Baby Lips - Hydrate, Cherry Me, Cherry Velvet

I am fully aware that Baby Lips are by no means a new trend and I have been building my collection for a while. Sadly this little lot did include the green 'Mint Fresh' one (lost to the wilds of handbag clutter probably) which while I'm here I would definitely recommend as it has just the right level of mint so it is more reminiscent of mint choc chic ice cream than overpowering gum. 

These three here are the classic blue 'Hydrate', which I use everyday for a basic balm, the tinted 'Cherry Me' which is a subtle red and more like a lipstick than balm, and this 'Cherry Velvet' which doesn't share the same packaging as the others and to be honest I have no idea where it came from.

The Hydrate has a great plumping look too and although does not have a particular colour associated with it, leaves a pale base which is fractionally whiter than the lip shade. This is really moisturising and needs to be topped up every few hours, but I am finding this really necessary for winter and the dry chapped lips situation.

Cherry Me isn't too strong a colour, though a faded red I would say, that looks like a lipstick but much less matte and precise. The only thing about the tinted Baby Lips is that if your lips are exceptionally dry, the colour will obviously not flatter the chapped bits and flaky is not where you want to be! 

The Cherry Velvet I would not say is anything particularly special and although it has the Baby Lips name to it, strikes me as a much more standard balm and isn't as moisturising and glossy as the others. Maybe I'm just living up to my stereotype though and finding fault because it's packaging isn't as pretty...

Even if you just have one, a winter essential. That is if you can't get your hands on an EOS of course.

Alternative/Indie Rock Music Playlist

I've seen music playlists up on a lot of blogs and although my music taste of alternative/indie rock isn't always appreciated by everyone, I love it and that's all that matters! It takes a few weeks for me to move on from songs so I create monthly playlists which I can listen back to. Look all the way to the end - there may be a song at the end that you miss if you judge on the first few.

Whilst we're on this topic, have you seen Lana Del Rey's short film, Tropico that was released earlier today? It's up on her Vevo and although I do like the storyline that accompanies her image so well I thought there was a bit too much dialogue with John the Baptist, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis in the Garden of Eden. I was proud of Lana for getting her body out and flaunting her more womanly, 'normal' figure which is so rarely seen in music videos and on pop princesses that flood the media. I will forever admire Lana Del Rey for her music, style and beauty; maybe she is not the classic inspiration but it's the image she has created for herself that I love and am inspired by.

1) Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey

This track was the only one I thought actually suited the glamorous, luxurious theme of the Great Gatsby in the 1920s.

2) One For The Road - Arctic Monkeys 

3) Girls - The 1975

Zac Efron is the background on my friend's phones : Matt Healy is mine.

4) Young Heart - We Are The Ocean

Get past the first 20 seconds and it becomes less shouty, more relatable. 

5) Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt

Great lying-in-bed-getting-emotional-for-no-reason song.

6) Stay With Me - You Me At Six

7) Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis

8) The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage - Panic! At The Disco

My favourite band with the Arctic Monkeys and The 1975 but feel for this name...

9) Black Chandelier - Biffy Clyro 

10) Call It What You Want - Foster The People

In my opinion these artists are not appreciated anywhere near enough so even if you just listen and enjoy, remember them when you're next having an iTunes music spree! x

Empties - Essentials

I've been collecting my empty products recently to put into one big post and here it is! A lot of these I use on a daily basis, particularly the skin care but I've been impressed with how long these have lasted, particularly the Lush moisturiser! The powder isn't finished yet but as it's my third replacement I've gotten bored of it and moved on. Although there is two cleansers, the one I've been using most recently is the Vichy one which has been particularly good for make up removal.

This collection of empties is :
Rapid Action Deep Pore Treatment Toner - Clearasil
Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser - Liz Earle
Normaderm Cleansing Gel - Vichy
Wake Me Up Foundation - Rimmel
Skindrink Facial Moisturiser - Lush
The Righteous Body Butter - Soap and Glory
Stay Matte Pressed Powder - Rimmel
Cat Eyes Collosal Mascara - Maybelline
Mastertouch Concealer - Maxfactor

Juju Jelly Shoes

I found these pictures from the summer and remembered just how much I love my Juju's! These were the only shoes I wore for pretty much the whole summer because I could wear them with absolutely anything and they were brilliant as a replacement for casual flipflops. In the evenings on holiday I could wear them with bodycon dresses and in the day they were perfect with shorts or summer dresses. At 5ft 8 already, heels are not only extremely impractical on a beach, but put another 4 inches on me and you get pre-growthspurt teenagers having a wail of a time talking up to me. I also weirdly like the plastic/rubber smell - it reminds me of being five for some reason. These are the Vicky style in Mega Glitter and I bought them in Office for £16 which I thought was very reasonable for such hard-wearing shoes which lasted me all summer without wearing out at all.

