February Favourites 2016

Happy leap year everyone! Savour today because you're not going to get another Feb 29th for four more years. This month's favourites are very TV heavy, both in the binging and weekly series department. There's also a little bit of food thrown in so without further ado here's what I've been loving this month.

Beauty

No makeup in the favourites this month as I'm still testing out the giant hoard that I bought a couple of weeks ago (so expect my March favourites to be very makeup heavy!). When I got the Body Shop Hawaiian Kukui Cream from their Spa of the World range for Christmas I told myself I'd only use it on special occasions. At the beginning of this month I decided I should use it on more of a daily basis because it wasn't going down and to be honest I just fell in love with it. It's a thick cream that gives so much moisture to my legs and has such a beautiful scent that lingers and makes my pyjama bottoms smell fantastic! Another thing that smells amazing and is also from the Body Shop is the Coconut Hand Cream. I bought this last week and as soon as I applied it I fell in love. Did you know that people will give you funny looks if you keep smelling your hands? I found that out when I kept smelling my hands to get the coconut scent into my nostrils. These strange looks have led me to getting the Coconut Body Mist so if anyone in the Nottingham area gets an overwhelming whiff of coconut, it's me walking around the streets. Sorry in advance.

TV

February has been a huge month for TV favourites. I've definitely been neglecting my work and hiding up my duvet watching another episode of whatever it is I've been obsessed with. First up is THE BEST PROGRAMME EVER IN THE WORLD, Happy Valley. If you've never heard of it, where have you been! We're on series two now so if you've never seen it lucky you, you have a whole series and a half to catch up on! It's on the edge of my gore capacity but the story is so engaging and it's just perfect 'on the edge of your seat' thrills. Basically it's about a police woman who's life hasn't been the most fortunate and what she gets up to (it's much more interesting than that trust me). I forgot to mention it's filmed where I live, and I mean like streets I've walked down, places I've been and that is just so exciting for me! Please give it a watch, you won't regret it. A series I binge watched this month was How I Met Your Mother. I've never been overly interested in watching it but one day I thought I might as well give it a go because there must be a reason why people like it. I became obsessed during the three weeks it took me to watch all nine seasons (I was slacking a little, I had a weekend off and couldn't be bothered some other days so it wasn't my best work). Let's go to the mall has become one of my favourite songs and I need a yellow umbrella in my life. If you've never seen it, it's just a nice, easy watching programme that's very funny.

Other

The 'other' thing I've been loving this month is afternoon tea. I've been twice in February for birthday celebrations and I just love it. I think it's the fact that it's classy, tasty and there's sometimes alcohol involved and I'm a big fan of all of those things. This month I've been to the Spiced Pear in Hepworth, near Huddersfield (you can read all about that here) and Brown's in Nottingham (expect a post to come on that very soon).

Hyped Products Haul

Birthday money spending time! Eeek! I went on a lovely little spending spree by myself and wandered around the shops picking up a few things that I fancied. I realised when I got back that the products I bought are all ones that beauty bloggers and youtube people love and rave about, which I didn't even notice when I was picking them up. So I thought I'd do a products that are hyped haul with a bit of a mini first impressions because I've not had enough time to fully test the products. So without further ado let's get into it!

Within the first few swipes of the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara I knew it would be everlasting love. Two days later I still love it. I've not had this reaction to a mascara in a long, long time. I see instant volume and length, the colour is jet black and it doesn't smudge at all throughout the day. Next up is the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfecters in 05. I've been wanting to try these for a while now (obviously a Vivianna Does Makeup inspired purchase) and I haven't been disappointed! It smells very sweet which I wasn't expecting but I really like it and the colour is a very 'my lips but better' colour. The colour doesn't last very long on the lips (couple hours maybe) but that's to be expected. It's nice to have something that I can just casually put on without having to worry about it. The Naked Skin Concealer in Fair Neutral is something that I have needed ever since my Mac Pro Longwear Concealer came to an end. The coverage is full which is what I really like but doesn't look caky on the skin. I'll keep you posted on more of my thoughts when I've given it a proper test run! Last but not least was a bit on an impulse buy, The Body Shop Drops Of Youth Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask. I've read a lot of rave reviews on this over the last few weeks but I thought that it was more for people with really dry skin. From what I've seen over the last two days I was wrong. It's a lot like my Origins Drink Up Intensive Face Mask as it gives my face some much needed moisture but is a lot lighter and is something that I can use on a nightly basis. Again I'll keep you updated on my thoughts!

