paired with ripped at the knee jeans & some ankle boots will look gorgeous, but I can also get a lot of wear out of them through the summer with frayed levi shorts & cute denim hot pants (shield your eyes!I'll keep this look for evening strolls on the beach I promise) & white converse. Slowly I'm injecting some sort of pattern in to my wardrobe all be it black & white but it's still there!

Silver hair don't care pt2.....

If you saw my previous post about my silvery blonde hair you'll know it was extremely informative about what products I used etc. I did really like the colour at the time, but I decided I wanted a deeper silvery grey...less blonde more silver. I decided to try a different brand of dye, I kept everything else exactly the same just changed my hair dye. I picked up Nice'n'easy's 9A Light Ash Blonde, I was slightly scared as I've never used Nice'n'Easy before but I thought "what's the worst that can happen right?!" It's a light colour anyways so it's easy enough to rectify. I followed the instructions to the letter & go slightly worried half way through as the dye looked really dark but I tried not to panic & kept the hair dye on. I also foiled sections of my hair to keep the white blonde going through almost like highlights. So here are my results;

As you can see I was left with a lovely silvery colour which is exactly what I wanted, bare in mind I think my hair only turned as silver as it did as it was so light before, so if you're after this sort of colour you'll get best results with prelightened hair. I'm really happy with the silvery shade & love the white blonde bits running through to add a bit more depth & warmth. I think I would go slightly darker next time, maybe more of a deeper sliver shade. 

Sleek Lip Palettes.......

I saw these lip palettes by Sleek & could not resist them, I mean who could?! I love the brand Sleek I have many of their blushes & their contour kit is a daily go to item for me. I've seen their vast array of lipsticks but never tried any of them, I have no idea why! I decided to pick up the colours Siren which is full of oranges, corals & red, & also Ballet which is full of nudes & browns. Two perfect palettes filled with extremely wearable shades & nice & compact for travelling (much like the 3 Blush Palettes which are also excellent!). 

The palette itself is nice & compact although it is a little chunky but meh! beggars can't be choosers! It also has a nice large mirror inside which is really handy, it did come with a little lip brush which is fab, although the quality of the brush isn't great, again this is a product you're hardly going to buy for the brush! I simply add a lip brush in to my make-up bag instead. Now on to the formula, I wasn't expecting a Mac lipstick formula just a basic one if anything, the lipstick has no scent & isn't greasy, I do find the matte shades a little drying on the lips but I find that with the majority of matte lipsticks. The big wow for these lipstick palettes for me is the pigmentation! It really is WOW! It's so bright edging on neon with some shades & there are several excellent colour dupes hidden within these palettes. 

First up is the Ballet Palette;

Each shade that I'm wearing is wrote on the photo, the dupes within this palette are;

• Plie for Mac's Pillow Talk
• Tutu for Mac's Creme'd Nude
• Pirouette for Mac's Honey Love 
• Swan Lake for Creme Cup

Next is the Siren Palette;

The dupes within this Palette are;

• Love me for Mac's Party Parrot & very close to the limited edition Watch me Simmer 
• Miss me for Mac's Lady Danger boarding on to M'orange

So there we have it! In my opinion these are excellent & not only save room in your makeup bag but are handy to throw in to your bag for a festival or clutch bag for a party & you also have that lovely sized mirror. They chunkyness of the palette makes it easier to find so you won't end up losing your beloved lipsticks (R.I.P Lady Danger

Argan Oil Hydrating Hair Mask.....

After running out of my much loved Herbal Essences Bee Strong hair mask ran out & my S Factor "Serious" conditioner also came to an end I felt slightly at a loss. I enjoyed both hair treatments & my hair did too but I wanted to try something different. Whilst having a browse & killing time in my local Home Bargains I stumbled upon this Argan Oil Hydrating Hair Mask, now for a tiny 99P I wasn't expecting miracles...I also was debating if I should use it or not, I'm somewhat of a hair snob & refuse to use cheap & nasty shampoo that leaves your hair feeling notty, dry & brittle. None the less I decided to give it a go & for 99P it was no love lost if it was rubbish. 

First I shampooed my hair & you use this treatment in between conditioning, I towel dried my hair as directed & worked this product from root to tip but mainly focusing on the ends of my hair. I left it on for around 8 to 10 minutes & rinsed it off with warm water & then went on to condition. I have to say I was stunned, my hair is visibly shinier & thicker, but also thicker to touch, so much so my Mum commented asking if I had hair extensions in for volume....I didn't. It was all the power of Argain Oil. I really am wowed at how a product so cheap can do wonders to your hair, it smells really nice & has a thick consistency slightly thicker than the SFactor Serious conditioner, which surprisingly I found easier to work in through my hair.

 I'm not saying this is better than my other favourites mentioned but it is certainly on par & again for 99P I wasn't expecting anything so to have visible results is certainly a big gold star in my book!

A great way to start the day......

