Hello, and a huge warm welcome to my blog! My name’s Charlotte Jayne Jackson and I’m currently based in Shropshire, England. The main focus of my blog is fashion, food and adventures so if that sounds great to you stick around, take a look, and enjoy! ~ x
Today I did something I’ve never done before… I went to a nail salon and got a manicure! A French Manicure at that 🙂
I’ve been alive 25 years and it’s taken me until today to realise how AMAZING getting a manicure is! I don’t really like other people touching me etc, so going to salons to get treatments has never really appealed to me, but I finally decided to try it because, hey, you have to try everything at least once right?
Before
What inspired me to try it was that I’ve just come back from Italy and after the trip my nails were a complete state… Fake tan, chipped nails and Deet (mosquito repellent) ruining my own nail varnish all left me desperately needing my nails professionally looking at.
A friend of mine also recently had a pedicure for the first time and loved it…sooo, I thought I’d just give it a go!
I wanted something natural/chic looking, hence why I went for a French Manicure 🙂
The salon was really nice and clean and smelt amazing ~ The staff were so so lovely and gave me the exact thing I was hoping for!! (Was worried it wouldn’t look like I wanted but they got it exactly right!!). They were really gentle and reassured me that even though my nails were quite short that they could give me what I wanted.
After
And this was the result!
How gorgeous do they look? I couldn’t stop looking at them in the salon and can’t believe the difference from what they looked like before.
Super natural, super chic, I LOVE IT. Thank you Orchid Nails ❤
I’m going to start going every month from now on and might even get my feet done next time. I’m trying to look after myself a bit more, and getting my nails done is one good way of doing that for me.
I’ve also been tinting my eyebrows, fake tanning a bit, going to the gym and trying new skincare to try and feel as great as possible!//
I spent mine (my Saturday at least) doing some quite intensive retail therapy! I took a trip up to Manchester to the Trafford Centre mall for a mooch about and quite few nice things caught my eye… 😉
Two of the things I bought were Claris Natural Lip Perfectors from the make-up department in John Lewis.
Clarins is somewhere I have only started shopping at since October last year as I don’t really branch out with my make-up too much. I was on a flight to Cyprus and a Clarins shop assistant gave me a free test bag of items to try. One of the items that was in the bag was a lip perfector and…long story short I’ve been obsessed ever since.
The one I originally got on my flight was a clear perfector that I have been blending with my lipsticks to make a more subtle lip stick look. On Saturday I branched out and bought two pigmented perfectors and I think they look great!! One is a light red and the other a subtle pink colour – I’m wearing the red one above.
The reason I love these so much is because they have a rough sort of lip brush (poor description I’m so sorry) so that when you apply the product it gets rid of all the dry skin/imperfections on your lips making them look smooth and feel great. I also love how the colours look really natural and not over powering like lipstick often does.
In the pictures above the only make-up I have on my face is the lip perfector! And I think it looks so natural! I can NEVER wear a lipstick without a modest face of make-up, as it think it looks a bit weird? But this I think looks great :).
I also think the packaging is so chic and cute! I’m going to be buying these again in the future for sure. //
Just wanted to pop on here and share some photos of a home spa night I had a few days ago…
One of my goals for this year is to take the time to look after myself a bit more (skin, hair, body, mind etc.) and I think putting an hour aside to do just that every so often is really important for all of us!
My two best friends got me a spa kit for my birthday as a way of cheering me up because I caught Covid and couldn’t go to a spa weekend that I had planned…Major bummer at the time but it got re-arranged so it was all good in the end! How cute is this kit though?!
I was dying to try these ‘oatmeal’ bath salts as they smelt sooo divine. I love that they come in a little bag that you can put straight into the bath ❤
They made my skin feel really soft and smooth ~
This was a clay face mask that is supposed to soak up all the dirt off of your face. You slowly add hot water until it becomes a paste and then apply it while it’s still warm for 5 minutes.
I really liked this face mask. My skin felt genuinely clean and fresh and also SUPER soft afterwards. I did make the mistake of using it all at once though…but luckily I have another one, hehe.
The final thing I used was this floral water. It’s apparently really pure water that you apply after your face mask. It’s really refreshing to use to be honest – especially after a hot bath!
Feeling fresh faced and relaxed!
All of these products are made from recycled materials and are vegan too! How great is that? ❤
My friends were so cute getting me this – I love them to pieces.
Today I wanted to share with you some of my *favourite* beauty products I have been using this year!
