Nyla Rose Coin Purse*

Evening all! 

There's nothing I love more than an independently run company, Nyla Rose is a gorgeous little family run business with a vintage inspired vibe. Sounds right up my street! They say:

'As a growing business, we know that you, our customers, are at the heart of what we do, and we do everything we can to put a smile on your face!'

Here's a collection of some of their most delectable products I am lusting after (if you are reading this boyfriend it's only 92 days 'til Christmas so take note!) I really recommend checking out their website for more!

The Lindy Bop Black Amorette Dress is delicious! I usually would associate this shape of dress with colourful prints for spring/summer, I'm not sure why I've never considered it for the current months. A simple black dress is a staple for autumn/winter and I know this one would suit my shape a treat. I've also recently partook in my first 'Lindy Bop' dance lesson... so it seems very apt, hey?! 

As a 24 year old grown up lady type thing, I think it's pretty embarrassing that I don't own a proper handbag. I usually scruff around with my leopard print backpack (which I love) ...but when I want to wear a blazer and heels, it's just not ok! Nyla Rose's Tanned Tote Handbag would be perfect with a cream blouse and jeans. It's definitely a woman's bag and not a girl's, which is what I need in my life!

My flat is crying out for the Sass and Belle Vintage Floral Suitcases! I think that the clutter on my shelves has been having an affair with the clutter under my bed and they seemed to have had multiple clutter children all over my bedroom floor, I swear is wasn't me! I could really do with some sort of attractive storage space and these beauties would hide my mess and look gorgeous at the same time!

The product Nyla Rose send me was a cute little coin purse. When I go out looking fancy with a small bag, I have no where to put my big chunky purse so this is definitely going to come in handy! There's noting worse that having random coinage floating around the bottom of your clutch! 

It's got two little sections, one for my coins & cash and one for my bank card & ID 

(I still bring my ID out with me, in the hope that some door man will humour me by asking to see it)

Thank you so much to Nyla Rose for their generosity! You can check out them out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and The Nyla Rose Homepage. 

Ashton xxx

Exclusive Preview of Barry M's Glitterati Nail Paints*

Hello Blog Readers! 

As you know, I've been working on a 'secret project' for a 'secret' brand. Well... betwen me and you, I've been working with Barry M's newest nail varnish collection and they are beautiful!

Unfortunately, I'm still going to keep schtum about the project itself. Once Barry M release it on their own Instagram page, I'll be posting here and on my own Instagram. However I will now be showing you the products featured, before they even hit the shops! Exciting! 

Taadaaa! Here there are! (Click the photo to enlarge) aren't they good looking?! 

My personal nail varnish collection is slightly obscene, and it features a Barry M. You can imagine my excitement to be given the opportunity to work with their products! I've come to expect great things from these guys with regards to nail polish, and the Gliteratti six do not disappoint! 

Let me introduce ladies!

The Fashion Icon, The Socialite and The Catwalk Queen

The Rockstar, The VIP and The Starlet

The Gliteratti nailvarnished can be used as both stand alone nail varnishes (as pictured above with two coats) or as a top coat to add a little sparkle to your favourite colours. 

The glitter itself is really lovely and fine. As we all know the struggle is REAL when it comes to removing a chunky glitter. I have spent many an hour chipping away at the stuff!

I would maybe even describe The Glitterati as an 'iridescent shimmer' if I was being fancy! 

(EDIT: I realise this almost sounds like I meant this are tough to remove, what I meant was that they are easier than most glitters to remove!)

Here is the The Starlet painted over a limited edition bright pink summer colour with an accent nail of the The Fashion Icon.

The Glitterati collection launches in Tesco & Superdrug next week. If you get hold of them & take any photos, tag me on Instagram (I'm @ashtonlewsey) because I'd love to see! I can't wait to keep trying different combinations of colours myself. 

Ashton xxx

Invisibobble & L'Oreal Sunkiss Jelly

Afternoon! 

Today I'm going to reviewing two hair products which you may or may not have come across before. 

Let me introduce the brilliant, but obscure looking Invisibobble (£3.75 for a pack of 3 from Boots).

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of these in their box as I've been using them for a while. I decided to review them because a couple of friends spotted me sporting an Invisibobble and said "what on earth is this?!".

Prior to buying Invisibobbles, I bought a pack of 20 'normal' hair bands every 6 weeks or so. 

The problems with the classic hair tie being: 

1) Pulling out clumps of hair on removal

2) Leaving a big dent in the hair so you can't transition 

between having your hair up then down

3) Bad value for money

4) Creating knots

The Invisibobble slides out with absolute ease, without creating a bump (providing your hair is dry), I've bought two packs which I've not had to replace and I can't see that I ever will. 

