It was my birthday!

Hello everyone. So if you didn't already know, it was my birthday on the 8th October and this post is long overdue but I thought I would share it with you nevertheless. So I turned 17 and this opens more opportunities for me such as learning to drive.

For my birthday, Baker Days kindly sent me one of their *letterbox cakes to review and I thought it was perfect. The cake arrived on the 7th October which was great timing and it was packaged lovely and the tin is also very nice. Baker Days are personalised cake specialists. Baker Days do personalised cakes for any occasion and they can do cupcakes (12 portions), Letterbox 5" cakes (3-4 portions), Small 7" cakes (10-12 portions), Medium 9" cakes (18-25 portions) and finally a large 12" cake (40-55 portions). You get free helium balloons with all large cakes and you can also get a Baker Days cake slicer with all medium and large cakes. You can also choose extras such as balloons, banners, candles and bubbles.

What I really loved about Baker Days is you can choose what to have on the cake and you can choose between 6 flavours which I bet are all delicious! There is vanilla, chocolate, fruit, half and half, gluten free and dairy free and I chose vanilla. It smells amazing and the cake tastes so good too. 

One of the main things I love about Baker Days is that they do letterbox cakes, they are so affordable and are so easy. Instead of a card, you could get them a letterbox cake as a gift and the best thing is, it will fit through your letterbox so you don't have to wait in all day. Baker Days send letterbox cakes out first class. Another good thing is that Baker Days' cakes stay fresh for up to 14 days and they deliver 6 days a week and if you order 1 week in advance you can get free delivery. If you order before 2pm you can get next day delivery. A Baker Days Letterbox Cake is £14.99.

So here is the cake when we lit it. It was such a yummy cake. Baker Days gave me a great service and I would highly recommend them to anyone.

 

Have you tried Baker Days?

 

*DISCLAIMER: This item was sent for review purposes only. All views and opinions are my own and are 100% honest.

Yearly Review.

Hello everyone. So today I thought I would do a post based on some New Year Resolutions I had set myself. If you didn't see my original post about my New Year Resolutions than you can read it here. Basically I should have maybe have done this post in June which marks the half way point of the year but some of my new year resolutions I wouldn't know about till August.

So what were my 5 New Year Resolutions?

 1. I want to get better with my photography for my blog, being the actual photo quality and editing.

2. I want to gain more confidence and feel at ease instead of stressed all the time over the silliest things.

3. I want to hopefully have reached 50,000 pageviews on my blog. That is such a lot, for me, personally. It would be a huge achievement and I feel that I can do this. If I can get  25,000 in my first year then I can get another 25,000 in my second year and that will be incredible. Anything over this, well is a bonus and I will be thrilled. Although it's not all about numbers and views etc, those pageviews at least tell me that someone is reading my blog and therefore I am very thankful indeed.

4. I want to be friends with even more bloggers and get involved in the community even more this year.

5. I want to have passed all my GCSE's at least at a C grade.

Have I achieved any within the last 10 months?

1. I wanted to get better with my photography on my blog and I think I have improved slightly. I still don't think they are amazing but they are presentable and they look nice. Of course, I'll let you all be the judges of this one.

2. I wanted to gain more confidence and feel at ease instead of being stressed all the time which I definitely think I've gained a little more confidence and I don't tend to get as stressed as I did.

3. I wanted to hopefully reach 50,000 pageviews and as I say it's not about the numbers but this is my biggest goal that I set myself when I started blogging. I haven't quite reached 50,000 pageviews yet but hopefully by 2016 I will have!

4. I wanted to become friends with even more bloggers and be involved in the community and I'd definitely say I've achieved this. I've hosted a few different chats over this year and I feel very lucky at the response I got.

5. I wanted to pass all my GCSE's at least at a C grade. Unfortunately I didn't manage to achieve this. I passed all my exams except for Maths which I got a D. I was sadly only 5 marks off getting a C too! So I will be resitting. If you want to read about my results then you can here.


I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I would love to know if you have achieved any of your New Year Resolutions!

*Miss A Haul.

 

Hello everyone. So today's post is all about Miss A. I'm really excited to share this haul with you because everything in this haul is $1 which works out at £0.66 GBP. I got a range of make up, skincare, jewellery, nail polish and accessories and I was really surprised by how much Miss A have on their website to choose from. Every single item on Miss A is $1 which I found absolutely incredible and if you're wanting to try some new products out or are looking for a certain thing, Miss A could be the answer to your problems. Before anyone quotes that I am spelling all the things American, all these items have come from America and so I am posting them as the American spellings.

