Beauty & Skincare Haul | Superdrug & The Body Shop

Tanya Burr Everyday Flutter Lashes

I keep seeing these raved about on YouTube, so when I spotted them in Superdrug, I had to grab a pair. They are rather pricey though (£5.50) for a someone who only buys false lashes from primark! 

Nivea Soft Moituriser

This is my favourite moisturiser during the winter. The cold weather always gives me dry patches and this is the only thing that will get rid of them. Gotta love the price tag too - £4.25 for that huge pot, and a little goes a long way!

Revolution Redemption Palette Iconic 2 

I'm a real sucker for nude palettes and for £4 (!!) I couldn't say no to this Naked palette dupe. Review coming soon.

Superdrug Hydrating Facial Sheet Mask

Never tried one of these fabric masks before, I'm intrigued. 

Essie Nail Polishes in Chinchilly & Wicked 

My first ever Essie polishes and now I finally get the hype - these are great! Full review coming soon.

Bourjois Colourband Eyeshadow & Liner Stick

I think this is a new Bourjois product, they seemed to be pushing it in Superdrug and I just fell in love with the shade. Review soon.

The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Velvet Sticks in Universal and Poppy Nude

I saw the Universal stick last week in this post and was amazed - it sounds like magic! So of course I grabbed it as soon as I could, and one in nude too because why not? Haha, full review of these coming soon! 

xo

Collective Clothing & Accessories Haul | ASOS, Missguided & Primark

So I've picked up a few purchases over the past couple of weeks and thought you might like to see them. Apologies for the lack of a post last week, dissertations are hard! Hope you like this post, excuse the dusty mirror, but please take a moment to appreciate my hideously tacky yet adorable pink princess pig phone case! Haha

Jeggings, Asos, £14, (here) // T-Shirt, Missguided, £8, (here)

Crop Top, Missguided, £8, (here) // Shorts, Asos, £17, (here)

Crop Tops, Asos, 2 pack for £10, (here)

Bag (love the colour of this, it's so unusual, kind of a blueish, mint green, grey), Primark, £8

Lion King T-Shirt, Primark, £6 // False Lashes, Primark, £1 each

Hope you guys like my purchases! Have you picked any of these items up?

On my fingernails: AWOL by Topshop (review here)

On my Toenails: Violine Hypnotic by Bourjois (review here)

xo

Recent Downloads and New Discoveries - Banks, Jack Garrett, FKA Twigs & Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift (really loving her right now) - Blank Space & Shake It Off

FKA Twigs - Two Weeks, Pendulum & Lights Off

Jack Garratt (this guy's voice is amazing! You have to give him a listen) - Water, Worry, I Couldn't Want You Anyway & Remnants

José González - Stay Alive, This Is How We Walk on the Moon & Step Out

Banks - Goddess (this whole album... I paid money for it, and I've only done that for Beyonce before!)

Wanklemut & Emma Louise - My Head is a Jungle (MK Radio Edit)

Jess Glynne - Right Here

xo

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado | Review

Size: 14g // 0.5 fl oz.

Price: £20 (£33 for 28g)

Pros: First of all, this eye cream feels so luxurious, it's thick, creamy (as the name would suggest) and really moisturising. As far as I can tell there is no smell to it, and although it surprised me when I first opened it, I've come to like its greenish colour. This was a christmas gift from my mum which I had asked for because I'm starting to notice fine lines appearing under my eyes... at 22, how depressing. Anyway, I figured it was worth investing in a good eye cream to try and nip the problem in the bud. I've been using it about 4-5 times a week for almost 4 weeks now and although the lines are still there, I can see an improvement - they seem to be smaller and shallower which it great! Also, I can tell this pot is going to last me for years, you only need to tiniest amount.

Cons: Being so creamy, I find I can only use this at night, as it takes ages to properly sink into the skin. I would never be patient enough to use this before apply my makeup! The only other con is the price tag - £20 is pretty steep for such a small pot. But then a little does go a long way, so I suppose £20 over a year or two isn't so bad?

What do you guys think? Have any of you got any other eye creams you would recommend? Let me know :) 

xo

Q & A a Day: 5-Year Journal

I would love to keep a journal, and I try it every year but never really make it past March. This Q and A a day, 5-year journal really caught my eye as something a little different and something that might be easier to keep doing.

Firstly, how gorgeous is it!? I love the design on the front cover, I think it looks really classic and elegant, and this theme continues inside. Also, the edges of the pages are gold! Gold! They're so reflective you can even see me taking the photo above. I love it, it's really unusual and gives the book quite a luxurious feel. 

