Beauty favourites!

This was originally supposed to be a March favourites post but I just kept putting off writing it due to the work load at University! So instead, I thought I'd just review some beauty favourites of mine instead, ones that I've been loving for ages and not just the month of March.

Micellar water is brilliant for removing the bits of make-up that removal wipes just can't clear. I love this product! The Garnier micellar water is a brilliant product and it leaves my skin completely clear. I use it after taking my make-up off with a removal wipe but I also use it first thing in the morning to clean my morning face before putting my make-up on. It is so gentle and it doesn't sting my eyes. I was using the simple micellar water before and I didn't get on with that at all, it stung my eyes and burned my skin a little. But each to their own! This bottle isn't too expensive, at the moment you can get 400ml of this in Boots for £3.33, original RRP is £4.99. There are 3 types of the Garnier micellar water that I'm aware of - one for sensitive skin, one for combination to sensitive skin and one for combination to oily & sensitive skin.

I find Avon a bit 'hit and miss', it all depends on the catalogue. But I really do rave about this product! I suffer quite bad with blackheads, particularly on my nose and this does help clear it up and prevent any further break outs. I use it a couple of times in a week, which is what the product suggests to get the best results. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head how much this product is but I don't think it's too pricey - I'm going to give a guestimate and say between £4 - £7?

Now, I love love looooove The Body Shop! I wouldn't class the products from this shop as 'high end' but it isn't cheap and the products definitely don't look/feel/behave (?) cheap! The vitamin C microdermabrasion (around £15) is a lovely skin exfoliator, the shea butter makes my skin feel soft and look somewhat radiant! It helps to tone my skin as well. I don't use it often, I want to try and keep it as long as possible!

The seaweed day cream (I think around £12) is a best seller at the body shop and I completely understand why. I have a combination complexion and this works well on my dry areas and oily areas! I absolutely love wearing this product before putting on my make-up.

Now this is a holy grail primer product! I got this tip from watching Kathleen lights on YouTube as she raved about using this under her foundation. When I tried it out, I absolutely loved it! It made my skin tacky and so my products stuck to my face really well without making it difficult to blend. I would definitely suggest picking this up as a primer. The bottle has 100ml of product and costs around £5, although I picked it up in Tesco for £2.50 so just keep your eyes out for rollbacks!

Unfortunately the bottles are glass. I realised this as I knocked it off the side and it smashed on the floor, the product spilling everywhere. I am still heartbroken about it and it happened a few days ago now.

I got these two products for Christmas (there is absolutely NO way I could afford this product on my student budget) from my boyfriend because I had heard wonderful things about them. Originally, the luminous silk foundation would not get along with my skin. Half way through the day there would be absolutely no coverage on my nose. That was back in the winter though and as the weather has got better and my skin has got better, I couldn't love the foundation more! The price ranges from £33 - £37 depending on what store you buy it in. It is a light/medium coverage foundation but it feels so light on the skin and I conceal the areas that need that little bit more coverage.

I wasn't intending to ask for the fluid sheer (shade 14) for Christmas but when the GA consultant tried the foundation on me, she put this shade of fluid sheer on and I instantly fell in love with it! It has a subtle shimmer so I mix it with my foundation on days I want to feel a bit more 'Spring-y'. Otherwise I put it on areas I would like to bronze. It really does illuminate the skin! Again, this product ranges from £35 to £37 depending on where it's bought.

Too Faced are a brilliant high end make-up brand so I am forever thankful to my boyfriend for buying me this product. It was £39 from Debenhams and it's definitely worth that money! I've never seen eyeshadows so pigmented. And they last all day on my eyes! I love my eyeshadow palettes, I do rave about the Urban Decay Naked palettes but the pigmentation on this particular palette is the best I have EVER seen. From the Chocolate Bar palette, you can make a really subtle brown look for the day or make a smokey purple eye for an evening do up. The best thing about this product? It smells like chocolate! If you don't have it, BUY IT!

Finally, my current favourite lipstick is Cherish by MAC cosmetics (satin finish). It's a lovely soft-peachy nude, which is wonderful for Spring/Summer! It's the perfect day colour. It is so pigmented and lasts for an extremely long time while feeling so light on the lips.

Lipsticks from MAC cost £15.50 and you can get them in MAC stores or department stores, such as Debenhams.










There you have it, my beauty favourites! What do you guys rave about? Until another day when I get around to writing again

8 reasons why I am Phoebe Buffay

If there is any TV character I can relate to, apart from the combination of twisted sisters Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang, it's Phoebe Buffay. Here are just a few reasons why.

