A Day at My Favourite Place ♥

I haven’t been on here in so long, it took me an hour to not only remember my password, but the email address it’s linked to, too. Woops. But I am alive and it’s working! I just wanted to post some pictures of mine and Sausage’s trip to the wildlife park. It’s my favourite place and I love it even more being there with one of my favourite people :-). I took roughly 973623 photos, so I’ve just picked out my favourites ♥

He looks annoyed that he was photobombed by the fella at the back!

Emosh giraffe thoughts.

Wish there wasn’t so much glare on this, but he’s a clouded Leopard cub. My heart couldn’t take it ♥

THAT BABY’S NAME IS IAN. IAN. THAT IS ALL.

*Insert hearty-eye emoji*

This is basically my favourite place in the world, so I had so much fun taking my camera and getting some (good? naaaaah) photos! I have lots more, which I’ll probably end up posting on the next one 😉

My Fitness Goals ❤

Hi! So I spoke recently in this post about setting fitness goals, so I thought I’d quickly share a couple of mine with you. I’m still a bit of a newb at the gym and I am yet to master simple things like real press-ups. I know I really should only set one goal for each section and constantly change it when I reach it, so I’ve written my first target and what I’ll do once I’ve reached it.

I’ve been going to the gym for long enough to know my weakest areas. I know I have pretty strong legs and arms that can barely lift a can of coke. So here are my short, medium and long term goals.

My current goals:

❤ Short term – hold plank position for 1.30 minutes

❤ Medium term – Complete the Cardio Challenge*

❤ Long term – Lose 3 inches off of thighs

My next goals once I’ve completed these:

❤ Short term – do 5 press ups

❤ Medium term – be able to do 30kg on arm machines

❤ Long term – basically just ‘get abs’

So these are my goals for now 🙂 I’m planning on uploading a post on ‘My Gym Essentials’ so look out for it! xx

Maybelline Baby Skin – Primer Pore Eraser Review

This primer promises two things; to ‘erase’ pores and be a good primer (help makeup stay on longer). I’ve been testing this primer on and off underneath my foundation for about a month or so now, so I’ve decided to throw down everything I think about it on paper. As well as boasting my embarrassingly amateur photography skills. obvs. 

Firstly, I love the branding of this product. The colours and font on the packaging is so cute! I’m guessing it’s aimed at about my age range (20-ish?!) because I love everything about the branding. ♥

I don’t really like the packaging though. I mean it’s a pretty small tube for £7.99, but I guess you get what you pay for and all that. Size aside, the little nozzle hole is tiny! I’d say its about the right size nozzle for an eye primer product as you’d only need a little, but I personally like to be able to take a dab of primer, instead of a worm-like string!

Now onto its use as a primer. It’s fair to say it wouldn’t be suitable for somebody with oily skin. It’s sort of the consistency of Vaseline but in a squeezy tube. It feels soft on your skin when it’s on, but try and make sure not to over do it. I have quite normal skin so it’s okay for me to use a little, but I suggest not touching this with a barge pole if your skin is oily. My MAC foundation tends to stay on all day anyway, and really I haven’t noticed that much of a difference using this primer underneath!

As a ‘pore eraser’, I suppose it does what it says on the tin. Honestly my pores aren’t huge anyway, but I’m guessing by erasing pores, it means clogging them to the brim with grease?! It looks fine with foundation, and does make your skin look smoother, but I’m not sure clogging them up does your skin that much good either!

 Somebody with another skin type may think that this was sent from the heavens, but I have to say I probably won’t be re-purchasing.

 

My Beauty Wish List ♥

Earlier today I was looking in my makeup bag and realized – I never have lots of makeup. I buy makeup, but my bag never gets fuller. I’ve noticed that I’ve developed a weird one in-one out system. If I get a new mascara, the old one has to go. I’ve always done this with clothes, so I guess I subconsciously adopted the same attitude towards makeup!

I’ve been watching lots of beauty YouTubers 2014 favourites videos (as well as obviously just scouring the internet for things to buy) and I’ve collated a list of beauty products that I need to save for. I like my makeup to last a long time and be good quality, even if it is a bit more expensive. I find that one £10 MAC eye shadow lasts 5 x as long and is 5 x as pigmented as 3 Boots own, y’know?

NARS ILLUMINATOR 

I saw this on Lily Pebbles’ (I think?!) favourites video and it worked so well on her! Although she has lovely skin and I’m sort of… pastey. Either way, I’m definitely saving and giving it a go! It’s the NARS Illuminator in Copacabana. This is the colour she uses, but it may just wash me out!

