April Loves and Loathes!

Hello there! So I know that a lot of people do monthly 'favourites' blog post and vlogs and I really enjoy reading them all! But I thought I might try something a little bit different, instead of making a monthly favourites post, I've decided to term it 'loves and loathes' because while I think it's great to see what products people have been loving I also think it's fun and helpful to see what people aren't loving at the moment too! Now, I don't know if this is already a thing, other people might be doing this but I haven't seen any so here we go...!

Loves:

1. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in the colour 'Charm'

£7.99

I'm loving this at the moment, I think the colour is really nice for summer and it doesn't dry my lips out like I was expecting it too! I've read other reviews of this products that said it was drying, but I haven't found that when using it! It gives a really nice coral colour and lasts for the entire day!

 (The colour is also buildable!)

2. Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder, in the shade 001 Transparent

£3.99

I am a huge fan of this powder and use it every single day! It gives your make up a nice matte finish and doesn't feel heavy or cakey! This also lasts for a pretty good amount of time, although I do sometimes top it up in areas that have a tendency to become a little more shiny throughout the day like my nose!

3. Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in the colour 107

£.5.49

I absolutely love this lipstick! The colour is great, especially if you're going out in an evening! It lasts all day, even after eating and drinking (it's a miracle, I know!) 

This is a must have in my makeup bag!

4. Rimmel Lasting Finish Mono Blush in the colour 050 Live Pink

£3.99

This blush is quite possibly my top favourite of this month! I love the colour and think it makes me look a lot healthier! I was a little frightened of the colour to begin with as I'd never had a blusher that was quite as pink, but once it's blended it gives a lovely glow and even makes me cheek bones stand out more (which is always a good thing!)

5. Superdrug Pro Blush Brush

£4.99

This had to be in my favourites as it, quite obviously, goes with the blusher! This brush is just so soft and works so well with applying blush! It's actually incredible for the price!

6. Easter Chocolate!

Well what can I say? Who doesn't love chocolate?! Especially at Easter with all of the creme eggs and chocolate bunnies!

Loathes:

1. Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer

£5.49

Sadly, I have to say that although I do really like the way this concealer feels on your skin (well it's more that you can't actually feel it!) and I also love the way it literally does wake your skin; I don't think it is making my skin very happy meaning it has to go into the loathes section!

2. Superdrug Pro Dual Ended Foundation and Concealer Brush

£2.50

I am so disappointed in this brush! I wasn't expecting great things as it did only cost me £2.50 (there was an offer) however I was expecting to be able to actually blend my foundation with it! The brush is stiff and offers no movement at all making blending practically impossible! The bristles are also hard against your face which is not a nice feature. I 100% recommend you steer clear of this brush! It's useless!

I hope you enjoyed this kind of post!

Do let me know in the comments if you have any loves and loathes of this month!

Until next time, Cheerio!

xx

I Love Drugstore Makeup - Tag

So I haven't really had time to sit and blog properly this week, what with exams looming over me and revision taking over every waking moment! I didn't want to completely abandon my blog though and have decided to do the 'I love Drugstore Makeup' tag. I've seen a few bloggers doing this recently and, no I haven't been tagged, but I figured it would fill the void whilst all this other stuff is going off! 

The posts pre-exams may not be of the best quality but I hope you'll bare with me and things will get back to normal soon!

Here we go...

1. What is your favourite drugstore makeup brand overall?

I would probably have to go with Rimmel, simply because the majority of makeup I own is from their collection and it's all really good!

2. What are your favourite face, cheek and lip products?

Face: I swear by the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer, it gives great coverage and is super cheap! I also love the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation as I find that it blends really well and gives a nice medium coverage and isn't cakey! Ooo and I simply cannot forget the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, it is an absolute must have in my makeup bag! (You see why I said Rimmel for the previous answer...?!)

Cheeks: I used to use an Avon blusher, the name/shade of the product had long since faded and I have no idea what it was called! But now I'm quite liking the Rimmel lasting finish soft powder blush in the colour 050 Live Pink as it gives a nice glow for the spring time!

Lips: The Rimmel Kate Moss lasting finish matte lipsticks give great colour and last for ages (even after eating and drinking)!

 My favourite at the moment is probably the dark red 107 shade!

3. Least favourite product?

Do brushes count as a product? I'm going to say they do! I hated the Superdrug pro dual ended foundation and concealer brush! I know it's cheap, BUT I still expected to be able to blend my foundation with it! The brush is rock solid and has no movement whatsoever making it near impossible to use!

4. What is the best makeup bargain?

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer (as mentioned before!) I cannot recommend this product enough!

