My Weekend ...

This weekend I went to Preston to visit my boyfriend's extended family. We go every year for a late Christmas gathering, and it is always lovely to catch up with everybody. Although we live in Manchester everyone is so busy it's hard to meet up frequently, so it's lovely to have a set time of the year when we know we will all get together. Pretty much as soon as we got there we had to rush off to watch Preston play football, which I was actually really looking forward to because I love watching football. Although Preston lost :( it was still a really good day out and I definitely want to go more often! 

Mike's brother, Mike and me freezing but still smiling :)

After the football game had finished, we went to visit a relative in the hospital, and then we went to a lovely Italian restaurant for some food. We ordered loads of garlic bread for the table, and I had fishcakes with sweet chilli sauce for a starter, followed by a vegetarian pizza. The food was lovely, but boy were the portions huge! I couldn't even manage a dessert which is normally my favourite part :(

Today, we got up late and pottered about for a bit. I did some more work on my essay :( and then Mike's family came over for a lovely lunch! Now, I'm back at home sorting everything out from Christmas and then I'm back on my essay :( and ..... I have to pack for DUBLIN!!!! I've always wanted to go and Mike is taking me for New Year's Eve. It was a surprise Christmas present and I had absolutely no idea. I'm not a huge fan of flying but you can't let these things put you off doing things so I'm going to man up and get through it! I'm so excited!!!!

Cupcakes made by Mike's cousin! Absolutely gorgeous!

I thought I would also include a quick outfit post. I wore my big warm coat from River Island, a red scarf that I made myself, my River Island bag, some topshop leather look leggings, and my boots from Brantano (I think, but they are a year or two old and the brand has worn off). Underneath my coat I wore a pale pink woollen cardigan and a white sparkly top which are both from River Island as well. I love this cardigan! It is so soft and cosy!

xxx

Empties and Repurchases - Toner

I've finished quite a few products in the last couple of months, so I thought I would share them with you and also if I've repurchased them or gone for something else. The idea behind this is that it will highlight the products I've loved enough to finish, and then whether I love them so much I've repurchased them! First off, I thought I would start with toners. Now, I seem to have gone through a lot of toner in the last couple of months but it really is something I can't go without. I know some people don't see why it is necessary, but I personally love how clean and fresh it makes my skin feel. So, these are the toners I have used up ....

L-R - Top-Lancome Douceur Hydrating Toner, Nivea Daily Essentials Refreshing Toner
Bottom- Simple Soothing Facial Toner, Garnier Soft Essentials Comforting Toner

Lancome Douceur was a sample I received when I bought the Lancome Hypnose mascara, and I absolutely loved it. It was so refreshing and I felt like it got rid of all the last bits of my make up. It had a lovely light scent, but I got through it quite quickly as the sample was only 50 ml, and at £34.00 for 200 ml I couldn't justify it when I hadn't tried any cheaper ones. 

So, the next toner I tried was the Nivea Daily Essentials Toner, which was quite a bit cheaper at £3.59 for 200 ml (in Boots). I did really like this one as well, however, it just didn't match the Lancome one for me. It didn't leave my skin feeling as refreshed, or prepare it for my moisturiser as well either, but at almost a tenth (yes a TENTH) of the price I still couldn't justify repurchasing the Lancome toner. So, I thought I would try another cheaper toner before I ran back to the Lancome counter. 

The next toner I tried was the Simple Soothing Toner, which was £2.99 for 200 ml at Superdrug. I love Simple as a brand, and this toner didn't disappoint. I was sad to see it go, but not sad enough to repurchase it. It did the job well enough but nothing special so my hunt continued... and I ended up picking up Garnier Soft Essentials Toner which is my last toner that I've finished. It has a really lovely scent, as it is enriched with rose extract, and is really refreshing. It is £3.40 for 200 ml at Tesco, so still in the same price range as the Nivea and Garnier toners but it is my hands down favourite out of the three. It is also for dry skin, and although my skin hasn't been dry recently, this toner really helps reduce that tight feeling you can sometimes get in between cleansing and moisturising that I really hate. It makes my skin feel much cleaner and I am really sad to see the end of it. However, you may have thought my journey to find my holy grail toner was over, but alas it is not so. I wanted to see if I preferred the Garnier toner to a more middle of the price range one, because if I do I will be repurchasing the Garnier one in a flash and I think it will be in my skincare routine for a while. So ... the toner I have just bought today is ....

Tadaaa! It's the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic. It was £12.50 from Boots for 200 ml, so nowhere near as expensive as the Lancome toner but not as cheap as the Garnier one. I decided to go for this one because I wanted something in the middle of the price range, and I already use (and love) the Cleanse and Polish so I thought it would be a good one to go with. I have only just bought it today so I will have to update you on whether I like it or not, but first thoughts are that the scent is not as nice as either the Lancome or Garnier one. It is quite an earthy floral scent rather than the fresh rose scent of the Garnier toner. It also has a screw top sort of contraption rather than a simple lid, but I will see how I get on. 

I thought I should add that I do use the occasional spray toners as well, but not really as a staple part of my skin care routine, more of a when I fancy it sort of thing, so I didn't think it was really appropriate to include them in this post! I was going to talk about more than just toners in this post but I think we would be here all day so I think I will do another post like this for some of my other empties, rather than one long one. Let me know of any other toners you have used and loved and maybe I will find one that will beat the Lancome one! If I had the money I would never have strayed, but until that day I will carry on searching for an alternative :) 

xxx

Long overdue update ...

So guys I know it has been a seriously long time. I'm sorry! I had a lot of thinking to do over the summer and since September I have been doing midwifery so I have been super busy, and so I have seriously neglected my blog! I've been thinking about writing a post for a while but I didn't want to come back to it too soon, so I've been reading lots of blogs again and slowly getting back into it :) 

I have been doing so much that I don't even know where to start, but I think my trip to New York will be a good place! I was lucky enough to go with my parents and my sister in August and it was amazing. I have never been anywhere else like it! We went for 5 nights and I would love to go back there. 

L-R - Top row - Me, my dad and my sister on a boat going round the whole of Manhattan. The weather was beautiful and the tour was really interesting and funny.

The police on their motorbikes. We definitely thought we were trying to be sneaky but I highly doubt we succeeded.

Bottom row - We were all sat in a park up by NYU and there was a man playing this stunning grand piano (as you do). It was so surreal but one of my favourite memories from the trip.

Me, my dad and my sister outside the diner attached to the hotel where we ate every day. The food was always lovely but jeez the portions were huge! 

I think I will leave it at that for now but I'm sure I will show you some more pictures from my trip at some point! 

xxx