Makeup Brushes!

Hello everyone! So as you can read by the title, I am going to be talking about makeup brushes. I personally think that using brushes to apply your makeup is the best method, because it is much more sanitary, as long as you take care of your brushes; which is something I will talk about in this post.

First of all, my collections varies in terms of price and uses. However, the brand I have the most brushes from is Real Techniques. Now everyone has probably already heard of the brand, but they are owned by Sam and Nic Chapman (Pixiwoo) and they range between £7.99- £25 per brush. They are amazing quality and apply makeup so well. In my collection, I have the Core Collection set, Eye set and powder brush. However, recently, I purchased a set of makeup brushes from Ebay after flicking through MakeupSavvy's Ebay Bargain's and I have to admit, they were much better than I thought they were going to be. I've had them for a month now and they haven't started fraying and they apply makeup very well. I also have a couple Wilko brushes, which I have previously done a review on.

When having makeup brushes, the most important thing is to take care of them. This means, washing them and storing them in a practical place. When cleaning your brushes, it is vital you use baby shampoo because using standard shampoo can damage the bristles and make them fray. I also use a 'brush egg' and it is basically a silicon egg-like shape which helps to clean makeup brushes more sufficiently without damaging them. They are super cheap and you can easy find them on websites such as Amazon and Ebay. After you have cleaned your brushes, I do not recommend leaving them upright to dry as this can weaken the handle, so place them on their side on a clean surface to dry naturally. For me, I like to have my brushes in front of me when I do my makeup, so I keep them in a holder case that I once again, got from Ebay.

Benefit: How To Look The Best At Everything //Review//

Hello everyone! So today I am going to be doing a review on a product I got a couple of weeks ago. It is Benefit's 'How To Look The Best At Everything Complexion Kit'. I was originally going to do this on a Tuesday for a Try Out Tuesday, but I had a power cut the day before and since then my wifi has been a bit on and off, so I apologise for that. Anyway, this kit comes in three types, light, medium and deep, all £25.50. The kit comes with mini's of their primer (POREfessional), foundation (Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow), 2 shades of concealer (Boi-ing 01 and 02) and powder (Hello Flawless). The kit also includes a brush and tips and tricks.

First of all, I have to admit, that I really like the packaging. It is laid out like a book and it looks incredibly girly and feminine. The packaging itself feels very well made and sturdy, so it would be practical for traveling. One thing about the packaging which I am not so keen on is the positioning of the mirror, which is placed behind the fold-out tips and tricks. Basically, if you want to use the mirror given then you have two bits of card flapping about, getting in the way, so I usually opt to using my own mirror.

The products them self, I was really pleased with. I assume the intention of this kit is to try out these products to see if you like them, and entice you to buy the full size. The primer has to be the best primer I have ever tried, it makes your makeup last for hours on end and helps to create a flawless, even finish. On the other hand, I had mixed emotions towards the foundation. It had quite a medium to heavy coverage, but I found it was too dark for me. Although, I can't blame Benefit, that's probably down to my incredibly pale skin. Again, I loved the concealer, although I have to stick to shade 01, because 02 is way too dark for me. The concealer is very creamy and that is a bonus for people like me who have sensitive skin. It covers blemishes pretty well and it does last a while, especially with the primer. For me, I think that the powder has to be one of the best products in this kit. It mattifies the face and it lasts a long time. It is also really easy to apply and it's the perfect shade for me.

Overall, I am really pleased with this complexion kit. All the products are great quality and definitely makes me want to go out and get the full sizes of the products. I would overall rate it a 4/5.

Makeup Haul!

Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to make a huge apology for not being active for the last month. I haven't exactly been in the right mindset recently and I've been going through some issues, and I didn't want to upload a blogpost which was not of the same standard as the rest of my posts. I didn't feel any sort of enthusiasm for anything and I didn't want the quality of my posts to go down because I 'couldn't be bothered'. But now I'm back and ready to move forward with my blog! So as you can read by the title, today I am doing a makeup haul! Bare in mind, some of these products were given to me as gifts for my birthday, so I will not be able to tell you the price.

