Beauty Bar: Glossier Review

Ever since Glossier products became available to order from the UK, there have been a few products that I've had my eyes on. I waited this long because I'm always more tempted by make up products that I can actually test out in store - try before you buy - but I thought it was about time I gave in and gave these guys a go!
The items I wanted to try the most were Boy Brow, Generation G and Cloud Paint.

Boy Brow - Blond
I'd heard so many good things about Boy Brow! This brow pomade really seems to have quickly become a cult classic, so I wanted to see if I'd love it as much as everyone else does.
My eyebrows are a really light blonde and are basically invisible when left to their own devices, so a certain amount of eyebrow product is always needed. This shade has actually turned out to be a bit lighter than I’m used to, so when I tested it out I used a bit of eyebrow pencil with it to bring some definition. I guess its closer to my natural hair colour!
I really like the pomade formula of Boy Brow, which isn’t clumpy at all and applies really easily, defining each of the hairs. I'll definitely keep using it, but may order a darker shade next time.

Generation G - Zip
This lipstick is sheer and matte. It’s advertised as giving a ‘just blotted’ level of colour, going with Glossier’s ‘no make up-make up’ ethos. This is what actually drew me to this lipstick in the poppy red Zip shade, as I’ve been looking for a red lipstick that’s very wearable and everyday.
After wearing it a couple of times, I’m pretty impressed. It’s not quite the shade of red I was after, as it’s actually quite a pink-red, rather than the poppy red it’s advertised as, which I’d thought would have more of an orange base than a pink. But the colour is easily built up to more of a red tone, and the formula isn’t at all drying, which is a total bug bear of mine!
Overall, I’d say I really like this lipstick but time will tell if it makes it to the coveted position of my handbag.

Cloud Paint - Dusk
Cloud Paint is a liquid blush formula, which you dab onto your cheeks using your finger tips. I have to admit that I didn’t actually purchase this one myself, but borrowed my sister’s to try! However, I may well invest in my own as I was really impressed with it.
Once again it’s a very sheer colour pay off but can be built up to achieve your desired amount of pigment. The Dusk shade is a really flattering vintage rose colour, which I think would be versatile for lots of different make up looks.

Overall I really liked these products and am now feeling the urge to make some more Glossier purchases very soon!

Have you tried Glossier before? If so, do you have any favourites I should try?

Lisa xx

Real Talk: What's In My Handbag?

I've read many a 'what's in my handbag?' blog, each listing a fine selection of useful (and usually expensively branded!) items. However, the contents of my bag aren't really like that... I've mastered the Mary Poppins-style packing of fitting an unnatural amount of things in, but unlike Mary, a lot of the things in my bag are not particularly impressive.
But, here they are anyway!

1. Phone
It's summer, and the amount of jumpsuits and dresses I own without pockets mean that my phone has to go in my bag. Much less convenient for song-changing than tucking it into jeans or a coat pocket as I walk around town!

2. Keys
Similar to the phone predicament, summer means that my keys (3 sets to be exact - home, work and car), rather than living in my coat pocket, have to go in my bag.

3. Earphones
I never leave the house without these, ever.

4. Purse
Having a smaller bag for summer means I've switched to a small credit card size purse, rather than my usual fully grown beast.

5. Sunglasses
An absolute necessity right now!

6. Lipstick Purse
To try and organise the chaos of my bag a bit, I have a little purse to house my compact mirror, lip balm and about 3 lipsticks.

7. Instructions
A slip of paper with instructions of how to work my church's camera. (Because I'm pernickety and afraid of forgetting things...)

8. Tissues
Usually unused.

9. Ear Plugs
Not to be confused with the earphones! Loud noises make me dizzy so these are very necessary.

10. Hand Sanitizer
My current fave is by Soap & Glory; it smells amazing!

11. 2 Extra Lipsticks
You know, just in case none of the 3 in my lipstick purse are the right shade.

12. 4Head Balm Stick
This menthol balm is an amazing cure for headaches. Just a few swipes around the forehead and it starts its soothing work.

13. Hair Bobble
I like the twirly transparent plastic ones as they don't create too much of a hair-kink.

14. Polo Mints
As our grandparents teach us, mints are a necessity in life!

15. Receipts
At least 4 or 5. Plus a couple of vouchers.

16. Contact Lenses
As someone who has to wear contact lenses every hour that I'm awake, to be without these would be a complete (and very blurry) disaster.

17. Plaster
You never know when you might need one!

18. Misc
Consisting of 6p, a paperclip and a hair grip.

What's inside your bag? Are you super minimal or do you have not-so-organised chaos like me?

Lisa xx

Real Talk: Going From Negative To Positive

I feel a bit hesitant in writing this blog post because I think the subject matter might be a bit controversial. It isn't light or fluffy, and it isn't about the happy, shiny things in life. It's about an emotion that everyone experiences at different times to different extents: anger.

Anger isn't a nice emotion but is it a bad one? Can it ever be good or helpful? See, when we think of anger, more often than not the images that come to mind are violent and threatening. But what about righteous anger? What about that gut feeling when we see injustice in the world that says, "something needs to change here"?

I also think that even anger that isn't righteous, anger that's born out of irritation or tiredness, is a very natural emotion. It's what we do with it that makes the difference.
Do we let it rule over us? Snap at our loved ones or just plain blow a fuse and shout the house down? Or do we take back the control? Not suppressing the emotion but recognising it, acknowledging it and then finding a positive way to process it and let the feeling out, at the right time.

