Saturday, October 17, 2015

Clinique Dream Team


Welcome back lovely readers!

I really hope you've been enjoying welcoming Autumn back into our lives; what a glorious time of year. The skies are beautiful and bright, the trees and colourful and happy, our homes are starting to get cosy with candles and delicious spicy smells and our minds are brimming with festive plans and styling up our favourite chunky knits.

My make-up bag usually gets a bit of a clear out at the beginning of September to make way for all the lovely new goodies that adorn the beauty counters in autumn. One of my favourite brands, Clinique, seem to be having a bit of a beauty moment right now,

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Eerste verjaardag in Nederland!


Welcome back lovely readers!

As many of you will know, my husband and I recently celebrated our very first wedding anniversary! To really celebrate this wonderful milestone in our lives, we decided to take a trip to Amsterdam. We were also invited to stay with some of Nick's relatives in Wassenaar (South Holland) for a few days too, so we made a good holiday out of it.

We started with a super short flight from Newcastle to Schiphol, an even shorter (accidental first class...) train ride to the city centre and a shorter yet stroll along to our wonderful boutique hotel.

Tuesday, September 08, 2015

#brightandshiny: August

Welcome back lovely readers! 
I hope you've all had a wonderful summer.

I've had a tumultuous August! I've been making so much progress at work I've been busy beyond belief, as well as looking after my husband and animals, getting the house ready for a new floor going down and getting ready for going on holiday for our anniversary. The last week of the month running up to the bank holiday was the busiest of all, as I had my first ever training workshops at work. All the hard work and effort put in was worth it though, as they were a total success and I loved every moment! Hopefully there will be more and more happy training stories to tell in the coming months...


Sunday, August 02, 2015

Garnier Skincare Trio: Summer



Welcome back lovely readers!

 I hope you've all had a lovely weekend, I've certainly been enjoying some down time after another busy week.

Today I'm going to review three new products I purchased last weekend:


Saturday, August 01, 2015

#brightandshiny: July

Welcome back lovely readers!

I couldn't even begin to describe how busy I've been the last couple of months. As you can probably tell from my blog, I've been somewhat absent, and haven't done a #brightandshiny update in ages. Things have started to settle down a bit for now, so I'm making the most of my time to do an update for July, seeing as it was particularly spectacular month!

All I can really say is that I freakin' LOVE my job!!


Thursday, July 23, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

The Colour Diaries | Limited Collection Makeup Brushes

Welcome back lovely readers!

Welcome to the first of my new series of themed posts - The Colour Diaries - all based on beautiful things that I have bought, or already own, that I adore simply because of the colour, which to be honest, is pretty much everything in my home...

I'm starting this series with a beautiful spring product that I bought weeks and weeks ago, and have been waiting for new makeup to use.

Take a look at these stunning Limited Collection Makeup Brushes from Marks and Spencer:

Limited Collection Makeup Brushes

Monday, May 04, 2015

#brightandshiny: April

Welcome back lovely readers! 
I hope you've all enjoyed your bank holiday weekend, I know I have. Lots of family fun and relaxation, great food and all prepped for another week ahead.

April was another steady month for us Holvasts. We've been working incredibly hard and making massive amounts of effort to keep our daily and weekly routines as seamless as possible. Obviously, something always comes up, but we seem to be in a much better place now to handle whatever comes our way.


Saturday, May 02, 2015

My Rosy Shades

Welcome back lovely readers!

I hope you're all enjoying your bank holiday weekend, and sincere apologies to those who are working. I've been there, I know.

I want to share some pictures with you to show you how my hair has changed since the big pink. I was hoping that the colour would fade, but I didn't expect it to actually last so long! It's kept its vibrancy for weeks, and the water is still running ever so slightly pink when I shampoo. The highlights started to shine through a while ago, and now the ends are a beautiful dusky rose colour which I simply adore!


I'm totally used to my girly colour now, after weeks of doing double takes in the mirror, and getting used to some strange staring at the office. I'm enjoying wearing some different colours too, like the lilac tee in this pic from Primark, which is a colour I would never have normally gone for. I finally enjoy wearing black too; I used to think it made my hair look dull and dirty, but not anymore! I'm also embracing my super pale skin, which seems so much more chic with a pink frame to show it off.