5. What is your favourite underdog product? (Something you love that often gets overlooked?)

I don't know if this is really an 'underdog' product but...the Collection 2000 Fast Stroke eyeliner, it's a bargain at only £2.99 and lasts all days, doesn't smudge and is really black!
I also love the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stains! Especially the shade charm!

6. A drugstore product that is overpriced?

In all honesty, I think that a lot of makeup brushes are overpriced! Mascaras too!

7. Show your best drugstore dupe(s)!!

I haven't actually found any as of yet but Kal at Cluttered Closet seems to have found a pretty good dupe for MAC Heroine (you can read her post here)!

8. Drugstore product that isn’t worth the hype?

So far I'm not really loving the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer...I think it's because it's very light and I find that you have to use a fair amount to get good coverage!

Do let me know if you agree or disagree with any of these points!
Oh and I tag all of you to do this, either on your blog or in the comments! 
If you do, please let me know, I'd love to know what you love and loathe about drugstore makeup!

Until next time, Cheerio!
xx

How to Survive Stress (Exams)

Edited from original source

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I've got work and exams and revision and coursework and friends and holidays and absolutely no way of getting everything done!!!!

Woah woah woah, let's stop right there.

Take a deep breath and...

Stress is something I'm pretty sure everyone feels at some point or another, whether it's exam pressure or friend issues or something else entirely! Different people become stressed by different things and it affects people in all kinds of ways. Some people become incredibly stressed and it takes over their entire life while others only get stressed a little bit! My point is that everyone gets stressed over different things and in different ways and it's all completely okay; but with exam season coming up for many of us (myself included, yikes!) I thought I'd share with you some of my tips for de-stressing!

1. Breathe!
Okay I know this sounds obvious but I mean really breathe; take a moment to just stop what you're doing and take a few deep breaths until you feel calm again. I find this really helps to clear your mind and focus your attention on what you need to do. When I get stressed I tend to stress over a particular thing (say revision or coursework) and this stressing basically stops me from being able to do anything productive. It's at that point that I just sit back and take a moment to breathe! It's simple enough really isn't it?

2. Distractions!
Believe it or not, it's good to do something other than focus on the reason you're stressing! Get out of the house, go and see friends, even just watch TV for half an hour. This might help take your mind of the reason you're stressing and you'll feel much better afterwards!

3. Time! 
Allow yourself a set amount of time to work in, don't spend an entire day focusing on revision! Let's be honest, it's boring and you probably won't remember half of it if you're doing it continually! Doing a few hours each day will probably be much more productive and you'll feel better because you haven't solidly worked for 8 hours (trust me 8 hours of revision is no fun, I gave it a go and almost died it was so much!)

4. Sleep! ZZZZzzzzzz.......
Make sure you get enough sleep, believe it or not you probably can't survive off 5 hours sleep! Sleep allows your body to recharge meaning you'll be more awake and able to deal with the problem causing you stress the next day. Before you go to bed make sure you haven't focused on the issue causing your stress. For example I'll stop doing revision at least an hour before going to bed so that my brain has time to unload all of the information I've been cramming it full of for the past few hours! If you keep doing the thing that's making you stressed right up until you get into bed, you probably won't sleep very well as your brain will still be focused on the issue! Your brain needs time to wind down and chill...just like the rest of your body does!

I hope this helped in some way!

Leave me a comment letting me know if you have any ways of de-stressing,

 or if any of these methods work for you!

Until next time, Cheerio!

xx

Happy Easter!

Well it's that time of year again! It's Easter! (Already? Where did all the time go?!) 

Now I don't particularly celebrate Easter as such, however I do insist on doing an Easter egg hunt every year! This year my parents took a little more persuading - 'You're too old to do an Easter egg hunt' - I'm only 17 and who doesn't love racing around to find hidden chocolate? 

I thought I'd share my finds with you, I was competing with my brother and oh yes, I was the winner! By no means was I going to loose to someone two years younger (although sadly taller) than me! I think I got a little too excited and at one point almost tipped over the chair I was standing on...what? I needed an aerial view of the room!

Oooo tasty!

Just as nice as Lindt!

Sadly it snapped in half :(

 

Creme Eggs are a must at Easter!

I also got a Lindt Chocolate Bunny from work, which I thought was super kind! 

It's hazelnut and I am SO excited to eat it! 

It's too cute to eat!

I hope you're all having a lovely Easter! 

Let me know how you celebrated and if you got any lovely treats!

Until next time, Cheerio! 

xx

Superdrug Haul!

So earlier this week I took a little trip to Superdrug and thought I'd share my purchases with you!

