It's (somehow) that time of year again, and in lieu of actually writing any of the numerous posts I've been telling myself to write, I'm going to put my resolutions up. I think posting them for all the world to see will make them easier for me to follow through on.

2016's going to be a crazy year for me. I'm going to turn 18, I'm (hopefully) going to university, and if that's the case I'm going to be moving across the Atlantic from my parents, doing entirely different things with my life and having to really be more of an adult. All of this makes me think that more than ever it's important I make resolutions I can actually stick with.

1. Develop a good work ethic: I've got a lot better at this the past year, but I've still got a long way to go. Ideally, I'm going to kick procrastination to the kerb before uni starts, but I want to at least develop a good method for studying for my IB exams in May. I get my work done, but I don't need any added stress right now, so not procrastinating would do wonders for me.
2. Be more thankful for my parents: My mum's had a really rough past year and has been so incredible in the face of everything, but I can't help that feel that with all the stress I've had through school I haven't thanked her enough for this. My older brother moved to the UK last August, and given that I'm going to be doing the same thing in September I want to cherish the last few months I've got living with my parents. My maternal grandmother isn't doing well right now, and my mum knows she's going to have to cope with that loss soon, but I want her to also know that I'm with her every step of the way just like she's been for me. This situation with my grandma made me realise just how much my mum sacrifices for me because she decided not to go on extra trips to London to take care of family matters so that she could help me cope with senior year. When she has gone to London, my dad has worked less time so that he could be home with me. I want these months before uni to be one massive thank you to both my parents.
3. Focus less on what could've been: I have an awful tendency of thinking about how my life could've been different if x hadn't happened. I think about it a lot in terms of when we moved from Paris to America. The reality is, though, that I'm really happy with where my life is right now. I've got an amazing bunch of friends, I'm at a great school and I've got a truly supportive family. I don't want to waste what's around me by thinking about what I could've had if an irreversible decision hadn't been made. It's time that I make the most of what I've got.
4. Be more self-confident: This has been a resolution for awhile now. I want to get to a point where I can look in the mirror and smile at what I see instead of dissecting and critiquing details. I'm not trying to become perfect, but I'm trying to embrace my imperfections.
5. Stop biting my nails! Similarly, this has been one of my resolutions for years. I've figured out what causes my nail-biting (stress and boredom) so in a way this is also a resolution to conquer those two problems. I'm sick of looking at my nails and thinking "ew", I want to be able to use the nail polishes I have. I do so well for a few months and then fall back into the habit, but I want to stop that relapse from happening. 

 


First of all, I never realised how difficult it is to photograph makeup well and wow it's difficult. So please bear with me while I get the hang of that!

This is a sort of everyday makeup that I go with when I feel motivated enough to slap on a full face of makeup in the morning. It really doesn't take that much time to do as long as you can do winged eyeliner (it's a very small wing though, nothing dramatic).

The first thing that I do is mix the Rimmel Match Perfection BB Cream with the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation. I mainly mix them because I'm in between the two shades right now, but I also mix them because I find Wake Me Up a bit too dewy for my taste and the BB Cream really balances that out. I mix them together on my hand and then apply them with a Beauty Blender. For concealer I use the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer under my eyes, and I didn't use anything on blemishes (which is probably a first for me!)

I (unfortunately) seem unable to find a brow product that works for me right now, so I give them a comb through with a spooly-thing from a rejected brow pencil and then have to leave them at that.

Moving onto eyes, I use two shadows on my lids and one as a highlight on the inner corner. I cover my lids with the lightest colour in the Rimmel Glam Eyes Quad Eyeshadow Palette in Black Cab. This seems to have been discontinued, but the lightest colour is a very simple shimmery white colour. I then go over that with Burnout from the Naked3 Palette (by far my favourite eyeshadow palette). This creates a really nice shimmery pink/champagne colour that works really well for a natural look. For the inner corner I use Strange, which is also from Naked3.

For my eyeliner I use the Stila Stay All Day Eyeliner to create a subtle wing. I then make it a bit darker along my lash line with my Nars Larger Than Life Eyeliner in Via Veneto. I also use a tiny bit of this liner on my bottom lashes to balance the look. Finally, my mascara is the Maybelline Volum' Express Colossal Mascara.

