June Favourites

I love writing favourites posts nearly as much as I love using my favourite products; hopefully you love reading them too! Without further ado, let's get started. 

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Camden in North London with friends, and whilst I was there, I bought an oil/wax melt burner from one of the colourful, ethnic kind of shops that sell incense and tapestries. Since then, I have burnt the oil it came with and melted two wax tarts from Yankee Candle in the scents Aloe Water and Sweet Strawberry. I love the burner and the scents of the melts.

From the same shop, I also bought a ring, which I have worn everyday since. I think it's beautiful, and looks a lot more expensive than it actually was (£1!!!!). It's not the best quality but what do you expect? It's definitely worth the pound - at least it's not turned my finger green :)

This next product I have mentioned a fair bit over the last few weeks, and is MUA's Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder. You don't want to hear me ramble about it anymore; I have enough already but if you want to go and see the posts I've talked about it in, click here, here, here or finally, here. It's clearly a favourite; I didn't realise I'd mentioned it so much!

I suffer from mild Keratosis Pilaris on my upper arms - if you don't know what it is and would like to know, there is a really good explanation here, but it basically is when a person has too much keratin in their body and it builds up in the hair follicles - and I have been searching for remedies to lessen the redness and the bumps. I use Soap & Glory's Scrub Of Your Life two to three times a week, but recently I have been using the Flexitol Hard Skin And Callus Balm to moisturise everyday. I cannot praise this stuff enough! Within a few days, there was a visible difference in my skin: there were less bumps and the redness had gone down. LOVE THIS STUFF! 

Don't hesitate to contact me in the comments if you have Keratosis Pilaris too; let me know what you use to treat it.

I have recently started wearing an eyelash primer before my mascara; I don't wear it all the time and I don't want to make it too much of a habit really, but I use the Estee Lauder Lash Primer Plus. My mum gave it to me as she didn't use it, but I do feel like I see a difference in my lashes; the white definitely intensifies the black, and somehow, it lengthens them, too!
The tube is double ended, and on the other end is the Sumptuous Extreme mascara, which I have worn most days this month, as the fat brush is really good for making you lashes appear thicker at the roots. 

My last physical favourite is a nail varnish by Collection. It's one of their Lasting Gel Colour variety, and is the shade Almost Nude 10. I am very pale, and against my skin tone it's a really gorgeous shade, although on some darker skin tones it could look washed out. It's really glossy so a clear topcoat isn't totally necessary, but it has lasted me about a week before chipping, so if you wanted it to last longer, I probably would apply a topcoat.
I also love the fact that it has a wide brush which makes it so quick and easy to apply.

Now that my mock exams have finished, I've got more time to not only blog, but to watch more Netflix. This month I have watched the first season of The Originals - a spin off from The Vampire Diaries - and it was sooo good. I just wish the other seasons were on Netflix, too.
I've mentioned before that I'm a Pretty Little Liars fan; season 6 came on to Netflix recently and I'm obsessed. It's so gripping!

Finally, songs I've really been liking are Big Girls Cry by Sia and Style by Taylor Swift.

What have been your favourites this month?

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Neutral Everyday Makeup

Apologies, I forgot to do the photography and ended up doing it the evening before when the lighting was rubbish!

I haven't done a makeup tutorial since April! Granted, I haven't been blogging lately, but seeing as makeup and beauty is something I love to write about, I thought it was the perfect time to blog another look, this time a fairly warm and neutral, low key one.

Some days before school, I go for a run and so I haven't always had time to do all the usual steps in my makeup; some days I have no time for primer and so just use the Soltan BB Face Cream for a light, protecting base, but occasionally I will go without, applying only a moisturiser with SPF as the weather is warming up.

Base Products

I will pretty much always use concealer (Collection Lasting Perfection, of course), as the end of school term is always busy, and that definitely shows under my eyes! Today I'm also going to skip powder and go straight on to highlight the tops of my cheekbones, my brow bone and the inner corners of my eyes with MUA's Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder. I've been using this constantly lately! It gives your skin such a beautiful glow for only £3.

