Thursday 26 January 2012

Beauty Blogger Tag

Hi Guys,

I have recently been tagged by Barby and Ariel to do this Beauty Bloggers tag, you should all definetly check out these lovely girls blogs!



1. What are your favorite type of blog-post to write?

I love to write Lush posts, because Lush is one of my favourite things!

2. What are your favorite blogs to read?

I love reading fashion and beauty blogs, it's really interesting to see how other people style things, and what makeup they wear! It gives me inspiration for my own style :)

3. How did you pick your blog name?

Well that's a long story, I actually made this blog about a year and a half ago but forgot I made it! Then my sister started her blog and suggested that I should make one, we spent about 197173791733 hours trying to think of a name and then I realised I had life-sparkles! I think the name came about when I was listening to Enchanted by Taylor swift and she used the word sparkling, I thought 'life' meant I could blog about anything!

4. Which beauty blogger is your inspiration?

This is going to sound so cheesy but my sister Chloe www.thebeautycorner.com she got me to start blogging and I love hers :) There's so many of you lovelies though that I get inspiration from!


5. Name one tip you've learned through another beauty blogger?

I have learnt to try new things, whether it's an eyeshadow colour or an item of clothing!

6. What made you make a blog?

My sister haha! I loved hers so much that I decided to make one myself, that and I love interacting with other girls who enjoy the same things as me!

7. Do you have a favorite blog post of yours?

I liked my NewYears Tag, it will be fun to look back and what I did in 2011 :) http://life-sparkles.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-years-tag.html

8. Name on pro and one con of being a beauty blogger?

The main pro of being a beauty blogger is making friends with all of these lovely girls all around the World! It's amazing, especially Ariel, Lauren, Barby, Alona, Alma and Perdi!

9. What advice would you give someone dealing with hate?

I don't think there's as much hate on blogger as there is on Youtube, but my best advice would be not to worry about it! Not everyone is going to like everything you do and that's okay, if they have nothing better to do then write a nasty comment, then they are not worth your time!

10. How long does it take you to write a blog post?

It depends on whether or not I am adding pictures etc but maybe about an hour?

11. What other blogs apart from beauty do you like to read?

I like to read travel, general life and food blogs :)

12. Who have you made friends with through blogging?

The girls mentioned above - Ariel, Lauren, Barby, Alona, Alma and Perdi! They are all so lovely, it's a privelige to get to know so many lovely girls!


13. How do you get ideas for a blog post?

It can be anything from a new product I buy, to a magazine cover, to a person I see in the street! Anything and everything basically! :)

14. Who do you tag?
 
I Tag:


Thanks for reading! Let me know if you do this tag, I love reading what other people say :)

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Large Sally Hansen Haul + Primark & Rimmel London

Hello lovely bloggers!

If you read my post yesterday, or follow me on twitter you will know that I have been waiting for a delivery to arrive, and guess what? It came today (yay!) You might have seen on twitter over the weekend that when I get bored of revising I resort to 1. Online shopping 2. Cutting my hair (I only trimmed the ends haha!) So here is an overview of the nail polish I recieved today:

Some of you may already know that Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure is one of my absolute favourite types of nail polish! The topcoat, basecoat and colour are all in one bottle so you don't have to faff around with all of the time consuming, but necessary, stages! With all of this in a bottle you would expect to pay the usuall £6.99 that Boots charges, I have multipul times before! However, I was taking a revision break on Saturday night looking on FragrenceDirect.com and found that these polishes were all £1.49?!?! They are from past collections which may explain the reduced price, but I'm in love haha! I'm considering buying all of the other colours as they are so cheap! Anyway here is a closer look at them:

On the left is Hidden Treasure, it's a gorgeous glittery topcoat, with alot of irredesent glitters, however they are all different shapes, creating a gorgeouse crackling effect! On the right is Iced Coffee, which is the exact colour of iced coffee, it's the perfect neutral beige!


These two are perfect for summer, I'm looking forward to wearing them on my toes! The lighting doesn't do them justice but the one on the left is called Dianthus, it's a gorgeous pinky red with a silve tint to it! The colour on the right is called Pomegranate which is more of a redish coraly colour!

