My (Beauty) To Do List Before 2014!

 

 

There's a tradition that I heard I don't even know how long ago about the new year that has stuck with me ever since: never leave anything unfinished.

 

So while I've blitzed my post-Christmas bedroom (which included wrapping paper-littered floors and presents that still hadn't found a home), I got to thinking about my beauty related things that needed doing. Thus, my beauty to do list was born.

 

Sorry about the dodgy photo quality, I took this picture on my phone!

 

 

Things To Do:

 

- Clean my make-up brushes. This involves all of my brushes, even the ones that I may or may not have used a few months ago that are still coated with a dusting of forgotten eye shadow or the wrong shade of foundation. I was lucky enough to receive the Real Techniques Core Collection for Christmas from my boyfriend's mum and although I've only had them a few days, they could do with a clean. To see how I clean my make-up brushes, click here.

 

- Empty my make-up bag and refresh with new products. I'm the sort of person that overfills their make-up bag with 'that lipstick I want to try' and all sorts of other random things that never see the light of day. So I've decided to clear out my make-up bag of all of these products (plus an insane amount of bobby pins) and to only replace the ones that I need. Also prime opportunity to introduce some new products into my routine.

 

- Clear out unwanted toiletries. As I'm sure everyone else did, I received quite a few shower gel gift sets this Christmas and my mum is also re-decorating our bathroom so I've decided to sort out my shower gel/bubble bath/body spray collection and to donate all my unopened and unwanted bits and pieces to a charity shop.

 

- Throw away empties. Following on from the point above, I'm 99% sure that I have more than a few empties lurking on my bathroom shelf. Now is the time to get rid of all of my empties!

 

- Re-organise make-up. As I think I've mentioned previously, I'm currently going through the re-decoration of my bedroom and I'm looking for some new ways to store and display my make-up. There are a few things I'd like to start using and a few that could do with being re-homed so new year is the perfect opportunity to start!

 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a wonderful new year! xx



My Week #2 (Updates)



 

Well it's definitely been a quiet two weeks here on Mega Beauty!

 

As it happens, I spent the past fortnight in bed, wrapped up in my quilt and several items of wooly clothing, guzzling lemonade and watching the Harry Potter series on DVD more times than I can count. In other words, I caught the flu. It was so bad I had to take a week and a half off of college and had to spend my days with the light off because it hurt my eyes, which also meant I couldn't use a phone or my laptop to write/plan/edit blog posts! So I'm really sorry about that, but things should be getting themselves back to normal over the next few days.

 

Or at least they would, if it wasn't Christmas! We are currently down to the last 3 days of pre-Christmas excitement until the day itself is upon us. I'm planning on spending mine with my mum, brother and sister (with small intervals of my dad and my boyfriend) before traipsing to my dad's house the day after for another Christmas dinner and boxing day sales.

 

I've not experienced anything close to snow as of yet, but as I speak hailstones are attacking my window and the sky is very very dark for three o'clock in the afternoon so here's hoping!

 

In other, beauty-related news I have a few illness-inspired blog posts coming up over the next few weeks that should hopefully aid those who also fell to flu during this winter and also a few more room-spiration posts, too.

 

Sorry about the very short post but as I type this my head is beginning to pound again so I'll leave it here for today.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas! And remember, eating those last few roast potatoes doesn't count if no one catches you! :)

 

xx

Nail Varnish Storage Ideas



All photos have been taken from Pinterest

 



I'm currently going through the planning stages of re-decorating my bedroom: I say planning stages, because I've so far changed my mind about the colour scheme three times and I'm undecided on what sort of feel I'm going for. But one of my most solid (and probably most necessary) ideas is that to re-organise my make-up. At the moment it's mostly tucked away in drawers (to see my actual organisation click here) and I've decided I'd like to display it properly.

 

So I took to Pinterest to give me some inspiration and thought I'd share with you guys my favourite picks.

 

The first is to display my polishes in a beautiful glass storage jar. This idea to me seems to be a good one and a bad one: it's very pretty but seemingly impractical. Imagine wanting the polish at the bottle of the jar? The second and most realistic is to use a spice rack. I adore this idea, I think the polishes look so organised and you'd be able to see exactly what colours you have from a glance. The red ones are actually the Ikea spice racks which are just £3 each! Finally, the third idea is to display them on a cake stand. I think this one is so cute and would definitely look the prettiest on a dressing table, maybe with a few perfumes and make-up bits within the mix, too.

 

What do you think of these ideas? And how do you organise your nail varnish collection?

 

Look out for a few more photo based posts as I gain more ideas and inspiration (probably from Pinterest)!

