Winter Favourites | Raise.com

Look! I'm back! 
And I've got some favourites to share with you from this chilly season, as well as some exciting offers. 

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1) This winter I have been loving my poncho, it's something I never would have even thought about wearing before, but it is so warm and cosy, perfect for those winter breezes. It's right on trend and looks great with a pair of jeans and boots. 

2) As I have dry skin I definitely have to moisturise, especially so in winter! This Origins GinZing energy boosting moisturiser, is so light and sinks in super quickly, perfect for winter mornings. It even smells like fresh oranges, a flash of summer for you.

3) Everyone knows that the classic winter lipstick is a bold red. I'm loving the matte look this winter but everyone knows matte lipsticks can be drying. So Bobbi Brown to the rescue with this creamy matte lip colour, keeping your lips hydrated throughout the crisp winter months.

4) Obviously keeping warm is at the top of everyone's lists, and scarves add an extra cosy look to any outfit. Tartan is very in this season and can be the pop of colour or pattern to add to a simple outfit. 

5) Finally a new winter scent really can bring the season in, I think this fragrance would be a perfect gift christmas. It is one of those that would suit anybody and is a lovely mellow fragrance. 

Now onto the exciting part, for those of you in the US you can visit Raise.com and find discounted gift cards for a massive range of shops! That means you can grab these products I've mentioned and many other like them for less! From Zara (poncho & scarf) to Sephora. As well as this you can sell any unwanted gift cards you have at Raise too. 

As for my UK readers don't worry, Raise is working on bringing it's facilities to us too! 

Go ahead and check it out, as it's christmas time any savings help out along the way right?

To buy visit here and to sell click here.

A Little Hiatus

So the last time I posted was in August, mid August, and at the time I was stressing out about scheduling posts so that I could enjoy myself while I was away on holiday. However when I came back from holiday I found that all my effort to keep posting during my break went to pot and no posts actually went up. So instead of stressing again I thought I would take a break and start again in September, when I was more organised and back to reality. But then I got caught up in the new term at college and starting all my classes again and coursework and as time went on I felt like I'd left it a little to late to just start writing again. Then I didn't know what I'd write about and coming back seemed like less and less of a good idea. 

But then I was chatting to my family about uni and my choices, English Literature with a tad of creative writing if you wanted to know, and they suggested that I should write a blog. Granted my family didn't and still don't know that I already have one! So I began thinking about how much I enjoyed writing on here before I stopped and how much I actually missed it, I even stopped reading blogs! Being totally out of the blogging world makes the blogging world seem like a totally separate place, so coming back into after so long is a bit daunting. I feel a bit out of touch and like I've missed out a lot. But, there's no time like the present and if I don't decide now I'll just keep putting it off and putting it off.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, I'm coming back! But I will be changing it up a little bit. I've said before that I wanted to expand my blog from just makeup and I think that's more prevalent now than it was then. So I'm in the process of re-designing and renaming this little blog. I hope to all my current followers that's ok, I will still be posting about beauty and fashion as I am still very interested in that however it will be in a mix of more of my lifestyle too. 

I realised that I've been looking for a place to write about my thoughts and ideas, but I didn't even realise I had a perfectly good opportunity here! Hi again and I'm excited to be back.

Festival Fashion

Festivals are going on left, right and centre, so I thought what's more relevant to write about than the fashion going on at these events!

Crop tops, flower crowns, denim shorts, kimonos, baggy shirts, hats and of course a staple pair of sunnies. That's all you'll need to suit yourself for the weekend of dancing and music. There's quite a grunge-y, boho look to the festival fashion that is popular and personally I love it!

Vanessa Hudgens is the ultimate boho queen and you can just look to her for the epitome of a festival wardrobe. She pulls of the festival vibe effortlessly and essentially breathes cool.

So I thought I would put together a collage of simple, yet boho-chic outfits to guide your festival wardrobe this summer; featuring Vanessa of course!

Fringe, lace and crochet are very popular when creating a festival outfit, they allow for skin coverage yet are breathable when you're stuck in those hot and sweaty crowds (gross I know, but we have to be realistic when it comes to comfort!).

