Week in photographs

Homemade bruschetta - Whitebait starter - Chili squid & chorizo linguine - Disaronno, liquid heaven - Brighton beach in the sun, my favourite place in the world - Brighton wheel! - Hot, fresh doughnuts from the Pier - Amazing Diet Coke can - No your traditional Sunday lunch - Bunting in The Lanes - Awesome comic shop - Street art - Pretty church, blue skies! - More cool street art - Amazingly expensive boat

The weather has been miserable for absolutely ages, but the sun decided to show it's face at the end of the week, so I had no other option but to spend it moseying along Brighton beach and through the lanes. Perfection. Hope you had a great week! (Sorry for being an absent blogger, please forgive?)

Twitter: @_natalieread

Instagram: _natalieread

XO

April Wishlist

Xen-Tan Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe

The short spurt of sun we had a little while ago, which is now long gone, had me running to my Dove Summer Body and my St Moriz. After a long old winter embracing my pasty hue I forgot how good a tan makes you feel. I've never really branched off into 'high end' fake tans and I think it's about time. I've heard nothing but good reviews on Xen-Ten products as a whole, but this one seems to stick in my mind.

Feel Unique, £29.70

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow

I am seriously loving this new generation of foundation think Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and Jemma Kidd Light as Air. I once was a full-coverage fiend but I have been well and truly converted to a lightweight more natural finish. This is the next I want to tick off my list.

Boots, £24.50

Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector

I'm gonna throw it out there, I'm not a 'gloss' person. So why on earth do I want this? Purely because it's raved about in the beauty community, comes in gorgeous colours and promises moisturisation. I've found myself skipping lipstick in favour of a balm lately. I've been switching between wanting the Nude one and the Apricot one. Which do you prefer??

Boots, £16.00

LUSH Catastrophe Cosmetic

This is hands down the best face mask I have ever used, and I'm craving it's blueberry goodness. If you haven't tried it, pop in and get a sample because it is amazing. That is all I need to say.

LUSH, £5.75

ASOS Patent Watch

I have been eyeing up this watch for as long as I can remember. It's nude, patent and gold. Screams 'I will go with everything' but doesn't have anything too blingy about it.

ASOS, £25.00

Blistex Med Plus

How has no one ever told me about Estee from Essiebutton? Well, anyway, I have literally been watching the backlog of her videos for days (entirely creepy I know), and I've noticed she is in love with this lip balm. I'm a firm supporter of Carmex but a change is as good as a rest, as they say (or is this just my Dad?).

Boots, £2.59

Chloé Eau de Parfum

Most perfect Spring-Summer time scent. I don't know why I haven't bought this already because it's one of those perfumes that I always spray in Boots/Debenhams. You guys do that too right? And how stunning is the bottle?

Boots, £39.50

ASOS Fine Cross Bracelet

Dainty bracelet are really catching my eye at the moment, as is gold. This paired with the nude, patent watch, amazing.

ASOS, £6.00

Sorry this was such a rambly post! I haven't blogged in ages and I feel like I've just let out 1 month's worth of blogging in one post. Haha! If you've tried/have any of the things on my wishlist please let me know what you think :)

Oh and ever since the new blogger interface came in (which I hate by the way) I've been much prefering using bloglovin' so definitely come and follow me on there!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

XO

Still alive!

So... long time no see right? I feel so out of the blogging loop, it's been a good few weeks since I last posted! I've been doing so much overtime at work recently because if you follow me on twitter (@ntlieread) you know that I've recently written off my car *applause* so I'm in need of some new wheels! I thought I'd just post some photo's of what I've been up to since I've been away, I warn you now, this will be photo heavy.

