Boots Shopping Haul

Barry M Hi Shine Gel Effect Nail Polish in Lychee (£3.99) - I have seen so many people loving this so I thought I would give it a go. I haven't tried it yet but when I do I'll let you know what I think.

Boots Natural Collection Passionfruit Body Spray (£2.00) - I have used this for a while now but I still absolutely love it. It smells amazing and it so affordable. I recommend anyone trying this out!

Real Techniques Core Collection (£21.99) & Real Techniques Starter Set (£21.99 £10.99) - I have wanted to buy these brushes for a long time after hearing so many good reviews but have never wanted to part with the money, as they are on the expensive side (well, expensive for me) but at the moment, Boots are offering a Buy 1 get 2nd Half Price on selected Real Technique brushes so I decided to take the plunge and get these sets, as they were included in the offer, hence why the starter set was only £10.99 instead of £21.99.

Rimmel BB Cream (£6.99) - I have tried this before and I really like it, it says it primes, moisturises, minimises pores, conceals, covers, smooths, mattifies, brightens and helps protect, but I'm not sure it moisturises that well. I always put a moisturiser underneath otherwise my skin ens up being flaky. It does however prime really well when I do decide to put make-up over the top and gives me a really good base and the colour really fit my skin and even make me look like I've developed a bit of a tan, which is great! It also gets rid of some of the shine I tend to have and has a really good SPF at 25.

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfecter Oil Free BB Cream (£9.99 £6.65) & Boots Botanics BB Cream Radiant Youth (£8.99) - I wanted to try out some other BB Creams as I really want to find one which works really well with my skin so I'm going to give these two a wack and see how I end up.

Simple Kind to Skin Moisturising Face Wash (£3.59) - I have already had this once and I'm about to run out so I thought I would top up. I like this as it's a nice, soft, clean wash and I always use it after I use the Clean & Clear Facial Scrub, just to moisturise my skin a little bit. It's also really affordable so this is something I will probably keep going back to.

Clean & Clear Morning Energy Daily Facial Scrub (£3.99) -I really like this scrub. My skin feels so soft and energised after. My next purchase will be the facial wash in this line, just for a gentler wash with the same results.

Clean & Clear Dual Action Oil-Free Moisturiser (£3.59) -I'm hoping this is going to be really nice and just give my skin a little moister after scrubbing and washing. I have a Nivea moisturiser from way back but they don't seem to sell it anymore, so I really hope this is as good as substitute.

Superfacialist Rose Hydrate Cleanser (£7.99 £5.32) - I have heard good things about this cleanser from A Model Recommends so I thought I would give it a try and it was on offer which was a bonus.

If you have any recommendations or opinions, please let me know! I would love to hear about it!

Lauren x

Day at Kingsbury Water Park - Photographer Style

The reason we went - to walk this little guy. He is my nan's/auntie's dog and his name if Toby. I was there when we went to get him, he was so small, now he's gotten big. and fat. ha ha, love him to pieces though. I like bot these pictures so I tried putting them together to see what it looked like, and I liked how it turned out.

On with the main photography section below.

I love walking around the water park, there are so many beautiful places and I always try my best to capture it on my camera. We didn't end up going around the whole of the water park, it is just so huge so we did around a quarter of it. I don't think I have actually been around the whole of the park as there are fifteen lakes situated in over 600 acres of country park. I think we saw 4 of the lakes walking around, mainly the boating lakes. The water park is great for bird watching, they even have lots of little shelters you can sit in a watch - so if you like bird watching, then go to Kingsbury water park, its great for that.

A bird was resting in some branches so a snapped a picture. I love the water in this picture and I like how the sun hit the seen, coming through the leaves.

I tried playing around with my camera and even allowing the sun to glare into the shots and I ended up liking the washed-out effect it gives, especially in the pictures above. What do you think? The picture of the two bird flying is actually a merge of two images of the birds flight which I put together.

On these images of wheat, I was playing around with the focus and blurring, trying to show some of the movement of the wheat in the wind. What do you think?

This image of the flowers is probably my favourite picture I have taken. I was very proud of how this image turned out. Again I let the sun shine through and I loved the pinkish hue the light gave out and how it lit the flowers. 

Let me know what you think? I love hearing people opinions of my photos, and maybe if you have any tips? I might start posting more of my photography on here.

Until next time,

Lauren x

London Trip!

This weekend I spent my time in London. The last time I went on a 'holiday' there was when I was around nine and I don't remember one moment of it (hence my blog name - forgetfulmuch), so it was nice to refresh and make some memories. 

