I'm going on holiday!! doctors cave beach | heat | holiday | imagination | jamaica | make believe | makebelieve | montego bay | summer | sun | sunshine | tan | vacation

Actually, I'm not. But I wish I was. 

So much so that I'm using a touch of make believe and I am going to create one at from home.

When I think of holidays, I think of the first time I ever went on an aeroplane. My mum took us to Jamaica and it was incredible. Luckily, we made friends with a Jamaican family and ended up going another 3 times in the few years to come. 

Now, I haven't been there for over ten years and I'm absolutely craving some of the Caribbean culture.

Tomorrow I'm going to start my day by having a nice lie, because who gets up super early whilst they're away?

My plan is to then go swimming with Sarah and her lit'lun and whilst they're splashing away, I'm going to sneak off into the sauna to get my Jamaican heat fix. Let's face it, the soggy Leeds weather just isn't cutting it.

I'm going to sit there imagining the the sound of the ocean waves crashing onto the gorgeous white sand beach.  

When I get home I'm going to whack on a bit of Bob Marley, imagine I'm perusing through one of the many colourful Jamaican markets and get my tanning on. I can picture it now, the hustle and bustle, the locals shouting your way trying to grab your attention, the sound of laughter, all mixed with that typical reggae beat.

I tried out Make Believe tan last week and it'll be the perfect product to fake that Jamaican glow. Now I'm talking the one week in the sun is enough kind of glow, not the looking like a lobster 2 week kind. 

Been there, done that, couldn't wear the t-shirt. It was far too painful! 

I think I'll finish my day by relaxing on my bed, writing blog posts. 

As a child, my mum used to make us write holiday diaries. At the time I hated having to sit down every evening with my pen and notepad, but now I absolutely love looking back through them and reading about the things we got up to. 

I guess you could say that's where my love of writing came from, in fact I've never thought of it like that, but it probably is. It's probably the reason I love writing this blog.

I'm hoping my little make believe holiday will help me relax a little bit. I've had a tough week with my anxiety playing up and I really think it'll help. We can't afford to fly somewhere stunning this year and sometimes you just have to use a bit of imagination.

Have you guys ever faked a holiday? Believe me, I actually know someone else who's done it too.

My Tan Testing Thursday - Make Believe colour | fake tan | false tan | holiday | leedsbloggermeetup2012 | looking | make believe | make believe beauty | natural | review | self tanner | skin | tan | when flowers fall | whenflowersfall

This is the second of two self tanner reviews, the first was posted yesterday. :) 

 On Thursday I went swimming with my girls and I figured it would be the perfect night to try out a couple of new self tanners. Last Saturday we were given a little treat from Make Believe in our goody bags. 

The product we received was the self tan lotion in zone 3. (RRP £24.50)

 During my little swimming sesh I snuck into the sauna to give my skin a bit of a treat. When I got home, I jumped in the bath and exfoliated like crazy. My skin felt amazing. I then proceeded to smother myself in various lotions and potions to try and achieve a cracking glow for this bank holiday weekend.

Make Believe  

I decided to use the make believe tan on my legs. I felt as it the lotion was white and had no colour guide, this was probably best. My legs are the hardest part of me to tan, purely because due to previous jobs, I have a lot of dry skin in this area. 

Just like the Xen-Tan I posted about yesterday, I made sure to moisturise any areas I felt the tanner may have clung to. This included my knees and around my ankle/heel areas.

The lotion itself seemed to take a long time to soak in. I felt very tacky for about an hour after applying it, meaning I was walking around my house pretty much half naked until I felt I was able to put on a pair of loose fitting pjs. Other than this, the application was easy, I just felt you have to be very careful not to apply too much product to one area, and to make sure that it's all rubbed in. Circular motions really help in getting a result with no streaks. 

The Make Believe Lotion also had an amazing tropical fragrance. Extremely fruity and very pleasant to work with. None of the burnt biscuit scent here!

As you can see in the photos above, again the tanner started to develop within the hour, and by the time morning came around I had a very nice tan.

Even though I did moisturise, I found the product still managed to cling to some stubborn dry areas. This was remedied pretty easily just by exfoliating those areas again whilst in the shower. 

Just like the Xen-Tan from yesterday, I'm incredibly happy with the result of this product. The colour is maybe not as strong as the Xen- Tan, but it definitely natural looking and I couldn't see any streaks. 

