woods

dress: Topshop
denim shirt: H&M
earrings: accessorize
shoes: London Rebel
bag: Zara
lips: Benefit 'posie tint'
bracelets: ASOS and Accessorize
nails: Inspired by this post by @Emma_Lawrance
toenails: Barry M 'Aqua Glitter'


I've been LOVING the weather recently! Hasn't everyone? It makes me want to actually want to go outside instead of being stuck in my house all day!

 Also what do you think of the background for these photos? They're in the woods near my house, if you like it I'll try and do a few more OOTDs there!

♥

ditsy flowers and denim

I wore this to go down to the beach and the woods with my sister a couple of days ago and so I asked her to take a few snaps of me! By the way I had just been swimming so my hair was still wet and I had no makeup on!

I totally didn't balance my camera on a tree for this photo... ;)

skirt: H&M
top: Hollister
denim shirt: H&M
bag: Zara
shoes: River Island
sunglasses: Ray Ban

I hardly EVER wear skirts but I'm going to look out for more skirts to buy as I liked this one! I saw this one on ASOS which I liked, what do you think of it?

♥

aztec

sorry for all the nail posts recently, but because I've finished school I've been able to paint my nails to my heart's content! *happy Islay*
I had been wanting to do these for ageees but never got around to it! They were easier than I thought they would be to do and I love the colour combination I chose!

I did the stripes on my nails (except the thin pink one) with the nail varnish brush and a dotting tool to do the details!

Let me know what you think of them!

♥

easy healthy summer 'ice cream' recipe

This is one of my favourite recipes to make for summer! It's super healthy because it's just fruit and milk but it tastes as if it's proper ice cream!

You will need:

● Banana

● Fruit (strawberries/raspberries/mango etc.)

● Milk (50-100ml)

● Hand blender

● Freezer safe dish

● Knife

Step 1: Cut up banana onto a freezer safe plate/tray etc.

Step 2: Place into freezer overnight
Step 3: Cut up fruit
Step 4: Add the banana to the fruit
Step 5: Add milk (less milk will make it thicker)
Step 6: Liquidize it
Step 7: Put into a little bowl (the bowl and spoon I used are from Cath Kidston if you were wondering!) and enjoy in the sun!

This honestly tastes DELICIOUS, it seems as if you're having an unhealthy treat but it's healthy and you can make it completely to your taste!
There are lots of different things that you could add to it, here are some of the ones I've tried:
● raspberries
● strawberries
● mango
● milkshake powder (e.g. chocolate/strawberry)
● or you can just keep it plain and have it banana flavour!

I reckon you could try it with almond milk to make it even healthier if you wanted but I like it with the orange 1% fat milk as it is still creamy and not too watery!

Have you tried this before or do you like the sound of it? Let me know in a comment below or tweet me if you decide to make it! @islaay_x

♥

polka dot

I was meant to post this weeks ago but I somehow ended up having loaaads of nail art posts so I thought I would leave this one for a bit before I published it, so here it is!
I got the idea from the most recent issue of Company magazine to do this (here is the image which I got my inspiration from!) It was done by @JemmFrances and tweeted to Company which is how it ended up in the magazine!

here is how mine turned out!

I changed it a bit by using different sized spots and overlapping them a bit more but the basic idea is the same!
The colours I used were (L-R):
● Miss Sporty '328'
● Essie (unknown shade)
● OPI 'Lucky lucky lavender'
● Essie 'Garnet'
● Nails inc 'Electric teal'
● Collection 2000 'BMX bandit'
● Essie 'Infatuation'

Let me know if you recreate this or use this as inspiration, I'd love to see them!

Thankyou for reading, have a lovely day ♥

Montagne Jeunesse clay mask*

I was recently sent these brand new clay masks from Montagne Jeunesse to review on my blog.

When they arrived I expected it to be a normal mud mask type face mask so I was surprised to open it to find a sort of mask inside. I tried the Glacial Clay Spa mask first. The smell wasn't what I expected, it kind of smelt like my grandpa (but not in a bad way) but I thought it would have a sort of fruity berry smell which it didn't.

The cloth itself was very soft, and had plenty of product on it! I was skeptical about it staying on my face, but once smoothed on it stayed in place pretty well! It had a sort of cooling effect when I put it onto my skin and I think I may put the other one in the fridge before I use it to make it feel even better!

It worked much better than I thought it would, my skin felt fully cleansed, soft and moisturised afterwards and the coolness of it made me feel really relaxed! After the 15 minutes which I left it on for I peeled it off and gently massaged my face in circular motions with the mask as it suggested, this worked well as it removed most of the excess product from my skin and just helped to work it in a little bit before I washed the rest off with some cold water

They came in the box pictured but I have just found out that they aren't available to buy like that, sorry! They cost £1.49 each and available from Boots (Mid-August), ASDA (September) and available now at www.montagnejeunesse.com

All of their products are vegetarian-approved, made from natural ingredients and paraben-free. Montagne Jeunesse are proud of their uncompromising natural credentials and have a strong ethos for ‘Conservation of Energy, Protection of Animals and the Environment.’ I think this is very important in a brand, and is similar to other high street brands such as LUSH and The Body Shop.

