‘Unique and unorthodox’ -Miranda

1. Grow Your Own Coffee Plant Kit

2. Lightbulb Vase

3. Gin And Tonic Bath Salts

4. Bathroom Guest Book

5. Queen For the Day Inflatable Crown

6. Curry And Chips Milk Chocolate Bar

7. Love On Toast Stamp

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

A while ago I wrote a post about how much I missed reading. If you haven’t read that post then I suggest you do so before continuing with this post. http://sashahope.com/reading-anyone-else-miss/

I was shopping with my little sister and she seemed completely uninterested in every clothes shop I dragged her into, so I eventually let her go into WHSmith and look for books. It didn’t take me long before I came across a staggeringly bright yellow book. Having caught my eye, I picked it up and examined the title;

‘THE SIMPSONS AND THEIR MATHEMATICAL SECRETS’

Gosh, I thought, that looks interesting. I had no idea that The Simpsons had any sort of mathematical secrets at all. I have a strong desire to know about this, I thought.

The comment at the top of the book enticed me even further;

‘Blows the lid off a decades-long conspiracy to secretly educate cartoon viewers’

Davis X. Cohen, writer for the Simpsons and co-creator of Futurama

Fascinating!

This astounded me. It had been years since I found a book that I was genuinely interested in and was passionate about reading! Then it hit me – I had been looking in the wrong place.I wasn’t interested in fake stories about fake people who have no relevance to me or to anything really at all. I wanted to learn more about what I love in the world; about life and real things and real people and the wonder of what’s going on around me. I think it is pretty clear that this is not the view taken by most people, which is why I hadn’t discovered the joy of non-fiction until now. As with most people, I had never really considered it. It almost seemed like a negative word, say ‘non-fiction’ and ‘boring’ pops up. The non-fiction section of the library is like some alien land, somewhere you wouldn’t even think of going to find a book. Well, turns out I’m just different. And I love it.

I’m so, so glad that I’ve found what is good for me. It really doesn’t matter that it isn’t good for other people. Who cares? I’ll tell my friends, they will laugh at me, and they will accept it as a part of who I am. And if they don’t, then they aren’t the type of friends that I want anyway.

So far I have read 90 pages and am loving it. I have learnt many new and interesting things about maths, some which have been very loosely linked to The Simpsons and others which can be directly viewed on the show. I have also learnt much more about The Simpsons and the writing crew and some rather funny stories along the way.

I really do like being different.

Please comment telling me what you think about all of this, and if you can form an argument against me then I will be happy to debate you on it!

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

As Christmas is looming (16 days to be precise!!) it can get tough to decide what you’re going to brighten faces with when the paper is unwrapped. And your credit card must be exhausted! Can’t have it working every day, you know, you’ll tire it out…It’s time to give the endless cash-chucking a rest, but you can’t be expected to trawl the internet for hours finding the perfect purse-friendly gift! That’s my job! So sit back, relax, and let me do all the work with The Ultimate Under £5 Christmas Beauty Gift Guide…

*Christmassy add-ons were entirely my doing and are not in any way part of the products!

1. Baylis Harding Sweet Mandarin Grapefruit 5 Piece £5 at Superdrug

2. Philip Kingsley Body & Volume Try Me Kit £5 at feelunique

3. NIP+FAB Lip Butters 3 x 10g £3.99 at Superdrug

4. DHC Deep Cleansing Oil £4.50 at DHC (My favourite cleanser EVER!)

5. Studio London Finishing Touches #2 Lip and Nail Duo £3 at Superdrug

6. I love Duo Box of Love Tutti Fruity £4 at Superdrug

I hope I have helped to lighten the load of Christmas for all you lovely people and I wish you happy shopping! :)

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

As we all know, it was Black Friday a few days ago. I think we can all join hands in saying hello to that new pointless thing that was 90% off and goodbye to what once was our healthy looking bank accounts.

Also it was nice knowing you Dignity. Good while it lasted and all.

So I had the chance to go to Tesco’s and although Black Friday may or may not have applied to what I bought, I managed to use it as a sufficient excuse to do some spendingtons.

As I found myself with a distinct lack of things that I actually needed, my eye was drawn to the formidable nail polish stand. Sally Hansen was calling to me…and when Sally Hansen calls to you then the nail polish buying ban you put on yourself is instantly void. Obviously.

So despite having enough nail polishes to supply my entire road, I found myself wondering which colours would last me more than one season and did I need another nail treatment oh look they are more expensive maybe not and did I see that one in someone’s blog post the other day?

I ended up with these, all Sally Hansen.

At the far right id 610 Red Zin, a beautiful deep vampire red. The colour excites, with elements of darkness and mystery merging to create something effortlessly feminine, can be worn with anything and is striking and bold without being brash or flashy. I was really happy to see this as I have wanted it for quite a while.