 

Nail Polish

 

Kleancolor Nail Lacquer in 139 Pastel Pink - I have to be honest, this nail polish wasn't great. It went clumpy after the first coat. I didn't even apply it that thick and it was just awful (See photos below). I would not recommend this nail polish but it was only $1.

L.A. Colors Nail Color Craze Nail Polish in Energy Source - Again, this nail polish wasn't great, it wasn't as bad as the other one but it was still quite tacky but with a few more uses I'm sure I could get used to it. (See pictures below)

Skincare + Accessories

15 Minute Facial Mask in Juicy Pomegranate - I really liked this face mask, it left my face soft and it was easy to apply. As with all sheet masks, it can be quite sticky when you first get it out of the packet but overall for $1, I would definitely recommend.

Wonder Eyebrow Razors - I have to be honest, I don't really know if I like these or not. I think it's just because I'm not used to using eyebrow razors and I probably need to get the hang of it but if you do use eyebrow razors, I'd definitely get these as they come in a pack of 3 and are only $1!

Jewellery + Accessories

Lace and Floral Yoga Hair Ties (6 Piece) in Coral - I love these hair ties. These are the only things I have been using since I got them to put my hair up. They are soft and cute and do the job.

Oval Diamond Ring in Black - I really like this ring. It is quite big for my fingers but as a costume jewellery type of ring, it's really nice.

Square Metal Necklace in Black - I really love this necklace, it's very stylish and you can basically wear it whenever you like; day or night. The only problem with mine is, when I received it, the chain was broken but it is a really lovely necklace.

Vintage Crystal Accent Earrings in Clear/Silver - These earrings are definitely something different. They are very bold for me and they are quite heavy on the ears but they do look nice when you are wearing them.

Dream Catcher Leaf Bangle in Gold - I love this bangle, it's so cute and you can wear it with anything. For only $1, it's a bargain.

Makeup + Accessories

Elf Natural Lash Kit (1713) - Although these lashes were very natural, the glue was rubbish. They didn't stay on the eyes and kept falling off and they weren't the easiest to apply but for $1, they aren't too bad.

 

Elf Foundation Brush (1801) - I really liked using this brush, it blended my foundation fine, it didn't give me a "flawless" finish but it did a good job.

Vinyl Makeup Pouch in Clear - I love this makeup pouch, it's perfect if you're travelling and I can get most of my products in it. For only $1, I'd definitely recommend.

Morning Confession in Porcelain - This product is a concealer but it's just rubbish. The product didn't come out and when a tiny bit did, it did nothing other than go patchy under my eyes.

Moist & Smooth Blush Stick in Color 8 - I really like this blush. I'm not normally the type of person to go for cream blushes but I really like this one. It's very pigmented and blends nicely. I'd definitely say this shade is more of a summer shade, for me personally, but it definitely gives you a pop of colour.

Kleanista Lipstick in Happily After - This lipstick was really pigmented but the colour just didn't suit me at all. It was most of a lilac shade on my lips than a pink and it just didn't look nice. However I did love the formula.

E.L.F Essential Shimmering Facial Whip in Spotlight - This product is quite nice, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to apply it. I do find that this is a natural highlighter and that is what I love about it. It is really easy to blend and looks lovely. I would really recommend this product.

L.A. Colors Jumbo Pencil in Iridescent Light - One of the worse products I have ever come across. I'm not sure if it was because of the shade I had but the formula of this pencil was just not great. It didn't apply very easy to the lid and the pencil has massive chunks of blue glitter in it. I definitely wouldn't try one of these again.

L.A. Colors Auto Lipliner in Pinky - I really like this lipliner. It's easy to use and the colour is great. I would definitely get more of these.

L.A. Colors Liquid Makeup in Natural - I was really looking forward to trying this product and I got the lightest shade because I am so pale but unfortunately, like most foundations I try these days, they are too dark for me or should I say too orange. I blended this into my skin for a good 10 minutes and it just looked cakey and horrible.

Accessories

Nora Sunglasses in Black - Okay, so it's officially Autumn now and you'll be all sat here like 'Why would you need sunglasses, summer is over' but I do find that in Autumn, some days, the sun actually does come out and so you never know. I love these sunglasses, they are definitely something new and for $1, you really can't go wrong.