I spent three days there so we wasn't able to fit a lot in. The first day was very uneventful, we got to Euston Station around 1:30 and my mum wanted to show me St Pancras Station, as it has some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen. It also has some sculptures inside, including a huge statue of a man & woman embracing.

 

After leaving the station we spent the day rushing around on the London Underground and DLF. We stopped first to drop our bags off at our hotel, Britannia International Hotel at Canary Wharf. I was such a nice, old-fashioned hotel right by the water.

Then we had to go pick up our Big Bus Tours tickets and our Lion King tickets, so it was back on the underground going who-knows-where and trying to find where everything was from the stations. As the Big Bus Company shop was near Buckingham Palace we decided to walk up and have a look before going back to the hotel for dinner.

The second day was slightly more eventful. We started off going to see Cutty Sark, which is a huge ship, at Greenich.

From Greenich, we caught the boat, down the River Thames to Westminster. From the river you could see a lot of the famous landmarks of London including Canary Wharf, The Shard (the new skyscraper), Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Globe Theatre, London Bridge, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. We got to see Tower bridge open up to let a sailing ship/barge through as well, which was a perk as apparently it doesn't happen too often.

After the boat tour we made our way to the Lyceum Theatre in Covent Gardens to see the Lion King. I have always wanted to see it and now that I have I can say it's amazing! the costumes are incredible as well as the cast members, my favourite was the lady who played the baboon, she was hilarious.

We finshed off the day by going on a bus tour around more of London then off to Greenich again for dinner at Nando's.

On the last day we went on another bus tour on a different route which went around Kensington and we got off at Oxford circus for some shopping, yay! My mother and I got a pretty good haul from the shops, spending the most in Topshop and going a bit crazy with make-up in Superdrug (I'll do another post with all our purchases). After we went up Oxford Street, we got the underground up to Stratford and spend some time in Westfields, where we had our lunch, and took a peek at the Olympic Stadium while we were there.

We went back up to Greenich again as my mum wanted to look at the maritime college/museum and also the observatory.

After that, it was back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head up to Euston to get the train back home. It was such a good weekend and hopefully get to something like this again soon.

I'll post my shopping haul tomorrow so until then...

Lauren x

Spa Retreat

This weekend I spent my time at Lea Marston Hotel and Spa to celebrate my aunts 52nd birthday with some family members and I had such a good time. It was such a relaxing environment, the staff were really friendly and it was nice to get away from everything for a couple of days. It was such a beautiful place and I will definately be going again some time in the future. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures so if you want to see what it looks like then have a look at the website.

This was the room my mum & I stayed in which over looked a beautiful sitting area/garden outside

We got a package deal which included ovenight stay at the hotel with dinner and breakfast included , use of leasure facilities (which included the swimming pool, steam room, sauna, gym and golf resort) and 1 spa treatment for £89 (I think). I ended having a pedicure.

Relaxing in the Relaxation Room, where you waited for treatments.

My favourite room was probably the Relaxation Room. It was so peaceful in there and the chairs were super comfortable. It was a nice place to talk and catch up with some of the family.

Lea Marston has a professional golf course which attracts a lot of golf pros every year as it has a driving range and a full 18 course, and as part of our package, we got to have a go at the pitch-and-put course they offer. Unfortunately, we did not have any talent at golf, so we ended up losing our balls in the trees and ponds surrounding the course (woops), oh well, we ended up having fun anyway!

My collection of drinks - one just wasn't enough!

At the end my mum teated me by buying some of the nail varnish they used - as a girl can never have enough - and I have fell in love ith the brand Orly. Theie nail varnish is high quality, it dries quite quickly and has a good pigment, which meant I only needed two coats instead of the three or four I normally have to use. Unfortunately they are a little pricey (£9.95 for the single colour and I think around £16 for the set) but I would reccommend these to everybody as they are worth it, I just have to see how long they last!

Until next time,

Lauren x

New Nails!

So I decided to paint my nails yesterday. I always have to be in a certain mood to paint my nails as they take the absolute piss to do as I can never get them to dry properly, they end up smudging and I end up giving up on them and life, ha! I also have to make sure my mum is in the house as I can only do one hand and I make her do the other, she doesn't have a choice. So this is how they turned out:

 

I absolutely love floral nails so this is my attempt at those, they're not the best but oh well, I'm learning. These were inspired by Cath Kidston as I am a huge fan of her designs and for the nails I used these colours:

These are my previous attempts at 'nail art' whish came out okay:

Does anyone have any other ideas of what I can do for the next time? Let me know,

Lauren x