11 pieces of life advice for 2016

AS IF 2015 is basically over! I wrote a facebook status earlier about how the only thing I've managed to achieve this year is how to wing my eyeliner and it kinda just made me want to write on my little, accidentally abandoned blog.  I did actually learn how to wing my eyeliner but I also learnt a lot of life lessons.  Saying that, I go from a thinking I'm on top of the world, completely in control of my life, basically Beyonce kinda person to wanting to be 9 years old again. Life, you're really weird. 

So while I'm waiting for my fake tan to dry, here are eleven things you can do in 2016 that will make you a happier you:

1. Always trust your instinct - 99% of the time you will be right. 

2. Be happy you're an adult - you're allowed to have chocolate for breakfast and nobody will question you (do it in secret). You can leave your house at whatever time you want and nobody will tell you you can't. THERE'S LITERALLY SO MANY PERKS TO BEING GROWN UP. 

3. Be more forgiving - it's silly to hold a grudge. It's even sillier when you miss the person you're holding the grudge over and I bet they miss you too. 

4. If you like someone, tell them - life is too short for games unless they're Scrabble or Cluedo, obvs. Just be real because at the end of the day, you've really got nothing to lose. 

5. Give a conversation your full attention - I'm so guilty of having my phone in my hand 24/7. I'm making a conscious effort to stop what I'm doing and put my phone down when somebody speaks face to face with me because lets face it, that person isn't going to be in the world forever. 

6. Be thankful - always always always be appreciative of what you do have. There's always someone in a worse position than you. Be thankful even when you've just applied fake tan, have eaten some cereal, tried to drink the rest of the milk out of the bowl, have dribbled milk down your chin and it's new years eve and now your tan is going to be patchy (thank you, God). 

7. Don't expect people to understand what you're going through - whether it's a family member, friend or person you've just met, some people just can't relate and that's ok. Don't hold it against them. 

8. Act on impulse - everyone thinks this is a bad thing but if you want something in the moment, you want it. If you don't do it, you're left thinking 'what if'. If the thing you do on impulse is wrong, you've learnt a lesson. There is literally no down side. 

9. It's ok for a girl to make the first move - we live in a world where a boy can get criticised for holding a door open for a girl (erm, what?) but a girl won't text a boy first? Girl, you text him and then text him again when he doesn't reply, then phone him and then leave him an angry voicemail. Joking, but seriously, do text him first. It's refreshing and exciting. 

10. Be happy for people - when everyone is getting promotions, getting engaged and having babies and you've only just accomplished the perfect water to pot noodle ratio, it's easy to be bitter. DON'T BE BITTER. Be happy for them because that will be you soon. You just need to wait your turn. It's not about competing in life. 

11. Love yourself - anyone else singing Biebs right now? Seriously though, you're you. Nobody else can be you and nobody else will love you more than you love yourself. This sentence confuses me a bit but I think it makes sense (please tell me it does). 

Hope 2016 is the best year for everyone! 

13 things that only girls who are obsessed with makeup will understand

1.  You have to make a conscious effort not to let your jaw drop/eyes widen when your friend doesn't know what contouring is. 

2. When you swatch a lipstick in Boots and fall head over heels in love with the shade only to get home to realise you actually already own it. Oops. A backup never hurt anyone though, right?!

3.  You might already own 30 highlighters but this one is just different, OK?!

4. When you ask your sister if you can borrow some makeup wipes and she gives you a single wipe. ONE WIPE?! You think it took me an hour and a half to apply a wipes worth of makeup? Get real, sistaaaa.

5. You spend most days tired because you stay awake until ridiculous AM screenshotting hot girls' makeup on instagram. 

6. You actually want to cry when your MAC lip gloss starts smelling like vinegar and you have to throw it away. Sob. 

7. De-cluttering your makeup collection is the worst time of your life. YOU JUST LOVE EVERYTHING! 

8. Your MAC lipsticks are like your children. Literally. 

9. Your boyfriend edges away from you when you go to cuddle him because of those 2048293 times you ruined his t-shirt with foundation stains. Sozza. 

10. You don't even blink when the cashier in Debenhams tells you your makeup purchases are £237 but you turn around and your mum's fainted. 

11. You go into Superdrug with the intention of buying a deodorant and tampons and come out with 6 lipsticks, 3 nail polishes, 5 bronzers and a beauty blender. 

12. When you spend two hours on your makeup and finally master the perfect winged eyeliner to then find out it looks horrendous in photos. Camera, why you deceiving me?!

13. You can't properly focus on the story line of any film/tv show because you're too busy trying to work out what shade of lipstick your fav character is wearing. 

REAL TALK

Hiiii! Remember me? 

I've not blogged for almost four months. FOUR MONTHS. That's like, 120 days. It actually makes me feel a bit sad and a bit mad but the only person I can blame for the lack of posts is myself.  I think when you don't blog for a long time, it's harder for you to get back into it.  Even now writing this post, I've written and deleted about 20 sentences - it's almost like I've forgotten how to string a sentence together! What's even harder is when you stop reading blogs too which obvs I have done because I go from one extreme to the other - there's no in between with me! I feel completely out of touch with the whole blogging world. I've even stopped tweeting which is odd for me as I think twitter is my fav social media site ever - actually maybe second after instagram. 

