The Blogger Tag

Hey there lovely people,

Happy weekend to you all. Hope you are having a fabilicious Saturday.

It's that time of the week for another little Tag. They are one of my favourite things to read on other peoples blogs because it's nice to get to know the lovely person behind the posts. 

So here is this weeks choice... The Blogger Tag! 

The Blogger Tag

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?

It's naturally straight with a bit of a kink in it.

2. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?

Both. If I'm feeling in a particularly "pamper myself" type of mood, I will get a hair cut & colour at the Hairdressers, but most of the time, because my hair is so short I am happy just to dye it myself at home. 

3. Do you wear the same style everyday, or do you change it?

So as I was saying, I have super short hair, so coming up with different styles is often difficult - but I try my best to change it up as much as I can.

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?

I do my own. I have always had long nails and so have never wanted acrylics or anything. As well as that on the one and only occasion where I did have a manicure, the lady doing it absolutely destroyed my cuticles with her buffer and they were all bleeding and sore - BAD EXPERIENCE!!! Plus I like to change my nail colour a lot, so it would end up costing me a small fortune if I went to a manicurist every time. 

5. How often do you change your nail polish?

Like I said above, I change my colour a lot. Maybe 2 or 3 times a week. :) I love a fresh set of nails.

6. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just the summer?

Both - I stick to darker shades like 1.Chick Flick Cherry from O.P.I. or 2.Desire from Rimmel which is what I'm wearing just now. In the summer I like bright & pastel colours like 3.Hip Hop from Rimmel and 4.Brompton Place from Nails Inc.

7. How long does it take for you to put on makeup?

So if I'm just having a normal day - food shopping, out a walk etc then 10 minutes. If I have a night out or somewhere fancy to go then it's a kind of whole day process where my makeup can take 2-3 hours. I like to take my time. :)

8. What do you do first? Face or eyes?

Face. I always put my primer and foundation on first.

9. Do you collect makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?

I have a relatively big collection of products that I often forget I have, particularly eye-shadows. So definitely a collector.

10. How often do you wear false eyelashes?

Once in my whole life. I have really sensitive eyes so putting fake lashes and glue on them is a little daunting. However, my sister once put them on me and I loved them... pity I couldn't really see properly the whole night. 

11. Do you do a full face of makeup every day?

Nope. There are maybe 3 days out of the week where I let my skin breathe... and on days like today, where I'm feeling under the weather, makeup is the furthest thing from my mind.

12. Do you wear makeup when you're home alone or with family?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. 

13. Will you leave the house without makeup?

Yes and often too.

14. How many high-end products do you have?

Not a lot... and I'm not entirely sure they are too high end. I have some Smashbox lip products, Bareminerals powders and concealers, as well as Clinique and Liz Earle skincare products.

15. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you're getting dressed?

I always tend to plan what I'm wearing and leave it sitting out and ready.

16. How often do you change your handbag?

Often. I have a handbag addiction, and like to showcase all of my different ones as much as possible. I do, however, have some favourites that I use more often than others.

17. What time do you wake up and go to sleep?

So I go to bed through the week at around 10.30pm, but don't generally fall asleep till about 2am. I wake up anywhere between 8 and 10am in the morning. My nights are slightly longer at the weekend.

18. How often or when do you workout?

Not as often as I should... at all!!!

19. Left handed or right handed?

Right - my hubby is left handed.

20. How tall are you?

5ft 7inches.

21. Do you speak any foreign languages?

I speak a bit of French & Spanish.

22. How many pets do you have?

2 dogs - Oscar & Bonnie.

23. How often are you on Blogger?

Too often - haha! All day, everyday!!! Addicted is an understatement.

  

24. Do you read comments posted on blogs?

Yes - It's nice to read peoples nice words. Reminds me that there are still lovely people out there.

25. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?

Yes - this has become a bit of a problem for my poor hubby. My spending has increased exponentially since I got more and more into blogging and watching YouTube.

26. How did you come up with your blog name?

It was initially an idea I had for my Photography, that I was telling stories through my pictures - hence "Once Upon A Picture" and when I decided to blog I wanted there to be a consistency with my pictures and my words.

