Review: Green People Moisturiser and Deodorant

Another part in the journey of entering the world of organic and ethical beauty. I've actually tried a Green People product before, which I liked but didn't like the packaging. I've kept an eye on the brand and was delighted to get an email from them (it was actually for someone else, but I've replaced them in the role, you can see the piece I wrote at the end).

I have two products to talk about today: the Day Solution Moisturiser* and the Natural Deodorant*. And I think they're both great!

Christmas Gift Guide: Stocking Fillers

Let's pretend this went up on Friday, ok? 

This was the hardest category of all the gift guides. I've never had to make up a stocking for someone and haven't had one of my own since I was 18. I think the best thing to do with stockings is get one "expensive" present (that isn't really that expensive) and bulk out the rest with chocolate and oranges and some little practical presents. Some of the best stocking presents I ever got were the ones that had a purpose.

Video: Brand Focus on Neal's Yard Remedies

Taking a momentary break from the Gift Guides to alert you all to my new video. I was really kindly given some products by Neal's Yard Remedies and invited to the Windsor store for a look around and a massage. The Windsor store is celebrating their 1st Birthday from 4pm-9pm on Thursday 18th December and everyone is invited, so please go along if you can.

Christmas Gift Guide: Beauty

This week is Christmas Gift Guide Week, along with a dose of regular posts. Today I'm looking at what to get from the beauty world.

Beauty gifts are among some of my favourite gifts to get, and give. I love being able to pick out products that I think people will like. Here are some of my top picks of beauty related presents.

Christmas Gift Guide: Children

This week is Christmas Gift Guide week, along with a dose of regular posts. Today I'm looking at what you should get the children in your lives.

Children are usually fairly easy to buy presents for. It's common decency to not get any musical instruments without express permission of the parents. However, it can be difficult to stand out from the mound of plastic commonly foisted upon kids come Christmas morning.

Christmas Gift Guide: Parents

This week is Christmas Gift Guide Week, along with a dose of regular posts. Today I'm looking at what you should get your parents.

I find my parents so hard to buy for. Most of the things they want they buy themselves, or I have no idea what they're talking about. Here are some ideas I've come up with after thinking about it a lot

Christmas Gift Guide: Friends

This week is Christmas Gift Guide Week, along with a dose of regular posts. Today I'm looking at what you should get your friends. 

Christmas present shopping is hard, trying to come up with ideas for everyone on your list and make sure it's all arrived in time is stressful. Hopefully I'll be able to give you some ideas with these gift guides.

How Not To Dye Your Hair

If you've seen my most recent video then you'll know that I recently made the transition to "full blonde" from ombre look I was sporting before. And it went  a bit wrong... Here's the story of my hair.

The 'One Week In' Review: Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

I've called this the 'One Week In' review because that's how long I've owned the product. I thought this could be a good little mini-series where I give you my not-quite-first impressions of a new thing. First up, a new foundation.

Body Shaming

As I really enjoyed writing my post on Feminism and Beauty I thought I would do another opinion piece, because I have a lot of opinions.

Unrelated pictures of birds because I couldn't think of anything else

Feminism and Beauty

This post is inspired by several things. The first is Gemsmaquillage's video on Feminism, Makeup and Advertising and the second is Sali Hughes' book Pretty Honest. I was going to a video of my own but I realised that it would probably turn out to be rambling mess so writing everything down in a post is the best way forward.

Review: B. Foundation and Mascara

Today I'm reviewing two products from one brand. The B. Flawless Foundation and B. Louder mascara. You can get B. from Superdrug (I believe it's own brand) and it's got quite a large following, particularly because it is not tested on animals. Animal testing is very touchy subject in the world of beauty, and is not one I am going to be talking about in this blog post.

How to save your face after you've been crying

We've all been there, you've spent the last half an hour sobbing your heart out, you look in the mirror and all your carefully applied make-up is half way around your face. Here's some quick tips of how to help rectify the situation a bit.

Review: Benefit They're Real Liner

I've written a few 'controversial' blog posts in the last year or so. Mainly showing my dislike of products that are considered 'holy grail' by others. This time, I'm declaring my love for a product that others have disliked.

