Music of the month - September 2014

Hello there readers - I do apologise for not blogging that much over this month, I am back in the humdrum sixth form lifestyle, I'm actually doing my last year of A levels so it's a pretty important year but I don't want blogging to take a backseat so I'm still going to try and upload as often as I can! As you can tell by the title, it is time for another 'Music of the month' post (you can read my last one here) because whilst I am spending most of my time crying over the fact that I'm doing A levels and I want to melt my face because of that, I am still listening to music so I have been listening to a few songs on repeat this month!!

1. Babooshka - Kate Bush

I've been listening to Kate Bush a lot this month because my Philosophy teacher loves her, and at the beginning of every Philosophy teacher he recommends some music or a film or a book to us (and then we can recommend something if we want to), and he's recommended Kate Bush a fair few times so I've been listening to her a lot. I turned to her popular tracks on Spotify and Babooshka was the third one in there and I just like how quirky it sounds, and I also think she has a great voice.

2. Every Other Freckle - Alt-J

I have been listening to Alt-J's newest album on Spotify non-stop since it was put on there, it's slightly different from their old album but still has some similarities. Every Other Freckle is fairly similar to the songs on their last album but less chilled and more 'groovy' - I really didn't want to have to use the word 'groovy' in this post but that's what it's like, don't judge me.

3. Lovely Day - Alt-J

As I just said, I have been really enjoying Alt-J's new album. It sounds a little bit different from their first album in some ways but it's also similar enough that if you liked the first album you won't be disappointed with this one. This song is a bonus track on the album and I really like it because it sounds a bit strange and quirky but it's a nice chilled song.

4. The Girl in the Dirty Shirt - Oasis

I have liked Oasis for a long time but I haven't heard all of their songs so I'm always discovering new ones. I feel like all of their most popular songs like Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova (which I love don't get me wrong) sound quite similar but this song provides some variation. My family are always criticising me for liking Oasis (they prefer Blur) because all of their songs sound the same, but this one sounds slightly different and a bit more 'rocky'.

5. Lullaby - The Cure

The Cure also aren't a new band to me but I don't know that many of their songs, and I think this song came up on my tumblr dashboard and I instantly liked it. It's another chilled song but it's more upbeat than Alt-J. I'm never sure if it's wrong for me to like The Cure seeming as The Cure fandom seem to hate The Smiths fandom (please just let me love who I love)

Thanks for reading this month's 'Music of the month'!!

What music have you been enjoying this month?

Review | Primark P.S Love Liquid Eyeliner

I apologise for the writing on the eyeliner rubbing off - it happens to the best of us, I hope we can move past this together.

About 4 months ago, Primark launched its own beauty range called P.S Love and caused quite a hype in the beauty blogger world for its inexpensive products. As a confessed Primark shopaholic and beauty product hoarder I knew I needed a slice of this cheap beauty pie (sounds pretty appealing right?)

I decided to try out their liquid eyeliner as I had read some good reviews and was looking for an inexpensive replacement for the Collection liquid liner, and as this one only cost £1 I figured I wasn't going to be losing much.

Formula wise, this is a great product. It is long lasting, very black and doesn't flake off for a long time, it also dries fairly quickly and doesn't transfer onto other parts of the eye area which is a benefit. As you may be able to see from the swatch below, it isn't matte but it isn't incredibly shiny either, and it is very black which is good.

However, the nib was an absolute pain in the backside for the most part. When it was fresh from the packet, the nib was very hard and very thin which is good to get a steady thin line but it was so hard that I found it quite painful sometimes. I found that the nib softened up after a few uses and was quite good for a while, but then the fibres kept coming out and I found myself constantly plucking out and snipping off these fibres - I'm not sure if that's normal for liquid eyeliner nibs but I've never had this problem before, this made application a hell of a lot harder as it was like using a mini cactus as a nib and it meant I couldn't make a clean cat eye flick easily.

Overall, this product is fairly good for the price and I love the formula but because of the problems I suffered with the nib I can't see myself repurchasing it any time soon - sorry Primark!

Have you tried any of the P.S Love Range?

What were your thoughts?

Review | Essence Studio Nails Hardening Nail Base

Just over a month ago, I heard that Wilkinsons had introduced a make-up brand called Essence and I was interested from the start as I've always gone for the most inexpensive best value products concerning make-up, skin care and clothes. I took a gander on the Wilkinsons website first and foremost so I could find out what sort of products I would be most interested in trying, and the first thing that caught my eye was their nail polish range and in particular their nail hardening products because I have wanted to purchase the Sally Hansen nail hardening products for a long time but I couldn't bring myself to spend that much - hence I decided to try out the Essence Studio Nails Hardening Nail Base.

The one thing that puts me off from wearing nail polish in general is the thought of it chipping quickly because I hate chipped nail polish and I always have a compulsion to remove it straight away even if it has only chipped after a day or two, that's why finding a good nail base was important to me. Furthermore, my nails are fairly brittle so this means my nail polish is more susceptible to chipping so this is why I needed a nail base that would harden my nails more than just prevent staining. This product was only £1.80 so it wasn't a massive loss at all. 

Whilst it looks glue-like in consistency and colour, I can assure that it is a very good nail polish. It dries clear and quickly, and makes my nails feel instantly stronger and it has now become a necessity when painting my nails. It makes my nail polish (the one on top of the base coat) last at least twice as long as it usually would as well when I'm wearing it so it is well worth the money.

I can honestly say I have no negative things to say about this product, it will definitely be a repeat purchase. Considering it was under £2.00 as well, I am pretty chuffed to have discovered this product.

