Benefit They're Real Review

Last year when the mascara I was using at the time ran out I decided after much research to take the plunge and invest in Benefit They're Real.

I'd heard a lot about this, how it was the 'wonder mascara' and how it makes your lashes look super full and long. Fortunately I have been blessed with naturally long curly lashes and so I am not in need of this per se. However who doesn't want to have beautiful long dark full lashes?

When I first got this I was in love. There is no other way to put it, I was simply in love. If anything I was annoyed with myself for not having invested sooner. The brush is super thick and has a large ball on the end which I was told is for corners and lower lashes. 

 To be honest I just use the nice large wand all over my lashes. 

However what I am disappointed in is how long it has lasted. I know that you should be replacing your mascara every few months blah blah blah. In all honesty I have much cheaper mascaras that have lasted longer than this. 

I still like the effect the mascara has, but after about 5/6 months it started drying out and now is not nearly as effective as it was when I first bought it. 

Overall I loved this mascara when it was brand new, however for £19.50 it does not last nearly as long as I would like it to. There are definitely much cheaper mascaras on the market that I like just as much and that last much longer. Though as I've said I have been blessed with long lashes and so I can get away with using pretty much any mascara. Soz I'm definitely not bragging.

Everyday Essential Eyeshadows

Is creating your own pallets not the greatest idea ever? Seriously why are MAC the only ones that do this? Though in saying that if NARS did it I would have no money left whatsoever.

This is my favourite, and as you can see most used MAC pallet. 

 

This is my quad of (from top left going clockwise) Woodwinked, Honey Lust, Charcoal Brown and Shroom. 

My favourite summer (and winter) going out eyeshadow, Woodwinked. A beautiful golden colour that blends slightly orangey. 

Honey Lust, my go to everyday shadow. A lovely champagney pinky glittery colour. 

Sometimes interchanged with All That Glitters. Also a lovely pinky champagne glittery colour that I originally swapped out for Honey Lust when I first hit pan on this. 

Charcoal Brown. A matte brown that I use as my everyday brow shade. 

The most 'loved' of all, Shroom. This is my highlight colour for the arch of brow and inner corner of my eye. 

The full pallet with All Thay Glitters. Needless to say this pallet goes everywhere with me, the two bottom colours especially are used every single day. Thank you MAC for the brilliant swap in and out pallet system, love from every beauty lover in the world. 

Weekend Away

I'm back in the 'Diff! After a wonderful weekend in London with my family full of rugby and lots and lots of shopping I'm back in the wonderful Welsh capital.

Let's get straight down to it. 

It's already dirty from a day in my makeup bag. 

This is the Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Timanfaya and was a treat from my mum when we popped into my favourite shop in the whole world, Liberty. 

Whilst there my mum also bought me my birthday present from her which may or may not have come from the famous scarf hall. I'm not allowed to open it until my actual birthday next month, but for now I'm more than happy to just look at that lovely purple box. Inside the bag, as well as my lip pencil, I also got some samples from the Hourglass counter after I tried the new Ambiant Light Blusher. 

I love it when counter girls are generous. 

The main reason we were in London this weekend was to see the England v Ireland 6 nations rugby game. The match was incredible! I won't dwell too much on it but here's a picture of me and my wonderful mother at the game. 

We're a family of blondes! 

Today I said goodbye to my family again after a wonderful time with them, at the end of the day nothing is more important that family. In saying that it is lovely to be back in Cardiff and I do love this site. 

Makeup and The Family/Nars Laguna Bronzer Review

I'll start this post by saying how much I miss my makeup set up. Whilst I'm in London this weekend I'm staying with my brother, and I'm very upset (but not surprised) that his mirror and lighting situation is dreadful!

I really don't think it looks like that much when it's all spread out like this. Needless to say my brother is not impressed that I've taken over his floor with my things, but it's his own fault for not having a good enough dresser/mirror combo for me to work with. 

Onto a different family member, one who is more on my wavelength when it comes to all things beauty. 

A couple of weeks ago I received this text from my mother. 