According to Montagne Jeunesse they are "Unlike any other masque, Clay Spas are created with world’s first technology - specially sourced clays are cleverly infused into natural bamboo fabric, creating a completely new and never seen before type of face masque that makes cleansing better, quicker and easier than ever before." I agree like this, they are completely unique as I haven't seen anything like them before and they gave my skin a much needed, really good deep clean!

I would really recommend these, and I can't wait to try out the other one!

Thankyou for reading, have a lovely day ♥

empties #2

I'm sure you will probably of seen these sort of posts before, but basically it is all the products I have used up recently and what I thought of them!

Mitchum deodorant 'shower fresh' scent

I always use this one, it's the best by far! I hadn't tried this scent before as I usually go for one of the others but it just smells really clean and fresh! The only bad thing is it takes a while to dry so you have to wait a couple of minutes before you get dressed once you have applied it

4/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes

Soap and Glory Hand Food

I think I got this in the Christmas set from Soap and Glory that was available in Boots at the time. I've been through several of these, it lasts a long time, it's very moisturising and it smells good! I can't find anything bad about this, except because of the packaging design, there is still a lot of product left in the tube

4/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes

Cotton buds

I wasn't going to include these, but I thought I would anyway. They're just bog standard cotton buds. I thought the plastic was a bit flimsy so I probably wouldn't buy these ones again

3/5*

recommend? No

repurchase? No

Clearasil deep cleansing toner
This is one of my absolute holy grail skincare items. If I stop using it only for a few days my skin goes craaazy until I start using it again. It's pretty cheap, does a great job and lasts a while.

5/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes (I have about four backups in my room haha)

Herbal Essences beautiful ends hair mask

I bought several of these when they were on special offer a while ago. I use it every week- 10 days on the ends of my hair. I'm not sure if it actually prevents split ends but my hair feels softer when I've used it.

4/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes

Soap and Glory the Righteous Butter

Again I got this in the Christmas set. It smells very good, does a good job at moisturising and lasts a long time. I like it, but I think there are better body moisturisers you can get for your money. (I much prefer the Garnier one and it's a third of the price)

3/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? No

Garnier intensive 7 days moisturier

I've done a separate review of it here if you want to read more in depth about it. I love it so much, it's much better than the Soap and Glory Righteous butter and a fraction of the price!

5/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes

Nivea daily essentials tinted moisturiser
This is 50ml instead of the usual 30ml so it lasts such a long time! It's dirt cheap, smells amazing and gives a nice light coverage. The majour downside is it is quite dark and there is only one shade. I sometimes mix a bit of a lighter foundation with it to get a good colour but it will be perfect for on holiday/in the summer (if we ever get one in England!)

4/5*

recommend? Yes if you aren't fair skinned

repurchase? Already have!

Clearasil Ultra daily cream face wash

I had to cut this open because there was literally half of it still in there when I couldn't get any more out! You can use this as a mask or a face wash. I tended to use it as a mask every 3-4 days and as a face wash every morning/evening. It was alright, but nothing special. 

3/5*

recommend? Not really

repurchase? No

Sally Hansen Double Duty base and top coat

I really like the Sally Hansen top coats. This lasted me a long time and kept my nail varnish looking shiny and chip free.

4/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes, but next time I think I might try the instadry one instead

Barry M basecoat, topcoat and nail hardener

As I have mentioned on here many times before, Barry M are my favourite nail varnish brand. I think this one was around £3ish, I liked it but not as much as the Sally Hansen one.

3/5*

recommend? I recommend the Sally Hansen one more, but this is a good cheaper option

repurchase? Probably not

The Body Shop strawberry body butter

I feel like the Body Shop body butters are everyone's favourite. It smells delicious, lasts a very long time and it's very hydrating! Not much more to say about it really!

5/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes

Montagne Jeunesse Passion Peel off mask*

This was part of the holiday set which I was sent to review. It smells good, left my skin feeling well cleansed and it was fun to peel it off! There is a lot of product inside (maybe even enough for two people!) and my skin felt clean and purified after using it

4/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? Yes

Liz Earle sheer skin tint
This was a sample which I received when I ordered the Cleanse and Polish. Shade 02 was a good colour match for me, I might look into buying the full size. The coverage was light but not too light to not cover anything, it felt moisturising on my skin and it left a dewy finish to my skin

4/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? I might look into getting the full size when my current foundation runs out

Boots Clean off nail polish remover

This is by far my favourite one! It makes removing nail polish a lot easier, and it's cheap as chips (under £1.50 I think?) This is the only one which I use and I couldn't recommend it more!

