Freebie Alert: Marie Claire

Thought I'd pop up a really quick post to say that Marie Claire is down to £2.50 and has an Aromatherapy trio in it worth £13! Bargain or what?! I, of course, had to pick it up. Looking forward to see if the hype about Aromatherapy is justified!

Will you be picking this up?

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Revision and Exam Tips

 

 Some of you may have noticed my disappearance (thank you if you did!) but I suspect many of you went about your daily lives without wondering why there has been an absence of posts on AG. Yes? I thought so. Exam times are upon us and as I've said in an organisation/revision post or two (see here), I'm a stresser and unfortunately that meant my blog suffered. To be perfectly honest with you, I could have made time to put up a weekly post but I didn't. I feel guilty when I blog instead of revise and my stress levels can't handle extra emotion right now (exams also make me melodramatic it seems). Hands up to you girls with the daily blogs and full time work or revision. You are amazing!

Anyway as I've already given some tips on revision and organisation (see link above), I thought I'd share some exam tips today. As always, I'm no expert but these tips have helped me through the 6 (!) years of exams I've had so far.

1. Work out whether you are an early bird or a night owl. I'm more of a morning person so can get so much more done between 6am-12pm than 6pm-12am despite it being the same amount of time. My productivity and attention wanes as the day goes on, so capitalise on the time you know you work best.
2. Be organised. Not just in exam time but throughout the whole year. There is nothing worse than knowing the key to an exam lies on a scrap of paper that may be in the pocket of the pair of jeans that you just washed.
3. Tidy house, tidy mind. On the first day of revision, ensure your room, work space etc is tidy. Nothing worse than mess distracting you or coming back from a bad exam to a bomb site of a room.
4. Right before the exam, don't cram too much. You'll overload your brain and it will just forget it all. Keep calm, don't let other people talk to you too much (too many a time have I stressed that I didn't know a case and then got a perfectly good grade without it) and just breath.
5. Finally ensure you have enough pens, water, gum and whatever else you may need for the exam. You don't want to be wasting precious seconds when your one and only pen runs out and you have to wait for the elderly invigilator to get you an new one.

I hope these tips help some of you! I'd love to hear if  they did or whether you have some tips for me. My exams don't finish until the 28th May with my birthday squidged in before then so expect sporadic post until then. See you on the other side!

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NOTD: Topshop Eclipse

I've had this nail varnish for yonks and was a little scared it might have been discontinued. It hasn't (thank goodness) so I can share it with you all! Look at how pretty this nail varnish is in the bottle. If you say you could walk past that and not pick it up, you're lying! When I saw this, I thought it looked like when oil is spilt; that rainbow like puddle that changes in different lights. In some lights, Topshop Eclipse looks green, in others in looks more goldy and I absolutely love that!

I recently bought Seche Vite and have been having a little trouble with it. As a lot of my nail varnishes are quite thick to start with, my nail polish would just flake off in huge chunks because it just gets too thick with Seche Vite as well. I haven't been having that trouble with Eclipse though (hurrah!) as it is a thinner polish that can be built up. You could use one coat for a sheer coverage that still looks beautiful as your nails catch the light or two coats (like above) for it to be opaque.

Will you be picking this up? Have you got any favourite polishes at the minute?

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Mother's Day: Make Up

Just a quickie today (mind out of the gutters ladies!), more of a visual inspiration really. I'm absolutely loving the fresh faced, Spring make up looks of [the select few of] my celeb crushes. Flawless, glowing bases, lots of highlighter (looking at you Kimmy K) and nude pinky lips. I just love the simplicity of it, even with Jessica's (yes, we're on a first name basis) light brown smokey eye, it all looks so effortless. My favourite type of make up!
I've also included my biggest make up lust; the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I want it's rosey tones all over my face- well mainly on my eyelids! There is also a Sleek matte lipstick in Heartbreaker up there as matte lips are in and it's the perfect coral pink shade.

I've left you with a picture of me and my mammy (and my sister hiding in the back there). Hope you all have a great Mother's day!

