Summer Series: Highlighters

Personally I am new to highlighters, I was never brave enough to try them out before, but I definitely think they are more of a summer product rather than winter. So I thought I would show you the highlighters that I have in my collection and why I like each of them.

L-R: Colour Works Bronzer brick all, Colour Works Bronzer brick top strip, MUA Undress Your Skin Shimmer highlighter, E.L.F Baked Blush-Pinktastic

So I'll go with the swatches from left to right: To start with is one that I've had for a very long time but kind of ignored, that is the Colour Works Bronzer Brick, I think this is a very good dupe for Bobbi Brown Bronze Shimmer brick, but not owning the Bobbi Brown version I can't compare them properly. I don't know if it's possible to by this anymore and I'm pretty sure it came in a set so sorry about that but if you can get your hands on it I would definitely recommend it. It's highly pigmented and last a long time on the skin, The first swatch is of the whole palette, mixing the colours together to make a shimmering bronzer and the second swatch is just the top colour, which is so so pigmented, however is very white as you can see therefore unsuitable for the cheeks, yet it looks amazing on the inner corner of the eye.

Next up is MUA's offering, I am so excited to write about this one as I have been trying to get my hands on it for a long time now but it's always been sold out! But I finally managed to get it in my local Superdrug and for £3 I am so impressed, as you can see from the swatch it's got more of a blue-y/purple undertone which looks really pretty when on the skin, however is definitely more obvious than the one to the right. Its very pigmented and also lasts a good 4ish hours on my skin before wearing off.

And finally is E.L.F's Baked blush in Pinktastic, I know this is technically a blush but it really is to shimmery and light to be classed a a blush really. It gives a gorgeous champagne-y pin glow that is so natural looking and really catches the light so nicely! It is too very pigmented and lasts well throughout the day. At only £3.95, this is a bargain and definitely won't break the bank, a perfect starter highlight for those not so certain, like I was.

I hope this was helpful for you and that concludes the mini Summer Series! 
Don't forget to pop over the Devise here to read the first post to this series, or here to read the second post.

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Summer Series: Makeup

Over on Devise I wrote a post about how I've altered my skincare to fit with the summer weather (that will hopefully stick around), so I thought that I would continue that theme over here and share some more of my idea on other topics for summer!

So logically, I'm starting with makeup!

So starting with bases, I have this new addition to my collection, Rimmel's renowned Wake Me Up Foundation. I haven't used it enough to fully review it however I know from testing it out and reading reviews that it will be a popular choice for me this summer as it pearlescent properties, that reflects light and is supposed to brighten your face. Also to achieve a lighter finish with this (or any) foundation I am tending to use my stippling brush to apply it; this allows for less product to be used whilst still keeping the coverage buildable if needed. Real Techniques do an affordable stippling brush that can be found here, or you could also look on eBay, which I where I got mine from, such as this one.

Bourjois's 123 Perfect CC Eye Cream, as I've mentioned before, is so lightweight yet high coverage making it brilliant for hot days, when you don't want heavy layers of makeup on. It stays put anyway however with a little powder top up throughout the day this should stay perfect.

Next up is the eyes, I have recently got into wearing eyeliners that are not black! Crazy I know, but I think for warmer months it's nice to wear makeup that's not so harsh on my pale skin and that is quite natural looking. So I have ventured to new pastures and discovered the likes of grey, blue and brown eyeliners. I have really been loving Beauty Uk's twist up eyeliners and the simple pencil liners are just as good! These are so easy to blend out and also if you make a mistake they are really easy to fix; the only downside to these is that they can transfer to your lid throughout the day, especially if you get oily lids like me. So to combat this I put a bit of primer on my eyelid right down to my lash line, before I apply it and this helps the liner to stay put. But for such a small price, this really is a minor setback; the twist liners can be found in Superdrug for £2.49 and the pencil liners £1.99. 

And last but not least is mascara, I received this sample size of Origins GinZing Brightening mascara when I purchased the GinZing moisturiser, so have been trying it out lately. I really like this mascara for when I only want a slight bit of definition to my eyes (as I have light eyelashes) and don't want anything to heavy or obvious; so I think this would be brilliant for when going to the beach or if you're just going to be sunbathing. 

The next summer post will be on highlighters. I left them out of this post as I wanted to talk about more than one and go into more detail about each of them, so check back soon for that post.

I hope this has helped or given you some ideas on how you can update or tweak your makeup for summer.

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Life Update: Reading Uni, Oxford and Pets!

I've been gone for a little while I know, sorry I just needed a bit of a break, I now I seem to be saying that quite regularly but I think I put to much pressure on myself in a lot of aspects of my life and I love to be able to have this as a creative output, but I find myself putting increasing amounts of pressure on myself to make my posts good, when the reason I started this blog was to enjoy myself.

