Sunday, 24 April 2016

Eden Perfumes: No. 470 - Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille Dupe

Oh my. Oh. My.

Hello.

Recently I found myself not feeling the perfumes I bought last year and this is because I did wear them all the time during my late teens. I love the fragrances but they're just not me anymore. This coincided with Samantha Maria's video on her perfume collection and her enthusiasm sparked a drive in me to find some new late 20's Lisa scents.




I know next to nothing about fragrance but thought - as I'm never going to get to a perfume shop in the near future I'd take my mission to the internet! Time for some blind buying!!



 I looked up the ingredients in my favourite Lush products hoping to find some perfumes to provide similar nasal pleasure. Elderberries don't appear to be too common in perfume but berries, in general are! On Frangrantica, the other perfumes in Dior's poison range looked to be more mature than the the ones I loved so much as a teen. Eden Perfumes didn't have matches to these so much search continued.



Sammi's love of Tom Ford fragrance kept popping into my head. I don't know why I didn't go back to the video for more information, but I didn't. It was 2am, who knew what my brain was doing. I had "Tom Ford" and "Vanilla" floating around my mind together so Googled it to find Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille. The fact it was inspired by London, the true love of my early 20's and the words spice, cocoa and dry fruit really appealed to me. I think most of this was my brain being confused and thinking this was the one Sammy talked about, so I tracked down and ordered the Eden Perfumes match, No. 470.

After this I looked it up and Frangrantica and was like, "whathaveibought.". Nobody seemed to like it. It was reviewed as literally vanilla and tobacco. Neither of which I am particularly keen on, according to my memory. This set me on another mission to order a back-up perfume in case I hated it.

The day it arrived I tore it open to smell it, fearing the worst. But it was actually pretty nice! I didn't hate it so spritzed some on me and went to work. After a few minutes (the "dry down"?!) I started to fall in love with it. It's gorgeous! I really struggle to identify anything but vanilla and tobacco in it like others, but they compliment each other surprisingly well! It's like a grown-up version of Vanillary from Lush... the original one. I think of the Gorilla Vanillary as the kind of rebellious teenager as it's not as soft and sweet. Tobacco Vanille / No. 470 is the mature one! Vanillary all grown up! I cannot describe scent really, but it's so, so yum. My mate said I smell of the "best things - sweets and fags". The vanilla really is sweet. The tobacco is like some high quality baccy and sometimes smells a bit smoky throughout the day (it lasts ages) but not in a way that smells like I, or someone near me as been smoking (I HATE that!). It'd bloody lush.





Somehow, the fragrance makes sense. Obviously I cannot compare No. 470 to Tobacco Vanille right now but if I get the chance to one day, I will. Going by mine and others' experiences of Eden Perfumes however, I'm sure it's a great dupe. I think I'd be using Eden if I wasn't vegan - it's the same scent for a fraction of the price! And much more responsibly produced than most mainstream perfumes. Bonus! Ding ding ding ding ding!




Anyway, this perfume is to die for and I think it's definitely a good fit or current me. The first time I saw myself in a mirror whilst smelling it on me, everything seemed to match and suit and generally be a winning combination. I have a new signature scent! Yay!

Please check out Eden Perfumes if you want your favourite perfume for £15 and that money to go better places. They're all vegan, cruelty free, organic and Eden Perfumes really encourage recycling. Just awesome, basically. If anyone would like to take me to the shop in Brighton, please, please do :P

Are you a fan of Eden Perfumes or Tobacco Vanille? If you'd recommend any similar fragrances please do in the comments! My back-up perfume has all the smells I love but mixed together they smell like handwash - I NEED PERFUME!

I'm off to sniff my wrists some more.





Tuesday, 19 April 2016

A Change, an Update and a Weigh-in

Hi people!

Hope you are all well! This are changing here (not much) so let's get down to business...

This is Paul, my Local's new kitty-cat.



The Change

I shall be posting here on Sundays from now on. I think it'll help me with pacing and whatnot. :)


The Update


I AM OVER HALFWAY TO FUNDING MY COURSE IN CANINE PSYCHOLOGY! WOOOOO!
Thank you so, so much to everyone who has donated or shared, or anything really. It means so much. Being too ill to work full time but yearning to follow my heart and live my dream is such a disheartening way to live life - having a little help to get to where I need to be is super fucking awesome. Thank you. I think I will easily afford my course in time to start it! If you have no idea what I'm on about there is a post about it here.


Also! I just got off the phone from the doctors surgery and my thyroxine levels are in the normal range again! Click here for more on that.

The Weigh-In

I think I am just about well enough to start making an effort to lose weight again. I weighed in at 14 st 5 lbs.  I have an update on my 2016 goals coming up that will go into more detail on this, so for now, have a picture of the healthiest stir-fry I've ever eaten.



