It's very rare that I buy an individual eyeshadow as I find they're a lot more expensive than buying palettes and I tend to get quite bored with using the same thing. But I decided to treat myself to this eyeshadow by NARS in the shade Nepal. I've never really tried anything from NARS before, I know their blushes/bronzers are pretty popular but I never really hear too much about the eyeshadows. When I first swatched the eyeshadow I was quite impressed with the pigmentation, although it wasn't too bold, it's just the right amount of pay off you'd want from a sheen-style finish. It feels quite buttery and it's pretty easy to blend. I personally prefer applying the product with my fingers to get the most pigmentation from it and then use a soft blending brush to soften out the edges. If you just apply the shadow with a brush then it sometime's doesn't pick up much of the colour and you just get a subtle sheen.
I have wanted to purchase from ColourPop Cosmetics for such a long time as I've been seeing so many amazing reviews on YouTube. However, ColourPop do not currently ship to the UK so I've been looking for ways to get hold of their products! I came across a blog post that gave me the idea of using the service ShipTo - unfortunately the original blog post has been taken down. The process is really easy and hassle free and I would recommend it to anyone! All you have to do is sign up to ShipTo pay a small deposit and then they will give you a few addresses of warehouses which you will use as your shipping address when ordering off of Shipto. You make an order off ColourPop as normal (with the US address given) and wait until you receive an email from ShipTo that confirm they have received your parcel. Once you've received the email you have to log back into ShipTo and decide your shipping method - the price depends on what time of shipping service you go for. I spent around £12-15 on shipping, but considering there was free shipping on the ColourPop website to ShipTo, I'd say that's quite good. Also, if you order over $40 then you're likely to get charged a little extra. Once I had chosen my shipping method it didn't take long for my parcel to arrive and it was securely packaged with none of my paid goods being tampered with. I am definitely going to use the ShipTo service in the future as it's not too expensive.
When these first came out I new I wanted to give them a go - I've heard a lot of good things about the blushes by Milani and I knew these would be just as good. I got mine off of Amazon just because it's the easiest way that I know of, to get Milani products in the UK. I got this blush in the shade 08 Tea Rose. Milani have 2 other shades on their website: 01 Romantic Rose and 05 Coral Rose, however there are other shades on Amazon. I went with Tea Rose as I felt it would be the perfect colour for an everyday look.
I was so excited when I received this for Christmas last year, I love the Marc Jacobs scents and this one is close to becoming my favourite. Daisy has quite a mature scent to it but still balances the right amount of sweetness. It's the only perfume I have that I can smell on me at the end of the day, it's lasting power is quite incredible. I try to save this perfume for when I go out as I usually like more sweeter smelling scents as my everyday perfume but lately I have been reaching for this quite a lot. Because the smell is so strong I will tend to just spray a little bit as it could be quite overpowering. I absolutely adore the packaging of this perfume, it's so unique and classy! However, it does mean it's a bit of a pain if you want to use it on the go as it's too bulky to chuck it in your handbag. I really want to try some of the other Marc Jacobs perfumes in the future, which one do you recommend?
Love Neelam
xx
As you probably already know by now, I really love Real Technique brushes, particularly the face brushes. And the Blush Brush is no exception. This brush is so soft and long lasting, it has not shedded like some of my other brushes. While it is summer here, I have been wanting to bronze a little more than I usually do and I find this brush is perfect for that. It gets right in the contours of my face, but is still big enough to blend it out so you get a perfectly natural finish. Although I mainly use it for bronzing, I have previously used it to apply blush and have found it applies really well. You could also use this brush to set your under eye makeup, as although it seems like a big sized brush, it is nicely tapered at the tip allowing you to get into those smaller areas.
Name: Real Techniques Blush Brush
Availability: Boots, Superdrug and Amazon
Price: £9.99
Overall Rating: 5/5
In
Dominican Republic,
Dreams Palm Beach
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic - Review of Dreams Palm Beach Resort
I have been excited for this holiday for a very long time and now that it's over and I'm back home to the muggy weather in London, I thought I would relive my holiday in a blog post for you! I spent a week at the Dreams Palm Beach Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Location
When booking the holiday, we were told that Punta Cana was off the coast of the Caribbean Sea, however when we got there it was clear that it was part of the Atlantic Ocean - although it probably is a mix of both when you look at the location. I've been to an island on the Caribbean sea and to be quite honest, there isn't too much of a difference! The water at Punta Cana is still clear and although you get quite a bit of seaweed, there is a team that works on the beach who work on clearing the seaweed so its never too much. The water is also great for snorkeling - so if you go, don't forget your snorkel gear!
