A Ridiculously Large Makeup Haul

Hello! 

I haven't posted in a while (more on why soon) but since my last post I have gone a little cray cray on the makeup purchases. I have acted accordingly and since placed a loosely binding makeup spending ban on myself effective of right now. I thought I'd share my makeup purchases from the last month with you lovely makeup lovers so here goes the haul:

*(swatches are at the end)

BOOTS/SUPERDRUG

Makeup Revolution highlight in Golden Lights. 

I have heard TOO much hype surrounding this brand and was sceptical about the claims of "high end quality at more than affordable prices" but after a few in-store swatches I now see that the claims are true. I wasn't in the mood to go crazy on this particular day apparently so just got this show-stopping highlight in Golden Lights.

beautyuk Ultimate Contour Palette

I saw Nic from Pixi Woo talk about this in this video and decided to give it a try. I've since realised that I don't dig cream contouring on me but it's still a good palette, especially for those of you with your eye on the new Anastasia cream contour kit who want to test out cream contouring before they commit to a £40 palette.

B. Rich Intense Colour Lipstick in Rose Quartz

I was seriously considering treating myself to a Chanel lipstick, even though none of the shades 'wow' me, just for the pop up/out packaging so when my friend at work had this, I cancelled my Chanel plans in favour of saving money and I'm so glad I did!

Soap and Glory Solar Powder

I was on the market for a new everyday bronzer and thought I'd try this instead of getting a high end one. I'm quite disappointed with the pigment of this one, I expected more of it. Also, the pale side is way too pale for me to use and I'm like a NC20/25 in MAC so I'm not exactly tanned. However, it's not orange in the slightest which I find most bronzers are so that's a plus. Every cloud and all that.

L-R: Limecrime Salem, Nars lipstick in Angela, Anastasia clear brow gel

LIMECRIME

Salem Velvetine 

A lot of guilt accompanied this purchase and rightfully so as this company has done some really crappy things. Alas, I have wanted this for months and finding a dupe proved impossible so I got it and have worn it so much already! 

NARS 

Audacious lipstick in Angela 

I saw this colour on Kathleen Lights here and fell in love, it's unlike any other I have. It's a very blue/purple undertoned bold fuschia pink. I have one thing that bugs me about these lipsticks, but that's for another post so stay tuned ;) 

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS

Clear brow gel

This is another product that had been on my list for ages and I had very high hopes for but has been anti-climactic. I'm still working on how to get this to work to its upmost potential...

MAC 

Face and Body foundation in White

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but all my foundations are the wrong colour for me at the moment because I'm at my palest time of the year and the thought of repurchasing new shades for them all is very unappealing to me. So I thought I'd be innovative and save money using this to lighten my foundations and so far the verdict is that this is the best makeup-y decision I have ever made.

Pure Zen lipstick

This is one I hear a lot of from people who prefer sheer lip looks and I felt like I needed it in my life as I'm loving nude lips at the moment!

217 brush 

I've been meaning to get this for like forever so when Debenhams has 10% off, it had to happen. I already live for the Zoeva dupes and so I was surprised at how dense this one is in comparison but it still blends like a dream. 

Bao Bao Wan Beauty Powder in Summer Opal.

All of my highlighters are very 'hello I'm Beyonce and I'm happy to be here' and you know, in your face. So I wanted a nice soft subtle one and this had sold out online but when I went 
into my MAC store they still had it so I couldn't resist!

Top-Bottom: Bitten, Cocoa Bear, Mocha, Peach Smoothie, Envy

MAKEUP GEEK

Eyeshadows in Mocha, Cocoa Bear, Bitten, Peach Smoothie and Envy

These are defo the pièce de résistance of this haul, mostly as the wait for them to arrive has been intense and just as I thought I would return home to them I had to pay customs charges that delayed my unboxing of them for another three days! Anyways, I was instantly impressed by the quality of these shadows. I didn't order every colour I wanted, I went for the 'try a few then gradually add more' method and so the choice was tough but I will definitely be making another order soon.

SWATCHES

Top-Bottom: Makeup Revolution Highlight in Golden Lights, Bao Bao Wan Beauty powder in Summer Opal, beautyuk Contour palette Contour shade, Bronzer shade and Highlight shade

Top-Bottom: B. lipstick in Rose Quartz, MAC lipstick in Pure Zen,  NARS lipstick in Angela , Limecrime Velvetine in Salem.

