2018 Favourites // Beauty

Hello again guys; I’m aware that I’m super behind with this post as it’s now mid January (already!) but in my defence, I do have a full time job and sometimes it’s good to just chill out and not constantly force yourself to write, write, write. I’ve already posted about my favourite books of 2017 and honestly, my other love in life is beauty products and I used a lot of those in 2017 so it made sense to start a post purely about what I loved so much I’ll definitely be repurchasing and reusing for 2018. Honestly, I cannot believe how quickly the month of January is flying by, without me even realising, oops. So far, 2018 has been treating me rather well and that’s always a good thing. I’m actually loving to simply live my life and not stress anymore about making this blog ‘successful’; I’ve remembered why I started blogging. I wanted a hobby and so for 2018 I’m going to blog because I enjoy it; not because I want to pressure myself. It feels great to be at a place in my life where I feel content enough to share my life and not worry about views and numbers; instead I’m focusing on the creative side of blogging and so I’m planning to improve my content over the next year. Please let me know in the comments if you like this kind of post as it’s always good to know! :)

BRUSHES

In all honesty, I’m not very experimental when it comes to choice of brushes. For the past couple of years I’ve only used the Real Techniques brand for brushes and I genuinely do love them. One of the reasons why I like them so much is that I love that you can buy multiple different brush types in sets for good prices. I currently own the Core Collection, Your Picks Berlin and Enhanced Eye sets and each set was under £25 for 4 or 5 brushes in the set. I decided to invest in the sets because it’s cheaper than buying the brushes individually, plus you get a variety of different brushes that can do different things. I’ve had some of these brushes over over a year and they still work perfectly with no shedding, so I don’t regret the investment and I’ll definitely get more brushes from the range over time.

LIP PRODUCTS

In 2017 I discovered the power of liquid lipsticks; I love that they dry matte and stay put for so long, plus it also means that my poor boyfriend doesn’t have lipstick smudged all over his cheeks like he has had in the past, haha. At the beginning of 2017 I would’ve sworn by any liquid lipstick from NYX, but towards the end of the year I became obsessed with the Rimmel versions. My favourite shades are London from the Soft Matte Lip Cream range by NYX and Moca, Fire Starter from the Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Lip range. London is by far my favourite ever nude lip shade, but I prefer the formula of the Rimmel versions as they feel thicker and less drying on the lips. Both priced at £6, these lipsticks are amazingly purse friendly and I’m sure I’ll be purchasing many more shades to experiment with over the coming year.

FACE PRODUCTS

A fairly recent discovery for me is the L’Oréal Paris 24hr Infallible Foundation in the shade Porcelain. Honestly, I don’t know how many years I’ve been searching for a foundation that feels light on the skin, has good coverage and most importantly, matches my ghostly skin tone. Priced at £10.99, it’s not the cheapest foundation on the market but it does a fantastic job for a reasonable price. It’s likely to sit in my make up bag for a seriously long time. Likewise, I’ve recently discovered an excellent concealer, again by L’Oréal Paris, it’s the True Match Concealer in the shade Rose Ivory. The reason why I like it so much is that the range allows you to choose not only by your flat skin tone, it also allows you to choose whether you have cool or warm toned skin. For £7.99, it is rather pricey but it lasts a long time and it has a really easy to use applicator that works seamlessly to cover even the nastiest of nasty dark under eye circles.

In terms of eyebrow products, my holy grail products are the L’Oréal Paris Artist Xpert in the shade Cool Blond and the Benefit Ready, Set Brow! Which I use every single day. The eyebrow pencil is super easy to use and reasonably priced at £6.99. I love it because it thickens and defines my brows whilst keeping them looking natural; I don’t like to look super groomed. The cool tone of the product works well for me as my natural eyebrow colour is a dark blonde and once the brows are brushed through I’m always ready for the day ahead. I do like to set my brows in place because I like them to stay in position throughout the day. The Benefit product does cost £20 which does seem extortionate for a clear brow gel but honestly it’s the best one that I’ve tried, it stays put for at least 12 hours and so my brows look naturally perfect, rather than overdone. My other face love is the MakeUp Revolution Vivid Baked Highlight in the shade Ever Glow Lights which is absolute steal for £3; it gives a lovely glow with just a small sweep of product and I’ve genuinely hit pan... Time for a new one, I think!

EYE PRODUCTS

My stand out eyeshadow palette of the year has got to be the Sleek MakeUp iDivine Palette in the shade All Night Long. For the £8.99 you get a decently sized palette with a large mirror and twelve different shades with a good mixture of matte and shimmer shades. The shades are so, so pigmented and last really well on the eyelids. Since discovering this palette I’ve had so many compliments on the eye looks I’ve been creating and I love how versatile this palette is. There are some stunning copper and bronze shimmers that make up the perfect smoky but subtle blend of shadows. In terms of mascaras, I have three that I constantly reach for. Firstly, the Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express in Very Black has been a favourite of mine for the majority of 2017. I find that plastic bristles work really well to enlongate, volumise and fan out the individual lashes to create a false lash effect whilst using my natural lashes. For £7.99, this mascara is both affordable and can be used for a day time or night time eye look as I used it everyday for quite a few months for a variety of situations and I was always satisfied with it. I actually purchased it at least three times during 2017, which is the sign of a winner.

