Current Favourites

Hello everyone! I thought it would be nice to do a blogpost on all the things I’ve been currently loving. Not just beauty, I’ve got some other fab things thrown in their too. Think I’ll get the beauty bits out the way first, let’s get into it.

First up is a super old product, I can’t exactly remember when I purchased this but I have used it so much, on and off, that I thought it was time to give it some credit. It’s the Natural Collection single eyeshadow in milk chocolate. This costs £2 which is such a bargain and I bought it way back in the day when I was first getting into makeup. It is the perfect crease shade, that can be worn alone or as a transition shade. It is just your standard neutral brown, it doesn’t have too much warmth yet isn’t too cool either. If I’m in a hurry, recently I’ve just been blending this into my crease to create some definition on my eyes then whacking on some mascara and I’m out the door. This colour doesn’t crease or fade on me and it blends so nicely. For £2 you can’t go wrong.

Next, is a new product that has quickly become one of my favourites. It’s the Primark ‘My Perfect Colour’ foundation. I had been trying to get my hands on this for so long but the Primark in my city only had dark shades left. So when they finally restocked I grabbed it and I am not disappointed. I’d seen it’s a dupe for the Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation and even though I am yet to try that out, this foundation is so great that I don’t know whether I need to bother spending the dollar to try it out. It is so lightweight yet full coverage, dries matte but doesn’t cling to any dry patches on my face. It lasts all day long. Like when I put my makeup on at 10:30am before work and go to take it off at 10:00pm when I finish it still looks flawless. Takes a long time for it to go shiny which is perfect for me as my T zone can get super oily really quick with a lot of foundations. I am so chuffed I finally managed to get my hands on this (super late on the band wagon I know), it was definitely worth the wait ad I’m going to try and get a back up asap.

Still on beauty faves, my next top product has been a nail varnish. It’s the Chanel Le Vernis nail colour in 331 allegoria. It is a peachy nude shade. It isn’t the most opaque, with only one coat it just adds a shine and hint of colour but that’s what I love about it. I have been so bad with doing my nails recently, they have been so dry and brittle because I haven’t been looking after them. But with this nail polish I can put on just one coat on and feel like my nails look x100 better. And it offers them some protection as well. I always find my nails grow so much better and break less easily with something on them. So this has been my go to if I want to make them look nicer but I haven’t got a lot of time. It lasts a long time and applies really nice.

 

Last beauty fav is a skincare one. I’ve been using this face cream for a while but have only recently really seen the changes in my skin. It’s the Origins Make A Difference Plus + Rejuvenating Treatment . I have been using it day and night after cleansing and toning and I love it. It makes my skin feel so smooth. It really adds a lot of hydration which is amazing, without being harsh on my skin. It smells amazing (as do all Origins products). It has really helped my skin become smoother, more hydrated and glowy. I’ve tried out a few Origins face creams and this one is my current favourite.

Onto random favourites, I have a couple of TV shows that have been my addiction recently, they are very different but I love them in different ways. First is ‘Jane The Virgin’. I don’t even remember why I started watching this show, I hadn’t heard too many people talk about, I think was just scrolling Netflix trying to find something and decided to give it a go. I wasn’t sure at first as it has a very strange set up (if you’ve seen it you know what I mean) but I wanted to give it a fair go so carried on watching, and I’m so glad I did! I loved all the story lines, the twists and turns, you could never see what was going to happen. All the actors/actress’ are perfect at their roles, I never felt like one of them was wrong for the part. And of course I’m not proffesional in casting or ANYTHING screen related but you can tell when actors/actress’ arn’t portraying the part well. It wasn’t the case here. I just loved it. I cried various times through the series. If anyone reading this has seen it right up to the very end….no spoilers if you haven’t but…..crazy right?! I would recommend it if you like hopeless romantic family rom coms, but with lots of drama!!

The next one I’ve just started in the past week since I finished ‘Jane The Virgin’. And to be honest I’m not sure anything I found was going to fill the void straight away, all I knew was I wanted something more serious. So I gave ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ a go. Oh my god. I was hooked immediately. So much suspense and thrill from the beginning. It keeps you guessing even when you are still figuring out the characters and whats going on. The actress, Viola Davis, who plays the main character, a criminal defence attorney, is fantastic. She makes the show. I love crime/law dramas anyway but I just love how they’ve done this one differently.

That’s what I’ve been loving recently! Let me know if you share any of my current loves! Thanks so much for reading!

