Golden Rose Matte Lip Crayon - The BEST Lip Product I've Ever Tried!?

If you saw my Golden Rose haul, then you'll have been awaiting this post! I am seriously mind-blown about these lip crayons. For roughly £5 you wouldn't think much of them, but oh my god are they amazing. I've never used something with such good staying power!

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The crayons themselves are in the typical crayon product packaging, that look smart with their matte black casing and white wording. I also like having the coloured ends, so you know what you're picking up!

The product itself is lovely, they are so smooth and creamy and easy to apply. The pigmentation is amazing, the colours really pack a punch. Being matte is always a worry for my mega dry lips, but they almost feel conditioning as they go on, and dry matte with absolutely no dryness what-so-ever!

Now, their staying power is what has really got me excited about these. I normally avoid dark lips at all costs when I know I'm going to be eating or drinking without a straw, as it's usually just so much hassle and you end up looking like you've just lined your lips throughout the course of your meal until you can reapply. Annoying! But, this doesn't move. Seriously. They won't budge from drinking without a straw, and it barely even fades from eating. INSANE.

The only gutting thing about these is that they're not available in the UK. Not just yet, anyway. I'm really hoping Golden Rose might break through into the UK, but then I think they wouldn't be such amazing value. If you're in Poland or Turkey (and wherever else they might have them) then I would 110% recommend!

Ellie x

Wahanda Salon App

After seeing a few TV adverts about Wahanda, I decided to give it a go. To be honest, apart from the hairdressers, I've only ever been to a salon once and that was a for a pedicure when I was 13 in LA. It does intrigue me, so I thought I'd download it and see what it was all about!

All you have to do it create an account with your name, email and location. It's super simple to join up. The app then finds all the salons in your local area and filters out their treatments into 8 main categories. Each category also has sub-categories. If no-one if your local area does a treatment you want, you can expand your mileage.

The Categories

Hair - filing under hair you can choose from haircuts & hairdressing, blow dry, hair colouring & highlights, hair conditioning & scalp, hair consulting and Brazilian blow dry keratin treatments.

Massage - showing offers of a variety of different massages: therapeutic massage, deep tissue massage, Swedish massage, aromatherapy massage, stone massage and Indian head massage. 

Face - facials, eyebrows & eyelash, microdermabrasion, HD brows, men's facial and eye treatments.

Hair Removal - waxing, hollywood waxing, brazilian waxing, threading, French bikini wax and laser hair removal.

Nails - choose from a manicure, pedicure, gel nails, two-week manicure, foot scrub and nail extensions & overlays.

Body - body wraps, body exfoliation, spray tanning & sunless tanning, body, steam & sauna therapy and cellulite treatments.

Med & Dental - includes dental, teeth whitening, fresh breath, cosmetic injectables, dermal fillers and collagen treatments.

Spa - the spa category searches for local spa's near you so you can book anything from spa breaks to specific treatments.

All categories have the option of all treatments so you can see prices and what salons offer what treatments, or you can go on "other" and search for the treatment you want.

I haven't booked anything yet, but I'm planning on a massage and maybe a manicure!

I really rate this app, it works really smoothly and is perfect if you fancy treating yourself or a salon regular.

Have you tried out Wahanda?

Ellie x

Golden Rose Haul

The one thing I couldn't get my mind off whilst on holiday was the Golden Rose store I found in the local mall. It's serious makeup heaven! The quality of makeup is amazing, and so cheap. I've come home wishing I bought more things. There's a limited range available for the UK, but it's nothing like what's on offer overseas!

The nail polish is brilliant, they have hundreds of shades but I whittled it down to 7 colours and a fast-dry topcoat. Everyone needs a fast-drying topcoat in their lives! They do chip quite easily but their life is a lot longer if you use a higher quality top coat. These came in at 5L each (roughly £1.13)

I only bought one single eyeshadow as I don't really need anymore eyeshadows but I couldn't resist this pretty golden-orangey pink-toned one! The quality is amazing, it's so soft and buttery and blends amazingly. It's very, very similar in texture to the MAC shadows! I believe this was around 17L (around £3.84)

I picked up one lip liner as I didn't have a darker liner in my collection. This is a nice berry shade, and works really well under the new crayon I bought too! It's soft, non-drying and is in an easy twist-up tube, no sharpening required! This was 7.50L (around £1.69)

The matte lip crayons I bought are by far my favourite things I bought, I wish I had bought every colour they had! I'm doing their own review as they really deserve it! I picked up a rich berry shade, and a pink. They were 24.50L each (around £5.54 each)

Ellie x

Turkey Haul!