Have you tried any products from Essence?

What do you think of it?

Summer favourites

Hello there readers! Today I'm going to do a monthly favourites, I haven't done one of these on my youtube channel or this blog but I used to quite like doing them on my old blog and I've collated quite a few items that I am loving, but I feel like firstly I need to majorly apologise for not uploading any blog posts throughout September. You can probably guess, but I've just been back at sixth form and it's my last year so I've had a lot of work to do and it's hard to edit videos and blog posts on top of that but I'm still going to try my best to upload as often as I can.

1. Max Factor Glossfinity in Snow White

I received this nail polish from my Mum who got it as a free gift with purchase, and I love white nail polish. I cannot recommend this nail polish highly enough! It's opaque, super glossy, dries in seconds and is long lasting! It could probably get away with one coat, I am awful with nail polish (brittle nails and poor application) but this really worked for me - go out and buy some!!

2. 'Episodes' the TV show

This show came out a while ago so yes I'm late to watching it however there wasn't a massive hype over it so it's not like I'm late to the bandwagon, right? When this show was originally on, I was interested by the cast (Friends is my livelihood so Matt LeBlanc was enough to get me onto it, I also quite enjoy Black Books  and Friday Night Dinner so Tasmin Greig also drew me in , and I've seen Stephen Mangan on Would I Lie to You? and I've thought he was quite funny). The idea of the show is that these two characters called Sean and Beverly have had this successful TV show in England, so they're asked to bring it over to the USA and it makes fun of the whole idea (come on, besides from The Office what show has successfully been brought over to the USA?) so I quite enjoyed that.

3. My Mad Fat Diary - Rae Earl

Anyone who has followed me on twitter for a long time you may remember my fangirling when series 2 of My Mad Fat Diary was shown, if you don't remember then don't worry I'm not judging you too much. When I found out that it was based on real life diaries that were turned into books, I knew I had to read them, and my good friend Meera lent the first book to me to read and I really liked it (you can read my review here) The characters aren't the same as the TV show exactly because they have nicknames like Haddock and Battered sausage, the characters in the TV show are a combination of characters. I'd definitely give this a read if you love Morrissey and the Smiths because there are references on every page practically.

4. Beauty Formulas mud mask

If you've seen my Collective July Haul, then you will know that I bought this inexpensive mud mask from Savers for a £1. It isn't the most amazing face mask I've ever tried, but it is the most amazing face mask I've ever tried that costs £1 for this much product. I use it twice a week, and my skin always feels so smooth afterwards, it also doesn't irritate my skin which is what I worry about with cheaper products.

5. 'Finding Carter' - the TV show

I'll be honest, I only started watching this show because of Kat Prescott (I'm a massive Skins fan and Emily was one of my favourite characters) but 7 minutes into the first episode and I was hooked. Carter is this girl who was abducted and then she gets reunited with her real family but she wants to be back with who she thought was her Mum, I think it's just a gripping show - once I had started there was no hopes of saving me.

6. DIY Lemon and Sugar Scrub

This is essentially a scrub made with sugar and lemon juice so it's pretty simple, but so effective. I have never had such good exfoliation, plus it tastes really nice (I know you're not meant to eat it but in the rare case than some slips into your mouth whilst exfoliating your face, you can eat it and it will taste good - it reminds me of Pancake Day because I will always take lemon and sugar on my pancakes over syrup)

7. Make-up Revolution Lipstick in Dare (Matte)

I have been waiting forever for Make-up Revolution to hit the shops, I thought they were meant to come into stores back in June or something like that but they never did - until August. I freaked out and now I just want to buy the whole range because it's all such good value for money! This lipstick is matte so it isn't exactly hydrating but it's not completely drying, it's extremely pigmented and fairly long lasting for £1 - I am thoroughly impressed. I'm also quite proud of my self for getting into red lipstick because I've always been a bit scared to wear it out of the house, but all I ever get is compliments on it and I feel this is the perfect shade to wear in the autumn/winter but it can be worn all year round!

8. Make-up Revolution Iconic 2 Palette

As I just said, Make-up Revolution seems to be amazing value for money! Similarly to MUA (their sister brand I believe), they have 3 palettes that are identical to the Naked Palettes by Urban Decay but they are literally 10 times cheaper. I was debating about whether to get the Iconic 2 or Iconic 1 palette but I decided on Iconic 2 (I will eventually get Iconic 1), and I have not looked back - extremely pigmented and long lasting for only £4, and they're all neutral brownish shades with a black/dark grey and a lighter grey shade which means I've been able to get use out of all of them!

9. eBay Makeup Brushes

First things first I'm the realest you can buy similar brushes here (the ones I bought are no longer available.) These brushes are amazing value. I might as well say that I'm not a complete makeup brush nerd, hence why I wanted to buy eBay ones because I didn't want to spend a large amount on expensive brushes if I wasn't going to use them often, but these brushes have become a staple for me. I bought them in the pink colour because I thought they'd be pretty, although they're not the pink that was advertised by the seller I'm not too bothered because I like the colour they are. They are super soft and apply makeup very well - what else could you want from makeup brushes/

10. Nivea Soft Cream

I may as well get this out there, this is quite possibly the nicest cream I have ever used on my skin ever. It is extremely hydrating (you can use it on your body and hands as well as just your face, but I only use it on my face), you get a massive tub (I only paid £1.99 for this massive tub) and you can use it sparingly so it will probably last me a very long time, and it has made my skin feel immensely soft, it also has a nice slightly floral scent which I think is lovely.

Thanks for reading/watching - I'll see you soon!!