The damage to my poor car ~ Vodka jellies to start off the night ~ Starbucks spelling fail, Nataily? ~ Surprise tickets to X Factor tour from the bf ~ Dean likes Coco-cola? ~ Most delicious burger from Frankie & Benny's ~ Ice cold Magners in the sun ~ Tiny can of Pepsi Max ~ Best sweets ever ~ Standard Sunday afternoon ~ Creme Egg McFlurry ~ Tuna salad, nom ~ Tiramisu

So apparently, apart from crashing my car... I've been eating? Ha! I was driving a long the bypass and my tyre blew - spinning off the road at 70mph was the scariest thing that ever happened to me, but I'm extremely lucky that no one else was involved and I had escaped with nothing but a graze on my shoulder. As well as having a hero of a boyfriend who came to console me. I hope everyone has been okay and hopefully my blogging mojo will be back!

Follow me on twitter (@ntlieread) and Instagram (natalielinsayread) because I am always updating on there!

XO

Volumous Curls

This is my absolute favourite way to wear my hair, big and bouncy curls! I want to say 'Victoria's Secret' hair but it seems so cliche and clearly, I'm no VS Angel.

To achieve this hairstyle I spritz a bit of dry shampoo into the roots for volume (backcomb for a night out) and then I curl my hair with my wide paddle GHD straighteners, because these tend to give a bigger, looser curl. Although you can get the same curls with a thinner straightener but not twisting as much. I always make sure I curl away from my face because it's much more flattering. I also make sure that the curls aren't to uniform... starting from different parts of the hair and alternating between looser and tighter curls. I then brush through the hair with my fingers, spray some hairspray et voila!

What is your favourite way to style you hair?

NATALIE, XO

Week in photos

Chicken nuggets are the bomb ~ Lindor Lindnt eggs are my life right now ~ Fresh orange juice and toffee milkshake at the diner and the most delicious pancakes and syrup ~ My cat being an absolute  cutie ~ New dressing table mirror which I'm in love with ~ Finished reading The Hunger Games in a day, incredible ~ Free drinks voucher for Starbucks, ta very much ~ My bed in the most comfortable place to be ~ Night out on Saturday, the Cheryl lashes were my lash of choice ~ HELLO EARLY SPRING!

I also got an iPhone this month! I waved goodbye to my shitty blackberry and never looked back. I am already slightly obssessed with it. Been taking a lot of pictures with instagram lately (as you can probably tell) so definitely follow me on there! username: natalielinsayread.

Hope you've all had amazing weeks!

NATALIE, XO

Project healthy hair

I've been such a bad blogger recently. It's been just over a week since I last blogged properly! I've hit a bit of a slump and haven't really had anything to blog about! I've been trying to save lots of spare pennies which means I haven't really buying much stuff (although I had a bit of a splurge recently so there will probably be a haul soon) so yeah, I'm sorry guys!

Annnnyways. About a week ago I went for a long overdue trip to the hairdressers. I'm definitely not someone who sticks to the 6-8 week trim rule. To be honest I hadn't been in a bout a year :/ if any hairdressers are reading this - I apologise! My hair was pretty much frazzled, split ends galore. Here's the before...

Now I'm not gonna lie, the 'results' are not that much different, as my boyfriend so nicely pointed out. Purely because I'm happy with the style and length I just told the hairdresser to keep as much of the length as possible and make it healthy!

Split ends gone! She gave me a nice blow dry and now me and my hair can start a fresh. From this day forward I pledge to do weekly deep conditioning treatments, put the straighteners down from time to time and give it some TLC.

Not a very exciting post, admittedly but I tweeted about going to the hairdressers and someone said I should blog it :)

NATALIE, XO

MAC Matte Gel

I bought the MAC Matte gel to use as a primer a while ago now, and it's coming to the end of it's life so I thought I'd give you my two cents on it...

First of all, if you don't like primers that feel very siliconey - stay well clear of this. It just looks like a clear gel (very similar to a lot of silicone based primers). I use this over my moisturiser and under my foundation.

When applied, skin instantly looks matte and feels super smooth and velvety. It helps concealer and foundation glide on and blend seamlessly. I also noticed that once I had put my foundation on my pores did seem visibly smaller - not invisible mind, but definitely considerably smaller. Does it make my make up last longer? I have very oily skin, and this does seem to keep shine at bay for much longer than if I weren't to wear it. Paired with a long lasting foundation my make up does stay pretty much all day - but probably only an extra couple of hours than if I weren't to wear it.

