I'M ON YOUTUBE


Hello everyone! I thought i'd do a blog post about my youtube channel, I'm hopefully going to be filming vlogs and youtube videos like tutorials. If theres any videos you would like to see please leave a comment below. Here's a link to my channel, I have already uploaded a few videos including a few weekly vlogs. I really hope you enjoy my videos and i'd love any feedback as this is all really new to me.







REVIEW: CHARLOTTE TILLBURY EYES TO MESMERISE IN NORMA JEAN


 CHARLOTTE TILLBURY EYES TO MESMERISE : NORMA JEAN £22

I recently made my very first Charlotte Tillbury purchase, I picked up one of these Eyes to Mesmerise pots in Selfridges. As soon as I swatched it onto my hand I knew it had to be mine. 

Norma Jean is a gorgeous gold, champagne colour. Its such a lovely eyeshadow, the eyes to mesmerise shadows are a cream to sheen formula. They are great as an all over colour for a quick everyday look or you can build them up easily for a more high impact look.

I find the Jean shade a great base aswell to use with so many of my eyeshadows, I own alot of the Urban Decay Naked palettes and think this is the perfect colour for any combination. 

I love to apply Jean all over the lid and then work into the crease using a powder shadow, I personally find it easier to build up a good smokey eye using a powder shadow so use a darker shade and work it into the crease. The Jean cream shadow is so easy to build up and blend that it creates such a perfect smokey eye. 

I also use this product as a highlighter and usually add it to my eyebrow arch for more defintion or add it to my cupids bow. I've also added it into my concealer a few times just for a more defined highlight. 

This is a great all round product and such a bargain at £22, this shadow comes in six different colours and i'd say they are all perfect for a day to night smokey eye look. 








REVIEW : SOUFEEL CHARM BRACELET



I was greeted by this box in the post this morning, eagerly opening the box I came across a small brown bag and inside this gorgeous white box with a little blue bow. The packaging is gorgeous,
so special and such a lovely package to recieve. I opened the little box and inside found a lovely leather bracelet and a selection of different charms.

Soufeel is a jewelry brand well known for their gorgeous personal products. They deliver all over the world and have such an amazing selection of bracelets, charms earrings and necklaces.

                                        'for every memorable day'


I love this leather bracelet it's perfect for everyday, I like the plait design and think its just gorgeous. The quality is lovely, the clasp is really sturdy, so you wouldn't have to worry about loosing it. It's easy to get on and off and it's just such a nice piece. Soufeel offer a wide selection of bracelets such as a classic sterling silver style or a bangle style. I just think the leather one is great for everyday and doesn't look too much. 

There's SO many charms to choose from, theres seriously a charm for everything, You can even have a photo put onto a charm! I have picked out a nice little selection of charms, I picked out this cute camera charm which has a huge crystal as the lens.

This Hamsa hand charm which is gorgeous with the gold detailing in the middle. It's just so fashionable and the perfect charm to go on my boho style leather bracelet. 

I picked out this random stripe style charm which I thought was so pretty as it's covered in Swarovski crystals. It's just a nice charm and addition to any bracelet.

Meow, I love my cats so I just had to get a cat charm, this one is so cute of the cat lying down and such a bargain for only £16.00

This dangle heart shaped charm is a perfect gift for any loved one. I really like the charms that dangle down and think they break up the bracelets really nice.


At Soufeel they provide free shipping and 365-day return service, so that you can enjoy a risk-free shopping experience there! 
Here is an extra 5% off coupon code: BLOG5, with which you can 
save extra 5% on any orders.












*I have been sent these products to review, I have not been paid for this blog post and the above post is honest and my own thoughts and opinions.

FOOD: BIRMINGHAM BALTI


Many of you may know but the Balti is believed to have evolved in Birmingham in the 1970's so what better dish to enjoy when visiting the city. There are so many balti houses in Birmingham. 
I decided to cook my own balti today, this is the first time i've ever made a curry.  I thought it was going to be the hardest thing ever but I did it and it tasted so good. Heres the recipe I followed below. We got some naan bread and poppadoms and had a right feast it was soo good. 