Afternoon Tea at The Spiced Pear

One of my amazing birthday presents from my parents was afternoon tea at the Spiced Pear in Hepworth near Huddersfield. Walking in it felt like a modern restaurant but the cups and plates were very 'cottage-y' which I liked a lot. There were three types of afternoon tea, the traditional one with sandwiches, scones and cake, the champagne one which was the same as before but with a glass of champagne and the gentleman's afternoon tea which had a selection of savoury treats instead of the sandwiches. I had the gentleman's afternoon with a glass of champagne and it was amazing!

So, the first thing I delved into was the scotch egg with balsamic onions. The two went perfectly together and as this was my first scotch egg experience I have to say it has set the bar high for future scotch egg endeavours! The meat was tasty and the egg wasn't overpowering, I liked it a lot. Next up was the pork pie with piccalilli. I'm a massive pork pie fan and I wasn't disappointed! As with the scotch egg, the meat was tasty and the pastry was the perfect thickness. I've never tried piccalilli before and I don't think I still know what it is but it was delicious and went really nicely with the pie. Bread and dripping was next up and yet another thing I've never tried. I think this is going to be one of my new guilty pleasures because it was so good! Basically it was bread with meat fat spread on it and it just tastes like delicious meat juices. It's probably very love it or hate it. Last but not least is the cream of the crop, a yorkshire pudding with beef, gravy and horseradish. Think of the most delicious roast and then put that into one single yorkshire pudding. Yeah, it was that good. The pudding was crunchy on the top and soft on the bottom, how it should be, the beef was tender and tasty and the gravy was thick and perfect. Amazing!

Next up are scones. They're pretty self explanatory. Soft and sweet with clotted cream and jam, what could be better. Also, let me know if you do cream first or jam first. I used to be jam but then I moved to cream because I find it easier to spread. Wow we are asking the important questions today! Moving onto the final layer of cakes. I had to take most of my cakes home with me because after the bottom layer my stomach could take no more! I started off with the strawberry mousse. Lovely and light it was very fluffy and creamy so a lovely palette cleanser before the hard core cakes! The passion fruit cheesecake was my favourite of the lot! The biscuit base was the perfect amount of buttery and crumbly and the main bit was super creamy with a delicious passion fruit jelly on top. I didn't eat all of my carrot cake but the bit that I had of it was very nice. It was like a standard carrot cake and was very delicious. The same for the Victoria sponge. Light and fluffy and amazing. Last but not least is a chocolate explosion. I don't know how to describe this but I'd say it was a bit of a chocolate tart with the same biscuit base as the cheesecake. The chocolate flavour was just the right intensity and the texture was a cross between a tart and a brownie, sounds weird but trust me it was delicious.

Another afternoon tea post will be coming soon as my amazing friends took me for another one the day I'm writing this post so stay tuned for that!

What I Got For My 21st Birthday

The past few weeks have just been birthday crazy, and I'm not complaining! I thought I'd do a little 'what I got for my birthday' so in a few years I can look back and see what I got. Disclaimer: not all of my presents will be mentioned so if you are someone that got me something don't be offended it your gift isn't mentioned. I have the worst memory so I've most likely forgotten some but don't worry I have appreciated all gists (especially the alcoholic ones, even though the outcome wasn't great).

