New In Beauty & First Impressions

With essay deadlines creeping again, one thing that takes my mind of things is beauty shopping - an instant de-stress. This month I've been trying out a few new products and I thought I would post a quick 'first impressions' roundup. 

What's in My Kate Spade Bag?

As my first post of 2017, I've decided to write a long overdue classic 'What's in my bag' post. I skipped past a 'What I got for Christmas' post because as much as I love watching and reading them, I was too busy enjoying the gifts to actually write about them! Despite this, this bag was my main Christmas present and I also contributed to paying for it as I felt it was an investment purchase I wanted to be part of. It's my first designer handbag and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love. The photo certainly does not do it justice but if you are interested in the bag, it's the Kate Spade Cedar Street Hayden in the colour Porcini. I managed to find it in House of Fraser with 30% discount in Sheffield, Meadowhall but there are more styles to be found on the Kate Spade UK website. I don't use this bag every day as it's more for days out and special occasions however I have listed a few things I pop in there when I do use it. 

New In Christmas Beauty

It's been a while since I've written a beauty review post and I thought that it was about time I wrote one. There have been so many new beauty launches for the festive season, as you can read about in my previous blog post, but I did manage to buy a few of them before I was told by my sister to stop buying things that I could have been bought for Christmas! 

Luxury Christmas Beauty Gifts Under £25

It may only be November but the beauty world is going crazy for new Christmas launches. The major brands have released some beautiful collections so I thought I'd put a post together listing my favourite new festive finds. 

5 Minute Makeup for Uni

Now that I'm back at university for my final year, it's becoming apparent that a 20 minute makeup routine just isn't going to slot into my timetable so I'm making an attempt to cut down, or be more speedy at the very least. I prefer to spend the majority of that time on my base as I've found a few products that really make a difference in my routine. 

August Favourites

I've been a little quiet on the blogging front recently, mainly due to a few trips! I was really lucky to go to Paris in July, Majorca in August and then I went on a little shopping trip to London last week. All three resulted in a few beauty purchases and I'll be sharing these with you in the next month or so. My beauty favourites for August are all new things I've bought within the last two months, fallen in love with and have made their way into my everyday makeup routine.

High End Birthday Beauty Haul

Since I've been home from my year abroad in Germany, I've been getting a little spendy in the makeup department. It was my 21st birthday at the end of June and a few of these were either presents or bought with birthday money. As a student, there's no way I could normally buy all these products within the same month so I really thought about which products would be worth the money and be investment pieces in my makeup bag. 

The Highlighter Round-Up

Ever since the Becca collaboration with Jacyln Hill, the beauty world has gone crazy for highlighters. Whether it's the powder, liquid or cream formulas that float your boat, there really is something for everyone. This post is about my current highlighter collection which is a bit of an update from my post from February My Highlight Heroes. I've tried out so many new highlighters in the past five months from a range of brands and it's now a new step in my makeup routine.

June Favourites

June has been a crazy but amazing month for me. I've been counting down until I return to England whilst at the same time enjoying the rest of my time in Berlin. Now there's only a week to go and it's all a bit surreal. Beauty-wise, I didn't buy too many new products until very recently but it was very easy to pick out my beauty favourites this month because I've been reaching for the same products over and over to get that glowy, fresh, flawless makeup look.

Luxury Night Products

Vichy Aqualia Thermal | First Impressions

I don't know why, but the French seem to have some secret ingredient that makes all their skincare brands amazing and unparalleled. I'm one of the biggest Clarins fans out there but I thought it was about time I tried a few of the French pharmacy brands that are just starting to get really popular. Among others, Vichy caught my eye with a little sample size trio of products for less than 5 Euro - I couldn't resist. There were a few sets arranged by skin type and as my skin has been a little dry recently, I opted for the Aqualia Thermal set. 

My Top 3 Summer Foundations

Apologies for the lack of content on my blog lately, life got a bit busy with my family coming to visit me in Berlin last weekend so I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon. Today's post is a quick overview of my favourite foundations for summer. It might not be feeling like summer in the UK right now but Berlin has been incredibly hot so I've been changing up my makeup so that my base is lighter and packed with great skincare ingredients.

May Beauty Wishlist

There have been so many amazing new beauty launches recently that have got the beauty bloggers talking. From Anastasia Beverly Hills to Becca to Charlotte Tilbury, there's always something making its way into my mental wishlists. Today's post is all about the beauty products I've been coveting in May, some of which I am planning to purchase soon, others are if I was suddenly given a $100 Sephora gift card. But since June is my birthday month, there's a definite possibility I'll be gettting splurgey with my bank account. Watch this space. But for now, the products I've been dreaming about (quite literally) are as follows..

The Nude Pink Lip Edit

When it comes to daily makeup, my favourite decision is which lip products I'm going to use. Lipstick can truly transform your look and in recent weeks, I've been turning to nude tones or pink shades to keep everything simple and fresh for the warmer months. These tones always look amazing with a tan, so I'm definitely applying a whole lot more of Benefit's Hoola and starting to think about fake tan options. For this post I've assembled my current six favourite summery lip products that look good on just about anyone. 

The Weekend Makeup Menu - Rose Gold & Copper Hues

Since purchasing the NARS Hammamet palette, I have been obsessed with rose gold and copper hues when it comes to makeup. I never thought shades like this would suit me but it turns out that in order to pull off certain colours, you just have to experiment with other aspects of your makeup. In this case, I worked out that a copper / rose gold eye look only really looks good (on me) with thick black eyeliner, lots of mascara, bold brows and a nude lip. I've been wearing this makeup combination quite frequently at work as well as weekends and even though it isn't the most summery colour scheme, I think the shades look good all year round. 

Soap and Glory Beauty Haul

If you follow me on Instagram, you might know that I was back in England the other weekend - for the first time since January! It's been so long since I stepped inside Boots that I was beginning to miss it almost as much as my friends. I didn't buy that many things while I was in there - my boyfriend looked incredibly bored - but I did manage to buy a few things from Soap and Glory which is definitely not available in Germany. I hadn't tried any makeup products from Soap and Glory before which is mad considering I'm quite a fan of their bodycare range.

My Hand Luggage Beauty Kit

Flying with just hand luggage is always the worst. I always find that my suitcase is ridiculously crammed, I get stressed about which clothes to bring and more than anything - liquid restrictions. As you know, any liquids (including balms, pastes etc.) brought in hand luggage have to be under 150ml / g so if you want to bring beauty products, you have to be aware of measures. I've seen signs in airports that claim you can only bring a certain number of liquids, one bag or X number of liquids, but I've never had a problem. My top tip is to buy one or two clear makeup bags and put things into there rather than faffing about with plastic bags. 

One way to get round the 150ml rule is to decant things into small pots and containers but I prefer to bring mini sizes which is convenient for space and they look darn cute. Here's what I packed for my recent 4 day trip back to England - shown in a handy list below. 

MAC Blogger Favourites: Worth the Hype?

My MAC Duo - All That Glitters and Star Violet

Clarins HydraQuench Review