I haven't done a post about food or recipes for a long long time, now I know none of the above require cooking & skill, but theres something fun about slicing & dicing & having different variations of the same thing for breakfast. I made a pact with myself that in a last ditch attempt to make more of an effort with my diet I would HAVE to eat the dreaded first meal....breakfast. Something I can never be bothered to do & would happily have someone else make me (like my good friend Mcdonalds) .  I figured if I took a photo of it every day (when I was off work) then I would simply have to make an effort because the OCD freak that I am I can't bare horrid & messy photographs that lets be honest look uninviting & crap. I started my week with boring old Shreddies then got more creative as the week went on, rummaging in the long forgotten breakfast cupboard & finding weetabix to make interesting as well as filling. I can see this being a weekly occurrence because knowing I was going to create a blog post has spurred me on & made me actually look forward to the early mornings. It's definitely given me more energy & made me snack a hella lot less so it's a good thing. The noisy side of me loves to see what other people are eating & cooking, I like it because not only am I curious but it also inspires & motivates me to get of my bum & not reach for the boring Belvita Breakfast Biscuits everyday. So heres to next weeks breakfast post.......

There is hope.....

I have avoided this post for quite some time, I haven't even looked at my blog because I knew it would be inevitable that I would obviously have to explain my absence. I'm now a year older and living with a void. A void that quite simply will never ever be filled.

For the most part I am a happy, bubbly, bright, creative person, & I am all these things because of two people, my Father & my Grandpa. Two of the most amazing men I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and spending time with. It pains me to bring myself to write this but my Dad, my Father, the main part of my life, the person who rang me every day, the person that made me tea every morning, the person that cuddled me when I cried, the person that drove all over Britain to take me on photography adventures, the person that watched films with me that no-one else would, the person that stood in the garden in the dark with me in the winter to take long exposure photos, the person that hollowed pumpkins with me on halloween, the person that swam two miles out to sea with me in Ibiza so I could snorkel, the person that took me kayaking in the sea, the person that took me to college in the rain when I didn't want to wait at the bus stop, the person that used to laugh at stupid things with me and the person that fundamentally meant the world to me.....is gone. My Dad, my amazing Father passed away on holiday in Greece on September the 5th 2013. 

I.......I don't know what to say or what to tell you. I'm crying & trying to write but it's hard. Life is hard.

People lie to you when they say "it will get better"....it doesn't. Life doesn't get better, you don't forget, you constantly pine for something you can never have and sorry be blunt but it's fucking shit. Life is shit. You can have everything, a beautiful home, a gorgeous fiance, a furry little family of cats and a dog, but the one thing that you want, you can't have. I will never have a phone call from my Dad again, I will never hear his voice again, He won't ever annoy me by nagging me to get him Joes Ice cream again, he won't ever ring me on my birthday at 6AM to sing happy birthday to me again. I can't put in to words how much I miss him, and from September the 5th 2013 I felt like nothing would ever be the same again.

But today, the 6th of May 2014, I felt something happen. I felt happy, I felt like the world isn't that rubbish after all. I could hear the birds tweeting & singing...& I felt happy, really happy. I haven't taken anti depressant tablets since January & only now does it feel like I've woken up from a terrible nightmare.

Yes life will never been the same again, but my Dad wouldn't want me to sit here aging each year having nothing to show for it. Life is hard, & sometimes it feels like I have nothing left to give, but I do. I am a good person, I am happy, I am creative, I am caring, I am honest, I am loyal & I am ME. I'm not going to wear a fake smile anymore or be the person I think My Mother wants me to be because that'll make everyone happy to see me smiling & thinking "awh isn't it nice that she's happy even with her Dad gone"....no, I'm not happy that my Dads not hear but I have to deal with it. Just like the rest of the world gets delt a shit hand every single day. I'm not OK but I am happy &  I am thankful that I Martyn quite possibly one of the most caring & amazing people in the world, my Dad loved Martyn like he was a son & I know that I will be OK and Life does get easier.

I felt compelled to sit & write this blog post, I have no idea why, & I don't really care if anyone reads it but there is something about writing all this down that feel better, like there is a small weight lifted.

If someone does happen to read this and you have lost someone amazing, I won't lie to you, it's not going to be ok.....but it does get easier. & when you're at your at your darkest, just think of what that person would think or say to you, there are two things my Dad always used to say to me "don't lose hope" & "don't let the bastards get you down".....fuck everyone else & do what makes YOU happy. I've learnt to appreciate the little things in life, & as long as you are happy then there is always hope & light.
 I can look at photos without crying, I can think of happy memories & laugh & one thing I know for sure is my Dad loved me being creative & using my energy to be creative  I will be. I will blog more, I will go on photography adventures again, I will pain & get messy & I will be happy.

Sorry for how long this post was, & how it's not filled with beautiful fashion or make-up but life is about so so much more, and this blog won't be filled with nonsense posts on what the beast blusher is on the high street & full of shit I've been sent in the post to "review", this is MY blog, & it will be filled with me & things that make me happy.

Also my blog is renamed Little Babe, only two people call me Babe and that's my Dad & Martyn....they also happen to be two of the tallest people I know both standing at over 6FT so it just seemed perfect.