A Thousand Sorrys!

Hey guys!

So again I'm apologising for my absence though this time it really has been too long that I have neglected this blog! (Over a month!!)

Whilst  just over two weeks ago I had the excuse of exams and revision keeping me from blogging, as of the 17th of June I was a free woman!! Wooooo!

So where have I been? Well really I not have an excuse for my absence except that I just haven't stopped since finishing exams and I'm just literally living and loving life and the freedom I have for summer though a lot of this freedom is me still going into work a few times a week. ( As I am always poor, I just don't know where all my money goes)

You guys have been great and even in my absence I have had several new followers! Say hey you guys I hope you enjoy what is to come!

I have lots planned for new posts as although I have been silent I have been reading lots of other blogs that have inspired me for posts and ofcourse I have gained quite a few new products in a month haha!

Anyway this was generally my way of saying sorry and that I'm back!! ( well until I slowly slip back again haah)

Is there anything you guys would like to see me blog about? I'll try my best!

Smile beautiful :)

Lydia x

Reverse Washing- Worth the Hype?

Hey guys!

How are you all?

Recently I've seen lots of posts about reverse washing your hair, for those of you who don't know what that is it is simply putting conditioner on first and then using shampoo last.
The idea behind this is that by shampooing last you remove any residue left from the conditioner and thus help prevent the build up of product on your hair.

If you're like me the amount of types I've gotten out of the shower thinking I've rinsed all the product out of my hair only to start to dry it and discover I still have half a bottle of conditioner in my hair! Ahhhhhhh! This often happens to me on days where I'm running late or my brother has jumped in the shower so I can't run back and wash it out and up trying to hide the conditioned mess in a bun or pony tail! So naturally I was intrigued to find out if reverse washing really was worth all the hype as it would save me from not rinsing out my hair properly.

Last night I tried reverse washing for the first time, and I must admit I wasn't blown away. Firstly putting conditioner on first felt very unnatural and it was like my brain was screaming at me that I was doing life wrong! Once I'd wash the conditioner out my hair felt very soft and untangled as you would expect from using conditioner. Then came the shampoo and again no problems as it is just applied as you normally would however when I turned the water off my hair felt disgusting, it felt very clean as silly as that sounds and it was the compete polar opposite from the smooth conditioned hair I'd had a few minutes before. I felt like I had destroyed my hair, I even contemplated getting back in the shower and to condition my hair again though I decided to see this out. So up to this point I was not convinced that reverse washing was worth doing, however when I dried my hair (after applying heat protection spray) my hair suddenly jumped back to life and was smooth and light and very obviously not weighed down by product. I was now convinced I had just discovered a gem of a hair trick!

Minus the feeling of my wet hair the major down side to reverse washing for me was that my hair tangled really easily and I woke up this morning with really knotty hair that felt rather greasy and needed washing again. (This is unusual for me as I can usually go 2-3 days not washing my hair before it looks/needs a wash as I try not to wash my hair everyday)

In conclusion I was not blown away by reverse washing though may be something I just do every now and again!

Have any of you guys tried reverse washing? What did you think?

Until next time :)


Smile Beautiful :)

Lydia xx

Long overdue review!

Hey Guys!!

Sorry yet again for my absence my revision and lack of, has taken over my life at the moment though on the plus side it is just over a month until it's all over and I can finally relax for a while!

Anyway back to the post of this post... a couple of weeks ago I bought a couple of new brushes which I wrote about on my brushes post  . I bought real techniques Stippling brush and Buffering brush (both from Superdrug)

I have been using these brushes everyday since I've gotten them and they were definitely worth the investment! I must admit I am still unsure as to how exactly I'm supposed to use the Stippling brush but I use it to help blend my make up in from my foundation, powder, concealer and blusher this blush will literally work well on anything and sometimes has been a life saver on days when my skin literally will not let my foundation sit nicely on it! You can watch a video on the Real Techniques website explaining how to use the brush and there are plenty of youtube videos to show you too, though like me you may just chose to use it your own way.

The Buffering brush has now become my foundation brush and the Buffing brush is my new powder brush, both these two brushes are very similar except that the Buffering brush is slightly bigger which makes it perfect for applying foundation.

My next make up applying tool that I want to get is a beauty blender, any one got any recommendations?

I've been looking at the real techniques one but there are also cheaper alternatives on eBay so any comments would be much appreciated!!

Thanks for reading guys, more post hopefully will come your way soon!!

Smile Beautiful :)

Lydia x

Everything Eyebrows

Hey Guys!

How have y'all been? Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been crazy busy with revision :( as yes it is once again that dreaded time of year! And for me it's even more mega important I do well as these results will determine which university I get into AHHHH!