Would I repurchase? In all honesty, I don't think I would. It's very similar to the GOSH Velvet Touch foundation primer and the Elf Mineral primer, which are of course, much cheaper. And with the GOSH primer you get loaaads of product. It's a good primer to try out if you've got very oily skin and large pores but I don't think it's worth the money and it did seem to run out quite quickly.

You can buy it for £14.00 on the MAC website or in stores, you get 25ml of product.

Have you tried this primer? What are you primer recommendations?

NATALIE, XO

Fail-safe French

Recently, I've been struggling to decide what colour I should wear on my nails, a big problem in a girl's life, right? I think it's because where I live, it's been quite sunny but the temperatures have still been freezing cold. So the sun makes me want to lacquer my nails with bright turquoise and yellows but the chill makes me want to hold on to my Models Own Concrete Mixer or deep berry shades. The answer?

French tips! It's been ages since I've donned a French manicure and I forgot how much I loved it. It makes you feel so elegant and chic. I did it myself at a fraction of the price you would pay at a salon. I used three really, really cheap products but it lasted a good 5 days without any chips at all!

For the base I used 'Carribean Coconut', a peachy nude shade from the All About Nails range that can be found at Tesco's for a tiny 99p! I used three coats of this although you could probably just use two. It was quite streaky on the first coat but I think that's true of any pale/pastel colour no matter what the brand. I then used the Collection 2000 Manicure in French White on the tips. This can be found in most drugstores for £2.99. I then used the Elf clear nail polish as a topcoat and voila!

What nail polish(es) do you always fallback on when you don't know what to wear?

NATALIE, XO

I shopped!

Primark Striped Skater dress, £10.00

This doesn't look like much on the hanger, and it didn't in the shop either. But I was on a hunt for a dress for a night out and I already had an armful of things to try on, so I thought I might as well. It fits like an absolute dream! It's so flattering and is possibly one of my favourite dresses. For a tenner is was such a bargain.

H&M Little White Tee t-shirt, £7.99
I just think this is mega cute and casual and so easy to just chuck over some jeans - with shorts in the summer. H&M never fails for great basics.

H&M Knit cardigan, £14.99

Again, doesn't look amazing on the hanger but falls so nicely on the body. I really love this waffle sort of knit... not something you see all the time. It's a really nice light beige/taupey colour with I think will look amazing in Spring/Summer.

New Look Colour Block Purse, £14.99

My purse is falling apart and I was in need of a new one. Problem is, I am so fussy with purses, the layout has to be perfect. I love the layout of the inside of this and I think it's classic looking and I won't get bored of it. It's really soft too! I think the clasp ruins it a bit though and I thought this was quite pricey for a bog standard purse??

New Look Coral Pleat dress (AX Paris), £25.99

I mentioned earlier that I was on the hunt for a new dress for a night out, and this was the winner! My work's Christmas party was at the end of January (I know, I know... Christmas??). But this is what I wore and I loved it. The coral colour is ahhhmazing.

Topshop Leigh Super Soft Skinny jeans, £38.00

I finally caved in and bought some Leigh jeans from Topshop. I'd been umming and ahhing over them for a while, they get rave reviews so I decided to try them on. I can confirm that they are superrr comfortable and are very tight (not too tight on the waist though). They don't go baggy around the news after a few wears and I haven't seen any fading, *yet*. Definitely want more colours now :/

Topshop Crochet Striped vest, £16.00

This is going to be so great for the summer, I love the crochet. It's very sheer though, but I think in the Summer you can easily get away with it. Have my eye on the coral coloured one as well!

Topshop Cross t-shirt, £22.00

To be honest, I love over sized, motif tee's so this really fit the bill. I got mine in a M but it is really big, so I'd recommend going down a size - I think I'm going to go an exchange it. Love it for casual wear.

