At the start of the year I found myself in one of those moods where I just wanted to have a massive clear out in terms of my dressing table. I admit I was hoarding an unrealistic amount of skincare that I knew I wouldn't use anymore, and a lot of eye shadow palettes that were sitting away being unloved and unused.
Instead of getting rid of the palettes I don't use anymore, I decided to pass these to people who I knew would use them and love them. Which means I have found room for some of the palettes I'd been keeping my eye on, without feeling guilty for having a ridiculous amount of palettes not being used enough.
The first one I've added to my collection is one that has actually been in the beauty industry for a long time now and it is the Jeffree Star Blood Sugar palette. This is a palette where I just didn't know whether to take the plunge or not, it has a lot of extremely good reviews but I just didn't know if it was worth the price point. Then Christmas rolled around and I thought I would ask for it as a present and now I am the proud owner of a cult classic palette from Jeffree Star Cosmetics.
Another palette that follows a similar colour scheme is the Urban Decay Naked Cherry, and I am a huge fan of Urban Decay shadows anyway and own almost all of the palettes so I felt like this was something that I would eventually pick up even if it wasn't right now. But I love the colours in this palette and until this and Blood Sugar palette entered my collection, I didn't have a huge variety of pink toned palettes that were a formula I liked to use.
One that I have owned for a couple of months now but haven't had too much of a chance to experiment with is the Morphe James Charles palette, which just caught my eye. I told myself I didn't need it and I wasn't going to buy it but I just couldn't help myself seeing it in person, this palette has everything and I can't wait to start playing around with this and using all the different colours.
The last palette and the newest to the collection is the Sosu x Keilidh Cashell palette which is the perfect palette for a natural eye look, but also has pops of colour for those who want to add this into their looks. The size of the palette is great as well, and I'm excited to start using this and see what I can come up as I have seen so many different looks being created with just this one palette.
A couple of these palettes I have used a few times, a couple of them I have yet to test out but I'm sure I will letting you all know how I get on with them once I've given them a fair test run. Have any of you tried these palettes? Love, hate, gimme your thoughts in the comments!
Oh, 2018, what a strange year you were. I feel as though the year taught me a few different things and so to start the New Year, I thought I'd share them with all of you.
1. Saving is Better Than Spending
After a pretty spendy Christmas on myself, friends and family, I've decided to reign it all in, and start to think about saving more than I'm spending and just having more control over what I'm buying and making certain things more of a treat. I'm starting to set the boundaries of what I need versus what I just want. And I feel like this is a lesson that everyone can take on board, cause as much as people like to spend, I also like to know I have some money put aside ready to set my future up.
2. There's No Better Time Than Now
This almost leads in to my last one, so I had already decided as soon as Christmas was done that I wasn't spending anymore money. And it made me think, why do people wait for a new year to start before they decide to start changing things? If you really wanted to change something, it's something that you could change at any time and shouldn't just be because of the New Year.
3. Set Yourself Realistic Goals
If you are someone who likes to set resolutions, that's completely fine but I've always found that sometimes it's better to set yourself an end goal for the year, instead of trying to change too many thins in your life at once. And always make sure that the goal is a realistic one as it's something that you want to be able to say you've managed to achieve 12 months later.
4. Everything Does Happen for a Reason
I wouldn't say I've ever been someone who doesn't believe this, but I've always been sceptical of it, just due to the type of person I am. However, I feel like 2018 has it's ups and downs and it really did show me that sometimes things have to happen in your life for you to be able to move on and make changes, and it usually always works out for the best even if it doesn't feel like it at the time!
5. Sometimes You Have to Put Yourself First
It's okay to have some time to yourself and be selfish from time to time, how are you supposed to look after the people around you if you don't give yourself time to look after yourself? I feel as though the last year has showed me that I need to take more time for me and just put my feelings and self care first more often because at the end of the day, you're the most important person in your life.
6. It's Okay Not To Be Okay
Over the past year, I feel like this has a been a phrase that has been drummed into people and it really is true! The last year has been one of the most testing years for me in terms of who I am as a person and where my own head is at, and it truly makes you realise you don't know mental health until you live it. I can safely say, I'm glad I took the courage to do something about the way I'd been feeling and can say it's made almost every aspect of my life so much better, including my job, relationships and just how I feel about life in general.