On the left we have Downtown Rubies, it's absolutely beautiful, there is so much glitter packed into the bottle, you can use it as a ruby topcoat or build it up to be a gorgeous sparkly red! In the middle is Feeling Saucy, it's a pinky purple, I adore this colour! Finally on the right we have Amazing Blaze, this is the perfect barbie, hot pink with a bluey purple tint to it, I can't wait to wear this in the summer!

I also purchased this Rimmel London eyeshadow trio in Orion for £1.50 on Fragrance Direct

I love neutral eyeshadows so this was perfect!

Finally I purchase a blouse in Primark for £12 yesterday after college:


It's made out of a gorgeous cream chiffon fabric, with two ruffles at the bottom. What sold me was the beige chiffon bows on the bottom of the sleeves, I love details like this! I apologise for the poor lighting, it's a rather grey, rainy day here in Essex! This was the last top in my local Primark but it may be available in your local store!


I hope you enjoyed this haul! Let me know if you would like me to swatch any of the nail polishes!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Chit Chat - I'm Back! Books and Coming Soon :)

Hi Guys,

My exams have finally finished until June! I know that I said I was going to post yesterday but my college friends and I decided to go out for a meal in our lunch break, then we stayed in college til fairly late (about 5ish) as our psychology teacher let us have a free lesson to watch The Hangover! Which meant by the time I got home and did bits and bobs I didn't have time to blog! Anyway, I am properly back now and should be blogging more regularly! I'm hoping to do a haul post tommorow depending upon whether a rather exciting delivery arrives so look out for that! :) I also might do an outfit of the night on Friday / Saturday!

As some of you know I study English Literature, which I do enjoy, but it means we have to study 'proper' literature haha! Although I got to choose my three texts for my two coursework pieces, which were:
  • Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote - This is only a short novel but I absolutely loved reading it! If like me you are a massive fan of the film and Audrey Hepburn I recommend you read the book. I must say I was quite surprised at the differences between the film and the book, especially the ending which I won't ruin for you! Did you know Holly is supposed to have short blond hair?!
  • The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - Once again I had seen the film before reading the book, which now I think is much much better than the film! It took me a while to get my head around everything, but the story is so well written and unusual! I'm sure a lot of you have seen the film, which is a love-hate type of thing!
  • Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov - First things first, this book is not for the faint hearted and I would not recommend that any of my younger readers read this haha! Some of you may already know the plot, but long story short it's a rather complicated relationship between an older man who fell in love with a girl when they were both teenagers, but she died, so he finds a 12 year old girl called Lolita who reminds him of that girl. In order to get close to her, he later marries her mother, who then dies, so he has custody of her and they manipulate each other etc. If you want to know the full story you can google it or something but I don't want to go into too much detail on here! All I'll say is that it is a very good novel, even though the style of writing is quite hard to get into at first!

So that's a little bit about what I do at college, sorry if it bored the pants off you! Haha! What I'd like to know is whether or not you like to read, and what your favourite books are? My favourites over the past year were the Pretty Little Liars series and Lauren Conrad's (love her!) LA Candy Series - if you were addicted to The Hills, which I was then this is the perfect beach read type of books! I've read all three books and cannot wait for The Fame Game to come out this year!

What are your favourite books? Do you like to read? Any recommendations for me? Let me know!
A haul should be up tommorow (fingers crossed!), do you like these random sorts of posts? :)

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Saturday 21 January 2012

Loreal Perfect Clean Exfoliating Foaming Gentle Scrub Review!

Hi Guys,

Exam number one is now over (woo!) I know that I said I wouldn't be blogging until Monday, but I missed it so much I thought I'd do a quick review as I have given up revising for the rest of tonight! A couple of weeks ago I purchased the Loreal Perfect Clean - Gentle Exfoliating Scrub;
I had heard some really good things about it and I have been really into skincare recently so I thought I'd give it a go!


