The beauty blogger 'Get to know me tag'

I was recently tagged by Rebecca from Northern Soul Beauty to do the 'Beauty blogger - get to know me tag'. This tag is very different from the other tags that I have done so I hope that you get to learn more about me, my blog and my makeup preferences! Here goes...

Q1) Is your hair naturally straight or curly?

My hair is naturally straight and I have fine hair so it is a pain to get any volume into it! I think whatever hair type you have, you would prefer to have the other one! 

Q2) Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon? 

Recently, I had my hair dyed for the first time and I had it done professionally at  a salon - I wouldn't trust myself to do it!!

Q3) Do you wear the same style everyday, or do you change it?

Generally, I wear it the same everyday! I'm awful in the mornings so I don't have much time to focus on my hair! I go through stages of wearing it half up, half down or just all down. 

Q4) How long does it take you to put on makeup? 

On a weekday, I tend to spend between 5-10minutes on my makeup as I keep it simple. However on the weekend, I like experimenting with different looks so I spend about 20minutes on it! 

Q5) What do you do first? Face or eyes?

I always do my face first because I like to have a good base before applying my eye makeup. Generally, I don't wear extravagant eye makeup which would need to be cleaned up with my face products. On an average day, I just wear mascara and/or eye liner so I do the makeup which takes the most time first. 

Q6) Do you collect makeup or just buy it when you need it?

I definitely collect it!! I'm just so tempted to only buy makeup when I need it! Currently, I'm obsessed with buying new eyeshadows and one person certainly doesn't need the amount that I own! 

Q7) How often do you wear false eyelashes?

Not very often at all!!! I think the last time I wore them was on Halloween and that was only for about 1 hour as they just annoyed me! My issue with false eyelashes is that I can't apply them very well, with practice I'd probably wear them more often! I just find that mascara is so much easier for me! 

Q8) What are your current everyday staples?

At the moment, I'm loving wearing my MAC Matchmaster foundation! It gives me great coverage and helps keep my face relatively matte. Also, as you may know, I wear Velvet Teddy most days because it is such a great nude shade.

Q9) Do you wear makeup when you are at home or with family?

This depends on the situation really. If I'm having a lazy day or just chilling with family, I won't wear any makeup. However, sometimes, I like to put some on if we are doing anything particularly special. 

Q10) How many high-end products do you have?

I don't have a huge collection of makeup as I've only recently started enjoying applying/wearing it but I'd say about 1/3 of it is high-end. 

Q11) Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you're getting dressed?

I love to plan my outfits because it saves me time in the morning. By planning, I tend to wear more of my clothes instead of just the same outfit all of the time. 

Q12) How often do you change your handbag?

Usually, as I only really have one everyday handbag, I wouldn't change it at all. However a few days ago, I ordered a new handbag so I will have 2 to choose from, meaning that I will be changing my handbag more often. 

Q13) How often or when do you work out?

I'm quite an active person so I tend to work out nearly everyday. Despite how hard I've tried, I can't get myself into going running so my weekly exercise consists of: mainly badminton, dancing and leading a netball club (which involves me exercising too).

Q14) Left handed or right handed?

I'm right handed.

Q15) How tall are you?

I think I'm about 5'7 or 5'8 but I haven't measured myself in a while.

Q16) Do you speak any foreign languages?

I can speak a bit of French and German. I'd like to be fluent in a language one day! 

Q17) Sweet or savoury?

Definitely savoury! I'd always prefer a savoury snack to a sweet and I don't really like puddings. At a restaurant, if I was ordering 2 courses, I'd have a starter and a main instead of a main and a dessert. However, don't get me wrong, I still devour a bar of chocolate every once in a while.

Q18) What's your favourite perfume?

My all time favourite perfume is 'Fleur d'orange' by Fragonard which is a French brand based in Grasse. When I was younger and still to this day, we travel to Grasse on our summer holiday and smell all of the lovely perfumes in the factory shop. I always have a bottle amongst my other perfumes. 

Q19) How many pets do you have?

I have a gorgeous little Cockapoo called Mabel. She's so sweet although if she sleeps on my bed, she places herself right where my feet go, meaning I have to angle myself away from her! 

