Skincare LOVES!

I think skincare is one of those things we must all pay great attention to. There's no point in spending lots of money on makeup to cover our skin if we aren't spending the money on making sure our skin is up to scratch underneath it. There are products I like to use within my day to day routine, however we all have those products that we can't see ourselves living without, and these are mine. I never used to take pride and look after my skin until a few years ago when I started working within the beauty world and i'm so glad I started when I did.
 

The cleanser that I use and love love love is the Emma Hardie Amazing Face Cleansing Balm - it's my favorite cleanser by a mile - it does the job, smells divine, leaves skin soft, clean and glowing. I have tried several others but nothing else seems to compare. I've even found that it takes off waterproof mascara even though it recommends not to use on eyes. I started using it due to the clever and lovely Caroline Hirons stating "if in doubt, go in with grease!". As a bonus, it's multi purpose too - I use it as a hair mask from time to time too just to give it a bit of extra nourishment.

I can't live without my moisturiser... I used to think nothing of it and never wore it. I use the No7 Beautiful Skin Day & Night Cream from Normal / Dry skin. It's got a lovely light texture making it absorb well and definitely keeps skin supple and moisturised. As always, sun protection is a welcome bonus, especially with all of the weather that we're having here in the UK recently.

If you're like me, very fair skinned but want to be slightly less fair, you will love the Dove Derma Spa, Summer Reviver. It's a gradual tan which is unbelievably natural. I do it every 2 days to keep it up and it's fab! Looks so natural and glowy. 

Let me know of any other products that you love and think I should try in the comments below. 

♥♥♥♥♥

April Monthly Favourites!

It's another month that has flown by, but within the month of April there are so many things that i've found a love and passion for. Whilst preparing this blog post, it's kind of given me a little breather from university work. Due to me nearly finishing my third and thankfully final year at university, writing a blogpost just makes me feel much more relaxed and comfortable as I type away words about all things beauty! The best kind of blog posts I like to read, watch or write are monthly favs and WOWZA there have been quite a few this month! By the way, this will be a long post - sorry

Just to clarify, all opinions are my own and I will leave all product info at the end of the blogpost with prices and colours.

I have to and I mean HAVE to start with the Hourglass Ambient Lightening Blush in the colour - Mood Exposure... wow wow and wow! Never been in love with a blush until now! It's absolutely beautiful. It's got a gorgeous soft plum colour to it baked / fused with a light coloured shimmer which just brightens up my complexion. It's pretty much the perfect blush and if you follow me on twitter or instagram, all of my recent photos have me wearing it!

Along the lines of shimmer, whilst clearing out my skincare and makeup, I had come across my Chanel eu Tendre Shimmering Powdered Perfume. I had rediscovered my love for the Chanel eu Tendre scent and what makes it even better, is that it's a body shimmer and looks frickin amazing on your skin! However there is a downside...it was a limited edition item from last summer so i'm going to have to save it and use it sparingly to make it last.

There are two powders i've found recently. One being Kiko Bronzer Powder Biscuit 05 and the other being NYX HD studio finishing Powder 01. Both brands have recently caught my eye and my eyes seem to like so far haha. What's even better is that they're so reasonably priced for the quality that they are! Kiko packaging as well is absolutely lush! We all know I love anything shimmery or shiny and their packaging meets those specifications! The NYX finishing powder that I like is in the shade 01 which I would probably say is translucent. I never normally tend to like translucent powders, as I see no difference with it but I do with this one! It makes my makeup last so much more longer and also makes my skin look and feel very soft. Doesn't every girl want that! 

As for lips, my favourite item of makeup, I couldn't just choose one - it was way too hard as throughout the month i've been mixing and rotating between the No7 Moisture Drench Soft Earth and Mac Lipstick Matte Mehr they are both quite plummy or brown based shade but not too dark which I prefer to use against my pale complexion. As for the third lip product, it's the Loreal Paris Color Riche Extraordinaire Lip Gloss Rose Melody 101. I don't normally like lipglosses, as the first thing that I associate them with is being sticky and smelling weird but i've finally found one with not much of a strong scent and isn't sticky! I found myself wearing the Loreal lip gloss on top of either of these lipsticks just because I think it makes the lipsticks look a little more subtle and better for more of an everyday look, and who doesn't like a gloss in spring!

I may have mentioned this in a previous blogpost but it deserves to be in one again, the Soap & Glory Supercat Liquid Black Eyeliner. I've been using this for more than a month but I am yet to find a better one but the competition is high at the moment! I just love it! It goes on so easily, doesn't smudge throughout the day, and its pointy so you can get the winged liner perfectly. Yep, I just love, maybe there should be a yearly favourites!