(pink, and black for when I'm being sophisticated!)

Invisibobble also gives more of an 'oomphy' ponytail. I don't know how it does it, but it does! 

See that Oomph?! 

As a scientific experiment I did some housework with my hair up (days off are for blogging and ironing) and then removed it, to prove to you guys that I am bump free! I shall show you after I've talked about my second hair product L'Oreal Casting Sunkiss Jelly (£5.99 from Boots)

The box contains a tube, and the tube contains the gloopy stuff.  I really didn't believe that anything which you leave on your hair for as long as you like could have such good results!

I sent out a heavily-hashtagged photo on Instagram to ask for advice on how to use it. Thank you to anyone who responded! 

The method I went for was to dispense the jelly through damp hair using my fingers, and then blow-dry. However you can use it on dry hair, and you can just sit in the sun. Sunlight or heat from a hairdryer makes the product more effective. I don't know how, must just be 'because science'.

I'm one of those girls who has had my hair white-blonde, pillar box red, fuchsia pink, strawberry blonde, ginger, and plain old brown. At the moment I've got a Zoella Ombre going on, simply because it means I can grow my roots out and give my hair a rest from the dye. But I've noticed the natural colour of my roots looks really dull and slightly grey next to the faux-roots of my ombre which have a warm tone. For that reason I have only been putting Sunkiss Jelly on my roots. The box suggests either using it as an all-over treatment, or just on the ends of darker hair to create an ombre! The possibilities are endless. 

I really hadn't noticed much difference, the change is so gradual. But then, all of a sudden, the compliments and comments about my hair being blonder came flocking in! Excellent! I wash my hair maybe 4 times a week and I've been using Sunkiss Jelly twice a week for about 3 weeks. 

To give you some proof here is a photo I took about 3 weeks ago next to one I took today. 

(And look, no dents or bumps! Helloooooo Invisibobble!) 

My roots are really significantly lighter, but not so much that when my natural colour grows through it will cause a problem. Perfect! 

Boots currently have a 3 for 2 deal on anything to do with hair! Which means you could give one of the products I've reviewed a try, when you buy your usual shampoo & coniditioner! 

Thank you for reading! 

Ashton xxx

Be sure to say hello via Instagram & Twitter

Blogger of... the moment!

Hello!

I realised the promise to have a 'blogger of the week' feature did not quite happen. Maybe it can be blogger of the month, or maybe blogger of the moment! There's only so many times I can roll out the 'hey, I'm new here!' excuse. But really, I'm new!

The blogger I'm going to be featuring today is Phee from Phee's Make Up Tips. I first discovered Phee via Instagram, where she is frequently featured on the Illamasqua page. For me, Phee really stands out in the crowd. I follow about 500 people there, and 50% of those are make-up themed. Phee has something different going on! She doesn't follow trends, and if she does it's always with her own little twist! Phee does everything from subtle soft day time glowyness, to dramatic big brows and strong colour. This time last year I was starting to think about what to do for halloween, and I drew inspiration from Phee's gorgeous green contour.

I asked Phee a few questions we can find out a bit more! 

1) When did you first discover your talent for make up? 

I really don't know! I guess it would be when I was at college, I took Fine Art as one of my A Level subjects and incorporated makeup into a lot of the projects I did. I had an interest in makeup before then though, and was always 'that weird kid' experimenting with different looks. I guess I'm still that weird kid ;).

2) When did you start channeling your make up through Instagram & your blog? 

When I started uni I had a lot of spare time on my hands. I used to look at other peoples' blogs and think that I could maybe do that too, so I did. Instagram happened a bit late on for me, I was in a rut with my makeup and my for a while and Instagram helped me get out of it. You've got to be bold and creative on their to give people something eye catching that they'll want to double tap!

3) What would be your top tips for a new blogger like myself? 

Don't focus on numbers. It can be disheartening sometimes in the early stages of your blog to keep checking the analytics. I still barely check mine, I focus more on the comments on the posts and how people interact with the content I put up on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Also don't spread yourself too thin. Some bloggers post every day - great on them - but I just found trying to write three posts, upload a video, think of a series for Instagram was getting way too much. Take a break too if you need to, I've taken months off writing and come back to have a better response to the posts I put up.

4) What are your favourite products/looks for autumn/winter? 

For autumn/winter I'm all about faking that glow so Illamasqua Gleam in Aurora rarely leaves my side. I also love a really dark lip, Black Dahlia lip tar and lip pencil by OCC are the best for getting a great colour and crisp lines.

5) You create some really theatrical looks, and some people don't always know how to take this. How do you deal with online criticism? 

