Monday, 4 July 2016

Beauty on a Budget!

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Hello everyone, I thought today I’d show you my favourite low-cost beauty products. I noticed in most of my blog posts that I seem to only write about wearing mainly high-end products, which is entirely not the case! Infact I don’t know anyone that is so stringent with their money like I am, but when it comes to it I do like to treat myself from time to time, like everyone other girl I know! So here I’ve gathered a few of my favourite low cost beauty products, all of different uses, to show you what I think works great on the face and doesn’t cost too much of a heartbreaking price. (These were all purchased from either Boots or Superdrug).

This is a metal applicator, which I really like. I always heat my curlers up with my hairdryer before curling my actual eyelashes as it adds to the length (tip there for you)! I thought I would include this as it is a necessity for enhancing your lashes for a natural look. It’s cheap, cheerful and does the trick.


I’ve gone through so many mascaras that just seem to make my lashes look like stumpy little spider legs… I now use false eyelashes for a majority of the time, therefore on days that I don’t, I want a mascara that’s going to still give me the false desired effect. I picked this up recently after seeing a few Youtubers/Bloggers rave on about it and now I’m going to be one of them! I love it! It takes a while to get used to the extremely thimble applicator, but once it’s applied correctly it gives that lovely flutter to your eyelashes, especially your bottom lashes… which I always find tricky!

Another one of my recent pick-ups but I can honestly say that I need never use another eyeliner again, which is surprising to me as I always loved my trusty Rimmel ‘Scandal Eyes’. However, this little life-saver has blown it completely out the water! This is a gel liner with a pen-typed nib and gives such a smooth, controllable application (especially for those cat flicks) and if you feel like you are running out of gel just pop it back into it’s applicator and shake it, then voila, good as new! I find that it doesn’t print easily and dries quickly too. I’ve never bought a high-end eyeliner and now I definitely never need to.

I received this in my March Glossybox and i’ve been using it ever since! This is a great item for strobing and gives a natural highlight instead of a more powder looking glow. It comes in a little chunky applicator and makes it really easy to go over the cheek bones and anywhere else that suits your highlighting needs. It comes out as a more pearly/white luminous colour which looks lovely on the skin, however it does require a certain amount of blending. For £2.99 it is a great quality product!

I picked this blusher up around 2 months ago and as you can tell it’s still looks hardly used! It’s long lasting and is a lovely, subtle colour as the name displays. It blends nicely into your foundation and isn’t too prominent on your cheeks which is what I always look for in a blusher. It’s very similar to the YSL Blush Volupte.

I was so super excited when I was shopping in Manchester and saw the NYX range in Boots! There was so many girls hovering around and I just managed to pick up these two shades, I wanted to stay and buy them all (if only my partner wasn’t giving me the stare of death at the time) so I left with these two pretty nude shades. They apply beautifully, especially the butter gloss. It quite literally gives that butter effect to the lips… I will definitely be back to buy more of these! Although it is a shame you can only get them in the bigger Boots shops.

I never usually bother to buy individual eye-shadows but when I saw these two I had to! As my eyes are hazel I tend to stick for warm bronzed colours or purple, these two shades bring my eyes out so much and I can imagine they would do the same for others. Both are extremely pigmented, the picture above to the right was applied to my hand without any eyeshadow primer and you can still see the shimmer quite clearly! The Maybelline ‘Copper Fizz’ eyeshadow is more of a champagne glitter colour whereas the MUA ‘Copper’ is obviously a deep orange/copper shimmer with slightly more pigment. The brand MUA itself is very reasonably priced and at £1.00 how can you resist? I love both these shades!

Firstly I love the range of colour in this foundation, although it doesn’t had a shade to cover anyone that is past the dark olive skin tone from what I’ve noticed. However I found a shade that suits me really well, which is ‘Dark Beige’ as I have quite light olive skin. It has a medium coverage but is build-able too,  it does feel quite wet for a little while when applied to the skin but after that gives such a lovely healthy glow, which the name promotes. It makes my skin feel hydrated and fresh, but if you’re wanting this to last all throughout the night as well, I would advise topping up on some more as it does wear off after a good few hours, if applied correctly. Makes a cheaper alternative to similar dupe of ‘Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua’.

