A Bit of a Lifey Update!

Hey Guys!

In exactly one week I'll be going "t'up North" (as everyone keeps calling it) and off to Uni! I'm ridiculously excited and anxious at the same time. It's strange to think that I'll be leaving behind my amazing family and friends, but then again I'm so excited for all the new people who will inevitably make their way into my life.

I'm now starting to pack. It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I suck at packing, but it's just as I've started to pack things (the essentials of course... shoes and makeup!), that I've realised just how bad I am at it, and how much stuff I use regularly and "need"... (you need how many body butters?!) I'm really struggling to cut things down a bit for the sake of boot space!

In terms of my room decor, I have so much still to get! I have my bedding, but I'm still on the hunt for cushions, throws and fairy lights to make it a bit more homely. The tricky thing is that my room will be painted one of four colours; royal blue, forest green, bright red or mustard yellow. All definite favourites of mine of course... I'm torn between sticking with neutrals, or waiting till I see my room before buying things. Then of course there's the problem of choosing photos to print. In some ways I wish I had a film camera, that way I wouldn't be able to take so many photos that I now have to choose from!

Anyway, that's a bit about what's going on with me! My head is in a million places right now with so much to plan and do, so many goodbyes to say and hellos to prepare for...

Wish me luck (or just come pack for me!)

P.S. Is it wrong to be excited about being able to wear a scarf again?

MUA Dusk till Dawn Eyeshadow Palette Review

I'm slightly obsessed with my MUA undressed palette.

Since I got it back in September I've used it so much that it looks very much worse for wear...

Anyway, I thought I'd pick up another MUA palette to try and give my original some competition. I ended up getting the "Dusk till Dawn" palette (after a long time deliberating, my boyfriend has the patience of a saint!) because of it's diverse range of colours. It's got a lovely mix lighter shades for me to wear on a more daily basis, and deeper and brighter shades so I can change things up a bit. 

I wonder if I'll ever get the hang of swatch photos!

As usual with MUA eyeshadows, the pigmentation is really good, and the colours look great in real life and not just in the pan. Colours such as purples, teals and silvers are all very flattering on brown eyes, so if you're a brown eyed girl like me, I'd recommend it.

Will it replace my undressed palette? Probably not. Am I glad I bought it?
Definitely!

What's in my Holiday Handbag?

I just got back from holiday a couple days ago, and I'm starting to hit the holiday blues... *sigh*

 

So to cheer myself up, I thought I'd write a bit of a holiday themed blogpost. You ready? Here's my holiday handbag!

 

 

I love love LOVE this handbag. It's only £16 I think from New Look, and it's pretty much the perfect dimensions for me. I carry a lot of stuff around with me on a daily basis, so this was a nice smaller size that would force me to cut down a bit, whilst still allowing me to carry lots. The strap's a nice length, and I can wear it either on one shoulder or across my body depending what I'm doing.

 

 

So what's in it? Well first of all water, I get pretty dehydrated fairly easily, so with the hot water I quickly discovered how essential it was! Soltan Once suncream, probably one of the best I've tried as it doesn't feel tacky on my skin, lasts whilst swimming, and isn't clear (if it's clear, how do I know I've got everywhere?). I also carried around Soap and Glory's Hand Food, because I get dry hands, but ended up using it only a couple of times. I've got a Rimmel London Vinel Gloss, in a lovely neutral "you're lips but better" colour too. It's running out and can't find a name on it! Elizabeth Arden's Eight Hour Cream, my lips often dried out in the heat, so this was great! I brought Lemsip because I sometimes get colds in the heat, is that wierd? Then we get a pack of tissues and some Dettol Hand Sanitiser, because when travelling you can't always guarantee toilets with toilet paper and soap! My sunglasses are from New Look, and I keep them in a case I got with another pair from Dorothy Perkins. Last of all, keys for obvious reasons.

 

What did you take around with you on holiday?