I didn't think it was right for me to delve straight in with a normal post like I haven't even been away because that'd just be weird wouldn't it? Not just for all of you but for me too. I feel like I needed to write a bit of an explanation post although I'm not sure this is an explanation post it's kind of just me writing my feelings down and hoping you understand (please say you do).  

I started writing this little blog when I couldn't cope with my anxiety. I wrote it so I had something that was mine to focus on. I've always loved writing and I've loved makeup for as long as I can remember so it just made sense! I remember how excited I would get when I'd stay up late writing a post and refreshing the page constantly on my phone to see if it had got any comments.  I remember reaching 10 followers and feeling like the most popular blogger in the world. I remember the first time a company sent me a product to review and feeling so proud that they cared about my opinion. I miss that. 

I'm not going to lie, I have thought that maybe I should just give up on Glitter and Carousels now. I would question whether this blog is really any good and whether people enjoyed reading it. I'm one of those people that compares themselves to everything and everyone. I'm never content with being me but I'm working on it because the only thing I really want out of life is to be happy.  I mainly have these thoughts while listening to James Bay's sad songs so maybe I should just quit him instead.  

When I really think about it - I don't want to give up on this blog! I know I don't have a massive following but 900+ bloglovin' followers is craaaazy for an inconsistent blogger like me! Although I don't want to give up on this blog, I want to take it into a new direction. I want to do more talk-y posts like this one. I want to talk about real life experiences. I want to talk about stuff that other people don't. I basically just want every post to be 100% me. I don't want to feel like I'm writing about things because they'll get a lot of views or because every other person in the world is writing about them too. I also need to be more consistent and sort out designated days of when to post and write posts in advance. 

The worst thing for me is that in January I told myself this year would be the year I'd really make my blog work and put in allllll my effort but it hasn't worked out like that and it's made me feel like a bit of a failure. Still, if at first you don't succeed, try try again...right?!

If you've read this whole post then THANK YOU! If you've followed my blog while I've not been posting then THANK YOU! and lastly, if you've stuck with me this wholeeeee time then a massive THANK YOU. You have no idea how much it means. 

Current Favourites #1

HI! There's a combination of reasons why I don't post about my favourite products every month.  One, I'm incredibly fussy when it comes to products and I don't often find things that I can truly call my favourites! & two, when I find a favourite product, I tend to use it until it runs out meaning that it's my favourite for a couple of months! PHEW, how many times can I use the word favourite? I've wrote it so much I've forgotten it's meaning. Anyway, ON WITH THE POST!

First up is my favourite Primark find this year - a white pineapple candle which obvs i'm never going to burn because it's too pretty! It set me back a teeny tiny £3 and I just love it so much! Primark have totally upped their novelty candle game.

I've actually had the Lauren's Way bronzing lotion since December. I picked it up in two shades - Medium and Dark both in the lotion forms as I find mousse leaves my tan looking patchy. The reason why I'm including the medium tan instead of the dark is because it's just such a natural looking tan, especially for pale girls who aren't wanting the total Essex orange glow. It lasts for around 5 days before starting to fade and unlike a lot of other fake tans, you don't get that scaley tan look.  It is a tad on the pricey side at £15.95 but it's well worth it.

My hair's so long now that it looks a little limp when it's down and I was in a desperate quest to find an alternative to backcombing as that just tends to ruin my hair completely.  I tried just using dry shampoo but it wasn't quite giving me the volume that I wanted so I purchased Batiste's XXL plumping powder. OH MY GOD, I love this product! All you do is sprinkle a little bit of the powder into your roots and massage it in with your finger tips. It's literally as simple as that and you're left with voluminous locks! There's absolutely no trace of the powder too, it massages in completely. For £3.99, I don't know why you wouldn't want the plumping powder in your life.

There's a funny story about the Vera Wang Love Struck perfume. I actually bought this months ago but lost it whilst tidying my house! I was convinced my boyfriend had thrown it out and even made him root through the bin *insert sick emoji here* and erm, then I found it in a box of products to review under my bed. AWKS. I'm not going to lie, I bought this perfume for the bottle - seriously, look at it! It's so princessy and beautiful but the scent is amazing too. It's very fruity but has a subtle hint of vanilla. I've got a feeling I'll be wearing this a lot over Summer.

I don't think you can buy either of these necklaces in shops anymore but for some reason, I've been trying to find excuses to wear one practically everyday! I just love the way they can transform an otherwise plain outfit and will make you feel all fancy when you're wearing it. The mint green one was from New Look and the blue one was from a little outlet sale so I have no idea where it was originally from.

I can't get enough of fresh glowy makeup at the moment so I've been reaching for a highlighter almost every single day.  I've fallen head over heels in love with the Makeup Revolution vivid baked highlighter in 'Golden Lights'. I love the way it glows on your skin and the fact just a sweep makes a difference.  It's also a really nice product to layer and build up to your desired amount of glowy-ness and it stays put all day! You literally could not ask for a better product for £3.

I feel like I can't stop talking about Seventeen! Every single product of theirs completely appeals to me and I just want EVERYTHING! Seventeen's Mirror Shine Lipstick in 'Barely Blush' has been my lipstick of choice this month purely because of the colour. I don't think I own any other shades as natural looking as this. It's quite sheer when applied but you can also build up the colour if you want to.