To the far left is 160 Shell We Dance, a beautiful ballet slipper pink colour which is one I have been lusting over for a very long time. It also is brilliant because it goes with just everything as the colour is almost nude, especially if you only use one thin coat. It’s a very pretty, light, girly colour, innocent yet feminine. The nail polish can be layered from a very thin carress to a thick, smooth coating that is simply decadent.

These two are part of the Complete Salon Manicure range, which promise seven benefits of a salon mani in one bottle;

• Base Coat
• Strengthener
• Growth Treatment
• Color
• Top Coat
• Chip-Resistant
• Gel Shine

Due to this, I did not apply them with base or top coat, and so far the chips have been minimal and the shine mildly impressive.

The third polish was just to complete the 3for2 deal and I only got it because it looks Christmassy. And that is good enough of a reason for me. I can just tell it’s gonna be hella difficult to remove though.

Before you go, leave a comment telling me what you bought on Black Friday and don’t forget to leave your blog link as I love reading new blogs!

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

Hello Everyone,

Today I have a product review for you. I recently purchased Clinique’s Acne Solutions Foundation because I needed a new foundation and decided to see what everyone was raving about. Several of my friends use this foundation and I’ve heard nothing but good things about this product.

My color in this foundation is Fair Alabaster. Which is the lightest color they have. Because of the way the bottle is made makes for a fast and easy application. I pair this with Clinique’s stay matte powder and I love it. The coverage level of this foundation is really high and it stays on my face all day without coming off. It feels and works like an YSL foundation. It feels so high-end quality.  As much as I love really nice fancy packaging this isn’t a product you buy because of the package this is a product you buy because of the quality of the product.

Written by Brittney Sutherin

* ‘make up’ in this post is mostly referring only to face make up, NOT eye make up*

A couple of days ago one of my best friends came to stay at my house. She lives very far away and I don’t get to see her very often.

She does not wear make up. Not any. Not even on her eyes.

I hope I haven’t caused any fellow beauty bloggers to faint from reading that statement because, I know, it is a bit of a shocker. I couldn’t understand how she did it. We chatted about it for a while before she came to what I suppose was her main point, which hit me quite hard. She said;

“Boys don’t like girls who are fake”

She said it in passing, as a simple statement that didn’t mean to cause much effect. I’d heard it before, I knew it was true. But I didn’t think anyone was actually strong enough to listen to it. It lingered in my mind and I began to consider why I wore make up, who or what for. I realised that it was a little bit habit, and a lot for the opposite gender. It’s obvious really – why would I want to impress any girls with my looks (as you may have noticed, I am not a lesbian. Yet)? I would hope that girls would easily look past that, especially when looking for a friend and not a romantic partner. So, at the end of the day, I wear make up to expand my success with boys.

For a short while, as I have done many times, I managed to convince myself that I needed the make up to actually be attractive and that she was very lucky not to. Boys may say that, I thought, but if they had a look underneath all our fakery they would keep their sorry mouths shut and let us put on our concealer. I assume that most make up wearers have adopted this view.

Then we decided to do makeovers. Because we were having a sleepover and we were (…and still are) girls. And girls on sleepovers do makeovers. I covered her in BB cream and I put concealer over her (agonizingly few) spots and blackheads, her blotchy uneven cheeks and her terrible under eye bags. I gave her blusher but didn’t bother with contour because I generally fail at it. I looked at her face with a growing sense of doubt; I saw what the make up had done. The character of her rosy, blotchy, naturally and indeed sensibly coloured cheeks, the realness of her under eye bags, were gone. Suffocated under smooth colours and textures, covering up her individualities.

Her face was gone. A child’s painting remained.

She was quite intrigued; hooked on the idea of finally having society’s perfect face. She said she liked it, rather mesmerised by her newly discovered ‘beauty’. I however had realised that her true, individual, wonderful beauty was underneath – what she had found was a popular way to cover that up and join the masses.

Who can honestly tell me there is beauty in that?

I told her she looked better without it, convinced her to stay how she was. I hope she listened to me, because I would be devastated if I had triggered her to tumble down this slippery slope. It was then time to do my make up.

Obviously she ha no idea what she was doing so I did all my make up myself. The growing sense of doubt I felt for her was creeping in on me again – did I really look better? Did I just look fake? If I’m honest with myself these thoughts had been at the back of my mind for a very long time. I asked her when I had finished;

‘Do I really look better than before?’

We looked at our sad, painted faces. My mind flashed back to the first thing she said, and it dawned on me that I had been deceiving myself into the easy option of just carrying on regardless. I looked at myself, and I looked fake. Boys don’t like girls who are fake.

I realised that as my face was on the road to ‘perfect’, it was leaving trueness, originality and, yes, beauty far far behind.

Now, a couple of weeks prior I had bought a foundation which turned out to be the wrong colour. I chucked it right to the back of my cupboard behind all my stuff so I couldn’t get to it, because I knew I would forget and use it otherwise and wind up looking like a traffic cone threw up one me. It was a good plan and it worked.