5 Things I wish I'd known before Applying to Uni

Guess who's off to Uni in September? That's right, it's me! I'm so so so excited about going, but I thought I would share a bit of my UCAS apply advice!

1) You might change your mind. And that's ok... During the process of applying I changed my mind about what course to do, and what grades I could achieve multiple times, but although it was frustrating, I got there in the end and I'm happy with my choices!

2) Go to Open Days, like now. I waited till September and it meant I had loads of open days in quick succession. The sooner you look, the sooner you can make decisions, and the sooner you can get your application sent off!

3) Start your personal statement over the summer! I did a bit over the summer, and I really wish I'd done more. Just a couple of hours to get a first draft done, would've stopped some of the stress in the Autumn! It's really, really worth it.

4) Do your best to stick to your school's deadlines, but if you can't, don't worry. Deadlines are there to make sure everyone gets it done in time and as stress-free as possible. However, they are usually months before the real deadline, so I didn't need to worry about having problems and hold-ups!

5) Get help! I'm genuinely not sure what I would've done without my form tutor. She gave me so much advise on what to write. Teachers help students get into uni every year, so they normally know what they're doing. Friends and family can be helpful too, especially when it comes to checking spelling!

Good luck, you can do it, and do your best not to stress!

Lots of love,

 

MUA Nail Polish Review

Right now I'm so so so excited for summer. It's only less than 2 weeks till I go on holiday so I thought now was the time to clear out lots of the old gloopy nail polishes and buy a few new ones! And to add to all that excitement Superdrug have 3 for 2 on ALL nail polishes and accessories...

*squeals excitedly*

And I love what I found! I bought NYC's Raindrop, but honestly in my opinion the MUA ones stole the show. I've loved their polishes for a while now and their lilac colour was pretty much my late spring early summer go-to polish. But now, they have brand new packaging! I'm such a sucker for anything with nice packaging... The old packaging was slightly clumsy and awkward to use to apply with, especially for a slightly clumsy person such as myself! But the new? So much better, it's classic and pretty, and looks quite classy really!

 

So here's the old packaging...

Next up, the actual product... I love the colour range, though I'd love to see a few more classic colours, and my picks yesterday were "Pistachio Icecream", a beautiful mint colour, and "Natural Days", a girly peachy pink. They needed two coats as they are slightly transparent, but once they're on, they last really well, even without that top coat I always forget! Nail polish usually chips on me within a couple of days, but not these, their polishes I've had previously have lasted me up to 5 days! Impressive.

 

Here's the new!
Left: Pistachio Ice Cream, Right: Natural Days

They do sadly dry out within 9-12months but if I was you I would get down to Superdrug right now, 3 for 2 on nail polishes that only cost £1 to begin with, you can't really go wrong.

Have you tried any?

Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Review

Hellooo Bloggesphere!

 

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be back blogging right now. I've missed it so much. but I had to take a break during exams. But now they're over, it's officially summer time! Anyways, I have a product I really want to rave about, so here we go...

 

The picture does go with the review, promise!
 P.S. that's me in the black dress!

I had my sixth form leavers ball a couple of weekends ago, and really wanted to have tanned legs to go with my dress. Being a fake tan virgin, I was pretty much petrified of looking like I'd had a love affair with a giant pack of doritoes. Last summer I heard about Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Spray, so I thought I'd try it out this year, and I really like it!

 

I was originally drawn to it because it, being well... me, I was really worried it would go wrong, so it was great to know it washes off! But secondly, it doesn't come off too easily and I know that sounds like a contradiction, but no one wants to end up leaving orangey smudges everywhere because they've got a bit sweaty dancing!

 

 

The application was easy, just spray and blend with your hands. It dried at the perfect speed, not so fast that I couldn't blend it in time, but fast enough that I could put clothes on straight afterwards! My only complaint would be that the can didn't spray evenly, but I would of blended it anyway so that wasn't really a problem.

