Empties #2

Hello readers, I'm back with another Empties post (here is a link to my previous one) because I have used up a few products and I wanted to share them with you so I could throw out the products.

1. Simple Kind to Skin Purifying Cleansing Lotion

Pros:

- didn't cause irritation

- cleansed my skin well

- inexpensive

- pleasant but subtle scent

Cons:

- none to be honest!

Repurchase?

I have repurchased this in the past, and I will repurchase this in the future. I'm not sure if I've sung my praises about Simple before, but I think all of the products by them that I've tried are such good value for the price. This for me is a staple, if I'm not feeling adventurous and don't want to try new products then I will probably always return to this product - does the job and it's inexpensive which is all I really ask for in a product.

2. Boots Essentials Cucumber Facial Toner

Pros:

- nice scent

- inexpensive

Cons:

- not very strong cleanser

Repurchase?

I have repurchased this in the past and I will probably repurchase it in the future because it's usually under £2, but I think I prefer Simple's toner to this. I do like the Cucumber scent, but I feel like the Simple toner cleanses my skin much more than this one.

3. Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser

Pros:

- sinks in quickly leaving a near matte finish

- not too greasy

- inexpensive

Cons:

- none!!

Repurchase?

Definitely. This is one of my favourite moisturisers of all time, it's inexpensive and sinks in so quickly so you can apply it and then a couple of minutes later be ready to put on makeup!

4. Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner

Pros:

- long lasting

- dries quickly

- inexpensive

Cons:

- nib is thick making it hard to get a thin line

Repurchase?

I will definitely repurchase this (and have done in the past). I'm yet to find a liquid eyeliner that works as well for me as this, however I am still on the search for a perfect thin nibbed good formula liquid eyeliner so if I ever find 'the one' I will reject this eyeliner.

5. Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Wash

Pros:

- nice smell

- does the job

- large quantity

Cons:

- not cheap

- doesn't lather up amazingly

Repurchase?

I got this in the Yule Monty so if I buy that (although it was given to me when I got this) then I wouldn't have an issue with it. Although it's not as good a body wash as everyone says, I want to try out all of the other Soap and Glory body washes before returning to this one me thinks.

6. Beauty Formulas Mud Mask

I was naughty and re-used a photo from this post - sorry! It was only because the lighting when I took all the other photos is not as good so I thought I'd re-use a good photo rather than take a bad one, am I forgiven?

Pros:
- inexpensive
- good value
- makes my skin very soft

Cons:
- none to speak of!

Repurchase?
To quote an internet meme.. 'YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS'! I love this face mask with a passion, so inexpensive and does the job too!

7. No7 Essential Moisture Night Cream

Pros:

- strong moisturiser

- made my skin noticeably softer

Cons:

- packing makes it harder to get all the product out

Repurchase?

Probably not because it is essentially just a heavy moisturiser and as it's No7 it's not likely to be cheap, plus I'm not sure if you can only get this in a box set or not.

8. No7 Essential Moisture Day Cream

Pros:

- sinks in quickly

- made my skin very soft

Cons:

- packaging is restrictive so it's hard to get all the product out

Repurchase?

Probably not because there are cheaper alternatives to just a heavy moisturiser, but I wouldn't be opposed to using it if I received it because it did make my skin very soft.

9. No7 Protect and Perfect Night Cream

Pros:

- did the basic job of a moisturiser

Cons:

- difficult to work into my skin because it would start to peel

- restrictive packaging!! (get on top of that No7!)

Repurchase?

No, again this is just a heavy moisturiser but this one began to peel on my face after being applied which is gross.

10. Collection Matching Perfection Concealer

Again, I've been a bit naughty and recycled a photo from this post - I just don't want to force bad photography on you!

Pros:
- high coverage
- lasts a long time (not 16 hours though mind you!)

Cons:
- limited shade range
- sometimes doesn't blend in amazingly (I have a love hate relationship with this concealer)

Repurchase?
Probably not unless they increase the shade range, a mixed race girl has to put up with a lot of problems - limited shade range in concealer and foundation is one of them! The shade I picked up (warm medium) isn't too bad but sometimes it is a tad too light and the dark shade emphasizes dark circles on me which defeats the point. So to re-use the wise words of Simon Cowell, it's a no from me.

Thank you so much for reading/watching!

Have you tried out any of these products?
What products have you used up recently?

Spitalfields market and the Breakfast club

Hello there readers. I thought I'd share a snippet of my life with you today, about this time last week I went to Spitalfields market with two of my closest friends and we had a really lovely time, and then went back to my friend's house for an 80s films themed sleepover so it was a lot of fun!

To kick start the day, we went to The Breakfast Club in Spitalfields.

No word of a lie, these were the best pancakes I've ever had. Ever since my holiday to the USA last year, I have been missing IHOP a lot especially when eating English pancakes and realising how ours don't even compare, but these may be even better than IHOP.

