Gingham Skater Shoes

I know I've said this far to many times, but I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while and I have no excuses left to give you. This week I'm writing about a recent purchase that has become my favourite pair of shoes that I own (and I own a few). 

These are the beauties!!!

These are my most recent purchase from the TopShop sale, which has been quite a good'un so far. These were £20, reduced to £10, BARGAIN! I've wanted these shoes for a while so when I saw they were in the sale I was on it.

The shoes themselves are gingham print, a print that is bang on trend for summer going into Autumn and honestly, they are super duper comfy. I'm yet so wear them for a walk round a city so I'll update you as soon as I have. The shoes themselves are very casual but you could smarten them up with a white blouse and black trousers/skinny jeans. If you would like ideas on how to wear skater shoes comment below and I will do a skater shoe lookbook!

Sorry for such a quick post, but I hope you understand how much  I like these shoes and well done TopShop for putting them in the sale, I am eternally grateful.

Have you raided the summer sales? What's been your favourite item that you've found?

xoxoxo

Divergent

Hey guys! I haven't spoken to you in so long and I'm so sorry about that. I love talking to you guys, telling you what's on my mind; but life gets in the way and I'm not always available to tell you what i'm up to, what products I like or in this case, what film/book I have been loving.

 MILD SPOILERS AHEAD

In the UK Divergent came out on Friday the 4th, I'm a massive fan of the book series written by Veronica Roth and the series is one that you can get really emotionally attached to. I love book that are set in the future (dystopia) because I love to read peoples perceptions of what our future as humans will be like. For those of you that don't know what Divergent is, it's about a character called Beatrice (Tris) who lives in a society where the city she lives is divided up into five factions: Erudite, Candor, Amity, Abnegation and Dauntless. All of these factions relate to a certain characteristic that the person acquires, so: intelligence, honesty, kindness, selflessness and bravery respectively. The book and film shows Tris, as a character, develop into something that everyone should aspire to be, I certainly have. She goes through certain problems that every teenage girl has gone through, just in a very different environment.

Being such a big fan of the series, I developed an emotional attachment to the characters and how they change in this beautiful love story (to an extent) as well as a battle for what they truly believe in. The film also has the most amazing soundtrack that truly depicts the feelings that the viewer is feeling at that specific point. The soundtrack features Ellie Goulding, M83 and Zedd as well as lots of other artists.

I would love to applaud the people responsible for casting these characters as they got the characters completely spot on. Shailene Woodley is playing Tris and Theo James is playing 'Four'. Both of these people are perfect for their characters, Shai knows exactly how to portray Tris and her journey of development whereas Theo James shows the true feelings of Four and how brave he is but also very sensitive. Apart from these two, my favourite casting has to be Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews. WOW. Again congratulations to the casting team, excellent choice.

After seeing the film, admittedly, I have watched way to many interviews with Shai and Theo, but I can honestly say that they are the most down to earth people I've ever seen. Shai has this wonderful organic lifestyle where she fetches her own water and buys local produce, she's also so open, funny and genuinely someone who I aspire to be. Theo is just a great guy, very funny but he does swear a lot, which is quite hilarious to an extent. Apart from his personality, he is a very good looking man, well done Theo's parents, you have quite the genes.

So if you haven't seen it already or read the books then I highly. highly recommend them.

Have you seen/read Divergent? What did you think of it?

My Mascara Collection

Hey everyone! Happy New Year and welcome to 2014 on Collars and Chocolates. This year I promise to blog much much more than I have previously, although I'm still a student so the posts may not be a regular as I really would like them to be! 

However, today I'm going to be showing you guys my mascara collection! Mascara is something that I love to try out. Some beauty bloggers or makeup enthusiasts may have a rapidly expanding collection of lipsticks or eyeshadows; for me it is mascaras. I love how they can completely change your makeup look and open up your eyes. If I was asked: 'What are your essential makeup items, if you were trapped on a desert island?', my first answer would be 'mascara'.  

I'm a bit of a drugstore girl so I love affordable mascaras and they take up pretty much the whole of my mascara collection. In total, I own about 9 mascaras. That's a bit much I know but I did get 5 of them for Christmas this year. I have 3 waterproof mascaras and 6 non-waterproof ones. 

Waterproof Mascaras: Maybeline Rocket Volume, Maybeline: The Falsies, MaxFactor: False Lash Effect

Waterproof mascara would be my favourite thing if it was easy to take off and didn't damage your lashes so much. My favourite waterproof mascara would probably be the false lash effect as it gives so much volume but still manages to look natural? I haven't a clue how that works. The mascara doesn't clump either which makes them look that much more natural.

