Collective Haul ♥

At the end of last week, Ellie and I ended our Easter holiday. We all know what Easter holidays meant ... a shopping trip to Birmingham, Sheffield Meadowhall (twice...it's a big place!), Leeds and Lichfield, as well as a couple of trips to Derby Westfield and various times when we would 'pop' into town. I probably did spend way too much money! But I did enjoy my Easter break, and am very pleased with my buys :) Also! I went into Forever 21 for the first time ever! Eeeek :)

Birmingham:

Orange dress  - Topshop
Sunglasses - Forever 21
Belts - Forever 21
Cosmetic bag - Forever 21

I will definitely be going back to buy some more of these sunglasses! They had them in a few different colours, all of which I loved. I had about 6 pairs in my basket at one point, but I felt as though that was slightly eccentric! They had loads of other styles which I wouldn't mind purchasing too.
I love these dresses so much. I now have 3 different colours, and plan on buying more! They go so well with everything, and are perfect to dress up and down.

Leeds:

I didn't buy too much whilst shopping in Leeds. This may have been because I was so distracted by the Trinity Shopping Centre. It is so huge! There was also a One Direction pop up shop and a Candy Kittens one too.
Netrogena Blackhead Eliminating - Boots
Pens - Candy Kittens
The pens aren't available online, but there is some other cool merchandise. Ellie got a bag with 'pardy' on, and my sister got a neon pink hat with 'pardy' written across it! It was such a surprise to find the store, and all the items were so funny!
Here are some more piccies of the day:

I've never seen so many people quite so happy to be entering a shop! They all came out - after writing their twitter names on the wall/carpet - with bags full of Mrs ... t-shirts, posters, key rings and cardboard cut outs!

If you're not familiar with Candy Kittens, it is - what was originally - a sweet shop run by Jamie Laing, heir to the Mcvities throne, a member of the cast of the fantastic Made In Chelsea series. However now, as so many people love him (my whole family are fans of him and his child-like nature) he also sells loads of 'pardy' and 'yea boi' merchandise. I suppose 'pardy' and 'yea boi' are his catch phrases. I'm not forgetting Proudlock and Francis here guys!

Meadowhall:



Feminist Ryan Gosling- Urban Outfitters

Nail Polish - Boots

Hair Accessories - New Look

Feminist Ryan Gosling has to be the best £8.99 I've ever spent! I find it absolutely hilarious, and my sister went absolutely crazy when I showed it to her.

Before mine and Ellie's second trip to Meadowhall, I had never heard of sinful colours before, and as they were only £1.99 (WOW!) and on 3 for 2, I decided to go for it! They are pretty good from what I have tried to far. Review to follow shortly!

I am so in to scrunchies! I know these aren't really proper scrunchies, but I love the bow look on top. It takes me back to Tracy Beaker and primary school days :)

Lichfield:

I got my two sisters a can of Pink Lemonade Minute Maid! How cool?! My entire family are huge fans of the orange juice drink, and both of my sisters were planning on making some pink lemonade that same day, so I thought 'what a coincidence!' I also bought my grandparents a mixture of sweets - I stood in the shop asking the lovely shop lady to recommend sweets for me! And the liquorice sticks were for my Mum :)

This bed quilt is actually out of the kids section at Tesco. After having confirmed that just because it was in the kids section, it will still fit my normal bed, I decided to buy. It was only £10!

Burton, Derby and Online:

Clean&Clear Deep Cleansing Lotion - Boots
Batiste Dry Shampoo - Boots
Eyeliner Sharpener -Boots
Cotton Pads - Superdrug
Clothes Roller - H&M

Clean&Clear have never really interested me, but a dear friend of mine uses this, and her skin is flawless, so she recommended that I try it, and see what I think.

Denim Top - Newlook

Hair Accessories - Lipsy at Asos



In other news, last Thursday and Friday, two of my cousins both had baby girls :) I haven't officially met the babies yet :( However, I have seen gorgeous pictures of them both, and I will be meeting them very soon! I cannot wait! It is lovely to have new members of the family (one on my Mums side, and one on my Dads) and it was so strange that they were born over the period of two days!

