Get Wii fit with me - Week 1

So for the past week or so I've been trying to cut down on the junk food, start eating more healthy and working out more. Now for about a month now my weight has ballooned up to 12 stone, which is for my height and age (6ft and 19) pretty bad, now it's more that I'm uncomfortable in my own skin being a little heavyer than it is looking fat and since I've rediscovered my old wii board I thought it was about time I got down to my comfortable weight and feel better in myself. So far I've been pretty good, I've documented my workout and here's how I've done on my first week.

Before I started anything I decided to bite the bullet and weigh myself first thing, I was shocked at the outcome but I felt more motivated to work out, so I guess it's a good thing in the long run! So since last time i put on 9lb so not a happy bunny by this point and I gave myself a target of losing a stone in 3 months, that's a pound a week! 

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday - I started off by really enjoying the more of the cardio/fat burning work outs, so I did a few of them and did a few sit ups for good measure in each day, and by the middles of the week I was obsessed with the hoola hooping and dance step.

Thursday, Friday & Saturday - having a full on work out at the start of the week, I decided to take it a little slower and gave yoga a go, to my supprise I really enjoyed it, it relaxed me and made me feel like i really stretched all my muscles so great for in the morning.

Sunday - As we all know I am still a dancer and I usually get dedicated most Sundays to do rehearsals for my dance company which I do for 6 hours, so I obviously count that as a good work out.

I've been eating really well this week too, snacking on a lot of fruit and drinking a whole lot of water and hopefully if I keep all this goodness up I may even loose the weight I want which is around my hips and thighs!

Hope you enjoyed my work out post!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

Good night | My dream time essentials ❤️

Getting home after a long day at work, is probably my favorite time of day. I make this extra special and  enjoy it more when I can fully relax and chill out comfortably. One way to make sure your all 'zen'd out is to keep your place of rest (ie my bedroom) relaxing and pleasing to go into. I like to make sure my room is in immaculate condition by vacuuming and dusting regularly, and keeping candles handy and ready to light as I walk in. I keep candles at the high points of my room, to light the room fully without having a harsh celing light on. I usually light candles in the four corners of my room and on both my dressing table and bedside table.

Once I've gotten myself ready for a relaxing evening in my pjs, I like to make sure I've got all my essentials handy. Including 2 books one fact and one fiction (for veriety). The ones I'm currently in love with are all the Harry potter books (duh) and my 'bible' the Bobbie Brown Makeup manual (great read for both makeup artists and beginners alike). I also make sure I keep a ice cold bottle of water handy, because it's so easy to forget to hydrate yourself and wake up in the morning with rubbishy skin and the groggy feeling in your head. So don't forget to drink a bottle before bed! (But if you don't finish it during the night, drinking the rest in the , morning will really help to release toxins from your body and completely flush you out ready for the day ahead. 

Another item I like to keep handy on my bedside table is the Crabtree and Evelyn Lavender eu de toilette as a pillow spray. It's super handy to have especially if you have trouble drifting off, the lovely smell of lavender on your pillow sheet really helps me to relax and wind down, so it's a deffinatly essential for me!

And last but not least I of course need to have my Hello Kitty slippers on just cause the cute and comfey... No other reason really! 

Hope you enjoyed my essential bed time items.

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

How I got into YouTube and Blogging!

So it's been around 2 years since I started talking frivolously to a camera and about a year since I started tapping away at the keyboard onto this little blog, and I must say it's been a rollercoaster these past two years! I thought I would inform you all on how I actually got into the blogging and vlogging word, so let the stories beggin...

Since I can remember I've always had an interest in makeup and always enjoyed playing around with colours on my face and seeing what looks good or just down right funny! When I got to my 14th birthday I was already set on going into the beauty business but not until I turned 16 did I figure out makeup was my forté. Around this time i discovered the beauty world on YouTube and started to watch big beauty gurus such as Bubzbeauty, Mehganheartsmakeup and Juicystar07. Only after a few months of watching their amazing videos did I come to the realisation that I would love to do that... So I did! Although (thankfully) my old channels and videos are long gone, they helped me build my confidence infront of the camera and editing too! Only after figuring all this techy stuff out did I design my own little beauty blog under the name of velvet--couture, since then as you we'll know, the name has changed to something a little more appropriate. And I'm still changing it up everyday to make it look more proffesional!

