Review: The Ordinary Colours Coverage Foundation

I’ve been wanting to try one of The Ordinary foundations ever since I started seeing/reading many a positive review, but I still had plenty of my tried & tested MAC Studio Fix Fluid left. As this recently started to run low it seemed like the perfect time to (finally) give The Ordinary Colours Coverage Foundation a go. 

The foundation comes in a sturdy plastic bottle, complete with pump! Whilst the bottle appears to be on the small side, it does contain a full 30ml of product. 

When it came to choosing a shade I had to make a decision using the virtual swatches, as I purchased online. After much deliberation I finally decided to purchase Shade 1.2 N, which has turned out to be a really good match for my Autumn/Winter skin tone, although I might need to go a shade darker for Summer.

Christmas #VikingArtyParty, Leeds

This year I’ve kicked off Christmas celebrations extra early with the #VikingArtyParty, which I was kindly invited along to by Viking. The Christmas #VikingArtyParty was held at Lambert’s Yard,right in the heart of Leeds, and was a fun filled afternoon of festivities (including Christmas crafts, mulled wine and festive nibbles).

At the beginning of the event we were each given a name badge and given a piece of coloured paper, which would decide which of the crafts we would take part in first. I was placed in the yellow group (along with Jess, Simone, Kel, Katie, Laura and a number of other lovely bloggers). 

After mingling and a cheeky glass of mulled wine (for the non-drivers) it was time for the crafting to begin! The first craft for the yellow group was calligraphy, hosted by Joyce from Artsynibs. Joyce set us the task of completing a selection of practice sheets, with the end goal being for us to go on and create our own card using our newly found calligraphy skills. 

Whilst I don't think calligraphy is my hidden talent, I'm determined not to give in with this craft just yet!

Review: Soaprise.me bath hamper*

Soaprise.me is a small family-run business which supplies a large variety of natural bath treats. Their online store holds a wide range of bath bombs, soaps, bath salts and more. In the not so distant future the Soaprise.me team are hoping to add a range of bath hampers too and they very kindly sent me one to me to try.

The hamper I received contained a selection of bath bombs (Strawberry Daiquri Fizzy bath bomb, Frozen Lime Margarita Fizzy bath bomb, Fruit Salad Gums Fizzy Bath Bomb and a Retro jumbo bath bomb), a slice of Jojoba Olive Oil soap, three mini heart soaps (two Green Tea scented and one Coconut scented), a set of three mini soap flowers (Lavender scented) and a Coconut and Lime solid shampoo bar.

The hamper was delivered in a sturdy cardboard box, filled with shredded paper which helped to keep the bath treats in tip top condition during transit. Most of products within the hamper came individually wrapped (the exception being the mini soaps). I was very impressed to find out that Soaprise.me use cardboard boxes made from recycled cardboard (or cardboard from sustainable sources), biodegradable bags for their bath bombs and biodegradable wrappers for their soaps.

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of products in the hamper. However I think it would be nice to have a card/booklet within the hamper giving a little bit more information about the products (e.g. ingredients, how to use etc).

Travel: A Summer Holiday in Cornwall

Cornwall is one of those places that I've always wanted to visit and despite the stunning scenery I can't pretend that the long car journey hasn't put me off previously. However, a couple of weeks ago I embarked on a 6 + hour journey to Cornwall with my lovely boyfriend and his family (at this point I should probably mention that I didn't do any driving and should say thank you to my lovely boyfriend for doing all the driving :))

After travelling through the early hours of Saturday morning we arrived in Cornwall around 10am. We weren't able to check in to our Air BnB until late afternoon so we stopped at a lovely harbour town called Fowey for breakfast and a wander, before heading to Falmouth for a wander around (and a very tasty Cornish pasty!). After a long day of travelling it was finally time for us to make our way towards St Just to check into our Air BnB (a lovely old farmhouse based on the outskirts of the town with a real fire and no phone signal.. bliss!)