Face

 During March, it has been a mission of mine to freshen up my makeup collection and in particular, face products. The first thing I brought was Benefit's 'How to look the best at everything' complexion kit in shade light (of course). I'm not going to go in to too much detail as I want to do a review on this, but it includes a primer, foundation, concealer and powder. It retails at £25.50. I then got Maybelline's 'Eraser Eye Concealer' in you guessed it, Light. To be honest, the sponge applicator fascinated me and I wanted to see how well it worked, so that's basically why I brought it. This is £7.99. A product I was given as a gift for my birthday was the All-In-One BB Cream by the Body Shop in shade 00. I really wanted this after hearing really good things about it, so I'm really glad I ended up getting it. The final face product I brought was the MUA Pro-Base Makeup Fixing Mist which is £5.00.

Eyes

 I only got a couple of eye products because, quite frankly, I think I have enough already and these were the only things that I really needed. The first thing I purchased was Maybelline's 'Brow Drama Sculpting Mascara' for £4.99 in shade Medium Brown. My brows are one of my many imperfections and for ages I've been trying to get them under control, so I'm hoping that this will be the answer. The next thing I brought was  the L'Oreal 'Volume Million Lashes So Couture Mascara'. I originally wanted to get the original mascara, but they didn't have any, so I opted for this. It is £10.99, so it is quite expensive for a mascara but from trying it, I think it definitely good value for money. 

Lips

I definitely think over the last couple of weeks, I have gone overboard with lip product purchases. The first lipstick I purchased was the Kiko 'Velvet Mat Lipstick' in shade 613- Pink Carnation. When I brought this product, it was £6.90 but it is currently on sale for £5.00, and I really recommend you purchase one of these lipsticks, they are amazing. The next lipstick I brought was The L'Oreal Color Riche Lipstick in 302- Bois De Rose. I can't actually remember how much this product was, nor is it on the boots website, but it an amazing nude shade. The final lipstick in this haul is the Kiko Smart Lipstick in shade 909,  and I was given this as a gift for my birthday, therefore I do not know how much this costs. However, it is the most beautiful deep red shade and I can't wait to start wearing it. Two other Kiko products that I was given as a gift are these two 'Smart Lip pencils' in shade 703 and 711. 703 is definitely a  more orangey red whilst 711 is a nudey plum colour. The final product in this haul is one of the Rimmel 'Apocalips lip Laquers' in shade Celestial which is a nudey- pink colour, which is a shade I am really in to right now. These are £6.49 and I honestly think are great value for money.

So that is it for my haul, I know this was quite a long post, but I wanted to make sure I had all the information needed. Hopefully, I will now be getting back in to my schedule, so I will be posting more regularly.

OOTD

Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to apologise for not doing a Try Out Tuesday this week, I have recently got some new products to review but I don't think I have had enough time to truly assess them and give it a fair trial, but they will hopefully resume as normal next week! Anyway, today I am going to do another OOTD/ chatty type post. I really hope to do some more of these because I think it is a good way to get to know me a bit more.

So I've still been going on walks and although this makes me sound like the biggest nerd and tree-hugger in the world, I just love nature, I always have. And taking these walks have made me realise how much I love being outside, which is ironic because I spend about 90% of my life in my room, sat on the internet. Also, just the feeling of being outside really brings a sense of relaxation. But obviously, the British winter gets a bit chilly so it's not often I get to go on walks. But when I do go on walks, I often wear layers, which I what this outfit is heavily based around. In these pictures I am wearing a chequered dress, a grey oversized cardigan, a khaki coat, boots and to top it off, a fedora type hat.I liked this outfit as it was quite girly, yet still was casual.

Winter Walks.

 Hello Everyone! So today I'm doing something a little bit different that I have never done before, so I guess I'll see how this goes. Recently, my friend and I have been taking walks, just adventuring a little and taking some pictures, so I thought why not make a blogpost out of it. We got my camera out and started taking some photos, which I found oddly fun as photography isn't exactly my forte. As a huge love for nature, these walks have been so uplifting for me and the scenery around where I live is really nice, so I decided to put together a little OOTD. Obviously, when I was walking through puddles and heaps of mud, I still had to be practical, so I wore blue denim jeans with a red flannel t-shirt buttoned almost all the way up. On top of that I wore my leather jacket with a beanie. On my feet I just wore fairly standard black boots because I don't have wellies, so I was being very impractical but ah well. For me, this was an incredibly casual outfit which I don't tend to wear a lot, but I kind of liked it. I really hope to do more of these types of posts because they are quite chatty and relaxed, but I will be posting again very soon.

