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. 

Hello 2015.

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! As it is now 2015, New Year's Resolutions are in order, so I thought why not share them with you. Now I'm not saying I'm going to achieve these in just one year, but if I can just take several steps to help me achieve my goals, I will be happy.

This first one for me is pretty standard for a New Year's resolution, but it is to get fitter. Now this does not mean that I'm suddenly going to sign up to a gym or eat just fruit and vegetables, I mainly just want to work on my diet. I mean, I wasn't the healthiest person last year, I ate a lot of food which included fats and sugars. So for 2015, I want to work on balancing out my diet a bit more instead of scoffing down the sweets and chocolates.

The next New Year's resolution is to just be a lot happier. I mean, yeah, that's pretty self explanatory, everyone want to be happy. But what I mean by this is when you are living with internal issues it's quite hard to view the world as one would without these problems. So I guess what I want to do is kind of be one step ahead of these problems and look at the world in a more positive way instead of having these issues blocking the view (in metaphorical terms obviously,haha). Basically to put it simply, I just want to overcome any negativity that is thrown at me this year and to just enjoy the life I'm living.

So now for the big one. I would just like it reiterate what I said in the beginning about how I'm aware it's not likely that I'm going to achieve this in 2015, but I will be so happy if I can just get just a little bit closer to my goal. This is going to take a lot of explaining... So basically it has been a dream of mine forever to make an impact on the world. I've always tried to be a positive person and help others as much as I possibly could, and I always wanted to be that person that people would look back on and be like 'Yeah, she really helped me through a lot of stuff'.  Now you're probably sat her right now, like Emily..really? But when I was 6, I discovered this little website called YouTube and I instantly knew it was something I wanted to be involved in. I'd see the comments like 'you've helped me so much' or 'you mean so much to me' and I immediately wanted to be that person they were saying these things to. I wanted to be that person that made people feel like I was their friend and that I was there for them, even if I has never met them. And this is not a YouTube plug or anything, I'm quite content just doing my blog right now. But my ultimate dream in life is to make someone's life better, and to have impacted them in some way. So that's my New Year's Resolution, and if I can just get a little bit closer to achieving that, I was be eternally grateful.

Once again, Happy New Year everyone! Sorry that I got a bit soppy near the end, it's just a trait of mine. Here's to 2015!

'Today is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.'- Brad Paisley

Goodbye 2014.

Hello everyone! So 2015 is quickly approaching, and with just a few minutes of 2014 left, I want to recap on this year. Now below is something I treasure; It is my memory jar. For 2 years now, I have been doing this and basically, every time I have a amazing moment I will write it down. And as soon as the clocks strike 12 and it is officially the New year, I open it and look back on all the memories I have had in that year. I really think everyone should have one of these because I can not even tell you how happy it makes me to look back on the moments I've had and to just remember all these memories. Now seeing as it is not quite 2015 yet in England, I'm not going to open it, but I will share with you some moments of 2014 that have particularly stuck with me. The first thing that comes to mind is all the memories I have had with my friends. I'm not going to go in to detail as I don't know if they would appreciate that but I have been able to have some amazing opportunities this year and I have luckily, been able to spend them with my friends. Another memory is all the people I have been able to discover through the internet. I have been able to make online friends, found new people and I will be forever grateful that the internet exists because it has helped me so much through everything. And the last thing, as cheesy as it may sound, is this blog. Now I may have only had this blog for 2 months but I really think it has helped me have a voice at times when I thought no one cared about what I have to say.

I guess all in all, 2014 hasn't been the best year for me but I got through it and I really think I have grown a lot from it. And I think that is why my memory jar is so special to me because it lets me remember all the nice moments of this year and forget about the bad. And if you're reading this right now and haven't had the best year, or even if it's been amazing; Better things are coming.