Highlighter Heaven // Product Review

I am the biggest fan of highlighters. I think they can really make the face look brighter and can be worn in literally anyway possible; over foundation, under foundation, just on certain points of the face. I probably wear too much highlighter, but if I am admiring a girl's make up (as I often am!) I am usually drawn to their highlight and I just have to know what they are wearing! My 16th birthday recently passed and I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask for some more expensive, high end make up.
Both the highlighters I received were recommendations from Gabby (VelvetGh0st) on Youtube.

The first highlighter she swears by is the more expensive high end NARS Copacabana Highlighter. This is described as an illuminator but is basically a highlighter. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! It gives my cheekbones, cupids bow and other highlight-able areas of my face the most gorgeous pearly pink glow and really brightens them up. It looks incredible, especially in natural light and really draws attention to my cheekbones. This costs around £23, depending on where you get it and we can get it here in the UK, which (I know!) is very surprising. It is easy to pick up from any sort of big department store like Debenhams or John Lewis. Though it is pricey, you literally just brush your brush (or finger) against the opening of the product, to get the tiniest sprinkle-sized drop for each cheekbone. So it lasts for ages! I have had this over a month now and it looks just like brand new! If you have the budget for this and are as obsessed with highlighters as I am, definitely give this a go!

The second highlighter I got was what Gabby galls the 'NARS Copacabana Dupe'. It is the Soap and Glory Highlighter Stick in the only shade they offer 'Glow All Out'. Unfortunately, I regret buying this, Purely because it is so good! That sounds silly I know. But it is such a good dupe (though just a bit less good, hence the word dupe) for the NARS Highlighter, that it has made me feel silly for buying the NARS one. Long story short, if you don't have the budget or aren't a huge fan of Highlighters, this £8 dupe is perfect! I find this harder to apply as it is not powder or liquid. It applies creamily to the cheeks, but is best blended with fingers. I don't like to use my fingers when doing my make up, so if you are like me, don't go for this; it won't blend with a brush. Though this is a very good dupe, I do prefer the NARS one.

So there you have it! Both these highlighters are very similar, and give the most gorgeous pearly pink glow to the cheeks. I would highly recommend both :)

We need to talk...

Today's post is going to be a little different. I think the internet is a wonderful thing (most of the time) and I also think it's the perfect place, as is a blog, to talk about an important topic/issue.

I have always been a strong Feminist. I believe in equality, not girls ruling the world. But I think there is a problem associated with Feminist's now a days. Many people view Feminists to be 'girls with too much too say' or 'Femi-nazi's', the kind of Feminists that DO want girls to rule the world. So many campaigns have come to light in recent years, dominantly the one that comes to mind is Emma Watson's 's #HeForShe campaign, which fights for equality for all.

If you have not seen it I recommend you watch the video of her UN speech to associate yourself more with what Emma has been working towards.

A similar campaign is the Global Goals; goals set by the UN to be achieved in the next few years. Goal number 5 is 'Gender Eqaulity' which includes closing the gender pay gap. This pay gap is a huge issue in my eyes and one of the main aspects of Feminism that needs to be solved.

Anyone can be a Feminist; whether they are female, or male, young or old. Typically it tends to be young women, as many of the older generation are used to the 'old times' and are not bothered by the lack of gender equality.

Honestly, I mainly wanted to write this post to get it out there. The more awareness we raise off the issue, as individuals, the more will be done to solve it. Though there are many things wrong with the world, gender equality is the one closest to my heart, soul and mind. Each powerful woman I see is an embodiment to our society and powerful, ballsy women should be celebrated, not criticized for 'having too much to say' or 'being a crazy bitch'. These words that people associate with Feminists now, such as angry, mad and over-confident need to be stopped.

#GlobalGoals5 #GlobalGoals #HeForShe #Feminism #WorldIssues #TimeForGirls

A Day Out In Photos // Blaby Scare Farm

Recently I went on a family walk in Blaby. We stopped at this abandoned farm area just short of Blaby, down the back roads and I thought it would be nice to share some photos

I have no idea why this place is called Scare Farm. Yes it's abandoned, and seems to go on forever, but there's hardly anything scary about this place ... at least not in the day! It is rather beatiful actually and it was nice to visit on this just passed Easter Sunday. The day was relatively cold with showers, but felt a little humid, hinting at Spring!

I hope you all had a nice Easter :)

FOTD // 28th March 2016

Today's post is going to be a little FOTD. Recently I've been drawn to the red lip and golden eye look. So today's FOTD features both of those!

Face:

I don't feel the need to wear a face of foundation, so just put Collection's Lasting Perfection Concealer over my blemishes, spots and t-zone area. I also used this to conceal my very blue under eye circles. 