1. I'm lazy, Extremely lazy.

2. I find myself extremely skint and constantly trying to deal with how little money I have.

3. But when I come into a bit of money, it's absolutely glorious.

4. Encountering people on a daily basis is not good for me.

5. I find myself absolutely hilarious, so trying to get through a joke or funny story ends up like this..

 


6. Trying to get friends like

7. Emasculating my boyfriend when it comes to football and feeling like

8. Justifying my stupidity/lack of common sense.

Who do you guys relate to?

Lush haul!

Evening folks (or early morning if you're in Europe)!

Anybody else have a problem when you pop into town to pick up one or two things and you end up going home with more stuff than you intended? I know I do. And that's what happened when I went to the Lush store in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon to pick up a lip scrub and I left with £30 worth of bath and body products.

Don't get me wrong, I love Lush! I usually just wander into the shop when I'm in the city centre just to smell a few things and leave again. This time I was cornered by a sales assistant who did her job up-selling really well. As you can see I bought my lip scrub but I also left with three bath products, a moisturising bar and a face mask.

One of the bath bombs was called "Twilight" and it amazed me, so I picked one up. Lavender and caramel scented. A weird combination I know but it smelled lovely. Also, it has glitter particles in which meant not only will my bath turn purple but it will also shimmer!!!

The second bath bomb I picked up and used in a bath tonight was called "Blackberry" and although I love lavender products, this one was lavender free but I really enjoyed the smell of bergamot and frankincense. It turned my bath purple and left me with a cute piece of paper that read "boom boom" (I think?). I used this along with a bit of my third bath bomb which was called "French Kiss". This had to be crumbled under the tap and gave my bath a lovely lot of lavender smelling bubbles. Tonight was definitely a chilled evening!

The next product this eager sales assistant talked me into buying was the "Strawberry Feels Forever" moisturising massage bar - and it smells divine! Almost edible. It leaves my skin feeling silky smooth as well.

The final thing she talked me into buying was the "Love Lettuce" face mask which is probably my favourite face product ever! The mask is a seaweed based product with honey and almond oil to brighten your complexion and balance your facial oils - which is good for me as I have an oily complexion! Organic products are usually a lot better for the skin as well as the ingredients are all natural.

The product is also lavender scented which really convinced me to buy it. I've used the face mask twice and it is leaving my skin feeling rinsed, a lot smoother and fresh which is just what I need as I wear a lot of make up on a daily basis. It is definitely worth the investment. The only issue that I have with these face masks is that they have an expiration date (30 days, I think) which means I'm going to be spending £6.50 a month on this product because it is definitely a must have! If you buy this product though and you clean the tubs and keep them, if you take 5 back to a Lush store you will get a free face mask! Pretty decent, isn't it?

Finally, the Bubblegum lip scrub that I picked up that intended to be my only product bought in Lush, was worth the investment. It is basically a flavoured sugar scrub that exfoliates the lips therefore making the lips nicer to put on balm and lipstick - again, good for me as I get a lot of dry skin on my lips and it makes my lipstick look pretty bad. As exfoliating is a little bit rough on the skin as well, it plumps up my lips which I really enjoy. You can use a soft bristled toothbrush to apply the product if you wish but I use my finger and then lick off the product. I'm sure I have eaten more of the product than for its actual purpose.

There we go. A non-intended Lush haul. I don't regret the amount I have spent though as I am loving all the products that I have bought! Any products that you like from Lush that I could consider?

Until another day x

My expensive beauty haul!

Well I haven't blogged in a few days, I've been absolutely swamped with my uni work and I've been having mind blanks, finding nothing to write about. This weekend though was student loan weekend and I have spent a lot of money on beauty products and clothes... Oopsy! Here is my beauty haul.

Firstly, I spent a whopping £34.20 on Naked 2 (10% off at Debenhams, yay!).

I haven't used much of it but I did a mild smokey eye for my night out last night and I've got the say the colours are really pigmented! If you've primed your eyes properly, the eye shadow stays on really well (I use L'oreal Color Riche primer). "Tease" is a good shade for the crease and "bootycall" is really good for highlighting your brows. I absolutely love the shade "busted" on the outer v of my eyes and to line the bottom lashes.


It is an expensive purchase but it's definitely well worth it.

Secondly, I spent a lovely £29.50 on Estee Lauder's double wear foundation. I've never really been any good at matching my foundations to my skin tone or buying one that suits my mixed complexion. A friend suggested this brand to me and to try a tester, so I did and I absolutely loved it! The sample from Boots had at least 10 days worth of foundation in the bottle. The texture is like water and in one coat I found I had a medium coverage but it was buildable to full coverage. The only issue I have with this foundation is the fact it has no pump so I'm always very careful pouring it out of the bottle. I'm sure I could invest in a foundation pump if it really bothered me that much.

The shade I bought was in "rattan", a warm tone which is definitely needed as I'm quite pale and I don't want to look like the ice queen now summer is coming!