There are two other mascaras that I’ve truly loved during 2017. The Maybelline Colossal Big Shot mascara is absolutely amazing and a case in point that sometimes what you wouldn’t usually like can be a great discovery. The brush does have wavy fibre bristles, which is something that I wouldn’t usually go for. That said, I love how this mascara does everything; it curls, it volumises and it lengthens all for the price of £7.99 although admittedly I do tend to apply three coats to reach the desired false lash effect. The final mascara that I loved last year was the L’Oréal Paris Miss Baby Roll which has the most bizarrely shaped plastic bristled brush I’ve ever seen and yet it is honestly my favourite mascara of all time, for now. I’ve never found another mascara with a similar brush style, yet it creates the most incredible volume and curl with only one coat. If I want to make super dramatic, individually fanned lashes then a second coat takes the look from day to night and I’m obsessed, I cannot rave about this mascara enough, particularly as it’s so affordable.

PERFUME

I have a massive collection of perfumes, but over the last year my favourites were actually gifts. The Britney Spears Maui Fantasy was given to me by my Nana and I’ve been wearing it regularly since April; it comes in a beautiful blue bottle with floral decoration and smells so tropical, it’s very unusual. It feels light on the skin and reminds me a lot of long summer days and holidays with the lovely notes of orange blossom, coconut and hibiscus amongst many others. The second perfume that I’ve loved was a gift from my boyfriend, the Vera Wang Princess of Hearts is a beautiful scent with a gorgeous pink heart shaped bottle with little pink hearts all over it. It’s a lovely feminine scent, with notes of watermelon, lily of the valley and jasmine. I love this so much, I wore it more or less every day during spring and summer and because it was a gift it makes it even more enjoyable to wear. 

MOTD: Autumnal Berry Lips

Hello again guys; it’s been months since I did a proper Make Up of the Day post on my blog, so I decided that it was time to do another! Somehow over the past few weeks, England has gotten extremely cold so I’m definitely feeling more autumn and winter beauty looks at the moment. Recently I’ve been a bit more minimal with my everyday make up routine, but I today I decided to go all out and do a full face. Starting primer, I used the Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser (£7.99)  all over my face before beginning to apply concealer. I applied the Rimmel Wake Me Up (£6.49) in the shade ivory using a Real Techniques beauty blender around the eyes, nose and any blemishes. Overall, it covers all blemishes and dark circles well, but it is definitely too dark and yellow toned for me, as I’m more pink toned and pale so I wish they would make a porcelain shade too. 

I prefer to do my brows next, using the L’Oréal Paris Brow Artist Xpert (£7.99) in the shade Cool Blond. It is one of the products in my make up bag that I literally use every time I apply make up; it gives a very natural effect to filling the sparse parts of my brows (oops to the occasional overpluck by mistake) and matches my natural eyebrow shade perfectly. I then use the spooly end to brush out the excess product and frame the brows with concealer. My holy grail brow product is the Benefit Ready, Set, Brow! Which for £20 is definitely one of the more expensive items in my make up bag, but I love that the clear gel glides over my brow and sets them in place all day without the need for reapplication. I like my brows to be natural but tame and this really helps me to achieve that look.

I didn’t want to use foundation as I wanted something lighter on my skin; the Bourjois Paris 123 Perfect CC Cream (£9.99) is a great alternative to foundation as it does cover all skin sins whilst allowing your skin to breathe. Sadly, it is a little too dark for me at the moment (the autumn and winter months literally drain all of the colour from my face haha) but I use the shade ivory and as it is pink toned, it does work into my natural skin tone well once it’s blended out a bit using a beauty blender. For Contour, I used the bronze shade from the trusty Rimmel Kate Moss Sculpting Palette #002 (£6.99) and a Real Techniques brush across my cheekbones and across the temples of my forehead. It’s more of a bronzer, but as my skin is so pale, that does work better for me anyway, before applying the blush from the same palette with a different Real Techniques brush across the apples of my cheeks to add a natural flush. 

For my eyes, I wanted to create a glowy, sparkly bronze look that swept across the whole of my eyelid. I’m definitely getting in the mood for festive make up and recently I’ve been loving the Sleek Make Up iDivine Eyeshadow Palette - All Night Long. For £8.99 you definitely get your money’s worth as it contains twelve different shadows and the packaging includes a large mirror which is great for travelling. There’s a mix of vibrant shimmers and neutral matte shades which are excellent to use as a base. I started off by using a Real Techniques brush and a neutral light brown all across my eyelid as a good base for the shimmer shadows that I planned to use. I then applied a coppery bronze shade across the outer corners of my eyes before adding a gold shimmer across my inner corners. Once that was done I then blended out any harsh edges using a clean brush and added some of the MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter across my browbones, cheekbones and cupid’s bow in the shade Pink Shimmer. The highlight is so pretty and stands out nicely against the rest of the skin but I could’ve built the highlight up a little more to make it blinding; that’s something I’ll definitely do come Christmas time. It’s also super affordable at £3, it’s such good value for money and lasts for a long time too.