 

Makeup Revolution: Flawless Palette!

Hello everyone and today is Tuesday, which means I try out a product and review it. Today I am going to be talking about the 'Flawless Palette' by Makeup Revolution. This eyeshadow palette comes with 32 different shades which vary between matte and shimmer. I would say that the colours are very neutral and consists of mainly browns. The palette is available for £8, which I think is pretty good for 32 eyeshadows.

I personally think that the packaging is pretty nice. The palette comes in a rose goldish box which I think is quite nice. Then the palette itself is a shiny plastic, which I personally don't have an aesthetic appeal towards. However, I found that it was very difficult for me to actually get inside the palette and I have to use hair grips to open it. But this may just be a one-off thing. Inside the palette, there is a huge mirror which is very practical especially if you are travelling. Something I found quite amusing is that they have named each shade which I thought was a nice touch.

So I have already mentioned that there are 32 shades, and I believe that about 10 of them are matte and the rest are shimmer. Despite the palette being fairly neutral, there is still a nice variety of shades. I must admit that the eyeshadows are also nicely pigmented, especially the shimmer shades and I can see how these would make a really nice eye look.

In conclusion, I would recommend this eyeshadow palette. It is very affordable and for the price, it is amazing quality. Therefore, I would rate it a 4/5.

Skincare: Sensitive Skin!

Hello everyone! So last week I made a skincare post, and I wanted to do a few more of those because I really hope at least, that they might help someone. So today I am going to be doing sensitive skin. This is something I have suffered from for a really long time so I have quite a few tips and tricks on how to deal with it.

Skincare
When it comes to skincare with sensitive skin, you have to be quite particular, otherwise you could end up with oily skin. I have previously been told by doctors that it is recommended that you do not use makeup remover wipes to take off makeup, but by a liquid based products instead. Now without a doubt, I have to recommend the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water.
It is amazing at taking your makeup off, and is very reasonably priced for the amount you get. Also, if you are like me and get sudden outbreaks of dry skin, then I would recommend using E45 products. Moisturisers are also a good way to combat the dry and sensitive skin as it is giving the skin more moisture. It is also recommended that you wash
your face 2-3 times a day.

Makeup
Again you have to take good care of your Makeup routine when you have dry and sensitive skin. I often found that many foundations and powders would either make my skin blotchy or the finish would appear cakey. However, recently I have been using the Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation. I would recommend it as it is very soft and light on the skin but still provides good coverage. Some other foundations that have been recommended are Mac Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation, Make Up Forever- HD Foundation and Maybelline Fit Me Foundation.

Wilko Brushes! (Try Out Tuesday)

Hello and it is Tuesday, which mean I try out a new product and review them! Today I am going to be reviewing Wilko's Brushes which have fairly recently been brought out. I have been wanting to use this in a Try Out Tuesday for a while, but I wanted to give it a fair assessment first. I believe that in the total range, there are 10 brushes, 5 face brushes, 4 eye brushes, and 1 lip brush. They are very well priced, ranging from £2-£4. However, I have only purchased 2, the Stippling Brush and the Eye Make-up Smudger.

The brushes are packaged in a plastic zip-up pouch, which I guess is quite handy and re-usable. Covering the brushes is a plastic cover to keep the shape, which is very convenient. And of course, it doesn't go unnoticed that they resemble Real Techniques brushes with the use of the orange metal handle. I must admit, for the price, these brushes are very sturdy and I've had them for about a month and no hairs have come out yet, even after cleaning them.

Stippling Brush

This was the first brush from the range that I purchased and it is available for £4. I have never purchased a stippling brush, but I knew that they help achieve the airbrushed kind of look. The first thing I noticed about this whole range of brushes is how soft they all are, but being a stippling brush, this almost becomes a disadvantage. Although I like the feel of this brush on my skin, I found it far too soft to actually blend or apply much product on to my face. I also thought that the brush may have needed to be a little bit denser so it could pick up more product. I would say this brush was good if you like very minimal and light coverage, but I don't think I can rate this more than a 2.5/5.