 

xx

5 Minute Make-Up Kit

 

I'm not ashamed to say that due to the current chill in the air in England I've accidentally-on-purpose overslept for college a couple of times pretty much every day this past two weeks (it's my duvet's fault, not mine). I'll be snoozing my alarm from 7:30am right up until 8:15am when I'm supposed to be leaving at 8:30am to make sure I give myself enough time to walk up to my friend's house for 9am.

 

So over the past few days I've managed to pull together a sort of last-minute make-up routine that takes all of five minutes and gives me enough confidence to leave the house without looking like I've overslept/a zombie.

 

The first step once I've pulled my hair up into it's mandatory bun (college salon rules) I apply a little lot of the Collection Cover Up Stick underneath my eyes and blend it out with my fingers to cover my dark circles. Next, I take my MUA Cover and Conceal Concealer and dot it across my face, concentrating on any blemishes or redness. I blend this out with my foundation brush. To add some definition to my eyes, I like to use both ends of my Rimmel Double Ended Kajal Stick, running the white end along my water line to brighten and awaken and the black end up beneath my lashes to add some depth. I finish with a few sweeps of my 17 Blow Out Mascara onto my lashes and a slick of my Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch on my lips to give a pop of colour since I'm lacking any blusher.

 

So there you have it! I hope I've given you guys some ideas on what products to use when you're in a rush, they certainly do the job for me!

 

xx

My Week #1

 

 

My very first 'week in photos' post! I love reading these sorts of posts (I'm not ashamed to admit my persistent nosiness) and thought I'd start doing them myself.

 

Product Of The Week: This would have to go to my Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub paired with my Maybelline Baby Lips in Hydrate - the weather is getting crazy cold in England right now and my lips are not liking it! This dream duo buffs away dry bits and injects a load of much needed moisture into my pout.

 

New To The Routine: I did a blog post reviewing this: the Johnson's Daily Essentials Day Cream. Elaborating on the point above, my skin has been suffering in this bitter weather but it's been loving this moisturiser since I started using it a few days ago and I've definitely noticed a difference. I also repurchased my Simply Sensitive Cleansing Lotion this week as my other bottle was running dangerously low.

 

Watched This Week: On Tuesday night my dad and I had a little Father-Daughter evening and went to watch Carrie in the cinema. My dad is a huge fan of Stephen King books and I'd seen the trailer and thought it looked pretty good. I hate to say we were kind of disappointed: I'm not sure what this says about my sense of humour but the action was so over the top that we couldn't help but laugh at it! On a happier note, my boyfriend and I went to watch our first professional rugby match together last Sunday (we were supporting our home town's team: Bristol) and it was amazing! It was such a buzz sitting in the stands with the chanting crowds and even though it was freezing cold it was completely worth it!

 

Added To The Wishlist: I haven't been left wishing for much this week as my family have been quizzing me left, right and centre about what last minute gifts I'd like this year but the one thing that remains is the Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel - I know it's either love or hate with Snow Fairy but super sweet scents are definitely my thing! Alternatively I'm still wishing for the pair of suede ankle boots I've been after in Primark but they've completely ran out of my size!

 

Blog Posts This Week: Christmas Gifting: For The Girls (Sister, Mum, Mother-In-Law) // Review: Johnson's Daily Essentials Day Cream // The 2013 Christmas Tag
 

Photo Captions:

 

Coal fire in my living room! Up until recently we'd just been burning wood but now we've upgraded to coal and it's so beautiful! // Carrie movie poster // Candymania dessert my boyfriend and I shared at a restaurant (8 scoops of ice cream, cookies, m&ms, malteasers, whipped cream and 2 twix bars... yum!) // My new Johnson's Day Cream // Close up shot of my dad's Christmas tree that I decorated earlier!

I hope you all had a lovely week!

xx

Christmas Gifting: For The Girls (Mum, Sister, Mother-In-Law)

Hello lovelies! I hope you're all well and feeling prepared and excited for Christmas.

 

Today I thought I'd give you guys a little sneak peek into what I'm going to be gifting people for Christmas this year. Don't worry, there's no chance of any of these people finding out about their gifts: most of them don't even know I run this blog! My boyfriend and I were on a strict £10 per person budget this year so I thought I'd show you guys in case you needed a little budget inspiration. I'm very very happy with what we've bought and think all of the individual people are going to adore their gifts!

 

-----

 

My little sister is only 6 years old but has definitely fallen in love with what she calls a 'spa bath' which is to say a lovely warm bath with a lush bath bomb and a delicious lit candle (of course she is supervised at all times!) so this year for Christmas I thought I'd stop her hacking into my Lush stash and give her the beginnings of one of her own.

