Urban Decay Naked Cherry Quarantine Tutorial

With this whole lockdown pandemic, I find it impossible not to (for the most part) feel gross and rubbish. As much as I am for the most part embracing my natural beauty makeup always has made me feel "pretty" and confident, so what better way to feel a bit more kickass than to make myself up?

This particular day I had a quiz night planned via video with my best friends so it was a win-win situation not to waste this look, although trust me most of the time I look far less human on video chats. 

I definitely do not buy nearly as enough makeup products as I used to in my teens which is both sad and makes me feel pretty old. However it allows me to "shop" my own products again, see what I use and what I adore, I am actually very much a purger/organizer so it suits me fine. 

Enough with the babbling here is the list of products I used to accomplish my lockdown Zoom look...

Face.

Foundation. Revolution Conceal&Define Full Coverage Foundation (F2)// I adore this foundation as something affordable and as it says on the bottle 'full coverage'. At under £10 one I tend to grab over the high priced options and one I recommend to everyone, with options of skin type as well I think everyone should give a go.

Concealer. Collection Lasting Perfection (0 Extra Fair)// This has been a holy grail product for at least 10 years, I use this over any other concealer thrown at me and I even use this to line and shape the pomade after I do my eyebrows.

Contour. NYX High Definition Blush (HDB22 TAUPE)// A blush? I know what you're thinking but the tone and color of this one compliments my pale skin incredibly, throw in the price point, and it's a major win.  

Bronzer. BareMinerals Invisible Bronzer (Fair to Light)// Something I picked up with some vouchers a while ago, it blends nicely into my skin adding that glow that my pale skin requires. 

Blush. BareMinerals Gen Nude Powder Blush (Call My Blush)//  Now blush is something I didn't really use until a few months ago and if I'm being honest this is the only one in my collection. It adds a nice color to my sometimes lifeless looking skin and I believe it is vegan s added bonus!

Highlight. Lush Feeling Younger Skin Tint// I honestly adore anything from Lush and the makeup is no exception, the skin tint is just the right amount of sparkle you can even add it to your foundation to add that glow. 

 

Eyes.

Eyeshadow. Urban Decay Naked Cherry Palette

Crease. (Feelz)// A gorgeous deep mauve

Base. (Bang Bang)// Subtle Pink shimmer

Inner Corner. (Hot Spot)// A pop of white shimmer goodness

Eyebrows. Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade (Dark Brown)// Since I purchased this in 2014 I have not looked back, one little pot lasts a really long time and the pay off is incredible. A little goes a long way and I definitely recommend buying the 12 eyebrow brush that makes it effortless to use. 

Eyelashes. Eyes Right Mascara// Another Lush goodie that I adore, with your eyes being a sensitive area and Lush being an incredible brand with mostly natural ingredients I vote this every time. 

Eyeliner. Collection EXTREME 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner (Black)// Again I am a girl with favorites and this one is no exception, good price point, dark rich color, and a felt tip makes it easier for me to achieve a flick (and trust me I am not the best). 

Lips.

Liquid Lipstick. Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick (Ludwig)// This Liquid Lip is insane , my only purchase from the brand but one I am glad I made, I get so many compliments on this lip. It's staying power is pretty intense I would no doubt recommend! 

*Serving up resting bitch face*

I hope that gave you an insight into rare days in my quarantine...

Until next time,

My MH Journey *Trigger Warning!*

So this post is going to be hard to write as I am being 100% honest and raw about my mental health and my journey so far. Now, this may seem a bit discombobulated but I am going to try and keep to some kind of timeline. 

