New music you need to hear!!

I was recently contacted completely out of the blue by a new upcoming artist whom is going by the name 'Lorne' I was truly honoured to be asked to review his music as I've never been approached to do something like this before.

Lorne is a London based singer/songwriter. Most of the songs from the his upcoming EP have a piano accompaniment. He will be releasing his debut EP 'Maze' sometime around September/October. I feel like this album is alot about heart break and being hurt by the one's you love. You can definitely feel the emotion and passion being poured into his music.

On first listen of 'Bread Alone' I was completely blown away by the haunting melodies and powerful lyrics. Lorne has a very unique sound to his voice which captures you and leaves you wanting to hear more. I've found myself singing Bread Alone on a few occasions, I can definitely see this song becoming a hit in the future.

You can subscribe to Lorne's YouTube channel here, where you can find a live video for the 3rd song from the EP 'Oil & Water'. Such a lovely chilled out vibe to this song, with some beautiful lyrics.

If you like artists such as: Bon Iver, Tom Odell, James Vincent McMorrow, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, then I definitely feel like you will like Lorne

If you have checked out his YouTube link above then Subscribe! you can also head on over to his Twitter @LorneMusic and follow him over there to find out exact dates for the EP and any future gigs he may be doing.

Happy listening!

Sam xx

What's on my Spotify playlist

Anyone that knows me will know how much I love to listen to music, not a day goes by that I don't listen to music. I typically listen to Indie, Rock and Folk but sometimes I like to mix it up with a little Pop or Country, I suppose I'm quite an open book when it comes to music, but I do prefer a song to have a story behind it rather than being the same line repeated over and over and over again.

Here's a list of songs/artists I've been listened to a lot lately, they're not all necessarily new songs it's a bit of a mix bag really but all of them are songs I've been loving and playing tons.

1. Bears Den - Isaac
2. Kaleo - I Can't Go On Without You
3. Twin Atlantic - No Sleep
4. Daughter - Doing The Right Thing
5. Foals - Mountain At My Gates
6. Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness And The Scream
7. Foals - Providence
8. Oh Wonder - Without You
9. Biffy Clyro - Animal Style
10. The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home (my all time favourite song EVER)
11. James Vincent McMorrow - Higher Love
12. Sia - Cheap Thrills
13. Billie Marte - Out Of The Black (Royal Blood Cover)
14. Band of Horses - The Funeral
15. Jenn Grant - Dreamer (The soundtrack to Heartland on Netflix)
16. Sia - Elastic Heart
17. Clean Bandit Ft Louisa Johnson - Tears
18. Lissie - Don't You Give Up On Me
19. Oh Wonder - All We Do
20. The New Basement Tapes - Kansas City

If you like any of these songs or have any songs you think I'd like, or maybe even your a singer/artist yourself let me know in the comments box because I love to discover new music.

Sam xx

Summer walks

Summer weekends were made for long sunny walks and this past weekend that's what I did. The sun was shining (finally) so my Mum & I headed out to a local park to take our little Chihuahua, Lissie, for a walk. We left it until fairly late in the afternoon to avoid the painful search for a parking space, 'cause ain't no one got time for that!

We headed to Burrs Country Park which is just outside of Bury located along the banks of the River Irwell, it's really close to where I live and I love coming here, it's always full of really pleasant, chatty, friendly dog owners. 

The area was previously home to cotton mills and there are still plenty of visible remains around the 
park.

Besides lovely walks there are plenty of other things going on here. I have previously witnessed people canoeing, fishing, cycling and there is a fair sized Caravan park situated just behind a really lovely pub.

If you haven't visited here before and happen to live around the Manchester area this place is a must...there's also a little cafe were you can grab an ice cream from, BONUS!! (unfortunately they were closed when we got back from our walk this time).

If you've visited here before let me know in the comments box below.

Sam xx

EU Referendum...In or Out?

Picture from eureferendum.blogspot.com

For all those British folk that follow my blog I'm sure you'll agree about how much the campaigning for the EU Referendum voting has been thrusted upon on us for weeks now. I have to say how relieved I will be once all this comes to an end tomorrow night.

Now I'm not going to tell you how I'm voting, nor am I going to tell you how to vote. I know for sure it has been a hard decision as so many people's opinions have been biased towards the way they want you to vote rather than providing us with real facts and figures, pros and cons.

Yesterday I was driving home from work, up through the village, to see a mass of billboards up in people's garden's stating 'Vote Leave' and 'Vote Remain' do these people really think that by putting a sign up in their garden's it will sway people's votes...ridiculous.

I just hope that people go with what they feel is right and aren't swayed by celebrities they admire or by what their favourite rock/pop band will be voting. You vote the way you feel you will benefit from it, try and find unbiased facts and figures (if that's even possible) on the internet, educate yourself about it before voting, don't just believe the scaremongering from the press.

