Apologies, Excuses and Updates.

Hello there! Did I surprise you?

Yes, after a long, spontaneous break, I've finally returned. I do apologise for my absence, March was a long and stressful month filled with mock exams and a lack of sleep. All of my time was consumed by revising and sleeping. I have a few more exams at the end of next month but I'm now back in the right mindset to continue blogging.

Since I last updated, I'll be honest, not much has happened. Although, now that the sunshine is making an appearance and the summer holidays are approaching at full speed, my makeup and wardrobe both need a serious renewal which means hauls, reviews and maybe a look-book or two and some tutorials. I'm also feeling some summery recipes and playlists coming along. The sun really is an excellent motivator!

This is a really quick post but I'll be back shortly with a better one.

Ciao For Now

xx

My Tuesday In Pictures.

I did have a recipe to post but my camera's still at my friend's house so I don't have any pictures. So, instead, I have a little "what I did today" post with bad-quality pictures from my phone... Because my life is that exciting.

As it's the half term holidays, I've been extremely lazy so I stayed in bed for the majority of the day. When I did decide to drag myself out of my quilt-cocoon, I got ready and took a selfie; why not?

Hi face.

Here's what I wore today (I do apologise for my filthy mirror; I need to get something to clean it with)

I bought this floral dress from H&M last month and I really like it! It's more of a spring-style dress, I suppose, but it wasn't particularly cold today and I wasn't planning on leaving the house. The powder pink ballet flats are from primark and this dress is one of my few items of clothing that go with them.

I painted my nails using my Barry M "cappuccino". I forgot I had this colour and I've fallen back in love with it, it's so simple and pretty. 

For the rest of the day, I sat on my bed, drank tea whilst glued to this book. My friend Shay lent Divergent to me last week and I couldn't put it down. I'm now onto the second book in the trilogy, Insurgent, and I'm in love with it. I can't wait for the film to come out this year; I hope it doesn't disappoint!

So, as you can tell, my day was pretty eventful. I'm now planning on buying all of Asda's junk food and stuffing my face. I'll be back soon with a Lemon Slice recipe, when I get my camera back!

Ciao For Now

x

January Favourites.

We've been in February for a week now but I'm finally here to tell you about all of my favourite things from January. I've only ever done one favourites post before, in October, and I really liked writing it. I've enjoyed using quite a few products over January so I thought I'd do another. I would make this a more regular thing but, sometimes, I have the same favourites for a few months. Anyway, here are my favourites from January:

There's not a lot of it, I know, but I felt that there was enough for a favourites post to be plausible. 

Real Techniques: Duo-Fibre Brushes

I'd, firstly, like to apologise for the slightly-grubby state of them; I didn't realise until after I'd took all of the pictures. These lovely brushes were featured in last week's blogpost and I absolutely love them. The face brush glides across my face so smoothly and applies my makeup perfectly. The contour brush is the best I've ever used. I use a bronzing powder with it and it really helps to define my cheekbones. The eye brush is quite big but it's quite good for blending.

Tangle Teezer

Sticking with the brush theme, I recently bought this Tangle Teezer. I've been wanting one for ages but kept putting it off and buying other things instead. I finally forced myself to buy one and I'm so glad I did. Not really sure what else to say other than this brush definitely fulfils it's purpose. It really does de-tangle my hair and makes styling it 200 times easier.

Collection Lipstick: 'Vintage Rose'

I'm not going to lie, one of the main reasons I bought this lipstick was because of the name. The colour is just as pretty though. I bought this just before Christmas and have been wearing it non-stop. It's been my go-to lipstick over Winter because it just looks perfect for any occasion: whether it's going shopping or to a party (yes, because I go to all of the parties...). It was quite cheap so I didn't really expect much from it but I only ever have to reapply it once or twice throughout the day/evening. 

Sleek Blush: 'Rose Gold'

This is another product from last week's blogpost that I've loved using in January. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it in a post in December, too. Since I've gone on about it so much,  I won't go into detail. I've been using this blush every day and it's just so pretty. It doesn't look too pretty in the photo because I dropped it a few weeks ago, panicked and tried my best to squish it back into the container.