27. What kind of camera do you use for your photographs?

I have a Canon 600D DSLR, but I also have a few point and shoot cameras too.

28. How often do you clean your house?

I try to clean a bit everyday, but have a good clean of the entire house once a week.

29. What's your favorite color?

RED!

30. What is your favorite drugstore/high end makeup brand?

I love Rimmel for their nail polishes, Bodyshop for their foundation and M.U.A lipsticks (they are super cheap and super pigmented). For skincare my absolute faves are Clinique, Liz Earle and I really like Simple.


So there is my Blogger Tag answers. Hope you all enjoyed reading them, and feel free to leave your tags in the comments for me to read.

Take care lovelies. x

Friday Faves - Budget Beauty

Hey there lovely people!

Instead of doing my usual Friday Faves, I thought I would share my current budget beauty faves with you. I've recently bought a few new products and wanted to share them with you, as well as showcasing some of the products I've been using lately.

So here goes... I must warn you, it's a bit of a photo heavy post. :)

I couldn't resist the new MUA Matte lipsticks. I got the shades Totally Nude, Peachy Keen, Scarlet Siren & Pouty Pink.

This is the colours in all their glory. How gorgeous are they??? The colours are lovely and provide a lovely pigment on your lips, but because they're matte, they are quite drying on the lips. To combat this, I suggest moisturising your lips and perhaps adding some lip balm or Vaseline on top of your lipstick. Seriously though, at £1 each, you just can't go wrong with these little beauties.

These are just the standard MUA Lipsticks, in shade 1 (which is the darker of the 2) and shade 13. I already have these lipsticks but use them sooooo much that I needed to stock up on them.  Again they are just £1!!!

I just love them!!! Again, like the Matte ones above, these just feel lovely and luxurious on your lips. Pretty amazing for such a cheaply priced product.

Now because I wear a lot of lipsticks, I need to keep my lips moisturised and nourished, and these little products do that job for me. The Vaseline is a giant tub that I keep beside my bed and use every night. The EOS is a little treat I carry in my bag and the Carmex is a new purchase. I had never tried it before, but my sister-in-law whipped hers out of her bag the other day and the smell was intoxicating, so I had to get myself one. I love it because not only does it smell amazing, but it makes my lips tingle ever so slightly that I feel as though it's improving my pout. Only downside is the taste.

This is a new purchase as I really struggle to take off my eye makeup without my eyes stinging (they are super sensitive). I love Rimmel products and read a few good reviews about this one so I will be sure to report back as soon as I've given it a try.

This is a new product for me too. I currently use the BodyShop Moisturising foundation and I love it, but I wanted to give this a go because of all the fantastic reviews it's gotten from all the blogs and Youtubers I follow. I got it in the shade Light Porcelain because I am super pale, and I must admit, I didn't like it as much as my BodyShop one. It does feel nice on the skin and there is good coverage, but it's not as moisturising as I would have liked it to be.

So I saw somebody recently review this palette and they likened to to the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. This was the only palette of the 3 Naked collections that I really liked as it's all of my favourite eyeshadow colours, so for £4 I thought why not! I've taken a few swatches, and despite the price they are really nice and quite pigmented. I really look forward to giving them a try & will let you know how I get on.

This is nothing new to my faves, in fact as I've mentioned in previous posts, this is my absolute all time favourite perfume. I know it's probably nothing special to a lot of people, but I just love it! The bigger bottle is actually my miniature version which I use on a daily basis, and despite never really having to top up, I carry my little tester size in my handbag for an extra little hit throughout the day. This is just £12 for the full size and totally worth the money in my opinion!

Finally, this is a current fave of mine from the Soap & Glory collection. It's a moisturising body spray that not only leaves your skin feeling so soft and supple, but smells AMAZING! I just love spraying this over my arms and décolletage after coming out of the shower. It is simply divine! 

So that's my current beauty faves, in all of their glory! I didn't include my Clinique skin care as I spoke a bit about that in a recent post and didn't want to bore you all. Also, they aren't really budget products are they??? 

I'll be giving all of my newly bought products a good and thorough test over the weekend and will definitely be getting back to you with my thoughts and experience with them.

I hope you have a brilliant weekend, and will be back to you tomorrow with my Saturday Tag post!