I really, seriously love the things I picked up from Turkey. I do feel a little guilty about some of the fake things I bought, as I normally hate fake goods but I gave in to temptation as pretty much every other shop has "genuine fakes" as they call them, haha. I also adopted a "someone like me will never be able to afford a real one" attitude, oops! Oh well. When in Turkey!

My favourite things out of everything are the patterned shorts and the Golden Rose makeup!

Ellie x

Inside My Holiday Makeup Bag

Just before I set off for my hols I posted a sort-of guide on packing your makeup bag, so I decided whilst packing mine I would share it!

The brushes [left to right] - Nanshy sponge, unknown short kabuki, Real Techniques base shadow brush, Spectrum brow brush, Spectrum angled brush, Real Techniques buffing brush, Spectrum blush brush, Real Techniques contour brush

Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro Primer

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Translucent

Benefit Lemonaid

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

ELF Brow Kit

Makeup Revolution I ♥ Makeup Brow Gel

Maybelline The Falsies Waterproof

Makeup Revolution Golden Sugar

I also have taken 4 lipsticks, an orange, a pink, a nude and a red! When I was writing this I still hadn't made my mind up on which ones to take... oops!

Ellie x

*I'm currently away in Turkey! Back soon! :)

Beauty Packing 101: Your Makeup Bag

I've noticed a lot of people really struggling to pack their makeup bag for holiday. If it's one thing I'm good at packing-wise, then it's definitely my makeup bag. Fashion packing on the other hand is a totally different story!

I try to keep to 2 rules when packing. Keep it simple, and be realistic. Are you really going to need 4 eyeshadow palettes? Or 10 different lipsticks? Chances are, you'll stick to one, maybe two, shades the whole holiday. As for all those travel minis, is a mini shampoo and conditioner going to be enough for your 2-week beach holiday? Definitely not.

Although I'm still taking a fair amount of makeup, it's nowhere near the scale of my normal arsenal.

For me, it's mainly basics and about not wanting to ruin any of my favourite cream products. Getting a highlight/contour palette like the Golden Sugar palette from Makeup Revolution is fab, as not only does it have your face covered, it also passes as an eyeshadow palette! 4 lipsticks so you have a range of things to choose from, without going overboard. Four is enough for me; red, orange, pink and nude.

Brushes are another hard one, but just take your favourites that you know do the job.

For the evenings, I'll have primer, BB cream, brows, mascara, highlight/light contour and a lipstick. For day, all I'll need is powder, brows and mascara! Planning out what you want is one of the best ways to do your makeup packing, as you will be able to condense what you take and able to decide on some multi-tasking products!

I hope this post helps with your holiday packing!

Ellie x

Doll White Teeth Whitening Strips

Thanks to the wonderful happenings at the Bloggers Hub, I was able to try out the Doll White teeth whitening strips* that seems to have taken the blogging world by storm!

Doll White offer teeth whitening strips that are made with no peroxide, so they won't harm your teeth! They claim to be able to make your teeth brighter and whiter within just 14 days. I received a 7-day trial, which I was told I would be able to see a difference. 

The strips themselves are really easy to use. In each sachet there is a set of strips, one for your upper teeth and one for your lower teeth. All you do is clean and dry your teeth before applying the strips, as this gives the best results. Make sure the strips are lined up with your gums. When I applied them, I folded back the excess strip to keep it out the way and to help secure it on. Just wait 30 minutes without eating and drinking, soak off the gel remaining on your teeth and you're done!

Now, although Doll White claim there will be no irritability or sensitivity with these strips, I did actually unfortunately get a very sensitive/painful sensation when using these and for the day after. I do have sensitive teeth occasionally, however I started to feel some pain during the 30 minutes and experienced really uncomfortable sensitivity for the day after, which I was really disappointed about. Due to this, I didn't use the other 6 strips.

As holiday is approaching fast I decided to stop as I didn't want any discomfort that could possibly spoil my time. I will definitely give the other 6 strips a go when I get back though!

I hope I have better luck with them next time. I'll do an update!