I didn't do anything on my lips apart from put on some chapstick because it's been so bitterly cold here that I find all lipsticks are drying out my lips :(

I hope you like this look!

xoxo
Alice

So after a week where I had 5 posts, I truly haven't had the time to post anything on here! I'm currently a senior in high school, so I'm in the middle of applying for university. I'm doing the International Baccalaureate programme which is really rigorous and time consuming. I've also been working twice a week (including Saturdays) which means I just haven't had the downtime to sit down and write a post on here. Personally, I feel that it's way better to have a gap between posts and write something meaningful than to sit down, crank out something mediocre and put it up here. I want to be proud of my posts and I simply wouldn't be if I tried to crank one out like that.

That being said, I will have a September favourites up probably by the end of this week (it's a bit iffy though, because my Granddad is coming to visit us tomorrow). I'll start trying to do more small posts also, probably fashion related as that'll be a bit easier for me to do regularly. If there's anything that you want to see on this blog content-wise please feel free to tweet me (there's a link on the right side of my blog).

Hopefully once my UCAS application is done I'll be able to dedicate more time to this blog, but for now I just want you to understand that that's my priority.

xoxo
Alice

Given that my hair is thick, long and curly my hair routine is actually surprisingly simple. I think this is because I never really straighten it (too time consuming) and I also let it air dry (blowdryers make it frizzy so quickly), so I instantly avoid a lot of heat damage.

I always start off with the TRESemmé Luxurious Moisture Shampoo. I've found that this shampoo leaves my hair soft and also keeps it from getting too tangled between washes. It's really cheap and lasts a long time (I've had this bottle for about a year now and I've got about a third left).

Once I've rinsed out the shampoo I use the TRESemmé Luxurious Moisture Conditioner. You can sort of tell from the picture that I'm about halfway through this bottle. I actually got the conditioner a couple months after the shampoo, and my hair is definitely better when I use both together. With the conditioner in I get rid of any knots with a wide-toothed comb. I like to leave conditioner in for a few minutes so I normally wash my face at this point to pass the time.

After I rinse out the conditioner I towel dry my hair by squeezing it with a soft towel. Doing this instead of rubbing it leaves my hair way less frizzy. Once my hair has stopped dripping I apply a dime-sized amount of Moroccanoil Treatment throughout my hair. This stuff is definitely on the pricier side, but this one bottle has lasted me quite awhile and it makes my hair so much more manageable (it also smells amazing!)

Finally, a couple hours later when my hair is dryer (but not completely dry) I apply the BB Curl Conscious Defining Creme throughout to help my curls form better. I mentioned this product in my August Favourites so for a more in depth explanation of it just head over there! In the past the bottom layer of my hair has always been less curly than the rest but since using this all my hair has been curlier.

Today's my first day back at school (senior year!), so I'm probably going to start posting two or three times a week instead of everyday. I've been scheduling posts for each day, so it'll depend on how many I can draft during the weekend!

xoxo
Alice

After a post about my skin type, the logical next step seems to be a post about my skincare routine.

I've found in the past that I sometimes try out too many products on my skin and that leaves me with more problems because one product throws off my skin and then everything has to go. Instead, I try to keep it really simple. Right now I use four products, and I only ever use three in one go.

I always start my routine by running some warm water and cleansing my face. Most days I use the Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Daily Face Wash, but a couple times a week I switch that out with the Clean & Clear Deep Action Exfoliator. I rub whichever of these I'm using onto my face and then wash it off thoroughly with a flannel. The Daily Face Wash claims to make acne less visible in 12 hours, when I first used it (back when my acne was miles worse than it is now) I definitely noticed a small improvement quickly, but it's essential to keep using it everyday to really see the full effect. Personally I adore the Deep Action Exfoliator, but it's worth warning that it has a minty tingly sensation, which I know a lot of people don't like.

However I've found that both these products tend to dry out my skin (not too much, but enough for my skin to feel tight and a bit uncomfortable), so I always follow up with the Oilatum Shower Gel (as far as I know this is unavailable in the US, if anyone knows a good alternative please leave a comment below!) I've found that the Oilatum gel works best if I rinse it off with my hands, I think that a flannel washes too much of it off so it can't actually moisturise my face!

I then pat my face dry using a towel; never rub your face dry, that just irritates your skin, and then I use my Simple Kind to Skin Replenishing Moisturiser to finish off my routine. I mentioned this moisturiser before in my August Favourites post so you can read more about it there. I prefer this over other moisturisers because I don't really need a heavy moisturiser after using the Oilatum gel, but this is a nice light one that leaves my skin looking fresher.

xoxo
Alice

I realised that because of the fact that makeup (especially foundation) is really subjective, it would make sense to talk about my skin type. It's kind of complicated but here goes.

