The palette in sunshine, the first two colours are a bit washed out (I'm sorry) but I felt that many pictures of the palette online didn't show the shimmers and redder tones well. Worth noting that in this picture He Devil and Dirty Talk look almost identical, but Dirty Talk is a shimmer and He Devil is matte.

I know the hype around this palette was huge a year ago and is basically non-existent now, but I only recently got my hands on it (uni student problems) and really wanted to tell you guys what I think of it.

First and foremost, this isn't my first Naked palette. I've had Naked 3 since just after it was released, and I got the original Naked palette for Christmas last year. I'm a massive fan of both the palettes, but

I definitely recognise their shortcomings (fallout being a major one). That being said, I did a lot of research before actually ordering Naked Heat, and most of the reviews seemed to imply that this was an improvement on the old Naked palettes.

Of course, this isn't an entirely revolutionary palette. Warm tones have been the craze for awhile now, and there were plenty of palettes like this when it was released. I hadn't owned one before though, and with my generally positive experiences of Naked palettes I was willing to spend a bit more money on this particular one.

I included both these pictures because I feel the lighter ones show more true on the left, and the shimmers show more true on the right. As you can see, Cayenne and Ashes (the second and third from the bottom) swatch quite patchily.

Generally speaking I've really enjoyed this palette. It's made warm toned eyeshadows feel approachable to me, and it's helped spark more creativity in terms of the looks I create. Before this I had two very warm toned eyeshadows in my collection, that was it, and I barely touched them because honestly, they intimidated me. I was always a bit scared of looking like I'd been punched in the eye or was suffering from really bad seasonal allergies. This palette has a good range of light to dark colours though to make a warm toned look feel approachable. My one gripe on the colour front though is the lack of a true light highlight colour. The lightest colour in the palette, Ounce, is a slightly pearly white, which is nice when I'm doing a more matte look, but falls a bit flat if I've used the more metallic colours.

Speaking of mattes, they're part of why I feel this palette is a huge step up from other Naked palettes. 1 and 3 only contain two mattes each, making it very hard to build up your crease effectively. It also means it's harder to create a really soft everyday look without reaching for another palette. Naked Heat has a whopping (by UD's standards) seven mattes, and they range from extremely muted brown (pretty much my skin tone) to a deep aubergine colour (which is admittedly a bit patchy, but can be built up well if you have time and patience). This is part of what makes the palette so approachable in my opinion, you can start really light and then build up. The first matte brown, Low Blow, isn't too warm toned, so the first few times I used this palette I used it before dipping into the more terracotta shade, Sauced. Doing so meant that I felt more confident that my eyes wouldn't look like a complete mess. Having seven allows for far more versatility, and means that I actually quite frequently create an all-matte look. The mattes are also incredibly buildable, which I think makes the palette great as a first foray into warm toned, reddish shadows. I go in with a very light hand, especially with shadows like Cayenne and He Devil so that I get the placement right, and then concentrate on building up the colour. This made me feel far more okay with stepping out of my comfort zone.

That being said, I absolutely love the metallics and shimmers in this palette. They completely blew my mind when I swatched them, and they truly don't disappoint. You can use them for a quite subtle sheen if you apply them dry with a brush, but if you go in with your finger or a slightly wet brush they pop incredibly. Some reviews I read said they all come out quite similarly, and while I feel they definitely could've been more distinctive, they're still definitely different shades. Lumber stands apart as one with far more gold reflex to it, though I occasionally like to whip out Half-baked from Naked 1 just to make it pop that little bit more. Scorched and Dirty Talk are certainly in the same family, but I find Scorched to be that bit deeper. Could Urban Decay have taken this palette to the next level by making these shades a bit more different from each other? Definitely. Is it a tragic dealbreaker for me? Definitely not. I mentioned fall out being a problem with previous Naked palettes (especially with the shimmer shades), but I really haven't experienced much with Naked Heat. With Naked 1 I end up looking like I have a black eye because of the fall out (which I'm okay with as I don't wear foundation so I know I can easily wipe it away), but Naked Heat really creates minimal fall out. I don't know exactly what Urban Decay did to the formula, but they definitely tweaked it for this palette and it's a real success.

Really, all reviews boil down to a simple question: would I recommend this palette? I definitely would if you're new to warm toned palettes. I've found this palette to be perfect for a first dip into this colour scheme, and it's helped me create completely different looks to what I've done in the past. That being said, if you already have some warm toned palettes I don't think this one is so unique that you can't live without it. Like with many Naked palettes, and Urban Decay in general, it's good quality but not entirely groundbreaking.

I'll try and post some looks I've created with the palette in the future, I just didn't want this post to get ridiculously long and I'd like to be able to go in depth about how I created the looks without feeling like I've created an overwhelming post. Until then...

xoxo
Alice

The Windle and Moodie Invisible Day and Night Cream did something that's pretty much never happened before; it made my day two hair manageable. If I put most creams in my hair when it's dry it ends up looking greasy or crunchy, neither of which are ideal looks. This product however is incredible, I can use it on wet or dry hair and it completely revives my curls.

My hair the afternoon after using the cream specifically on my roots

What's really great about this product is a little goes a long way for me, and that's despite having had thick, long, curly hair when I first got it. I got this as a Christmas present in 2016, and ended up
asking for it again this past Christmas because of how well it worked on my hair. I've recently cut my hair short (just below my collar bone) and I've found that this product helps give me volume at the top of my hair, giving me that 80s perm look that I've kind of been loving recently.

The cream has a bunch of great ingredients in it, including sugar beet for moisture (a must for my hair) and aloe vera to smooth frizz. It's been a great replacement for my Moroccan Oil which I leave at home when I'm at uni. The aloe vera does a great job of smoothing out any frizz that's been created either during the day or overnight while I've been asleep. I've found that if I'm having a bad hair day this usually helps to reset the curls and frizz, and even if it doesn't get my hair looking wonderful (sometimes my hair's so far gone it needs a miracle, but I don't have time to wash it) it can at least get me to the end of the day without needing my hair up in a ponytail. Another major bonus in the ingredients list is that it has a UV filter. Your skin isn't the only thing that needs protection from the sun! The cream is also vegan, so if you live a vegan lifestyle this is definitely worth a try.


I tend not to use this on my hair when it's wet just because I want to make it last as long as I can, but on the occasions that I have, I've found that it gives me bouncier, more defined curls, and much more volume at my roots. If I use it on dry hair it feels like a no-hassle dry shampoo in the way that it revives my hair, adds a bit of volume at the roots and redefines curls while minimising frizz. I honestly can't rave about this enough. Even on dry hair, it seriously lives up to the 'invisible' part of its name in a way most hair products don't for me, which makes it less of a hassle to use.

The smell is also a major plus. It's one of those creams that has a nice fresh scent. I don't really know how to describe it beyond that, but it's really pleasant without being overwhelming. The shampoo I'm using right now is coconut scented, and when I use the cream on my hair right after a shower I honestly feel like I've walked into a spa because everything smells so nice.

This is definitely on the pricier side of the spectrum, so if you don't want to stretch your budget and you've got low-maintenance hair this isn't a must have. However, if you're like me and you've got thick hair that's quite temperamental I'd say this is worth the price tag. My day two hair has always needed to be confined to a ponytail or a bun in the past, but this product has allowed me to leave it down without looking like I've been dragged through a bush. I'm not exaggerating when I say this cream has managed to turn quite a few bad hair days into at least decent hair days if not fully-blown good ones.


xoxo
Alice

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.