When Benefit were offering their deal of taking in an old eyeliner to get a free sample of They're Real Liner I was at my local Boots before you could say 'free sample'.

Review: La Roche-Posay Anti-Blemish System

It's a well known fact that I am a big fan of La Roche-Posay, especially Effaclar Duo both in its original and revamped formula. So when they offered to send me their new Anti-Blemish to try out I jumped at the chance.

Video: Anniversary Get Ready With Me

Quick bonus post to alert you to my newest video.

All the links to the products are in the description bar! Hope you enjoy.

What's on my desk?

I love having my own desk. It's a space that's mine. I can be as messy or as clean as I like. Although, if another person asks if I got a pink one so my boyfriend wouldn't use it I shall despair at society's ideas of colour, and point out I wanted the green one, but IKEA didn't deliver it. Anyway, rant aside. I love my desk. It's the IKEA Micke desk, I picked it because I can add extensions and units to it as and when I want to. It's a good size, easily fitting my laptop and bits of paper on. The fact that it has the splashes of pink on means that I don't have to worry about painting it, and breaks up the white.

Review: Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy

I hadn't bought any nail polish in a while and just couldn't resist. I seem to have an need to buy things in green or blue right now and 'High Stakes' fitted the bill perfectly. Colour Envy is billed as gel-like polish. You don't need a base coat, just two coats of colour and a Diamond top coat. What I quite liked was there was no promise of it lasting a certain amount of time so I didn't get my hopes up for it lasting a week.

FOTD: Two Year Anniversary

I shared my Anniversary make-up look last year, and I'm doing the same thing again this year. It's been two whole years since Karl and I got together. This year we celebrated by going on an adventure to Windsor Great Park and having a wander. My feet still hurt which probably shows I need to up the exercise quota.

Painting IKEA Furniture: Melamine

Leading on from the post about painting wood, today I'm talking about the trickier substance of melamine. Not being a fan of the pure white look of it, we decided to add even more colour to our rooms. The shiny surface of melamine can make it difficult to paint because the paint doesn't want to stick. Here is how we managed it. I didn't take that many photos as we went along this time so no fancy slideshow!

#GiveItAGoDaily New Trends

No video this week, but I'm going to be talking about some new trends. The Boots Review Panel is a great thing, you register, give them some details about yourself and then wait for things to arrive on your doorstep. Best of all, it's free.

It was through this that I was sent one of the 'Give It A Go Campaign' boxes. I have box one, I'm not sure how many there are or whether you can purchase the boxes themselves. The products contained within however are all readily available.

My boyfriend cut my hair?!

No, this isn't some new tag, the sequel to the 'My boyfriend does my make-up' one. Although, if you want to do this, I'm not stopping you.

My hair was well over due a trim, and with money being tight this month I came up with a crazy plan. I'd hand my boyfriend a pair of scissors and get him to do it. Things to be noted, my boyfriend is not a trained hairdresser, he's an engineer, which meant I could at least trust him to know what a straight line look like. And while we were fiddling around with hair I decided we'd dye it as well. Because why only take one risk at once right?

Review: Revlon ColorStay Concealer

I am a concealer junkie and spend my life hunting for the perfect one. The Make Up Forever Full Cover concealer comes close, but is a little on the expensive side. I have an on/off relationship with the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer and can find it a little drying for my skin. The Nars Radiant Creamy concealer has a great consistency but mine is running out. With all that in mind when I saw Lily Pebbles' post on the Revlon ColorStay concealer I knew I had to give it a try.

5 Ways With: Urban Decay Naked Palette

I love my Naked Palette. I've got so much used out of it since I got it and it's easily my most reached for one. For today's "5 Ways With" I thought I'd demonstrate 5 looks you can get out of it...cue weird close up pictures of my eyes. Sorry.

 

Cushion Wishlist

This might seem a weird thing to have wishlist for, but hear me out. Cushions are the easiest way to brighten up any room, and are interchangeable for the different seasons. We have a few at the moment that I made for us, as I think that cushions can be a little overpriced. So this is part wishlist and part inspiration for my next DIY.