The journal dedicates a day to each page, at the top of which is a question; these range from simple questions such as, "How did you start your day?" and "What was the last restaurant you went to?", to more thought-provoking ones such as "What's your mission?" and "Can people change?". It has a few lines for you to you to write an answer, next to which you can mark the year, and (being a 5-year journal), there are 5 places for you to do this. 

So far I'm doing really well with it, filling it in every night before bed, and I'm loving it. I like seeing what the questions are going to be each day and it gives you a moment to reflect. It's exciting thinking about how my answers may differ next year, let alone in 5 years time! I would definitely recommend this journal to anyone who likes the idea of keeping a diary but wants something a bit different.

You can purchases it from Amazon here.

Do any of you guys keep diaries or anything like this question a day journal? 

xo 

Benefit Erase Paste | Review

Size: 4.4g

Price: £20.50

Pros: This paste is a lovely thick and creamy formula. It blends easily and has a high coverage. There is also a salmony/orange undertone to it which helps cancel out the purple/blue tones of dark circles. It comes in a lovely neat little box, with a leaflet explaining how to use it, and a little plastic spatula for 'scooping' the product out of the little glass jar which contains it. A little bit really goes a long way too, a pot of this can easily last me almost a year!

Cons: Even though I know this will last me a long time, I still feel like the price is a little too steep. Plus, although I do like the look of the packaging, the idea of having the product sitting in an open pot, which you are dipping into every time, isn't very sterile.

Apart from a couple of cons, overall I love this product simply for its brilliant coverage! However, it will always be something that I ask for as a gift due to the high price tag.

Have any of you guys tried this? What do you think? Let me know!

xo

My Goals For 2015 | New Year's Resolutions & SMART Targets

I love making new years resolutions, I often set resolutions for myself throughout the year, however the start of a new year is a really good time to assess what you want to improve in your life, and make resolutions to achieve that. This year, i've decided to look at things a bit differently - I'll be setting goals and targets for myself, instead of making resolutions. I don't mean to sound pedantic, but I do think there is a genuine and significant difference between 'goals' and 'resolutions'.

Did you ever have to do SMART targets in college? I know I did, and they seemed like such a pain at the time, but looking at it now I can see that they're actually a really useful and effective tool in setting targets. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Timely (within a time frame). I shall be setting goals for myself this way, so instead of having one of my resolutions to simply be 'read more books', I'm going to set myself the target of reading one new book a month. That way I have a specific target - one new book - within a specific time frame - each month. It's easy to measure and in my view one book a month is an attainable and realistic goal. Do you see what I mean?

Read More Books

Read at least one new book each month. 

I know I don't read enough, I love reading but I never make the time for it. Almost every year I tell myself 'read more' but its never been specific enough to actually make a difference. I think reading one new book a month is a good goal that I can stick too. My reading list so far includes Thursdays in the Park by Hilary Boyd, The Mouseproof Kitchen by Saira Shah, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Yes Please by Amy Poehler, amongst many many others. Ideally I'd like to start reviewing the books I read too, but we'll see about that, one step at a time.

Sleep Earlier, Rise Earlier

In bed by 11, asleep by midnight. Out of bed before 9.30, ideally before 9.

I often find myself staying up late for no reason, especially living away from home, I find I easily lose track of time and end up watching YouTube videos until 1am. Then I'll sleep in the next morning until 11 or 12 and be angry at myself for wasting the morning. However, you get into a routine, and the following night I wont be tired until 1am again, and so the vicious cycle continues. I want to get into a good routine this year. I know that the earlier I go to sleep, the earlier I can get up. I enjoy being up early, but I enjoy my sleep too and I'm the type of person who needs at least 8 hours to function properly. So this year, other than nights out and a well deserved lie in here and there, normally I want to be in bed by 11, asleep by 12. And in the morning I want to be up and out of bed by 9.30, ideally by 9am. 

Study More

At least 1 hour of work 6 days a week. 

Study more, or get better at doing uni work seems to be another resolution that I set every year. So again, this year I making a specific goal for myself - to do at least 1 hour of study 6 out of 7 days of the week. Easily attainable and realistic right? We'll see.

Try New Recipes 

Try at least 1 new recipe each month.

I love food, and I really do enjoy cooking. I love watching cooking programs and reading cooking books, and I always tell myself I'm going to try all these delicious looking recipes, but unfortunately I can be very lazy, and often tend to stick to things that are easy, and things that I know well. But i do really want to expand my repertoire and improve my cooking skills. So again, we have a SMART target - 1 new recipe per month. To me that's very realistic (considering my laziness) and should be attainable. New recipes and dishes are another thing I'd like to post about on here, but I need to actually get cooking them first!

