Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Highstreet/Drugstore Make Up Favs!

Hello! As promised in my last post I said I wanted to do more posts, in particular beauty. So today I've decided to pick my favourite products from the highstreet/drugstore and tell you!

Foundation- Rimmel Match Perfection
This is my favourite foundation tried by the highstreet yet! As I have quite oily skin I thought I should avoid it, but when I saw it in Asda for £4.99 I thought why not? And bought it! The coverage isn't high but it's enough for an everyday look. It doesn't make you look super dewy which is what i dreaded, but it doesn't make you look matte either!

Concealer- Maybelline Fit Me
Shock horror, it isn't the Collection Lasting Perfection! Many other bloggers who would class that as their holy grail concealer, buuuuut I don't like it. (That's a story for another day, I may do a disappointing product post soon!) 
The Maybelline Fit Me concealer is perfect for all around the face, some concealers are pros at undereye or blemishes. But this is an all around product! It blends well and I think it works brilliantly. 

Powder- Rimmel Stay Matte
Shock horror, a very well loved product that is also loved by me! As an oily skin gal, this just makes my skin look amazing! I use transparent as I feel like benefits me the best. I've easily gone through about five of these and I'm about to purchase my sixth. 

Eyeshadows- Elf. 
This is a new discovery for me. I recently visited the Cardiff Elf and picked up a 32 piece palette full of natural shades, for I believe it was £6? There are a mix of matte and shimmers, and a range of colours for everyday and going out at night. For such a low price you can't go wrong!

Cream Eyeshadows- Maybelline Colour Tattoos 
I feel these are just perfect whatever occasion. If you're going for a rather natural look, just a sweep of this on the eye and you're set to go. Or, a more bold look you could use it as a base and apply eyeshadows into the crease. They are £4.99 which I think is fab. 

Blush- Sleek. 
Sleek is definitely one of those brands I go to when I need a good blush. They are highly pigmented, inexpensive and come in the most gorgeous colours! My favourite is in fact Rose Gold. Which is a pink with gold shimmer through out, perfect! If you're looking for a highlighter, go with sleek too! 

Bronzer- Bourjois Bronzing Powder
The infamous chocolate bronzer! I must admit, I only recently bought this bronzer. I myself, love Hoola from Benefit and it was my first experience of bronzer and loved it. Therefore I never looked further! But my Hoola comes in a kit, which makes it difficult to use when I'm out and about. I saw this and thought why not? It says with "glints of sunshine" but honestly it's not far away from matte. It comes in different shades and I'm in the shade 51. I personally love this bronzer for an everyday feel and can't go without it now!

Eyeliner- No7 Amazing Eye Pencil
Loooove this eyeliner. I am recently branching out on eyeliner and actually using it on my lid, rather than my tight or water line. I use the shade 10 Brown for an everyday feel and smudge it out and it's absolutely perfect. I highly recommend the eyeliner as it's simple to use especially for beginners.

Mascara- Maybelline The Collosal Go Extreme Volume
Sooooo many amazing drugstore mascaras this really made it hard for me to choose. But I chose this guy and as I purchased it for £5 I don't think you can go wrong! I've done a more thorough review in a favourites post so check that out for more details :)

BB cream- Rimmel
BB creams are becoming more popular to the day, and for me Rimmel wins. If you are just looking for a good coverage I'd just use the Rimmel 9 in 1. It has blue writing on! The only downside is that it is quite hard to blend. If you're looking for a matte, id go for the Rimmel 9 in 1 Matte. It is so much more easier to blend and I'd definitely recommend.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you want to see more drugstore/highstreet makeup? Maybe even higher end?

-K x


Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Changes

Hello! There's a few changes on my blog I would like to make..

Name Changes
If you may or may not have noticed, I have changed my URL! This is down to the fact I made this blog when I was obsessed with tumblr, "curiousasalice" was my tumblr url and something I thought up when I was watching Alice In Wonderland, which obviously holds no relevance to this blog. To make it simple, I am now "katieloulabella"! Loulabella was a nickname of mine when I was a little baby and I think it suits better!

