I'm back!

Well I guess I should start with an apology.

I'm sorry I have been absent for so long. I can't quite believe I haven't posted for three whole months! I'm not even sure why I haven't, I think the best way to explain it is that I allowed life to get in the way.

It got crazy busy at work and then suddenly it was Christmas and then January seemed to almost drag and fly by at the same time (not sure how that works really but there you go!).

Well enough of that, I said to myself time to get back in the saddle (figuratively speaking that is, I'm not writing this on top a horse or anything!) 

I was lucky enough to have been very kindly invited as a guest of the lovely Tia, from Bellezza Babe to a really fun and very interesting blogger event last Saturday. Which definitely re-ignited my passion and reminded me you only get out what you put in and you have to work hard and be passionate if you want to achieve something.

So In that frame of mind I am setting myself the target of three posts a week on a schedule in the hope to keep me blogging regularly and make sure I don't let myself get waylaid by my non blogging life again! 

My next post will be all about the event I attended on Saturday which was held by the fab brand LOVE and not only showcased their beautiful girly and classic spring summer collection but had a couple of really inspirational talks.

One given by the brands lovely social media representative Coco and also one by the always fabulously stylish Naomi from the blog Two Shoes, One Pair

That's all for now but I will most defiantly be back very soon to fill you in on what happened that rainy Saturday afternoon in London! 

Heather xx

Heather's Addicition is now on Facebook!

Heather's Addiction now has a Facebook page. To view it please click here, like the page and tell all of your friends.

Link button to be added soon.

Heather xx

My First Christmas Box Swap

As if I wasn't excited enough with Christmas lurking just around the corner, I have been chatting with the Lovely Tia who writes the Bellezza Babe blog (seriously, if you get a chance then check out her blog, it is awesome!) and we have decided to do a Christmas Box Swap.

We have set a budget of £30 and the swap will take place before Christmas Eve. I am so excited and have a few ideas for the box already.

Anyone who knows me knows I love presents, so I can't wait to see what loveliness is inside the box. I just want Christmas to hurry up because I am not patient when it comes to presents, I'm the type of person who rips the wrapping paper of with gale force speed, there is no saving of the wrapping paper when I'm around!

If anyone has done a box swap like this before and has any tips or ideas for the contents I would love to hear them.

Heather xx

The Monthly Crave #2

Well its reached that time of the month again where I share with you all a few things that I have been craving recently.

I have to admit that this months wants have been quite heavily influenced by seeing what other bloggers have bought! Stacey from Expat Make-Up Addict I'm looking at you!

First up is the Hour Glass Ambient lighting palette, this little beauty is limited edition and contains three of the highly rated and raved about Hour Glass ambient light finishing powders. It has two of the existing shades Dim Light and Radiant Light and the new limited edition shade Incandescent Light. I think this trio is perfect if you want to try the powders out and I love the different options it gives you making it very versatile. It also comes with a mini of the veil mineral primer adding to my justification of purchase! I have a feeling this will be in my shopping basket come pay day!

 Next is the Dior full coverage foundation brush, Dior's description is :-

"For use with fluid and cream foundations, the DIOR Full Coverage Fluid Foundation Brush has innovative fibres combining synthetic responsiveness with natural softness. Both layered and sharpened, these fibres help blend the foundation for fast, easy application. The brush head is denser and beveled in order to blend in a greater quantity of foundation and obtain a high coverage yet totally natural and radiant finish".

I saw this on Stacey's post 6 brushes to love and it looks like it will be right up my street! I like to have a good coverage on my foundation as I don't have the best skin so this ticks all my boxes!

Something else I have had my eye on is the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask. This is another much blogger loved product that I can only seem to find good reviews on. It is meant to leave your skin glowing and refreshed which is something I could do with especially with winter drawing in, so I think this would make a great addition to my little skincare stash.

Mac are releasing the Divine Night collection on the 7th of November and I have my eye on two of the Lipsticks in the collection Flair for Finery which is a cool pink nude in a lustre finish and Private Party a dirty plum mauve in a satin finish.
 

Both of these Mac shades are lovely in the pictures I have seen and swatches on the internet but I will be swatching myself to make sure they suit my colouring before purchase (although I am always suckered in by the pretty limited edition packaging, so there is every chance I could end up buying online before swatching, oops!)

I have also been looking at these beautiful earrings from Bouton.  I love the jewellery they have on their site especially the charm bracelets, I never really clicked with Pandora but I like the Bouton ones. I think the button detail is very cute and individual and I just like the feel of the brand, it has an air of class about it.

