Spa Break at Seaham Hall

A couple of weeks ago, my husband treated me to a few days at a spa hotel. He chose Seaham Hall Hotel and Serenity Spa near Newcastle, which turned out to be an incredible choice. It's a lovely hotel and spa situated on a cliff top near the sea.

I forgot to take a picture of the hotel exterior, so here's one from their website.

Our room was huge! It was just a regular room, but looked pretty much like a suite to me, with 4 rooms (including bathroom).

What I liked about this hotel was that you do not have to walk outdoors to get to their spa. We could then just get changed in our rooms and walk to the spa in our bathrobe and slippers.

The walkway from hotel to spa, with an elephant at the end. The whole spa had a South East Asian theme, including a Thai restaurant which overlooked the hotel's vast grounds.

The alternating mood lighting.. Sorry for the slightly squint picture. I took these pics with my husband's iphone and I'm the worst photographer ever.

One more elephant pic for luck. Sadly I couldn't take any pictures of the facilities (for the privacy of other guests and spa users).

The spa was simply amazing. They had a pool, hydropools, outdoor hot tubs, a hamam with jacuzzi, ice pools, saunas and steam rooms. My husband and I also got a massage in a twin room. It's the first time we ever had a massage in the same room, was great!

Hotel Website: http://www.seaham-hall.co.uk/

Look: Natural FOTD using Nars Lhasa, and my Pear and Honey Cake

Here's a look I did recently using natural looking shades of makeup.

I don't normally wear base makeup, but for this look I'm using Liz Earle's tinted moisturiser. I have small sample of it and was giving it a try. I'll write a review on it soon.

Nars Lhasa is a recent purchase. I've seen some beautiful swatches of the eyeshadow in various beauty blogs and just had to purchase it. Lhasa is a smokey lavender brown-grey.

Products Used:

Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint in 01 (sample-not pictured)

Becca Beach Tint in Fig

Shiseido Integrate Gracy Brow Pencil

Clarins Instant Definition Mascara

Nars Eyeshadow in Lhasa

Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Black

Mac Patisserie

I love Becca Beach Tints. This shade in Fig is a pretty and subtle nude pink which looks great on both cheeks and lips (for this look I am just using it on my cheeks).

Here's a picture of the Pear & Honey cake that I baked recently. I had some friends over for our weekly mahjong session and thought I would bake them a cake while my husband cooked them Hainanese Chicken Rice. As you can tell from my poor craftsmanship, I made the crystallized decoration myself. The cake consists of 3 layers with cream cheese and honey icing.

Review: Nuxe Baume Prodigieux Lèvres

Nuxe Baume Prodigieux Lèvres in Légendaire Pink

Nourishing Protective Lip Care Gloss effect SPF15

Nuxe is a French brand which combines innovative research and development with natural active ingredients to offer high quality, natural-origin cosmetics. Their most famous product is their Prodigious Oil for face, body and hair (which I have yet to try).

I purchased the shade Légendaire Pink, a coral-peachy-pink. The lipgloss stand about 3.8" tall. The quality of the packaging is good with a cold coloured screw top and a spongy doe foot applicator.

According to Nuxe:

EFFECTIVE BY NATURE

This multi-purpose Protective Lip Balm performs miracles on the lips. In just one step, your lips are nourished, protected and enhanced. Mango taste.

PRECIOUS BENEFITS FOR MY SKIN

Your lips are replumped, smooth and luscious with a transparent gloss effect. This Protective Lip Balm is available in 4 colors: Natural Crystal for ultra-natural radiance, Légendaire® Pink for a subtle rosy shimmer, Shimmering Chocolate for a delicate pearly brown, and Rouge Charismatic® for a delicate glimmering poppy result.

STAR ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

Active Ingredients include: This multi-purpose balm nourishes (Mango and Shea Butters, Sunflower and Sweet Almond Oils), protects (Solar Filters SPF 15, Vitamin E) and enhances the lips (iridescent gloss effect). Plant Filling Spheres smooth and replump the lips.No preservatives.

A close up of the applicator. The lip gloss has a thick, creamy consistency and contains some shimmer particles. Pigmentation is fairly good for an item that is both a gloss and a nourishing balm.

Paper Swatch:

Lip Swatch:

The lip gloss looks a fresh light-to-medium peachy-pink on the lips. It it not very long wearing and due to its subtle shade, almost dissapears after eating or drinking. The gloss felt lovely and moustirising on my lips. I did not see a noticeable plumping effect, though the glossiness and shimmer gave the lips a full-look.

Pros:

Contains SPF 15
Moisturising
Results in glossy, full-looking lips
Lovely peachy-pink colour
Made with natural active ingredients

Cons:

Not long wearing/lasting

My Obsession With Lip Balms

Ever since as long as I can remember, I've been addicted to lip balms. Before I developed an interest in skincare and makeup, lip balms were no.1 in my life!

I've compiled a list of my all time favourite lip balms. Each one is loved for entirely different reasons than the next.

Best For : Luxurious Feeling Lips

Eve Lom Kiss Mix

Contains: Natural sunscreen and cooling menthol.

This lip balm has a minimalist white packaging and is compact enough to fit easily into your pocket.

The product itself is a thick creamy white balm. It has one of the thickest textures of lip balm i have come acress. It is super smooth and feels luxurious on the lips.

It has a gorgeous mint scent and leaved the lips with a slight tingly feeling. It keeps lips feeling super hydrated and soft. The tingly sensation and scent leaves me feeling uplifted and fresh.

