Tag: THIS or THAT?

I always get so excited when I get tagged to do a post. So thank you Holly for asking me to do this one. If you haven't checkout out Holly's blog Holly Mixtures then you HAVE to. Fine, I can't force you, but really, you should. She's very funny and gorgeous. Ok enough sucking up :) but really, check her out

So the tag I've been tagged to do is the Beauty 'This or That Tag'. Here are the questions:

Make Up:

Blush or Bronzer? 

If you'd asked me a couple of months ago I definitely would have said blusher, but recently it's been all about the bronzer. I change my mind a lot, what can I say :)

Lipgloss or Lipstick?

Lipstick. The only time I use lipgloss, is over the top of lipstick

Liner or Mascara? 

Mascara, I think it opens up your eyes and makes you look more awake

Foundation or Concealer? 

Normally I would say foundation but as Malta is getting hotter and hotter, I don't really fancy putting foundation on, just to have it run off my face in a clumpy sweaty mess (nice image Georgia). So I've just been using a touch of concealer where I need it most. 

Neutral Eyeshadow or Colour? 

Neutral all the way

Pressed or loose eyeshadow?

Well seeing as I've never owned a loose eyeshadow...

Nails and Body:

OPI or China Glaze? 

...Essie? Barry M? Maybe even No. 7

Long or Short Nails?

Long, but my nails are sooo crazy flimsy I can never get them to grow particularly long. Maybe I should try fake nails?? I think my boyfriend might have a fit.

Acrylic or Natural? 

Oh, well I kind of answered this question above..maybe I should have read these through first..

Brights or Darks? 

This depends massively on the time of the year. Right now, the thought of lazing in the sun wearing black sounds like a form of torture. But during the winter months, I couldn't get enough of it

Flower or No Flower?

I'm going to have to agree with Holly here....what does that even mean?!

Perfume or Body Splash? 

Perfume, though it does attract the mosquitoes :( 

Lotion or Body Butter? 

Body lotion, I prefer the texture

Body Wash or Soap?

Body wash all the way

Lush or other bath company? 

I need to admit something...I don't like baths. I know, I'm sorry, I should be kicked out of the blogging community, but I just don't get it. Why would you wanna sit in your own dirty water for 20 mins? I just find the whole experience stressful and uncomfortable.

Fashion:

Jeans or Sweat Pants?

Jeans!

Long Sleeve or Short Sleeve? 

Right now? As it hits 25 degrees? I think I might have to say short sleeves...

Dresses or skirts? 

Both :) (is that cheating?)

Stripes or Plaid? 

Stripes, but I prefer a floral pattern if there's an option for that?

Flip Flops or Sandals? 

Sandals. I always manage to trip over in flip-flops 

Scarves or Hats? 

Scarves, I love them!

Studs or Dangly Earrings? 

Studs. I have a really small head (weird thing to say I know, but it's true) and I think dangly earrings emphasise this. 

Heels or Flats? 

Heels :)

Cowboy Boots or Riding Boots? 

If I had to choose...riding boots

Jacket or Hoodie? 

Jacket, unless I'm chilling in the house, then it's all about the giant, two sizes too big for me hoodie

Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe?

Forever 21. I really like the Birmingham Bull Ring branch but am not too impressed with the Bluewater one (which annoyingly is my closest one). Sort it out F21

Abercrombie or Hollister? 

Hollister, because I own a hoodie from there and LOVE the fact that the sleeves are so long. 

Hair:

Curly or Straight? 

Straight

Bun or Ponytail?

Either

Bobby Pins or Butterfly Clips? 

Bobby pins. But all my housemates call them hair grips and laugh at me when I call them bobby pins. Who is this bobby person anyway? 

Hair Spray or Gel? 

Hair spray, not that it does anything. I have really silky hair so nothing, and I mean nothing, holds it in place

Long or Short? 

Long

Light or Dark? 

Dark, though I currently have light tips

Side Sweep or Full Bangs? 

I currently have no fringe whatsoever, just a middle parting, but I am thinking of having a sweepy one cut in when I go back to England

Up or Down? 

Down

Random:

Rain or Shine? 

Shine, nobody prefers the rain surely?

Apart from ducks, they go crazy for it

Summer or Winter? 

Winter

Fall or Spring? 

Autumn! My favourite of all the seasons 

Chocolate or Vanilla?

 Vanilla? Depends what your talking about. If it's ice cream then neither!

East Coast or West Coast? 

I think this is more for America, but seeing as I am in Malta, I'm going to answer it for here. The west coast has all the sandy beaches, but I live on and love the east coast for it's busier towns and beautiful rocky beaches, (plus the nightlife).

