The Great and Not So Great...

Hello hello! 

I feel quite terrible because a few blog posts ago I promised that I would be blogging a lot over the next few weeks before I went back to University but that hasn't really happened. I've been at a loss of what to blog about, so I really do apologise. 

Nevertheless, I did manage to come up with something to blog about for you today so I do hope you find this at least a little bit interesting. 

As you will probably all be aware of, there are always numerous different beauty products floating around, and some of these manage to grab the attention of a lot of people, while others go seemingly unnoticed. Sometimes people will only blog about the 'trendy' beauty products, and other things (that might be real gems) get forgotten about. I decided that for today's post I would share with you guys my top 5 current favourite beauty products, as well as my top 5 worst! A few of the products that you'll see below I have mentioned before, and for that I do apologise, but my collection is really not big enough to be constantly showing completely different things each time - maybe one day, but that day is not today.

I'm not going to really review these products as such, I just thought that I'd briefly mention why they're either one of my favourites, or why they aren't. Enjoy!

So I'll get the not so impressive products out of the way first.

Chi Chi 'Doing Cool' Eye Palette

I was incredibly unimpressed with this product! The quality of the eyeshadows are pretty rubbish; they are not pigmented at all and have a sort of chalk-like feel and look to them. I don't even find the colours to be that impressive either, sadly. I had hope for the brown shades, but they let me down, like the rest of the colours.

Garnier 'Clean Detox Gentle Brightening Foam'
I normally really love Garnier, but my skin really did not like this cleanser at all. In the tube it smells nice but once you start to use it on your face it smells awful! I didn't even really think that it successfully did anything that it promised to. After using this for a little while my skin just looked awful and would break out even more, so I was really disappointed.

Garnier 'Miracle Skin Perfecter' BB Cream
This product was another massive let down for me. I just felt like the colour was way off, it felt and looked horrible and caky on my skin, it didn't sink in well, it dried my skin out and then clung to all those dry patches. For me, this just did the opposite of what I wanted it to do. Perhaps I wasn't using it correctly, or wasn't exfoliating my skin enough, but I've been too scared to use this again because I had such a bad experience using it.

BYS Face Primer
This is the only primer I have tried and I had such a bad experience with it that I'm a little nervous to try any others! I really did try to give BYS the benefit of the doubt because they aren't exactly known as being a great makeup brand, but this product was just not very good. It didn't sink into my skin well and made it look and feel really oily, and did not help the longevity of my makeup at all! 

Designer Brands Kohl Eyeliner & Rust Lip Liner
I'll be short and sweet with these two. The lip liner was rubbish, I could barely see any colour on my lips at all. The eyeliner was not much better as it rubbed off almost instantly and did not make my eyes feel very nice. Not very 'designer' at all.

Now onto the 5 products that have impressed me the most. 

Rimmel London 'Stay Matte' Pressed Powder in 'Transparent'
I completely understand why this is one of Tanya Burr's most loved products! I absolutely love this powder, for me it lasts longer than 5 hours (which is what it claims on it's package), and I love the fact that it's transparent because it means I'm not adding extra colour to my face on top of my foundation. I've become totally obsessed with this and I'm praying that Rimmel never ever discontinue it! 

Baylis & Harding 'Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit' Body Butter
This came in a set with some other body products of the same scent and I didn't have an expectation of how it would be, but it is fantastic! I love the fact that it has vitamins a, b and c in it because my skin always feels so much more nourished and I really feel like it's doing wonders for my skin.

Sportsgirl 'Pout About It' Lip Colour in 'Pretty Please'
I didn't know what to expect when I bought this, but I found myself loving it much more than I thought I would. I love the colour, it's a really pretty pink/nude colour and looks so nice and natural on the lips. It's the perfect colour to just complete your everyday makeup look. It can be slightly drying on the lips and doesn't have a super pretty scent, but they are the only negatives. I can't wait to expand my Sportsgirl lipstick collection!

Rimmel London Apocalips Lip Lacquer in 'Apocaliptic'
This is amazing! The lipgloss is so creamy and smooth and the pigmentation is incredible! It lasts such a long time without drying out my lips or fading, and just feels so comfortable to wear. I need to go and buy more colours because the quality and consistency is unreal!

Maybelline mascaras 'Cat Eyes' & 'The Falsies'
Maybelline mascaras are hands down my number one favourite mascara, and I will probably be buying them till I die. These two are my favourites in particular. I just think they make my eyelashes look wonderful and volumised, while allowing me to really be in control of how dramatic or subtle they look. Basically just the perfect mascaras. 

Well that concludes my top 5 best and worst products, for the moment anyway. I'd love to hear what some of your favourite or most hated products are, so let me know in the comments below. I hope you've found this interesting to see which products I've really liked, as well as which ones I didn't get on with. Enjoy the rest of your week and I'll speak to you all very soon.

Much love xx

Some Favourite Books of Mine

As much as I love to blog about all things beauty and fashion, occasionally I like to do a different sort of post as well. So that is what I'm doing today! I thought I would share some of my favourite books with you guys, in case anyone was curious and wanted to know. I find that you can tell a lot about a person by whether they read or not, and then what sort of books they like to read. I'm a bit of a fussy reader, so there aren't that many books that I've read that I've loved. I find a really good book hard to come across, so when I do come across one I treasure it. These books are my treasures. I have read all of them more than once, and even though I do really love all of them, I will order them for you in terms of which are my absolute favourites and so forth. If you know of any books that you think I will love, feel free to recommend them in the comments below. 

