Staying Motivated

I'd love to say there's a hard and fast way to stay motivated but if I did I'd be completely lying! Truth is there are a few things you can do and hope that some or all of them work.

1. The first thing is to be realistic with yourself. If what you want to stay motivated to do is lose weight for example, you're not suddenly one day going to be able to run 5k, you have to gradually build it up, set yourself small, achievable goals. For me the thing I needed to stay motivated to do was write blog posts, I knew I wasn't going to be able to post every day so I set myself a realistic goal which was to post twice a week, which for the past month I have been able to do!

2. Along the same lines is don't do things for so long that you get bored. I knew I wasn't going to be able to write blog posts for 5 hours in a row so I spend maximum about 1 hour at a time over a few days to write a post. Again if you're trying to get fit or lose weight set aside say an hour however many days a week, commit to working out for that whole hour but don't do longer than that and change it up from day to day so you don't get bored.

3. Be patient! This is my worst thing, I start something and then want to get it done straight away. It doesn't work! If you rush something you'll sacrifice quality for speed. Writing a long blog post (my beauty haul for example) takes me ages, you have to take the pictures, crop, edit and upload them, write the post (which takes me forever as it is), insert the pictures and check it for spelling mistakes of which there are plenty! But when I get the finished post it's so much better than it would have been if I'd taken quick, crappy pictures and not checked for spelling mistakes or checking I've said all I've wanted to. What I'm trying to say is taking the time will be worth it!! Nothing is going to happen overnight!

4. Finally is be disciplined with yourself. This is the hardest to do as it requires motivation to do, however if you're not disciplined with yourself when you're for example working out if you miss a day then the next day you'll be even less motivated to do it and it will end up that you do nothing. So even if you're tired or really busy etc. you don't need to do all you planned to but do something to keep on top of whatever it is you're trying to do.

Thanks for reading :)

Hope this helps!

Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturiser

This summer I was going on a long haul flight to Florida and I'd heard that being on an aeroplane for that amount of time was bad for your skin. With this in mind I went into superdrug to find a mini moisturiser that I could take on the plane with me to apply every few hours. I was immediately drawn to this when I saw the words 'replenishing' and 'rich' as I needed something to stop my skin from drying out, I didn't consider at the time using it on a regular basis as I have combination skin. I already used a the simple hydrating light moisturiser but I have to say it was pretty average and didn't really do much for my skin so while I was on holiday I decided to try out this on a daily basis.

On the other hand I love this moisturiser. It's a much thicker and creamier texture than the other simple one and you have to use hardly any product as it's so moisturising that a small amount goes very far. Just to prove how little you need to use I've had this for over a month, it's only 50ml, as it's a travel size, and isn't yet showing signs of running out. The full size (125ml) costs £3.89 at superdrug which I think is a brilliant price especially considering how well it works!

As I've already said I have combination skin, mainly normal skin but a very oily nose. I find this moisturiser actually makes my nose look less oily, I'm not sure how but I think it helps control the oils on my skin or something like that.

I would highly recommend this moisturiser even if you have oily skin you should really use one and as I said it actually helps to control the oils on my face. Even if you don't think it's going to work for your skin, I'd recommend you to try it as it's a great price and if you find it does work for you, it's a great value moisturiser.

Make Up Haul

Over the last couple of weeks I've bought quite a bit (well it is for me anyway!) of make up, so I thought I'd show you what I've bought and give you a first impression on the ones that I've already used.

First off I bought the MUA 'undress me too' eyeshadow palette which was £4. The reason for the odd name is because it's supposed to be a dupe for the Naked 2 palette, they also have an 'undress me' palette but I thought I'd get more use from this one.
The formulation of the shimmery shades is great (especially for the price), they're creamy and pigmented but the matt shades are unfortunately nowhere near as good. They're chalky and have little colour pay off. Despite the poor quality of the matt shades (there's only two of them out of 12 and they are workable its just compared to the shimmery shades they're noticeably worse) I really like this palette especially for the price and I'm sure I'll get lots of use out of it.

Naked, Devotion, Shy, Fiery, Lavish, Dreamy

Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal, Wink, Obsessed, Corrupt

Next I went a bit lip product crazy, when I went on holiday with my cousin she had 2 of the Rimmel Kate Moss Matt Finish lipsticks and they looked so nice that when we got back I went and bought them, in Superdrug at the Barry M counter I also saw a green lipstick so I picked that up too as I thought it was something different...just kidding it's not actually green on the lips! When you apply it, it goes a pinky cherry colour! I also picked up two of the Maybelline Baby Lips in Boots, Hydrate which is one of the clear ones and Cherry Me which is the reddy colour.

