SKINCARE EMPTIES: PRODUCTS I'VE USED UP

Here are the skincare products that I have managed to use up over the past... well lets face it probably a fair few months - to say the least, as I have three moisturisers there. I like to hoard all of my used up products until I have a decent amount to show and then I can happily chuck them all away and start on some shiny new products. 

Lets start with moisturisers as there's a few there. I already said in a previous haul post (read it here), that I wouldn't be repurchasing the Ponds face moisturiser as it contains parabens. I used it anyway and it did the job well but wasn't anything special. The Body Shops Vitamin E cream was a bit disappointing for me as It smelt lovely but seemed to be too thick/heavy on my skin and seemed to cause break outs. I ended up using it as a neck cream, just to finish up the product. On a more positive note, I did really like the Bare Minerals Purely Nourishing Moisturiser; It felt light weight enough, yet still offered the perfect amount of moisture and hydration to the skin. I'm not sure if I will repurchase straight away as there are so many others to try, but it is one that I would be happy to repurchase at some point. 

Another Bare Minerals product that I managed to use up was the Renew and Hydrate eye cream. I really liked using this eye cream as it has a lovely, creamy consistency that applies to the delicate eye area so easily. It lasted me a really long time too. Unfortunately Bare Minerals are discontinuing this eye cream and replacing it with Mineralixirs Eye Nourishing Balm, which is a shame as it was a really good product. I may try the new balm at some point, but right now I have a Clinique one eagerly waiting to be used. 

If you've read my 'hyped products that I'm not in love with' post, you'll know I'm not a fan of the Lush fresh face masks. This mask was used up before I wrote that post, so I haven't gone back on my word. I really don't find that any of the masks do anything for my skin. They're fun to use and sounds and smell good but in reality there are much better masks out there that do make a difference to your skin.

I enjoyed using the Trilogy Hydrating Mist Toner, it felt lovely on the skin and did seem to do a good job at hydrating. I haven't repurchased it as I want to try out some different hydrating toners, so if you have any recommendations let me know! 

I only really like the B.Pure Micellar Water for when I'm feeling lazy or have the last traces of make up to remove. It does the job and is pretty good at removing eye make up but it isn't anything special so I wont be repurchasing it. Likewise, The Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner is very refreshing on the skin but it's not something I feel like I need in my routine. It's also for more oily skin, which I don't particularly have so I'm weary that it may be too much for my skin and in turn result in my skin over producing oil...  eeww? 

So there we go, another load of empties done and dusted! I've got some make up empties to show in the near future so keep an eye out if you're interested in seeing and hearing about a lot of different make up products that I have used up.

FAVOURITE BODY PRODUCTS OF 2014

Looking back over the selection of products that I have chosen, they do seem pretty random but they are the products that most stood out to me and the ones that I most enjoyed using in 2014. Most of these products were also discovered in 2014 - I think! 

Laura Mercier ambre vanille 

I first discovered how amazing the ambre vanille range smelt when my sister and I went to London to see Taylor Swift. We stopped off in Covent Garden to do some shopping and obviously found our way to Space NK. I sprayed the ambre vanille fragrance on my wrist and for the rest of the day I was sniffing my wrist non stop, like some crazed addict. It's such a gorgeous and unique scent. My mum and sister kindly bought me the fragrance and body cream as graduation presents. The only issue is I use the body cream so sparingly as it's so ridiculously expensive, but then I don't want it to just go off, so I better start slapping it on! 

Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream

I didn't think something so simple as a hand cream could be so luxurious. I've tried using cheaper hand creams, as lets face it, it's just hand cream. The Clarins cream leaves your hands so much softer and hydrated and also helps to keep your nail bed area from getting dry. As an added bonus, it has that classic Clarins scent to it. 