14 day Doll White strips - £19.99

Ellie x

Current Favourite Summer Nail Polishes

I don't think I've ever done a favourite nail polish post, or if I have it was a very long time ago! I thought I'd share some of my favourite shades that I've been wearing on my nails through these last few weeks.

Barry M: Coral - I love this shade for a typical bright pop of colour during summer.

No7: LE Spring Meadow - although originally released as a spring colour, I'm loving pastel shades for this summer. This mint green is stunning.

Ciate: Cream Soda - I'm a huge fan of grey polish, and I wanted a lighter "pastel" grey for summer. Cream Soda is that exact description, although it needs a few layers to build up it's true colour.

Ciate: Raspberry Collins - a mini from the Beach House collection, this gorgeous bright pop of raspberry pink is your perfect summer pink. Currently loving on my toes!
Ciate: Doll Face - from the Porcelain Collection, this shade is pretty pastel nude. Be sure to topcoat with your favourite topcoat (or matte topcoat) to prevent chipping, these chip a lot without it.
Ciate: Baby Doll - from the Porcelain Collection, this is a pastel peach. Like Doll Face, this needs a form of topcoat to prevent any chipping.

Ellie x

The Bloggers Planner & Get 20% Off!

One of the most recent things to catch my eye is The Bloggers Planner. I find it hard to keep up with blogging sometimes, there's just so much to do! Writing, editing, scheduling and more. I've found that planning things out, setting myself schedules, writing checklists, ideas for future posts and even outfit ideas that spring into my head. Whilst I'm happy using a plain notebook I picked up from Tesco, as a blogger and sucker for all things pretty, I was hankering after something nicer.

[credit: The Bloggers Planner]

The Bloggers Planner offers a wide range of planners, notebooks and printables to keep you organised with your blog, such as style journals, blog planners, meal planners, to-do lists and monthly calendar print-outs. You can also build your own planner, and each planner gives you the option of your own wording. Pretty neat, huh?

I haven't ordered mine yet, but I'm planning on buying either the Bloggers Planner or the Content Planner. They both include really great pages to help you keep on top of your blog, such as a stat tracker and even haul tracker. I'm finding it hard to decide!

The reason why I couldn't wait to share this before I'd even picked up my own copy, is because the lovely folks over at The Bloggers Planner have given me a 20% off code to share with you all!

Simply use the code "TREATME20"!

Enjoy!

Ellie x

Deepening & Prolonging the Life of Natural Tan

As summer seems to be officially here, I thought I would do a post on natural tanning. I'm definitely a fake-tan-free kind of girl, although I have been thinking about it more recently, but I still haven't caved. As I have olive skin, I tan very easily, so my main challenge is prolonging the colour. I haven't really been out in the sun properly for years (due to health reasons) so this year and on my holiday I'm making the most of the sunshine, especially as I look super ill with pale skin!

PROTECT YOUR SKIN

It is so important to protect your skin from the sun, even if you don't burn. The sun can really damage your skin, cause ageing and even skin cancer so I think it's really important that you use the correct SPF for your skintone and where you are in the world, also check out the star rating on the back of your sun cream bottle to check out the protection it gives you from other rays.

For the UK, I use a Factor 20 spray and that is enough protection for my skin tone. For my holiday in August, I have bought Factor 30. My BF however, is very white and needs more protection.

When your skin burns, it really damages the skin and doesn't leave you with a darker tan. It may be darker for a few days, but will quickly fade. You also really don't want that irreversible damage.

EXFOLIATE!

To deepen your tan, all you need to do is exfoliate. By constantly removing that dead layer of skin, you tan has a chance to deepen and darken without being "shaved off". If the dead skin cells aren't removed, they will come off when you shave, which will slightly remove your tan.

For everyday, I use a gentle everyday exfoliator from Sanctuary Spa. For a couple of times a week, I use a very scrubby scrub from Superdrug. It's probably one of my favourite things I've bought recently, as it leaves skin incredibly smooth and soft thanks to the added oils.

AFTER CARE
For my time in the sun in the UK, I only use after sun if I've been in the sun all day at work. Otherwise, I just mosturise as normal. But for my holiday, I will be using after sun everyday, and everyday once I'm back home. After sun helps sooth and repair your skin from being in the sun, whilst helping the colour last that bit longer.

MY TOP TIPS FOR NATURAL TANNING

- Always use an SPF that matches your skin tone, Boots have a good quiz on what sun cream you need depending on where you are and your skin tone. My general rule is the paler you are, the higher SPF and the hotter it is, the higher the SPF.

