First Impression Fridays Featuring Urban Decay, Sleek and Gosh

Hello there!

Welcome back to another first impression Friday. This month I don't have too much to show you, mainly because I am trying my best to save some money (If you have any tips please share them down below, I need all the help I can get!). Anyway I have three beauty products to show you all that I have tried and tested throughout the month and here they are...

URBAN DECAY GWEN STEFANI EYE SHADOW PALETTE 

This month I was lucky enough to get my hands on the very sought-after Urban Decay Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette. The palette contains 15 eyeshadows including matte and shimmer shades. One of the best things about this palette is the wide selection of colours and textures. They make the whole palette very versatile allowing you to create so many different looks. Like all Urban Decay products the eyeshadows are of a very high quality with strong pigmentation and staying power. They don't smudge or stick when blended with other products either. To be honest this palette is the perfect addition to my make-up collection. Stay tuned to my Youtube channel for a tutorial using this palette soon.  

SLEEK MATTE ME LIPSTICK IN BITTER SWEET

I fell in love with this Sleek matte me lipstick colour bitter sweet in store and because Sleek is so affordable I thought I would pick it up. Plus, I'm a little late on the matte lip trend and wanted to try it out. The colour is exactly as I imagined when applying it and it has some serious staying power. The formula however, is a little strange to me. Not bad, not good just different to anything else I have experienced. At first it feels quite sticky but when it dries it feels almost chalky. Also, I think, although it doesn't state so on the packaging, that this lipstick has some lip plumping properties. After the product had been applied for an hour or so I felt that my lips looked alot bigger. If you've experienced anything similar please comment down below to let me know.

GOSH VELVET TOUCH LIPSTICK IN SWEETHEART

 I am not over exaggerating when I say that I am in love with this Gosh velvet touch lipstick in sweetheart. The colour, the formula, the texture and the finish are everything I look for in a lipstick; minimal stickiness, maximum pigmentation, strong staying power and a more than reasonable price tag. This lipstick is so versatile too. I have paired it with all of my daily make-up looks from my classic winged liner and smokey eyes to more natural minimal make-up. It's just the perfect lipstick shade. I'm officially obsessed.

If you like these first impression Fridays please comment down below and give me your beauty recommendations to try out next month. Also, if you missed my last first impressions Friday you can still read it here. Remember first impression Fridays take place on my blog on the last Friday of every month. So, stay tuned until then!

Dartmouth Photo Diary

Hello!

My blog has been pretty dominated by photo diaries lately (Im sorry!) Actually I'm not because, as bad as they may be, I really love taking photographs. I especially love taking photographs of places I've never been before.

That's why when I went on holiday to Devon recently I couldn't resist capturing the breath-taking landscapes. While I was there I did so many fun things which you will be able to watch on my Youtube channel very soon. But for now I am separating all of my photographs up into photo diaries. I took so many so be prepared for an influx of photographs!

The first photo diary from my Devon holiday is going to feature the beautiful seaside town of Dartmouth.

Blogiversary Giveaway!

Happy birthday to my blog!

It has been a year (ish) since I re-started my blog. So, to celebrate a whole year of a consistency (ish) I thought I would do a giveaway for all of my lovely readers.

I don't know where I would be without you all and I am grateful for every single one of you. There is nothing I love more than typing away on my blog and knowing that people are reading it. To be honest when I first started I had no idea what I was getting myself into or even if anyone was reading what I was writing or if anyone even cared about it.

But it turns out quite a few people do and I love you all! You're all the only reason why I am doing this giveaway.

Now let's get into what anyone of you lovely readers could be receiving and I'll go over the rules below.

1. One Sleek Face Form Powder Contour Palette in Medium

2. One Sleek Eyeshadow Palette in Au Naturel

3. One Sleek Matte Me Lipstick in Bittersweet

4. One Gosh Velvet Finish Lipstick in Delicious 

5. One #NoFilterNeeded Make-Up Bag

6. One Blooming Beautiful Lush Gift Set

7. One Multi-Coloured Floral Neon Scarf

Now for the technical part- the rules...

• This giveaway is open internationally and doesn't contain items that would be prohibited from posting overseas. 
• This giveaway will be open to entries as soon as this post is live and will close at 23:59 on the 21st May 2016.  
• Entrants must be over 18 year of age or have their parent or guardians permission to enter.
• Entrants must enter this giveaway via Rafflecopter which I will link to at the end of this post.
• Entrants must have an active Twitter account.
• There will only be one winner who will receive all of the items pictured in this post. 
• One winner will be chosen by random by Rafflecopter, however if the winner does not respond in 5 days then another winner will be selected by random by Rafflecopter.
• I will contact the winner via direct message on Twitter.
• The prize will be sent the day after I have received correspondence from the winner.
• Once the prize has been sent, I will no longer be responsible for the package. The responsibility will be with the courier and/or mail service. 

And that's it! All you guys have to do to enter via Rafflecopter below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beauty Hack: Nappy Rash Cream Face Mask?!

Welcome back!

I've been trying out a wealth of face masks ever since I was thirteen years old whilst attending and hosting some stereotypical sleepovers. I've tried them all from the £1 chocolate face mask right up to a full on gel face mask putting your pocket out by £18.

But what if I could tell you there's a brilliant face mask that doesn't break the bank like a gel one but also does a whole lot more than the £1 jobs? Well, it's been right under your noses the whole time. Sudocrem!

I first heard about using Sudocrem as a face mask when Bethan from Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model raved about it in an audition clip. And let's be honest, she has amazing skin. So she couldn't be wrong, right?

I know what you're thinking- nappy rash cream?! Ladies and gentlemen please throw your assumptions and pre-determined judgements aside because you'll be thanking me later.