This is such a pretty highlighter! It’s not overly shiny and doesn’t shimmer… I hate shimmer. It’s £22.50 and I’ll leave the link here if you want to check it out 🙂

NAKED 2 BASICS

The second thing on my wishlist is the Naked 2 Basics pallet. If you haven’t seen it, it looks like this:

This pallet just has all the colours you could need! I was watching Velvetgh0st earlier and she mentioned this. She mixes the darkest two colours for her brows and uses the rest of the colours as shadows. They’re so neutral so they can be used with light coverage in the daytime or jazzed up at night! (That really reminded me of The Inbetweeners – ‘Too jazzy?’ ‘Yeah. I think it’s just a bit too jazzy.’ Hahahaha…). They look so pigmented, I found a great picture on this blog!

BENETINT

The third thing I want to talk about is the Benetint lip and cheek stain. I’d put just a dab of this on each cheek and blend it out with a powder brush (probably not the right brush, but what can I say, I’m an amateur). I have an irrational fear of looking permanently embarrassed by blusher, so only the tiniest dab would do!

Speaking of Benefit… BOI-ING CONCEALER

I was just browsing, as you do, and came across industrial strength concealer. Hell yeah.

 

From what I can see, the reviews are pretty mixed on this. It covers dark circles, spots and also highlights. But most of the comments I see say it’s not lying about being ‘industrial strength’, but that can mean it’s a little cakey. It looks like it works for some and not for others. I think it may be a little too expensive for me to just give it a spin!

REAL TECHNIQUES BLUSH BRUSH 1407

Finally, something I know I won’t be disappointed with! I don’t know how, but Real Techniques brushes always seem to make makeup stay on so much longer and with way fewer streaks. This is just the next one to add to the basket…

Now just need to start saving!

Do what makes you happy ♥

I’m not gonna beat around the bush – it’s been a tough week. But I’m not here to mope. I’m here to spread a bit of positivity and inspire myself!  (Yes, I am the type of person that feels most inspired after scouring Pinterest for cliché, cringe worthy motivational quotes. The worst kind of person, I know). But I came across this gem which just puts bluntly the message I’m trying to convey.

My life is taking a turn for the unknown as we speak – in which direction, I’m not sure. But I guess it’s up to me to point it somewhere! As somebody who likes to have every detail planned out, I’m not thrilled about it. But it’s happening anyway so I might as well make the most of it.

My head’s been in a spin over the past few days; having to choose a potential career path in the space of about 4 days sure does do that to you. I loved my old job and the people I worked with, but it’s time for new adventures and new opportunities!

The events of this week have got me thinking. I always loved media, filming and editing while I was at school, so why not look for relevant jobs? I’ll tell you why – there’s no such thing. So why not just do it for the crack of it?

Then, in my quest for cliché nonsense, this jumped out at me:

I decided after seeing this that there are really only a few important things to me; that I, my friends, family and boyfriend are happy. That means doing what I want to do, not falling and failing hopelessly in the direction I’m being ushered.

ANYWAY – back on track – I suppose I’ll need to make it happen myself. All I need is my camera, laptop and mind full of big ideas. I have no idea what I’ll film, where I’ll film or who I’ll film, but the idea is a good start isn’t it?

Watch out YouTube…!

Paris at Christmas ♥

 A couple of Christmas’s ago my boyfriend and I went to Paris. Every now and then I look through all of the photos purely because it makes me happy 🙂 We went to all of the typically touristy places, but came across lots of little cute lanes and landmarks that I thought I’d post some pictures of. Really, there are only a few in my album that are good enough quality to post, so there might *just might* be a LOT of pictures of the Eiffel Tower. We’ll see.

I know people only look at travel posts to see the pictures, so there are minimal words, fear not!

 Couldn’t not post a picture of our Louis, could I?

 CREPES!!!!!The view from the Arc De Triomphe sort of blew my mind. Amen to panoramic cameras, eh? This photo is horrendously blurry, but I think it’s kinda cool 🙂

We stumbled upon this cute little bridge full of padlocks. People walk around selling padlocks that you write your names on, lock it to the bridge and throw the key in the water. There are locks on there that are yeeears old. Pretty cute, huh?

  I’ve saved my favourite photos for last!As our first holiday together I’d say it wasn’t too shabby! Now I just want to go back….