Personally I love this cardigan and think the crochet pattern is really pretty! This could be paired with any outfit therefore is very versatile. 

source:Asos £35

Playsuits are your best friend when it comes to packing light. They are a top and shorts all in one plus they look so cute paired with a handy backpack and a floppy hat, just like VH shows above. A bit of advice though, they can be tricky when it comes to going to the toilet in an Portaloo! So beware to those who can be on the clumsier side.

I love the mix of fringe and tie dye on this piece, very on trend and very simple to pull off.

source:Asos £25

Loose shirts and crop tops are perfect for keeping you cool, yet still looking effortless and plus you can put them with pretty much anything, bonus!

You could even mash the two together and match this baggy crop top with some denim shorts. I love the print on this top and the shape would flatter anyone.

source:Motel Rocks £28

Don't forget to accessorize with a hat and some sunglasses, whilst making you look good they also help to keep the sun of your head and out of your eyes, which is important if you're in the sun all day! A bag is also much needed to hold all your essentials as you're out and about all day.

source:Asos £20

source:Asos £55

source:Asos £45

source:Asos £12 £9

source:Asos £12

And of course, you have to be prepared, so wellies are an absolute MUST! Most of the time festivals = muds, therefore you don't want to be ruining your perfectly nice boots, when wellies are festival tradition anyway.

I hope this was helpful and inspired some new choices in your festival fashion, let me know which outfits you like the look of or what your favourite trend is this year for festivals :)

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My Brow Story // Maybelline Brow Gel and Pencil

I was never really into doing my brows. I always left them and assumed that as long as I kept up with plucking the strays every now and then, then they would be fine. I always thought that doing your eyebrows was just another expense and more time required in the mornings when getting ready. However, my  brows have always been a bit on the wild side and never really wanted to sit where they're told; so I soon invested in some clear brow gel to tame them and keep them in place throughout the day, this then progressed to Maybelline's Sculpting Brow Mascara just to add slight colour and to fill out the sparser areas as I was to frightened of brow pencils or anything more intimidating, yet still felt I needed something extra.

One of my pet peeves is bad eyebrows. One's that are completely the wrong colour, totally unnatural shape or just plain fake. I think for me it just looks so out of place and I've always been scared that if I did anything to mine that I would look like that too.
However I was constantly reading how your brows frame your face and how much difference they can make when they are filled in and shaped properly, so being a part of the blogging world I thought I'd take the plunge and just try it out.

The first thing I did was go to my local  No3 Lash & Brow Bar, to get them shaped. They were so so lovely and helpful, considering I didn't really know what I was doing and had never gone before. They measured out the points of my eyebrows and showed me where my arches and ends were supposed to be. Once I was happy, they waxed them into shape (not painful at all!) and showed me where I may need a tad of filling in to help them shape wise. 

So there begins my ventures with a brow pencil. I had already been using the Maybelline Brow mascara for a while therefore was slightly more confident with my brows being more prominent and noticeable. I decided to stick with the same brand as I liked the colour match and they are very affordable. The pencil isn't too waxy and also isn't orange which is a common problem in blonde brow products (see: Avon Perfect Eyebrow Kit), so I'm very happy with that. It's easy to get natural 'hair' looking strokes with this pencil as long as it is kept sharp, which I think is very important for keeping your eyebrows looking as real as possible. As you can see in the swatches above the shades are quite ashy, which is perfect for matches my brows as I have quite fair hair. However it doesn't take much to build up the colour, therefore it is important to step back and have a look at them as you go else you may end up with very dark brows that can appear orange tinged in some lights (as I found out the hard way, damn it).

If you wanted a stronger brow look you could combine these to products, the pencil to fill in and the mascara to set, however I tend to go for one or the other depending on how much time I have when I'm getting ready.

I hope this was helpful and can aid any of you who are slightly shy of the brow department as I was to begin with. However I have noticed a massive difference since I began filling my brows and they definitely do frame your face! So if you are uncertain, there's no harm in giving it a go, or even building your way up, through tinted gel to get you more confident with it.

