What I Wore: Summer Day Out

I love that it's finally getting warmer in the UK and i can wear all my summer clothes. There's something so claustrophobic about jeans and boots and big thick coats. Gross.

This is what i wore for a day out a couple of weeks ago, and i really liked this outfit/the make up i wore with it.

Literally everything is from Primark. The whole outfit probably cost about £30. 

I love this dress. I contemplated returning it several times until my boyfriend threw out the receipt so that i couldn't keep talking about it, but since wearing it on holiday in Portugal i actually really like how it looks with a tan. It's got an elasticated waist with a drawstring kind of tie which does literally nothing, so i wear it with the waist slightly higher than it falls so that the top is a bit looser and more flattering.

For this day, i paired it with a black cardigan, navy bag and black flats with gold detail. I love how simple this was to put together but it looks so cute and summery.

The colours of the dress aren't something I would put together but the mint and coral colours seem to compliment each other really well.

My eyebrows don't look that weird in real life, honest.

This is the make up i went with. I often do my make up before i choose what i'm wearing and then just add a lip colour based on the outfit, so this might seem a little mismatched. (There's a little bit of purple in my eyeshadow...)

Face: L'oreal True Match foundation (N1 Ivory), Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer (01 Fair), Sleek Face Form Bronzer and Highlighter (Fair), Sleek Blush (Cool Mint).

Eyes: Sleek Vintage Romance Palette (the gold, antique bronze colour and the darkest purple shade.), Colection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Eyeliner (Black), Mac False Lashes Mascara (Extreme Black), Sleek Eyebrow Kit (Dark).

Lips: Sleek Gloss Me (Hawaii Honey).

What's your go-to summer outfit? I think this dress is going to be come one of my favourites!

Nicole x

Beauty Box Experience: Worth The Money?

As a bit of a treat to myself for finishing my degree, I decided to order the May Birchbox. I'd seen a lot of reviews and the products looked promising, and I saw a discount code that meant I could get the box with postage for £7.95 so I thought I'd see what I thought of it. 

I'm usually apprehensive about Beauty boxes as they contain a lot of skincare and I can;t use them as I'm usually allergic to something in them. With the reviews I'd seen of the Birchbox, I figured I'd be okay. There was an eye make-up remover everyone seemed to be getting but aside from that, which i could give to one of my sisters, it seemed like mostly make up and hair care which I can use. 

When I got the box, I was a little bit dissapointed. I didn't get the lip colour that everyone seemed to be getting (which was the reason i ordered it) and the box was smaller than I'd anticipated. After actually looking through the contents and totalling it up, I'm actually pretty happy with it. This is what I got:

Caudalie Tinted Moisturiser (01 Light) £27, Parlor Sea Salt Spray £17, Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish £15.50, Lola Barcelona Nail Polish (Born) £7.50, Nude Treatment Oil £58, Jelly Pong Pong Carribean Sun Bronzer Duo (Martinique) £15.95 , Number 4 Lumiere d'Hiver Hair Masque £36 and a pack of crayons for colouring in the box. 

That makes two make up items, two hair care items, two skincare items, a nail polish and a lifestyle item. Pretty well balanced if you ask me! 

For the full size items in this box, it would have cost £176.95, so considering this box cost me less than £10. Obviously the items aren't full sized so it costs considerably less, but it''s a good way to try out the products without committing to a huge amount of something you aren't sure you'll like. 

Personally, i think this was so worth it just for the little treat but I did cancel the subscription before they could charge for the next box because i'm too scared of receiving skincare items which I can't use. 

If i saw the items in advance or could be assured that I wouldn't receive things I can't use, i might be tempted to subscribe for a while but for now, I'll stick to my little treats when I see a good box.

Oh and sidenote, the Bronzer in my original box was so smashed I wasn't even sure what colour the blush was in it, but after a quick tweet and telling them my email address i received a replacement just two days later. Not bad customer service at all, Birchbox!

So what do you think? I'm tempted to try out some other subscription box services just to compare them and see which I like best. Maybe i'll do that as a present to myself for my birthday or when i finally get a job... Hmm.

Do you subscribe to any beauty boxes? Which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter (@DazeInSummer)!

Nicole x

5 Minute Eggless Microwave Cookie/Cake Recipe

Do you ever have those moments where you're craving something sweet at a ridiculous time of day and you don't have anything? I'm constantly like this! I started googling for recipes for microwave cakes as i thought this would be perfect and i stumbled across a microwavable cookie recipe that i ended up modifying to match what i had in my kitchen (and turning it into metric units. What Non-American measures things in 'cups'?!)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Butter/Margarine (melted)

2 tbsps Sugar (i use white granulated sugar but i don't think it matters.)

2 tsps milk

1 pinch of salt

3 tbsps Self Rising Flour (plain flour does not work. Bleugh.)

As much chocolate as you want. (I didn't add any this time but it's yummy with broken up orange chocolate pieces!)

The finished result + a scoop of Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream!)