A proper post will be up on Sunday! :D

Have a fantastic week.




Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Fabulous Fictional Females

Hello there, shiny lovely people!

Inspired by this post by Morag and this post from Zusterschap, I found myself thinking about the fictional women who have helped shape who I am today, and ended up needing to write a similar post, gushing about them. So here we go!



George - The Famous Five

In all honesty I don't remember a lot about the actual stories, sorry Enid. Though working in the tourist trap most of the locations in the books were based on I really should swot-up. What I do remember is finally finding female to identify with! She was a tomboy and had a dog! So, she was me! That was great.



Spinelli

As with George, she was one of the only female characters I felt I could relate to as a kid. She wasn't very feminine, I wasn't very feminine. She was tough, I won punching competitions with the boys. I'm not sure how deep it went, but I did love her!




Tiffany Aching

I find it odd that this young witch inspires me so much when I've only ever been over a decade older than her when reading the books! Maybe her age makes her even more inspiring? She is more mature than most adults in Discworld. Being a witch, she always has jobs to do. Shit. To. Do. No nonsense please. She is always busy helping people, and sometimes even saving them all! I love being inside her head and experiencing the world how she does. She's so clever, and while mature, still young in some ways ( mostly emotionally/romantically) and always learning. Not only that but she is like, super powerful, important and kick ass by accident. Oh! And she has a pet cheese called Horace. Need i say more?




Starbuck / Kara Thrace

My god. What a badass. I used to watch Battlestar Galactica round my friend's house and walk home pretending to be Starbuck, almost like playing characters as a kid. She's a very powerful, yet very complex woman. I relate to her emotionally vunerable side and aspire to the professionally successful  and super rad side. I loooove that she is the best pilot on Galactica, and a female, it meant I could be rad at things too! She doesn't take any shit and always stands up for herself. However, she does accept her issues and flaws and works to change the things she wants to about herself. I love following her journey throughout the series. I just frakking adore her. So much so that I want a dog called Starbuck and a kid called Kara.




Pam Poovey

 I love this woman. She was teased and humiliated growing up and learnt not to give a flying a fuck what others think. She's the largest female character and while still mocked for it, doesn't care, is always half naked, and fuck whoever she wants. Body acceptance inspo!! She has no shame. She is crude. Her back tattoo is ridiculous yet wonderful.  She tells it how it is. She tries to sleep with everyone (like a certain someone I know after a few drinks...). She openly farts, a lot (also like someone I know...). I like to think we are kindred spirits but I'll never be as hardcore as her.




Lumpy Space Princess

The first episode of Adventure Time that featured this lumpy wonder was instantly my favourite. She is hilarious. But as the show went on, I found her to be quite the flaglump for body acceptance! That song about her lumps she did? Amazing! I also love her bag-dress. Nothing stops her being herself!
I have her tattooed on my ankle to remind me to embrace and love my lumps. Thank you, LSP. My lumps have never had so much love.


I love how the pictures portray the world getting more and more widescreen. Which fictional females have inspired you? Has LSP helped you learn to love your lumps? I'd love to know below in the comments :)

Stay fabulous!



Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Spoonie Make-Up Hayfever Edition | Lips & Liner

Hello my little spring bunnies!


As hayfever season is on it's way I thought I'd share with you my go-to make-up for watery eyes days.

Again - these pictures are from my old, not-so-great phone and I don't think I'd put any concealer under my eye yet when I took them! 

I keep the eyes simple, use only waterproof products on them and bring attention to the lips with a bright colour.

As always, I opt for Arbonne's CC Cream to save time and energy on my base (full post on this wonderful stuff here) and lip products that don't involve much time, effort or skill to apply.




I have no eyeliner skills so just draw a thin line on the outer half/two thirds of my eyelid. Obviously if you can actually use eyeliner by all means wing it out or something else as fabulous! The more skill in it the more of an effort it looks like you've made.

I usually change up the lip and cheek colours a lot - it's a simple, versatile look which is great when your eyes are watering for a few months on end! Other easy lip products I'd recommend are:

The other e.l.f. Jumbo Gloss Sticks
BD Trade Secrets Matte Lip Melts
Barry M Gelly Lips
Lush Lip Tints

Bascially, anything colourful easy to apply.

Another lip product I use is Little Blue Tin from Superdrug. I'm sure, like all petroleum jellies that it's actually awful for lips, which is why I shove it up my nose. I think it works like the expensive stuff you shove up your nose from health food shops - might catch pollen or something? 


What hayfever-proof eye products would you recommend? I'd love to have more than one interchangeable look for the summer!