 

 

Of course the obvious choice was FUN: Lush's 5-in-1 product that acts as a shower gel, bubble bath, shampoo, soap and a sort of play-dough. We chose the Limited Edition gold version (although they do offer five other shades that are permanent in the Lush range) which has the same scent as their Honey I Washed The Kids soap. This was £5. Next we decided upon the Space Girl bath bomb which is shaped like a planet and is dusted with glitter. This has a blackberry scent and is packed with popping candy which I'm sure she's going to love! This was £2.25. From Tesco I picked up the bauble filled with miniature bath bombs which was on sale for £1.50 and should keep her going for a while. Finally her last two gifts I got at Sainsbury's: the pink Smarties tube (£1) and the Ice Cream Print Notebook (on sale for 89p). I just have to get some accompanying felt tip pens and she's all sorted!

 

-----

 

Honestly this year the hardest person to buy for was my mum. Whilst she likes candles and perfumes she isn't the sort of person who enjoys long soaks in the tub or slowing down with a good novel - trust me, I've tried to sway her - so I decided that instead of giving her something to help her relax, I'd gift her something I know she'll actually use.

 

 

 

 

 

I dreamed up this sort of survival pack to keep in her bag when she goes to work. It contains chewing gum, lip balm, mini hand sanitisers, nail varnish remover wipes and her favourite Hand Food hand cream by Soap & Glory. As a little nod towards the pampering side of things I also threw in her favourite Barry M Nail Varnish - Mushroom. The lip balm, chewing gum, hand sanitiser and nail varnish wipes I picked up in the Poundshop but the Hand Food and Barry M Nail Varnish I got from Boots.

 

-----

 

My boyfriend's Mum was also quite difficult to buy for this year as she's the direct opposite of my mum - she loves a good pamper - but has really sensitive skin so can be allergic to some things she's received for Christmas over the years. I thought the safest bet was to go back to Lush and pick up her favourite Porridge soap: a lovely soap packed with porridge oats to help gently exfoliate and sooth skin. The good thing about Lush's soaps is that you can choose a piece to suit any budget (as long as it's over 100g). We also got her two Butterball bath bombs for their soothing cocoa butter and delicious scent as she prefers the simpler bath bombs that doesn't require her 'picking rose petals out of the bath' as she once told me. The Bath Bombs were £2.50 each so we got her a £5 piece of soap to make up her £10!

 

-----

 

As for my best friend - she does know about my blog and even though I told her I'd be posting her gifts so not to go on here, she might do just because I asked her not to. So I'm afraid I'll be keeping her gifts as a secret just in case!

 

I hope you enjoyed this post and have hopefully gotten a few more ideas for last minute gifts! I should hopefully be posting a 'Boyfriend Edition' of this post as I haven't wrapped his presents up yet but that wont be for a few days.

 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

 

xx

Review: Johnson's Daily Essentials Nourishing Day Cream

 

 

Following a recent summer-winter swap in my skincare routine, I've re-discovered this little beauty: Johnson's Daily Essentials Nourishing Day Cream for Dry Skin. I'd found that my usual Boots Simply Sensitive Moisturiser just wasn't up to scratch for the colder months and the tight, flaky skin that comes with it and was looking for a thicker, more nourishing cream to replace it with. During my earlier teenage years I'd been a big fan of this moisturiser and had forgotten about it once I'd used it all, but scouring the shelves in my local Sainsbury's I found this again - and also on offer for just £2 (normal price £4)!

 

 

 

This day cream has a thick, luxurious consistency that isn't at all heavy and greasy or long drying - I simply apply a light covering all over my face following my cleansing and toning routine, leave it to sink in for a few moments and apply my foundation right on top. It creates the perfect base for my make-up and helps fight against flakiness through-out the day. You don't even need a lot of it - I just tap my finger gently onto the surface and gain enough to cover at least half of my face.

 

It's also very aesthetically pleasing, too. It comes in a little glass jar with a pink screw-top lid that rests inside of it's own little cardboard box. I think it's really cute and makes it seem a lot more luxurious and expensive than if it was in a squirty bottle like most other moisturisers. The cream itself looks so deliciously buttery and smooth and is literally packed to the brim of the jar. 

 

The SPF 15 that this cream contains is an essential all year round and paired with my Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation, keeps my skin protected from the suns rays (even if they are behind the clouds). It's also packed with nourishing nutrients which leaves your skin super soft without a heavy greasy residue.

 

Overall Thoughts:

 

This is the perfect winter moisturiser - it's nourishing properties keeps flaky skin at bay whilst still containing SPF to keep your skin protected. The price is so perfect - just £4 for a cream that will last you forever due to the fact you only need a tiny dab at a time. The packaging in itself is lovely and makes me think of more high-end products.

 

xx