Heres a great feature over on the Travelodge blog about foods from Birmingham 

ingredients: 
chicken thighs x4 boned and skinned
cooking oil spray 
1 medium onion sliced 
1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper, thin slices 
1 tablespoon of cornflower 
150g fat free natural yogurt
 1 tablespoon of curry powder ( mild or medium) 
2 garlic cloves ( thin slices)
227g chopped tomatos 
fine chopped coriander 
sea salt and black pepper 

- spray a large frying pan with low fat cooking oil spray and bring pan to a medium heat, once the oil spray has dissolved add onions to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions are soft and browned off. 
- whilst you are cooking the onions start to trim the fat off the chicken thighs and cut into desired portions, I like my chicken in smaller pieces. Season as desired. 
- Add the chicken and peppers to the pan with the onion and cook for about 3 minutes. 
- In a bowl mix together the cornflower and 2 tablespoons of water, add the yogurt to the bowl and mix together. 
-sprinkle curry powder over the chicken and vegetables, add the garlic and cook for around 1 minute. 
- pour the tomatoes and yogurt mixture to the pan, also 150g of water and then the coriander. 
-Bring to a simmer and cook for 25- 30 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through and tender and the sauce should be thick. 




I followed this recipe from: bbc good food














* I was gifted a voucher to pay for the ingredients for this post, I have not been paid for this feature. 

REVIEW: NOKIA LUMIA 735


I would consider myself quite a techy person, I always have the latest phone and I like to have a decent laptop and tablet. I recently went from an Apple macbook air laptop to an Asus notebook, my mac was always full up and the hinges on the screen were broke, I couldn't afford another mac so went for the Asus but I love it i'm so glad I got it and I love using windows 8 and i've just upgraded to windows 10. So when I was given the opportunity to review a Nokia Lumia phone I jumped at the chance. I know the home screen is very similar to my laptop so I knew i'd be able to get used to using it however i've had an Iphone for as long as I can remember so using something other than an Iphone was going to be weird.

First of all the phone itself is gorgeous, I love the orange colour I was sent but it comes in a great selection of colours. The phone feels really sleek and smooth, its lovely to hold - just the right size. You can see it's a similar size to my iphone 6.

I found the phone easy to use and to navigate myself around the phone, the Nokia Lumia uses a different app store to apple but I found it easy to find all of my apps and download them onto the phone. I managed to link up my emails and my social media really easily. The Lumia phone itself had some pretty impressive apps including the Lumia Selfie app which enables you to take amazing selfies with the 5mp front facing camera. I took some really lovely photos using the main 6.7mp camera. I have shared some of these photos on instagram using the hashtag #amypytlumia 
Theres also an impressive 8gb storage which is plenty for all of your apps and the amazing photos you can take with this amazing camera and you can also add a 128gb memory card for even more space. 

The battery life is impressive, it seemed to last longer than my iphone 6 would. it lasted all day and seemed to charge up quickly aswell. The battery in the Lumia is replaceable aswell meaning you could buy a spare. I know bloggers sometimes need to do this as we are always on our phones, this is a problem with iphones as you always have to carry your charger around or get yourself a portable charger for when your battery dies. 

 As I said above I found the phone really easy to use, everything you need is on the main screen and then theres another screen which is all the apps and programmes on the phone. Its really easy to find everything. I love the interactive screen and I love how personal this phone can be. You can link the phone to your social media accounts and so you can link up your contacts making texting, emails and calling really easy and personal. I found my facebook pictures would change on the homescreen which was cool and also the photos icon would change aswell meaning the homescreen always appeared different. The tiles are really good and keep the homescreen looking clean and organised. 

Also it was alot of fun getting to use Cortana, it's so much better than siri! I had linked up my calendar on the phone and cortana was able to tell me when I had work. She seemed to understand my brummy accent alot more than siri aswell which made using the feature alot more enjoyable. I'd imagine this feature would be something I'd use all the time to keep me organised. 

I've only had this phone for two weeks and i'm sure there's alot more features that I didn't manage to come across. I really enjoyed using the Lumia and I would consider getting one when I next upgrade. I've found I always stick to Iphone but there's some really great features on the Nokia Lumia, I love how personal the phone is and think this is the main thing I love about the Lumia also the amazing camera which is perfect for taking selfies and instagram photos. 


You can find out about all of the Nokia Lumia 735 here and it's avaliable on pay as you go and pay monthly.




