The Me-Time Tag

Estée from EssieButton and Amelia Liana are two of my all time favourite Bloggers and YouTubers. I love all their posts and videos although I think their vlogs are my favourite, especially when Reggie and Duke are featured in them - who doesn't love cute puppies?

They recently created a tag called the Me-Time Tag which a lot of other YouTubers and Bloggers have done so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and do it too.

What do you watch or read during me-time?
I mainly watch YouTube videos, I love propping my laptop or iPad up so I can watch stuff when I'm in the bath - that's not weird or TMI is it? I'm not really a big reader to be honest.

What do you wear during me-time? #nobra
Haha, I am not very gifted in the boob area so I am guilty of not wearing a bra whenever I can get away with it which is probably 70% of the time! But during me-time I will be found wearing some form of PJs - I love the really cosy, fleecey ones you can get from Primark which are super affordable.

What are your me-time beauty products?
Masks, masks and more masks. If i'm having a proper pampering me-time session I will use two or three face masks. I've been getting constant break outs on my chin for the past couple of months so start with a purifying mask on that area such as the Body Shop Tea Tree Face Mask then I will use a radiance boosting mask over the other areas of my face. Then I always finish with an ultra hydrating or moisturising mask. I'll often put a hair mask on as well but currently I haven't got one which I'm really loving.

Current favourite nail polish? 
I've recently rekindled my love for glitter nail polishes as it's getting close to winter party season. Essie A Cut Above is the most gorgeous pink sparkly polish which I pretty much wore throughout the entire month of December last year and I whacked it out again last week and had so many compliments on it. It works over light or dark polish shades but my favourite way to wear it is layered over Rimmel Space Dust in Aurora but I think that has been discontinued now.

What do you eat/drink during me-time? 
I do love a cup of tea - milk, two sugars FYI ;) - but lately I have been obsessed with hot chocolate and mini marshmallows. To eat I like little things to snack on like granola or nuts or something like that.

Current favourite candle?
At the moment I'm burning Yankee Candle Christmas Cookie. If you don't like sickly sweet scents then you will hate this but I absolutely adore it. It's my favourite pre-christmas candle as I like to save the full on warm spicy scents for when it's really close to Christmas.

Do you ever have outdoor me-time? 
Yes, I have a gorgeous springer spaniel called Alfie and I love taking him for walks. I can walk 5 minutes up my road and I'm on the South Downs where it's lovely to walk with him in the woods or up the hills listening to my music and just enjoying being outside with my puppy.

Would you ever go see a movie alone? 
Probably not. I love movies don't get me wrong but I always struggle going to the cinema a bit as I get restless so easily. I'm so used to being able to pause what I'm watching and go off and do something else for a bit, sitting in a cinema knowing that I can't do that makes me even more restless so I tend to avoid it and wait until films come onto Sky or online.

Favourite online shop? 
ASOS have online shopping nailed. You can't beat the variety of things on their and being a Premier member makes ordering and returning things so easy, almost too easy at times! Selfridges is also one of my top online shops for beauty related things.

Anything to add? What else do you do during me-time?
Baking is always one of my favourite things to do if I have some me-time. I find being in the kitchen really relaxing and I love experimenting and trying new recipes.

So there's a little insight into what I do when I'm chilling out or having some downtime.
Feel free to comment below on what you like to do in your me-time.

Laura x

Find me on twitter: @laurasivers
Instagram: @laurasivers_

Sunday Style Scroll #3 | A Hint of Winter Sparkle

As the Christmas party season approaches here's some inspiration for all you fashion magpies out there. Love a bit of glitter!

Ultimate Chocolate Mug Cake | Recipe

For me chocolate cravings always come at the most inconvenient time. They usually happen when there is nothing chocolatey in my house, it's dark/raining outside and i'm normally already in my PJs so there is no way I am venturing to a shop. This is when the ingenious invention of mug cakes come into play.
Basically a 'mug cake' is all the ingredients to make a normal cake but downsized to a single serving, mixed together in a mug and cooked in a microwave. This whole process takes about 3 minutes so is perfect for when you in desperate need of a sweet treat. I've experimented with a few different recipes I've found online - some have been great, others disastrous - and I have come up with the Ultimate Chocolate Mug Cake.

