Remember when I said I would start posting more often? That turned out to be a blatant lie. As I've mentioned a few times I was primarily focused on trying to get into university, so this blog really went on the back burner during exam time. But... it all paid off and I got into my top choice!

Starting in September I'll be at the University of Exeter!

I'm back from the end of school/prom/Paris/wisdom teeth removal (not fun), so I will start posting more, probably starting with a continuation of reviews from my drugstore purchases and with a tutorial for my prom makeup. If there's anything else you want to see just let me know in the comments.

It's good to be back!
Alice

P.S. I finally made an Instagram, you can follow me by clicking here.

Over the past couple months I've gone to the drugstore a couple times to pick up makeup. I've ended up with quite a few products from these hauls, but a lot of them haven't really wowed me. I thought that today would be a good day to go through the ones that have actually left a really good impression on me. This isn't to say that the other things I got were terrible (none of them were terrible actually, I just haven't reached for them that much), and I will go over them in another post but I wanted to highlight the ones that have really stood out to me.

Also, I'd like to apologise for not being on here much. I'm a senior in high school and my exam scores really matter to get me into university so my priority has been school. I'm on spring break right now so I'm hoping I'll be able to make a few posts and schedule them to go up over the next few weeks.

The palette comes with 8 shadows and a double ended sponge applicator

The bottom swatch is the far left shadow in the palette. Sorry that two of the colours didn't show up well in the lighting!

The first product I've been loving is the CoverGirl Nudes TruNaked palette. I was initially drawn to the Roses one and then reminded myself that I already own the Naked 3 palette so went for this one instead. The colours are so creamy and all look great on my eyelids. I really like that this has more matte than shimmery colours because I have tons of shimmery colours but virtually no matte ones. What really drew me to this was that the matte brown shade is a really good brow colour for me. I was worried when I initially swatched these colours because they came off when I wiped them off with a dry paper towel, so I wondered if they would last at all. Yesterday I put the shimmery pink colour on at about 10am and it was still on at 9pm after a day of walking around New York City. I got the palette for $9.99 at Target and it's honestly a steal. The colours aren't at all chalky, have great pigmentation and lasting power and even the little applicator that comes with the palette works in a pinch!

This next product is actually a third time repurchase which says something about how much I love it. It's the Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer. This concealer claims to be skin tone adapting, and I don't know how much I buy that but I do know that it's a great concealer for both the under eye area and blemishes. I've had some pretty bad blemishes on the side of my face recently and this is the only concealer that does the job. The one thing I'm not in love with about this concealer is the applicator. You have to squeeze the tube to get concealer to come out through the brush applicator. Sometimes it works great, but other times I end up squeezing and squeezing until suddenly a massive glob of concealer comes out and I've got more than I needed. If Rimmel repackaged this with a doe foot applicator it would be the perfect product for me.

My final product a mascara that I've been hearing about for years. I've used Maybelline mascaras before and loved them, but this one is on a whole new level. The Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara is everything I wanted in a mascara. It's more lengthening than volumising and leaves my lashes looking pretty natural. Unlike some mascaras it doesn't leave my lashes in clumps or looking spidery. The only issue I have with this is that it smudged above my eye really easily for the first few minutes after I apply it. That being said, it's such a good mascara that I'm willing to walk around with my eyes half closed for a few minutes to get the effect that it gives! I was surprised to like this because I don't normally like plastic wands, but this one works really well. The wand is slightly curved so you can get mascara right at the base of your lashes without poking your eye out.

I'll try to post more regularly from now on, but that being said I have exams in May and I'm away for a lot of June so please bear with me!

What drugstore products have you been loving that I should check out? And what posts would you like to see from me in the future?

xoxo
Alice

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