So the first sign that something was off within me was probably around the age of 14/15, I’d fallen out with one of my “best” friends and I remember feeling so angry and turning into an emotional wreck. Normal right? Nope, I would get so wound up and emotional that the thought of ending my life seemed normal, if no one wanted me then what was the point? Sounds stupid now but at that time it seemed plausible. My biggest scare was at the age of 15/16 when after a massive row with my mum in which I was made to feel worthless (or so my brain told me) I actually convinced myself to try and end my life. *TRIGGER WARNING: I will be completely frank on how I did. I took my dressing gown tie and hooked it up to my door and then made the noose… the only thing that saved me from that ending that night was the fact I was still able to touch the floor with my feet. Around that time, I had a friend that was in a similar situation of attempting suicide so I didn’t feel like it was a major problem for me. Also adding to this was the fact that I tend to distract myself with life and avoid my mental health, it was easy to just forget as I had a relationship and sixth form to contend with at the time. 

15 year old me.

Skip ahead the next 2 years and contending with sixth form, a boyfriend and a job became ridiculous and so the breakdown of that relationship occurred followed by being signed off work for the Christmas period. It was around that time I sought help with my doctor and he classed me as having depressive symptoms, my awareness of mental health developed as well but at the time I thought it was something that occasionally occurred due to stress.

 My first year of university was tough after I lost Jess.

Sunday 29^th June 2014, the day that broke my heart and changed my life forever, the day my best friend died. From that day I wished I could take her place, I begged God to let me even if it was just to be with her in heaven. I spent so long crying and wondering why someone so special and amazing was taken and I was still on this earth, why my little Jessy? That period was a tough one, she was my everything, and a world without her seems empty as if my sunlight was stolen. I had my first year of university straight after that and every anniversary was tough. That on top of heartbreaks and deadlines, disastrous friendships, and life stresses had the number of breakdowns increasing. At this stage I didn’t know what I was doing and was clinging to faith to help, I made sure I read a bible verse every day and tried to convince myself it was the way of keeping the negative thoughts out of my way. Added to this was the fact that I had a friend suffering from severe depression at university, I honestly did not mind being a shoulder to rely on but there are only so many times you can help before you feel worn and your health needs to be the top priority.  First and Second year passed with a similar degree of breakdowns and general ups and downs but this year has been the worst. 

I used likes and comments on profile pictures to boost self esteem.

This my final year of university. The year that makes my future essentially. The year that so far is a huge fail. I have more breakdowns than I do productive days, I cry almost every day, feel isolated, feel like self-harming, feel so terrible it made me debate dropping out. I took it upon myself to reach out to my university mental health team and made an appointment with them that helped me immensely! They were super helpful and listened to everything with open minds and no judgments, they put me on a counseling waiting list and placed me on a short term learning plan. I feel like for the first time in a long time I am supported and not alone, it is such a big thing reaching out for help and I just want to say for anyone else suffering it is okay to ask for help. 

My final year is tough.

Another thing that I touched upon earlier was my faith. I know not everyone is religious but my faith has saved me from doing something stupid on more than one account. I found Pastor Steven Furtick through his books, but I found out not only is he an author but he posts his sermons on Youtube and even created his own church, Elevation Church. Every book I own and every video I watch; he grounds me to the faith that saves me. 

Of course, I cannot talk about my mental health journey without mentioning the community that is there for me any day of the week. #TalkMH. This beautiful community brought together by the incredible Hannah Rainey, are supportive and non-judgmental, literally my second family. Anyone suffering from MH knows that it can be an isolating and numb place so somewhere you can share or even just be cheered up by a community as magical as TalkMH is like the light at the end of the tunnel.  I am honored to have been introduced to the most amazing people through it like Marc, Tori, and Hannah and hopefully we can maybe reduce some stigma.

 If you don’t feel comfortable talking to someone online of course there are other avenues such as the Samaritans or the charity Mind. If you are a bookworm then Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive is a massive help and if you can get some family and friends to read it to try and see things from your perspective. I’m writing this post to hopefully help someone, I am not out of the tunnel as you can see but I am getting help and I hope that I will improve my mental health somewhat within the next year or so. As Matt Haig says:

 If anyone needs someone to talk to you can DM me on twitter at any time and I will try and be there for you. It may feel isolating and like a black hole but there are no stars without darkness and you can feel better. Everyone deserves help and I will be here for every one of you that needs it.