I'll start with one of the most useful presents which was a black clutch bag. For my three years at university I've had a small leather clutch bag which I use on every night out. It's okay but it's literally the size of a largish purse and I needed something bigger so I'm really excited to take this out and be able to bring the kitchen sink out with me! Something to add to my ever expanding footwear collection was some fluffy Mickey Mouse slipper socks with bobbly ears, so cute! One of the most emotional presents I got was from my cousin, and when I say emotional lots of tears were shed. She got me a bracelet from Disney Couture and it's a silver bangle with 'Only an act of true love will thaw a frozen heart' on it which is a quote from Frozen. I couldn't hold myself together, it's just so thoughtful and cute! In terms of fluffy creatures I got a grey dog who's soft and squishy and I've called him Rough (Rough? Ruff? I've never had to spell it before so it could be either!). One thing I'm really excited to try out is my new cake pop making kit. I got a stand with it as well so it'll be easy to decorate them. Sticking with the baking theme I got a £20 voucher for Lakeland which I'm so excited to spend. I got many things from my mum and dad but the two 'main' ones, if that's what I'm going to call them, were afternoon tea (a post about that will be coming tomorrow) and a weekend away to a place of my choosing so any suggestions would be much appreciated because I'm useless at thinking of things like this! My brother got me an amazing disney game called Pictopia which I would really recommend. Once you get your head around the kind of random rules it's a great game to play!

Boots Haul!

So I had a massive, well massive for me anyway, splurge in Boots yesterday. I have double points all month because it's my birthday and I just had to take advantage of it! I'd just like to give a little shoutout to my bank account, I'm sorry but it just had to be done.

I was in need of concealer replacements so I picked up another of my Maybelline Eraser Eye Concealer in Light. You never realise how much the sponge absorbs product until you compare it with a new one. I've not bought a tube of the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair in about 12 months and I have no idea why. I love this concealer and it's such a bargain. My massive impulse buy of the trip was the L'Oreal Infallible Matte Max Lip Colour in 002 Virgin. This is such a weird concept. It's a pointed sponge applicator on a spring that dips into a powder at the end. It's very pigmented and from the little trial run I've done it's not that drying which you'd think it would be. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts on this one. Another lip product I picked up was the Maybelline Baby Lips Lips and Cheek in Innocent Peach (Maybelline is on 3 for 2, quick run to Boots now!). The shape of the product resembles the EOS lip balms but the product feels pretty much the same as the original Baby Lips. Feels nice on the lips and when I try it on the cheeks I'll let you know. Last of my Maybelline purchases is the Maybelline Master Sculpt Contour Kit in Light/ Medium. This has been out for a while now and although I've been eyeing it up I never thought that I needed contour until yesterday. It seems very warm toned but I'm yet to try it on my face so I'm hoping that it works out quite well. The highlight is very subtle and I think it will work well for everyday. Soap and Glory now and I've heard good things about the Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof Eyeliner, especially for lasting power. I having a black line in my waterline so I'm really excited to use this. When testing it on the back of my hand it's really pigmented but also super soft so it won't scratch my eye out! I feel head over heals in love with the Soap and Glory Love At First Blush Stick in Pink, Pop and Pearl when I first swatched it. It's a cream blush stick with a heck of a lot of shimmer and I bet it will look amazing on my cheeks. Finally, and I'm super late to the party with this one, I got the Real Techniques Core Collection. I'm most excited to use the buffing brush and the contour brush but for just over £20 for four brushes I think that it is actually quite a bargain!

Keep posted in the next few weeks because there may be some kind of first impressions coming your way soon!

L-R: 002 Virgin, Contour, Highlight, Superblack, Pink Pop and Pearl, Innocent Peach

Hockley Arts Club Pancakes

Last week I was starting to wonder how I was going to get my pancake fix on pancake day. Then the night before I got invited to go to the Hockley Arts Club in Nottingham to have a taste of the sweet stuff. I didn't really know what I was going to but how could I say no to sweet pancake-y goodness! We got there and it was £6 for three pancakes and a shed load of toppings. When it came we struggled to fit everything on the table! It had jelly sweets, chocolate chips, marshmallows, berries, bananas, nutella, lemon and sugar, toffee sauce and strawberry sauce. Normally I'm all about the lemon and sugar but the nutella was so darn delicious that I think it stole the show! I had two Gnutella's and one lemon and sugar and then finished the rest of the nutella that was in our little pot with a spoon (it was yummy). I could have done with a couple more pancakes but that might just be me being greedy and for £6 I can't complain!

