Valentines Day Ideas

Last year, a month into blogging, I shared with you all a few cute, cheap and personal Valentines Day ideas so that you can get some inspiration if you're stuck with what to buy etc. However, back then I didn't even have a quarter of the followers that I do now so I thought I would link them within this post so you all can benefit from these posts too. 

I did plan on posting some new Valentines Day ideas this year too but I'm not very organised at the moment and I've been struck down with some horrible flu/virus thing. This has been the first day I've actually been able to open my laptop in a few days so everythings running a bit behind so I think realistically I'd be better just sharing my old ones with you guys!! However, I have a few days to myself where I don't need to be anywhere or do anything so I can lie in bed, rest and hopefully do some work without feeling guilty that I'm missing things.

♥ Kinder Egg Surprise

♥ Cute 52 Reasons Why I Love You Cards

Please let me know what you think of them, I'm really gutted that I've used them both last year so I'm going to have to try think of some new ideas for Gary this year!

Lots of Love,

♥

My Valentines Day 2014

Hellooo my lovelies,

I hope you all had a really amazing Valentines Day! I actually had a blog post scheduled to go up of Valentines Day outfits but annoyingly it didn't post so I'm assuming nobody will really want to see it now?? Anywaaay this Valentines Day I was a very lucky girl and Gary (my boyfriend) took me away to a five star hotel in Glasgow which is about an hours train from where we live and we also went for food and cocktails! When I came back there was gorgeous red roses waiting for me at my house with an adorable note so I have been well and truly spoilt this year! I took some pictures of the hotel and the roses so I thought it would be nice to share it with you. (photo-heavy post oncoming)

Fried Egg hearts for breakfast (chef Abby)

Nutella Cake that I made Gary

Long train journey essentials are obviously Company, Cosmopolitan and Millies cookies (yum, yum, yum!)

 How amazing does this bed look?! I tell you I've never had a comfier nights sleep and I fell asleep as soon as I got in (could have been down to the numerous cocktails...). It's so beautiful aswell I honestly just wanted to move in and never ever leave!

Cute little desk

 Our room had a gorgeous bay window which looked out to an unfortunately very rainy/snowy Glasgow!! However on the Saturday it was an absolutely beautiful day and sunny which was a complete change from the snow storms the night before!

Even the toilet roll had little Hilton stickers on it! (cute)

   The hotel had a really nice pool with a spa, sauna, jacuzzi and steam room with sunbeds around the edge of it that I really wanted to photograph. However, I felt I'd look a bit of a creep if I went down with an SLR and started snapping away whilst people were swimming haha!! The steam room and sauna both had dark ceilings with lights embedded into it so it was like a starry night sky which was so cool and really relaxing. We're both hoping to go back there soon!

Quick selfie sesh before we went out for drinks and food was obvvviously an essential!

  This is the outfit that I wore on the Friday night which I really really like. It's a black playsuit with a pink floral print on the top and it has lace detailing around the edges and the middle. I thought it was very elegant and quite classy too. We decided to stay in our hotel for drinks and food because the hotel was perfect as it was and it was a very snowy, wet and cold night in Glasgow. So luckily I was able to wear bare legs without being cold and I also wore creamy nude heels from Misguided that were suede so it was definitely a good plan staying within our hotel! The playsuit is also from Misguided and was £27.99. I went for a really simple makeup look using my Naked 3 palette Buzz, Liar, Dust and Blackheart and on the lips I wore Mac's cremecup and on top Tanya Burr's lipgloss in Picnic In The Park. On my cheeks I used my Sleek contour kit and also filled in my brows with this since I 'forgot' my eyebrow eyeshadow (it was in my bag all along...sigh) and Benefit's Coralista blusher. With my hair I just curled it then brushed it through with my tangle teezer!

Accidentally cut off Gary's head oops!

Teeth-cleaning selfies hehehe.

Cocktails (How pretty are they?!)

