New Puppy || Pet Haul

 As you will already know if you follow me on instagram or twitter there has been a new addition to our little family of the four legged friend variety, a little springer spaniel puppy called Luca. He is very cute, very cuddly and also very, very time consuming which has left me with less time for blogging than I have liked but I will get back on schedule soon.

 New puppies need lots of new stuff so since we've never been away from Pets at Home I thought I would do a puppy haul. The majority of the stuff is from Pets at Home but the odd few bits are from elsewhere.

 The first thing we had to sort out for him was obviously food, we went for Pets at Homes own brand of puppy food because according to Luca's breeder that's the best one and the one he is currently on. To go with that we also got him puppy milk (the one in the picture is dogs because it's Erics but Luca does have his own now) because he takes goats milk out of a bottle at bedtime. It's great for giving both dogs and puppies nutrients and as an additional healthy snack to fill their tummies. You can buy the dog milk and the puppy milk from both Tesco and Asda. For his treats we just picked up a few that looked the nicest but he still isn't allowed to eat them for another month! We also chose two silver dog bowls for his food and water, we did look at special puppy ones but they were so tiny they wouldn't have lasted him very long. However at the moment he does actually eat his food by climbing into the bowl and spinning round in circles, we'll work on that one!

 A book on Springer Spaniels isn't an essential but definitely something that will come in handy so that we're clued up on his breed and the care that he needs. It also has lots of information about how to train springer spaniels etc.

We wanted to get him a brush because he has quite a lot of fur and it's good for him to get used to being brushed whilst he's still little.

 The most exciting part was definitely choosing toys for him, he has waaay more toys than a seven week old puppy needs but he enjoys them and it's cute to watch. We picked lots of squeaky ones which is great for Luca but not so great for mum and dad....

 I picked these two softies because I wanted him to have a comforter for when he's older and neither of us could decide between the two so he now has both, lucky pup!

He also has a little bone rope that Gary chose for him. He's already managed to make it tether with his needle sharp teeth.

 These two toys are a little big for him still since he's only about the size of them but I can already tell that he's going to love them when he's bigger. Until then though Eric is really enjoying stealing them. I think this teething ring will be a saviour cause I'm already covered in nibble bites!

 The last toy we chose for him was this little cuddly monkey which has a squeaky body and rope for legs and arms.

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 This was a must have for us because little Luca came from a house where there were two large litters of puppies so as you can imagine puppies create a lot of mess! It's hard enough cleaning after one let alone 20 odd so the puppies were often walking in pee and poo so we were pretty keen to give him a good wash! Puppies are only meant to be washed once every few months to prevent irritating their skin so because we can't clean him every time he gets dirty (which when he's pooing and peeing everywhere is a lot!!) we bought a refreshing puppy spray. This is essentially puppy deodorant and I'd totally recommend it because it really does help mask that dog smell! We also picked up some 'Tooshie wipes' again because we can't bath him everytime he toilets indoors we need a way to clean his little paws when he walks through it (sigh) and everything else just to keep him clean and fresh. These have come in so handy but with the rate that we're going through them I think we'll probably just buy some soft andrex ones next time.

 I'm not entirely sure if this spray works or if it's a bit of a gimmick but anything that can help get the poo and pee on the newspaper and puppy training pads instead of the floor is a winner to me!! I'll give a little update on how it works out.

 Dog food smells and it's something that you don't really want an open bag of lying around your kitchen and if you put it outside in a hut then it will attract mice, therefore a food bin is essential. We went for this one just because there wasn't a lot of choice and this one has cute little dogs on it.

  Dewormer, really boring but a must. Also a feeding set because Luca still takes his goats milk out a bottle, to be honest he can take it out of a bowl now but I still enjoy feeding him like a little baby. I wouldn't really recommend this set if you have a young animal that needs bottle fed because it's just a pain. Luca chewed through the teats in minutes so it was bursting holes and you can pick up a pack of three baby bottles in Boots or Superdrug for less (which I have since done).