I decided against applying eyeliner as I’m not the best at it; I hate it when I have a perfect base then mess it all up when mismatched eyeliner so it wasn’t an eyeliner day. In fact, the eyeshadow was fairly bold and shimmery so eyeliner wasn’t really necessary anyway. However, one thing that I love is volumised, bold, spidery lashes and to create that without using false eyelashes I use two mascaras. I start off by using the Maybelline Volum’ Rocket Express from the roots of my lashes to the tips and it really volumises and lengthens the lashes well. It’s my favourite drugstore mascara and really worth the £7.99 that it costs. To complete my eyes, I used the L’Oréal Paris Miss Baby Roll mascara to make my lashes more thick and curly; it’s actually the same price point, £7.99 and is equally amazing, although I find it works best on top of another mascara, rather than on its own (excessive, I know ahaha) overall, I love the effect that these mascaras give my lashes without the need to apply false lashes, which is amazing. It’s much easier to use your natural lashes and mascara.

Lastly, I applied the Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Lipstick in the shade Plum This Show all over my lips; it does take two or three coats to become full opaque, but that’s not a massive surprise for such a dark lip. Priced at £5.99 it’s great value as it is affordable and the formula of the lipstick is actually really nice, it’s not drying on the lips which is a nice touch. I wanted a berry lip as I feel like the darker toned lip suits the change in the weather; I always associate darker lip colours with winter and the festive season. I’m really happy with how this look turned out and I’ll definitely be recreating it for nights out with friends over the coming months. Let me know in the comments if there’s any make up looks that you’re loving for autumn and winter as I’d love to hear; until next time :)

New In: Make Up

Hello guys; it feels like it’s been ages since I did a beauty related post, although that’s also likely to be because I haven’t bought too many beauty items recently. However, I’m a bit of a nosy person myself and so I love seeing what other people have bought so I thought I’d share my purchases with you, too. There’s not many items, but that is realistic for someone like me, who lives on a budget month in, month out. As it’s getting colder, I decided to refresh my make up collection a little to reflect the season; basically, I wanted some red, plum and nude in there somewhere as the festive season is almost upon us and it’s always good to experiment!

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer - Ivory

This is actually fast becoming an everyday make up staple for me; good value for money priced as £7.99, as a little product does go a long way too. The packaging isn’t ugly, but definitely isn’t my favourite either, but the concealer is a good consistency and covers up any spots, blemishes or dark circles really well and it lasts a good 12+ hours, which is a bonus as I’m not a fan of reapplying throughout the working day. The only thing that bothers me about this product is that even ivory (which is the lightest shade) is slightly too dark for my skin tone, which is a shame as I would definitely repurchase this concealer if they made a porcelain version.

Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express Mascara - Waterproof

To anyone who read my blog regularly, you will know how much I love this mascara, although this is the first time that I’ve tried the waterproof version. One of the reasons why I love this mascara so much is that for £7.99, it’s not only cheap but it also does wat it sets out to; whenever I use this mascara on my eyelashes they looks super volumised and separated which is the kind of effect I want to achieve with any mascara. The waterproof version does dry faster than the regular version so it’s harder to add multiple coats without creating clumpiness, which is annoying but the waterproof version is much better for the colder weather as once it’s on, it doesn’t come off! The only difference in the packaging is that the text is a light blue to the dark blue bottle which looks lovely; Maybelline always have lovely packaging for mascaras.

Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Lipstickk - Plum This Show, Moca, Fire Starter

In all honesty, I have become an absolute addict to liquid lipsticks over the past year; I love how once they’re applied they rarely come off. On the whole, I do tend to gravitate towards nude shades as I like to look fairly natural when I wear a full face of make up, which is why I chose to purchase Moca after seeing various YouTube videos raving about it. It’s definitely the shade that I’ll be using the most often as it’s so versatile; it can be worn for any occasion. Each lipstick is £5.99, so fairly affordable for the pockets too. Moca needs only one coat to fully cover the lips, but unfortunately Plum This Way needs two or three coat as it’s a little more patchy on application. However, the formula is the same, so I’m assuming that’s because of the colour being more intense; often dark berry toned lipsticks need a second coat or so to make the product fully cover the lips so I wasn’t surprised by that. Whereas Fire Starter is a bright red, but a blue toned red so it suits my pale, pink toned skin well. Unlike Plum This Way, Fire Starter doesn’t need multiple coast as it’s opaque from the first coat so overall you use less product, which is a bonus. All of three lipsticks have the same formula and it feels nice and light on the lips; it does dry out the lips a little, but nothing unexpected or unmanageable. Just wear some lip balm before application to minimise the dryness. These are really lovely quality, in terms of both the packaging and the formula; they’re great value for money and definitely going to be in my make up bag for the rest of this season.

Sleek iDivine Eyeshadow Palette - All Night Long

Sleek as a make up brand are one that I’ve had varying degrees of success with; the products are always excellent quality, but as I’m so pale, occasionally there isn’t a shade pale enough for me. However, they’re always amazingly affordable, for example this eyeshadow palette is priced at £8.99 and comes with twelve different shades, including neutral tones, mattes, shimmers and berry/bronze tones. It’s perfect for this season as it’s range of shades are definitely aimed at more bold, experimental looks and I can’t wait to play with these colours more over the next couple of months. They’re blendable and buildable, although I’m not a fan of the brush that comes in the palette, unfortunately, but that’s such a small detail it’s not a problem. Definitely going to be trying out some smoky eye looks with the bronze shades using some different sized brushes to create a smudged, messy but flawless look.