Hopefully you might find this helpful as a lot of these products are quite inexpensive and you can buy most of them at high street shops like Boots ~
These products are my favourites because I’ve found they do exactly what they are supposed to do, to a high quality, for not too much money! So alas, let’s get into the blog post:
Vitamin E Oil
First up is this vitamin E nail and cuticle oil from Superdrug. It applies like a nail varnish and one dip can coat nearly all your nails on one hand! I use this on top and underneath my nails to strengthen them so that they can grow long without chipping!
When I discovered this I could not believe how amazing and effective it was. It really does work and your nails feel so hard and strong after just a few minutes of applying the oil.
I’ve not tried any other brands but I know that this one is definitely worth purchasing!
I’m terms of price, I got this for £7.99 so it’s very affordable (it will last ages). My nails rarely chip anymore! 8/10.
Hoola Benefit Bronzer
Up next is this Hoola Benefit Bronzer ~
I first started using this in 2020 as a friend got me the travel sized version as one of my birthday gifts, as she used it and thought I’d love it.
I did. This year I bought the full sized version from Selfridges and I still think it’s amazing. It’s light on your face, not over powering, blends beautifully and gives your face a more sharper look. Sells at around £27 for the large and £12 for the small. Big fan, 9/10 from me.
P.s used by Selena Gomez I’ve noticed ~
Rimmel London 60 Second Super Shine nail polish
Thirdly, the 60 Second Super Shine nail polish by Rimmel London.
This nail polish is nothing short of incredible. It’s a gel that lasts around a week without chipping (I’m serious). I apply two coats of this with no top coat and it lasts for a week straight…(I honestly don’t know how).
I bought three new shades today from Superdrug.
Compared to other cheaper nail polishes this one can run against my Chanel nail polish and keep up. It is fantastic quality for only around £3-£5 depending on what shade you want!
It’s hard to buy any other brand after you wear these – they are just brilliant. 10/10.
M.A.C blusher
Moving on now to blush.
I’m someone who has only recently started using blush but has come to love it more than any other type of make-up (as I am incredibly pale and it gives me some colour!).
The first blush I ever bought was one from Nars but I wasn’t really a fan because it had a shimmer to it. Now… finding a blush without shimmer is near impossible I’ve found.
I had to look all over the place to find the best blush with no shimmer, and then I wasn’t sure what colours would suit me the best and how well they would blend :(.
Finally, I managed to come across these blushes from M.A.C. They are very pigmented, blend and apply wonderfully and last forever. And guess what? NO SHIMMER!!!
They were quite pricy sadly (£30 each) but a really great product. I wear them every day and they look very natural. Really recommend these. 8/10.
Soap and Glory Supercat Eyeliner & Brow Pencil/Gel
Now, last but not least are the Soap and Glory Supercat Eyeliner with the Brow Pencil and Gel.
I love these products so much! I’ve been using the eyeliner all year and it’s the best eyeliner I’ve ever used. It applies so easily and rarely smudges. I will warn that is it’s NOT waterproof but I’ve never had a problem with that!
The brow pencil I get in the colour medium brown and I love it for shaping my brows before I add my brow powder.
The shape of the pencil makes it very easy to apply and it creates a very natural thin line. I like that it comes with a gel at the bottom to set your brows in place for the day so that you don’t have to carry around two separate products!
Really great quality products from quite an unknown brand really. If you don’t know, Soap and Glory are Boots’ own beauty brand. They are so good and if you are UK based you should really check them out 🙂
I paid £17 for both of these products together. 9/10
That’s it for today folks, as that was quite a long blog post compared to usual haha! I hope you enjoyed this and I’ll be back on here soon x
Something I have absolutely being LOVINGLY recently has been this tanning foam in ‘dark’ by Bondi Sands, so I wanted to pop on here and talk about it.
As a someone with red hair who has extremely pale skin, it’s always been a challenge finding a fake tanner that works for me.
I used to always use gradual tanner (in a moisturiser) that would always end up being patchy and transferable the moment I stepped foot in water…
So last year I started using self tanning foam as it stays on for a week or more and doesn’t transfer! The problem was, because of my light colouring I used to buy ‘light/medium’ in Bondi Sands or ‘medium’ in St. Moriz and even though they did make me look like I had some colour, I still didn’t look tanned.
Sooo, I’ve started using the Bondi Sands dark shade and… OMG I LOVE it. It’s perfect, it’s amazing, it’s everything it’s supposed to be!
These two photos below were taken of me yesterday (the day after applying the foam) in Liverpool and you can really see the results ~
I don’t have any streaking or patchiness and the colour tone is *perfect*!
Ultra dark would definitely have been too dark for my colouring but I think this one does the job great 👍
When I applied I also made sure to exfoliate, shower and moisturise any rough skin before applying the foam to help prevent build-up. I also left the product on for 6 hours before washing it off 🙂
Charlotte Jayne 