Let's talk about the EU

OKAY, so important political stuff here - PLEASE do not click away if you are from the UK and especially if you're eligible to vote this year (if you're not, y'know the EU is still interesting stuff). Even if you know you're voting to leave or stay in the EU in the upcoming referendum, if you can't say why pleaaaaase either watch the video or check out any of the resources because it's really bugging me that people have made a snap decision and don't know why because this is one of the biggest things to happen to the UK in a long, long time, okay?


TOPICS MENTIONED:

• Reintroducing full powers back to Westminster
• EU is a drain on the British Economy
• EU is undemocratic and unaccountable
• 'British Identity' and Economy
• Immigration
• Trade
• New World Order
• Tuition Fees
• TTIP 

RESOURCES:

• Should the left leave the EU? | Owen Jones talks...
• The European Union, Greek austerity and microwave safety | Owen Jones talks back
• TTIP - Why we have to stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership | Owen Jones talks...
• What is the English identity? | Owen Jones talks...
• EU referendum timeline: What will happen when?
• DebateWise - the UK should leave the EU (I based my main points on this link)
• WriteToThem - select MEP if you want to write to your representative on TTIP, but this website is helpful anyway to talk to your constituency's MP as well
• Prevent review - I am going to do a whole video on Prevent but this is where they state what 'fundamental British values' are
• The Truth About Cameron, Immigration & Our Media: Russell Brand The Trews (E172)
• Nigel Farage: It is 'bonkers' to stay in the European Union - just included this for an opposing view okay I hate Nigel Farage 

I hope you found this remotely useful, I just feel like a lot of people don't know what they're doing in the referendum and it's coming up this year, we don't have time to sit back and pretend it's not happening.

Cruelty-free current skincare routine

This is a bit of a cop-out of a post, because it's a video. I much prefer to dedicate detailed blog posts to products I'm really loving and would wholeheartedly recommend, but I wouldn't necessarily wholeheartedly recommend every product in my current skincare routine, so I thought I'd do a video of it and talk you through what I'm using at the moment. If I ever do really love something though, you'll know, trust me, I'll probably talk about it on here at length.



MORNING ROUTINE

• Superdrug Clearly Youthful Cream Cleanse
• Boots Essentials Cucumber Moisturising Cream 
• Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Serum
• Superdrug Vitamin E Eye Cream

EVENING ROUTINE

• Superdrug Simply Pure Micellar Water
• Superdrug Vitamin E Dual Phase Cleansing Oil
• Superdrug Simply Pure Calming Cleanser
• Boots Essentials Cucumber Facial Toner
• Boots Essentials Cucumber Moisturising Cream
• Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Serum
• Superdrug Vitamin E Eye Cream

I also didn't mention this in the video, but my lip balm of choice is Carmex Original. However, even though I do really like this one and would recommend it, I am on the lookout for a new one so if you are aware of one that doesn't test on animals (and if possible, is vegan) I would much appreciate!

What are your favourite skincare products?

So I'm back on YouTube...

Sometime in December I decided to make all of the videos on my YouTube channel unlisted and take an official (I had been on an unofficial hiatus since about September) hiatus because I just wasn't enjoying it anymore, and I didn't really enjoy the content that I had previously put out there. I was also very aware of the fact that practically everyone I knew from my Sixth Form (including some teachers) knew about my YouTube channel, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I didn't really mind people I knew watching it because they were pretty nice and supportive about it. It was more that I felt like I had put a bigger filter on what I could say (like I went from talking openly and honestly about my anxiety in one vlog to more or less just talking about beauty because I didn't want to talk about anything like that with people who I knew might call me up on it) and all these filters left me feeling very boxed in, and like the ISFP I am, I don't like being boxed in.

So, I decided to create a new channel, a fresh start. A channel where I feel like I can just dump anything I like without feeling like I can only talk about a mascara that I'm liking at the minute. To get the channel up and running, I've decided to partake in VEDIF (which is 'vlog every day in February') - I don't think it's the most common daily vlogging thang but I wanted to just create lots of content to get back into filming, and I thought daily vlogging for a month would be the best way to do that.

