how I stay sane on a daily basis - 5 tips

So the title of this post may seem a bit exaggerative but quite realistic if I'm honest. I'm sure we all have those days where we don't want to get out of bed because we ultimately feel like there is zero energy for the day ahead. Maybe someone or something has annoyed you & you don't want to socialise so you keep yourself in that bad mood. It happens and I thought I'd let you know of some simple things that I do on a daily basis that help put me in a good mood! And if I am in a super bad mood, that I don't end up taking it out on the people around me because trust me it does not feel good later that day!

1 - Wakey Wakey! 
I am not a morning person one single bit, if the weathers gloomy I would happily lie in bed all day. But that un motivates me & I just waste a day away which is not good, not all the time anyway ;). The past few weeks I've been waking up at 9 am everyday & it honestly makes me feel so much more motivated to do things for the day. Even if it is work, instead of waking up 10 minutes before I need to leave the house, I give myself around 3 hours to shower, get ready & eat a hearty breakfast. Trust me, alarms are a godsend.

2 - Breakfast time!
I used to be so bad for getting up in the morning & literally grabbing whatever I saw first. Whether that be a muffin, piece of toast or yoghurt! One, it didn't fill me at all. Two, super bad for you. Three, it gave me no energy for the day ahead. So again for the past week I've made sure I wake up early so I have time for a good breakfast. I'll have a cuppa tea every morning, that's just a necessity. But when it comes to food I've tried to add a piece of fruit to every plate I have. It makes me feel better about myself & also fills me up. I'm not saying I'm the next Tammy Hembrow, I do still eat a lot of junk,  but for the most important meal of the day I do try to be good, ish;).

3 - Time to get ready!
Appearance is something that boosts my confidence by a mile and a half. Makeup is my obsession, but some days I was either too bloody lazy or maybe my skin wasn't doing well, that I just went out the house feeling crap because I'd put no effort in. I'm not saying I slap a 'Glam Night Out' look on for an everyday basis, but even some concealer & brows on a lazy day makes me feel 100% more positive. And when my skin was bad I decided to look after it, a good skincare routine leads to good skin and a more positive you, trust me!

4 - Listen to music!
Music is so important I cant stress it enough, I have no idea what I'd do without my daily tunes to listen too! But finding the right music for yourself is key to being a happier person. I'm not saying listen to genres that aren't your thing, but listening to Kelly Clarkson on a daily basis isnt going to put you in the most positive mood I find haha! I love Apple Music's today's hits album, consists of the latest most listened too songs that day. A good 30 minutes of music that makes you feel good can always help with putting a pep in your step. My favourite song of the moment has to be 'Me Myself And I' G-Eazy and 'I Took A Pill In Ibiza' - Mike Posner.

5 - Surround yourself with POSITIVITY!
Saving the best & most important till last. I cant stress enough at how important it is to have the right people surrounding you. I bet most of you have gone through stages in life where you've been surrounded by negative people and not even realised it. Through out school I could be quite negative and a sloppy person in general which is probably why I disliked my school days so much haha! Looking back on it I've realised as you grow up you realise less is more. Quality over quantity any day. In school it was always the 'thing' to have the most friends possible and it sounds so stupid now. As long as you have positive people who make you feel good about yourself, make you laugh and ultimately just put a smile on your face, your winning. Whether that be 1 person or 10. 'Positivity is key - DJ Khaled.

Everyday Eyebrow Routine

I think Eye-Brows are something that can really change a makeup look or someone's appearance in general. Unfortunately I was not born with thick brown luscious brows, so I have to improvise with makeup products. But that's just the fun of it. you can create a different look with them everyday! A sharper arch, maybe an ombre effect, a few natural hairline strokes. Today I'll show you my everyday routine, sometimes I'll go more intense for a night out, but on a day to day basis this is how I achieve my brows. Enjoy! X

PRIME - So first of all I start off with Anastasia Brow Primer. Throughout this tutorial you would probably think I'm sponsored by ABH but I promise you I'm not, I just think she produces the best brow products. I find this works well to keep my brows in place for a while longer. *Find it here*

OUTLINE - I then go in with the Brow Wiz, mine in the shade Medium Brown and I use this to outline my eyebrow whilst creating a few hairlike strokes in the front of my brow so my brows don't look like they're having a long distance relationship. *Find it here*

 *DUPE ALERT* - Soap & Glory Brow Archery Duo (£7.99)

FILL - Once they're outlined, I'll grab my brow pomade in Soft Brown and my Morphe 508 and I'll start to fill in the brow. Starting in the middle for the most effect & then fading it to the front to create a natural look rather than 'block brows'. I then dip in again and fill in the end of my brow to create the deepest & darkest look. *Find it here*

*DUPE ALERT* - NYX Tame & Frame Brow Pomade (£5.50)

SET - To finish off I carve the underneath of my brow out with some concealer, honestly which ever I have on hand works a gooden. This just helps to create a neater look & then I go in with my Loreal Brow Gel which has a tint to it & I bloody love this to set my brows in place alllllll day.

