Raindrops of Sapphire
Lorna

My 10 Ultimate Summer Essentials

When it comes to Summer, I always find myself reaching for my essentials and making sure I’m stocked up ready for the heat (well, if you can call it that here in England!). As a fashion blogger, I’m always eager to put away my coats, heavy jackets, boots and scarves and replace them with my Summer alternatives! I thought it might be a good idea to share with you what my 10 ultimate Summer essentials are in this post! This is including everything from clothing and make-up, to lotions and water! Whenever I think of Summer, I always have that nostalgic feeling of happiness as having warm weather is something of a rarity here for any long period of time, so I can’t help but smile when I think of it!

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Lorna

My Skin Care Routine: Jan Marini, Liz Earle & Origins

I’ve had a lot of questions about my skincare routine, including what I use because I’m often mistaken for a 16 year old. As I’ve explained before, a lot of it is genetic because my mum and dad look really young, but it’s also because of my lifestyle. I don’t drink alcohol or fizzy drinks and I don’t smoke or go out in the sun without sun cream. I would say that I have a pretty healthy diet and rarely eat sugar either, but I do have a good skincare regime that I stick to every morning and night and it’s something that works really well for me and my problem skin. I am prone to acne and have a lot of scarring on my face too, but to keep my skin under control it’s related a lot to my hormones and diet unfortunately, which makes it even harder to keep spot free. But I will take you through my skincare regime and the products I use, when I use them and what they look like, this does also include vitamins! So above is my Jan Marini 5 step system that I use morning and night. I originally found out about these products when I went for a consultation at a skin clinic here in Bath called The Orangery 2 years ago. I went there to talk to them about getting my skin under control and also a system of removing scars and pigmentation that I have on my skin. I was introduced to the skin care system that they swear by and it is Jan Marini. I will admit…

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DIY

How To Curl Your Hair With GHD Hair Straighteners

In December I put a video tutorial up on my YouTube on curling your hair with a hair straightener/flat iron. Lots of you have always commented on my hair when it’s curly and have asked how I do it, so I thought I would also create a blog post explaining to you just how to curl your hair with hair straighteners. It’s a lot easier than you might think and it gives a great result! It’s not as soft and springy as curling tongs, however it gives those looser waves that I think suit longer, thicker hair better, which is why I love this method. I don’t tend to mess with my hair too much as I like to keep it classic, but you may remember that I did my own DIY Blonde Ombre Dip Dye myself and I love how that turned out, but I’m not too adventurous when it comes to hair styles. I’ve included the video tutorial at the bottom of this post beneath the photos so you can get a great idea on how to do it. Having curly hair is always something I love as I think it looks more feminine and girly. It’s as simple as straightening your hair, but I have included the steps just below for you: Prepare your hair to be straightened after you wash it, condition it, dry it thoroughly and spritz on your protective spray. Make sure all of the knots are brushed out and your hair is smooth as this creates the nice softer curls (you can see my hair care routine here). Next, depending on how much…

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Lorna

My Make Up – Barbara Panagos, Benefit & More

I get asked a lot of questions about my make-up and what I use, so I thought it would be good to put together a whole post dedicated just to it and the process I go through. Since I am naturally blonde, I naturally have blonde eyelashes and eyebrows too, so one part of my body that I’m not comfortable with is my eyes. I like them because they are green, which is a rarer colour, but without mascara, I think they look really small and boyish, which is why I make sure I never leave the house without my mascara and eye make up on. I know it’s not good to think it, but without any make-up on my eyes, I feel really manly as my eyes are quite small and my eyelashes are almost invisible due to their colour. You can really see just how much of a difference it makes in the 4 photos above. The first is obviously without any make-on, completely bare so please be nice, ha ha, the second is just with one coat of my Benefit Yes They’re Real Mascara, the third is with two coats of the mascara and the fourth is finished with a grey eyeliner from Avon which has shimmer in it and then my Bourjois Paris Smoky Eye eyeshadow palette. I use the mid grey towards the outsides of my eyelids and then the lighter silver on the insides to create a blended ombre effect. This is usually how I wear my eyes when I go out for the day, sometimes I do go out without the eyeshadow or…

