Five Reasons To Look Forward To Autumn

I love summer - I adore laying out in the sun, my hair getting lighter and my skin getting darker. Unfortunately we don't see it much in the North East of Scotland but I try to enjoy it while I can. But there's something about Autumn that makes it my favourite season. The changing colours of the leaves, the crisp, sunny mornings and the cosy evenings in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate. To me, it's the most romantic season of the year and I'm so looking forward to it! Here's why..

1. Cosy clothing - Bring on the autumnal scarves and the oversized cardies! I love my autumn wardrobe. No need to worry about silky, smoothly shaved legs anymore! I love cosying up in sweats and a woolly jumper on my lazy days off. 

2. Shorter days - This might not necessarily be a good thing for a lot of people but I'm a bit of a night owl and love the dark evenings. Autumn also brings cooler, crisper mornings which means I'm not as much of a hot, sweaty mess walking to work! The earlier nights also mean cosying up with a good book (or in my case, Netflix!) with a cup of hot chocolate every night and not feeling in the slightest bit guilty. 

3. Changing colours - My mum lived abroad for 3 years and when I asked her what she missed most about home she said it was the changing of the seasons. I'm lucky enough to live in an area that is surrounded by trees and one of my favourite things about this time of year is watching them change. I love walking through them, kicking them everywhere and collecting conkers... yes I'm a big kid at heart!

4. Halloween and Bonfire Night - Pumpkins, sweets, Hocus Pocus and dressing up. What's not to love about Halloween? It's a free pass to generally act like a child all day! And as for Bonfire night - well what might have started off as a sinister plot to blow up parliament is now one of the most enjoyable nights of the year. Get your scarves, sparklers and toffee apples at the ready

5 - TV - It's far too cold for a night on the razzle so it's a good job autumn sees the return of Strictly Come Dancing and The X-Factor to get us through those colder nights eh?


What are you most looking forward to this Autumn?

Kat Von D Beauty at Debenhams

I'm beyond excited that Kat Von D Beauty is now available at Debenhams. I've heard so many great things in the beauty community about her products and have been lusting after the Lolita lipstick for months now! I was in Paris a few weeks ago but unfortunately they don't stock her products at Sephora France so as soon as I saw the release date for her range at Debenhams I knew I had to order them right away.

Famous for her sleek, edgy packaging and high pigment, full coverage range there were a few products that have become cult favourites that I knew I definitely wanted to order. 

The first thing I picked up was the Kat Von D 'London Calling' makeup set. I was drawn to this because it contains mini versions of beauty favourites and will give me an idea of what I like and what I don't before I order the full size versions. The kit contains a mini studded 1.2g lipstick in the shade 'Lolita', a mini 'Everlasting' liquid lipstick in 'Double Dare' and a mini waterproof tattoo liner in 'Trooper'. The set retails for £19.50. 

Lolita is a beautiful muted, medium-dark rosy plum shade which I've wanted to get my hands on in forever! Her studded kiss lipstick range is available in 39 shades from starlet reds and baby pinks to glittery blacks. They promise to deliver long-lasting and comfortable wear thanks to being infused with vitamins A,C and E. I just hope Lolita lives up to my very high expectations!

Double-Dare liquid lipstick is described as a "medium-dark coral pink with warm undertones and a matte finish". I have already worn this once and I have to say, I'm impressed! With one coat it was a pretty opaque coverage and was still going strong after 8 hours of wear. As do most liquid lipsticks, it did feel a little drying but I didn't notice this until after wearing it for around 5 hours. I will definitely be trying out more shades from this range.  

Now I'm not a huge fan of eyeliner and because I'm out my house by 6:45am I don't want the hassle of faffing around trying to slay a winged eyeliner. I do need one in my collection though and instead of buying multiple brands to try out, I want an eyeliner that is reliable, long wearing and waterproof as the only time I will really be wearing it is for nights out or special occasions. It's great that this kit contains a mini version so I can try it out first before committing to buying a full size tube. 'Trooper' eyeliner claims to have a super fine and flexible brush tip that allows easy and fluid application that stays all day. It sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for so I will keep you posted on my thoughts!

I love my W3LL PEOPLE Bio Brightener Invisible Powder for setting my under-eyes but I love trying out new brands and was on the hunt for something new. Step forward Kat Von D! The 'Lock-It' setting powder claims to be a light weight setting powder that weighs 30% less than other powders on the market meaning NO chalkiness. It also contains Micro-Blurring Technology to help diffuse fine lines and pores. It's silky and non-drying which means it's great for under-eye baking. It's translucent but not stark white and has a lovely subtle banana shade which will hopefully help brighten my dull under-eyes. Could this be my new favourite?