Post Changes
Don't worry, not too dramatic! This is just to say that I will be trying my very best to upload more and more frequently. Since finishing sixth form and undergoing a gap year, my posts will hopefully be more thoughtful rather than just a typical boring 10 minute post! I am planning on doing more lifestyle posts and beauty posts too :)

Layout Changes
I am undergoing many different styles on my blog until I find the right one. I'm sorry for those laptop/computer users who are probably fed up of seeing a different layout but I promise you that it won't be for long!

Room Changes
A bit of a personal change here! I have recently done my room up and it's still a work in progress but once everything is ready I am more than happy to show you what it's looking like.

Please let me know if you have any requests on blog posts as I'm always open to keep you guys happy!

-K x

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Graze

Hello! As I've sort of been on a health kick these past few weeks I decided to try out a graze box.

I had a voucher to get the first one free so thought why not give one a try and see what the fuss was about. I ordered the chocolate one as I wanted this to be an alternative to snacking on a Mars bar, but still get some chocolate in there.

I have only had the honeycomb crunch, which had almonds and raisins with little blocks of chocolate, like Cadburys Crunchie. Delish!

As I type this now, i am about to try Dark Rocky Road which is chocolate buttons, cranberries and pecan nuts. 

I am in love with the idea of this box as it is swaying me more to being healthy. However I find the nuts to be a bit trying and I'm fighting the urge to dip them into some Nutella! 

Have you had a Graze box before?

-K x

Tuesday, 5 August 2014

A Levels

Hello! This is a bit of a different post today, and I realise that it isn't the typical makeup post. But as it is approaching results day and many people are starting back to school I thought this may help a few of you.

A little background before I start, I have just finished my seventh year at school, completing GCSEs and A Levels. I studied Psychology, Sociology, ICT and Welsh at AS Level and decided to drop Welsh at the end of my first year.

Choosing A Levels
Now I had an idea of what I wanted to do before I started A Levels, I knew I wanted to go into the medical field of some sort and I looked into A Level requirements before choosing them. If you know 1000% what you want to do in the future, then I highly suggest finding out what you need. I knew I need a sociology and psychology a level so that's where that decision came from. I took French and Welsh at GCSE and knew I wanted to carry on with either one at A Level, as I enjoyed it. This is incredibly important when choosing also, you need to enjoy them. If you don't, you wont want to study for them. I got a higher GCSE grade in Welsh so I chose Welsh. Which later I regretted as the course was extremely challenging for me and I didn't enjoy it in the slightest. ICT was down to enjoyment and the fact a lot of jobs nowadays are based around technology, so I thought that would come in handy. You can choose 3-5 a levels, although I know the majority choose 4, like myself. If you chose 4, then you choose to drop a subject at the end of the year. This is because A2 (The second year) is harder than the first and it's a lot more work. If you chose 5, you can drop 2. You don't have to drop a subject, my two friends decided to keep going with four. But another friend chose five subjects, and dropped two.

Start as You Mean to Go On.
I CAN NOT PREACH THIS ENOUGH. Seriously, the jump from GCSE to A Levels is immense and I don't think anyone can really prepare you for it. In my school, you get a lot more freedom and I suppose that's when I started lacking the studying aspect. If you are starting A Levels in September, start organised and you're set for the rest of the year!

Balance
Another key aspect of A Levels is to balance your time wisely. I know when it comes to exam period everyone goes to freak out mode and revises crazily and doesn't want to go out or any of that sort. I would say start revising early, and keep it balanced. Do it a little a day and build it up as you get closer to exam periods. My friend was the worst at this, she started early like I said previously, but didn't give herself breaks. She would go to bed at 1am and wake up at 6am, and that time in between was spent revising. I kid you not. Please don't do this, I had gotten her to get more sleep and to take breaks but please realise your health is way more important than grades.

Results Day
Okay, so like I said the jump from GCSE to A Levels is immense. You need to realise that on the first results day, you may get the results you were not looking for. This is what happened to all of my year on the first results day, everyone was shocked as to how we could've all done shockingly bad. But that also gave us the realisation to know what we needed to do and the next results day was a lot more positive. My results day is actually in 10 days and right now I'm panicking. But there's nothing I can do and what'll be will be.

Please remember that A Levels do not define you. There are other options if you don't do as well as you pleased and there is support around you.

I hope this helped a few of you and don't you worry I have a lot more makeup posts up and coming. Let me know if you want more lifestyle posts!

-K x