- Dom ♥



March Favourites ♥

Is it just me, or is this year flying by? I suppose they always do, however this year seems to be moving extra swiftly as there is so much going on for myself and Ellie.

As for my March favourites, I have a few beauty related, and a few non-beauty related. Here we go, enjoy!

Covergirl Lipstick:

Basically, I am really getting in to Spring this year. I don't exactly know why, but as my age grows, so does my excitement for each season, and the festivities it brings! This year for spring, pretty pink tones are definitely a firm favourite of mine for make up. I got this in my package from Alannah at Keddie's Closet (you can read the post here) and I am so obsessed with it. It seems to be my go-to lipstick. As well as the gorgeous colour, it is a long-lasting shade, perfect for my busy springy days :)

Babylips:

Another item which I was sent in my fabulous package :) I have literally been reaching for this so much recently. It is really moisturising as well as being such a pretty colour! You know how with some lipstick it takes AGES to apply perfectly? This beauty is the complete opposite! It applies like a dream, and even though its shade is very subtle, it is noticeable. So many people have admired this; I just want more!

Milani Baked Blush:

Yet another item I received in my box (see a pattern here?!). This blush is perfect for this season, it has the right balance of sparkle with the gorgeous rose colour. For me, this is the ultimate pink spring blush!

Covergirl Mascaras:

Guess where these implausible items came from! I'm not usually a fan of plastic wands, but I knew I wanted to try to new mascaras. And oh my! These are so amazing! I use the orange one on the top lash line, and yellow on the bottom. This combination is one which does not clump, lasts all day and is trust-worthy!

Margarita Hand Sanitizer:

I received four of these cute little pocket bacs in my box, each of them smelling -in different ways- as delicious as each other. I decided to rotate use of each of them because I didn't want to use them all up. I hadn't used this one until my sister gave me some of hers, and I tell you this, I was enchanted at first smell. The scent it so refreshing, taking me back to my evenings at the beach bar in Sardinia two years ago listening to Bob Marley, and drinking non-alcoholic cocktails. Aaah :)

Urban Fudge 3in1 Miracle Moisture Stuff:

I raved about this almost a year ago now, in one of mine and Ellie's first ever posts. (Read here) I used this regularly for quite a while, however I became intrigues as to whether this actually worked, or if its benefits were just psychological. So, I stopped using this, and noticed that it did actually work. I re-bought this at the beginning of March, and am so glad I did. This works really well at keeping my ends conditioned, and considering the amount of time is lasts for, it isn't too expensive.

Keds:

You can read my feature post of these here. I only wore these a couple of times last year, and early March I decided to re-kindle my love for these, and began pairing them with outfits perfect for spring. They are really comfy, and add a lovely touch of colour.

You will have to excuse these pictures! If you don't already know, myself and Ellie are both incapable of taking serious pictures. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say Ellie was trying to take these, shouting "act natural" for around ten minutes!

Denim Style Top:

I'd been planning a few outfits in my head - as you do when you're supposed to be revising - and surprisingly to me, a grand majority of them included wearing a denim style top. So, whilst shopping with my dear mother and unwilling brother, I picked this up from trusty old Matalan around two weeks ago for the worthy price of £16. Now, I want to wear this with everything! However, I do realise that I shouldn't really wear it with everything, so I already have another denim style top in the post, and am open to any suggestions as to wear I can find more! 

Wrap Bracelet:

One of my closest friends bought me this for Christmas as she'd heard me go on and on about how much I love wrap bracelets. I love to pair this with my denim top, a nice dress, and Keds or black flat rowing shoes (decathlon ;) ) so basically the outfit above! I think that wrap bracelets look really gorgeous by themselves, plus I also love to layer up with a few single bracelets.

Camp Rock:

Yes, I know that this came out around three years ago, and I was besotted by it then, however over March, I remembered how much I loved it, and decided to buy it, and watch it over and over again :) If you haven't already watched the epic love story of Mitchie and Shane, or the heart aching lie tearing friends apart - no, I am not over dramatising at all - then you are missing out!