How To Use It:
The product comes with a little rubber scrublet that pops in and out of the hole in the top of the bottle, this is really handy because I'd probably lose it otherwise!!! I use this product every morning and sometimes in the evening along with my normal cleanse, tone, moisturise routine. I cover my face in warm water, the put a pea size amount of the product on the scrublet. I then move it in circular motions around my face conerntrating on the tzone area especially until it foams up! When I'm done I wash it off with warm water.

Okay so now to the opinion bit!
I can not say enough good things about this product! It leaves my skin feeling smooth, super clean and does not dry out my skin at all! Also, I have noticed a massive difference in the clearness and brightness of my skin after using this product! It says that it is suitable for all skintypes, I have combination skin that can be a little sensitive!

I would 100% recommend that all of you try this product! If you already have let me know your opinions :)


Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Quick Little Update!

Hi Guys,

I won't be posting until next Monday as I have a couple of my ALevel exams, so don't think I hate you guys or have given up blogging - revision is currently taking over though I'm afraid, but soon I'll be back to normal! I'm planning on doing a couple of reviews and another Save or Splurge type post next week so look out for those!
I hope you all have a lovely week :)

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Sunday 15 January 2012

Looks for Less - Rose Gold Watches

Hi Guys,

As I'm sure alot of you all know Rose Gold Watches have been everywhere recently, and I personally LOVE them! So here are some of the more expensive rose gold watches that I've been drooling over!

Rose Gold Watches


However, if like me you don't want to break the bank here are some cheaper alternatives I have found :)

This one reminds me of the Michael Kors style watches and for £18.99 it's a steal, I think it looks fairly expensive for the price it costs and I love the detailing!

This is the simplest of the watches I chose, I think this one is very pretty and I love the tiny diamante detailing on it.

This is the cheapest of the three watches, and I love it! I think rosegold may not be a trend I'll love forever so to spend £15 on a watch is not a big deal! Like the others I love it!

Thanks for reading guys! Let me know if you would like me to do more of these Looks for Less posts, and let me know your opinion on rose gold watches! 

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Thursday 12 January 2012

What's In My Bag and quick NOTD :)

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, my exams start next week, so hopefully by the end of January I should be back to normal! Anyway, today I thought I'd do a quick what's in my bag post :)

This is my bag by Mischa Barton, it's a tanish brown coloured Kinsella bag :) I've had this for about a year now but this is the current one I'm using :) 

This is the back of the bag, the little zip pocket at the back is really useful! I love how detailed it is!

This is the logo upclose, I think the little flower is really pretty! So now to what's inside....

  • First of all is my keys, if you can't tell I'm a bit of a whinnie the pooh and tinkerbell fan ;)
  • Next is my Guess purse, I got this in Florida in 2010 so they don't sell it anymore, but I use it every day there's plenty of pockets and room for everything!
  • The think is a cute little notebook from WHSmiths and a boring old pen :) 
  • Then I obvioulsy have my iPod and Phone - Chloe already showed you guys in her post but our Dad chose us these really cute headphones with Swarovski crystals on the ears! <3
  • Next is a hello kitty nail file my mum and dad got me from SanFrancisco which explains the seals :')
  • I then have a pocket mirror and some Kleenex Shine Absorbing Wipes which are so useful if it's hot or if you've been dancing, and some Kleenex tissues :)
  • Below is my little makeup bag which I will show below and a Cocoa Butter handcream which smells amazing!
  • I also have a Cinderella Plaster which my friend gave me today after we went on a hunt in Superdrug during lunch today! As you can probably tell we're all very classy ;D

  • The first thing I have is a MaxFactor Masterpiece Max High Volume & Definition Handbag size Mascara
  • An EOS Summerfruit lipblam from the lovely Ariel :)
  • An original Vaseline lip therapy tin
  • A mini Benefit lipgloss in Life On The A List
  • MAC Hue
  • Mini Benefit Posie Tint
Also I thought I'd do a quick Nail Of The Day as I absolutely love love love this colour! I know it's not the most appropriate colour for January but hey, I thought my nails could be brightened up! The colour is OPI - Be a Dahlia Won't You? My lovely sister got it for me for Christmas , it's a gorgeous hot pink!!


