My Summer Essentials/Tips

We all know that once June hits, everyone goes a bit summer mad, and living in Ireland, it's pretty hilarious to watch and see. The majority of people here don't protect their sun when out in it, and to be honest I don't really blame them because, we don't get a lot of it - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful with what you wear, and what you put on your skin. 

And for me, being so pale and only having a tendency to burn, it is very important - so here are my...

Summer Essentials/Tips

1. Some Form of Sun Protection

The reason why I didn't write sunscreen was because you can have SPF in a number of different products, such as your foundation, primer and even moisturiser - I will admit though, that it is pretty difficult to find a product of these that have SPF, they are pretty limited but with that being said, it doesn't mean you shouldn't look. The product I use on a daily basis is my Simple Kind to Skin Illuminating Radiance Cream (SPF 15). I love this product and I would use it nearly everyday as a primer for my foundation - it just gives such a nice and healthy glow to your skin without making it look shiny.

2. Appropriate Clothing

This breaks my heart saying this... *deep breath*.. but black during the summer for me, is a big no no. As I'm sure you's know, black attracts and white reflects heat, and for me personally, when I get too warm I tend to feel physically sick, crazy right? But not even that, black is just an incredibly dark colour and is far better suited during the winter because in summer everything is bright and colourful, and so should my clothes. Although in saying that, a small part of black is okay, like just say a crop top or vest, I wouldn't advise black skinny jeans or something like that. But from now on during the summer I intend to wear bright, colourful clothes that really emphasise the season such as; yellow, green, sky blue, lilac, pink and white etc etc. and even just really bold and colourful prints or floral print clothes.

Clothing that is too tight is also a no no, I want my skin to be able to breath, I don't want to drown in my own fluids :) so nice loosely fitted jeans, shorts, skirts, wavy tops etc are all in my wardrobe

3. No Make-up Make-up

The worst thing that could happen during summer, is your face melting off. So light make-up is one my most important essential for summer and in order to achieve this, I use my Bourjois Happy Light foundation along with a beauty blender. I love this foundation in general, but in summer it's just my holy grail, this is because the foundation is incredibly light feeling on your skin (clues in the name) and gives really good coverage even with only one application. Its also very luminous and gives a really nice glow to your skin. Using this product with the beauty blender also means that you don't use nearly as much as you usually would as a little goes a long way and the beauty blender really helps to cover all of your face and blend it really well :)

Excuse the dirty beauty blender haha, it's being washed today :)

4. Hydration
Staying hydrated is key to having good skin, and during the summer we all know that sweat tends to just come out of everywhere, which dehydrates your body and your face, so staying hydrated is super important and you can do this by drinking water or using skin products that are designed to rehydrate your skin. I'm not a big lover of water I'll admit, the only way I can drink it is if it's flavoured or with diluted juice, but I have discovered a product which I am in love with and is really good and rehydrated my face even over my make-up and it is the Simple Kind to Skin Moisture Boost Hydro Mist. I would definitely recommend this product, and as it's decently sized I can carry it with me in my bag :)

I hope you like this post :) If you have any questions then drop me a comment
:)

Nail Polish Storage

So if you're like me and you just kept all of your nail polishes in a make-up bag under your bed, then you need to read this post. 

As I'm sure we all do, I love a bargain and E-bay is my bargain palace, I love it. the main reason I was hunting on E-bay was because I had recently read that it's better for your nail polishes if you keep them standing up straight, as when they're just lying around they tend to become more gloopy and gunky and all of that nasty stuff - so I was on a mission to find a storage solution for my polishes... and I found it. 

Behold, my Nail Polish Acrylic Stand

Dimensions - 29cm wide x 16cm deep x 19cm high

If you wish to purchase or look at this item then click this link

It has four tiers and can hold 40 nail polishes, though I've found that if you have quite small nail polish bottles you can hold just few more than that. I bought this item last week and it was delivered two days after I bought it, which I thought was amazing! And it was only £12.29 along with free delivery. 

I went for an acrylic stand because I wanted to match the acrylic drawers I purchased off muji for my make-up, I like to co-ordinate like that :)

Here are some pictures of my stand with my polishes :)

:)

College

As use all know, or for those of you who don’t know, I was in college doing an NVQ Level 2 Beauty Therapy course, and I’m so happy to announce (even though I said it before) that I passed with flying colours and I have also been accepted into the NVQ Level 3 Beauty Therapy course, yay!

