Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

Hair of the dog!

Dreary day, but pretty all the same. 

One of the best things about home - the sunsets from the garden!

Last week I headed home for a few days - it was Mothers Day and my mums birthday so I figured I'd treat her with my presence, and a few gifts! Much wine was consumed, leading to this lovely hangover curing dinner in town; nothing beats fish and chips from home, and these were no exception. The chips were served in a cardboard imitation of a newspaper which I thought was a cool little touch and they were just beyond delicious. I'm craving more already but I have a feeling my mum is a bit sick of the sight of me, the amount I've been home recently!

Oh, and I also have a small piece of advice for you all. Don't ever tell your mum the link to your blog! She now reads it (hi mum!) and tells me off when she thinks I'm buying new things that I don't need. Great. Bloody mothers, ey?

Hope everyone has had a good day!
Becca x

Sleek: Face Form and Au Naturel Eyeshadow Palette.

Okay so I'll just put it out there, I'm a HUGE fan of Sleek. Being a student and not always having much disposable income is depressing when you love buying nice makeup, and I usually cannot justify it at all. I'm still massively lusting after the Urban Decay Naked Palettes but waiting for either my birthday, or until I win the lottery (note to self, buy a lottery ticket!). I came across the Sleek Eyeshadow Palettes in Superdrug a while ago and they seemed like a pretty good substitution for the Naked Palette, so I picked up the Au Naturel for just £7.99! I've also been wanting the Face Form Palette for a while now but it always seems to be sold out, so when I was browsing in Superdrug the other day and saw it there I couldn't resist.

Left; Sleek Face Form Palette. Right; Sleek Au Natural Eyeshadow Palette.

Closer look at the shades - lots of lovely browns!

I love love LOVE this palette and use it pretty much every day - there's a lovely variety of neutrals in both shimmer and mattes, and the pigmentation is great. The lighter colours are great for highlighting and - although I do tend use this more for day to day - the matte black in Noir is absolutely perfect if you want to create a smokey eyed look. The shades are beautiful with lots and lots of lovely browns which is brilliant as I'm having a slight brown eyeshadow obsession right now! Also, if you click on the link I posted and you'll see Sleek has some swatches already up on the site, which good news for me as I tried to no avail to get some decent swatches of this (serves me right I guess for taking pics at 11pm when there's no natural light!).

The Face Form Palette. The contouring powder is much less orangey in real life!

Face Form - blush, highlighter and contouring powder.

I've only used this a couple of times so far but it's already quickly become one of my favourite products.  The only problem with it was I grabbed the 'light' palette without really checking out the others, assuming there was simply 'light', 'medium' and 'dark'. Only after getting it back and opening it did I discover there is also 'fair', which is even lighter! And if you've read any of my previous posts you'll know I have REALLY pale skin so obviously the 'fair' would have been a better choice for me. This is still great, but the contouring powder just needs a little more blending so it looks natural on my skin. The blush is totally gorgeous - it's the Sleek Rose Gold which has been compared a lot to NARS Orgasm and is a pinky, peachy colour with just the perfect amount of shimmer. I know Sleek also have the Face Contour Kit  which is the same product minus the blush, but I would definitely suggest paying the extra for the Face Form (which is still just £10 - bargain!) if you don't have Rose Gold already because it really is lovely.

I really cannot rave about Sleek enough - the products I've used have all been amazing and the price tag even more so. Definitely a brand that makes both me and my bank account happy!

Are you a Sleek fan? Any fave products from them?

Revlon: Photoready Cream Blush, Lip Butter, Super Lustrous Lipstick

I'm a huge fan of Revlon so naturally was beyond excited when I heard about the new shades of the Colorburst Lip Butters. I purchased my first lip butter from Revlon last year (in Tutti Fruitti) and pretty much lived in it all summer - I've mentioned them before but the butters are just SO easy to wear and feel lovely on. Revlon recently brought out four new shades for S/S 13 so I instantly went on the hunt for them.

I only managed to find one of the new shades - they're selling out pretty quickly - in Superdrug, where to my great joy I saw Revlon was on 3 for 2, so along with the Lip Butter in new Wild Watermelon I also picked up the Photoready Cream Blush in Coral Reef and Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink Pearl.

L-R; Photoready Blush in Coral Reef, Lip Butter in Wild Watermelon, Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink Pearl.

A closer look at the shades.

