How much is my face worth?

So it seems I've jumped on this band wagon too, apologies but it's such a good tag I just had to! I've always wondered how much I've spent on my 'everyday' look because I always seems to buy make up, every single payday I buy bits and bobs I never seems to use! However I'm glad I only have 2 high end brands in my everyday look and I can't afford other bits from them!

I've also decided to include my daytime skincare as it's something I apply before my make up!

Skincare:

Clean & Clear Morning Energy Facial Wash - £3.99

Nivea Daily Essentials Day Cream (Dry & Sensitive Skin) - £4.19

Good Things Stay Clear Cleanser - £4.99

Soap & Glory's Super Eyes Eye Cream - £9

Nivea Daily Essentials Hydration Primer (Dry/Sensitive Skin) - £3.99

Face:

No7 Stay Perfect Foundation in Calico - £14

Collection 2000 Pressed Powder in Ivory - £1.99

Soap & Glory's Kick Ass Concealer in Light - £10 (I got it for £7 in the sale)

Mac Mineralize Blush in Gentle - £19 (present)

Eyes:

Collection 2000 Extreme Felt Liner in Black - £2.99

Benefit They're Real! Mascara - Magazine Sample normally £9.50

Lips:

Palmers Coco Butter Lip Balm - £1.89

MUA Lip Liner in Red Drama - £1

Kate Moss Rimmel Matt Lipstick in 111 - £5.49

I also use the Real Techniques Buffing Brush and Contour Brush which came in the Core Collection which I bought for £18.

Aaaand the grand total is.... £101.53!!

(Not including the MAC blusher or Benefit mascara.)

That has genuinely surprised me! I didn't think I actually spent that much on my face ever single day!! Thank goodness this is my 'normal' look which I wear for going out as well as everyday, I tend to change my lip colour but I don't have any high end Mac lippys so I'm all good there. I guess I spend a lot on skincare and foundation, but hey the products are perfect for me.

I loved doing this tag and if you've done it yourself link it below so I can see, I love to read them! :)

Money Supermarket's Inspect A Gadget - Phillips ESee HD Camcorder Review

Philips HD Esee Camcorder - Expansys (c/o Moneysupermarket)

Recently I was given the most amazing opportunity to work with Money Supermarket and review a wonderful yet cheap gadget as part of their Inspect-a-gadget campaign. I jumped at the chance as I always love new technology. It was focused on budget gadgets and what would be cheap yet easy to use whilst on holiday. Us bloggers were given a selection of gadgets which ranged from a Mini Kobo reader to this Phillips Camcorder which were all around the £50 mark. 

I decided to chose this little baby due to the fact me and several other wonderful bloggers have started up Paperbacks & Beautyfacts and using my new Nikon camera was a little tiresome as I still need to get the hang of it and the focus right on filming so I couldn't think of a better choice then this! Plus this camera films in HD which completed the package. This retails at £51.99 reduced from £99 (still on sale!) which was a bargain and it came the day after with free delivery which I was very pleased about. 

As you can see it's very small and compact so it's perfect for bbloggers on the move and holidaymakers plus even better as soon as you flip the viewfinder up it turns on making it perfect for catching those summer memories! At first glance I was wowed with the product, it looks very sleek and shiny, top notch so I was expecting great things. Overall the recording ability is faultless, it focuses well on faces, it has a 3" touch screen viewfinder making it easy to navigate and use. It records in full HD 1080p which I'm impressed with!

The only fault is it's internal memory... Without an SD card you get 14 seconds of film, if you're lucky. However it does take a micro SD card which can be picked up pretty cheap off amazon (I found an old one lying around at home) however with all these amazing features you can let it off with one tiny fault right? Also the little USB stick that pops out of the bottom is perfect for someone like me who has lost way too many cables for past cameras because it pops right into the computer.

A huge thank you to Money Supermarket for this wonderful opportunity and I can't wait to start recording Youtube videos on this baby! 

Schuh - Creeper Pumps

£25 in the sale. 

£40 normal price.

