Neals Yard Lavender Bath Salts | A moment of calm

Ok, I've been meaning to put this review up for ages, but only just got round to doing so. So, let's talk about Neal's Yard Lavender Bath Salts shall we.

If you haven't heard of Neal's Yard, they do so many fantastic products. The products are suitable for vegans as well as being cruelty free. And their products smell absolutely incredible.

I've tried their foaming bath oils before and fell in love. This time round, I wanted to give their lavender bath salts a go.

These bath salts are great for de-stressing, they cost £14.50 for a huge tub, 350g's to be precise, and they come with a handy little scoop inside. The main ingredient is lavender oil which is known for it's relaxing and soothing properties. You often associate lavender with the older generation, but I'm a twenty something year old grandma, so that's probably why I adore the smell so much.

Any who, we all have our stressy moments in life, sometimes I get far too stressed easily. But it's all about balance and finding ways to de-stress and get back to that moment of calm. I feel like these do the trick. Perfect to use at night time to ensure you get a great night's sleep.

Follow me @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away... So do get in touch :). 

Bali Honeymoon | Video Diaries Part 2

If you're subscribed to my YouTube channel you may have seen this already, if you're not and stumbled across my blog, then hello, hola, bonjour, welcome to my little blog bubble.

Here is the second part of our honeymoon series. We had another super chilled day in Ubud, Bali before heading over to Lombok for a few nights. Whilst staying in Lombok, we visited the beautiful Gili Islands as they were super close by. Any who, I hope you enjoy the little vlog I put together.
I'm really enjoying creating travel related vlogs at the moment, so I plan on doing a few more when we fly to Copenhagen soon.

Anyway, you can watch the first part of our honeymoon series here. I'd recommend watching that one first :).

Follow me @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily, and leave a comment, I'll always respond. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away... So do get in touch :). 

My holy grail Eyeliner | Bobbi Brown's Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner

Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, where have you been all my life?

I have been searching for the BEST eyeliner for years upon years. And when I was researching my wedding make-up last year, this little pot of goodness kept popping up. So as you do, you decide to treat yourself. And now it's safe to say, this is my holy grail eyeliner. I use this every day without fail.

If you love a good old winged eye and have tried everything from drug store brands to high end... you've even tried the 'Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencils' and nothing seems to be lasting? Well, give this little pot a try, seriously.

It's a gel formula, which to be honest I'm not usually a fan of because you need a little brush to use with it. However, because the formula is SO good I will put in that extra bit of effort in cleaning my eyeliner brush every day just to use this. And, I don't know why I ever doubted gel formulas before, they are so good!

The eyeliner is available in thirteen shades and offers the precision of liquid liner for 12 hours. It is waterproof, as well as being sweat-and humidity resistant too. The only downside is it's pretty pricey, £19.00 for this little pot! However, that being said, it lasts AGES! I've had mine since October last year and I haven't even dented half way, and I use this every single day on my waterline, as well as doing the classic cat eye flick.

I also really like the packaging, the glass pot is very chic.

I honestly don't think I could live without this. It's perfect for doing both the cat eye flick and lining your water-line, so it's a double whammy. And, it does what it says on the tin, it lasts for 12 hours if not more.

This is seriously one of the best things I've bought in a long time. And if you love eyeliner, you have to try it! It will change your life.

Follow me @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away... So do get in touch :). 

Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Swish & Pop Blusher in First Love Review

Being such a huge Charlotte Tilbury fan, I'm surprised that I've never tried any of her blushers before. Any who, I was in search for a soft, neutral every day shade and so 'First Love' from the Cheek to Chic Swish & Pop range ended up in my basket. This retails at £30.00 a pop which is quite pricey for a blusher but I was willing to splash a bit extra as I had heard great things about 'Love Glow' from the same collection.

As always, Charlotte Tilbury's packaging is stunning. The blusher came in this gorgeous deep burgundy box with rose gold embossed details. Inside was a lovely compact with the same colours as the outer packaging. The compact comes with a mirror inside, which is always handy.
Along with my order, I got my receipt and six samples in a cream envelope with CT's logo in her classic rose gold font. It's the little things that impress me and who doesn't love receiving samples?!

So what's so special about this blusher? Charlotte says that she's "always seeking to re-create that shimmering, youthful flush of excitement you get when you're in love, she calls it the 'love glow'". It's a 2-step application which instantly brightens dull skin and gives your cheeks a glow.
I have to say, she does have a way with words, this woman manages to convince me to buy everything, and for someone who works in marketing and who is not easily persuaded, she just manages to gets me every single time.

Wearing Charlotte Tilbury's First Love on the cheeks and also her Pillow Talk Lipstick above.

First Love is a beautiful every day blush. A soft peachy-nude shade with a teeny teeny hint of pink. A satin-matte finish. These are meant to give you that 'love glow' finish, and I actually find this one not too glowy. I find this one to be very subtle, which I honestly quite like.
It gives you a lovely flush to the cheeks and you can pair this with most, if not all lipstick shades.