My final fav is Models Own's Pink Fizz nail polish. I have a bit of a problem with wearing certain glitter polishes in the Summer as I think they look quite christmassy. With Pink Fizz, I feel comfortable wearing it in any season with any colour of nail polish. It always looks good! It's my fail safe, back up glitter polish without a doubt.

What's your current favourite product?

The Body Shop Banana Shampoo and Conditioner

So this is a little bit of a delayed post considering I actually received the Body Shop Banana shampoo and conditioner as a gift at Christmas! At £4.50 each for 250ml of product, they're not exactly the cheapest hair washing duo around but as you don't come across banana scented products all that often, my heart just wanted them.

My first impression was that the banana scent in the bottle wasn't as strong as I'd hoped.  It actually reminded me of a banana milkshake that I always used to have at a cafe which was mixed with honey. You can really smell the honey in this product so if you're not a fan then steer clear.

The shampoo doesn't lather much at all. I always think products aren't working properly when they don't lather much so that was a little disappointing, however, once washed off, my hair did feel squeaky clean.  The banana scent is a lot stronger once you get to massaging it into your scalp, it's heavenly.  I'm lost for words regarding the conditioner, there's really not much to say about it at all. It's truly average.

Once I'd dried my hair, the banana scent had completely disappeared and there was no noticeable difference to my hair. Obviously it looked clean but there was no extra shine and it wasn't easier to manage etc.

I am glad I tried the Body Shop banana shampoo and conditioner purely for the scent but I won't be repurchasing this duo ever again.

Have you tried any of the Body Shop's shampoo and conditioners?

10 things to do to prevent a panic attack

Anxiety is something that I suffer with on a daily basis and will probably live with for the rest of my life.  I used to get panic attacks quite frequently but after having anxiety for around 9 years, I've learnt quite a lot of techniques to distract myself when I can feel them coming on. Panic attacks are horrific, by far the worst thing that has ever happened to me and I know how scary it is especially when it's your first one and you have no idea what it is. These techniques work for me so I'm really hoping you'll be able to find at least one that works for you too!

•  Go outside - focus on the clouds and the outdoorsy sounds around you.  It'll help you feel less trapped and the change of scenery will distract you. 

• Think about how many things you've already overcome - often when we get panic attacks we feel silly and half of the time we're not even sure what we're panicking about! Just lie down and think about all the other panic attacks you've had and all the great stuff you've achieved in life. This panic attack will not win, you can beat it. 

• Pinch yourself - I know this sounds ridiculous but this is actually the most effective way for me to stop a panic attack from coming on! Whenever I start feeling a little odd, I'll either pull a strand of my hair or pinch myself - not very hard but hard enough to feel a little bit of pain. It stops my mind from panicking and puts it on to the physical pain I'm feeling instead. 

• Tweet about how you're feeling - there are tons of supportive people on Twitter who can relate to exactly how you're feeling and will offer you so many words of wisdom when your anxiety is at it's worst. It'll make you feel 10 times better knowing you're not alone.

•  Paint your nails - This is a pretty difficult task to do when you can feel a panic attack approaching, you might be shakey and it'll take serious skills to paint your nails but stick with it because you'll be using 100% of your concentration meaning that that pesky panic attack is going awaaaay.

•  Quotes, quotes and more quotes - I have a whole load of quotes I stole from Pinterest saved on my phone. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I'll read ten or so and they'll instantly improve my mood. 

• Ring someone who understands - this is one for when you're alone! Don't ring a friend who doesn't understand anxiety and will just tell you 'you're fine' and to 'stop worrying'. Ring someone who's suffered with panic attacks before, just knowing they're at the end of the phone will be a comfort even if you just spend the whole of the phonecall crying.

• Rescue Remedy - My mum introduced me to the Rescue Remedy pastilles but it also comes in a spray. I tend to keep a tub of the pastilles in my bag for when I'm feeling particularly anxious. There isn't any sort of medicine in Rescue Remedy, it's all natural ingredients so I don't know how it works but it does! 

• Get more sleep than usual - I know it's all well and good saying go to sleep earlier particularly if you have trouble sleeping because of anxiety but a good nights sleep will make you feel calmer and more rational.  I tend to notice my anxiety is at it's worst when I lack sleep.

•  BREATHE! - Make yourself a cup of tea, hot chocolate or any other drink that takes your fancy and sit yourself down on the sofa and breathe. Breathe in and out until your heart stops racing and after a couple of minutes you should feel a lot more relaxed.

I really hope these tips were useful to you, please let me know if they are! Do you have any other tips for dealing with panic attacks?

A peek into my week #4

HELLO! I haven't done a post like this in ages and since I actually did something other than work this week, I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity!

I went to TK Maxx yesterday (Saturday) and picked up this floral to do list pad complete with a little clipboard. I thought it came with a pencil but the pencil is actually a pen - totally fooled me. I did originally go in for some pretty notebooks with quotes on but there weren't any unfortunately, still, £4.99 for this little baby isn't too bad.  I also bought the pink Tangle Angel brush from TK Maxx for £7.99.  I love my tangle teezer but it doesn't have a handle so I'm hoping this is basically a tangle teezer with a handle?! I'll let you know when I know.