I think the main thing to think about if your wanting to start a blog/YouTube channel is to practise, lets face it, your not going to be A* amazing once you've just started! You have to practise by writing draft posts or private videos and reading them/watching them back. Let a family member give you constructive critism as you know they will give you an honest answer and probably give you some ideas you didn't even think about! Make it unique to you, you don't want to copy something someone else does exactly otherwise it's not yours! Take a few ideas from things that inspire you, make a list or a spider diagram if it helps. Put all your ideas together and BAM you've got yourself a YouTube channel and blog. Make sure you've got yourself a schedual that you can fit in with you daily routine, like for instance I work 5 days a week, write draft posts in the evenigns and take the pictures in the morning. Then pop it all together and upload it before work! When it comes down to my YouTube, that takes a little more time. I usually film two videos for the week ahead on my days off and edit and upload them throughout the week. Don't start off by trying to fit too much into your schedual as it will end up more as a chore than a hobby! Do it how it suits you! There arnt any rules so upload once a fortnight and blog twice a week. It's all down to you!

Hope this little post helped!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo 

Spring Mint | OOTD

Spring is probably my favorite season, all the bright colours come out in the flowers and everyone's a bit happier! So I thought I should incorporate this pastel season in my wardrobe! I found this beautiful blossom filled field that I had to take pictures at, it's a beautiful place!

Jewel encrusted jumper - New look

Disco pants - River Island

Laser cut dolly shoes - Topshop

Houndstooth bag - Charity shop

Tortoise shell sunglasses - River Island

Nail polish - Candy apple by Barry M

Lipstick - Seventeen stay pout in Delinquent

Hope you enjoyed my first outfit of the day post and have a lovely Easter from me and my Buster boy!

Danielle xoxo

Warmer weather body care

Now that spring is finally in full force it's time to ditch the beanies and pull out the sunnies! A lot of people seem to forget about their body care during the warmer months due to the fact their skin is less dry then it was during winter, but nether the less, skin needs moisture and pampering 24/7, remember that guys and gals!

Although it's a little too warm for balms and creams it's starting to become perfect weather for lotions and moisturizing mists, so I have a few that I adore that arn't sticky and they all easily sink into the skin!

Soap and glory girly go moisture mist buy here!

This beautifully scented mist is a simple way to pamper your skin without walking around like a zombie for half an hour waiting for it to sink in! As the formula is so thin and runny it comes out in a spray bottle and one swipe of the skin and it's completely sunken in! Handy for traveling and on the go!

The body shop raspberry skin care range buy here!

A new range of body product launches are always exciting when it comes to the body shop, but when I smelt the new raspberry scent I was hooked! This range only came out yesterday so it's brand new, smells devine and pretty cheap for great feeling skin! 

Vaseline spray and go in aloe buy here!

If your not a big fan of very smelly body products but still want something caring and gentle on your skin for spring and summer, I really recommend the spray and go range from Vaseline. It has the same concept as the Soap and glory product but with a less powerful scent and is much better for more sensitive skin as it has more of a moosy texture! 

Hope you enjoyed today's post! Make sure you remember your skin care, it needs love too!

Post soon,

Love Danielle xoxo

Winter: Current favorite eye products

Following on from fridays post I don't have that many winter eye products but I do have a few I want to show you because I believe these are the cream of the crops! 

1 - Revlon lash potion. I'm pretty sure the majority of beauty bloggers rave about this beautiful mascara because, well it is a damn good product I usually apply a light coat of Lo'real volume million lashes in Black just to prime my lashes and lengthen them as the Lash potion is adds more of volume than length! But either way it's a top notch mascara. Price of this is £13.00.

2 - Mac eyeshadow in Woodwinked. Recently featured on my YouTube channel this beautiful satin eyeshadow is a staple in my everyday makeup bag because you can just a wash all over the lid for a lovely put together look. Price of this is £15.00.

3 - Benefit They're real mascara. A higher end mascara that works superbly with the Revlon lash potion over the top, although it's not as volumous as the lash potion it's still rather volumous and really worth the money. Price is £19.50.

Hope you enjoyed this little segment that will be returning each season! Post on Monday!

Danielle xxx

Winter: Current favourite lip products

This is a shiny and new seasonal posts containing my current favorite products and today I'm starting with lip products! Quite a veriety of brands and prices, obviously as it's the middle of winter the majority of these are very moisturizing and nourishing. 

- Mac matte lipstick in Diva. As usual I'm am contradicting myself by showing a matte product that has no moisturizing or nourishing benefits in it, although matte lips are usually ment for the warmer weather but lately I've been going back to this beautiful purple toned lipstick as the colour just makes any makeup look, look put together. At a heafty price of £15.00 I try to use it as sparingly as possible.

- Revlon lipstick in Adorned. A lovely hot pink lipstick the is as pigmented as any high end brand but obviously at a fraction of the price. The texure of all the Revlon lipglosses feel more like a balm and they don't have that horrible sticky feeling that most drugstore lipglosses do. The price of these? £7.99 pretty good for a high quality gloss I'd say!

