November Favourites!

I would start all my favourites like this if you guys wouldn't get bored: how is it the end of November already?! I seriously feel like I've just started university again and now I'm on holiday in two weeks. It's crazy. Necessary 'time going too fast' moan over. Here's what I've been loving this month.

I've been really toning down the amount of make up I've been wearing recently. Partly because I'm back at university and I need as much time in bed as possible and partly because I really like how it looks.

Real Techniques Buffing Brush- link- This brush needs no hype, it's just perfect. Nothing buffs foundation or concealer into my skin like it. I'm sure it's featured in another one of my favourites (oops, it's been in more favourites than not!) so I won't harp on about it. Basically it's brilliant, buy it!

Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in 011 Sable Brown- link- This is a trick I nicked from ViviannaDoesMakeup. Little bit of this eyeliner smudged over the lids makes you go from 'just woken up' to 'I spent at least 10 minutes on my eyes' in about five seconds. I've been reaching for this loads this month because I have had little time for eye shadows in the morning.

Soap and Glory Super Cat  Liqiud Black Eye Liner Pen- link- I've only just realised that a cat flick makes my droopy eyes look more awake. I can't believe it has taken me this long to figure it out! When I've had time and/or patience, I've been giving that a go. I can't say I'm a professional , in fact an 'Eye Liner for Noobs' book would be quite an apt present for Christmas but I've been loving the look (when I can get them even that is and don't wipe it all off in an angry huff!)

17 Hide Away Concealer Cream in Medium- (Can't seem to find it anywhere-weirdly enough)- This has been my concealer of choice for a couple of months now. It hides blemishes really well without accentuating them like some and I find it works really well even when my skin gets a little drier in the colder weather.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Natural Bronze Body Lotion- link- This has definitely been in another favourites. I named it my first Holy Grail item of this here blog here and I'm still loving it six months on. I find that when the winter months roll around, my skin gets noticeably pale and I look ill, like 'had the plague and just about came through the other side' ill. This gives me a bit of a glow without looking like I've piled on the tan. Perfect!

Home Baking candle- This is a bit of a cheat as I can't tell you the brand. I picked this up in Roseby's, a home furnishing store. I've had a little Wikipedia search and they apparently have 300 stores nationwide so if you have one near you, I would definitely recommend you popping in for some amazing candle discounts. I got this giant one (like Yankee Large giant) for £6! It's in this lovely glass jar that looks anything but cheap and the smell is divine! It's a warm vanilla scent, not too synthetic which can be the way with vanilla. My housemate even commented that she could smell it downstairs! That's how much it fills a room. 

Sorry to go on so much about a product you might not be able to find! What have you been loving this month?

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Face of the day using 17 Complete Collection

I thought this would give me a chance to review a few of the things in the collection, as well as seeing what kind of look I could create.

I started with the Seventeen Photo Flawless Primer. I applied this with my fingers over my whole face. I found this gave me a lovely smooth feeling to the skin. However the next day, I came out with little white spots. I have used both the foundation and concealer for a long time now so can put this purely down to the primer so bear this in mind if you try this product. I wouldn't say my foundation lasted longer with it but it definitely went on more smoothly. My foundation of choice is the Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation in 400 Natural Beige and of course the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Medium 3. I buffed these both into the skin with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

Base done, I moved onto eyes. I used the Metallic Cream as a base. On first glance, I thought this would be too pink toned for my eyes but when applied, it gives a cream sheen to the eyes with a slight shimmer. Ther plan was to create a neutral cream and brown eye look, but I changed my mind on whim. I applied the golden shade on the left all over lid but found this to be too yellow for me. To counteract this, I applied the silver over the top of it to make it more creamy. I then blended the purple shade in the outer corner and through the crease. This is a colour I would never reach for but found myself drawn to it because it was so autumnal looking! I then blended...and blended and blended. I blame my over blending on the fact that this is a colour I would never wear usually and consequently was trying to avoid the 'I just got punched in the face' look. However next time, I would definitely leave the colour more vibrant.

