Friday 30 October 2015

Kevyn Aucoin Celestial Powder: I DONT GET IT?

After seeing so many beauty gurus rave about this highlighter  I knew I had to get it. I'm a real sucker for hypes - but I make myself wait a few months to make sure I really want it... So after months of longing I forked out £35 for the Kevyn Aucoin Celestial Powder in the cult shade of 'Candelight'. 



To start off, how bloody tiny is this thing? I was actually shocked at how small it is. It's only 3 grams! If you compare it to the giant size of Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess (21g), where you pay around the same price!? It is ludicrous. The packaging is sturdy, even if a little dated for my liking - but I feel like that over a lot of luxury packaging (just personal taste I guess!). However, it does come in a luxurious velvet pouch, perhaps that's what you're paying for. 

Anyway, on to the actual powder. I really like the shade of it, its the perfect shade for someone who's really pale like me. It's a really lovely colour for the inner corner of the eyes. I normally use this on my cheek bones, nose, cupids bow, too. It is very very shimmery, so you definitely couldn't use it on the forehead and chins as you could with other highlighters. It is more of a glittery glittery highlighter than a 'glow from within' one. 


The powder feels very velvety and its weirdly thick and creamy - as you can see from the way that it sits on my finger. But I like the consistency. 


It is quite crumbly, I feel like I'm wasting money when a swirl my brush in it and bits fly everywhere. After a few hours, I feel like it sinks deep down into my huge pores. Also, I have combination skin: so it's perfect on my nose, but too drying on my cheeks.


All in all, I would never pay £35 for another one of these. I'm glad I tried it as I would still be lusting after it if I haven't. As I say in the title: I really don't get the hype. Am I using it wrong? Is there some secret trick I'm not aware of? 


I'm still 100% a cream highlighter girl - nothing so far has drawn me away from Benefits Watts Up!

Have you tried this highlighter? Do you know of any others I could give a go? 


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Wednesday 28 October 2015

H&M Home Wish List

So I've had a purple bedroom ever since I can remember. Purple walls, purple bed.. everything. I'm 19 now, and so bored of that colour. I'd love a room update but obviously that means $$$ and $$$ that I don't have...

My dream room would be pale pink, grey, white and rose gold. I've been looking around everywhere at things I'd love to buy, and H&M home is my absolute favourite. I officially want everything they stock. I thought I'd make a little post about all the things I've been lusting over from H&M:


FABRICS FOR THE BED



GEOMETRICS



SCANDI GREY



GLASS X COPPER



PINK WIRES



What homeware have you been lusting over for the autumn months?


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Sunday 25 October 2015

NEW! Rodial Skincare Youtube Channel Launch (ad)


So everyone has heard of Rodial Skincare and their cult products – I remember in particular really wanting the Instaglam Compact DeluxeTranslucent HD Powder for ages, and it being completely out of my price range. It's used by loads of celebs, even Kylie! However, I feel like they don’t get much exposure on the blogger/YouTube world, in my opinion anyway.

The brand has always attracted me: there is something about buying and owning luxury make-up which is just so so super satisfying. You feel like you've really invested in your skin. Now I'm at uni I don't buy anywhere near as much make-up as I did - but sometimes I just cant resist!

However within the last year, Maria, the founder of Rodial Skincare (and Nip+Fab) has started a new YouTube channel: Mrs Rodial. She seems to be challenging the boundaries of normal brands – and I love it!



To be honest, I don’t subscribe to a lot of brands YouTubes. In general, I hate them. I feel like I want real people and their opinions and you don’t get that on most brand’s channels. It's normally irrelevant make-up artists creating average looks that most of their target audiences probably wouldn't even replicate. 



The thing I like about Rodial’s channel is the founder actually sits there and makes the videos. She is genuinely that passionate that she wants her customers to actually get to know her personally. Maria does Q&A’s, holiday packing videos, and all sorts of normal, down-to-earth, YouTube stuff. She also shares business tips, and talks about how to become successful - which is so interesting. You can pretty much follow Maria and the brand around the world! It’s a great contrast to the usual mediocre promoting videos.


Beauty stuff: of course they show Rodial products, that’s what a brand must do. The videos they make are relevant and well done. They do really basic, easy videos for people who aren't make-up artists in the slightest (me) and it lets you get a really good grip of their products and how they are really meant to be used. 



Maria does looks based on celebs who are actually current, who we admire and lust over. (Their Cara video has made me need the Glamobrow and Yellow Highlighter!)


Have you checked out the Rodial Skincare YouTube channel yet?

Let me know what you think of it!