May Birchbox – First Impressions

Hello everyone!! Welcome back to my Birchbox series, I’m afraid I didn’t get round to doing one on April’s edition. I have had no time recently so just never got round to doing it. But I’m back with May’s box and I’m so excited to let you all in on my thoughts. I completely forgot about my Birchbox arriving this month, so when it popped up I was so buzzin, it always feels like such a nice surprise. This month’s box has a very summery, vacation theme which I am loving as the weather has been so lovely recently, everyone has been feeling summer on the horizon. The box itself is so cute, covered in palm trees with a peachy pink draw. The quote on the card is ‘Palm leaves & warm breeze’….I mean who doesn’t want that.

Doucce Luscious Lip Stain in Steaming Red –  £21

This is the first thing I saw in the box, mainly as I knew it would be in here. This was the sneak peek product for May. I decided to go with the shade steaming red, which is such a lovely burnt red pinky shade. These kind of colours suit me really well so it was a no brainer when it came to picking the colour. They have a very sweet chocolately smell, which I don’t mind as long as I can’t smell it all day, that would be a bit much, but just as a quick sniff before applying, it’s quite a nice smell. In terms of formula, it seems quite thin, I think you would have to put on a few layers to get a real block opaque colour. It dries pretty quick but I have seen that when I’ve swatched it on my hand it does bleed a little into the lines on my hand. Slightly worrying, but paired with a lip liner I don’t think it would be an issue. I’m excited to try this out on my lips, I have so many ideas for eyeshadow looks to go with this shade.

Greenfrog Botanic Relaxing Geranium & Peppermint Botanical Body Wash – £8.95

To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of receiving body wash in the boxes as I’m not really bothered about trying out different ones, I have the ones I like and I just tend to stick to them. It doesn’t really excite me when I see one in the box as I find they all feel and do basically the same thing. Anyhow, on a more positive note, I do like the fact this one is green – cruelty free, vegan, palm oil free and 0% parabens. All good things!! I do quite like the scent, as I am a fan of anything minty. Also body washes for sensitive skin I tend to like as they are so gentle and a little more moisturising on the skin.

Native Unearthed Activated Charcoal Natural Deodorant Balm – £7.99

This product I was pretty excited to have in the box, as I’ve wanted to try a natural deodorant of so long!! Everything in the name of this product talks to me. Charcoal. Yes. Natural. Yes. It sounds really interesting. I think this would be perfect to wear if you were having a chill in active day. I’m not sure how it would handle with a full day of activity or even the gym! But still very intrigued to try. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the packaging. I understand its a balm so is a very thick consistency, so probably makes sense it put it in a pot. But I don’t like that I have to use my fingers to rub it under my arms. It feels super messy and not very sanitary. It smells very very fresh which is a really good sign, just wondering how it will apply.

NUXE Aquabella Micro-Exfoilating Purifying Gel – £12

This is the only brand in the box that I’ve heard the name off. (Everytime I write about Birchbox I’ve basically never heard of any of the brands…I do know some brands I swear) But, again, have never used any of their products. I’ve been really into my skincare recently, so this sounds right up my ally and sounds perfect for my combination skin. I’m actually in the market for a new daily cleanser so I’m looking forward to see if this will fill that void. It smells really good, quite strong though so I just hope it isn’t too perfumed and could irritate my skin.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner – £16

This is the product I’m most chuffed with to have in the box, as I’ve needed a new liquid eyeliner for donkeys years, but haven’t got round to purchasing one. I don’t tend to wear eyeliner that often, as I have quite hooded eyes, so wearing eyeliner doesn’t seem to suit me very well unless it’s paired with a full eye. So buying a new one always seems a little unneccessary for the amount of times I wear it. So having one in the box is perfect. When  I swatched it, it’s very black and really thin. It dries super fast which I love and doesn’t seem to smudge. Spot on.

Overall, my favourite thing in the box was probably the eyeliner, for the simple reason that I need a new one. Everything looks really nice and I’m excited to test everything out fully to see if they all live up to their claims. My main issue with this box… there was no full size product in the box this month which is super disappointing. Sorry to end on a sour note. Bring on June’s box.

Thanks for reading!

 

Pup update – What it’s actually like to have a rescue dog

Hello everyone! As you may or may not already know I became a dog owner at the end of last year, and by no means was it simple. If you haven’t read my original story on how I got my dog click here. But to sum up, I was away travelling/working in the Caribbean and was introduced to a woman called Charley who was friends with the people I was with out there. She owned 4 dogs at the time. Through some circumstances or another, she decided to decrease her dog pack size to just one loyal companion. 2 of the dogs already had other homes to go to, but one was still looking. This was Pea, and I decided to adopt her and ship her back to the UK with me. Yes. I know it sounds crazy. Anyway, 5 months have passed, and I thought it would be interesting to do a pup update post on how she is adapting (as it isn’t a regular rehoming situation) and just some general points of what I didn’t know/expect when I decided to adopt a rescue dog.