On Tuesday evening, my boyfriend and I went to see Derren Brown. We hadn't planned to go but his Mum had tickets and decided she didn't want to go so we jumped at the opportunity! I've watched Derren a few times on tv and was a little scared I'd get hypnotised and majorly embarrass myself but thankfully I was fully in control of my mind! There were two parts to the show - one where Derren would correctly guess words people had written down, guess what type of Quality Street random people in the audience were eating, he even ate glass and also convinced a lady to do the same (wtf!).  The second part of the show was all about healing, everyone had to stand up, close their eyes and imagine exactly what Derren was reciting (something about being on a beach and feeling the sand in between your toes and seeing the best you walk across to you). A handful of people claimed their aches and pains had miraculously disappeared and Derren obviously guessed which part of the body the pain had disappeared from.

I did enjoy watching Derren but I definitely wouldn't pay a lot of money to go again.  I don't believe he has special powers, more like a really good psychology degree. It just goes to show if you think something, you really can do it! Your mind is the most powerful thing in the world.

I took my first trip to Prezzo's yesterday as my boyfriend had converted our Tesco clubcard points into Prezzo vouchers. It's actually a pretty amazing deal - £2.50 worth of clubcard points is worth £10 in Prezzo vouchers! I'd definitely recommend doing it if you love eating out or fancy a little treat. 

I have to say, I do have a cold at the moment so I don't know if the food tasted better than I think! For my main meal, I had the Fusilli Gorgonzola whilst Andy had the Calzone. I thought mine was pretty average - pasta, chicken, really hard(!) broccoli, ham and leek but Andy's calzone was so nice, I definitely picked the wrong meal! For dessert I had the chocolate fudge cake with ice cream whilst Andy went for the honeycomb smash cheesecake. Both desserts were really good but I'm just not sure I'd ever pay full price for a meal at Prezzo's!

The most exciting part of my week was the return of Pretty Little Liars, eeeeek! I'm not going to write anything about the actual episode as I know a lot of people are still just making their way through series 1-5. All I'll say is that I hope this really is the season of answers because I have SO MANY QUESTIONS! I mean, do the producers even know who A is because it's hurting my head. If you want to chat all things PLL, follow me on twitter @glitzcarousels and we can DM all day long about it.

I used to live in Scotland and I fell in love with cheesy macaroni much to my Mum's disgust as she hates the stuff. I found it in Farmfoods for £1 so naturally snapped up a few boxes! I just absolutely love this, it's quite orange once cooked and tastes so cheesy and artificial. It sounds so unappetising and I guess it is so I can't really explain why this is the most delicious pasta dish I've ever tasted.

How's your week been?!

Bourjois Instant Dry Nail Drops

I've been a bit lazy with my nails lately. I don't know why but I started to dread painting my nails and instead of painting them around 3 times a week, I painted them about once every two weeks which is shocking if you look at the amount of nail polish I own.

I started to think about why I couldn't be bothered to paint my nails and the number one reason was because the drying time was just far too long. In a bid to restore my nail polish love, I purchased the Bourjois Instant Dry Nail Drops on a complete whim after reading zero reviews on it. I had tried a nail drying product before - Elegant Touch's Rapid Dry spray which I got in a Glossybox some time ago but I hadn't found it to work very well at all which is why I opted for the drops over another spray type drying product.

On first impressions, the bottle is packaging is pretty basic - nothing particularly special or eye catching but what I really liked was the little droplet, it kind of makes me feel like a scientist. The instructions say to add a droplet of the nail drying oil onto each nail after applying your polish so that's exactly what I did! I noticed that the oil also sank into my cuticles and spread quickly so that it covered my whole nail. I thought that the product would have quite a 'chemical' scent but it's completely scent free! It's as if you're just dropping a bit of water on to your nail with a slight touch of grease and although I say grease, the oil does absorb within a couple of minutes so you're not completely greasy.

When a product says it'll dry quickly, I expect it to dry quickly! None of the whole sitting around for 10 minutes just in case it hasn't dried properly.  I put the nail drops to the test and after two minutes brushed the nail polish against my skin. The nail polish was completely untouched, just as I'd applied it and I was pretty excited, I have to admit. Not content enough with that I decided to dig a nail into the polish to see if it'd leave me with any dents and to be honest, there was a slight dent but I definitely expected that since my nail polish had been on for a grand total of around three minutes.

I honestly cannot get enough of this product. For £5.99, I think the Bourjois Instant Dry Nail Drops need to be in every girls nail routine and I'm pretty hard to please so you know it must be good if I say that! Obviously you can't go and open shampoo lids and your Pandora bracelet clip (BEST WAY TO CHIP YOUR NAILS, EVERRRR) but you can do everyday stuff like go for a wee and pull your pyjama bottoms up after just 5 minutes of painting your nails and I think that is pretty fantastic.

Have you heard of this product before?! I hadn't before eyeing it up on the Boots website.

13 reasons why your mum will always be your BFF

It's my Mum's birthday today and unfortunately, I haven't been able to spend it with her thanks to living 230 miles away.  I know it sounds cliche but I honestly didn't appreciate my Mum as much as I thought I did until moving away! I'm not good with emotional stuff so instead of writing a long gushy facebook message (like my sister did!), I thought I'd write a little post dedicated to my Mum that I think a lot of you will also be able to relate to. Here are 13 reasons why your mum will always be your best friend!