That's all, for now, my lovely readers,

Leah.

A lewk!

So, I figured that I should incorporate make-up somewhere in my blog since I am always browsing and obsessing over it. What better than to share my go-to look for makeup and use some of my favourite products. 

Now its key to mention that I don’t wear false lashes on a day to day basis but I thought it was crucial to showcase the amazing KISS lashes that I was lucky to receive as PR. I got many compliments on my lashes on this day as people couldn’t believe they were falsies and not natural lashes. 

KISS lashes are super affordable and are available at Boots for £5.99 which for false lashes is a bargain! Currently, on their Boots website, there are 13 styles of lashes including one set of individuals. 

Anyway, enough of that on to the actual makeup look….

Moisturiser: Garnier Moisture Bomb 

Primer: Primark Mattifying Primer

Foundation: NARS Sheer Glow (Gobi)

Concealer: Maybelline Eraser Eye (Light)

                  Collection Lasting Perfection(to lighten area more) (Fair)

Contour: NYX High Definition Blush (Taupe)

Highlight: Sleek Highlighting Palette (Solstice)

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip brow Pomade (Dark Brown)

Eyeshadow Primer: Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion(Original)

Eyeshadow: MUA Hall of Fame – Bare (over lid), Chino (crease), Rose Ash (Centre Lid)

Eyelashes: KISS Feather light Lash (Sultry) *

Mascara: Too Faced Better Than Sex 

Lips: NYX Retractable Lip Liner (Vanilla Sky)

         NYX SoftMatte Lip Cream (London)

So, some may think this is extreme for a daytime look but I tend to start with minimal but then I can’t resist adding more – just me? The lashes add a bit of glam and made me feel amazing but they were natural enough to not be so in everyone’s face. I think I will be invested in more styles from KISS the volume ones look incredible for a night out!

So here it is, my go-to look for the daytime if I want to go all out without screaming going out. 

*A glimpse into the mess that occurs during make-up application! 

That’s all for now my lovely readers. 

                                                            Leah.

*Gifted from PR but all opinions are my own

Bedroom makeover

Take a peek inside my boudoir…

My bedroom needed a bit of updating and personalising since moving back in after university, on top of the list was a double bed of my dreams. This was a cute bed frame from Ikea and I think I love this more than any other bed frame I have seen online. I am a huge fanatic of white furniture and I love the design on the headboard of the bed, I tried to search the web for other alternatives that came in slightly smaller bed sizes however I had to have my original bed frame. I think the contrast of the white bed against my grey feature wall is iconic, right word who knows, the pop of colour allows my colour scheme to be poignant.

 To the right of my bed is my bedside table which I try and keep fairly empty, a vase of fresh peonies and a candle holder is what normally adorns it, of course when taking blog pictures one has to have a cup of tea hence it being in the images.

Above this is my picture shelf which holds one of my favourite quotes from Coconut Lane, also my Polaroid of myself and my best friend Lauren and to the right one of my best friend and angel Jess. 

I had a revamp of what was my desk area and made it into a makeup vanity with my Muji storage and No7 light up mirror. It just makes getting ready easier than sitting on the floor in front of a mirror and makes my room that much more feminine. If you would like an updated makeup storage/ tour let me know in the comments!

In order for all my makeup items to fit nicely in my storage, I made use of two small drawers in the unit next to it. In the top drawer are all my palettes, eyelashes and larger items such as face powders. The second drawer down features any nail items from nail cream to varnish. 

Beside my vanity, I have a gold wire basket from Tiger that holds all my hair tools and products (who knew I had so much!). 

I love my bedroom now, my grey, white and pink colour scheme makes it feel girly and snuggly, whilst still allowing the light in. 

That's all, for now, my lovely readers,

Leah. 

My Travel Make-up!

Oh hey guys and girls!