 He also has two collars and leads because the first one we chose when we got it home fitted Eric on the tightest hole so we figured Luca could jump loops through it. It will be perfect for when he's bigger though and later on after he's trained we'll be getting him an extendable lead because me and Gary both prefer them to the shorter ones. The second lead and collar we didn't really have much of a choice because the only one's that can be made as small as possible was a plain red one or a black one and Gary preferred the red so that's what we got.

  Toothbrush and toothpaste because I know from experience with Eric that it's important to start cleaning dogs teeth at a young age because once tartar has formed the only way to remove it is by a surgical procedure. This ones liver flavoured so hopefully he'll enjoy getting his teeth cleaned more than his brother does. We also bought him a towel just a plain one from Tesco because the one in Pets At Home was a boring brown one.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the stuff we bought for Luca and if you want to see more of him make sure you're following my instagram (@whatabbyloves) and twitter (@whatabbyloves) because there's always plenty of Luca updates on them! If anyone has any puppy training tips or puppy advice then please leave it in the comments below.

Lots of Love,

♥

Mini Beauty Splurge || Haul

 It's been a while since I've done a beauty haul because I've been a very good girl trying to save money but it got to the point where a few of my essential bits ran out and I needed to pop into Boots to pick more up. Obviously being a typical make-up lover I had to pick up a few unnecessary bits that I've been after BUT I still managed to be very good so this is a fairly small beauty haul (for me) but there will be a bigger one coming soon!

 The first thing I desperately needed to pick up was my favourite ever powder which many of you will know is Rimmel London's stay matte powder in the shade transparent. As much as I love this powder there are a few things which annoy me about it. Firstly it smashes up into bits so easily, the amount of times I've dropped it and all the powder has just split and shattered is a joke. It is definitely not a powder for clumsy people! I have about 3 loose powder versions of this for that reason but also the powder packaging splits so easily so I've also gone through a lot that way. I've currently been surviving off one without a lid (because it split) for a good few weeks now and I was sick of all my other makeup getting covered in powder so I was long overdue a fresh, crisp one.

 The second thing I needed a replacement of was my L'oreal superliner which has been featured in quite a few blog posts lately and I have a full review of this on my blog if you want to know more about it. I cannot be without this liquid liner so I had to pick up a new one before my old one runs out. I must have gone through about six tubes of this but it's so amazing that I never want to risk picking up a different one that might not be as good.

 
 Now for my unnecessary purchases that I just couldn't resist. Yes that is another three nail varnishes that I did not need to add to my ever growing/overflowing nail polish basket. They are from Barry M's gelly range and it's three of their new Summer 2014 colours which I have had my eye on for ages. I picked up the shade 'Coconut' which is an off-white creamy beige shade, 'Damson' which is a bright blue colour and finally the shade 'Elderberry' which is a grey, blue shade. I still really want to pick up Pink Punch and Kiwi and maybe sneak a few others in because I love the Gelly range so much. I may do a post on Barry M's new Summer shades comparing them to their other gelly polishes because some of them look like they may be very similar.

What beauty bits have you been purchasing lately?

Lots of Love,

♥

Reasons To Look Forward To Autumn/Winter

 Recently I've been really looking forward to Autumn/Winter. Every year by the end of Summer I am always really excited for Winter and by the end of Winter I'm all ready for Summer again so when I saw the gorgeous Eilidh from http://www.maisymeow.com/  do 20 reasons she's looking forward to Autumn it inspired me to do a similar post. I'll link her post here which you should check out!

  I am definitely more of a Winter person than Autumn though so I've combined the two to make a list of 20 reasons I'm looking forward to Autumn/Winter.

1) Ugg boots. They may not be the most attractive shoe but there is literally nothing better than the fluffy haven they provide for your feet. They're the comfiest shoe and I personally think they look really nice.

2) Hot Chocolate, white hot chocolate, milk hot chocolate or Terry's chocolate orange hot choc. I love them all! In A/W I always have a mug of hot chocolate before bed.

3) Darker, more vampier lipsticks can come back into use. I personally barely ever wear red and purple shades in Summer so it's one of the main things I enjoy about the season change.