A Collective Haul

Hello again guys, I can't believe that we're halfway through July already! I've had a few cheeky bits and pieces ordered this month and so far I'm absolutely in love with all of the items that have arrived for me this month. I've mentioned several times before on my blog that I do stick to a pretty strict budget; money doesn't grow on trees as we all know, so when I do make a purchase it's usually a very considered one. As we've had a fairly hot summer so far (hot for the UK, at any rate) I desperately wanted a fashionable pair of espadrilles as I'm not a fan of my toes. The ones pictured below were from Very and priced at £22. They're super comfy and keep my feet fashionable and ready for summer whilst covered up. The embroidered elements make them look so much more expensive and are super on trend at the moment. I'm loving embroidered accessories right now as these shoes really jazz up any outfit without being too overdone. I'm definitely going to be buying more espadrilles as these are so easy and comfortable to wear.

For the past couple of months I've been obsessed with the NYX liquid lipsticks; London is my absolute love, but I decided to branch out a little after seeing so many good reviews and opinions surrounding their products. From the Lip Lingerie collection I bought the shades Baby Doll and Honeymoon; priced at £6.99 they're a complete bargain and during this year I have started to like nude shades on me so the variety of shades available from NYX means that I can choose a nude shade that suits my skin tone. I also bought a Liquid Suede in the shade Sandstorm for the price of £6.99 and I can confirm that this really does live up to the hype! Of all of the NYX liquid lipstick formulas, I do prefer the Soft Matte Lip Creams, but in terms of pigmentation, the Liquid Suede formula definitely has the strongest colour. That being said, I love all of these formulas and I have no regrets in purchasing such a range of formulas and colours as they're excellent value for money. I'm also really liking the Glam'eyes Professional Liquid Eye Liner by Rimmel; priced at £4.99, it's definitely affordable and not only is it super black, it's also a matte finish. The applicator is very think too, so with some practice you can avoid looking like you're imitating a panda which is a result for me, haha. One of the more premium items in this haul is the Ready, Set, Brow! By Benefit and as much as I adore it, the price does make me cringe a little at £20. I would argue that it's worth the money as it sets my brows in place all day, every day and I love the packaging too, as an added bonus. It's definitely a splurge, but as I use it every day it's an investment purchase.

Unsurprisingly, after all of the hype surrounding the beauty blender (and sponge applicators in general), it was inevitable that I would eventually cave in and get some sponges to test. As I trust the Real Techniques brand and have a lot of their brushes, it made sense to me to try out the sponges by them too. The Miracle Complexion Sponge Duo are excellent value for money priced at £11.99 as that's for two sponges, whereas comparatively, some other brands are in excess of £15 for only one sponge. I've been fairly impressed with them so far, they blend foundation in really well and don't cause any streaks, although I've found they're a bit too bulky to blend in concealer so I'll likely invest in some smaller options for my under eyes, but for my overall face I would definitely recommend. I've also been loving the Eyes Starter Kit by Real Techniques as I've been trying a bit harder to create nice looks with my eyeshadow palettes, so it was time to invest in more brushes. For £19.99 you get five brushes that are for different eye related tasks, such as filling in brows or blending shadows over the lid. The different sizes and thicknesses are great and they feel good quality, with no shedding. For the price you receive a decent amount of brushes, as well as a little carry case, too so I have no regrets. Recently I've been needing to wear a watch more and more and so I decided it was time to buy a new one, the Radley Doodle Dog which is very cute, with little dog illustrations and rose gold detailing. At £69 it was the most expensive thing by far in this haul, but as I've used it every day since I bought it I do feel that it's worth it; for the price it had better last well!

Lastly, I've added two new perfumes to my extensive collection. Both of them were from my boyfriend for our anniversary, which is why I love them so much; they constantly remind of happy times, as well as of him. The largest of the two is Fantasy in Bloom by Britney Spears and it smells divine, with notes of mandarin, red berries, jasmine, vanilla and cherry blossom. It's a sweet and floral scent and very feminine, although even the bottle itself is incredibly feminine with its hot pink overall exterior alongside a gold neck and white and gold cherry blossoms. At £18 for the 100ml it's a bargain and it's the perfect summer scent. The smaller bottle is Princess Revolution by Vera Wang and it's a perfume that I'd been lusting after for months but could never manage to find it within my budget until recently. £19 for the 50ml bottle was great as it was affordable for me and I do love the Princess perfumes. As you can probably tell, I'm a fan of floral scents and this one is no exception with notes of lily of the valley, cherries, watermelon, jasmine, apple blossom and blood orange. The tangyness of the scent makes it feel quite oriental, but the bottle matches really well visually with the other Princess perfumes that I own, with its classic heart shape. The black doodles on the burgundy bottle are hard to picture, but in real life it's a stunning bottle and so hard to find that I thought I'd never manage to find it. This was actually quite a big haul, for the first time in a while; let me know if you like these kind of posts down in the comments. Until next time :)

A Mini Haul #7

Hello again; sometimes it's nice to just window shop, which I have to admit I do fairly regularly. As I get older I'm definitely starting to make much more considered purchases. I used to literally buy whatever I saw if I had the money, whereas now I prefer to actually have a think and decide whether or not something is worth it first. I'm a bit of a sucker when it comes to beauty products, I love them all whether that is make up, perfume or general skincare. I feel like I haven't indulged in any make up recently, or at least not during this month so obviously that was enough of an excuse to pop into Superdrug and have a look at what's available. Over the past couple of months I've been loving wearing mascara and different perfumes more than anything else, as you'll have seen fairly recently in my perfume collection post. In all honesty, my worst habit is probably having so many perfumes as I'm always dreaming of more and running out of space to display them. 