Anyway enough of that, as you are all probably well aware big eyebrows are all the trend! With gorgeous models and actresses such as the beautiful Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins all sporting a heavier brow! I envy anyone who can pull the look off without looking like they've got slugs over their eyes or that it's so ridiculously obvious that they've drawn them on and drawn them on too big! (internal scream). I have tried (and failed) several times to try and pull off the heavy brow look but ended up looking like I'd overdrawn my brows. So now I just settle with filling in my eye brows making their shape stand out a bit more.

I really want to try an eyebrow mascara but when I've gone to look at them some of them seem quite daunting and the thought of swiping a liquid through my brows is quite scary! Though I will try one, one day- any recommendations?

So for me to achieve a not so much perfect brow I use a couple of products/techniques. Firstly I fail at plucking my eyebrows, lots of my friends love plucking theirs everyday where as me I put it off for as long as humanly possible, purely because I'm a big baby and it makes me cry as I've got quite thick course hair (due to my Asian roots) plucking my eyebrows more often then not causes them to bleed, so I prefer to get my eyebrows threaded or waxed every so often as the hair stays away for a lot longer.

For my eyebrows I start by brushing them into shape, you could do this with an actual eyebrow/ eye
lash brush but instead of investing in one I just washed off the wand of a mascara that had run out and I use that.

 After brushing into shape I then use a eyebrow pencil and run it through the center of my eye brows in short strokes, the pencil I have has a little brush attached to the lid so I use this to buff and blend the pencil in a bit. I use Rimmel's Professional Eyebrow pencil in dark brown, not only is this quite cheap it is amazing and I have fallen in love with it. The pencil is soft and very blend-able and if you somehow go outside your eyebrow or smudge it it is very easy to wipe away without leaving any trace that it was ever there. The brush attached to it is good for blending in the colour too.

After the pencil I use brow shadow to soften my brow a bit. I use Beauty UK  High Brow. It comes with three different colours and a wax. I don't use the wax as I attempted it a couple of times but it just made my eyebrows clump together, the colours in the palette are black, dark brown and blonde/light brown colour. For my eyebrows I use the dark brown colour and apply it using an angled brush, I apply it at least 30cm away from my mirror as I read on another blog that your eye brows are about perspective so you should apply shadow to them from a distance, so ever since I've practised that and I must say it makes a difference, though I still apply the pencil up close as it requires more precision. High Brow like Rimmel's pencil again is quite cheap and can be bought from most Superdrug stores and online, and although I only really use the dark brown colour I do occasionally use the blonde shade as it allows me to build up my brow without it being noticeable so I use this when I want to look like I'm wearing minimal make up. I have never used the black shade on my eyebrows however I recently purchased a new eye liner brush and I found that the black shadow is perfect as a powdered eye liner!

Please excuse the quality of the last picture, as this is a product I use everyday it has as you can see become covered in finger prints!

How do you do your eyebrows? Can anyone recommend a good eyebrow mascara I could try?

Until next time!

Smile Beautiful :)

Lydia x

Make-up Brushes

Hey guys! I'm still trying to get to grips with all of this but on Monday I made a couple of purchases and thought it would be a perfect opportunity to write a new post!

On Monday I had to work and whilst at work I discovered that our Real Technique make up brushes were on offer 'Buy one get the second half price' and although I wouldn't say these brushes were particularly pricey as a student surviving off of Saturday job wages it was still an investment with a big price tag. So when I saw the offer I jumped at the chance to buy some new brushes.

I already have and use the Real Technique Core Collection brush set which I bought at work (Superdrug). It's price is £20.99 and I got 30% discount on top making them around £15, however I would have happily paid more than £20 for these brushes! The Core Collection contains 4 different brushes in a handy case that is useful for travelling but also doubles as a brush stand.

The collection contains:

• A detailing brush- the pack advises that this brush is used for precision and detailing and is recommended for applying lipstick, however I feel that the brush is too soft for lipstick and I use it for applying concealer and I double it up when travelling as an eye-shadow brush to reduce my luggage!
• A pointed foundation brush- this is recommended for applying liquid foundation with. I have used this brush a couple of times for this reason, however it is quite a small headed brush meaning that applying a full face of foundation takes a while, I tend to use this brush to help even out the application of BB of CC creams when I use them or if I want to apply just a little foundation.
• A buffing brush- this brush is recommended for applying powder or mineral foundation. I however use it to apply my liquid foundation with. Quite simply I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BRUSH. I had to pick one brush to use for the rest of my life it would be this one. It's compact, rounded head and soft bristles makes it perfectly for buffing and evenly blending my foundation onto my skin helping to even out any dark spots or uneven skin. This brush is perfect as it allows me to build up my foundation coverage which I prefer to do as some days I find I need to apply less foundation.
• A contour brush- this is recommended to be used to highlight and contour the face. I am still to master the technique of contouring so use this brush as a blush brush as I find its smaller head allows for more precision when applying blusher and I find it gives me more control as to where my blush ends up so that I don't end up looking like I have wonky cheekbones haha.