I don't know, it might be me over thinking it all like I normally do, so I'm just going with a simple post today.

I think it's nice every now and then to have a break from the usual beauty and fashion stuff and just share and document what has been happening in my life lately. 

Quite a bit has been going on behind the scenes of BIW this past couple of weeks and I thought I would bring you up to date. 

Firstly, a couple of weeks ago I rescued three baby gerbils from a not very nice home. There was quite a few more and the conditions were quite cramped, so I wish that I could have taken more home with me alas I couldn't due to time, space and care issues (meaning I wouldn't be able to cope with more than three therefore it would not have been fair on them). They are adorable and so friendly and energetic! They have names however I don't tend to use them, more often they are referred to as some funny or stupid pet name. 

Secondly, I again rescued another animal! I (and my mum) have been very hospitable recently and for some reason, unknown to me, my mum has been great about it! Even though for the past 2(ish) years I have been begging for another pet. This time is was a very fat, ginger hamster, named Fred.

Don't worry we wouldn't take on these animals if we couldn't care for them! I am just a HUGE animal lover and can't get enough of them. I will own a zoo one day I'm telling you.

This past weekend I travelled up to Reading to visit the Uni open day; I stayed with relatives that I don't usually see as it's quite a distance from where I live, so it was nice to spend some time with them while we were up there. I absolutely loved everything about the uni and the options for the course I am hoping to take, so now all I need to do is get the grades! 

On the last day I was up there we visited Oxford, and did some really tourist-y things like go on an open top bus, but the weather was so lovely that I was just glad to be out in it!

The most amazing fresh lemonade from Byron Burger, I thought the mint leaf was a really cute touch!

Oxford has such pretty views!

I sat in my Uncle's garden, reading in the sun, what a life eh?

I've really enjoyed having a few days out and just relaxing, I didn't even have to do any college work!

I hope you enjoyed this quick catch up and liked the photos, check out my instagram here, or in the side bar of my blog for more images from me.

Also, if you ever want to read some posts from me when I'm not posting or in between posts, head over to Devise and there will be weekly posts up there from me too, under the Fashion and Beauty header.

Lots of love,

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Devise Posts Summary

Posts One and Two

Posts Three and Four

So as a quick intro back into blogging (I explain a bit more in tomorrow's post) I thought I would give you a brief summary of the posts that I have written so far over on Devise. I am quite proud of the content I am creating over there and wanted you lot to be able to see that as well for a double dose of BeautyIWant content if you wanted it (that's a big 'if' ;)) every week. 

• Post One- Five Staple Products
• Post Two- Inner Beauty
• Post Three- Summer Lipsticks
• Post Four- How I'd Style a Maxi Skirt

If I'm honest my favourite post I've written so far is the latter, I loved designing the outfits, and got so carried away with it! It's such a joy to write posts like that. 

So pop over if you feel like it, each title above is a link to that specific post so they are easy to find; and also check out so of the other talented writers whilst you're over there.

Love,

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#2014BloggerChallenge Topic Twelve~ Healthy Meals, Snacks and Drinks

So this topic was to explore meals, in any way we decided. Over on Devise I recently wrote a post about Inner Beauty, you can check that out here, and I thought to compliment that topic and to explore it in more depth I would share how I, personally, have been attempting to treat my body and insides with more kindness and awareness of what it requires. 

As you may have seen from my instagram, I have been trying to be a bit healthier lately with what I eat, this includes the obvious choices from salads, to more gradual changes like swapping chips to salad on a meal in a restaurant. 

So I'll firstly show you some images of these meals and ideas to give you an idea of how they look and how appealing you think they are.

As you can see there are a few similar and a few different ideas above, and you may notice I love, love, love salmon! 

To start with I began with breakfast, I never really ate breakfast out of lack of time or appetite however it genuinely is the most important meal of the day as it fuels your body and gets your metabolism going for the rest of the day. For breakfast I favour, natural or greek yoghurt with chia seeds and a mixture of museli and fresh berries and fruit, all of which can be swapped and altered according to taste and what you feel like on the day. 

One of the most important parts of this meal is however, the one that would go unnoticed if you didn't know about it previously. This being the Chia Seeds. These are tiny little seeds that are essentially super seeds. They contain calcium, manganese, phosphorous and healthy omega-3 fats! All in these tiny little seeds that have no effect on the taste of your meal (if your worried about not liking them). These seeds can be soaked to create a jelly type substance or just sprinkled on top as an extra topping. 

 For lunch there are so many options! If I'm at home and just pottering around I tend to prefer lighter lunches such a rye crackers, yoghurt and fruit or bagels. These can be paired with low fat cream cheese, salads, fish of some kind and nice nice cup of herbal tea -if it's chilly out- or a smoothie if it's warm. 

