I recently came across Forever 21 and their 4 for 2 sale on selected jewellery and decided to take the opportunity to spice up my jewellery stand with a few gems. I'm fairly lazy when it comes to accessorizing, but I love the idea of statement necklaces and earrings and want to try be more adventurous and glam up more often. Unfortunately the offer is no longer available, however a few of the items are still on the sale section and available to add to your wishlist.

Forever 21 always has such a wide range of accessories and I personally think it's the most glamorous part of the shop - just a tad overwhelming for a jewellery-newbie like myself. The quality is great and the prices are similar to that of New Look yet cheaper than Topshop. I've never tried any jewellery from F21 before, but the quality at first glance seems perfect. (The prices shown are sale prices, the offer meant that I got them for half the shown price).

Faux Gemstone Chandelier Earrings - £2.99

Standount Chandelier Aqua/Teal Ombre earrings - £3.99
Subtle Glam Chandelier Earings in Ivory/Gold - £3.99

Gone Boho Leaf Earrings in Gold/Coral- £2.99

Goddess Chandelier Earrings in Coral/Gold - £3.99

I hope you've enjoyed this post. Let me know which ones are your favourites and show me some of the great finds you have found at forever 21 lately in the comments below.

Have a great day 
Neelam x x x

The past month I have been really loving the Expert Face Brush by Real Techniques. When I first used this for foundation a few months back I wasn't quite convinced that this was a good brush to use, however now I have mastered the technique and feel that it increases the coverage of your foundation. I'm pretty sure when I first used this brush I stippled on my foundation and it took forever to do - probably why I didn't take a liking to it. Now I do what the brush says and buff the foundation into my skin. This way you don't miss out on any patches so it leaves you with a nice flawless finish. It does take a little bit longer than usual to apply your foundation, but you get a nice even finish.

I also used to use this brush to contour with. The firmness of the brush helps get a defined line in the hollows of your cheek. You could then blend out the contour slightly with the same brush so it doesn't look too harsh. As always, the Real Technique brushes are hard to fault. Have you tried this brush? Let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.

Love Neelam xx

Neelam xx

Ok, So I'm not a big fan of the whole 'monthly favourites' posts, don't get me wrong, I love reading others. But personally, I don't change things up that much and it would be pretty boring to read. So I thought I would just show you what I've been loving over the past few months instead - a sort of Summer favourites. I thought I'd put this up before Autumn gets into its full swing.

E.l.f. Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil.
Now guys, I know you know that I used to go crazy when ordering from e.l.f. and quite franky I do not reach for many products by them. But I have been overly impressed by this jumbo eyeshadow pencil, it is in the shade Turkish Coffee and it looks stunning when you blend it across the lid. It is by far the easiest creamy product to blend that I have ever come across. The lasts a long time, it's quick to apply, you just cannot go wrong! I've had quite a lot of early shifts at work lately, and I've been wacking this on with a bit of mascara and I am good to go.

Makeup Geek Eyeshadows.
I bought these not to long ago and honestly, I have been using them everyday! It's the first time I've bought individual pans so I was a little concerned about not liking the colours, but the website is dummy-free and has a swatch of each colour. I bought these mainly because Jaclyn Hill is always using and praising them and I just had to see for myself (and not just because I absolutely adore her!). I've got a post coming up soon on the colours that I got so I won't talk too much about them. But honestly, if you're new to eyeshadow like myself, then get these babies, they really do bring a look together! I got the small Z-Palette in the Dotted Leaf pattern which is exclusive to the Makeup Geek website. 

Blogilates.
I cannot even begin to tell you how lazy I am when it comes to working out. I used to go to the gym a few times a week but since starting uni I have struggled to get into a regime. I will have the odd week where I will work out a tonne and then do nothing for the next few months and it's really beginning to take its toll. I know there is no point in me starting at the gym while I'm at the gym so I decided, alongside my best friend, to try blogilates after a few friends recommended it to me. Guys, I have never felt so motivated to work out so often before! Cassey Ho, the creator of blogilates is an absolute delight to watch, her happiness is so infectious and she really makes you feel good about yourself and motivates you to reach your goals. She produces these calendars each month packed full of workouts to do everyday. Yes, there are days where I just want to curl in a ball and do nothing, but I try and do at least two of the videos - because they are pretty hard. Although I haven't seen any visual results yet, I definitely feel more energized and stronger. I highly recommend checking out her website, she is an absolute babe!


