Switching things up

Last night I was really struggling to get to sleep as it was so ridiculously hot, tossing and turning and being super grumpy and annoying as omg it's infuriating! When I started thinking of my blog which I keep getting bored off and you know I think it's because as much as I love reading make up reviews sometimes actually writing them constantly is dead boring for me. Plus I really don't try new stuff all that often. So it got me onto thinking that I might just try writing about life things. So my blog is just going to be a little more random, have a bit more variety than review, review, review.

Of course my life isn't all that interesting but I figure that maybe it'll be of interest to me if I can look back on it and remember stupid little things that may have happened! For instance my boyfriends nutty family dog who can be so focused on you one minute but the next frantically hunting down a fly like nothing is more important.

She looks pretty cute and sane here doesn't she? Except she can be off the charts mental!

I even neglected to tell you guys all about the crow my boyfriend bought home to feed and then eventually release. Turns out he/she (?) was mega friendly, loved sitting on my head. Poo'd everywhere! Slightly stressful. The crow still hangs out in our garden which is cute.

I'll probably update again today or tomorrow, as I have a few things I want to write about including an older lady who decided to basically get undressed in the store I work at (eeek!) but more on that later! This was more an introductory post to how I want my blog to be :)

Weekend with family and shopping!

This weekend I went home to visit my family and went shopping with my little sister :) we didn't go into many shops just Primark, h&m and river island as we seemed to spend so long in there!

I picked up this super cute cat top in River Island, it was on sale so it was just £7 instead of £16 which I thought was a bargain. It's a little too big as it's two sizes bigger than I normally get but having a looser top is nice. Plus I could tuck it into skirts over summer :)

This is one I found in Primark. I'm loving this coral colour that is currently in :) I already have a few things in it, so when I saw this cute little top I knew I had to have it. Was just £4! Perfect for the weather coming in.

Oh my God. When I saw this I knew I had to have it. It's so pink! So bright, love it. Again another Primark buy and only £4. I love the sleeves, definitely happy I saw this.

You guessed it, also from Primark :) it's such a nice top. I'm a massive fan of this particular style as I think its quite flattering and I really like the butterfly pattern. Not as bright as my other purchases, but might need to tone it down sometimes ;) 

These are some of the little things I picked up when I was in there. Some super cute socks and jewellery, I was seriously loving a lot of their stuff. Could have picked up lots! Oh and I got that little candle owl as he was reduced to a pound so cute!

Finally I picked up this little jewellery tree in some cool shop my sister showed me. Convinced it was called tiger, they had such a lot of cool things but I decided to just get this as I need something cute to hold my jewellery and this was just £3 :D

hope you enjoyed reading this,

Till next time! Xx

Skin Update! + Mini Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean 3-in-1 Wash Off Deep Purifying Cleanser Review

So from a previous post I made last year you may or may not know that my skin is something I have huge problems with. As an example of a slightly minor thing after I shower I have to moisturise otherwise I get these blotchy red marks, not nice! Turns out when I was a kid I suffered from eczema! :o I thought it was just my little sister but my mum informed me that I did to, to a lesser extent. But still, explains my skin being so dry!

Anyway since, hmm probably Novemberish of last year I have been getting horrendous skin, Just on my cheeks which was weird. But it was really bad, painful, red, bumpy probably the closest to 'acne' I've been too. Turns out it was in part due to a product I was using, baby oil. I read on reddit that mineral oil is great to remove your make up so I used that for a while and it was great. However when I run out of that I used baby oil as it's just mineral oil with fragrance, which some people have issues with. Looks like I'm one of them! I didn't even think that it could be the main cause until I saw and thought about what had actually changed around that time.

So once I realised the root cause, I since switched to hemp seed oil which works for me with no break outs, and grape seed oil. I have some avocado oil too for moisturising but that can break me out too if I used it too regularly. My skin is now finally recovering, still got some red marks that are fading but I'm pretty happy with it at the moment!