Video: Hair Care and Styling Routine

Following on from Tuesday's talk about shampoo's I don't like, here's some things I do like. I got my hair cut and dyed at the weekend (more to come on that) and now it's much shorter I'm styling it differently. Well, I'm styling it.

Surviving a Long Distance Relationship

You might have realised if you've been a regular reader of this blog over the last few weeks that I recently moved in with my boyfriend. This brought to an end a very long period of long distance, around 600 days. Not that I was counting. With it being the time of year when people go off to university and cosy at-home relationships suddenly find themselves many miles apart I thought I'd impart some advice of my own.

Review: The Shampoo Edit

Today I am reviewing not one, but two shampoos. As a bit of background my hair is extremely thick but does lack volume at the crown, it's bleached at the ends and gets greasy very quickly, with added sensitive scalp. I also hate washing it, so anything that keeps it clean for longer is good.

The two shampoos (and technically one conditioner) up for consideration are: Dove Oxygen Moisture and L'Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Caring shampoo* and conditioner*. I should probably mention that I am very picky when it comes to shampoo and rarely buy the same one twice.

OOTD: Black Milk Clothing

Contrary to popular opinion, I firmly believe that leggings are pants. Once you've invested in a few good pairs of nude seamless underwear (M&S always) then you're good to go.

Today, I'm going to talk about Black Milk. They're an Australian clothing company who began making awesome leggings and now make awesome leggings, swims, bodysuits, skirts, dresses, t-shirts, bomber jackets.....etc. I bought my first pair way back in 2012 and have been obsessed  ever since.

Painting IKEA Furniture: Wood

IKEA furniture comes with a certain 'look' and for some people, that's the look they want and that's fine. But we felt that being in a rented flat with plain walls and little manoeuvre in terms of decorating that we might has well do what we could to add some colour into the rooms.

Before...

The steps to take are fairly simple, and don't actually differ much between various surfaces, but I will be covering melamine in a later post. Overall, this didn't cost us much at all to do.

Video: Make Up Collection and Storage

Following on from yesterday's post, here's a video that goes in to a bit more detail about how my make up collection is organised.

Make Up Collection and Storage

An interior design post appearing on a Wednesday? No, this isn't a scheduling error, this post links to tomorrow's video so keep an eye on my YouTube channel for that.

I don't have the largest of collections compared to some collections and storage videos and posts out there. But what I do have is a very little flat and needing to share space with my boyfriend. I felt I couldn't take up the whole of the top of the chest of drawers, but also I couldn't get a huge piece of furniture to store everything in.

Review: Make Up For Ever Full Cover Camouflage Cream

Possibly the longest product name ever in the title there....

I'm finally getting round to reviewing the main purchase from my Sephora trip in France, the cult MUFE concealer to give it its shortened name. This is what I wanted to get, and I was so excited to find it. And gutted when I got home and realised the colour was slightly off...

In the Navy

When I was around 15/16 and we could finally wear make-up at school (although, I'd been doing it for years by then) I used to ring navy blue eyeliner around my eyes. I used a colour from a Front Cover kit and their shadow line which turned any eye shadow into a liner. And actually worked quite well.

I'm usually seen with a more neutral lid going on, but occasionally I like to wear a pop of colour. But this time the brand of choice is Sleek.

No Storage? No Problem: What's in my bathroom?

This is the first of a series of little tours around different areas of our flat. Starting in the bathroom. Originally I was going to make this a video, but it was so cringe worthy and awkward I figured a post would do.

Our bathroom has no storage. At all. So getting something to put everything in was top priority after we'd moved in. It took us ages to find the perfect thing though, eventually we settled on this from Argos. It's definitely more substance over style, but it more than adequately serves its purpose. Four huge drawers ready to be filled with mostly my stuff as my boyfriend's idea of a skincare routine is soap and Vaseline body moisturiser.

Here are some photos of it in situ, the others are all taken in the sitting room as the light is better in there.

