Beauty and Brains Tag!

Hi guys, how are you doing?

You may, like me, have seen the Beauty and Brains tag going around recently and I thought I would have a go myself.. hope you enjoy!

What is your favourite book? 

I love reading and I would say my favourite book is probably The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble, just because I keep going back to it and it never gets old! I also really like books by Stephen King and Ben Elton.

What is your favourite quotation?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” A very wise and inspiring quote from from Winston Churchill, which I feel is very relevent to my life right now.

English or Maths?

I'm not particularly talented at either of these subjects, and I havn't studied them since I did my GCSEs, but I would have to say that I prefer English. I think I would probably be better at English Literature than Language because I read all the time but i'm not so good at the whole spelling/grammar thing... Maths, however, I cannot stand. I wasn't awful at it at school, but I always hated the lessons and to this day I havn't needed to use half of the stuff we learned.

Science or Art?

Science, definitely! I suppose I need to say that as I am studying Chemistry and Biology at A Level, but it's true! I've always been interested in the human aspect of biology and i'm hoping to study a variation of that at university.

Name five music artists/albums that have changed your life

This is a dificult one because, to be honest, I can't say that any artist or album has actually changed my life or affected me in a big way. Artists I like though are Maroon 5, Panic! At The Disco, Eminem and Colbie Caillat (an odd mix, I know).

What were your favourite and least favourite school subjects?

My favourite subject was definitely Biology, closely followed by French. My least favourite subject was probably Maths or Geography.

Who is your favourite 'Celebrity with a Brain?'

Hmm, it's hard to choose. I'm a big fan of Eddie Izzard and David Mitchell... I also like people like Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie..

If you could study anything, anywhere, what would it be?

I don't know! I change my mind all the time, but right now I think I would like to study a biology based course in France or maybe America. I also think it would be really fun to do a make up course somewhere too...

Who is your favourite guru you admire for more than their love of beauty/fashion?

I think this would have to be Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter, she has such a lovely outlook on life and seems like a genuinely nice person!

If your blog didn't focus on beauty, what would it be?

Umm, I can't think of another subject i'd want to write about all the time. I suppose I would probably just do day to day life posts and just talk about things that interest me (I guess then it would turn into a beauty blog by itself!)

There! My first tag finished! Now I tag you all to do it too...

Thank you so much for reading, sorry it was a little (completely) light on pictures, but i'll make up for it in the next post!

Lily

xoxo

Max Factor Eye Brightening Mascara

Hi everyone :)

How are you doing? Today i'm just going to do a quick post about a new product i've been testing out. I was recently having a quick browse in my local Superdrug when I came across the new Max Factor Eye Brightening Tonal Black mascara. The product information promises to brighten your natural eye colour because the formula contains light reflecting perticles and colour beads which 'enrich eye colour.' Naturally, I was sceptical, but I thought i'd give it the benefit of the doubt (seeing as there was a nice little introductory discount...) and picked up a tube of the one for green eyes.

For me, the packaging isn't exactly amazing, but it does its job and doesn't look too bad on your dressing table.. The mascara itself looks very brown when it's on the brush, making me doubt the whole 'tonal black' claim, but when it's on your lashes it does look very dark. I was very impressed with its volumizing and lengthening effects, after only two coats my lashes looked really thick and long! The brush is also very nice and good for grabbing the smaller lashes in the inner corners of your eyes.

However, in my opinion, my eye colour did not look any different. At all. It's nice as a general mascara, but to claim that it brightens your natural eye colour is taking it a bit far, maybe? But perhaps this is just me... If any of you have tried out these mascaras too i'd love to hear what you think of them!

Thanks for reading,

Lily xoxo

Stila In The Light Palette

Hiya!

Today i'd like to tell you guys about the 'In the Light' neutral eyeshadow palette from Stila. To be honest, you've probably heard about this before as everyone seems to be loving it at the moment, but I thought I would add my two cents worth..

I only bought this palette recently but ever since it arrived in the post i've found myself reaching for it on a daily basis. The palette includes four matte shades and six shimmer shades, as well as a smudge stick waterproof eyeliner in damsel (brown). I'm not usually one for shimmer eyeshadows, I normally prefer matte shades because I feel they are a bit more flattering on me, but these shimmer shades are all gorgeous and easily transferrable from day to night looks. In addition, they are mostly pretty pigmented, all very good quality and easily blendable, which is always a plus.

One thing I really like about the whole set is the included eyeliner. Being a redhead I can sometimes find black eyeliners are too harsh for my features, so a good quality brown liner is always appreciated for a softer, more natural look.

 The shades are as follows (clockwise from top left): bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone, bubbly, gilded gold, luster, night sky and ebony.

This palette is available from the Stila website for £25, but you can also get it from other sites such as feelunique.com. I would strongly recommend it as an everyday staple for night and day!

Thanks for reading :)

Lily xoxo

Holidays, Good News and Nail Polish...

Hi everyone!

Hope you're all well! I've only just got round to blogging now because I've been so busy since I landed back in England last week!

As you may know, from my previous post, I have been travelling around europe with a few of my friends. We were travelling using an interrail pass, which meant we could get free train journeys (I say free, the actual pass cost about £300...!) between countries. It also meant we had a lot of freedom to go where we wanted so we ended up going all over the place! A few highlights for me were seeing Milan and Florence, and blowing the last of my money in Paris! We also visited Prague, Vienna, Corfu, Nice and Rome where we ended up sleeping on the floor of an airport on two seperate occasions, and had a run in with some particularly angry pickpockets... so it was definitely a trip of highs and lows! I'm so glad I had the experience though and I would recommend it to everybody.

Arriving in Corfu just in time for the sunrise...

In other news, i'm actually riding a bit of a high at the moment because just this morning I took my driving test for the first time and passed it! With eight minors... but hey, a pass is a pass! I'm so pleased about this because driving did not come easily to me at first and i've been learning for almost two years now.

Anyway, enough of me rambling about what i've been up to. It's taken me a little while to get back into the swing of blogging after my exams, and what with my going away for three weeks, I havn't really had the chance to do much. So today I'm just going to leave you with a short note about a particular product that i'm loving at the moment.

These are the Barry M Foil Effects nail polishes in gold and silver and I absolutely love them! I'm not normally in to metallic nail varnishes, but I just love the way they make any outfit look that little bit more dressy. My favourite is the silver colour, it comes out very shiny, but the brush gives it a bit of texture so the finish is lovely. I normally apply about two coats, but if you're in a rush you could easily get away with one coat as they are pretty opaque already. The only downside, I would say, is that they take quite a while so dry and therefore smudge easily... a small price to pay though!

You can pick them up in Boots for £3.99 each. I would highly recommend doing so as they have become a must have for my nail polish collection.

Thanks for reading guys! Hope you're all enjoying the summer (it's actually raining outside as I type, so much for the Great British Summer...)!

Lily xoxo