Review: Getting a little scent-imental

Today, a little something new for the blog, just to keep you all on your toes. I adore scented candles, as I know many of my friends do, and knowing how difficult it is to find one with a delicious scent that isn’t too sickly or bitter, I wanted to share some of my recommendations with you guys. I stocked up last week after spotting Primark had a load of new candles for sale and in a range of gorgeous new scents. I’ve been waiting ages for them to restock these massive candles that take ages to burn away, and was so pleased to see a range of new fruity smells including red berries and orchid. I made sure to grab a large candle in this gorgeous scent and then stocked up on tea lights in all of the different options which included white jasmine and lily, and white vanilla and coconut.

I have always loved scented candles and the way they can take an ordinary bedroom and make it seem cosy and pretty. They are perfect after a long day at work, when you just fancy a chilled out evening and I often find that they help me to sleep, especially when they contain lavender. I always make sure I have a nice big candle on the go and already had a lovely one from Sainsbury’s in a glass jar that smelled of apple blossom and lotus – another combination of some of my favourite scents.

All of us have our favourite scents and whether you prefer something zingy and fresh, something flowery or something musky, there is a candle out there for all of us. For those who prefer something heavy, perfumed and musky, I can recommend the Jo Malone candles, which are gorgeous and lovely as a present, but I find them very overpriced for what they are. I do use my scented candles very often and find that the more expensive ones tend to burn down too quickly making them very bad value for money. Also lovely, and somewhat better priced, although still expensive, are the lovely Cowshed candles which are very luxurious with 100% natural wax made from organic, vegan ingredients. The scents are gorgeous and are lovely when you’ve slathered yourself with their body lotions as well. They are also rather lighter and more floral and natural than the Jo Malone ones.

I would actually recommend against spending the money on candles by Sanctuary Spa and Champneys, although their products are all gorgeous and such wonderful treats for your skin (always my favourites for presents) the candles didn’t actually smell very nice to me. Now I know that everyone will have differing tastes in candles and scents, and that some of you guys may really like these, but I was rather disappointed in the scents and was pleased I sniffed before I bought on this occasion, because they are rather expensive if you turn out to not really like them!

I would say that in my experience with various brands, Primark does seem to offer the best scented candles I have found. They are amazing value for money considering the rate at which they burn and they still have lovely aromas with a range of options so you are sure to find the perfect scent and type of candle for you. They offer them in large tinned candles, tea lights and glass jar candles which are perfect options for all the rooms in the house. I personally love the mini-scented tea lights because they are a perfect fit for all the tea light candle holders I have accumulated over the years. I have all shapes, sizes and designs thanks to mine and my mum’s obsession with them – the twinklier and the prettier the better!

Is there a brand you would recommend for scented candles? What is your favourite scent?

Halloween – becoming the Black Widow

My love of Halloween and all that comes with it was not disappointed this weekend when my friend decided to hold a last minute fancy dress party, giving me the opportunity to try out some crazy make-up and to become the Black Widow. At such short notice, I was forced to make do with items I already had and to get a little creative – luckily I already boast a rather ample store of fancy dress items thanks to my university days. I just can’t bring myself to throw any of them away despite rarely needing them – but you never know when you’ll need to dress up!

The finished look – The Black Widow

The skirt I had bought only the other day and was looking for an opportunity to wear it out. I love the fitted jersey midi underneath and the grey mesh layer on top had the effect of looking a bit web-like which was the effect I was after. The fitted layer underneath was really helpful, it was a pretty windy night! The skirt was from Boohoo and cost only £12 – find it here. The top is a favourite of mine, from Missguided (as is the necklace), it is a velvet bralet with cut outs on the sides – these are great for showing off my rib tattoo! It cost £17.99 and is available here. The heels are my old reliable wedges from New Look and my rings are also from there. I actually loved my outfit, it was so comfy but really glamorous at the same time and I will definitely be cracking it out again, minus the cape, for a night out.

My Black Widow make-up

I decided that since I was mainly using accessories to create my outfit, that I would go all out for my make-up and wanted to try to create a strong look by really vamping it up. I looked online for ideas and tutorials and spotted one that I posted on here before the party that I thought I might try, but when it came to it I actually found another tutorial that looked a little simpler and quicker to do. See the picture below for what I was using as a guide and click on the picture to go to the YouTube tutorial.