- Maybelline baby lips. Everyone and their mum knows about these bad boys, and I don't blame them they are beautiful lip balms with quite a good colour pay off supprisingly for their low price! My favorite colour? Cherry me, a gorgeous red tinted balm that stains your lips a natural red colour. The price £2.99

I hope you enjoyed this little post tomorrow I will write about my favorite eye products! And I will be doing this for each season! 

Danielle xxx

Anxiety & Depression; dealing with public transport.

This subject really hits home to me because this time last year I got diagnosed with depression and sevier anxiety so for the past year I really didn't think it would be able to even step foot into a train or a bus again just because there's something about traveling on any sort of public transport that makes me very nervous. I guess it's just the fact that  leaving the house on your own is a independent thing to do even if you are 19 years old and have done it many times... It's almost as if you have to somehow regain your confidence so today I faced my fear and traveled on both a bus and a train. My experience? It went much better than I antisapated so here are my tips if you are a fellow sufferer.

1 - keep calm, cool and collected. Whether your on a train or a bus you need to act quite mellow, you don't want to start having a panic attack and drawing attention to yourself.

2 - try and find a seat that you can sit by youself. If you happen to be on a two seater try to bring a large handbag with you that can suclude you from the crowd

3 - have your closest parent or other half on speed dial. Personally for me bus journeys make me the most anxious so speaking to a close friend while I'm having a panic attack really calms my nerves.

I hope this short little blog post helped even one person suffering out there, just remember your not alone in this, if you want to contact me I'm more than happy to help you. My links are in the discription box. 

Post soon,

Danielle xxx

Manicure Mondays; Think Pink!

As a big lover of the warmer weather in spring/summer it will come as no supprise to you that my favorite colours are any pastel shades in particular this very cute and girly pastel pink. Even though the weather here in England is still pretty miserable I like to pretend its spring by making my nails all bright and beautiful.

Polishes used:

Two coats of Essie's Fiji nail polish which is a bright opaque colour within 2 coats and is super handy when your in a rush and your not wanting to paint on more than two coats. I've always been a lover of Essie and this was probably one of my first shades from their collection that I purchased. You can buy this beautiful colour HERE for £7.99 per bottle.

One coat of Barry M's sparkle top coat in Pink Irridescent, about 4 years ago Barry M nail paints where my absolute favorite nail polishes and at only £2.99 per bottle could you blame me for buying the whole collection... This is a well loved and used polish but it still gives amazing results even though it is rather gloopy, half empty and 3 years old. I may need to go down to Boots and repurchase this shade! Purchase this glitter polish HERE.

And lastly as no surprise I finished off my manicure with my trusty Seche Vite top coat at a eye watering price of £15.99 per bottle I can just about justify spending that sort of money on this product as it works wonders on my nails and prevents the polish from chipping for nearly a week at a time which is fabulous. You can buy this top coat HERE.

Post soon! 

Danielle xxx

My bath time essentials!

For me personally I'm a huge fan of having a bath it really warms me up on a cold winter night and it's a great way to chill out and relax for a mere 15 minutes. Now when I can be bothered to run myself a bath (as usually I shower) I go all out, I pop a few candles on turn the lights low and use some really rich and nutritious products which I can indulge in.

One bath company I have deffinatly been converted too is Lush they sell the most beautifully scented organic and natural bath products that really do what it says on the tin. A personal favourite of mine is the Comforter bath ballistic which you can purchase here and if your unsure of how to use a bath ballistic they are basically these large slabs of heaven that you crumble under hot running water which created huge bubbles, a colourful bath and a fabulously scented aroma. To be quite frank I do buy this particular bath ballistic at least three times a month which can get a little expensive but it's totally worth it! 

Another company that everyone and their mother is in love with (including my mum and I) is Soap and glory which can be found in most Boots stores. I'm a lover of their body washes and scrubs so the ones I will be using this evening is the Clean, clean girls body wash which you can buy here and the Scub 'em and leave 'em body buff which you can also purchase here. 

Once I've finished day dreaming in the tub I hop out dry my self down and use the Girligo moisturizing body mist also from soap and glory which you can buy here. It's much lighter than a body lotion as it comes out in a spray pump, takes seconds to rub and sink in and still feel as moisturizing as a lotion, genius! 

Time for bed I think! Hope you enjoyed today's chilled out post, if you want a bit more of me head on over to my YouTube HERE where I uploaded a new video this morning! Happy bathing!

Danielle xxx

Manicure Monday; Rainy Days

As usual the weather in England is wet and windy, so I got inspired by this nasty weather to create this wintery design on my nails. All the products and their links are listed below -

- Deborah Lippmann nail varnish in Stormy weather. This is the most beautiful dark grey toned green I have ever laid my eyes on, this is such a unique colour that I don't have in my collection. It's a very muddy grey which looks perfect with pale skin, I applied two coats of this and it was completely opaque. These polishes are in the ranks running alongside Essie as my favorite brand! 