Upon my aforementioned realisation I decided to take a very brave step. I took some make up and threw it to the back of the cupboard. I did it gently, it wasn’t a symbolic killing or anything and I’m fairly sure it’s all completely intact, it was simply so I remembered not to use them. I made it much more difficult for myself to give up and go down that road again. I kept my concealer because I believed that it was a simple and small thing, and I kept my powder just in case I needed to combat my shiny face. I wanted to throw all my blusher and bronzer but most were attached to eye shadows in sets and I still wanted those. I hoped I would be strong enough in mind and in memory to resist them.

I was going to go bare-faced.

“Thank you,” I said to my friend, “For inspiring me to do this”

In part 2 I will recall the outcome of these events.

Thank you so much for reading :)

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

Mighty Mouth – Super Glossy Lip Balm I Sugar Crush Body Scrub I Scrub ‘Em & Leave ‘Em – Body Exfoliator

Face Soap and Clarity – 3-in-1 Daily Detox Vitamin C Facial Wash I Soap&Glory Onesie I Sugar Crush Body Wash

Have you got any Soap & Glory products?

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

Previous post – NOTD#4 Breast Cancer Awareness 

It’s October which means it’s breast cancer awareness month and this is my fourth post supporting the cause!

1. I came across this whilst rummaging around the Breast Cancer Care website and I just knew I had to share it with you.

The page shows a list of products which, when bought, trigger a donation from the seller to Breast Cancer Care. For example, buy an NSPA Body Mist (exclusively at ASDA) and Breast Cancer Care will recieve 20p.

You are not paying more than usual, nor are you loosing money when you donate in this fashion. It’s perfect!

Click here to see the full list of products featuring Smints, Office and Elemis!

2. Spend your weekly shop at ASDA where a much wider range of products will be donating using the same concept, this time to Tickled Pink, a charity set up by ASDA which raises money for Breast Cancer Campaign and Breast Cancer Care. These products are things you would buy every day without thinking, so why not donate whilst you’re doing it? (And almost all the products are under £5 too!) Click here to see the full range of products featuring Lenor, BaBliss and Simple!

Fantastic idea, isn’t it, I now also have a lot more respect for all the brands participating. Please let me know in the comments if you know of or find any other services like this from brands, I would love to share them!

Thank you so much for reading :)

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow Sasha Hope on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

P.S. You may have noticed sashahope.com has gone pink! This was originally in recognition of awareness month, but I like it so much I might just keep it. What do you think?

Hello my lovelies! It’s October, which means it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month and this is my third post supporting the cause.

Have you donned your pink skirt-suit? Are you flaunting a blushing boot?

No? If all that seems a bit much for the workplace, or you feel a little like candyfloss with limbs, here’s how you can support the #wearitpink cause with a tad more subtlety (and originality)…

Who likes the Disney background? ;)

Wear a pop of pink charity on your nails this October with this nail colour from Nail Girls! Nail Girls are the natural, non toxic, chemical free, nail care brand. Free
 from
 any
 harmful
 chemicals
 like
 toluene,
 formaldehyde,
 DBP 
(phthalates)
and
 camphor, they
 are
 not
 tested
 on
 animals,
 are
 vegan
 friendly
 and
 the 
packaging 
is
 recyclable.

I wasn’t expecting much from this nail polish as I had not heard of the brand before, and it didn’t look particularly high end. Having said that, this is one of the best formulas I have ever tried. The colour is opaque in one coat, yes, one coat (although in the picture I am wearing more than one)! Making the colour and the bottle itself really long-lasting. I’m wearing mine with a coat of white nail polish underneath to brighten the colour but honestly I don’t think it needs it. I love the colour, I love the formula, I even love the bottle shape.

I just had a little peek at their website and I am now lusting over so many of their colours and treatments, I might have to make a wishlist. The packaging in full sized products looks much more professional but they are heavily priced, £13.50 for a 15ml bottle! There are also 5ml bottles for £5 but not every colour comes in baby size. The formula is not superior, in my view, to the Barry M nail paints which come in at half the price; but Nail Girls boast unique and beautiful colours that are far more sophisticated than the drugstore staple. I am thoroughly impressed by this brand and will have my eye permanently on them – I would buy something now but I have banned myself from any further nail polish purchases (predominantly unsuccessfully to be honest).

Block coloured nails not enough for you? Spice it up by adding a top coat of this Barry M nail paint in 316 Kingsland Road for a textured finish. You could also attempt to paint on the breast cancer ribbon, I attempted it myself but I really fail at nail art so I had to rub it off.

Thank you so much for reading :)

Love from,

SASHA x

Like this post? Follow Sasha Hope on Twitter and Bloglovin’

Like Sasha Hope on Facebook

P.S. You may have noticed sashahope.com has gone pink! This was originally in recognition of awareness month, but I like it so much I might just keep it. What do you think?