Method:
1. Melt butter in microwave safe mug (around 20 seconds should work.)
2. Add sugar and mix thoroughly.
3. Add milk and salt, mix again.
4. Add 1 tbsp of flour at a time, mixing between each. The mixture should look like this;

5. Add in your chocolate now if you want to add some.
6. Microwave for 60-70 seconds, depending on your microwave power.(My 800w takes 60 seconds.)
7. Take it out of the microwave and poke it with a fork to see if it's cooked. (The fork should come out clean if it's cooked well.)
8. Add toppings, and eat!*

*make sure it's not ridiculously hot when you eat it, obviously.

Enjoy! Leave me comments for more microwavable cookies or cakes that are easy to make! I can't wait to try them.

Nicole x

OOTD: 3 Spring Days in Paris

My boyfriend and I have now been together for 5 years! To celebrate, he whisked me away for a long weekend in Paris over the Easter bank holiday because he knows I've always wanted to visit. Cute!

The trip itself was fun! I learnt that 5 years of learning French at school didn't really teach me anything at all useful, and that I am really really really scared of heights. I also learnt that Paris is beautiful and once you get past the language barrier, it's really really fun! (And we only had one fail where the waiter didn't speak English and it was hard to translate our order :))

For my outfit choices, i had to pack really lightly because we were only taking hand luggage, and mine was a backpack. As i result, i took one pair of jeans, two tops and clean underwear, one pair of shoes and my cardigan and jacket that i wore on the trip so didn't need packing. for flying, i hate wearing jeans because they're so uncomfortable so for my first day (flying day) i decided on a casual dress and thick tights to stay warm!

Day 1: Dress - Primark, Tights - Primark, Boots - Deichmann, Cardigan (under jacket) - Primark, Leather Jacket - Select (old!) 

i really like this outfit. It's kind of a bitch for airport security though... (I forgot to take out my belly button piercing and it set off the alarm so i had to lift my dress in front of everyone. Awkward!!) This was really comfy to fly in and i think it looks cool too. And it was warm enough for evening in Paris in April. Bonus! 

Day 2 was our main day in the city so it was a busy one. (I can do a post about what we did each day if you'd like?) I decided on a simple t-shirt and jeans that was comfy and cute too. 

Day 2: Top - Primark, Jeans - Primark, Everything else, same as before.

You can't really tell but the top has a really pretty beaded neckline that I'll get a better picture of one day... I paired this one with a slightly purple smoky eye and tinted lip balm.

My third day was very similar to day 2, with the packing lightly issue i decided that i could wear the same pair of jeans both days but i switched up the top.

Day 3: T-shirt - New Look (It says 'Nothing to Wear', i'm sure you've seen it around somewhere.) Everything else - same as above.

So yeah, that's me. I flew home in jeans/ (Gross. Uncomfortable. Eww.)  Luckily, the flight was like, an hour long so it wasn't really too bad. I paired the last outfit with gold eyes and a softened red lip (which i'm pretty sure didn't last long but still...).

It's just occured to me that there is literally no colour in these outfits at all. Wow. Also, apologies for any lurking boyfriend in the background, the room was pretty small so he couldn't really hide, and i think he was bored of waiting for me to take pictures so that we could go out...

Have you ever been to Paris, what did you do? Or if you haven't been, what would you like to do there? 

Nicole x

Make Up Brushes Cleaning Routine

I am the laziest person ever when it comes to washing my make up brushes, and i'm pretty sure that;s the reason for my bad complexion these days. It can't really be good for them to sit in the open all day then be used to add products to my skin, can it?

So anyway, in order to force myself to clean my brushes, I bought a proper brush shampoo from Makeup Revolution a while ago and have since been moving house so it ended up in a box somewhere. Oops.

Anyways, i unpacked said box yesterday and thought it was about time my brushes got a little TLC because, lets be honest, they were disgusting.

The brush shampoo itself was pretty good actually. I've use Baby Shampoo in the past but i find that that dries out the bristles and can make them really quite scratchy and unpleasant, but this made them nice and soft and it smelt really clean and fresh too. Bonus.

Now, i have 12 brushes, and in order to clean them, I start with the face brushes, dip the tips of the bristles in warm water and then swirl the brush in the shampoo which i pour a dot of onto my palm and then rinse it in the warm water. With my powder/bronzer/blush brushes, this takes 2/3 runs through to get them suitably clean, depending on how densely packed the bristles are. My foundation brush took 4 because it obviously sucks up much more product than the powder ones.

My eye brushes are done in a similar routine, but i usually swirl two at a time because they're much smaller. They usually take around 1 longer rinse to remove all the product, which was quite a lot considering they didn't look that dirty!

Finally, i drain the soapy dirty water away and rinse each brush under the tap to make sure there is no residue left from the shampoo at all.

Overall, i did quite like this shampoo. It smelt much nicer than the standard baby shampoo, but didn't really clean my brushes any better. They do seem softer with the brush shampoo though.

The Makeup Revolution Brush Shampoo retails at £5 from either Superdrug.com or Makeuprevolutionstore.com. I don't think this is sold in stores. They also do a Brush Cleaner for spot cleaning your brushes, which is recommended for daily use, but i never have time to clean my brushes daily.

Thepot i store my brushes in is a Candle Holder from The Range (apparently not available online.) and i love it! It matches everything else in my beauty storage too, which hopefully you'll see in a later post.

What's your favourite way to clean your make up brushes?

Nicole x