1. Whether you want a rant, cry or just need someone to talk to, you can call your mum at absolutely any time for a chat and you know she'll be there to listen.  A chat with your mum will instantly brighten your mood.

2. She will always cook you your favourite meals when you go home to visit and won't complain about having to make multiple trips out to buy forgotten ingredients!

3. You can tell her your deepest darkest secrets and she won't judge you for it.

4. She makes the best cakes. I think Mum's just have a secret ingredient because I can never get my cakes to taste like hers *insert heart broken emoji here*

5. You know that lost MAC lipstick that's been missing for ages? YOUR MUM WILL FIND IT IN ABOUT 0.10 SECONDS!

6. She will give you the confidence to do anything your heart desires, be it an interview for your dream job, wearing that dress you don't think looks good or conquering the world single handedly.

7. When you've got a weird rash on your hand and you don't know what it is, your mum will be able to give you the answer instantly. I mean, she's practically a doctor with the amount of Casualty she's watched in her time.

8. You can sing your heart off in front of her and instead of laughing at you, she'll just join in instead.

9. She would give you her last £1 in the world because she'd rather herself go without than you.

10. She'll support you with anything even if she doesn't necessarily agree with said thing!

11. All she ever cares about is your happiness. She'd never bitch about you behind your back and would put anyone straight if they even tried.

12. She may be double your age but you still have so much in common - perfumes, makeup, clothes & music!

13. Your mum will always be there for you and will be the one person you can rely on for life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

L'oreal Infallible 24 Hour Matte Foundation - Is it really an Estee Lauder dupe?!

After reading reviews that the L'oreal Infallible 24 hour matte foundation was a great dupe for Estee Lauder Double Wear, I knew I had to have it. Estee Lauder double wear is my absolute favourite foundation EVER and I'd pretty much given up hope on finding a drugstore alternative.

L'oreal Infallible 24 hour matte foundation retails at £6.99 and comes in six different shades.  It'd be nice to have a few more shades in the collection as I couldn't find one that matched my skin perfectly. The closest shade to my skin tone was 'Vanilla'. I find the bottle really useful as it tells you exactly what to expect from the foundation - medium texture and high coverage.  I also like the fact it's in a see through bottle so there's no element of surprise when you're about to run out!

I've applied the foundation with a beauty blender and a makeup brush and there's not much difference in the way it applies.  As the liquid is quite light, it blends easily and smoothly.  The only thing I would say is that you need to use a good primer underneath the foundation as it does stick to all your dry patches - sigh!

As for the coverage, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. If it wasn't for me thinking I had the Estee Lauder drugstore alternative right in my very hands, I think I'd have liked it more. I set my expectations waaay too high! Personally I think the coverage is more on the medium side than high.  One layer doesn't cover my blemishes so I tend to apply two unless I'm having a fab skin day.  Once applied, the foundation does look very natural and I do love the way it sits on my skin so I've been wearing this for work during the week. The packaging states that the product should last 24 hours but I'd say it starts to go patchy after around 7 hours.

For £6.99, I would recommend picking this up as it is a nice foundation considering how inexpensive it is but the search for the drugstore Estee Lauder dupe continues...

10 beauty tips you need to try!

A benefit to having a family full of girly girls means that we are always sharing our beauty tips and tricks with each other.  Today I want to share some of my favourite beauty tips with you in the hope that you'll find something new to revolutionise your beauty routine.

• If you've ran out of shaving cream, hair conditioner makes a fab alternative! Silky smooth legs, come at me. 

• Dabbing a tiny amount of toothpaste on a spot before bed will sting for a couple of seconds but you'll be thankful in the morning when it's pretty much cleared up.

• If you fancy a lay in, cover your hair in dry shampoo before bed. You'll look like a grannie but you'll have fresher than fresh tresses in the morning!

•  Cover your brows in Vaseline before plucking. It'll reduce plucking pain and slicks back the hairs making it easier for you to pinpoint the ones that need to go. 

• Mixing your foundation with your primer makes for the perfect application. Trust me and try it! 

•  If you've ran out of eyeliner and NEED that feline flick on your lids, dip a small brush into your mascara wand et voila!

• COCONUT OIL WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. I've written a full post on the benefits of Coconut Oil here. 

• Popping your nail polish in your fridge for an hour will make the application process a lot smoother. 

• A face full of sudocrem may not look sexy but you will wake up with the softest skin ever ever ever. 

• Ever found a beautiful lipstick that you wish was made in blusher form? Sweep your blush brush across your lipstick and apply to your cheeks. It makes an amazing substitute for a cream blusher.

What's your favourite beauty tip?!

Current Favourite Pink Lipsticks

As mentioned a million times on my blog, I'm a huge pink lipstick enthusiast. I'm just instantly gravitated towards them and it's getting out of hand, is there some sort of support group for my obsession please?  I thought it was only right that I blogged about my current favourite pink lipsticks as they're basically all I ever wear!

From left to right; Collection Deluxe Lipstick in 'Speak Easy', Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in 'Elusive', Rimmel Provocalips in 'I'll call you', Seventeen Lip Crayon in 'Playful' and MAC 'Pink Plaid'. 