Take care lovelies. x

Hair, Beauty & Skincare Products Wishlist

http://bloggernetwork.e-tailwebstores.com/scripts/click.php?a_aid=OnceUponAPicture&a_bid=05b3a39b

Hey there lovely people!

As well as my "Hump Day" post I have decided to share another Wishlist post with you all. Simply because over the past 3 nights I have been doing a bit of online window shopping (with some actual shopping much to my husbands dismay) and I seem to be getting a bit carried away with all of the items I want. I wonder if some of you are like that too???

Anyway, I've divided my wishlist into 2 sections; Hair Products, Beauty Products & Skincare Products. Please share any of yours with me and let me know if you've had any experience with any of the products I'm mentioning here.

Hair

1. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo (1000ml) - £26.78 (rrp £31.50)
2. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo (1000ml) - £28.99 (rrp £34.95)
3. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Hair & Scalp Treatment 200ml - £13.18 (rrp £15.50)

Now I'm a bit of a fan of Tea Tree products and I have been since I was a little girl, using my first ever Tea Tree cleanser and toner. I absolutely love the freshness of it. And I recently began using Tea Tree products on my hair as well as my skin and I have never looked back. For somebody like me, with sensitive skin and in particular a skin condition like dermatitis, I have found that Tea Tree products are soothing and fresh and nourishing to my skin, and particularly my scalp. It was actually a hairdresser that recommended these Paul Mitchell products to me and I have done nothing but swoon over the idea of purchasing them over the last few days. So these will definitely be making their way into my shopping basket just shortly!

If you're interested in these fabulous products, they can be found at HairTrade which is a fabulous little site offering an array of hair products from wigs and extensions to haircare and makeup. Be sure to give them a little visit and save yourself a bit of money at the same time!

Beauty

1. Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick - £21.16
2. Sephora Collection Moonshadow Baked Palette - In The Tropics - £17.31
3. Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz - £13.46

So I know I've already gone on a bit about the Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick which was heavily featured in last months Vogue UK. But seriously... how delicious does that look??? I am sooo in love with it... and it just looks so lavish and expensive that really I must have it! The Sephora Palette was something that just caught my eye when I was swooning over every other product on the page. Its just so pretty and colourful and despite being quite a classically nude girl when it comes to eye colours, I really did fall for this palette. The Anastasia Brow Wiz is actually something I've been trying to get for a while, but didn't really know how I was going to manage it because it's exclusive to the US. Samantha Chapman goes on at length about how great this product is, and for someone like me who really struggles with eyebrows, I think it's definitely a product I need in my life. Now all I need to do is convince my hubby to let me order £75 worth of goodies in order to get the £10 flat rate international shipping! 

Again, if you're interested in any of these products, you can find them and much much more at Sephora. I promise you will not be disappointed with all of the products available and at such great prices, you too will be begging you're other half's for the permission to spend the cash!

Skincare

1. Clinique Liquid Facial Wash - £15.50
2. Clinique Clarifying Lotion - £16.50
3. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion £17

Clinique are without a doubt my absolute favourite Skincare brand out there. Pricey??? Yes! Worth it??? ABSOLUTELY!!! Having exceptionally dry skin, these products seem to just transform in an instant the way my skin not only looks but feels. The Liquid Facial Wash penetrates your skin so deeply that you feel super clean and refreshed after using it. The Clarifying Lotion feels so smooth and silky across your skin and really wakens you and your skin right up. And the Moisturising Lotion... well it just leaves your skin so soft and smooth and supple, that it feels like brand new skin. I do have other skincare products that I use from time to time, but I always come back to my Clinique. 

You can find more information and more products from Clinique at their website, where you can actually purchase their skincare straight from them. If you don't have a skincare routine set in stone or you've never tried them before I would highly recommend you giving them a go. Like I said before, since trying them I have never really looked back.

So anyway, that is my current Hair, Beauty & Skincare wishlist. Being honest, I could have filled the page with products I want right now, but I thought a mishmash of products might seem a bit greedy and might be a bit of an eyesore. Let me know if you have any MUST HAVE products in your wishlists and if you have tried any of the products I've mentioned above, I'd love to hear from you.

Take care lovelies. x