Q20) Do you read comments on your blog?

I love receiving comments and I try to reply to every single one of them! 

Q21) Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?

Yeah! I keep a mental list and if a certain product keeps popping up and it looks really good, I will look for it next time I go shopping! 

Q22) How did you come up with your blog name?

I wanted something original and meaningful to me. Knowing that I love the 'life is like a camera' saying, I decided to endeavour to make my life this hypothetical camera and title my blog with it. 

Q23) What kind of camera do you use for your photographs?

I swap and change between my Canon s120, which is a smaller compact one, and my Canon 400D. 

Q24) What's your favourite colour?

My favourite colour has to be mint green! I absolutely love it! In addition to that, I like black/grey/white! So mint green is the pop of colour amongst those. 

Q25) Do you swear?

I'd be lying if I said 'no' to this one! 

Q26) What are you doing with the rest of your day?

Having a PJ day and trying to be productive! I think I might watch a Christmas film later! 

xox

Lush | 5 Gold Rings

For me, Lush is at it's best around Christmas time! Usually in November, as I have this year, I pop in and stock up on the new range. The '5 Gold Rings', which are 5 bubble bars attached together, is a new product this year that I knew I wanted to purchase. I love the idea of having 5 separate rings so you can have 5 baths; this makes the product really good value for money. The photo of how my bath looked doesn't quite do the product justice. Unfortunately as it is dark by 5pm, it is really hard to take bright blog photos. The product did turn my bath orange but it was lighter than the photo. The bubble bar gave gorgeous shimmers which stuck onto me once I had got out of the bath. My favourite thing about this product is the scent. It's quite difficult to explain but it smells orangey mixed with Christmas spices. I'm a big fan of Snow Fairy and the Candy Mountain bubble bar so it was a nice change from the strong sweet smells. The whole bathroom smelt of the product which was lovely as it felt really Christmassy. Bubble bars, this one in particular, are very moisturising so I wouldn't recommend you washing your hair (if you do in the bath) because it could leave it feeling slightly greasy. What I do is put my hair into a bun, sit back and just relax. Sometimes I read, sometimes I watch some Youtube - being careful not to drop my iPad into the bath. The '5 Gold Rings' is the perfect product to get into the Christmas spirit, next time you are in Lush, go and give it a smell!!

What are your favourite Lush products around Christmas?

xox

CTGT: My birthday + London trip

On 13th November, it was my birthday. I had such an amazing day; I'm truly grateful to everyone who celebrated my birthday with me. In the evening, I went out to a meal with my immediate family to be surprised by my grandparents, uncle and my first ever friend and her family. It was so special to spend my birthday evening with them. Throughout the night I had many surprises, one of which being a birthday cake which was based around my blog! This made me tear up a little because it was so thoughtful! If you are a regular reader, you may recognise some of the pieces on the cake! I had a brilliant time and that night will forever stay in my memory. 

I also had another very special cake made for me by one of my closest friends. She knew how much I love everything Barbie so baked a cake with that theme in mind - all the decorations were from the films. This was so sweet of her and the cake tasted great! I'm very grateful that she took the time to make this. 

My birthday London trip

The weekend after my birthday, my parents and I went to London. I had an amazing two days filled with wonderful activities and things to do! Some of which were: having a MAC makeover (a present from the friend that surprised me on my birthday), seeing 'Green Day's American Idiot' on stage (a definite recommend - it was so good) and visiting the Science Museum to see a 'Cosmonaut' exhibition. The whole weekend was brilliant, I'm so thankful to everyone who helped organise it. Below are some photos from the trip...

Have you got any special trips lined up for the future?

xox

London in a black coat

Coat - Department store in Germany

Top- Topshop

Skirt - Topshop

Shoes - Converse 

Some of you may know that I went to London over the weekend for my birthday! I had an amazing time (more to come in future blog posts) and as it was London, I was doing a lot of walking so I had to dress appropriately! I have to apologise that I only have photos of one outfit because on the Saturday it was raining most of the time which made it impossible to take fashion photos. That aside, my outfit on Sunday was very comfy and I felt comfortable wearing it around London. The black coat is so warm, meaning that I only had to wear a short sleeve top on underneath! My skirt, which is a dark grey colour, is one of those button up at the front skirts which are quite on trend at the moment. As you might know, most of my wardrobe consists of monotoned colours so I added some colour into this outfit with my red converse. I've had these for a while now and I really like them; I love how you can wash them if they get dirty so they look brand new again!