Halloween Skeleton Outfit

Shooting this post was brilliant; the Halloween spirit is in the air! I'm going as a skeleton girl in this dress from Amazon which I'm much more keen on now I've adapted it, but when I ordered it as a strapless dress I'd assumed it would have some ribbing inside or at the very least some structure to keep it up but I just got some material with those tacky transparent plastic straps. I sewed on some thin black straps to hold it up and then decided to wear it with my black, furry Topshop coat and spiked heels from New Look.
The makeup ended up with a more catty look with the flicked eyes but I love the intensity of the look and a lot of black eye shadow, kohl and liquid liner was used as well as grey shadow and white eyeliner with my usual skin base but much darker eyebrows to define the face even more.

Makeup :
SKIN : Wake Me Up Foundation - Rimmel / Wake Me Up Concealer - Rimmel / Dream Terra Sun Bronzer - Maybelline / Expert Foundation Brush - Real Techniques / Stippling Brush - Real Techniques / Kabuki Brush
EYES : Grey and Black Eyeshadow - Colourbox / Pump Up Booster 24hr Eyeliner - Miss Sporty / Liquid Liner - Barry M / Bold Black Kohl Eyeliner - Barry M / White Eyeliner Pencil - Natural Collection / Cat Eyes Mascara - Maybelline
EYEBROWS : Black Eyeshadow - Colourbox / Eyebrow Brush - Bobbi Brown

Nina Nesbitt - Look For Less

Nina Nesbitt, along with being an amazing singer, (Boy is a particular favourite of mine), has classic girl next door beauty with that cheeky grin and an  incredible 90s grunge style with a twist of festival glam with this headband.
I recreated this simple outfit from the high street for £68.04.

Jumper - http://www.chiarafashion.co.uk
Swing Skirt - http://www.drjays.com
Headband - http://www.beauxoxo.com
Converse - http://www.jdsports.co.uk

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Brilliance Powder

Now, I'm not totally sure about this bronzer at all. The word that comes to mind is discoball. For a face. The swatch shows this slightly but this is insanely glittery and is loaded up with a hell of a lot of glitter. However, the one I tried in the shop was less so, so I don't know if I just a powerful applicator or what but when using my one, I give the lightest of dusting across the cheekbones and temples. I love the brush; the powder is in the tube and then by touching the brush to your face it comes out, though fast! If you do it too hard actual clouds of glittery powder will billow off it. You have been warned.
It's £16, which I think is quite pricey for a bronzer but the glow does last all day and it doesn't sink into my pores as much as Rimmel and Maybelline ones have done. So, bearing in mind the excessive shimmer I think this is much more of a winter product because the light won't reflect in such extremes and if you're as pale as me then a bit of bronze is very necessary.

Real Techniques Stippling Brush

 Real Techniques have been recommended to me for ages and now I know completely why - they are amazing! I have been using the 'Expert Face Brush' and 'Buffing Brush' for a while and my newest addition to the RT collection I'm growing is this 'Stippling Brush.' This brush has been really useful in completing the most airbrushed foundation look because I limit it to just finishing off, banishing brush streaks and evening out the tone all over. It gives a really polished look and I use it with my Wake Me Up liquid foundation.
It is relatively cheap for its incredible quality (£10.99) and created by the Pixi Woo beauty guru Sam Chapman whose videos have inspired me for ages. All RT brushes are created with synthetic taklon bristles which are so easy to clean, and it doesn't soak up all the product; my foundation lasts so much longer with these brushes than my previous set of Bobbi Brown's. Believe the rave reviews, these brushes are essential to any make up bag.

17 Blemish Balm - Light

When I saw this Blemish Balm in Boots, the first thing that grabbed me was 'Helps Improve Skin Condition' because let's be honest no girl will ever stop searching for a high street miracle product that does that. Sadly, as with most cheaper products that promise this, the quality of my skin did not improve by using this for a couple of weeks, in that it did not 'minimise pores' or noticeably stop breakouts. I didn't have incredibly bad breakouts as my skin isn't normally prone to that anyway but it didn't do anything to budge the normal small clusters of spots.
The other criticism I have of this is that it only comes in three shades, Light being the palest of them and it's still so dark; I had to stop using it purely because of its orangeness! This was even after holiday with a tan and I'm certainly not the palest person so I was slightly disappointed with that. While I'm on a roll, it didn't have great coverage and any spots were still very clear through it, so concealer was required anyway even though this is supposed to be the only summer skin makeup necessity.
Not my favourite product but nowhere near as heavy as foundation with powder so for a bit of colour I would recommend for a good-skin-day but don't even bother if you are pale, might as well just wear only cover up if you are looking for lighter makeup for your skin.