I powered using Natural Collection's powder in Translucent, lightly dusting this all over my face and pressing it under my eyes to set my concealer.

I did very light contour using a light brown shade in my W7 'In The Buff' palette, to create a shadow at my cheekbones. I don't like to use bronzer, as I can't find one that isn't too orange for my fair skin!

I used my Benefit Rockatuer blusher on my cheeks to give myself a natural blush.

I used my all time favourite highlighter Nars Copacabana illumiantor. This is the most gorgeous pinky pearly shade that just gives the cheek bones the most beautiful highlight (though it is not showing up on camera here!)

Eyes:

As a base, I primed my eyes using Benefit's Porefessional primer. This makes my skin feel so soft and is good at stopping my eyeshadow from creasing throughout the day.

I packed the second gold toned shade from my W7 'In The Buff' palette all over my lids, then went through the crease with a darker brown shade from the same palette. Both were glitter shimmer eye shadows. I love this palette, as it's so cheap and very pigmented. 

On my eyelashes I wore a combination of Maybelline's 'Lash Sensational' and Benefit's 'They're Real' mascara.

On my lower lash line I used the Soap and Glory 'Smoulder Kohl' liner. This liner is INCREDIBLE. It's the only one that stays on my waterline all day and that's saying something, as I have very sensitive eyes that water a lot.

On my eyebrows I used the lightest brown/dark blonde powder from the Makeup Revolution, I Heart Make Up eyebrow kit. This kit is in the shade light brown. I have very light eyebrows so struggle finding something to fill them in with. I feel this shadow works well. I set my brows using the Collection clear brow gel/mascara.

Lips:

And finally on my lips I am wearing the KIKO smart lip pencil (lip liner) in 706, a bright vivid shade, that matched my main lip colour perfectly. This main lip colour is the Soap and Glory 'Sexy Mother Pucker Matte Lip' lip crayon in the shade 'Ember Red'. For £3.50 this shade and lip crayon is incredible!

Hope you enjoyed today's little FOTD :)

London trip + Haul // Februrary 2016

This February I was lucky enough to travel to London for the weekend with my college. We left college on Friday 5th February and after a long coach journey, me and my friends (mostly fellow drama, music and dance lovers) arrived at the Holiday Inn we stayed in. The trip was primarily open to drama, music and dance students, so I got to travel and spend an awesome weekend away with some of my favourite, creative people! We saw Les Mis (WHICH WAS FREAKING INSANE) Friday night, after a meal at Pizza Express. Following the girly sleepover me and my friends had up in our hotel rooms, we experienced an all you can eat breakfast then went shopping and to another theater to see Guys and Dolls (also incredible, but not as good).

See below for adorably tourist type photos or skip to the bottom to get to the real good (makeup) stuff!

Accompanying my wonderful weekend, we had the opportunity to go shopping for a few hours in Covent Garden. So, like any fellow blogger (or just teenage girl) I went on a small spree.

Being a hugely make up orientated girl, I brought primarily make up... in fact aside from food, I don't think I brought anything else! *smacks forehead for being such a girl*

The first shop we stopped in was MAC, at my request. I knew I wanted to start a MAC palette, so picked up the MAC Pro Palette x4. this palette is perfect for travel and holding your favourite shades. I picked this up, but couldn't settle on a shade I really liked to get me started. So i walked out the shop with just the palette, proud of myself for not buying another nude lipstick!

The second shop I brought (lots of) items from was KIKO. As far as I know, we don't get KIKO here in Leicester, so this shop excited me VERY MUCH! The first thing I picked up was a recommendation from Gabby aka Velvetgh0st the Youtuber. The cream colour comfort lip liner in shade 315. Unfortunately, I don't really think this shade suits me very much, but it is really creamy and a beautiful plumy/ nude shade.

The next item I picked up was the smart lip pencil in 706. This is a gorgeous, bright and vivid red shade, but works to outline your lips with any shade of red. I have worn this several times now and for £2.50 is totally worth it! KIKO products are quite cheap, yet considered higher quality than drugstore.

The third product I picked up was the KIKO Bronzer powder (not available on the website) in shade 100. This was on sale in the shop for something ridiculous like £2 so I picked it up. I later realised it was WAY too orange for me and has bits of sparkly glitter in. So I don't use this, but overall the pigmentation of this is nice.

The forth and final product I picked up was the Metallic Shine Eyeshadow in shade 06. This is the most amazing metallic silver shade. But it is probably the most un-pigmented shadow ever! No amounts of fluid fix or water could save this one! I wouldn't recommend it :(

I had an incredible time in London and loved shopping in Covent Garden! I know I've not posted in a while, but I've decided I want to get back into blogging now it's the holidays and I have more time! I hope you have all had a good start to the Easter holidays and a lovely Easter Sunday! Don't eat all your chocolate at once ;)