The Super Lustrous Lipstick is a perfect nude colour; not much different from my natural lip colour but manages to make them look and feel ten times better and healthier. It goes on really smoothly and feels so moisturising - definitely the ideal lipstick for day to day wear. The Lip Butter, as I've previously mentioned, feels like a balm - REALLY soft and easy to wear. You can build the colour up from sheer to pretty bright so it's perfect for any occasion; I think Wild Watermelon is going to be a staple for me when the weather shapes up a bit! Finally the Photoready Cream Blush. I admit I was slightly weary of this in the packaging. Whilst I absolutely adore coral shades this looks really bright and I was worried it would look ridiculous on - as I'm extremely pale blushers show up super easily on my skin and even subtle colours can look quite over the top. But I shouldn't have worried! I applied a small amount and it blended SO easily - the colour looked lovely and natural even on my pale skin, but could also be built up if you have darker skin or prefer a more dramatic look. I would definitely recommend!

Swatches.

So all in all I'm really happy with all three of these purchases. Revlon, you have done me good once again. Now I just need to be very careful that I don't spot any of the other new lip butter shades - I don't think my bank account could take it!

Have you tried any of the new Lip Butter shades? What do you think?

I love you, Manchester.

So I haven't done a post for a while - life has been pretty hectic. Last weekend I went to Manchester to stay with my sister then came straight back to work, have had two essays due in for uni AND have managed to catch the flu, so every spare minute I've had to myself has been spent trying to sleep that off. I'm still not feeling wonderful, but have finally got around to uploading my pictures from Manchester so thought I'd do a quick post of them.

This is cheating - it's an older picture from when the wheel was still outside the Arndale. But when I got back I realised I didn't have any pictures of actual Manchester, so here we go.

I love Manchester. When I was looking at universities I wanted somewhere close to home so went with Newcastle, but now it's been four years and I'm definitely ready for a change. My sister went to uni in Manchester because she clearly has better taste than me - I really like it there and am hoping to move myself when I finish uni. To top it off, last year my best friend moved there too, so whenever I have a weekend off work I try to get through to see them.

I actually thought I'd taken more pictures than it seems I did, but here are some of the things we did at the weekend.

This is Home Sweet Home, which was lovely, albeit really packed!

Tea!

Lucy.

I got a salad which everyone made fun of me for. But I'd just travelled four hours on a bus and didn't feel like anything too heavy. It was fish cake and avocado and was BEAUTIFUL.

Katie, Richard and Josh got these chilli dogs, which I have to admit look pretty amazing.

My side of homefries. They were cheesy and garlicy and pretty much the nicest thing I've ever had.

What do five twenty-somethings do when they get together in a big city? Go to museums, of course!

Museum of Science and Industry.

They had rides in actual old steam trains but it was freezing and we were in a rush to get our eyebrows done before shops shut (I'm sure this part of the day didn't bore the boys AT ALL, haha), so we gave it a miss.

There were a hell of a lot of planes, which I think Richard was pretty happy about. Lucy and myself on the other hand heard "space" and were expecting planets and stuff, so were a little disappointed!

Kate and I. Love her.

Alcohol, much of which was consumed over the weekend.

Not pictured here - many, MANY trips around the beauty stands at Boots (consequently, recent purchases post coming soon!), too much alcohol, amazingly fun drinking games resulting in sickness (not me!), alcohol resulting in an emergency trip to the hairdressers (also not me!), lots of Hugo cuddles, Katie and her usual bad choice of cinema film (I still want to see Wreck it Ralph!) and lots and lots of laughter. I really didn't want to come back to Newcastle!


Hope everyone had a good weekend too!
Becca. x

Relaxing night with Lush.

I even love the paper bags from Lush!

Yesterday was the first day since last week I've not had to be up for either work or uni, so on Tuesday night I thought I'd treat myself to a bit of pampering and relaxation! As I'm sure everyone knows, Lush it absolutely great for bath and beauty products and so was my first thought when buying something for a relaxing bath. I ended up with the The Brightside bubble bar, a bright orange and yellow bar that as well as creating gorgeous smelling bubbles, turns the water an amazing bright orange colour.

However before the bath I wound down with a face mask - I went into Lush a while ago in search of a face mask and ended up with this one, the BB Seaweed.

Traditional Lush packaging.

Whilst Lush have amazing smelling chocolate and blueberry masks I was after something a bit more clean and earthy smelling and the girl I spoke to recommended this. It's apparently made with men in mind, but can obviously be used by anyone. It's a really fresh smelling product, containing aloe vera, honey, seaweed, olive oil and rose. Despite the "men in mind" description I don't think it smells overly manly - it's obviously not sweet and may not be everyones favourite, but I prefer face masks not too sweet and overpowering so this was perfect. It's really refreshing, feels natural (which it is! So much so it needs keeping in the fridge and has an expiration date) and leaves my skin feeling SO healthy and soft.

As you can see here, it contains actual seaweed.

I'll also quickly mention this, the Angels on Bare Skin cleanser. I've had this for a while now and it's still nowhere near finished, despite me using it at least every other day. This product contains ground almond which creates a milk like consistency after adding water whilst also gently exfoliating. I absolutely love it and would 100% recommend.