My final make up purchases were from my all time favourite high street brand - Rimmel! I use their stay matte primer as I have an oily T zone and sometimes oily cheeks. It is really good for minimising my pores and allowing my foundation to set well and not look cakey.

I also invested in a lovely, warm nude from the Kate Moss collection in shade 03. It's a lovely brown nude, not a matte finish but not too glossy fortunately. I would really love to invest in a matte red lipstick so if anybody has any suggestions, please let me know!

As summer is drawing nearer, I decided to invest in a couple of summery clothing items! This first purchase was from Matalan, £8 and as you can see it's a pretty little floral sleeveless blouse. The colours aren't all too bright, I'm not a very "bright" person when it comes to clothes. The blouse is very light so when we have the gorgeous sunshine days, I'll be able to enjoy a bit of the breeze.

This is probably my favourite item of clothing that I have ever bought! My best friend pointed this out to me in Primark, for £5 and as I am a huge, HUGE Lion King fan I just had to buy it! Another sleeveless top for the summer and it's a lovely light pink (the image doesn't do the colour any justice, it's not really very neon like it's showing up).

As well as investing in two pairs of plain black leggings from Primark at £3 each, I made an investment in a pair of white jelly sandals! I saw them and instantly felt nostalgic. It was like I was 3 again on holiday in Spain with my parents! My mother always told me how much I loved my jelly shoes and 18 years later I have bought another pair. They were £4 and they are surprisingly comfy so if you're a jelly shoes fan I would invest in a pair for the cheap price that they are!







It's safe to say that my bank account is definitely crying after the weekend that it had but I think it was totally worth it. I'm already ready for another Primark haul!

I hope you're all well. Until tomorrow (or whenever I have something to write about) x

Another FA Cup final!

What's this?! A female writing a blog about football?! Welcome to the new world, folks!

I am struggling to write this, I have been drinking a bit. My fingertips are slightly numb.

But 120 minutes and 4 cans of dark fruits later, Arsenal have yet again made it into an FA Cup final! 

Now I think it's safe to say that the first half was really, really slow. We were playing pretty terrible football and Reading were looking pretty dangerous. Sluggish from Arsenal in the first 45 minutes, this doesn't include the cracking chance by Ozil in the 16th minute nor does it include the fantastic goal in the 39th minute. What a beautiful pass from Ozil to Sanchez for Sanchez to then find the back of the net. And that composure by Sanchez... Just wow.

Overall, a slow tempo for the first half but we were one up so I was pretty happy.

The second half began and our BFG was there to try and score a goal after what was a cracking free kick from our Spaniard Santi Cazorla. Then in the 54th minute McCleary, that jammy b******, scored an equaliser. A massive cock up from Szczesny in all honesty. Now don't get me wrong, Szcz has had some cracking games for Arsenal but this goal was not an example of that.

I was genuinely gutted to see Per having to be subbed off in the 62nd minute but it was good for Gabriel, he had some good moments in this game. It was at this point I started to believe the linesman was having an absolute Western (super mare?) when it came to what was onside and what was offside. Not that I am complaining, it was Reading that got the brunt of it but I'm all for a fair game of football.

The tempo of the game slowed down again and I got to that point where I was desperate for a substitution, preferably somebody like Giroud or Walcott. It wasn't the going forward that was the problem though, it was the Reading defense. In the 68th minute, our Spaniard took another beautiful free kick that Gabriel headed towards the goal but Federici saved the day for Reading. 

Arsene Wenger made the substitution I was waiting for in the 71st minute by subbing Welbeck off for Giroud. Personally I would have kept Welbeck on and taken somebody like Ramsey off, who had been extremely quiet in the first 70+ minutes. Having Welbeck run on the wing and Giroud in the middle would have been a good pairing.

Then came another Gabriel chance from another cracking free kick but he fluffed that right up. I remember cringing slightly when McCleary clipped Ozil in the achilles. Anything to do with the achilles heel goes straight through me.

It came to the 75th minute and Arsenal had finally picked up the pace again. I could start seeing a good game of football with the team going forward again and Giroud finding Sanchez which lead to a chance but not a goal. In the 78th minute came a wonderful hoof over the goal by Mr Mesut Ozil. 

In the 82nd minute, Szczesny made an important save and hit it out for a corner. I think he could of caught that ball but oh well, it lead to a corner but fortunately not a goal for Reading. And we broke! Ramsey came close to scoring a goal but hit the woodwork and my groan echoed around the house. 

It was drawing nearer to full time and in the 86th minute, Reading had a really easy chance to score but fluffed it up. I was pretty pleased with that because I was on the verge of tears. Then came a chance for Gibbs and a chance for Giroud but Federici saved the day for Reading FC. 88-89th minute came a chance for Ramsey again but the goal was a no show.