Collection Deluxe Lipstick in 'Speak Easy' - I actually found this in a bargain bin in Tesco and couldn't work out the brand for a while. At first I thought it was Bourjois then I noticed the little Collection dotted logo on the lid. I snapped it up and we've been best pals ever since (yeah, I just referred to my lipstick as my 'pal', awks). It's a creamy hot pink shade that glides on to the lips with no effort whatsoever! Longevity is around 3 hours which isn't the best but for £3.99, it's well worth a buy!

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in 'Elusive' - This is my current favourite out of the whole bunch. I'm a bit obsessed with matte finishes at the moment and this shade is PERFECT for spring! I've written a whole post on this beauty here if you're interested in reading more. 

Rimmel Provocalips in 'I'll call you' - I think the Provocalips range are a bit of a Marmite situation and as this is featured in this post, obvs I love them.  They're a little difficult to work with but after a few applications you get the hang of it! You pop on the liquid lipstick then seal it with the clear gloss type balm at the other end of the tube. It feels a little drying but nothing a little bit of lip balm won't fix. I love this darker pink shade and it stays put all day, literally ALL day.

Seventeen Lip Crayon in 'Playful' - This lip crayon feels and looks like a light gloss on your lips. It's sheer but buildable so perfect if you only want a little bit of colour but heaps of shine. 

MAC 'Pink Plaid' - Ok so Pink Plaid is my all time favourite MAC lipstick! It's a soft toned matte pink that will suit every skintone going. It lasts around 5/6 hours on the lips which is pretty standard for a MAC lipstick in my opinion. Revlon's Pink Pout is a perfect dupe for Pink Plaid if you don't fancy splashing out on this MAC baby. 

What's your current favourite lipstick?

What's an SPF and why is it important?!

It's only over the past year or so that I really started to appreciate the importance of SPF. My mum would constantly shout at me to slap on the sun cream before I left the house but due to me forever wanting to be a bronzed goddess, I'd ignore her requests and return home a couple of hours later resembling an actual lobster.  Needless to say, I spent so many of my teenage years in the kitchen whipping up some homemade 'cooling cucumber mist' - special thanks to Shout magazine for the recipe.

You'll be pleased to know (you too, Mum) that I've accepted that I'll never be as tanned as Beyonce. I'm now a million percent more cautious when it comes to protecting my skin in those harmful rays. In fact we're all pretty good at slathering our bodies in sunscreen but when it comes down to it, are we taking good enough care of our face?!

I want to start by giving a simple explanation as to what SPF is as there's nothing worse than browsing the skincare section staring at the little numbers on the packaging, getting all flustered and taking a random guess at what you think would be the perfect fit for you.

SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. Sunscreen is used to block out the sunlight's harmful Ultra Violet rays which cause us to age, burn, increase our chances of skin cancer and all that other nasty stuff. The numbers on the package refer to how effective the product is at blocking out UV rays but no SPF will block out 100% of rays.  In essence, the higher the SPF number, the more effective your sunscreen will be, though this isn't always the case as a lot of people don't apply the correct amount of product.

I want to talk to you about some products I was kindly sent by House of Fraser. The Clinique SPF 40 Super City Block retails at £18 which is actually pretty generous for 40ml of product. When it comes to primers and foundation, I can't stand anything sticky. I just had visions of City Block making me look like a greasy ghost (think back to those days on the beach when you were 5 and your mum would apply lashings of bright white sunscreen to your rosy red cheeks! Shudder).

I'm delighted that this product actually has a nude colour to it which once rubbed in leaves a slight, barely noticeable tint to the skin.  My favourite part about City Block is that it feels completely weightless and oil free - result! You can obviously use it on it's own to prevent you from ageing and burning but I choose to use City Block as a primer underneath my foundation. I even use this at work which may sound a bit daft but truthfully, our skin is constantly exposed to the sunlight whether it be through windows, that 15 minute stroll you go for on your lunch break or when you pop outside to hang your washing on the line.

I was lucky enough to also be sent the Clinique Superdefense SPF 20 eye cream which retails at £30 for 15ml.  I'm going to be brutally honest now - eye creams are something I tend to forget about as I never really noticed any difference in my under eye area after wearing them. I've recently been suffering from dark circles though which I never used to get, EVER...does this mean I'm officially getting old? so I was actually pretty excited to see whether Superdefense made a difference.

This eye cream is completely fragrance free meaning that it won't sting your eyes, thank goodness.  For the first time in my life, I can actually see that my eye area is distinctively brighter and my dark circles are less prominent.  All in all, I think this is a pretty wonderful all rounder product...SPF, brightening effect, anti-ageing, suitable for all skin types and fragrance free?! What more could you want in an eye cream?

House of Fraser currently have an offer on where if you buy two full size Clinique products, you receive a free gift! Check out all the Clinique goodies here.

How much do you know about SPF? What are your SPF tips?!

*post in collaboration with House of Fraser*

Current Shower Routine

As I was showering a week or so ago, I realised that I actually loved every single product I was using and instead of putting them all into a favourites post, I thought I'd do a little shower routine post. I change my shower products up every fortnight as there's just so many things I buy and want to try.