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Lorna

Thinking Of Changing My Hairstyle

My hair has always pretty much been my trademark. When I was younger, maybe about 7 or 8, it used to be really long, all the way down to my bum, but at that age it was quite unmanageable so I had it cut to chin length. As it’s always been really thick, it used to stick out like a triangle on my head though! When I got a bit older, around 12 years old, I know I have said before that I had it cut to boy short length. It was about an inch long at the back and a bit longer on top. Ever since then, when I left my tomboy phase, I have been growing it out and I never want short hair again. I dyed my hair myself with a DIY ombre kit last year and it’s faded quite a lot over that time though. I don’t think I have had my hair cut for months, I believe the last time I had it cut was a couple of days before I went to Italy back in June! It’s been 5 months and in that time it’s grown so long and my fringe/bangs have pretty much grown out completely. Always around this time of year, in the Autumn, I get really fed up and bored of my hairstyle and fancy a change. Last time I opted to have a full fringe cut in, like Taylor Swift, but I ended up hating it and I wont be doing that again. At the moment, due to the length and age of my hair, it’s in pretty bad condition…

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Lorna

My Hair Care Routine

A lot of you have asked me previously about my hair and have mentioned that you really like the style, so I thought I would share with you my hair care routine. I use quite a few different products as I do have extra thick hair, even my hairdresser struggles with the amount of hair I have, ha ha. It’s quite a long routine each time I wash it (about an hour and half from start to finish), so I actually only wash it twice a week. As it’s really thick and coarse, it doesn’t get greasy until 3 days, so that works out well for me.

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Lorna

My DIY Blonde Ombre Dip Dye Hair

Ok, as you know I have been wanting to ombre/dip dye my dark blonde hair for some time, but I was really scared to do it. I didn’t have the money to have it done at the salon as that costs a lot and I don’t have the patience to sit there for hours, so I bought the L’oreal Wild Ombre’s kit in shade number 3 for blonde hair. I read a few reviews on this product and some were bad, some were good. Mostly they were about the dye drying out the hair and ruining it, however that didn’t happen with mine, my hair is still really soft as you can see. My biggest issue with the Loreal Wild Ombre is the colour though, it really hasn’t come out the way I wanted it too. I was hoping it would be like the colour on the box below, an actual blonde with white undertones, but I guess nothing ever does what it says on the box… Mine has turned out blonde with orange/yellow undertones and since I have dark mousy blonde on top, that tone doesn’t suit me, I really need the white undertone blonde at the ends of my hair. As far as applying the hair dye goes, it’s very easy, you just mix up the dye, squeeze it onto the plastic brush and brush it through the lengths of your hair. I did mine the first time and left it on for about half an hour, however it barely did anything, all it did was slightly lighten the ends, but it made my brown at the back…

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Lorna

My New Hairstyle

So I know you all wanted me to show you my new hairstyle. As you know I was thinking of getting a fringe/bangs when I was getting my hair cut on Friday. I decided to go for it and I have been trying to get used to the new style for the past couple of days. At first I really wasn’t sure on it, I thought that it looks too heavy and the fringe makes my face a bit square. Everyone else has said that it looks really nice on me and they like it a lot though. I’m still trying to get used to it and I think it will look a lot better if my hair was more blonde. I used to have quite blonde hair from the sun as it lightens in the Summer, but now it’s been cut, it’s quite dark, so I have decided that I need some highlights put through around the front and on top and I think it will look better then, it wont be so harsh on my face as I am quite pale. Anyway, what do you all think of my new hairstyle? Do you like it or do you think it looks really bad? I’m still not sure if I regret the decision. I feel like my hair is not as girly anymore. (Follow me on Twitter, Bloglovin and Facebook)

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