I'll be honest right now: my skin can be a hot mess at times. It's mainly my forehead that's a problem;
it can go from dry and flakey (gross) to covered in spots (also gross) in a day or two. This becomes a problem when I try to tackle it. If I use something to fight the dryness I need to try really hard not to go straight to the other end of the spectrum and have a breakout. A lot of the time when I use something for my acne, I end up flaking a few days later.

In the winter my skin completely freaks out. No matter what I do I seem to end up with flaking skin and acne in the same place at once (which is just confusing to try and deal with!) In the summer my skin sometimes clears up to the point where there are literally zero blemishes on my face and it's perfectly balanced between dry and oily.

A makeup free picture so you can see my skin (as you can see, there's some scarring on my forehead from old acne)

So really my skin type is combination gone wild, but really the only major problem spot is my forehead and everything else is pretty normal.

I've seen a massive improvement in my skin since about June though. I no longer get the mass breakouts that I used to, so I really only ever have to deal with one or two spots at a time. On the flip side I still get dry skin pretty frequently though, but it's been easier to manage since my skin's become less finicky!

xoxo
Alice

August was a strange month for me in terms of makeup. I spent most of July in rural India wearing nothing on my face apart from sunscreen, dirt and paint, so shifting back to wearing makeup was strange to say the least. To add to that, I came back from India a good 5+ shades darker than when I left so none of my foundations (even the ones that were too dark before the trip) were dark enough. I couldn't really justify going out and buying a new foundation given that I'll probably never get this dark again, so I decided to go foundation free for the month.

So onto the products I loved in August!

Nars Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner: This eyeliner has been my holy grail eyeliner for years. I own it in two shades: a very creamy black (Via Veneto) and a gorgeous shimmery coppery brown (Via Appia). This month I've favoured the brown over the black, going for a slightly subtler look. Both colours are really creamy and super easy to apply. They stick really well to my waterline and stay there for the whole day. The brown is less pigmented than the black, but because of how strong the black is, that's almost ideal for daytime looks. I also love that because these are twist-up eyeliners there's a little sharpener at the end of the pencil so you can keep making nice crisp lines.
This eyeliner's definitely pricey at $25, but I've repurchased it quite a few times and plan on going back to it.

Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil: This stuff is pretty simple, but it's also a great product. It's very soft and feels great on my lips. It adds a tiny bit of colour to my lips which I really like when I don't want to put on a lipstick or lipgloss, but still want a bit of something. It's really moisturising (it kept my lips completely unchapped in India which really impressed me!)

Maybelline Volum' Express Colossal Mascara: I've been struggling for over a year now to find a mascara to replace the last one I loved (Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara), but this one may have just stolen my heart. It has a wet formula which I sometimes don't like, but with this one it just works. The wand is great (lots and lots of bristles, so you know all your lashes will get coated) and a little goes a long way. Personally I prefer to have a natural lash look, I'm not really into spidery lashes, so I find that one or two coats of this mascara get me the perfect look. It definitely volumises, but it also lengthens lashes beautifully.

Naked 3 Palette: I've owned this palette since it came out, but I fell in love with it in a different way this month. In the past I've always stuck to the light colours on the left side of the palette, but in August I moved down to the darker end and adored it. This palette is perfect for almost anything, the lighter colours make brilliant day colours but you can also make a stunning smokey eye with the darker colours.

Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme: Not only has this product finally taught me how to spell conscious, but it's also made my hair look so much better. I have naturally curly hair, but it often loses it's oomph after I sleep (I think having it up against the pillow flattens it, but who knows.) Since I got this though, I've found that my curls are not only more defined, but also stick around for longer.

Simple Kind to Skin Replenishing Moisturiser: In the past I've only ever used the Simple cleansing lotion, and I've absolutely loved it. When I got to London though, I realised that I'd forgotten to pack it and my skin was going crazily dry from the change of temperature. I popped out and bought this and it's been fabulous. It's cheap which is always nice, but it also really moisturises my skin. My face often gets really dry, but I've found that putting a small amount of this on my skin has really helped. It's also a really light moisturiser though, so it hasn't broken me out at all which a lot of heavier moisturisers do.

That's what I loved in August, it's been a nice mix of rediscoveries and new products. Share what you've loved in the comments and I'll see you guys soon!

xoxo
Alice


P.S. I've just made an account on Bloglovin and I'd really appreciate if you follow my blog on there!

Welcome to my new blog Alice in Beautyland. As you've probably guessed, my name is Alice and this is my fashion and beauty blog. Here I'll post about products and looks that I've been loving (and who knows, maybe some that I just haven't managed to get into).

I can't wait to get started,
Alice