Here's how you do it:

Ingredients:
28g melted butter
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon raspberry jam
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons plain flour

Method:
1. In a mug melt the butter in the microwave.
2. Add the water, vanilla, jam and salt to the mug of melted butter. Whisk well with a fork.
3. Add cocoa powder, whisk well.
4. Add sugar, whisk well.
5. Add flour, whisk well.
6. Microwave for 60-90 seconds depending on how gooey you want the centre.
7. Wait for a minute or two then enjoy your delicious chocolate treat.

It is super important to make sure everything is mixed together and is a smooth even mixture before microwaving it. I sometimes eat this with a dollop of ice cream served nicely on another plate, or I just grab a spoon and eat it straight out of the mug! It's so simple and quick to make and really does satisfy those chocolate cravings without having to leave the house. Also feel free to add in your own extras such as chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, nuts, peanut butter - anything you fancy!

Let me know if you try this out.
Laura x

Spotlight on Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair

Estée Lauder is probably the first beauty brand I ever came across. My mum has been a huge fan since before I was born so I grew up with receiving her cast offs and hand-me-down products - I still have one of the eye shadow palettes she gave me when I was about 11 (I dread to think of how much bacteria that must be crawling in!). 

Skincare wise I always thought Estée Lauder was aimed towards more mature skin so I never really considering trying it until one evening about 18 months ago I stole a little of my Mums Advanced Night Repair serum. This was the start of a long and happy relationship with ANR serum.

I don't know exactly what it is about this serum but it manages transforms my uneven, dull and lifeless skin into smooth and glowing skin over night. The packaging includes a little pipet which makes distributing the correct amount of product very easy and fuss free. The consistency is quite gel like and so nice and cooling to apply to your skin and feels so hydrating without being oily or heavy. I do on occasion skip moisturiser after using this as sometimes it feels unnecessary. I have tried other serums and oils since using this such as the Kiehls Midnight Recovery Concentrate and the YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum but neither of them gave me the same effects as Advanced Night Repair so I have always come back to this.

Then a new member of the family was introduced, the Advanced Night Repair Eye Serum. It just seemed logical that as my skin loves the normal ANR serum that I needed the eye serum in my life as well, and I was right. I would describe the consistency as a very light cream rather than a serum but you are supposed to follow up with an eye cream. It's only really been in the past 6 months or so where I've been more conscious about taking care of my eye area, mainly as a preventative for when I do start showing signs of ageing. I really have noticed a difference in the way makeup sits around my eye area, under eye concealer especially just applies much more smoothly and doesn't settle into any dry or uneven patches. When I bought the ANR Eye Serum I also received a miniature eye cream as well which I have been using after applying the serum which has the same cooling and hydrating feeling as the face serum which feels even more delightful around the eye area.

I cant sing high enough praises for the Advanced Night Repair range and what it does for my skin. I guess the only down side to it is the price but for me I really don't mind investing in good skincare, especially if it's products I know work well for me and I really enjoy using. I just hope taking care of my skin now whilst I'm in my 20s does make a difference in 10/20/30 years time!

Thanks for reading

Laura x

Sunday Style Scroll #2 | Inspiration for the week

Round 2 of my Sunday Style Scroll. Here's another post of my top picks I've been re blogging all week. If you want to follow me on Tumblr you can find me at:

http://helloenvy-o.tumblr.com

With it really setting into wintery weather here I am loving all things oversized and cozy.

Hope you're all having a nice Sunday.

Laura x

Find me elsewhere...

Twitter: @laurasivers

Instagram: laurasivers_

Tumblr: helloenvy-o

My new favourite lip products | Maybelline Color Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencils

Happy Thursday everyone! Can't believe I'm actually keeping up with posting 3 time a week, but I'm trying to be very organised and have all my post planned out up until mid December. So things are looking positive! 

Today I thought I'd share with you the lip products I've been reaching for almost exclusively for the past month or so. They are the Maybelline Color Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencils. I have three of them so far in the shades 630 Nude Perfection, 520 Light It Up and 310 Berry Much. Their description as an 'intense velvet lip pencil' is completely spot on as the texture and finish isn't completely matte but has that velvet look to it which I love. I've seen quite a few reviews online of these saying they are dupes for the Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencils. I've only swatched the Nars ones in stores as I was hesitant to part with £18 for just one even though I've always had my eye on Red Square. When I saw these in Boots for just £4.99 I couldn't get them home quick enough to try out and I certainly was not disappointed.

