Fab Brows Brow Kit

I never really understood the importance of brows up until a couple of years ago.  My eyebrows are so fair and I used to pluck them to the point where it looked like I barely had any at all! At the Clothes Show last year, I spotted a stall called Fab Brows and was intrigued by the product. The lady on the stall gave my Mum a demo and they looked great so I gave in and purchased a kit for myself.

On first impressions when opening the palette, I felt a bit miffed that there was only a little bit of product considering I paid £20 for it but a little goes such a long way and I reckon it'll actually last me about a year.  The kit contains three stencils - Slender, Pure and Exotic, the powder and a double ending brush. 

If you're like me and can't match your eyebrow shapes no matter how long you spend trying then you're in for a real treat! The stencils allow you to have perfectly matching brows in around a minute. You hold the stencil to your brow, take a little product and brush it back and forth making sure all the skin and hairs are filled in and voila, they're complete.  I use the stencil 'Slender' as I'm not brave enough to embrace a thicker brow just yet!

I picked the shade 'Light Brown' as it's what's recommended for dark blonde/light brown hair.  The kit comes in a variety of other shades so there really is an option for everyone.  As you can see from the really bad photos above, Fab Brows make a huge difference compared to my natural brow and for me, it makes my face feel complete.  Fab Brows lasts all day and longer if you don't remove your makeup before bed (tried and tested) and I'd definitely recommend them for someone who struggles with shaping their brows. 

I haven't been able to find an actual website for Fab Brows but I have found the kits on eBay here for £17.50 - bargain if you ask me!

Honey Trap Lip Balm

I've never really suffered with dry lips unless I've been seriously run down but lately I find myself waking up with dry lips multiple times a week.  Vaseline doesn't seem to be cutting it and neither do my Maybelline lip balms so I decided to splurge on something that a lot of people rate highly - Lush's Honey Trap lip balm.

When I say splurge, I mean I spent £5.75 on this tiny pot of product which to some, is probably nothing at all but I think that's quite pricey for a lip balm!  I do love the packaging. It's simple and compact and makes me feel as though I've got a product that's homemade although the lid was a bit tight to get off at first but after a few uses, it's fine.

I'd liken the product itself to butter as it's just so smooth! If you've been out in the cold, the lip balm will harden and you'll have to rub your finger over it a couple of times to warm it up but it's a dream if it's been kept at room temperature.  I love the way Honey Trap sits on my lips, it's not greasy and it sinks in straight away. It instantly gets rid of any dryness and keeps my pout hydrated for most of the day.

I still can't decide whether I like the scent or not! You can smell the honey quite a lot and a slight hint of vanilla but I just can't make out the white chocolate. I've asked a few people to have a sniff and one said it smelt like paint and another said it smelt like polish - haha! It's not an unpleasant scent but it's overwhelming at first.

Overall, I'd say Honey Trap is well worth the £5.75 I paid for it. I'm hoping it'll last me a while as I've been applying this multiple times a day for a week or so now and it doesn't seem to have gone down at all.

Have you tried a Lush lip balm before?

Crazy things I did as a child

Me hating getting cuddled, me hating getting my photo taken with a moustache that my brother had kindly drawn on the photo and me hating Santa.

After reading Corinne's post on her Irrational Childhood fears (click here to read it, it's hilarious), it got me thinking about crazy things I thought and did as a child.  You're all going to think I'm mental as I honestly have no explanation for any of these things!

1. I believed I was a super hero.  You know when you squint at street lights and the lights sort of, get bigger? I really don't know how to explain it but basically I thought that was my super power. I didn't tell anyone for so long as I wanted to keep it to myself in case they were removed. Looking back, why on earth would that be my super power?! The mind boggles.

2. I had an imaginary friend and I can still remember what she looked like. I used to blame everything I did that was naughty on this imaginary friend but then one day, when my sister was born, she moved house and I never saw her again.

3.  I was once at my Grandad's house with my Aunty and Uncle and we were ordering pizza. I saw there was a £20 note on the coffee table and took the opportunity to screw this £20 note into a tiny little ball and throw it into a little cupboard under the stairs.  I watched Mr Bean patiently whilst my family argued and turned the place upside down looking for the £20 note.  I only told my family about this two years ago, my Grandad was a bit mad at first but then laughed it off! WHY ON EARTH DID I DO THAT?!