Black Widow make-up by GoldieStarling

Now, although I am fairly good at doing basic make-up such as applying foundation, contouring, smoky eyes etc, I am not much of an artist and don’t really have the vision necessary to create such incredible looks. I based the entire idea around a pair of Paperself Lashes I was given at the EA Blogger Party and wanted to create the webbed effect around these. I know that my make-up is nothing in comparison to the beautiful job that Goldie Starling has done in her tutorial, but here’s how I created my look and changed it to suit my look.

First of all I applied my foundation  (Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in Sun Bronze) and concealer (Dream Lumi Touch by Maybelline in Sand) base, contoured using bronzer (Match Perfection by Rimmel in Medium), but left the blush out to make my lipstick stand out more. Then I created the strong smoky eye by using a frosty white and a silver eyeshadow from the Smoky Eyes Palette by Bourjois with a combination of Gunmetal and Creep from my Naked Palette by Urban Decay. This was set off with Extreme 24-house Felt Tip Eyeliner (Collection 2000), Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer from Rimmel and plenty of Benefit’s They’re Real mascara after I had curled my eyelashes. I then painstakingly applied the first false eyelashes I have used in years. The gorgeous Paperself lashes were cobwebs with spiders and looked amazing but were a bit to big and wide for my eyes so to make them easier to apply I cut them into sections and then just applied the biggest and longest ones to my outer lash line.

My smoky eye and false lashes

I then began to draw on the web shapes by starting with my white Barry M Khol Pencil and making the inner circle of web by drawing a scalloped circle around my right eye. From each point, I then drew a straight line outwards and tapered these off at the outer edges of the circle. I joined these by drawing more of the scalloped circles to join the lines together and create the web. Once I had done this, I shaded finely along the scalloped edges to create the web and smudged this using a bit of white eyeshadow to set the liner. The tutorial I watched suggested doing the white section first to create the negative shape before adding the black and I found it a lot easier having tried to apply the black shapes first in another attempt.

The web effect on the right side of my face

The next stage was to use the black felt tip eyeliner to draw on the black lines of the web which was fairly straightforward, but be sure to steady your hand and use long sweeping motions rather than short, sharp movements. I used a bit of the Gunmetal and Creep shadows to smudge the liners and create the web effect. I then added some gems that I found in my drawer, I bought them for a few pence at Primark ages ago and forgot I had them. I attached them using false eyelash glue and placed them around the outside corner of my eye with another on the outside corner of my left eye.

The left side of my face and some extra webbing

The tutorial was to create a symmetrical look with the web around each eye, but I didn’t have enough faith in my make-up abilities to get these close enough so I decided to add some webbing on my jawline on the left side of my face which I think worked rather well. I followed the same process to do this except in more triangular shape which was actually far simpler. I finished the look with my amazing new Collection 2000 Gothic Glam lipstick in Scorned (a dark purple shade that I had been looking everywhere for).

I was really pleased with how my make-up turned out and wanted to wear my hair in a massive quiff to add drama to the look and keep my hair off the make-up, but had to go for a wild back to the hair. I set the whole thing with plenty of hairspray to keep my hair and make-up in place all night. I was so pleased with how it turned out – for someone who is not incredible at make-up, I think I did a great job, especially using what I already had! What do you guys think?

 

Panorama – Dying for a bargain

Last night’s Panorama was particularly horrible and even now I am still thinking about it. I usually watch the programme on Monday nights because of the content and also for shorthand practice, but this episode stood out to me for some reason.

Panorama investigates how our clothes – including those of some big high street brands – are really made. It finds evidence of shocking working conditions and an industry that still puts profit before safety. More than a thousand garment workers died when the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed in April. But reporter Richard Bilton discovers people working 19 hour days, security guards who lock in the workers and factory owners who hide the truth from western retailers.

Although focusing on a topic that is already well-known among consumers, just continually ignored, it was shocking to have the extent of the problem highlighted in the investigation. Hearing in detail about the Rana Plaza collapse and how the workers had been locked in and unable to escape was both tragic and sickening at the same time.