I then applied the Smoulder Gel Eyeliner with an angled brush to my top lashes. I've been loving a cat eye flick recently but because this was my first time using a brush to apply my eye liner, I played it safe (not too shabby application, if I do say so myself!).
The product I was most looking forward to using was the coffee eye pencil. When swatched, this came up as a gorgeous gold. This did not translate in the waterline unfortunately. I drew, scratched and scraped at it but couldn't even get the slightest hint of colour. I applied the black instead, which came out grey, much to my disappointment. It seems my initial thoughts of the pencil eyeliners being duds were right.

To finish the eyes, I added mascara. I really didn't like the brush on this initially, it looks like a thick spooley, but it grew on me. It lengthened my lashes further but really its volume that I need, as my lashes are already quite long. This is a good mascara but doesn't do the job I need it to.

 

For lips, I used Very Berry, which I really liked as it's quite a subtle berry tone. Nothing too vampy. I really liked the look overall but would go easier on the blending next time. I've practically rubbed the shadow off! The possibilities with this kit is endless so I'm sure you'll hear more about it.

What did you think of the look I created? What would you have done?

 

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The Weekend #3

Back again with what I got up to this weekend!

Thought I'd start with a mini face of the day. My skin is really behaving at the minute so I've been keeping my make up minimal to keep it that way. Please excuse my extremely grubby looking products; that's what happens when you use them everyday! The mascara had a super annoying label that left that horrible sticky residue and the 17 concealer kept covering me in black bits so I've covered it in Cellotape. Classy!

The products I've been reaching for almost every day are:

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Medium 3

Real Techniques Buffing Brush

17 Hide Away Concealer in Medium

Rimmel Soft Kohl in 011 Sable Brown

Soap and Glory Supercat Liquid Black Eyeliner Pen

W7 Lashtastic Mascara

Beauty UK Lipstick in Plumalicious

Couldn't resist pulling a funny face!

My housemate and I popped into Norwich to do some Christmas decoration shopping for our house. We set a pretty tight budget of £15 to get everything so were really searching for the bargains. In the end we picked up a little Christmas tree, stocking, baubles (which came without hooks!! So I' ll have to go pick some of those up), tinsel, paper chains, fairy lights and a little NOEL sign (my favourite decoration).

When I got home, some studying was in order (the common thing in all my weekends unfortunately). I wasn't impressed when my computer decided to do the biggest update ever though!

Another quite chilled weekend. What did you get up to this weekend?

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Seventeen: The Complete Collection swatches

I have been putting this post off for the longest time possible. If you haven't already guessed, it's swatches from the Seventeen Complete Collection that I blogged about a few weeks ago HERE. It's just such a bumper pack of make up, I was like waaah. Anyway I've finally plucked up the courage so here are the swatches!

 I just want to cover the 'technical' things you get in this pack before I get onto what you all really want to see! You get eye lash curlers (which I'm yet to use because the thought of putting my eye lashes in there scares the beejezus out of me!) You also get a pencil sharpener, which is a pretty bog standard. It sharpens!

 As well as the technical bits, you get a photo ready primer, a mascara and a gel eye liner. I've only tried the primer on my hand so can't comment on the longevity but it really added a lovely smoothness to the skin so I can't wait to try that out properly! The mascara has a wand like the end of a spooley but is pretty standard. I had an idea what the duds would be, as is inevitable with this sort of pack, and the eye liner was one of them. I was pleasantly surprised when it was jet black and went on lovely with the angled brush provided.

 The brushes (and eye shadows) are what initially drew me to this set as you could pay £17 for 2 brushes alone, let alone 5 with a ton of make up too.These are some of the softest brushes I've felt and although they haven't been washed yet, I am yet to encounter any shedding. My favourite brush is the fluffy eye brush (third down) which has been perfect for blending and buffing out eye shadow.

Finally, the eye shadows! I desperately wanted to provide names for these eyeshadows but there simply aren't any. They are shadows from the Metallic Toffee Trio, the Vengeance Trio and Peepshow Eye Palette. The solo shadows are Funfair, Style Queen, Spirit, Regal and Mardi Gras but I don't want to just guess which are which so here you are! They could have at least put them in order of which palette they are in but alas! All the shadows are velvety soft and give a good pay off. I expected some duds but to be honest, there really aren't any! The silvers/greys are on the less pigmented side but, as with all the shadows, can be built up. I think they'll be nice to add a bit of shimmer to a party look.