1) The Fault in Our Stars - John Green



This book is just amazing. Purely amazing. I wish there was another way to describe it, but I am at loss of what to say. It is such an incredible book, and probably John Green's best work to date. I really think that anyone who reads this book will be affected in the best possible way. This book never fails to make me cry every single time I read it, but also fills me with such joy and happiness at the same time as an overwhelming sadness. The words and how the sentences are all strung together, I swear it could be art! 

2) Looking for Alaska - John Green

This was the first book of John Green's that I read, and it is basically the book that made me fall in love with his writing. I read this book because I had seen little bits of it scattered all over Tumblr and I just needed to read it. This book could almost be on equal first with TFiOS, but there is something about Augustus Waters that makes TFiOS take the cake! Nevertheless, this book is exceptional and just makes me feel so alive, while also reminding me that my time here is shorter than I might think. Alaska's energy is incredible, and this book will honestly leave you incredibly sad, but also incredibly moved.

3) The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Oh, the love I have for this book! Fitzgerald's use of language is just wow, it honestly leaves me speechless. I just think this book is the absolute bee's knee's! (The movie was also really incredible too). I feel like I've been transported to another time and place when reading this, but to a place where I belong. The ending of this book is just absolutely perfect to me, and the way he describes Daisy is breathtaking, and the symbolism, oh I really could go on for hours. I think that everyone should read and appreciate this work of art, because it has had such a great impact on me. I cannot get over just how fantastic this book is, really.

4) Paper Towns - John Green

Surprise, surprise, another book by John Green! While this is one of my favourite books, I do have to admit that I didn't love it as much when I first read it because I was comparing it too much to LfA and TFiOS, which is not a good thing to do. So, after I stopped doing that and focused on this book by itself, I really loved it. I felt like I was a part of the adventure, and I really found it to be quite a moving book. I was so sick of seeing the name 'Margo' by the end of that, but apart from that it was really pretty great. I find this to be a book that really caused me to think and reflect on myself and life around me, which is a good thing...I think.

5) The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

I read, and loved, this book before it blew up and become this massive thing. I really love this book, mostly because of the way it is written. It's quite different and feels a little more personal, in a way. This is such a great novel about life, being a teenager, and growing up, and I think I like it so much because in some ways I feel as though I relate to Charlie, in some ways. I just think this is a really great book, and one that so many people have read and loved now. I kind of feel like this book reminds me it's okay to be who I am. 

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post, even though it was a little bit different. Perhaps I've inspired you for your next read! I just love and cherish these books with all my heart, and I just really think they're absolutely fantastic. Go and read these books, I promise you will thank me! 

Much love. 

June Favourites!

Hello again everyone! 

I'm going to try and blog a lot more frequently over the next couple of weeks because at the end of this month I will begin my second semester of university and may not have all the time in the world to blog, so I'm going to try and get ahead a little bit. 

If you are subscribed to me on YouTube (you can do so here) then you would have seen that I made last months favourites a video instead of just a blog post, but as I uploaded a new video just the other day I thought I would make the June favourites a blog post instead. Now sadly I wasn't really loving or using a lot of new products through June, but I thought I would still share the few new things that I was using with you anyway. Oh, and some of these products you would have seen before in previous blog posts and videos so for that I do apologise! 

The first thing is my Real Techniques blush brush & expert face brush. These brushes are absolutely incredible. I didn't think that it was possible to fall in love with makeup brushes, but alas, it is. I want to buy so many more of these brushes because the quality is outstanding, particularly because they're really not that expensive. These arrived during June and I have been using them non-stop since. Seriously, go and invest in these brushes because you will be thanking me! I bought mine off iHerb for $9.40 each, but as currency conversion rates change they may not be that price now.

The next thing is this blush from Sleek in the shade Rose Gold (#926). Wowee, Zoe was not lying when she said that these blushes were amazing and incredibly pigmented. I just want to buy them all! We actually don't have any Sleek stockists here in Australia, so I just bought it off their website. This colour is super pretty, I apologise that the photo does not do it justice, and it is a really nice peachy pink with golden shimmers in it. I have read multiple reviews that say it is a dupe of Nars Orgasm blush, but as I do not own that blush I can't say whether it is or it isn't, sorry! This cost me $5.99 directly off Sleek's website.

I have had this Born Lippy in Pink Guava from The Body Shop for quite a while now, and the packaging is a little different now as well. I always seem to forget that I have this lip balm, but a few weeks ago I was going through some of my forgotten about beauty products and found this and became super excited. I honestly really, really love this stuff. It was a little pricey for lip balm, but totally worth it! It smells heavenly and always leaves my lips smelling amazing. I normally use this at night time just before I'm about to go to bed and it just does wonders for me. It comes in quite a few different scents, so if guava isn't for you then I'm sure you'll be able to find one that is. I bought this from The Body Shop, obviously, and it cost me $7.95

I have mentioned this product in a previous months favourites post, and it is the Get Cheeky cheek & eye shimmer in Rose from Sportsgirl. I won't go into too much detail on this because I have mentioned it before here, but this has become my new best friend again lately. I just find this product to be so versatile and wonderful. I'll use it as blush if I don't want something too heavy, as an eyeshadow if I'm keeping things really basic, or also as an all over powder to really perk up my complexion. This is one of my favourite products because you can just do so much with it and the colour is so pretty. Go and invest in this product, seriously! It cost me $9.95 from Sportsgirl. 

Well, sadly that is everything that I really loved through June. I know it wasn't a lot, but I didn't want to just repeat everything from the previous months. But don't fret, I've already been loving a ton of things in July so my next monthly favourites video will be packed with items! Hope you enjoyed this post and have all had a wonderful weekend. I shall post again very soon!

Much love.