All three of the pencils I have are so easy to apply as the pencils just glide along your lips with no pulling or dragging whatsoever. They feel very smooth and creamy yet still have that velvety/matte finish. Being pencils makes them super long lasting as well, I've eaten and drunk whilst wearing all three shades I have and didn't need to reapply at all. I guess the only downside I can think of is I have lost my pencil sharpener which has a hole big enough for the size of these pencils so I will have to go out and repurchase one of those. A part from that I haven't found any negatives so far.

The one i've got the most wear out of so far is Nude Perfection. I know you're all probably sick of hearing about the Kyle Jenner 90's nude lip craze but this shade really is a winner. In the past I've struggled to find a matte nude shade which works for my skin tone, they usually either look like I'm wearing concealer on my lips or are just too brown. Nude Perfection is the shade that just works for me. I'm tempted to by another incase it gets discontinued.

My favourite shade out of the three to wear is Berry Much. I love a bold berry toned lip any time of the year really but obviously as it's Autumn at the moment this kind of shade is gorgeous. For day time I prefer to apply this quite sparingly so it's more of a berry stain and then at night really go all out with full, dramatic coverage. One of my all time favourite lipsticks is Rebel by Mac but lately this has replaced Rebel for me which I never thought would happen.

I think Maybelline have done a brilliant job with these lip pencils and I'm sure I will be purchasing more of the shades from the range. 

Thanks for reading and I'll see you Sunday for my next post.

Laura x

Find me elsewhere:

Twitter: @laurasivers

Instagram: @laurasivers_

Tumblr: helloenvy-0.tumblr.com

Fifteen Festive Favourites | Tag

As we're well into November, now I feel I can publicly share how excited I am about Christmas! I have secretly been watching Christmas films and listening to Christmas music since the beginning of October but I kept it on the down-low. I just love this time of year so much and I want to make the most of it, why limit yourself to only one month of festive magic?

Anyway I watched Tom Fletcher's Dear Gi video he uploaded a few days ago and he created a new tag called Fifteen Festive Favourites. I love Tom's videos and the Dear Gi/Carrie/Tom series is fab. I've turned the tag into a blog post for you guys so here are my Fifteen Festive Favourites.

1. Favourite Festive Food
Pigs in blankets. No question about it. Seriously, what could be better than a sausage wrapped in bacon? So good.

2. Favourite Reindeer
It has be be Dancer. Being a dancer and dance teacher I couldn't really choose any of the others. Although I do have a soft spot for Comet in the Santa Clause movies with Tim Allen.

3. Favourite Day of Christmas (as in the 12 Days of Christmas)
10 Lords-a-leaping, only because I have this vision of all the old Lords doing grande jetés everywhere. Makes me smile.

4. Favourite Christmas Song
Now, this changes for me every year. Right now I think my top three are:
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie and Bing Crosby
Saviours Day - Cliff Richard
Merry Christmas Everybody - Shakin' Stevens
But as I said that may have changed by tomorrow, I love them all really. Although I really do not like We Wish You a Merry Christmas, that one gets on my nerves!

5. Favourite Christmas Present
I love getting cute things like new PJs for Christmas, but last year my parents gave me a new Mulberry Effie bag and that has to be my best Christmas present ever.

6. Favourite Christmas Film
I mentioned it earlier - The Santa Clause. I love so many but that one is my ultimate favourite.

7. Favourite Christmas Cracker Toy
Always the mini screwdrivers! Any tap dancers know how useful these things are to keep in your dance bag and also how easily they get lost.

8. Favourite Christmas Cracker Joke
Okay I did a quick google search for some as I couldn't remember any off the top of my head but this one cracked me up:
How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizza?
Deep-pan, crisp and even. Hahahaha.

9. Favourite Christmas Decoration
My mum has these gorgeous Snow Baby ornaments which I'm sure she bought before I was born but they are my absolute favourite and I love getting them out every year.