The texture of Sudocrem is almost clay like when you apply it as a face mask. I like this because you can be sure that you are getting full coverage. I just applied the cream with my fingertips making sure that I got an even but thick layer across my whole face.

The first thing I noticed when I was applying my face mask was the smell; it smells slightly minty to me like toothpaste. Nothing too strong or eye watering though.

To remove the mask I just dampened a muslin cloth in warm water and wiped the product away.

Now, the results? At first my face felt kind of chalky when I initially removed the product. However after about two hours my skin felt smooth and plump. Also, (my favourite part) my usual redness had seemed to magically disappear.

I've been using Sudocrem as a face mask once a week for about three weeks now and am thrilled with the results. It seems I have found the perfect face mask without breaking the bank! Score one for me, zero for confusing beauty products.

Brighton and The Beach Photo Diary

Welcome back!

I really enjoyed putting together photos for my Virginia Waters photo diary so I thought that I would do another one. I went to Brighton on a little day trip recently and also went to West Wittering beach. So I thought I would put them together into one big photo diary. If you want to see more of my adventures head over to my YouTube channel where I vlog all about them! Also, as before, all of the photos were taken by me with my Nikon S9900. Enjoy!

Cleaning My Make-Up Brushes: Sephora Daily Brush Cleaner

Welcome back!

Like most make-up enthusiasts I know that it is important to keep my brushes clean to get the most out of them. But also like most make-up enthusiasts I hate cleaning my brushes. It usually takes quite a long time to get the product off and to be honest I just get bored.

Nonetheless I thought trying a new product out and writing about it might be a fun way to do it. I'm thinking about testing out some other make-up brush cleaners so if you have any ideas please comment them down below. I'd love to try them out.

Now, for the product I am actually testing out for this post; the Sephora daily make-up brush cleaner. It's a scented spray that claims to leave your brushes spotless. Let's see shall we?

First things first I put down an old towel to lay my dirty brushes on whilst I used the cleaner. I didn't want to make a mess, plus it makes it easier to take photos. As you can see, here are my dirty brushes before their clean...

The instructions on the bottle say that you just need to spray the product directly onto the entire brush covering all of the bristles. Then you wait...

I went downstairs and made a lovely cup of tea whilst I was waiting for my brushes to dry. I then came back up stairs, tea in tow to see what had happened to them. As you can see above my make-up brushes still seemed to be very much the same as they were before. However, I still had one more step to complete. I used my old towel to brush the make-up off my brushes. Gently though, so that I didn't ruin them.

After wiping them off they did seem to be cleaner. However one thing I would say about the cleaner is that when you're cleaning brushes that have had lip products on them they take quite a lot of wiping to get off. So although the cleaner did work it took a lot of scrubbing with my towel. Therefore not really eliminating the problem of a time consuming process.

This is not the perfect make-up brush cleaner I have been looking for. Never mind- bring on the next one!

The Blogger's Hangout Tea Party

Welcome back!

This week I was lucky enough to receive an invite to the blogger's tea party event hosted by The Blogger's Hangout at the Pop Up Patio. I thought I'd dedicate a whole post to it and all of the lovely brands and bloggers I met.

BIO-TIFUL DAIRY

The first brand I met at the tea party was Bio-tiful Dairy. Bio-tiful Dairy make organic cultured milk drinks made with either live Kefir cultures or live Riazhenka cultures. Whilst these are bacteria they are both extremely good for you and your tummy. They pose a wide range of health benefits such as improved digestion, improving and maintaining a healthy immune system and just hold a lot of nutritional value. Not to mention they taste so nice too. My favourite flavour is the honey and mint Kefir smoothie. I think I may have found my new favourite breakfast.

THE COCOA DEN

What girl doesn't love chocolate? If you know me well, then you know about my chocolate addiction. So when I saw these pieces of edible art made completely of dark, milk and white chocolate I couldn't help but feel over joyed. The Cocoa Den was founded by Kate Burton who has a special passion for all things chocolate and sweet; be it delicious chocolates or cakes. The amount of detail in each sculpture was astounding and not too mention the chocolate truffles were to die for. My favourite sculpture there was this peacock (pictured below).

JAKE'S BOOST

Named after their pet dog Jake's Boost was founded by a couple who were looking for the right nut butter. But when they couldn't find one they decided to make it themselves. Made with all natural ingredients the Jake's Boost butter is both vegetarian and vegan. However what I like most about this brand is it's emphasis on charity. Every time you purchase a jar or sachet pack of Jake's Boost a breakfast is provided to a child in the UK who needs it. Yummy, healthy and most importantly a worthy cause.

MEAD HO!

I'm not a beer, lager or ale lass. However I do love mead. I first tried mead last year and I couldn't believe that I had never had it before. There is a subtle sweetness to it which I prefer to the traditional taste of beer. Mead Ho! is a relatively new brand filling the gap in the UK alcohol market. Currently mead isn't widely available in the UK but Mead Ho! are trying to change that. I would definitely recommend you give this a try. Especially if you're like me and cannot stand the taste of beer, lager or ale.

DRINK ME CHAI LATTE

I already frequently drink this product and it's always in my cupboard. Drink Me Chai Latte is a powder which you can make hot and cold chai tea lattes from. If you've ever had a chai tea latte from Costa or Starbucks, you'll love this because it tastes 100x better. I was informed at the event by one of the lovely Drink Me Chai Latte team that you can actually also use the powder in baking, breakfast cereals, porridge and even cocktails (I definitely have to give that a try!). You can find the regular chai latte mix in loads of different supermarkets but you have to go online if you want the other flavours like mango and green tea.

That's it for this post lovelies. Keep your eyes peeled for more blogging event posts coming soon! And comment down below if you went and link me to your posts. I'd love to see them!