Day 1 of VEDIF is a 25 Facts About Me video, if you feel like watching it, you can do so down below. If not, no worries, I'm not planning on leaving my blog anytime soon so there should still be fairly regular content up on here, I just missed YouTube is all.

I usually hate resolutions but...

I have made some resolutions. These are things I've been thinking about doing for a while and things I had started incorporating into my life towards the end of 2015, but I haven't really voiced them and I feel like if I do I'll be more likely to stick to them.

I know this photo is blurry but it's kinda cute and candid if you feel me, plus it was taken on New Years Eve so I feel it's appropriate for a New Years Resolutions post..

MAKE THE CONTENT I WANT TO MAKE - I said in my last post that I created a new channel on YouTube so I could start fresh and make the sort of content I really enjoy, but I want to apply that to my blog as well. I've become really b(l)ogged down with the sort of content I do and I feel like my content has become quite contrived, so for this reason, taking effect immediately, I'm stopping any 'series' I have on my blog until I feel like I want to do them again because it's making me feel forced to post content that I don't care about, which in turn is making me care less about my blog. So, I'm just gonna post when and what I feel like posting.

READ MORE BOOKS - If you remember, in this post I said I wanted to read 50 books in 2015 and follow a very challenging regime, which killed my love of reading. I'm serious, like I've been a bookworm since I learned to read but this year I just didn't feel like reading according to this schedule, so I'm setting my reading challenge to 15 books and I'm going to read the books I like.

GET BACK INTO MUSIC - This is quite specific in terms of singing. I have kept up with playing guitar and ukulele since being at University, and the times I've visited home I've had a whack at the piano, but in terms of singing I've completely let go. I had vocal lessons for 4 years, and I feel like since then my voice and slowly deteriorated and I've only realised how dramatically it has recently (my range has decreased significantly) so I'm going to try and work on it everyday to try and get it back to where it was. I used to be able to hit an A5 and I was really proud of that but I can't really do it anymore which is sucky. Plus, I want to do music on my new YouTube channel (which will be properly up in February) so I feel like I should do some sort of preparation for that..

GET A JOB - This isn't a goal I'm expecting to fulfil until the summer, but I have never had a proper job. I've had about 4 days of work experience before, but other than that, zilch. I would really like to get a job for the summer so I can stay down in Brighton for a bit and get a bit of job experience, failing getting a job in Brighton, I might try and get one in London and stay there for the summer. Part of the reason I want to get a job, of course, is so I can sing 'I was looking for a job and then I found a job, and heaven knows I'm miserable now' and have it be somewhat relatable.

Have you set yourself any resolutions?

A review of 2015

2015 has, by far, been one of the biggest years of my life so far. I feel like a lot of things changed for me, and after reading and taking inspiration from Maddie's post, I thought I would do an extremely similar thing and do a lil summary of the past year.

COMPLETED GRADE 8 PIANO - I started playing piano when I was 4 years old and I did my Grade 1 in about 2005, and doing Grade 8 was one of my goals for quite a long time so to do it was one of the most surreal things because I no longer had anything to work for. It also felt like quite an accomplishment for myself and my teacher who took me from grade 3 onwards because she had said since about Grade 5 that she couldn't teach me any further but we kept tackling the next grade up, and I became her first student to ever do Grade 8 which is pretty rad.

GOT OUT OF A TOXIC FRIENDSHIP (frigging finally, lemme tell you) - This is something I had been trying to do for years and years, essentially the entirety of my high school life. Without going into too much detail, I was 'friends' with a very manipulative girl and I had had issues with this friendship for a long time but was always manipulated into maintaining the friendship, and then other people had a similar situation but we didn't manage to sort it out until this year, and it was possibly the most drama our sixth form has ever seen, but I'm glad that me and my friends got out of it and we became closer than ever as a result of it.

FINISHED MY A LEVELS - A Levels were probably the most stressful exams of my life, it was such a relief to have them over and done with. I do miss my sixth form though, we were so close and then all of a sudden we went our separate ways, but that's life I s'pose.