You can definitely tell we're related. 

Anyway yesterday when she met me off the train she met me with a big bag of goodies (what is seeing family for eh?) and in this bag of goodies was my new bronzer. 

Aah it's so pretty and untouched. I almost didn't want to use it this morning. Though use it I did. I love the Nars Laguna bronzer, I've solely been using this now for a good 2 maybe even coming onto 3 years and I can't see myself changing any time soon. I find it to be the perfect shade of brown without being orange with just enough shimmer to add something to the face without being a glitterball. All in all, I feel, the perfect bronzer. 

Travel Makeup

I am writing today from the train! It's always very exciting to have a change of scenery, and I'm currently on my way to London for the weekend.

The one thing that does not excite me about going away is the thought of packing, especially cramming all of my makeup into my small suitcase. 

However I managed it! I got it all into this Ted Baker makeup bag (apart from the stupidly massive Chanel Bronze Universal) and got it into my case.

My brushes are in this cute little MAC brush case which is big enough to be able to keep face brushes in the pouch on the left and eye brushes on the right. 

All of that along with my everyday essentials makeup talked about here, I really don't think I have too much...

The Morning After The Night Before

Last night some of the girls and I went out for what was intended to be quiet night with just a few drinks and a boogie. However it ended with me dragging my housemate up the stairs at 4.07 because she refused to believe that the sofa wasn't her bed, that however is an entirely different story.

So while I was the good friend who stayed (mostly) sober and looked after the others, I was also the friend that had a compulsory 9 o'clock lecture this morning. After less than 3 hours sleep my alarm went off at 7AM this morning and though I was far from hungover I was very tired and just a wee bit fragile. 

The point of this post is my advice on what to do if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to look nice when you feel horrific on the inside. 

Personally the only way I can fully recover from a hangover is to lie in bed for hours, demand one of my housemates bring me a cup of tea and some toast and then be filled in on the previous nights antics. This is then followed by fresh air and copious amounts of carbs! However if I'm not lucky enough to be able to indulge in this, like this morning, I feel the next best thing is a good long shower.

I love the smell of this Body Shop shower gel in Mango to help wake me up and prepare me for the morning. 

I also find that lots of moisturiser is required to help my dehydrated skin.

I really like this one from the Body Shop as it has Aloe Vera in and just feels lovely on the skin. I also find my makeup doesn't sit as well on my skin after a late night, my face is a lot more inclined to get oily but this is a problem that I have been unable to combat other than constantly topping up with powder. 

I'll leave you with this picture of us from last night to prove that we can look classy, even if it's only at the beginning of the night. 

Brightening Up Mondays

If you are a regular reader, you will know that I am in the minority in the fact that I love Mondays. Today however has been challenging. After the beautiful weather we had in the UK yesterday, today it has reverted back to wind and rain. Though I have decided to see yesterday's sun as a positive and although it has not continued today, it is a sign that things are improving, we'll be in spring before we know it!

Whilst having this train of thought last night I decided to paint my nails in a wonderful bright orange colour to start my week off with a lift. 

This is a Revlon colour in number 440 Siren. I love this colour, it is one of my staple summer polishes and I decided it needed some love and to brighten this dull February week. When choosing last night, I was also inspired by a masterpiece one of my housemates created the other day. 

  

Can we all just take a minute to appreciate how incredible these are! Between her and one of my other housemates they colour open a nail salon. I'm constantly pestering the two of them to do a pretty pattern for me but obviously these sorts of creations take ages. 

My attempt may not be as artistic as hers, but I've really enjoyed looking at my bright nails in my dull lecture today and I'm already planning tomorrow night's outfit to match them.

And on that note I shall leave you with a picture I took whilst on my afternoon run yesterday. Cardiff really is beautiful in the sun.

Evening Skincare

Because in my house there are no upstairs bathrooms, and I share my house with five other girls, I keep my evening skincare in my bedroom. 

I keep my vast amount of products on top of my set of four wicker basket-esk drawers. The contents of the top of these is hair products and spare cotton wool in easy reach. 