I hope you've all enjoyed this little read, and hopefully I'll be back soon with another one! Let me know what kind of goals and resolutions you are setting for yourself in 2019!
As summertime rolls around in the UK, it means that my face only gets oilier and trying to keep foundation in place becomes a pretty big task! But I have found a foundation that works so well for me and it is such a good price (I'm already on my second bottle).
I'm sure most of you have already heard of the Maybelline 24 hour Superstay foundation and if you haven't tried it yet, what are you waiting for? At only £9.99 a bottle, I'm quite happy to repurchase this and wear it all the time! I use this foundation for a day at work and it lasts in a very hot and greasy environment, but I will also use this for a night out or events because it just looks so lovely on the skin! Despite this being a very full coverage foundation I find that it looks so good on the skin and never cakey at all!
This foundation has a soft matte finish to it, but it is not in anyway drying on the skin which is great for all day wear, as it it not uncomfortable and I do feel as though it stays matte on the skin for me which is always a bonus! As someone with oily skin, I do always go for a matte foundation over anything else, but I also feel like this foundation would work so well on dry skin, just because it never clings to any dry patches I have even after a days wear!
Even though it is a matte foundation, I do set it with either the Laura Mercier powder or the RCMA No Colour powder as I would with any other foundation, and both of these seem to work really well with this one and keep it matte and on my face all day!
The only downfall with this foundation is that it could have has a bigger shade range as I feel like there isn't a huge variety and I struggled to find a shade light enough for me until they released the shade 103 which works perfectly me! And I do know that my hand looks rather tanned in the photo but my face really isn't as tanned as that!
I know this is only a short post but I thought I'd just let you all know about the new foundation that I just can't seem to put down! Let me know if you've tried it and what you think!
I'm always so used to writing about all my favourite products as a collective, and so I thought that I would break it down and just write about my favourite palettes. So here's a mix of eyeshadow, contour and highlight palettes that I love and use all the time!
The first palette I love using is one of the newest ones in my collection I think, and it's the Urban Decay Naked Heat which I must say might just be my favourite out of the Urban Decay palettes! As someone who wears a lot of warm brown and orange tones on my eyes, this palette has everything that I love! And as all the other Urban Decay palettes, the pigmentation is amazing but it's still so easy to use and blend no matter how advanced you are with eyeshadow!
A brand that I continue to love is Anastasia Beverly Hills, and I have a few palettes that I continuously use from them! The first one is their Pro Series Contour Kit and I have mine in the shade light/medium which does work well for super fair skin although they could bring out a few fairer shades I think! I don't tend to use the banana shade in this because it just doesn't work for my skin, but the middle contour shade is the perfect colour for me, and the highlight is so subtle and pretty! If you haven't tried this palette, I would highly recommend to anyone who is into contouring and highlighting.
Another palette from this brand is a cult classic, and I feel like it would be wrong to not include it, as I can't imagine not having this and of course its the Modern Renaissance palette! This is the original eye shadow palette that everyone has and loves and if you don't own it yet, you need it! Filled with warm tones (which we all love) but you have the lovely pops of colour that can spice up your eyeshadow look! This is a palette I could definitely take travelling and not need anything else!
The last palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills is the newest to my collection, and this is the Sugar Glow Kit and as someone with super fair skin, highlights for my skin are difficult to find! And I bought this one mainly for the paler white and pink shades but I've found that the other two shades also work so nicely on my skin and can be doubled up as eyeshadows so I do get my wear out of all these shades! But they all have a lovely buildable formula and so I find that I can this for day time wear or night time wear, and they all blend in to the skin so nicely!
The last two palettes I have to talk about are both from Morphe which is the brand that just blew up on social media and everyone seems to love them! The first palette is another cult classic and this is the Morphe 35O which everyone and their dog owns! And if you don't own this, you probably should, because it's something that can work for everyone, it's filled with all the warm tones you could want from a palette! All the Morphe shadows I've tried have been incredible for the pigment whether its the matte or shimmer shades, and all the shadows are so easy to blend and this palette is no exception, and there's definitely a reason that this palette is always sold out!