The eye pencils were another expected dud of mine but these were also lovely! I expected them to be hard and the black to be grey looking but they were as soft as butter. The coffee pencil is an almost gold and I can't wait to use it to warm up my brown eyes in the water line. The black was jet black but I can't, again, comment on longevity. My waterline is notorious for not keeping a colour there anyway! Damn you watery eyes!

My favourite shadow is the one on the far left. It's a lovely bronzey shimmer. I am a neutral girl at heart!

Finally the five lip colours! We have (left to right) Peachy, Pink Ice, Fuzzy Yellow Petal, Nude and Very Berry. The lip colours are nice but I can't see them getting much use.

This collection of make up was an absolute bargain at £17, even at full price, it's decent for what you are getting. It's such a shame the eye shadows aren't removable though because they'd be onto a winner there! 

What are your favourite shades? I might do a Face of The Day using this make up. Is that something you'd like to see?

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Favourite YouTubers- Beauty edition

I can't say this was any easy post to write. Every time I picked someone, I thought 'ooh what about so and so?' I eventually narrowed it down, but have decided to do a few of these e.g. favourite American YouTuber, favourite [under X amount of subscribers] YouTubers, etc. I'm subscribed to almost 100 YouTubers so it's super hard to choose!

Here are my top 5 YouTubers in no particular order!

You probably know all these YouTubers already but I'll just give you a run down of why I love them!

Miss BudgetBeauty

Queen of the budget, Khila talks all things budget in the beauty world. Although I love a good drugstore make up product (I buy exclusively from there), I watch Khila's videos for her manner and infectious determination. Khila puts up one or more blog posts a day, 3 videos a week on her budget channel, she just set up another channel for her higher end purchases plus her vlog channel AND as if that wasn't enough she works and is a mother to two young children. She's a real inspiration and I'd love to be as proactive as her. Definitely check her channel out! (Sorry, this turned into a bit of a speech; just got a lot of admiration for this woman!)

Essie Button

Essie is a Canadian living in London. I love her laugh, just makes me smile! Her beauty videos range from hauls to in depth brand focus videos. They're well researched and a pleasure to watch!

As much as I love her beauty videos, I absolutely love her vlogs. She just got a rescue greyhound and you can see she just adores him!

Kacey Laine

Kacey is an American beauty guru, who's just moved to LA. I love her voice, if that's not a weird thing to say! Another thing I love is the length of her videos. Beauty gurus love to chat, I'll say that! But Kacey's videos rarely hit the 10 minute mark which is quite refreshing!

ViviannaDoesMakeup

I always feel so calm after watching Anna's videos. Her voice is really soothing (like cashmere!) and she's a girl after my own heart with her neutrals. She puts out really polished videos and when her and Lily Pebbles get together, I imagine it's beauty mayhem!

Zoella

I could hardly do a favourite YouTubers without mentioning Zoella! A well known beauty YouTuber; if you haven't seen her, where have you been?! I love Zoe's take on beauty, nothing too serious and since her channel really blew up when she hit 1 million subscribers, there's been a lot of collabs and toher fun videos I enjoy to watch!

There are so many other YouTubers I want to add to this; so honourable mentions go to Sprinkle of Glitter, Fleur De Force, Tanya Burr, MissGlamorazzi, OnnaB and Lily Melrose!

Make sure to check out everyone I've mentioned. I've spent ages putting this post together but almost don't want to publish it because I love everyone I subscribe to and it ridiculously hard to have favourites. If you want to see all my subscriptions, you can have a look HERE

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The Weekend #2

I'm thinking of making this a series, on a Monday, not a Wednesday like last week! See last week's HERE. Now that I've committed to it, I probably won't do it (30 Day Snap anyone?) It won't be every weekend, just on the ones where I've done something more than lounge around and study. Hope you enjoy finding out about my weekends!

Me and my house mate cooked up a storm with home made shepherd's pie. To complete this Saturday night, we then went to the library... Crazy girls us!!