On Sunday we visited Pedn Vounder beach which was absolutely beautiful, but a little bit tricky to reach. As I like to be honest in my blog I'll admit that I slipped on the coastal path.. twice. I definitely wasn't appropriately dressed for that hike! If you're planning on visiting Pedn Vounder I'd definitely recommend wearing hiking boots/shoes or at best trainers. 

Review: GlassesShop.Com Prescription Glasses*

I first started wearing prescription glasses back in my mid-teens and I'm now more reliant on them than ever, so it's nice to have a couple of pairs which I can alternate between to prevent me getting fed up of wearing the same pair over and over. As I'm sure my fellow prescription glasses wearers will be aware prescription glasses can be very expensive! So when GlassesShop.com got in touch and offered to send me a pair of their affordable prescription glasses to review I was intruiged.

GlassesShop.Com is an online shop which offers a vast range of prescription eyeglasses, glasses frames and prescription sunglasses at affordable prices. With so much choice it took me a while to chose my frames. In the end I decided to go with the GrandPrairie Wayfarer Purple/Pink glasses* (RRP $25.95).

Review: LUSH Metamorphosis Bath Bomb

Last month I popped into LUSH for the first time in a very quite a long time. During my visit I purchased a product I'd never tried before, the Metamorphosis bath bomb.

The main ingredients in Metamorphosis are Black Pepper Oil,Cinamon Leaf Oil and Myrrh which give the bath bomb a lovely warm scent, which I can't compare to any other LUSH products I've tried. Personally I found that the scent lingered on my skin for quite a while after using the bath bomb, which I really liked.

Travel: A City Break in Edinburgh

Towards the end of last week I headed up to Edinburgh for a short break with my boyfriend. Edinburgh is a city I've wanted to visit for a while now and we managed to arrange a last minute trip (we even managed to bag cheap train tickets.. yay!)

Our train pulled into Edinburgh around lunchtime. After going straight to our AirBnB apartment to drop off our heavy bags (a huge thank you to our host who kindly allowed us to check in early) we headed out for an afternoon of exploring the city.

We spent the first part of our afternoon wandering around the Old Town and the famous Royal Mile, absorbing the lively atmosphere and admiring the architecture. I don't know about you, but I love looking at pretty buildings! I just had to take a picture of the colourful buildings on Victoria Street which are said to have been the inspiration behind Diagon Alley.

Beauty: Mini Haul and First Impressions

I'm currently trying to save, save and save some more towards the deposit for my first home so I've not been buying quite as many beauty products as I usually would (can I #adulting?!). However, I've accumulated a little stash of new products over the past few months. 

I was excited to try the L'Oreal Colorista Spray in 'Pastel Pink' after reading positive things about the range of temporary colour sprays. I had hoped to up my festival style game by adding some temporary pastel colour into my hair for Radio 1's Big Weekend, however this product didn't quite live up to my expectations. Unfortunately the colour didn't show up at all in my hair.

Speaking of festival style, my latest nail polish purchase Barry M Molten Nail Paint in 'Holographic Light' is a lovely shimmery shade which is ideal for festival season (and way beyond). This polish isn't the longest lasting, I've noticed that chipping starts to appear after a couple of days. However, for such a budget friendly price I don't mind the possibility of having to reapply during the week.

Review: bakerdays Letterbox Gift Cake

When it comes to choosing presents for people I'm always on the look out for something that little bit different. With Father's Day not too far away I've been looking for the perfect gift for my Dad, so when the lovely people at bakerdays offered me the chance to try one of their letterbox gift cakes I jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't want to have cake delivered straight to their door?!

bakerdays has a wide range of letterbox cakes, including cakes for Father's Day, Birthday Cakes and many many more. All of their cakes can be personalised and are designed,baked and created in house by the bakerdays Team (which I find very impressive!) 

With so many designs to choose from it took me a while to decide which letterbox cake I wanted to gift. After much deliberation I chose the 'well done Dad' cake in lemon drizzle flavour (other flavour options include traditional sponge, chocolate chip, fabulous fruit, gluten free and dairy free.)

