My Favourite Makeup Products of 2014!

Long time no see, eh? I don't really know what happened or why I stopped posting because I bloody love it! Somehow, 2014 is over and now 2015 is here - I cant believe it either. Here is my round up of my favourite makeup products of 2014!

I'll start with base, and the absolute star for me this year has been Bobbi Browns' Skin Foundation with an SPF of 15. I have the shade 3.5 Warm Beige and its the perfect colour match. The foundation is on the watery side, which I prefer and it is very buildable. I find that it is very hydrating on the skin and doesn't cause spots to occur on my skin, which is normally the case with foundations that have SPF. Total winner!

Moving onto concealer, the all rounder for me is the Rimmel London Wake me up concealer. For redness, spots and under eye this has been my saviour for the past 7 months and I don't know what I would've done without it.

For the cheeks, there is only one product for me and that's the Naked Flushed palette by Urban Decay. This was released around Summer/Autumn I believe and god I do love it. It consists of a bronzer, highlight and blush which are all beautiful colours and when travelling or staying somewhere where you wouldn't have your full makeup set it is like flawless cheeks in a trio!

Onto eyes and the winning eyeshadow for me is L'Oreals Color Riche L'Ombre Pure eyeshadow in Nude 200 'Over the Taupe'. This is a beautiful pinkish taupe colour which I think is very similar to sidecar from the naked 1 palette. The formula of all these shadows is incredible and they don't crease on me! 

For eyeliner there can only be one, and that is Rimmel Londons Scandaleyes waterproof eyeliner, its the best thing I've ever bought. I only use this for my upper lash line but it stays all day and never seems to print itself on my lower lash line. Its super black too!

I'm a girl who loves their brows, and this product has stood out all year long and I've bought so many and I'm obsessed! Soap and Glorys' Brow Archery pencil works wonders for me and is the perfect shade match for me! I use the waxy side to fill in the front of my brows and then the felt tip end to get the sharp end of my brows right! But it doesn't make them look too drawn on.. I love it! To set my brows in place, I use Rimmel Londons Brow this Way clear brow gel, it does the job and its cheap so I cant complain. Its a good consistency, so it doesn't make the brows stiff or crunchy (ew) like some drugstore gels can.

My mascara favourite is Maybelline The Rocket Volume Express mascara, its the best drugstore mascara in my opinion! Both the normal and waterproof mascara keep a curl and don't smudge below the eye. The wand is plastic which doesn't bother me and it seems to grip and lengthen and volumise the lashes!

Last but definitely not least is lipstick! I've narrowed it down to my most used lipstick and the one i feel most comfortable wearing.. MAC Velvet Teddy! Its a beautiful matte brownish pink nude, and I just love it. MAC lipsticks always seem to stay on my lips the best, so for £15.50 they're so worth it and I can't wait for my collection to grow further!

What are your favourite products of 2014?

Thank you // Charlotte x

September Favourites

I don't think anyone understands how bloody excited I am for autumn ah its honestly my favourite time of the year!! Its been quite minimal on the makeup front this month as I've went back to school and not been going out as much but there's a few so I'll crack on!

My first favourite this month is the Curly Hair Mousse from Boots. A lot of the curly hair mousses I use leave my hair sticky and don't normally work and they cost around £5 or £6. So I decided to try the Boots own and its probably the best one I've tried. It is normally on offer for 2 for £2 so its a great price and has a nice smell to it too so I'd say its win-win!

As I've recently gone back to school and I'm now in my final year, my stress levels have increased. My favourite hand sanitiser is the Bath & Body Works Stress Relief, so it does two things for me. Kills germs and relieves stress!

My stress also causes me to get more spots, more and more spots. Like I need them! I've been trying out the Skin Therapy Overnight Calming Blemish Serum and its working! The smell is very strong and when you apply it, it burns but I suppose that's the tea tree in the serum working. Is started to reduce the redness and I haven't got as many as expected which is always great.

For a while now, I've wanted to try some makeup from Max Factor but just never known what to get or whats the best thing. And then I saw that the Clump Defy mascara was on offer for £7.99 so I thought I'd grab it while its cheap - and I don't regret it. Its bloody fantastic! It lengthens, adds volume and doesn't cause massive clumps, its probably a new holy grail mascara.

On holiday, I bought the Thierry Mugler Alien perfume and oh my god do I love this. I've used it most days since I got back from my holiday and from when its applied in the morning you can still smell it on the evening which I love! I just love everything about this from the packaging to the lil' perfume pump. Absolute beauty!

The Revlon bronzer in Bronzilla has been talked about a bit recently so I thought I'd check out the hype and I love it. Its not the best ever pigmentation but it means that you are able to build the product up easier. Its a lovely colour for my skin and adds a nice bronze look to the skin. 

The Rimmel London Lasting Finish 25 Hour Nude Foundation is something I wouldn't have been able to live without this month. I love this foundation and it beats any other of my foundations. New HG product! Check out my full review here.

Lastly, is my new favourite concealer. The Rimmel Wake Me Up! I've never tried this concealer before but I love it for my under eyes as it really cancels out all of my purpleness under my eyes - which isn't a great look! 

For other favourites I've only got two! The first is a remix song, which I wouldn't normally like, of The Frays' How to Save a Life. Listen to the song here. This remix makes me so happy and its so upbeat it gets me in the mood for everything!

My last favourite this month is my friends (cringe I know!). It was my friends 16th birthday on the 27th and it was one of the best nights of my life I can't thank her & all the rest of them enough!

What have you loved this month?
//Charl xx

How to: Deal With Stress

Stress is one of the main things I used to struggle with, whether that be personal, emotional or social. And I've gathered a few tips that can help some people as they've helped me.

1. Do more of what you love ~ This could be going to see a movie or going out with friend to the park. It all depends on you, but I've found that if I have more 'me' time I manage to be happier and enjoy my life more.
2. Manage time better ~ I've found that having a personal planner and a school planner really helps me and also having a schedule/routine to stick to helps my stress keep at bay. 
3. Find out what the stress causing problem is ~ In the past, certain people used to make me stress out more so I resumed my friendship with them for a while and now we're all fine and I'm much happier.
4. Discover what your boundaries are ~ You shouldn't ever be afraid to say no to anything and if something strikes panic in you or makes you nervous that's where your boundary ends.
5. Don't always strive for perfection ~ Nobody will ever achieve perfection, be happy with what you have and if you're not try to work with whatever it is. By wanting perfection you're distorting on what it already is, which maybe someone elses perfection!
6. Talk to someone ~ By talking to someone it can improve your mood, it can work by distracting you from your stressful thoughts and put you into a positive mood. It can also release built up stress.
7. Sleep! ~ Most of the time a lack of sleep can cause stress so its probably best to get 8+ hours sleep, which I understand is hard when there's so much to do on social media platforms now! But stress can interrupt sleep as we have thoughts whirling round our head, stopping us relaxing and falling asleep :(

I hope this has helped some of you as I know how terrible stress can be!

The month of October will be a different one as I'm going to*TRY* to upload something everyday or every other day - God help me.

How do you deal with stress?

// Charl xxx