What was your favourite holiday? ♥

Log Cabin Holiday – Happy Trails

I was getting all excited on Instagram to upload this post, so I can wait to write it! I went away with my friend, her boyfriend and mine. We stayed in a log cabin not too far from where we live, and it was the most wonderful week!! We had a lovely warm cabin, a hot tub, a few board games and a few… (waaaay too many) bottles of wine. What more do we need? We spent too many hours sitting in the hot tub, playing lame games, getting lost in the forest and telling horrendous stories. There are plenty of pictures of trees, sunsets and selfies coming up. My bad. 

Excuse his socks… It was muddy!

These photos don’t quite to justice to how hilly that trek was! We all acquired branches to use as walking sticks to help, but it was so much fun!

I’ll post a few extra pics of our holiday on Instagram, check it out 🙂

First MAC Purchase!!

When I say first, I’ve bought something from MAC before… An eyeshadow. So I’m talking big MAC purchase! I’ll try my best to talk through the colours too, as my photography skills are (obvs) not that good, so the colours aren’t coming out as lovely as they are in real life (insert hearty eyed emoji here).

Last weekend Loz and I headed to our nearest MAC store, which was in Bath (also my favourite place ever)! We were booked in to get our makeup done, and went for the hour long, full face makeover! There are 2 options – half an hour and focussing on one aspect of your face (dramatic eyes or lips etc) or an hour and have them do your makeup suited to your taste. We had no plans to go out to make the most of it, but just wanted to watch what the artist did more than anything and try to pick up a few tips. I’ve never been good at doing my eyebrows – they’re pretty sparse so it’s tricky not to fill them in too thick and dark for my face, but after watching the makeup artist I have it down to a tee now (if I may say so myself)! 🙂

They ask lots of questions like ‘how much makeup do you normally wear?’ ‘Is this for anything special?’ ‘What kind of look are we going for?’ ‘Which colours would you like?’. The way Loz and I answered these questions resulted in us getting VERY different results! Loz ended up with dark black smokey eye and a dark berry lip, whereas I had a brown/purple smokey eye with a very neutral lip colour.

Something they used which I thought was awesome – this sheet of paper.

They write all of the colours/names that they used – including all the details.

I bought an eyeshadow palette – the palette itself costed £16.50, which I know, is bloody extortionate, but each shadow in they’re own pots are about £13 compared to £10 to go in a palette. So I’ve already saved money, sort of. Or so I keep telling myself. I bought 4 colours, that are all fairly neutral and I can wear just one or two to work, and jazz up with the other two colours at weekends.

From left to right, I know the first colour is called Rice Paper, it’s a lovely light matte shade. I use this for the inner corner of my eye and as a highlight under my eyebrow. The second is a lovely matte, mauve shade that’s so good for layering when you’re going for a more intense look. The third shade is (sorry to say) a bit of an ugly colour on it’s own!! I don’t particularly like shimmery shadows, so I use it as a base and layer on top. The last colour I use with my 224 brush, which I don’t know what I did without! I work it into the crease and it blends the shadows flawlessly.

Speaking of the 224… I’ve always used another brush, (Jemma Kidd was the brand I think?) and it’s never looked quite right, but I’ve totally nailed it with this fluffy brush and it does the job so well! Expensive, but totally worth it!

I also bought a foundation. I’ve bought a MAC foundation before but that was when I was about 14 and had no idea what skin type I was, and about £30 birthday spending money! I think I said it was oily (why? I don’t know!!! I actually have very normal skin). Either way, it dried my skin out and I’d just got back from holiday so it made my face flakey and wasn’t the right colour! Good move, Lucy. I’m not too sure which foundation I got, but it’s in the shade NC15 and has a nice dewy look when applied! I bought a Real Techniques foundation brush to apply it from Boots.

I also bought an eyebrow pencil in the colour Lingering. In Boots I’ve only ever found black and brown shades, but Lingering is perfect for me. It stays on all day – even in the hot tub! (Speaking of, we went away this week, and I’ll link the page HERE when I’ve written the post)! I bought a brush from EcoTools to apply the eyebrow pencil. I don’t know if this was supposed to be a good brand or not, but it’s worked so far, as the MAC brush equivalent was about £16 I think, and how much better could it really be?

The last thing I bought was the lipstick Patisserie. It’s SUCH a pretty shade and it smells lovely! Though honestly it’s not the best lipstick I’ve ever bought. At MAC, the lady applied lip liner all over my lips before applying this, which possibly helped it stay on longer? But without it, I don’t know whether it’s because it’s such a neutral shade that it seems to fade faster, but it needs to he reapplied quite soon. Maybe it’s just this colour as lots of people I know totally big up MAC lipsticks!

I’m hoping to continue to fill up my palette and expand my MAC collection, so I’ll try and keep my blog updated as I go. 🙂

Please don’t forget to come back and see my holiday post soon – it’ll mostly be pictures!