Life: Thanks Dad

With Father's Day fast approaching I wanted to take some time to reflect on some of the lovely times I've had with my Dad. The Car People invited me to share my favourite car journey I've had with my Dad as part of their 'Thanks Dad' campaign, which I'm definitely on board with as I'm definitely guilty of not saying 'thanks' to my Dad often enough.

Now there's a number of stories I could share, including driving to Leeds festival in my Car (which my Dad renamed as the inbetweeners car), but there is one journey in paticular that was very memorable for me. Back in 2015 I spent a Summer doing a cultural exchange placement at a Summer Camp in the USA (you can read more on that in this post.) Despite months of pre placement prepping I was placed at camp at the very last minute... and I had to fly out from Heathrow. 

Luckily my Dad very kindly offered to drive the 370 mile round trip to drop me off at the airport (which I'm still thankful for two years later!) So on a *very* early June morning we got into the car (we being myself, my Mum and my Dad) and began our long journey to Heathrow.

Life: Radio 1's Big Weekend Hull

Over the past few years I've tuned into listen/watch coverage of BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend.  However, this year I didn't have to just listen through the radio or watch on TV as my boyfriend managed to get us tickets for the Sunday. Yesterday was festival day! 

We headed to the festival (what we believed to be) reasonably early, however neither of us realised that the transfer bus was going to take quite so long. After arriving at the festival site (Burton Constable Hall) we joined the already very lengthy queue of people waiting to enter the festival. We were waiting in the queue for well over an hour, an unfortunately that meant that I missed Little Mix perform (gutted!) However, I am very thankful for the extra security precautions that were taken & the bottles of water which were handed out to us whilst we were waiting. 

Once we gained entry to the festival we headed straight to the 'Where It Begins' stage to watch Blossoms perform. I'd not had the chance to see them perform live before and I definitely wasn't disappointed!

Fashion: OOTN

Fashion posts are very few and far between on my blog and social media channels as that type of content isn't in my comfort zone... and I'm in my work clothes or pj's 90% of the time.

Towards the end of last month I dragged myself out of my pj's got myself spruced up to attend a family Wedding reception. Since I spent so long choosing my outfit for the evening (I'm talking a full day in The Trafford Centre... I know🙄) I thought that I may as well push myself out of my comfort zone and publish my very first outfit post.

I'm wearing:

Dress - Michelle Keegan for Lipsy (which I felt pretty good in NGL)

Bag - Wallis (no longer available - similar here)

Shoes - New Look (no longer available - similar here)

Thank you for reading,

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Life: A Visit to BBC Good Food Spring Show

On Sunday me and my boyfriend headed to Harrogate to visit the BBC Good Food Spring Show. Whilst I'm not the biggest fan of cooking (it's a bit of a running joke that my repertoire consists of 3 dishes on rotation) I do love exploring new foods, so food festivals are right up my street!

We visited on the final day of the show and before visiting we were a bit worried that the exhibitors may have started to sell out of products. However, we didn't find this to be a problem at all.

The BBC Good Food Spring Show took place over three days, at the International Convention Centre in Harrogate. There were an extensive range of exhibitors at the show, spread across four themed shopping areas (Producer's Village, Drinks Cabinet,Deliciouslyyorkshire and BBC Good Food Champions), selling a variety of products from local produce to kitchen gadgets. There were also plenty of free samples to try (I think I could've got a little bit tipsy if I'd have had any more!) There was also a line up of chefs in attendance at various times across the weekend,Tom Kerridge,Lorraine Pascale and Antonio Carluccio, carrying out live food demonstrations, talks and book signings. The full list of guest chefs at the show can be found here and if you'd like to find out more about the exhibitors at the show you can find a full  list here.

Life: A Little Life Update

Happy May! Yes I'm going to be say that old cliche line.. can you believe how fast this year is going?!

