My Everyday Makeup Bag.

Every beauty blog I've been reading for years has a "what's in my makeup bag" post and I absolutely love reading them and seeing what products they like to use on a daily basis. I think it's only right, as a girl just starting out in the blogging world, that I give you a run-down of what I keep in my everyday makeup bag, too. Also, since I love having a look at what other people have in their makeup bags, I thought I'd tag some people who I'd like to see do this too. I know this is a thing that popular beauty bloggers do but I'm doing it anyway. I'll put who I'm tagging at the end of this post.

First of all, this is my makeup bag. Oh, what a surprise, it's a cat. I saw this in Primark a while ago for £3 and I just couldn't not buy it; look how cute it is! It fits all of my products in it perfectly and it's a good size to fit in my bag every day.

Here's everything I put in my makeup bag and use, mostly, on a daily basis for school and work. I've tried to split them into a top and bottom row; it didn't work too well but never mind. I'll go from left to right on each row and give a little review on each (if necessary).

So first, starting with the top row, is the Collection 'Lasting Perfection' Concealer in the shade 'Fair'. I rant and rave about this concealer all the time so I'm not going to say much. It's just everything I look for in a concealer and brilliant for the price. If you haven't tried this, you're crazy.

For eyeliner, I've been using Seventeen 'High Drama' Eyeliner. To be honest, there's nothing special about this eyeliner; I could probably find one just as good, if not better. I bought this in a rush a while ago and it has lasted me a while. It lasts all day and is really easy to apply. It's great for when I wake up late (basically every day).

I bought this Bourjois Bronzing Powder about 4 months ago and I've still got over half of it left. As you probably already know, this smells like chocolate which is one of the main reasons as to why I bought it. I never find myself scrubbing at my face and looking like an Umpa-Lumpa with this bronzer. The tone of it, for me, isn't too orange-based which is what I often find in most bronzers. I use this to contour on my face and to blend on my chin and neck.

Underneath that is my Soap&Glory 'Thick&Fast' Mascara in the shade 'Super Jet Black'. I will admit, I did only buy this yesterday in Boots and I've only used it twice but I love it already. I've used a different Soap&Glory mascara in the past and also enjoyed using that one. This gives my lashes a really natural look: a little bit more length and a good amount of volume.

Below the mascara is my Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in the shade '004 Black Brown'. This pencil applies really easily and takes me about 2 minutes to fill in my brows in the morning. The brush on the lid isn't too great for blending; I have to use a different brow brush to do that but I still like this eyebrow pencil. It's just the right shade for my eyebrows.

Next is a Sleek Blush in 'Rose Gold'. This is a rosy pink colour with a gold shimmer. It's perfect to give the wintery "I've just been out in the cold" look. I'm really fussy when it comes to blush colours but I absolutely love this shade; the pigmentation is perfect and it has just the right amount of shimmer to get away with wearing it daily.

Rimmel 'Stay Matte' Pressed Powder is a product I talk about way too often and will probably continue to. As I've mentioned it so many times, all I'm going to say is that this stuff is wonderful.

For foundation, I've been using Revlon 'Nearly Naked' in the shade '120- Vanilla'. I've nearly ran out of this which is quite sad. It's been absolutely great in the cold weather; it doesn't dry my skin out and it has really great coverage. It also doesn't make me break out like a lot of heavier foundations tend to do. My one criticism about this is that it doesn't have a pump; it's quite a lot of effort to use on mornings when you don't have time to stand and wait around for the remains to slowly drip from the bottom of the bottle.

Moving on to the second row (starting back on the left) is a small variety of hair supplies. A makeup bag would not be complete without bobbles and grips, in my opinion. I also always seem to have a ribbon at the bottom of my bag just in case I fancy wearing one, I suppose.

Lastly, I have 3 Real Techniques brushes. I use the 'expert face brush' for my foundation; it blends it so easily and gives me a smooth finish... If that makes any sense. I've then got two 'duo-fiber' brushes and I absolutely love these. They came in a trio with an eye shadow brush and were limited edition but I'm pretty sure Boots still sell them. I use the 'face brush' for powder, bronzer and blusher. Aghhh, I know this is bad but I bought these just before Christmas, threw away my Elf blusher, kabuki and powder brushes without thinking (they were, to put it bluntly, a load of utter garbage), and then realised that I now don't have a blusher/bronzer brush or enough money to buy decent ones. Therefore, I'm just using one for all 3 until I have actual money again to buy some more Real Technique ones. Um, anyway, both the face and contour brush are brilliant, pick up just the right amount of product and apply it really nicely.

Well, that was quite a ramble, wasn't it? I hope you liked having a look into my makeup bag.

As I said at the beginning of the post (if you're still reading, well done, you've nearly made it), I'm going to tag some people to do a post on what's in their makeup bags. I'm going to tag two people. The first is a youtuber (have a look at her channel here, I love her videos) who recently made a blog which I also love and I'm excited to read her future blogposts. Her name is Katie Joslin and she seems really lovely (let's hope she'll actually respond to this tag). The second person I'm going to tag is Shay, one of my best friends. She doesn't really do beauty posts on her blog but I'm sure she'll enjoy doing this.

That's all for today. Apologies for the 2 week break; I've had exams and have took advantage of any free days by catching up on sleep or books. I also apologise if this post gets messy and makes no sense at times; I've been typing all day doing various coursework things so my brain is slightly scattered at the moment.

Ciao For Now

xx

Empties.

Hello there! Today, I come to you with an actual beauty post... Whaaaat? I know, I can't believe it either. Since I've got my DSLR (that I have named Cindy-Lou, if you were interested... You probably weren't), I have no excuse not to do a real beauty blogpost. So, for my first real post of 2014, I'm going to show you my empty products that I have hoarded over the past month. This might just be me but I love reading other people's empties blogposts so I thought I'd give it a go.