101, 110, 332

Cherry Me, Hydrate

Cherry Me, 101, 110

My camera seemed to have a bit of an issue when I photographed these swatches as the Rimmel lipsticks don't really look anything like they actually do in person 101 is a very subtle pink and it's not that obvious that you're wearing lipstick and 110 is a very bright orangey-pink toned red. Next to 110 I tried to swatch the Barry M one but it wouldn't come up, when you apply it to the lips it looks a bit like a toned down version of Cherry Me when it's in the bullet.

I love the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder so when I went to get a new bronzer I was instantly drawn to the Rimmel Natural Bronzer in shade 022. It's a similar formulation to the Stay Matte Powder and it's not too orangey, it's also much like all other Rimmel products and very reasonably priced.

The swatch at the bottom looks really dark scary and that's only because I applied a lot of the product to show how you can build it up. The swatch at the top is more how I blend out the bronzer when I apply it. 

The next product is also from Rimmel, I just love all their products at the moment! It's a nude eyeliner, I already have the scandaleyes black eyeliner but I thought I would also wear the nude one for on my eyelids and in my waterline. Superdrug at the moment are doing buy one get one 1/2 price on all Rimmel products so I managed to pick up this eyeliner for only about £2.

Last but not least is a clear mascara for my eyebrows from Miss Sporty, I wanted to get the MUA one for £1 but the Superdrug I was in didn't have it. The cheapest they did have was the Miss Sporty one for £2.99. I wanted it to make my eyebrows look a bit fuller as they are quite thin and it's okay but doesn't really hold my eyebrows for that long. Next I will try either the Maybelline great lash in clear (which loads of beauty gurus use) or the MUA one.

In my last post I mentioned that I'll be posting every Saturday and Wednesday, I wrote that before I started back at school. I'm in year 11 this year and it's a bit crazier than I anticipated, so I'm still intending to post twice a week but some weeks I may only manage one or not upload on Wednesdays and Saturday :)

[disclaimer: this is not me trying to show off, I paid for all these products myself and I'm just giving my honest opinion]

'Not Wearing Make Up' Make Up

My mum isn't a big fan of me wearing make up and I'm also not allowed to wear it at school, so for me it's important on bad skin days to be able to wear some make up with out it being too obvious.

Firstly I apply my Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer in shade 2 under my eyes, on my eyelids (buffing the excess of this onto my nose) and anywhere I need the coverage (so at the moment on my chin and on a small breakout under my nose) with my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, using a make up brush means that it's buffed into the skin better and looks more natural. I then apply my Rimmel Stay Matte powder under my eyes and on my nose to make the concealer last and stop my nose from looking really oily.

Next I lightly fill in my eyebrows with the MUA eyebrow pencil in blond and brush through them with a spooly which because the eyebrow pencil is very soft brushes almost all of it out but leaves enough that your eyebrows look naturally full.

I then apply one coat of mascara, it doesn't really matter which brand, just something to make your eyes look more open. If you want it to look really natural you could use a brown mascara, but I don't have one so used black and it works just fine. I then apply a lip balm or gloss to keep my lips soft and to give them a shine.

Empties

These are 5 products that I have recently used up and I'm going to review them for you...

The first product is Superdrug's Hand Therapy, Intensive Hand Cream which costs £1.39 for 75ml which is why I bought it originally as my hands were dry and I wanted to try the cheapest one. I liked this hand cream it smells nice, has a good texture and for the price it does pretty much what I expected. It's better at maintaining soft hands than actually moisturising dry hands which for me is a problem as especially in winter I get very dry hands. I won't be repurchasing this hand cream instead I'm going to try the Soap and Glory Hand Food as I've tried my friend's one and it's amazing!

The next product is the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation, £8.99 from Superdrug and Boots. In the picture it doesn't actually look empty but it is! Anyway I really love this foundation it has a really nice brightening effect and medium but buildable coverage. It lasts all day (I have to put powder on my nose because it's really oily), doesn't break me out and weirdly actually smells really nice! At some point I will be repurchasing this foundation as I really love it, although I want to try something else but on the other hand I don't want to end up wasting my money on a foundation that's not as good as the Wake Me Up.