4) The leaves changing, there's something beautiful about the orangey red leaves swirling about the streets.

5) Winter Wonderland

6) The Yankee candles can come back out. My favourite ones for A/W are always Home Sweet Home, and November Rain.

7) It's acceptable to wear hats and scarves again.

8) Christmas! There are two types of people... those who loathe the countdown and those who love it. I am one of those people who love it! 

9) Chelsea Boots.

10) Getting to wear your favourite Winter jackets again. Mines is my Topshop one with the eskimo hood.

11) Snow, we don't get a lot of it here but when/if we do get it I get so excited. Most people hate it but I love it when the snows all freshly fallen and everywhere's white and clean.

12) Terry's Chocolate Oranges....everywhere!

13) Duvet days with Gary, a movie and chocolate whilst the rain is blowing against the windows.

14) Fireworks night. I absolutely love fireworks and I'd go as far to say as fireworks night is one of my favourite nights of the year It's one of the reasons I love living where I live because during the festival there is fireworks every single night in town! I'm already looking forward to going to the end of the festival fireworks at the end of August with a blanket, flask, scarf and hat to watch the show!

15) Going overboard when buying Primark fluffy pjamas, fluffy socks and slipper socks.

16) The darker nights. There's just something nice about finishing work/university and it being all dark and cosy outside.

17) Getting to be more low maintenance. There's no longer a rush to fake tan, paint my toe nails or shave my legs because they won't be out as much anymore!

18) Any extra weight can be hidden under numerous layers of clothes.

19) Switching up my perfumes for more heavy, Wintery scents

20) The clocks going back and getting that extra hour in bed. Who doesn't love extra sleep?!

What are the things that you're looking forward to about Autumn/Winter?

Lots of Love,

♥

No Make-Up Make-Up || Back To School

 One of the worst things for me and alot of other girls are those situations where you're not allowed to wear make-up and the main situation this occurs in is school. Obviously it's amazing to be confident without make-up but the sad truth is is that many girls are not... especially during the teenage years when all the insecurities are at a peak. Fortunately I am long finished with school but since it's approaching the schools going back I thought I would show you my 'no makeup' makeup that I wear when really I shouldn't be wearing any at all. I was very lucky in that the school I went to was not very strict on the amount of make-up that we were allowed to wear which I think is good because make-up does not affect your ability to learn but I know others are not so lucky!

 The first thing I would say is use a concealer, preferably one that matches your skin tone. Once you've blended it out over any imperfections and under eye circles it would take a very expert eye to make out that you had any makeup on. If you think you can get away with it then BB creams are also great for adding a little bit of coverage but not looking like you're wearing foundation but the most important thing is to use a BB cream in a shade that matches your skin tone. My favourite one is Maybelline's dream pure BB cream which has SPF 15 in it so it's a good one for protecting your skin too and my favourite concealer is of course my collection one.

For the eyes I always go for a super thin line of liquid eyeliner which makes your lash line look thicker and fuller. I use L'Oreal's Super Liner which I have just done a full review on if you're interested in finding out more about it! If you have naturally long lashes then you can miss this next step out but since I have really short eyelashes (cryyyyy) I always love having at least one thin coat of mascara on and I get away with it looking like my natural lashes. Alternatively you could just use an eyelash curler to give your eyelashes some oomph and then use a clear mascara over the top to add length without actually looking like you have any makeup on.

I would always add a light dusting of powder across the t-zone to soak up any excess oil on the skin. My favourite powder is Rimmels Stay Matte powder in translucent but you could also pick up a powder in a shade that matches your skin tone but I find a translucent one is best. This is a great one to pop in your school bag and keep on you at school to reapply at break and lunch if you find your skin tends to get quite oily during the day or after that dreaded PE lesson.

 For adding a little colour to the cheeks an ideal blush colour is a light touch of a pale pink to just add a tiny flush of colour. This step can easily be missed out though if you feel that this would be too much for your school but if done with a light hand it can look very natural! I love Sleeks Pixie Pink for that natural glow.