Xen Tan Moroccan oil 

I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with all fake tan products; even the most hyped about products do not seem to work for me. I often apply the darkest shades, spend the next 8 + hours looking and smelling like 'biscuit girl,' as my dear boyfriend likes to call me. I then wash it off and have a slight golden glow to show for my hours of trying to achieve a dark tan. The Xen Tan Moroccan oil is definitely one of my favourites to use, as it gives the best colour, lasts well and I feel that the moroccan oil element to it really helps the skin, as a lot of fake tans can be quite drying. I also loved the Lauren's Way Rapid tan, for it's obvious speed, but like I said, the Xen Tan wins for me as it gave the best results overall. 

Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub

The Sugar Crush range has an absolutely amazing scent to it; it's so fresh, fruity, zingy and just so invigorating. The scrub elements are tough enough to leave your skin really smooth, yet not too rough and harsh. 

I've just realised that I seem obsessed with scents, which is probably true, but I just can't get into products that don't smell lovely too. What were your favourite body products of 2014?

2014 MAKE UP FAVOURITES

Better late than never, right?

I don't often do monthly favourites posts as I've been pretty good lately and not bought that much make up, so I end up just using the same old products over and over. For my year favourites it was a lot easier to chose products as I have only included products that were my absolute favourites to use and not necessarily just the products that I used most regularly. I haven't included make up from every category as for some like blushers, I don't particularly have a favourite.  

My first favourite is probably the best make up item that I have ever used! The Bare Minerals Ready foundation has been my favourite foundation since the start of 2014. It has the best staying power, looks very glowy, fresh and radiant on the skin, gives a great amount of coverage which can be built to a high coverage and yet doesn't look or feel heavy. I always get so many compliments when I wear this foundation. My shade right now is R250 as I've ended my relationship with fake tan, but when I did fake tan it was R330. 

The MAC Give Me Sun bronzer, is such a great bronzer as it's so pigmented that you don't need to use much at all - this is my second purchase of the bronzer and the first must have lasted me about a year and a half. It's a gorgeous warm colour, which isn't too orange but gives a really healthy and natural glow to the skin. It still works just as well on my skin now that I'm fairer as it did with tanned skin. 

As Give Me Sun is quite warm toned, I like to use Benefit's Hoola bronzer to contour. It's such a great contour shade and really makes your contour look so much more defined. 

One of my most favourite products that I discovered in 2014 was MAC's Emphasize powder. It brightens up the under eye area so well and sets the concealer. I feel like my make up looks so much more complete and flawless when I use this powder. 

I have loved Make up Geek eye shadows since before 2014 and have slowly been building up my collection. There are so many shades to choose from and many are quite unique. They have great pigmentation and blend so easily. The only annoying issue is that you have to order them from America, so customs charges are a bit off putting. 

Another Make up Geek product that I have been loving is the Immortal black gel liner. It  is so black and literally does not come off, which can be a little annoying if you're trying to be quick with removing make up but it's worth it. I've had mine I think since last February and it still works just as well and hasn't dried out at all. 

I enjoyed using the Urban Decay Chill setting spray as I do think it helps prolong your make up. It became a favourite product when I travelled to Corfu and after a very hot few hours in the sun it was so great at cooling you down and making you look pretty decent when you go to lunch. 

In 2014 I really got into using a pink toned under eye brightener to help hide dark circles and make the under eye look more awake. I tried MAC's Prep and Prime highlighter in Radiant Rose and Bare Minerals Stroke of Light in Luminous 1. Both were very good and I couldn't tell much difference, apart from that the MAC concealer lasted so much longer than the Bare Minerals, so I chose to repurchase the MAC one, plus it's also cheaper! 

A new find of 2014 was the Urban Decay's Subversion lash primer. I hate applying a lot of mascaras as many take so long to build up any length and volume. This primer helps shape the lashes and really makes them a lot longer and helps build the volume much quicker. It may seem like you're taking more time by using an extra step but it's so easy and quick to apply that it's actually a lot quicker than building up your mascara alone. 