Become More Flexible in Yoga 

Achieve putting my heels down in 'down dog', and being able to hold my feet in 'deep forward fold'. 

'Get more flexible' is another one that seems to be constantly on my resolution list. I've recently started doing yoga fairly regularly (2-3 times a week, something that I'm loving and aiming to continue) and these two poses are two that I particularly want to achieve. They're only small goals, nothing particularly spectacular about putting your heels down in down dog, but they still represent big achievements for me. I would rather start small and achieve them within 6 months, than set myself a big goal that would be really hard to achieve in a year - such as being able to do the splits comfortably, which is the ultimate goal, but again, one step at a time is the best way to go.

Be Able to do a Headstand

Be able to comfortably hold a yoga headstand unsupported.

I think this one pretty much speaks for itself... I just really want to be able to do a headstand haha and I have a fear of being upside down, so I would love to conquer that at the same time. 

What are your goals for 2015? 

xo 

What I Got For Christmas 2014

Q and A a day: 5 Year Journal (here)

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life - Richard Carlson (here)

Maleficent on DVD (here)

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Oatmeal Mask (here)

Badger Balm Classic Lip Kit - Green (here)

Benefit Erase Paste (here)

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (here)

Urban Decay Primer Potion (here)

Paperchase Noto 2015 Diary (here)

Reviews of all of these coming up soon! What did you guys get for christmas? :)

xo

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet | 07 Nude-ist & 08 Grand Cru | Review & Swatches on Lips

Size: 7.7ml

Price: £8.99

I picked these two up from my local superdrug a couple of weeks ago, and i'm a little obsessed with them:

Pros: I love the sleek packaging, I think it looks quite 'premium'. They come with doe-foot applicators which actually work pretty well, I find I can apply this neatly without needing to use a brush (they do look better with a liner though). They smell quite nice and I think the semi-matte finish looks lovely.

Cons: As I've just mentioned, I would consider these to be semi-matte rather than a completely matte finish, especially Grand Cru. Although they last really well if you're just drinking, as soon as you eat anything they become a hot-mess! I still love them though, they're great for nights out!

07 Nude-ist on the left & 08 Grand Cru on the right (with Rimmel Lip Liner in 063 Black Tulip)

Have any of you tried these or any other colours from Bourjois' Rouge Edition Velvet range? What do you think? Let me know! :)

xo

My Christmas Playlist - Mariah, The Pogues & Wham!

Some of my favourite songs to get me in a festive mood! 

Bing Crosby - Winter Wonderland
Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock
Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
The Nightmare Before Christmas - What's This?
Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody
Dean Martin - Let It Snow
Wham! - Last Christmas

What are your favourite Christmas songs?

xo

Bourjois 1 Seconde Gel Nail Polish in 34 Violine Hypnotique | Swatches & Review

Size: 9ml

Stockists: Boots & Superdrug

Price: £5.99 (here)

Pros: The finish of this is very shiny and 'polished', maybe not as good as gel, but it's very nice for a regular nail polish. The formula is super opaque meaning I only needed one coat, which I love since i'm super lazy with my nails! The brush is hands-down the best nail polish brush i've ever used - it's short and fat which makes the application really quick and easy. And lastly, this does dry super fast - 1 second may be a little bit of exaggeration, but it's definitely under 30, which is pretty impressive in my book!

Cons: Although I adore this colour, overall I was quite disappointed with the colour range. The only other con I found was that it did chip quite easily - definitely needs a top coat.

I would definitely recommend this nail polish, it's opaque formula, amazing brush, quick drying formula and gorgeous colour make it a clear winner for me!

Have any of you guys tried this or any other colours from the 1 seconde range? Let me know!

xo

My Christmas Wishlist - Benefit, Paperchase & Boohoo

1) Q and A a Day: 5-Year Journal (here)

2) Benefit Erase Paste in Fair (here)

3) Badger Balm Classic Lip Kit (here)

4) Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (here)

5) Maleficent on DVD (here)

6) Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original (here)

7) Paperchase Noto Mint Green 2015 Diary (here)

8) First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Oatmeal Mask (here)

9) Boohoo Louisa Pom Pom Onesie (here)

What's on your wishlists this Christmas? 

xo

Benefit 'Do The Bright Thing' Kit | Look Inside

This gorgeous kit was bought for me for as a birthday present a couple of weeks ago. I'm actually reluctant to use it because it looks so pristine and neat - i don't want to mess it up! Still, I wanted to share how it looks with you guys because I think it's so perfectly put together. The kit comes inside a thin card packet, the back of which is pictured above. The front of the kit (pictured below) and the front of the box it's packaged in are identical, while the back of the kit has all the product details on, in tiny tiny writing!