I would say this is perfect for the pale to medium toned ladies out there. I don't think it would show up very well on darker skin tones. 'The Climax' would be an alternative choice if you do have a darker skin tone.

The longevity is pretty great too. It stays on my cheeks all day, from 8am till 7pm. It faded slightly towards 7pm, but if I was going out on a night out, I'd happily re-touch up my make-up anyway.

Also, funnily enough and I feel really weird writing this on my blog, but these blushers remind me of nipples. It can't just be me who think's that right?! Apart from the nipple resemblance, I do like the idea that you have the creamy cheek colour in the centre and the shimmery highlighter on the outer edge. When you blend these two together they do create the most beautiful finish.

So how do you apply these? You are supposed to apply these in a certain order with her special blusher brush.

Charlotte suggests that you swish the brush around the outer shade and tap off the excess. Run the brush flat, up the cheekbone starting from the apple of the cheek, to structure the face. Then, to make your cheeks pop, take the pointy end of the brush, dip it in the centre colour and tap off the excess. Apply to the apples of the cheeks to make them pop and glow. Blend seamlessly together.

But if you don't have her blusher brush, don't worry, I use my real techniques blusher brush and it blends them beautifully together in a one-step process.

Overall, I think this shade is absolutely beautiful and I'm really impressed with the quality. It's definitely the blusher I have been reaching for a lot this month.

For more CT reviews: one of my most recent Charlotte Tilbury post's on the NEW 'PillowTalk Lipstick' which I have been wearing to death. Here is a gigantic haul I posted a little while ago. Another lipstick review on 'Kiss Chase' and 'Between the Sheets'. Also, a lipstick review on 'Stoned Rose'. And last but not least, my all time favourite, 'Bitch Perfect' lipstick review.

Follow me @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily, and leave a comment, I'll always respond. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away... So do get in touch :). 

Bali Honeymoon | Video Diaries Part 1

I'm really excited to share the first part of our honeymoon series. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the jungle of Ubud, Bali. It was heavenly and we didn't do anything but relax for 3 days straight! T'was much much needed as we flew two days after the wedding and had a lot of stresses along the way... but more on that later.

I mentioned on my last post that I want to meet more creative like minded people this year. Maybe to do a collaboration or just go out to cute little cafes and share ideas and things.
Sometimes, 'the blogging life' gets a little hard when you work full-time, so I'm really interested to see how others in a similar position work and cope with it all, and well honestly, it would be nice to have some more blogging or creative buddies to hang out with.

It's really tough though, because what I've noticed in the blogger community over the years, is that if you have a 'large' following, other bloggers are more drawn to you, and that shouldn't be the case. If you find a blogger with say '500' subscribers or followers that has the same interests as you and you get on, the following number shouldn't matter. It's irrelevant in other words... People need to stop taking everyone's following so seriously, blogging is supposed to be fun after all.

So, if you have Instagram and like what I like, or maybe you want to hang out in the future? Follow me @zoeyoliviablog and leave a comment, I'll always respond :). You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it, but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away...  Any who, have a great Friday. It's almost the weekend, woop!

Jason Wu for Caudalie | The Cult Beauty Elixir Spray Review

I haven't picked up one of Caudalie's Beauty Elixir sprays in yonks. I remember years ago this being a blogger favourite and also Victoria Beckham was a big fan.

If you haven't heard of Caudalie's cult Beauty Elixir spray, it's a hydrating mist for your face which you can use morning and night as a toner to tighten pores. You can also use it as a setting spray after your make-up is applied. Models and celebrities are said to use this multiple times a day to smooth features and get an instant boost of radiance.

Any who, I was browsing in Space NK recently and I saw this on offer, so I picked it up. The 30ml was only £5.50 - such a bargain *raises hands emoji*.

This version is a special edition bottle and I think it may be exclusive to Space NK. The bottle design is in collaboration with the Fashion Designer Jason Wu. It features an elegant black and white printed design which looks like lace on the front and has a lovely brass-gold lid (I think they are normally sliver).

The formula has benzoin, myrrh and essential oils of rosemary, lemon balm and peppermint. It also has orange blossom, rose and a grape pulp extract, Caudalie's flagship ingredient. The scent and formula is exactly the same as I remember. It has a heavily scented smell, very minty and refreshing.

My verdit: I do enjoy using this as it's super uplifting and I do notice results right away. My skin looks glowing and my skin feels a little tighter. I feel very fancy whenever I use this as it has such an unusual luxurious scent.

I think this would be great for popping in your handbag and taking with you whilst travelling around London, or even to use on the plane to get your glow back. As it's a great little travel companion and makes me feel wonderful, it gets 5 stars from me. So so glad to have this back in my life.

Any who, I just wanted to mention this here... I love social networking, it's a great way of making new friends in the blogger community. I want to meet more creative like minded people this year. Maybe to do a collaboration or something.
As some may know, I work full-time and do my blog in the evenings and at weekends so it would be really interesting to see how others in a similar position work and cope with it all.