The Maybeline mascaras are pretty good, although I prefer the rocket volume one purely because of the brush, which is incredibly similar to the MaxFactor one. The only problem I have with Maybeline ones are that they have a funky plastic smell which I'm not a fan of. But the longevity of them is incredible; I went on holiday and used the falsies and it stayed on whilst I was snorkelling, in the pool, everywhere! The only problem with the falsies, is that it clumps the lashes as it has a weird 'spoon' brush. But apart from that the maybeline ones are pretty good! Just not as good as the MaxFactor ones.

Non-Waterproof Mascaras: Soap and Glory: Thick & Fast, Bourjous: Volumizer, No7: Extreme Length, MaxFactor: Masterpiece MAX, Estee Lauder: Sumptuous Extreme, Smashbox: Full Exposure. 

In all honesty, the first point I will make is that the high end mascaras are not worth the money. There are much better ones at more affordable prices. The Estee Lauder one is my least favourite as it severely dehydrates your lashes and they feel like they could snap if you touch them. The smashbox one is good, it gives great volume but I still prefer my drugstore ones. 

My favourite one of all has got to be the Soap and Glory: Thick and Fast Mascara. This product is absolutely amazing, it has the biggest brush I have ever seen but it gives amazing volume and the longevity is great. My next favourite one is the MaxFactor: Masterpiece MAX. This is a brilliant mascara as well; it has a much smaller brush that the S&G one but it catches every lash when you sweep it through them. I have been using this mascara for many years and will probably continue to do so! The Bourjois mascara is practically plastic in a bottle. It's very clever as it has two parts, one for separating lashes and one for volumising; it really does work a treat, except the smell is really funky and a bit odd. My last mascara, the No7 one is great, but just for bottom lashes. The brush is tiny and quite scratchy if you use it for your upper lashes. For bottom lashes it works an absolute treat!

So there we go guys! I hope you enjoyed having a sneak peak into my mascara collection! If you liked this type of post then please comment below and suggest things that you would like to see.

Thank you guys and I'll speak to you soon!

Have a great day 

xoxoxo

Christmas Wishlist!

Hey Guys! I know I haven't posted in absolutely ages but it's nearly a month till Christmas and I'm super super  excited, so I decided to take to polyvore and pick out things that are on my Christmas Wishlist this year. I hope you guys like this! Put a comment below and tell me what you think of the things on my wishlist.

Christmas List! by collarsandchocolates featuring cotton t shirts

Topshop smocked dress
topshop.com

River Island cotton t shirt
$29 - riverisland.com

Zara flat boots
zara.com

Zara scarve
zara.com

Mac cosmetics lipstick
maccosmetics.com

NAKED 2 eyeshadow palette
$60 - debenhams.com

L'Oreal Micellar Solution

Hello my lovelies!

It's been nearly a month since I last posted which is crazy and I really need to get back into blogging again seeing that it's something that I love to do. However, yet again, life got in the way of what I love to do, but now I'm back! 

I really ought to do my August favourites, however, my camera has broken so I can't do a YouTube video to express my love for certain products. But, I know that I hadn't posted in a really long time and thought that I would shoot a few pictures on my phone and write a blogpost about a particular product that I have been absolutely loving this month. From the title of this post, I think we all know what it is. Cleansing waters have become the rage of the beauty community, everybody has one that they know and love, for example, Bioderma or this L'Oreal one. This L'Oreal Micellar Solution has taken the beauty world by storm so Bioderma may have some competition, particularly because this L'Oreal 'dupe' is a lot cheaper and much, much easier to get hold of here in the UK.

The product claims to do three things: dissolve make-up , unclog pores and remove impurities and tone and soothe the skin. I have to agree that it does these three things for the face, but eye-makeup such as mascara is more difficult to remove with this product, especially if you're using a cotton pad. However, it does what it says on the tin for the rest of your face, your make-up is completely gone when the cotton pad, that you have placed the product on, sweeps across your face, although it takes more than one cotton pad, obviously. This product is so long-lasting. I've had it for nearly a month and I'm not even half way through the bottle yet. 

For me, I find that there is one disadvantage and that is that it does take some of the moisture out of my face so that my skin does feel a bit tight, but as always this can be fixed with some moisturiser! Another disadvantage (for US residents) is that this product is currently unavailable in the US so the next time you come to the UK, you're definitely going to need to stock up on this product. 

The advantages overrule the disadvantages though. Firstly, the price is unbelievably low at £3.99 a bottle which is so much cheaper compared to other cleansing waters. Secondly, It does what it says on the bottle, thirdly, it's suitable for sensitive skin and finally it's so easy to get hold of (if you live in the UK)!