My final crave this month has been for a DSLR Camera. I've had my eye on the Canon EOS 1100D from Amazon it has a really good price and has good reviews as far as I can see, so I shall be dropping some major hints to my Mr for this to make its way into my hands!  Phil if you are by any chance reading this you know what time of year is just around the corner and I have been a very good girl this year, hint hint!

Well that's it for this months craves, please let me know if you have any of these products or if you are thinking of getting any of them?

Please also let me know if you have any suggestions for a DSLR or if you have this one and what you think of it.

Heather xx

Mini Mid Month Haul, including Barry M,Soap & Glory & Origins

Hi Everyone,

I hope your weeks are all going well, don't worry it will be the weekend again soon!

So I have a slight confession to make, after my payday haul.... I went shopping again! Its an addiction I tell you, I like shopping far to much!

My first port of call was Boots to get a few of the new Barry M Matte Nail Polishes. I was able to get Vanilla, Mocha and Crush. While I was at the stand, one of the Barry M textured effect polishes, Princess, jumped into my basket along with the Crystal Glaze top coat, oops!

Next I had a quick look at the Revlon stand as I wanted to get a couple of the new cream eyeshadows I have been seeing raved about all over the blogosphere. Unfortunately the Boots I went to didn't have them in stock yet, this left me very unhappy, so to cheer myself up I picked up another glittery top coat, Revlon Heavenly.

For my next impulse buy I picked up some of the Boots Botanics facial oil this is 100% organic and counts rosehip oil as an ingredient, which I know my skin likes and at under £10 is a bit of a bargain in my books! (I have been using this for the past few days and really like it, well worth picking up if you get the chance!)

Now, I really was on my way to the till when I was pulled against my will over to the Soap & Glory stand. Where I subsequently talked myself into buying the One Heck of a Blot Mattifiying Translucent powder. I have heard good things about this, Stacey from Expat Make-Up Addict rated the Soap & Glory powder above the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder that I had been using, so thought I should give it ago (if you haven't checked out Stacey's blog yet you should its fab and she has a make up collection I can only aspire to!).

Next I had a quick peek in Paperchase, I have been wanting to pick up a cute note book for my blogging ideas. I use Evernote on my Iphone & Ipad but I wanted an actual book where I can jot down any post ideas or products I want to buy for review when I think of them. When I saw this one it was perfect the colours match my blog theme and the girl on the front reminds me a little bit of me so I grabbed it along with a pen that had a similar illustration on it.

As usual just as I was about to pay I saw the cute phone case that I couldn't leave in the shop, so it came home with me to live happily ever after!

Finally I made a cheeky little order from Origins when I got home. They had an offer where if you made a purchase and used a special offer code you would get a 30ml sample of the High Potency Night A Mins moisturiser I have been keeping my eye out for another Night moisturiser as my Elemis will be running out soon so this seemed a perfect way to try something out without making a costly mistake.  Thank you Origins.

I picked the Face wash Checks and Balances which was £8 and the rest was free which also included the shipping which even though said it would be 2-5 days ended up being next day! I love that you get extra samples as a standard from Origins as I really like to try before I buy especially when it comes to serums as you end up spending so much on them that it can be a waste if you have a reaction to them or you just don't like the feel of them.

Anyway that's my mini mid month haul. Do you have little splurges when you really shouldn't? Please leave a comment I would love to hear your thoughts.

Heather xx

My Proposal Story and Engagement Ring!

Hello Everyone,

As I have mentioned previously, I'm engaged to be married to a very wonderful and understanding man, so I thought I would do a quick post on how I was proposed to and my beautiful ring.

I'm quite lucky that my other half, Phil, is the type of guy you can speak to about anything and he wont get scared and run a mile. He has two children, (who are amazing by the way), from a previous relationship and because of this and the type of guy he is I think this has made him more open to speaking about the 'future'. So prior to the proposal we had the chat about the future and what we both wanted from it and marriage was discussed.

We decided that we wanted to get married and that we would choose the ring together (more like I'm a fussy bugger so he wanted to make sure it was perfect!). We (I) spent hours on the Internet looking for rings that fell within the budget he had set. I was determined that I wanted something that was a bit different from the traditional solitaire and I wanted something that I wouldn't be likely to see on someone else's finger! Eventually I fell in love with a  ring I saw on Diamond Heaven. It was beautiful and exactly the kind of  style I wanted (Art Deco-ish but with a modern twist)

So we booked and appointment and made the trek to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham to visit their shop.When we arrived we couldn't fault the staff, they were friendly, very helpful and had a good knowledge of their diamonds (I'm lucky that my Dad used to be a Jeweller so I knew all about the 4 C's).

Going to the shop was the best decision we made. It meant we could see exactly the size of the stone that we would get, where as on the website they tend to use one picture of a huge stone for all previews of the different styles.