 

The Britney Spears perfumes are a definite love of mine, I love how the bottles are designed and the different scents are always too my taste for such reasonable prices, too. The one pictured, Rocker Femme Fantasy is a new find for me and I love the way it fits in so well with my other scents. It's actually not my favourite out of my collection but its also not my least favourite; it's definitely at a happy medium. For the price I paid of £8, from Poundland of all places I'm not complaining about it at all. I'd been tempted by the fragrance for some time, having seen it online but it was much cheaper in store, which was a pleasant surprise. Another amazing find from Poundland was a Sleek eyes-lips-face palette, for the price of £1. I didn't even check the colours (oops) I literally just snapped it up, which I don't regret but the shades are a little too dark for my super pale skin. For the price I have no regrets, but I'm deciding what to do with it as I know that I'll never use it as it doesn't suit me. However, for anyone with darker toned skin this palette would be such a fantastic addition to a make up bag!

 

Ever since I started watching sophdoesnails on YouTube I've definitely become a convert to the powers of contour and especially highlighter as before I was always afraid to use these kinds of products with my pale skin. Just a couple of weeks ago she posted a video on her channel that featured some of the highlighters from this range and so I was inspired to invest in some. They're by MUA and are honestly really good value for money at £3 each. I chose two iridescent shimmers in the shades Pink Shimmer and Pearlescent Sheen. I love how shimmery but subtle they are, for the price you can't really go wrong. They're pigmented and feel light on my skin, which is also good. The wave pattern they make in the pan is lovely too, very instagramable but the iridescent sheen doesn't translate well on camera, unfortunately. I was inspired to try out the pinky toned highlighter as I do have a similar skin tone to Sophie and I feel like it could work well as a blusher and highlighter in one, alongside sculpting the planes of my face. We'll see soon enough, which is exciting. So far it's looked lovely in tests and swatches. 

 

So, after going into Superdrug I decided to treat myself a little but mostly through buying the essentials; I really needed a new mascara. As always, I found so many different things that I wanted but I wasn't able to buy it all, so I did have a bit of a decision making crisis. I ended up buying two mascaras as they were on an offer of buy one, get a second for half price. Which is a bargain in itself, but also one of the mascaras was a on a sale price too, which helped with my decision making a lot! I bought two by Maybelline, one of my all time favourite make up brands. The Colossal Volum' Express (in 100% black) has always been a much loved mascara of mine, to the point that I can't remember why I ever stopped using it. It makes my eyelashes look super long, thick and luscious; the fiber brush works so well for me and I never have to curl my eyelashes or anything, one coat of this mascara and I'm good to go for any occasion. I would recommend this mascara to anyone, I love it.

 

The second mascara I bought I've never really noticed or used before but seemed to be a sister of the first mascara so I decided to try it out and take advantage of the offers available. The Rocket Volum' Express has a similar packaging shape but has an electric blue shade, which will be easy to find in a make up bag for top ups. Although it's a similar mascara, the brush is very different, made out of plastic and it seems really bulky in comparison. But I do actually love this one just as much as the first; it's a really clumpless, separating mascara that doesn't feel too heavy on the lashes. I've found that one coat is enough, without having to curl my lashes beforehand, which is great. I'd say that I prefer the Colossal Volum' Express simply because the wand is smaller so easier to manoeuvre but overall the effects of both are very similar and I've had a lot of complements about my lashes recently so that's always a nice confidence boost. The mascaras were £6.99 each but with the offer one of them was half of that price, so I'm very happy with both of them, especially for the price. I've used more expensive mascaras results not so good in the past.

 

What's in my (everyday) make-up bag?

Hello again; I've read so many blog posts and watched so many YouTube videos about what's in a persons make up bag that I finally decided to talk about mine... Except I thought that I'd detail what I carry around in a make up bag to work or just generally everyday. I have quite a lot of different make up products but for work and general use I do prefer to have a more minimal make up style for everyday wear. The make up bag that I use for carrying the basics in my bag is from Victoria's Secret and I actually got it in a sale (for a great price) as part of a set of three different sized bags and actually I use all three of them for different reasons and regularly. The striped one below I use the most as it's the largest so it holds the most, but at the same time it isn't so big that it won't fit into a lot of different bags. 

