My January Favourites!

This month feels like it's lasted a lifetime!! I had a very mixed month, which you can see when I upload my monthly vlog next week. One thing I do quickly want to mention before I jump into the few things that I've been loving this month, I hit 600 subscribers on YouTube!!! I still can't believe it, thank you so much if you have subscribed, if you haven't, I'd love it if you did! Now on with my monthly favourites...

The first thing, which will be obvious to anyone who follows my social media as I haven't stopped raving about it, is the Catrice HD Liquid Coverage Foundation. I'll have a full blog post up on it this week, but very quickly, it's an amazing foundation, perfect for everyday use. It's so affordable at €7.90. It is quite mattifying so if you're super dry, I'd maybe give this a miss. I on the other hand have normal skin with quite an oily t zone. This foundation keeps my oils at bay without making me look like I'm caked in makeup and it doesn't feel very heavy. Did I mention it has fantastic coverage? I need to build it up from medium to full coverage but when I do, it's so great. 

Next up is the Blank Canvas master series palette. I had heard so much hype about this palette and on black Friday when there was 40% off, I finally gave it and bought it! I actually didn't use it until just after Christmas though, I'd put of using it so that I could take photos (blogger problems). I was genuinely so pleasantly surprised by the quality of the eyeshadows! I've pretty much only used this palette since I first opened it and I have to admit, it's fast becoming one of my absolute favourites!

Next up is a makeup mixing plate. I bought mine in Pennies for €4 and I'm obsessed. I am very very pale and most brands don't make a foundation light enough for my skin so I always use my Body Shop lightening drops to take the foundation down a shade or two. The mixing palette has come in so so handy for this exact reason and I don't even know what life was before it.

I'm not usually big into the January sales but one that did catch my eye thanks to Joanne from Lipstick n Leopard Print, was the No7 cleansing brush. I've honestly had my eye on it for about a year, usually it's €34 and because I have my Aldi one,which is really good, I never picked up the No7 one. However it was down to €11.50 so I couldn't leave it behind and I'm so glad I didn't I really really love it and will hopefully do a full blog post on it soon. 

Next up is a product that I wasn't really sure of when I started using it and that's the Dr.Paw Paw lip balm. Again, I'd heard a lot of hype. Do I think it's the best lip balm in the world? No. But I do think it's a pretty good one. I was sick for two weeks this month and my lips were dryer than the Sahara desert, I thought if there was time to test out the lip balm, it would be then. And I have to say it really helped my lips, it's not scented, doesn't make my drier which some lip balms do and I actually find myself reaching for it every night now. Big thumbs up! 

The last favourite is quite random but it's a Batiste dry shampoo. I really like the smell of it, it doesn't make my hair feel gross and it doesn't leave white marks because it brushes out really well. I'm not going to go on about dry shampoo, I'm sure most of you will have tried either this one or something similar but if you haven't this one from Batiste is really quite good. 

Thanks so much for reading. If you wanna hear my thought in a little bit more detail then you can watch the video below! 

Erin X

View Post

Tea Tree Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel Review

Anyone else suffer with blemishes and spots? I have suffered with acne since I was about twelve! It's a lot better now but still no where near clear. The smallest thing can cause a breakout.  About two years ago I introduced something new to my skincare routine and that is this baby, the Tea Tree With Hazel Night Treatment Gel. I picked it up because there was a 3 for 2 sale and I was just curious. Ever since, it has been a constant item in my skincare routine! I think I'm on my fourth tube/bottle.

I'm not a huge fan of toners, I never really feel like the do anything so I've actually subbed in this tea tree gel instead and find that it works wonders. You only need a pea sized amount to cover your entire face. Sometimes if I have active spots, I layer it up a little. It dries in super fast so I can go on with my serum almost immediately. I tend to only really use it at night as it is a night treatment, but if my skin is acting up, I do add a bit in the morning too!

Pros
It isn't greasy
It doesn't leave my skin feeling tight
It dries out my spot but not my skin
It helps reduce and clear active spots
It dries really quickly so I don't have to wait before applying a serum.
It's cheap as chips
You get 75mls in the tube, which lasts me about 6 months!

Cons
To be completely honest, I have not one thing negative to say about this product. It does exactly what it claims to do and it does so excellently.

I think this product would be ideal for anyone suffering from the odd blemish, to having full on acne. Also a major plus, when I had my skin consultation a while back, I was told that this product is perfect to use on my skin which is fantastic because sometimes cheaper skincare can filled with stuff that doesn't actually help your skin. So there you have it! You can purchase this is any Boots store nationwide for only €3.99! What an absolute bargain!

Have you tried the tea tree witch hazel night treatment gel? What did you think?