Purple Tropical-Print Floral Kimono.
I have been wearing this out so much the last few weeks, I love the colour, the style, the fit, everything! I love that I can team it with leggings or skinny jeans and it will look goregous. It is so easy to wear and adds so much colour and style to an otherwise simple outfit. It's from New Look and I actually ordered it online, so I'm not sure if it is still in stores.

Pesto.
Yes, you read right, pesto. At uni I always used to cook salmon smothered in pesto and since then I've fallen in love with the taste of pesto. I also mix it in with cream and add it to my pasta.. heaven! A bit of a random favourite really, but I just had to mention it. I'd love to try some other recipes that include pesto, so if you have any reccommendations.. you know what to do!


Multi-patterned nails

So start off by preheating the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325°F. You can put the cake tins inside the oven to preheat as well so you get a nice thorough bake.

Firstly you want to cream the butter and sugar in the bowl, to get a nice fluffy mixture.

Neelam xx

I'm not one to make a lot of effort in what I eat for breakfast, it's normally a bowl of cereal and a mug of Coffee. But I've decided that I want to spruce my mornings up a bit and try new things. So today, I decided to go for a slightly more healthier breakfast, yes I know there's nutella on the plate, but.. baby steps! Plus, there's far worse options than nutella. I was inspired to try toasted beagles after hearing Zoe Sugg talk about them and boy was she right! I tried the sesame beagles and toasted them until they were nice and crunchy and simply covered them in Nutella. They taste delicious and they are far more filling than a bowl of cereal. Now, I haven't got much planned for the day but I'm still hoping it'll be productive so I decided to have a little more than a beagle. I bought the YeoValley Honey flavoured yogurt which is absolutely delicious, and tore up a few rasberries and mixed it all together. I've always found rasberries quite tangy but the yoghurt helps sweeten it up and it can be a great snack too. Then my usual coffee, I have the Nestle Gold Blend coffee which is by far my most favourite! So that's my quick and easy breakfast menu, I will hopefully be having some new recipes up over the next few weeks!

Neelam xx

Hands down to NYX for creating such a brilliant lip selection. I never really was into lip glosses until I came across the glosses from NYX and I have to say I'm fully converted! I love the round lip glosses by NYX but I've recently been enjoying the Butter Glosses and thought I would share with you the few I have. Now mine are all form Cherry Culture, where they are a slight bit cheaper than the NYX offical website, however you should keep an eye out on the shipping costs! They all have a phenomenal colour pay off which I was pleasently surprised about. Lip glosses are often renowned for applying on top of a lipstick to give that extra shine but these look stunning on their own!


Strawberry Parfait
This colour is a nice pinky purple. Looking at the packaging, I wouldn't have thought that this colour would suit me, but on my lips it comes up as a slight purple tinted natural colour. I wouldn't say my lips are dark, but I reckon it would look a bit more brighter on people with fairer skin or lighter pigmented lips. I do love this colour though, I think it would be perfect for the Winter.


Peach Cobbler
I would say this as far as Orange as I could be comfortable with. It's subtle enough that it almost looks like a pinky/red. I would team this with a light shimmery eye look - maybe something with a touch of Gold. It seems fairly bright when you initially put it on, but you only have to blend it slightly to make it more wearable.


Vanilla Cream Pie
Probably my favourite of the bunch, it's such an easy pink to wear. Reminds me a lot of the Round Lipgloss that NYX do in the shade Pinky Natural (also a fav!). It's nice and girly but doesn't look like a Barbie/Pastel Pink. You could team this colour with a lot of looks, but I think it's the ideal colour for a heavy/dark smokey eye look.


Peaches and Cream
Peaches and Cream is very similar to Vanilla Cream Pie but more brighter and a touch of neon to it. Again, if you apply a small amount it becomes very wearable. But if you want something more brighter then apply a few coats to get a nice pinky peach colour. I'm actually growing to like this colour a lot, it brightens up a simple everyday look. If you find Vanilla Cream Pie too boring for you then definitley try this colour.

I hope this helps you decide what colours you'd like to try next. Like I mentioned before, I got mine from Cherry Culture where they're slightly cheaper than the offical NYX website. Let me know which colours you think I should try next in the comments below. 

Love Neelam x x

Neelam xx

Summer is quickly coming to an end and I am getting ready to begin my second year at uni.. I always look forward to starting a fresh year in September, partly because I get to see my friends basis but mainly because I have a genuine excuse to go stationary shopping! I am the biggest sucker for the 'back 2 school' deals that are always lingering around in August and I will purchase things I probably already own but I get so excited over buying new pens and fresh notebooks - yes, it's the little things in life. So I thought I would share with you what I bought to start off my second year. The things I got are pretty much basic essentials, so this post can also relate to any of you who are starting a new year at high school or college (6th form).