 

But as for the colour itself, it looked entirely natural! I bought the shade tan glow because it was the middle colour, but what I really loved was that it made my legs look healthy and the colour was buildable. It also minimalised the imperfections on my legs which I've felt really self-conscious about for years. Wearing it gave me so much self-confidence to brave bearing my legs and I'm so glad I bought it!

 

This is one I'll definately be using again for special occasions in the future.

What's in my Prom Clutch?

Hey girls, it's time for another Prom post!

 

This year, as I'll be finishing Sixth Form *sniff*, I'll be having my second prom! I'm really excited for this one, because I feel like I can make this time even better by learning from my mistakes last year.

By mistakes I mean - cheerleading in the morning and getting kicked in the face; hello little purple lump! Oh and trying a new face mask which irritates your skin!

 

So here is what I'm going to bring in my clutch this year! This started off as a "Top 10 things to take to Prom" but I had a couple too many.

 

 

1) My Phone. So I can take photos with my friends, but most of all so I can call people if I get  lost going out after!

 

2) Tissues, because I tend to blubber like a baby. If anyone dares talk about never seeing each other again, you can guarantee I'm going to be needing these!

 

3) A Mini Mirror, because if I cry I'll want to make sure my makeup looks alright after!

 

4) Lipgloss/Lipstick, so I can keep my lips made-up all night! Also any other makeup, concealer or powder etc,

 

5) Gum, no one likes smelly breath, even without a date!

 

6) A Hairband, if you get too hot it might just be very handy. Hairpins too.

 

7) Some kind of tablets. No one wants a headache to ruin prom.

 

8) A bit of cash, because you never know when you'll need it.

 

9) Your I.D. if you're old enough to drink (and I am) it would suck to not be allowed into a club or to buy a drink like all your friends!

 

10) A perfum sample. It will leave you feeling fresh and nice, even if you're dancing your derriere off on the dancefloor!

 

11) Plasters. Not matter how much I wear heels in, my wide feet always get blisters on my baby toes

 

12) Last but definately not least I'd bring Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream. It works on everything. Chapped lips, unruly eyebrows, patches of dry skin.

 

From the amount of items in this post I'm not sure if I'm super-prepared, or just crazy (honestly, I'm probably both!) But either way, they did fit in my clutch just about!

 

Anyway, what will you definately be taking to Prom?

 

I'm on bloglovin' :)

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Zingy Lemon Salad Recipe!

A couple of days ago, when my brain was entirely drained by revision (story of my life right now), I decided to make lunch for my mum and I.

I wanted a salad to be healthy, but I wanted to do something slightly different to your usual green salad, so here's what I came up with!

You will need; Some kind of lettuce (mine was a mixed bag but some basil leaves sounds nice), Sweetcorn, A few cashew nuts (optional), Bread, Olive oil, A clove of garlic, Ground pepper, Lemon juice

First of all, turn on the oven to a medium heat. In a baking tray, tear a piece of bread into pieces. Finely dice a clove of garlic and add to the tray. Toss it all around in some olive oil, and place in the oven to bake for roughly eight minutes.

 

Whilst that's cooking, cook some sweetcorn and leave it to cool! (I cooked it in the microwave to be quick)

Wash your lettuce and then toss it around in some lemon juice (to taste, takes a bit of trial and error to suit it to your taste buds!) I also ground some pepper over it at this point.

 

 

Serve the lettuce into bowls or onto plates and distribute the sweetcorn on top. I threw a 5 or 6 cashews nuts on top to give the salad a little more substance, and then topped it off with a lots of the croutons from above!

 

I found this salad super yummy, but not as filling as I would of liked, does anyone have any ideas of how I can make it more filling, but not unhealthy?

Products I've Repurchased Haul!

I've done a bit of shopping in the last little while, so I thought I'd tell you what products I've repurchased. I love these kinds of post personally, because I think it says a lot about a product when somebody loves it enough to want to buy it again!

So here's what I've bought... First off Simple Kind to Skin Replenishing Rich Moisturiser (long name, huh?)

