Why Do You Wear Makeup?

If I'd asked myself this question 6 years ago when I was at College without a doubt my answer would've been: to cover up, to conceal, to hide behind. Any of the three. Wearing make-up was something I did more out of necessity than because I enjoyed it. I wouldn't even dream of leaving my house without make-up on. 6 years later however? My answer is simply because I enjoy it! I love the way make-up can change and enhance your face and give you renewed confidence in your self.

Since finding the beauty blogging world, my interest in make-up has grown exponentially to the point where I now can't go into Boots without making at least one cheeky purchase. But now I see it as a way to enhance my features rather than covering them up, so buying make-up is a treat to myself. That's what I tell myself anyway! Creating new looks and finding new products is something I really enjoy, whereas before I would buy staple products simply to cover my face.

I still prefer to have make-up on when I'm going out, but I don't find my naked face quite as horrific as I used to. Which is always a good thing! The blogging world has definitely opened my eyes to how make-up should be used. :) What's strange is that I actually wear more products on my face now than I ever did before, but I'm definitely not hiding behind them anymore.

One product I won't forgo though? Mascara! My eyes literally do not look awake otherwise!

Why do you wear make-up?

Aimée
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Review: Clynol's Wonder 10 Blow-Out Spray

Clynol's Wonder 10 Blow-Out Spray* claims to reduce blow-drying time, protect from heat damage and provide natural body, volume and shine. Quite a hefty list of claims I'd say! But for the most part the Blow-Out Spray does just that.

The spray needs to be used on towel-dried hair and combed through before blow-drying. I spritz about 5-6 pumps through my hair, as my hair is quite long and then comb through after adding my TIGI Smoothing Lusterizer to the ends of my hair.

Although I've not timed the difference in blow-drying my hair with the spray and without, I definitely do think my blow-drying time is noticeably shorter. Guesstimating I'd say it shaves off about 5 minutes blow-drying time which is perfect for me as I hateee blow-drying my hair! My arm always aches from holding the hairdryer up!

I love that it has in-built heat defence as it means I don't need to use my heat defence spray on top of this. Combining products is definitely a winner in my eyes! I wouldn't necessarily say that it massively reduced frizziness in my hair, however I do have quite frizzy hair and usually have to use a serum to fix this anyway. Someone with hair that only has slight frizziness would probably find this helps them more. The spray definitely helps to de-tangle my hair however, which makes brushing it out a doddle.

My main bug-bear with the Blow-Out Spray is actually the smell! I'm quite big on how hair products smell, and am always influenced to buy products that smell amazing. The Blow-Out spray however smells really clinical to me. Almost like a cleaning spray, which isn't what I want my hair to smell like at all! Luckily the smell doesn't linger in my hair though, so I've been happy to keep using it!

The bottle will definitely last for ever too, as I've hardly seemed to make a dent in the bottle so far. It retails at £9.95 and you can buy it here.

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*This product was sent to me as a PR sample for review consideration. Despite this my review remains 100% honest and true to my own opinion.

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DIY Christmas: Christmas Jumper Cards

I love giving/receiving cards and homemade cards are even better. I also love Christmas jumpers and don't think Christmas is complete without one. So when the idea to combine the two hit me, I knew I was on to a winner. HOW cute are they?? Not gonna lie, I'm more than a bit proud of how they came out. In some ways, I think they'd make great decorative bunting too! Although you might want to make them a tadge smaller for those purposes!

The jumper design options are literally endless, you can really do anything you want on them. These are just the first four I came up with, but I have ideas brimming for my next batch already! :)

To make these I bought a pack of 5 blank cards/envelopes from Hobbycraft and cut them into the Christmas jumper shape I wanted. I then drew the design shapes onto scraps of card that I had around the house and just glued them on. The blank cards were £2 from Hobbycraft, so at 40p a card I'd say that's a bargain!

If you don't regularly make things and therefore don't have bits of card to use, Hobbycraft do some great card packs in various colours to use. I'm sure you could find packs on Amazon as well!

I hope you enjoyed this craft, let me know if you decide to make Christmas Jumper cards too! :)

Aimée
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Weekly Highlights. #5

L-R: FOTD before the Gig, Charlotte and I in Camden, Meeting the BearandHare again!, Liam Fray from The Courteeners, Carnaby Street, Outside Shepherds Bush Empire, Yummy accordion potatoes for dinner, At the gig, West Side Story programme, Sneaky changing room selfie, Christmas hats! 

As I type this I'm watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on TV with the twinkling Christmas Tree lights on the go in the corner. I must say I'm feeling thoroughly snug and festive. :) The first week of December has been a good one for me, with the arrival of one my very best friends Charlotte for a few days and the opening of my awesome advent calender! The only downside is that I seem to have gotten a sore throat. :( Here are my highlights of the week!

1. I met Charlotte back in 2011 in Heathrow Airport. How veryyy romantic you might say, ;). We were off on a journey to work in America for the summer and have been the best of friends ever since! We always have theee best time when we're together and this visit was no exception! Shopping and cinema dates with us are a given. But this time we also went to see The Courteeners at the Shepherds Bush Empire! It was my Christmas present from Charlotte, and it was such an amazing night! The band were amazing and frontman Liam was every bit as handsome in real life! The only downside was some eejit letting off a flare mid gig, resulting in choking red smoke surrounding us! My hair did notttt smell great after that!!

2. Making Christmas presents is one of my favourites things to do and this week I finally started putting together a Recipe book I'm making for my boyfriend. I'm soo happy with how its turning out and I really can't wait to give it to him now! There's something really satisfying in giving a present that you've spent hours putting together.