The other day, I felt so angry. It was one of those times where in the moment I locked the anger inside, so that it just boiled beneath the surface until I was able to leave the situation and deal with it.
Here's what I did to let it out and process it in the most healthy way I could think of:

1. Exercise
Before going home, I went for a walk. About 30 mins of brisk walking in total. At first, all I could do was seethe and silently rant, but as I channelled the energy out through my legs and breathed in the fresh air, something started to relax. The dust began to settle and my thoughts became quieter and clearer.
I began to be able to see beneath the angry emotion and ask myself some questions: What was it about the situation that was making me so angry? Could I do anything to change the situation? Did I need to change something about myself?

2. Slow Breathing
It's amazing the difference that slowing down breathing can make to our stress levels. If  you ever find that your breathing is shallow and anxious, then give this exercise a go:
Hold your breath for 3, exhale for 3, inhale for 3. Do this a couple of times and then when you feel able, start to extend the times of holding and exhaling the breath (this will correct your carbon dioxide levels and force your body to relax); it's a simple exercise that can be done anywhere and gives pretty instant results.

3. Talking
As an introvert, I need some time alone to process how I feel before talking to someone else. Once I understand myself and my reactions a bit better, then I find it really helpful to chat things over with my husband or a close friend/family member.

4. Meditation
Once I got home, I took some time to do a couple of short meditations using the HeadSpace app. It has tailored meditations to fit different needs, including ones for anger and frustration, which were the ones I used. The first one was 3 minutes long, the second was 5. Genuinely, after that combined 8 minutes I felt so much better.

Each of these steps didn't change the situation I was in, but they helped me to get some distance from it, so that I wasn't overwhelmed and could think clearly.
Once we can take a step back and look at things objectively, we can work out what to do to make a positive change.

What about you? Do you have any tips for channelling negative emotions into something positive?

Lisa xx

Beauty Bar: Crayola Beauty Review

The other day, an email dropped into my inbox that really caught my attention. It was from ASOS, telling me that they'd partnered with Crayola (yes, the crayon company!) to create a limited edition make up range. Massively excited by this, I obviously went straight onto the site and made an order!

Crayola Beauty do a whole variety of products, from blusher to mascara, but the thing that caught my eye was the lip and cheek crayons. I bought one of the sets; partially because it comes in the cutest box, just like the wax crayons did - so much gimmicky nostalgia!

The shades in my set are Strawberry (a bright red shade), Mango Tango (a bright peach with a little bit of shimmer) and Very Cherry (a deep, rich berry red).
I was a little concerned that they might have the consistency of a wax crayon, as well as the look, but thankfully I needn't have worried.
I've found that their formula is really creamy, non-drying and smooth to apply. I also really like the crayon style for application, as I'm always rushing out the door when I do my lipstick, and this just makes it so quick and easy to do.

Something that could be a draw back, is that they are a very creamy formula and do wipe off extremely easily, so I don't know how long-wearing they would be, which could make the brighter shades pretty high maintenance.
The Mango Tango shade is also a lot more sheer than the other two, and I had to apply a lot of the product to make it particularly visible. This makes it much more wearable for an everyday Spring/Summer look, but doesn't really follow through on the 'rich and powerful pay off' promise we're given on the box.

Overall, I'm so impressed with these crayons. I love that there is actual substance to them, rather than just stylised packaging. They aren't just a gimmick, and could really compete with the quality of other beauty brands. I am genuinely tempted to try out some more of their shades now!

Have you tried any of the Crayola Beauty products?

Lisa xx

Beauty Bar: Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat Review

A few weeks ago I heard that Urban Decay were bringing out a travel-size version of their infamous Naked Heat eye shadow palette. I was immediately intrigued by it as I’d resisted buying the full size palette last Summer because of the cost - I just couldn’t spend £40 on eye shadow, no matter who it was made by or who endorsed it!

This smaller version was ⅔ the price and I had a Feel Unique discount code which gave me that little extra push to make the purchase. I was so intrigued to see how these hyped, high-end eye shadows would compare to the drugstore products I’ve only ever used before. I didn’t know if the warm shades would suit my skin tone, but I’d seen so many photos of such a variety of people wearing them, that I hoped they would work for me too. 

These are the shades in the Petite palette. They're brand new to the Heat collection and come in full palette pan sizes. Inhale, Hot Spell and Wild Thing are the ones that I've used the most, as you'll see below. What I love about Hot Spell, is that it looks like a muted beige in the pan, but once its on your brush and skin this warm orange tone appears. I don't know how it does it, but its such a versatile, build-able shade.

My first impression of the shades was that they were SO pigmented. You hardly need any powder on your brush at all to get a strong sweep of bold colour, and once it’s on - it’s on and there’s no budging. Even without using a primer underneath it, the shades don’t need a lot of building up and they blend together really well.

The bold colours leave little room for error - and I’ve made plenty of errors experimenting with this palette, including one memorable occasion where I managed to make it look like I had a black eye! Career change to be a movie make up artist maybe?!

I almost wish my eye shadow brushes were smaller to give my application more precision, because a flick in the wrong direction and it can be tricky to fix. The best solution I’ve come up with is to either blend it out using the lightest shade, Inhale, or to use concealer and start again. 

This is the daytime look I’ve created. I used Inhale to start with, all over the eyelid. Then, starting at the outer corner of my eye, I used Hot Spell, so that it was darker at the outside, growing lighter across the lid. I finished off with Wild Thing in the outer corners, to really bring that fiery warmth. I then completed the look with brown mascara, which I think looks so pretty with these warm tones.

To pare this back even more, I’ve also been loving just giving Inhale and Hot Spell a light sweep over my whole eyelids, before finishing with the brown mascara.

To create more of an evening look, I’d start in a similar way to my first daytime look, but would then bring in the darker shades, Heist and Strike, into the crease and outer corners of my eyes. I’d then finish off with some black mascara.

Have you tried these Urban Decay eye shadows? If so, what did you think? Worth all the hype?

Lisa xx