Let me know what nail polish you are currently wearing :) I hope you all have a lovely day!


Some of you guys might have heard of the band Boyce Avenue - me and my friends recently got tickets to see them this summer so I thought I'd put the video of their cover of Adele's Someone Like You!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Saturday 7 January 2012

Best of 2011 TAG + Vaseline Creme Brulée Giveaway CLOSED

Hello lovely bloggers!

So I know my sister Chloe posted this yesteray, but i thought it would be too late if I didn't post this soon so here are my 2011 favourites :)  I tag all of you lovely readers! I have posted a link to all of the products I have managed to find online so you can look at pictures by clicking the names - they will open in another window!

Beauty
Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Foudation - I cannot explain how much I love this foundation it goes on so smoothly and gives a lovely dewy effect without being too heavy or too sheer!
Concealer: Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer - I'm sure this concealer doesn't need any introduction it's amazing :)
Powder: Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder Transpare - I use this powder every day, it's very transparent but sets my foundation really well ;)
Blush: Bourjois Little Round Pot Blusher - Rose D'or - This is such a pretty colour I love to wear it everyday!
Eyeshadow: Sleek Au Naturel Palette
Eyeliner/Mascara: Collection 2000 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner
Lip product: I know it's the same as Chloe but I love Mac Hue, it's the perfect neutral colour and suits every skintone!
Skincare product: Lush Oatifix face mask - It smells like heaven, looks ridiculous on and works wonders on my skin! What else could you want from a face mask? ;)
Nail polish: OPI Sweetheart - another cult favourite, but for me atleast it is the perfect pale pink, it's been my most used polish this year :)

Hair
Shampoo:Herbal Essences Hello Hydration - Oh my god, this shampoo smells amazing, it leave my hair feeling lovely and nourished! Just perfect!
Conditioner: Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructer - This could possibly be my hair favourite in general, Aussie has to be my favourite hair brand of all time! This conditioner leaves my hair feeling thicker and healthier!
Hairspray: Tresemme Salon Finish Firm Hold Hairspray - I love this hairspray it keeps my hair in place all day!
Shine serum: John Frieda Frizz - Ease Extra Strength Frizz Hair Serum - I haven't actually purchased this for a little while but I love how it defrizzes my hair!

Fashion
Favorite Clothing piece: H&M Natural Coloured Blazer which I can no longer find online! I'll hopefully show it in an outfit of the day soon :)
Jewelry piece: My Tiffany Heart Necklace - I wear this almost every single day, I actually got this from New York as a 17th Birthday present :)
Shoes: Classic Tall Ugg Boots - Chocolate Brown - Love them or hate them they are the most comfortable shoes in the whole entire world!
Bag: My Mischa Barton Kinsella Tote Bag which will be in an up coming what's in my bag post! I don't think it's available online anymore as the link says it's sold out, but it was the only website with it on there :)

Random
Movie/TV Show: For the movie it has to be Bridesmaid and the TV show Bethenny - I absolutely love her!
Song: There's so many so I'm going to cheat on this question as I always do with song related ones ;D For a fun dance type one it would have to be Moves Like Jagger which I'm sure you all know! I've also loved Adele, Ed Sheeran and The Wanted but one of my other favourite songs is by a less well known British singer/song writer called Roxanne Emery and her song Real, you guys should definetly check her out!



Book: For English Lit it would be The Great Gatsby but for my own reading it would be Lauren Conrad's LA Candy Series!
Food: Does Nandos count?
Beverage: Diet Coke :)

And now time for a little giveaway! Seeing as it's the New Year I thought I would do another little giveaway for you all, because of how lovely you have all been! I only started this blog in October 2011 and have already reached 255 followers, with the help of you guys and my sister Chloe, which is crazy! So while I was shopping in Boots today I picked up this Vaseline Creme Brulee tin for one of you lovelies to win!