 

I have very pale, almost paler than ivory skin so all of these products are the kind that suit that; the reason that these items have been picked out for my everyday make up bag is because they're not only pale enough, but also feel light enough on my skin that I don't feel like I'm wearing too much make up. I'm become more confident in not wearing so much make up recently, which I think is a good thing as my skin is getting clearer. The Bourjois CC cream shown below is honestly my favourite everyday face product ever as it's not too heavy on the skin, it's more of a colour corrector which is what I need; I don't have problem skin but it's very discoloured in places and it doesn't stick to my dry patches. I've detailed the prices next to all of the items shown in the images below and put them into sections, for example base, eyes and lips as I feel that makes a lot more sense visually.

 

Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream in the shade ivory £9.99

Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm £2.99

Maybelline Concealer Cover Stick in the shade ivory 01 £3.99

Maybelline Master Shape Brow Pencil in the shade Dark Blond £2.99

 

NYX Merci Beaucoup Love In Paris Eyeshadow Palette £7.99

Maybelline Matte Maker Mattifying Powder 10 Classic Ivory £3.99

Bourjois Little Round Pot Blusher Rose D'Or 34 £7.99

Sleek Makeup Brow Kit Light £8.49

 

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shades London and São Paulo £7.99 each

Bourjois Rouge Edition 12 Hour Lipstick in the shade 35 Entry VIP £7.99

 

MUA Eyeliner Pencil in Black £1

Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express mascara 100% black £6.99

Bourjois Volume 1 Seconde mascara £9.99

L'Oreal Paris Super Liner Perfect Slim Intense Black £6.99

 

How I Edit Photos on an iPhone

 

 

 

The above three photographs show the three main stages of how I edit using my iPhone. The first image is the flatlay that I prepare on a cream fluffy rug, (that cost me £8), as having a nice background genuinely makes all the difference to your photography. I've found that having a neutral coloured background really makes the items you're photographing stand out. I studied photography at A Level and at university but I actually take all of my blog and instagram photos using the camera on my iPhone 6S. If you can't afford lots of expensive equipment there are definitely ways around it. On my iPhone I've made a folder (called Essentials) of really useful photography apps (other than instagram) to use for blogging. The first app I use is VSCO which is great for adjusting brightness, contrast and natural filters. My preferred filer is F2 as it really picks up the cream background of the rug and makes the whole photograph look much less dull. Although there was actually nothing wrong with the original photograph, I feel like with the filter it does look much more put together and appealing to an audience.

 

If I need to make a collage of photos; for example when I write posts about what photographs I've posted to instagram in a month I like to try and condense the amount of photographs in a post as I'm aware of how image heavy posts can be to an audience. The app Fotor is so easy to use for beginners upwards as it clearly lays out different layouts for different amounts of photographs. Once you've picked a layout (for example of 9 photos) you literally pick 9 photos and it slots them in for you. From there you can choose curved or straight edges and different border thicknesses, which is another nice feature. I use this app regularly and have a lot of success with it as it's so simple to use.

 

Another holy grail app in my collection for blogging is Repix; I actually found out about it through reading a post by Lauren about different ways to edit photos for instagram and as a result I've found an app that I really love. It does quite a lot of different things, but you need to purchase more access. I have the standard access which suits me fine as the only option I use is the Flares effect. It allows me to draw light flares with my fingers that give off a bokeh style effect, one that's often used by photographers. I'm my own worst critic and thought that my photography was really lacking and desperately needed improvement. Through editing using these apps I feel like my blog photography has come a long way; one of the best parts of blogging is learning as you go along, and learning from reading and admiring other blogs, which is exactly what I did. Yes, I did study photography but I still had (and have) so much to learn, which I'm trying my best to embrace. Hopefully this will help someone out there that's struggling to take the perfect photograph! Much love xx

 

February Favourites

Last month, when I was thinking more about the kind of content I would like to post here on my little corner of the internet, I decided that as I like to read through other bloggers favourite things during the month I would try writing one myself. I realised through taking the photographs below for this post, just how much your tastes change throughout the different months. Last month I was loving so many perfumes and lots of different make up pieces. This month, I feel like I've been concentrating more on caring for myself, giving myself a pamper and trying to focus on positive things rather than solely on material possessions. For example, a current favourite of mine that I haven't pictured is actually a new hobby; I've reignited a love for reading books, which has become a means to focus on keeping busy, not overthinking and simply enjoying having some time to myself.

 

I snapped up a Garnier Skinactive Micellar Cleansing Water for sensitive skin from Poundland of all places! I'd seen it for far more than that in some other shops, so naturally for the bargainous price of £1 I bought 3 of them! I love its small size as it's great for having stashed in a make up bag on the move and it clears the make up off my face so quickly and it doesn't feel rough afterward. After using the cleansing water I've been indulging in the Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser all over my face which for the price of £4 it is not only affordable but it also seems to last for literally ages. Moisturiser is a must for me as I have such dry and sensitive skin. I've spoken about the Zoella Beauty Ginger Cream in other blogposts and I feel like I can't rave about it enough; I've fallen in love, which was a massive surprise as I'm always sceptical about non-sensitive creams on my skin, but this one is nourishing and smells divine. Recently I've been careful to not wash my hair excessively so I've been relying on the Batiste Blush Dry Shampoo to keep my hair looking volumous and fresh between washes. A bonus is the gorgeous floral smell it gives my hair.