Have you tried anything from the Kat Von D Beauty range? Is there a product you're dying to get your hands on? I'd love to know in the comments below. 

Have a great weekend,

Mini Drugstore Haul

I haven't done a drugstore haul in a while and with my local Boots store now stocking NYX products, I thought one was a little overdue. I managed to pick up a few shades of their Lingerie Suede line which I'm excited to try out as well as two new face powders. I also grabbed a tube of the Maybelline Baby Skin primer as I've heard it's a great dupe for the Benefit Porefessional which I love. 

NYX High definition finishing powders - I picked up two of these in the shades banana (for my under eyes) and translucent. I have heard great things about these and they claim to soften the appearance of fine lines and pores whilst offering a fresh matte finish. What more could I ask for?

NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick - I've been wanting to try these out in like forever! I finally got my hands on the shade sandstorm which has always been sold out every time I've been. It's a beautiful neutral brown which I love. I also picked up the shades soft-spoken and vintage which is a lovely berry mauve and I've heard it's a dupe for ABH "Trust Issues"

Maybelline Baby Skin Primer - This has been around for a while but I've only just picked one up. It promises a matte finish and the gel texture leaves skin feeling fresh and soft and helps avoid shine on skin. Bye Bye Pores!

20 Ways To Practice Self -Care

Self-care is important for your physical health, as well as your mind and soul. Lacking in self-care can be detrimental not only to yourself, but also to your relationships with others. I know it's difficult in the world we live in to take a little time out, but here I share 20 of my favourite ways to practice self-care. What are yours?

1. Buy yourself some flowers
2. Read a book
3. Call someone you love and have a chat
4. Give yourself a manicure or pedicure
5. Watch a stand-up comedy 
6. Take a long, relaxing bath
7. Organise your wardrobe
8. Take a nap
9. Try a new, healthy recipe
10. Have a cup of tea or coffee at your favourite coffee place
11. Binge-watch your favourite TV show/movie on Netflix
12. Meditate
13. Make a playlist of your favourite songs
14. Get up early and watch the sun rise
15. Put on some music and dance
16. Put on a face mask
17. Write a list of things you're grateful for
18. Write a thank you note to someone. Just because.
19. Burn a candle
20. Wear your favourite perfume 

Urban Decay Foundation Review

So finally it was time that us beauty junkies in the UK could pick up the foundation everyone and their mum has been talking about - The new Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation. I was literally counting down the days until it's release date in Debenhams and rushed to get my hands on it. 

I love finding a new foundation and I've been on a bit of a roll recently with the Make Up Forever HD Foundation Stick and the Too Faced Born This Way foundation - both of which I absolutely love. Could this be the third foundation in a row that I've fallen for?

The All Nighter Foundation claims to be a full-coverage foundation with a matte finish that never looks overdone. While Naked Skin complexion products are demi-matte, the All Nighter is a completely matte foundation. It also contains 3 times as much pigment as the Naked Skin products so a little bit goes a long way. It claims to be waterproof and comes in 24 different shades. It retails at £27 for 1.0 fl oz. 

I picked up mine in the shade 4.5 which I was a little surprised at as she matched me up at the counter and .5 shades are for people with a pinky undertone and .0 shades are designed for those with more yellow undertones. They have released shades in .25 for those of you with neutral undertones but this was not available at my Debenhams in shade 4.25. The foundation itself is housed in a beautiful, edgy gunmetal bottle with asymmetric cutouts. I also took home a small sample tub of the foundation so if the shade didn't match I could return my product. Because this is a matte foundation and at the moment I have dry skin, I would highly recommend properly priming your face with moisturiser and a hydrating primer. I applied a few dots all over my face and blended it out with a beauty blender. I did notice that the foundation started to dry pretty quickly which can make blending it out a bit tricky. I agree that this is a full coverage foundation and a little bit goes a long way. After I applied it, I did notice that it oxidizes quite a bit so unfortunately this wasn't a good match for my skin tone. I wore it throughout the day and didn't feel the need to set it with a powder. It is definitely a matte finish but I didn't get the opportunity to test if it was waterproof or not. I took my foundation off after wearing it for 6 hours and even though I hadn't set it, the foundation hadn't budged a bit. 