BIRTHDAY WISHLIST


 Smokey Palette : Urban Decay // Watch: Olivia Burton // Heels : Michael Kors  at Daniel Footwear
Bag: New Look // Sunglasses : Quay Australia at Asos // Camera : Go Pro 


My birthday is coming up next month! I'm so so excited because we will actually be in Ibiza for my Birthday. I have a few bits and pieces on my wishlist. First up is the Smokey Palette from Urban Decay, this has recently come out in stores and it looks amazing, I haven't had the money to buy it because of paying for the holiday. but I hope I get it for my birthday because it looks gorgeous. I'm a huge fan of Olivia Burton watches, I love this silver classic style. It would be perfect for everyday and would go with so many different outfits. I love these Michael Kors heels, these would be perfect for any occasion and they are so versatile. I love the pointed toe and the strappy style, they are so perfect. I love this tassel bag from New Look, it's a great summer to autumn staple. Fringe and tassels are perfect for summer / festival season but the brown suede style is a great transition for Autumn. I just want some cat eye sunglasses so bad!! I love these ones from Quay Australia at Asos, they are the most perfect cat eye style and I love the mirrored lenses, they would be perfect for Ibiza. And finally this is the only thing i've actually asked for. I neeeeed a Go Pro, I want one so so bad! I think i'll only get the Hero which is about £90 I want to get a feel for it and see what I think of them and then I might consider maybe getting a more expensive better quality one later on. 


I'm really looking forward to my birthday and going to ibiza, can you recommend any things to do in Ibiza ?  Have you been on holiday for your birthday before. 







* in collaboration with Daniel Footwear 

REVIEW: STILA EYES ARE THE WINDOW SHADOW PALETTE



STILA EYES ARE THE WINDOW PALETTE IN SOUL - £30 - CULT BEAUTY

I Spotted this palette just before we went to Florida in March and it went straight onto my shopping list and I picked it up from Sephora. I've never really tried Stila before but i'd read some reviews on this palette and as soon as I swatched it in store I had to have it. The colours are perfect, theres 12 shades and theres a mixture of shimmer and mattes. Theres just so much you can do with this palette, my favourite shade is Kitten, which I use for highlighting my brow and for brightening the inner eye. The shades are so pigmented so you only need a little bit of product, i've only just hit the pan on Kitten and i've been using this palette loads since March when I went to Florida. The shadows are really creamy and easy to apply, they are also really buildable and easy to blend. I find it so easy to create a really good smokey eye using this palette. This palette retails for £30 which I think is an absolute bargain since one single Stila eyeshadow is £12. The eyeshadows can actually be used wet or dry aswell which is amazing. The shimmer shades look amazing when they are wet and they create a great base colour for any eye look. 

You can see for yourself you get an amazing selection of colours and shadows for £30, they are such high quality shadows and i'd buy this again, I think I might have to purchase the single shadow in Kitten as mines running low but the rest of the shades are still looking healthy. I love using this palette. 







FOOD: BBQ CHICKEN NACHOS WITH MANOMASA


WHAT YOU NEED: 
NACHOS
CHEESE
CHICKEN / QUORN 
PEPPERS
SAUCE

So I thought i'd share this quick and easy recipe for these amazing bbq chicken nachos. Obviously you can tweek the recipe to your liking but this is how I like to make nachos for myself.
-Preheat oven 150degrees 
- cook your chicken, I like to use Quorn style chicken pieces as they are easy to cook and low fat.  I cooked my quorn pieces in some Jack Daniels bbq sauce. The quorn pieces take about 10 minutes to stir fry so I cooked these in a pan along with some Frozen mixed peppers. Frozen peppers are so handy to have in the freezer perfect for snacks like this.
- spray a tray with fry light or line with greaseproof paper/ foil then pop some tortilla chips onto the tray. Today I used these amazing Manomasa ones,  I went for the Sea Salt and Black pepper flavour. I popped some cheese onto the tortilla chips.  
- once your chicken and peppers are done tip them onto the tray onto the chips and then add more cheese. 
-pop in the oven for about 5 minutes, until all the cheese is melted. 
- Then add on your sauce, I love BBQ sauce with my Nachos 


You can buy the Manomasa chips from Ocado here - £1.85*















OUTFIT: PARK LIFE


TOP : NEW LOOK // JEANS: ZARA // NECKLACE: CHARMED IVY // BAG : NEW LOOK // SANDALS :PRIMARK (OLD) // RINGS PANDORA // BRACLETS : PANDORA AND THOMAS SABO 

HELLO! I haven't really got any blog posts scheduled yet for this week and i'm working today so not sure if there will be a new post up tomorrow but I have a couple of days off so I will get some new posts up! I have a foodie idea for a blog post so that should be fun and i'm getting so so excited for Ibiza so I would expect some summery/ holiday type posts. I've been having some fun and gave vlogging and youtube ago! Check out my channel here