My 21st Birthday Makeup

I can safely say that I've had the best birthday weekend ever and what excites me most is that it's not over yet, I still have a week to go! I've seen a lot of bloggers do a 'here's what I wore on my face on my birthday' post so I thought that I'd do the same. It's pretty obvious how I applied these products onto my face so I'll just leave you with a list. The big 2 1, now I have to actually be responsible!

Makeup Forever Mattifying Primer

Rimmel Lasting Perfection Primer

L'Oreal Infallible 24 Hour Matte Foundation // 00 Porcelain

Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer // Light

L'Oreal True Match La Touche Magique Concealer // Ivory Beige

Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder // Vanilla

Soap and Glory Brow Archery // Hot Chocolate

Maybelline Brow Drama // Medium Brown

Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pot // Painterly

Charlotte Tilbury Eyeshadow Palette // Dolce Vita

Rimmel Kohl Kajal // Jet Black

Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Mascara

Soap and Glory Solar Powder Bronzer

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blusher // Tipsy

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick // Sexy Sienna

21 Things for 21 Years

As my birthday is tomorrow (the big 2 1, woo!) I thought I'd share 21 of my most favourite memories from the past 21 years. So, in no particular order, here we go!

1. My 20th birthday meal at La Tasca- It was such a great night and a really lovely way to spend my birthday. It was me sharing tapas with my friends and it was so nice that it is one of my favourite birthday memories.

2. Florida holiday- If you've been reading my blog for a fair few months then you'll know that I went to Disneyworld Florida on holiday last year. It was such an amazing three weeks and a holiday that I won't forget in a hurry.

3. Watching Anne of Green Gables at my grandma and grandad's- I still enjoy doing this a lot. It's nothing too exciting, just nice cuddles on the settee for four hours with tea and biscuits. Snuggly times!

4. Just being at my other grandma and grandad's house- I used to love going round to my grandma and grandad's house. Have lunch, breakfast and lunch if it was the holidays and we went all day, make tents out of a clothes horse and chairs and just have an amazing time!

5. Refreshers week in second year- What a week. Go out, have a great time, come back, go to sleep, wander round town, come back and nap, go out again. Sorted!

6. Family parties- My favourite way to celebrate any family event. Food and fun board games are a winning combination.

7. Ocean Wednesdays- Who doesn't love dressing up as a unicorn or a robber or whatever and parade the streets of Nottingham like an idiot. It's my favourite night out of the week.

8. Trip to Las Vegas- My grandma and grandad took me to Vegas for my 18th birthday and it was seriously insane! It was the weirdest place but I loved every second of it and I definitely want to go back again some day.

9. Watching Nativity for the first time ever- I watched this for the first time with my friend Kelly and it was just a really funny night. Lots of random things happened, we watching the film, learnt the lyrics to the soundtrack and tweeted one of the people in it and got a reply!

10. High school sleepovers- Throughout secondary school we used to spend a fair few weekends sleeping over at my friend Hollies house. Fun times were had by all. We went to the park, played Band Hero and went into town the day after. Good memories!

11. Lanzarote holidays- I've been to Lanzarote 18 times. It's one of my favourite places and I can't wait to go again this summer. We eat at the same two restaurants, basically do the same things all the time and I absolutely love it.

12. Year three school trip- I once went on a school trip to an Anglo Saxon day and it remains to be my favourite school trip that I ever went on. It was an experience day where we lived like Anglo Saxons and we got to do so much that it has still stuck with me until this day.

