Dressing table tour

I love having a nosey around other peoples dressing tables, so I thought I'd finally post my own! I'm still not 100% happy with everything, but since I bought these MUJI storage drawers I'm so much happier with it! The drawers I have are here and here, if you're interested.  The pot my lipsticks are in is from IKEA, and I think the same one is here, or at least it's very similar! The little dish my rings are in is from when I went to Italy, and my mirror is from Argos!

I hope you liked this post!

Any recommendations to switch things up would be really welcome.

n xx

Autumn lusting | Coats

 Ted Baker Hollisi embellished collar cape £269

New Look purple check oversized scarf £14.99

Whistles Belgrave simple hobo bag £265

Next navy check cape £65

Miss Selfridge belted fit and flare coat £89

New Look black check scarf £14.99 

I'm a big autumn fan, if you hadn't caught on to that by now. This year, I've been feeling the chill a little bit more than normal though, so I've been lusting after quite a few coats, and especially since the cape seems to be making a bit of a come back. I doubt my student budget will cope with splashing out on one of these, but a girl can dream, right?

Have you got a coat you're lusting after?

n xx

My current morning cleanse

It's been a few millennia since I posted my last morning skincare routine (here if you fancy a gander), so it's changed quite a bit.

Currently I'm not using a face scrub every day, though when I do I'm using this St Ives offering, but I've been feeling like being a bit gentler with my skin recently. I'll normally wash my face with just water and a muslin cloth, then go over with this Garnier toner on a cotton wool pad. It leaves my skin feeling fresh and soft.

I've been using the Clinique dramatically different moisturising lotion after I saw Amelia Liana using it in a get ready with me video; using just a little leavers my skin feeling refreshed but not too greasy, like I thought it might. If you have this I'd definitely recommend testing it out as a day moisturiser! Finally I go in with The Balance Me wonder eye cream, which I find great for the morning because it's super hydrating and cooling, but it doesn't take too long to sink into the skin.

What's currently your go to morning cleanse?

n xx

Life lately #12

 

This week, I went to an Ed Sheeran concert in Nottingham and it was ah. maz. ing. He's one of my favourite artists, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. It was a few days ago now but my voice is still recovering from how passionately I sung along to Drunk and Don't. His singing was amazing, but the whole performance was stunning. I find it so inspiring watching someone who is clearly so passionate in what he does; if I can find anything in life that I'm nearly as passionate for I will consider myself very lucky.

I hope you all had a good week!

 n xx

Boots Haul!

l-r

Seventeen miracle matte concealer stick £3.99

Dove oxygen moisture root lift spray £6.99 (currently (£3.49)

Essie nail polish in Blanc £7.99

Carex hand gel £1.45

Rimmel scandaleyes jumbo liquid liner £5.49

Tangleteezer  £10.99

I recently saved up quite a long list of things that I really needed, so I made a trip down to Boots and here's what I came away with. I really like the Boots in Derby city centre, but it's quite damaging to my purse sometimes.

I've not heard much about this Dove launch yet, but given that it's targeting fine and flat hair, I thought I'd give it a go. Currently it's half price and from what I've used so far, I'd recommend getting it if you were thinking about it! I also needed a new concealer and liquid eyeliner, and these both looked promising. I've not used Seventeen as a brand for quite a while so I'm excited to try this out!

Hand gel is pretty boring, but I'm a bit of a germ-phobe with sensitive skin, so this Carex find that doesn't irritate is a really good find for me! I also picked up a new tangleteezer, as I find they work really well with my fine hair, especially when it's wet.

Finally I treated myself to a new Essie polish because a. why not and b. they're by far my favourite brand of nail varnishes at the moment. I've been really loving white nails (mostly thanks to gh0stparties), so I decided to take the plunge with this.

What have you been buying recenetly?

n xx

Life lately #11

Although I haven't missed that many posts recently, it's enough to make me feel bad and want to update you all on what's happening. I'm now in my final year of university, which means dissertation and whole new levels of stress. I don't want my dissertation to effect things like my blogging, but if it does I don't have the capacity to worry about it right now. I'll still try and post as normal (every tuesday, thursday, friday and sunday), but if I miss one out every now and then it's probably because I'm curled up in a duvet hating my dissertation choice of feminist crime writing and wondering why I thought university was a good idea. Hot chocolate and mocha donations are welcome to help me see the year through.

Good luck if you've got your own dissertation to tackle!

n xx

How I stay organised

Though I'm not always the most organised person, I like to keep up the appearance of being permanently organised. Keeping on top of things, especially when it comes to blogging, with things like check lists and writing down ideas are the only way for me to stay on track now I post more regularly.

I have a notebook where I write all my monthly ideas down and plan posts, and my favourite thing to do at the start of every month is to sit down with a coffee (millionaire shortbread mocha is what's pictured in my mug) and try to get down as many ideas as I can. Sometimes this involves a lot of visiting other bloggers for inspiration, or even just online shopping. It's a hard life, really. I also am currently obsessed with Spotify, just for the playlists that keep me endlessly chirpy and inspired. The 1975 is my current blogging favourite!

That's about all that happens behind the scenes! Behind every post there's undoubtedly a coffee and passionately singing along (sorry housemates). 

Do you have a blogging routine?

n xx

Autumn switch up

I never get in massive make up ruts, but recently has been a bit of an exception. I find myself reaching for the same things, and not even things that I'm 100% sold on. With that in mind I had a rummage through my stash to see what I could crack out for the autumn weather...