 When you open up the kit, you'll find each of the products tucked into their own little compartment. There's:

- 'That Gal' brightening face primer (7.5ml)

- 'High Beam' creamy, pink-champagne-toned highlighter (4ml)

- 'Dandelion' brightening face powder (3g), and a little accompanying brush

- 'They're Real' mascara (3g)

- 'BadGal Liner' extra black waterproof eye pencil (0.5g)

Then above the products, on the underneath of the lid, is a booklet of 'Tips & Tricks' which opens out to instructional cards on how to use each product, revealing a handy mirror in the middle. The white leaflet pictured above contains translations of these tips and tricks.

Below you can see each of the instructional cards from the booklet in the kit. The first one explains how to apply the primer, the second is about the blusher and the highlighter, and the last card tells you how to use the liner and the mascara.

I've gotta say I love this kit! I'm already a big fan of Benefit's products, so even though I haven't used anything yet, I already know I'm going to like it. But regardless of the products, the whole little box and booklet with the mirror and everything - it's just so neat and cute! It makes a great gift :)

What do you guys think of it? Do you like Benefit's products?

xo

Natural Collection Lipstick in Biscuit | Swatches

Picked this up from Superdrug for £1.99! Gorgeous colour, lovely soft formula and long wearing - very happy indeed, and very impressed considering the tiny price tag! 

Have any of you tried this or any other colours from Nautral Collection? 

xo

Easy Halloween Nail Art

I was inspired by these nails, posted on Primark's Instagram account, created by user @kayleighjeana. I thought they looked so effective yet relatively easy compared to some of the other Halloween- themed nail art that I've seen.

Obviously, the fact that these nails are amazingly long and pointed, adds to the Halloween look. Unfortunately for me, i'm not blessed with strong or fast-growing nails so mine look a little pathetic compared with these babies! But as far as the polish goes, i'm really happy with how they turned out :)

I started with a clear base coat, then painted on two coats of Model's Own 'Snow White'. Once the white was dry, I took Model's Own 'Red Red Wine' and, one nail at a time, I dotted it thickly along the edge, before taking a q-tip/cotton bud to smudge and drag it down the nail. I also used the length of a pin to create the lines and the end of the pin to make small dots with the red. Once it was all dry, I applied a clear top coat to seal it all together.

You don't have to use the same polishes as me, any red and white will do, or you could experiment with different colours - black nails with green 'slime' could look really cool! 

Hope you guys have fun experimenting with all aspects of your costumes! Happy Halloween! :)

xo

Halloween Haul | Poundland

Now, I'm someone who is a little obsessed with Halloween... I'm really into all the ghostly, witchy, mysterious elements of it, i love fancy dress, and i love special effects make-up and gore - the more open wounds and fake blood the better in my opinion. To be honest, if Halloween included as much food as christmas it would definitely be my favourite holiday.

Today I want to show you some decorations I bought. My birthday is the day before Halloween so it's kind of an awesome couple of days for me, and definitely requires a party. So, this Thursday i'm throwing a Halloween themed birthday party in my uni flat - very excited! Me and my flatmate took a trip to Poundland the other day to pick up some bits and bobs to put up in the flat:

 My purchases ^^ I bought 2 of those skeletons, they're about 3 and half to 4 feet tall, they're hinged at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees and they have a handy hole at the top where you can loop a piece of string to hang them up. In the bottom right of the picture you can see some 'halloween tinsel' that i picked up and a small bunch of the cotton cobweb stuff (I have loads of that! And loads of fake blood :D) I also bought some little party cups - so cute!  

An awesome scary face cup, some gummy eyeballs (i'm planning on having them floating in jugs of 'punch'), an inflatable bat and an adorable little inflatable ghost.

 

And last but not least I picked up a couple of packs of Halloween themed balloons. I'll take some photos once we're all set up on Thursday and upload them over the weekend so you can see how it ended up looking! I'll also try to take some photos of my outfit and my make-up - i'm being a zombie school-girl! 