PLANNED AND PARTOOK IN A HOLIDAY - I used to find travelling quite anxiety-inducing if it hadn't been planned for me or I didn't know the area or if I thought I might be late, but when me and my friends decided we wanted to do something to celebrate the end of sixth form, and after we failed to plan a trip to Alton Towers, I suggested renting out a cottage/holiday home for a week, and it seemed to be a perfect idea. After losing a couple of houses, we managed to find one that could cater such a big group and one that was close to the beach, as well as being in our budget. It felt like such a massive accomplishment because we planned it all ourselves with a limited budget and so it fit in with all of our schedules (believe me, it was frigging hard as we only really had one week where everyone was free and our group was massive). It was such an awesome holiday and I have really fond memories of those 5 days in Lytham (probably not the biggest tourist area, but the weather was amazing and we had the beach to ourselves for most of the days).

BECAME A TREE HUGGING HIPPY (a.k.a I became vegan) - I went vegan for a month in the summer just to give it a go and I absolutely loved it, I felt so much healthier and energised and happier, and it was pretty awesome. Then I went back to being a meat-eater (for the Lytham holiday really) for a few weeks and was really unhappy, so eventually I went vegan again and I've been vegan since about mid-August, and it's been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I've tried hard not to be a preachy, militant vegan, but it feels good to have my ethics aligned with my nutritional lifestyle. Plus, being a vegan gave me a fun fact to say at those goddamn awful University icebreakers.

GOT INTO UNIVERSITY - This is a pretty big'un for me as well. The first University I looked at in Year 12 was Brighton and I immediately knew it would be a great area for me, outside of London so I'd get some independence and grow up a bit, but also close enough to home that I could visit pretty easily. It was my first choice when I sent off my UCAS form in Year 13 and I got a conditional offer. Although, me being pessimistic as always, after my exam results I was convinced I wouldn't get in and I had already looked at a bunch of Universities and different courses to apply to on Results Day. Then, interestingly enough, I actually got into Brighton onto the course I wanted (Psychology, if you're interested) and it's been one of the best things to happen to me this year. I adore my house mates, I love the big activist presence in Brighton, I love the town centre, and I love how popular veganism is there too!

STARTED FRESH ON YOUTUBE - This is the most recent one, yup my YouTube channel is no longer. All of my videos are unlisted (I left them unlisted as I didn't want to leave the vlogs I made and I didn't want to abandon a channel I worked hard on) but this isn't the end of YouTube for me, but rather a new beginning (ew, cringe). I've made a new channel, and I'm planning to upload the sorts of videos I really want to make. So there will still be beauty videos, but I want to do music and talk about the sorts of things that I'm really interested in. I know I'm going to have to start again subscriber wise because rebranding and all that jazz, but I'm really excited.

How was 2015 for you guys?

Primark haul

Have you come here searching for the most mundane Primark haul imaginable? Well, you've come to the right place - we have monochrome and basic tees, it's a world of boring clothes. If you just click on the video below, you'll get to see this array of monochromatics (okay, there's a Star Wars tee and some Harry Potter PJs too, couldn't go completely dull) and one lil purchase from H&M. Also, I'm trying to stop with the rambly videos so this video is under 10 minutes long - hurrah for short, snappy videos!

What are your favourite Autumn clothing pieces?

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

Ten things and ten blogs #6

one.

I was looking back at some of my old videos on my YouTube channel, and I found the cringeworthy vlogs I did with one of my best friends a while ago, and it got me thinking that I want to start vlogging again once I get a new phone (I would like to buy a vlogging camera but y'know baby steps), I'm thinking of making a side channel for it though rather than having everything on my main channel - not sure though, please tell me whether you'd like that!!

two.
I got the results of my grade 8 piano exam that (I feel) I've been harping on about for ages, I passed!

three.
I reached 300 followers on this lil old blog of mine, I know that's not a lot to some people, but I'm still surprised that 1 person wants to listen to what I have to say let alone 300 - so y'know thanks for following us here on fashion, beauty and an existential crisis!

four.
For April Fool's Day, my friend decided to prank us (on a Whatsapp group chat) saying she had decided to vote Conservative rather than Labour in the upcoming 2015 election. I predicted this was a prank but she denied it initially, so we spent about an hour telling her why voting Conservative was generally one of the worst things a person could do.. for her to then say, I can't believe you fell for it. I THOUGHT IT WAS A PRANK, I SAID THAT FIRST OF ALL, seriously where is pranking etiquette these days?

