Recent Drugstore Buys | Max Factor & L'oreal

Whenever Boots have their 3 for 2 deals on I always get sucked in. Although this time I carefully planned what I wanted beforehand. I knew that I desperately needed a mascara and liquid eyeliner.
And because I get an extra product free I had my eye on a particular cream eyeshadow.

So, I got my hands on Max Factor's False Lash Effect mascara. This wasn't the cheapest mascara on the market, it was £10.99! Regardless of the price, I've always wanted to try Max Factor's mascaras as I've heard good things about them. And I thought maybe by paying that little bit extra it might be worth it.
I'm going to be completely honest, this mascara hasn't won me over yet. I actually prefer L'oreal's Miss Manga mascara to this. Don't get me wrong, it's a good mascara, it gives you natural full looking lashes and it separates each lash well, but it just takes a lot of time and effort to get my lashes to how I want them to look like. Also, I noticed after a day's wear (9+ hours), my eye area gets smudgey and dark. And I'm looking for a mascara that doesn't do this. So far L'oreal's Miss Manga is the only drugstore mascara that doesn't smudge after a day's wear.

Then, I picked up Max Factor's excess shimmer in the shade 20 Copper (£7.99). I wanted to see if this was better than the Maybelline 24 hour colour tattoo cream gel eye shadows as I'm literally obsessed with them, as well as there being so much hype about these!
After trialling these for a week or so, I'm sad to say that I'm a little disappointed with this product.
The colour is gorgeous, it's more of a champagne colour rather than copper kind of colour, and it's a creamy mousse consistency, which I find really interesting. But the reason to why I'm disappointed is because of the pigmentation and the longevity. It's barely noticeable on the eye lids and it lasts only a couple of hours which is a real shame.

I'm always on the look-out for a really good eye-liner. I always end up going back to Rimmel's London Exaggerate liquid eye liner as it is a really great liner to work with but I fancied a change. So I picked up L'oreal's Super Liner (Perfect Slim).
First off, I really like the slick packaging with the matte grip. It's a fairly good liner, in terms of lasting power, but not the best liner overall. I actually found this liner quite tricky to work with, I think the felt tip pen is the main cause of this. Because the felt tip is quite thick and sturdy, it doesn't help with movement and gliding on the lids easily. I find it most awkward to work with when trying to reach the inner corners of the eye.
After a week's worth of usage, the brush dried out! Another disappointing product that I had high hopes for.

If anyone knows of any really great drugstore eyeliners, please do let me know in the comments!

MAX FACTOR Creme Puff Blushes | Review & Swatches

I picked up two MAX FACTOR Creme Puff Blushes last month (£8.99 a pop), and I've been dying to write this review, but I really wanted to trial and test the products for a little while to see if my opinions change on them.

When I was eyeing these up in Boots, I found it so difficult to pick just two shades as they are all stunning. But, I decided to go for 'Lovely Pink' (the lightest shade) and 'Gorgeous Berries' (the darkest shade).

The blushes have a beautiful marbled effect (which fades after use), they are a smooth velvety texture that feels luxurious and looks glowing on the skin. And, they are also highly pigmented!

As you can see from the pictures 'Lovely Pink' has lots of dents in and has lost that gorgeous marbleised effect as it is most used out of the two.

'Lovely Pink' compliments my fair skin really well, it's a gorgeous pale pink colour that adds a delicate flush of colour to the cheeks. It gives that luminous healthy glowing look which I really love. It's pretty much a highlighter and blush in one.
The reason why I love this one so much and why I prefer it to 'Gorgeous Berries' is because it's a very wearable shade. It works well with any makeup look and looks so natural. I have been wearing it EVERY single day since I bought it!
The only downside to this shade is that it's not as pigmented as the other shades, you have to apply quite a lot of product onto the blush and really work it into the skin. But once applied, it looks beautiful.

'Gorgeous Berries' is a beautiful deep berry shade and not usually what I would go for. I think this would look lovely on darker skin tones or in the winter paired with a berry lip.
I've worn it a couple of times, but I just don't feel confident wearing it. I think it's far too dark for my skin tone. Although that being said, I was so impressed with how pigmented the formula was. Unlike 'Lovely Pink', I needed a teeny amount of the product on my brush. And it has that silky velvety texture that was once again a joy to use.