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First Impressions: Superdrug BB Cream and Hot Cloth Cleanser

 

I've been trialling these products for a couple of weeks now and I'm so excited about them, I decided to do a first impressions post. This isn't a full review as because they are both skin products, I like to wait about a month before I comment on them to see how my skin reacts to continued use. I'll do a short 'follow up' post in a few weeks to tell you guys my final thoughts on them.

Anywaaay, the long and the short of it is I've been loving both of these products. I haven't picked up another base product since I bought the BB Cream and the hot cloth cleanser is one of the first I've tried and I'm really impressed. 

BB Cream

I was on the hunt for a BB Cream as Spring/Summer is coming up and I like to wear a lighter base in hotter weather. Not only so that my skin can breath but who wants to be sweating off a full face of make up? Not me, that's for sure! I first headed straight to the Maybelline stand as I wanted to try their Dream Fresh BB Cream but alas, they had stopped stocking my shade. That's when I went on a mad dash around Superdrug in an attempt to find an alternative. I stumbled across the Superdrug BB Cream and thought I would give it a go. I actually decided to pick up the anti ageing one in the end as it had a higher SPF than the other ones Superdrug offered. It promises to conceal age spots and imperfections, improve the look of wrinkles, improve smoothness/firmness of skin, boost radiance (another attractive purpose for me, Queen of Dull Skin) and even out skin tone.

I can't really comment on the anti-ageing side of it but I definitely feel as this product adds a glow to my skin as well as having a light coverage that even outs my skin tone and hides my hyper pigmentation.

Hot Cloth Cleanser

I mentioned in a post a little while ago that I'd like to try a hot cloth cleanser. I've got quite dry skin and felt that face washes were just drying out my skin further. If you read this haul post, you would have seen that I picked up this hot cloth cleanser. I decided to go for Superdrugs' Vitamin E range as Miss Budget Beauty was raving about it at the time and I wasn't sure how much I would like this sort of cleanser so was playing it safe on the price range.

I really like this cleanser, it leaves my face feeling really smooth but not over stripped. It also comes with a muslin cloth which I feel gets rid of the impurities better than your average face wash.

All round thumbs up! Have you got any BB creams or cleansers that you like? Have you tried any of these products?

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Mother's Day: Outfits

In the spirit of Mother's Day, thought I would share with you the lady I'll be spending my day with. My Nana! Think she looks very sweet here! Being at university means that I won't see my mum until Easter so I've skipped a generation and gone to the Head Honcho of mothers!

I'm sharing some outfit ideas with you today and trying to keep this post short and sweet. I've done a more formal outfit if you are taking your mum out to dinner or the likes and an informal one for lunch and other activities. They're spring inspired with brights and pastels as the little bit of sun we're having is getting me excited. Enjoy!

Formal
Swing Vest- Boohoo- £6
Skater Skirt- Red- Boohoo- £10
Heeled Sandals- Zara- £39.99
Necklace- ASOS- £12

The heels are a little pricey but I couldn't find any cheaper ones for the look I was going for! Alternatives welcome!

Informal
Dress- New Look-£22.99
Wedges-New Look-£27.99
Ballet pump alternative- New Look-£17.99
Gold Cuff- New Look- £4.99

I know wedges aren't the most practical but how cute would they look with this dress?!

What will you be wearing on Mother's Day? What are your plans?

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Mask Monday: Montagne Jeunesse Wild Strawberry

If you saw this haul, you would have seen I bought this mask 3 months ago!! I can't believe it's taken me this long to use it. Anyway, first thought was that it smelt delicious. The masks contains strawberry (duh!) and rhubarb, which really came through in the smell. If you don't like sweet scents though, stay away! I wanted to eat it however! (Please don't!). The mask is a gel like consistency with a red tinge. I had intended to take a picture with it on but I just look weirdly shiny; something you guys don't need to see!

The mask is aimed to get rid of dead skin and impurities and my skin did feel smooth after using it. However, to get rid of the dead skin, it is a peeling mask. I find peeling masks to be a bit messy and a tad annoying if the mask hasn't fully dried. I do love the satisfaction of peeling it off though. Only me? Okay...

Overall a nice basic mask but nothing special. Montagne Jeunesse reminds me of my childhood sleepovers and this is one I would definitely have loved back then. One thing to add though, I had a enough product for an application and a half which was great, as I hate it when you have to spread a mask thinly!

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