I like to re-introduce coconut scents into my life around May as it gets sunnier and I start thinking about Malibu and pina coladas so I picked up the Garnier Ultimate Blends The Sleek Restorer shampoo & conditioner. It's not the first time I've used the Garnier Ultimate Blends range, in fact I think it might be my favourite shampoo & conditioner range ever! Pretty bold statement to make, I know but it's true! The sleek restorer shampoo & conditioners do just that - leave your hair feeling smooth and frizz free thanks to the coconut oil goodness. I'll also let you in on a little secret - they're often half price. BONUS!

Every week or just whenever my hair needs it, I'll use a hair mask. The Aussie deep treatment sachets are usually my go to choice as I've never been disappointed with them. The 3 minute miracle colour deep treatment revitalises dull hair instantly and leaves it feeling super soft. I find some hair masks make my hair look a little greasy but as long as you rinse the product out well, there's no trace of grease with the Aussie treatments.

Now I know this is a little weird but I always use two shower gels. I use Soap & Glory's Orangeasm Body Wash first as I'm a shower in the morning kind of girl and this baby instantly wakes me up! Orangeasm is insanely citrus-y and packs a punch. It's sometimes a little too much for my poor nostrils to handle but I can't help but love how fruity it is.

My new favourite body wash in the whole entire world is Aussie's Shower Smoothie Body Wash. OH MY GOD, it smells like bubblegum and fairies and just generally what I imagine heaven to smell like. It lathers really well so you don't have to use a massive amount but I always do because I can't get enough of the scent.  The best thing is is that the scent also fills your bathroom well after you've finished your shower. If you haven't tried it yet, this is the one shower product you need in your life!

Whilst I'm leaving my conditioner to work it's magic, I'll wash my face with the Rio Rosa Mosqueta cream cleanser. I've written a whole post on this which you can find here so I won't bore you with the details again. I'll just say that it's the perfect fuss free cleanser that leaves you wanting to stroke your face uncontrollably.

I hate moisturising my body. It's so much hassle but I also feel bad when I don't moisturise as I can't deal with dry flaky skin. The Vaseline Spray & Go body moisturiser is the perfect fit if you're a moisturiser hater like me or if you just don't have a lot of time in the morning. It's not spray & go, you do have to rub it in but it is light, smells fresh and is grease free so you can put your clothes on straight away.

PHEW, that was a massive post so congrats if you read all of it!

What's your all time favourite shower product?

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

I've been aware of the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge for a while but after using various bad beauty blenders for the past year or so, I completely disregarded it. It wasn't until my Facebook friend Emily recommended the sponge that I thought I'd finally give in to the hype and pick one up!

I just want to put it out there that I haven't seen this sponge in any different colours. It's not that I don't like orange but I'd just prefer like, pink y'know?! Trivial issues aside, I want to talk about the shape of this sponge.  At first I was like 'EH?!' but then I realised that this is actually very cleverly shaped! The pointed side is used to get in all the crevices and target pesky spots that you want to conceal, the flat edge is great for applying under eye concealer and for just generally smoothing out foundation and the rounded side is for buffing the foundation into your skin.

As I said, I've used a lot of bad beauty blenders in the past and when I say bad, I mean the cheap 7 sponges for 99p off eBay kinda bad so I was keen to see how the 'miracle' sponge would compare to them.  I must say, the very first time I used this I felt as though it absorbed a quarter or so of my foundation but I put that down to the fact it's brand new so you're obviously going to lose a little bit of product as it sinks in to the sponge. The Miracle Complexion sponge is so soft on your skin and blends extremely easily whilst leaving your skin feeling light. You know how sometimes you get that heavy, caked feeling when you apply your foundation with a brush? This is just the complete opposite. The fact that I have no stray brush hairs or just general brush marks is another green tick against this applicator.

I'd say the Real Techniques sponge has halved my foundation application time - it's just so easy! I wish I'd have picked it up sooner.  You can also use the sponge to apply concealer, powder and blusher which is an added extra - almost an excuse to cut brushes out altogether! ;)

For the sake of £5.99, I'd recommend any beauty lover to add this to their collection.

 What's your favourite way to apply your foundation? 

Seventeen Skin Wow 3 Way Highlighter

I've had the Seventeen Skin Wow 3 Way Highlighter for months but for some unknown reason, I'm only just getting round to talking about it! I don't know about you but as soon as the sun is out, my highlighter game gets completely cranked up and I get a bit obsessed with glowy skin.

The Seventeen Skin Wow Highlighter works in three ways - you can use it as a primer or even alone if you're going foundation free, you can mix it in to your foundation for a radiant base or you can simply just dab it on to the areas of your face that you'd like to highlight. For a few months I just used it as a highlighter but for the past couple of weeks I've been mixing it into my foundation and I'm loving the result - an all round glowy complexion that doesn't resemble a disco ball! 

 As you can see, the highlighter is a pretty pearly pink, very similar to Benefit's infamous High Beam.  Be sure to use the tiniest bit when applying as a little goes an extremely long way! You can always build up the product until you've reached your desired glow.

I'm pleased to say that this product lasts all day long which is AMAZING! I never have much luck with my powder highlights staying put all day so I'm putting it down to the fact it's in liquid form.  For 30ml's product for £5.99, I think this is a product you can't afford not to buy. I've had mine around 6 months and I've not even used half of it yet!