I am dabbling with other products at the moment that I will review in the near future once I have used them a little more and I definitely have a list of brow products I'd like to try out such as Benefits Brow Gimme Brow and Anastasia's Brow Wiz and possibly using shadows to fill them out.

Let me know what products you like to use in the comments below, I'd love to try out some new products.

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Current Summer Obsessions

Orange

(1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9)

Kimonos

(1/2/3/4/5/6)

Bomber Jackets

(1/2/3/4/5/6)

Ponytails 

Smoothies & Lemon Water

What have you been obsessed with lately?

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Magazines

Nowadays with social networking and blogs, I think we seem to be glued to our phones constantly searching for the latest updates possible. In all of this demand for instant information I feel that we forget those parts of the media that are a bit more permanent and physical.

Now, I can't think of much better than settling down on the sofa with a mug of tea , or laying out on a towel in the sun with a cold drink and a magazine in my hand. Magazines are the classic form of fashion info and the latest trends, which I think have been left behind a little now that 'fashion blogs' are so accessible. Don't get me wrong the break through with blogging and instant technology has made life so much easier and  more convenient but sitting glued to your phone screen just doesn't compare to grabbing a mag and flicking through it for a while.

All I wanted to say really was that don't forget the magazines! My collection of Company magazine and Vogue's are something that sit pride of place on my bookshelf, I love them. And they are brilliant to look back through and see how fashion has progressed and changed over time.

Here are my favourites that I like to have a flick through in my down time:

-Vogue
-Company
-Elle
-Porter

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Liebster Award #2

So this is take two of the Leibster award on my blog! I have already done this tag before, which you can see here, but I thought as I had been tagged a few times since I would give it another go, I hope that's ok :) 

This isn't the only time I have been re-tagged so I apologise to the others for not responding to yours, I just felt that, at the time, it was either too close the the previous one I had posted meaning it would have been repetitive content for my readers (which I like to try and keep quite different) or that I had other posts planned and couldn't fit it in any time soon enough that would be fair to the blogger who had tagged me. So if you read this and I didn't respond to yours I am ever so sorry.

If you have read my previous one then you will know how this goes but in case you haven't seen one of these before I'll recap the rules as they have altered a bit since I last did this tag. 

1. Post eleven facts about yourself.

2. Answer the eleven questions provided by the person who nominated you and then create an eleven-question set for the next group of nominees.

3. Choose eleven people to nominate and link them in the post.

4. Let your nominees know they've been tagged- and no tag-backs!

5. Nominate blogs under 200 followers

So 11 facts about me go as follows:

• I currently have quite a few pets; 1 dog, 3 gerbils, 1 hamster and 2 horses!
• I have laid out in the sun all day today (that I'm writing this) and I don't think i have changed colour at all!
• I really want to pass my driving theory test that is coming up.
• I really want to get more piercings on my ear but I'm too scared (not sure why).
• I am currently addicted to fresh or home-made lemonades, sooo good! (keep an eye out in future posts for more about this)
• This summer I am determined to get a tan!
• I am going abroad on holiday for the first time in about years at the end of August, yipee!
• I haven't even thought about starting to draft posts for when I'm away, oops.
• I a natural blonde who is desperate to dye her hair brunette, but yet again, too scared.
• I think the only new years resolutions I have kept is becoming more organised.
• I can't wait to get a tattoo. I have dedicated a lot of time and a massive pinterest board into planning for this!

Next up is the questions I have been given to answer:

1. Where have you traveled to?

I have actually been very lucky and have travelled to quite a few places! I would say the major ones are Florida, Mallorca, France and Italy. All such lovely places and definitely ones I would re-visit in a heartbeat.

2. What is your dream job if it wasn't about money or skills?

Being a writer, either with books or a blog. I just love the thought of being able to reach so many people and having them read the work that you make out of joy and passion.