Topshop Slouchy jumpers, £26.00 each

I tried both of these colours on and I just couldn't decide between the two - so with some encouragement from my friend Jess (never going shopping with that girl), I bought both. They look really good on, I think the grey is my favourite because I love the speckling. These are really thin so don't get them expecting a nice cosy, warm winter jumper. But this means it will carry you through into Spring/Summer too! This is how I justified it anyway haha.

So that's my monster haul! Makes me feel a bit ill looking at it all together lol. But I didn't go out and do all this shopping in a week or two - it's actually all been collected since Christmas.

NATALIE, XO

Week In Photos

Most of the country had inches of snow, we had pathetic cm's. Was still pretty excited having to scrape snow off my windscreen though! - McQueen rip off scarf from Primark - LUSH butterball bath - Cute sleeping bunny that I desperately wanted to take home at the pet shop - Visits to the Mother's house always means cuddles with the kitties! - New Quirks biscuits, nothing to write home about if I'm honest - Cheese on toast is my guilty pleasure - I MADE A PAVLOVA AND IT'S DELICIOUS! - Currently lounging in my new Primark pyjama playsuit. Love the blue flowers!

Lots of photo's tonight! Jeez, sorry about that!

 NATALIE, XO

Yes, more boots..

I don't know exactly when it started, but when Winter started worming it's way in I seemed to acquire an obssession with boots. This was completely out of character because I've never been a girl who's shoe-obssessed. Especially not boots. I think I probably owned two pairs - but now the collection has grown quite considerably. Here are the two latest additions...

New Look Black Wedge Zip Shoe Boot, £19.99

I had a work's-do at the end of January and I was on the lookout for a new pair of going out shoes. Preferably ones that will go with anything and everything, I don't go out that often so it's pointless for me to buy electric blue shoes etc. (even though they're amazing). Of course, New Look was my first choice and it didn't let me down.

They are a suede-like material which I love, a wedge and platform which makes for easy walking, and a gorgeous gold zip down the side. Amazing. I love the way these boots are cut too - sometimes shoe boots can cut my legs off at a really unflattering place because I'm quite short. But because these dip at the front it doesn't make your legs look stumpy. And omg, THESE ARE COMFORTABLE. I wore these from 8pm-4.30/5.00am, and spent the majority of that time dancing and I didn't need to take them off once!

New Look Buckle Flat Ankle boots, £27.99

I've always looked at these on the New Look website, but never seen them out in the store near me. But when I did, I loved them just as much. I love the slouchy 'suede' part, I love the 'leather' heel and strap. I'm just in love with these boots. They feel really good quality. I did have to get a size 4 though because the size 5 did seem to run quite large. I think these will look good with tanned legs and denim shorts in the summer too!

Lets hope this is the end of my boot obsession. What's an obsession you thought you'd never have?

NATALIE, XO

Week In Photos

Walk by a river near me - Broken mirror, 7 years bad luck! - Diet Coke spillage - Vita Coco - Demolished Milk Tray - Amazing brunch at a greasy spoon - Old fashioned sweet shop that stole my heart <3

Sorry it's two days late! This week was pretty chill, but nice :) The beginning part of the week we had loads of sun where I live so I took a little stroll by a river near me, and although there was loads of sun the temperature was about 0.5. The sun still made me happy though! Also broke a huge mirror - good luck *no pun intended* I'm not superstitious ;) But perhaps I should seeing as though it was followed by spilling an entire an of diet coke onto my lap. Two massive fails in a week? Amazing. I always hear people talking about coconut water so I decided to see what all the fuss was about! (still haven't drank it). Milk Tray and fry up brunch have taken a large amount of my calories this week. My Mum was disgusted that I got hash browns AND chips, lol. And OMG look at this sweet shop! It was incredible, they had jars upon jars behind the till and I ended up coming out with more than a few bags!

I hope every ones week (well, last week) was great. I know it snowed a lot at the weekend in a lot of the UK - the snow forgot about us though :( I was kind of glad because I wasn't at all prepared for snow haha. AND YAY FOR THIS BEING MY 500TH POST!

NATALIE, XO