My Favourite Statement Necklaces

Over the last couple of months the statement necklace has become one of the biggest jewellery trends of the year, and a trend that I am certainly in love with.

 

Now don't assume that a necklace of this sort can only be worn on fancy occasions as the statement necklace can be worn with practically any outfit.

 

I thought I would share with you some pieces from my own collection. Enjoy!

Dorothy Perkins- £3 (SALE)
I never usually shop in Dorothy Perkins but while shopping with my boyfriend he suggested that I give it a chance. My eyes lit up when I saw all of the reduced jewellery, you never know what goodies you may find. I also found another great piece which you can see below.

Topshop- Around £5 (SALE)

A friend of mine text me to say that she found had found a steal at Topshop which I would love and after seeing her wearing it I was in love. When shopping together in town I spotted the last one on the sale rack and snapped it up. Definitely more for the summer and I can't wait to get some more wear out of it.

 

  

  Primark- £4
This necklace appears to be more of a rose gold colour in the photo, but its actually silver. Another great find at my local Primark which I couldn't resist. I wish I could have got my hands on the gold version but sadly it quickly went out of stock.

Dorothy Perkins- £3 (SALE)
Another gem which I found in the sale at Dorothy Perkins, for £3 couldn't resist. The perfect piece which looks great with a black blazer and any coloured cami top.

H&M- £14.99
This was the first statement necklace that I bought after being in two minds whether I should actually buy it. It was really the bright coloured gem stones that drew me in and the fact that it would go perfect with my pink silk blouse.

Primark £5
Probably my favourite statement necklace right now! The photo definitely doesn't do it justice as it really is a beautiful piece. I repurchased this necklace after some of the gems started to fall out of the first one I had bought, but for only £5 its not going to hurt your pocket!

What's your favourite statement necklace? Do you think this is a trend here to stay?

Much Love

Amber x

Your Tea- The 14 Day Teatox

 

If you're a keen Instagrammer you may be familiar with the popular herbal tea that is called Tiny Tea. Just type 'tinytea' into the hashtag search and a number of before and after pictures will appear, the majority showing some amazing results.

 

After becoming sceptical that a herbal tea could make such a difference to your body I began my research and took to the Your Tea website, as well as reading many reviews of my fellow bloggers.

 

 

Your Tea can help those that are feeling 'heavy, bloated, lethargic and want to make some aesthetic changes' to the body.

 

Your Tea claims that the tea will help to 'nourish your digestive system to help assist with weight loss, removal of toxins and fluid reduction'.

 

You should drink the tea 3 times a day, morning afternoon and early evening, half an hour before meals. However I have contacted Your Tea and you can be flexible with timings as long as you drink it on an empty stomach.

 

 

I have decided to try the 14 day TEAtox to begin (mainly because I was unsure that I would like the taste and did not want to waste money). If this proves successful I may consider buying the 28 day teatox sometime next year.

 

I will be documenting my experience on the 14 day TEAtox, so keep a look out if you're interested in seeing how it goes!

Have you tried Tiny Tea? If so what are you thoughts?

Much love,

Amber x

Harmony Gelish: First Impressions

For quite some years now I have been absolutely obsessed with all things nail related. During my time in secondary school I would spend my evenings practicing different designs on my nails and nothing felt better than going to school the next day and showing off my new nails.

 

Not much has changed since then, there's nothing I love more than sitting down at the end of the day and giving myself a set of freshly painted nails!

 

Imagine my excitement when the postman arrived at my door with the parcel that I had been excitedly waiting for. The Harmony Gelish nail kit. As soon as it arrived I was eager to try out the 3 Gelish colours which had been sitting on my shelf waiting to be used.

 

(Note: I had previously ordered the Harmony Gelish Starter Kit from an American Seller on Amazon, however after weeks of emailing and being told that my 'kit would arrive and is currently in customs' I gave up and demanded a refund. However I turned to eBay and instead ordered the Harmony Gelish Mini Kit from a UK seller).