4. I used to think Jordan's cereal was by Katie Price and begged my Mum for it all the time.

5. The clearest thing I ever said as a three year old child was "f**k off, old lady".  Apparently I shouted it out of a car window. My Mum said she's never been so embarrassed in her entire life.

6. My Mum had an important meeting that she had to go to after work one day so I had to go and play at my friend James' house after school but I really didn't want to! When James' mum came to pick us up, I told my teacher I didn't want to go and refused to move from the classroom until my Mum picked me up. I cried and cried and cried and eventually, my Mum picked me up!

7. My three year old sister and I were jumping on my Mum's double bed but she kept jumping into my space so I pushed her over so hard that her head bashed against the radiator.  She had a massive lump on her head and kept falling asleep so she had to be taken to hospital. I told my Mum that she just fell on her own and she still doesn't know I pushed her to this day (Sorry mum, secrets out).

8. I was obsessed with homeless people. I begged my grandad for us to pick them up and take them home. He said no but he gave me money to give them every time we saw them. I was also obsessed with midgets but I called them 'miniatures'.  No idea why.

9. I used to write scripts for plays and then record them on our flash camcorder with my Uncle. We took it very seriously and I genuinely believed I was an actress.  My Uncle also made this video where he'd taken still shots of teddies and it looked as though they were moving. It freaked me out so much and I made sure I was nice to all of my teddies for the entirety of my childhood just in case they came alive at night and hurt me.

10.  I loved hymns so much so that I asked for a hymn book for Christmas. I had a whale of a time singing to my family and I actually still have the book today!

So now you know how much of a freak I am, what weird things did you do as a child?!

A Makeup Revolution Haul

HI! If you've not heard of Makeup Revolution then WHERE'VE YOU BEEN?! Makeup Revolution are dominating social networks by storm. I honestly don't go a day without seeing a blog post about the brand and I think this is partly to do with their ever growing product range. There are new releases ALL the time which is fab for us gals but not so fab for our poor bank accounts. 

Anyway, let me show you what I bought! I haven't included any swatches as I plan on reviewing most of the items sseparately over the next month or so.  

I have a bit of a thing for bronzers especially matte ones. Partly because they make me look alive and partly because deep down I want to be a contouring Queen. I'm interested to see how this one fairs but I won't be too gutted if it's not great as it cost me a tiny £2. Something that scares me but intrigues me is the Ultra Aqua Brow Tint. I picked the shade 'fair' as I have blonde hair and even blonder, barely there eyebrows. It's a liquid which just...doesn't seem right?! I don't know but I'm excited by it and can't wait to give it a whirl!  I also got a concealer. I don't normally wear concealer so I'm not sure why I bought it...bit awks really.

I can't stop buying nail polishes so I had to pop a few of the Nail Geek polishes into my basket as they're only £1.49. I didn't google any of these for swatches before ordering which I slightly wish I did. The mint green doesn't look as vibrant as I'd hoped but I'll still wear it anyway. That's what you get for not researching eh?!

I wrote a post on Lip Geek's Ken Will Want Me which you can read here if you fancy. I honestly love that lipstick so I knew I was going to order a few more but when I got on to the website, the whole range was (and still is) reduced to £1.99!!! (3 exclamations to show how happy I was). Soooo I picked up four more in shades from left to right; Love the Confidence, Colour Overdose, Cherry Bomb and Happy Girl. 
 

In Summer I used to go mental with highlighter which I blame entirely on Serena from Gossip Girl. Who doesn't want glowing skin like hers, god! Lately the highlighting obsession has turned into an all year round kinda thing and I am constantly looking for new ones to add to my collection.  This palette set me back £8 which is amaze for 3 highlighters. I'm particularly loving the look of the bronze-y highlighter.  It better be good.

Obviously not content enough with my four lipsticks I purchased, I decided to throw some more into the mix. I've wanted to try the Super Wow high gloss lip colour stick for a while so I'm chuffed with that. The Liphug lipstick is new so I needed it 'for the blog' didn't I? Apparently these have incredible staying power, eeek! Finally, I had to have the ultra velour lip cream in the most gorgeous purple shade 'Not one for playing games' because it's just beautiful! 