I try not to read the comments, I really do, but curiosity gets the better of me! I never reply, because I feel like it could be taken the wrong way, but I do take on board what people say. It's great that we can get instant feedback sharing things online and I'm asking for it putting my images up there for people to share if they want.

I also keep in mind that if a brand's shared my image, they've deemed it good enough to put on their page to (sometimes) thousands of followers. 

As you can see, Phee is really incredibly talented. Coming from a creative background in terms of education, I believe make-up is not always about looking pretty, it's about expression and art and colour and breaking the mould. Which this lady has got down! 

You can find Phee via the following links:
Facebook    Instagram   Blog    Youtube

Please do say hello to myself via Instagram or Twitter. 

Ashton xxx

Mellow Yellow

Good Evening! 

A wise blogger once said to me "Don't blog for anyone else but yourself" or something to that effect. I really am enjoying my ramblings here, the enjoyment of knowing people are reading is a lovely bonus! I have just hit one thousand page views, thank you! I belive I have a grand total of 8 followers and I'm sure you 8 don't add up to 1,000 views! So I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to who ever out there is taking the time to read!

On the weekend I went to a beautiful wedding in Wiltshire. It was absolutely gorgeous. The ceremony took place in a local church, and the rest of the day was in a marquee in a field with shetland ponies! Being female, when I hear the rattle of a wedding invite through the letter box, my first thought is "DRESS SHOPPING!".

I ended up with a very Ashton-esque dress from JOY, a store which has recently opened near Cabot Circus in Bristol. I was ridiculously organised/excited and so I bought a dress 2 months early, meaning it's sadly no longer available. However I visited again this week and their Autumn/Winter stock is all gorgeous!
I really recommend popping in.
Joy has a really nice vibe. As much as I love to nip in & out of Primark sometimes, occasionally I like a bit of time and attention from a shop assistant (a little bit of neediness never hurt anybody!). The Joy staff have it down without pestering or hovering. Thumbs up all round.

This is the dress! A really lovely 50's shape with a lemon print. Unusual, but still suitable. 

Teamed with a white H&M blazer, Next yellow satchel and nude Primark heels my mum called 'Kate Middleton style'.
Thought I'd also give a shoutout to how hot-diggidy-dayumn handsome my boyfriend looked whilst I'm here too!

Obbbbvvvviiiously I matched my nails to my dress! (Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream

Have you shopped in Joy? Have you worn yellow during summer 2014? Do you love it or hate it?

'til next time, much lovin'!

Ashton xxx

P.S. I think I've realised I need to up my game if I'm going to do outfit posts!
(I am new on the blogging scene, don't forget!).

Don't Want No Scrubs (wait, yes I do)

Hello!

It's been a small while hasn't it? I've still been super busy with the 'secret project' I mentioned previously. But it's almost finished!

I've found a brilliant blog by Ethereal Aura Spa which goes into some real detail about skin and skincare. I found this post about St Ives apricot scrub particularly interesting, and there's another about Pro Activ. The blog goes into great detail about ingredients and in a nutshell I have learnt that a lot of scrubs are full of synthetic crap which strips the skins surface leaving it open to bacteria, and it's no good! I discovered the Avon exfoliater I raved about a few weeks ago has a lot of the same ingredients! So I decided it's time for a change!

The awesome thing about blogging is that I feel like I know everyone! I've mentioned Melody before, but did I mention she works in Lush?! Melody demonstrated Ocean Salt on my hand in store and I was so impressed I went for a large tub of the stuff. Melody also told me that most exfoliators have loads of plastic in them, gross! But Ocean Salt has... salt! (Duh). Ocean Salt gives that amazing 'Oh my god my face is so CLEAN!' feeling. Theres grapefruit and lime in there too, yum! 

Melody also gave me some samples of Catastrophe Cosmetic and BB Seaweed and facemasks.  Catasrophe Cosmetic felt calming and soothing, and has blueberry bits in. But what I love in a mask is the feeling of 'sucking out' all the badness in my skin. The seaweed mask does exactly that, sometimes your skin just needs something to get rid of the old and make room for the new! Lush offer a free full size mask if you bring back 5 empty pots, I'm nearly there and BB Seaweed is definitely the one I've got my eye on for next time! 

I also bought myself a comforter bubble bar because it's my absolute favourite Lush product and I can't walk in there without buying one! It's half used in this photo because I'm fresh from the bath as we speak! I usually find I get about 3 baths from one bar. 

Tell me your Lush skincare experiences! I'm keen to know what is worth buying! 

I am '@ashtonlewsey' on both Twitter and Instagram! Say hello! 

Ashton xxx