A Make Up Revolution Haul

Make Up Revolution can rightfully be described as having taken the beauty world by storm. There were only so many different reviews I could read before I had to get my hands on the products myself. What really enticed me about the brand was the high-end look of the products whilst being a tenth of the price. Having tried cheaper brands and being disappointed, when the words "super-pigmented" kept being attributed to Make Up Revolution products, I knew that I could hold back no more. So I made full use of the deal that when you spend over £40 you get European Tracked Delivery for the price of standard and did a little haul. 

Salvation Palette Colour Chaos 

When I picked this up, Halloween was around the corner, and I wanted to have a palette that had bright colours that I could work into my look, but I also wanted to have colours that I would wear again, and this 18-shade beauty refused to stay out of my cart. 

Essential Mattes 

Who doesn't need a palette named 'Essential Mattes', with 12 shades and for a bargain price of £4? I am not a shimmery shadow type of girl, especially not during the day, and mattes are surprisingly hard to find, so getting this palette was a no-brainer. It's got all the shades of neutral a girl could needs. 

Ultra Cover and Conceal Palette: Medium-Dark 

This one was another one I picked up for Halloween (I found the the lightest shades work better on my complexion for the zombie look than using a white base), but at the same time think I'm going to get a lot of use out of, as it's not always easy to find a bronzer dark enough to contour with, so the darkest colour in this palette works great for giving me those sharp cheekbones!

I Heart Makeup: I Am Naked Palette 

This one I picked up on more of a whim. It's a palette with six natural browns (three matte, three shimmery) that comes with a nude lipstick, all in a compact shape that comes with a mirror. I think what appealed to me was that it's small, easy to carry around, and with a mirror therefore perfect for touch ups or for a weekend at a friend's where you don't want to take too much with you but you want to be prepared for brunch during the day, and going out in the evening.

The One Blush Stick - Malibu 

Like the Essential Mattes Palette, when I saw this, I knew I had to have it. It's a multipurpose blush stick that you can use on your cheeks and lips, and can be applied dry or wet for a different finish. The thing about dark skin is that our natural flush isn't pink, it's more of a reddish-brown, so this is perfect for giving my face a perk and applied to the lips it's a great nude colour. I'll go into more detail when I give the individual reviews that these products deserve! 

Aqua Seal Liquid Eye Primer 

I needed an eye primer, so when I saw that this was a sealant as well (and apparently if you mix it with metallic pure pigment eye shade you get a foil effect), into my cart it went. I used this to keep my Halloween eye make up in place and was not disappointed, though I've yet to use this on my day-to-day make up (only the beauty fairies know why). 

Awesome Double Flick Thick and Thin Eyeliner in Black 

This product was aptly named, because an eyeliner that can accomodate to my changing desires for eyeliner thickness is awesome. It has a thick nib and thin nib which can be used seperately, or used together when you want a thicker line on your lid and then a thin cat flick. 

Brow Dual Ultra Brow Arch & Shape in Darkest 

Last, but most definitely not least, I picked up this brow product. I had to have it because of the promise of a super-fine felt tip. After using the Barry M Brow Pen, which became an instant favourite , I already knew that I prefer them to kohl pencils or using powder to shape my brows, but the Make Up Revolution gives you an extra little something: a waxy sort of brow pencil so you can fill in the brows you just beautifully crafted. 

More raves - I mean, reviews - about each individual products to come as I really do feel they warrant it, so be sure to keep an eye out for them! Honestly, Make Up Revolution knows what it's doing, and I know that it's a brand that I'm going to keep coming back to, whether to repurchase products or try out new ranges. 

Do you like Make Up Revolution? Do you have a favourite product? 

Benefit's They're Real! Push-Up Liner Review

When I was in London recently, I was lucky enough to be around when the December Issue of Elle magazine came out. As if being able to pick up the 'Feminism issue' wasn't exciting enough, the free gift was Benefit's They're Real! Push-Up Liner in travel size. Since it's apparently the UK's no.1 eyeliner, you can imagine how much it's been raged about on the blogosphere, so there was no way that I was going to leave the UK without both Elle and this little gem in my bag. 