5/5*

recommend? Yes

repurchase? I have lots of back ups!

phew! That was a lot of typing!

Have you done an empties post? Leave your link in a comment so I can check them out!

Thankyou for reading, have a lovely day ♥

BBLOGGERS UNITE: Summer Nail Art Challenge

This is a competition entry for the BBloggers Unite summer nail art challenge
I left it rather late to do this and so I had to rush it to be able to take photos before it got dark outside!
If I had more time I would of redone the watermelon and the dolphin with the sunset but oh well :)
The prize for this competition is the OPI 'best of the best' mini collection.
In order for me to win I need people to 'like' my photo on their Facebook page (if you have a minute please can you, it would make me really happy!)
The theme was summer so I decided to do each nail a different thing to do with summer
The thumb obviously says 'Summer 2012'
My first finger are daisies because I think they are so cute
My muddle finger is watermelon because it is my favourite summer fruit
My ring finger is a dolphin in front of a sunset because it reminds me of being on holiday
My pinkie is an ice cream because it reminds me of being in Italy and having lavender ice cream!

The colours I used were (L-R top-bottom)
Barry M: mushroom
Essie: garnet
Rimmel: Black Cab
Barry M: Berry Ice Cream
Accessorize: Apricot Crush
Rimmel: Sunshine
NYC: Pinstripe White
OPI: Lucky Lucky Lavender
Nails inc.: Porchester Square
Leighton Denny: Lolly Pop
Barry M: Spring Green
Collection 2000: BMX Bandit

I can't wait to see the other entries and thankyou to BBloggers Unite for hosting this giveaway!

River Island sale shoe haul

I've just got back from being in town with my mum looking for some new shoes with my mum so I thought I'd share with you what I got! I'm usually pretty fussy with shoes but I actually managed to try on a whole bundle of them and managed to find some which fitted (hooray!) These are the ones I ended up getting:

I just looked online and I can only find the espadrilles on there but they may have the other ones in your local River Island!
In total they all came to £32 which for three pairs of shoes is so good!
Look our for them in future OOTDs, especially the two loafers!

Have you been to the River Island sale yet? Have you got any bargains recently? Tell me below!

Thankyou for reading, have a lovely day  ♥

What's in my bag?

I've been wanting to do this post for ages but never got around to doing it! My bag is the Zara satchel bag which everyone has (which is now in the sale!) I haven't had it too long but so far I really like it!
I think the photos are pretty self explanatory but if you want to know where anything is from just ask and I'll be happy to reply! I don't carry anything which most other people wouldn't but I'm pretty nosey and love to read these posts so I thought I would do my own one too!

Thankyou for reading, have a lovely day ♥

June 2012 beauty favourites

I've been meaning to do a favourites post for months but never seem to get round to doing it at the end of each month!  For most of this month I was bogged down in doing exams so as I was in my house revising (yaaawn) I was wearing little/no makeup. These have been my five stand out products throughout this month and I will do a short explanation of why I like them!

Peggy Sage highlighter- I bought this a few months ago when I was in France. I hadn't heard of the brand before but the shop was really cute so I had to buy something! First of, it smells sososo good (kind of like chocolate/cocoa butter) it's not overpowering but it's really nice! When I first bought it i hardly used it but recently I have used it most days with my elf angled brush. It's not to shimmery and it adds a subtle glow to your face. If you were wondering how much it was, I believe it was around £10 with the euro conversion

Barry M 'Aqua glitter'- I blogged about it here if you want to see close up swatches. I have only had this just over a week but both me and my mum are in love with it (she's been going on about how much she loves it all week!) I used it on both my fingers and toes for prom (see my post here) it doesn't chip and it's just so shinyyyy

TRESemmé Freeze Hold hairspray- this really is such a good hairspray! It keeps my hair in place all day without it feeling crispy at all! I used it on Friday when I went to prom. I put my hair up and sprayed it at about 1pm on Friday, it stayed in place completely all day/night, I kept my hair up overnight when I was staying at my friend's house and it was completely perfect when I woke up the next morning! I had to go to my mum's friend's house straight after and so I didn't end up taking my hair down until about 4pm on the Saturday. 27+ hours is pretty good staying power for a hairspray if you ask me!

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish- I'm sure you will of heard countless good things about this before so I won't bore you with yet another great review but I completely agree with all the good reviews, it leaves my skin silky smooth and moisturised and I love it!

St Moriz fake tan mousse- as it's 'summer' (if you live in England I'm sure you'll agree it's never actually summer here) and I've been starting wearing dresses/shorts more I've been fake tanning my legs more often too! I apply it with a tanning mitt all over my body. It blends in really well and doesn't go patchy/streaky/orange and it looks so natural after you have washed the developer colour off! Oh and it's supersuper cheap, and the bottle has lasted me forever too!

Have you done an empties post? Link it in a comment, I would love to know what you have been loving recently!

Thankyou for reading, have a lovely day ♥