I hope you enjoyed this tag. If you liked it and want to do it yourself then please do, but make sure you put the link in the comments so I can have a read :)

Here's a couple of people I'd love to tag,

Alice from The Cup and Saucer

Amy from A Little Boat Sailing

Fran from Been there, Done that, Got the lipstick

Em from Highland Fling

and my current favourite blog, Rosie from Cider with Rosie. Check out her blog, her dog is seriously cute 

Georgia x

Hey, you there. Yeah you! Why don't you follow me on Bloglovin

My first encounter with MAC

I have never owned any beauty products from MAC, but for Christmas I received two gorgeous eye shadows and a quad palette, and I'm in love.

The two colours I got were Satin Taupe and Smut. Satin Taupe is a beautiful shimmery purple colour. Most of the eye shadows I own are a brown/gold colour, so I was on the look out for something purple/silver. This shade is perfect.
Smut is a dark matte purple, which I use for my crease. I think these two colours compliment each other really well, and the pigmentation is amazing.

Now all I have to do is look for two more colours to complete my palette :)

Does anyone else have any MAC eye shadow colours they would recommend?

H x

Christmas Wishlist #1

Hope you all have had a lovely week. I know I have as my boyfriend came out to Malta to see me. I haven't seen him in three months so it was amazing to see him!

Anyway, here are some of the things on my Christmas Wishlist :)

1. Stone pendant necklace from Urban Outfitters.
This necklace is so pretty. I love the purple colour, and have been wearing lots of gold recently, so it's perfect. It's very wearable and will go with loads of outfits this winter, whilst still looking lovely come spring/summer over some pastel colours or light floral patterns. £18

2. Mac Quad Eye Shadow Palette
I have been lusting over some Mac eye shadows for ages now, so this has been on my Christmas list since waaaayy back. The two colours that have caught my eye are Satin Taupe and Smut, as I think the purple-y shades will  go beautifully with brown eyes. £6.50 for Palette and £10 each for the eye shadow refill pan

3. Lauren McCalmont 'Love My Winter Warmers Glad The Boiler Broke' Scarf from Asos
This scarf is on my wishlist, and I'm pretty sure that's where it will stay with this hefty price tag. I like how the bright pink looks against the darker colours, and think it's a really fun scarf, but for £55! 

4. Topshop Leigh Skinny Jeans in Dark Khaki
I already have these jeans in a different colour and LOVE them. I tend to live in jeans, so like to have different colours giving me more choice. A perfect colour for winter. £38

5. Ribbon Hair Ties from notonthehighstreet.com
Pretty colours, plus they aren't supposed to leave that kink you get in your hair when you have a hair band in for too long. Useful! £10

I hoped you liked the first of my Christmas Wishlists. Let me know if you have any of these items, or if they're on your own list? If you have written a similar blog post about what you would like for Christmas, then please link it below as I find it interesting reading what other people want this year (plus I'm nosey).

H x

November Empties

So here's a quick list of some of the products that I have run out of recently. Some of them are miniatures or travel sizes because they were easy for me to pack and bring to Malta. Luckily the boyfriend is coming out to visit me in a week so I have requested that he brings some replacements with him :)

Charles Worthington Brilliant Shine Shampoo and Conditioner
To be completely honest I didn't notice any difference to my hair when using these products. The only real positive I can say about them was the fact they were travel size so easy to pack into my suitcase.

Nobel Isle Summer Rising Body Wash
I really like this body wash. It lathers really nicely. A little of this product goes a long way. It has lasted me quite a while. I have only just run out of this, and I've been here 2 months. It also smells good. I've already written a review about this product when I tried it out when I first got it in a Glossybox. To read that post click here.

Clynol Enrich Colour Shampoo
Another Glossybox Product. This shampoo is specifically for coloured hair. My hair is dyed at the tips, so tends to get dry, but my hair felt so silky and soft after using this shampoo. A strange consistency (it looks more like a conditioner than a shampoo) but it works. A bit too expensive for my student (and abroad) budget, but this may make an appearance on my Christmas list.

YVES Rocher Ultra Sexy Pulp Mascara
I first tried this mascara when it came with a Glossybox (see post here) and since then my love for this product has grown. It is now my favourite day time mascara and I have already ordered a replacement. If you haven't tried this mascara before, then you should! Plus it's half price currently on the website.

Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eyeliner in Black
Not much to say about this product other then it's the only pencil eyeliner I've used that actually lasts on my eyes. What more could you want from an eyeliner :)

Moisturiser
I have oily skin and for ages refused to wear moisturiser but after doing some research I found out that even oily skin can be dry and it's really important to moisturise. I bought this as it is specially for oily skin and found that my skin looks a lot healthier since using it, and my skin is a little bit less oily.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Sorry there were so many mentions of Glossybox, but I really loved receiving those boxes once a month. It's such a shame they don't deliver to Malta. I'd love to know what your views are on beauty boxes. I'm thinking of trying out Joliebox this Christmas when I go home. Do you have a preference?

H x

My Halloween Look

Hey!

I hope you all had a really good Halloween. I went to a haunted village with my housemates and had the daylights scared out of me. I'm pleased that I don't have to go through that again until next year!

Here's the look I chose for Halloween.

What I used:

Face:
No. 7 Beautiful Skin Day cream
Specially for oily skin. I love this moisturiser, it's my favourite.
No. 7 Beautifully Matte Foundation in 'Cool Ivory'
This foundation is too light for my now as I have a bit of a tan so it worked well for creating a pale base.
HD Brows Kit in Foxy
I used the matte colour to create bags under my eyes.

Eyes
Elf Eye Primer
HD Brows Kit in Foxy
I used this not only on my brows but on my eyes too. I wanted a matte colour and it was the darkest one I had.
Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Eye Liner
Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eyeliner
Avon Glimmerstick Eyeliner in Diamonds

I know I used a lots of eyeliners, but I wanted a really dark eye, with a little bit of glimmer on the inner corner

Lips
No. 7 in 'Raisin Shimmer'

I'd love to know what you dressed up as for Halloween?

H x

October Wishlist

It's been a bit odd being in Malta this autumn. Normally at home I would be getting my boots out, and putting my scarves on. Cups of tea in front of the fire. And many other things lots of other bloggers have been talking about.

But over here in Malta it is still about 27 degrees. And it's hard to get excited about Winter and Christmas when sunbathing on a beach!

I have been told it will get cold in a month or so though, so my wishlist reflects what I would like as the weather gets a bit cooler. (Plus I am going home for a couple of weeks for Christmas so will need some bits then)

So here goes:

1. Essie nail varnish in the colour 'Carry On'
2. 'Live Laugh Love' Cushion from Next
3. Jumper from Mango
4. Black Bag from Zara
5. Lipstick from Topshop in the colour Beguiled
6. Flask from Cath Kidston

H x

Helpful Hugo: How to apply mascara

So this may seem like a really obvious thing to some people, I know it is to me, but there may be some people who would like to know this simple trick for making less mess when applying your mascara.

I mentioned it briefly to my housemates a while ago and none of them had heard of this trick I thought was so widely known, and they were pretty pleased to hear this tip.

To stop your mascara smudging  and leaving marks on the top of your eye under your brow bone, you should do your lower lashes first...

and that's it :)

Simple trick, but if you put mascara on the other way round, you will probably notice the difference if you switch.

Hope this helped

H x

Brown and Sparkly Maltese Nails

Nails Inc: Fashion Fawn
Barry M: Silver Multi Glitter

A quick update of how I have painted my nails whilst in Malta. Its the first time I have used my new sparkly nail varnish. I was a bit worried that it might come out clumpy or look tacky, but I was completely wrong. The nail varnish applies really easily, has quite good coverage, doesn't have a bumpy texture when dry, and last days without chipping. Overall I'm pleased, especially as it only cost me £2.99

H x

How much is my face worth?

I've arrived in Malta! (ok, I'm currently writing this blog in my bedroom in Surrey, but I wanted to have a post ready so I could settle in abroad without having to worry about internet/blogging/uploading/pictures and all sorts that could possibly go wrong)

I promise I will blog about my new home just as soon as I can. In the meantime...

I've seen a couple of bloggers do this tag on their blogs, and thought it looked good fun, so I thought I'd join in :)

The idea is that you you do your make up like normal and then add up the prices to find out 'how much your face is worth'. I promise I haven't altered what products I use, this is truthfully what I would wear on an ordinary day out shopping or for tea with friends (mmm, teeea, hold that thought....)

*Goes downstairs and makes a cup of tea*

Anyway, here goes!

Simple Soothing Facial Toner £2.99
No 7 Beautiful Skin Day Cream for oily skin £12.50
No 7 Beautifully Matte Foundation in 'Cool Ivory' £12.50
Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in 'Shade 2, Light' £4.19
HD Brows Palette in 'Foxy' £19.95
No 7 Stay Perfect Smoothing and Brightening Eye Base £7
MUA Eyeshadow Palette in 'Heaven and Earth' £4
Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Kohl Eyeliner £3.99
YSL Shocking Mascara £23
Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades Blusher in 'Blushalicious' £4.19
Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades Bronzer in 'Way to Glow' £4.19
No 7 Moisture Drench Lipstick in 'Grape' £9

And the total is £107.50

I have to say, that is more than I thought it was going to be. Looking through my make up list though, I don't think I would change any of it. I love grabbing a bargain, and think there are some really good cheaper products on the market. But there are some products I think you get what you pay for, like mascara and foundation, and because I have oily skin I like to use a good moisturizer.