As long as you take the time to vote I will be a happy girl regardless of whether we stay or leave. I'm not going to lie to you all, I don't know the ins and outs of exactly how this will effect us, but from what I've read neither do the politicians involved either, no one truly knows how it will effect us.

I definitely will not miss seeing constant arguments between people who don't share the same views on Facebook/Twitter...I hadn't realised I was friends with so many politicians before this vote came about. I would never, ever push my views and opinions on to anyone else, so will never listen to others forced opinions either.

Please, everyone, go and vote tomorrow, Thursday 23rd June 2016!

Sam xx

Quick Update

I thought I would just type up a quick post letting you all know what I've been up to lately and the reason why I haven't been blogging much recently.

As most of you know I've been studying Floristry since December last year. This Tuesday I had my final assessment which was to create a Buttonhole and a Boutonnière  for a May Ball. Me being me stressed out about this a little as I like things to be perfect, so I spent quite some time over the past two weekends getting my ideas together and sources flowers etc.

This weekend with it being a bank holiday I typically had a super busy weekend socially too, I headed to the 1940's weekend on Saturday with all my family, this is an annual thing which takes place on the East Lancashire Railway (I'll be write a blog post all about this soon) but it was amazing, then on Sunday I headed to Irlam to watch the SteelFest with a group of friends, this is a charity based festival all proceeds go towards helping local kids with learning to play musical instruments. Then on Monday I spent the day getting everything together for college yesterday ad finalising my project, then I was back to work on Tuesday then straight off to college... it has just been manic!

I have at least 5 post ideas I have to share with you, including the 1940's weekend, a Makeup Revolution haul plus the mystery bag,

then I have a review of some Instant Effects products, so stay tuned guys!!

Samantha x

Polynesian Island Tiare

I was recently kindly sent some products by The Body Shop to try out and review.

The products I chose to try out were the Body Cream, Body Mist and the Eau De Toilette.

Now I had no idea what Tiare was before I saw this, in fact I'd never even heard of the name but on the back of the EDT it states that Polynesian women would wear Tiare flowers in their hair to provide themselves with a perfumed scent. So there you have it Tiare is actually a flower (I learn something new everyday).

The scent from these products is so lovely and fresh, it has a hint of vanilla and coconut with a floral scent being the strongest note, the smell is pretty hard to describe overall really as it isn't like anything I've smelt before. It sits lovely on my skin I just wish it lasted a little longer, maybe it's just that I don't smell it on myself.

The body cream is soo smooth it literally just melts straight into your skin and I actually think it helps to hold the scent of the EDT on to my skin. I think I'm going to save the rest of this tub for my holiday as it is just the most perfect summery scent.

I love the body mist, I tend to spray this more onto my arms and onto my clothing as I was once told that perfumes cling to your clothing better, now I'm not sure whether this is actually true or not but it seems to work for me.

They also have a shower gel and body lotion in this range, which unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try out yet. If you want to take a look at the range and prices click here

I bobbed in to The Body Shop near to where I work only yesterday just to top up on my hand creams and found the Pinita Colada range near to the door as I was walking out, it smells absolutely amazing!! that is definitely going on my to buy next list, the perfect summer holiday scent, it's like a tropical blend of pineapple and coconut and oh my gosh I need it!! for anyone interested in this here's the link

Sam xx

Get to know a little more about me...

I've been blogging for almost a month now and am so happy about how many people have actually taken the time to read my posts, feeling very proud! I started to think about how little people know about me and how maybe it's kind of putting people off following me as I don't have my face on my Twitter profile, I feel like I've stayed a little bit anonymous, so, I though I'd write this quick post all about me and let you get to know me better (as soon as I have a picture of myself I'm happy with I will be changing my Twitter profile picture too)