Eye Make-up Smudger

Now this brush retails at £3, the same as all the other eye brushes in the range. Again, this brush was incredibly soft, which was actually a bonus for me because I have very sensitive eyes. The hairs on the brush are very dense so this makes it perfect to smudge eyeshadow. I had previously owned a eye make-up smudger brush from Cath Kidston for triple the price, and it doesn't even compare to this. I would 100% definitely recommend this brush, I would rate it a 4.5/5.

Current Style Wishlist!

Hello everyone! Recently, I have been addicted to looking at clothes on online shops and just trying to find outfits that I would really want to wear. For ages now , I have been trying to figure out what my style is and, I think this has helped me a bit. I mean, I still don't know what category it would fall under, but I get a lot of my style inspiration from things and people that I have an interest in. For example, I absolutely adore Zoe Benson's, from American Horror Story, style, as well as YouTubers such as TheLineUp and FashionRocksMySocks. Anyway, over the last few days of endless scrolling on websites such as Sheinside, Choies, BooHoo, Topshop and New Look, I have been able to put together a little wishlist of clothes which have given me style inspiration. Now from the picture below, it is quite evident that I do not like to wear colour much. In fact, the two things that I have been really in to recently are monochrome outfits and oversized coats. I also really like the look of chunky shoes with a good platform on them, despite that fact that I'm already tall. But anyway, I just wanted to share some things that I have been enjoying style-wise recently, so I hope you enjoyed!

Skincare: Oily Skin

Hello everyone and today I want to start a new series on this blog where I talk about skincare and how to deal with different types of skin. So I just thought I would start it out with Oily Skin and hope this might help someone out there.

I guess I will start out with the science part of all of this, but still very important, and this is how oily skin is caused. Now there are many factors that can make oily skin occur and once you can identify these causes, it will make it simpler for you to prevent it. Some causes are things such as the weather, hormonal changes, medications, overuse/ incorrect use of beauty products, unhealthy diet and stress. Obviously, some of these factors can be prevented such as unhealthy/ unbalanced dieting and incorrect uses of products, but there are causes such as genetics which can not be cured. However, there are tips on how to control and maintain oily skin and I am going to be sharing these tips and tricks that I have discovered.

When it comes to skincare, a lot of people assume that it's just cleanser, toner, moisturiser etc. However, having oily skin can make skincare a lot more complicated than you might assume. The first tip that you need to know is that things such as moisturisers and exfoliators can actually make oily skin worse because it is giving you excess oil that your skin does not need. So if you still want to use a moisturiser, make sure you are using one which is light and oil-free. Similarly, if you use a cleanser and toner, make sure it is alcohol and acetone free. It is also suggested to use a clay masque once a week to help tighten pores and prevent them from getting clogged as blackheads is a very standard result of having oily skin. I  would recommend the 'Quick Fix Facials Anti-Blemish Mud Mask' because it targets oily skin in particular and I found it very effective.

The next thing is makeup. Obviously, when having oily skin, it is very difficult to maintain your makeup for a whole day because the oil smudges and rubs the makeup off. Now it's no secret that primers can help with that, but I just wanted to recommend some primers that I have found to be really beneficial. They are Benefit's Porefessional and Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer. With foundations, it is advised to use matte or mineral based foundations because it prevents excess oil. Some recommended foundations are Revlon ColourStay Makeup for Combination/ Oily Skin and Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup. You can also buy blotting paper sheets which absorb the oil in your face and are really affordable and convenient.

So there are some tips that I have discovered about how to prevent oily skin. I will hopefully be making more of these kind of posts. I hope this helped you or that you found this interesting!

Champneys Facial Cleansing System (Try Out Tuesday)

Hello everyone and today is Tuesday, which means I try out a new product and I review them. Today I am going to be reviewing the Champneys Facial Cleansing System. I got this product for Christmas so I've had quite a while to try the product out and determine whether I liked it or not.