The next product is the Collection Illuminating Touch Brightening Concealer which I'd seen a lot of hype about and while it was good it wasn't as good as I was expecting and also lasted hardly any time at all. I was going to try the Maybelline Dream Touch (which is also a higlighting concealer) as I thought it was a similar price to the Collection one although it turns out the Collection one is £4.99 (although I'm pretty sure it was £4.19 when I bought it) and the Maybelline one is £6.99 which after all the other items I had in my basket I was not prepared to pay! At some point I'm going to try the Maybelline concealer and then I'll decide which is better.

The next product I really wasn't expecting much of and was pleasantly surprised. It's a shower gel, which I'm counting as a beauty product (ish). I was in Tesco with my mum and looking at the mint shower gel from Original Source but I actually didn't like the smell much so instead I thought I'd try the Tesco's own lime shower gel which smelt amazing. I loved it, it lathered up well and while it wasn't moisturising for 99p the smell and how it lathered up was enough to make me want to buy it again. This time I tried the lemon one which I still to me smells a bit like cleaning product but it still good. I have already repurchased this shower gel but this time in the coconut and mango scent which to me literally smells like summer in a bottle.

Lastly is the VO5 heat protect styling spray. I didn't really notice a difference when I used this spray compared to not using one at all. I liked the smell of this product but now I'm using a Tresemme one and my hair actually looks shiner and feels softer after I use it compared to if I don't, so I won't be repurchasing the VO5 one.

Review: Organic Wear Jumbo Lash Mascara

 When I was on holiday in America I really wanted to try this mascara as I'd heard so much about it from American beauty YouTubers (mainly GlamLifeGuru!) and unfortunately it's not available in the UK *cries for a moment*. Anyway I got it in CVS for about $11 which is around £7 (£1 less than the Maybelline Falsies mascara). I tried it as soon as I got back to our hotel. When I first opened it I was disappointed that it was a plastic brush and the first application was even more disappointing as it did far less to my lashes than I was expecting it to.

Despite my initial disappointment in this mascara I tried it again a couple of days later as I know that some mascaras take a while to oxidise before they give the best results. Sure enough this time I was really pleased with the results. This mascara gives volume and length and you can build it up to give more volume without it clumping. On top of how well this mascara performs its all natural and organic meaning its much better to be putting so close to your eyes than other mascaras that are full of chemicals and other bad stuff. Its also easy to remove at the end of the day which is much nicer than having to scrub your eyes for ages to remove mascara which will otherwise end up making you look like a panda the next morning.

one coat

two coats

This mascara doesn't dry up when you put it on which means it doesn't crumble and fall off throughout the day, however it does mean that it has a tendency to smudge under the eyes. Although I've realised if I powder under my eyes after applying concealer and foundation it doesn't smudge.

Overall I love this mascara and when in a few months it dries up I'm going to be very sad as I'm not going to be able to replace it in the foreseeable future. If you live in America, I'm telling you, you have to buy this mascara, its absolutely FABBY!

Dissapointing Product-Soltan Face Moisturising Suncare Cream

I recently got back from a family holiday to Florida. While I was there to stop my face getting too tanned/burnt I was using the Soltan Face Moisturising Suncare Cream, which as you may be able to tell from the title of this post I did not get along with.

I have used this suncream previously and never really had a problem with it, however this time both me and my mum found reason to dislike it.

While overall my opinion of this product is negative there are some positives. The first has to be that it works as a sun cream (its primary function) and I did not get burnt. The second is that it's cheap compared to other facial sun creams, for a 50ml bottle of the Soltan you'd pay about £4-£5 (I don't know the exact price because the boots website isn't working, sorry!) whereas for the  Piz Buin 40ml face cream you'd pay £10.19 and the Clinique equivalent you'd pay £17, so even though I didn't get on with it I'd say it's still worth a try as it's cheaper than most other facial suncreams.

On to the negatives which in my opinion out weigh the positives. When I was younger I used to use Soltan sun cream  so while the smell is nostalgic and makes me think of holiday it's not particularly nice or something that I really want to put on my on my face. It claims to be moisturising, however all I noticed about it is that after applying it my skin looked excessively greasy for a long time. I also noticed after using this for a few days it something was breaking me out, when I told my mum she said that she was also suffering breakouts, the only thing in common that we were using on our faces was the sun cream. The final negative point about this product is that when I was applying my skin felt grainy, I'm not sure why this was but it felt gross and made my skin look even worse than just greasy, it almost looked like I had visible yellow heads all over my face (which I don't!).

After a few days I decided to use the sun cream that I'd been using on the rest of my body which was the Nivea Sun Moisturising Sun Spray in SPF30 on my face, and it made me look less greasy, didn't break me out and didn't make my skin feel grainy. I actually preferred using it on my face to the face specific sun cream.