five.
Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon's first wife, died and I'm really upset as she's my favourite Beatles girl. She had developed cancer and she was 75 but I really liked her, I read her book 'John' quite a few years ago and it moved me so much reading about her turbulent relationship with John and I grew to love her as individual outside of the mania of The Beatles.
R.I.P Cynthia.

six.
I had a lovely meetup with a few of my friends, as we usually do, we did a little bit of baking (see the picture below) and watched a Disney film, this time it was Aladdin which was really lovely although it's the first Robin Williams film I've watched since he died, so that ruined it a little bit for me. Plus it hit me how much Jasmine and Aladdin look like sister and brother, like I'm sorry if I've now ruined it for you too, but whilst I loved it these things were at the back of my mind the whole time.

seven.
Maddie uploaded a video on her YouTube channel about body confidence and I just thought everything was well said and it's definitely worth a watch!

eight.

I haven't really been doing much over the Easter holiday except for revising and watching films (which you can now see what they are in my new series - what I've been watching), but I've strangely been really enjoying revising Psychology. It's the course I've opted to do in University and I'm planning to retake one of my As Psychology exams, and I've really been enjoying going over the As stuff because we did a whole topic on gender and basically whether we're born gender neutral or cisgender (although that's not the word they use in the book) and it's just generally really interesting which is good!

nine.
I finally got round to watching the last episode of Glee (yes I got back into Glee about a month ago, deal with it haterz) and I cried just a lil bit. Everything I could've ever wanted to happen in the finale happened and whilst I'm sad that it ended in the series where it got good again, I'm glad they've ended on a good note and I don't think they could've done any more series. I'm just a bit sad because I started watching Glee when I was 12 and I'm 18 now, it's literally been there my entire teenage life.

ten.
I've been obsessed with Russell Brand's Trews recently, I don't know whether it's just because it's coming up to the General Election and what he's saying is just more relevant now, or whatever the reason is, but I've just been looking forward to his Trews. I had watched a few in the past and I remember liking them but they have been the highlight of my morning (as I've been off school the past couple of weeks, I've been able to get up a little bit later and have a cup of tea whilst watching the Trews, it's been rather enjoyable)

blogs.
Mermaidens
NikkieTutorials
The rawrdrobe
Behind these closed eyes
Hannah Louise fashion
Citron and Guavaberry
PYT
Splashes with fabulosity
Bluebirds & Bunting
Mouldy fruit

What's the best thing you've done in the past couple of weeks?

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

Ten things and ten blogs #5

one.
My friend gave me a present out of the blue and it's friggin' awesome, it's a shirt that says 'talk disney to me', I was so so happy with it (I have pretty cool friends)

two.
How have I only just discovered They Might Be Giants? Possibly one of the greatest bands of all time, very similar to Ben Folds Five (which you'll know it a massive pro for me if you read this post)

three.
I discovered a YouTuber called Elayna Mae (What the Fandom) and she isn't 'YouTube famous' but I love her videos so far, she's into a lot of the same fandoms as me (including Harry Potter which is obviously the most important one) and she's just lovely to watch so y'all gotta watch her.

four.
I went on a school trip to the Tower of London and the National Portrait Gallery for History, we also got to go on a boat on the river Thames. I know I live in London but sometimes you forget these things are here so it was pretty fun to do that (it was all relating to the Tudors). We had a lecture which I actually fell asleep in though, it wasn't that I was finding it boring but we did a fair bit of walking that day and I have a tendency to fall asleep at inappropriate moments. After that, I went out for a coffee for my friend's birthday (with a few other people from the trip) and we had a surprise guest meet us there which was really cute! I don't know how it became an angry feminist ranty coffee date but if you can't have angry feminist rants with your friends, are they really your friends???

London weather a.k.a 50 shades of grey (a.k.a a really stupid, overplayed joke, sorry)

five.
Clearly I'm just discovering a lot of YouTubers at the moment, so yes I've got another one who is pretty different from Elayna Mae but is equally brilliant. The channel marinashutup is run by a girl called Marina Watanabe and she basically talks about social injustice but in a really clear, concise way and it's just so easy to free fall and binge watch all of her videos. I would definitely recommend watching her if you're interested in social injustice.