I love Essie nail varnishes, and I have a lot of autumnal colours; these three are stylenomics, sole mate and forever yummy. I've been loving monochrome nails recently, but I think these are the perfect shades to get me out of that. I also spotted these Soap & Glory kohl liners, and even though I'm not a big fan of colours in the water line, both these colours will work with my blue eyes without being outrageously out there.

My Natural Collection peach melba blush has seen better days, but I can't think why I ever stopped using it. It's a perfect peachy pink for my pale skin, and gives me just a gentle flush which I'm loving. Though I'm going through a 'less is more' moment with foundation, I've found myself reaching for this MAC studio sculpt foundation more than others; it's not a heavy coverage, but it's just enough to get rid of unevenness. 

Do you have any autumn switch ups?

n xx

Loving lately #8

*image from google*

Autumn is my favourite season. I love the changing leaves, picking up fallen conkers, finally being able to wear scarves again. I love rummaging out the thousands of jumpers my mum makes for me, and I love pumpkin spice lattes. Dressing up for Halloween is still growing on me, but carving pumpkins is just about as good as pumpkin soup. Hello autumn, I love you.

n xx

Review | St Ives Blemish face scrub

St Ives blemish fighting facial scrub

150ml for £4.29

I'm a big fan of morning face scrubs, they just help me feel more alive and ready for the day. I've been trying out a few recently but when I picked this up I was looking for something with a bit more scrub to it. 

I've never tried any St Ives products before, but I wanted to try a new brand. I chose the Blemish fighting apricot scrub because I've noticed a few under-the-skin spots appearing recently, so I wanted something that might get rid of those. The lightly apricot scent also really appealed to me, it's quite light and refreshing.

It's quite a gritty scrub, as you can see in the pictures, but I find it super refreshing and really helps with the dry skin that I get around my nose. I'm really happy that I picked it up because so far it's working out really well for my skin! I've noticed that the blemishes I have are fading a lot faster than before. Unless you've got sensitive skin that won't hold up to slightly harsher scrubs, I'd totally recommend giving this a go!

Have you tried any face scrubs you'd recommend?

n xx

How I apply foundation

In the two years that have gone by since I started wearing foundation, I've been through a fair few ways of applying it. If you had told me three years ago that one day I'd be spending so much on so many different brushes for foundation, I probably would have laughed outright. But here's what I use at the moment...

the blenders/buffers

real techniques expert facebrush

This has been a firm favourite for a while now, with every kind of coverage foundation I have. It 's small enough to give a really controlled feel, and it buffs in  product to give it a flawless feel and finish. I feel like it works best with medium coverage.

bdellium green bambu 957 precision kabuki

I've only recently rediscovered this brush, and I'm really loving using it with my L'Oreal true match foundation. It blends it over my face really smoothly, and covers slightly more than the Real Techniques brush.

the flat brush

the bodyshop foundation brush

What I know as the standard foundation brush. I use this when I'm going for thicker and fuller coverages, because I find it does the best job in getting product onto your face without losing half of it in the brush. I don't often use this for foundation these days, but it's a beauty for putting on face masks without getting super messy.

fingers

I recently started blending my foundation in more just using my fingers and it means a much softer and natural finish, which as a foundation-phobe, I'm a fan of. It doesn't work as well for heavier coverage, but for my every day face it's perfect.

What's your favourite way to apply foundation?

n xx

Shellac nails | part 3

Not seen my shellac story so far? Part one is here and part two is here! As I've mentioned before, my mum's friend Trudy did them for me (here's her website, I'd totally recommend her if you're in the Norwich area) but I had to take them off myself because of moving back to uni, so this is how it went!

 What I used:

tinfoil (any type will do)
Cutex nourishing nail polish remover **

Boots cotton wool pads

cuticle oil

an orange stick

owl hand warmers (optional)

**Trudy recommended that I used pure acetone, but I needed to take the polish off in a hurry so this was all I could get hold of, though I've found acetone quite cheap online if you need some!

What I did:

1. I cut up the large cotton pads into quarters to fit my nails better, and made strips of tinfoil to wrap round my finger securely.
2. I then soaked the cotton wool and placed it on the nail, and wrapped the tinfoil with the shiny side inside (mine are folded in half so it's shiny both sides) to leave on for 10 minutes. I held the hand warmers on as Trudy recommended keeping them warm.
3. After 10 minutes I took the tinfoil off and the shellac polish was flaking away. I only had to gently remove it with an orange stick, then wipe away the white residue that was left.
4. Finally I filed down my nails because they'd gotten so long, and I would say that it didn't affect the health of my nails at all. They normally split and break when they're a lot shorter so I'd even say it helped their growth!

Overall I really loved having my nails done, and I would definitely get them done again with Shellac polish! They made a nice change from normal nail varnish. Trudy was lovely and talked me through what she was doing when I had them first done, and she was great in giving me advice when I had to take them off. 

Have you ever tried Shellac nails?

n xx

Life lately #10

Last weekend I went down to London to meet up with my family for a day out. We went out for lunch in Holbourn at My Old Dutch, and I had a greek pancake then shared some profiteroles with my sister. We then went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy theatre, and I had such a lovely day! I miss my family a lot at the moment so it was so nice to spend some time with them.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

n xx