Oh along the same note I did try Soap & Glory™ Peaches and Clean™ 3-in-1 Wash-off Deep Purifying Cleanser, which i've since removed from my routine as I think my skin was a little unhappy with it however what I can say about it is it's really nice! It's smells amazing, glides on really well and picked up any dirt or make up I missed. I'd recommend trying it to be honest. Remember to patch test products first though! Don't do what I did and end up with a massive breakout that lasts forever :) I got it from boots for £8.00, they also have a pretty cool 3 for 2 offer on.

I'll tell you all about the Paula's Choice products I've been using soon! I have their AHA and BHA and I am so far loving it :)

Thanks for stopping by! x

Festive Friday 2

Bit of a busy week this week! Not entirely sure where it has gone and I have somehow managed to agree to working tomorrow too *cries* I'll get around to finishing up the blog post I started in the week on Sunday, I promise :)

For today, it's number 2 in the festive Fridays blog post! So here's a few cute little things I've seen.

White Faux Fur Headband - currently £6

I have one of these! I absolutely adore it, keeps my ears lovely and warm. Looks so cute! Definitely a favourite for the winter wardrobe :) 

Green Sequin Wrap Dress - £65

It's Christmas/New Year party season! So it's all about them sparkles :) I have yet to be daring enough, but I do love this dress. 

ANGUS Ankle Boot - £45

Again I love these! Need some my self really, hmmm, can I explain another shoe buy??? I love boots, love that they're so in at the moment and the little details on these are just argh, amazing. I so want them, just a shame they aren't in my size!

Christmas Nail Wraps Water Tramsfer - £1.99

If you like nail stuff like me I don't even need to explain how absolutely adorable these would look around Christmas time! Big need for these..

Hope you liked these little finds, post again soon!

x

Festive Friday 1

Black Friday in the UK is apparently now a thing. Having never experienced it as a shopper I had to brave the store today for work! Utter craziness. We don't even have any specific black friday deals, just crazy customers coming in flinging clothes about excitedly. On the bright side, my shift is over, I'm home and it is Friday! So no more work till Monday :)

So I've decided every Friday till Christmas I'm going to be doing a little 'Festive Friday' post, just with a couple of images and links to things that I think are really cute/nice things! Don't moan at me that it's not yet December, it's less than a month away people! And I'm very, very excited! Wooo!

Fair Isle Deer Pattern Leggings - £10

I love leggings, love them. And yes, I'm afraid Im one of those girls who wears them as pants assuming they arent sheer! Forever 21 has not let me down on the leggings front, lovely quality and for great prices! Why these ones? The print, isn't it obvious! :P

Christmas pattern embossed wooden rolling pin - £24

Not much of a baker myself as I have this tendency to destroy everything I touch in the kitchen (I'll try and improve, I promise!) but this are so cute! Such  nifty idea.

Cute Christmas Cards! Pack of 10 - £3.50

I'm doing Christmas cards this year! I always forget but not this time. Still hunting for my favourites though, need to find some soon :O

Okay that's all for now :) I'll do better next time! Need to be better prepared. Ive also got a reviews coming on the Garnier Ultimate Blends - The silky smooth 7-1 dry shampoo with vanilla milk, seventeen primer and no7 primer! Keep your eyes peeled next week!

x

Review: L'Oreal True Match Foundation

The review I promised after writing the bareSkin one! :) This one is definitely a happier review, I'm currently super excited about this foundation.

Source

Things to note:

• Has spf 17 so for pictures it might have that weird white cast, but it's not really bad.
• Water based foundation.
• Oil free, non-comodegenic. 
• Seems to have a slight shimmer but once on it isn't noticeable

So pretty much this is my go to foundation, I'm basically using it every day. Hasn't caused my skin to break out which is brilliant, although I did have a few spots appear I have a feeling that was caused by something else as they're clearing now. Woo hoo!