Like I said before, this lotion is a zone 3. The zones run from 1 to 5 and each zone includes different products for different skin types/outcomes.

If you want to find out which kind of Make Believe product/zone is right for you, you can check out their zone guide here. 

I'll be using every single drop of this bottle up, and I may even repurchase a zone 4, because you can't let the grey English clouds stop you from at least looking like you've been on an amazing holiday!!

They also sell a zone 4 airbrush aerosol version which has caught my eye.

You can both purchase and find out more about the Make Believe products on their website here! 

I had never heard of Make Believe before, had you?

My Tan Testing Thursday - Xen-Tan bronze | fake tan | holiday skin | natural | review | self tanner | skin | skin care | tan | tanned | when flowersfall | whenflowersfall | xen tan | xentan

This is the first of two self tanner reviews, the other will be posted tomorrow! :)

On Thursday I went swimming with my girls and I figured it would be the perfect night to try out a couple of new self tanners. 

We had been given a couple of samples from Xen-tan last Saturday at #leedsbloggermeetup2012.

Tomorrows review will be of a self tanner from Make Believe, again of which we received last Saturday.

During my little swimming sesh I snuck into the sauna to give my skin a bit of a treat. When I got home, I jumped in the bath and exfoliated like crazy. My skin felt amazing. 

I then proceeded to smother myself in various lotions and potions to try and achieve a cracking glow for this bank holiday weekend. 

Xen-Tan

I applied the Xen-Tan dark lotion to my arms and décolletage, this is the product I had most faith in. 

Before I did so, I made sure to moisturise my elbows, this is the one area most prone to psoriasis and I wanted to make sure that the product didn't cling to any dry skin that I may have missed. 

The self tanner is very dark in colour. It looks really scary. When applied to the skin the colour isn't as crazy, it gives you a slight colour guide and this really helps with applying the product as smoothly as possible. This way you can avoid any kind of streaking.
The thing that you notice straight away is the very strong scent of marzipan. Personally I love it, but it might not be for all. It does definitely beat the smell of biscuits though.

The self tanner dries very quickly, which I loved, and you are able to put clothes on without them sticking to you. It is advised to steer clear of any light colour clothing though. 

As you can see from the photos above the product starting to develop nicely within the next hour, but I decided to sleep in it and wash it off in the morning. 

In the morning my arms looked amazing. In the above photo it looks rather orange, but I can promise you it was not. The photo was taken before my shower, so afterwards the colour was slightly less in your face. I really did look like I had been lying in the sun for the past week. Another bonus was that my elbows were not dark at all! 

Xen-Tan is a little pricey, this lotion in particular is currently on sale on the Xen-Tan website for £21.74, but I honestly feel it's one of the best tans I have ever tried. It gives the most natural colour, I had no streaks of patches and it is wearing so well. 

I'm trying really hard to make the sample I have last as long as I can, but I would most definitely re-purchase this product. 

You can find out more about Xen-Tan here.

Check back tomorrow for the review on Make Believe tan, which I tried out on my legs, (my harder to tan area.)

Winter Warmers - The battle of the leggings aztec | boohoo | clothes | criss cross | fashion | fringe | fringing | leggings | missguided | shopping | style | suede | tan | tassles | teal | velvet | warmers | winter

Hi Lovelies!
I've been looking for some new leggings to purchase for this winter but I really can't make my mind up! I've picked out my top 8 faves and I have 4 from each of my favourite clothing websites, so I thought I'd run a little poll.

Which pair do you like best, and which company do you prefer to buy from? Just leave a comment in the box below and let us all know what you think!

(Click Photo to Enlarge)

Boohoo.com

1. Lola Velvet Full Length Leggings £10.00

2. Annie PU Lace Panelled Leggings £10.00

3. Hannah Knitted Aztec Leggings £15.00

4. Lauren Criss Cross Design Knitted Leggings £12.00

Missguided.co.uk

5. Kiara Heavyweight Leggings With Suede Style Patches £18.99

6. Sabine Mole Skin Leggings With Side Fringing £13.99

7. Prudence High Waisted Leggings £9.99

8. Tammya Velvet Leggings £9.99

I think I'm swaying towards the Boohoo Aztec leggings because I'm crazy for anything with aztec print right now, and the missguided velvet ones, I can wear them with almost anything, a big oversized knitted jumper  or a tan coloured winter trench coat. 

Do forget to tell me what you think!