A week in drugstore lipsticks

Monday - Pout (Avon)

Tuesday - Barely There (Sleek)

Wednesday - Cotton Candy (Collection 2000)

Thursday - Nude Delight (Rimmel)

Friday - Beehive (17)

A bit like my week in MAC lipsticks I thought I'd challenge myself to a week in drugstore lipsticks.  And yes, "challenge myself" is the correct term, because all week I was desperate to put on my new Viva Glam Nicki!  You may also notice that I only lasted five days.  I've definitely learnt that while there's nothing wrong with a drugstore lippie once in a while, I'm certainly a MAC girl at heart and the quality speaks for itself.  My lips have taken a battering this week and feel really dry, so I'm looking forward to wearing something a bit more nourishing!

Fashionista Palette

Quick!  Hot foot it down to Superdrug ASAP because they have an amazing deal on their Fashionista range!  Buy 3 of their eyeshadows or blushes and get a forth plus the palette free!

After I got Juicy Apricot I was keen to branch out into more.  I spent a good 5 minutes swatching blushes on my hands when the eyeshadows caught my eye.  There are so many choose from (42 I think) and they're all amazingly pigmented.  In the end I settled for (clockwise from top left) Sultry, Radiant, Bella and Nude Glimmer.  Some of the eyeshadows in store had far too many chunky glitter particles, so although they didn't when I swatched them, I'm really hoping that baked shades Radiant and Bella won't be the same.

The palette itself is nice and sturdy; I opted for the black version over the red.  It's got a huge mirror inside which makes it great for touch ups on the go.

On their own, each eyeshadow is £4 and the palette is £5.  However, with the current deal on I got a complete set for just £12.

Will you be taking advantage of this offer?

Mini Egg Cookies

(I'm sorry it's an shoddy picture!  I was far too excited to get eating that I forgot to take a decent photo with my camera!)

If you follow me on instagram you may have noticed that I can't seem to stop making these cookies recently.  With Mini Eggs everywhere I turn, I thought I'd give them a whirl in an attempt to stop scoffing bag after bag.  Fail.  I now scoff cookie after cookie.  If you'd like to join me in my mission to eat my weight in dough, then give these a try!

You will need:

• 8oz butter/margarine
• 8oz light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 12 oz self raising flour
• 2 bags of Mini Eggs (200g)

Feel free to adapt these measurements, I find that this makes about 26 medium sized ones.

Stick the oven onto 180 degrees and start chopping up the Mini Eggs.  This is a fairly messy job, but I like to get mine roughly into quarters.  If there are any eggs which are particularly tricky to chop, take it as fate telling you to eat those ones instead.

Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the syrup and vanilla essence and give that a whizz too.

I clearly enjoy making more washing up for myself, so at this point I like to transfer the mixture to another, bigger bowl.  Sieve in half of the flour and mix it in.

Sieve in the rest of the flour and whack the Mini Eggs in too.  Mix it all together until you've got a nice gooey dough.

Roll the mixture into little balls, slightly bigger than a golf ball.  Pop them onto pre-greased baking trays making sure that you leave enough room for them to spread.  Stick them in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown on top.

And that's it!  Admittedly they aren't the prettiest snack, but OMG they taste amazing!!

Let me know if you try these out for yourself!

The Balm Dupes

Do you remember my post about The Balm's Hot Mama! eyeshadow/blush?  I thought there was something familiar about the tone of it, so I had a root around in my collection and came up with these dupes.

As you can see, Hot Mama! is in the middle, and to the left of it is Aldi's Lacura blush in Sunset.  This is a very similar peachy apricot shade that is beautiful and such a bargain at under £4.

On top with more of a gold tone is Sleek's Rose Gold.  This is an apparent dupe of NARS Orgasm and as I said, has much more golden shimmer than Hot Mama! does, although it still stays quite similar.

Finally, I've included MAC's Springsheen.  This is a favourite blush of mine, but like Rose Gold I think although its very similar, this is probably more red-dy gold than The Balm's offering.