Best For: Beautiful Looking Lips

Tokyo Milk Bon Bon Lip Balm in Candied Violette

Contains: Sunflower seed oil. Vitamin E, Aloe Vera & Shea Butter.

This lip balm is beautifully packaged and available in a variety of fun flavours including; 'Let Them Eat Cake', 'Petit Fours Glace' and 'Iced Green Tea'.

Candied Violette has a sugar floral scent and tastes sweet. It's super smooth and slightly glossy. It provides nice hydration without feeling too greasy.

I love it because it leaves lips looking so plump, lusciously kissable and healthy looking.

Best: Packaging

Figs & Rouge 100% Organic Balm

My favourite out of the Figs & Rouge balms is the Pomegranate. It has a lovely fruity scent and taste.

It's a little grainy at first touch but melts into a smooth balm. I love the beautiful vintage inspired packaging and gorgeous scent. It's a true joy to look at and carry around. I love the fact that it's 100 organic, and it's multi-purpose use is a bonus.

Best For: Very Dry Chapped Lips

eos Lip Balm in Sweet Mint

95% organic, 100% natural. Contains: Shea Butter, Vitamin E & Jojoba oil.

This lip balm has a fun egg shape that applies straight onto the lips (so no finger dipping and worries about germs!)

It has an amazing fresh minty scent and taste (my husband is a big fan). Sometimes in extreme changes of weather, my skin becomes super sensitive and my lips feel extra dry and prickly. I'm not sure which ingredient exactly makes this lip balm so good, but it immediately soothes and hydrates my lips when no other lip balm can. As a fan of natural cosmetics, I also love that this lip balm is 100% natural.

Look: Using Naked 2 Palette and Topshop Magical Lip Tint

Hi everyone. Today's look included using the amazing Naked 2 palette that the lovely Riya sent me. This palette is a true joy to use as I'm truly spoilt for choices of shades!

I also used my new Topshop Magical Lip Tint to complete this look.

Group photo of the products used:

Urban Decay Naked 2 palette
Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Black
Shiseido Integrate Gracy Eyebrown Pencil in 963
Clarins Instant Definition Mascara (not pictured)
Edward Bess Blush Imperiale in Soft Orchid
Topshop Magical Lip Tint in Crystal

The shades I chose for today's look are Bootycall (one of my faves, a gorgeous creamy pale beige)...

...and YDK, a stunning brown bronze with metallic shimmer.

I used Bootycall all over my upper eyelids, and YDK near the lashline.

I chose pink shades (as usual) for my cheeks and lips.

The Topshop Magical Lip Tint is from their new Sisters of the New Moon collection. The tint reacts with the skin to create a unique shade. Too fun to resist.

The product itself looks like something a child would enjoy looking at. All pink and sparkly.

Thankfully only a couple of the sparkles transferred onto the lips. On my lips the tint turned a fairly bright pink (slightly darker and brighter in real life than in this pic).

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! Mine is not terribly exciting. Am on some sort of diet to try and lose the extra pounds that have crept up on me this winter!

Another Surprise From Riya!

A giant THANK YOU to the beautiful and lovely Riya from pinkstrawberrielove who sent me another sweet parcel recently. It's really great how I get to meet such warm, kind friends through blogger such as Riya.

A whole load of goodies:

Including the Naked 2 palette! How generous!

This palette is simply gorgeous! I love each and every shade. I'll be doing some looks in the future with this palette.

Another favourite is this cute Skinfood Cream Blush.

I love the packaging, and the shade is such a pretty pink! Just my kind of colour!

Thanks again Riya for really making my week!

Neom Luxury Organics - Utter Relexation Collection

Neom Luxury Organics - Utter Relaxation Collection

Neom is a luxury organic brand from England, dedicated to reducing the amount of chemicals people put on their bodies. They specialise in luxurious beautifully scented beauty and home treatment products.

“Making organics modern, luxurious and highly effective in the most innovative way possible.”

NEOM Luxury Organics

The Neom Promise:

No Synthetics

No petrochemicals, parabens, SLS

Only pure essential oils & finest quality ingredients

100% vegetable was candles (no black soot)

I bought this Relaxation Collection for £20. It contains the following:

Organic Pillow Mist 5oml

Organic Body Lotion 5oml

Travel Candle 75g

Organic Bath Oil 5ml

The candle has a lovely Rose and Neroli scent. It's a calming fragrance, but I felt that the scent could be a little stronger. Though it is a travel sized candle, I found this to be quite a good size - not too small. The full sized candles from this brand are pretty big!

Image comparing the full sized candle with travel sized:

The pillow mist is made from 95%organic ingredients including English Lavender, Sweet Basil and Jasmine. The scent somehow is slightly reminiscent of men's cologne. I don't know why that is, perhaps an ingredient with a very slight masculine scent. The spray in this bottle is pretty good. It diffuses the contents well, transforming the liquid into a mist.

The bath oil contains English Lavender, Sweet Basil, Jasmine, Safflower and Jojoba. It's such a shame that this set contains such a teeny tiny bottle as this bath oil smells absolutely heavenly. The scent is really calming, making bath time such a great experience. The full-sized bottle has such great packaging that I'm truly tempted to purchase it after I've finished this set.

Image of a full-sized bottle:

The body lotion is a rich blend of vitamin A & E-packed Shea Butter, Macademia Nut Oil, Rosemary Leaf and Pomegranate. This body lotion is a real treat to use. The scent is gorgeous, and the lotion sinks into the skin beautifully.

Overall, a really nice collection of products. I do really wish the bath oil was a lot bigger, as together with the body lotion is my favourite of the set. I bought this collection for £20 at Victoria Health.