Angels on Bare Skin on the left, BB Seaweed on the right.

How to use Angels on Bare Skin. You only need a pea sized amount.

And on to the bath!
The bubble bar is pretty big, and I figured I'd only need half for one bath. It needs crumbling into the running bath which, if you're a big kid like me, is pretty fun and leaves your hands bright orange (don't worry, it rinses straight off!).

Huge bar, easily big enough to use two or three times.

It smells BEAUTIFUL. Orange is one of my favourite scents, and this was no exception. A lovely, strong, clean smell that isn't too overpowering, manages to leave your skin smelling divine and surprisingly doesn't leave any colour stains in the tub.

Amazing bright colour!

And what relaxing bath isn't improved by a glass (or two) of wine?

Perfect!

Are you a bath fan? For me personally nothing beats a red hot bubble bath, a good book, and a nice bit of pampering - especially in these horrible cold winter months!

Recent Instagrams

L-R; Lunch with my bessie, taken after tackling one of the hugest burgers I've ever seen. Delicious Indian food in York. Hugo (my sisters pug) being tired and grumpy and adorable when he came to stay at mine. Chilling with my new Vogue book and a glass of red. Far too many Soap and Glory skincare products that I accidentally bought recently (and will do a post on soon!). Greggs breakfast on the train. Hugo once again being adorable and ever so slightly cheeky. Keeping myself occupied on long train journeys with magazines, coffee and my Kindle. Chilling in my monkey onesie (complete with ears and tail!).

My instagram is becclare, please do feel free to follow!

Lipstick lipstick lipstick.

A couple of days ago my second semester university bursary went into the bank, or to put it more clearly, a couple of days ago I decided treating myself to new lipstick was justifiable. I bought four new products - two of the new Bourjois Rouge Editions, a Rimmel Apocolips (finally!) and a Sleek true colour lipstick. I decided to post about the new products, but also include a few of my other faves.

Faves - Topshop, Bourjois, Sleek, Revlon.

Left to right; Sleek True Colour in Vamp, Sleek True Colour in Barely There, Bourjois Rouge Edition in Violine Strass, Revlon Color Burst in Macaroon, Topshop in Rio Rio, Revlon Super Lustrous in Black Cherry, Bourjois Rouge Edition in Pretty Prune, Revlon Color Burst in Tutti Fruitti, Revlon Just Bitten in Frenzy, Rimmel Apocolips in Celestial.

#1 - Bourjois Rouge Edition 18 Violine Strass - The new Rouge Edition lipsticks have received great reviews so I couldn't resist checking them out and buying a couple. I was initially unsure on this colour as I don't often wear pinks, but it's actually really wearable. The lipstick itself is gorgeous - super pigmented and yet really moisturising, almost like a balm. I definitely don't think I'll be able to resist getting a couple more soon!

#2 - Revlon Color Burst 015 Tutti Fruitti - If you'd have told me a couple of years ago I would have bought and wore a bright orange lipstick I would have laughed in your face. But yet this was my go to lipstick last summer. It's advertised as a lip "butter" which is the perfect way to describe it - it's light, moisturising and smells delicious. I do think this is definitely one for the warmer months though!

#3 - Revlon Super Lustrous 477 Black Cherry - Heavy pigmented, super dark purpley lipstick. Again, I would have never thought I'd own and love a colour like this. Great for a vampy, dressed up look.

#4 - Topshop Rio Rio - Lovely orange toned matte red. 

#5 - Sleek True Colour 786 Vamp - This is another I just bought - it's the perfect dark red that I've been looking for. Whilst I love the Topshop Rio Rio, because of the orange tones it's more suited for summery months and this is perfect for colder weather. It can be applied once or built up to a super dark colour.

#6 - Sleek True Colour 776 Barely There - Old favourite, and not as orangey as this picture makes out. It's a very natural peachy colour that is perfect for everyday wear.

#7 - Revlon Color Burst 096 Macaroon - Another lip butter, this time in a lovely dusky pink. The tutti fruitti was just so light and easy to wear that I couldn't resist buying more.

#8 - Bourjois Rouge Edition 14 Pretty Prune - Another newbie, and possibly my favourite. Dark, deep plum colour with a brownish tint. I think I'll be getting a lot of wear out of this one!

#9 - Rimmel Apocolips 101 Celestial - I FINALLY managed to find the Celesial shade in stock and so obviously had to buy it. The Apocolips are great - they apply really easily, like a gloss, but dry on your lips like a stain and the staying power is AMAZING. I've been wearing it earlier and am actually struggling to get it off. I need more of these as soon as I feel I can justify it.

So there we go, lipsticks galore. And I already want to buy more, especially more shades of the Rouge Editions and Apocolips - they're just so so great! What are your go to lipsticks right now?