So there you have it.  A few alternatives from a range of prices if you were looking for something similar  to The Balm's Hot Mama!  As you can see, I love my blushes to be in this type of shade, so if you know of any others I should invest in please let me know below!

Also, don't forget there's still time to enter my giveaways!  There are three running, so get your entries in here, here and here.

6 of the Best: Spring Jeans

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I can't get enough of the coloured and patterned jean explosion happening on the high street right now.  Have you seen any amazing jeans anywhere?

March magazine freebies

 Just a quickie to let you know my thoughts on some of the freebies available with magazines this month.

Glamour Magazine

March is The Best month to buy Glamour magazine, as they always give away really generous freebies.  This year it's goodies from Percy & Reed, and yes, I did buy two magazines to get the Finishing Polish and the Hydrating Mask.  These retail for around £10 usually, so paying £2 to get a full-size product is well worth it.  The Finishing Polish does its job, but I wouldn't say it's any better than my Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment or Urban Fudge 3 in 1 Miracle Moisture Stuff for smoothing down my ends.  I love the Totally TLC Hydrating Mask though.  I use this in the shower, wrap my hair in a turbie towel for 10 minutes then rinse to get some seriously smooth and soft hair.  There's shampoo and conditioner available from Glamour as well.

Cosmopolitan

I never buy Cosmo, but Clinique freebies sucked me in.  There was lipgloss, mascara, exfoliant cream or moisturiser available, so I went for the Moisture Surge.  This feels like a cream/gel hybrid which does make it feel super moisturising.  It doesn't sink in particularly quickly so I prefer to use this before bed.  It's only a sample size, but for £3.50 it's worth it and very generous.

Has anyone else taken advantage of the freebies out there this month?  Are there any I've missed?

MAC Blush Ombre in Azalea Blossom

Since the launch of Benefit's Hervana, the idea of a purple-toned blush has really appealed to me.  I swatched Hervana in store and wasn't particularly impressed with the colour pay-off so I decided to shop around for an alternative.

For starters, Azalea Blossom is beautiful.  I'm such a sucker for nicely presented cosmetics, and this looks so pretty in my make up box!  I bought this online so didn't swatch before I bought, so again the colour isn't quite as lilac-y as I'd hoped, but it is buildable.  And at £20.50 for 9g, you're getting more than Hervana's 7g at £23.50.  Azalea Blush is limited edition as part of the Daphne Guiness collection, and though I haven't spotted it at my local MAC counter, it is still available to purchase via the website.

I don't think my search for a purple-toned blush is over, but for the meantime I'm happy.  I know I'll probably cave and get Hervana soon, as it seems too good to miss out on.  Have you spotted any alternatives?

Life #1

* The face of a dog that's been up to no good! * Working in Eastbourne * New favourite combo * Poorly cats *

* Baking cookies * Beau playing hide & seek * Thriller jacket * New hair cuff *

* Handsome Dudley * A lovely surprise from Glossybox * Glammed up for my stepmum's birthday * Cleaning brushes *
 

Do you like these sort of posts?

Scaredtoast Giveaway - Day 3: Beautiful Jewellery

I apologise for the blurriness; this prize was seriously hard to photograph and my battery ran out so this is the only photo I can use!

Anyway, for Day 3 it's this gold 'peace' hand harness up for grabs.  I love unusual jewellery; this goes around your wrist with the peace sign sitting on the back of your hand and then there's a ring attachment at the other end.  This unique piece is right up my street, and if you'd quite like it as well, here's what you need to do:

• Be a follower of Scaredtoast via Google Friend Connect
• Leave a comment below, telling me your favourite blogger that you think I should check out as well as your favourite YouTuber if you have one
• Leave me your email address so that I can contact you if you win
• For an extra entry, tweet "I want to win @scaredtoast's Beautiful Jewellery giveaway at http://www.scaredtoast.com/2012/03/scaredtoast-giveaway-day-3-beautiful.html"

Again, you may enter as many of these giveaways as you wish.  The previous two giveaways are here and here, and like the others, this one will end on Friday 30th March at 7:30pm.  Good luck!

