Sunday, 19 February 2012

CarolineXO is three years old!

Out of curiosity after seeing several other blogs' birthdays', I checked when my first post was and it was 9/2/09, making my blog the grand age of three (is it bad that I just had to count on my fingers to double check?)!

I'm still the worst blogger ever, but I am getting better, I promise!


Anyway, Happy Birthday CarolineXO! Wouldn't you love to be my friend if you received the above birthday cards? Teehee!

Caroline.x

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Recently;

 Bonjour! It's nearly Friday, yay!

I've had a bit of a pants week... Tuesday night I went to bed feeling normal, to then wake up at 5am feeling incredibly sick and then being rather poorly. Long and short, I took waaaay too many cocodomols (I hate being a girl) and it made me veeeeeeery poorly. Nearly 48 hours later and I still feel horrendous. Ah well.

As I'm feeling so poopy, here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks!

1- I bought these adorable tea light holders from Tesco for £6. They're probably half price now as they were in the Valentines section...







2- I bought some bog roll just cuz it had owls on. Andrex limited edition, if you're curious.




3- It snowed a lot for the UK. I also discovered how bad my rear wheel drive car really is in the snow. Skidddyyy!!






4- I bought some cool Panda print pjs. Primarks finest.




5- I became obsessed with fancy nails again. Except I'm outta practice with the leopard print.










5- I got Netflix and am now obsessed with Twin Peaks




6- I discovered Tesco have come up with a really cool idea. Ready to bake cookies, cakes, pizzas etc. Perfect for the lazy baker like me.




7- I rediscovered my love for animal themed vests.







8- Its been cold. Really cold. It got down to -13 the other night. Thankfully I have mr penguin the hot water bottle to keep me warm.








9- My dog is still fluffy and cute




10- And finally, I discovered a super tasty yoghurt tonight.







Other news - I'll soon be doing my CIM qualification so I'll be a part of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Yay me! My full name will end with BSC (Hons) FCIM ;).

Other bad news - a few weeks ago we found out one of my dogs is really poorly. She has a huge mass of cancer on her chest and the beginnings of kidney failure :( Just taking one day at a time and hoping for the best. Poor Macey dog.

Caroline.x

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Cute magnetic makeup palettes...

Whilst perusing Etsy (which I do very often and lust over loads of tat that would look cute in my room), I stumbled across these!

Aren't they beautiful? They are unique handmade makeup palettes, with a magnetic plate inside so you can house all your depotted eyeshadows blushers etc, adorable! All you need to do is just put the eyeshadows etc in, with no need for extra magnets. As I'm spending more and more time away from home, I'm constantly looking for ways to easily travel with my makeup - it's not practical to carry two MAC palettes, one containing eyeshadow and the other blusher, so these are just perfect. As well as this, the corners of the palettes contains a strong magnet so they snap together and stay together!

Check out the Book of Shadows store on Etsy now for adorable designs! Priced from $12.99 - $15.99 - and they ship worldwide too, even better!

Caroline.x

Thursday, 2 February 2012

The Body Shop's Hemp Range

I've become somewhat of an advocate of The Body Shop recently. I think this is mainly down to that an outlet store as opened at my local outlet centre - who doesn't love a bargain? I've found myself dabbling in ranges I never would have looked at before, all for a discounted price, even better!

My latest The Body Shop obsession is the Hemp range - in particular, the hand and lip products.


Pictured are my latest Hemp range purchases. Initially, I went in to buy the Lip Protector and the Hand Protector, but, the Hand Protector was £10 alone, then I spotted a cute little set consisting of the Hand Protector, Hand Scrub, and Moisture High Balm for £11.40 - silly pricing huh? Good for me though!

Hand Protector


The Hand Protector is targeted for 'very dry skin'. I personally don't have what I would class as dry skin on my hands by any means, I never even got dry hands until this year! It is a very thick consistency, and with this it means you only need a tiny bit otherwise it can turn onto the greasy side. If you use the correct amount however, it is easily absorbed into the skin without leaving residue. I'm highly impressed with this. Even after about a weeks usage, I can already see and feel the difference in my hands. My only beef is I don't like the packaging - I much prefer a flip top to my hand creams just for the practicality (greasy mitts + screw top = fiddly job!), but beggars can't be choosers. The 100ml size (there are smaller more handbag friendly sizes available) is usually priced at £10, but I've just noticed that it is half price on the website, so now is the perfect time to try for just £5! Available here.

Moisture High Balm

I'm yet to use this extensively, but the website blurb describes it as a dermatologically tested, multipurpose balm which provides intensive hydration for areas of very dry skin. As it's a balm, it is very greasy. I can imagine it being very effective on areas such as your knees or elbows. I've started to apply it to my cuticles so we shall see how effective it is soon! Available here for £6.

Hand Scrub


Again, I'm yet to use this product - at all to be honest! I actually can't find this product on the website, which is really handy. Not sure if this has been discontinued? Anyway, it is a very fine exfoliator designed for the hands, with a few larger grains of exfoliator included. I would imagine this would be brilliant for somebody who has very, very dry hands - maybe a gift for your builder boyfriend!

Lip Protector

The Lip Protector has to be the real winner for me. I remember having this when I was about 13 and giggling at the fact it had a marijuana leaf picture on it! I also remember it being wonderful for chapped lips. I've never really suffered hugely from chapped lips, but this year despite the UK having an unseasonably 'mild' winter, my lips got so sore and chapped that they split and bled - hurty! Sudocrem sorted that out, but now I'm determined to keep my lips moisturised at all times. This balm is designed to restore very dry lips and protect them in extreme weather conditions, and that it does! Again, the texture is very thick, but I don't mind that on my lips. As it's a protector too, it works to lock in the moisture too which is a bonus. I can't recommend this enough! Available here for £4.

Overall, I'm liking the Hemp range. I think some may be adverse to the smell... it is very, um, 'green' smelling - if you can imagine what a colour smelt like, I would imagine it to smell like this! I actually quite like the smell, it's different to the usual sweet offerings available.

As always with The Body Shop's products, the hemp seed oil is ethically sourced via their Community Fair Trade campaign. Click here to read more about The Body Shop's Values & Campaigns.

I also bought the new Almond Hand & Nail Cream as a more lightweight hand cream for work. So far, I'm definitely impressed with this and love the light consistency of this. If you find the Hemp Hand Protector too heavy, this could be a great alternative. Available here from £5.


Check out the full range of Hemp products here.

I've also bought some other products which I have fallen in love with (Vitamin E range!) which I will talk about shortly :)

Caroline.x