Cult Beauty Wishlist

Top: Oxygenating Foundation, Acne Control - Pixi Glow Tonic - Alpha-H Liquid Gold

Centre: Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel - Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment - Sunday Riley Good Genes Serum & Mask

Bottom: Stilla Stay All Day 10 in 1 HD Beauty Balm - Jouer Matte Moisture Tint - Aesop Parsley Seed Facial Cleansing Masque 

I have been lurking the pages of the Cult Beauty website a lot for the past few days. There are so many things which have been on my mental wishlist of products to try that a cheeky purchase might just have to be on the cards.

I once mentioned in a previous post that skincare is something that I am quite happy to splurge a little more hence why I will just leave you with these products which may include a future order coming through my letterbox. A few of them have been very hyped up and as per usual I am just late to the party. Worth to mention that this little wishlist amounts to over £300. One thing at a time, I suppose then ...

Have you tried any of this products? What did you think?

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Brand Focus: E.L.F.

Up until March I had never purchased anything from ELF. I was more than aware that the brand was highly affordable and people did enjoy some of their products. However, the idea of having to shop solely online without the possibility of physically seeing the foundation shades or feeling the brushes bristles always put me off of making an order.

It wasn't until I stumble upon Kathleen Lights videos that I really started to want to try a few things from the brand. As I had a trip to New York coming up I definitely thought it was the perfect excuse to pop into a store and see everything right there and then. By the time I went over to America my list of products to try was fairly big and useless to say I brought to this side of the Atlantic a pretty big bag of goodies.

The fact that everything is so inexpensive creates a great opportunity to try a lot of different things. I was very impressed with the quality of some of their products. I would highly recommend giving it a go if you're in searching to add a few items to your make up collection without leaving your bank account next to zero.

Here is a list of a few things I've tried and in my opinion are a really good quality for the value.

Brushes - the studio range is pretty good and they stock a good variety too. Some of my favourites include the Contouring Brush, Ultimate Blending Brush, Eyeshadow "C" Brush, Flawless Concealer Brush, Blending Brush. Some of them are even less than a fiver. Can't beat that. It's a good option if you are lazy when it comes to cleaning your brushes (like me) and want to have more options available. 

Eyeshadows - their baked eyeshadows (singles or trios) are very pigmented and they stock some pretty amazing. I have Toasted and Burnt Plum and their trio in Brown Bonanza and will definitely make a cheeky order soon to get my hands in a few more shades. 

Lipsticks - unfortunately the UK website doesn't stock the lipsticks I have and adore. I am a satin lover. A lipstick for me needs to be quite nourishing and I can only find that in most satin ranges. However, ELF stocks lipsticks which can be nourishing without being totally satin and definitely without being matte. My favourites and the ones I would like to try more shades from are, the Matte Lip Colour and I also got a tinted lip balm which couldn't be any more pigmented. Although I reckon this may have been discontinued as I can't locate it in any of their websites. Disappointing. 

Foundation - I actually fell in love with the foundation I bought and that's all I used for months. My bottle is about to finish. The Flawless Finish Foundation offers a medium coverage and definitely a flawless airbrushed finished. It last quite a good time although it doesn't work for me for warm environments as the shine starts to come through like there's no tomorrow. Still, highly recommended. For £7,50 it is definitely good for the price tag.

Blush/Bronzer Powder - the Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder is the only blush or bronzer I got at the time as I was curious to see if this was a dupe for any of NARS shades of blushes and bronzer. This little duo has a pretty good pigmentation and it is handy to carry around.  

 Have you tried any ELF products? What would you recommend?

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Bad Beauty Habits That Are Hard To Break

The beauty world isn't confined to make up alone. There's so much that you can do for your skin, hair, nails and everything in your body really. It's hard to make the time and hard to get into certain habits. Here is a list of good habits I should get into and other I definitely need to find a way to break. 

1. Take my make up off as soon as I get home

Sometimes I get so lazy that even after being at home for hours and hours, I still end up going to bed with make up. It's improving though. 

2. Skincare routine even on pyjama days 

We all have those days that we simply do not leave the house, right? The weather is not great and there are so many things to do, why bother? I tend to forget that I still should cleanse and moisturise my face as normally. Bad, bad me. 

3. Moisturise more 

Apart from my hands, face and neck I am pretty lazy when it comes to body moisturising. Luckily my skin is not dry and I can get away with not doing it during most of the year.

4. Do more face masks 

Definitely don't do them enough. Currently sitting at one face mask a month. Embarrassing. 

5. Have haircuts more often 

I am afraid of the hairdresser. Always end up shorter than what I asked for. 

6. Stop peeling nail polish 

As soon as it chips I start peeling it off as much as I can. 

7. Stop letting it be so long between brush cleaning

The target of cleaning my brushes on a weekly basis is a fail for me. 

8. Deep conditioning my hair more often

Do not remember the last time I did a hair mask. That says it all. 

9. Sleep with my hair tied up or in a bad

When I take it down in the morning, I often have half of my hair on my hand. It can be good. 

10. Switching up products in my skincare routine far too frequently 

Sometimes your skin won't be as good as there are a number of factors behind it. Not necessarily the product you are using. Well, as much as I know this, every now and again I am still guilty of not being consistent with a skincare routine. Although this has improved a lot. 

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Two Steps For Blemish Free Skin

Today I decided to share with you my go to combination to help target those blemishes that have made an appearance on my face the past few days. Often, you are either stressed, lacking of a balanced diet and eating all the junk food you can find (yes, this is me) or is that time of the month, again. It really doesn't matter the reason behind those spots that you can now see on your chin or forehead but, they're here to stay. Safe to say that we all want them gone in the blink of an eye although we all know it doesn't work that way. 

