New Camera Canon 500D DSLR and Holiday Time!

So I finally got a DSLR and let me tell you its amazing!! I went with the Canon 500D in the end and I seriously love love love it! I was stuck between this one and the 1000D but went with this one in the end. I have been wanting a DSLR for a long time now, and I was going to buy one about 6 months ago but couldn't work out whether to take the plunge or not. Lets face it DSLR's are expensive, and you have to ask yourself if you can justify splashing out. I figured that seeing as though I'm a blogger and I generally like taking photos I could justify it completely ;)

(Taken with my other camera, the rest of the images are with the DSLR)

I decided to pay the little bit extra and get the 500D because it has a really good mode on it perfect for beginners. It basically allows you to use the main functions of the camera in a simplified way to get some fantastic shots. This is ideal for me seeing as though I'm a complete novice and I'm going to Mexico in a couple of days. Realistically I wont know how to use it fully in that time, but this mode allows me to still take beautiful pictures and learn what the main functions of the camera are and what they do. 

However, if you already know how to use the all singing all dancing DSLR's or have plenty of time to learn then the 1000D is a really great affordable option. I'm sure that it will have plenty of automatic modes on there too.

Another thing though that swung getting the 500D for me was that it has a HD Video recording function, which will come in really handy for Youtube, and you never know when you want to catch some impromptu footage!

Here are a couple of completely random pics I've already taken with it and played with in photoshop...

(Excuse me looking a little windswept - this is me just after finishing work lol)

It can be really overwhelming if you're looking for a DSLR, there are so many on the market and it can be really difficult trying to choose one if you are a complete newbie like me, everyone has different opinions, you dont know whats good, whats bad etc etc, but I can safely tell you that the 500D is fantastic and I'm sure that the 1000D will also be a great camera! They are also nowhere near as big as you may think they are, they look really big and bulky but in reality I think that they're not too big at all.

I got a couple of other bits too with the camera, namely a UV Filter, a nifty little remote, and a Gorrillapod. A Gorrillapod is basically a fancy tripod that you can hang on trees, around drainpipes you name it, apparently it won an award or something on the Gadget Show and is a great little thing to have! It even has a little spirit level to show you that your camera is level!

I'm so excited about my holiday, I cant even tell you! Its been over a year since our last holiday and I've always wanted to go to Mexico! We were originally a little bit dubious about going to Mexico at this time of year with it being the hurricane season, but we went to the Dominican Republic at a similar time and we literally had 30 minutes of rain. In that red hot heat, we were praying for rain lol! 

Theres so many things we want to do over there, go Scuba Diving, visit Tulum, top up my tan (obviously!) go on a Catamaran trip to Cozumel, I just cant wait! 

I will be taking LOADS of photos with my new camera and telling you all about it when I get back! I'm thinking about making a couple of cheeky purchases at duty free, I'm fancying a new perfume so I'd love it if you could tell me your favourite perfume in the comments! 

I'm not sure whether or not I'll get chance to do another post before I go, we're getting picked up on Tuesday (24th) at 4.45am NOT looking forward to that part, and I've got lots to do before then making sure we're all packed and ready for action! 

Its a 10 hour flight too so I'll be doing LOTS of reading. Oh yeah thats another thing, as well as your favourite perfume, please tell me your all time favourite book too, I read loads on holiday so I'll need some new material! I'll be spending the flight reading, watching movies, and listening to music.

Talking of music I bought these beaut's today. I've been lusting after some big headphones for a while and these Red Skull Candy Headphones satisfied that want perfectly. Thanks to all the girls on Twitter who helped me choose a colour; indecisive as ever I couldn't choose between the blue and the red, I'll stick the blue on my christmas list ;)

I'm currently listening to the Happy Songs Album and I LOVE it :)  

So thats it from me for now I think I covered everything! I'll see you in a couple of weeks, dont forget to tell me your favourite book, and your favourite perfume in the comments!

ADIOS AMIGOS!! xxx

Sunday Treats - Next Tan Satchel

So today I treated myself to this Tan Satchel from Next. I've been after a nice satchel since the whole Mulberry Alexa craze and I finally settled on this one. I'm also going to get the Black one too :) (Available from Next - £30)

I also grabbed this little ditzy floral purse to use on my holiday. Is it just me who doesn't want to take my normal purse on holiday? I just want a small purse to keep my money and bits in so wouldn't want to take my big purse and all of my cards with me. This one will do the trick nicely!

Finally I got this little kitten make up bag. I thought it was really cute, even though realistically its far too small I'll be able to fit a few essentials in there.

Hope you've all had a fab Sunday!

Everyday Face Routine

Thought i'd share with you a video I uploaded to YouTube showing my everyday face routine. Its a super simple and easy to do look perfect for everyday wear.



Enjoy!

My Blogging Space.