Bourjois Nail Varnish

I've always stuck to Barry M nail varnish and have never really ventured into other brands. I've occasionally tried other nail varnishes but have never really liked them as much as Barry M. I got these two Bourjois varnishes for my birthday from Jess (she has a blog, you should have a look) and I really like them. The consistency is just perfect; it's not too thick that it takes 12 hours to dry but not too thin so I have to apply 7 layers of it. These two colours are beautiful too. I've been wearing the burgundy coloured one more but, when spring comes, I'll be wearing the other every day, most probably. I must say, the 'lasts 7 days' statement is slightly ambitious but they do last quite a while without chipping. I only have these two colours at the moment but I will definitely be buying some more next time I'm in Boots.

Next, 'Milan' Perfume

My mum bought me this for Christmas and I've been using it on a daily basis since then. I'm terrible at describing smells but it smells divine. It's quite strong so I only need one spray each day so it's probably going to last me quite a while. I suppose I need to work on my perfume-reviewing skills, don't I?

Deathly Hallows Necklace

This is my only non-beauty favourite but it deserved a mention. If you wasn't aware already (I'm slightly disappointed in you if you weren't), this is a symbol from Harry Potter. One of my best friends bought me this for my birthday and I wear it with practically everything and will continue to. I feel like I'm wasting an opportunity if I don't wear it.

That's all for my favourites from January. Have a lovely February and I shall be back soon.

Ciao For Now

xx

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

Get Ready With Me: Festive Edition

Yesterday, I went out for some food with my family and I decided to be festive. About half way through getting ready, it occurred to me that I haven't done a blogpost in a while, as I've been busy, so I decided to do a festive 'get ready with me'. This is usually a thing beauty vloggers do but who cares? Anyway, enjoy!

After several cups of tea and biscuits, I had a shower and used some of my new Soap and Glory products I bought a few days ago.

 Just before getting in the shower, I took off my eye make-up I had been wearing during the day so it didn't run down my face and leave ugly black stains; that is never a good look.

 After getting  out of the shower, I used the Soap and Glory body butter, 'The Righteous Butter', all over my body.

Whilst my hair was damp, I put some curling mousse in it and sprayed it with salt spray (it sounds weird to use two, I know, but I feel like they work well together when curling my hair).

 I then moisturised my face with Clean&Clear Dual Action Moisturiser.

Next on the list was my make-up. Since I was going out with my family, I didn't over-do it on the make-up; I kept it quite simple.

I used my Real Techniques Stippling Brush to apply my foundation, Revlon Nearly Naked in the shade '120-Vanilla'. I love the way my Real Techniques brush applies my foundation; it blends it really well.

 I used a cheap, bronze eye shadow palette from Superdrug on my eyes: I used a light gold (the bottom colour on the palette in the picture above) in the corner of my eye, a rose gold colour (at the top) all over the lid and and then blended the dark brown in my crease (left). All of these colours were shimmery so I thought it made the look extra festive. I then put some white eyeliner from Elf on my waterline, did a little cat eye using my Seventeen liquid eyeliner and used Rimmel Scandal Eyes- Retro Glam Mascara on my eyelashes. I don't have a close-up picture because the ones I took were utter garbage.

Next was my Collection concealer that I can not live without. I put this under my eyes and on any blemishes. I set this, and the foundation I applied earlier, using Rimmel Stay Matte powder so it would stay in place much longer.

I bronzed my face and neck using Bourjouis bronzer and used a Sleek blush in 'Rose Gold' to give a lovely 'rosy cheeks' effect. This blush has a slight shimmer to it so it also highlights my cheekbones.

To add the tiniest bit of colour to my lips, I used a Palmers lip balm underneath and applied a tiny swipe of Barry M lipstick, in the middle of my top and bottom lip and blended it out using my finger.

I curled my hair using a Babyliss curling wand and sprayed some more salt spray before brushing it out slightly. For extra volume, I flip my head upside down, shake my hair about with my hands and flip it back up. This isn't a long-lasting fix but it's perfect for when you're having pictures taken and your hair's flat.

You can't see my outfit very well on these pictures but they're the only ones I got (I'm hopeless!). Here's a list of what I'm wearing and where I got it from, if you're interested:

• Jumper- H&M
• Skirt- New Look
• Necklace- Etsy
• Boots- New Look
• Socks- Primark

I hope you liked this post; I know I haven't posted much. This is due to lots of exams and illness. This could possibly be the last post before Christmas; if so, have a lovely Christmas!

Ciao For Now

xx