Swatches:

 

 

 

So there are all my swatches of the make up and nail polish products. As you can see this haul was a very hit and miss one but I'd definitely recommend Miss A. Miss A stocks so many products and they are all $1! The shipping is fast and the customer service team are absolutely lovely. Just because some of these products didn't work for me, doesn't mean they won't for you.

 

I would like to say a massive thank you to Miss A for letting me do this Haul.

 

 

Have you tried Miss A before?

 

 

*DISCLAIMER: These products were sent for review purposes only, this does not in any way effect my views and opinions. My views and opinions are 100% honest.

 

*Lilash 12 Week Review.

 

Hello everyone. So for the past 12 weeks I have been using the Lilash and LiBrow serums. I have been using the demi versions. The demi bottles are the smaller versions of both Lilash and Librow and retail at £53.93. I'm really happy that Lilash have the smaller bottles because it definitely allows you to really try out the product before jumping on the bandwagon and investing in the bigger version for £94.37. I really do think this is a great idea as the demi version seems to last ages! I still have lots left even after 12 weeks.

 

Lilash is an eyelash serum and Librow is an eyebrow serum. I have never used serums for a particular part of my face before so I was really excited to try something new. It came beautifully packaged and it came pretty quickly. I knew as soon as I got these products that I had to be patient and had to wait to see the results, like most products really, except 12 weeks is a long time to remember to put these serums on every single day. I've actually been really good and have applied it every single day.

I love these products so much, they are quick and easy and you see amazing results.  The application of these products are super easy and you even get a guide to tell you how to do it.  

 

When Lilash sent me these items, they also included notes on how to take the perfect 'selfie' and a few tips for the ultimate success which I thought was really thoughtful and added a bit more to the package.

 

 Directions for Lilash demi:

 

Apply once a day to clean, dry skin.

 

1. Remove the applicator from the tube and wipe off excess serum on the inside of the tube.

 

2. Apply Lilash directly to the upper eyelid skin, along the lash line. Every time you apply, alternate the direction of the stroke from outer to inner.

 

3. Allow serum to dry for 2-3 minutes before applying cosmetics.

 

Lilash is highly concentrated; a single application stroke is all you need for best results. To avoid irritation, do not apply to the lower eyelids or directly to the lashes. For sensitive eyes, apply every other day during the first week.

 

Directions for Librow demi:

 

Apply once daily to clean, dry skin.

 

1. Remove the applicator from the tube and wipe off any excess serum on the inside of the tube.

 

2. Apply Librow along the brow area skin. Every time you apply, alternate the direction of the stroke from outer to inner.

 

3. Allow Librow to dry for 2-3 minutes before applying cosmetics.

 

Librow is highly concentrated a single application stroke is all you need for best results. Do not apply to eyelids or eyelashes.

 

Lilash helps to nourish the lashes and allows less breakages to occur so that your lashes stay thicker and fuller for longer. I definitely think this product is perfect for sensitive eyes, I haven't had any irritation at all.

 

Also Lilash have a 90 day money back guarantee, which is great and usually makes me feel like the product is great quality and I believe this is the case here.

 

So now that I've given you all the information you'll need, I guess I should show you my final 12 week results.

As you can see I'm pretty sure the photos speak for themselves. I was very unsure about these serums at first because my eyebrows grow quickly anyway and my eyelashes are naturally quite long but I've definitely seen a big difference. My eyelashes are definitely longer and a little thicker and I look like I have more fuller eyelashes which is great. Although my eyebrows could do with a little bit of a pluck, I decided to just leave them because I want to show you honest results.

So there we have it, these are my 12 week results from using products from Lilash. I am so so impressed.  I would highly recommend these products.

You can buy Lilash demi and Librow demi here.

 

Have you tried Lilash and Librow before? What were your results?

 

*DISCLAIMER: These products were sent for review purposes only. This does not influence my opinions and views on the products in any way. My views and opinions are 100% honest.

*Yes To Review.

Hello everyone. So today's post is going to be about Yes To ™. I was kindly sent 3 items from their range and they were the Yes To Cucumber Daily Gel Cleanser, the Yes To Carrots Pampering Conditioner and the Yes To Carrots Nourishing Shampoo.

I just want to start off by saying that when I received my parcel, the Yes To Carrots Pampering Conditioner had broken. Although it doesn't appear to look like it in this photo, the lid was actually broken and the conditioner leaked all over the envelope and all over the press release information which was rather annoying, plus it meant I had to try this product straight away because otherwise it would have leaked all over my bathroom. But anyway, little broken note over, I shall tell you about the products.

Yes To ™ have 10 natural shampoos and conditioners for every hair type, now in a 280ml tube format, to keep tresses healthy and looking gorgeous.

Yes To ™  Carrots Nourishing Shampoo - A moisturising formula blended with Carrot Seed Oil to gently cleanse and hydrate gorgeous tresses. For normal to dry hair. £4.99 (280ml). I have to admit, I normally use a shampoo for greasy hair. I have extremely greasy hair at times but only near my roots/scalp, as the ends are chronically dry - so really there is no in between but I thought I'd try this shampoo anyway because I thought it would nourish my hair nevertheless. This shampoo is very runny but it lathers up so well and definitely made my hair feel soft. The problem I had with this shampoo is that it set my dandruff off - which is not what I wanted. After 2 years I had finally got my dandruff under control and then this shampoo just basically made it explode - which was really horrible and I couldn't go out in public until I had fixed it. I had to wait another 3 days to wash my hair and then I have had to use head and shoulders every day since to get rid of it and try to get it under control again. It is highly embarrassing getting dandruff and it wasn't because I hadn't rinsed the product out because I had, it's just I have an extremely sensitive scalp and even though it's mostly greasy, at times it can be dry and flaky - hence why I get dandruff. I was really disappointed that I couldn't use that shampoo anymore because there was no way I was making my dandruff any worse than what it was. I loved how it lathered up and how soft my hair felt but sadly it gave me an overload of dandruff and sadly I'd rather have dry hair then dandruff lurking around. This shampoo is fairly priced but my holy grail shampoo which is the Alberto Balsam Apple Shampoo is only £1.00 and it is great and never leaves me with dandruff, only soft, clean hair. I do love how this product is natural though.

Yes To ™  Carrots Pampering Conditioner - A moisturising formula blended with Carrot Seed Oil to gently cleanse and hydrate gorgeous tresses. For normal to dry hair. £4.99 (280ml). I was really looking forward to using this product as it is meant to be really moisturising for your hair which I thought was going to be great for the ends of my hair, as they are extremely dry. Sadly, I had to stop using the shampoo alongside this conditioner as it sent my dandruff into overdrive but I did still manage to use up all of the conditioner. Sadly, because the tube had broken before I got it, I didn't keep it for an empties post. I really enjoyed using this conditioner, it made my ends super soft and it wasn't too thick but it wasn't too runny. The smell was quite nice too. The only thing that let this down was the packaging being broken but hey ho. Although this isn't the best conditioner I've ever used it still certainly works and it is cheap too. I also love again that this product is natural.

Yes To ™ Cucumber Daily Gel Cleanser - Contains Cucumbers, Aloe Vera, Green Tea and Spirulina. £6.99 (90ML). I was really excited to try this product as I don't believe I've tried a gel cleanser before, I could be wrong but I can't remember otherwise and so I was very excited. This cleanser is meant to be for sensitive skin and is meant to calm, soothe and protect. I used this cleanser on many occasions to either remove my make up or just to cleanse my skin in general. It took off my face make up fine but you cannot use it for your eyes and so you would have to remove that separately. This product was just not my cup of tea. It stung my face, it made my face go all red and my face was burning. It definitely doesn't calm or soothe the skin and so I was highly disappointed at this product. You can get slightly cheaper cleansers than this and they don't irritate your skin and so I was not loving this product as you can imagine. The formula is too runny for a cleanser for me personally and the scent is strong and the whole product is strong on the face which caused me to have redness.

The Yes To ™  Cucumber Range is hypoallergenic and dermatologist tested to calm, soothe and protect.

Cucumbers; Packed with rejuvenating vitamins which soothe and soften the skin and have cooling properties to keep your skin supple and fresh.

Aloe Vera; Rich in minerals, vitamins, proteins and more. This is a soothing botanical which has anti-bacterial properties and provides protection for the skin.

Green Tea; A natural antioxidant and astringent which is effective in treating troubled skin and breakouts.

Spirulina; One of the richest whole foods sources of antioxidants, making it an amazing superpower to help protect skin from external damage.

"Yes To ™  are a range of natural and affordable beauty products with fruit & vegetable formulas that really work. All products are 95% natural or more, free from parabens, SLS and phthalates and are cruelty free. Yes To ™  offers six different award-winning, clinically proven formulas to meet the needs of ever skin and hair type."

Yes To ™  is available from Boots, Waitrose, Whole Foods, Planet Organic and online with prices starting at £3.99-£14.99.

Have you ever tried anything from the Yes To ™ Range?

 

 

*DISCLAIMER: These products have been sent for review purposes only. This does not impact my views or opinions in any way. My views and opinions are 100% honest.

How To: Use a Custom Domain On Blogger.

Hello everyone. So you may have seen my post last week that basically notified you all that I had got my own domain. If you haven't seen it then you can read it here. Well today I thought I'd show you how to use a custom domain on blogger. A lot of people on twitter had been asking me about it and had asked how simple it is to get your own domain and my answer to that is 'it's quite simple'. I'm not into all this HTML stuff but I found this a breeze. A lot of people feel like getting your own domain is hard and I will admit I was one of those people, until I took the plunge and bought my own. I had been looking on all the domain sites; Godaddy, 1-2-3- Reg and Name Cheap (to name a few).

I had been debating to get my own domain since January for my blog's first birthday but I thought it was going to be too complicated but here are the steps that you will need to take to do it.

Purchasing your domain

I purchased my domain from UK Cheapest as it was the cheapest site. The domain I purchased cost me £3.79 and this is for 1 year. Although I'm sure next year I will search round again to see if any other site become cheaper. If you are planning on hosting your blog using blogger (just like me) then all you simply need to do is purchase the domain. You can ignore all those extra add ons if they come up on the site that you are purchasing it on because you probably won't need them. You give UK Cheapest the normal information you have to give when you purchase something online and then they will send you a confirmation email with your customer number and any other information you need.

Getting Blogger to use your domain

Once you've purchased your domain, you need to begin hosting your new domain through Blogger. All this really means in simple terms is, when you type your domain into your internet tab/window, it will go to your blog.

To do this you need to start by logging into your Blogger page and then you need to go to Settings > Basic. You then need to click the "Add a custom domain" link underneath your blogspot address.

In the space provided enter your full domain address including the www prefix. Then click Save in that little section. You should be greeted with an error (Error 12).

Then underneath you will be asked to put 2 CNAME's into your registrars DNS settings. These codes are different for each blog and are unique to your blog. You will need these codes when you go to your registrars website so keep the tab open.

 Then if you are using UK Cheapest you go to the domains you have and then to parking tools and then the DNS Manager.

Then you will be brought this screen which then in the 'Add new 'A', 'CNAME' or 'TXT' record' you need to put 'www' and then the other code from earlier and then you need to change the middle column to 'CNAME' and then you need to paste the link and click 'add' once you are finished. Then I copied my domain into the Blogger part from earlier and you shouldn't get an error then.

It took a day for the server to get used to redirecting my .blogspot.com to my domain but once it's done, you don't have to faff with it anymore.

My explanation might make it sound really confusing and long but it literally took me 5 minutes.

I think the process is slightly different if you use GoDaddy but if you are going to use UK Cheapest like me then just follow these steps.

I hope this post helps you get your domain up and running!

 

 

OOTN - Birthday Party.

Hello everyone. So I thought it was about time that I tried to incorporate a bit of fashion onto The Perks Of Meg. I'd said that I wanted to many months ago and I think I'm ready to bring more fashion styled posts to my blog. Even if it's only Outfits of the day or night, for me, it's an achievement. I'm very body conscious and so I feel quite uncomfortable getting outfit posts taken but I've decided to bite the bullet and start posting a few and see what your reactions are. If you would like to see more fashion posts then please let me know in the comments. Or just posts in general that you would like to see on my blog.

So it's currently a week until my 17th birthday and I'd love to say I'm excited but seen as I'll be at college I probably won't have a very fun day but roll on next year for my 18th when it's on a Saturday. But anyway a couple of months a go I went to a birthday party and I thought I'd share with you my outfit and accessories and tell you where they are from and give you the links if they are still available.

What I'm Wearing:

- Jodie Floral Long Sleeve Bodycon Dress (Size 12) - £4 from Boohoo.com. (I don't think it's available anymore)

-  ASOS Survivor Heels (Size 6) - I paid £12 but they should have been £25 from ASOS.

- New Look Wow Clutch - I paid £9.50 but it went down to £4.50 from ASOS.

- Necklace is from New Look but it was a gift from my auntie for Christmas so I'm not sure how it was or if it's still available.

- I wore my Dora Aztec Wool Look Cape (Size 12) in the colour wine - £8 from Boohoo.com (I don't think it's available anymore) - This will be featured in another fashion post soon so you can see what it looks like.

I also used the Dove Summer Glow Medium to Dark Skin on my legs to give them a glow.

I hope you enjoyed this post.