Along Came Betty

I recently had my birthday and from one of my friends I received a body scrub and moisturiser from a brand called 'Along Came Betty'(available in tesco), it's similar to Soap and Glory but cheaper (I mean that as a good thing!!). I've been using them for about 2 weeks now so I thought I'd tell you what I think about them.

First is the body scrub and the first thing I noticed was that it's in a tube not a tub which I find much easier to use when I'm in the shower. It smells amazing and because it's a mix of sugar and non natural beads it doesn't completely dissolve when applied but is no problem to wash off when you're done. It also doesn't leave an oily/cocoa butter residue on the skin which I like because I find that a bit sticky when you get out the shower. I have very dry and flaky skin on my legs and this scrub really helps with that but is also not too abrasive and unlike the previous sugar scrub I used doesn't irritate my skin.

The other 'Along Came Betty' product my friend gave me was the moisturiser and as I just said I have very dry skin on my legs so wanted to try this product to see if it helped. It's in a pump bottle and had the same or similar smell to the scrub which I love. More important than the smell is whether or not the product works and I am pleased to report it does! It has the consistency of a light moisturiser but works as well as a body butter without leaving as much of a residue. It feels slightly sticky when it's applied but once it's absorbed (which it does quickly) that goes away.

All in all I love these two products, think they work brilliantly and will definitely be repurchasing with my own money when they run out. 

Body Shop Lip Gloss

When I was at my friend's house the other day I saw this lip gloss on her bedside table which was from the body shop, as soon as I picked it up she told me to keep it as she never uses it. It's a really pretty peachy-coral pink with very fine gold glitter which adds a gorgeous shimmer when on the lips. On The Body Shop website it's called no.18 Tropical Pink, although it only has the number on the tube.

I love the applicator as it has a hole in the middle which allows you to apply a good amount of product and it is also pointed at the top which means it can be applied with accuracy where needed.

As for the consistency it's thick but not sticky and the glitter doesn't feel 'grainy' on your lips like some lip glosses with glitter in do. It also lasts a reasonable time with good colour pay off for a lip gloss. It also smells like grapefruit which I really love. I like this lip gloss but I don't think I'd pay the £10 for it, it's really nice and I love it but I wouldn't spend £10 for it when I could get one for less from maybelline or rimmel etc.

Hair Envy

So I'm a bit obsessed with YouTube and Blogs and one of my favourite YouTubers/bloggers is Zoella, click on the link and you will notice she has the most amazing ombre hair.

taken from Zoe's blog post about her hair

I have loved ombre and dip dye for a while now and last summer I really wanted to dip dye my hair purple but my parents annoyingly said no. This summer I have rekindled my love for dip dye, with the help from another YouTuber/blogger SprinkleOfGlitter, who recently bleached her hair blonde and then dip dyed the ends pink. I think her hair looks flipping amazing too!

taken from Louise's blog post about her hair

I'm not sure I'd be able to take the plunge and ombre my hair using bleach, it's all a bit too permanent and expensive (I'd be even less sure about doing it at home) if you ask me, especially as I'm trying to grow my hair long and if I don't like it the only way to really get rid of it is to cut it off! I really want to dip dye my hair though as I think it makes boring hair (like mine) look way more interesting and is so perfect for the summer and much easier to do at home. Plus because my hair is relatively dark it will wash out in only a matter or 2 or 3 weeks, which means it will be back to  normal in time for school and is perfect if it goes wrong (some would say a pessimistic attitude, I'd say, knowing me, a realistic one!) so why not just go for it?!

Ultimate Waterproof Mascara Test

So Wednesday was my last day of school for year 10 (finally!) and because it was so hot and sunny (a rare thing in England!)my friends and i were all going to one of my friend's houses to go swimming in her pool. I decided this would be the perfect time to test my new Maybelline falsies waterproof mascara to see how waterproof it really is!

The packaging is exactly the same except the writing is in blue. As for the wand I find its not as 'fluffy' as the non waterproof version and looks a bit neater than the non waterproof version, apart from that it's the same size and has the same spoon shaped brush.

I applied the mascara before I went to school at about 8 o'clock in the morning, I only applied one coat so it looks like it doesn't give as much volume as the non-waterproof version, it does you just have to spend longer working with it, and i didn't want it to look like i was wearing loads of mascara anyway.