Hope you liked seeing/reading about my new bargain beauty buys! You can browse the Makeup Revolution products yourselves by heading over to their website.  What's your all time favourite Makeup Revolution product?

10 things all beauty bloggers can relate to

I've been seeing list posts floating about the internet for AGES now and they always either bring back nostalgic memories, make me giggle or make me want to watch a certain tv series over and over again. I thought it'd be fun to create my own list that most beauty bloggers and also just girls in general can relate to.

1. Having to drag yourself out of bed on a Sunday to take blog photos because if you don't, you're going to miss the natural daylight and nobody wants a yellow toned photograph.

2. The expensive lipstick you've wanted for months finally arrives in the post but you can't even use it until you've taken 50493 photos of it. Oh life.

3. Planning your make-up before your outfit and then panicking at the last minute because your make-up looks AMAZING but you have erm, nothing to wear.

4. When you lay off the fancy eye make-up for one day and everyone asks you if you're feeling ok. Just tell me I look like shit.

5. When your fave blogger raves about a product so much that you just HAVE to buy it only to go on the website and it's totally out of stock.

6. The sighs, huffs, puffs and dirty looks from your boyfriend as he follows you around in Boots watching you swatch all the newly released make-up. A girl has needs, y'know?!

7. Being so proud of your freshly painted nails then waking up in the morning with your duvet imprinted into them. Oh thanks.

8. That happy dance/shriek you let out when one of your favourite brands emails you asking if YOU want to work with them! Let me just pinch myself...

9. Seeing a blogger/youtuber releasing their own product and you just want to tell everyone you know that someone you know has got a new range of brushes/lipgloss/perfume/book out. Except you don't know them. Well maybe, sort of?

10.  That sinking feeling when you 'accidentally' swatch your new palette before taking photos. OMG NOBODY IS GOING TO READ MY POST NOW! I'VE RUINED IT!

Rio Rosa Mosqueta Skincare Review

A month or so ago, Rio Rosa Mosqueta asked me if I'd like to try some of the products from their range. I had previously reviewed their rosehip oil here and loved it so of course I jumped at the chance!

Rio Rosa Mosqueta have recently upped their packaging game and I have to say I'm a massive fan of it. The packaging looks clean but still has something about it thanks to the swirly, almost tribal like pattern that adorns the products.

What attracts me most to Rio Rosa Mosqueta products is the fact that they contain 'NO NASTIES' - absolutely no horrible chemicals, only 100% natural ingredients, vegan friendly and suitable for every type of skin!

Rio Rosa Mosqueta Cream Cleanser - £8.95*

Ok so here's the thing, I am rubbish at looking after my skin...there, I said it! I can't be doing with faffing around with a 605938 step skincare routine and my bathroom is far too cold for that. I need something quick and efficient that won't make my skin red, blotchy and sore. I once tried a Montagne Jeunesse face mask when I was about 14 that turned my skin bright red. I cried for ages and I haven't been able to put one on since. I shudder thinking about them! 

I dampened my skin and applied a small amount of the Rio Rosa Mosqueta Cream Cleanser to my face and gently massaged it in. I really like the scent of the product, it's a very light, barely there rose scent which is perfect for skincare. I gently removed the cleanser with a warm, damp face cloth but you could also use cotton pads to take it off. I instantly noticed a difference in my skin! It felt seriously smooth to the point where I couldn't stop stroking my face. I even made my boyfriend stroke it - the joys of living with a beauty blogger! Haha. I also noticed there was absolutely no red patches on my face either which is a big plus for me as I find a lot of products do irritate my skin.

Rio Rosa Mosqueta Organic Day & Night Cream - £14.99*

At 25 years old, it's probably time I start thinking about anti-ageing products so the Rio Rosa Mosqueta Organic Day & Night Cream was something that really caught my attention.  