 

I was amazed to find these beautiful storage pots from Lidl for £3; I naturally bought two packs for two green and two pink holders. They're designed for candles but I've been using them for items like nail varnish and make up brushes. They've really cleared up the sides of my room as they fit a lot of things inside. They feel extremely hard wearing too which also great. I've been loving the Real Techniques Berlin Brushes this month, not only because they look lovely but they're super soft and clean up so nicely. The duo fibres work really well and feel nice against my skin, too. Priced at £20, I feel like for five brushes that was really reasonable. I've been pampering myself a lot this month and so I've been enjoying getting use out of the Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Butter on my wrists and elbows which not only smells incredible on the skin, it's incredibly hydrating, costing only £6. The Zoella Beauty Hungry Hands smells amazing and soaks into the skin really well whilst on the move; I often use it at work. However my absolute favourite is the Body Shop CHANGE Hemp Hand Protector which is simply fantastic. 

 

Throughout February I've been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the Zoella Beauty range; I've been loving the Shower Glaze to the point that I've been using it every time I have a shower, without fail. I love the smell of gingerbread and it feels fantastic and frothy against my skin. I feel like the smell of gingerbread really sticks and makes my skin smell amazing too. My favourite of the body mists is definitely Let's Spritz! From the tutti fruity collection; it's so light and summery, I can spray it a lot and it seems to last for ages considering it's only a mist. The smell feels delicate against my skin and the bottle is really pretty too. However, I've also been enjoying getting use out of the body mist Blissful Mistful; not only so I adore the name of it, I also love how it looks. All of the Zoella Beauty range is visually pleasing, but the body mists have become a firm favourite of mine. Priced at £8 each, they're affordable and long lasting, a must for anyone who wants nice beauty products whilst living on a budget.

This month I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of products from Make Up Revolution. The strobe highlighter in Ever Glow Lights was such a fantastic investment at £3; it is literally an amazing everyday highlighter as it's insanely pigmented but is nice and light. I've not stopped using it throughout this month and feel like it gives my skin a lovely healthy glow. I'd been desperate to get my hands on the Fortune Favours The Brave eyeshadow palette ever since I'd been spotting it all over instagram; at £9.99 for 30 gorgeously cosmic shades, I have no regrets. It's a naive day to night transition palette and I feel like it's going to be a favourite of mine for months as it's got a great range of Matte and Shimmer shades. It's got such a massive mirror too so it's great to use for topping up make up whenever necessary. Another highlighter that I've been obsessed with is the Sleek Midas Touch palettes, which I feel is an absolute bargain at £10 as you get four beautiful shades for that price. I only recently realised that it's a limited edition, so I'm really worried about using it too much now as it's so pretty if you want a lovely nighttime look that's really glowy and fresh. The shades are literally perfection for anyone with pale skin and the size of the palette is great for travelling.

I've been in love with the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams in the shades London and Saõ Paulo; the perfect nude and the perfect berry pink. What I like about them so much is the fact that the have amazing lasting power, as well as their wearability. I feel confident to wear the two colours both day and night, they're very transitionable. As I get older, I prefer to invest in make up that I'll get a lot of use from and these lip creams haven't been off my lips since I first discovered them. I would happily recommend these to anyone, I even apply them without a lip liner. An added bonus is that they look very expensive but they're totally affordable, priced at £6 each! Back in November 2016, my boyfriend bought me the Maybelline Eraser Eye Concealer from duty free and I loved it so much; the lightest shade was perfect for my skin tone. However I kind of forgot about it, until a few weeks ago. I just love it's consistency and the way that it covers any areas that don't look as great as I'd like them too. I'd say it's fairly high coverage, but for me personally if I wear make up I don't care if it looks like I am, as if I've made the effort to apply it, you may as well make it noticeable! I've found that during February I've loved a lot of different products which have made me feel a little more confident about myself in different ways. What products have you been loving recently?

 

A Mini Haul #5

Hey again; at the moment I've been loving highlighter and eyeshadow palettes. That said, I'm also on a massive budget at the minute too so it makes sense that my most recent purchase was a set of two eyeshadow palettes and a contour palette all for the bargain price of £17 from W7. Before buying this contour set, I owned another contour palette from the Kate Moss by Rimmel in the lightest shade and it's definitely my preference to the W7 version as it's far more pigmented, but also better suits my skintone. That said, there wasn't actually a specific skin tone choice with the W7 palette, it just was an extra in a set of three palettes. In terms of pigmentation I definitely prefer my Sleek highlighting palettes over any others, although the Rimmel contour palette is my favourite for a natural, everyday look. The W7 The Cheeky Trio is sadly not the best for me, but perfect for someone with a more medium skin tone and especially if you want a palette that's good value for the money you spend.

 

The two eyeshadow palettes that came as the other parts of the W7 set are In The Night and Colour Me Nude. I love the smokiness of the In The Night eyeshadow palette as it has such an amazing range of Matte and Shimmer shades. The layout of the palette is very similar to the Urban Decay Naked series, although I personally think the W7 versions are sturdier as they're tins, not board. A nice bonus is that there is a brush included in the palette which works reasonably well, but a second brush makes is far easier to blend the shades together than the brush included does. The shades included in the palette really suit what it says on the tin; I'll definitely be using these shades for a gorgeous smoky eye for evenings out with friends. Although there are some lighter matte shades which made an excellent eyeshadow base, like the nude colours to the left of the palette which could also be used for a shimmery daytime look too. Actually that's why this palette is so good, not only because of the good pigmentation, it's the range of shades available which you can use to create any kind of make up look, whether that's for day or night.