You nay recognise a few familiar faces from my Revision Tips 101 post that I did a few months back.. but I simply could not resist repurchasing them because they were so useful (and pretty)! For those of you who haven't read that post, I love to use the sticky notes page to jot down any notes or important information that I need to remember. I love that the page has a variety of sizes so that I can go from making a tab on my textbook or writing an important formula on a bigger piece. My previous page is still going, with just a few sticky notes left and that one is a good year or so old! I love that they have ring binder holes punched along the side so I can easily carry it around in my bag without getting sticky notes everywhere!

The Staedtler coloured pens are something that I found more useful when it came down to revising for my A levels. I like to add a bit of colour every now and then just so it makes it more interesting to read in the future. These pens are so lovely to write with, they are super comfortable which is handy if like me, you try to write what your teacher/tutor says as they say it - never a good idea by the way! I also love the colour payoff of these pens, they're bright and nice to use when poster-making.

Now I only found notebooks particularly useful whilst being at uni.. simply becuase in high school we were given exercise books to write in and in 6th form we used lined paper to put in our folders. Of course you can continue to use these methods in uni, which is sometimes easier when you have a nice tutor that dishes out a pile of handouts in every lecture, but I prefer the use of notebooks when I'm doing my personal note-taking. I try and keep my notebooks neat, so I take notes on handouts and loose paper and then write what I really need down in my notebook. This year my modules are mainly coursework based, so I won't be needing to write as many revision notes as last year - so I thought A5 notebooks would be handy and easy to carry around. Before I continue, can we all just take a moment to appreciate just how beautiful the WHSmith exclusive Pukka Pads are?!!! I'm in love! They are so bright and so vintage that I just could not resist buying! (There's a bunch of other products in this range too!). You simply cannot go wrong with Pukka pads, the quality is great but they can be a bit pricey. I normally only buy them when there is some sort of offer going on.

Sticking with high quality paper, the Oxford Campus notebook and Reflil Pads are just perfection! The paper is thick and smooth and is a dream to write on. In 6th form, my friends would always ask to borrow some paper from my refill pad because they all loved it too - watch out for that! I got mine from Tesco as they normally have them on offer around this time of year. They also go down cheaper than the Pukka pads do! The only downside is that the packaging isn't as nice as the Pukka pads, they tend to have the basic colours, but believe me when I say once you touch this paper, you won't even care!

A quick boring one, I also picked up a set of Tesco's Retractable Ballpoint pens. They're pretty standard but I just find them easier to write with and the padding around the bottom doesn't dent your fingers! They last a long time and are not too bulky for exam/essay writing. They're cheap and reliable - you can't go wrong!

I never realised just how much a calander can help until last year! I had a massive year poster last year, but this time I decided to go for something a little smaller and got the Academic Wall Calendar from WHSmith. I like the idea that you can rip off a whole or half a month as you're going. I tend to write down deadlines or important events down so that I don't forget. It's sometimes nice to see everything in one place so that you know what's coming up.

Last but not least, is another beautifully neon product, WHSmith's Academic A6 Fluorescent Orange PVC diary. AHH how I love this diary! Last year I got a chunky diary which I stupidly thought I'd take to uni everyday but it was way to heavy to carry alongside my piles of notes and notebooks! So this year I decided to get a mini version that I could slip into any bag and carry around with me. I really want to get into the habbit of writing down deadlines and assignments down into the diary as after spending a few hours in the hot stuffy lecture rooms, I tend to forget the small details. I tried putting that information on my phone but as soon as I pull it out I get distracted and end up on Instagram or Twitter! I can never find things in my bag so hopefully it's brightness will make that a little easier for me!

A lot of the things I already had, like the basic ring binders and highlighters. They're definitley essentials for me but I went overboard with them last year so I was forced to resist. If you would like to see my essentials for revision then check out my Revision Tips 101 post. There are some great deals at Tesco and WHSmith, but try and get hold of the 20% voucher for August at WHSmith. They give it out for pretty much every purchase and you can buy pretty much everything with it - of course there's T&C's that apply but luckily it doesn't effect stationary!

Otherwise, I hope you have enjoyed this post. I would love to hear what great finds you got for September and for all those who starting at a new place or simply a new year, I wish you all the best for the following academic year.

Lots of love Neelam xxx

Neelam xx

Neelam xx