As any normal girl, I am no exception and lately I've been fighting a battle and even did a little trip to Space NK in the search of a more efficient cleanser. However, when it comes to blemishes I find myself always reaching for these two products and including them in my skincare routine. 

The La Roche-Posay Effaclar A.I. is a breakout corrector and it does wonders for those under skin spots. It's easy to detect these as they are painful to touch and you'll know something is about to surface in a few days. Gross, I know ... But this corrector will do its magic by diminishing the appearance of the blemish. Even with under skin acne you'll be able to feel that the spot will become less painful and won't even make a proper appearance to your face. I tend to apply this at night before bed or even under make up if I really want to prevent that blemish to show. You'll only need a tiny bit of product as it should be applied to the spots. As it contains certain exfoliating ingredients, it can become quiet drying if applied to the whole face.

On the other hand, the very hyped La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo is the other half of a great combo. I apply this all over my face in order to target any other imperfections. It's a great product to accelerate scaring and keep everything in place. I always find that my skin clears up a fairly bit when frequently using this. The cherry on top of the cake for me would be the fact that this is definitely not drying at all for me but I would still keep using my moisturiser anyway. 

I definitely couldn't recommend these two products enough for blemish prone-skin, specially when you can see results from the Effaclar A.I. overnight! 

What products work for you when it comes to acne?

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Latest Cravings: Home Edition

I had a completely different post planned for today but, the time I have been spending on Pinterest has left me utterly obsessed with interiors (if that's even possible). So, this Sunday I come to you with another non-beauty subject. 

It has been a long time coming since I started becoming a little impatient about getting my own flat. I've been renting properties since I moved to Scotland, 4 years ago. It's not a great deal of time if we take into account people that do it since they are 18 until about their late 20s. And truth to be told, I have been fairly lucky with flats I've rented in the past - good conditions, space and most of all, good landlords. Now is no exception: Paul and I live in an old tenement flat in the west area of Glasgow which is very sought after. The flat has high ceilings (obviously), spacious rooms and the rent is good enough to still leave you with money at the end of the month. 

I moved into this flat last March 2014 and Paul moved in December of the same year. It hasn't been that long and I honestly don't understand why am I suddenly getting so annoyed with the rental situation as I never cared this much before. I suppose it must be due to the fact that we often speak about getting a place of our own and we know that both of us wish to build a life with each other (how cheesy of me). However, despite the fact that we are actually in the process of starting to look into buying a place we might just end up staying here for a little while. 

A few points that definitely make me want to have my own place include  things like our landlord not allowing anything that implies doing holes on the walls which makes things a bit hard if you want to hang any pictures - therefore, our walls are pretty damn bare! Still about the walls ... they are cream. Beige, yellowish, something - and I hate it. I positively think that if we had white walls, the flat would seem so much brighter! And this is where everything started. My lengthy browses through Pinterest made me decide to not only paint some furniture but also give it a try and change the walls to white - I am sure the landlord won't even notice to be very honest. The carpet which covers the whole flat is yet another thing I would definitely change if I could, specially when I know that we have wooden floorboards underneath it. But oh well, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change as they say. 

This leads to how (far too) often I find myself stalking Katie's (Gh0stparties) and Rebecca's  (From Roses) instagram so, I knew it was time to react and change a few things (whatever can in fact be changed). Here are some inspirational pictures that trigger all this ...

   

  

     

  

  

  

   

 By the time you read this, I already have planned a trip to Homebase and Ikea and will be soon covered in paint!

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Sale Picks

I should probably start this post by saying that by no means I need any more clothes, bags or anything for that matter. But, as any other gal, there's no such thing as too many. Therefore, with sale season upon us, I've been browsing many, many, many websites (just for leisure, I swear) and stumbled into some interesting sale offers. I always like to pick up a few sale things and take advantage of the offers. I don't actually shop a lot merely because I don't necessarily need anything. However, having to physically go to shops have become too much for me in some occasions and most times I rather sit in my flat with a nice cup of a hot beverage and browse away. These are some of the things that I have picked ...

  

  

  

 

  

Unfortunatly, by the time this post goes live some of the items are already out of stock or I couldn't even link them as they are not available on the website anymore. But, just for reference, the two bags are from Mango.

Have you picked anything on the sales?

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A Prime Combination

Oh primers. What a wonderful thing! So, I decided to share with you today the primers I am loving at the moment and why they work for me. I first discovered Stila One Step Correct through an advert on YouTube. You know those rather annoying adverts that delay the videos we are trying to watch? Exactly. In theory this was a miracle product. We all know that primers can have different colours corresponding to the concern they are suppose to target. Therefore, the beauty of this Stila product lays on being a 3 in 1 kind of thing. The pink tone brightens up the skin and helps reduce signs of hyper pigmentation/sun spots. Green hides blemishes, reduces redness and the blue gives you overall a more even skin tone. I apply this after my moisturiser and before foundation and definitely see how it improves my complexion even at its worst days. Skin looks clear, skin tone more even and fairly smoother.

However, to completely smooth out all the blemishes or any problematic areas I might have at the time, I use the Elf Poreless Face Primer after applying the Stila One Step Correct. This is my final step before moving on to my make up. The Elf primer is a beautiful product that gives you that very flawless airbrushed look. Foundation goes on evenly as the skin becomes absolutely heavenly smooth with this. I apply a really small amount of it as I find it to be quite concentrate. It does contain silicone but its texture is so similar to foundation that I imagine the traces of silica to be minimum. If you are looking for a affordable smoothing primer, I would definitely give this one a try as it is incredibly inexpensive and shows great results. 

This is my primer duo for a more flawless make up application. What's yours? 

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