One video she did that I found really relatable (which you'll see below) was essentially the 'everyday racist/sexist' things mixed race people, like myself, have to put up with. I don't feel that I face a lot of a racism or sexism a a general rule as I live in one of the most multi-cultural places in the UK and I go to an all girls sixth form (predominantly feminists which is awesome, heck yes.) so the most sexism I face is generally cat calling (which is a gross and stupid too) but I have received racist comments such as the ones mentioned in the video, so I just feel it's great to have someone representing the problems mixed race people face in the YouTube industry.



six.
I don't know if I've mentioned the YouTube channel Button Poetry before (if I haven't it's awesome!) but one of the poems that was uploaded recently is called 'Dark Girls' and it's basically about everyday racism and it really touched me so I'd definitely recommend giving it a listen.



seven.
I had a really lovely day like I had a Philosophy lecture then me and a bunch of friends went out to get a cheeky Nandos*, it was all super nice. Then I get home and hear that Lil Chris is dead and my Makeup Revolution mono eyeshadow smashed, genuinely upset! I literally couldn't live without that eyeshadow, I had to go out and repurchase it two days later.

eight.
I was meant to go to the Bloggers Love Hub Fashion Week event but me and my friends found ourselves walking around East London for hours, we literally couldn't find it and Google maps was no help whatsoever. The experience, for some reason, put me off blogging for a while hence the short hiatus (not really much of a hiatus, but I didn't upload any of the posts I planned so it felt like a hiatus for me). I'm glad I'm able to laugh about it, and in all honestly I was ridiculously nervous about going even though I was going with a couple of friends as my guests so hopefully if I go to an event in the future I'll have better luck!!

nine.
Over the past week, I have fell into a deep, dark hole of binge watching. I've been watching the Naked Brothers Band series. I decided to rewatch the film for the #bantz and now I'm finishing series 2, and it's just reminding me of how much I loved this show at the time and how it was genuinely one of the best shows ever to grace Nickelodeon. I'm so thankful that when it was shown at 3am everyday a few years ago, my Dad recorded it onto a few DVDs for me so I have most of the episodes (are they available anywhere in the UK?!)

ten.
I've gotten a little bit ill and so I've been using vaporub to keep myself y'know breathing in the night, but I read online that you can put it on your temples to relieve yourself of headache AND OH MY, like not only does it do that but it makes your head feel so chilled. I'm not one for drug usage but this is what I imagine trippin' to be like, seriously forget LSD - do vaporub.

blogs.

Townhouse Palette
Imogen's Typewriter
Dresses & Travels
Holly Anne Blogs
Coleoftheball
Ellie Dopson
Frock Me I'm Famous
Feel Bella
Helen Rambles On
The Beauty Department

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

*I'm being ironic

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

Ten things and ten blogs #3

one.

Big day in the beauty world for Bess - I bought my first MAC lipstick! I got it in the shade 'Taupe' and I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it, the cheapskate in me (and my purse) was telling me no but my heart was telling me yes.

two.
The lovely Hazel Hayes of the YouTube channel ChewingSand uploaded a video about voting which I think every person, mostly young people around 18-25, should watch. I only turned 18 in November but I've always been very annoyed at the prospect of people not using their vote, so if you're sceptical about the parties or if you're just not sure about whether to vote or not. Watch the video, at least you'll be a little bit more informed on how much your vote matters.

three.
I did my first outfit post (here) and it was honestly one of the most nerve-racking things I've ever done, I have a really really bad body image (for reasons I won't go into here, but may talk about in a future post) but I really wanted to start doing outfit posts on here to incorporate more of the fashion part of 'fashion, beauty and an existential crisis', so I braved it - personal goal achieved!

four.
Having not done a great deal of work through half-term (I did some, but does the homework ever end with A levels?) I decided I needed to just sit down and work, work, work. I caught up on the Great British Bake Off Comic Relief Special to pump myself up for work, and after about two hours of scrolling aimlessly through Tumblr, I decided to do some Philosophy homework whilst watching Cinderella. It's never been my favourite Disney film and it's one that I've neglected through the years, but I was in the mood for Disney and for some reason, in the mood for Cinderella, so I watched it and it was good. In the same day, I went on to watch Mulan and Mulan 2 so you can tell I'm living the high life here. The next day, I watched Emperor's New Groove too - there is no stopping me.