- No7 nail varnish in Sparkle glitter. This polish has millions of holographic blue chunks on glitter in a cloudy base which reminded me a lot of the weather we are currently having so two coats of thatD on both ring fingers makes the perfect black cloud. 

- Seche Vite topcoat. It's no surprise that this is the topcoat I use, although it is a little pricey compared to other brands the quality is like no other and makes the polishes last way longer. I applied one coat on each nail and two on the glitter nails to insure it has a smooth finish.

So this was the finished result of my Stormy day nails, cheers me up knowing I've got perfect looking nails in this miserable weather. As a side note I will not be reviewing the Loreal mousse hair dye that I featurd in my haul on Saturday due to the fact I tried it out today got half was down my head and it ran out... Even though it said If you have medium length hair it will last a full coverage and a top up... Not very impressed Loreal, one unhappy customer. But other than that I will be posting as usal so every weekday and my Saturday edit on the first Saturday of each month! 

Have you tried the Deborah Lippmann nail varnishes? What did you think of them?

Danielle xoxo

Fresh and feminine makeup, perfect in time for the new year!

Hello my lovelies, 

So I've got a fresh, new tutorial for you all just in time for 2014.  Link for the video - Hopefaithandbeauty

Products used -

- Loreal Paris Infallible foundation

- maybelline New York whitestay uv foundation

- Bobbi Brown creamy concealer

- Sleek eyebrow kit

- Sleek contour kit

- Revlon photo ready skin lights in pink light

- Mac pearl matte in pink butter cream

- Maybelline 24h colour tattoo in on and on bronze

- Mac eyeshadow in woodwinked

- Loreal super liner

- Ardell lashes in naturalite

- Arbonne it's a long story mascara

- Loreal lip lacquer in Big Bang

Tools used -

- Bobbi Brown flat top buffing brush

- Real Techniques blush brush 

- xobeauty domed shader brush

- Ted Baker eye lash curlers

Just as a side note, my schedule for YouTube and my blog is now as follows,  I will be uploading a new video to my youtube every Wednesday and I will also be blogging every Wednesday (coinciding with my youtube) and blogging specifically for blogging every Monday and Friday! Now put that in your diary because Dannie is back! Hope you all had a fab new year, see you Friday!

Dannie xxx

Update & Week In Pictures // #3

Hello my beauties!!

It has been a wee while since I blogged! (shocking I know) and if you've been following me on my twitter then you will know why, if you don't then ill give you a little heads up on whats been happening in the past month in the world of Dannie!

Firstly surprising to hear I finally found a job, which is the main reason why I've been so MIA these past weeks. I wont go into too much detail as I don't want everyone and their mum knowing where im located! haha. But I will say Im basically in an office job (boreeee) and yep it may not be the best job in the world but I needed one desperately as Im at that awkward age where I don't get child support as Im not a classed as a 'child' anymore and Im not old enough to claim benefits as Im not classed as an 'adult' either.. So im neither a child nor an adult, fantastic, So I am a nothing. Anyway I guess Im glad I got a job because when i turn 18 I didn't really want to turn to benefits, its just not the sort of thing I would want to do. So Im in it for the money on this one! Hopefully my beauty/makeup career kicks in soon because as you all know that is my real passion. I have been working 6 days a week and on the 7th I have been dancing, so a no-can-do on the blogging and videoing side! But now that I am on my shift hours I will be back on track with this and also Youtube. #firstdayoffin3weekswoohoo!

Anyways, want to know what I've been doing lately... in pictures? Well your in luck!

Left to Right - Prepped & Clean Dressing Table // Selfie, Mothers day meal // Obsession with the Professor Layton games // #snapbacksunday pic of my Mumma and myself // My healthy snacks (berrys, nuts & fruit & a breakfast bar) // My leaving presents from my old work (Cat wind-chime, xoxo mug, & a kitty card) // My takeaway cup dilemmas i.e. lipstick stains // My cloudy and I // My beautiful Eden and myself at dancing! 


Thank you for reading! Don't forget to check out my oh so sexy links --
Twitter & Youtube

I will be filming tomorrow so make sure you check that out as well! Hope you had a lovely week and many more to come! Its currently 10:10pm its Ice cold and there is lots of snow outside (in the middle of march?!) I think its time for me to hit the hay! See you tomorrow ;)

Post soon! Love Dannie







Pssssst, And one last thing, Once I hit 100 subbies on youtube, you may or may not see a HUGE haul (keep your eyes peeled!) hushhush though it may be exclusive to my readers... who knows ;)