The reason why and a little bit more....

Hello lovely folk!

I know I've been MIA from the blog for some time with no explanation so allow to to kinda fill you all in on why now! Basically, a culmination of things (life, my own health, health of others) just left me seriously lacking in blogging mojo. I always said that if I felt like writing a post was becoming a chore I'd just step away for a while, so that's just what I did. I know I won't have been missed, but I feel like I've gotten a bit more pep in my step of late so I'm gonna try for a bit of a comeback!

One of the biggest changes of late is that FINALLY, after months of hounding, I have started my Beauty Therapist Trainee-ship. It's a one year ITEC/CIPTAC certified course run by Beauty Skills Ireland. I can't tell you how excited I am to be getting my foot in the door at long last. I can't wait to put some actual qualifications to my existing knowledge, and gain SO much more. But more than that I feel that for the first time in a long time I have a bit of direction in my life. I have a goal and even though I have a lot of work to do before I get there, I am GOING to get there!

So, I was thinking of maybe adding a weekly post with just a little post on the goings on of the week, what I learned and such. Maybe someone out there is thinking of taking up the course themselves at some point, or any beauty course for that matter! My experiences my shed a bit of light on what it's really like. Obviously I'm going to try get back on top and reviews too, but I'll be honest and say there are going to be weeks where I just won't have the time!

So that's about it really! I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself at the moment.I'm under no illusions, the course I'm on is 2 years crammed into 1, I know it's going to be a slog, but I'm a firm believer that if you're doing something you're passionate about it doesn't seem like such hard work. I have found that I have to reel myself back in at times, I'm getting ahead of myself in terms of additional courses without even having my core qualifications yet. But hey, a girl can dream!!

Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze

Howdy folks! Before I get into the wonderful world of tanning I just want to take a sec to apologise for the HUUUUUUGE gap in posts. A mix of personal and family issues meant I just completely lost my blogging mojo, and to be brutally honest.... blogging was the last thing on my mind! Things have finally started to calm down so I'm gonna try ease myself back in!

So with that said, I've recently been mucking around with the newest additions to the fabulous Cocoa Brown family! Each will get their own post, but first on the chopping block is the gradual tanner- Gentle Bronze.

I'm pretty much anti gradual tanners, the smell is just too much for me- even off products that promise to have NO fake tan smell at all. But inevitably I always wake up in the middle of the night to a waft of digestive biscuits....and I'm just not able. I have so much trust in Cocoa Brown that when I was promised a biscuit free healthy glow, I fully expected to get it. And I did!

The lotion itself goes on silky smooth and dries really quickly. My skin was left feeling really soft and moisturoised and I noticed an even, streak free colour developing after just a couple of hours. There's even a very subtle colour guide so you can see if you miss anywhere. Neither myself, or my hyper sensitive mammy, got any smell (other than Cocoa Brown's signature floral scent) from the lotion.

I love Gentle bronze, I find it much handier than a full on tan! I love the fact that it eliminates my Irish blue hue, without me needing to adjust my make up routine to blend everything together! The colour I achieve after 1-2 days is absolutely perfect for every day wear!

It's a lovely addition to my Cocoa Brown collection, and I have a feeling it will be my most regularly used! Gentle Bronze retails at around €5.50 and can be found anywhere that sells the CB range!

Happy (gradual) tanning!

W7 Cosmic Nail Dust

Being the magpie that I am, I couldn't resist picking up these sparkly little ditties on Cara Pharmacy today. At just €1.50 a pop it would be rude to just pick up one! They come in a fantastic range of colours- pink, red, blue and yellow to name just a few. I opted for a lovely pewter, a brown and a beautiful rose gold colour.

They come with a little screw nozzle, but I honestly thought you would be able to unscrew the cap completely. Unfortunately, and this is the only downside to the glitter, you can't. Trying to shake the glitter out of the skinny nozzle is a bit of a pain, and leads to a lot of waste that you can't get back into the bottle.