The British Tag: Scotland V England

Today's video had a special guest in the form of my boyfriend Karl. I've seen a lot of British tag answers go around and a lot of them have struck me as very London-centric. So I thought it would be good to get the opinion of someone who is from about as far away from London as you can get.

The top of the UK (basically)

Moving Into Your First Flat

This isn't technically the first time I have lived away from home. While a student I spent two years in halls of residences and a year living with friends in a house. But living away from Mum and Dad when not a student is different.

First of all you have way more freedom about your space. We were never allowed to make holes in the walls in my student days, but we are here. Plus, unless you live in a house share, the whole space is yours to do with as you wish.

Review: Eyeko Skinny Liners

I had high hopes for the Eyeko Skinny Liners, they get a lot of love from people and are heavily backed by Alexa Chung. Personally, I'm a big fan of felt tip liners, I know some people aren't but I find them really easy to use and work with.

A couple of months ago Glamour magazine were giving away a free Eyeko Skinny Liner with each copy, I got two copies to try both colours. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that impressed.

The New Schedule

The start of a new month is always a good time to start something new. This September, for the first time since I was 4, I'm not starting a new year of education. And that feels a bit odd. 

What I am doing though is throwing myself into this blog and a Distance Learning course I'm doing (because I can't not be learning something, even if it isn't at school). So here's the schedule you can look forward to for the next couple of months.

Current Favourites

A new video appeared on my channel this week. It's the first one in my new place so it was an interesting experience trying to find somewhere with suitable lighting. 

I'm back!

Hello and thank you for your patience while I was away moving things in and out of boxes and up and down stairs. I think for the sake of my parents' backs I am only going to live on the ground floor after this. Or hire professionals for the heavy lifting.

I'm moving!

First of all, apologies for having an unannounced week off. I had a minor foot op which knocked me for six, more so than I was expecting. Oh, and I'm moving house.

I've never actually properly moved before, my parents moved when I was six months old and we've been here ever since. I lived away whilst at university, but that's not really same. Now I am packing up everything and spending too long looking at the IKEA website. I'm not the tidiest of people, but my life looks like this:

and it's stressing me out.

A new Scottish love: Arran Aromatics

For those that know me in real life the fact I seem to be slightly attracted to things from North of the border is no surprise. My boyfriend was born and brought up in the Shetland Islands, James McAvoy is my favourite actor and I wear a lot of tartan for someone who lives an hour and a half away from the South Coast of the UK. Therefore, it seemed only natural that I would like Arran Aromatics. I've actually spent a small amount of time on the island as part of school trip when I was in Primary School. If you've never been then I'd recommend it, I'd love to go back one day.

Things that I bought on Holiday

I've spent the last two weeks in France. Where it wasn't really that sunny. I did a little bit of shopping while I was there. I'm a huge fan of French Pharmacy Skin Care. Their pharmacies are full of goodies and loads of brands. Some products you can get hold of here, some you can't. As you can see I bulk bought Serozinc. 

Review: Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

Make-up sponges were thing that only the pros used, the ones available for the public were those white triangles you could get in a big set from Boots. Then the Beauty Blender came a revolutionised it all. I couldn't quite justify the price for one, but I could afford the Boots points I spent on the Real Techniques version - the miracle complexion sponge. After a few weeks of using it, I think I've worked out what I think.

Brand Focus: BareMinerals - an unexpected make-up love

 

As I mention a lot on here, I’ve struggled with bad skin since my really early teenage years. I did think that by the time I was 21 I’d be blessed with wonderful skin that was clear everyday. Unfortunately, that doesn’t yet seem to be the case. While I wait for that to happen I spend my time searching for solutions and ways to cover up redness and lumps.

Mineral make-up gets a lot of hype by some, but I’ve never brought in to it. I mean, how much coverage can powder give you? Oh how wrong I was….

Travelling Beauty Tips

This post goes live whilst I am sunning myself on holiday (hopefully!). I've done a little bit of plane travel in the last few months as well as my fair share of long car and train journeys. Here are my top tips taking everything and still having some space to buy more.