Erin X

View Post

My 2017 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  I just love a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate! Time for new goals and new beginnings! Today I wanted to share some of those goals with you, mainly because once it's out there, I'll feel accountable and then I'll HAVE to do them! With that being said, grab yourself a cuppa and let's jump in...

I want to make loads of memories and document them! I feel like I document so much here, on my Youtube channel, but most of it is material things, I want to start documenting more personal things. That's why I'm starting a new YouTube series called 'The Monthly Vlog' where I'll basically vlog the month. But I don't want it to be a situation where I feel I have to do fun things in order to have content for the vlog. This series is very much for me and what I mean by that is, usually the videos I make, I try to have it as a win win situation, where I like what I create and my audience like to watch it! With this vlog, I of course hope that my audience like it but if not that's ok I'm doing it for me. SO some videos might be 10 minutes while other might be 35, I guess we'll have to wait and see. I want to document my last full year in college and see how much things really do change in a year. This was completely inspired by Hazel Hayes, an Irish Youtuber who is phenomenal. I'll leave her series linked here, warning you may cry!

On a very similar note, I want to see people more! Unfortunately this year I had a few people pass away. It made me realise that we've no clue when the last time we see someone will actually be, so we need to make the most of it and clear some room in our schedules that always seem to be busy. I want to see my friends more and my family and do fun things, go on adventures and make the best memories possible.

I want to save money! I've spent both 2015 and 2016 completely broke! It's time that changed. I want to start saving, like properly saving. I always try my best, save some money and then BAM it's black Friday and I feel the need to buy ALL OF THE THINGS or something similar comes along. However I really wanna buy a new laptop/desktop, I wanna go on a holiday and save for my graduation holiday. I'm planning on going to Disneyland Orlando and seeing all of Disney, Universal and Harry Potter world, all that jazz! But obviously to afford all of these big expensive things, I need to save. I need to be smarter with my money and stop being such an impulse buyer!

Routine. I need one, I'm one of those people who needs to have a routine otherwise I'm a mess. I'm actually a really organised person in certain aspects of my life. I just need to concentrate on being as organised as possible in all aspects on my life. Somehow I find myself getting into bizarre routines and having really unproductive weeks which doesn't do my mental health any good.

In term of the blog, I actually have lots of little goals like finally going .com and adding a search function to the home page, I'd also like to set up a monthly newsletter. I'd like to do more micro blogging and by that I mean doing smaller reviews or first impressions on my social media as opposed to on the blog. My reason for this is I use so so so many products but don't review them all, sometimes because I try them once or twice, don't really like them so just move on. Some I like but don't think it warrants it's own full blog post so I'd like to increase my micro blogging. I want to join the Irish Blogger Agency, run by Sinead Carroll. I'd like to work with some brands and companies and start doing a little bit of sponsored posts. I've worked on my blog for two and a half years now and eventually would love to be a full time blogger. But you have to start somewhere so working with a few brands and seeing how we get on.

The last thing in relation to blogging is that I want my blog to be slightly more niche than it has been. I want my blog to be mainly a budget beauty blog.  As I'm sure you're all well aware, I'm a student which means I'm constantly broke. The majority of the products I buy are from affordable brands so I think I'll mainly be reviewing them from now on with maybe a roundup post every month or 6 weeks of higher end makeup if you're wanting to treat yourself. It won't be a major change or anything but I like the idea of being more niche and structured!

In terms of YouTube I want to up my editing game. I've just bought a new camera and I already have artificial lights so all I need now is to perfect my editing. I want to learn how to use Adobe After Effects and start doing some cool edits! And of course I'd love to reach more people with my videos, maybe finally hit that 1,000 subscribers mark! But baby steps!

In terms of career or work, I'll be back in college for the majority of the year but I do want to increase my freelance work. I had so much fun doing my workshops and doing private consultations this year. I'd love to have more clients as I really enjoy that type of work.

And last but by no means least... my weight! I really need to cop on to myself and get a handle on it. Since coming to college I'd say I've easily put on 3 stone which is ridiculous. I started slimming world this time last year as I'd a wedding to go to in Feb, and I lost half a stone, after that I got lazy and kinda gave up. However one of my family members did it last year and lost an unbelievable amount of weight and looks amazing! So I'm going to sit down and make a plan with her so that I can get back to my normal wight! I know lots of people have issues with slimming world, for me when I did it last year, it made me eat lots more fruit & veg, make my meals from scratch and still allowed me to have treats so I didn't feel like I was depriving myself or on a 'diet' I also know it works for me so I'm going to give it a go!

So they are my goals! I'm going to do everything in my power to make them all happen! Let me know in the comments what your goals for this year are...

Erin X

View Post