My Work Out Playlist

Bored of your gym/running playlist?

Here’s my best shot at giving you some ideas for your next one! I have quite a varied playlist because if I love a song enough, it’ll keep my energy levels up, even if it has the power to send me to sleep 5 hours later *cough*Nick Mulvey*cough*.

On the other hand, I’m a little apprehensive to admit that I like a couple of them as they’re not my usual cup of tea, but I’m gonna put it all out there anyway! I’m a sucker for Royal Blood and Catfish and the Bottlemen, so there’s a few of their songs lined up too!

Out of the Black – Royal Blood

On the Regular – Shamir

The Hunter – Slaves

Sunlight – The Magician feat. Years and Years

Desire – Years and Years

Illuminate – Tourist

Home by Now – Bombay Bicycle Club

Snow in Newark – Ryan Hemsworth

Pacifier – Catfish and the Bottlemen

Meet Me There – Nick Mulvey

First Time – Vance Joy

Cold – Rae Morris feat. Fryars

Emily – Lower Than Atlantis

Cocoon – Catfish and the Bottlemen

Losing Teeth – Neck Deep

Changing of the Seasons – Two Door Cinema Club

Ten Tonne Skeleton – Royal Blood

My Silver Lining – First Aid Kit

Would You Fight For My Love? – Jack White

Fever – The Black Keys

Little Monster – Royal Blood

Stay High – Tove Lo (Habits Remix)

There may… may be some Destiny’s Child and Technotronic on there too that I’m a little too embarrassed to mention!

What songs get you pumped for a good work out? ♥

Word of Advice: Clearer Skin

Finding your skin becoming spottier recently? Or is it only if you fall asleep with make up on? Obviously the condition of your skin has a lot to do with your genes, but I’ve found a few tips which might help improve it anyway! It can be a treacherous journey to find yourself with clearer skin, but the make-up free days and clay face masks will all be worth it in the end, I promise. Hopefully.

1. What’s your type?

Dry, oily, combination, normal, sensitive?
By deciding your skin type, you’re essentially picking out certain brands and products that you won’t pick up next time you’re in Boots. Sounds simple enough, but if you have dry skin and use an alcohol-based product, your face is going to stiiiiing.

Brands tend to market towards people who know they have a certain skin type. It really is a trial and error process working out which is going to work for you.

2. Find ‘your’ brand.

Certain brands use different chemicals which will all react differently with your skin. I find Simple products are always a safe bet if you’re looking for something unperfumed and gentle. I find my skin becomes a lot spottier and irritated if I use products containing tea tree oil, but that’s just me.

From my experience, products that work well at getting rid of spots and keeping them away, are from Freederm, Simple and Garnier.

The next 3 are all related, but they are all as important as each other!

3. Drink LOTS of water.

This isn’t only good for your skin, it also helps promote the growth of your hair and nails too. It’ll help flush out toxins from your system and result in clearer skin!

4. Eat well.

Nobody’s skin ever got worse when they started eating more fruit and veg. The less fat and greasy foods you eat, the better your skin will become. ‘You are what you eat’ and all that jazz.

5. Exercise on the reg.
   Improving circulation isn’t just going to get you looking fitter, but gives your skin a more vibrant appearance. You’ll also find you have much more energy, your hair and nails will grow faster, and who can say no to a very late (or early?) summer beach bod?!

I’m hoping to upload more health and fitness related posts soon, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested!

6. Give it a rest.
   If you can’t get by without foundation then perhaps try a BB cream, or maybe just concealer where you need it and translucent powder. The less you have clogging up your pores, the better!

If you know you won’t be going out on Sunday, just give your skin a break. Put your hair up in a topknot, get in your onesie and go watch Friends.

7. Take it off!
   Let’s face it, we’re all guilty of being lazy when it comes to taking our make-up off. But it’s important to give your skin a break at night – especially if you’ve been wearing foundation all day. It’s also so much easier to start the next day with a blank canvas. Nobody wants to be wiping off their panda eyes before work on a Monday morning.
   
8. Make a wash…

Wash your face when you go to bed – not just with a face wipe. I know your game. It’s good to exfoliate once a day to get rid of dead skin cells to keep that skin glowing.

My favourite product EVER at getting rid of spots is the Garnier Pure Active Exfoliator Brush. It makes your skin feel SO good. It’s £7.99 and lasts forever. Can’t go wrong.

There’s obviously lots more you can do to improve your skin, but these are just a few tips I use to try and keep spots away.

♥