And the last palette I have to talk about, is possibly my favourite out of all of them, and this is the Morphe x Jaclyn Hill which was unbelievably difficult to get hold of and still is! But it's the one palette I take everywhere with me because it's got all the warm brown tones that I love, but its also filled with an array of colours to brighten up any look, and the shimmers in this palette really pack a punch so I don't feel like you can go wrong with this one! I also love the first two pale shades in the palette as they make such an incredible for on the face as well as the eye!
Do any of you own any of these palettes and love them just as much as me? Or do you have any palettes you would recommend me picking up, I'd love to know in the comments!
As someone who loves to wander round beauty aisles, I thought why don't I share what things I currently have on my beauty wish list for the drugstore?! Because who doesn't love a bargain when it comes to beauty, and I feel like the drugstore brands have really stepped their games up recently and so here's some things I've been eyeing up recently!
To begin, I need to mention the concealer that everyone has been raving about and this is the Makeup Revolution Conceal and Define Concealer and this has been duped for the Tarte Shape Tape which I do love but if you can get the same thing for more than half the price, who wouldn't give it a go? This has been so high in demand though and so I have been struggling to find it in stock anywhere in my shade, but as soon as I find it, it will be the newest addition to my collection and I'll let you know how I find it!
Keeping with the brand Makeup Revolution, for a long time now I've really wanted to pick up the Makeup Revolution X Soph Eyeshadow Palette but it wasn't stocked in the store closet to me! But as someone who is a lover of the warmer tones, this is the perfect drugstore palette because you do get all the nice warm tone browns (which everyone loves) but you do also get some pops of colour in there! And this is something that I'm really trying to incorporate into my makeup and so for £10 I really do need to pick this palette up!
Next is a brand that constantly seem to out do themselves and there is a few things I'm really wanting to try out from them, and this brand is L'Oreal! The first product is one that I seem to be struggling to find anywhere and this is the L'Oreal Crushed Foil Highlighter which is has been raved about by anyone who has it! And I mean, I'm always looking out for new highlighters and when you can get them for a reasonable price from the drugstore, it would be silly not to try them!
Another product from this brand is one that has been around for a very long time now and I just never ever pick it up but always think about it, and this is L'Oreal True Match Foundation. Now I feel like everyone has tried this and I'm yet to find someone that doesn't like it, but for me I just thought it was maybe too hyped to begin with but I'm starting to feel like I should give it a go. Plus I'm always on the lookout for a new foundation, this could be a new favourite!
The last thing from L'Oreal is a skincare item and I feel like I'm constantly trying out new skincare because of having such problematic skin. However the L'Oreal Smooth Sugars Clear Scrub sounds like something that could work really well for me as it would help to clear my skin of impurities but it also exfoliates the skin and as someone with combination skin, I feel like I am exfoliating regularly and so this would be an all rounder product for me! And it can be used a lip scrub as well as on the face which is always a bonus!
The next product I have really wanted to try for a long time now is the Physician's Formula Butter Bronzer and the only reason I haven't tried it is because of the brand not being in the UK. However, I have found a few places that stock it and so I think this might something I'll be ordering soon! This is a bronzer I've seen so many people rave about and I think it's supposed to be light enough for all us fair girls out there! Plus it smells divine as well from what I've heard!
The next two products are both from NYX and this is a brand that I always want to try out but isn't stocked in stores near me so I never want to just order things online without testing them out! The first product is the NYX Eyeshadow Pigments as I've been really enjoying cut creases lately and I just feel like pigments give such a good colour payoff in comparison to regular shadows. There's also a really large colour range so I feel like I could just go a bit crazy!
The final product on my wishlist is the NYX Highlight and Contour Pro Palette which is another product that has been around for a while now. But already owning the Anastasia Beverly Hills one, I just couldn't justify this as well, but I've seen how well it works for so many people and if I can find a cheaper alternative with more colours, it would be crazy not to try it, right?
What have you all got sat in your wishlists at the moment? Or do you own any of the products I've mentioned in this post? I'd love to know in the comments!