I really liked wearing this outfit around London. If you want me to recreate the outfits that I wore on Saturday (day and evening), let me know!

xox 

The perfect duo

Left - Coppering

Right - Amber lights

After recommendation from other bloggers, I bought these two eyeshadows from MAC. The pigmentation is amazing on these products - they are honestly the best quality shadows that I own! As it is Autumn, I have been wearing these a lot because the shades are very autumnal and actually remind me of the colour of the leaves around this time of year. In terms of application, I use a MAC 217 brush to wash Amber Lights all of the lid. Then, I use the brush that came in my NAKED 3 palette to blend Coppering into my crease and outer V. I think, these shades together just look stunning! If you pair this eyeshadow look with a nude lip (I use MAC's Velvet Teddy) it goes really well. However if you prefer a darker lip, you could apply a plum shade to give a more dramatic look.

What eyeshadows are you loving this Autumn?

xox

Blogging goals

Continue to upload fashion posts as they are my favourite to write. I also really love the photography aspect of them, even though I'm not the one taking the photos, I love having input into the creative and arty shots. 

Hit 250 Bloglovin followers by the end of this month and 500 Twitter followers by the end of the year. I know that blogging isn't about numbers so I won't be disappointed if I don't hit these targets. However, I do like having numbers to aim for so I have motivation to continue to improve my content.

Write some advice posts because I have been putting this off for a while. I was afraid that my advice wouldn't be useful or beneficial to my readers. I've decided that I still will try as I read so many advice posts that have helped me.

Do a collab. Whether that be with a brand or a fellow blogger, I'd love to write a collab post in the future. 

Go back to my blogging roots. By this I mean,remember why I started blogging: to have fun and have a creative outlet. So I will endeavour just to create posts that I love and am proud to upload. Also, in this, I want to write more posts related to the saying that this blog is inspired by (read my About page for more info on that)  

If you have a blog, what are your blogging goals?

xox

Healthy, glowing skin all year round

Nutrition 

One of the key aspects of maintaining healthy, glowing skin is to eat/drink well. In the winter months, it is always really tempting to go overboard on sweet treats as it is Halloween and Christmas. However, I try (emphasis on the try) to eat these in moderation and feed my sweet tooth with other options. The smoothie above is something that I drink all of the time. I don't have a specific recipe, I tend to just add frozen berries, orange juice and occasionally a banana. This drink, as well as tasting amazing, has many health benefits, the main being the berries which have lots of antioxidants. These antioxidants help to keep your face glowing by reducing the production of free radicals which damage your skin! Also, they are anti-ageing!!! 

As well as smoothies, there are loads and loads of healthy food recipes out there for you. Putting good food into your body will have true benefits to the appearance of your skin. ALOHA have many delicious recipes for you to try out at home! I've had a look at their website and I will be definitely trying out some dishes. If you want me to do ant baking/cooking related posts, let me know in the comments!

Products

If you read 'My Germany Trip + Haul' post you will know that I bought this highlighter in duty free. Ever since purchasing it, I have been using it almost every day. It gives my skin such a gorgeous shine as you could most likely tell from the photo above. I apply this to my cheek bones and it really gives the impression of healthy, dewey skin!

Aside from highlighters, sun care is so important to wear all year round. It protects your face from UV radiation and therefore keeps it healthier. Many people assume that because it is winter you don't need to wear suncream but that isn't true! The sun ray's are still shining so it is worth protecting your skin. I wear SPF in the form of moisturiser - mine has a SPF of 20. 

How do you keep your skin healthy and glowing even in the winter months?

xox 

Why worrying is really like a rocking chair

Ever since I was younger, I have been a massive worrier. Any little thing that I was anxious to do or something that I had done that I thought perhaps I shouldn't have, used to just play on my mind for what seemed like forever. I'm not saying that I have drastically changed - I haven't - but I have learnt that some things are just not in your control and aren't worth worrying about. 