13. Going to Barmouth- My year 5 residential trip to Barmouth in Wales holds some good memories. The main one being that the three of us that shared a room together got to stay in what we called the Penthouse Suite. Everyone else had normal rooms but we were on the top floor with two singles and a double bed with an ensuite.

14. Midnight feasts in the Lake District- The year after Barmouth we went on another residential to Buttermere in the Lake District. It was a really good trip but the best part was that we had multiple midnight feasts and one night all of the girls came up to our room. I don't remember what we did but I just remember that everyone was there!

15. Saturday teas- Saturday teas in my household are just really nice meals that we have on a weekend. One of my favourites is chicken with a mushroom sauce and a potato rosti.

16. Watching Pretty Little Liars- One of my main achievements in life is watching five seasons of Pretty Little Liars in two weeks. I know, my life is sad.

17. Dancing Shows- From the age of four right until I was 18 I danced and the best part of the year was doing dancing shows!

18. Going to Beth's house- The only thing I'm going to say is that fun things always went on at Beth's house!

19. Tour- Going on tour with university to Spain was such an amazing experience. A weird, blurry experience that I will never forget!

20. London Trip- In either 20111/12 me, my mum, dad and brother went on a trip to London. We saw all the sites, rode up and down the Thames in a speed boat and wandered around a food market. Such a lovely weekend!

21. The cruises- We have been on a few cruises in the last few years and each one have been amazing.

The Waffle House!

A place that only serves waffles? What a very strange but delicious concept. Well that's exactly right as I found out last Saturday on a trip to Norwich. There was a mix of various different sweet and savoury waffles all of which are different from each other. They come in two sizes, small and large, and although it might seem like you should go for the large the small is actually pretty filling, especially if you want a pudding as well. So here's what I went for!

For my main I went for the waffle with strips of beef, mashed potato and a pink peppercorn sauce. The waffle acted as a sort of yorkshire pudding type thing and it was very tasty. The beef was tender and soft and the sauce was really tasty and there was lots of it which is what I really liked. The only problem I found was the mashed potato. I'm not the biggest potato fan and even though I didn't eat the potato to me everything still had a bit of a potato flavour. It might just have been me but it meant that I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. Still it was really interesting and I did rather enjoy it!

Dessert was amazing! I went for the pecan nut waffle with butterscotch sauce and whipped cream. It was SO tasty that thinking about it now is making me want to hop on a train back to Norwich and have another one. The waffle was crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, the sauce was sticky and delicious and the cream just added a little extra something that brought the whole thing together. The pecans were tasty and I loved it. There's not much more I can say about it but it has to be one of my all time flavour combinations!

The Quad Appeal

Over recent months I've become increasingly into quads. I used to think that they were a bit pointless because 'why have four eyeshadows when you can have the choice of twenty in a huge palette'. I was totally wrong. Palettes are great for variety but I love the fact that with a quad the eye look is there for you and all you have to do is put it on your lids! I have two quads, one on the cheaper side and one that's VERY expensive, and I love them both. It only took me a few days for the Fleur De Force Eyeshadow Quad in Cosmic Brown to become part of my daily makeup routine. For the entire month of October this is all I used. I did a neutral eye and then winged liner and to be honest it's still one of my favourite things to do on my lids. The shadows are buttery, well pigmented and are all really wearable, neutral shades. I could easily take this on a weekend away and use it for a day look but also beef it up into more of a smokey eye. The second quad I have is the Charlotte Tilbury Dolce Vita Palette. As soon as I had this in my possession I fell in love! Again I use this in the daytime and darken it up and use the glitter to make it more nighttime appropriate. There's a little more colour in this one that the Fleur De Force one but it's still quite neutral. This quad has a mirror which is really handy because it just makes it easier, especially when taking it somewhere when travelling, which is the beauty of quads as they are so easy carry around.

I really want to expand my quad collection so if you have any recommendations please let me know so I can discover new pretty quads!