Wow that was A LOT. Thank you so much for reading this far, I really appreciate it! 

**A serious makeup buying ban will proceed the publishing of this blog post.

I'd love you to comment any thoughts, share this post if you liked it and follow me on bloglovin' to see more!

Lots of love, 

Olivia xo

My Blogging Hiatus

Hello guys!!

This is just a quick post apologising and explaining my lack of posts of late. 

I am both fortunate and unfortunate enough to be in the position where I blog for fun only. Obviously it is not my job, I have not monetised my blog and I do not have a gazillion readers begging me to post and so as life has got in the way of things lately, fitting time in to Write, Photograph, Post, Promote, Repeat has been tricky. 
It's my last year of Sixth Form/ "High School" so I'm trying my hardest to focus and dedicate myself to getting the grades I need to get into my first choice university which is not proving to be easy- (don't do Chemistry at A-level kids, unless you really have to, it will destroy you). What with my terribly time-consuming YouTube addiction, working part time, reading and keeping up with the ridiculous amounts of TV shows I watch, and believe me I am trying to minimise time spent on all of these, squeezing blogging into the mix is another distraction/guilty pleasure that I do not have time for. (I'm lucky in the sense that I'm not distracted by a social life because I don't have one, gold star for me. Ha ha ha.)

Honestly, I really need to organise and sort my life out and in the mean time that means you will not be seeing frequent posts on my blog until after June 18th when I am free from education for four WHOLE months, such a marvelous prospect! I still love blogging and I'm very excited to finally get some of the ideas I have in my head written and posted :)

I am rambling on as usual so will end the post here. Sidenote:I've noticed that my sentences are really long. What can I say, I'm a talker. 

I apologise for neglecting my blog but if you would like to be notified when I do post again follow me on Bloglovin' and to keep up with my daily musing in the mean time, follow me on Twitter :)

Ciao for now!

Olivia xo

The Liebster Award

Heyyyyy

The time has come! I was nominated to do this award/tag a while ago by Florence from Love From Florence Grace and I had been meaning to (I promise) and when I was nominated again by Dee from Coffee Talk with Dee I got the nudge I needed to actually do it. I feel so grateful to have been nominated because I am far from a well-established blogger in the blogging community or even someone who is consistently involved in it, so thank you so much to Florence and Dee for nominating me!  

Basically, the Liebster Award is 11 questions that someone nominates you to answer and once you answer the questions you’ve been asked, you can set 11 new questions or keep the same ones you answered and nominate more bloggers of your choice. As I’ve been nominated twice, I decided not to bore you with 20+ questions and pick my favourite 11 to answer.

1. How did you decide what you wanted your blog to be about?

At first it seemed easy, beauty and fashion is what I love so it made sense to talk about it but I'm recently becoming more aware of the fact that there are more profound topics that concern me also, other than my favourite shades of lipstick. I guess the key is to talk about what you like!

2. What got you into makeup/beauty?

It was a gradual thing for me. It started with getting my first MAC foundation when I got my makeup done there for my prom and my first MAC lipsticks, which you can read all about here, then Youtube was a massive catalyst. I first watched Shaaanxo and Gabriella from VelvetGh0st's videos religiously and somehow a year later I watch about 3 hours of youtube videos a day (lol), so YouTube is mostly to blame!

3. Have you tried Charlotte Tilbury's products? What do you think?

I have her Colour Chameleon eye pencil in Amber Haze and it's okay but whenever I use it I end up adding more eyeshadow on top of it for more 'oompf' so never see what it wears like alone. I am dying to try the Filmstar Bronze and Glow, Matte Revolution lipsticks and Rock 'n' Kohl eye pencils. However, it's all way too 'upper high end' for my budget but maybe one day I will treat myself. 

4. What's the longest you've gone without wearing any makeup?

Probably the 13/14 years I went before I started wearing it? Is that cheating? No ragrets.

5. What's one part of your daily routine you absolutely can't miss?

Even on my laziest days I have to do at least a basic skincare routine i.e. cleanse, tone, moisturise or I just feel clogged up and eurgh. Also, breakfast.

6. Best book you've read is? 

I'm yet to find my favourite book but Perks of being a Wallflower means a lot to me and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart was the best book I read last year.