Scaredtoast Giveaway - Day 2: Beautiful Hands

Following on from yesterday's giveaway, here's another little set of beauty goodies you could win!  This time the focus is on hands, and I'm giving you the chance to win a complete kit of treats to keep your hands looking gorgeous.  You could win:

* Dirty Works 'You Soft Touch' Hand Lotion * Nail Rock Striped Nail Wraps * Dirty Works Nail File *

Similar to yesterday, to enter you just need to do the following:

• Be a follower of Scaredtoast via Google Friend Connect
• Leave a comment below, telling me a suggestion for a type of post you'd like to see here on Scaredtoast
• Leave me your email address so that I can contact you if you win
• For an extra entry, tweet "I want to win @scaredtoast's Beautiful Hands giveaway over at http://www.scaredtoast.com/2012/03/scaredtoast-giveaway-day-2-beautiful.html"

You can enter as many as you like of the giveaways that will be running this week, if you missed yesterday's you can enter it here.  This giveaway will end on Friday30th March at 7:30pm.  Good luck!

Scaredtoast Giveaway - Day 1: Natural Beauty

I promised it would happen, and here it is...Day 1 of Scaredtoast's bumper giveaway bonanza!  I don't generally do giveaways, but I think they are a good way of sharing the love, thanking people for the support and giving something back to the community.

So to start with, I'm giving you the chancee to win a Natural Beauty kit.  I liked the idea of giving away a sort of themed gift, so (with the exception of foundation) I'm giving you all the goodies you'd need to create an gorgeous, everyday, neutral make up look.  The prizes are as follows:

*Avon creme delight eyeshadow palette in 'Golden Sands' * Avon super enchant mascara * Avon 24k gold eyeliner in 'Golden Brown' * MUA Bronzer in Shade 3 (would make a perfect contour colour) * Primark lashes (who said natural beauties couldn't flutter their falsies?) and; * Jonhson's Daily Essentials fragrance free cleansing wipes...to take it all off again!*

I'm really excited about this products, and I love the idea of winning a set of things you'd need to create something.  All products are brand new, and if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning here's all you need to do:

• Be a follower of Scaredtoast via Google Friend Connect (I'll be checking!)
• Leave a comment below, telling me what posts you enjoy most here on Scaredtoast
• Leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win
• For an extra entry, tweet "I want to win @scaredtoast's Natural Beauty giveaway over at http://www.scaredtoast.com/2012/03/scaredtoast-giveaway-day-1-natural.html"

The giveaway will end in just over 2 weeks, on Friday 30th March at 7:30pm.  There'll be another giveaway tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled.  Good luck!

New shoes

- Jeans: Primark - Jumper: Topshop - Scarf: Primark - Shoes: Zara -

Not gonna lie, it was an emotional weekend.  The cats were spayed last Wednesday and Coco hasn't been herself since.  She's been back and forwards to the vets, they can't identify what's wrong and think it's just stress, but she won't eat or move.  I've had to syringe feed her, give her regular antibiotics and anti-inflammetries, and with Ed back in Norwich for the weekend it was extremely stressful.  I regularly convinced myself she was going to die, cried a lot and was generally exhausted.  Good news is that she seems to be on the mend, and although I'm £300 worse off (with no pet insurance to claim it back) I'd pay it all again just to have her back.

In good news....my shoes arrived!  Like I said, I really wanted the black Topshop Vectras, but I think these are even more perfect!  They're sturdier than the slipper-ish Vectras and have the cutest skulls on them!  They're just a little different from the norm without being in your face and I'm in love.  At £39.99 they were more expensive than the Vectras, but they feel like they're good quality so I'm hoping they last a while.  Zara always does such lovely flats; I loved my lace up pair from last year and always got compliments on them, until Dudley decided to eat them!