However, it's really sparkly on the nail, and doesn't go dull under a top coat, something I've found with some other budget nail glitters.

If it weren't for the fiddly glass bottle I'd be 100% in love with these, but considering the amount of glitter currently decorating my floor I'm about 90% in love. I suppose it's not a huge deal when you take the cheap and cheerful price tag into account, I just hate wasting something so pretty!

L'Oréal Fibrology range

L'Oréal's new Fibrology range has been dotting my social media feeds for the last while, and I just had to give in and try it! I'm such a sucker for anything that promises extra volume, but have sometimes found that what will give you added volume, will take away condition and manageability and that's not a compromise I'm willing to make!

I picked up the shampoo, conditioner and mask for under €7.50 because they're currently half price in Dunnes. Absolutely fantastic value for 3 hair products imo!

Good value is well and good, but does it work? For me..... absolutely! The range states to have a cumulative effect by thickening each strand with each wash, so the more you use it the more it works. I have distinctly middle of the road hair, not too thick, not too thin either. Even so, I could definitely feel a difference after just shampooing my hair. It felt noticeably thicker. The range also smells really nice too!

My hair felt, and still feels, really soft after using all 3 products. Normally after blow dying my hair it's just a ball of fluff until I whack the straighteners on it, but it actually looked much sleeker, while still looking. .... bigger. If that makes any sense.

Im really excited to use this range again and again to see if it actually does build up the volume over time. I would highly recommend nabbing some while it's on special offer, it's definitely worth it!

L'Oréal Miss Manga Mega Volume mascara

I stumbled across this in Boots yesterday and I just couldn't resist the super cute advertising, and the promise of big anime eyes. Already being a L'Oréal fan, I just had to give it a try.

My overall impressions are..... it's quite good. It's a perfectly fine mascara, but doesn't really offer me anything I can't already achieve with my current mascara, and I certainly don't look like a Japanese cartoon character. The brush is a bit flimsy, and bends a tiny bit when you're using it. It's also a bit tricky to get a good bit of traction to get good separation. But it is the perfect shape for getting lovely, fanned out lashes. The thin nib is great for getting at your corner lashes.

I found this mascara gave me lots of  length in just one quick coat but not a huge amount of volume. It took a fair bit of building up to get the length and volume I'm used to. But I do love that it comes in unusual colours such as turquoise and purple!

Miss Manga is currently on introductory offer at €8.99.

2014- Goals- Change starts now!

Inspired by GirlFriday's Day Zero Project I have decided to set myself a little set of goals for 2014. I've found my life to be just standing still for the vast majority of 2013, and I'm the type of person who really needs a kick up the arse from time to time to get the ball rolling again.

That said, I know what I'm like. If I write myself a huge long list of things that should be doable, but are out of my reach at the moment I'll get completely overwhelmed and give up on the entire notion. So the goals I'm setting myself, while they may seem frivolous to many, are pretty important to me and will really help change my life for the better.

This is not a Day Zero project, as these are all things I want to have done by the end of 2014. I'll be adding to this as the year goes on, and hopefully checking everything off by December 31st 2014.

So here it goes-

General-

• Keep my room tidier. Do regular little tidy around's rather than let a mess accumulate and having to spend an entire day cleaning.
• Have a clear out of clothes/make up every 3 months. Be ruthless
• Sit my driving test. I won't say pass, but at the very least I want to have tried it by the end of the year.
• Start my Beauty course.
• Start my own recipe book.
• Try to cut out meat.
• Take my niece on a day out somewhere nice by myself
• Go on a girly night out.
• Have a girly night in.
• Go on a mini break- Just get away somewhere for a break from all the stresses of home. Doesn't have to be far, and doesn't even have to be with someone, just a break and some peace and quiet.
• Get rid of the negative influences in my life, spend more time with, or at least talking to the people who make me happy..