How to enter:

You MUST be a public follower of my blog and comment below with your GFC and email address! For any extra entries you can:

1) Follow me on twitter @IamHannahx and mention this giveaway 1 EXTRA ENTRY
2) Create a post about this giveaway on your blog 1 EXTRA ENTRY
3) Put this giveaway in your sidebar 1 EXTRA ENTRY



Therefore you can have a maximum of four entries! This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and will end at midight on Tuesday 31st January 2012 UK time. Please only leave ONE COMMENT as this makes it easier for me to type out all of the entries :) If you add extra entries please delete previous comments and put all entries together in one! Good lucks guys, thank you so much for reading my blog, I love you all!


Stay Beautiful,


Hannah xx


Thursday 5 January 2012

Little Drugstore Haul!

Hi Guys,
So college is back in full swing, and the work is piling up once again, so I apologise if I'm not posting as frequently as normal but I'm going to try! So as some of you know I have a part time job, what you may not know is that it is in a Chemists which means I am constantly surrounded by makeup and beauty products with a discount! Anyway I also popped into my local Superdrug over the past couple of days so here are a few things I've picked up!


  • The first thing I got was the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Frizz Remedy in Superdrug for £3.49 on special offer! I love love love aussie products and my hair is a bit frizzy in this lovely english weather right now wo hopefully this will work! 
  • The next things were the Garnier Skin Naturals Comforting Cleansing Milk and Soothing Toner from my work for £1.99 each! One of my new years resolutions was to keep ontop of my skincare rather than just using facial wipes so I'm starting a new skin care routine! If it works I'll do a post :)
  • I also got the Garnier Fresh Essentials 24 Hour Hyrdating Day Cream from Superdrug, it was about £3.50 on sale!
  • Now I'd love to know you guy's opinion on this because the Maybelline Gel Eyeliner oly cost £4.99 so I thought why not try it? If you have tried it let me know what you think :)
  • Finally I purchased the Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro Primer for £3.99 on sale once again at my work! I've been using this for the past few days and so far I love it!
Sorry this is such a quick post! Let me know if you have tried any of these products! I'll speak to you all very soon!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Monday 2 January 2012

Sleek Palette Giveaway Winner!

Hi Guys!

Happy New Year once again! I know a lot of you have been waiting for this so I am going to announce the winner of my Sleek Palette Giveaway. I was over whelmed by the amount of people that entered and the in total 316 entries (which took about a year to write the list of haha!) Thank you so much for all of your tweets and post suggestions, I am certainly going to be using some of them :)

So here is the winner, which I generated through Random.org .....


Congratulations to 'Bunny' or Alma from http://almabunny.blogspot.com/ :) I have already emailed you with the details of the giveaway so the Storm Palette will be on its way to you very shortly! You guys should definetly check out her blog!

For those of you that did not win, thank you for participating, I'm sure I'll be doing another giveaway in the future! I'm off to do some revision before going back to college tommorow!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Sunday 1 January 2012

Happy New Year - Thankyou Ariel :) + Benefit, Mango, RiverIsland, Hollister & Massive LUSH Haul :)

Hello lovelies!

I can't believe that it's 2012 already can you? I hope you all had a lovely New Years Eve and are ready to have a fantastic 2012! I know I said that I would do a haul a couple of days ago, but I waited until today because my parents and I decided to go to the Westfield in Stratford today - which was practically empty!!! So I have a collective haul of things that I've bought from Lakeside and Westfield over the past week :) Things have either been purchased with Christmas money, or my own money from my part time job! I'm going to put links for the things that are available online!

But first thing's first, the lovely lovey Ariel from http://chiclookxo.blogspot.com/ recently did a swap with my sister Chloe http://www.thebeautycorner.co.uk/ and she sent me a few things! I cannot explain how happy and excited I was to recieve these gifts, it was such a lovely surprise and made my day! The first thing she got (A Santa Kit Kat - I've already eaten so I can't show that picture haha!) But here are the other two things:


The lovely Ariel sent me a summerfruits EOS lipbalm, which I absolutely love! I was so jealous when Chloe got one before so I was thrilled :) The next thing was a Twisted Peppermint antibacterial handgel, it's the perfect size to just throw into my hadbag, and smells amazing! I have a little bit of an obsession with having antibacterial in my bag, you never know when you're going to need it! So once again thank you Ariel :)

So on with the haul!