Before & After X

NYX Lip Lingerie; Swatches & mini review

I do love a good liquid lippy myself & when NYX came out with their 'Lingerie' range which consists of nudes & browns I was all for trying them, especially when they're at an affordable price of £6.50. In my opinion a good liquid lippy should dry to a matte finish, last a few hours longer than a regular lipstick but not make your lips look like the sahara dessert! So lets see how these worked out for me!

Mini Review / First Impressions!

Packaging - At first glance I'm a huge fan of the packaging, very classy with a black lid & clear bottle! The font of the word lingerie is very sleek & makes them look high-end rather than  high-street.
Shades - Going off of the packaging I like that you can see the shades as the bottle is clear & I was also impressed that they came out with a just nude range, to suit pretty much every skin tone! In the range their is 12 shades in total, some of them are extremely similar which I could find quite pointless, but there is always a TINY difference ;)!
Swatch - On swatch I will say that some are great and some not so... I felt like the darker shades such as Beauty Mark & Teddy I seemed to find swatched quite bitty and a couple of layers were needed, but saying that they did look good after a second coat. The lighter shades on the other hand were perfect, they were creamy on application like the finish of the 'NYX Lip Creams'.
Application - On lip application, they all took around 30 seconds to dry which was a bonus and they all dried to an ultra matte finish, but still felt hydrating! I can say when I tried to remove the liquid lipstick it took some pain which I don't seem to find with others such as the Gerard Hydra Mattes.
Long-gevity - I wore the shade Baby Doll yesterday from around 10am - 7pm & I will say that after food at 3pm it faded in the centre of my lips 'bumhole' lips I'd say haha! When I went to remove it at 7pm it had pretty much faded off everywhere except the outline! So I'd give it a good 7 hours of wear if I hadn't of eaten.
Overall - Honestly overall for £6.50 they are a great range of nude liquid lipsticks & I would recommend them to people who love a nude lip or are too scared for bright colours! I'm not keen that some are great and others aren't but just swatch before you buy! Thanks for reading lovelies X

'Satin Ribbon' 

'Lace Detail'

'Baby Doll'

'Teddy'

'Beauty Mark'

'Exotic' favourite shade!!

Find these in the UK here - NYX Lip Lingerie

march's adored & ignored

Hello guys so I thought I'd add a little twist to the normal monthly favourites & add in what I also haven't really been loving for each month. And to add in some creativity I thought I'd make a cool title haha! Hope you like X

Adored!

First Aid Beauty Cream (£19.00) - I recently discovered this about 2 weeks ago & at first I was going to use it for a night cream but then realised it was a bit lightweight that for use so I now use it for a base under my makeup! It absorbs super fast and doesn't leave a film on the skin which is what I fear with most moisturisers. Although it is around the £20 mark, you do get a big ole' tub of it so I like to use it as a body cream as well sometimes!

NYPD Hoodie (£46.00) - I bought this over a month ago & I know it might not be the general 'beauty favourite' but I've not stopped wearing it ever since! It's comfy, casual & super fluffy inside so good for cold mornings. It was on the pricey side from Topshop at the £45 mark, but with student discount it's worth it!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Pomade (£15.50) - I finally gave into the hype & bought the Anastasia Beverly Hills pomade & now I don't know where I'd be without it! I was always sceptical of pomades as I didn't think my brows would dry completely, but I was wrong. This pomade is so creamy & just glides onto the brows, but that's why I only fill my brows in with it & outline them with the more controllable 'Brow Wiz' I have mine in soft brown & its great for dark-ish blondes.

Tesco Spice Berry Candle (£2.00) - I bought this from Tesco on a whim when I had some free time to do a little shop and I had to include this in my favourites as its the only candle I've been burning for the month of march. I feel like I'm stepping into Autumn more than spring but hey ho it smells delicious! Honestly smells better than some of my Yankee's, but doesn't linger for as long.

Ignored!