It became worse as the investigators discovered that locking the workers in was in fact common practice, as was forcing them to work 13 hour shifts without a break and countless hours of overtime that was never officially clocked, nor were they paid enough to justify it.

The treatment of these workers is criminal and horrific to see, but it still doesn’t stop them from going to work because they are trapped in the never-ending cycle of poverty that keeps them coming back to earn a pittance that barely covers their rent or bills.

Sadly, it also fails to stop the majority of shoppers, myself included, from buying the items made in these sweatshops. Despite knowledge of these practices – why is it still so easy to forget when faced with that new item from Topshop or Primark?

I am as guilty as anyone of this.

But it certainly gets me thinking about what my life would have been like, had I been born in Mauritius and raised there instead of in the UK – I could have been scraping buy on pennies earned on 13-hour shifts in factories instead of working for a newspaper and educated in a university. Amazing really. Essentially the difference between Third World Problems and First World Problems.

Travel: More from Ireland as I search for my ‘pot of gold’

The next day, I awoke bright and early feeling refreshed from an amazing night’s sleep in a cosy bed and lay there for a little while, watching the boats from the bed. I was thrilled to see the sun was shining and that my beautiful new shoes would be safe from the heavy rain I had been warned about. We headed downstairs where a delicious breakfast of cereal, juice, yoghurt with fresh fruit, toast and a full fry-up was awaiting us. We filled our boots knowing full well that we wouldn’t be eating again until dinnertime with the wedding taking place at 2pm at a church that was 30 minutes away. We smartened ourselves up and headed over to meet the others.

I wore a Love by Topshop floral dress which I customised by sewing up the slit at the front of the dress, with a black New Look blazer, a Topshop necklace, my bargain Dorothy Perkins shoes (a steal after the were reduced to £15) and a Primark bag.

Mark wore a River Island suit, with River Island shoes, his tie and shirt came from Topshop, he also wore a waistcoat from River Island and red braces.

We were first in the hotel lobby and made the most of it by having a sneak around to look at the reception rooms and have a drink.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful and suited the couple, Brendan and Liza down to the ground, they are very big on family and the importance of everyone being involved – when we visited them last year they did everything they could to make me feel incredibly welcome and they are endlessly generous and kind.

For the service, they started with Liza walking down the aisle to the tune of Mark’s uncle playing the fiddle.

The couple made their vows, interspersed with readings from several members of the family, in front of priest (Great Uncle) Richard, who had made the journey from South Africa where he works as a missionary in order to conduct the service. Such a lovely touch and he made it so personal to them. I was thrilled to finally meet his after hearing so much about him over the past six years.

Later on, after a champagne reception back the the hotel, with strawberries to dip in our glasses, we enjoyed a hearty meal of a large seafood vol-au-vent, followed by prime Irish beef with gravy, roast potatoes, mash and vegetables (all in endless supply) and finished the meal with profiteroles and meringue. Just what we all needed after such a long day. And the meal was later followed by sausage sandwiches for an evening snack!

Then the dancing started. The entertainment was a rockabilly band which later turned into a disco with the best playlist I have ever heard at a wedding – all good, party anthems such as Cornershop and FatBoySlim – perfect to get everyone dancing!

After dancing until our feet could take it no more, and the DJ closed down for the night, we retired to the bar for more drinking and a lot more laughs. Myself and Mark finally left at around 4-4.30am but heard the party was still going on until 6.30am! We stumbled back to the B&B and hit the deck fairly quickly.

The next morning, after missing breakfast in the B&B, we got our stuff together and headed out for a walk and lunch by ourselves, to make the most of the final day before catching our flight. After a gorgeous lunch of linguine with fresh prawns and a garlic, white wine sauce as we sat outside overlooking the ocean, I insisted on dipping my toes into the water – something that means a lot to me. I love the sea and to be close to it is a big part of my life.

I achieved what I came to Ireland to do – I ate heartily, drank heavily, chatted to everyone, danced merrily, made people smile, learnt to smile again after a stressful few weeks and most importantly, it gave me the break I needed.

By dipping my toes into the chilly Irish sea, I feel like a new woman and that is the most important thing.

Ireland is a stunning country and the views, especially in this part, always leave me breathless. I would recommend that everyone visits Dunmore East at least once – as you can see from my pictures, it really is beautiful.