This is my every day moisturiser and I love it because although it is highly moisturising on my very dry skin, it sinks into my skin fairly quickly. It leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth, but slightly tacky so provides a great base for foundation etc.

 

I also ran out of the moisturiser I use at night... Olay Essentials Beauty Fluid. I love this because although it is high street priced, it feels rich and luxurious on my dry skin. It makes my skin feel soft, smooth and healthy. Although it's supposed to be for the daytime, I feel it would be too moisturising used on my skin in the daytime, but it is perfect for me overnight as it leaves my skin feeling great even when I wake up the next morning.

 

In terms of hair products I bought some more Baptiste Dry Shampoo. I've had a couple of different scents in the past and I've loved them, but this time I went for the XXL volume one as I love volume in my roots, especially because I have lots of thick, heavy hair!

 

I also bought Schwarzkopf's Got2Be Guardian Angel heat protectant as it smells lovely, doesn't weigh my hair down or make it greasy, and protects it from heat damage (obviously not entirely, I doubt any do that!)

 

It was 3for2 on hair care products so I bought some Loreal Elnette Hairspray, because I'm pretty sure I'm gonna run out of hairspray this summer with proms and weddings etc! I hadn't bought it before so I can't really say much about it, but I thought it was worth mentioning, even if all you've learnt is that boots have lots of offers on!

 

I also bought another Collection (formerly Collection2000) Lasting Perfection Concealer. I actually bought this a month or two ago, but I haven't started it yet so it counts, right? Every time I think I'll have to start the new one, I find a bit more product inside the old one... It's pretty much the Tardis of concealers! I've mentioned this concealer lots before (I'm a bit obsessed!) but it really is a great, affordable concealer. Creamy in consistancy and full in coverage!

 

 

So these are the products I've repurchased recently, what's your "I want to buy it forever and ever" product?

How to Clean your Makeup Brushes - without spending a fortune!

Cleaning makeup brushes is very important. Makeup brushes can be a breeding ground for bacteria, but at the price of around £10 for most brush cleansers, it's no wonder so many of us don't bother!

 

But a while back I discovered a way to clean my brushes at roughly a couple of quid a bottle! The secret is using Baby Oil and Baby Shampoo.

You can find each of them for around £1

Why both? Well firstly, there are two types of ways to clean your brushes. The first is spot cleaning; a way to remove cosmetics from your brush quickly after use, so you can use it again rapidly. The second is deep cleansing; a way of removing all the dirt and bacteria. Experts say we should do this after each use (and that's definately the case if you're using them on clients!), but I just try and do it as often as I think of it (which I wish I could say was a bit more often!)
 

 

So how do you spot clean a brush? It's really simple. Put a few drops of baby oil onto a piece of kitchen roll, and rub the brush around in it! The oils will break down the colour and cosmetics in your brush, so you don't have to worry about getting left over green in your purple eye shadow!
 

 

Now onto deep cleansing, which is a little bit more time consuming (especially if you have a lot of brushes!) but really simple and easy too. Step one is to put a little dollop of baby shampoo on your hand and swirl your brush around in it. Baby Shampoo is far better than normal shampoo as it is far gentler, so won't strip your brushes of their natural oils. It's also great as you are unlikely to get an allergic reaction from it, you do put the brushes on your face after all!
 

 

So once you've shampooed the brushes, it's time to rinse... I like to do this in a little pool of water in the sink (I do have to change it fairly regularly!), however you could equally just rinse it under a tap. You may want to repeat the shampoo and rinse process for foundation and concealer brushes as they tend to be particularly messy.

Once rinsed, pat your brush to remove excess water, and place on a tray covered in a teatowel that's been placed slightly at an angle. (I propped one side of the tray up with a tub of body scrub!) This will allow the water you've inevitably got into the metal joinings of the brush to drain out instead of staying in their to rust! Rememeber to make sure all the hairs are lying in the correct direction, you don't want them to look like porcupines! Then all you have to do is wait for them to dry. I usually leave them overnight and that's enough for most brushes.