Weather
I was really worried about the weather in Punta Cana as the week before I was constantly checking online to see what it would be like. The forecast showed rain and thunderstorms all day, every day. But when we were there, it only ever rained in the late evenings, it was bright and sunny throughout the day so it wasn't anything to worry about. During the time I went, middle of May, the weather was on average 30 degrees Celsius, which is about as hot as I can handle!
Resort - Dreams Palm Beach, Punta Cana
The resort was one that had been recommended by my mum's friend, who has been there twice. It's an all inclusive resort, which is my favourite kind as you can eat and drink as much as you want and the entertainment is usually better. The resort had 5 a la carte restaurants (Mexican, Italian, Japanese, French and Seaside Grill), 1 cafe (coco cafe), 1 Barefoot Grill and 1 main buffet room (world food buffet). The a la cartes restaurants offer great food and basically have a set menu you choose from. My favourite out of the a la cartes was the Seaside grill, where it is located just off the beach so you can hear the wonderful sounds of the waves and get that natural cool breeze. But generally, I liked the world food buffet (the pictures below show snaps of this buffet) as the also had a big variety of food and a lot was cooked freshly in front of you. The layout reminds me a lot of Jimmy Spices.
At lunchtime, you could pick up burgers, hot dogs, chips and nachos at the Barefoot Grill which was great for a snack by the beach/pool. They would sometimes have BBQ's on the beach serving delicious fresh good. One of the days they had the chefs go out to sea and they asked everyone to come to the beach side to see them come off their fishing boat with fresh fish which they then cooked straight away for us on the beach BBQ! The fish was absolutely delicious!
They also had a few poolside bars, the one below was situated just in between the pools and the beach and was the most popular for drinks. You could get most of the cocktails that were available from the lobby bar, but they also had a range of soft drinks, spirits/beers and bottled water if you preferred.
Staff
The staff at the resort are exceptionally friendly and welcoming. Many of which are multi-lingual and so it's easy to communicate. The local language is Spanish. All staff would smile and greet you as the walked past them, even the maids and maintenance staff would say Hola! The entertainment team are also great fun and they get you involved in the activities without being forceful. The staff are very helpful in helping you with any problems that you may have and the service in which the provide is spot on!
Things to do within the resort
I've been on many holidays before where we have done a lot of excursions, so we weren't really looking to do many trips whilst at the Dominican. There was still a lot to do on the resort, with 2 large pools, one which was connected to a baby pool and 1 smaller pool that was for the preferred club members only. There was always some form of entertainment going on, whether it was water areobics, yoga on the beach or table tennis and horse shoe competitions. You could attend free scuba diving and kayaking lessons which proved to be pretty popular. In the evenings, the entertainment staff would often perform shows in the Theater. On the beach there is a company called SeaPro who organise water activities like snorkling, parasailing, banana boat rides, etc. Apart from the normal sailing and kayaking, the others do occur an additional cost, so it is a good idea to have some cash on hand, whether thats dollars or your pounds, they usually accept both. I did parasailing with my dad which cost us £70. But prices of course do vary on how many of you there are. Parasailing was amazing, I've never done it before and it wasn't scary at all! If you did want to do excursions, they do snorkling and scuba diving in areas not too far from the resort, they also have a natural shallow pool in the ocean that you can go and visit and an area where there is dolphins and sharks.
The resort is very popular for weddings and honeymoon couples and we often saw the beautiful set ups of the wedding receptions or the bride and groom taking pictures around the beach! I wouldn't mind getting married at this resort!
I hope you've enjoyed this post, something a little different to the usual. If you're planning to go to Dominican then I definitely recommend this resort, but the location in general is spectacular! It wasn't too expensive, but the prices do vary, especially during the school holidays. Apparently the weather is pretty much the same year round (apart from the rainy season), but they do get very busy during the winter months in the Northern hemisphere, where people want to get to a warmer destination. Also, I'm going to be starting a series every Friday where I show you my go to holiday makeup products. It'll be a 4-week series starting next week.