Overall, I think these are amazing! I love how they feel and look on my cheeks. Especially 'Lovely Pink', as it's the perfect shade for my skin tone. I'm tempted to get more shades as I do like wearing nude/tan blushes. I actually really want to get my hands on 'Nude Mauve Pink' and 'Alluring Rose' next.

If you're after a highlighter and blush in one, then definitely check these out!

Mini Lush Haul | Easter Treats

I popped into Lush the other day and picked up a few little treats. Normally when I go into Lush I end up spending an absolute fortune, so I was quite proud that I only walked away with three items.

Anyway, they had an array of beautiful easter themed bath bombs, bubble bars, shower jellys and soaps. And I got my hands on the Fluffy Egg bath bomb. I've had this before and it smells incredible! It's a very girly scent, a sweet smell, almost like the smell of candy floss. And it turns your bath pink! What more could a girl want?

The next item I swayed towards was the Rose bubble bar. Which I mainly bought for it's appearance - it's so pretty and I don't want to crumble it! It smells exactly like roses too!

And last but not least, I picked up a Popcorn lip scrub.  I've always been a big fan of Lush's lip scrubs, they are just one of those products that I really enjoy using, and they taste like heaven which is a massive bonus. This one has coconut oil, sea salt, jojoba oil and a popping candy flavouring. It tastes exactly like sweet caramelised popcorn, delicious.

In the past I've used Bubblegum, which has a sweet candyfloss flavour - it also tastes amazing! If you like cherry drops the sweets, you'll love that one.

Childhood Memories | Baking Easter Egg Nest Cakes

Happy Easter everyone!

Today I wanted to share my easter egg nest cakes with you. Baking these reminded me of my childhood when I was part of my local 'Brownies' club. I was super cool obviously.
Anyway, during one of our classes we got to make these tasty crunchy treats to take home with us. After completing, I got a badge to sew on my uniform stating that I can cook or something like that!

It's a really fun easy bake to do. And, I just couldn't stop smiling whilst making them.

All you need is 100g of cornflakes, 100g of chocolate (a bar of your choice), 50g of butter, 2 tsp of golden syrup and a packet of mini eggs. Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl resting on top of a pan with hot water (make sure the water doesn't touch the bowl). Once done, cool for a few minutes and then pour the chocolate onto the cornflakes. Mix together until the cornflakes are evenly coated in chocolate. Then grab a spoon and divide the chocolatey cornflakes into cupcake cases. Put three mini eggs in the centre each nest and cool in the fridge for a few hours.
 

And wallah, there you have your easter egg nest cakes!

San Francisco Photo Diary | Last Day With Joey

After being blessed with sunshine for the majority of our holiday, our last day was pretty grey and miserable. We took a final walk around our hotel and wandered down towards the financial district to grab a coffee and something to eat. We had to be at the airport in the early afternoon so we didn't plan on doing anything too adventurous. And, we were both feeling pretty tired by this point.

I opted for a natural look (bit of concealer, eyeliner and lipbalm) as we had a 11 hour flight back to London. I wore my Levi's, Zara v neck, PRIMARK cardi and Office boots. Super comfty outfit for a super long flight.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed seeing little snippets of our holiday/Joe's work trip to San Francisco. There will be video diaries of what we got up to as well. Part one and two are up on my main channel already if you do what to check them out! There will also be a LOOKBOOK coming up in the next week or so.

San Francisco Photo Diary | Day Three With Joey

On day three I opted for another comfy outfit as we planned do a lot of walking around Golden Gate Park. I wore my ZARA white v-neck, Levi's, PRIMARK cardi, 420 New Balance trainers and my ASOS tote bag. 

We didn't really have a plan for the day, we just decided to take a wander around Golden Gate Park. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Especially the Japanese tea garden! Seeing a teeny bit of Japan (inspired) makes me really want to go. It's one of those places I've always dreamed of visiting but can never afford it. 

After the Japanese tea garden, we walked towards the museums, but they were closed sadly. So we decided to get an early dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. I forgot to take photographs though! 

After Chinese goodness, we headed back to the hotel, and watched Better Call Saul.

Our last day will be up on Saturday, which will be some OOTD shots before catching our flight in the afternoon. So be sure to pop back then!