Travel Beauty Bag!

So this is a really random thing to write about, so I'm sorry I'll keep it short, but this was just too cute!

Hanging Wash Bag, Primark £4.

See, cute right?
I saw this and couldn't stop myself from picking it up for my holiday to Greece (that's now only 3 weeks away!!). It's a folding wash bag that hangs on the back of doors, sounds boring but it would seem if you put a cute pattern on the front it turns into the best thing ever.

The hearts are like lattice cut outs with the pink material underneath showing through!

So I'll tell you about how very practical it is and what a sensible buy it was. It's great to keep things organised with four zip pockets including one that's removable. It hangs on the back of doors.. which is handy? Okay! Okay, so I bought it because it was pretty. 

 To make this post vaguely more interesting (for all of you who came to my blog hungry for a make-up post) I thought I'd include some travel size beauty products that I plan to take with me on my holiday.

So from top to bottom:

- MAC lipstick in Girl About Town
- NARS, Laguna Bronzer
- Aveda Botanical Kinetics Purifying Creme Cleanser, 40ml
- Soap & Glory, Flake Away 50ml

- Aveda Botanical Kinetics Exfoliant, 50ml

- Piz Buin Transparent Sun Spray SPF 30
- Phil Smith Colour Illuminating Conditioner, 50ml
- TRESemme Heat Defence, 60ml
TRESemme Extra Hold Hairspray 100ml

Let me know if you liked this post and what you take away with you for holidays!

Chanel Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle

Chanel Rouge Coco in No5, Mademoiselle. - £24

I've always wanted a Chanel lipstick, especially Chanel Coco. The adverts appealed to me even when I was young, before I probably owned any lipstick,. 

They were beautiful, glamorous, and classic.

I'm now eighteen and I feel a step closer to being a lady. 

 On a day to day basis, I don't wear lipstick. I'll wear a bold red lip on days I really make an effort with my make-up, however this leaves my make-up on other days looking very unfinished. I wanted a shade I'd get a lot of use out of. This never leaves my handbag, I wear it so often and it's beautiful. It's a beautiful colour, a very natural pink-red that is so easily worn.  Looking closely it has a slight shimmer in it too.

 It's a very moisturising which keeps my lips hydrated the whole day and it's lovely and creamy to apply. Because of that I thought the colour wouldn't last long, but it does last for around 6 hours and a tint of it will last all day. Which to me I think is fantastic. 

The lighting in this photograph is more true than the first.

I think what I really love about it though is how it makes me feel. 

Beautiful, glamorous and classic.

Taking a minute out of your everyday life, a day where I'm running around non stop, to apply this lipstick just adds a little luxury. From the classic Chanel packaging, the click as you open it, the feel of the lipstick and maybe even the glamorous price tag that comes with it. It just adds something that you don't get from a normal lipstick. 

The only problem now is that I want to try other colours.

This blog post has been a long time coming, I found it hard to put into words why I love it so much. However, it's done! I'm considering a lipstick post every Monday, what do you guys think?

May Favourites!

June is here and it brought the sunshine!

Which means it's about time I do another post on all the things I've had a little love affair with this month. You'll notice there was no April favourites, and that's because April was the worst.

Dove Summer Glow - £4.99

The packaging claims it's the UK's No.1 gradual self tanner and personally for me it is. The majority of May had awful weather and I was starting to think there would be no summer at all. I love this gradual tan as it's so easy and builds up to such a nice colour. It's also incredibly cheap, yay!

Perfect now the weathers picked up and I can show off my legs.

Use with...

Fake Bake Skin Smoothie, special dry-oil spray - £11.25

If you haven't tried this and always get horrible patches around your knees, elbows and ankles when you tan, go get this now! This isn't really essential for gradual tanning as they're moisturising and tend to avoid this problem, but I still use it every time. Because it's the best. Spritz over dry areas before tanning, then when applying tan just lightly drag it over these areas. 

I love these both just because of how beautiful they smell!

Fudge Urban Iced Raspberry & Vanilla Hair Spray - £4.99

That already sounds delicious right? Very good hairspray in "strong hold" but I feel I love it for the fragrance. I love fragranced hair sprays as that's so much better for you than actually spritzing a perfume through your hair which some people do. 

