September Favourites

These intros to favourites must get dull, same old, same old, but here's a monthly favourites!

My first favourite is something I absolutely love, and is the Cheeky Trio palette by W7. In particular, I love the bronzing powder, called dream machine; it's just about cool enough to contour with, but as it has warm tones, its excellent for adding warmth to my face around my forehead and cheeks (not the apples, more towards the cheekbone), or through my crease as an eyeshadow. I use the 17 cheek brush to apply it, and it's also a very inexpensive palette - I bought mine from a discount shop for £6, but I think the actual price is £10.

I'll get all the makeup done first and finish with random favourites, so my next makeup favourite is another dual use product, and is the Jumbo Eye Pencil by NYX in the colour milk. This works as an eyeliner along your waterline to brighten and open your eyes, or all over the lid and blended as a shadow primer.

 My last beauty product is mascara by Maybelline. Great Lash is an old favourite of mine, particularly for bottom lashes. This mascara doesn't clump or make spidery lashes, just separated, lengthened lashes, as heavy or light as you like.

Last Wednesday, I posted a homeware haul - to sum up this favourite I have been loving everything featured, especially the rug, cacti and bed items.

Now, a bit of a stranger favourite; I have been obsessed with eating avocado on toast. It just tastes so good!

My music love of the month has been the new album by The Weeknd, Beauty Behind The Madness. My favourite songs are dark times, featuring Ed Sheeran and losers featuring Labrinth.

My final favourite is the change in season, because I just love the autumn time. I love autumn colours, fashion and makeup, hot chocolates, cosy afternoons watching films with blankets whilst the rain pours outside...

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My Top 3 Autumn Eyeshadows

As Autumn has arrived, I thought it'd be nice to write about my 3 favourite eyeshadows for this time of the year, one copper, one gold, and one bronze. 

The first being a pinky gold: trick from the Naked 3 palette, which is a beautiful shimmery colour, and to be honest I do wear it all year round.  It's a highly pigmented shadow that looks lovely either all over the lid, or through the crease. (Pink palette, colour directly in the middle next to the shimmery pink).

My favourite bronze is dazzling brown from the Little Mix palette by Collection. This warm and glittery colour looks gorgeous with berry lips! (black palette, 4th colour in from the left).

And finally, fiery from the MUA Undress Me Too palette is the best copper I have ever used - I've hit pan as you can tell! The colour payoff is incredible for such a cheap palette; it suits its name so well. (White palette, top row, 4th colour in from the left).

Short and sweet but I hope you enjoyed this post, or found it helpful in some way

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Homeware Haul | Ikea & Primark

Over the past three weeks, I have had a couple of trips to Ikea and Primark, as I've been changing things up in my room lately. Be warned - it's only grey and white!

The first place I went to was Ikea, where I bought the Fniss Waste Bin to keep under my desk for 95p. My old bin was a brown and woven bin, so things were always falling out the bottom. Plus, it was just quite ugly.

I picked up a Kingsize Krakris Duvet Set for £5.50 - £5.50 what a bargain. Basically a steal at that price, so I could not resist! The grey squiggles go really well with the colour scheme of my room; I love it! To match the duvet set I bought a little cushion of the same Krakris range for £1.

Also to have on my bed I bought a grey Polarvide Throw, which was only £3. So many bargains at Ikea!

Something I've had my eye on for a long time is the Tejn Faux Sheepskin Rug. It's soo cosy and soft and looks lovely in my room. Oh and it was £10!

Finally, I purchased some cacti - probably the only colour in this haul is the green of the plants! It's the Cactaceae 3 pack for £4.50, and no surprise, I bought them in the white pots. 

Next I went to Primark and only came out with one thing: a two set of grey 'honeycomb textured' cushions, which are so lovely and soft. I believe these were about £5 reduced from roughly £7.

Then, I went to Ikea again (I'm quite obsessed with that place) and bought two Skurar pots that I was umming and ahhing over getting last time. I love love love grey, so I got them in grey! They will be so nice for storage as well as display, and I can't wait to use them. One was £5, and the other was £6.

I got a Kardemumma Plant Pot for £2.20 as I've had a money tree sitting in an ugly green pot for soooo long. A white one was definitely needed.

My next purchase was a little bit random, but it was only 80p. It's the Korken Jar, and I'm not completely sure what I'm going to keep in it, but it will look so cute sitting on my bedside table.

Last but not least, I bought the Pokal Mug which was £1.70, and of course I went for white! I'll use this to drink tasty smoothies from, or maybe as a vase.

That's everything I've bought, I hope you enjoyed reading and having a nosey into my latest purchases - what have you been buying lately?

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Matte & Neutral Purple Eyes

This pretty and seasonal yet super simple and wearable eyeshadow look is one I've been wearing a lot lately, and I can see it becoming a staple for me this autumn! The purple is so elegant without being too in your face, and what I especially love about this look is that all the shadows I'm using are matte, so nothing is too glitzy and crazy, as pretty as shimmers are. 