 Name: Samantha
Age: 28
How tall are you: I am around 5"7
Best friend/s: Helen from HelenXBeauty
Relationship status: Single
Piercings I have: I have my Ear lobes, Tragus, Forward Helix & Belly all done
Piercings I want: I'm not too sure really, maybe I'd get more lobe piercings
Tattoos I have: I don't have any tattoos
Tattoos I want: I always wanted an anchor on the inside of my left arm for my Grandad who served in the Navy and had an anchor tattoo on his arm
The meaning behind my blog name: I chose this as I am currently a Florist student and wanted to use that aspect of my life in my blog I also wanted something cute and memorable
Favourite band at the moment: I have so many.. Walking on Cars, Wolf Alice, Kaleo, Daughter, Catfish and the Bottlemen to name a few
Favourite movie: Into the Wild, such an amazing, thought provoking film
A fact about my personality: I am super shy and quiet until I get to know you, once I do, I will never shut up lol
What I hate most about myself: At the moment I hate the state of my skin, I'm so fed up with the amount of blemishes I keep getting, I don't understand why I keep getting them as I try really hard to take care of my skin.
What I love most about myself: I love my extremely fast metabolism, I can literally get away with eating what ever I want and never really put on weight
What I want to be when I'm older: Currently on my journey to become a Florist
Idea of the perfect date: A long walk down a sunny beach, then a picnic by a fire whilst watching a beautiful sunset
Thing I hate most: Noisy eaters...My Dad is the worst, he clashes his teeth together when he's eating, I absolutely HATE it!
My phobias: I'm terrified of most birds, particularly Geese, after being attacked by one when I was a child. I'm also scared stiff of getting on a boat after a bad experience in Tenerife, I'm going to have to over come this fear this year to take a trip to Alcatraz in Sept whilst we're in San Fran
Can you cook: I love cooking, it doesn't always turn out exactly how I wanted but I love to experiment with food. I wish I had more chance to cook.
Favourite subject at school: I loved Art, I spent most of my lunches in my final two years in the Art classrooms working on my project for my GCSE's
Favourite drink: English Breakfast Tea up until around 5pm then my fave after work drink is Sailor Jerry's and Ginger Beer
Favourite food: Soo much, I love my food....Pizza, Greg's home made Italian Lasagne, Carbonara, Beef Roast, Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Lasagne, Avocado, Crisps, Toffee Crisp, Blueberry Muffin
Last thing I bought: 3 flower books to help with my studying
Favourite book of all time: Wild by Cheryl Strayed, this book just stayed with me for so long, the film just didn't really do it justice for me
Do you have any pets: Yep, a Chihuahua, a Pomeranian  a yellow bellied turtle, a rabbit, goldfish and tropical fish (mini zoo)
Favourite perfume: Womanity by Thierry Mugler
Favourite beauty product: Gerard cosmetic highlighter in the shade Grace... so beautiful
Favourite shop: H&M, Zara, Boots
Favourite festive holiday: Christmas
Are you married: Nope, still single
Have you ever been out of the country, if so how many times: Yep, a good few times, Majorca, Tenerife, Corfu, Crete, Spain x2, Milan, Copenhagen, Iceland, Sweden, Prague, Turkey, USA x2, Ireland, France
Speak any other language: a little German and French, which I learnt from school
How many siblings do you have: 2 sisters, one of which is my twin
When was the last time you cried: I don't really remember, I tend to cry more when I'm frustrating and things aren't going right
Favourite TV show: Orange Is The New Black, Orphan Black, Great British Sewing Bee, Heartland
What phone do you have: Iphone 5s
Random fact: I studied Sociology & Psychology back when I was 23/24

Thanks for reading this post and I hope you know feel like you know me a little more

Sam xx

Spectrum Brush Review

Good evening guys, I hope you're all having a great weekend.

Today I've decided to write a small review on the Spectrum Collections brushes whichh I have owned for around three weeks now and have been absolutely loving.

The brushes which I purchased are:

C01 - No#1 fan, a large fan shaped brush which I use to apply highlighter on to the top of my cheek bones, brow arch and cupid's bow.

C03 -  Flawless Finish, which I use to apply face powder over the top of my base with in order to set my foundation and concealer.

C04 - Killer Cheek Bone, this is a slightly angled brush and I typically use this to apply my blusher.

B01 - In The Buff, I don't use this one everyday, it has shorter, denser bristles, when I do use this brush it is mostly for blending my contour.

B02 - Well Rounded, which is similar to B01 but the bristles are rounded off at the side, I typically use this for a slightly heavier blush.

Now I'm not sure if I'm using these brushes correctly, 'cause hey! I'm no make up artist, but I do think these brushes are absolutely amazing, they are so soft and not a single bristle has fallen out which to me proves the quality of them.

 The only discrepancy I did have with the brushes was that they smelt very strongly of lacquer when they first arrived. A lovely lady on Twitter swiftly replied to me informing me that it was just the smell of the lacquer & paint from the handles not the actual bristles and that with a good airing they would be fine. They also offered to swap the brushes for me but I didn't want the hassle of having to send the brushes back to them and having to wait a while to get replacements, so I just gave them a really good wash with a spot of shampoo and they have been completely fine since, they have even washed fine too.

When ordering I ordered the C01 Large Fan Brush, which is here then the other 4 brushes in a Contour Face Set which is here. I also own their Lilac blending Sponge, which I received in May's Birchbox which you can have a look at here. When you first set up an account with the site you get 10% off BONUS!!