In life, we are all going to encounter certain problems that we will worry about. When I'm older, I'm sure I'll be worrying about what bills I have to pay and if I can afford a mortgage. However, I have learnt, from many people, that worrying about the future won't get you anywhere - much like sitting on a rocking chair. In the present day, what will you achieve by worrying about something that is months/years along the line? I like to think that if it is something substantial, I could do something now to avoid the worry in the future. Going back to the example of money issues, you could start saving or maybe be more frugal. Yes, okay, I am a beauty blogger and, yes, so many products tempt me all the time but I just tell myself that buying this product isn't going to help the issue; it may cause me to worry further down the line and I don't want that. 

On the other side, I always used to worry about things that were in the past. Even now, I struggle to accept that nothing more can be done and that I should move on. For example, last June I took an exam and all throughout the summer I was stressing/worrying about how I did. Many people kept telling me that I had done it and I couldn't do any more to change the result yet I continued to worry. Come collecting my results, I was happy with my grade and thought that I was silly for getting so worked up about it. For me, it was just the question of 'What if'! What if people thought I wasn't clever enough to be taking the course?  What if I could have done more beforehand? What if I was a few marks off my predicted grade? These thoughts were surrounding me but what was I actually achieving by this? Nothing. I was just working myself up with no end result. Again, this is how worrying is really like a rocking chair! 

Some of the techniques I use now are to tell people my worries, together we can find a solution, if there is a problem, or if not I can get it off my chest. Then, I simply say to myself to stop thinking about it. Sometimes I even do the action of taking something out of my head and throwing it away. However silly that may sound, it actually works for me. 

Worrying will play on your mind and consume your time but it won't leave you with any gain. It won't make anything better and sometimes it can actually make things worse. Obviously I'm not trying to say that I won't get worried anymore - I most likely will, it's in my nature. If I am worried, however, I will tell myself some of the points that I have discussed in this post - the main one being the simile between worrying and a rocking chair. It will give you something to do but won't get you anywhere!

I hope this post was somewhat helpful, if you are a worrier like me. Would you like any other posts like this? Or would you prefer my usual types of ones? Let me know! 

xox

October favourites

 

In the month of October, I didn't have as many makeup favourites as usual. This is because I have just been loving the same things as last month. 

Mac eyeshadow in Coppering - If you read my 'CTGT - My Germany trip +haul!' you may have already seen this product. After recommendation from other beauty bloggers, I decided to pick it up and I love it so much. This is my first Mac eyeshadow; the pigmentation is incredible and the shade is just so pretty, especially in the Autumn time! I have been wearing this a lot since purchasing it and I'll definitely look into buying more Mac eyeshadow shades. If you have any recommendation, can you please let me know?

Barry M matte black nail polish - I'm a big fan of wearing darker colours on my nails and I really like the matte formulation from Barry M. I find that two coats works best for me and it stays on, without chipping, for a long time. Black, to me, looks quite sophisticated on my nails so I tend to use this colour as an everyday nail polish - it also matches every outfit!

Maybelline Colour Sensational lipstick in Midnight Plum - I included this lipstick in my 'Autumn beauty picks' post and it has definitely proven to be an essential for me this Autumn. The colour doesn't dry my lips out as I worry that darker, my pigmented lip colours tend to. I wear this on the weekends with a brown smokey eye and I think that is my go-to Autumn look. On a side note, it also smells great! 

Random favourites 

Hannah Renée - Ever since discovering her Youtube channel, I have been obsessed with her videos! She is such a lovely girl and is so friendly, active with her viewers on all types of different social media platforms!! I especially love watching her makeup tutorials as her makeup always looks flawless! If you are looking for a new Youtuber to watch, go and check her channel out!!

The Apprentice - The Apprentice has recently started and I have been religiously watching every episode. I love the whole process and I find it really interesting/entertaining! I can actually imagine myself on it, although I'd probably be fired almost straight away as I'm not as confident as all the contestants! 

Music favourites

• Hello - Adele (I know everyone loves it but it's just so good!) 
• Bloodstream - Ed Sheeran
• Perfect - One Direction 

What were your favourites in the month of October?

xox