When I got this product, I was hoping to find a good dupe for the Clarisonic  because obviously, it is very expensive. Now this cleansing system retails for £14.99 at boots. However, it might just be my shops near me, but I had to buy this product online because Boots just didn't sell this in their stores. Anyway, in this cleansing system pack, you get two types of brushes as you can see in the picture, one which is all white and one which has a black ring in the middle. The all white one is for cleansing and the black and white one is for exfoliating. You also get 2 of each of these brushes and have to replace them after 4 months. When I first got this product, I immediately noticed how soft the brushes were, obviously the exfoliating brush was slightly more coarse but still soft nonetheless. Now I will admit, I have had this cleansing system for less than a month and I have noticed a significant difference in the texture and softness of the brushes, which obviously is a result of me using it. On the instructions, they suggest to use it everyday, however, I have very sensitive skin and for the exfoliating brush in particular, I found this to be so uncomfortable and painful to use every day. Since then, I have been using the cleansing brush every other day and the exfoliating brush once a week and I have noticed such a difference in my skin. It is clearly so much softer and I haven't been getting as many spots. 

All in all, I probably would recommend this product. There are several flaws, such as the brushes getting rougher, but for £15, I think it's pretty damn good! I would product rate the Champneys Facial Cleansing System a 3.5/5. 

Would You Rather Beauty Tag!

Hello everyone and first of all, I would like make a huge apology for not uploading anything for two weeks. I went back to school recently and I've been having to do coursework and homework, and I just haven't found a lot of time to sit down and make as blogpost. But hopefully, in the next week or so, I will be able to sort things out and I will be back to posting regularly. Anyway, today I'm going to do the 'Would you rather beauty tag'. 

1.Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks and lipglosses, or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?
Okay, I'm going to bend the rules a little bit here, and I think I would say I would lose all of my palettes and eyeshadows because I'm pretty sure you could just smudge your eyeliner out a bit and create a smoky eye look. And on most days, I don't wear eyeshadow anyway.

2. Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again? 
This is a hard one because the question doesn't specify whether or not my hair would grow back. I mean, if I chopped my hair off and it grew back, I would choose that one. 

3. Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?
I think I probably have to go with a coral cheek because I'm currently really into the smoky eye, nude lip and bronzed face kind of look. Also, pink blush really doesn't suit me.

4. If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or makeup?
Okay, in an ideal world, I would probably split it, but I would probably spend it on clothes. I mean, I have a huge interest in fashion, but lets be honest, you kind of need clothes more than you need makeup. 

5. Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
Once again, I'm going to bend the rules. The question didn't state what colour the lipstick has to be, so I would say lipstick as eyeliner because you could just apply a nude lipstick and it wouldn't look too bad.

6. Would you rather only shop in MAC or Sephora?
Seeing as I am an British teenage girl who has never walked in to a Sephora shop before, I would probably have to go with MAC, although it would get pretty expensive.

7. Would you rather only use one eyeshadow colour or one lip colour for the rest of your life?
Tbh, this question stressed me out so much, haha. I would probably have to say only use one eyeshadow colour because I am permanently experimenting with new lip products that I just couldn't stick to one colour for the rest of my life.

8. Would you rather wear winter clothes in the summer or summer clothes in the winter?
Okay, this one was easy. Definitely winter clothes in the summer, seeing as summers don't get too hot in England for a large amount of time. 

9. Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round?
100% without a doubt, dark nails all year round. Specifically, matte black nails because I just love the way it looks. 

10. Would you rather give up your favourite lip product or your favourite eye product?
I would probably give up my favourite lip product. I really thought about this, but I don't know if I actually have a favourite lip product. But my favourite eye product is the Benefit They're Real eyeliner, which I don't think I would be able to give that up because I love it so much. 

11. Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a ponytail or a messy bun?
So I'm more a ponytail kind of girl, but I probably would have to say a messy bun.

12. Would you rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss?
Probably to never use lipgloss again because I don't really like the finish of lipgloss and I don't wear it much anyway. 

13. Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all or sharpie them in everyday?
I would probably sharpie them in everyday because my eyebrows are already quite prominent, that without, I would just look completely insane. Also they never said what colour the sharpie had to be, it could be brown and then maybe, it wouldn't look as bad.

14. Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?
Definitely go without nail polish. Because of being at school and the rules, I'm not allowed to wear nail varnish anyway, so I have to go majority of the year without nail polish.

Okay, those are all the questions for the 'Would you rather beauty tag'. Seeing as this is a tag, I tag anyone reading this to answer these questions. Also, hopefully, if everything works out, I may or may not have some very helpful beauty posts coming soon.