5 Ways With: Bright Lipstick

I don't really have one 'signature' lipstick, but I love wearing bright lipsticks. I probably own slightly too many, but I don't think there's any such thing.

In today's '5 Ways With' I'm going to show you my 5 favourite brights. I do prefer matte finishes over glossy, but there's a mixture in this selection.

Boot Haul number something-or-other

So, I am well aware that one of my recent posts was me declaring that I was going on a spending ban and was only allowed to buy one thing. Remember that? Well this isn't me massively failing, it's me remembering that I had a ton of Boots points, so all of this was free. Thanks past me!

Review: Eucerin DermatoCLEAN Micellar Cleansing Fluid

I was lucky enough to take part in Escentual's #micellarblindtrial last year. As a follow on from that I was given a chance to try out the new kid on the block.

French pharmacy skincare took the beauty world by storm, most notably with Bioderma, and now the Germans are getting in on the action too. Eucerin was started in the late 19th century (History degree coming in use here) by a pharmacist, a dermatologist and a chemist. Which to me sounds like the perfect group to start a skincare brand.

Pizza Making

A little break from the norm here. After last weeks foray into fashion, today I'm focusing on food.

Homemade pizzas have become something of a specialty for my boyfriend, and they taste pretty good, even if I do say so myself. This video was mainly a bit of fun and editing practice, but hopefully some of you will find it useful.

Graduation Make-Up

When this goes live tomorrow will be my graduation. Culmination of three years of hard work happens at half past three on a June Friday. I've been contemplating different make-up looks in my head for longer than most people would consider normal. This is the look that I'll probably be going with. I might switch up the lip colour, I haven't decided yet. Is bright pink too much? I wanted something that looked fairly natural, photographed well but still looked like me. After much umming and ahhing this is what I have come up with.

5 Ways With: A White Shirt

Today I'm starting a new blog and YouTube series called '5 Ways With'. This video started off life as a lookbook, but then I realised that almost all of my outfits involved this shirt. Basically I'm going to be showing you my favourite ways of wearing or using something in groups of five. Perhaps '5 Ways With: Bright Lipstick' up next?

It was a bargain buy from Primark sometime last year, but I have seen it in there recently. Most places do their own versions of the white sheer shirt though. I'm wearing it here with a bandeau underneath to prevent things being too see through.

Baggy trousers and 100th post

Today's post is a bit of a milestone. I have reached my 100th post. I didn't really think I'd get this far when I first started, but I'm delighted that I have and I can't wait to write 100 more.

On a slightly similar theme, today's post is also on something I didn't think I'd ever do, and that's wear baggy trousers. Ever since I first discovered skinny jeans aged 12 or 13 I've rarely been seen out of trousers that look as if they have been painted on. I've gone through phases of Topshop Jamie Jeans, American Apparel Disco Pants and now I'm absolutely loving Topshop Joni Jeans.

Lip Product Addict Tag

As someone who is a self-confessed lipstick obsessive this tag is perfect for me.  It was quite hard to narrow down everything, and I did fail at only picking one for some of the questions.

I enjoyed filming this tag. What other ones should I do?

I got to play around with some editing techniques for this video so I hope you enjoy it. Also, I definitely don't recommend the Boots Double Faced Oval Cotton Pads, as you'll see from the Bloopers!

Lush hauling and a beauty ban?

A post of two halves today. I'm going to begin by showing you my latest picks from Lush and then introduce a project I'm going to be doing for June/the foreseeable future.

I went to Lush to pick up a gift (not shown, obviously) and get a sample of Grease Lightning. While I was there I picked up some other things I'd had my eye on.

What's in my bag?

For all you nosy people out there who like watching relative strangers pull their belongings out of a bag then you're in luck.

I have the Zara Mini Office City bag, because about four other people's 'What's in My Bags?' told me to buy it. I also have the larger Office City bag for when I want to carry a lot of stuff about, but I just found it slightly too large for everyday usage. If you'd like to see a comparison video/post on the two then let me know.

Making my own lip balm

Today's video is a little demonstration of making my own lip balm. I was given the kit by one of my friends for my birthday. It was great fun to make, and I'd love to make more at some point.