Now I am a huge impulse buyer, I will get paid on a Tuesday, go out to town on the Wednesday and just buy buy buy and I don't even know why I buy the things I do, it tends to be make, clothes and shoes, oops! These were an impulse buy but I saw them and though 'need!'. I've been after some 'pump' type shoes for a while after my studded & plain pair from Matalan decided to break on me. I thought these were good value at £25 plus being from Schuh I definitely think they will last me.

I have always been one for pushing the boat out with shoe trends especially after getting 2" sole creepers a few years ago and calf high sliver Doc Martens. I thought these would suit me just fine. I absolutely love the sole on them, they are very 'me'. Plus I can just tell they will last me. They were in the sale and I saw them and though 'on they look pretty nice' and when I saw the size being a 4 I knew it was meant to be so I quickly snatched them up!

These babies fit like a dream and have tons of padding. 

They are super comfy and I can't wait to wear them in summer!

Lush Wishlist

Now I love Lush as much as the next girl but I never find time to go in plus I never know what to look for! However as my first year of college comes to a close and I'm sitting my last exam (June 5th!) I thought I would gather a huge Lush wishlist and spend spend spend! once I've finished which I'm now rather excited about as there are ton's of products I want to try.

First off the Lush face masks, I really want to try them! Every time I pop into Lush this is the first place I head to, they smell and look wonderful and it's just finding the right one to try first. On my list I have Cupcake and Love Lettuce as starting points as I haven't really looked at any others. Next on my list are some of their hand and foot potions. One potion on my list - the 'Volcano' foot mask I've tried before and adored so that'll be a repurchase for me! Also I would love to try some cleansers, I just want lovely looking skin and products that smell divine!

Another favorite I've seen which are very cheap in my opinion are the solid perfumes. They start from £5 and I've got my eye on 'Lust' and 'Imogen Rose' after seeing some lovely reviews on Ali's blog, they look like a really good concept. Plus a girl can never have too many perfumes!

What Lush product would you recommend?

Benefit They're Real! Mascara - Review

RRP - £9.50

Now when this month's Elle came out it wasn't just me that rushed to Asda to pick up a copy! I'm going to state now I hate that type of magazine, I love fashion but not magazines full of clothes that I could never dream of affording plus I don't actually like some of it. So I bought this magazine for the freebie, who cares, I bet lot's of us did! I've been after some Benefit make up for a while and I've heard a million and one things about how good their mascara is. Now I didn't want to pay full price at £21.50 and it turn out that I absolutely hate it so this was the next best thing!

Before applying.

With nothing on they are quite long and curly anyway so I don't tend to curl them.

After applying. As you can see the difference is amazing! My lashes are so much longer and they just look so much better! Plus I absolutely love the wand on this, is covers all of my lashes and doesn't clump at all which I hate.This is by far the best mascara I have used to date, I don't mind brands from Boots because they are affordable and make my lashes look good. However I think sometime soon I'll have to treat myself to the normal sized bottle of this Benefit mascara, it is amazing! Have you tried Benefit's They're Real! mascara?

Nail Challenge 1# - Barry M Berry

This is such a gorgeous colour and at a bargain price of £2.99! I got it even cheaper in fact due to the lovely 3 for 2 offer Superdrug are having! Anyway this is my first Barry M nail polish that I've tried so far and I'm impressed! They are affordable and come in the most gorgeous colours. However application was a bit tough, I'm ever so impatient and first time I actually smudged it. However second time round it took two coats and a lot of waiting around for me and I think the colour pulled off pretty well! It certainly looks like the colour inside the bottle which is always a bonus, a gorgeous pastel purple.

My New Baby!

No guys I did not have a baby overnight! I know this post is long overdue (as are some others) but I had a day off work and I thought I'd write a post and show off to you all my lovely new camera. If you thought my pictures had gotten better in quality, no it wasn't me it was the camera! I recently got quite a bit of bond money from being a little baby 4 figures to be exact and I thought about treating myself before I put the money away before uni and I did just that. Say hello to my new Nikon D3100!

I apologize for the terrible photo quality! These were taken on my old Fujifilm s1900 and only now have I realized how bad the quality is so I'm rather thankful I treated myself to an SLR. It takes the most amazing photos (which are so much clearer) and records videos in HD for my collab channel as well as my own which is a massive bonus because now my videos are watchable! It cost me £310 + £30 cash back when I get around to it and the case and other accessories cost me £25 which is a bargain!