I primed my eyelids with the Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk - I have been loving this this month! - and blended it out with the warmth of my fingers. 

I dusted strange from the Naked 3 palette (and every colour is from Naked 3) all over my lid for a matte and even base. On a fluffy brush I applied limit, which is a dusky rose colour, through my crease and outer v of my eye and then blended it out. Finally I used nooner, a purpley brown of the same 'family' as limit, and worked that into the outer corners of my socket and eye lid for definition and colour. I also applied a mix of limit and nooner to my lower lash line, and strange to my inner corners. 

To brighten and open up my eyes, I rimmed my waterline with Nyx's Milk again, and then I set that in place to prolong the wear with strange, again. 

I finished up with Sumptuous Extreme by Estée Lauder on my lashes, and there you have it!

I hope you all liked this look

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The Blog Tour Tag

I was tagged by Ems World | Talking Through The Screen (go and check out her wonderful blog) a couple of weeks ago to do the Blog Tour Tag, so here it is!

The Rules

- Pass the tour on to four other bloggers

- Notify those bloggers of their nomination and this post

- Answer the four questions about your creative process. This allows other bloggers and visitors to understand what inspires you to do what you do

I Nominate

Emsi Rose 

perks0fbeingnazia

Charlotte Samantha 

itseverythingerin 

1. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

This is quite a difficult question. I try to be as original as I can. Yes, I do all the usual monthly beauty favourites posts, but I also love doing book reviews, posts with photography tips, interior style, my holidays. But everyone's posts will differ - no two makeup tutorials will be the same, and no two chatty entries will be the same, because everyone has their own style and voice and opinions.

2. How does your writing/creative process work?

I plan my posts moooonths ahead - I'm planned into Blogmas/December currently - and keep all the ideas and lists of posts in the notes section of my phone. My phone will be always with me, so if I have a lightbulb moment, I can quickly record it. 

I usually don't write the post until a couple of days before it's due to go up (unless I'm scheduling for posts to go up whilst I'm on holiday). I write and edit as I go along, write, edit, write, edit. I usually take the photos after everything's written, and I do this in the morning. I find morning light to be the brightest and whitest, and just works well for me. 

And then... Upload!

3. Why do you write and create what you do?

I'm sure my reason is no different from others - it's enjoyable, relaxing, and a hobby I love! I love interacting with others and hope to have a few more collabs on here in the future. When you start blogging, you join a community!

I love the pride in pressing publish when I've really spent a long time on a post and the photos to go with it, and one of the best feelings is reading through the lovely comments that show people are appreciative of what you write.

4. What are you working on at the moment?

Blogging isn't a career for me - although it would be amazing in the future! - as I'm only fifteen. So in answer to the question, I'm just working on my next blog post. Oh and that horrendous piece of maths homework.

See yaaaa

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Lunch With A View | Travel

This food-eating/scenery-viewing actually happened about a month ago whilst I was on holiday in Wales, but being so full with BTS and end-of-the-month posts, I've only just got round to sharing these yummy photos with you.

I visited two places in South Wales - Monmouthshire and Pembrokeshire - each for a week. My favourite part of the week was visiting Cardiff for the day, which meant lots of shopping in the large centres and taking part in the Doctor Who experience. Across the week, we spent time exploring the towns of Monmouth and Usk, Usk Castle, and the Festival Park where we went super tubing and into all the discounted stores. 

The Pembrokeshire scenery was absolutely stunning; we enjoyed a couple of coastal walks and trips to the beach, as well as eating at the pub and the art gallery cafe - both local to the village we stayed in, Trefin. I took the photos above whilst enjoying my first lunch of picnic food in Pembrokeshire, and admiring the gorgeous views, all from our cottage back garden!

Just a short post today, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same - I bet we're all wishing we were still on our hols 

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BTS | What's In My School Bag?

What better a way to close the BTS season than with a What's In My School Bag for all the deets on what I pack and my top essentials?

Firstly, my bag is from H&M (you can buy it here) and I think as far as bags go, it's pretty beautiful. The simple but classic, 'it will go with everything', black handbag with a detachable strap is always a win, and not only is it so spacious, but what really sold it for me was the teal green lining around all the corners and edges of the bag. In the right light, the colour really stands out, and totally transforms the bag from already very lovely to even better - it's just a nice touch, and something unique that others don't really have.

My bag has three compartments - the middle being smaller and zipped - several pouches and a zipped pocket. In the middle section and the various pockets and pouches I keep small things, like my umbrella, a small purse, my lip product of the day, keys, my phone and earphones, and a pot of spearmint gum; these are all essentials for me. 

In one of the main compartments I keep a water bottle and my lunch box. I like to keep them separate so if my bottle or lunch does leak (I have dressing on a salad each day) there's less risk of them ruining my books, which brings me on to the other large compartment. In there I keep all my books for the day, my school diary/log book, a pencil case and a little L'Occitane makeup bag. In there I keep tissues, paracetamol, a compact mirror, a little tub of nail polish remover pads, plasters, sanitary pads, lip balm, hand sanitiser and hand cream. 