I've been so busy lately and unfortunately my little blog is bearing the worst of it. Seriously trying to maintain a blog whilst working full time is bloomin' hard (hats off to the bloggers who work and blog full time). It's Thursday evening now and I've found a little bit of time to sit down and write a little life update post.

This year I've really started to enjoy going walking. I love the peace, scenery and it really does make me feel better. I wrote a post in January about my Weekend Walks. If you fancy reading it looking at pretty scenery photos you can find it here.

Beauty: April Favourites

It's quite a while since I last wrote a monthly beauty favourites post but there's a few products that I've tried recently and enjoyed using.

I recently had balayage added to my hair. On my hairdressers recomendation I bought PRO:VOKE Touch Of Silver Brightening Shampoo and PRO:VOKE Touch Of Silver Colour Care Conditioner from B and M Bargains (of all places!) and have been using them once weekly to keep my colour in tip-top condition.

During a visit to The Cosmetics Company Store at the end of last month I treated myself to a MAC duo bundle - which included a Velvet Teddy lipstick and Boldly Bare lip liner. I'm very late to the party with trying out this shade, which has become somewhat a blogger staple over the years, but this creamy deep nude colour has fast become my go to shade for everyday wear.

Review: Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Extreme pads

I've been using the Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Extreme pads for a little while now and I've been impressed with them. 

I would say that I have combination skin, although at the moment my skin is that little bit drier than usual. I've been using these pads a few times a week, after cleansing, to help exfoliate my skin and make it look that little bit brighter.

Although I don't tend to get a huge amount of spots, when I do them they like to come out in force (ain't nobody got time for that!).  I've found that since introducing this product into my skincare routine my breakouts have been less frequent, which is always a positive. 

Life: A Visit To The Fashionable Yorkshire Exhibition

I was very kindly invited to the Fashionable Yorkshire exhibition which is showing at Lotherton Hall from now until the end of the year. 

The exhibition showcases five centuries of style and focuses on how women's fashion has changed throughout history - from the 1600's through to the 1970's. This sounded like it would be right up my street so last weekend I headed to check it out.

The exhibition itself is relatively small but personally I didn't mind this as it was a chance to discover the stories behind the outfits (and briefly about the women that wore them).

Pictured: Margaret Layton of Rawdon's embroided jacket (1600's)

Pictured: Priestmans of Thornton-le-Dale dresses (1700's)

Travel: A Weekend In Bologna

If you follow me on social then you may already know that last weekend I headed to Bologna  with my Boyfriend. I have already shared (most) of the photo's from my trip on my Instagram but I wanted to put together a post about my weekend as well (although this post may be a little photo heavy).

After a slight delay at our departing airport we arrived in Bologna around lunchtime on Friday. After doing a little bit of exploring we headed to our Air BnB apartment to check in. Our Air BnB host had provided us with a guide containing recommendations of places to visit and places to eat etc, which we found to be very helpful. That evening we headed out for drinks and then we went for dinner at a local restaurant which served the most amazing, traditional dishes!

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early, eager to explore the city. We started our day with a visit to The Basilica of San Petronio and The Whispering Walls before heading to the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio.

Spending the day exploring Bologna 🇮🇹 . . . . . . #lbloggers #lblogger #myinstax #Instax1of1 #instaxmini #instax #lifestylebloggers #travelblogger #travebloggers #tbloggers #travel #weekendbreak #aweekendin#citybreak #travelgram #instadaily #instashare #instapost #instatravel #instatravels #travellust #myadventures #adventure #explore #exploreitaly #travelbug #natashaparisblog

A post shared by Natasha | Natashaparisblog (@natashaparisblog) on Mar 11, 2017 at 3:13am PST