I'm obviously very new to the whole 'photography' and 'SLR' experience which is why at the moment I only use the camera on the auto setting but hopefully in the next weeks I can teach myself from online tutorials the basics of an SLR camera which I'm so excited for! Also if you lovely bloggers have any tips for an SLR beginner do post in the comment box, it would help me a great deal! :-) 

** in no way am i showing off with the amount of money i had or the expensive camera, i am simply sharing a product i bought and currently enjoying a lot! also i wanted a camera update as my old one was bought when i was around 14.

Real Techniques Core Collection - Review

RRP. £21.99

I know this collection is so hyped up it's unreal and plenty of people that don't own them always say, are they really worth all that hype and money?? YESSS. They are so worth it! I have never really used make up brushes at all, especially not for foundation or powder but these babies have taught me differently. Make up now is just so much easier to apply plus I get much better coverage and I don't use as much foundation as I normally would when using my hands.

I got my set off amazon for the bargain price of £17 which they lower to now and again and I snapped these up just after payday! If you've seen my most current wishlists I have been lusting over these babies for ever so long, I just wanted them so bad. I knew they would be perfect for me at the beginning and when I get more into the whole full face expensive make up they would help me and beyond that!

They are perfect for everyday use and I also have my eyes on the eye shadow set once I start using my palettes a little more. One thing I have to love about these brushes apart from their super softness, is (for someone forgetful like me) on the back of the brush they contain the brush names and in this set you get the detailer brush, the contour brush, buffing brush and the pointed foundation brush. This set literally has everything I need for every day make up. The one thing I want next from this lovely make is the blusher brush!

If you don't already own the Core Collection and want to try them out I would full recommend!

The Procastinating Beauty Blogger Tag

Wouldn't you just love to own a dressing up table like this?!

(s) 

Now I've seen this tag popping up here, there and everywhere and when the lovely Helen tagged me in it I decided to give it a go for myself! I've also seen it on Ali's and Mia's blogs where all you lovely ladies can check out the rules if you'd like to join in!
Name a beauty regime you rarely do.
I am so bad at nighttime skincare, sometimes I use face wipes.. sometimes not even that! I'm terrible. I need to get much better on skincare before I go to bed, also I need to get rid of the face wipes (apart from mascara!) and use my cleanser/tone a lot more as well as exfoliating!

Is washing your make up brushes something you do regularly?
At the moment no. The only brush I use is one for blusher and I use the same blush ever day. However I did just order the Real Techniques Core Collection brushes so when I start using them I can see brush washing going up on my list of priorities!

How long will you last with chipped nail polish?
I bite my nails a lot but with polish on I don't touch them even when they chip! Also I can normally only wear nail polish for a week max at a time with my job so I tend to take it off before it starts to chip but I wouldn't pick at chipped nails either, I'd just remove it.

How long do you put off buying/replacing a beauty or nail product - even if you need it? (E.g a new foundation)
It depends on the product, I tend to buy my replace just as the older one is running out which means I never actually run out. Saying that I only replace items I really love like the Kate Moss lipsticks and my No7 foundation. Plus nothing I use at the moment is expensive so I can always afford to replace.

What is your worst beauty habit?
I'm not too sure, I do lean on face a lot at college meaning I wipe my foundation away like there's no tomorrow. I also touch my hair a lot meaning my fringe looks terrible when I get home! Also with lippy and lip balms, I am forever reapplying, balms is like all the time and lippy is maybe every hour or so..? Eek.

Name something non-beauty related that you put off doing all the time.
Coursework, college work, revision in general. I'm really lazy yet dedicated when it comes to college. I know the stuff and I can get good grades but I leave everything till last minute and panic like mad purely because I'm too lazy/unmotivated to actually get anything done.

When going out somewhere do you leave getting ready to the last minute or not?
I have a pet hate of being late, so much that I'm nearly always early for everything. For college I take around 40 minutes including make up and washing my hair. If I were going out with friends or Tom then I'm more likely to say 1/2 hours. I hate rushing around to get ready!