 

So what are my first impressions? I have to say I am absolutely amazed so far. The colours are great, the polish is the perfect texture and they have an incredible shine! I am currently wearing the colour 'Make You Blink Pink' which I applied 4 days ago and my nails still look just as great as they did on first application.

 

 

If you are thinking of exploring the wonders of Harmony Gelish I would definitely recommend that you give it a try. The products are pretty pricey for my liking, but you get what you pay for.

 

Harmony claims that their Gelish polishes last up to 3 weeks, something that I am sceptical of as I can barely find a polish which will make it to the end of the week without chipping. Tomorrow I will be giving myself a fresh set of nails with the intention of recording how long the polish lasts so I can see if this claim is indeed true.

 

Have you tried Harmony Gelish? If so what are you impressions? Would you like to see just how long these polishes last for? If so keep a look out for my next post.

 

Much love x

My Current Obsession: Diamante Nail Art

Hello Beautiful!

 

Welcome to the first instalment of a new series of blog posts which I am going to call...

 

My Current Obsession

 

First on the list, something that I cannot get enough of...diamante nails! Simple yet effective nails which cost very little to create.

 

I purchased my diamantes from eBay costing just under £3 for a 6000 piece set. Have a look and see what deals you can find. There are a number of different sellers online, all of them offering similar diamante sets for varied prices.

 

For those of you that are interested in creating your own diamante nails here is a photo of diamante nail set which I found online. I received 2 separate cases, one full of black and silver diamantes, the other with reds, blues, greens, golds, and purples.

 

 

Here are a few photos taken from my Instagram (amber_russell) of my favourite designs.

I hope that you have enjoyed todays post and that you have been inspired to create your own nail designs!

 

Much Love,

 

Amber x

Where has the time gone?

Hello Beauties!

 

It's been so long since my last post that I feel like my blog needs a little TLC! After reading many blogs by the likes of Zoella and Carli Bybel I was inspired to create my own blog.

 

I had so many different ideas of things that I wanted to post about and thought that the 4 month summer break from university would be a great time to start, but as you can see my posts are lacking.

 

Anyway, I've tried so many great products over the summer that I just have to share with you and can't wait to start writing about.

 

I hope that you've all had a great summer and made the most of the beautiful weather while it lasted!

 

Much love

 

Amber x

How green tea, honey and olive oil can help benefit your skin! (with face mask tutorial)

Homemade face masks are a great way of saving money, as well as allowing you to experiment with a number of different ingredients. Keep reading if you want to find out how to make this green tea and honey face mask!

Green tea: can help to prevent acne, protect skin against sun damage, tones the skin and reduces redness.
Did you know that many make up products, lotions and creams contain chemical antioxidants, or vitamin A, C and E which are used as preservatives. Clinical studies suggest that green tea has greater antioxidant properties than these vitamins

Honey: a natural moisturiser which can do wonders on dry skin. Honey is also a powerful antiseptic, making it the perfect ingredient for homemade fask masks and scrubs.

Olive oil: can help to prevent acne, moisturises and exfoliates. It was also a main ingredient in many Egyptian skin remedies!

 

Green tea and honey face mask

 What you will need:
- 2 bags of green tea (it doesn't matter what type, I just happened to have decafe)
- 1/2 (half) tbsp of olive oil (as you can see I used extra virgin oil)
-1 tbsp of honey

What you will need to make your green tea and honey face mask

 Step 1: Take your bowl and add 1 tbsp of honey, to 1/2 (half) a tbsp of olive olive. Then microwave for 15 seconds.