On the days that I have PE, my kit is stuffed wherever it will fit!

I'm sure that in a few weeks, my bag will begin to accumulate various items of rubbish and pocket lint - I'd be lying if I said otherwise - but for now I like to keep it as organised and clean as possible, so I can quickly find in my bag exactly what I am looking for.

Hope you enjoyed!

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August Favourites

First of all, how are we a week into September already? I feel like I blinked and the leaves turned orange! Don't get me wrong though, I can't wait for Autumn.

But on a more important note, I have six things to share with you today - mainly makeup items - one of them being a foundation - Match Perfection by Rimmel - that I think I talked about in my January Favourites, which was so long ago, but I honestly haven't stopped loving it. I think the photos above prove that! I genuinely feel like it makes my skin look a whole lot better - I'd say it's medium coverage. It covers redness and blemishes and really evens out my face. I've already bought a backup!

Another makeup-y item is Maybelline's Master Sculpt. It's a fairly new release and I did a whole post solely on the contour compact here.

I have two new favourite lip products. The first is my top top top favourite, and that is one of Maybelline's Colour Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencils in 630 Nude Perfection. It's such a mess in the photo, but I have fallen head over heels with this brown-nude shade; the formula is wonderful and glides on so smoothly! They dry to a tacky almost matte, so to fully matte-ify I blot my lips with a tissue - and the staying power is incredible! Go and pick one of these up.

My second lip item is a Rimmel Kate lipstick in 03. This is more of a pinky nude (but with brown tones), and of a glossier finish. It's a beautiful colour I would highly recommend, and I think it would suit most if not all people.

Penultimately, I have been obsessed with the Herbal Essences Clearly Naked Volume Shampoo with Grapefruit & Mint Extracts. This is the most gorgeous combination of smells ever! Think tropical paradise, with undertones of fresh mint. Not an easy one to describe, but when you next see it, give it a sniff. It's has no colourants or silicone in the product so is better for your body, and actually makes washing hair less of a chore.

Last but not least, the song I haven't stopped listing to is Thieves by The Beach.

That's everything for today! Bring on the autumn weather, fashion, makeup and hot chocolates

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BWW | Summer Reads

I realise I haven't done a bookworm Wednesday for months, but I didn't realise it had been five! I'm still continuing BWW, but it so happened that I didn't read much during exam season, and what I've read beforehand and after have just been compiled into this.

I read City Of Ashes by Cassandra Clare so long ago now that it'll be difficult to give a good synopsis, but it's the sequel to City Of Bones which I mentioned back in February's BWW. If you're new to the series then look away; the second book delves deeper into Clary's relationship with Jace and the big brother or lover question that every fan is asking, as well as the confusion she is feeling due to her loyalty to Simon. Simon also faces troubles of his own after he is turned into a vampire, and soon learns that he is part of a ritual lead by Valentine that means one vampire and one werewolf must die.

Life After Life is a book by Kat Atkinson in which the narrator, Ursula, is born and dies, born and dies, born and dies, over and over. The story follows her life and the decisions or pure luck she encounters that could save her life a long way down the line, including the decision to shoot dead a man that would have caused so much destruction and genocide throughout the world.

It took me less than a day to read I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan. It was easy to follow, and the suspenseful cliffhangers throughout the book had me gripped. The story follows four very different characters, whom last summer were the best of friends. At the beginning of the story they are mere acquaintances, until a series of anonymous notes, threats and injuries that take place, bringing the four together again to face What They Did Last Summer.

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones is another novel of secrets, mystery, and a lot of danger. Poppy Sinclair takes it upon herself to uncover the truth behind the dead girl face down in a lake in the middle of a festival. She soon finds herself tangled in a web of complicated relationships, jealousy and revenge, and encounters a horrifying near-death herself at the hands of a seemingly innocent.

Finding Jennifer Jones by Anne Cassidy is the sequel to Looking For JJ, which I read in October. The second novel focuses on life after prison for Jennifer, more so than the first. It explores the grief and guilt she feels for killing her best friend and tearing up her family, and the ways in which she deals with it, new relationships, new housemates, a new job. She is finally free as Jennifer Jones again after meeting Lucy - a witness to the manslaughter - and her secret is leaked to the world.

The last book I have to share with you all is Leaving Poppy by Kate Cain. Amber's sister Poppy is 'fragile', Amber is 'strong' and their mother is pretty much weak, helpless and in denial. Amber escapes the clutches of her family to Cornwall, where she begins to rebuild her life with a home and friendly housemates, a good job, a sense of peace. Until Poppy follows, and rents out the attic in the very house Amber is living in. But a strange force is causing disruption in the house, and to Poppy.

I would definitely recommend any one of these books - what would you recommend?

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