My intention was to take several pictures throughout the day of how the mascara was holding up, we finished school at 12 o'clock and I meant to take a picture not that it would have looked much different to the original one but when I got to my friend's house I completely forgot! Anyway I didn't take another picture until 5:30 after swimming for over 3 hours, I tried while in the pool not to rub my eyes as I knew that would cause smudging but I could help wiping my eyes a bit, and I'm convinced this is what caused most if not all the smudging.

I found that the mascara at the ends of my eyelashes had pretty much all come off but as I said before I think this was caused my rubbing my eyes. My eyelashes also look a bit clumpy but this is mostly due to the fact that I was still quite wet from being in the pool.

Overall I am very impressed with this mascara, it applies and gives the same amount of volume as the non-waterproof version, but is almost completely waterproof, it is also not a total pain in the ass to remove!

Summer Lookbook: Playsuits

I love playsuits for the summer and on holiday. They're much easier than dresses as there is no worry of them blowing up in the wind and flashing random people, you can also wear them shorter than dresses for the same pant flashing reason.

I bought my first playsuit from new look 2 summers ago and its still going strong.It's bright blue with small red, yellow and white flowers. i love this as its easy perfect to slip over bikini's and is cool too wear when its hot.

I bought this last year from H&M for my second cousins' christening. its much more dressy but still cool and practical for the summer. i ususally wear it with a thick, stretchy waist belt but i couldn't find it, a thin one looks okay too, it just adds a bit more shape and brings in the waist.

I bought the next playsuit from boohoo a few weeks ago in preparation for our holiday, it wasn't what i was expecting and is different to all my other dresses and clothes but i really like it. It's high necked and also kind of halter necked (picture below, sorry i'm awful at describing!) and has a small slit down the back. i tried it with a belt but i think it looks better without.

rather than my shocking attempt at describing the neck bit...

This next one was a bargain and a half from primark at only £5 and i absolutely love it especially with a thin coloured belt. It's got sort of dungarees style straps (again, picture below due to crap explaining skills).

My most recent playsuit purchase was from USC, i typed in republic.co.uk and it redirected me to the USC website and a brand called @republic, as the republic one has now been closed since the chain went into administration. Anyway USC had a huge sale and this playsuit was reduced from £22 to £5. I tried this with and without a belt but think i prefer it with, although if you were on the beach or something it would be fine without.

apologies for the hanger string thing, only just noticed and already its annoying me!

Summer Makeup Haul

oops, so the other weekend i went shopping in superdrug and this happened...

Someone needs to stop me going in there! i honestly think i have a makeup addiction, although i am mostly pleased with these purchases.

The first things i picked up were some Barry M nail varnishes (not that i need anymore!) but i did get them even cheaper than they normally are as superdrug were doing 3 for 2 on all nail products.

Mint Green, Greenberry, no name (just the pink limited edition one), Peach Melba, Matt White

I love all these colours especially the Gelly Greenberry one which is actually much more greeny turquoise than it comes up in the picture. Even though the white is called 'Matt' it is in fact quite glossy which is nice because otherwise you risk getting tippex effect nails which is never good!

I also finally got round to buying the Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover which is BRILLIANT! i wouldn't say it works in 1 second but it's definitely brilliant and works better than any other form of nail polish remover i've tried! Its basically a sponge saturated in nail polish remover so you put you finger in and twist then pull it out (this all sounds very shady-its not!!) and the nail polish is gone. Plus it was part of the 3 for 2 deal at was very reasonably priced to start with.

I needed a waterproof mascara for summer and when i went to the Maybelline counter and saw that they were doing 2 for £10 on selected make-up so i also picked up a coral pink lip gloss called 'Glorious Grapefruit', i love this on its own to add shine or on top of a lipstick. The mascara i got was the falsies volum' express in waterproof which i actually think allows you to build up more volume than the regular formula.

The lipstick i bought was from MUA for only £1! It's shade 16 and called Nectar. I love it with the lip gloss that i bought from Maybelline.

I made a bit of an error with my next purchase, i thought i was buying a waterproof liquid liner (from miss sporty) to combat my oily eye problem, but it turns out the one i picked up isn't actually in the waterproof formula *facepalm* however it was only £1.76 or thereabouts and seems to be quite long wearing and smudge resistant!

And finally to take it all off with i bought the L'oreal Paris make-up removing water, which i saw Miss Glamorazzi talking about in a youtube video, she compared it to the much loved Bioderma which i have never had the opportunity to try plus it's a fraction of the price at only about £3.70. When i tried i discovered it removes all traces of make up and leaves no residue on the skin, i predict that i will forever repurchasing this product!

[disclaimer- this is not me trying to show off or anything like that, it's just showing you some products i've bought and what i think of them]