Can you commit to spending bands?
I don't think so, I always tell myself to save but then there's always something I want to buy. Hopefully the more I start to earn at work the more I'll save! However I would struggle badly on a spending ban there's always a new book or beauty product I want...

How organised is you make up and nail collection?
I've been searching for weeks for somewhere nice to store my make up! (Apart from plastic drawers, please recommend me good storage!) I am trying but for now it's just on the top of my chest or drawers all over the place and my nail colors in a make up bag.

What is the longest time you have gone without writing a blog post?
About 2 weeks I think, normally when I've had no pictures/products to blog about and I've just been really lazy spending my time on coursework and Tom.

For this I'm not going to tag anyone in particular but I'd love to see all my readers to this post (or maybe as a video?) also if you've already done it link me!! I love reading tag posts :)

Nail Polish Challenge

I've never really been a huge nail polish fan, when I was younger they always use to turn out ever so messy and I'd smudge them in the first half an hour! However since starting up my beauty blog I've been wanting to explore more and more. For example looks at beautiful Islay's creations on her blog, how amazing! I've always wanted tons and tons of nail colours but thinking about it with my job how would I get through all the colours? So I decided to count my collection (along with a few of my favorites from my mums collection, heh) 

I'm so sorry for the terrible quality, nail polishes are so hard to photograph!
Now I only have 29 polishes, some of which are new which I'm proud of. Over the next few weeks I'm going to attempt to use them all. I'm also going to buy a few more because I don't think my collection is big enough! I'll try to post once a week if I can wear the colours and I'll judge whether I want them or not. My collection is going to get a big overall! :)

A-Z of Me: B

B is for Books
I read a lot of books. A hell of a lot. Last year I made a goal to read 50... this year my goal is 70! I have always been an avid reader though, since being a little kid in primary school, I just couldn't get enough. Nowadays I will read almost anything whether it be fantasy, horror or crime. I will read the odd autobiography every now and then but it has to be cool, like Ozzy Osbourne for example.

My pride and glories (Harry Potter) obviously get the top shelf! 

I like the smell of old books and of new books. I like hardback versions and I like paperbacks (their easier to carry!) I've read tons of books, most of them on my shelves I have actually read, however I keep buying and buying until well I've got no room left. I have a little box thing filled with 'to-read' books which is actually so full I have to put the left overs on my bookcase... eep. 

Oops!  Did I mention I have even more 'older' books from my childhood I'm still clinging on too? I just can't get rid of my Lemony Snicket books! I just hope in years to come, I still enjoy reading as much as I do now! (I could have a library in my house ^.^ !)  You can also find me on Goodreads, drop me some recommendations I always want new books :)

Post Exam Stress Haul!

Hello guys! I know I've been a terrible blogger of late, I've hardly posted but the thing is I just haven't had the time, exams are creeping up on me, I've been a work a lot and I can't leave Tom out! However when next week rolls around I will be taking a small hiatus over the Whit Week and before just to crack down on some revision meaning I will try to schedule a few posts before the exams hit hard!

However for you all today I have a lovely little video on my new camera (!!), that I've fallen in love with. I did quite a bit of shopping recently, some little treats before the exam stress kicks in! I really hope you enjoy it and you can find my Youtube here if you'd like to subscribe, it's mean the world! ♡

I Always Wanted to be a Pin Up Girl... ♡

Now I know this isn't the best photo in the world, but for one day my hair actually went nice. My fringe was big and the end of my hair curled so, as good as can be! :) If you follow me on instagram you'll have noticed in my little 'hiatus' I chopped into my hair a little bit. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted a Betty Page pin up fringe, now this isn't the most amazing pin up fringe but it's a start for me!

The middle of my fringe needs to be longer and the sides shorter to give it more of a 'U' effect but I love the way my hair is. It doesn't take much styling in a morning and goes will all my 'vintage-y' clothes which I love. When I was younger I swore never to go back to a full fringe, but here I am hoping to keep my hair like this for a very long time! For once a hair dresser has done right and cut my hair nicely :)