Rye crackers are a good alternative to bread as they still give you fibre, however have many more health benefits for you! Firstly they make you feel fuller faster, helping you with portion control (I covered this in my post over on Devise here), it can improve your digestive health, help lower your cholesterol and also it contains calcium and magnesium which help support your teeth and bones.

Fish can helps with lots of different issues such as decreasing the risks of heart disease, Alzheimers, cancer and can also help your skin! It contains omega-3 fatty acids, low-fat protein and minerals. Fish is also said to be a "brain food" which means essentially that it assists your brain to function and develop.

 Berries contain high levels of antioxidants, especially blueberries, which help your body to fight off illnesses, improve your health and also protect you skin and hair.

Other fruits provide you with vitamins and minerals your body needs, and are also suggested to help prevent heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

So next time you go to have an unhealthy snack, or have a meal, think about small adjustments you could make, such as having fruit instead of a bag of crisps or swapping a side order of chips for salad. Like I said in my other post, its not about cutting unhealthy foods out completely, it's about moderating and balancing your intake as well as keeping portion control in mind. 

I hope this has given you some ideas or inspiration on how to begin improving your eating habits and into what foods help your body in certain ways.

I'll see you soon,

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Sources of information, facts and references from:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/03/chia-seed-benefits-_n_3379831.html

http://www.saga.co.uk/health/healthy-eating/benefitsofeatingfish.aspx

http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/aboutfood/nutrition/fish/pages/ultimatebrainfood.aspx

http://www.joybauer.com/food-articles/berries.aspx

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits-why.html

Avon Clear Skin Pore Penetrating Black Mineral Face Mask

First of all, I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long! I know it's only been a week but it feels like forever! I totally forgot how difficult is was to balance college, blogging and work before being on study leave. So I'm back today with a review of a product that I have been really loving, which really surprised me!

 I showed this face mask in my Avon Haul post here, however I waned to follow it up with a review as I used it a few times now and have really been impressed.

This mask has an odd consistency when applied to your face, it feels slightly sticky - quite like those that peel off - and it begins to set quite quickly; this makes it slightly tricky to spread evenly and to get it all over your face, however this doesn't put me off as with practice it becomes easy to manipulate . Straight from the tube it's a  dark grey-ish black colour, however when it is dry it changes to a light grey/green colour as seen below.

When it's dried you can actually see how it has acted to your pores and the dirt in them, which I like as you can see what is has done. It does make your face been tight once dry, much like other face masks, however this doesn't transfer once removed.

As shown above it clings to the bigger and more obvious pores, around the nose and T-zone area.
When washed of with a hot cloth, it leaves your skin feeling smooth and very clean, without making it feel tight or dried out; which is a big plus for me as I get very dry patches and find a lot of treatments make my skin feel very tight. 
After using this I can definitely see a difference in the size of my pores, they look noticeably smaller and less clogged and also the that I get dry patches (between my eyebrows, on and around my nose and on my chin) aren't at all left dry or flaky, quite the opposite in fact! Even the next day my face feels plumper and noticeably less dry, which makes me a very, very happy bunny. 

Ahh bare face on the internet! 
As you can see even around some blemishes I have (which I find are very prone to dry skin around them) aren't left dry or aggravated. My skin looks a lot less red than it usually does and feel a lot less congested; which it can sometimes if I've worn a lot of makeup.

Overall this mask leaves you feeling very fresh faced and clean, which is what I expect from a mask, and really helps with pores so if that is an issue for you then I would give this a shot as it is very cheap! I picked this up for £2.50, a few weeks ago, so it's definitely worth a try.

I hope this review was helpful and I'll hopefully see you sooner next time!

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Think. Write. Devise.

So I'm coming to you today with some super exciting news! I was kindly invited by Devise founder Martha Salhotra, to be a writer for the Beauty section of Devise. 

So, I hear you say, What is Devise?

Well the title of this post is the tagline of the site, it is essentially a platform for creative writers to come together, to think about our topics and to make others think too. We aim to create interesting content that ranges from subjects such as Arts and Culture to Entertainment and Lifestyle, to Beauty and Fashion. This platform is bringing together a variety of writers, from different stages of their progression and careers to give our readers a mixture of content.

I am so excited to be writing for Devise, and am so appreciative of the opportunity it will bring to better my skills and to develop my writing style further. With the active feedback and friendly team, Devise is a brilliant platform to read and share our thoughts and opinions. 

I encourage you to visit the site here. Please read the other articles over there too; even if you are not specialised in the other topics or they are not your direct interest, there are some really great writers who are passionate about the content they are creating, and they would greatly appreciate it. 

My first post is my Top 5 Staple Beauty Products, you can view that here.

I would really appreciate it if you visited Devise and left some feedback, it would really mean a lot to the whole team :)

I will keep you updated with my posts from Devise on here, as I will be posting weekly over there too.

I hope you discover something new whilst you visit!

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