Would any of you consider a vibrant hair colour? Or even a drastic change from your natural shade? I'd love to hear from you!

Til next time, CH x

Monday, April 27, 2015

A Close Shave

Welcome back lovely readers!

I hope you've all had a wonderful couple of weeks. I have been a very, very busy bee both at work and at home (as per...) and have been making the most of the beautiful sunny weather we've been having.

The sun deciding to make an appearance in our lives has led to this post, as it's that dreaded time of year when the unthinkable becomes reality; my legs have emerged from hibernation. It's been simply too warm for thick, black tights at work and walking the dog now requires a suitable uniform of its own.

Whilst I know that shaving is not the most sustainable form of leg grooming, I have neither the inclination nor bank balance for waxing and a severe lack of patience when it comes to hair removal creams, so every couple of days my pins get the old scrape. I've had an ongoing love-hate relationship with razors and leg products, as I always seem to get an angry red rash no matter how much prep and priming I do. It's taken me a fair while, but I think I've cracked the perfect Close Shave formula; please see below...


Sunday, April 12, 2015

Fresh Faced for Spring



Welcome back lovely readers!

It's been far too long since I did a beauty post, so here I go with a jam packed Spring feature.


#brightandshiny: March

Welcome back lovely readers!

Apologies for my blogging absence; I've been incredibly busy at work and at home which leaves very little time for blogging.

However, I've finally found myself alone with my laptop so really, there's no excuse.

March has been a pretty quiet, steady month in the Holvast household. Despite being swamped with work in the office and having various chores to catch up on, we've being just tootling along quite nicely.


Sunday, March 08, 2015

Pink, It's Not Even A Question.

Welcome back lovely readers! Hope you've all had a good week.

Ever since the new year I've been dying to get something done with my hair. I used to get beautiful blonde highlights every 3 months or so, and was totally in love with my gorgeous girly locks. When our financial situation became somewhat difficult I had to give up my regular trips to the salon and very quickly, my blonde bits started to grow out and my dull looking roots started creeping in. For the wedding, I decided I wanted something very natural looking to suit my skin tone and my ivory dress, and that would look good in every photo in all types of light. My hairdresser did a wonderful job of creating soft, light brown natural highlights that blended perfectly with my natural colour and looked stunning on the day. Apart from a Taylor Swift style cut post honeymoon I've been letting it grow out ever since.


Sunday, March 01, 2015

#brightandshiny: February

Hello happy readers, and welcome back!

It's the first of the month which means one thing; time for a round-up #brightandshiny post.


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Early Morning Mighties

Hello happy readers!

Welcome back.

Every time I blog I always swear to make more time and blog more often, and I pretty much never do. I'm just so busy! However, I've been meaning to do this post for a while and I've finally found the time whilst the potatoes are baking in the oven and the husband is watching the footy so here goes.

Now that I'm working full time and doing shifts, I often find that a full skincare and make-up regime in the morning is almost impossible to achieve. I get up at 6:20 to wake up, have coffee and get myself and the dog ready to leave the house at 7:40 to start work at 8:30, which gives me around 25 minutes (normally) to get clean, do my face and get dressed.

When it comes to skincare I never used to be one for cutting corners or for multi-purpose products aimed at saving both time and money. Now that I'm pushed for time (and energy...) in the morning, but still want to look my best, I've found a few holy-grail-esque products that work absolute wonders!


Sunday, February 01, 2015

#brightandshiny

Hello February!

I can barely describe what a tumultuous time I've had since I last posted.

I started my new job back in September, and it's been an absolute roller-coaster from day one. I finally know how it feels to have a "proper" job. I work 8 and a half hours (at least...) a day, 5 days (at least) a week (with the occasional weekend shift thrown in for good measure) and still manage to look after myself, my husband, our home and our animals. Nick has gone back to Uni to do a full-time Master's degree which means that we've had to find someone to look after Sully dog on days when we're both out all day. We found a wonderful lady who lives just around the corner who loves him to pieces, but it's quite expensive, and a large chunk out of my weekly wage. I feel like an actual grown-up now that I'm working to pay for things that need paid for because I'm working... what a twisted, difficult world we live in!