Before the Suberverion primer was released I started using Bare Minerals Lash Domination. At first I didn't really like the mascara as it's a very big brush, with quite a wet formula, which I do like but it can be pretty messy. I didn't like the mascara as it seemed good with volume once you had carefully applied it, but it left my lashes quite stumpy and didn't do anything for the length. Once it had dried out a little I started to like it more and more. It is now my go to mascara and I hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure I used this for most of 2014 and it's only just drying out to the point where I can't get much from it. 

I think the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette is such a great little palette. I had to include it as although it looks pretty boring, it is such a handy and easy to use palette. You can get so many eye looks out of it; I love that you can do a really basic eye look if you want something natural but you can also go really heavy and dramatic too, with the amazingly pigmented black shade. I don't think you can beat a good matte smokey eye. As the palette is matte it's perfect for your eyebrows too. 

My last favourite is a little less of a favourite than the others as it wasn't something that I used often, but it was my favourite lipstick to throw on when I wanted to wear a bright lip. MAC's Lady Danger is definitely a classic favourite. I loved wearing it when I didn't want to do a heavy eye or when I was short for time and needed something to make it look like I had made a lot of make up effort, when really I had just put some lipstick on. 

And... finally we are done! I am also going to be posting my 2014 Body  product favourites, so keep an eye out for that. I hope you're all having a good start to 2015 and keeping all those new years resolutions - yeah right!

MY 2014

There is no denying that this is going to be one long post, so grab a cup of tea and maybe some snacks to see you through. Thinking back over 2014, I didn't really think much actually happened, but looking through photos showed that some events did actually occur so I thought I would share them. If you read this blog regularly you may have seen quite a few of these photos before but I couldn't leave that many out, as my life isn't that interesting so I needed as many as possible! 

January 

 

I celebrated the start of the new year with my boyfriend and some friends at a local pub. It wasn't a crazy night as I had work the next day, (lets make a mental note never to work new years day again as I did exactly the same this year and it sucked)! (another little side note, I don't drink so my night would never actually be crazy, it just sounded good for a second). 

February

 My sister, Hannah and I went to London to see Taylor Swift perform her RED tour. As expected she was amazing and it was great to see her live. The only downfall was that we happened to go when the tube strike was on, which lead to getting stuck in Oxford Street - yes I know, not really the worst of places, but at 11pm in the pouring rain, in the cold February month, it wasn't great. Originally they had given a cut off time, which we thought would be okay as we would be well on our way by then, if not home. Obviously, this didn't happen and instead they just stopped the tubes much earlier and closed all of the lines. We tried for ages to get a taxi and had no luck. We even picked up a random stray who tagged along with us for a while, as everyone was just stranded. Eventually we managed to get a taxi that agreed to take us back to our grandparents house. 

 March

March saw Jamie and my, 5 year anniversary together. We were planning on going to Germany for a weekend but as I was still at uni I had too much work to do and as it was my final year I didn't want to risk slipping on the grades. Instead I think we just went out for dinner and have postponed Germany. 

April

April saw the end of having to go into uni but meant scary essay deadlines and the start of intense revision. It was also the month that Jamie had to go into hospital to have an operation to fix his deviated septum - I think! As you can see it involved his nose and a lot of blood! Like the amazing girlfriend that I am (Jamie may possibly say different), I stayed at the hospital all day, luckily he only stayed one night so I could pick him up the next day. As it was a private hospital he had his own room and lucky me, I was able to sit there all day and do my uni work. As you can see from the photo I have a pen in my hand from revising. God, I don't miss those days!

May 

May was an absolutely horrific month as it was exam season. It was full of revision, stress, tears, 'I give up on life'... and everything in between. As I commuted to uni, I had to drive down and stay over the night for two of my exams as I had two on consecutive days. Lucky for me, I have an amazing boyfriend who came with me for moral support. I also have an amazing sister who came with me for my final exam which luckily was only one day. Both of them had to sit there listening to me talk about law non stop and put up with my stressing and worrying. I think they both learned more than they would have liked to about the law, to say the least. 

June

My crazy 72 year old nan sent me this photo in June, from a night run/walk that her and some friends did for charity. She amazes me how amazing,hard working and energetic she still is, you really wouldn't know that she was 72. It made me very proud when she sent me the email. 