I would certainly purchase from them again I couldn't recommend these brushes enough, they're so pretty to look at as well as being amazingly soft and genuinely brilliant brushes. In fact I already have my eye on a few bits I'm tempted to get:, so much gorgeousness:
*The Marbelous White Bag
*The Siren Smoke Eye Brush Set

Sam xx

Follow me on Twitter @HelloMyBlossom

Je Suis Fille....I am Girl

 

A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a picture of a pretty little bracelet with an Umbrella shaped charm attached. It instantly caught my eye so I found myself clicking on the tag which took me to the page for Je Suis Fille. After reading through some info and heading on over to their website, I found out that this little business was actually a group of 16-17 year old girls from a school in Bristol, UK whom had started out their own business selling these lovely little bracelets in order to raise funds for women who are homeless, at risk of domestic violence and generally need a little help, safety and security in their lives.

I scrolled through their website for quite some time and chose to order one of their angel wing bracelets which symbolises hope. They also have an Umbrella, Heart and Anchor charm and two different styles of bracelets to choose from.

The group of girls who started this business going make each bracelet by hand to sell. I think these girls are absolutely amazing for what they are doing, I would never have thought to do something so thoughtful and selfless at their age, I have every respect for them as they seem to work so hard on this.

The team recently came second in a Young Entrepreneur competition for the West of England and won 'Best Bristol Team 2016' earlier in the month. which is a great achievement.

I have been wearing my bracelet ever since I received it on Monday and absolutely love it, it is such great quality! With each bracelet they have a  handwritten little appreciation note, which I thought was a lovely additon, along with a poem they have written and a fact sheet about homelessness and domestic violence and telling you how you are helping them by spending as little as £4 on a bracelet and showing your support.

For anyone wanting to purchase these bracelets, the girls are due to take their A-Level exams very shortly therefore they have had to temporarily close their on line store unfortunately, but after the 7th June they will be back up and running, so be sure to check their site out and purchase your very own bracelet and support a worthy cause.  I will certainly be heading back to their site!

Good luck to all the girls with their A-levels :)

Sam xx

May's Brichbox

Today I'll be sharing with you my opinion of this month's Birchbox...

To start with, the box came with a scratch card type layer all over the top of the lid, It was for a competition that Birchbox was running to win either a holiday in the Maldives or in Crete, as you can see above I didn't win! :( I found the stuff an absolute nightmare to get off and I ended up with grey dusting's of it all over my sofa. Underneath all that the box is lovely, albeit the scratches all over the lid now.

On to the first product, which is the PK Prep Polishing Balm...

I've only used this product once, which was on Tuesday night, I applied this to towel dried hair and must admit my hair did feel silky smooth, although by the Wednesday my hair was back to it's dry slightly frizzy state (I'm in desperate need of a hair cut). There is a slight floral scent to this which is quite pleasant.

My second product is the Yu-Be Moisturizing Skin Cream...

I've used this product twice on really dry areas of skin and it did seem to do the job, the only downside is the size of the tube, it's so small (3ml) so I'm not sure I will ever get a real feel for this product before it gets used up.

The third product was the Caudalie Vinosource Moisturising Sorbet...

Now I'm not sure why Birchbox sent me two moisturisers... I've used this a few times now and I must admit, I'm not overly impressed, I much prefer my trusty Simple Moisturiser. I feel like I have to use quite a lot of this product and the smell is really strange, sometimes I like it then other times I'm not too sure about it.

The fourth product was the LOC One and Done Shadow Stick in the shade 'Empress Me' ...

This is Birchbox's first in-house make up brand. I was really impressed with this product, it really has some staying power and is super pigmented, a really beautiful shimmery gold shade too.

The fifth product is Puriskin Resurfacing Formula...

This product claims to help with acne scars, blemishes, razor bumps etc. So far I have used this on facial blemishes/spots and a bug bite on my arm. My facial blemishes do seem to be much better and I haven't used anything else on these and the bug bite on my arm has gone down significantly, although I have had to resort to using all sorts on my arm to get rid of a very angry, sore and itchy bug bite including Aloe Vera Gel, Sudocrem, Anti-histamines etc. So I can't really say that it was this product that cleared it for me.

The final item I got was the Spectrum Collections Unicorn Tears Wonder Sponge....

Only a few weeks back I purchased a number of make up brushes from Spectrum which are absolutely stunning so my new beauty blender fits in with my collection of brushes perfectly. I haven't used this yet though as I currently have one of the Real Techniques beauty blenders, so once that is done with I will be moving on to using this one.

All in all I was a little disappointed with this months box, so have chosen to cancel my subscription for now, although that isn't to say I won't ever go back to them as I do love the concept of receiving beauty products through the door each month. I think I may try one of the other beauty boxes out there to see what they have to offer for next months little treat to myself.

Sam xx