10. Favourite Festive Candle Scent
I'm currently burning a Frankincense and Myrrh scented candle from M&S which smells divine and although it's Christmassy it's quite subtle so it's perfectly acceptable to be burning in November. I love the Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir candle at Christmas too.

11. Favourite Christmas TV Advert
Monty the Penguin has stolen my heart this year so it has to be John Lewis.

12. Favourite Christmas Tradition
I love going out to pick the Christmas tree. It usually takes my family and I way longer than it should as we never seem to agree on which one will look best. But I love it.

13. Favourite place to spend Christmas
I've only ever spent Christmas at home and I never want that to be any different.

14. Favourite Christmas Fact
This is a random one Tom, and another one I had to google and came across this:

The British wear paper crowns while they eat Christmas dinner. The crowns are stored in a tube called a “Christmas cracker".

This makes us sound a bit silly!

15. Favourite Snowman Accessory
Has to be a good hat. The more ridiculous the better :)

And there you have my Fifteen Festive Favourites. I hope you are now more in the festive spirit and comment below some of your Festive Favourites!

Laura x

Sunday Style Scroll | Inspiration for the week

For me, like most people, Sundays are a day for not really doing a lot. Usually my day includes a lot of scrolling through various social media sites, adding to my forever expanding Saved Items list on ASOS and then a bit of pampering in the evening.

I thought I would start doing a weekly inspiration post on a Sunday which will include some of the photos i've been reblogging in the past few days so here you are.

Current Foundation Favourites | November 2014

Foundations have always been the hardest thing for me to get right. Usually they're the wrong shade or they cling to dry patches. Right now I have a nice handful of foundations which I'm really happy with.

I'll start with the one I've worn most regularly over the last few months. It's the Estée Lauder Double Wear All-Day Glow BB Moisture Makeup - possibly the longest product name ever! I have it in Intensity 1.0 which is the lightest shade and it has an SPF of 30 which was perfect for over the summer.  Depending on my mood I either apply it with my Zoeva Silk Finish Face Brush or I just use my fingers to blend it. Most mornings it is usually fingers as this is the quickest method and it really does blend out nicely. I would say this is a light to medium coverage and it really does give a gorgeous glow as it states in the ridiculously long name. I do like BB creams for during the day although others I've tried don't last half as long as this one does. I think as the colder weather is coming though I wont get as much use out of this one.

Next I have my 'going out' foundation which has to have no SPF as I do not want the ghostly flash face in photos. Nars Sheer Glow is my go-to night time foundation and it is just lush. I use it in Siberia which if I'm being super critical it is a tiny bit too yellow for my skin tone but I can easily get away with it. I like applying it with my Real Technique Expert Face Brush as the short dense bristles allow me to buff it in to my hearts content. Buffing is key when using this foundation as if you do spend a little extra time working it into the skin you end up with the perfect airbrushed base without it looking at all flat. I do set this foundation with a powder when I'm going out to make sure it stays flawless all night.

A more recent discovery is the Max Factor Skin Luminizer Foundation in shade 40 Light Ivory. I picked this up in Boots randomly one day, mainly because I like the swirl effect of the product in the bottle. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging like that! I fell in love with this foundation when I used it. It gives a stunning dewy finish whilst still having quite a lot of coverage. This is perfect for those days where your skin isn't looking too great and you want a fuller coverage but don't want to look like you're wearing an inch of makeup on your face. It somehow manages to maintain that dewy glowy quality whilst still really covering a multitude of sins. I like to use my Zoeva Silk Finish again with this and I usually powder through my t-zone and any places where I am trying to cover a particular blemish.

Finally an old favourite and only really one I've been reaching for again in the past week or so when the weather has been getting a bit colder. Mac Studio Fix Fluid in shade NW10. I know so many people hate this foundation but I love it, and I love it even more when I mix it with a bit of Soap and Glory Hocus Focus Visual Flaw-Softening Illuminator. I swear mixing these two products together has been my greatest discovery. It turns Studio Fix Fluid into a much lighter feeling base and stops that 'I-want-to-scratch-my-face-off' feeling I sometimes get after too many hours of wear. As Hocus Focus is an illuminator it always gives a beautiful glow effect which as you can guess from this post I'm a bit fan of. I just love this combination and I'm sure it will be my standard day time base for this winter.

Hope you enjoyed reading,

Laura x