I also wanted to add in this MUA Fixing Mist, for a cost of £5.00 it does the exact same job as the Urban Decay Setting Spray. Not only do I use it for a seamless finish, but I also spray it onto my foundation brush as I find doing this applies my foundation more smoothly and flawless. Two uses in one bottle!

Real Techniques Brushes (individually priced)
These weren’t bought in a set, but these are the Real Technique brushes i’ve bought and use the most. I hardly ever use makeup brushes for the correct use as I find they always apply something else better! They are easy to wash, don’t fall apart like some brushes do and are cleverly designed by my two favourite beauty guru’s Sam & Nic (pixiwoo). They fit perfectly into my makeup bag - what more could I ask for?!

Love,
Hannah x

Monday, 15 February 2016

2016

I cannot believe that we are already in 2016 already, 2015 completely flew by and it's been that time again where people start to make resolutions. Many people find them a waste of time because they're always the same or people don't stick to them but I on the other hand have set a couple of goals/targets for myself. So, (you guessed it), I'm going to share mine with you, and now I have them in writing and on the internet I'm going to have to stick to them, ahhhh!

  1. I am such a disorganised person, in every respect! I hope that this year that with exams coming up (oh no!) I somehow manage to change that. I'm trying my very hardest to complete work as soon as I get it, revise subjects and topics so that nothing goes over my head, and to have an organised and tidy room - it makes SUCH a difference!
  1. A second goal I have set for myself is to experience new things. I really want to go to a festival this summer as I haven't been to one yet!
  1. Third and final is to say yes to more opportunities! I have a habit of putting things off until I need to properly sort them out, or arranging things and then just not going. This year I'll (hopefully) be going to University and so I think this goal will be able to set me up for moving away and living on my own!

Have you set any goals for 2016 or do you just think that making resolutions are a waste of time? Either way, I would love to know what you think :)

Love,
Hannah x

Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Catch Up!

So I'm throwing it back at least more than a month now as I have been unbelievably busy to keep you updated at the time, totally my fault! The next couple of blog posts will feature all of what I got up to over summer.

To begin, I re-visited Lourdes for the second year to participate in the Liverpool Archdiocese Pilgrimage. We left on the 23rd July and came home on the 31st July - with a 26 hour coach journey there and back, it was very tedious to say the least!

As with last year, we had pilgrims throughout our time there and catered for their needs and it was so lovely to spend quality time with them and get to know all about their lives. In fact, we even met some pilgrims who were also from Chorley - I bet we bump into them in Morrisons while shopping!

Here are a selection of photos from my time there...
















Monday, 31 August 2015

Oops...

So it has been the LONGEST time since I last posted on here but I promise I do have reasons for that!

Summer 2015 has been the busiest summer I have probably ever had. I wish I had all the time in the world to catch you up on however it's my Duke of Edinburgh expedition tomorrow so I do have to get an early night (it's 11:30 now). 

Once I'm back, I will be returning with lots of blog posts for you and catch you up with everything I've been up to. But for the time being I just thought I'd let you know I am alive, despite not showing it! Apologies!

Hope you have all had a fun-filled summer and I can't wait to catch you up.

Love,
Hannah x

Monday, 15 June 2015

MAC Purchases!

So, a couple of days back, I decided that now my skin had cleared up and my breakouts were getting less and less frequent that I would splurge out on some high-end make-up. I took a little visit onto MAC's website and found myself lost in their endless supply of gorgeous make-up.

I managed to restrain myself from buying everything that I would have liked (it probably would have cost an extravagant amount of money) and decided to start off by purchasing the basics.

So, I treated myself to the 'MAC Studio Fix Fluid' in 'NC20', the 'MAC Fluidline Brow Gelcreme' in 'Dirty Blonde' and the 'MAC Matte Lipstick' in 'Velvet Teddy'. Here below is a photo of those products.