My everyday look :) 

This is quite a 'wet' foundation, I tend to put a pump or two on the back of my hands where i'll use a stippling brush to pick up the product and work it into my face. This foundation doesn't make dry spots obvious with the first layer although with the second it might. I find I don't need more than one though! Of course if you did I would just avoid the dryer zones :) 

I would say the coverage is light/medium with the ability to have a heavier coverage by building it up. Lasting power seems really really good! I put it on at the beginning of my day and I may need a few touch ups half way through but other than that it's as if I had just put it on by the end of the day :) I have the W1 which has yellow undertones and is quite pale which is a great match for my skin. They also have neutral and cool tones.

I've read on other blogs that this is a dupe for the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk, which I haven't tried but have read many rave reviews! So this is a big thumbs up in my opinion. All in all I think this is a great buy if you aren't able, or aren't yet wanting to spend more money on higher end brands.

Thanks for reading,

x

My hair journey begins..

Guess who's currently in the process of switching their hair washing routine? Yeap it's me! For the last 8ish years I have been washing my hair every single day, which initially started because my hair just got greasier but now I'm pretty sure the reason my hair looks so rubbish if I don't is because of the daily stripping of natural oils :( booooo!

My hair after washing, was starting to feel dry and limp which is why im doing this!

So my plan of action? Wash it every third day. I last washed it Saturday so today is a hair washing day :) I'm not sure how bad my hair looks without any product (probably like I've poured oil on my head) as I'm using a dry shampoo to help combat the oil look. As without it I wouldn't even try this!

Currently I'm using the batiste fruity and cheeky cherry which is good, it does work but I feel like it's making my hair kinda grey! I've heard good things about the Garnia dry shampoo though so I plan to give that a go! I'll let you all know how I get on with it :)

My hair yesterday, you can see it's not brilliant but it's not horrific! seems to have more texture :D

 Any with that, I'm off! Need to get ready for work :) Till next time 

x

Cinema, Photos & Packing

So yesterday I saw the new transformers movie, seriously if you've gotta pay those extortionate cinema prices do not go and watch it. It's not good, they've definitely over done it to the point I was desperately wondering when it would end. Of course if you do want to watch the same kind of plot line, cheesy one liners and lots of explosions definitely do it! But £11, come the fuck on.

On a completely separate note have you ever noticed how good camera photos look when they're on your phone but how shoddy they can look on the computer? Or is that just my phone? Seriously though if you stick it in some kind of photo editor (I use Gimp, it's free) and mess with the contrast, brightness and maybe the curves then you end up with an okay image! The snack I had today on the left was taken on my phone and it's not too shabby :)

I'm also currently packing ready to go up to my boyfriends tomorrow where I'm staying till we go on holiday so I'm having to pack for a week and a bit plus a two week holiday and I'm mildly freaking. What do I pack? What should I leave? Seriously, do I really need to take my hairspray? Oh wait, I can't pack that I need to brush my teeth tonight and tomorrow! This is honestly why I normally leave it till last minute as then I can chuck everything in. I thought I'd be more organised though to relieve some stress and OMG YOU GUYS HAVE LIED TO ME. This is far more stressful. 

You know what, I'm leaving it till tomorrow. Stuff it.

My Skin Care Routine

I woke up this morning to skin that is the clearest it has ever been, which is making me super happy! Honestly I hit 13 and suddenly I was fighting terrible skin along with terrible moods (really sorry mum and dad!). Although I would like to point out that my skin wasn't actually really really bad, I saw some kids with terrible acne and I felt so sorry for them as honestly my spots were killing my self confidence so I can't imagine what they were going through. It was however bad enough for me to absolutely hate it, left me with some scars albeit fading ones and a guy did go "yeah I noticed you seemed to get a lot after year 7".. 

Anyway as you can imagine I tried so many different products, some broke me out horrendously (I'm looking at you 'Simple') and others seemed to be okay but not actually helping in the long run. Nivea was a brand I stuck with for a long time, and probably one I would have gone back to but at the moment my current routine is a blessing and bloody cheap.