Step 2: Empty the contents of your tea bags into the mixture.
Step 3: Stir the honey, olive oil and green tea leaves until they form a thick paste (if your mixture is not thick enough add more honey until it reaches the right consistency. Do not add more olive oil, this will only make it more watery. Reheat the mixture for another 10 seconds.
Step 4: Remove the mixture from the microwave and stir once again, carefully test the temperature of the mixture on the back of your hand, you want it to be warm NOT hot. Once you have done this apply the mixture to your face in a circular motion and then leave it for 10-15 minutes
Step 5: After 10 or 15 minutes wash your face with warm water, if you're finding it hard to remove all traces of green tea leaves you may want to use little face wash.
Step 6: Pick a moisturiser of your choice and apply all over the face, and that's it you have just experimented with green tea!

However this is one con to this fabulous skin remedy...it can become VERY messy!
I suggest that you apply the mixture over the sink and be prepared to do some sink scrubbing once you are finished ;)
Don't let this put you off though, as you'll be left with beautifully soft skin!

Do you have any homemade remedies that you can share? Let me know!

Much Love
Amber x

NYX soft matte lip cream review (with swatches)

If you havent already tried the NYX soft matte lip creams, you really should! I can't compare these lip products to anything else, as they really are quite unique.

 

On the packing is the statement 'It's not a lipstick, nor is it gloss. It's like nothing you've experienced before. It's lipstick cream that goes on silky and looks soft matte.' I definitely agree with this statement, as I already said they are completely different to any other lip product that I have tried- and believe me I've tried a lot!  

L-R: Antwerp, Istanbul, Milan

Before I buy any kind of lip product I always have a browse online to see if I can find any swatches of how the product looks on the lips (as its always hard to tell the true colour once applied on the lips). Below are some photos that I have taken of each of the lip creams, with and without flash.

 

I first purchased Antwerp from the NYX website (as I live in the UK). Although there were a number of shades which I was keen to try, I decided it would be best to only buy one just incase I didn't like the product. However, I was amazed with how good these lip creams are. I'm a matte lipstick girl, so for me these are the perfect product. They are SO easy to apply and so I always have one in my bag whenever I go out, just incase I feel the need for a pop of colour on my lips.

 

There are currently 13 different shades, all priced at £5.00- which I think is an excellent price for the quality of the product (the only downside was paying for postage and packing, which is around £4.00 I believe).

 

The doe-foot applicator allows a quick and even application (as you can tell from the photo below these lip creams have had a lot of use), making these lip creams the perfect lip product if you need to apply and go!

 

Tip: if I'm not feeling going all out and only want a little bit of colour on my lips, I dab some of the product onto my finger and swipe across my lips for an even but subtle colour.

 

Matte lip products tend to be a little drying on the lips, but I haven't found this to be a problem with these lip products. In fact I think they are quite moisturising! As for how long they last on the lips, I find this varies between colours. Milan and Antwerp are great and tend to last quite a long time, where as Istanbul tends to fade a little quicker (I think this is perhaps the result of being a lighter shade). 

 Overall I have found these to be great lip products which are affordable as well as delivering great quality. 

 If you're interested in trying out NYX soft matte lip creams here's a direct link to the website: 

 http://www.nyxcosmeticsstore.co.uk/acatalog/SMLC_-_Soft_Matte_Lip_Cream.html

Have you tried NYX soft matte lip creams, or any of NYX lip products? If so let me know what you think!

 

Much love,

 

Amber x

 

 

There's a first time for everything...including blogging!

Well...where to start?

 

My name is Amber and I'm a 19 year old student. My interest in blogging really began around Christmas last year. Ever since I've been toying with the idea of starting up my own blog, but its not been until now that I've decided to bite the bullet and go for it!

 

What do I want to write about? Everything and anything! Beauty, fashion, lifestyle, recipes..anything that takes my interest- and maybe interest you too.

 

Now it won't be perfect, and it's going to be a while until I really get the hang of writing my own blog, but I hope that what I have to say may be of interest to you and maybe even become a place for advice on a number of things.

 

I think that will do for an introduction, lets keep it short and sweet!

 

Much love,

Amber x