 For the lips you could leave them au natural but for those makeup junkies that just can't bare to go without then an ideal choice is one of Maybelline's baby lips. The clear ones are great for just moisturising your lips but I really like the tinted ones especially the pink one (Pink Punch) and the red one (Cherry Me) because they add a very subtle hint of colour.

What are your favourite 'no make-up make-up bits?

Lots of Love,

♥

Empties #2

 The amount of empties I've been going through recently is crazy so I have yet another empty products post. So hopefully all of you like reading these kind of posts as much as I do!

 
 The first product I've used up every last drop of is my Bioderma make-up remover. I love this product and use it every single night without fail to take my makeup off. It removes every single scrap of make-up even the toughest of water proof eyeliners and mascara's whilst being amazing for sensitive skin. This never used to be available in the UK but now it is in some stores in London I believe and can also be ordered online from Escentual or Amazon. I would definitely repurchase this because it lasts a long time and does the job better than anything else I have ever tried. I purchased Bioderma for the first time in Italy last July and since then I have used one bottle and two thirds of another bottle so for a product that I use every single night I think that's fabulous!

 My favourite brand for drugstore dry shampoo is Batiste, this is just the standard dry shampoo from Batiste but I personally prefer the brunette one. It's alright, it helps second/third day hair look less greasy and it's really amazing for giving volume. It also smells really lovely, however, I hate the white cast that it leaves in your hair cause lets face it nobody wants to look like they're going grey early! So for that reason alone I probably wouldn't buy this again and I'd go for the brunette one but if you have blonde hair this could be alright for you!

 Coconut Oil is one of those miracle products that everyone should have at least one pot of at home. I'll probably do a whole seperate post on coconut oil and all the amazing properties that it contains but it's amazing for so many different things. I use this on my hair, nails, skin and eyelashes! As you can see I've used every last drop of mine and all that's left is a dirty tub. The best thing about this is it only costs a few pounds from Superdrug so I always have at least two or three pots stashed up at home.

 Another empties post, another fake tan... can you tell I'm a tanaholic?? I absolutely love my fake tan and in the warmer months it's rare for me to be seen without any tan on. This time I've been using St Moriz tan which is a cheaper dupe for St Tropez and I have done a comparison post of these two before if you want to know more about this tan. I would 100% buy this again, I just tan too much to justify spending £20 a bottle on St Tropez!

 
If you've been reading my blog a while then you'll know that I always have nail polish on my nails. It would have to be a pretty rare bad day for me to have no polish at all on my nails because I just feel naked without it. Nail polish doesn't last great on me either, usually around 3/4 days with a top coat and I remove it as soon as it chips so I go through quite a lot of nail polish remover. This one is good and it does the job however I think I'm going to start buying the acetone free one to help repair my damaged nails. This was great before I used acrylic nails and had lovely strong nails though or if you need an acetone polish to remove gel/acrylic nails. This only costs a pound from Superdrug too!

 My last two empties are my Collection concealer which is my holy grail. I have multiple of these stocked up because I just cannot be without it and I use a lot of concealer every day. I don't usually get a lot of sleep so this is my savior to help cover up my horrendous eye bags. It has amazing coverage, lasting power and consistency for under a fiver so I will always continue to buy this forever and ever!

 The last empty isn't a proper one but I thought I'd include it anyway. I got sent an Eucerin cleanser a while back to review and with it I received a lot of samples of different creams and lotions and this foot cream was one of them. It was a very small sample but what I did try of it, I found it was really creamy and moisturising which was great for banishing any dry skin from my feet.

Hope you enjoyed another empties post from me! What products have you finished lately?

Lots of Love,

♥

£4.99 shoes?! || Hidden Fashion

 They say you're either a bag or a shoe person, can you be both? If not then I'm most definitely more of a shoe person. I have more pairs of shoes than I care to admit but I can never resist them especially not high heels because being on the short side I like to have that extra height and I'm well known for wearing very high heels.