I will say though that beauty therapy is not what I expected, most people, especially those in university always judge those who do beauty, and class them as drop outs, lazy or just not smart, but let me tell you, the amount of biology and detail that is involved in beauty is really quite shocking, it is very intense, not because it’s hard, but because of the sheer amount that you have to know which is why it’s essential to revise in order to know it because there is no way you could learn it all just off the bat.

I did love it though, as a lover of biology I will say that I was a lot more excited about the biology aspect of the course rather than the actual practical, and I found it a lot more interesting than the others in my class (they thought I was nuts, lol.) But it has been one of my best life choice I could've possibly made, I can't wait to get stuck into Level 3 and who knows what may come after?

It's pretty exciting :)

Where Have I Been?

Yeah… I am a pretty sucky blogger. I know in my last post I had said that I would try to get a post-up every week or so, but clearly that hasn’t happened as of yet… and I know you may think I’m going to make up all these excuses but in all honesty, my laptop broke and I had no motivation really to do them, like, at all.

During that time I had been in college doing my beauty therapy course (which I passed with flying colours, yay!) but it was incredibly intense, with two tests for each unit along with a number of different assessments for each unit and piled on top of that was the interview, exam and skills test in order to get into Level 3 of beauty therapy, plus I’m also working part time, at night, so my days were incredibly full, so I apologise, but I am back now and I have my list of all the blog posts I intend to do, including book reviews… there is quite a list there, it appears I have bought a number of books since my last post, but it will be fun.. so yeah, I hope you stayed tuned

:))))

Sorry! - What I've been up too & Christmas

I honestly can't believe how long I've been away! From the new year I'm hoping to post at least once a week. 

I've been so busy with college with all the exams and assessments I honestly forgot about my wee blog, sad face - but it has been an amazing month and I've passed every exam and assessment with flying colours :) yay. 

I've really missed blogging, which is why I have taken an hour out of my day to write and talk to you guys - because I love doing it :)

So I guess the most important thing is Christmas right? Christmas was awesome, unfortunately it didn't snow but hey, two more months of winter so you never know :) I was spoilt this Christmas, from my family and my boyfriend, I couldn't ask for any more special people in my life, they really did make Christmas. I'm not going to list what I got and from whom I'm just going to name a few things...

Urban Decay Naked2 Palette 

White Water Speaker

Lady Gaga Perfume

Books

Dresses and all that good stuff 

Then it was mine and Lee's two year anniversary on Boxing Day, *aww* so we went out for dinner and exchanged gifts, it was very sweet, I love him lots :)

And for New Years Eve, I don't know what's happening yet, though it will probably involve a lot drinking and dancing - hopefully lol. 

I hope you's all had a wonderful Christmas and have a fab New Years and I'll talk to you guys soon :)

Rachel x

Make-up Removal

I have recently bought two new products to remove my make-up with. As most of you's should know by now, I love using face wipes, especially the Nivea Daily Essentials or Simple - but what I've found, especially with the Nivea, is it leaves my skin feeling very dry and somewhat tight - which would be great for people who love to use soap (which I wouldn't recommend) but it gives you that very squeaky clean feeling, personally I don't like that feeling.

So when I was in Tescos I was looking at all the skincare brands and I noticed a product that I'd never seen before, it was the Garnier Soft Essentials, Comforting Cleansing Lotion. The only other times I have used a lotion to remove make-up is in my Facial class and I loved it. It was very hydrating and didn't leave your skin feeling dry so I had to buy this product. It is enriched with Rose extract and is for dry skin, which I have during the autumn winter months and can be used on the face and eyes.

I've been trying this product out for a few days now and I love it! I use it every night to take off my make-up  with some cotton wool pads and the effect it leaves on my skin is wonderful. It's very moisturising, especially because it's for dry skin, and it keeps my skin hydrated throughout the night and even into the morning. It takes off my make-up really, even waterproof mascara so it's a win win all round! Plus it smells divine :) 

I picked this up on sale for only £2.00

I also picked up Simple's Eye Make-up Remover. I love Simple with a passion, it's my favourite skincare brand EVER. I picked this up because I didn't know how the Garnier Cleanser would do with all of my make-up and as I've used this product before and it was magic, I decided to get it again. 

It takes off my eye make-up easily using cotton wool pads and as there are so many caring vitamins in the Simple products, it didn't leave my eye area feeling dry and it didn't leave it irritated

Love Love Love it. 

I picked this up for £2.00 also :)

I picked up the Large Cotton Pads for 99p in Tescos :)

Halloween Make-up and Outfit

This is my make-up I done :)

This is the outfit I bought - I didn't get any pictures taken of me wearing it so I just thought I'd show you the picture of it. I didn't wear the necklace or ears, and I tucked the straps into the dress because I really didnt like the red :)