If you do love MAC, then you probably will already have such staples in your collection already. However, I am beginning to chose to spend my money on high-end make-up rather than clothes as my wardrobe is getting very very full. The Studio Fix (foundation) cost £21.50, the brow gelcreme cost £15.50 and the lipstick also cost £15.50. They are quite expensive compared to the prices of drugstore make-up but I do have to say they are definitely worth the money and I would recommend purchasing these items if you are looking to start up a high-end make-up collection!

I hope this helps any of you interested in developing your make-up kit.

Love,
Hannah x

Sunday, 31 May 2015

Drugstore Make-up Best Bits!

I thought it would be an interesting forum topic to discuss what brand is best for what. I thought I’d focus it on drugstore for now as the all the make-up in the entire world would be a bit of a tough one to whittle down and once I got thinking there were more than a few brands that came to mind when I thought of particular product categories…

The Best for Foundation… now it’s a toss-up between L’Oreal and BourjoisL’Oreal have their True Match Foundation offering which is a universally adored medium to full-coverage, skin-like finish formula; plus there’s their Lumi Magique line which I always forget about but really do quite like. Then for Bourjois all of their ‘Healthy‘ ones are good and I love their Happy Light. Good skin in a bottle right there.

The Best for Concealer… I think Maybelline for this one. I recently picked up their Master Conceal when I was in the US and it’s a tube of full coverage cover-up goodness and their Eraser Eye Concealer is fab too. Slightly lighter in texture and the applicator is a little bizarre, but it gets the job done.

The Best for Eyes… in terms of actual shadows I really like the L’Oreal ones. There’s the Colour Infallible Eyeshadows, the La Palette Nude and the newly released Colour Riche Mono Eyeshadows. But if we’re talking pencils then it’s all about Rimmel. I love their Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajals in basically every colour and the Shadow Paint version of them is great too.

The Best for Cheeks… when I think of cheeks, I think of Sleek. They now do amazing palettes that have highlight/blush/contour in – the lot – but their individual blush colours are great and I really do like their Contour Kit. It’s a classic.

The Best for Mascara… It’s got to be Max Factor. Though I did love one from L’Oreal, since they discontinued it the only other drugstore one that I’ve reached for is Max Factor’s False Lash Effect Waterproof Mascara. Oh and I used their Masterpiece one back in the day too – great for separation.

The Best for Lipsticks… I reckon I’d have to go with Bourjois for this one. Now only are their Rouge Edition Lipsticks fab and come in a ridiculously large range of shades, their Rouge Velvet Editions are even better and go down in the books as my favourite drugstore bold offering.

I hope this helps any of you looking to buy some new make-up products!

Love,
Hannah x

Monday, 20 April 2015

Yacht Charter in Palma

During Easter Half Term, I was lucky enough to go on a 3 day charter on a yacht in Palma, Spain with my family and closest family friends.

We arrived in Palma on Sunday afternoon, and stayed in a hotel until Tuesday morning. During our short stay in Palma, we went out for lunch most days and we also visited different places around Palma (typical tourists, sight seeing as much as possible!)






When we boarded the yacht on Tuesday morning, the weather was dull and the sky was covered in clouds but thankfully it cleared up as the day progressed on. We stayed on the Alhena of London, which looks like this...



Above, and below, is a photo of us all before leaving the port. There was myself and my family (mum, dad and brother), the Jacksons (Scott, Sharon and Rachael) and the Holland/Colemans (Diane, Mike, Laura and Sophie). 

A photo of us all with the Captain of the yacht, Jay.
Throughout the charter on the yacht, we went to many different places in Palma and experienced the most amazing views whilst we were there.



Not only were the views amazing, but the staff on board were too. A big meal was provided for breakfast, lunch and dinner from the fantastic chef on board - with the food and the views combined together, there was nothing more perfect and tranquil.

Breakfast on the yacht.

Sophie, Laura, Rachael and I one morning.

The experience was filled with great laughs, great company and great weather... for once! It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience and I will remember those days forever.

For the final night, we all dressed up smartly to celebrate together as it was Scott & Sharon's wedding anniversary on that night.






It really was an indescribable experience and I will cherish the memories spent with my family and closest friends for as long as I can!

Now back to reality and the stress of exams, so much fun...

Love,
Hannah x