The cream applies like an absolute dream! It feels like butter in your hands and feels a lot more expensive than it's reasonable £14.99 price tag. I apply this straight after cleansing my face with the Cream Cleanser and the two combined are a total godsend! I only apply it a night as I find it a bit too heavy in the day and I feel as though my skin doesn't benefit from a moisturiser throughout the day. The Organic Day & Night Cream sinks into your skin and doesn't leave you with a greasy film over your face that your hair gets stuck too. I'm repeatedly shocked when I wake up in the morning as my face is super soft and glowy. I always expect anti-ageing products to leave my skin feeling tight but this wasn't the case at all with this cream.  

I know that you may think I'm bias as these products were sent to me for review purposes but my review has been one hundred percent truthful.  I'd repurchase both of these products in a heartbeat and I'd go as far to say, they're in my top 5 skincare products I've ever tried.

You can see the whole range of Rio Rosa Mosqueta products here and also follow them on twitter here.  Have you tried anything from the range before? 

A little Lush Haul

I've been really into reading posts about Lush products lately, I've even been watching demos on Youtube. I think the main reason for my spur of the moment haul was Hailey's Lush posts and videos - this girl seriously knows her stuff! 

You Snap The Whip - £6.50 

You Snap The Whip was recommended to me by a friend.  If I'm honest, it's not something I'd usually pick myself as I'm more drawn to pretty looking things! I'm fascinated by the fact that it's a body butter as I expect body butters to be in a little tub a la Soap and Glory. This product actually smells INCREDIBLE although I can't quite put my finger on what the scent is. Lush say it's packed with cocoa butter ,sweet scented oils and macadamia nut oil. Smells delish and I can't wait to give it a try tomorrow morning!

Sakura - £3.35 / Butterball - £2.65 / Granny Takes a Dip - £3.35 / Think Pink - £2.65

If there's one thing I'm lacking it's bath bombs. I'm a shower gal so I don't indulge in a nice bath very often but I've decided that I want to have a soak every now and again whilst reading a book and instagramming photos of my legs.  I think I'm most excited to try Granny Takes a Dip purely because it just looks exciting - definitely the sassiest bath bomb of them all. I'll post reviews on each of these separately so hold tight for that! ;) 

Lullaby Shampoo Bar - £5.75

This is going to sound goofy (love that word, I completely forgot it existed) but I am actually a little bit nervous to try this Shampoo Bar. I've been cursed with the knottiest hair ever and I find some products really don't help my quest for tangle free locks. I'm intrigued to see whether it lathers well. I'll give this a try when I have a little more time in the morning just in case it goes wrong! 

Honey Trap Lip Balm - £5.75

I've wanted to try a Lush lip balm for ages but the thought of spending over a fiver on a tiny pot put me off but YOLO and all that y'know?! My first impressions on this lip balm are mixed but I don't want to give away too much as I'm looking forward to doing a full review on this!

What's your favourite Lush product? 

Hassle Free Glitter Nails?! An Elegant Touch Candy Dip Review

A month or so ago, I spotted the Elegant Touch Candy Dip Nail Kit in Superdrug and thought the idea of hassle free glitter nails sounded right up my street!

There's a selection of colours to choose from - Blueberry Crumble, Lemon Sherbet, Peppermint and my choice, Bubblegum. I decided to go for the tackiest, girliest colour of the bunch because I'm just like that and love anything that's pink and sparkly!

The Candy Dip Kit includes three pots of reasonably sized glitter and a single sheet of double sided adhesive stickers.  The idea is to select a sticker that best suits the size of your nail, stick it on and dip it in the glitter pot for glittery, hassle free nails. Sounds simple right?!

So my first qualm with this product is the size of the stickers - I just couldn't find one that fit any of my nails properly. The instructions advise to file the sticker down once you've stuck it on your nail but this is incredible difficult as it's so hard to file them evenly!

Once the sticker was all filed and looked as though it covered my nail, I dipped my finger in the glitter.  I obviously knew there'd be a bit of a mess but the glitter literally went EVERYWHERE. Nevertheless, I persevered in the hope that my nails would look pretty cool at the end of it but as I was just about to dip my thumb in the glitter, I noticed the stickers started peeling and that was just the last straw for me.