five.
Blur released the video for their new song Go Out because their new album The Magic Whip* has been announced to come out in April (are you as excited as I am???) I quite like the new song, it sounds similar to some of the other stuff they've done but a bit Oasis-esque which is ironic given that Oasis was Blur's rival in the Battle of Britpop. Perhaps not as catchy as Parklife or There's No Other Way, but I quite like it and I'm looking forward to the new album.

six.
I went to my friend's 18th birthday party, which was comprised of two sections. The first part was playing The Hunger Games in a big field, we were put into districts with one other person, I was in district 4. It was very muddy but a lot of fun. Then we went back to my friend's house and had pizza and listened to music and stuff, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't alcohol. I'd also be lying if I said I hadn't drank a lot but y'know #YOLO

seven.
I'll be one of the first to say that Glee used to be great, y'know it made fun of itself and it was generally really good up until about series 4-5. I didn't even finish series 5 although I was obsessed from series 1-3, seriously obsessed (we're talkin' 200% gleek), but series 6 is really really good. I wanted to watch it because it's the last series but I'm actually really enjoying it, plus you've got trans representation in it! Like seriously finally a big show talking about trans people - this is important folks. Plus Klaine and Britanna getting married - can I get a hells friggin yeah?

eight.
I'm sure you've all heard of what happened between Zendaya Coleman and Giulana Rancic but I just have to say again that Zendaya's response to Giulana's racist comments was so articulate and gosh just damn girl protect the POCs.

nine.
My Philosophy teacher provided an interesting twist on the existential crisis that I've been suffering with since the age of 12 today, he said existential crisis' happen as a result of the realisation that you have too much freedom and you have to make a decision regarding your life and, like in Bill and Ted, 'all we are is dust in the wind, dude' but my teacher said this can be a good thing, I forgot why, I couldn't see how my permanent state of existential crisis could be a good thing but y'know it's a different twist on it I guess.

ten.
I've fallen in love with Ben Folds Five all over again, like I never went off them and they've been one of my favourite bands for as long as I can remember and I'm pretty certain I listen to them every day, but I've been listening to their live performance albums on Spotify and their Naked Baby Photos album a lot and I just think they're so so good - if you've never listened to Ben Folds Five, do yourself a favour and give into the wimp rock piano music, you won't regret it.

blogs.
Makeup Savvy
Hello November
Dainty Ditsy
LJLV
Bethany Worrall
That Northern Girl
Bed in the Kitchen
Feel Bella
Rosie Louise Love
Ellabooxo

What's the best thing that's happened to you in the past couple of weeks?

*Not some sort of bondage situation, I'm guessing

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

Disappointing products #1

The past eighteen years of my life have been pretty disappointing so I'm pretty used to being disappointed and I can point out a disappointing thing when I see once, hence I thought I would do a disappointing products post and video:

1. Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub
- What's wrong with it? It didn't feel grainy enough to scrub my body, it was alright but I didn't feel particularly exfoliated afterwards. Although that might make it better for those with more sensitive skin.

2. Makeup Revolution Focus & Fix Concealer
- What's wrong with it? It didn't cover up spots or dark circles which is precisely what I want a concealer to do (you can see me complain about it in my first impressions post/video here). I can't speak for covering up redness because that's not something I suffer with, but it didn't help whatsoever with what I use concealer for.

3. Simple Eye Makeup Remover Pen
- What's wrong with it? It was a great idea in theory but in practise it didn't remove makeup well, it just smudged it so instead of having a slightly dodgy eyeliner flick that you could chip off, you had a big grey smudge which was harder to remove so it didn't do what I expected it to do.

4. Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Rose Hip
- What's wrong with it? Don't even get me started, this is the worst nail polish I have ever used - seriously, it's not great. Perhaps it's a bad batch but after asking around on the beauty blogger chats on twitter I doubt it. It stayed tacky for hours and hours so it always smudged without fail, which means I would want to take it off so even if it is long lasting it would look gross and smudged so I wouldn't want it to be long lasting, you see what I'm getting at? The shade range is beautiful and I love the other nail polishes from Barry M, but £3.99 for a forever-tacky-so-it-smudges-and-looks-crappy nail polish is at all not worth it.

5. Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper in Circus Confetti
- What's wrong with it? I liked this upon first application, nice even coat of glitter and it was fairly fast drying. I just found it chipped really really badly, it was better with some nail polishes over others but a top coat should be less prone to chipping than any other nail polishes, when this chipped I had to go back under with the colour coat and the top coat so it just didn't look great generally.

What products have you found disappointing in the past?

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

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!!

Collective beauty & fashion haul - Primark, Savers and more

Hello readers, hope you're all well.

Throughout the month of July, I have been shopping a few times and picked up a few bits so I thought I would show you what I got in video form and in blog post form. The link to the video will be down below, and below that will be a break down of everything I got.

1. White dress - £5 from Primark

This dress was a steal at £5, it's super soft cotton like material with a nice crochet-type detail on the torso and I'm sure I'll get plenty of wear out of it in the next month of summer.

2. Friends shirt - £6 from Primark

I do love my graphic tees and friends so this was the perfect combination, it is such a soft material and it has rolled up sleeves because that's what the cool kids are doing these days. I'm probably going to wear this with skater skirts as skater skirts are among one of my favourite things in the world, if I don't wear it outside at least it's a super cosy top to wear indoors.

 3. Stripy black and white tee - £3.50 from Primark

This top is just a staple and I will definitely get wear out of this, I wanted to buy this last month (which I did a haul for and you can read that here) but they didn't have it in Primark when I went so I had to leave it for a while but now I have it and can flaunt my stripes with pride.

4. Nirvana vest top - £8 from Primark

Nirvana are one of my favourite bands and I really like this vest top, I usually feel a bit insecure wearing vest tops because I don't like my flabby arms being on display for the most part but I wore this just yesterday and thought it actually looked quite good and didn't make my arms look worse, if anything it made them look better. Plus the material is super soft. The only thing I worry about (because I buy far too many graphic tees) is that the design will come off, but I've had some of my graphic tees for over 2 years and the design hasn't come off on those so I reckon they'll last.

5. Nail polish twist pot - £1.00 from Primark

I haven't given this a whirl yet so I don't know how good this is at removing your nail polish, but the idea sounds ground-breaking. I first heard of a nail polish twist pot from this video and I was considering making my own but I thought I'd try out this one first seeming as it's only £1.

6. Barry M nail paint in Navy - £1 from market

I wasn't sure whether to mention this as it's not something that will be available to everyone, but where I live there is a market every Thursday which I usually don't go to because of school (despite the fact I have half days on a Thursday) but my Mum wanted to go so we went, and I thought that £1 is such a good price for Barry M. I like the normal Barry M nail paint formula, I've had problems with the gelly one I've tried but that is another post for another time.

7. Barry M lip gloss - £1 from market

Barry M must be quite cheap wholesale at the moment because there was lots of Barry M at the market. I picked up this because I've recently been loving lip glosses and I've used this a few times, and I can confirm that it is not as sticky as most lip glosses and it smells like these French Haribos I receieved in a Cyber Candy Mystery Box (which I did a haul for and you can see that here) so this was a good purchase. It's not too pigmented because it doesn't come out the colour of the gloss in the bottle but most lip glosses don't so that's not an issue.

8. Beauty Formulas rejuvenating glorious mud mask - £1 from Savers

I highly highly recommend this, for a £1 you get a really nice facial. It's not the best face mask in existence, but I would be willing to argue that it's the best face mask, that costs £1, in existence. I use this twice a week and keeps my skin feeling healthy.

I also got a toner which I spoke about more in this blog post so you can check that out if you want to read about that, it cost £1.50 from Savers.

Thanks for reading, stay classy readers and I'll see you again soon.

Cybercandy mystery parcel unboxing

Hello there readers (has that become my catch phrase yet? I notice that I've said it at the beginning of every blog post!) As you can see by the title of this post, this post is a Cybercandy haul or mystery parcel unboxing. What is Cybercandy you may ask? Well according to the website:

"Cybercandy is the UK's longest running online retailer of American Sweets, American Foods and American Soda."