7. Salted or sweet popcorn?
Sweet, always!!!!! People who like Salt popcorn baffle and sicken me and don't even get me started on people who enjoy a mixture of the two...

8. Who's your most influential idol and why?

It took a while for me to think of this because I'm not someone who worships Beyonce or Oprah or one person's life work in particular but someone I find very inspirational is Emma Watson. Especially because I'm doing my A-Levels at the moment, I'm kind of getting by living by the motto that if Emma Watson can get three A's whilst being Emma Watson, I have absolutely no excuse. I also love her style, how she's handled being exposed to the public eye from such a young age and used her "fame" to bring to light important issues.

9. If you could do anything, without thinking of factors or consequences, what would you do?
I'd go to special fx makeup school whilst simultaneously traveling the world, learning how to do a backhand spring, finding myself, writing a bucket list, completing said bucket list, studying a law degree, being rich, eradicating world poverty and learning how to drive. Ha.

10. What product have you used that really stands out in your mind? (It can be anything not just beauty).
I bought the Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream last week and it literally amazes me every day. It can be used in a gazillion ways and though I didn't expect it to smell or look like it does, that cannot retract from the fact that it's PHENOMENAL!

11. How did you meet your best friend?

I met her at Brownies/ Girl Guides and she introduced herself in a way that can only be described as Verbal Diarrhea. I was so freaked out that I told my friend I was with that I thought she was really, really weird. Considering I vowed then to avoid her indefinitely, it's hilarious that we still even know each other now!

I nominate the following bloggers to answer these questions:

• Elizabeth from holizblog
• Elish from A Piece of Elish
• Sarah from What Sass Says
• Brooklynn from That Brooklynn Paige
• Rebecca from Blue Eyed Fashion

Thanks for reading!

Olivia xo

MONDAY: THE DAY OF BOY CLOTHES

Shirt- eBay
Turtle neck- courtesy of my Mum's wardrobe but can be
bought pretty much everywhere right now.
Trousers- H&M
Shoes- Truffleshoes
Bag- Primark

I'm so sorry this one is out of focus!

This is part two of the Monday Morning series I have going on here on my blog!

 On Mondays, I am so tired that I tend to live by an entirely different set of rules to the rest of the weekdays. No fucks are given in any aspect of getting ready and this is why I tend to gravitate towards the boyfriend fit/menswear section of my wardrobe. I've always been a fan of androgynous outfits/silhouettes and steering away from stereotypically girly outfits and nowadays, thanks to my chronic laziness, comfort wins over all. I wore these straight fitted H&M trousers, turtle neck from my Mum's wardrobe and oversized shirt from eBay with some heeled boots and an oversized Primark bag to stop myself looking like I should officially change my name to Oliver. For something I literally threw on in 30 seconds, I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out. What do you think? 

Check out part one of my Monday Morning series here!

Olivia xo

MY FIRST SKINCARE REVIEW: Super Facialist by Una Brennan

Long time no see! 

I've not posted in a really long time and instead of listing 759 excuses I'm going to just jump right into the post.

If you read my New Year's to do list you would know that skin care is getting my full attention this year and it's a philosophy I first enforced at the end of 2014. I started low end and got the Super Facialist by Una Brennan Tea Flower Cleanser and Facial Scrub. As I am coming to the end of both of them now, I decided to do a quick review, reflecting on their performance.

Super Facialist by Una Brennan Cleansing Wash and Facial Scrub

Lé Cleanser

This looks like a highlighter swatch but it's photographed pretty bad.
Fear not, it will not turn you into Edward Cullen.

I read so many reviews raving about how great this is but honestly I don't feel like it made a noticeable difference to my skin. It done the job of making it feel clean and fresh but I personally don't like gel-like formulas and I think this is why I don't think it's spectacular. I feel like gel formulas in general sit on top my skin and don't do much so I prefer formulas of the cream/balmy variety. This one thins down when you lather it up and is rather refreshing as part of a morning routine but doesn't give a deep enough cleanse for it to even scratch the surface in the realms of Holy Grail status.

Overall: 6/10. I don't I hate it but I wouldn't shout my love for it from the rooftops.