- Exfoliate for a deeper and longer-lasting tan

- After sun and moisturiser to help look after your skin, soothe and repair it

I hope these tips help!

Ellie x

Beauty Focus: Strobing

The next biggest thing to send the beauty world into total meltdown is a new technique called "strobing". And just like when the beauty world went crazy over contouring, it has been a thing for a very long time.

To put it really bluntly, strobing is just highlighting. Contouring, without the contour. It's something I have done for a while, I personally love it, especially in summer. It gives your face light and structure, without going heavy on makeup, which is one of the reasons why I love it so much in summer.

Strobing, in my opinion, is far easier than contouring. Although I don't find contouring difficult, I know a lot of people really struggle to understand it or the best way to do it for their face shape. With strobing, all you need to do is sweep highlighter over your highest points; above the brows, on the brow bone, down the nose, on your cheekbones and your chin. Done!

I am currently swtitching between 3 products for my highlighting, all of which are slightly different:

Highlight from Maybelline Master Sculpt - this is probably one of my favourite highlighters ever, I hope Maybelline release it on it's own. A rather pale highlight, but blends perfectly into the skin and gives you a really natural light to your face.

Makeup Revolution Golden Sugar - there are 3 shades in the Golden Sugar palette that I enjoy using for highlighting. The first is a very white/silver highlight, that doesn't really suit me but is good for the brow bone and inner corner of eyes. The second is a champagne colour which gives me a more natural looking highlight, and the third is a gold - but without being too gold - which is my favourite for my skin tone at the moment. It especially looks great on a sunny day!

Radiance Fluid from No7 - I still have this sample-sized tube from No7 of their Radiance Fluid. I really like this to luminise my skin underneath my foundation, or just on it's own. Pure radiance in a tube!

What do you think of strobing?

Ellie x

Rimmel London Kate Moss Nude Collection: #43

Part of being a beauty blogger and/or beauty addict is getting majorly excited for new releases. Especially new releases in which you can easily wear and afford.

I was really excited when I heard about Rimmel launching a new line of Kate lipsticks, a nude range to be specific. I love nude lipsticks, and I think I must own almost every shade of nude possible by now! 

Not sure what nude lipstick to get? Don't worry! At Rimmel stands they have a chart of which lipstick will suit what skin tone. #43 is probably the lightest I could go, especially as I normally go for caramel nudes or rose nudes, but this is a very warm true nude. And like I said, probably the palest I could go without looking like I had smothered concealer all over my lips. #43 is for warm skin tones.

I quite like the packaging, it's a pale pinky-nude tube which I like as it matches the collection. I really like when brands step away from their usual packaging when they bring a collection out, I just think it makes the product feel more special.

The lipstick itself is brilliant. I have come to expect no less from Rimmel, as they seem to really nail their lipstick formulas. It's their usual lippy texture, a sort of satin, without being drying.

I really like this lipstick, I really want to pick up another one. I saw on the chart another lipstick that would suit me, it's slightly darker but I can't remember which shade it was, oops!

Rimmel London Kate Moss Nude Lipstick #43 - £5.49

Ellie x

Makeup Revolution Golden Sugar Palette

Oh, how I have lusted after this item since Makeup Revolution released it. For so long this was an online-only exclusive (as is many of their items), and I never seem to be able to fill my order with enough excitement-inducing items to justify placing an order. Just recently though, they are bringing more out onto Superdrugs' shop floor. Hooray!

Latest to catch my eye were the blusher palettes, including the much-wanted cream blush palette. My eye, however, was drawn to Golden Sugar. I've wanted this SO badly, I'm just drawn to anything golden toned and I knew immediately that this would suit my skin tone.

There are 8 shades in this palette, 2 highlight shades, 3 blushers, 1 golden shade and 2 contour shades.

They are all very pigmented as you would now expect from Makeup Revolution, especially with the white highlighter shade and golden shade really packing a punch.

My personal favourites are the second highlighter shade, it's a champagne colour so looks great as a natural highlight - perfect for strobing.This palette is great for experimenting. I will get wear from all of these shades as either face products or as eyeshadows.

I'm so happy I finally picked up this palette, I would definitely recommend it for everyone! It's a great palette for playing with, and will create some brilliant glowy looks.

Ellie x