I remember seeing this post flying about a long time ago, but at the time I lived in a much smaller house and blogged from my sofa!
I now have a much larger bedroom that allows me to have my own little area - which I LOVE.

I originally bought this desk to help get me through the last year of University. Because of the increased workload I had, sitting on the sofa or kitchen table trying to work soon started to take its toll on my back. So I invested in this lovely little desk thats just the perfect size for a bedroom.

I find having a desk really does make a huge difference when working on a computer, I dont know why I just feel like it gets me "in the zone" whether it be for working, blogging, or recording a video - I always sit at my desk. Sometimes when I'm just browsing the web I will lounge around in bed or on the couch :)

My desk is positioned right in front of my floor to ceiling bay windows - it makes me feel just like Carrie in Sex and the City when I'm sat here looking out of the window :)

The usual things I have on my desk are some candles, my lamp, some magazines, a notebook, pens, and my cameras. I keep all of my camera leads and bits in the drawer, and my printer and other bits and bobs are all stored underneath the desk.

Last but not least my beloved Macbook. Life would be incomplete without this baby. I would never buy a PC again, I'm not going to open up the Mac vs PC Debate - but I'm very much a Mac girl :)

So theres my little blogging space, where do you blog from?

Barry M Racing Green

So I did a rush jobby last night when I painted my nails; you all know what I'm talking about...

It gets to ten minutes before bedtime so its OBVIOUSLY the right time to paint your nails right? RIGHT?

Thought So :)

Last nights colour of choice was my recently purchased Barry M Racing Green. I swear this has changed colour since the last time I had it? I had a bottle donkeys ago and I'm positive that it wasn't the same colour! The last time I had it it was more of an old green mini colour, please tell me some of you know what I'm talking about? If not, just trust me it was definitely different.

This is more of a whats the word....Mermaid Green?

Its really really nice, this is with just one coat so the colour would be even more beautiful with 2 coats. The flash is making it look a bit wishy washy but it really is gorgeous!

Loving & Hating

I forgot how much I enjoy these posts, so without further ado...

Loving.

• Growing Hair! Yay!! 

• My upcoming holiday - 2 weeks to go until I jet off to Mexico, Can I get a hell yeah?

• Ditching the scales - my life will no longer be dominated by the number on the scale; surely how I feel should be the main gauge for my how I feel about myself instead of a silly number?

• Revlon Photoready Foundation - Im really enjoying using this now that it matches my skin tone

• Diet Coke, sad but true lol can't believe I was once addicted to Pepsi Max, what the hell was I thinking?

• My Dog Sid (or Sidney, Sidney Bobbles Bon Bon, or Bobbles as we like to call him) I swear I love him a little bit more every day

• Mr Medicine by Eliza Doolittle - one of the few songs on her album I like, have a listen, you know you want to...

Hating.

• A complete lack of holiday clothes in AUGUST? WTF?? Yeah apparently summer ends at the end of July now and all of the shops get rid of the summer stuff and start flogging the Autumn gear - this is all fine and well if you havn't got any need to buy holiday clothes. However, if you're an unfortunate soul that does, good luck; I've spent the last 2 days getting together as much stuff as possible and believe me it wasn't an easy task!

• The rain... bring back the sun please??

And thats it, I'm not hating much this week - which is always a good thing :) What are you Loving or Hating this week?

Xen Tan Dark Lotion Review

So a few weeks ago I was sent the Xen Tan Dark Lotion to have a play with. In fairness I was extremely eager to try this after seeing the many reviews in the blogosphere of late, and was about to splash the cash and purchase this anyway.
This isn't going to be a long drawn out post, because it doesn't need to be. Bottom line this product is fantastic; possibly the best fake tan I've ever used.

Seriously.

The colour is fantastic, it lasts a good length of time, if fades nicely, its not smelly, it looks absolutely gorgeous on, give a gorgeous glow to your face, need I say any more?

It has one niggle and that is all.

The only downside for me is the application. This goes on as a dark lotion (as the name suggests) and takes approximately 3 hours to develop. After this developing time, whether it be 3 hours or whether you leave it on overnight, you do need to shower it off.

(You need to rub it in more than shown in the above picture - I took this so you could see the colour and consistency) 

Now I'm used to just spraying on my ambre solaire or dove gradual tanner and off I go, however with this there is the whole rinse off process, which like I say is the only downside to this product.

Other than that though this fake tan is bordering on Holy Grail Territory - it really is as good as everyone says it is!!

I've recently bought a tanning mitt from Boots, its currently reduced to about £1 which is fab and I'm going to try apply the tan with the mitt tonight and see if it looks even better applied this way. I've never tanned before using a mitt so I'm interested to see if it makes any difference.

I will 100% be repurchasing the Dark Lotion when this runs out. I also really want to get my hands on the facial tan too! Look out for a fake tan review from my old ball and chain Adam over the next few days too to give a male perspective on fake tanning! :)

You can buy it here!