Hotel Bar

 I had a really nice dinner, pizza obviously because why would you ever eat anything else when pizza is on the menu?! The cocktails were amazing -very very pricy at near enough £9 a cocktail and £6 a vodka but they were so so worth it! The staff were so lovely and the drinks came presented beautiful with different fruits floating in them. My favourite one's were the Summer Solstice one which was citrus vodka and mango and different fruity flavours and it just tasted like tropical juice...very yummy! Another nice one was the Drumstick Mule which tasted exactly like Drumstick lollies!!! The resemblance was uncanny and that one had three different vodka's, vanilla, raspberries and ginger beer in it! The atmosphere in the bar was pretty nice aswell with lots of boothes that had cute little candle's which were the only light in the bar.

A sunny Glasgow the next day!

My beautiful flowers in my very messy room

 I was truly spoilt on Valentines Day, I am very grateful and I think Gary deserves a gold star for his effort here! What did you get up to on Valentines Day? Have you ever stayed at a Hilton hotel before?

Lots of Love, 

A x x x 

Cute, Inexpensive, Last Minute Valentines Day Gift Idea!

 

A lot of you seem to be enjoying my Valentines Day gift idea posts so I thought I would show you another cute, inexpensive, easy present that I've made for my boyfriend this Valentines. I'm pretty sure a lot of you will have seen this idea floating around the internet and I thought it would be a cute thing to try and share with you. All you need to do this, is a pack of cards, paper and the ribbon is optional but personally I think it's a nice touch!

 The concept of this is fairly simple, obviously you write 52 reasons down, one on each card of why you love this person. The best thing about this is it doesn't have to be a boyfriend/girlfriend. I think it's really nice to show people in your life that you appreciate them every now and again so why not do it for your mum or for your best friend. For mine I actually used sticky labels and put them through the printer, I'm not entirely sure how I did it...definitely with about 6 sheets of paper and a lot of frustration but I got there in the end. Basically the computer needs you to match the type of label with the printer and it's really confusing but I ended up just randomly picking one which probably isn't the best method since I probably wasted about 80 labels (sorry Dad) but it done the job..eventually! To save that hassle or if you have neat handwriting you could always use coloured paper and glue them down or even just plain white paper! I also cut all my labels to different sizes a) because I'm lazy and not very good at cutting b) because I think it looks nicer when it's not so 'uniformed'. This is really simple to do if you love the person then obviously thinking of 52 reasons why you love them isn't difficult but in case you need a few idea's or some inspiration I have taken a few pictures of the one's I made Gary. Lets hope he doesn't decide to read my blog before Valentines Day..!!

 You can also glue in pictures that you have of each other, polaroid pictures would be ideal here but if you only have bigger pictures then put them on the computer so you can make them smaller then just print them off! I have a few throughout and one on the back of the cover page which I think is a good place to add a picture or maybe a cute note.

 Really personal one's are always the best instead of the generic 'your eyes' etc so try picking out moments you've shared or personal things about that person because it makes it more personal and more thoughtful.

I think mentioning little things they do for you will show them how much you appreciate that when they probably think it's just a small thing that goes unnoticed.

 I've also added the date we started going out on both the front and the back and stuck a little 'I love you' sticker on it just because I thought it was cute. This is obviously up to your own personal interpretation when it comes to how you personalise it! I just think it's a super cute idea and if you're a last minute person panicking because you've just remembered V-Day is tomorrow and you've not got your other half something.. then hopefully this will come in handy!

I hope you have a fabby day whether you're going out with the girls, having a pamper night in or going out with your man! 

Previous Valentines Day Posts:-

http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/kinder-egg-valentines-day-surprise.html 

http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/valentines-gifts.html

Happy Valentines Day beautiful's!

