I Love Cosmetics New Collection Review

When I first started Forever Miss Vanity, my aim was to make it a beauty blog. I used to be incredibly passionate about beauty, skin and hair care. I used to spend a large proportion of my salary on beauty products and wouldn't think twice about splashing out on Chanel, Bobbi Brown or Nars. As time went by, I started falling out of love with beauty. I found products weren't as good quality as they used to be and so many things on the market felt too similar. Nothing really stood out to me and the further invested I became with vegetarianism and veganism, I also realised that there are too many big beauty brands testing animals.

These days I find it hard to get excited over makeup, but one thing I do love in body and skin care, even more so if it is vegan and cruelty-free. Recently I Love Cosmetics got in touch and asked me if I wanted to review some of the products and after seeing the bright colourful packaging and the fact that they are cruelty-free, I leapt at the opportunity.

I Love Cosmetics is a British beauty and skincare brand, established in 2009. Their four core values are fragrance, fun, refreshment and authentic.  The fragrance is the heart and soul of their collection,  they pride themselves on being fun, the aim to be authentic and every one of their products should be refreshing.

Glazed Raspberry Bath Salts - £8.00

One of the first products that I was eager to try was the Glazed Raspberry Bath Salts and they did not disappoint. All of the 'Glazed Raspberry' products smell incredible and these bath salts made it feel like you were soaking in a tub of raspberries. My skin came out feeling incredibly soft and refreshed.

Glazed Raspberry Body Wash - £6.50

I have been using this body wash for a few weeks now and it is a delight to use. The raspberry scent lingers on your skin for hours after your wash and the bottle looks great in any bathroom.

English Rose and Exotic Fruit Body Wash 

The English Rose and Exotic Fruit body washes are travel sized and I'm currently reserving these for when I next go on holiday. The English Rose is a sophisticated scent and not overly floral and the exotic fruit has a really juicy orange scent.

Violet Dreams Diffuser - £15.00

As well as skin and body care, I Love Cosmetics has recently started selling candles and diffusers. The Violet Dreams diffuser smells lovely, but for £15.00 I was rather disappointed that the scent didn't stick around long enough.

Vanilla Milk candle - £15.00

The Vanilla Milk candle smells lovely and makes me think of cake. It has a really delicate smell that gently fills the air with a gorgeous, lingering aroma once lit. The candle has a burn time of 40 hours and I can see myself getting a lot of use from this over the winter period.

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Six tips on how to prioritise + Nordgreen review

My life has been quite hectic lately (in a good way though). I've left one job, started another, been on holiday and started again. Whilst I've enjoyed all the excitement and the hustle and bustle of a busy life, it has been difficult to keep on track of everything - from scheduling time to go to the gym, to writing entries on here. When leading a busy lifestyle, it's incredibly important to learn how to effectively prioritise - not only so you can stay on top of your workload, but also so that you don't burn out or miss out on the things that you enjoy.

I've always been told that I have pretty good organisational skills both inside and outside work and that I'm great at prioritising, so I decided today to put together a short post on my top prioritising tips.

Make a note of your most urgent and non-urgent tasks

One of the easiest ways of figuring out what tasks you should prioritise is to create three columns and write down your urgent tasks in one and non-urgent tasks in another and the deadline besides them.  Highlight the tasks that you need to do straight away so that they stand out and create a plan on how to tackle the rest.

Create a timing plan

Even if you haven't been given a deadline, it's always important to set one. Setting deadlines gives us a date or goal to work towards and gives us the kick we sometimes need to get tasks done. Be realistic and don't pressure yourself too much, unless you have left something until the very last minute.

Take one step at a time

Take one step at a time and try not to rush through activities. I always schedule my day out hour by hour so I know exactly what I'm doing and can stay on track of the time. I find that wearing a watch is less of a distraction than checking the time on my mobile phone. This gorgeous watch from Nordgreen* is one of the latest in my collection. It is sleek, sophisticated and perfect for wearing in the office. If you're in the market for a new watch, you can get 10% off by using FOREVERMISSVANITY10.

Do the tasks that you are dreading first

If you start with the tasks that make you the happiest, you will put off the ones that you don't really want to do. The best thing you can do is get the 'worst' tasks ticked off your list first.

