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?