Just noticed Fudge do a styling mouse with the same scent, uhoh! This will quickly turn into an addiction.

The Body Shop, Vanilla Body Mist - £7.50

Massive "meh" to May Favourites, this would be in my yearly favourites. For the past two years and forever more. I love the smell of Vanilla, I just love it. I spray this all over my body and I smell of Vanilla all day. Even my boyfriends noticed and said he likes it, which in itself is mind blowing.

I also spray it on my clothes and pillow.. but that might just be me.

Boots Sun, Swim & Gym Shampoo and Conditioner for Coloured Hair - £3.05 each.

For over a month now I started swimming again and go twice a week. Since doing this I developed a slightly-irrational (but mostly rational) fear of chlorine. The chemicals in pools can be really bad for your hair but I also find them very drying to my skin. I got to the point where I'd text my friend right before a swim saying "What if it kills my hair!?" or "Will my tan come off!?". So I started the search for hair care products aimed for swimmers. I've started at the cheap end so I could work myself up if needed, but so far I like these. 

Boots Sun, Swim & Gym Protective Masque, £3.55

Another from the range that I like the idea of is a protective masque. I put it through dry hair, which I then tie back, before I swim to protect it from absorbing the chlorine.  It's also good to wet your hair before swimming as it will absorb that water rather than the pool water.

Bioderma, usually £9.99 for 250ml

Currently 1/3 off at escentual.com for the whole of June!

I'm sure you've heard enough about this product and how fantastic micellaire water is, so I won't go on! But this is my first bottle for myself and it truly is worth the hype. I use it just to remove heavy make-up and will continue to cleanse afterwards. I feel it's still important not to rush your skincare and use this as a cleanser, however fantastic it is. I do love it though and will stock up now it's on offer!

And just because I haven't included in any make-up yet, as nothing new has shook up my make-up routine. Here's some products I used this month and feel I'll use more together for a bronzed look!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, £10.99

NARS "Laguna" Bronzer, £26

MAC in "Bronze", £12

Maybelline Color Tattoo in "On and on Bronze", £4.99

What have you loved this month?

Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo

Maybelline Eye-Studio 24 Hour Colour Tattoo cream shadows available here for £4.99.

Oh wow, I really like these. I like these a lot.

These have actually been around for a while, and I completely ignored them. And I'll tell you why, dear friends, but not just yet. I picked up two colours in the shades "Pink Gold" and "On and on Bronze".
However I've noticed different stores and countries have different names for the colours which might get confusing. What's the deal there Maybelline? 

The reason I actually wanted to try these was to wear as a base before eye shadow so I picked up the colours I felt went best with my Urban Decay Naked Pallet. They're a match made in heaven for that. Can you see it? Ugh I feel like Cupid for the cosmetic world. "Pink Gold" would go perfectly as a base for the pink shades in the naked pallet such as Sin or Toasted. And "On and on Bronze" will really bring out the browns and golds such as Half Baked or Smog. They'll make any shadow last all day.

The thing is, I wasn't expecting to love these products to wear on their own. As much as I love the dewy look and how perfect they'd be for summer, I don't go for cream shadows.Well, the exception is these. They don't crease, they don't flake and they really do last hours (possibly not 24 hours but I won't be putting that one to the test). When I washed off my swatches they also didn't budge so I feel it's safe to say they're also waterproof to some degree. Like that.

The colours on their own are also beautiful! I literally fell in love when I swatched them in store. Just look at them, that bronze! If you're a fair English rose (like me!) then this pink is perfect for you.

Maybe the best thing is how soft and creamy they are to apply, they're easy to blend and won't drag across your eye lid. Nobody wants that do they? 

So far I love dabbing them with my finger over my eyes when I'm running late and just want a little something. Effortless and so beautiful. A small amount will give a shimmer and a sweep of colour which I like with the pink to brighten the eye, and the bronze I build up the colour intensity and blend out for a natural smokey eye.

I feel I ignored these for so long as the advertising was wrong. I only ever saw the turquoise or the  bright purple used in really bold looks. The reason they're amazing is because of the range of neutral colours and that they can be so wearable. I'm sorry I doubted you Maybelline, these will always be in my make-up bag from now.
Through sickness and through health. Like for ever and ever.