Financial/ shopping-

• Stop splurging! This means stop buying pretty things just because they're pretty. Do I NEED it? Does it serve an actual purpose? No? Put it back.
• Try to put away at least €5 a week. If necessary, give it to my mam to hide away in a little piggy bank somewhere where I can't get my mitts on it.
• Make a huge dent in my Credit Union loan.
• When shopping make a list and stick to it.
• Put more money into my bedroom, make it a nice place to be.
• Try charity shops for new clothes/ stuff for my bedroom.

Health/weight loss- (This is the big one for me)

• Lose at least 2 and a half stone by May for a family wedding.
• Don't get lax after that, feel the benefits and keep going.
• Eat at least 2 pieces of fruit/veg a day. (I know it's not nearly enough, but I really dislike fruit!!)
• Drink at least 1.5lr of water a day.
• Rejoin the gym and aim to go at least 4 times a week, more is better.
• Go for a walk at least twice a week.
• Keep a food diary.
• Take a class, be it Zumba, belly dancing, aerobics etc, even if I have to take it alone.
• Quit smoking, or at the very least try limit it to when I am out socially.
• Try to only drink alcohol once a week.
• Give yoga a try.
• Try going gluten free for a week.
• Be able to walk/run a 5k for charity.

Personal/beauty-

• Set aside a window of time every week that will just be ME time, to do whatever the hell I want without interruption. 
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• Have at least one recipe that I can say I cook amazingly.
• Be more adventurous when it comes to meals.
• Tell the people I love how much I love more often.
• Wash my make up brushes more regularly.
• Really up my skin care regime.
• Go on a date.
• Be more patient with certain people.
• Get back into reading. Try to make the time for at least 1 book every 2 months.
• Stop dying my hair- let my natural colour grow back an have happy, healthy hair for the first time in years.
• Get my sleeping pattern back in proper order. 
• Stop being so negative/self deprecating.
• Plan a lovely surprise for someone for no reason.
• Cook a meal for someone.

Blog related-

By the end of the year have blogged AT LEAST 100 times. Which means that by the years end my post       count should be at a minimum of 185.

Do't be afraid to meet new people- try get to more Blogger meet ups.

Get 20,000 blog views by the end of the year.

Vary my posts more, introduce fashion, weight loss, maybe even track how I'm getting on in my course.

Read more blogs and be more interactive.

So there you have it, my hopes and dreams for 2014. This list was actually harder to compile than I'd thought it would be. It's so easy to say 'Oh, I'm gonna do this, that, and the other this year' but when I actually sat down and tried to lay out realistic goals,  found they kinda escaped me! I think that if I can achieve everything on this list, I can get back the structure, and all round contentedness that was sorely lacking n 2013.

So you've read mine, and now I'd love to read yours!! Please send me on your links. I know things like these can be quite personal, but support and encouragement, even from virtual strangers, can make all the difference! Best of luck everyone, 2014 is ours for the taking!!

Babyliss curling wand

I have quite peculiar hair, it's not poker straight so turns frizzy and wavy with a hint of moisture, but at the same time won't hold a curl from a standard curling tongs for more than a couple of hours.

I love curly hair, but have grown tired of spending the guts of 80 minutes trying to get a decent curl in my shoulder length hair only to have them fall out shortly after. I got my hands on the Babyliss curling wand over Christmas and it is genuinely the answer to all my problems.

It's incredibly easy to use, you just turn it on and chose which of the 4 heat settings you want to use. It heats up in about 30-60 seconds depending on the heat you chose. The ceramic conical barrel is quite thick near the base, and gradually thins out so you can chose how tight you wan your curl to be. It comes with a handy glove so you don't burn your fingers on the wand.

I personally find that it takes about 20-25 minutes to curl my entire head and the curls stay put. I curl my hair in the morning and the next morning my hair still has a lovely curl. It won't be as neat and tidy but would only take about 5 minutes to fix up again.

I'm obsessed with this wand! I've been using it constantly since I got it and couldn't recommend it enough!

I picked mine up in Boots for just €25.99.