Lots of Love,

A x x x 

Kinder Egg Valentines Day Surprise

Today I thought I'd share with you something that I've done for my boyfriend for Valentines Day because I think it's a really cheap, easy, creative and of course romantic thing to do for Valentines Day. Boys are notoriously hard to buy for and this one is super quick and easy (great if you're a bit last minute) I have actually got him proper presents too just to clairfy haha!! Basically it's a kinder egg and you open it and put a cute note/picture in the little plastic holder that the toy is in and then you seal it back up! The person will defo not be expecting you to have been able to tamper with a kinder egg and this is best given not as a 'present' for maximum effect but just hand it over like it's no big deal and you've just bought them a sweet!

I have tried to take pictures of every step so it's easy to follow and I'll explain each stage as I go along. I'm pretty sure most countries around the world sell Kinder Eggs, although I'm not positive on America because I think there's some kind of law against putting toys inside food. So I'm sorry if you can't get access to these in your country but I hope you enjoy reading this post anyway!

 The first step is to gently peel back the edges of the wrapper, really carefully and gently so as not to rip it because you don't want it to look like someone has tampered with it. Try to do it with cool hands aswell because you don't want the chocolate to melt or transfer your finger prints onto the chocolate because that might just give the game away...

 The next step is to gently peel these apart and seperate them so you have two perfect wrappers. It's a good idea to buy the three/six pack of these because it's unusual to get it perfect first time.

 Next you need a boiling hot mug of water and a sharp tool, I'm using this nail thingy I got in a set once that I never use on my nails. Make sure everything you use is sanitised and clean because you don't want to transfer germs onto the chocolate for your loved one!

 With this you dip the tool into the water so that it's boiling hot then you gently trace along the edges of the chocolate where it's joined together (very gently because you don't want the chocolate to shatter). Also stab it in lightly at four points on the egg until it's soft enough to break apart easily..patience is a virtue here guys!!

 You should then be left with two perfect egg halves and the little yellow tub that contains the toy. You want to empty the toy and instruction booklet out of this and add a cute notelet or picture. I just wrote a cute note because I don't have any pictures of us small enough to fold into that tub without ruining the picture. A nice idea would be to take a picture of yourself with a sign saying 'I Love You' and put that in it (which I was going to do but I was practicing and I got it right first time so wanted to make it up incase I couldn't do it as good again so I had to just have a cute note). You could even fill it with your other halves favourite sweets or a ring if it's a girl (wouldn't this just be such a cute way to propose to someone???...anywaaaay getting diverted here!!)

 Then what you want to do is reseal the little yellow tub and place it back into the egg.

 Then you want to soak your tool/needle into the hot water again (you may need to replace it if you've taken a long time so it's still boiling hot) and start to rub the tool against the edges of the egg. This makes the edges melt ever so slightly, you just want them to be tacky (kind of like how you want lash glue to be like ladies) just so it sticks to the other half again.

 Once you've got them to stick together just press them together lightly and then leave it to sit for five minutes or so till you're sure that it's firmly secured. Then you want to rewrap the egg again, I must admit this is the bit I found the hardest because its super hard to get the edges to go back into a position where it doesn't look like it's been opened or leaves a gap but I got there eventually. This does take a lot of patience but it's totally worth it!

 I think this would be an amazing Valentines Day gift for anyone, especially if you're on a budget or you and your partner have decided to keep things to a minimum this year! If you do decide to give this a go then be sure to let me know how you get on!

Lots of Love,

A x x x 

Sun Kissed, Urban Decay Naked Palette Tutorial/Look

Hellooo my lovelies,

Since it's the first of February, I wanted to do a sort of tutorial that you could use for Valentines Day or for any occasion you have coming up. I did a look on my little sister using my Urban Decay Naked Palette so I've taken some pictures to show you. If you recreate this look then please post me some pictures so I can check them out! I'll tell you what products I used on her face as we go along! I was really happy with the finished look and so was she! I don't have many 'before' pictures because she's 15 and obviously is a bit self conscious about being exposed bare faced to the interwebs so I hope that's alright!

Finished Look

Half Baked and Buck, the two colours I used.