As to not lose our student cred, we headed to our local pub with our other house mates for a chilled drink and catch up after. We're rarely all together at the same time because of uni and work so it's nice to sit down and just chat.

Sunday morning, I treated myself to a boiled egg and soldiers. It was perfect, thanks for asking! Delia Smith's method works every time. As soon as the water starts boiling, time one minute for the perfect soft boiled egg. Also caught up on some new videos. This one was Caspar Lee's accent challenge.

 

The weekend wouldn't be anything without catching up on law gossip (quite different to beauty gossip!) and some studying. I'm currently preparing for my land law class on Tuesday. Fun times!

I've also cooked up a ginger and pear crumble for afters later, which I can't wait for! And of course given my make brushes their weekly clean. I really am turning into a domestic goddess! How has your weekend been? Did venture out the house more than me?

 

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The Confessions Tag

I can hear your audible sigh from here! I promise I'll slow down on the tags after this one! (maybe...) I've done this as an extra bonus post this week though so I hope you don't mind too much. I was tagged by the lovely Milarie from http://itsauniquething.blogspot.co.uk You can check out her post on it HERE

Source

1) When did you start your blog?

I started my blog on the 17th January 2013. So I've been blogging for exactly 10 months today!

2) Have you had any online presence before?
Noo never! Nothing like a blog anyway. I've had the usual, personal social media.

3) Why did you start a blog?

I really got into watching YouTube videos quite a while before, and then I moved onto blogs and eventually I thought 'I'm going to have a go at this' and so I did!

4) When did you become serious about starting a blog?

 I don't understand this question! But I became more serious about blogging in September. I got a schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and have made sure I have kept to that, as well as promoting my blog more.

5) What was your first post?

You can see my first cringey post HERE. It was about me being a new blogger.

6) What has been biggest challenge about blogging?

The biggest challenge about blogging for me is the photography and scheduling posts. There has been so many times when I've wanted to post about something and realised the natural light has gone so  I can't take photos. Or I leave writing a post until 11pm the night before!

7) Where do you see your blog in one year?

Hopefully a lot more polished design (I'm working on it) with more of you lovely people reading it.

8) What is the most rewarding to you about blogging?

I LOVE it when people comment on my posts. I just love hearing others people's views, about their days, and recommendations. That's the most rewarding thing.

9) What is the most discouraging thing that happens to you?

The most discouraging thing that happens to me is when I look at people who have had blogs for the same amount of time as me and they just seem to be doing so well! I start comparing our blogs, followers etc and that's never going to end well. End of the day, we all have different blogs and I wouldn't have you amazing people reading if I had theirs so...yeah!

10) What's your lasting inspiration or motivation?
That someone, even if it is one person, is reading this post/ my blog and enjoying it. Nothing more inspiring than knowing that.

Thanks again for tagging me Milarie! Hope you've enjoyed finding out more about my blogging life! I tag anyone who would like to do this tag! Comment below any other questions you have!

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Rimmel 60 Second nail polish Instyle Coral

 

How obvious is it that this post has sat in my drafts for a while? A completely unseasonal colour with lovely bright pictures which seem impossible to attain in winter. Does any other blogger have this problem? Go to take a product picture and suddenly realise it's after 4pm and all the light has gone? Not enjoying the nights drawing in to say the least!

Rant over, let's get onto the product! I picked this up on a whim in Superdrug as I'd been looking to expand my pastel nail polish collection. I thought this one was beautiful as it's a muted coral, not too orange. Standard opaque in two coats, you can see some of the ridges in my nail but they are really bad at the minute so I won't fault the polish on that.

 

It stayed flawless for a about three days before chipping started. This is pretty standard on my nails (I think it's because they're in such bad condition, boo). The brush was a wide brush (my favourite), which I love as it coats the nail in one, maybe two swipes. I think the top coat worked really well to give them a lovely glossy finish though! A review will be coming on that soon separately on the nail hardening qualities (spoiler: it doesn't work).