The Breakfast Club was full of notes from previous customers and random bits and bobs like concert tickets from people who had seen concerts in that area.

After stuffing ourselves, we went off to the market and the cute shops around it.

There was this shop selling vintage homeware and I couldn't not take a couple of snaps!

After buying a thing or two in Spitalfields, we made our way over to Brick Lane where we didn't buy anything but we did stop for a Starbucks - my first ever Starbucks, I feel like I've been truly accepted into the hipster lifestyle (don't worry I am being ironic)

After having a Starbucks and a nice sit down, we hopped on a bus and went to Oxford street mostly just for the Disney store and Selfridges - we found ourselves very overcome with emotion in the Disney store, I have no shame whatsoever. When we were finished on Oxford Street, we made our way back to my friend's house for some baking and 80s movies!!!

Can't talk about baking without a bit of food porn eh? This is the cookie dough we made for the slutty brownies!

This is the slutty brownies before they went into the oven (if you want a recipe post for this please comment down below and I'll make them again!)

The finished results.. believe me, the pictures do not do the brownies justice. I think I've only just started living since trying slutty brownies, and I think my friends are still a bit freaked out by the things I said I would do to this brownie..

Of course just slutty brownies wasn't enough, so we made two other types of cookies. This dough turned into delicious nutella cookies.

The recipe for these nutella cookies can be found here.

Top tip: eat these while they're hot, they're much tastier hot and soft!

My mouth is watering just remembering these chocolatey delights, of course that wasn't enough so we made BISCUITCEPTION (see below)

This is biscuitception a.k.a cookies with chocolate fingers inside, these were the softest cookies I've ever tried - it's like a cookie mixed with a cake!

We spent the rest of the night and the rest of the next day watching 80s films such as Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, E.T, Big, and The Goonies. I might as well say that 80s films are my absolute favourite films, we did plan for more but we didn't have time so we will definitely be doing another one at some point in the future.

We also managed to do a face mask in between and order pizza which was great.

Thanks for reading this lifestyle post!

The lifestyle post - face masks, food and fun

Hello there readers, this post is my very first lifestyle post on this blog - such fun! As it's the summer, I've already started doing things with my friends so I thought I'd share a little snippet of my life with you all! The dates this post covers is the 10th July - 11th July where I had a sleepover with two of my buddies, we decided to bake and watch Miranda because Miranda is one of the greater things in life. We also got through most of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but we got a bit carried away and forgot to get back to it (Harry Potter is an emotional journey anyway and I don't think I was up to it)

To start off, we made a red velvet cake following the Hummingbird bakery recipe (if you want to see a blog post with this recipe, please leave a comment down below because I will definitely be making this again as it was really moist and tasty even though it wasn't the reddest of red velvet cakes)

As my other friends were fasting for Ramadan and I'm not religious, they couldn't eat anything until the evening but they claim that baking  helps them get through it (each to their own, eh?) 

Next on the menu was peanut butter stuffed brownies - I'll give you a second to think about how amazing this was.. If you want a recipe, you can find it here. I may do a blog post on this, but I'm not sure as my friends and I have a long list of food we want to bake over the summer so we may not have time for repeats and my family aren't the biggest brownie fans (let us shun them). We actually didn't  use paper to line the tins so it was quite the struggle getting these out after they had cooled over night, but these tasted best straight out of the oven anyway!

We stayed up until the early hours of the morning so that my friends could eat before their fasting started back up again, in which time we watched a lot of Miranda, and a few videos from 'the youtubers' i.e Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee (don't get me started on Joe Sugg... I think he's a bit tastier than the brownies...)

After a late start to the day (as we had gone to bed late we didn't really wake up until about 11:00am, and even then we didn't really move for another hour as watching Miranda and Jack Whitehall was much more important than movement). Once we had gotten up, we decided to do a face mask which is what we usually do - pamper sessions are a lot of fun with friends, I'm still sitting here stroking my face because of how smooth it feels, don't judge me.. I did the sea mask which was so moisturising, I have normal to combination skin so I could've done any of the masks really but I did  this one and I think I'll be doing it again because my skin feels so hydrated!

Shortly after doing the face masks, one of the group had to leave and then there were two, which wasn't a problem at all. We watched a few more Joe Sugg videos and threw in a few Tanya Burr ones too, and then I left as well so as to not impose and to make it back in time for dinner even though I had eaten so much and wasn't too hungry!

I always feel so tired after a sleepover because of the overload of sugar and lack of sleep, so I took it easy when I got home and watched a classic, Spiderman, with my brother - the Tobey Maguire one. I hadn't really watched it since I was a kid and I always say I prefer the Amazing Spiderman with Andrew Garfield, but I had forgotten how good the original was!

Thanks for reading my lifestyle post, please comment if you'd like to see more posts like these :)

Do you like to bake with friends?