Lé Scrub

The point of this photo was to show you the beads in the scrub, not to flip you off, I promise... ;)

Now this, I loved! I bought it thinking it was the cleanser due to the packaging for the two being identical and in the end it was way better. What I love most about it is that it's really gentle as the exfoliating "bits" are really fine. It's the perfect exfoliant for people with sensitive or irritable skin who want the step in their skin care routine without their face punishing them for doing so. I don't feel like I'm attacking my skin when using it unlike some of my more abrasive scrubs and so it's great to use every other day. I honestly feel like when my skin is problematic and I have hash-tag pizza-face it clarifies it.

Overall: 9/10. I'm no skin care connoisseur but this is the best scrub I've used yet!

And that's my review done, thanks for reading! If you liked this post, I'd love it if you followed me on bloglovin' to be updated whenever I post: link here.

What has reached Holy Grail status in the skin care department for you? 

Olivia xo

EVERY FILM I WATCHED IN 2014!

I am a girl of many lists.

They are my preferred method of running my life and I'm pretty sure I have a list for every thing in my life and/or brain. I watch so many TV shows and films that I lose track and forget what I have and haven't seen and so I decided to make an ongoing list of every film I watch this year as and when. For no particular reason I have decided to post it on my blog too (...I mean, why not?) The list I kept was written sporadically so I've decided to categorise them into the best (I don't believe in favourite films so expect a lot in this section), worst, ones I cannot remember watching and ones I neither loved or loathed. I've added some unsystematically placed side notes in there too for a tad more detail/background to my choice of category. Some of these I'd seen prior to this year but most (shock horror) I actually hadn't seen until this year a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶i̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶.̶ Enjoy!!!

The Best 

• Saving Mr Banks
• Zombieland
• 10 Things I Hate About You 
• Clueless- I was born in '97 but I miss 90's classics as bomb as this.
• Breaking Dawn part 2
• Frozen
• Amazing Spider Man
• White House Down
• Law Abiding Citizen- 10/10 for plot.
• The Next Three Days 
• Knocked Up 
• The Social Network- Andrew Garfield's American accent is flawless.
• Bad neighbours
• This is the End-Seth Rogan's laugh is one of the best things in the world.
• Superbad
• Now You See Me- I am impatiently waiting for the next installment. 2016 is way too far.
• 21 Jump Street
• 21 and Over
• Now is Good- I s̶o̶b̶b̶e̶d̶ cried. 
• The Butler- Also s̶o̶b̶b̶e̶d̶
• Magic Mike 
• Anna Karenina 
• The Lovely Bones- I can't even remember the ending but the premise scared me so much that I legit think about this movie all the time.
• Inception
• A Revolutionary Road
• The Descendants 
• Stuck in Love 
• The Last Song
• Crazy, Stupid Love 
• Wolf of Wall Street- excellent but unfortunately way too long to rewatch.
• American Hustle
• That Awkward Moment 
• Romeo and Juliet (1997)
• Divergent 
• The Fault In Our Stars 
• 12 Years a Slave-I thought there was too many dramatic pauses but it's a very important must-see film. 
• Riot Club- I went in for the hot actors like a shallow hot mess, left surprised by the excellent performances and social commentary of the film.
• Two Night Stand 
• Gone Girl- made me feel like the most mentally stable female ever.
• Love, Rosie- adorable.

The Worst

• What if
• Endless Love- I love me some Rom-Com but this was so cheesy, melodramatic and cliché that it actually made me feel ill.
• Carrie
• Grown ups 2- before this I had never seen a film with no plot in it and I hope to never see one again.
• Romeo and Juliet (2013)
• The Truth About Emmanuel- I love Kaya Scodelario so much but this made me question whether I was watching it on mute. It was so confusing!

The Forgotten Ones- you know when you sit down to watch a movie and spend the duration of it browsing the interweb and your phone? Yeah... 

• Adventureland
• Killers
• The Heat
• How I Live Now-all I remember is vaguely glorified incest..?
• 50/50
• The Spectacular Now
• The Host

The Ones Neither Loved nor Loathed

• Woman in Black
• Palo Alto
• The Inbetweeners 2 
• An Education
• Kick Ass
• Kick Ass 2
• Never Let Me Go
• The Amazing Spiderman 2
• The Other Woman 
• 22 Jump Street
• The Virgin Suicides
• The Giver
• Maze Runner
• If I Stay 
• The Purge 2

So that was a really long and I guess pointless blog post but I enjoyed putting my year-long list to better use than collecting dust on my phone. If you made it this far, I love you! Welcome to 2015 and I hope it treats you kindly :)

Olivia xo