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Posted on 4th May 2016

Everyday Makeup Essentials

Hello lovelies! In this post I will be showing you all my favourite everyday makeup essentials. As suggested by the name this is the make up I wear on a daily basis, meaning that it is good value for money, long lasting, and meant for a natural look.

I will be posting these items in the order in which I use them, and writing a short overview on how I use them and why I keep returning for more when I run out.

Makeup Revolution Ultra Face Base Primer

I have only recently started using this primer and I am so happy with it, especially considering that it is only £5! It does exactly what it says on the label: it lasts all day and ensures that the rest of my makeup stays in place. I choose to use primer everyday because it ensures that my skin looks smooth and it therefore allows my foundation to do it’s job and to make my skin look flawless! I was previously using Benefit’s POREfessional primer balm, which admittedly I much prefer as I feel like this is slightly more effective – but at a whopping £24.50 I couldn’t justify buying this again when I ran out last month, I am just too poor 🙁

2. Benefit Boi-ing Concealer

As you can see, this concealer is running very low and I am definitely due to buy some more, which scares me a little as it’s £17.50 EEK but it DOES go a long way, if that’s any reassurance. I got the shade 01 Light because I’m looking a bit pale nowadays (definitely in need of a holiday). I use this product for my under eyes to hide my scary dark circles, and it works better than any other product I’ve ever bought for this purpose.

3. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation

I use this item when I am breaking out (a daily essential for me at the moment because my skin has been a total nightmare… Bloody University). This might seem a bit strange but I only use this product as a light concealer. It’s not too heavy duty and therefore doesn’t just add another layer to my already inflamed spots, which is very important.

4. Rimmel Lasting Finish 25hour Foundation with Comfort Serum

I have always used Rimmel London for foundation – something which I am tempted to come away from in an attempt to be more animal cruelty conscious. So if you have any recommendations for animal friendly foundations which don’t cost the world and still provide great coverage, I’m all ears! Having said that, this foundation is absolutely great! It lasts all day long, even when I’m sitting at the library and touching my face constantly, oops.

5. Benefit Porefessional: Agent Zero Shine Mattifier

This powder is awesome! I realise that this is a tester, don’t worry! This was one of the many goodies which Katie won for us in an Instagram competition, as well as a years supply of Krispy Kreme doughnuts … MmmmMMmmmMmm. This powder has a handy mini-brush inside, which is great for dabbing on problem shine areas. I have combination skin so I only ever use this on my T-Zone, and it stops me from getting ridiculously shiny by the end of the day. Unfortunately I’m running low on this one too so I’ll have to invest in some more very soon!

6. Eylure Brow Pencil

I have never thought to use this brand before, simply because I have never come across it. But one day before going to the gym with Dan my Anastasia Beverly Hills brow whiz pencil broke AHHHHH so we had to make an emergency trip to Tesco (yes I am that bratty). I’m really picky when it comes to brow pencil because I find that most blonde pencils come out looking quite ginger/brown. Knowing this, I asked one of the lovely assistants at the beauty counter which she would recommend, and this was what she came up with! Due to my emergency I was ready to pay any price, but this was amazing at only £5.45. SOLD! & amazingly, this is almost as good quality as ABH. I will definitely be buying this when money is tight.

7. Rimmel London Exaggerate Liquid Eyeliner

This product is an absolute GODSEND. I have done a thorough review and how-to on this product here – this will provide you with the tools on how to wing your eyeliner like me!

8. Benefit BADgal Waterproof Mascara

Another cheeky little item from the Benefit win (thank youuu Katie!). I used to always use Rimmel once again for mascara but this has totally converted me. When this runs out, which will unfortunately be fairly soon, I’m going to give the Benefit Roller Lash mascara a go because I have heard MANY good things!

9. Lush Popcorn Lip Scrub

I love this product ever so much. It makes my lips feel so soft and sumptuous and totally primes me for any lipsticks which I want to wear. It also helps that this lip scrub tastes AMAZING. I used to have the cola flavoured one and tried this one on a whim, but in fact I much prefer this one. Yummyyyy.

These are a few of my faaaaavourite things. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that I’ve given you a few new beauty products to try out!

Do you have any questions about my morning routine? Have anything to say about the products I use? Can you recommend me some of the great products you reach for? Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think – I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for reading. Don’t forget to follow me on my other social media accounts.

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Posted on 29th April 2016

Colour Run Lincoln 2016: Why I’m Glad I Tried Something New

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great week despite the freak British weather. We’ve had rain, sun, snow and sleet… What is going on?!

This post is a bit different from my usual, but I just HAD to write about my amazing experience at the colour run last weekend! In this post I will be showing you millions of photos and going through what you can expect from a colour run, and why you should take a big step out of your comfort zone and give it a try!

When we booked our tickets for the Colour Run, I didn’t really know what to expect; but one thing which we could all agree on was that we would take part for fun, and probably not run the entire thing. After all, I hadn’t run competitively before and I was concerned about injuring myself. Although 5k probably isn’t very far to most people; I absolutely LOATHE running, purely because I’ve never been very good at it. I always try to stay in shape and healthy because of my PCOS in order to keep on top of my weight, you can find more information on this condition on my previous posts, here and here.

If I’m honest, we totally forgot about the Colour Run up until the week before: I blame this on dissertation stress! So naturally we hadn’t trained AT ALL. The closest thing I did to training was that I managed staying on the bike at the gym for 30 minutes; a new personal best for me. But I didn’t do this with The Colour Run in mind admittedly. But regardless of our lack of preparation, the day finally came and we were all really excited to get messy!

With the purchase of our tickets we received a really nice Colour Run t-shirt and our own running number to wear on the day as modelled on the morning by myself – before being absolutely covered in paint! But thankfully I did manage to get all the paint out and it is like new – so I have a lovely souvenir to remember the day by!

Pssst. I’m wearing my coppery eye shadow look from my Makeup Revolution Flawless Palette!

On the day of the event, we were really worried about the weather as it was forecast to rain randomly throughout the day and the wind was incredibly cold.

But luckily, although the sun was popping in and out throughout the day, it was warm enough to just take a light jacket and to wear shorts! – I really didn’t want to have to wear my nice gym trousers.

We arrived an hour or so before the event so that we could buy paint and soak up the atmosphere before getting messy!

The only issue I had with The Colour Run was quite a doozy – no locker rooms or bag holding areas were made available. Obviously we wanted to bring our phones, jackets, drinks, and money at a bare minimum. Considering that they were encouraging us to purchase more paint, you’d think that there would be facilities made available for us to store our possessions safely and out of harms way – but apparently not. So we were forced to strap our boyfriend’s up with backpacks. They weren’t all too happy with that, I’ll just say that much. But our argument stood – a handbag would be much harder to run with than a backpack (CURSE YOU WOMEN’S FASHION).

We were waiting for quite a while before the paint party kicked off, but that was because we arrived so early! It was quite chilly but they had a live DJ who kicked off the party and kept us in good spirits.