So as you may know I recently moved into my university house (room tour here) but after realising I was going to be living alone for a while I decided to come home in time for my mum’s birthday and my parent’s anniversary. I would like to think I have packing of certain things down to pack when needed and so I thought I would share what makeup I brought back with me and my thoughts and opinions. Maybe you’ll get new product ideas…

As you can see I actually only brought home a Make-up brush bag that I picked up from Boots around a year ago ( similar one here) and tried to pack as much as I could in it, this way you're not bringing home everything. You may also realise I didn't bring home any eyeshadows with me at all, if I wanted anything on my eyes I would just use the contour as a transition shade. 

Makeup:

 1. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation £31 (Light 3 Gobi) – This is my new favourite foundation, buildable coverage and a glowing finish that makes everything just look glammed up! High price point but definitely worth it. Check out my full review here.

2       MAC Pro Longwear Concealer £18  (NW15) - I have had this product for quite some time and it definitely has  become one of my all-time favourites, the pigment alone is enough to be full coverage and dual purpose.

3      NYX HD Studio Finishing Powder £8 (SFP01) – I never got into the baking trend until quite recently and I still haven’t mastered it but it has become a step on my makeup routine. This powder is affordable and a beautiful finishing touch.

4      MUA Undress Your Skin ShimmerHighlighter £3 (Pink Shimmer) – This is my favourite highlighter ever, affordable with the most amazing pigment and coverage. Definitely something to pick up at your next drugstore browse.

5      NYX High Definition Blush £5.50 (Taupe) – Now this I don’t actually use as a blush but as a contour which sounds weird but seen as I am porcelain skinned this actually works well. I cannot for the life of me remember who recommended this but it is incredible and works just as well if not better than higher brands such as Benefit.

6      Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade £15 (Dark Brown) – Such hype surrounds the Anastasia Beverly Hills makeup products and of course for me the brow pomade was one of the most talked about product. Stupidly I thought it was far more expensive than it was so as soon as I saw the price I knew I had to have it. This product does not budge and is long lasting, definitely a staple for me now.

7      Urban Decay Perversion Mascara£8 (Black) – So right now I switch between this one and Maxfactor but as this is a sample size its perfect for travel.  It definitely is a lengthening mascara that makes the best out of any lashes.

8      Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal EyeLiner Pencil £2.99 (Pure White) – White liner is something I dip in and out of using but right now it’s a saviour for making my eyes appear wide. Perfect for the water line!

Brushes:

 RealTechniques Buffing Brush

Real Techniques Sculpting Brush

Real Techniques Setting Brush

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Brush

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

There you have it, everything I bought home and used on my face, as you can see from the bottom image it only takes intensity and a bold lip (MAC Amorous) to take it from day to night.
What do you lovelies use when packing a compact make-up bag?

That's all for now my lovelies,

University room tour 2016!

Oh hey guys and girls!

So as I am going into my third and final year in a few weeks and therefore moving out into private student accommodation I thought it would be fun to show everyone how I made my room personal and homelier! If there is anything I LOVE doing it is a little bit of interiors, now don’t get me wrong I am no Kourtney Kardashian but I love a white canvas with a colour theme.

I decided to keep the same colour theme as I had in my bedroom back home as I love the scheme of white with accents of grey and pink, the only difference being that I added the tiniest amounts of gold. I don’t actually have any before pictures which I am kind of gutted about but the room had the basics, a wardrobe, desk, bedside table and bed. The one thing I hate is the pale yellow wall in which the shelves and desk are on only sue to the fact I like everything white (slight obsession).

I am literally the worst when it comes to taking pictures so bear with me, this is the view as soon as you enter my doorway. My wardrobe is the same size as the one at home so it is a nice transition for me, theres not much to see hence no open photo. As you can see on top of my wardrobe there is a gift bag full of goodies for my flatmates birthday (hurry up back Jen!) the two plastic boxes are being used to hold fresh bed linen and fresh towels, I got them from the kid section of H&M home for around £3.99 (ignore the random plastic bags). The grey fur rug is one of my favourite pieces I picked up from Ikea for £10 to tie in my colour screen and hide an iron mark in the carpet from the previous tenant.