First activity of the day - exploring inside Basilica of San Petronio 🇮🇹 . . . . . . #lbloggers #lblogger #lifestyleblogger #lifestylebloggers #travelblogger #travebloggers #tbloggers #travel #weekendbreak #aweekendin#citybreak #travelgram #instadaily #instashare #instapost #instatravel #instatravels #travellust #myadventures #globetrotter #travelphotography #church #sanpetronio #bologna #italy #natashaparisblog #natashaparistravels

A post shared by Natasha | Natashaparisblog (@natashaparisblog) on Mar 11, 2017 at 4:54am PST

Beauty: High Street Haul & First Impressions

Do you ever have one of those moments when you realise that you're gathering quite the stash of new beauty products? Since I've recently done just that I have done just that I thought I'd pop together a little post showing the new additions to my make-up bag which I've bought over recent weeks but I thought I'd do this post a little bit differently and share my first impressions too.

L'Oreal False Lash X Fiber Mascara is a dual ended mascara, with one end containing 'Voluminous Black Primer' and the other containing 'Lengthening Fibers'. I've been using this mascara for a couple of weeks now and I really like it. It gives my lashes volume without making them appear clumpy (which is something I have struggled with when I've used similar products). Now I don't always have the time to apply both products on a morning (the extra time in bed is that bit more appealing..) but for my everyday look I've found that just using the primer works well.

My Kat Von D Lock It Foundation is starting to run low so I purchased L’Oreal Infallible Total Cover Foundation in the shade '10 Porcelain' which I'd hoped might be a good everyday foundation option. The shade is a really good match for my skin but unfortunately I've not been overly impressed with the wear time, by late afternoon I've found that the product has started to look patchy on my skin.. not really a look that's working for me.

Travel: Exploring Scotland

Instead of buying Valentines Day gifts me and my Boyfriend instead decided to go on a mini break, so for the past couple of days I've been exploring Scotland (with no phone signal or WiFi connection) and it's been rather lovely!

As we have a city break to Bologna planned for early March we decided that our mini break to Scotland would be dedicated to walking. We stayed in an AirB&B apartment in Strachur which had wonderful views and was situated near to The Cowal Way walk, which we decided to walk part of on our first full day. 

Natasha Paris Bakes: Simple 6 Step Chocolate Brownies

Since receiving the Mary Berry Baking Bible for Christmas I've been itching to try out some new recipes. Last weekend I baked a batch of chocolate brownies following Mary's Chocolate Chip Brownie Recipe and added a few tiny tweaks.

The ingredients I used to make the brownies were:

275g butter (softened)

375 caster sugar

4 large eggs 

75g cocoa powder

100g self-raising flour

100g chocolate (I used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate, broken into chunks)

Beauty: LUSH Valentine's Haul

I had a day off work on Monday and decided to spend my morning doing some shopping. I popped into LUSH and was very pleasantly surprised at the choice of products in their Valentine's range. Of course I decided to treat myself to a couple of Valentine's goodies.

The first item I picked up was the 'Lover Lamp bath bomb', a returning product which I have previously tried and really liked. I also picked up a Ladybird bubble bar, which is another returning product (however, I'm pretty sure this has previously featured in the Spring range rather than as part of the Valentine's range) but is one that I've not tried before. 

Life: Weekend Walks

Wow it feels like a very long time since I sat down to write a blog post but life away from the internet needs to be a priority and I've been a busy little bee lately. 

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm typically not a very 'outdoor-sy' kinda person, but I'm aiming to try to get out and explore more. Whether that's by travelling, visiting a new place or exploring what's right on my doorstep. I've started going walking most weekends, and I really enjoy it. I've even agreed to to Scotland in February with my Boyfriend, purely to go walking. Who even am I?! 

Although I might moan that my legs hurt (occasionally), wrapping up warm and heading out walking in the outdoors really does help to improve my mood (and of course my wellbeing too).  I wanted to put together a little selection of photos I've taken on some of my recent walks as some of the scenery is just too pretty not to share.

A photo posted by Natasha | Natashaparisblog (@natashaparisblog) on Nov 19, 2016 at 7:02am PST

Pictured: Clumber Park