July Birchbox - Jet Set Edition

Since November I've been receiving my monthly beauty boxes from Birchbox with five beauty samples and a lifestyle extra in the little pink packages and this month's edition is a Jet Set collection for July. Filled with handy products for the summer, the July box is mainly focused on keeping skin in flawless (well, there abouts) condition with the wear and tear of heat, sand and sun not wreaking to much havoc on our delicate skin. This came in the post yesterday so I have not as yet had a chance to try any of the products but the ones that stand out I will review later on in the month. 

The headlining product in the box is the 'Creme De Jour Protectrice' from Blanc Cachemire, a miracle moisturiser which is quite obviously French and is £54.75 full size so I will see if it lives up to its price which seems a little steep for a daily essential product.

I want to try out the Body Lotion from Dead Sea Spa Magik soon as well because I used this brand's cleanser for ages before I came across the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and that was very good for my skin. However, I do think body lotion is one of those essentials that for summer you just need a large tub of, whatever the quality of the product.

The InStain Blush looks fairly interesting as it is minuscule (about a 1.5 cm square of the product) but it swatches very heavily so I'm slightly nervous about putting this on my cheeks as it is very vibrantly orange toned!

What looks like my favourite product of the box is the Fluide Fraicheur Phyto-Hydrant by Carole Franck which besides the complicated name looks like a very good primer and is a decent 10ml sample. It's a lot more liquidy than my current primer (I suppose that would be the 'fluide' bit) and has the texture of a moisturiser so I'm very keen to try it!

The hand cream by Nougat London, I'll be honest isn't the most thrilling product. I can't judge because I haven't tried it yet but it seems pretty standard though I'll admit it does smell incredible.

Oh, Birchbox, why do you insist on these Lifestyle Extra products. So far, I've been overwhelmed by strange cultural tea and remedies and this month I've got Chia Shots which are supposedly mixed into anything to 'improve overall health and wellbeing' by packing a load of vitamins and minerals into your diet. I shall try.

Topshop Eye Crayon in Gold Digger

     Firstly, wow. I consider Topshop to be one of those High Street brands that is amazing quality but generally at the pricey end of non-designer shops, so when I picked up this eye crayon for just £6.50 I was a very happy bunny. I don't wear eye shadows regularly preferring a very black eye - I do not leave the house without some sort of eyeliner on - but I love these coloured pencils because they add a pop of colour to the eye, brightening it and they are so simple to use. 

     For everyday use, I'll sweep this pencil from the inside corner to about half way across my lid and then carry the flick on over the top with my usual black gel liner. If its a more glam occasion then I'll use it all over as a block colour base or all the way across the bottom of my eye underneath the water line. 

     The gold digger is a very metallic colour and looks almost like foil on the skin. Its lasts for most of the day but it does wear throughout as the pigment isn't the strongest. One thing I would look out for though; its a pencil, therefore it requires a sharpener. However, your average kohl sharpener will not do the job as this crayon is a lot thicker than normal pencils. Topshop sell one for £3 which stupid Lucy is now going to have to purchase...

Mask of Magnaminty

     Before you go ahead and judge, it's not as bad as it looks in the pot : honest. There are so many Lush lovers out there and I am quickly becoming one of the them. Lush has always struck me as an indulgence brand with its crazy soaps and bath bombs being  slightly unnecessary for me as a shower person and baths make me feel guilty that I could be something more productive in that time (faintly ridiculous as I waste so much time on other less relaxing activities...yes, Twitter that was aimed at you). So I was thrilled when in the Brent Cross Lush shop I came across all these products for skin that had the great Lush ingredients but that I can use regularly!
     The Mask of Magnaminty does live up to its name : it is very minty. Looking at the pot though, I have found it also contains honey, evening primrose seeds, peppermint oil and vanilla absolute. However, it's minty in a refreshingly nice way and makes me think of the Elizabeth Shaw chocolates in hotels. It has quite a lumpy consistency as you can see but once it's on the face it dries smooth in a matter of minutes and is ready to come off in 5 minutes. The pot says 5 - 10 but I've found if it's left on for more than 7 my face cries at me to get some water on it before it falls apart!
     Although most face masks' aim is merely to give a deep cleanse of the skin and improve the balance of oils on the face, this Mask is designed to tackle spots, which as a teenager is the thing I like least about my face. I have used this three times over the course of a week and the majority of my spots have gone with all redness abated, though a few little under-the-skin spots remain to be tackled. This is really helping my skin and will be essential for keeping my face in good condition this summer.