Loreal Superliner (£6.00) - This eyeliner has been sat in the back of my draw for a few months now & I've been too hooked on my Benefit Liner that I hadn't even used it. And I probably shouldn't have started. It has a fine nib to it which looks good to the eye, but this liner has no pigment. I have to constantly swipe it on the back of my hand before I even try doing a slick wing. Its just a dire process & I'd rather not bother most days.

Biore Cleanser (£5.00)- As I mentioned in my 'recent disappointing purchases' a week back I said I didn't like this cleanser as it broke me out but I kept it in my cabinet in case I try it again, which I did, which was a mistake. As yet again it broke me out so had to keep 'The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil' on hand to get rid of the nasty spot!

So there we have it, I hope you liked the spin on it and I'll be continuing these each month, I didn't have many ignored products this month but maybe some more next! Thanks for reading X

LA GIRL ; FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So the long await is finally over, La Girl Cosmetics has been stocked in the UK, yaaay. Personally I found mine on Beauty Bay, but I'm sure Amazon may stock some products too. Anyhow, I went a little crazy on line & filled my basket with a bunch of products so I thought I'd do a first impressions. I have quite mixed reviews, but lets jump into it!

*HD Pro Conceal Concealer (£5.00) - So starting off with probably the most popular product LA Girl came out with, their concealer. This was what I was most excited to try.I got mine in Warm Beige for my under eye & Toast for contouring. I LOVED the highlight shade for my under eyes! Provided medium coverage I'd say but it's very thin in formulation so feels super lightweight on the skin. As for the contour shade, meh. I never use liquid contour anyway, so I'm a newbie at it, but I felt like it just didn't seem to blend into my foundation. I had to use little by little to get a desired look.

*LA Girl Spice Beauty Brick Blush Palette (£7.00) - That's a mouthful and a half. On Beauty Bay, they did I think, 4, of these palettes, but I chose this one as I thought it would suit my skin tone the best. This is probably my favourite product I bought. The pigmentation of these badboys is incredible, but that also means being light handed with the blush! And what I was impressed with was the fact the bronzer was MATTE. Usually with cheap palettes, bronzer's tend to have a shimmer which I don't tend to like. The highlight shade had quite an intense glow to it, similar to Becca's opal highlighter but a tad more neutral. Overall this palette is a bloody bargain & I'd be sure to check it out!

 * LA Girl Semi Permanent Eyeliner Pencil (£2.49) - The prices just blow me away with this brand, so of course I got a couple of these liners to try out. I did a plain jane and went for black and white, not a surprise there. I wasn't too keen on these myself, the black shade was pigmented on swatch, but then on the eye it just looked like a faded black. Again the same with the white pencil, it just faded off very easily throughout the day which I wasn't impressed with. I can say that you get what you pay for with this product.

*LA Girl Semi Permanent Lipliner (£2.49) - Again I popped a couple of these in my online basket as they were only £2.49 I thought why not. I got mine in the shades 'True Brown & Natural'. I really do like these liners. They are very creamy though I must say, so if you're wanting to over line your lips onto your skin, they may not stay all day if you understand. But the pigmentation of them is on point, they glide easily & they don't bleed which I loooooove. Definitely going to purchase a few more myself.

LA Girl Hd Pro Powder (£5.00) - I can unfortunately I did not like this product & I really f'in wanted too!! The packaging is cute, but the product its self is just a no no. As soon as I applied it under my eyes, my concealer went patchy, and I mean patchy. I tried it on my face just to see if it was the concealer, but no it did the exact same thing. It just sat on top of my skin removing my foundation and concealer. Was really unimpressed with this to be honest! :(

*LA Girl Matte Flat Velvet Lipstick (£5.00) - Try saying that 10 times in a row. I was very sceptical of this product, wasn't sure whether it'd be completely matte or maybe have a velvet finish. I ordered 2 but only 1 seemed to turn up, not impressed Beauty Bay! So the shade that I have is 'Snuggle'. The names of these lipsticks are so adorable haha! They turned out to be matte looking, but they were far from drying like a liquid lippy might be. I did have to build it up a bit, but once it was on, it was on. It didn't come off after food and drink which impressed me.

So there you have my first impressions on the LA Girl brand, Beauty Bay have just stocked a lot more of their products recently so I will be trying out some more & I'll keep you updated! Thanks for reading lovelies X

(*) - links to the products

Bodyshop new-in skincare first impressions!

Hello, so I recently got sent quite a few samples from The Body Shop from their new skincare ranges which is quite exciting! As they're only samples I tested all of them out twice so thought I'd do a quick first impressions for you, hopefully you might buy one or two! Thanks for reading X

'Oils Of Life Rejuvenating Gel Cream' £25.00 - On instant thought I did not like the smell of this cream, just a bit too floral for my liking. Although on first touch I liked how silky it felt, but not to the point where it felt greasy. I'd say it is a thin formula but takes a while to sink into the skin and absorb so I'd personally use it overnight.