You may have seen my previous blog post about me cutting my hair for The Little Princess Trust and for a while during March and April I started to notice my hair wasn't feeling the same towards the ends. It started to feel quite wire like, even though I haven't been using any heat on it. So I desperately needed to find a hair treatment to sort it out! After a long and hard journey to find one my wonderful friend Clair (Hey Clair) recommended the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep conditioner... BEST one i've ever used and come across! Within that one condition, my hair felt so much more healthier! It definitely is a miracle worker and i'll be using those much more.

As for food favourites this month, i've been loving and finding myself crave Kinder Buenos! Reminds me so much of being younger and getting them as a treat after school and they are just so delicious!! I probably have been eating way too many of those this month! However i'm keeping it balanced - this month i've been drinking at least 1.5 litres of water a day! I never do that! (I know it's not really balanced but we can just pretend for the time being) BUT it can't just be any water... oh no, it has to be Smart Water. I have no idea why but I like it and that's all that counts. Never thought i'd be putting a water bottle in a favourites ever.

Unfortunately this month, haven't been into reading so it's just been youtube videos for me! I do have two favourite youtubers at the moment though. Conor Maynard and Ashley Elizabeth. Conor Maynard for his covers of songs. His voice is just amazingly amazing and Ashley Elizabeth's videos are very funny and she seems like a very down to earth and honest beauty guru youtuber so i've recently become subscribed to both of them. 

Conor Maynards Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpmD3iT-8TQzRuygIiS9bAw

Ashley Elizabeths Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/yunging19/videos

And finally, songs i've been loving this month are Drake - One Dance and O.M.I - Hulahoop. They're just very summery songs and I find myself listening to them tons.

Hourglass Ambient Lightening Blush in the colour - Mood Exposure £28

Chanel eu Tendre Shimmering Powdered Perfume (not available anymore)

Kiko Bronzer Powder Biscuit 05 £12.90

NYX HD studio finishing Powder 01 £8

No7 Moisture Drench Soft Earth £9.95

Mac Lipstick Matte Mehr £15.50

Loreal Paris Color Riche Extraordinaire Lip Gloss Rose Melody 101 £8.99

Soap & Glory Supercat Liquid Black Eyeliner£6

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep conditioner £2.50

Let me know what you're favourites have been throughout April and make sure to check out my other blogposts!

♥♥♥♥♥

Donating 12" of my hair!

A few weeks ago, I finally plucked up the courage to plan and donate my hair to a charity named the Little Princess Trust. It's is a charity that provides real-hair wigs, free of charge to boys and girls throughout the UK that have sadly lost their own hair through cancer treatment and other illnesses. I decided that donating my hair (that i'd practically been growing since forever) would be a great way to start 2016. I was constantly looking through images on Pinterest and Instagram of shorter hair, and the more I looked, the shorter I wanted it!

One of the reasons I wanted to cut my hair was because it started to get too heavy, too thick, and too long. I found myself never having the time to do anything nice with it! I was either leaving is down and natural (which I didn't like but dealt with) or either shoved it up for work, but because of my hair being thick, it wouldn't stay up as well as i'd like it too and I was forever buying hairbands because they wouldn't fit my hair! As much as I love long hair and love how it looked when I actually put time and effort into it, I was just not doing it enough. I needed a hairstyle that was easy to maintain and something I didn't have to worry about too much. I went from loving the length of my hair, to appreciating the spontaneity of chopping it off. I think there is something so exceptionally admirable about someone's commitment to allowing their face to shine without tons of hair to block it. For me it's all about the power of sharing the ability of having long hair and donating it to someone who needs it and will appreciate it.

Once I had booked the hair appointment, it felt very real. I knew that once it was booked, I couldn't chicken out and say I don't want it done. At the hairdressers I got a little bit nervous as they started dividing and plaiting my hair. I got even more scared seeing that they weren't even going to use scissors! They used a shaver! BUT once the first plait was gone, there was no going back! My head immediately felt lighter. Not smaller, but lighter. 12 inches was obviously very heavy! A hair wash, and some snipping later, I had a new look, which I think I like. I'm not 100% on it just yet, but I think that's mainly because of the dramatic change! 

I also decided to fundraise for it too, so if you would like to help out then please feel free. I will be taking online donations till the 10th February 2016! Anything would be great even if it's a pound. (You can donate anonymously too) If so follow this link to donate, it's quick and easy to do and will be much appreciated: 

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/jazmynsmith22

If anyone would be interested in donating hair for yourself, follow this link for more details:

http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/information/

♥♥♥♥♥