Do you guys enjoy halloween? What are you dressing up as?

xo

Rimmel Glam Eyes Quad Eye Shadow in 019 Sun Safari | Swatches

 

4 Shimmery Shades: Champagne, Gold, Bronze & Khaki Brown. Includes a free double-ended sponge applicator. 

Got my swatching fingers a little mixed up so i've added arrows to clarify. Have any of you tried this? I'm loving it!

xo

Nicole x Missguided | My Picks

Nicole X Cut Out Midi Skirt Black
(here)

£25

Nicole X Low Back Strappy Midi Dress Forest Green

(here) 

£25

Nicole X Sequin Mini Skirt

(here)

£20

Nicole X Cage Waist Bandeau Dress in White (here)

£35

The black one is nice too! (here) 

Hope you guys like my picks :) Which items are your favourites from this collection? Let me know!

xo

What's on my iPhone

I've seen this tag on YouTube and always enjoy having a nose at what apps other people have! I'm going to talk you through the apps I have on my iPhone 5C, and I'll do mini descriptions/reviews of the ones you may not have heard of.
*WARNING: Text heavy post*

First Page
National Rail
Duolingo is an app that helps you learn a new language. You can set yourself goals and track your progress. I'm trying to learn French and I find it really effective, just doing 10-15 minutes a day.
Tumblr (i'm a little obsessed)
Facebook & Messenger
Snapchat
Instagram 
WhatsApp
In my music folder is the normal 'Music' app that is already on the phone when you get it, plus:
Air Transfer which let you transfer music to your iPhone over a wi-fi connection.
8Tracks has loads of user-made playlists which you can filter by mood or style. It's a great way to discover new music and independent artists.

Second Page
MyEE helps me keep track of my EE account such as how long I have till my next bill & how much data I've used this month.
Blogger
My Fitness Pal is a great app the helps you keep track of what you're eating, how many calories you're taking in as well as how much protein, cabs and fat your eating. You can add goals to lose or gain weight and the app will calculate how many calories and how much protein, carbs and fat you should be eating to reach your goal. You can add exercise into your day and the app will calculate how many calories you've burnt. I found it really interesting and motivating when I was trying to gain weight. I'd recommend it to everyone.
HSBC
YouTube
My iPill (pill reminder)
My 'Others' folder is just a load of miscellaneous apps that I never really use.

In my 'Food and Travel' folder I have:
Domino's & Just Eat for ordering takeaways
GBK for discounts and special offers at Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Booking.com
TripAdvisor
Weather

Photo Apps:
VSCOcam is such a good photo editing app. You can make loads of different changes such as changing the contrast, lightening the shadows and giving the photo an overall tint of colour. The filters on there are also great and you buy additional packs if you want to.
PhotoWonder is a really cute editing app with an adorable anime-style interface. I like it for its blemish removal feature and filters.
Reflection lets you create those awesome photos were the one side is a reflection of the other, or the bottom is a reflection of the top. It's a great app to play around with, you can create some really surreal images on there.
PhotoGrid is a simple, effective app for making photo collages.
TimerCam (self-timer camera)
And with Free Prints you can upload photos straight from your phone and have them printed for free, you only pay for delivery which makes it super cheap. I recently ordered 40 prints for just £2! They arrived really quickly and are good quality prints, very happy with them.

Games:
Fruit Blast
Candy Crush
Unblock Me
Million Pound Drop (anyone else love playing along?)

Health-Related Apps:
Muji plays soothing music/sounds to help you sleep.
Fit Flexibility includes loads of stretch routines that can help you increase your flexibility.
Blogilates app is great for watching Blogilates vids on the go and looking up delicious healthy recipes. You can also keep track of the workout calendar for each month on here.
SIT times exercise sets and the break time between each one.
Simply Yoga is my favourite yoga app out of all the (free) ones i've tried. It has routines of 20 minutes, 40 minutes or an hour which flow in a smooth logical order. The commentary is very relaxing and informative and I always feel so relaxed and at ease after doing a routine - love it!
MoleCheck lets you photograph the moles on your body, and reminds you to take new photos every few weeks to keep track of any changes that might be happening. This is to make sure all your moles are always looking healthy and safe. I am a very moley person and also very wary of skin cancer so find this app extremely helpful.
Sleep Time tracks how long you sleep for, and how much of your sleep was light or deep. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Relax Melodies is another app that can play soothing sounds to aid sleep. I much prefer this over Muji. There is a much larger variety of sounds to chose from, and you can even combine two sounds to play together.

Shopping Apps:
Depop is a super easy app for buying and selling things. The interface reminds me a lot of Instagram which not only makes it familiar and easy to use, but also I think it looks very sleek.
eBay
UNiDAYS is an app that allows students to get discounts in loads of online stores without having to buy a NUS card.
Amazon

Hope you like this post as something a bit different to the usual beauty content. Let me know what your favourite apps are!

xo

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Carnival Spirit | Swatches & Mini-Review

Size: 3.7g

Stockists: Superdrug & Boots

Price: £7.49

Colour Payoff: This is lipstick gives a sheer, buildable colour which feels moisturising on the lips:

bare lips                                           one coat                                   built up colour

What do you guys think? Have you tried any of the other colours from this range? I know i'd like to!

xo