Don't stress yourself out

Stressing yourself out leads to procrastination and anxiety and in the end, it is counterproductive. Try to stay calm, think logically and if you're struggling, reach out to your colleagues, friends or family for advice.

Focus on the end goal

Always focus on the end goal to help get you through your workload and think how much easier life will be once you get your task out of the way. Once you have done have your urgent tasks, you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and a weight will be lifted on your shoulder. Getting your smaller tasks done will make you feel great that you are making progress.

What are your top prioritising tips?

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Urban Picnic in Leeds with Robinsons Refresh'd

There's nothing I love more than having a picnic in the sunshine with lots of food, drink and the people I care about the most. Picnics are a great way of enjoying the great outdoors, whether you're going on a long hike in the countryside or looking to relax somewhere close to home. When you live in urban surroundings, it can be difficult to find somewhere with a plot of land, but many cities do have wonderful parks like Park Square in Leeds, you just need to hunt them down.

Robinson's recently challenged me to enjoy a picnic in my favourite inner-city park. To help us enjoy our picnic in the sunshine, they kindly sent me a picnic hamper and a few samples of their Refresh'd drinks. This wasn't the first time that I had actually tried their drinks - I've been a fan of them awhile and couldn't wait to try more flavours. I find them incredibly thirst to quench and as someone who likes to monitor their health, I like the fact that they are made from natural spring water and real fruit and have only 55 calories per 500ml - compared to other alternatives on the market that are full of sugar, which I actively try to avoid.

My favourite drink has to be their Raspberry and Apple as it is deliciously fruity, but I also really enjoyed trying out all the rest of the flavours too - Apple and Kiwi and Orange and Passionfruit. I'm always on the lookout for new drinks to enjoy when I'm on the go - especially on the way to work in the morning, so it's great to find a set of drinks that fit into my healthy lifestyle, and they only cost £1.29.

Along with the drinks, I was given this gorgeous blue picnic matt from John Lewis,  a Bluetooth speaker from Tesco (which has the best sound quality I've heard from such a small speaker) and a gorgeous pink rucksack from Swedish company Kanken. I've never been much of a rucksack person, but this rucksack is very feminine, fits lovely on my shoulders without looking bulky and is really comfortable. I can see myself going on lots of countryside walks in the future and taking this with me as it is very lightweight and looks really stylish.

Park Square in Leeds is a five-minute walk from the train station, situated in the financial district of Leeds. It is well kept with lots of beautiful flowers and seating and it is surrounded by Georgian buildings, giving you the sense that you have stepped back in time. The square has seen a wealth of history over the years and was home to brewer Joshua Tetley, the inventor Sir Clifford Allbut who invented the thermometer and renowned surgeon Berkley Moynihan, known for his pioneering surgical techniques.

What I love about Park Square is that it is in the heart of the city centre and attracts so many people from different walks of life and with different interests.  During my visit, I saw students hanging out with friends, people on their lunch breaks and at one point a surge of Pokemon Go fanatics. Despite being in the city centre, the park remains quite tranquil and is a bit of a hidden gem, it's a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, whilst still enjoying the company of the residents of Leeds.

The sunshine in the UK is expected to last until September, so you have plenty of time to assemble your picnic kit and hunt down your favourite places. I know this picnic definitely won't be my last this summer.

*This is a sponsored campaign, but all views and thoughts are my own.

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Five things that they don't tell you about being a homeowner

After a year of saving up for a house deposit, back in April, my husband and I became homeowners for the first time. It has been an exciting few months, planning out every room, turning these four walls into somewhere special that we can call our own. However, there's also so much that we discovered about home ownership that we naively never thought about. Owning a house definitely outweighs all the cons listed below, but for those looking into buying their first property, I thought I would put together a few of my key learnings from the last few months.

There's so much you have to teach yourself

Unless you want to spend a fortune on hiring plumbers, builders and general tradesmen, there's so much that you will have to learn and teach yourself when you buy a home. From picking up a paintbrush for the first time to wiring up lights and flat pack furniture. Don't worry, in time you will learn to distinguish between different pipes, screws and bolts, but in the first instance, it can be overwhelming. It's hard to imagine a life without Pinterest and YouTube tutorials giving us a heads up. 