L'Oreal Studio: Matt&Messy

First on the list is my favourite salt spray that I have talked about quite a few times before. This has finally ran out after around 4 months. It probably lasted so long because, when there was only about a quarter of product left, I filled it up with water; it still worked well enough to give my hair a 'beachy wave' effect but the texture it gave after I diluted it wasn't as noticeable. This product works so well with my hair and I am definitely going to repurchase it for a third (possibly fourth) time.

Soap&Glory: Hand Food

Moisturising my hands is one thing I always forget to do. I don't actually know why this is but, when I got this hand cream in a Soap&Glory gift set at the beginning of December, I realised that I really shouldn't forget. Since using this, my hands are so much softer and people have actually been noticing! Not only is this a really great hand moisturiser, it also smells great. It smells just like Soap&Glory's Righteous Butter and that, just below the Sugar Crush scent, is one of my favourite Soap&Glory scents. I imagine most people have tried this but I've actually only just acknowledged Soap&Glory's existence. I've been so caught up in all-things-Lush that I haven't looked further. I will most definitely be trying out more products from this brand and will continue to buy this hand cream. (Did I say 'Soap&Glory' enough times in this paragraph? I don't think I did.)

Soap&Glory: Glad Hair Day

Staying on the subject of Soap&Glory, I've just finished this brilliant shampoo. I also got this in the gift set I bought myself (I bought myself a Christmas present, so what?) and it was delightful. I love the scent; it's quite fruity and sweet and it made my hair so shiny. I'm definitely going to buy the larger version of this.

Gorgeous by Gok: Body Polish

I'd had this for a while but only recently started using it again. It's part of Gok Wan's bath collection in Boots and I love everything about it. I use this in the shower to scrub my body and my skin feels lovely and soft when I get out. The scent of it never fails to make me happy; it smells almost like sherbet and it is heavenly. The packaging is also really pretty so I might wash it out and use it as a trinket box or something along those lines.

Simple, Kind To Eyes: Eye Make-Up Remover

This bottle isn't actually empty but there's no product left in it; I filled it up with water after I'd used it all because I find it easier to take my eyeliner off with a wet cotton pad before washing my face. This is how I'm making-do until I buy a new make-up remover. This product took my eyeliner and mascara off so easily and didn't irritate the sensitive skin around my eyes. Although, I think I am going to venture into other make-up remover brands as I think there is probably a better one out there.

Rimmel: Scandal Eyes, Retro Glam

I was so sad when this mascara ran out at the very beginning of this week. It is possibly the best high street mascara I have ever used. It gives my eyelashes just the right amount of volume and length and makes my eyes look so pretty. It was such a surprise because this is also the cheapest mascara I've bought in a long time; I'm pretty sure it was only £6.

Collection- Lasting Perfection Concealer

You can tell I've finished this product because, as it does every time I buy it, everything has scratched off the front of it. I'm sure you've already seen many beauty bloggers talk about how great this concealer is so I won't go into detail. I am literally trying to scrape the edges of the tube to get some product out of it. I've been too lazy and tired to go to Boots and buy a new one so I'm trying to make-do. It is a permanent fixture in my make-up bag and will continue to be for eternity (or until something better comes along).

That's all for my empties! Hope you enjoyed looking at all of my empty bottles, tubes and tubs currently littering my room.

Ciao For Now

xx

A New Year.

Happy New Year!

Yet another year has gone by in a blur and I am feeling more motivated than I usually do at the beginning of a new year. I'm not entirely sure why this is but it may have something to do with me being more aware of the fact that 2013 was an extremely average year. I was discussing this with Shay (with whom I spent New Years Eve with) and, yes, I had some good times but there's nothing I can think of that specifically reminds me of 2013, making me feel like it was a successful year. I had absolutely no issue counting down to 2014 and accepting it with open arms. Although I may not be 100% prepared for this year, I am ready to accept the challenges it brings and even make some challenges myself to conquer. 

This being said, here are my New Years Resolutions...

1- Blog more. 

I've had this blog for around 4 months now and I'm determined to really get it going and start doing real beauty posts. I'm not sure where I want to go with this blog but I'm hoping that 2014 is the year that I find out. I'm going to buy a DSLR camera this week so I can finally take photos that don't need extreme editing. The main reason I've not done any actual beauty posts is because I don't have anything to take a good, satisfying quality picture with; this takes me smoothly into my next resolution...

2- Know my DSLR inside-out.

Once I get my camera, I'm going to take the time to learn about all of it's features so I can really make the most of it. I've been given some books on photography and DSLRs for Christmas so I shall be having a read through those and, hopefully, this time next year, I'll be much more confident in taking photos.

3- Be Healthy.

This is my last resolution. When I say I'm going to 'be healthy', I don't mean that I'm going to calorie-count, eat nothing but salad and ban myself from anything sugary and fun; that would be extremely unrealistic and I would never be able to do that.  Whenever I say that I want to be healthier, people always jump to the conclusion that I'm going to start dieting or starving myself but this is not what I mean. I love food way too much to do this. What I mean is that I'm going to be more strict with how much unhealthy food I eat and stop eating out of boredom. I'm also going to try and walk to places more often instead of being lazy and taking the bus. Little things like this can make a big difference if I keep it up throughout the year; I'm determined to feel healthier.

That's all for my resolutions now. These may only sound small and there are actually a lot of things I want to do this year but I've kept it realistic and stuck with 3 main things. Let's hope that, this time next year, I can do a similar post to this one and be able so say that I have stuck to these goals.

I'll be back shortly probably with a real blogpost and DSLR-quality pictures. 

Ciao For Now

xx