Demi Lovato - Heart Attack:

My unhealthy obsession with this song began during February, and since then, I have had it on repeat. Constantly. If you're not a massive fan of Demi, or her style of music (yes, we're clearly on first name terms) then you probably won't like this song. Yet, this may cease to amaze you, and you may fall in love with it, as I did! One of the best things about this song is that there will be an album released within the next couple of months, and me and a dear friend of mine are praying that along comes a world tour. You can listen here.

Doctor Who:

Oh yeah, it's back! I'm not too sure if this can be classed as a March favourite, or an all year round favourite, but I don't care. Matt Smith is back on our screens. Weekly. And with the beautiful Jenna Louise Coleman as Clara, I am very much looking forward to finding out what this season will bring for us all!

I hope that you liked these favourites :)

-Dom ♥



Phyto Paris Shampoo & Conditioner

Hiya everyone :) I just want to say I am so sorry for not doing a blog post in a while! Exams have been going and lot's more. Anyway as Dom has kindly updated you on what we have been up too I thought i'd do a slight beauty update (france things!). Ooo i almost forgot I just wated to say thankyou for all of the lovely birthday messages, they were so appreciated.  Dom and her family kindly took us to france and we had such a amazing day.
Here are some of the things I bought

Of course we went into Sephora and I bought one of their blushers. Also Dom and I both bought the make-up brush cleaner which is just in a little spray bottle. I  also bought a new primer from Yves-Rocher which I love and will definitely be doing a post on it.

I really love the Phyto Paris shampoo and conditioner I bought while we were in France. The shampoo I got is for super dry hair which I don't really think I have. I thought this would be a brilliant chance to use a shampoo and conditioner for a moisture mask/ (slash) from time to time treatment for my hair. So the shampoo is phytonectar ultra nourishing brilliance shampoo which has pretty flower extarcts like orange blossom in. The shampoo is for ultra dry hair which definitely scared me at first but I thought i'll only be using it every 2 weeks. A sort of a replacement moisture mask routine.

Then the conditioner is the phytobaume repair express conditioner. This conditioner is so lovely and from the few times i've used seems to make my hair feel so soft! I think using these every 2 weeks will just make my hair feel so much better.

As it was mothers daylast sunday, I was just wondering what you all did for your mums and if they all had a lovely day. I really love mothers day and being able to spoil my mum! Also guys because Dom's beauty box was so amazing and lovely. My new email adress is elliephillips@live.co.uk and as Dom said she would adore to do one again and I would just love to do a swap!

Love Ellie xx

Beauty Box ♥

Earlier this year, my sister did a blog post on her blog regarding her desire to do a drugstore beauty box swap with someone from a different country. You can read her post here. At this point, I was considering doing one myself because it has been something I had been interested in for quite a while. Josie received many responses, so I asked if I could do one instead of her. So, Josie e-mailed the lovely Alannah at Keddie's Closet and Alannah very kindly said she would be happy to swap with me! YEY! I had already visited Alannah's blog several times, and loved it, so it was nice to already know the person I was swapping with :)

We set a £30/$50 budget, and we exchanged many e-mails. Last week, just after I had posted Alannah's box, I received mine! Literally, I just don't even know if I can explain to you how excited I was to see it had arrived, and it arrived without any breakages, or it getting lost in the post!

Alannah sent me so many lovely items, complete with an adorable belated birthday card :)

I absolutely love everything that I was sent, and I cannot wait to send another one to Alannah this summer. I thoroughly enjoyed buying all of her items too, it gave me brilliant ideas of what I need to buy! I will definitely stay in contact with Alannah - as I said I will be sending her another one in summer - as I feel as though I have made a friend out of this experience too :)

Another note to add, both myself and Ellie really want to do this (again for me). So, if you are interested in doing this, please feel free to comment with your e-mail/e-mail me and I will let Ellie know too. I would love it so much to experience this again, with another person, so please don't be shy!

My E-mail : dominiqueowen@hotmail.co.uk (Ellie's is too embarrassing, hehe!)