'Tea Tree Oil' £8.00- This was probably one of my favourite products out of all the samples. I recently had a huge pimple on my nose from using a certain crappy product so was in need of it to be GONE. I love the smell of this, so fresh & minty and filled with goodness! Had a tingling sensation for around 2 seconds, but nothing insane. I popped it on overnight but it did dry quite quickly, which I expected and instantly saw a reduce in the visibility of my spot. Will definitely be repurchasing through Claire!

'Oils Of Life Oil' £28.00 - On instant thought it did feel quite greasy, which I wasn't very keen on. But after it sunk in for around 10 minutes, it felt very lightweight on the skin and did not move around the moisturiser. But this could be to do with the fact they're both from the same line. Apart from that, it did make my skin feel good at the time, but haven't seen a visible difference on first impressions.

'Drops Of Youth Cream' £20.00- On instant smell, again wasn't too keen smelt very alcoholic in my opinion. I think quite a few of the skincare Body Shop Products have strong fragrances to them so if you have sensitive skin they may not work well. The actual product on the other hand was thicker than the rejuvenating cream but absorbed instantly so was bloody great for a day cream. Made my skin feel ultra soft & kind of hid my pores somehow!

'Shea Body Butter' £14.00 - The Body Shop body butters speak for themselves but I adore the smell of this one in particular, is very sweet though. The formulation is very thick, definitely use as an overnight body cream as it takes a while to absorb. But they just leave your skin feeling super soft and good for dry skin!

'*Drops Of Light Foam Wash' - I like this face wash, but that's just it, I like it. Its a very gentle face wash, good for a morning wash. I would predict that it isn't going to do wonders, but if you have sensitive skin its a good bet. Leaves the skin, with a squeaky clean feel.

*launches in April!*

They're the only products that I tried out, I used each of them twice & that's why its only a first impression! But will surely be trying some of them out a lot more. If you live in the Nottingham area, to get any of these products mentioned you should definitely contact my good friend Claire who you can get 33% off with ANY Body Shop order. That's who ill be using for my next purchases ;). Thanks so much for reading lovelies X

Contact Claire here!! - www.facebook.com/Clairesbsah

recent disappointing purchases...

So... I dont like to be a negative nancy but not every product I buy is going to be a god-send, so I've racked up a mini list of purchases I've made that I regret. So incase you do go out to buy any of these products, my opinion may help. Hope you like! X

Biore Cleanser - I bought this on a whim as my pores have recently become more visible, as it said charcoal cleanser I thought it would vigorously remove dirt from my pores, gross but true. Any-hows, on first impressions this product stung my face, not just a cooling sensation, STUNG. And if I thought that was bad enough, my nose has broke out so bad! I never get spots in this area, so I instantly knew it was because of this product. And that is why I wont be using this product again.

Collection Loose Powder - I know I mentioned in my 'First Impressions' Haul that I was impressed with this product as it was great for baking the under eyes. But here's where it all goes downhill. After using it a fair few times my under-eyes were dryer than the Sahara dessert.. Only now has my skin revived itself with layer upon layer of eye cream. In this case, you get what you pay for.

Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara - I used to love this mascara back in the day. it was my holy grail & my go - to. They discontinued it so my excitement when I found it in an outlet was intense. But damn its just not like it used too be! It seems clumpy on the lashes & it doesn't seem to dry, at all. I just cant seem to work with it which is so annoying! And that is why I regret purchasing this product.

Mac X8 Palette - I think MAC eye shadows are one of the best on the market. So when I found this cute palette for £30 in MAC, I thought, bargain! But no no no, the eye shadows are so chalky on swatch & I just could not seem to blend them on the eye! I blend until my arm hurts, but then the shadows just turn muddy, eugh. I was so disappointed as I usually love their shadows, but this was just a let down.

Maybelline Brow Satin - I think Maybelline just went the completely wrong way on their version of the brow wiz trend. The pencil itself is chalky and hard to work with. So I tried part two to this product, that being the sponge applicator for 'filling in', but no that in itself had no pigmentation & the concept of it just did not work for my sparse brows. Might work for someone with naturally great brows, but not me unfortunately!

So ovbiously these opinions are only mine and these products may not work for me but do work for you, so I'm not saying don't purchase but again just thought I'd share my thoughts with you! Thanks for reading lovelies X