I got this top from Mango in House of Fraser it was £9.90 - It's a light cotton material with black lace across the top, I think that it will be really nice with jeans for college :)

The next thing I got was a calander from the Calander Club for £5.99 which had been reduced from £10 as alot of you know I love New York so I thought this would go well in my room, also one of my newyears resolutions is to get more organised!

I also got the Benefit Ticket to Glossytown lipgloss set on sale for £13 which is amazing considering it contains 6 lipglosses!
The benefit ticket to glossytown lip gloss collection comes with:
  • so frisk me (gilded berry)
  • nudie-tude (goldspun twist)
  • spiked punch (juicy coral)
  • life on the A list (bubblegum pink)
  • foxy lady (diamond rose)
  • kiss you (clear fuchsia) 
Sorry for the poor quality picture, but I got the emerald green blouse from Riverisland on sale for £12 down from £24.99 I love how it's slightly longer at the back so I can wear it with leggings!


 As some of you might be able to tell I've been loving lace recently, so I got this t-shirt from Hollister today on sale for £18.90 I think it adds a nice touch to a simple tshirt!


The next thing I got was these skinny jeans from Hollister for £40 they are so comfortable and fir really nicely! The link is here :)

So now onto the Lush haul, I've already used a few things so they are not in the picture below but here's most of what I got! Instead of unwrapping everything I've taken some pictures of the products from otherwebsites so that's my disclaimer haha!

There's a mixture of permanent products and some of the Christmas ones which were half price!

I absolutely love the Lil' Lush Pud so I got a couple of them as they only cost 98p!!! They smell very almondy - alittle bit like marzipan :)
I also got a couple of the Melting snowman bath melts which were also 98p on sale! They make the bath lovely and milky, I'm going to miss them throughout the year!
 The Candy Mountain Bubble Bars  have to be my absolue favourite Christmas product at half price for £1.33 I decided to get 3 of them - they smell very sweet and a little bit like the comforter Bubble Bar!
 The Ginger Bread Bubble Bar was on sale for about £1.50 I think, it smells exactly how you think it would haha! It turns your bath water bright orange and is lovely on a cold day!
 I've actually already used one Golden Wonder Bath Bomb and my Mum used the other one, they smell like Bucks Fizz and turn the water Turquoise (as there's bath bombs inside) with gold sparkles!
 This lovely little bath bomb only cost 98p and smells like apples, I love the name 'So White', there's no major suprise with this one like there usually is with Lush products, but I love how refreshing it is!
 I actually got 4 of the cinders bath bombs for 98p each - I absolutely love them as they smell of cinnamon and have popping candy ontop so the bath water crackles!
As you might be able to tell from the top picture I've already used (and broken) this lovely Magic Wand! If you know what the Snow Fairy Shower gel smells like this is exactly the same! All you have to do is whirl this around in the bath and it creates lovely smelling bubbles! The woman in the shop said that this should last about 10 baths so for £2.35 this was amazing!

Next is the regular products that you can buy year round!

The first thing I got was the Oatifix Facemask which was given to me for FREE from the lovely staff in the Westfield Lush as a newyears present - how nice is that? I have not yet used it but I'm looking forward to trying it out, it says that this mask is perfect for sensitive skin which I have so this should be great! It usually costs £5.50!
 Those of you that have read my blog for a while know that the comforter Bubble Bar is my absolute favourite, it smells of blackcurrants and lasts about 3 baths :) It costs £3.99!


 The Twilight Bath Bomb smells gorgeous with hints of lavender, for £2.99 it's perfect after a long day!
This Blackcurrent Bath Bomb is one of my favourites, it costs £2.75 and smells exactly how it sounds!
 The Creamy Candy Bubble Bar costs £2.35 and is lovely, it contains whole chunks of cocoa butter and really smoothes the skin :)
Finally is the HoneyBee Bath Bomb, it smells exactly like the Honey I Washed The Kids Soap, it costs £2.95!

So I hope you enjoyed this haul! Let me know if you have been sale shopping :) remember my Sleek giveaway ends tonight!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx