Let's Get Naked- Detox Bath Salts from the Bathory*

Baths are my absolute favourite things in the whole world *cough* blog header *cough*. If I could (and trust me, when I'm at home, I do) I would have a bath every single day. I think my all time record is three baths in one day. Whenever I express to anyone my love of baths, I am always bombarded with 'but don't just just get wrinkly?!' and 'don't you hate it when the water turns cold?!' The answer is no. I would literally work, blog, watch TV, and even sleep from the bath if I could!

Therefore, when I heard about "The Bathory", I was beyond excited. This company is without a doubt my new favourite bath time/ cosmetic company. Right from ordering your product, the experience is engaging and exciting, and ever since placing my order with them last week, I have been beyond excited about receiving my gift! The process is fairy simple (but incredibly fun!), the first task is to choose the base to your product- you can either "Bask" in a mineral rich salt formula, "Soothe" your skin with hydrating oatmeal and honey, or, like me, choose to "detox" with epsom salts and rhassoul clay.  I visited Iceland back in April and absolutely fell in love with the relaxing hot springs, in which you can find this same clay in its natural habitat. Although the views may not be as spectacular from my bath, I was so excited to recreate this relaxation in my own home.

The next step was my favourite part of the process: the oil selection. The Bathory offer ten different oils, all with different benefits, and you select three of them to add to your salts. I chose Chamomile for relaxation, Lavender to aid my sleep and Grapefruit- "the inspiring one" (but mainly because I LOVE the smell of grapefruit). As soon as I got home from work, I ran a bath and poured in around 1/4 of the bath salts (I plan to try and get three uses out of the product, two 'quick fixes' and one 'full benefits'). Although the bottle suggests that using the entire product in one go will ensure the best bath of your life, I wanted to experience the benefits more than once. Even with a 'quick fix' amount, this was one of the most relaxing experiences of my life! On a good day, I can lie in the bath with a book or magazine for well over an hour. With these salts, I could probably easily make it to two (slight exaggeration, my bath was probably around 70 minutes, but if I wasn't so keen to watch the Great British Bake Off, I could have easily stayed in there much longer!) The smell was divine, and my muscles just seemed to relax into the soak. 

Recently, I have been feeling quite tired and run down, probably a result of working long hours at numerous internships over the summer, and continuously waking up at 5.30a.m. no matter what time I go to sleep. However, I woke up this morning at 6.45- a huge improvement for me, and feel more relaxed than I have in a long time! In fact, I loved this product so much that as soon as I finish work tonight I will be running another hot bath and pouring in at least half of the bottle for another good soak! 

Leave your lovely comments below and let me know if you're thinking of trying these products out/ what concoction you would make. Also, as you may know, my blog has been shortlisted to win 'Best New Beauty Blog' in the Cosmo Blog awards. Voting closes next Friday, and I'd really appreciate it if you would follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion".

Bedroom Comforts with Primark Home

Today, I thought I'd give you a little insight into my blogging environment. I got side tracked in Primark and picked up some gorgeous little room decorations, so decided to combine a post showing you my new purchases whilst also giving you a sneak peak behind the scenes into the world of Amy Elizabeth...

One of the first blog posts I ever published featured my room in Manchester, including the kitsch ornaments and decorations that I littered around to make it feel homely and personal. I always planned to team that post with another decor post about my bedroom at home, but never really seemed to get round to it. My room at home is completely different to my studio flat in Manchester, it is a place I go to to study, read and relax. I have no television in there and personally I think it's incredibly important to have a space in your house where you can go to disconnect and really let you brain switch off.

Candles are a great way to relax, as the yellow light of fire is scientifically proven to relax the mind and aid sleep, as opposed to the white light that is emitted from laptops and televisions. Therefore, you will often find me curled up on my bed with my amazing £1.50 (absolute bargain!!) Primark candles lit, along with my £3.00 fairy lights. I love piling up all my cushions (note the newest addition of the white heart shaped cushion, another Primark steal at £3.00) and getting stuck into one of my favourite books or reading the latest issue of Cosmo of Vogue.

I am a huge fan of feature walls and colour schemes. I think it's best to start with a base of white or cream and build upon that with accessories and nick-nacks in your chosen colours. For me, those colours are pink with a hint of gold, and that is even translated into my stationary choice of matching Ted Baker pencil case and pall point pen.

Leave your comments below and let me know if you've bought any bargain bedroom items recently, and I'd also really appreciate it if you would follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category for Cosmo's Blog Awards! 

Little Miss Amy Elizabeth

How cute are these two personalised gifts?! Buying things blog related to decorate my room with is officially my new favourite past time! 

Anyone who knows me, will know that I originally come from a Graphic Design background, and have an obsession with children's book illustration. From a very young age I have always been a huge fan of the Mr. Men, an obsession passed down through the generations from my mum's own love for the books and television series. Therefore, I was obviously so excited when my boyfriend bought me my very own personalised Mr. Men illustration! It is definitely up there as being one of the best gifts I've ever received.

The second item is this gorgeous personalised laser cut necklace from Tatty Devine. To say I spent a ridiculously long time looking at all the different designs, colours, sizes, charms and fonts would be a complete understatement and I changed my mind on the design I wanted more times that I can recount. However, in the end I opted to go for shiny pink with a sparkly gold crown charm. I chose the crown to match the crown on my princess, and the pink to go with my blog theme and colour.

At the minute I am receiving such an overwhelming amount of support for my blog, and was even featured in my local newspaper least week! I'd really appreciate it if you would continue to be an amazing support and follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category for Cosmo's Blog Awards! Also, I recently made my blog a facebook page, so feel free to click the little icon under my bio and give it a like!

Fitwear Fashion With South Beach and Ilu Fitwear*

I'm Wearing; 

Outfit 1: Pink Hoodie, Republic, £15; Leggings, Ilu Fitwear, £35.99; Trainers, Reebok, £35; 

Outfit 2: Gym Shorts, South Beach, £18; 

Outfit 3: Jumper, River Island, £25; Shorts, Primark, £3

I'm not the type of person that would class myself as a "gym bunny" and anyone that knows me will tell you I'm definitely not a particularly athletic person by any stretch of the imagination... however, I am partial a good Zumba class and try to go swimming as often as I can (even if I end up sitting in the sauna for the majority of my visit). 

One thing I can relate to when it comes to the gym, however, is trendy gym wear, so when I was contacted by Ilu Fitwear regarding writing a blog post about how I style my gym wear on a day to day basis, I actually couldn't wait for my gift to arrive! (I don't think I've ever been as excited about something sport/ exercise related in a long time). At weekends you will always find me relaxing in my natural habitat... i.e. styling one of my velour tracksuits (faves being Victoria's Secret PINK and South Beach), surrounded by magazines, watching something on Netflix and reading my favourite blogs. I own countless fluffy jumpers, pairs of leggings and hoodies that I love chilling out in, and I love the new fashion cross over between gym wear and lounge wear. Therefore in this post I have tried to style out my gym clothes, whilst mixing in some of the clothes that I relax in every day, showing how the two can be styled together.

The leggings from Ilu Fitwear, and the shorts from South Beach are both designed for gym wear, however they are both so incredibly comfortable and I will definitely be wearing both of a night time when relaxing in front of the telly. Likewise, the River Island jumper and Primark shorts can "casual up" any sports wear look, and mixing and matching the gym wear with the retro lounge wear style can create a fab 80's aerobics style trend.

Before you go, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a few moments to follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category for Cosmo's Blog Awards! Also, I recently made my blog a facebook page, so feel free to click the little icon under my bio and give it a like!

Tropical Fruit Salad

I'm wearing; Tropical Print T-Shirt, Primark, £6; Skater Skirt, American Apparel (not currently in stock)

I have always been a big fan of high-waisted skirts, and maintain that they are one of the only items of clothing that suit every body type. They nip you in at the waist and skim over the hips and stomach, are so easy to style and show no signs of going out of fashion. I personally own a huge amount of high waisted skater skirts or skater dresses, and constantly recycle how I wear them by pairing them with new tops, shoes or accessories. The great thing about high waisted skirts is that you can team them with T-shirts, like I have here for a casual dressed down look, or pair them with a crop top for a night-time look without having to show too much flesh.

I am a huge lover of printed designs on clothing, so when I saw this T-Shirt I couldn't not buy it, especially as it was such a bargain. (However, this is actually the first T-Shirt I have ever bought from Primark... I'm normally not a huge advocate of cheap, low quality clothing, especially when I know it almost certainly has been made unethically)... but morals aside, I made an exception and absolutely love the bright colours! Cheap T-Shirts like this are perfect for taking on holiday with you too, as they keep your shoulders covered in the sun, are so easy to throw on over a bikini, and you don't have to worry about ruining them when you get your suntan cream all over them.

Please leave your lovely comments below as I love reading them and always respond to every one :) I'd also really appreciate it if you would take a few moments to follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category for Cosmo's Blog Awards! Also, I recently made my blog a facebook page, so feel free to click the little icon under my bio and give it a like!

Benefit's "They're Real" Remover

I have a confession to make: I used to have this awful habit of never taking my eye make up off. Until about four or five months ago I never really bothered with it. I know this probably makes me the worlds worst beauty blogger, but I never really saw the point in spending ages taking all my mascara off, to just have to start again in the morning. (Sheer laziness I know).

I always made the time to take off the makeup on my skin, but found it such a chore to take my eye makeup off! Friends at uni would constantly warn me that my eyelashes would start falling out, or that it was a gross habit, and although I have to agree, I still didn't really bother. I think the root of the problem was that I didn't own an actual eye makeup remover, and vigorously rubbing my eyes with makeup wipes only made them sore and irritated, so I simply stopped trying. However, just after my birthday, I vowed to myself (and one of the friends who was the number one makeup removal advocate), that I would try and take my makeup off every single night.

Ever since changing my ways I have absolutely no idea how I used to go to bed with all my mascara still stuck to my eyelashes, and now taking my makeup off at night is something I actually look forward to doing! Already knowing that I didn't want to stick to the makeup wipe route, I tried a number of different eye make up removers before finally finding the one that works for me. That product is Benefit's "They're Real" remover. It seems to make sense to use this product to remove my makeup, as I use the complete range of Benefit's "They're Real" eye make up, so really the two should go hand in hand. I have extremely sensitive eyes, but this product doesn't irritate them at all, if anything the cream is actually quite soothing and feels as though it is moisturising my skin at the same time as taking off my makeup.

To apply, I simply place a generous amount on some cotton wool or a cotton pad, and gently rub my eye. The product seems to dissolve the makeup quickly, leaving my eyelashes soft and make up free! My new favourite feeling!

Before you leave, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a few moments to follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category! Also, I recently made my blog a facebook page, so feel free to click the little icon under my bio and give it a like!

Mememe Cosmetics*

Coming home from holiday and fighting some serious holiday blues is possibly one of the worst feelings. This week I've been trying to suppress endless thoughts that "this time last week I was... [insert amazing holiday memory x, y or z]". However, coming back from holiday to find lots of amazing blogger mail waiting for me seemed to soften the blow just a little bit!

One of the parcels awaiting my arrival was this amazing selection of make-up from "Mememe Cosmetics". My box of goodies contained a wide range of products including their "Dark and Divine" Mascara, quad eyeshadow and "Beat the Blues" pearl pink skin illuminator. However, my two favourite products would have to be the "Blush me!" box blusher and the "Hemera" lipstick in coral cloak. I've never really tried a coral lipstick before, as I think I've always been a bit scared and gone down the "stick to what you know" route, always favouring my Barbie pink shades and occasionally straying into the realms of nudes and lighter pinks, but I've never really been any more adventurous than that. Therefore, at first I was slightly apprehensive when I saw the shade of the lipstick, but in true don't judge a book by its cover style, it is actually already up there in my top three favourite lipstick/lipgloss products that I own! (The others being M.A.C's Pink Nouveau and Benefit's Sugar Bomb). The lipstick actually looks a lot brighter in the tube than it does upon application, and I absolutely love how it is complimenting my *slightly* sun kissed skin! (If anything, the coral shade actually makes you look more tanned- winner!). The texture of the lipstick itself is gorgeous, and doesn't dry out your lips like so many lipsticks are guilty of doing- and priced at only £8.50 it's an absolute steal compared to the £15.50 price tag on my usual lipstick choice.

In terms of the blusher, I hadn't even removed the cellophane before I fell in love with the product. Although I think quality of product is obviously an incredibly important aspect of buying cosmetics, I have to hold my hands up and admit that I am also guilty of buying into brands that present their products in beautiful packaging and invest time into creating a brand identity (this explains by huge obsession with both Benefit and Soap and Glory), and as soon as I saw this product I felt that same buzz of excitement that I had another beautiful box to add to my cosmetic collection. Packaging design aside, the product itself is also of an extremely high quality. I have always considered blushers to be a bit of a touchy subject, as I am yet to find one that doesn't make me look like I'm; 1. impersonating Coco the clown, or 2. a five year old who got a bit over excited playing with her mums makeup bag. However the colouring of this is actually incredibly subtle upon application, and the brush applicator makes it incredibly easy to apply the right quantity in the correct manor... Don't be put of by how bright the product looks on pan, as when it is applied it blends as a very natural blush and has pretty good staying power too!

Before you leave, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a few moments to follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category! Don't forget to leave your lovely comments below and I'd love it if you'd follow my blog on bloglovin' too!

Mid Summer Round-up

How is it already August?! This summer seems to be absolutely flying by! As many of you know I've had a super busy summer so far, so I thought I'd do a more personal post today, updating you all on some of the really exciting things I've got going on!

Firstly, at the start of summer I completed a month long placement at the House of Fraser head office in London as a fashion buyer and merchandiser and two days later I jetted off to Majorca with my boyfriend for a week. It was when I was away that I found out I had been shortlisted for the Cosmo Blog Award, and upon my return found out that I had been offered a five week paid internship working in Social Media for the brand "South Beach Swim". Before starting this internship I had enough time to squeeze in another short break to Majorca with a good friend of mine... work hard, play hard ;)

As part of my internship I will be running and posting on the South Beach blog, so feel free to read it HERE and follow on bloglovin' too... I also have a post featuring some of their amazing products that I am going to post up on this blog next week so stay tuned for that.

Whilst all this has been going on, I have also had my new blog design installed which I absolutely love, and to go with it, I have finally got round to creating a facebook page for my blog so give it a like to keep up to date on all my latest news and posts.

Lastly, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a few moments to follow THIS LINK and vote for "Amyelizabethfashion" in the Best New Beauty Blog category, I feel so honoured to even be shortlisted and winning would be a dream come true!