Besides that, I didn't do much this weekend, and when I did venture outside it was in the comfiest clothes I could find.  I love scarves though, they always inject a little something extra to an otherwise ordinary outfit.  

What did everyone else get upto?

What I bought in Primark: 11/3/2012

~ Shopping in Primark can be frantic for even the most seasoned of shoppers. I'll be bringing these posts to you as a friendly guide, showing you what's in stores and when, to help you next time you shop ~

Moustache Top - £4

Please tell me I'm not alone in this, I see a moustache print and I just can't help buying it!  Like my t-shirt, this was dirt cheap and well worth the money.  It's a bit crop top-py, but isn't too short and doesn't leave me trying to tug it down all the time.  I'm not sure on the knotted part as it acts like a peep hole to my tummy, so it might have to be worn with a vest top underneath!

Gold Arm Cuff - £1

I wanted this when it ws full price but for some reason never got round to purchasing it.  When I spotted it reduced to just £1 I figured it would be rude to say no.  Unlike lots of other arm cuffs this one fits nicetly around my miniscule wrists making it comfy to wear.

Necklace - £2

Again, this was another piece that had caught my eye but never got round to buying.  When I saw it was half price I picked it up straight away.  I'll be wearing this with a buttoned-up shirt to make a real statement.

Pastel Ring - £2

They also had this ring in a warmer, red and black variety, but I thought these pastel shades were perfect for spring.  It's very arty-inspired, and for some reason out of all the high street YSL rip-offs, this is the one that looks best to me.  Maybe it's because I'm getting excited for spring, but for £2 you really can't go wrong.

Scarves - £4 each

I picked these up as little Mother's Day gifts.  Mum's always commenting on my scarves and I thought the animal and floral print one on the left would look nice on her.  Unfortunately I've spotted a hole made by the hanger on it so I'll have to exchange it next weekend.  I love the swallow print snood and got it for Ed's Mum.

Besides this, I also picked up a pack of 40 kirby grips for £1.  Who else has been shopping in Primark recently?

Stila Lip Enamel Luxe Gloss

I always hear pleasant things about Stila.  I've already got their tinted moisturiser, so when I spotted these lip glosses priced at £3.99 rather than the RRP of £9.99 at TK Maxx I figured it'd be rude not to give it a go.  I got 'giggle' an incredibly bright fuschia pink, and 'happiness'; a more wearable peachy-coral.

First things first, these glosses are intensely pigmented.  Insanely so.  I hastily applied 'happiness' in the car straight after purchasing, and wasn't too impressed because it just seemed to highlight how dry my lips were at the time.  I've now learnt that you've got to put what feels like a massive amount on, because then you get a really vibrant colour which pretty much paints your lips and hides what's underneath.

To apply the product there's a brush applicator.  You have to twist the top of the pen to get the gloss flowing and then brush it onto your lips.  You might be able to tell, I got a little bit vigorous with my pen twisting and ended up with super bright 'giggle' coloured lips!

You might have noticed, I'm more of a lipstick girl than lip gloss, but I am really impressed with Stila's offerings.  Staying power was good and I didn't find them to be too sticky on the lips, nor were they drying.  My only issue is where to wear 'giggle' because even for me it's scarily bright!

Tweezerman Tweezers

Another essential bit of kit that you all should own!  Tweezerman are, to my mind, topdog of the tweezer world.  They come in a variety of cute colours and patterns to make a pretty statement and really do the job well.  They grip so well and help create a really polished look.  Not only that, but I believe they also come with some sort of lifetime guarantee, whereby you can get them resharpened for free which cuts down the cost of having to replace them every time your tweezers get blunt!  So why would I need two pairs, I hear you ask...

Blurry action shot, but as you can see....the cats have an obsession with them.  Coco in particular, as you can see!  They love to hide them, and even though I knew my original pair would turn up, my patience ran out and I replaced them last week only to find my first pair the next day.  Annoyed much?

Tweezermans come in two sizes; mini and regular.  I find the minis to be much better as they allow you to get in really close to the mirror!  You can purchase from Boots, or online at asos.