*This post was sponsored but as always all views are my own.*


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Emily Skye 28 Day Shred Review

So I do what most girls do and lust over fitness gurus on insta. I will never be like that - I love pizza, pasta, and just general carbs too much. But I really do need to make some kind of effort to get in shape. One particular insta who caught my eye was Emily Skye. Her 28 day shred sounded perfect for me because it was quick and high impact. I always need to see quick results or I get demotivated and just bail.





I didn't actually finish the plan. And I'm going to tell you why. 

Ok. So to start:
  • I really like Emily Skye. There's been loads of scandals and whatever around her, but in my opinion she's always came out clean, and she seems really lovely and down to earth. 
  • I dont mind her story, the 'skinny' girl to 'fit' girl. It's obviously not relevant to me (fat girl needing be a bit less fat girl), but I respect her honesty and isn't pretending she's lost 10 stone and 'you can too with my amazing plan'. 
  • I also like her attitude, in her guide she's very fair and hard talking. She talks about dedication, planning, no excuses, no mistakes. I like that, because I would just take the piss. 
So on to the actual plan...


THE FOOD
So she writes a full meal plan, and shopping list for meat-eaters, vegans and veggies. I think this is awesome! In most plans you'd have to buy all three menus! So I read through the meals and their recipes, and thought 'yeah, I could eat this' and was pretty happy. Then I put the stuff into my basket.. No exaggerations here: one week was approx £100. A hundred pounds! I am a poor student! That was a no-go for me. I decided to alter the meals and make them cheaper (which she says categorically not to do as she's written it to be followed exactly, oh well)

Sweet Potato & Smoked Salmon Omelette 

On top of that, the meals are okay. But they are pretty bland, and huge (not much meat, 30 eggs a week, 3 tonnes of veg a day). And you eat 3 huge meals and 3 snacks a day, you will NOT get hungry. I just couldn't afford it, and I couldn't even eat all the food! The meals are things like 5 egg omelettes, bean salads, stuffed peppers. 

Chicken & Roast Veggie Salad


And is it weird that I felt the meals were very 'Australian'?! Fair enough that's not her fault, being Australian, but I just think she needs to work on 'translating' the meals over to other countries. We don't get kangaroo here easily. 

Tuna & Veggie Stack

So.. in the end I just made my own food under her kind of principles: I basically ate porridge, chicken, sweet potato and asparagus for 3 weeks. 

Salmon with Pesto Green Veg


THE SUPPLEMENTS
There are sooo many supplements. Like literally loads. She did say there were 'optional', but if you wanted to go hard or go home, you'd have to buy them. There are 7 different supplements, which come up as $$$$$. She does tell you exactly why you should take them and when, and what they do for you. 


THE EXERCISE
This is the only bit of the plan I think is even worth it. It's really well planned, really easy to follow and it definitely works! Without giving away her whole plan, it's basically this:
  • 40 minutes steady cardio a day
  • Weights everyday (rest day every fourth day)
The cardio: the 40 minutes of cardio I found boring and useless. I swapped did HiiT and running alternating. And funnily enough her NEW plan has no steady cardio AT ALL and HiiT instead! 

The weights: I absolutely love these workouts. She's isn't clear on what size weights to use, you can kind of guess with common sense. She writes 2 different workouts for each day, so you can do it at the gym or at home. You focus on different areas every day, and I just did it in front of the TV with home weights. They aren't any thing as intense as Kayla Itsines circuits' but they are really hard. 

An example of a day on the shred ^


SUMMARY
I did this plan for about 2 weeks and lost about 10lbs. I felt toned, fit and really energetic. I'm sure I would have amazing before/after pics if I carried on. But I just didn't have time. Morning cardio and afternoon weights but didn't fit in for me. The plan doesn't allow flexibility on this at all. It about 2 hours of exercise daily which is just way too much for me, as I hate hate hate exercise. And if I missed a day, I feel really really guilty. 
BUT! Emily herself says that this isn't what you should do for the rest of your life. This is what she uses before a fitness competition, and we should just use it to kick start our healthy lifestyle - which I really think it does. I may try it again though in the holidays, when I have literally nothing to do.

PROS
  • Clear, concise, easy to follow
  • Full plan written out for every single day
  • Weights workouts are good! 
  • Fully written meals for all diets
  • Full shopping lists
  • Loads of tips, tricks and advice!
  • It WORKS! (For me)

CONS
  • The actual plan is really expensive, if you don't get it off someone else on eBay
  • Meals not to my particular taste, and HUGE
  • Food is very expensive 
  • About 2 hours of exercise a day
  • Lots of expensive supplements recommended (although they are optional)

Have you tried this plan, or any other from Emily Skye? Let me know what you think!


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