The reason I love and would recommend these brushes to everyone is not only is the price amazing value for the quality of these brushes but the brushes are ultra plush too. Although the bristles are synthetic they are hand cut so are angled perfectly for even application and are 100% cruelty free which is always a bonus! The handles are light and easy to hold and are very easy to clean and maintain. Also on the real technique website- http://realtechniques.com/  it shows you how to use the brushes and how to create different looks.

I also use the Body Shop make brush range, these also are fabulous and again I would recommend anyone to use them too. I got almost the complete collection of these brushes for free from my step sister after she finished working for body shop all I had to do was just wash a couple of them as they had been used by her once. I didn't mind this as I was saving myself quite a bit of money for the sake of a little bit of shampoo and water to get rid of a little bit of eye shadow on two brushes. My mum nabbed a couple of the brushes so I cannot say I have the full collection but I have all the brushes that I could need. The total value of the brushes I was given is around £80. All of the brushes I have from the body shop can be found and bought here individually http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/make-up/brushes-and-tools.aspx#/brushes-and-tools.aspx

The Body Shop brushes that I use a lot are:

• The face and body brush £16- I use this to apply powder as the large brush head is perfect to sweep a light coverage of powder to matte my foundation. The bristles are also very easy to clean. My only criticism is that after a while and lots of uses the bristles pick up oils from my skin and traces of foundation this is especially as I use this brush to apply powder on top of my foundation, though this is easily solved by washing the brush which you should do at least every couple of weeks or so.
• The foundation brush £12- before I got my real techniques brushes I used to use this foundation brush religiously It made applying my foundation effortless, however as the brush head is quite large it meant that if I wasn't careful I would apply too much foundation in one area. I still use this brush every so often as it gives a smooth finish and its nice to rotate which brushes I use. Again this brush needs washing regularly to avoid the bristles clumping together.
• The eye shadow blender brush £10 and the eye shadow brush £9- these are amazing! I love using these two brushes to create smokey eyes or to build up looks as the difference in brush size allows for perfect blending of different colours. Again this brushes are super easy to maintain.
• The slanted brush £9- this is the final of my body shop brushes that I use on a day to day bases, this brush I call my eye brow brush; I use this to apply brown 'brow shadow' to my brows. Its angle and fine edge makes the precision and accuracy perfect!

Sorry I realise this post has rambled on!! But I'll leave you with my new purchases. I bought two new Real Technique brushes, a stippling brush which was £10.99 and a buffering brush which is usually £8.99 but was £4.50 in the offer. Again I got 30% discount on these brushes, which made me a very happy girl and a little less guilty in making this unnecessary purchase!.

I will post a review on these new brushes once I've used them!

Thanks for reading guys!

What brushes do you guys use?

Smile beautiful :)

Lydia x

Hello and welcome :)

Hey there! My name's Lydia and I'm a 19 year old student who lives in a small town out side of Bath. I work part time at Superdrug which for those of you who don't know is a high street drug store. I was a sales advisor for just over a year and a half but in November 2013 I started training as a pharmacy assistant and have worked on the pharmacy ever since. I must confess this is the first blog I've ever attempted so please be patient as quite honestly I have no idea what it is that I am really doing haha.

I took inspiration from a couple of blogs that I follow that give honest opinions and reviews and I found that it gave me a glimpse on other peoples thoughts. The main reason that I decided to finally start this blog is because quite simply I love make up. I am obsessed with it. I love buying new products and trying out new looks and techniques, however through doing this of course I have found products that are fantastic and that I have fallen in love with but also those that I did not get on with. As I am not rolling in money, I started to do more research on the products I wanted to buy before I bought them to avoid wasting money. I tried to find honest reviews of products from people that would have no vested interest or bias in giving the product great reviews. Sometimes I found what I was looking for but more often than not I didn't, so I thought if I'm looking for reviews then surely others may be too and that was it I decided to write my reviews and opinions on products with the hope of helping others.

I guess I should probably tell you where my interest in make up came from and why I am the addict I am today aha. As a small child I used to take part in dance shows and I was fascinated by all the different costumes, hair styles and make up designs that I would change into each night and all of those around me, I was also aware that some of the make up artists were better than others and thus I came wise to avoiding those whose dancers looked like they had arrived from the circus. Of course I later learnt that the amount of make up you wear for a show is at least 10x the amount you would wear normally and that there were other eye shadow colours that just the bright stage make up blues, pinks and greens. At one point my step sister decided that she wanted to be a beauty therapist and enrolled in body shop make up and beauty course she was told that she had to bring a model so I volunteered to help her and when I arrived the ladies running the course asked me to take part and I passed the course and got the certificate all without paying. I also won prizes for my work that day in the form of free make up and skin care goodies. The thing that I think I valued the most from that lesson was about applying eye shadow, it was after that I must admit that my make up game really improved. Anyway I am rambling and most probably have lost your attention.

I will leave you with this for now :) Thank you for reading guys, until next time!

Smile beautiful :)

Lydia x