June was also the month that I found out my degree result, which was such a relief as I achieved a 2.1. It's so strange thinking back, now that it's all over, after all of the stress and hard work. Hannah and I drove down to pick up my graduation tickets, so I took some photos to remember the dreaded place. It's a 2 hour drive down to the uni, but Bluewater shopping centre is very near so obviously we had to go there too to make the trip worthwhile. 

Hannah also finished sixth form last year, so we were finally able to go out and spend time together, other than just sitting at the dining room table revising together. After so many intense years of education, where your time is constantly taken up with reading, learning, writing, researching x1000, it's so nice to just wake up and know that you don't actually have anything that needs doing and you can enjoy your day. 

June was also the month that I became the very proud owner of a pair of gorgeous red soled Louboutins! I was not expecting them at all, so when Jamie came home and had a box hidden behind his back, I honestly thought it was pizza! I had been going on about how much I wanted pizza for the last week previous, so I thought he had been good and surprised me with pizza. I was absolutely blown away and completely shocked. I now need to actually go out to fancy places to wear them. 

July

July was the month that I graduated from university. It felt very surreal and kind of just flew by. You see everyone else's graduation photos and then your turn comes along and it doesn't seem real. I'm very proud to have graduated and need to make sure that I actually put my degree to use this year! If you want to read  more about my day, you can read the full post 'here' 

Another sister day out to an American style diner, we had hot dogs and milkshakes - yummmm! 

August

August was my grandad's birthday, so we all went to his house to celebrate. As everyone seems to work conflicting hours and days, it's nice to be able to all get together. My grandad always inspires me to work hard as he is so hard working. He was treated for cancer a couple of years ago and went straight back to work as soon as he could and his job was very manual!

At the end of August, Hannah and I went on holiday to Corfu. It was such a relaxing week and so nice to be in the sun for once. I already cannot wait for the summer months and hopefully to go away on holiday somewhere. 

You can read about my holiday in more detail 'here'. 

September 

September was the month that Hannah went to uni...aaaaand...came back very shortly after. I think she lasted a week and a half, maybe. She decided pretty immediately that she didn't like being there and didn't want to study her chosen course. Once again it was more of a 'I feel like I have to go to uni' situation. It was really sad dropping her off and then being at home without her so I also quite liked having her back and I'd rather she do something that makes her happy instead of wasting three years being unhappy. 

October

October was a pretty big month as Jamie and I moved in together. I was pretty nervous about it at first, even though we had been together 5.5 years at the time, it's still a big deal. Ever since it has been great and it's so nice coming home to him every night. He's also pretty good to live with as he does a lot of the house work so it's pretty equal - if not 50/50, to be honest it's probably more him than me. 

Also in October Taylor Swift released her new album, 1989. As I have been a fan since her first album, I was pretty weary of this new style album as I don't normally like pop music too much. I wouldn't say it is my favourite album of hers, but I still like a lot of the tracks but they aren't my favourite songs to listen to; if it wasn't Taylor Swift I possibly wouldn't have bought the album. 

November

In November, my best friend got married and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the bridesmaids. It was an amazing day and really lovely to go to a wedding as I haven't been to too many. It was also pretty scary that she was getting married and is the same age as me as I still feel way too young for that. You can read about the day 'here'. 

December

December was my birthday month, yey! I decided I wanted to go to the zoo as it's too busy to go anywhere else in December and it's nice to just be able to stroll around and see the animals. We fed the Elephants and Giraffes, which was pretty fun. As we all know December also brings Christmas! This was the first year that I actually really enjoyed Christmas. Normally I've had too much work to do and I'm at work all over Christmas, which takes away from the Christmas spirit. As I unfortunately work in retail at the moment I didn't get too much time off over christmas, but luckily I was able to get Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day. It was so nice to actually have the time off to enjoy my family and what Christmas is all about. Once again I will vow to not work anywhere that requires working over Christmas! 

There you have it, that was my 2014. If you made it to the end, congrats!