So my first product is this one, it's a really basic facial wash that my Mum bought from Wilkinsons for 80p, she said it was so cheap you might as well try it. She was right, it was cheap but omg surely its going to break me out horrendously because its only 80p. Well nope! In fact once I used up the first bottle I had to buy more, it's amazing. Hasn't irritated my skin or induced a break out. It's now my go to morning and night facial wash.

After using that in the morning I will then either moisturise with a bit of olive oil if I plan on going out in the sun (gasp, the horror! I will get back to this in another blog post I swear) or I use recovery oil which I found when googling for bio-oil. I don't know what the real differences are between the two, except this cost me 99p for 100ml on Amazon. I made the mistake (or maybe not??) of buying five of them as I figured that won't last long. It does! 

Here's the ingredients listed for those interested; Paraffinum Liduidum, Octylydodecenol, Squalane, Isopropyl Myristate, Prunus Dulcis (Sweet Almond Oil), Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary Leaf Oil), Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender Oil), Glycine Soja (Soybean Oil), Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon Peel Oil), Bisabolol, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Retinol (Vitamin A), Parfum, CI26100.

No filter, No Make up :)

In the evenings if I haven't worn any make up I will just repeat my morning routine but if I have  worn make up I will put warm water on my face, then use olive oil to break it all up and use a wash cloth to get it off. After that I will wash my face with the facial wash to make sure it's all gone, put on some recovery oil and bam, done. Super easy, super cheap and it's working for me :)

I've added a (horrendous) picture of me from today, with out any make up. Plus my eyebrows and hair both need sorting eek! However the main thing is my skin, look! I still have the remains of spots, the patchy redness but it's fading. I just hope this continues to work. 

Oh another few things that I think are really important; I have been eating healthier, drinking more water and making sure my make up brushes and pillows are clean! Also if you phone people a lot make sure you keep that screen clean :)

Anyway I hope this is of some help to someone, feel free to comment and I will get back to you,

Rowan x

A First Hello

Bagel, the coolest cat

Okay, so this is my first post basically saying hi! I've wanted to start a blog for agees and have tonnes of failed attempts as I kinda get bored of writing to no one (haha!) however I figured I could run it as a side to my tumblr blog that crazily enough does actually have followers! So cool.

I don't really know what I'm going to write about here, it's probably going to be a life style blog? If I'm even right on the definition of what that is. Christ, I'm dead in the water already. Just expect blog posts about my life, my cat, make up things, hair things etc 

A mini selfie :O

So a bit about me, my name's Rowan and no I'm not a boy and no it's not exclusively a boys name either. As you can probably tell, common questions when I introduce myself (although not face to face, I mean I'm pretty obviously not a boy, I hope...) I'm 21, from the UK, currently unemployed and going through the most soul crushing job search ever. Honestly not hearing back, being declined it's tough but I'll get there, eventually! I also plan on studying psychology with counselling with the OU starting this October which will be interesting :)

I have a really cool boyfriend, who I've been seeing for almost 9 months which is a little bit insane to me as that's definitely the longest relationship I have ever had! I'm not entirely sure how he's not got fed up with me yet :P but I'm going on holiday with him and his family later on in July to the South of France which is stupidly nice of them to invite me along too! I'm both dead excited, and really nervous as this will also be the first time I've ever been on a plane. Eek! I'll let you all know how it went :)

Urrm what else, I have the cutest little cat ever. She's called Bagel and entered my life about three years ago I think? I say entered because honestly that's what happened. She turned up, meowing at 3am every night for food as someone dumped her. I mean how! She's adorable. Anyway, after doing the whole checking for a microchip, putting up found signs, knocking on what felt like a hundred doors and begging my parents to let her stay she ended up moving from our driveway to our house. I don't think she plans on leaving, the spoilt little moo.

(I mean look at that little face!)

Okie dokie so I think that's it for now! I hope I didn't bore anyone to death. And I promise my next blog post will be soon :) 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend,

Rowan x