-Love Dom ♥

February Favourites ♥

Yey! I haven't ever done a 'favourites' post before now, and although I just love to read/watch everyone elses'- leaving me with a shopping list taller than my 5ft3 self - I have just never had the time to actually put one together. So here we are, today, history has been made :)


February is always a firm favourite when it comes to months in my opinion. It probably is because it is my birthday in February, but I always find is snows during February, ooh, and, of course, Valentines Day! (You can read a post on here). Therefore, I am super-duper happy to be sharing my favourites with you :)

To begin with, I am going to share with you, my complete passion for Soap&Glory. I'm not going to go into too much detail, as Ellie has already done a brilliant post about these products, which you can read here. However, I will say with a combination of their delicious scents, and fabulous formula's, Soap&Glory have, over the past month, become, possibly, one of my top 10 favourite things on this earth.

You may be thinking, that's a bit drastic, Dom, and if you lovely people are, you obviously haven't tried these angles in the form of body wonders. Each and every one of these products leaves my skin smelling like heaven, and feeling amazingly smooth! I would also love to know your opinions on Soap&Glory. Posts about S&G are one of my favourites to read, and always leave me wanting more!

Next up, is my Balmi. 

Available at Boots for £4.99.

I raved on about this in an earlier post (read it here) even though I had only just bought it. I have now been using this for a month, and oh-my! It is just fabulous. This lip balm is ridiculously moisturising, and -as I said- have been using this religiously for a month now, and it hasn't gone down in size or quality. I feel as though I NEED more of these in my life, therefore, I have made the decision to buy a new flavour very soon :) (Hopefully ending in my with all of the fantastic flavours :) )

Last month, I was also loving my Moroccan Oil which I received for my birthday.

This is available at many retailers, but this is just an online one I found for you!

There's not much I can say about this product, other than it leaves my hair looking shiny and feeling brilliant. I definitely recommend you try this if you haven't already :)

Gillette shave gel as also a favourite of my during February as it left my skin feeling hydrated and soft. If you're in the market for a decent shave gel, I'd say that this is a good place to start.

This is available all over, but currently, it is on offer at Tesco!

I have found that over the past month, my go-to nail polishes have been these two beauties. 

Left: Nude Beige. Right: Beach party. Both available at Boots.]

I love these two colours dearly, and find that they are very reliable and have a great formula.

The Dove Hair Care Mask is supposed to be for hair damaged due to colouring, but I don't colour mine, and found that it still works really nicely. It makes my ends (I don't like to go all the way to the roots) feel thicker and fuller, and it keeps it in tip-top condition. Plus, a little bit goes a long way ;) I got mine from Boots.

Finally, I have been testing Alpha H Liquid Gold out. Oh My Goodness. You know those adverts where people wake up with amazing skin?(and hair, but it isn't for hair, hehe!) Well, this is how you look in the mornings - no lie. I only have the sample size, but I am already saving up for this full bottle. It is a hefty £30, however, I totally believe that it is worth it, and as with the hair mask, a little does go a long way. I is definitely worth it :)

There you go! Sorry if I rambled on a bit. I hope you liked my favourites, and would love to hear your opinions on all of these products.

One final thing which made me happy last month, and it still continuing to do so, is this LOVE sign/light my sister got for me. I did put it up, but it was wonky :( So I got a friend to help me out with it :) This image doesn't really capture its true beauty, but, hey ho!

Spread the love people!

- Dom ♥

NOTD

This gorgeous nail polish featured slightly in an earlier post, which you can read here.


Nude Beige

The formula of this polish is brilliant. It is very long lasting and reliable - pretty much chipless with a nice top coat to seal the edges - and the colour (as I said) is so beautiful.

My nail polish collection is ever growing, so they are all often abused as I just physically cannot wear them all, every day. So when I applied this the other day, after what felt like an eternity of not wearing this polish, I was so surprised by how gorgeous the colour is. I often found myself glancing down at my nails admiring how perfect it is.

It is very subtle, so perfect for every day use.

What do you think of this polish? Do you own Models Own/what is your favourite shade?
-Dom ♥