 So when I stumbled upon a website where you can buy cheap shoes I was sold. At first I thought it must have been a scam but no this site is 100% genuine and I got these stunning shoes for guess what price? £5!!!! You do of course have to pay delivery on top of this so it ends up being £9-10 but usually you'd be looking at around three times that for a pair of shoes like this! They even have some shoes on there for £1.99... mental!

I recently wore these to a wedding and I got so many compliments on them and how pretty they looked. Now I am not one of those girls who likes taking their shoes off after a night out or halfway through the night, I'm a germ freak and the idea of standing in whatever might be lying on the streets is not my kind of thing. I also hate changing my shoes half way through the night cause lets face it what girl has a clutch big enough for carrying around a spare pair of shoes?! I wore these heels from half 11 in the morning to 3am so these shoes lasted on my feet for a whole 14 hours and my feet only started to hurt the last half hour so I was very impressed. They also have stayed immaculately clean ands the soles have remained glass free which is surprising because we went to a club after and almost always I'll leave a club with glass in my heels and they'll be covered in grubbyness from the floor but they're still spotless!

 The only thing I have to complain about with this site is their customer service is pretty horrific. When I received this they properly stank of smoke, it was clear that they had not been worn but they stank my entire room out with smoke so much so that you'd think someone had been smoking 20 a day in there. I contacted the company about this and received no reply at all which I think is pretty poor customer service considering it was a very polite email requesting what they could do about it. The shoes are okay now but it took many a day of leaving them outside to take away the smokey smell and many scented candles to make my room smell nice. This has put me off ordering from Hidden Fashion again but if they did have any beautiful shoes like this again I would definitely be tempted to give them another chance.

 I have looked on their website and the shoes are still in stock in some sizes!!! However, they have now put the prices up to £8.99 on most shoes, whether this is a pernament thing or if they'll go down again I'm not sure but I thought this was too good a bargain not to share.

Have you bought anything from Hidden Fashion before?

Lots of Love,

♥

Non-Beauty Faves || July

 For my non-beauty favourites this month I've only got a few new favourites to share with you but I do love these kind of posts so I thought it was worth doing anyway.

 The first of these are my white chunky New Look sandals which I have been wearing to death ever since I got them. I'm not a massive lover of flip flops or anything with a toe thong because they tend to irritate my feet so this style of sandal is perfect for me. It keeps my feet nice and cool whilst looking stylish. They go with pretty much everything because they're white too so they have been a definite staple in my wardrobe. Mines are very, very dirty though so if anyone knows a good way to clean them then please do let me know!

 My biggest favourite this month has got to be Capri-suns. When I was younger I used to be obsessed with these and if I had a Capri-Sun in my lunchbox then it was going to be a good day but as I got older I just kind of forgot about them. I recently rediscovered them though and ever since I've been addicted again, especially when they're straight out of the fridge. I don't think they're the healthiest juice about though so I'm having to restrict myself! As you can see I love them so much I couldn't wait to take a picture first before drinking it so I had to try and reconstruct the packet for the photo *slaps wrists*.

 Another food/drink related favourite has been Hartley's little jelly pots. As I'm a vegetarian I had to stop eating jelly years ago because it has gelatin in it but these little pots don't so yippee I can eat jelly again. They're also ideal for snacking on because they're only 106 calories per pot so much healthier than a bar of chocolate but also still very tasty.

 Another massive favourite this month has been contact lenses, bit of a strange one but this is something I've struggled with for a while now. My eyesight isn't so bad that I need to wear glasses everyday but with things like reading road signs when driving and seeing bus numbers or even recognising people on the street I needed them. I really do not suit glasses though and could never find any I liked so I just walked about with bad eyes. I did try to put contacts in a few months back but after a few hours in Specsavers I left with very sore, red eyes after not managing to put them in and out successfully six times. So this Summer I set myself a challenge to try until I got it right and guess what?! I did it!! Yay no more squinting at signs or walking past people I know on the street! I can't even begin to tell you how good they are, it's like living in a new, much clearer world. I can't believe how much I missed out on before so I'm super glad I never gave up. If anyone is in the same situation then please do not give up, once you get the hang of it it becomes pretty easy to do!