On her eyes I have Urban Decay Naked's 'Half Baked' because the glittery gold really brings out her lovely blue eyes and makes them pop! I then blended this out into the crease with the dark brown matte shade in the original Naked Palette 'Buck'.

 For her eyes I used Barry M's black liquid eyeliner to line her upper lid which makes her lash line appear thicker and fuller giving the illusion that she has longer eyelashes. The mascara we used was Lash Vegas by Barry M and the pencil we used was just a standard black eyeliner which has been sharpened so much I can't tell what the name was haha! (oops!)

 Beth doesn't actually fill in her eyebrows (unless using a lead pencil counts..don't ask!!) and the closest colour I could find to match them was 'Tease' from the Naked 2 Palette. Using an eyeshadow to fill in your eyebrows will create a more natural, flawless look which simply cannot be achieved by using a pen or a pencil. Always fill in your brows with a matte shade though because you definitely don't want sparkly eyebrows! I used my MAC 266 angled brush to fill in her brows and it is the best brush I have found to do the job!

Tease in Urban Decay Naked 2

This look is quite full on so it would be ideal for parties or occasions but it could also be toned down by using less bronzer and using a nude lipstick. I actually really like orange lipstick on Beth but she didn't really think she suited it (give us your opinions in the comments!) I have done different hair styles on her aswell so you can see what it would look like with different looks!

Sleek Pixie Pink Blusher

Sleek Face Contour Kit in 'Light'

The foundation I used on her is the Maybelline Dream Liquid Foundation in Ivory which is Beth's everyday foundation. It's actually really nice in creating a flawless finish and I buffed this into the skin with a Real Techniques buffing brush to create the 'flawless' effect on her skin. She does have really nice skin already but by spending time buffing it into skin, I've avoided using a primer because the foundation alone was enough to even out the skin. It also really helps create that 'airbrushed' look which fools everyone into thinking you have naturally perfect skin! It's a really good foundation for those who are still at school or on a budget because it isn't too expensive either.

MSF - Soft and Gentle

 On her cheeks I used Sleek's Blusher in Pixie Pink with a Real Techniques Blush Brush which just added a healthy glow to her cheeks that looks like a natural 'Winter flush'. To highlight her cheekbones, I used Benefit's Watt's Up highlighter which is a gorgeous champagne coloured highlight and I used MAC's mineralised skin finish in Soft and Gentle under and over her brow bone to uplift and define them. I also lightly dusted Soft and Gentle over her forehead and then used Watt's Up down the bridge of her nose and on her cupids bow I used a tiny bit of Nars Copacabana illuminator. To bronze all over her face, I used Sleek's Face Contour kit in light on my Real Techniques blush brush for her cheeks and her jaw bone and then with a Real Techniques contour brush for around the forehead and for slimming her nose.

      

 Under her eyes I used Bobbi Brown's corrector in light-bisque to help correct the bags under her eyes and then covered that with Bobbi Brown's Concealer in Cool Sand. I patted this in with my Real Techniques buffing brush but you can achieve an equally as good effect by patting it gently with your fingers. I set her make up with the famous Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Sand Storm and my Real Techniques Powder Brush to help keep all shine at bay! It's a really good idea to use a mattifying powder to stop your skin getting the wrong kind of 'glow'. The orange lipstick I used was 'In Love with Ginger' by Rimmel London.

The pink lipstick colour I used on her was Revlon's Lip butter in Strawberry Shortcake which is the perfect pretty pink. It's really nice on Beth and looks quite natural, it would be a great one for wearing to school.

Did you like this look? Which lipstick do you think looks best, the pink or the orange? If you like posts like this and would like to see more then let me know and I'll make sure I do that for you!

Disclaimer- All these pictures are exactly as they were when taken. I have not edited them or touched them up in any way :-).

My Previous Urban Decay Naked Palette Posts:-
Naked 1 & 2 - http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/hello-my-lovelies-urban-decay-are.html
Naked 3 - http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/urban-decay-naked-3-palette-review.html

Lots of love,

A x x x