Do you have Instagram? Follow me @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily, also leave a comment, I'll always respond. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it, but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away. Apart from that, I also do vlogs on Youtube, subscribe if you like the content I put out and don't forget to leave a comment too. Feedback on my content is important, whether it's positive or negative - I'd love to know. It's the only way I can improve and up my game and produce the BEST content for you guys. And it's always nice to just speak to you guys. So do get in touch :). 

Wedding Planning #5 | Choosing your wedding day make-up

Planning to do your own wedding make-up? Or interested in what I wore on my face? Then keep on reading...

I recently wrote about 'choosing your wedding day lipstick', but after writing it I thought it would be useful to talk about what I wore on my whole face and talk about the daunting task of choosing and doing your own wedding day make-up.

Doing your own make-up on your big day is for sure a stressful task, but if you're fussy like I am it makes perfect sense to do it yourself. I could of had a make-up artist and not worried about my make-up but I thought what if I hate it? What if I have a nervous breakdown and call the wedding off because I didn't like my make-up? Bit dramatic, yes...  But you know your face best, and you know what you like to put on your face.

I trialled more make-up than you could of possibly imagined, but to me that seemed normal as I am a massive make-up fiend anyway.

I began researching on my desired wedding day make-up look back in June last year, so I'd say around six months before my big day was when I started to trial my make-up. Maybe this is a little extreme, but I wanted to get my make-up just right. I wrote about my initial ideas for my hair and make-up back in August here.

Towards the final few weeks, I was set on using my all time favourite foundation, Estee Lauder's Double Wear and then I tried Giorgio Armani's Luminous Silk Foundation two weeks before and decided that was the one. It appeared more natural on the skin and didn't have any SPF in it which was great in case my photographer was using a flash.

I also changed my mind ten million times on what lipstick and blusher I was going to wear. I go into more detail about this in my previous post on 'choosing your wedding day lipstick'.

As well as the daunting task of finding the perfect eyeliner to stay put on my annoyingly watery eyes. I trialled Guerlain's Liquid eyeliner and Bobbi Brown's Long Wear Gel Liner and it was so hard to choose between the two. The struggle was real ladies!

The amount of eyeshadows I bought and ended up wearing my all time favourite from NARS' Limited Edition Laser Cut eye, cheek and lip palette that I got a few years back...

Sometimes you may already have it in your bag. So experiment with what you've got, try new things and make sure it's what you want. It's your wedding, your face, so do the look that's going to make you feel like a million dollars on the day.

Also, do experiment with your bridesmaids! Two of my bridesmaids came over a few weeks before the wedding and we did our make-up together. It was great to get their opinions and ensure we were all happy with what was going on our faces. It was also nice to talk about other beauty related things, such as 'What nail varnish should I go for?' 'Should I spice things up with a red lip in the evening?' 'Will this look go with my bridesmaid dress'. There's lots of things to consider in the beauty department and it's great to bounce off other peoples ideas and opinions.

My wedding make-up was very natural yet provided enough coverage to cover any blemishes or dark circles. I went for coral-nude shades with a teeny bit of sparkle on the eye lids. I wanted to rock a winged eye as it's my go to too. I wanted that 1940's look, yet very natural and pretty.

Here's what I wore on my face. Let's start with the base, I moisturised with my Environ AVST moisturiser and then primed with my Urban Decay All Nighter make-up setting spray to ensure everything would stay put all day. I then chose Giorgio Armani's Luminous Silk Foundation for a natural radiant glow, as well as concealing those pesky blemishes and dark circles with my NARS trusty creamy concealer (I could not live without this!). I left it for five minutes before applying Laura Mercier's Translucent Loose Powder to ensure my foundation and concealer wasn't going to slide around.
I also applied a teeny bit of my Hourglass' Ambient Ethereal Light Powder too.

After that, I applied my holy grail Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Dim Infusion and my Mary Lou Manizer highlighter on my cheekbones, underneath the brows and on the cupids bow.

For the eyes, I applied my Maxfactor cream eyeshadow and then applied a beautiful gold shade from my NARS Laser Cut eye, cheek and lip palette. I then winged it out with the Bobbi Brown Long Lasting Gel Eyeliner and applied this to my waterline too.

For my lips, I prepped my lips with Charlotte Tilbury's Lip Cheat Lip Liner in the shade 'Pillow Talk and then applied my lovely Chanel Rouge Coco in the shade 402 Adrienne. To make my lips appear fuller and plump, I applied Chanel's clear lipgloss on top.

I then spritzed my face with the Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray again and that was the look complete!

I also trialled another 'Bridal make-up look for Pale Skin & Brown Eyes' here if you're interested. I don't go into detail about the products but it's a sped up video on the look I was going to go for.
Perhaps I'll create another video on my actual wedding day make-up in the near future. If that's something you would like to see then do let me know :).

If you're interested in reading more about my wedding experiences, I blogged about mine and Joe's initial ideas here. As well as my initial hair and make-up ideas here. And last but not least, the stressful period with eight weeks to go, you can read about that one here.

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog.