The Parisienne Bold Lip.

For Paris, a bold lip is an essential – or maybe just for me, depends on how you want to feel; I, want to feel fashionable and amazing, and having a bold lip totally makes me feel like that. Now, Bourjois are pretty awesome at giving that bold, long lasting lip without breaking the bank. Actually, you buy one, and get change from a £10 note (£8.99, here). Result! Personne ne Rouge, Ole Framingo and Peach Club are my colours of choice, as whilst the latter is a peachy offering, it seemed right to include something a bit more toned down, just in case. I do also have Hot Pepper… but that seemed to have eluded me when I was packing for my trip… but it’s their loss, after all, France is the homeland of Bourjois, and it got to miss out on that trip. Shame.

Rimmel is an essential for most women, let alone bloggers, so let’s talk about these two lipsticks. The first one is Kate Moss’ range, and it’s 111, Kiss of Life (£3.99, here). The perfect red. It is perfect, just so you know. That classic, not orange, not blue, red. The next is 31 from her Lasting Finish collection is a cerise pink, and like all her lipsticks; they’re so easy to wear, and comfortable on the lips (£3.99, here). I get a good few hours of wear out of these lipsticks before some serious touch ups are needed, but lipstick tends to wear away at the center of my lips very easily – I think I’m a subconscious lip licker… weird, right?

YSL’s Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in 5, is ohmygod gorgeous (£27, here). It applies glossy and creamy, and fades to a soft stain, which is gorgeous for a blush (which I haven’t actually tried out yet, I’m just assuming) and it’s not overtly good with it’s lasting time, I’d say a good... three hours or so, before some application is needed again – I actually applied this at a services on my way to Dover, promptly fell asleep afterwards (totally took a selfie before we left the services) and it was almost all gone by the time I actually woke up in Dover, about two hours later. But that was sleep, and when I’m actually conscious, it lasts for a while, but let’s talk about the colour – which scores some major points with me. I actually have no idea what kinda colour it is… it’s a bright pink, but no fuchsia – it has no purple in it, it’s just pink really, and it’s totally gorgeous, I just can’t describe it. Hopefully I’ll think of a name for the colour by the time I come to review it properly. Fingers crossed.

Nuxe’s Reve de Miel is stuff of legend; the honeyed, lemon goodness that is the lip balm bloggers rave about, and it totally deserves it (On sale for £6.33, here). Nuxe have themselves a winner, and not only is a winner, it is one of the best, if not the best, lip balm I have ever had. You have to give it up for Nuxe, they’ve made, perhaps, one of my favourite products ever, and something I recommend to everyone who’s looking for a lipbalm – and sometimes, not even then; ‘I need a new nail polish’, ‘TRY NUXE’S REVE DE MIEL’. It doesn’t sound impressive, but once I pull out my little pot of wonder, they all change their tune. I’ve inspired so many purchases of this bad boy, I should work on commission for Nuxe.

Barry M’s Gelly hi-shine lip crayon in …Alpha Bright Red, is shiny. It’s so shiny! And it’s that kind of orange red that’s so big right now – it’s creamy and looks gorgeous on the lips. This is definitely a big summer product, as I think it’ll look gorgeous on any skintone, no matter if you embrace the sun, or shy away from it this summer. It does have a downside however – with shine, comes stickiness, and if you’ve read some of my previous posts, I am not a fan of sticky lip products. It’s gets in your hair, and it’s so sticky – a ‘not impressed with sticky products’ fan. When I have shiny lips, I tend to rub my lips together a lot, and that means more application of product – so I’m a maybe on this product, I’ll have to give it a proper test. Paris will not be it’s playground, however.

So, what do you think I chose? It was definitely a Bourjois and the colour was *drum roll* Personne ne Rouge. It was the colour choice after doing some lipstick wearing earlier that week - for me, it's bold but classic, and considering it was really warm and I was rocking some light grey trousers and a floral kimono, this red lip totally set up the look and gave it something extra. Only fitting, right? Wearing Bourjois in Paris.

The Life Update, Holiday style.

(I wrote this whilst I was in France, but because of dodgy wifi, I was unable to post it. This will be the same story for mostly all of my French/holiday themed posts. That being said, hope you enjoy them)

As I’m writing this, I’m on holiday. Yay for me. I wanted to do a little life update, just so you guys know where I am… life wise. I’m pretty happy with where I am in my life, but I still feel like I should sort myself out before I turn 23 next month. It’s such a scary thought that I’m going to be 23 soon… it doesn’t seem that long since I turned 22, or 21 for that matter. It’s a bit terrifying isn’t it? How fast time goes and how you grow as a person?

But back to my holiday; I’m in France, which I always love, as I came here every summer as a child, and I still feel like there are thousands more things to see. We used to camp and visit Chateau’s, Museums, War Memorials and picturesque towns, and this holiday is almost no different. Except this time, I’m in a log cabin (which is gorgeous, I’ll show pictures in another post) in a wonderful site near Compiegne, which is a very key area for the Northern battles in WWI and WWII – so much so in fact, we visited an American War Grave Memorial in Belleau yesterday (Tuesday the 3^rd of June) and aside from the immaculate beauty of it, as it was so pristine, there was also that tranquil eeriness of it – the quiet, so undisturbed except when the flags were brought down at 5, and they were playing ‘Last Post’ – it was very moving. There was also quite an exciting moment when I got to fold the American flag with the French man in charge, and then with an American, the second time around (there were two flags, my flag folding isn’t that bad).

Driving around France and stumbling onto sites is my idea of a perfect holiday - laying in the sun whilst drinking, which does sound appealing, doesn’t really get me excited about a holiday – I love finding new things and learning more about the two World Wars, then before I left. My family are massive history buffs so finding Chateau’s and Memorials are what we go on holiday for, and I can’t imagine enjoying a holiday as much as I do when I go with them. I didn’t appreciate it as much as when I was younger, but since going to University and really studying certain aspects of history, WWI and WWII are my undisputed favourite aspects of our most recent history as a nation. I think it’s endlessly interesting, whether learning about the Allies or the Axis.

So yeah, I’m a bit of a history nerd, but that totally works for me, because most of my family are too – which is why I’m pretty happy these days, or have been for the past few days, despite the lack of wifi. Wifi, should be a common decency, but I have quite enjoyed not having it – mainly because I’ve been drinking and eating far too much. Ahh, holidays, the best excuse to be incredibly gluttonous; totally foresee a bit of a detox going on when I get back though… best enjoy that fourth macaroon of the day then, yes?