I was in desperate need of a concealer as mine ran out a few weeks ago, I usually use the Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer in the colour Fair however every time I've been to buy one they've not been in stock anywhere...does anyone know if they've stopped making them? I really hope they haven't as it's the first concealer I've used that doesn't break me out! Anyway, I decided I'd try the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in 010 Ivory as I've heard a few good things about it. I'm hoping it won't cause me to break out and might give a review of this product once I've used it a few times.

£5.49

My eyeliner had also ran out so I got another one of those to add to my makeup bag. 

I got the Collection Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner in Black.

£2.99

I also decided to get a new blusher as I have to be careful with the one I currently use as mixing the colour palette too much ends up giving me orange cheeks...a look I very much want to avoid! As is was buy one get one half price on all Rimmel makeup I decided I would give their Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush a go. 

I got the colour 050 Live Pink and am very excited to see how it turns out!

£3.99

As a result of buying two Rimmel products, as well as getting one half price I also received a free nail polish to celebrate 50 years of Superdrug! Hooray for freebies! I hope to use this in the summer as it's a lovely hot pink shade, however my nails are currently bitten down because of exam stress, so I'll have to wait for them to grow a bit!

The shade is 050 Fifty Shades Of Pink.

Freebie! (£3.69 usually)
(I couldn't find the exact shade, I don't know if it's a special/new edition?)

 It's one of those nail polishes that's supposed to dry in 60 Seconds so we'll see if that works!

I also picked up two new makeup brushes while I was in there. I was debating buying a RealTechniques Expert Face Brush but wasn't too sure so I just got two of Superdrugs's own brushes! 

These were also buy one get one half price!

£4.99 

Superdrug Pro dual-ended Foundation and Concealer Brush - I think this will be quite useful as it stopped me from having to buy two separate brushes! --->

£4.99

<--- Superdrug pro slanted Blusher Brush - I only own a very tiny blush brush and thought it was probably time to get a decent size!

Well that's everything! Is that how you do a haul? Who knows...I certainly don't! 

Do let me know if you've tried any of these products!

Until next time, cheerio! 

xx

Welsh Wonders

O’ what’s occurrin? Last week I visited the lovely Welsh city of Cardiff with my family and had a splendid time! As far as I was aware, we were taking the caravan down to Devon...this turned out to be a huge lie and as we entered Wales my mum told me to look at the signs, I had no clue what she was talking about and then she said we were going to Wales not Devon! I was utterly shocked and couldn’t quite work out whether she was joking or not; thankfully she wasn’t! You see, those who know me well will know that for the past five-ish years I have been begging my parents to take me to Wales (this may or may not have something to do with ‘Gavin & Stacey’ and ‘Doctor Who’) and it didn't disappoint!

Cardiff Bay is absolutely beautiful as you can see!

Cardiff Bay is lovely!

We spent the second day in the Doctor Who Experience and, like an excited little kid, I spent the whole morning just buzzing with excitement! The experience is a 30 minute interactive walk through in which you are 'attacked' by Dalek and have to rescue the Doctor from the Pandorica (I won't say much else as I don't want to spoil it!) and it's great! It honestly doesn't matter what age you are as there were loads of people ranging from little kids with their parents and fully grown men taking part!

The second part of the experience is an exhibition over two floors where you can spend all the time in the world looking at the costumes and sets from the show, some are replicas but most are the originals. I simply had to take a gazillion photos and even some selfies with the best loved monsters!

Exterminate!

There's even the chance to grab a sonic screwdriver, put on a fez or maybe a scarf, and hop in front of a green screen to pretend you're in the TARDIS and take some pretty funny photos! Now I won't lie, they aren't exactly cheap at £10 for a single photo, £5 for every photo after the first or four photos for £25, but it's to be expected at an attraction such as this! We forked out for four photos, all of which are hilariously terrible, but we figured that you're only there once so you might as well go all out!

A picture with the TARDIS was simply necessary!

Don't Blink!

Myself and a rather scary looking wax work of Matt Smith

Afterwards we went for a rather lovely wander around Cardiff Bay and went in a little Cafe which I can't remember the name of! But I had a wonderful Chai Tea Latte and a Scone with Jam and Clotted cream! It was yummy!

Cardiff Bay

The next day we took a little trip to Penarth which was also quite beautiful in terms of scenery! 

Penarth

After spending a little while in Penarth we drove a short way to Barry Island because, as I mentioned previously, I have a lot of love for the show 'Gavin & Stacey' and I really wanted to visit the place in which it was filmed! Straight away I sat outside Nessa's arcade in the spot where the final episode ends with James Corden, Ruth Jones, Matt Horne and Joanna Page eating fish and chips! We then sat and had some delicious fish and chips of our own as no trip to the seaside is complete without them and they were very tasty indeed! We wandered along the edge of the beach as it was a wonderfully sunny day!  