My Current Base Routine

I feel like I'm in a really good place with my base at the moment. It lasts all day, doesn't feel caky on my skin and looks pretty good. For a bit of background of my skin, it can get quite oily but also needs  a bit of hydration to keep it plump and healthy. I've been using this combination of products for a while now, day and night and for me it is just the perfect base and offers everything from being long lasting to looking flawless. I'll stop rambling on now and get into how I apply it, let's go!

To prime my face I use the Makeup Forever Step 1 Mattifying Primer and it's definitely the best primer I've ever used. It's somewhere in between a cream and a silicone texture making it the perfect thing to smooth over the skin, because I think creams can be too thick and silicone can be a little uncomfortable. The smallest amount is needed, smaller than a pea, and it goes really far. I just it on the centre of my face and on my forehead because those are the areas where my foundation rubs off. Next up is the L'Oreal Infallible 24 Hour Matte Foundation in 10 Porcelain. There's nothing I don't like about this foundation. The shade Porcelain matches my skin perfectly and it blends so nicely, t's a pleasure to apply. For a foundation with coverage as high as this one you'd expect it to be heavy on the skin but that isn't the case. When blended onto the skin it turns into a sort of whipped texture and feels very light on the skin. You can wear this all day and still not feel it weighing down your face. I'm just in love with this foundation okay! Concealer time and I use two on a daily basis. First is the Maybelline Eraser Eye. I use this under my eyes and sometimes on blemishes if my foundation couldn't cover them up (I press my finger on the sponge the get the product and then dab it on the spot). It's great up the eyes as it conceals dark circles really well and also does a good job of covering up redness on my cheeks. To brighten up certain areas of my face I use the L'Oreal True Match La Touche Magique Concealer. It's a highlighting concealer that has a yellow tone to it so it brightens up my under eyes and any other area that I want to highlight. I simply apply it in large swipes in a triangle shape underneath my eye and blend it out with my finger. I love the way these two concealers work together and how flawless they make my face look. The final step of my base routine is powder because if I don't powder my face feels really strange, I don't know why but I don't feel complete without it. I use the Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder. I love how light it is, the slight coverage it gives and the smell. It has a very sweet smell which I just find really nice when I apply it, like a special little treat!

I'm starting to worry that a lot of these products are beginning to run out but I'm definitely going to repurchase all of them. I just can't imagine any other products that could work as well, but you never know I might find something else so I'll keep you posted!

Loch Fyne!

I hadn't heard about Loch Fyne until I started university two and a half years ago when I passed it in the street. All these years later I finally got the chance to go and I have to say, it was definitely worth the wait. I went to the one in Nottingham (because that is my uni home) with my dad when he came to visit me last Tuesday. It was such a cute little restaurant, nice and light and airy and was buzzing for a random Tuesday evening. I really want to go back and try some of the other things on the menu but first let's go through what I ate last week. Enjoy!

For starter I went for the Crispy Sprats with a Garlic Aioli. One word, delicious. The sprats were crispy on the outside and soft in the middle and not greasy which can sometimes be the case with fried, oily fish. I'm a big fan of aioli and it was creamy and full of a garlic flavour, just the way I like it. It went well with the fish and was quite light, as I think that sometimes dishes like this can lay a bit heavy. The pea shoots were a nice addition but didn't add too much in the flavour or texture department, but a garnish never does. Overall it's too thumbs up from me!

I went for something from the fish bar for my main. The fish bar is where you choose your fish and how it's cooked, two vegetable sides and a sauce. I went for the pan-fried salmon with chips, courgette fritters and a hollandaise sauce. Let's just get this out of the way, I didn't like the hollandaise sauce but that's because I realised I don't like the sauce itself, not because it wasn't a nice sauce, if you get what I mean. Anyway I was very impressed by this meal. The salmon was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing, the chips were crispy on the outside with a soft and fluffy centre. Who could ask for more! I've never tried courgette fritters but I really liked them. They weren't greasy and were quite tasty to say they were courgette and to me courgette doesn't taste of very much. Everything went together really well and in short I was very impressed!