I thought this tag was really interesting, and thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Maybe I will start doing tags more often :)

H x

Review: Toni & Guy

Boots were recently doing a 3 for £10 deal on all Toni & Guy hair products, so I thought I'd grab a bargain and write a review.

A quick background on my hair (how exciting). My hair has been pretty dry recently, probably due to the fact that I dyed it in an ombre style. I try to wash my hair every two/three days, and it can get a little greasy round my temples, but isn't too bad everywhere else. I try not to use too much heat on my hair, keeping the use of straighteners and hair dryer to a minimum.

The three products I chose where the Classic Shine Gloss Serum, the Cleanse Dry Shampoo and the Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray.

I really like the Shine Gloss Serum. I put it on the ends of my hair whilst it's wet and when it drys my hair feels soft and smooth, and the tips feel healthy. The only down side of this product is that is doesn't smell as nice as my Lee Stafford Shine Serum.

The Dry Shampoo is also a really good product. As well as erasing all the grease in my hair, it adds volume. Plus it also smells good :)


And lastly the Sea Salt Texurising Spray. I really bought this product for my sister to try out as she has beautiful wavy hair that looks incredible with this product. I have used it myself and I can say that it lives up to its name, adding loads of texture. But be careful not to use too much or your hair will just end up looking wet and greasy.

One last thing to add, I feel like I'm in a bit of a hair style rut. I either wear my hair down or up in a plain ponytail (or in a bun if I'm just chilling at home). So, I'm going to do my research and find some new pretty updos that I can wear.

H x

Review: ESSIE Chubby Cheeks

I recently bought my first Essie nail varnish and it is beautiful. I love the coral colour and it has lasted so well. Especially considering I work part time at a children's farm and finding a nail varnish that will last longer than one day can be tricky. 

Essie, Chubby Cheeks

The colour I chose was Chubby Cheeks, and I'm completely in love. I will definitely be purchasing another colour from Essie. Now to decide which one...

H x

Pretty Nails

Just a glimpse of what I have on my nails at the moment. I'm trying out the 'different colour on the ring finger' look and I have to say, I like :)

Nails: Rimmel London, Lasting Finish (Colour, 198 Azure)
Ring Finger: Beauty UK, Glam Nails (Colour, 49, Blue Moon)

H x

Helpful Hugo: How to restore an old nail varnish

I don't know where it was that I first heard this tip, but I think it's so incredibly simple, yet useful, and worth sharing. Don't you hate it when you go to use a nail varnish you haven't used in a while and it's gone all clumpy and doesn't apply as easily as it once did? Well, pop a few drops of nail polish remover in your nail varnish, shake well and voila! Good as new nail varnish :)

H x

Review: Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds Eyeliner

Heyyy!

So, I have recently discovered eBay (yes, I know, I'm so behind) and thought I would share with you the first bargain that I've purchased. It's an Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds eyeliner and I think it's brilliant. I chose the one in Smokey Diamond and love the colour. It really stands up to its name and glitters in the light. It's also easy to use and has a creamy texture meaning it slides across your eyelid and lasts all day.

I paid £3.95 for this product, which usually costs £6 plus p&p. Very chuffed! And it's now safe to say I'm an eBay addict!

H x

Silky smooth

First of all, I need to apologize about the quality of the pictures. I know they're not great (understatement!) but my camera is back in Surrey, so I'm relying on my iPhone.

I wanted to write a post today about my new hair product crush. Sadly, after dying my hair and constant blow drying, the tips were in a pretty awful state. My hair has always been naturally shiny and soft so I was pretty upset with this new development. So I had a rummage around my (many) make up bags and found these beauties buried deep down. 

Lee Stafford - Poker Straight Flat Iron Protection Shine Mist

Lee Stafford - Poker Straight Shine Serum

They're Lee Stafford, and you can get hold of them from boots for about £7-£10 (though mine were acquired from Father Christmas a couple of years ago - good job Mum!)

I used the Poker Straight Shine Serum and have to say I was delighted with the results. Straight away I could tell the difference. I have continued to use both products and my hair is pretty much back to normal, and incredibly soft. Plus they smell amazing too! Brilliant value for money.

H x