I bought this in Marks and Spencer's when I realised that it was high time I started filling in my brows. At first I didn't really like the Water Resistant Eyebrow Pencil as I found it a bit too hard and felt like I was having to work far too hard for very little payoff. So I dumped the pencil and only used the spoolie on the end. A few months ago I got sick of the pencil I was using as it wasn't a very good colour match, and I decided instead of going to Boots and buying another product that I'd give this pencil one last try. I am so glad I did that.

It must be that it was just the top layer of the pencil that was too hard, because the pencil works like a dream now. It's still on the harder side, but it's that right level where you can use it very lightly and build up the colour to get a nice and natural brow. I use the shade Dark Brown, which is pretty much perfect for my brows. Unlike a lot of brown brow pencils out there, this is a really cool toned shade, which
makes it that much better for my brows. That being said, there're only three shades and they're all browns so it's not the most versatile range.

The pencil is relatively thin, though it's definitely a pencil and not a fine nib like the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, and it's certainly thin enough to fill in the tails of my brows. That being said, I've never used the Brow Wiz so I can't offer a comparison. I mentioned before that it has a spoolie on one end, which is seriously helpful for prepping my brows and also lightening my touch if I've gone in too heavy. The spoolie's firm but not too abrasive, so it does the job without being uncomfortable to use.

I usually use the Rimmel Brow This Way Styling Gel over the pencil to set everything in place, and with this combination I find that my brows are always still filled in and in place at the end of the day. It has that great level of water resistance where it won't budge in rain or if you get sweaty, but it's also not a pain to get off in the evening. I find that using micellar water or a makeup wipe always removes the product easily.

This product is actually the only non-drugstore product that I use on a daily basis, which says a lot because I usually swear by the drugstore and only occasionally treat myself to higher end products. I'd definitely say it's worth the price tag (£14.50); it does the job, and I don't find myself having to sharpen it extremely frequently so I'm getting a lot out of it. I used to pretty much never do my brows because I didn't have a product that could make them look good. Since I started using this regularly though, I pretty much never leave my brows bare because this pencil makes them look good without being too made up.

My main New Year's resolution this year was pretty straightforward: start reading for fun again. During my senior year I had so much reading for school that it sort of lost its appeal, and that made me pretty sad because I've always been a bookworm. So I decided that 2017 would be the year of the book for me, and I've been keeping a list in the back of my diary of the books I've read for fun. So far I've read six books for fun, which isn't too bad considering the amount of work and reading I've had for university. Here I'm going to highlight two of my favourites so far.

Hamilton: the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

As a history student, a piano player and a resident of New Jersey I've fallen deep into Hamilton-mania, which made this the perfect book to kick off my fun reading. Whether or not you've been lucky enough to see the show (I haven't yet, but I enter the lottery every time I'm at home) this is an incredible book to read. It gives you a glimpse into Lin-Manuel Miranda's mind, and personally I walked away with a new appreciation for the complexities of the musical's lyrics, story and choreography. The book walks you through the entire musical and has chapters on different characters, actors, and people who helped Miranda along the way, as well as annotated lyrics to every song in the musical. The annotated lyrics were a highlight for me as they revealed details that I'd never noticed before and pointed out homages to hiphop artists and cultural references that added deeper meaning to the musical. All in all, this is an absolute must for anyone being consumed by Hamilton-mania.

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet

Nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2016, this book works on a really cool premise that I've never seen before. It's a account of fictional murders committed by the main character Roderick (Roddy) Macrae. In the book, Burnet compiles the recently 'found' account of these murders written by Roddy himself, affidavits by residents in Roddy's village, an account of the trial and journal articles about Roddy. Right off the bat you know that Roddy committed the crime, but the real questions are whether he was of sound mind, why he did it, and whether he will be found guilty in trial. It's an incredibly compelling read, in part because the book is written as if it was non-fiction and Burnet was actually compiling all these documents instead of writing them himself. I found the style of the book refreshing and the plot gripping. This definitely has some mature themes to it, and Roddy's account of the murders is extremely detailed and gory, so you might want to steer clear if you're a particularly squeamish person. If you're not though, I highly recommend this book.

If you've read either of these books, or if you've got books you think I'd enjoy, comment below and let me know!

xoxo
Alice

So, it's been awhile...

Basically, I replaced my old laptop and couldn't remember what email this blog was associated with (seriously dumb of me, I know). Life's changed quite a bit since my last post, so I thought I would give you all a little update before I jump back into beauty/lifestyle posts.

I'm almost done with my first year of university now and I've absolutely loved every minute of it. My degree's going well so far, and socially it's been an absolute blast too. I'm currently home for Easter break so between revising for my exams I'll try to get lots of content queued up to post on here.

Last year I did a New Year's Resolutions post, so even though it's April I'll tell you what my resolutions were this year: to stop biting my nails (again) and to read books for fun not just for my coursework. So far I've actually been succeeding at both! This was a serious surprise for me because I've tried to stop biting my nails for about ten years and failed every time. Fingers crossed I actually manage to stick with it this time round.

In terms of this blog I'd like to move away from just being beauty and skincare in the future. I'm passionate about those things, but I'd also like to post more lifestyle content and maybe some university-specific things too. Basically just expect more diversity in my posts from now on. I might start doing things like book reviews, travel posts and style posts in the future so keep an eye out for those. I just got back from a lovely trip to DC, if any of you are interested in a post about that trip let me know and I'll be sure to post something about what I did whilst I was there.

Please bear with me while I get this blog up and running again, I'll try not to disappear for eight months again!

It's good to be back.

xoxo
Alice

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.