This brings me nicely onto talking you through what I keep on the top of these drawers. 

I keep my cotton wool in these cute jars from Dunelm. One small one big for my two differnt sized cotton wool pads. They have little bluebirds on them and the colours match my room perfectly!

Next is my 'minis collection' this is all of the small products that stay at the front. The three small tubes at the front are my eye creams, these are the Simple Kind To Eyes Soothing Eye Balm, Origins GinZing and Clarins Eye Contour Gel. Behind are some samples I've received with other products that I'm waiting to try out such as the YSL Beauty Sleep and the Clarins HydraQuench Lotion. I also always have my Origins Super Spot Remover to hand just in case. Then behind these I keep my Bio-Oil and Estée Lauder Advamce Night Repair. 

To the right I keep my night cream which is just the No7 Beautiful Skin night cream. Behind this I keep my bottles in height order. My current toner is the basic Boots Tea Tree and Witchazel toner, behind that is the Boots Botanics Softening Cleanser and next to this I keep my Bioderma which I talked about in detail here. 

Behind these I keep some of my most used haircare products. These include my talcon powder which I use as dry shampoo. Then there is the Tresemme Heat Defense spray and my Pantene Pro-V hairspray. Just in front of this I keep a cleanser I sometimes switch between which is the Burt's Bees Facial Cleanser. 

I love my little set up and it is conveniently located next to my full length mirror, perfect for hair and skincare. 

Valentines Baking

It's that time of year again, it's V day tomorrow. In my house I'm the only one who doesn't have a date for tomorrow so I'm going to settle myself in with Hugh Grant and the geographical rom com that is The English Man Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain.

However I refuse to be a stereotype of the single girl on valentines day crying into her glass of rosé and her tub of Ben and Jerrys. I plan on spending my evening baking and beautifying. 

Though I have some very high standards of baking to live up to in my house. 

This masterpiece was created by one of my housemates for her boyfriend. It is chocolate cake with red dye in it with a jam and buttercream centre and butter cream icing. She cut it into the shape of a heart and put pink sprinkles on as a finishing touch. 

This next one is simply incredible. Another one of my housemates is very creative and she made these monster cupcakes. They're just plain cupcakes with buttercream used as a glue to stick cookies to and icing tinged with blue food colouring shaped into monsters to give the impression that the monsters are eating the cookies. They are then finished off with icing eyes fangs and blood on the cookies. 

I just can't get over how amazing these look (and taste) like I previously said there's a lot to live up to tomorrow night when I crack out the face masks and the Chaka Khan. 

There is so much cake going on in this house at the moment that I'm about to pop out of my pyjamas. If anyone fancies coming for tea and cake you know where to find us. 

Bioderma Crealine H20 Review

If you're as obsessed with beauty as I am you will no doubt have heard of Bioderma, but I thought I'd share this short post declaring my love for it.

It is hands down the greatest makeup remover I've ever used! It used to be tricky to get hold of in the UK but it is now stocked in Harvey Nichols and on Escentual, or you can use good old eBay  and this is the seller I've always used in the past when it wasn't available here. 

I use two small cotton wool pads to remove my eye makeup (one for each eye) and one large one for my base makeup and by the time it comes to cleansing my skin is practically clean! Considering how much I slap on this is an amazing feat. 

If you've not tried this stuff where have you been? The only fault I can find with this perfect product is that it stings like no ones business when you get it in your eye. But if you're not as clumsy as me then this won't be an issue and this product therefor becomes faultless! 

Bad Habbits

Does anyone else have really bad beauty habits, you know the things you know you really shouldn't be doing but you do them anyway because it feels so good. Or in my case because I'm too lazy for the alternatives.

As previously discussed, I am known to don the ultimate skin care sin, the face wipe! I want to make it clear that these are only used at the gym because it is too much to carry cotton wool and Bioderma around with me. 

Though the beauty crime I most usually commit is that of pairing my nails in bed. 

This is what my evening looks like a good two or three times a week. 