Definitely recommend having a look at this polish if you're in Superdrug or Boots. £3.69 HERE. I'm always looking to expand my collection so recommendations are welcome! Have you got a favourite polish? This post has reminded me of this one and it will be the next one worn!

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The Weekend post... On a Wednesday

I thought I'd share my lazy Sunday with you today..mid week. Kind of a strange thing to do, but I'm not organised enough to get these sort of posts up on the Sunday or the Monday so here we are!

 

A must do chore for the weekend: brush cleaning. I can't be the only one who finds this job soothing?!

Spent a bit of time in the kitchen this weekend *shock horror*

Home made mocha making! I was going to write a post on this but it's just too easy (yummy none the less!). Throw all the above ingredients into a cup with hot water, splash of milk and you're good to go.

Whipped up a cheesy broccoli bake for a few quick meals in the week. I've got a lot of work on at the minute and knowing that this is here, I can just throw it in the microwave and it's relatively healthy, is good.

Prepared lunch for my loooong Monday. It looks quite boring but all the good stuff is underneath the greenery. Tomato, cucumber, beetroot, mushrooms, peppers, tuna, lettuce and the obligatory (large) dollop of salad cream. Kind of negates the healthiness of it but oh well!

 

Ended my Sunday with EU law and Legally Blonde. Good mix if you ask me! EU and its many treaties, regulations and directives had thoroughly demotivated me so Legally Blonde was a must. I find that this film always makes re-motivates me. We shan't talk about the fact I'm watching it again two days later. I'm lacking in the motivation department at the moment. Any tips?

What did you do this weekend? Were you more proactive than me?

 

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Another Tag?!

Okay, okay, I know this is very similar to the Autumn Tag I did HERE a few weeks ago but I couldn't resist! My love for Autumn overcame me and here is the Sweater Weather tag for y'all! This tag was created on YouTube by ItsMeLexie1 but I'm actually following MissGlamorazzi's version as her's was more relevant to me.

1. Favourite candle scent?

This changes all the time for me but Autumn always conjures richer, cinnamon, spice smells to me so I'd have to go with that.

2. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?

This is a split between coffee and hot chocolate... literally! I love them both respectively but recently I've been mixing them together for a home made mocha-esque drink.

3. What's the best fall memory you have?

Playing in the leaves with my sister at our old house. We had a tree that overhung the garden so that gave us hours of fun.

4. Which makeup trend do you prefer: dark lips or winged eyeliner?

I'm such an eye liner noob so definitely dark lips!

5. Best fragrance for Fall?

Like my candles, I like the heavier scents for Autumn and for this I use Diesel Plus Plus Feminine

6. Favourite Thanksgiving Christmas food?

This was Thanksgiving food but being British we don't haveThanksgiving so I've changed it to Christmas. Suuuper tempted to try and persuade my house to celebrate Thanksgiving this year though! My favourite Christmas food is definitely all the desserts! Mainly anything chocolately!

7. What is autumn weather like where you live?

COLD.

8. Most worn sweater?

I don't think I have a most worn sweater as I change them out quite regularly but anything light knit and loose would have a thumbs up from me

9. Must-have nail polish this fall?

I'm going to give a shameless plug here and say you'll have to check out My Autumn Nail post to find that one out!

10. Football games or jumping in leaf piles?

Although we have football games here (American football too) and my friend is urging me to come along to watch our university's team play, I still haven't so it'd have to be jumping in a pile of leaves

11. Skinny jeans or leggings?

Leggings! Comfort all the way

12. Combat boots or Uggs?

I haven't got a pair of either this year and am still on the hunt for the perfect pair of ankle boots so neither I suppose

13. Is pumpkin spice worth the hype?

I have yet to go to Starbucks and find out but I'll report back on that one!

14. Favorite fall TV show?

I'm still loving Pretty Little Liars but I think they're currently on a mid season break. Does anyone know? *sob*

15. What song really gets you into the fall spirit?

I'm never usually a country girl but I listened to Kacey Musgraves- Follow Your Arrow and loved it! It just has that Autumn like feel to it!

Thanks for bearing with me whilst I indulge my Autumn love. What are your Autumn loves? Share them with me on Twitter: @alexgeorgie_

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