Building supplies are expensive

Building supplies can be incredibly expensive and soon add up. I was shocked to discover that on average it can cost  £200 just to hire a skip to get rid of all our rubbish and since doing up our garden, we've already needed three of them. Whilst paint and wallpaper for inside the house can be bought at an affordable price, items such as taps can be more expensive than you originally think. Always compare prices to find the best ones to suit your budget and whilst sometimes it can be tempting to cheap out, always think long-term and consider quality or price.

You will begin to find flaws in almost every part of your home

Once you are settled in your home, it is likely that you will begin to find little annoyances, but the best thing about being homeowners is the fact that most of them are rectifiable. The worst thing is that you will become obsessed with D.I.Y and constantly be striving for a perfect home. Every day I'm finding new things that I would like to change.

You will probably experience buyers regret

Buying a house is one of the biggest purchases you will ever make, therefore it is normal to have some doubts - even after you have moved in. Once the thrill of being a first-time homeowner wears off, you may begin to discover a few bugbears, but it's important to remember that no house is without faults and you fell in love with that house for a reason.

Your house won't be Pinterest ready straight away

When you spend months planning out your dream home on Pinterest, when you eventually do move in, you just want everything done straight away so you can see your vision come to life. However, it's not as simple as it sounds. To make a masterpiece, things do take time and you would be surprised how long even the simplest of activities such as painting a room can take. Unless you're ready to commit several hours a night on top of holding a full-time job, your dream may have to take longer than you anticipated, but at least you know it will be worth the wait.

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What I've learnt from my recent digital detox

If you asked me last year if I could go a week without social media, I would have quivered at the thought. For the last seven years my life has revolved around social media, so much so that I've spent family occasions glued to my phone, missed out on spending time with my friends as I was too concerned about picturing the moment than speaking to them and every evening instead of enjoying precious time with my husband, I would be on my phone from the moment I got home to the time I went to bed.

Social media is a great way of staying connected, but at times it can turn into a bit of an obsession and really affect a person's mental health. I got to the point where I began comparing myself to other people, getting FOMO seeing people I cared about spending time with others and not me and I turned to Instagram filtering my life to make everything look perfect when it wasn't.  This isn't social media bashing - I love social media and it is such a large part of my life and my job, if it wasn't for social media, I would have never built a successful blog.

I never intentionally went on a digital detox, it just happened. One day I just decided to log out of Instagram and put my phone down and hours later, I realised that I didn't feel the need to check my phone anymore. Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks and I began enjoying the pressure-free, digital free life.  I spent the time that I would have been editing photographs or on social media, learning how to cook, going out with my friends and husband and not worrying about curating the perfect Instagram shot, it was liberating.

My mental health improved

One of the biggest improvements I saw since stepping away from social media was that my mental health improved. I felt like I didn't have to be someone I'm not anymore and live up to the Instagram perfect life. I could relax and sleep better on a night without checking my phone at ridiculous o'clock too.

I learnt who my real followers are

Since taking a bit of a blogging break, my engagement across social has dropped tremendously - it is like starting from scratch all over again. I've lost a lot of followers and only get a handful of likes on Instagram now, but the people who are liking my posts are the ones who have stuck around for months or years and supported me through every step I made. I'm happier to have those people in my life, than a dozen fakes.

I'm beginning to love life again

Social media took me to quite a dark place after I experienced some horrible comments from trolls.  It made me doubt myself and I became quite paranoid of the people hiding behind a screen name - do I even know them and if not, what do they have against me? Thankfully time is a healer and my time away has made me realise that the people who made those comments were just jealous of my life and right now I'm in a happier place than I've ever been.

It has made me reevaluate my blog for the better

My break from social has made me reevaluate my blog for the better and take a thorough look at the content I'm creating. It has made me realise that I would rather write about what makes me happy and what could be helpful for other people than write content just for the sake of it.

I can look forward to my life off my screen

The time I spend offline has given me the chance to focus on my life off screen by learning new hobbies and taking a closer look at my career. In the last few months, I've been able to spend more time cooking, I've made some improvements to the house and I've recently accepted a new job.

Have you ever taken a digital detox?

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