As you swing to the left there is a pinboard, I just have a selection of cute and important things. Of course a picture of my family and my best friend is top of the list as well as cute quote cards from That lame company, I also use a pin to hold my keys (quite handy!).

Now I hate a cluttered desk but as this desk doesn't actually have any drawers for me to put books and notepads etc I have to try and make it work. So as you can see I have a stack on desk pads both from Dotcreates and Thatlamecompany, a stack of university text books for this year and a pen pot. My favourite thing on my desk is definitely my jazzed up Macbook, the unicorn sparkle Macbook skin by my loves at Coconut Lane is the perfect thing to make your Macbook look amazing! (with my discount code porcelainnivory20 for 20% the entire store)

Obviously above my desk is three shelves, shelves are my thing (not blowing my own trumpet but toot toot) and I take time and pride in arranging them. So working our way from the top: I have a collection of my favourite books from Pretty Honest, a pink bible and Reasons to stay alive (see previous post on this book that changed my life) then of course I had to bring a bottle of my favourite alcoholic beverage, Disaronno! Next up is a cute good luck card from my parents and a gorgeous vanilla candle from Primark, my picture frame comes everywhere with me as my best friend is never left behind in my life despite not being with us anymore. Second shelf down is a Pandora bag that hides some medicine (I don't use any unless I am dying) a christmas Yankee candle and a wax tart burner with a cute pink lighter and the boxes are from Primark and just holds Jewellery. 

Last shelf, my collection of nail varnish which contains anything from Essie, Rimmel, Sally Hanson etc and the pot contains nail files and sweets (from Ikea). My speaker is adorable and from Kitsound and my favourite thing is my perfumes which I placed on a medium sized candle holder from The Range. 

Next to the desk is a bedside table that I had to buy in order for more storage in which one drawer is full of hair care and tools and the next holds any body and beauty bits (if you want  a post on this let me know!). However back to on top of the unit and this is where I store all of my makeup, I was after these acrylic storage units from Muji for absolutely ages and so I picked two sets of two wide drawers and two acrylic pots for my brushes. I ran out of space for my eyelashes so they are stored to the side, I also have some sanitiser on top and my pills, if you lovelies would like an updated make-up collection let me know and I will do that for you. 

Next up is my favourite DIY I have ever done, I basically have a large white wall next to my bed and wardrobe and I wanted to do something with it so after searching for ideas I found a fairy light polaroid wall. This could be deemed as an expensive project but its about shopping around, I got my fairy lights in a warm white from Amazon in 16m for £15, my polaroids were printed from photo box when they had 20% off and I used command strip hooks that I bought off eBay (shops are way more expensive for a smaller quantity!). 

Lights, camera, action! This wall literally lights up my whole room when its on and makes me happy to see all my favourite people and memories nearby. 

Last but not least is my bed situated right behind my bedroom door, I was lucky enough to get a new mattress for this room before I moved in so it is amazingly comfortable. I am also a major sucker for comfort so I tend to have a lot of pillows and things, you'll pretty much find all my pillows and duvet sets etc is from Primark as right now they are killing it with the homeware! The bedside table came with the room (I had to purchase the other one) and just holds underwear, the lamp on top isn't really used anymore since the fairy light wall went up but its a cute edition to the room from Ikea. I don't tend to keep much on their except my phone when it is charging, my current read which is Steven Furtick's "Unqualified" and my Brita to go bottle as the water in Canterbury seems to be hard so I find this helps me not only drink more water but makes it taste better!

So there you have it guys my university room (my last ever one!) in all its glory, no doubt I will find other things to add at some stage and maybe even change what's on my bedside table but nothing will be super significant. I hope you guys found this interesting and maybe helped you with styling your bedroom. 

I'm just going to snuggle up with my cup of tea and brainstorm my next post, any suggestions are welcome you lovelies, thank you for reading.

That's all for now,