What's your favourite highlighter?  You can pick this up from Boots here and there's actually a buy one get one half price offer on all Seventeen products at the moment so you don't have an excuse not to buy it. ;)

PERIOD STRUGGLES

I thought about not writing this post but then I thought WHY THE HELL NOT?! We all get periods (apart from you boys, soz) so I wanted to write about all the period-y thoughts that bless my brain when it's 'that time of the month' (I hate that phrase) in the hope that you'll be able to relate to.

1. You know your period is approaching when you literally feel like you're about to karate kick your boyfriend for interrupting you whilst you're writing a tweet.

2. THE NEED FOR CHOCOLATE HAS NEVER BEEN SO REAL. Literally, give me all the Cadburys in the world and I will eat it. Along with 3 packets of skips, a sandwich, a whole tub of Ben & Jerry's & the rest of that pizza from last night.

3. That moment when you strut up to the Cashier at Tesco with your monthly supplies feeling all confident but then when you realise it's a boy and you've got to make eye contact you get all embarrassed.

4. You suddenly start sobbing uncontrollably because you can't find your new lipstick. Then you realise your mascara's all smudged and it makes you cry even more.

5.  "THIS IS THE WORST PERIOD I'VE EVER HAD!" you scream when your boyfriend kindly reminds you that you also said that about your last 73 periods.

6. That 'am I /aren't I' moment when you're too scared to get up in case there's blood on your seat.

7. You suddenly find yourself giving serious evils to every man you see. YEP THAT'S RIGHT, YOU JUST GET ON WITH YOUR DAY, RANDOM MAN, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT REAL PAIN FEELS LIKE!

8.  Hot water bottles become your BFF and they never leave your side.

9. That feeling when you sneeze and you're genuinely concerned your womb is about to fly out of your vagina.

10 . Your boyfriend goes to touch your boob and you're fully prepared to scream the entire house down. DON'T YOU KNOW THEY'RE SENSITIVE?! GOD!

11. But no matter how much you complain, you're secretly chuffed you've got your period as you're totally freaked that you're contraception will fail you one day.

* Disclaimer - there's totally nothing to be embarrassed about buying tampons, I'm just the most awks person in the world. *

What's on my sister's face

HELLO! Today's post is all about my sister's face! For those of you who don't know, I have two sisters who both have completely different makeup styles and I thought it'd be really fun to feature what makeup they both love on my blog. I'll start by giving you a little makeup-y background on my 20 year old little sis Kirsten aka Kiki aka Kikz aka Rolo (funny story about this name but she'd kill me for writing it). Kirsten has the nicest, long eyelashes and I kind of want to rip them off in her sleep and steal them. Ok, that was too far but seriously, they're so amazing. She's not really one for colourful lips, it's all nudes and pale pinks with a statement eye and bold brows. It's funny because she barely used to wear makeup at all but now she's getting a bit obsessed like me! 

I asked Kiki for her honest review on all of the products she uses and I haven't edited her responses in any way.

Aloe BB Creme in 'Nude' - £36 

This BB cream is really good if you want a natural coverage throughout the day. I'd recommend it for a daily use but its not great for nights out when you want to feel dolled up.

W7 Make up and Glow Bronzing Base - £2.99 

This is a creamy bronzer that goes on easily and lasts through the day and it makes my skin feel soft.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush in '050 Live Pink' - £3.99

It's a beautiful shade of pink and it applies easily with minimal effort. I will definitely be repurchasing this.

'I Love Extreme' Essence Mascara - £2.80

This mascara is way better than any Rimmel one I've tried and it's half the price. I love the thick wand and it covers your lashes beautifully with only one or two coats.

Seventeen Super Lash Liner

I only bought this eyeliner as it was on sale for about £1.99, It's a Seventeen 'Super Lash Liner' It has a diagonal tip so you have to get it at the right angle for it to work but once you do, it goes on easily and pretty much without any mistakes.

Forever Living lipstick in 'Almond' - £16

This lipstick does cover well but the lasting power isn't great.  I haven't managed to find many lipsticks that have a great lasting power yet.  It feels lovely on my lips and I love the nude shade. 

LA Colours Auto lip Liner - £1

The Lip liner is a lesser known brand that's sold locally in my area, its a nude/brown shade that goes on well, again the lasting power isn't amazing but for £1 who can complain?!

Fab Brows in 'Dark Brown' - £20 (not pictured) but you can find a full review here.  This is my make up must have! It was £20 from the Clothes Show Live in December, but can be bought on  eBay now too. When I used a pencil it would take a solid 10 mins to do my brows but now after 30 seconds, I'm ready to go! I couldn't live without it now. MUA Undress Me Too Palette - £4  Finally I used the infamous MUA colour pallet. I'm sure you've all purchased this. I strongly stand by that, it does the job for such a great price!  I pretty much used a mix of most of the colours and experimented. I always start light on the inside near the tear duct then progress to golds and browns then a deep brown for the right corner.

I just want to say a massive thanks to Kirsten for letting me photograph her face and makeup and of course, for her reviews! Please follow her on instagram @kirstenh321! 

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think of Kirsten's makeup look?