This photo embarrasses me! I can't actually believe how bad they look! You can see ripples in the stickers where they've started to edge away from my nails. I suppose the only positive I can take from this is that I'm left with 3 pots of pretty glitter for future nail art tries.  I would suggest you avoid this product at all costs even though I do think the idea is really clever. I just knew it was too good to be true.

The Elegant Touch Candy Dip retails at £4.49 and you can purchase it here from Superdrug if you're curious!

Colab Dry Shampoo Review

There's nothing that excites me more than seeing a Blogger/Youtuber releasing their own range of products so when I saw that Ruth Crilly of A Model Recommends had released her own range of dry shampoo, I just had to get my hands on them!

I didn't want to get ahead of myself and buy the whole range just in case I didn't get on with it so I ended up just picking two of the fragrances that appealed to me the most - London which is a relatively musky fragrance and Tokyo which is an oriental, sort of floral fragrance but I just can't quite put my finger on the exact scent.

When I'm reviewing a dry shampoo, I can't not compare it to my personal favourite and absolute Queen of dry shampoos - Batiste. I much prefer the Colab bottle design to the Batiste offerings as they're sleek, more grown up and they look expensive but that's where my love for the Colab dry shampoo stops unfortunately.

I wash my hair every two days but I really need help from dry shampoo in between washes as my hair does get very greasy as I tend to touch it a lot throughout the day. I found that I had to apply a lot of dry shampoo for my hair to even look a little bit less greasy and even then, I didn't feel comfortable enough to wear my hair down since it looked so dull so I had put it up instead. There's absolutely no white, chalky-ness at all with this and I think that's maybe where my problem is. I feel like I need that as it seems to be the thing that makes my hair feel cleaner and brighter.  The texture to my hair felt really oily after I'd applied the dry shampoo but this could be because I put on quite a lot as I felt as though I wasn't getting anything from it.

I'll definitely be sticking to Batiste unless curiosity gets the better of me again and will just use my Colab offerings when I've washed my hair but feel as though it's a little bit dull or could do with a little more volume.  All in all, I'd say don't rush out to buy the Colab dry shampoos but I have seen a lot of good reviews on the product so it's possibly one of those products that works for certain hair types. It's just not for me unfortunately which makes me sad as I wanted to love it!

If I haven't put you off, you can pick up the Colab dry shampoos here for £3.49 a bottle!

2015 BLOG GOALS

Happy New Year you bunch of babes! I hope 2015 is the year all your dreams come true. I've never wrote a post like this before but thought it'd be fab to look back on at the end of the year and see whether I actually stick to any of the goals I set myself which by the way, I'm positive I will. 

1. BLOG REGULARLY - So if you look back over the years I've been blogging, you will see that the most posts I've ever written in a year amounts to a grand old total of...57. I know for a fact that if I stopped listening to One Direction and googling quotes that relate to my life, I'd be able to triple that.

2. POUR MY HEART AND SOUL INTO EVERY POST I WRITE - I already do this but I want to make sure that if I'm blogging more regularly, every single post is written to the best of my ability. I'd never want people to read my posts and feel like they're half hearted and lack enthusiasm.

3. INJECT MY PERSONALITY IN MY BLOG - It's pretty difficult to add a little humour when you're writing about a lipstick unless you're someone like Miranda Sings so 2015 will be the year where you see a little bit more of me. I want Glitter and Carousels to be a sort of online diary, when I can't sleep at night I want to grab my laptop and write about whatever's on my mind. I hope you like it!

4. ENGAGE WITH OTHER BLOGGERS - For every single post I read, I'm going to leave a comment and every comment I receive, I'll reply to and also look at that persons blog and comment. Sounds confusing but it makes sense! Bloggers put so much effort into their posts and in my opinion, don't always get the recognition they deserve for it. Leaving a comment can make a persons day so that's what I want to do!

5. KEEP SOCIAL MEDIA UP TO DATE AND GET INVOLVED MORE - I'm horrendous at keeping my Facebook and Pinterest up to date. I'll often not tweet for days and my Instagram has been known to be a little bit unloved from time to time. TIME TO CHANGE! If there's one goal that I want to stick to the most, it's this one. Social Media is so powerful and is where I've discovered most of my favourite blogs.

What are your blogging goals? What do you hope to achieve in 2015 whether it be blog wise or just life in general?