 

 

For an everyday look, I'm actually in love with the Colour Me Nude eyeshadow palette as it's the perfect set of Shimmer shades to add a hint of glam to a natural make up look. This is the palette that I'll use the most from the three palettes as it's got an amazing range of base eyeshadow shades and more glamourous day or night time shades. Like the other palette in the set, this palette is a good dupe for the Urban Decay Naked series as the shades and layout of the palette are fairly similar but at a better price point for many people, myself for sure! On myself I usually have a nude eyeshadow because as I'm getting older I feel as though less is more, it's more about assentuating what you have rather than painting a mask so this palette is perfect for that paired down but pretty make up style. I would definitely recommend the two eyeshadow palettes to any skin tone and especially to someone who would want a lot of choice for their budget, but I have to be honest that I'm really not keen on the contour palette. Overall, this set was a massive win for me. What palettes are you guys enjoying at the moment? Let me know in the comments :)

 

A Mini Haul #4

I always find that January is a bit of a depressing month, as in the days are slowly getting longer but it's still super chilly and I seem to be constantly with a cold or cough throughout the whole of it. On a positive note, January sales are usually fairly amazing but when you're not made of money and in the middle of changing jobs there limited spare money available to spend. I hadn't really been spending much money on make up for a while as I've actually been wearing a lot less as I've somehow reached a point where I'm reasonably ok with how I look, but this month after watching a lot of YouTube videos and reading various blog posts, I decided to invest in some pieces I'd been lusting after for a few months.

 

I bought two highlighter palettes from Sleek after a lot of consideration as I've got really, really fair skin so I was concerned that highlighters and contouring would look ridiculous on me. After watching some videos from sophdoesnails I was feeling a little more confident that it could work for me if I purchased the right shades. The two palettes that I bought were Midas Touch and Solstice costing only £9.99 each, which I felt was a bargain considering you get four different shades in each palette. I was pleasantly surprised by how pigmented and light the shades are in both of the palettes which is a massive bonus if your skin is as light as mine. Another nice feature is that the palettes have a magnetic closure which limits the risk of the palettes braking. I love these and am definitely going to be using these regularly but I'm struggling with applying them to suit my face at the moment, I guess practice makes perfect.

 

I'd been looking at eyeshadow palettes for several months and there are so many that I would absolutely love to own from Too Faced or Urban Decay but ultimately they're way out of my current budget and so I've been looking at similar palettes that would suit my budget far more, which is how I then settled on the L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Eyeshadow La Palette Nude Rose eyeshadow palette. Priced at £14.99, not only was it affordable but also very similar to shades available in the palettes I'd been lusting after previously. It's not as pigmented as I had hoped it would be, but the shades are very buildable and the range of warm pinks is lovely for any skin tone. The palette itself has a lovely big mirror too, which is great to use on the go or to top up make up throughout the day.

 

Ever since I bought London from the NYX soft matte lip cream collection I really loved the formula and how it felt on my lips, it wasn't drying at all and felt soft against the skin. I then bought three new shades that are each completely different but equally complementing to my skin tone. The three shades are Istanbul, Amsterdam and San Paulo. I'm literally in love with these liquid lipsticks and there are several more shades that I'd love to have in the coming months if my budget allows. For the moment I decided to invest in a nude shade, a pale pink shade, a vibrant red and a darker pink shade so that I have a shade to suit all looks and occasions. London is definitely still my favourite, but San Paulo is coming in a close second. 

 

I swatched each of the lipsticks on the back of my hand in the order (from the top) Amsterdam, San Paulo, Istanbul and London. With hindsight I wish that I'd made the swatches a little thicker as they're quite small so it's hard to see the shades. Unfortunately I have the kind of skin that is so pale that it goes pink when it's cold which is why my hand looks darker than what I've been describing my skin tone as. I really like the creaminess of these lipsticks and would recommend anyone to try these aas for £5 they're definitely priced very competitively and suit more or less all budgets. So this haul, however small has been great as a pick me up during a pretty rubbish month and I've definitely invested in a range of staple make up pieces for the next few months.

 

Beauty Favourites - September

 

1. Bourjois 1 Seconde Mascara - £11.99

2. Rimmel Wake Me Up Radience BB Cream (Very Light) - £7.99

3. L'Oreal Paris True Match Le Crayon Concealer - £6.99

4. Sleek Brow Kit (Light) - £8.99

5. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Compact (Rose) - £30.50

6. Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick (965 Siren in Scarlet) - £6.99

A few months ago I used to literally cover my face in make up, to the extent that I would spend so much time and money on it and I felt disgusting if I didn't wear it. Now I wear much less and even leave my house and sometimes work without make up, which is a huge achievement for me (as pathetic as that sounds) but the products above are what I really feel are value for money; they last all day without reapplication, the lipstick survives eating and drinking and concealer and mascara just gives my natural face a little lift. Each of these products improves my confidence slightly, without making my face look caked in make up, which is why I've been loving them this month.