Instead of just repeating in every tutorial how I do my brows, I am planning to do an eyebrow routine post soon. I will only include my brows in tutorials if I am using new products :)

At the moment, I tend to go for warm eye looks (to be honest, I do most of the time, but particularly now that it's summer), usually a warm brown or a pinky kind of look - both with bronzey tones - but as I'm keeping this neutral, I'm doing brown today.

Shadows

To begin with, I brush a mix of Nooner and Trick through my crease and along the lower lashline to create a soft, warm glow. A shadow I have used to absolute death - as I used to use it on my eyebrows - is MUA's Lavish, which I brush along my tight line and slightly in the outer corner of my eyes.
Of course, I then blend, blend, blend as this is a soft and neutral day time look.
I then line my waterline with white eyeliner to brighten and open my eyes.
 
Mascara wise, I always use Rollerlash by Benefit (my mini is lasting me SO long!!) or Estee Lauder's Sumptuous Extreme, today I went for Sumptuous Extreme. BUT. Beforehand, I have been applying Lash Primer Plus, also by Estee Lauder. IT MAKES SUCH A DIFFERENCE. Adding a layer of white beforehand intensifies the black, as well as lengthening the lashes.

Lashes And Liner

I haven't really been wearing much on my lips lately, occasionally just a tinted lip balm, as most of my lipsticks are all autumnal colours. Boots is calling to me...

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Malta | Things To Do, Places To See

I am extremely happy to be able to say that I am BACK! Thankyou to all who stuck with me and continued to follow and comment :)

Something I have been meaning to add to my blog is an element of travel, and so far all I've blogged about is London. I mentioned back in April in my Collective Haul that I'd be writing a post about my 6 day holiday in Malta around Easter time, so that's what I'm finally doing today!

This post is very looooong as I have so many photos to share, but look on if you are planning a trip to Malta and want to know some of the best places to go, or if you just fancy having a nosey...

We stayed in north Malta in a small, beautiful town called Mellieha near St Paul's bay. The villa had gorgeous views across the landscape, as well as a pool.

 On our first evening, we explored the town and found lots of little market shops selling yummy fruit in abundance, as well as visiting the most amazing restaurant, Ta' Randi. If you ever visit Malta, make sure you visit Ta' Randi. The food was so incredible that we ended up going back, and I had the same meal twice: tomato bruschetta followed by a pasta dish of chicken and sun dried tomatoes. We have since tried to recreate it!

 

 

 

My favourite day was the day we visited the famous old city Mdina. There were cobbled streets and little gift shops and restaurants all around. We took a ride around the place in a little horse and carriage - a rickety ride but definitely one of my highlights of the holiday.

My family and I also enjoyed a peaceful walk around the peninsula of the island that held some breath taking views, and resulted in us finding a beautiful empty cove, and then a beach with palm trees and many photo opportunities! And then we had a perfect end to the day at Ta' Randi. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gozo was another place we set out to explore. Gozo is an even smaller island next to Malta that you can reach by boat, and we went there to see the Azure Window, the inland sea, salt pans, the cathedral, have lunch, and to just enjoy the scenery and the culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On recommendation, we went to the Ta' Qali Craft Village, where there were lots of little shops selling all kinds of things like ornaments, clay work, trinkets - crafts, as you can imagine! It was a really lovely place, and I would highly recommend; if you'd like to see some of the things I bought, check out my Collective Haul.

On our last day, my family and I visited Valetta, the capital city of Malta, which had some beautiful sights, and delicious food.

 

 

 

 

One of the reasons I love Malta is for its scenery and culture. The flat topped buildings amongst the arid landscape look so exotic; it makes a wonderful and different place to visit, a world away from England.

 

 

Writing this has given me post holiday blues, especially as it's pouring down while I write this. Malta is a brilliant place to visit and explore; I really hope to return in the future.
 Look out for a new post on Wednesday!

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