New Year, New Feature – Introducing Monthly Favourites

This is a feature that I’ve seen pop up on many a blog, and this feels a little bit like jumping on the bandwagon, but hey, I love reading these kind of posts so I might as well give writing them a go too! I feel like having a set post to write monthly will give me a much needed kick up the backside, and will make me actually write posts (something I haven’t done too much of lately- damn you uni work!). I’m going to include a bit of everything in these posts- beauty, hair, fashion, tv… you name it. If I liked it, it’ll be in there somewhere! So let’s get started…

1) Smashbox Limitless Eye Liner
Liquid eyeliner has been my absolute favourite item to use in my everyday makeup look for quite some time now. I’d pretty much ditched kohl eyeliner from my makeup bag- something I was a very frequent user of during my teen years, so I suppose you could say this is a bit of a re-discovery for me and my makeup routine.

After receiving a Smashbox Try it Kit for Christmas, I gave this little number a bit of a go, and oh my word I have not looked back. I’ve loved creating a bit of a more smokey, smudged daily look this month with this awesome eyeliner which will I’m sure remain a favourite for months to come.

2) Floral mini vintage hair clips
After getting my hair chopped last year, I’ve since decided to grow it longer again (as per usual with cutting your hair short..), and haircuts have been something which have been pushed to the back of my mind, which, I know, isn’t great. My hair has become a bit of an unruly mess these days which I both oddly love, yet hate too, so I’ve been looking for things to help me avoid using heat styling while sorting out my mane on a daily basis.

I love these clips. Firstly, they’re so cute- I love the vintagy floral pattern on them, and at £2.99 from New Look who can really say no to them?! They are great for if I need to leave the house in a rush- I can just whack half my hair up quickly, keeping it from inevitably flopping in my face and annoying the hell outta me.

3) Zoella Blissful Mistful
I hate following the crowd, but when everyone kept on going on and on about this, I couldn’t avoid popping into my local Superdrug myself and seeing what all the talk was about. I’m always a bit dubious about the whole Youtuber product thing, because I can’t help but think that everyone raves about them purely because they love the Youtuber rather than love the product itself. I don’t think this is the best body spray I’ve ever come across in my life, but I’ve been enjoying using it this month- it leaves a nice fruity scent that I definitely won’t say no to smelling like. The packing is also super cute and has been sitting nicely on my shelf with all of my other beauty related products.

4) Soap and Glory Hand Food
The cold winter weather that we’ve been experiencing here in the UK this year has been taking its toll on the ol’ mitts. No one likes dry hands, so this hand cream has been a bit of a life saver, keeping my hands silky smooth (plus it smells super good which is a great bonus!).

5) Sleek Contour Kit
If you saw my post on this kit [here], then you’ll know that I can only speak positively of this compact. It has really opened my eyes to the contouring world, and has definitely been my go-to for day to day contouring this month.

6) Electric Blanket
Keeping with the whole winter theme here, my room at uni is basically like a fridge. I feel like having a freezing cold room on the crappily built house extension has become a bit of a common story amongst students, but this year I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing this first hand (woooo). I really don’t know what I would do without my electric blanket now, keeping me nice and toasty when I’m in bed. And let’s be honest, I feel I speak for the majority of students when I say I spend about 75% of my time in my bed, so this is totally worth it.

7) Celebrity Big Brother
I feel a number of people would frown upon this being a monthly favourite, but what can I say? I’m an absolute sucker for trash TV. Being at uni without a TV licence has made me pretty shocking at keeping up to date with TV, but I’ve been pretty dedicated to this, and have found this super addictive to watch (anyone else love Katie Price now too?!).

So here are my January monthly favourites! What have been your favourites this month?

xoxo

So I kinda cut my hair…

This was something that happened after much deliberation. I haven’t actually had a proper haircut in about 6 months now *slaps wrist*, but for once my hair is in pretty good condition, and split ends are few and far between. I used to have super long hair, but after years of almost daily straightening, it was feeling pretty sorry for itself, so I decided to take the plunge and go down to my local salon and get the chop. Since getting it cut to about shoulder length, I have pretty much stopped using heat on it (still can’t resist the straighteners for a night out though!), so the need for regular haircuts has diminished considerably. I’ve also not had the best track record with hairdressers, and after many times of going home crying over my hair, I guess you could say I’ve built up a bit of a fear of venturing down to the salon to get my hair cut.

I’ve decided to grow my hair again, but after 6 months of growing your hair, the style that was once clearly cut into it looks pretty messy and non-existent. Mine had gone pretty flat and boring, and there was very little I felt I could do with it, but one thing I’ve always gone back to is a side fringe, and this time was going to be no different. So I sat down with my scissors and started chopping away (obviously not as vigorously as I’ve made that sound). I used to do this back in my high school days, and have learnt many lessons from when I did it. I ended up going into school with a fringe that was too short and badly cut countless times, so I guess you could say that I’ve definitely learnt what NOT to do when it comes to fringe cutting in my time!

A few things to avoid:
-Don’t cut it when your hair is wet- it is so much easier to see how it’s going to sit when you’re cutting it dry, so you will be able to determine what length you want it way better.
-Don’t cut in a straight line, always chop into the hair. After many very blunt fringes I now never ever cut a fringe in a straight line, mine always come out looking more on the choppy side, but this looks more natural and less obvious that you’ve just been sat in your bedroom with a pair of scissors!
– Don’t go crazy and cut huge chunks off. Sadly we can’t stick hair back on, so it’s best to cut little bits off and gradually go shorter rather than getting too carried away.
– Don’t start cutting it while it’s sat on the side you want it to fall on. I always grab a comb and pull it across to the opposite side of my head then cut it on that side as I find it turns out looking a lot more natural and less blunt.

I always tend to go for a fringe on the slightly longer side. As much as I love shorter fringes that skim along above the eye, I just simply don’t think this suits my face shape at all. The shortest part of my fringe sits just below my eye when styled and the longest part sits about halfway down my ear. I’m really happy with how this impulsive chopping session went, and I love how my side fringe has turned out!

xoxo

New Way to Wash Your Hair?

I’ve always been one to stick to the same thing when it comes to my hair routine. I’m the kind of person who will find the thing that works for me and just stick to it, because well, I know I can never go wrong with it. However, my Mum of all people actually told me about this tip she read a while ago, and I thought I’d give it a go. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

So the tip I was told of was to wash your hair with conditioner before shampooing it. When I first heard about it, it seemed almost ridiculous to me. It would be like putting your shoes on before you put on your socks. It just didn’t feel right. But still, I went with it, putting on my conditioner from root to tip and leaving it on for a few minutes before washing it out and doing my normal shampooing. I should probably point out that I have straight/ slightly wavy hair of medium thickness, and I find that it often goes pretty flat when I leave it to dry naturally.

At first I couldn’t really understand what sort of a difference this could make to my hair, but since doing it I’ve noticed that my hair is noticeably so much more soft and silky after each wash, and actually feels lighter so is more voluminous. Although this still feels slightly wrong to me, and I do still automatically go to grab my shampoo straight away in the shower, I think this order to washing hair is something I’m going to continue doing. It’s crazy that something as simple as switching your shampoo and conditioner order around can actually make a difference to your hair!

If you give this a go, or do it already, I’d love to know your thoughts!

xoxo