Yay for ugly old christmas themed teatowels?

I really love doing this as it makes me feel all lovely and clean when applying my makeup, and I also find the process of cleaning them wierdly theraputic!

Why don't you give it a go!

Prom Dresses for your Body Type!

Today I want to continue my Prom Mini Series by talking about Prom Dresses for your Body Type!

If you don't yet know which your body type is, then lucky for you, I blogged about it a couple of days ago... (you would almost think I'd planned this!)

Being a bit of a pear myself, working out what suits my body type has been a long and sometimes painful process for me, so I hope I can help someone else with it!

Below I'm going to show you a few dresses (all from ASOS just to try and keep things simple), and for each one I'm going to explain which body types it's likely to suit and why.

So without any further ado... bring out dress number one!

 

 

Now ignoring colour and the detailing, look at the shape of this dress - strapless with a puffy skirt. This style is perfect for those of you who are apple shaped, as the sweetheart is flattering on larger busts, and the skirt will create hips, balancing out your figure. Other body shapes will work with this dress, but be warned pear shaped girls, this dress will emphasise the width of your hips!

This is another one for you apple ladies as it doesn't cling to your stomach, and shows off your lovely slim legs. It's also great on those with a tomboy figure too! The floatiness of this dress (floatiness is totally a word!) will create movement and fluidity creating the illusion of fuller hips.

 

 

I love this dress style on lots of body shapes as it's fairly universally flattering. However this style dress is particularly flattering on pear shapes, as the horizontal stripes broaden the appearance of your bust size, and the vertical stripes lengthen the lower half of your body.

 

 

Now this is a great dress for pear shaped girls who love floaty feminine styles. Firstly it will broaden your shoulders with the wide straps. The black belt is at the perfect place to nip you in where you are smallest. The skirt is also great as it will float over your hips, but doesn't have much netting to emphasise their size! However this dress will totally work for the majority of body shapes.

 

 

If you don't mind showing off your back, this is a great dress for those curvier girls (for example pears and hourglasses), as the long length will make your legs appear longer. It will also make your bum look good! ;)

 

So there you go... There were about 101 dresses I could have picked as styles for each body type, but in the end, regardless of your body type, you have to find out what works for you!

Good luck prom dress shopping!

 

What's my Body Type?

It's going to be prom season soon, and that probably means time to buy a dress if you haven't already! 

So I thought that now is the perfect time do a mini series about prom dresses! I want to start off by talking about "Prom Dresses for Your Body Type", however for that to be of any use to anyone, you need to know what shape you are first! So just in case you don't know which body type you are, I'm going to explain them to you!

There are four common body types amongst women, and each has different characteristics. But before you read please remember that every woman is different, and your shape may not always be obvious as you can be a very subtle or a very bold form of a body type!

The Rectangle/Banana/Tomboy

If you have this body type your body will tend to go straight up and down, without pinching in much at the waist, and your shoulders and hips will be of equal width. You may also be slightly lacking in the boob and bum department, however this is not always the case.

P!nk is known for her petit frame, and crazy haircuts!

The Hourglass

Similarly to the Rectangle, your hips and shoulders should balance, however the key difference between these 2 body types is the difference between your hips and waist. You have more noticeable curves, and often a larger bum and boobs to match! You are likely to gain weight on both your stomach and hips/thighs.

I just love how classy Beyonce always looks!

The Apple

You shoulders are wider than your hips and you gain weight around your stomach. You are likely to have large boobs, but long, slim legs. It's very likely that you won't have a very defined waist.

Nadine Coyle from Girls Aloud - her legs go on forever!

The Pear

The majority of british women are this shape. You are likely to have larger hips and slimmer shoulders, you should have a large difference between your hips and waist, and gain weight largely on your hips too. You're likely to have a larger bum (did someone say ghetto booty?) and smaller boobs.

I love, love, love this dress. Oh, and JLo!

So there you go, body shapes explained! Work out which you are, and get ready to find a prom dress which compliments your shape!