Golden Rose Matte Lip Crayon - The BEST Lip Product I've Ever Tried!?

If you saw my Golden Rose haul, then you'll have been awaiting this post! I am seriously mind-blown about these lip crayons. For roughly £5 you wouldn't think much of them, but oh my god are they amazing. I've never used something with such good staying power!

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The crayons themselves are in the typical crayon product packaging, that look smart with their matte black casing and white wording. I also like having the coloured ends, so you know what you're picking up!

The product itself is lovely, they are so smooth and creamy and easy to apply. The pigmentation is amazing, the colours really pack a punch. Being matte is always a worry for my mega dry lips, but they almost feel conditioning as they go on, and dry matte with absolutely no dryness what-so-ever!

Now, their staying power is what has really got me excited about these. I normally avoid dark lips at all costs when I know I'm going to be eating or drinking without a straw, as it's usually just so much hassle and you end up looking like you've just lined your lips throughout the course of your meal until you can reapply. Annoying! But, this doesn't move. Seriously. They won't budge from drinking without a straw, and it barely even fades from eating. INSANE.

The only gutting thing about these is that they're not available in the UK. Not just yet, anyway. I'm really hoping Golden Rose might break through into the UK, but then I think they wouldn't be such amazing value. If you're in Poland or Turkey (and wherever else they might have them) then I would 110% recommend!

Ellie x

Wahanda Salon App

After seeing a few TV adverts about Wahanda, I decided to give it a go. To be honest, apart from the hairdressers, I've only ever been to a salon once and that was a for a pedicure when I was 13 in LA. It does intrigue me, so I thought I'd download it and see what it was all about!

All you have to do it create an account with your name, email and location. It's super simple to join up. The app then finds all the salons in your local area and filters out their treatments into 8 main categories. Each category also has sub-categories. If no-one if your local area does a treatment you want, you can expand your mileage.

The Categories

Hair - filing under hair you can choose from haircuts & hairdressing, blow dry, hair colouring & highlights, hair conditioning & scalp, hair consulting and Brazilian blow dry keratin treatments.

Massage - showing offers of a variety of different massages: therapeutic massage, deep tissue massage, Swedish massage, aromatherapy massage, stone massage and Indian head massage. 

Face - facials, eyebrows & eyelash, microdermabrasion, HD brows, men's facial and eye treatments.

Hair Removal - waxing, hollywood waxing, brazilian waxing, threading, French bikini wax and laser hair removal.

Nails - choose from a manicure, pedicure, gel nails, two-week manicure, foot scrub and nail extensions & overlays.

Body - body wraps, body exfoliation, spray tanning & sunless tanning, body, steam & sauna therapy and cellulite treatments.

Med & Dental - includes dental, teeth whitening, fresh breath, cosmetic injectables, dermal fillers and collagen treatments.

Spa - the spa category searches for local spa's near you so you can book anything from spa breaks to specific treatments.

All categories have the option of all treatments so you can see prices and what salons offer what treatments, or you can go on "other" and search for the treatment you want.

I haven't booked anything yet, but I'm planning on a massage and maybe a manicure!

I really rate this app, it works really smoothly and is perfect if you fancy treating yourself or a salon regular.

Have you tried out Wahanda?

Ellie x

Golden Rose Haul

The one thing I couldn't get my mind off whilst on holiday was the Golden Rose store I found in the local mall. It's serious makeup heaven! The quality of makeup is amazing, and so cheap. I've come home wishing I bought more things. There's a limited range available for the UK, but it's nothing like what's on offer overseas!

The nail polish is brilliant, they have hundreds of shades but I whittled it down to 7 colours and a fast-dry topcoat. Everyone needs a fast-drying topcoat in their lives! They do chip quite easily but their life is a lot longer if you use a higher quality top coat. These came in at 5L each (roughly £1.13)

I only bought one single eyeshadow as I don't really need anymore eyeshadows but I couldn't resist this pretty golden-orangey pink-toned one! The quality is amazing, it's so soft and buttery and blends amazingly. It's very, very similar in texture to the MAC shadows! I believe this was around 17L (around £3.84)

I picked up one lip liner as I didn't have a darker liner in my collection. This is a nice berry shade, and works really well under the new crayon I bought too! It's soft, non-drying and is in an easy twist-up tube, no sharpening required! This was 7.50L (around £1.69)

The matte lip crayons I bought are by far my favourite things I bought, I wish I had bought every colour they had! I'm doing their own review as they really deserve it! I picked up a rich berry shade, and a pink. They were 24.50L each (around £5.54 each)

Ellie x

Turkey Haul!

I really, seriously love the things I picked up from Turkey. I do feel a little guilty about some of the fake things I bought, as I normally hate fake goods but I gave in to temptation as pretty much every other shop has "genuine fakes" as they call them, haha. I also adopted a "someone like me will never be able to afford a real one" attitude, oops! Oh well. When in Turkey!

My favourite things out of everything are the patterned shorts and the Golden Rose makeup!

Ellie x

Hello: Marmaris, Turkey

So, I'm finally back. Having nearly 3 weeks off work has definitely been what I've needed, and I've even made some rather large life decisions. The time off to clear my head has been really good to me, and has made me realise what I want to do with my life. Yay!

Anyway, back to the post!

Turkey has never been a place I've thought of travelling to. I've known  many people go, many people love it, and many people return again. I've always been a bit nervous about it, as it's neighbouring some pretty dangerous countries, but once you get there, all nerves just vanish.

We saw absolutely no hints of trouble anywhere in Marmaris, Icmeler, Dalyan or Dalaman. However, during the last few days of our holiday, Istanbul saw a fair bit of trouble.

Marmaris is one of the main beach tourist areas, with many of the hotels situated either on the beach or around 100-200m away! All hotels own their own part of beach, which are chock-a-blocked with beds. The best way to experience the beach is by going on a tour to one of the many less-touristy beaches!

We had an absolutely fantastic time. The resort is beautiful, in a bay with tree-covered hills lining both sides. You wouldn't believe how green and floral it was, especially with the heat. It was around 40'C each day, so very hot! However it was surprisingly comfortable, not too humid and it's so easy to cool down - just jump in the pool! 

I feel like we were very lucky with our hotel as well. We stayed in the gorgeous Blue Bay Platinum, which has been newly refurbished and modern. The outer building is white, with lots of glass panels and silver detailing. It's then lit-up blue at night, which really makes it stand out. Such a gorgeous hotel! The staff are all fabulous as well.

Shopping in Turkey is how you'd expect. Every other shop is filled to the brim with fake designer goods for insanely good prices. Some stores have incredible fakes. Although I don't usually condone fake goods, I couldn't resist in the end and picked up a couple of items, oops!

Some store owners are pushy, they are very good salesmen and will just keep talking. Some do feel quite aggressive, but it's easy to avoid those situations by just walking away if they pressure you before you even get inside! 

Marmaris has a mall called Blue Port which I can recommend, they have an amazing makeup brand called Golden Rose which I'll post a haul on soon. The makeup is so cheap, but incredible quality!

It's really such a beautiful place, I had some moments where I was wondering how much an apartment would cost! If you haven't been to Turkey, I really recommend Marmaris. Make sure you do some trips too!

Ellie x

Ball Colegrave: Flower & Plant Trials 2015

As many of you probably know, I've really gotten into my plants recently. Me and Aaron were quite lucky to get into Ball Colegrave, which is a huge site literally full of new and  "experimental" plants which is usually only open for horticultural business owners and growers. We were put on the list to get in thanks to one of our suppliers at work!

I thought that this would make another very pretty post!

Ellie x