Because we went to the shop it allowed us to get a really good look at the ring setting and see it on my finger to make sure it felt right! We were able to pick the exact stone we wanted and managed to get a really good price for what it was (another reason to go to the store, for a little haggle). 

The price we came to was a little higher than the original budget that we had set so after taking the other half aside and pulling a wide variety of needy faces and lots of smiling (Phil says I pull this face where I smile at him and he cant resist to say no to me, the silly boy shouldn't have told me this, consequently he sees it a lot when we go shopping!) he agreed that I could have that ring. I was so happy I had to contain myself from doing a little dance in the shop.

They then had to send the stone away to have the setting specially made, we were told this would take about 6 weeks so Phil said he would surprise me with the proposal once he received the ring. Judging on how he told me he loved me for the first time and how he asked me to move in with him I knew it was going to be pretty special, luckily for me he is a complete romantic!

Let me just say first off these were the longest 6 weeks of my life to date. Oh my Goodness, I don't know how I managed to keep it together he was constantly on his laptop 'planning' and keeping secrets from me! I'm not really a person who likes suprise's, I prefer to know its going to happen and to look forward to it plus I am really impatient!

Finally the day came, and we were are home with the kids. I was oblivious to the goings on. I was upstairs with his daughter Rosie talking about make up  (which I have since learned was a distraction!) and Phil and Zach were scheming downstairs.

Zach came up and asked me to come downstairs but to wait outside the door to the front room and close my eyes (I had a suspicion that something was afoot but still hadn't twigged).

I heard the door open and Phil told me to keep my eyes closed whilst he guided me to sit down on the sofa. He then told me to open my eyes when I did I saw the front room covered in beautiful candles and rose petals and then TV kicked into life.

The only way to describe what followed is a video diary of how we met and fell in love and the story of our life so far all set to the music of Ed Sheeran's Kiss Me. (I was in floods of tears from the start, because it was perfect and having the kids there, although they are not mine, meant a lot to me as we are a family)

The climax of the video was the best, he had got my closest friends to take separate pictures of themselves each holding a different word to spell out 'Heather', 'will', 'you', 'marry' and finally he was holding 'me' with the last picture being the kids holding a homemade signs that said 'Say Yes'

He then got down one knee and opened the ring box to reveal the most beautiful sparkling ring and proposed.

And of course I said Yes!

Do you have a romantic proposal story? I would love to hear it please leave a comment and let me know!
Heather xx

La Roche-Posay Serozinc and where to buy it in the UK!

Today I thought I would do a quick post about where I source my cans of  La Roche-Posay Serozinc from, as I know that this isn't as readily available here in the UK, as many of us would like it to be. I think I have found a solution that doesn't involve moving to France.

La Roche-Posay Serozinc is what I use in the moisturising toner stage of my skincare routine and has become a staple within that routine that I cant see myself changing any time soon.

I have been using it for over four months now and I really feel it has made a big improvement to my skin, most especially in my chin area where I seem to get a lot of spots.These have significantly reduced in number and frequency since I began using this product.

Now, admittedly I did overhaul my skincare routine at the same time, which I know has also contributed to its improvement, but I feel that this stage in particular has made a big impact.

The active ingredients in Serozinc are Water, Sodium Chloride and Zinc Sulfate, which you might think would not make a difference to your skin, but Serozinc seems to reduce my redness and calm painful spots down in a record time (for me anyway!).

When I first head about it I decided nothing else would do and I had to have it. As I previously mentioned it can be a bit of a struggle to get this in the UK but after some digging I was able to find a company called Cocooncenter who stock it and will deliver to the UK.

I have now ordered through them twice and am very impressed with the range of products they offer (a lot of the french pharmacy lines that are a struggle to get over here) and the swiftness of their delivery.

They send regular emails to keep you updated on the progress of your order and on an important note it has also never been out of stock when I have looked.

I made my last order in the evening on the 30/09/2013 and it was with me by the 03/10/13 which is an excellent turnaround especially as I choose the standard and not expedited shipping option.

The price is also very reasonable I paid €6.50 per can and then €9.90 for the shipping, I ordered four cans and I think this came to around the £30 mark. I am more than happy to pay this, but think it is definitely worth getting a few at a time to make the shipping worth it.

Something else offered by the Cocooncenter is that they have a loyalty bonus with each purchase that can be either saved or deducted from you next order. I used mine to take about 50p of my order cost.

Please do go have a browse and let me know what you think, I have linked the direct page to the Serozinc here

Heather xx

*This is NOT a sponsored post and I have not been paid or in any way asked to review this, all opinions and experiences are my own*