And then we went to extra time. I hate extra time with a passion, no idea why but it's much more nerve wrecking than the actual 90 minutes of a football game. We looked pretty tired bearing in mind that we had not had the best 92 minutes of a football game. But it kicked off and we were on the ball before the game slowed down again, massively. Aaron Ramsey, our FA Cup winning goal scorer for 2014 had yet another chance but Federici, still having an absolutely cracking game, made a cracking save. 

This was when Federici fluffed it up, massively and Sanchez scored the winner for Arsenal FC! The tears came pouring out and the screams escaped! 

Then came the second half of extra time and man, did Reading push and push and push piling on the pressure for Arsenal but another goal for them was a no show. There came a few chances for Arsenal, one involving Giroud in the 21st minute but the score stayed as 2-1. We had a penalty cry in the 29th minute but it was just a free kick, which happened to be the last kick of the game. My heart was pounding, my head was spinning but the final whistle blew and WE DID IT!!!!


My man of the match had to be, probably to nobody's surprise, Alexis Sanchez! I was torn between him and Santi Cazorla but I went with my gut instinct. Besides, Sanchez did score our more than important winner! He is always there when you need him. If this award could go to more than one person then I would definitely say Santi Cazorla too.


The level of stress that I experienced in those 120 minutes was incredibly high! Football is definitely not any good for my health but it's a passion.

Can we please take a moment to congratulate Reading for the strong fight that they put up against us? I never expected such a positive performance from them. The team and the fans should be extremely proud of getting into the semi final and getting knocked out after performing like that. Williams, Robson-Kanu and Federici had absolutely cracking games if I do say so myself.

Today wasn't the nicest of wins but at the end of the day, a win is a win and we made it into yet another FA Cup final! Now to await our opponents and await the 30th May. To retain the FA Cup for another year would be absolutely incredible.

Until tomorrow x

3 Assignments & 4 Exams. Time to study- udy- udy!

Good evening, world!

So, it's that time of year again where summer exams are only weeks away. Your head is shoved in about 5 different books, your desk is covered in so much work you're unsure what piece of paper belongs to what module, your tearing your hair out and crying down the phone to your parents - or is that just me?!

The stress from work is really taking its toll and I thought I'd share 7 tips on how to stay calm when it all gets too much.

1) Take a nice walk! What's better than a bit of fresh air and sunshine when you've been cooped up in your bedroom for hours on end with your head in work? It's somewhat devastating when you see the sun brightly shining through your bedroom window and you have lots of work to do. A walk will surely clear your head and calm you down before you have to face another few hours of solid studying.

2) Do some exercise. It has been scientifically proven that exercise releases endorphins - a chemical that triggers a positive feeling in the body! So go for a run or take a swim. It's another reason to get out of the house.

3) Making a study plan/schedule will help organise your time. It will lead to less panic when the deadlines approach or when exam day approaches.

4) Eat well and sleep well! I know exactly what it's like when it comes to sleeping and eating when your stressed - the anxiety that comes with deadlines and exams will more than likely keep you awake at night or reduce your appetite. Make yourself have an early night and make yourself get up early in the morning. Have some brain food for breakfast - porridge and banana's are a good choice. You'll have the whole day to do your work then. Oh and remember to keep yourself hydrated so drink lots and lots of water!

5) If you need help understanding, don't be afraid to ask fellow course mates or teachers! You're all going through the same thing right now and so help each other out which in turn will help you out.

6) Remember to take breaks when you are studying. You may feel like you have sat down and done a lot of work in an hour non-stop but the information has more than likely not stuck in your head! For every 20 minutes of work, or whenever your mind starts to wander, take a 10 minute break. Listen to some music, watch an episode of Friends or something. Just take your mind off of that work for 10 minutes before getting back to it!

7) Finally - remember to breathe! Taking deep breathes will calm you down massively.

I hope all these tips, or at least some of them, will help reduce the stress that comes at this time of year. If you have any other tips that help you personally, feel free to share! Comment and help each other out.

Until tomorrow x

P.S. A very good quote by Mr Dylan Thomas - "He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest."

Sunshine means smiling!

Hello blog world!

Where do I begin?! I'm a massive bag of absolute cringe but I have fun!!

Welcome to Kirsty's brain I guess, I've always been an open person and this is what this blog is about! I am also trying to escape the hell that comes with student life.

Now I'm not saying that student life is horrible, studying at University is probably one of the best decisions that I have ever made! But where there is good, there is also some bad.

Enough about me and my busy schedule now, I want to make this blog solely around you guys! My thoughts can be shared with your thoughts and together we can fight our way through life.

So get following, get sharing and tell me what you want to see or hear!

I will be seeing you tomorrow. Peace out folks x

P.S. I'm sure you'll have heard this song, but this is a feel good song. Listen to it whenever you feel sucky and I can assure you that you will be smiling by the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFzZ-xpyfoo