Thankfully Elle provided instructions on how to use this gel liner (and #tutorielle's on their site) even if they claimed that the rubberised AccuFlex™ tip guarantees foolproof use. Reading about it and having the product in hand are two different things and it had me more confused than I should probably admit. It is definitely one of those products that has a learning curve. It took me a few tries before I (sort of!) got the hang of it . 

Overall, I quite like this product. Never has an eyeliner felt so comfortable along my lash line as I was applying it and the staying power of this is perfect for my oil-prone lids. What I like about gel liners is that they give a softer look than liquid liners do, and this one has the slighty smokey look of kohl but with the precision of a liquid liner - the perfect matt black, basically. I'm not entire sure if I'm won over by the tip though - I prefer to have eyeliners that I know that I can apply in the morning rush, and this one still requires quite a bit of concentration from me to get a decent look. I wonder if the full-size would feel better in my hand as I feel I'm quite awkward with the travel size...

Either way I am so happy that Elle free-gifted us with this beauty, and that I was there to get my hands on it so I could finally see for myself what the hype was about. I wish I loved it more! (Or knew how to use it better so I could love it more). It's a great product, I just don't think it's my product.

Have you tried the eyeliner? What do you think of it? 

Slowly falling in love with organisation...

Source: Felix Meyer

I have always been jealous of super-organised people. Well, perhaps not always, but it's certainly been a while since I first begun admiring their colour-coded zeal, their use of their homework planners and then self-bought agendas for the purpose they were made and not as a coaster or to gather dust somewhere forgotten, their ability to get things done - and get things done on time. It didn't strike me until fairly recently that organisational skills are just that - skills. And skills means something that can be learnt. 

So that's what I've been trying my hand at these past couple of weeks: trying to get better organised. It's been a slow process that I'm still in the (super) early days of figuring it all out, but I'm finding that I really enjoy it. 

It all with a personal challenge to write daily to-do lists so that I could get a sense of what I needed to get done every day rather than just trying to be productive with no clear idea of what I wanted to get done. Then I started using my Moleskine Weekly Notebook, which is an 18 months planner to keep track of personal tidbits, studying and blogging. And this week I've started a bullet journal, which I've recently discovered is a great way of keeping all your to-do's, lists and inspirations in one place rather than having loads of different notebooks and sticky notes everywhere (or in my case, obscuring most of my planner and making it quite busy and difficult to use). 

Organisation is one of those things that can seem quite overwhelming from the outside looking in, however, when you're in the eye of your own crazy organisational storm, things seem a lot clearer than you could have thought them. I'm really excited about this new organised chapter of my life. Especially since it allows me to give into one of my greatest loves: stationery. Getting things done is just a pleasant bonus.

Are you organised? Have you always been that way or is something that you've learnt along the way? 

Yves Rocher Sébo Végétal Range: Great for Oily Sensitive-Prone Skin

If you have sensitive oily-to-combination skin then you will know that the struggle to find face care products that will keep the oil under control without either breaking out your skin or stripping it until it's a messy dry-to-oily mess is very real. There is nothing worse than realising that the face products that are supposed to be helping your oiliness are actually making it worse due to your skin's reaction. So I have never been so grateful as to have discovered Yves Rocher Sébo Végétal range.

The first product I tried was the Hydrating Micellar Water 2-in-1, which acts as both a cleanser and a toner. I saw a difference within the week, and it became an instant favourite. So when it was close to running out and saw that my local Yves Rocher offered a Complete Sébo Végétal Program Set with a €10,70 reduction to what you would pay if you bought each of the products individually, I had to get it.

The set comes with the Purifying Cleansing Gel, the Zero Blemish Gel Cream as well as the Micellar Water. All these products are said to help minimise pores and control the excess sebum leading to a nice matte finish without drying out the skin which for us perpetually oily-skin girls is the dream; a dream that is very difficult to reach without breaking the bank. I was also on the look out for a serum so I decided to give their Pore Minimising Serum a go. I have not looked back since.