I believe for a while they only ran an online shop but they do have shops in several locations which you can find on their website. I feel I should mention that Cybercandy does so much more than just American products, they also do Japanese, European, Australian, Canadian and more which you can check on the website. 

If you click over to their 'Amazing Offers' page, you'll see that there is an option to buy a bargain mystery parcel, and I have received many in the past, usually as rewards for exams. As I've finished my first year of sixth form and my first year of A level exams, my dearest Mama decided to order me a box so in the video below you'll see me unboxing it, but I wouldn't leave you with just a video - I've also taken pictures of the things I received and I'll give some information about each item.

1. Strawberry bear puffs

Place of origin - Japan

Original price - £0.69

According to my brother who had the chocolate flavour, they're just like sugar puffs, I haven't tried these yet but they look great and you can click here to buy them!!

2. Haribo smurfs

Place of origin - France

Original price - £0.69

These are the epitome of perfection in the Haribo-verse, I don't know why they're so good but they're like tangfastics but a bit harder and with lots of flavour, I would definitely repurchase these! You can click here to buy them!!

3. Maken gummi in Cola and Cider

Place of origin - Japan

Original price - £0.39 (currently reduced)

I haven't tried the cola flavour yet but I tried the cider, the flavour isn't too strong but it's your basic gummy sweet, it's extremely gummy but not slimy if that makes sense, you can click here to buy them in several flavours!!

4. Wonka chocolate bar in Creme brulee 

Place of origin - fairly certain it started in the USA but is now available in the UK!

Original price - unknown (£1 in most supermarkets)

I had already tried all the Wonka bars but they are on point, they're a bit like Galaxy, this isn't my favourite flavour but this was still very nice and I would repurchase this, although as it's available in supermarkets I wouldn't repurchase it from Cybercandy. I couldn't find this specific bar on the Cybercandy website, but if you live in the UK you can get it in most supermarkets and even pound stores!

4. Furuta candy dummy

Place of origin - Japan

Original price - £0.79

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks and feels like a hard gummy sweet, you can click here to buy this!

5. Pop tarts in the flavour frosted cherry and wild berry (a.k.a my favourite things in the world)

Place of origin - USA

Original price - £3.99 for a pack of 8

I could literally go on forever about pop tarts, I am obsessed. You can buy these in the UK but you get barely any flavours (seriously we get strawberry, chocolate and cherry, if you want any more you have  to go to the American section of the supermarket where it costs a bomb) plus the Cherry flavour in the UK is slightly different to the one in the USA, in the USA you get sugar on top of regular frosting. We don't get wild berry flavour here, and I love it - it's very similar to the other berry flavours. Oh my gosh I'm writing a whole paragraph just on pop tarts, but basically if you like icing, jam, and pastry you won't be disappointed! You can click here to find many different flavours of pop tarts!!

6. Coris chick sweets

Place of origin - Japan

Original price - £0.43

I haven't tried these yet, but according to my brother they're a bit like polos but softer, you can click here to buy these!!

7. Wham fizzy belt in sour raspberry

Place of origin - UK

Original price - £0.29

These are available in the UK but they are still delicious, I love sour sweets with a passion so this was a nice thing to receive despite the fact I can get these from the supermarket, you can click here to buy these although I'm fairly certain you can buy these at any supermarket in the UK!

8. Twix limited edition in white

Place of origin - Finland 

Original price - £1.29

This was extremely tasty, I'm not sure if you can get white twixs here (what is the plural of twix?)  but we should have them, they taste so good! You can click here to buy this!!

9. Kasugai gummy candy

Place of origin - Japan

Original price - I'm fairly certain these were part of a multipack, which costs £3.30

I haven't eaten these yet, but melon gummy candy sounds amazing - melon flavoured things are better than life itself, you can click here to see a variety of flavours if you want to buy!

Thank you so much for reading/watching, I hope you enjoyed this post because I've loved Cybercandy for years and I don't think they get nearly enough credit for what they do, and I got all of this for £15!

Have you ever bought anything from Cybercandy?

If you haven't, do you plan to?