If my mother knew I was painting my nails on my white bedding I would be in so much trouble. Needless to say my sheets are already horribly stained with fake tan that in my opinion a little extra colour won't hurt. 

This is what I like to call my box of goodies. 

My attempt at keeping things clean. 

I keep all of my nail varnishes in a box I once got an 'Eyes & Nails Mystery Selection' from Illamasqua. The box is deep enough to house my substantial collection, though it is beginning to look very full. The lid also has its uses, I rest my hand in while I paint my nails in a slight attempt to contain to the mess. 

Tonight I'm trying out my new Tanya Burr nail polish in Little Duck whilst catching up on last night's Benefits Street. This combined with offer emails from Feel Unique has made me extremely happy and even less willing to leave my bed anytime soon. And yes I am very aware that I conform to the stereotype of the student who refuses to get out of bed, but not all stereotypes are bad in my opinion. 

Monday Morning Treats

As previously stated, I'm weird and love Mondays. Today whilst getting ready for my lecture I heard a knock at the door, unfortunately I was midway through brushing my teeth but one of the girls answered the door for me. I knew exactly what was coming and was very excited.

Last week whilst applying my fake tan I ran out. Luckily I had enough to finish off with and so I immediately ordered another bottle. Whilst ordering I decided to throw in a bottle of Tanya Burr's new nail polish range. I've tried out Little Duck and I'll provide feedback once I've given it a go. 

I'm not going to lie I was very disapointed with Feel Unique at how long my order took to come. Yesterday I had to scrape together different tans that were nearly at the end of their lives. Thank The Lord I had some in! 

So Feel Unique managed to brighten my Monday, even if they were a bit late on delivery. 

All Day Preparation

I'm no stranger to a night out. But every so often a special one comes along that requires what I like to call an "all day prep session". Such examples in the past have been the night Wales won the 6 nations in 2013 and I partied with the Welsh and English rugby team. The last night of the autumn internationals, even though I'd been at the game that day I was still getting ready. And the night I went out with the Cardiff University first team hockey and rugby teams (there's definitely a recurring theme here).

Now tonight I will be doing pre drinks (the best part of a night out in my opinion) with the Worcester Warriors rugby team. Again we can see the rugby theme cropping up again. I shan't reveal my secret as to how I so frequently find myself partying with professional rugby players, I will however let you in on the beauty prep I put into a big night such as tonight. 

It all starts with a big gym session. I always go to the gym before a night out, it makes me feel like I deserve it almost and in my head it is counteracting all of the naughty calories found in wine. 

Once I get home (I never shower at the gym) before I jump in the shower I'll apply a face mask. This one is the Origins Out of Trouble 10 Minute Mask, I really enjoy the way it completely clears out my pores leaving me with lovely soft skin for the night. 

After showering I'll paint my nails. I know I shouldn't have favourites with my beauty products, but this nail varnish might just be my secret favourite. It's called strike by Illamasqua and it is the most beautiful greeny bluey tealy sort of colour and it always makes me so happy when I'm wearing it. 

I will, naturally, pick out my outfit before painting my nails and I will hang it up out of my wardrobe to get rid of any creases that may have occurred inside my over cramped wardrobe. Tonight's dress is a Zara sale find. 

Then it's on to the good bit, hair and makeup. For tonight's outfit I wanted big curly bouncy hair and so I put in my enrapture heated rollers for about an hour and then I just comb out the curls leaving me with voluminous waves. 

I'm not going to reveal the secrets of my going out face just yet. I will however give a few honourable mentions that made the cut tonight. The first is Le Teint Touché Éclat by YSL as a foundation. Secondly MAC Woodwinked eyeshadow, third is NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner and finally on my lips tonight is YSL Rouge Pur Couture in number 13.  

This is the finished look, teamed with New Look shoes a cute little orange bag from Clarks of all places! Also my standard watch and rings as well as a pair of Primark earrings and the standard glass of Bombay Sapphire. 

Hope you all have a lovely Saturday night and you've enjoyed making fun of how long I've taken to get ready for tonight.