A Day in the Life of my Face

A slightly different post today where I'm going to show a pretty busy day where my face went through a bit of a thrashing and how my face, and the products that were on it, coped. So sit back, relax and enjoy!

8:30am: Wake up, or struggle to wake up. Turn on the light, put a video on my laptop and check my forehead to see how oily it got in the night (yes really, that's a thing).
8:45am: Skincare time! I splash a bit of water on my face and then delve into my products, which you can read about in more detail here.
9:00am: Now it's time to apply the face that is meant to last for the rest of the day, no pressure products!

• A mix of the Makeup Forever Mattifying Primer and the L'Oreal Lasting Perfection Primer
• L'Oreal Infallible 24 Hour Matte Foundation in Porcelain 
• Mac Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15, Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer in Light and the L'Oreal True Match Highlighting Concealer in Ivory Beige
• Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder in Vanilla
• A combination of the Soap and Glory Brow Archery in Hot Chocolate and the Maybelline Brow Drama in Medium Brown
• Mac Painterly Paint Pot to prime my eyes
• Charlotte Tilbury Dolce Vita Palette (Prime shade all over the lid and in the inner corner, Enhance in the crease and Smoke in the outer corner and under the eye)
• L'Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim in Black
• Rimmel Kohl Kajal in Jet Black
• A mix of the Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Mascara and the Tarte Lights Camera Splashes Waterproof Mascara
• Soap and Glory Solar Powder Bronzer
• Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Tipsy
• Silk Teddy eyeshadow from the Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette as a cheek and brow bone highlight
• Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Sexy Sienna

9:30am: Pack supplies! These are the products I took with me to touch up; Sephora Blotting Paper in Cool Mint, Mini Benefit Porefessional Agent Zero Shine Powder with a mini brush, Rimmel Kohl Kajal and Charlotte Tilbury Sexy Sienna Lipstick.

10:00am-3:00pm: University fun times! A mix of lectures and seminars which don't put too much strain on my face. I reapplied my lipstick after eating a tuna sandwich for my lunch.

3:00pm: Gym! I've been trying to go to the gym at least four times a week so I took advantage of the hour break between lectures and went for a bit of a gym sesh.

3:45pm: This was the time when I did a 'proper' touch up. I blotted my face with the blotting papers to get rid of the oil that had built up throughout the day and then powdered to stop any more oil coming through and also to top up my base coverage wise. I then lined my waterline once again as it had all worn away and applied my lipstick for a third and final time, although I had to wipe it off and then reapply because to be honest it was still pretty much all in tact on my lips.

5:00pm: End of the uni day! I was meeting my dad for tea because he was passing Nottingham so before he arrived I went and did a quick shop in Primark and Marks and Spencers. 

6:00pm: Tea! We went for a bite to eat at Loch Fyne (more on the meal in tomorrow's post) and it was amazing! 

8:00pm: END OF THE DAY! So here's what I thought about the products and how they performed on my face.

Both of the primers seemed to do a good job at keeping my makeup on but I think that the foundation helped. The formula is very long lasting but not overly drying so at the end of the day it was still on my face but didn't make it look dry or caky. The concealer did pretty well too as my dark circles and spots didn't seem too visible at the end of the day either. Bronzer, blusher and highlighter were long gone but that was to be expected. My eyeshadow was still on but I could that my eyelids were beginning to get a little oily, eyeliner on the other hand was just as winged as when I put it on, I was very impressed! Although I love the Charlotte Tilbury lipstick towards the end of the day my lips were beginning to dry out and the lipstick had become a little caky. But my lips are always dry and 12 hours is a long time to wear a matte lipstick, however non-drying the formula. I always find that my brows get better and better throughout the day so they were still on my face at the end of the day. Overall, all of these products did a great job at staying on my face and if I had to recommend one amazing long-lasting product I'd go for the L'Oreal Super Liner in Perfect Slim simply because of how amazingly long it lasted!