Overall, this is an impressive foundation but I will have to return it due to the colour shade not matching and after it had oxidized, it looked two-three shades darker. I'm not sure whether it's because my skin is dry at the moment, but the foundation seemed to cling to my dry areas and almost looked cakey on my skin. It definitely lives up to it's claims of being a foundation you could wear all night and it is very high coverage. If you have oily skin, I can imagine you would love this. It is a great foundation but unfortunately just not for me. 

Have you tried out the Urban Decay Foundation? What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear in the comments below. 

L'Oreals New Pure Clay Masks

Who doesn't love a good face mask? Whether it's part of your self-care Saturday routine or something you use on a regular basis, face masks not only work wonders on our skin, but are an important part of a little "me time". I'm a bit of a face mask junkie and love trying out new brands and different types. I don't usually buy drugstore masks but when I saw that L'Oreal recently launched their line of new pure clay face masks, I was really excited to try them out. I mentioned the Pure Clay Detox Mask in my August favourties post but wanted to go into a little more detail here as I also picked up the Pure Clay Glow Mask. 

The pots contain 50ml of product and claim to deliver 10 treatments. They are currently on offer in Boots for £5, normally priced at £7.99 each. All three masks contain a blend of 3 pure clays; koalin, montmorillonaite and ghassoul. I first picked up the Detox mask which promises clearer and purer skin after just one use. I've tried out this product several times and each time my skin has looked brighter and more cleansed. I leave it on for around 10-15 minutes although the recommended time is 5-10 minutes. 

I then picked up the Pure Clay Glow Mask which promises to exfoliate and illuminate the skin without drying it out. This mask combines the three pure clays with red algae which is known for its brightening properties. The beaded, creamy texture helps to exfoliate the skin, resulting in softer, smoother and brighter skin immediately. 

Having tried out both these masks multiple times, I'm very impressed. I've noticed a visible difference after just one use and my skin looks brighter and more clarified. If you're looking for a new face mask that works without spending a fortune then look no further!

August Favourites

August was a super expensive month for me with my short break away to Paris and finally booking my tickets to California. But I managed to put some money aside as I knew I'd be taking a trip to Sephora and managed to pick up quite a few new products. I'm still playing around with quite a lot of them but others I've been using religiously since I bought them. What have you been loving this month?

Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub - I love soap and glory and I used this scrub a while ago but for some reason I stopped to try other brands. I recently repurchased it and remembered why I loved it so much in the first place. Made with brown sugar, sweet lime, almond oil and macadamia grains, this scrub smells good enough to eat! I use it twice a week in the shower and it leaves my arms and legs feeling super smooth and hydrated. 

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation - I've been wanting to try out this foundation for months and I finally got round to buying it when I was in France. I recently did my ride or tie makeup tag and the only reason I didn't include this was because I hadn't been using it for as long as my MUFE HD Stick but the more I use this, the more I fall in love with it. It's a medium to full coverage foundation but with a natural finish. I bought mine in the shade nude which matches me perfectly. Infused with coconut water that delicately replenishes the skin's moisture levels, this lasts all day without drying out my face. It's blurs out imperfections and leaves my skin with an airbrushed finish. 

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Powder - I'd heard quite a few people rave about this on Youtube but never imagined it would be this good! I use this over the top of my Too Faced foundation for a flawless face that lasts all day. This powder blurs out imperfections and doesn't sink into any of my fine lines during the day. My makeup looks just as good at 5pm as it did at 9am. I've been using this everyday since I bought it and I've finally found something to replace my Mac Studio Pressed Powder as my go-to. 

Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate - This lightweight elixir is a little overnight miracle worker. It helps restore my skin's healthy appearance overnight resulting in smoother, healthier and more radiant skin in the morning. The oils absorb into my skin instantly to help replenish it. You only need a few drops on your face to notice a difference. The packaging is gorgeous and this feels and looks like a luxurious product. 

Nars Blush in Orgasm - I finally got round to purchasing this blush! A beautiful everyday shade that suits multiple skin tones, this blush glides onto my skin so easily and doesn't look patchy like some of my others. It's not too pigmented but just enough to leave my skin with a naturally healthy glow.

L'Oreal Pure Clay Detox Mask - I think this is the first L'Oreal skin care product I have purchased and I'm seriously loving it. I use it twice a week and it leaves my skin feeling purer and cleaner. After applying it I feel like my face is much firmer and more luminous. I've got masks ten times the price of this that don't work as well. The texture is really creamy and it cleanses my pores, leaving my skin looking clarified but without drying it out. And it's only £5!!!