Love Neelam x
Location
When booking the holiday, we were told that Punta Cana was off the coast of the Caribbean Sea, however when we got there it was clear that it was part of the Atlantic Ocean - although it probably is a mix of both when you look at the location. I've been to an island on the Caribbean sea and to be quite honest, there isn't too much of a difference! The water at Punta Cana is still clear and although you get quite a bit of seaweed, there is a team that works on the beach who work on clearing the seaweed so its never too much. The water is also great for snorkeling - so if you go, don't forget your snorkel gear!
 |
| Lobby at night |
The rooms are beautiful, they're a perfect size! The shower and toilet area is just right of the sink.I didn't think to take a picture of the other side of the beds which had a TV unit with a mini fridge and some storage for clothes and things. The view from the balcony was of part of the gardens and a bit of the pool too - again, I forgot to get a snap, sorry! But I really liked the rooms, they were cleaned daily by the maids who always did fancy things with the decor and adding flowers here and there.
I was really worried about the weather in Punta Cana as the week before I was constantly checking online to see what it would be like. The forecast showed rain and thunderstorms all day, every day. But when we were there, it only ever rained in the late evenings, it was bright and sunny throughout the day so it wasn't anything to worry about. During the time I went, middle of May, the weather was on average 30 degrees Celsius, which is about as hot as I can handle!
Resort - Dreams Palm Beach, Punta Cana
The resort was one that had been recommended by my mum's friend, who has been there twice. It's an all inclusive resort, which is my favourite kind as you can eat and drink as much as you want and the entertainment is usually better. The resort had 5 a la carte restaurants (Mexican, Italian, Japanese, French and Seaside Grill), 1 cafe (coco cafe), 1 Barefoot Grill and 1 main buffet room (world food buffet). The a la cartes restaurants offer great food and basically have a set menu you choose from. My favourite out of the a la cartes was the Seaside grill, where it is located just off the beach so you can hear the wonderful sounds of the waves and get that natural cool breeze. But generally, I liked the world food buffet (the pictures below show snaps of this buffet) as the also had a big variety of food and a lot was cooked freshly in front of you. The layout reminds me a lot of Jimmy Spices.
Staff
The staff at the resort are exceptionally friendly and welcoming. Many of which are multi-lingual and so it's easy to communicate. The local language is Spanish. All staff would smile and greet you as the walked past them, even the maids and maintenance staff would say Hola! The entertainment team are also great fun and they get you involved in the activities without being forceful. The staff are very helpful in helping you with any problems that you may have and the service in which the provide is spot on!
I've been on many holidays before where we have done a lot of excursions, so we weren't really looking to do many trips whilst at the Dominican. There was still a lot to do on the resort, with 2 large pools, one which was connected to a baby pool and 1 smaller pool that was for the preferred club members only. There was always some form of entertainment going on, whether it was water areobics, yoga on the beach or table tennis and horse shoe competitions. You could attend free scuba diving and kayaking lessons which proved to be pretty popular. In the evenings, the entertainment staff would often perform shows in the Theater. On the beach there is a company called SeaPro who organise water activities like snorkling, parasailing, banana boat rides, etc. Apart from the normal sailing and kayaking, the others do occur an additional cost, so it is a good idea to have some cash on hand, whether thats dollars or your pounds, they usually accept both. I did parasailing with my dad which cost us £70. But prices of course do vary on how many of you there are. Parasailing was amazing, I've never done it before and it wasn't scary at all! If you did want to do excursions, they do snorkling and scuba diving in areas not too far from the resort, they also have a natural shallow pool in the ocean that you can go and visit and an area where there is dolphins and sharks.
The resort is very popular for weddings and honeymoon couples and we often saw the beautiful set ups of the wedding receptions or the bride and groom taking pictures around the beach! I wouldn't mind getting married at this resort!
Love Neelam x
If you haven't heard of Makeup Geek, where have you been?! Seriously, this brand is so amazing the products are affordable and super pigmented.
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.
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.