Overall, I would say that this product is amazing, and the best thing I've used to get the make-up off my face quick and easily. I've used other brands such as Estee Lauder, but this one from L'Oreal works so much better.

So that's it my lovelies! I'm going to try to post much more regularly as I love to tell you about products that I'm loving and seeing if you like them as well! Please comment below if you also liked this product and follow me on gfc and bloglovin'

Bye my lovelies!

xoxo

DISCLAIMER: All my opinions are my own and I'm not being sponsored to do this review, I did it because I wanted to share this product with my followers. 

Reunited

Hello my long lost lovelies that I haven't spoken to in ages!

So basically we (you and I) have been reunited after a long time of unnecessary absence so I thought I would tell you about where I have been for such a long time! As absolutely none of you know, I have been on holiday or 'vacation' recently to the beautiful island of Menorca! For all of you that don't know, Menorca is a small island located in the Mediterranean sea in a small group of islands called the Balearic islands. The Balearic islands consist of three islands. The first is Ibiza, the party island; then there is Majorca and after that Menorca! 

Menorca is Majorca's little brother/sister, whatever your preference and I can safely say that Menorca is the nicer island of the two, I have no opinion on Ibiza seeing as I have never been. Menorca was just such a beautiful country with some amazing weather and people come from all over the world to be on this one small island. 

I met people from all over Europe, I met people from Italy who were so lovely, funny and very kind. I also met people from around my country and they were lovely too! Everyone was very polite and it has been the only island that I have felt truly safe in. 

At some point in my life I would love to visit there again or even live there in the future!

So that's the end of my life update and now on to the emotional part!

Recently, I have hit 1,000 page views which is absolutely incredible and a huge achievement for me. I didn't think anyone would bother to read this blog so to know people from all over the world have read this blog and that some of you have commented or even followed/subscribed to this small space on the internet makes me so happy. It also lets me know that what I love to do is being appreciated by so many of you and I thank you for that.

Thank you so much my lovelies

Don't forget to follow on gfc or bloglovin' and comment, I will probably always reply back.

Byeeee!

xoxo

Random Favourites & YouTube

Hiya Lovelies, 

I thought I'd do another blog post because I have some more favourites to add my July favourites and I thought that I should explain the purpose of my YouTube channel and explain why I started it I suppose!

JULY FAVOURITES

We'll start with the July Random Favourites, I'm going to start with music seeing as I've discovered two new bands and I love them a lot so I thought I'd share them with you.

1. Saint Raymond

DISCLAIMER: Image is not mine, copied from google images,

Saint Raymond is a lad called Calum from the UK and I discovered him through iTunes' free songs. I love his songs and my favourite one is 'Everything She Wants' because it has such a good guitar bit and it's such a good song! 

2. The Neighbourhood

DISCLAIMER: Image is not mine, found on google images.

The Neighbourhood is an alternative rock band from California and they make such good songs. My favourite songs are 'sweater weather' and 'let it go'. I found this band because of Ingrid aka MissGlamorazzi. She has her own YouTube channel and this was mentioned in one of her favourites. But this band have such an edgy take on rock and I love their music a lot because it's quite different and quite dark? Also, all their music videos are in black and white and I love me some black and white.

3. Iced Tea

Next up, is my favourite drink. I have had an addiction to Iced Tea, I love it so so much because of the fruity flavours you can get, mmm, it's delicious!

So that's my random favourites!

YOUTUBE

So, as many of you may know, I have recently started a YouTube channel called CollarsnChocolates. Now you're probably wondering, why did you start a YouTube channel when you already have a blog? I thought that I would start a YouTube channel because 1. it makes it easier for me to review things or tell you about my favourites. Secondly, I've always wanted to start a YouTube channel, but I've never had the courage to do so. Thirdly, I have made videos and edited them since an early age and I thought I would make good use of my skills. 

I just love video making, it's an opportunity to meet even more new people and share a passion over the internet and I think that's amazing. YouTube is also a place where I can be myself rather than being my normal quiet self. 

So if you're interested in looking at my channel please click this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/CollarsnChocolates 

Please comment and like my videos as I love to read comments about how I'm doing. I've had a couple of comments already and they've made me so happy and made me want to continue making these little videos that, hopefully, help you guys out. Hopefully, I can bring something new and fresh to the beauty community! If you're also feeling extra nice, you could subscribe to my channel! I would genuinely love you forever.

Thank you for reading as always, I love you all and I'll see or type very soon! 

Bye lovelies!

xoxo

P.S A new YouTube video is going up today at around 4pm GMT so go on to my channel or follow my twitter for updates!