Barry Island Beach!

I also asked my dad to drive up the road which has the house used in the show on it to see if I could pick it out...I most certainly could, what with tinsel hanging around the door and a sign on the window saying 'Gavin and Stacey House' it was impossible to miss!

On Thursday we walked into Cardiff city centre and wandered around the shops although I didn't get to go in anywhere such as Topshop or H&M :(

The arcades/alleyways (I'm not entirely sure what you call them)

 were beautiful with lots of cute little shops and tea rooms!

An Arcade/Alleyway!

After we had wandered for quite a while, popping in and out of shops, we also visited Cardiff Market (where I simply had to try Welsh Cakes which taste like a sort of shortbread with raisins in and are coated in icing sugar and are delicious!) Now Cardiff Market is entirely indoors and has rows of different stalls. When you first enter there's a fish counter which I rather speedily hurried away from while my dad had a nosey at the fish, mainly because of the awful smell fish comes with and because, well to be quite honest, like most people, I don't exactly see the appeal of looking at a load of dead fish. 

We then decided it was time to stop in a little cafe for a drink and something to eat. 

Mmmmm...soup!

Ooo my lovely Green Tea!

We stumbled upon Torre Coffee which is right opposite Cardiff Castle and is a very cute little place. The atmosphere was lovely and it was one of those places where none of the cups or plates matched which I adore! I ordered a Green Tea which came in a little green teapot with a cute patterned cup and saucer; the tea was proper tea made from tea leaves and there was a little timer to let you know when it was ready to pour! I also decided to try the Lemongrass and Ginger soup with a slice of toast and brown bread which was mouthwateringly good! I'd 100% recommend you visit if you're ever in Cardiff because it was a really lovely place to sit and eat!

A sheep and it's little lamb hiding behind!

Later in the afternoon (oh yes, we had a very busy day!) we drove to St. Fagan's National History Museum which is an open-air museum where original historic buildings are re-erected to preserve them. You can basically walk around looking at buildings from all different time periods and each one gives you a bit of information about what life would have been like which was all very interesting, however, as we only arrived an hour before closing, we didn't have enough time to see everything which was a shame and I'd definitely go back there, but I think you need to spend a full day looking around as it's a very big place! I didn't take very good photos whilst there but there were some sheep that I felt were photograph worthy! 

And that's all for my trip to Wales! I had a really great time and enjoyed every minute (despite having to squeeze in a few hours of revision, which is even less fun when you're in a caravan!) I would definitely recommend visiting Cardiff as it's a really beautiful city!

If you got through this incredibly long post, well, I applaud you and thank you greatly for taking the time to read it! And if you only looked at the photos...well thanks for giving it a go!

Leave me a comment letting me know if you've been anywhere nice recently, or if you've been to Cardiff let me know what you thought and if there's anywhere I should have visited as well!


Love Jess 
xxxx

Blog Lovin!

Hello again! Two posts in one evening, it must be your lucky day! ;)
I've decided to join bloglovin, it lets you follow all of your favourite blogs and it would be really great if you wanted to follow me on there!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/12118993/?claim=gntw5uqq4up">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Love Jess
xxxx

Shall We Begin?

Well Hello there! How are you on this fine, sunny, day? 

I guess I should begin by welcoming you to my blog! I'm Jess and this is, what I like to term, my little slice of the internet cake! Here you'll find ramblings on everything under the sun, ranging from Fashion and Beauty to my general thoughts on life.
I've been wanting to start a blog for absolutely ages and, after reading a good few blogs, I figured that now is as good a time as any to get my fingers tapping away on the keyboard instead of silently spectating on other people's ramblings.

I think I should probably let you know a few small facts about myself so that we can become properly acquainted!

1. I'm 17 and am currently studying for my A Levels at sixth form
2. I'm taking History, English lit, English language and Drama
3. I have an insane amount of love for theatre!
4. I have an unhealthy obsession with Topshop (especially the jewellery, it's gorgeous) although I can only afford it in the sales *sigh*
5. I honestly think I would die without Liquid Eyeliner...I feel naked without it
6. I think that every girl needs a staple lipstick (Deep reds are my absolute favourite!)
7. I adore reading but unfortunately find myself with less time for books as exams loom closer
8. My lucky number is 4 (despite the fact that I'm not entirely sure I believe in luck!)

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you will join me on my blogging adventures!

Love Jess
xxxx