3. Finally, last night I went to see a Sixth-Form performance of West Side Story at a school that my boyfriends brother works at. I'd never seen such a lavish school production before, and I was so impressed with some of the students. It really brought back so many good memories of performing in school when I was younger too though, and I ended up feeling like a proud parent by the end! haha

I hope you've all had a great week! What've your highlights been? :)

Aimée
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November Favourites.

This month I've been rekindling my love for some older products and seem to have become slightly lip obsessed with three lip products making the cut! With the festive season approaching I've loved digging out my MAC highlighter to give my face some light, and keeping my lips lovely and soft with Maybelline's Babylips.

So kicking off my favourites is a lipstick that I've had for quite a while but only now seem to really love! The Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 03 is a really great nude. Its definitely more of a pinky/brown shade rather than a peachy nude. As loathe as I am to say it, its the perfect 'your lips but better' shade for me. As with the whole line of Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks it is really moisturising and sits really nicely on the lips. I love it for an everyday look.

Another old favourite is my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle. It really is the most beautiful highlighter. I stopped using it more recently in favour of Benefit's High Beam, but I've found that Soft and Gentle gives a much subtler pretty glow. Its perfect for brightening up your face through the colder months.

Recently I've been loving having nude nails, and Barry M's Matte Nail Polish in Vanilla is perfect. Sometimes I find a nude polish that looks great in the pot, can really wash out my fingers. But Vanilla is a really great, elegant shade. It dries matte really quickly, and stays chip free for at least 3-4 days without a topcoat. I'm really loving the matte nails trend!

Back to lips, I recently bought into the Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick hype, with the shade In Love With Ginger. I have to say I totally understand the hype with this! I can't stop wearing it, as it really is so moisturising. It sits really comfortably on the lips and has great colour payoff. Its a great vibrant orange toned red, which works really well as an alternative to the classic A/W red. It lasts really well throughout the day too, with only a few retouches needed.

Mascara is one of my great loves. If I could only put on one product before I left the house it'd definitely be mascara. I love the way it brightens and opens up your eyes, and this Maybelline mascara really does the trick. The Mega Plush Volum' Express has a really great rounded flexible brush which helps spread product on every single lash. My lashes feel so volumised without having the brittle flakiness that most mascaras give you.

Lastly its back to lips and another seriously hyped product. I really wasn't interested in the whole Babylips hype, as I'm not a massive fan of tinted lip balms. However, recently I was on the hunt for a lip balm in a tube and when a 3 for 2 offer arose I took the plunge. I bought the Intense Care balm, as it wasn't tinted and sounded promising in this cold weather! Unsurprisingly, I absolutely love it. It makes my lips feel baby soft and leaves a really nice gloss finish. I'm getting through the tube a mile a minute, but at £2.99 a pop I think I'l be buying another soon!

What were your favourite products in November? :)

Aimée
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Review: Topshop Matte Nail Polish in Cryptic

Red nails have never really been my thing. I've always found them too garish, too vampish and definitely would never have thought they'd of been on my nails. However, matte nail polishes are a revelation to me. Thinking back my main issue with red nails was always the glossy finish, but with a matte finish they're much more understated.

Topshop have a great range of matte polishes which are really affordable and a great quality. I also really love the packaging which has almost 'frosted-glass' sides and a clear window stating the finish of the polish. As a matte finish, the polish dries a lot quicker than regular nail polishes. I don't find it lasts as long, although I do feel this may be due to the lack of top coat. You can actually buy a Matte finish top coat from Topshop but as yet I haven't felt the need for it.

The shade is a lovely bright red which feels really festive, great for this time of year! However, I'm sad to say you can't actually buy this polish anymore! I didn't realise until writing this post that the polish was part of the Limited Edition A/W Collection The Damned. After having a look on the Topshop website though there is a great range of matte polishes out, including Bad Orchid which is a great plummy purple for Autumn/Winter.

What're your thoughts on matte nails?

Aimée
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DIY Christmas: Map Coasters

The third installment of my DIY Christmas ideas is inspired by the wonderful site that is Pinterest. I'm not entirely sure how I coped before without Pinterest, but now its my go-to place when I need some inspiration. This DIY idea is actually a present I'm giving to my Best Friend. Shes recently moved down to Southampton to work for Ordnance Survey so I wanted to make her something 'homey' that she could use. When I saw these map coasters I knew that it'd be perfect for her. Working at Ordnance Survey she's obviously interested in maps and as she's now lived in four different places I had four ready made map locations!

You can make this present for anyone really, but making the map locations personal to them is a really great touch. The coasters are so easy to make, I literally made them in about an hour. All you need is a pack of Cork Coasters (I got mine from Hobbycraft but you can get them online too!), 4 maps that you've printed off, a paintbrush, Mod Podge (or any other glue sealant) and a craft knife or scissors.

Firstly you'll need to take a coaster and draw around it over the map, choosing the best location. Then cut this out and repeat for the other three maps.

Then using the paintbrush, paint the Mod Podge onto the cork and then stick on the map, being careful to smooth out any bubbles. Again repeat for the other coasters and leave to dry a little while. Mine slightly bent at this, so I put them under a placemat and put my camera on top to flatten them a little.

Once they'v set for around 10 minutes or so you can then paint the Mod Podge over the top of the maps and around the edges to set the coaster. Then leave overnight to dry.

There you have it, a really simple DIY that shows a lot of thought. :) I wrapped mine up in some left-over lace material and added a ribbon and bell for an added touch. Let me know if you try it!

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