There were so many unknowns for me when all of this kicked off. I’ve never had a dog before, so knew nothing about feeding, exercise, health, interaction, sleep patterns and all the other things you don’t think about when getting a dog. But not only that, where do you go about shipping a dog half way across the world?! There was a lot on my plate, but it would have felt 100% worse for Pea, she would’ve been so confused at everything that was changing. It was pretty scary knowing what was at stake and whether she would like the change or even just settle properly.

From when she arrived mid December through to March, she has been bloody freezing. Imagine being used to 30 degree heat everyday, and suddenly it’s dropped to 5 degrees and you don’t understand why! She dealt with it very well, we just had to change her routine a little to what she was used to. When the weather started getting warmer, you could immediately see a change in her attitude, she was more bouncy, energetic and is probably feeling like she’s more at home.

The other big change for her is to have other friendly dogs out and about being walked. This was not a thing in the Caribbean. Britain is a dog loving nation, and she was not used to so many other dogs that didn’t want to fight with her for food. It has been a huge, and still is, a challenge for her and us as dog owners to get her used to other dogs, without her turning aggressive and defensive. As this would have been her only means of survival whenever she came in close contact with other dogs. She is getting so much better, and as she is still young we hope she will just keep learning and continuing to adapt to the pamper pooch lifestyle we have for our furry friends.

She has settled so well into our little home, and thinking back it was actually so risky to whether it was going to work at all, but I’m so glad I did it. She has become continuous entertainment for myself and my family. She is such a weird dog, she literally thinks she is human sometimes.

What it’s ACTUALLY like getting a dog – the things you don’t learn until you’ve done it

I took a lot into consideration when I made this decision, however they’re are things that you just have no idea about until they happen, or things you think should be simple to sort out, but actually…..you should know nothings simple! I don’t regret anything, but here are my extra top tips to look into and research if you are thinking about getting a dog.

Chewable items – It’s very much the same way of baby proofing your house, by moving things you don’t want them to put in their mouth…same thing. Pea proofing. I had never really seen Pea chew anything before when I knew her in the Caribbean so when she came over here I didn’t even think twice about her chewing anything being an issue. Oh boy was I wrong. Numerous times she has chewed, broken, ripped up the in soles of my shoes. Some just of very cheap nothing shoes, others expensive boots that I’ve had for years. Anything that can be chewed or even you think can’t be chewed (she broke our TV remote) – put out of reach!!

Vet appointments & insurance – This stuff seems so obvious. Of course you have to get pet insurance, duh! But when it comes to it, if you’ve never bought pet insurance before it is so hard to know what’s going to work your dog. How much is the average amount?What cover do you need? And on top of that, there is a bunch of extra things you need to be doing. Deworming. Fleaing. Nail clipping. Dental. Annual vaccinations. It can all be so overwhelming so just make sure to do your research, ask friends that have dogs, she was illness/diseases your dog could be prone to.

Commitment – This one just comes from the old saying ‘a dog isn’t just for christmas it’s for life’. I totally get it now, and understand why it’s so important to think about this properly before you commit. I’ve had to make a bunch of sacrifices to my everyday/ social life in order to put Pea’s needs first. It hasn’t been massive things but definitely extra things I’ve had to consider, things that wouldn’t have been an issue before. Who’s going to be home later? How long has she been on her own? Does she need another walk? She’ll probably need a wee by now? I need to go home to take her out. 

Rescue – This one only applies if you are thinking of getting a dog from the shelter. Rehoming a rescue dog is such a great idea, shelters are over full capacity at the moment and need people to adopt rescue dogs. However, as a biggest most lovely gesture as it is, it does come with it’s own baggage. When getting a rescue dog, you don’t know their history. You don’t know what has happened to them in the past that has made them the way they are. This can, for example, make training a lot harder when you don’t understand why your dog is behaving like it is. A puppy’s first months are so important, and without that piece of the puzzle, it’s hard to know the complete story. This doesn’t mean they’re bad dogs, it can just be more complicated than getting a pedigree or having them from a puppy. But, this clearly didn’t put me off getting Pea home but Pea definitely has her ‘qwerks’ let’s say, due to her past.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this little catch up with my dog, and I hope, if you’re thinking about getting a dog, this has helped even just a little bit.