The first week I couldn't believe that I actually could have an entire day without oily skin - my face is usually a lovely ball of shine by lunchtime! Having accepted that I would always wake up with shiny skin, I was shocked to look in the mirror to find my skin clear and matte without that drying pull you get with some products. It is insane how well this range has worked for me. Since I've started using this my skin has been bright, clear and, apart from hormonal spots, break out-free. 

That said, I am careful to balance out these products with more moisturising products (for example, I only use the Purifying Cleansing Gel in the mornings and use my DHC oil cleanser to remove make up in the evenings) because even though it's quite gentle, and the Gel Cream is surprisingly moisturising for a skin-clearing product, I don't want to risk stripping my skin, especially with the colder days. I have ve learned the hard-way that for me dry skin = super oily, irritated (and irritating) skin.

I still have to try the Purifying Scrub, the Purity Mask and the Mattifying Gel Cream to have tested the entire range, and they also have a a Kit Zero Defaut which is like a 7 day programme to help give your skin an extra boost when it's not looking it's usual amazing self, but right now I'm loving to products I'm using.

Have you tried any of the Yves Rocher Sébo Végétal range? Don't forget that Yves Rocher offers mail-order service to lots of countries worldwide, so if you don't have a store near you, chances are they deliver online! 

Currently Loving: Meghan Trainor's 'Title'

There are very few people out there who like Mondays. Mondays mark the beginning of the work week, the school week, or basically a new week where you have to get a bunch things done. Amongst the things that can give you a much-needed jump-start to the week is a good, upbeat jam to dance around the bathroom in your underwear to so that Monday doesn't seem too gloomy. Meghan Trainor's debut  EP 'Title' gives you just that. 

All About That Bass

"If you got beauty, beauty, just raise 'em up

'Cause every inch of you is perfect

From the bottom to the top"

When Meghan's hit-debut 'All About That Bass' was climbing the charts I kept a wary distance, until one day last month I was introduced to it through a random playlist, and I haven't looked back since. I have a definite 'Easy A' Pocket Full of Sunshine relationship except that with this song I'm telling the shower head that 'I'm bringing booty back. Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that'. Whilst the lyrics aren't perhaps as all-inclusive in their empowerment, the song is certainly catchy, fun and I dare you not to shake your thang all over your bedroom whilst singing this at the top of your lungs (room mates and neighbours be damned). I dare you. 

Title

"I know you think I'm cool
But I ain't one of the boys
No, don't be scared that I'm gon' tie you down
 I need a little more"

This is a perfect song for today's dating scene where casual is the norm, and putting the label of 'boyfriend/girlfriend' is explained away as something archaic and that adds pressure to the relationship from boys who just want to have a good time (but they're not going to come out and just tell you that in case that puts you off them). Meghan puts an end to that in this song announcing 'Better give me that title' especially 'if you want these sweet like sugar Gucci lips/ he gotta give it up'. I think sometimes we just need a reminder that it's perfectly okay to want a relationship from guys, and once we know what we want, to hold true to that and demand it. 

Dear Future Husband

"Dear future husband, here's a few things

You'll need to know if you wanna be

My one and only all my life"

Continuing the trend of knowing exactly what you want and demanding for it, 'Dear Future Husband' is a list of things that a future husband needs to take note of in order to have 'a perfect wife'. It's a bit of fun, and the doo-wop elements will have you tapping your foot as you nod your head to points you agree with Meghan on: 'You gotta know how to treat me like a lady/Even when I'm acting crazy/Tell me everything's alright' Are you listening future husband? 

Close Your Eyes

"I guess I could waste all my time and my money just trying to look right

But it doesn't change who I am in my heart if I look like a dime"

A pop album wouldn't be complete without a ballad, and 'Close Your Eyes' is a lovely song about keeping true to yourself and showing the world that you're beautiful as you are. It's soulful whilst maintaining the Trainor edge consistent throughout the whole album.

Highly recommend for: Monday morning pep, shower singing and for those post-break up or boy-trouble blues. Also good for pretending you're in a modern '50s dinner sharing a shake with your girls whilst tapping your foot along and swinging your ponytail to 2014 doo-wop feels.

Do you like Meghan Trainor? What's your current singing-in-the-shower-at-the-top-of-my-lungs song?