 My tv favourite this month is Orange is the new black which is soo much better than I expected it to be! From the description of it on Netflix I wasn't sure I'd like it but it's hilarious! I still laugh about the 'Chocolate and Vanilla swirl' scene (if you watch it then you'll get my reference). It's very much adult humour though so not for the faint hearted. I'm still only on season one but as soon as I get time to myself it's the first thing I watch.

 I've not had a massive amount of time to myself this month because of working a lot and with all other life things, blog things and of course watching Orange is the new black I don't have time to play apps or discover new ones. So the only apps I've really been using are instagram and twitter (my handles are @whatabbyloves on both) but I have been really addicted to instagram lately!

What non-beauty things have you been loving the past month?

Lots of Love,

♥

Beauty Faves || July

 This month I have quite a few new favourites alongside some old ones. Sorry it's a little bit later into the month but I've had some Canon issues but I've bought an SD card reader so hopefully that will be all my Canon problems ironed out! Anyway onto my favourites.

 The first beauty favourite I've had this month is an old favourite and that is my original Naked palette. A long time ago, actually the first post I ever wrote (before I even had any means of people reading/finding my blog), I did a review and comparison of the Naked one and the Naked two palette. In that post I said I much prefered Naked two but I honestly am not sure anymore because I do really love them both. Over the Summer I have definitely prefered the original palette though especially 'Half Baked' but this month I've also been loving 'Darkhorse' and 'Toasted'. This is my holy grail eyeshadow palette and I'd be lost without it.

 A new beauty favourite I discovered this month is actually a perfume and it's DKNY's Red Delicious, the one that's in the red apple packaging. I got this as a gift from Gary's mum after she came back from her holiday, she kindly picked this up for me in duty free and I actually really love it. Which is surprising because I'm usually really picky but I love it which is amazing since I didn't pick it myself. I am awful at describing smells but apparently it smells of lychee, raspberry and it also has bergamot, rose, leather (leather in a perfume?!) and vanilla. It's such a strong perfume though which is partially why I love it because I know I can spray it on in the morning and smell it on me all day and as I mentioned previously I love when I can actually smell perfumes on myself. It's a very different smell to all the other perfumes in my collection.

 I've also been loving my Essence blusher that I did a review of in my Essence review but this is definitely my most favourite item that I was sent. I've not used any other blusher since I was sent this because I just love it so much and with the various shades that you can get from it I haven't needed another blusher. It's so super pigmented and it lasts all day on me and is the perfect colours for adding that pop of colour to your face. It's barely made a dent in the product either so I can see this blusher lasting me a long, long time.

 July has been a very busy month for me with events and with it being warmer weather too I've been loving having a nice glowing tan. The products I've used to acheive that this month is my St Tropez fake tan and my St Tropez tanning mitt. Before I've always just used Superdrug mitts but I must admit I am enjoying my luxurious St Tropez one and there's nothing better than a fresh tanning mitt (although after this month it's no longer very fresh anymore!)



I am a moisturising addict, I can't stand my skin feeling dry especially not my feet and because I work in retail my feet often get really sore because I'm standing on them all shift. My favourite foot cream at the moment is actually a body moisturiser but I like to use it on my feet and it's a Sephora body butter that I picked up whilst I was in Italy. This is the ultimate moisturising cream and it's so super soft. I actually have three of these but it's the aloe vera one I'm using at the moment because it's cooling properties are absolutely fab after a long day on your feet! You can tell how much I've been loving this because it's nearly all gone.




 My last favourite this month actually featured on this weeks MAC Monday and that was costa chic frost lipstick by MAC. It's the perfect coral colour and I've had lots of compliments on it when I've been wearing it to work. I love, love, love it in Summer it instantly freshens up your face and I'm personally a massive fan of coral lipsticks. If you want to know more about this lipstick then click here to read about it in detail.

Lots of Love,

♥