3. Pick one item out of your closet and describe the best way you can to make your readers want to buy it

Royal Blue Silk Shirt- It can dress and outfit up instantly, adding a side of luxe to the ensemble. However it can also be dressed down with a pair of converse and some denim to give an edgier vibe. It is so versatile and the colour is so flattering on any hair colour or skin tone. It is so comfy and effortless to wear, it looks good yet you don't have to sacrifice any comfort for that like some items.

4. If you could only eat one cereal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I'm not much of a cereal eater so it wouldn't be a tragedy if I couldn't eat cereal any more, however I do have a soft spot for a good bowl of Crunchy Nut so I'll go with that.

5. Who are your fashion and/or beauty icons?

Ohh, I have quite a few! I did make a post about a few of my Style Icons about this time last year here , and I wouldn't say they've changed much since, however for Beauty I would say I always love Zoella's makeup and Kendall Jenner is also an envy of mine.

6. If you could master any talent, what would you master and why?

Singing, 1. because I sing allll of the time and it would probably be a lot more pleasant for those around me if I was actually any good at it and 2. because it's just one thing I have always wanted to be able to be good at. I will be eternally jealous of al you naturally talented singers!

7. When is your favourite time of the day?

About 10am, because if I have a lie in I tend to wake up around then if I'm lucky and I always feel well rested. And also it's not dawn but it's still the morning and you still have the day ahead of you.

8. What is your one beauty staple?

Mascara. No question about it. 

9. If you could test out any kind of hairstyle without the consequences (waiting for it to grow, dying it darker...) what would you do?

Well as I said above I have always wanted to dye my hair brown so, that. And I would also like to see if I could pull of the currently trendy 'lob', but I'm too scared to cut all my hair off!

10. Recommend an artist/band to all of your readers!

Tom James! 

11. Do you think that you will continue to blog forever?
I really hope that I keep it up as it will be something that I can look back on or years to come and also it has been something for me to put my energy and passion into, which I really enjoy. Do I think I will? I'll never be sure. Do I hope I will? Most definitely!

Now onto those who are tagged!
-Straight On Til Morning
-The London Turtle
-Meghan Silva
-300 Days Of England
-It's Me Mel
-Jenny You
-The Beauty Cave

And the questions to answer are...

1. What's your favourite thing about blogging?
2. What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
3. Name one thing that is at the top of your bucketlist/something you want to do over anything else.
4. What's your favourite season and why?
5. Name a current obsession.
6. Morning or night?
7. Top played song at the moment?
8. Favourite hobby?
9. If you could get away with doing absolutely anything for a whole day, with no consequences at all, what would you do?
10. What is the first thing you think of when you see the colour blue?
11. Favourite film/tv series of all time?

I'm looking forward to your responses, I hope you got to know a little more about me through this.

I'll be back next week for my current Summer Obsessions!

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Plain and Simple

I have been adoring plain silver or gold earrings for a long while now. I think the simplicity is so pretty and the style can be built up or broken down to create different variations, which I love.

So I thought I would share some of the looks that I have been loving and aiming for (slowly I must say) as I love to make mood boards and little collages for inspiration. Pinterest is my best friend for this sort of thing, so if you like this idea, head on over and get pinning!

source:ChapterFriday

source:pinterest

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source:pinterest

I think you get the idea, so I'll stop before I overload this post with images! All I really wanted to say was that I love these simple piercings and am determined to get a few more myself (I only have three at the moment) as I think they look so pretty. I will link some Etsy stores below that I have found, that make really lovely and delicate silver and gold jewellery. I have recently purchased some so may do a post on they when they arrive :)

I hope you enjoyed this post and it has given you some inspiration if this is the sort of style you like too!

Mt. Carmel Jewelry

Silverholic

BelovedBijoux 

Kevin N Jewel

J4JewelleryStudio

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Manuka Bee Venom Trio

So I have had these photos stashed away for far too long! I didn't even realise how much time had passed since I tried these out, I mentioned them back in my February Favourites post so I thought I'd best review them before I forgot about them again!

To start off, I got this trio for free.. yes you read that right, FREE! Who doesn't love that? Well that's a bit of a lie, I did have to pay for postage but it was only about £2.50, so it's all good. 

Anyway onto the actual products, in the little set I received a serum, night cream and face mask, which cover all bases really. I was most excited to try out the serum as I had been searching for something to help hydrate my face as well as putting a layer between my makeup and my skin to combat my dry patches. I was really pleased with this as it really did help and left my skin feeling soft and nourished. 

Next up the night cream; this is quite thick in texture and feels very rich on the skin, which is great for 'restoring' your skin over night as it claims, even though it has a heavier texture this doesn't translate onto your face and sinks in really quickly. 

Lastly for the face mask, this is a bit different from others as it doesn't quite dry as most do, and it is more of a cream than a mask I would say but once rinsed off it does leave your skin feeling plump and nourished. I would say this is more of a soothing and hydrating mask rather than one that combats blemishes or skin issues, but it definitely does leave your skin feeling 'rejuvenated'. 

As for the active ingredient, Bee Venom, I have seen this and Manuka Honey becoming a big thing in skincare recently and I can definitely vouch for it! I noticed quite a difference in my skin when using these products, my dry patches were noticeably reduced and so was my redness. It supposedly boosts natural cell regeneration and encourages collagen formation, keeping your skin elasticity and avoiding/reducing wrinkles (depending on what stage of life your at of course). I was curious and doubtful about this at first as it seems a bit of an odd ingredient but after trying it out, I would definitely back it up!

I would definitely recommend these products and you can find out more about Doctor Manuka and the rest of their range here. They have several ranges of products aimed at different skin types so they cater for everyone! I am looking into buying the full size of the serum as I loved using it.

Let me know what you think of this new hype about manuka honey and bee venom in skin care down below in the comments.

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Eyeko Skinny Liner ~ Navy

I was so excited to see this as a freebie in July's Glamour magazine as I have seen so many good reviews of the brand. Previously I had debated buying this at the full price of £12, but I put it off again and again as another eyeliner that I didn't need to add to my collection; which now, I am glad to have done! 

 

Firstly I'll start with the good points:

-I absolutely love the colour of this! It's a lovely muted navy with a hint of teal in it, that really brings out my blue eyes. 

-The nib on the applicator is firm but not uncomfortable on the skin, with a precise point, that helps with drawing a precise line.

-The packaging is very sleek and attractive to look at, and I like how the end is blue so that you could tell it apart from other eye liners and see what colour it is.

However it also has some bad points:

I picked up the navy shade as I was really interested in switching up the colours I'm using on my eye makeup and also I had just read Essie Button's post on her navy eyeliner revelation. However this may have been my downfall as, from other reviews I've read, it seems that this shade seems to be the dud of the two available. As you can see from the images above the colour has smudged from the lash line to above the eye, and also (less visible, in the pictures however very noticeable in reality) had spread over my lid making my whole eye look tinged with blue. I was very disappointed to find this from such a well known and loved brand, and as a first impression it really didn't serve well for me. I gave this several attempts before confirming my decision about it and I even used a primer underneath to see if this made any difference, which to my disappointment, it did not. 

Also, even though I praised the applicator, I found that the formula of the product really let this area down. It dried really quickly, which you'd think would be a good thing, but it actually dried so fast that I was unable to build up an opaque and smooth line before it dried, resulting in odd layers of pigmentation that were patchy, uneven and slightly flaky(?); these also creased, which is what I believe caused to colour to smudge. 

I also think that even though the applicator allows you to get a precise line, it can come out a bit to thin for my liking; meaning that my previous issue was even more prominent as the lines would be uneven and different colours.

However what miffed me the most about the product however is how it blatantly claims on the box for it to be "smudge-proof" and "fool-proof", granted the applicator was designed well for easy use, but I struggled to get a smooth line out of this product and I would definitely NOT say that it was fool-proof. And obviously, this product isn't smudge proof, as proven through the images above.

I really wanted to love this product but the formula was just disappointing for such a well known brand. I don't know if this batch was an odd one as I have heard these complaints before, so I'm not going to judge the whole brand on this one product, but I won't go running to pick this particular one of the shelves for £12!

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