Health & Fitness & Life Update

Mood: Refreshed
Listening to: Sheezus- Lily Allen

Hey beautiful bloggers,

So...I've more or less broke my New Years resolution of posting twice a month. But I have good reason as I've had a pretty tough few months, there was the unexpected death of my aunt and I've not been up to writing blog posts and I've just concentrated on going to work and being around family. I don't want to go on too much, but I just want to remind everyone to realise how lucky they are and to appreciate everything they have going on in their life right now, because life is too short so make the most of it. 

On the plus side, I've sort of stuck to part of my New year's resolution by losing weight and getting fit. For the last 6 weeks I've been following Slimming World and I've lost 1 stone! (Or 14lbs to my oversea friends!) I've also been attending aquarobics every Wednesday and getting as much exercise in as possible to try and get fit, even going on (dreaded up-hill) walks on my dinner hour in work!

I've really enjoyed following SW, I'm cooking a lot but it's really enjoyable and so is the exercise. I've been fortunate enough to have the support from my friends at work who have also joined slimming world and I can get fit with them. 

Throwing in a selfie

I've noticed a huge change in my skin lately, I've been wearing less make-up and I've had some really good skin days. I think it's down to drinking plenty and getting plenty of exercise. It's been great not wearing a lot of make-up, your skin deserves a break on times.

I feel like I still have a long journey ahead but it's one I'm looking forward to.

I thought I'd give you a playlist of songs I like to workout to at the moment, it tends to change a lot so I don't get bored but this is my current one.

Playlist

1. Fancy- Iggy Azalea
2. Nobody to Love- Sigma
3. Show Me- Kid Ink ft Chris Brown
4. My Love- Route 94 ft Jess Glynne
5. Hideaway- Kiesza

6. Dark Horse- Katy Perry
7. Turn Down for What- DJ Snake and Lil Jon
8. Dust Clears- Clean Bandit

9. Hard Out Here- Lily Allen
10. Ready for Your Love- Gorgon City
11. Waves- Mr Probz
12. Run The World- Beyonce 

13. Pretty Girl- Stockholm Syndrome

14. Extraordinary- Clean Bandit

15. Summer- Calvin Harris

I hope you've all had a great week, and I'll hopefully post some beauty posts up very soon! I apologise again for the lack of posts but I'm hoping to get back on track soon :) 

Love from Bethan

xox 

Summer Lipsticks // February

Mood: Relieved 

Listening to: Clean Bandit- Rather Be

Hey beautiful bloggers!

So in the UK, we haven't seen the sun out properly in a good few months! And although I love winter time, I'm ready to say goodbye to this dreadful weather and say hello to some sun.

In an attempt to make me feel a bit better I've decided to blog about the lipsticks I can't wait to wear in the Summer!

I've put a mixture of high-end and drugstore brands so there's something there for everyone! I want to apologize in advance for the pictures of the swatches on my lips, I had to take them on my iPhone as I didn't have my camera with me at the time.

The lipsticks I've chosen today are a mixture of reds, oranges and pinks. One in particular may be more of a winter shade, but I've chosen it because it has flecks of gold shimmer in it and in the sunlight in looks really beautiful.

Beautiful colours!

Brands: MUA, Rimmel, elf, MAC & Clinique

Swatches.

1. Clinique's High Impact Lip Colour in Rosette

2. Rimmel's Colour Show Off Lipstick in Be Bold 120 (Discontinued) 

3. Clinique's Intense Moisturising Lip Colour Balm in Heftiest Hibiscus 

4. MAC's Cremesheen Lipstick in Crosswires

5. elf Lip Liner and Brush in Pink Grapefruit

6. Rimmel's Moisture Renew Lipstick in As You Want Victoria

7. MUA's lipstick in shade 5

Here are the lipstick on the lips, I've forgotten to take a picture of the elf lip liner sorry, but I'm sure you will see it more often in posts to come!

MUA in Shade 5

A pretty sheer pink colour with quite a lot of glitter in it. If you're not into glitter in lip products, I wouldn't recommend this shade. But if you are it's a gorgeous soft colour perfect for those days where you don't want to wear a bold colour. p.s this lipstick is only £1!

MAC's Crosswires

This is one of my favourite MAC lipstick shades ever, it's a gorgeous pinky coral shade and is perfect for summer. It's one of MAC's Cremesheen lipsticks and one of my favourites types as it's long lasting and it's so creamy on the lips.

Clinique Lipstick in Rosette

This is the shade I mentioned earlier about not being a typical summer shade, however the gold shimmer in it catches in the sun so beautifuly and the pinky red undertones come out. It's such a stunning underrated  colour. I also love the feel of this lipstick as it's similar in feel to Crosswires but slightly less creamy and longer lasting.

Rimmel's lipstick in Be Bold

I wouldn't normally put a discontinued lipstick on here but I love it so much and I can't wait to use it in the summer. It's almost like velvet on the lips and the colour pay off is excellent. If you're interested in this lip colour you can buy it here.

 Clinique's Chubby stick in Heftiest Hibiscus

I absolutely adore everything about this lipstick; the texture, the colour and its pay off and the overall packaging. I do like Clinique lipsticks and chubby sticks and I don't think they get enough credit in the blogger world. This lipstick is an orange with red undertones and is such a gorgeous colour, it just screams summer when you see it. It's very moisturising and long lasting and I can't wait to use it more often.

Rimmel's lipstick in As You Want Victoria

This gorgeous fuchsia pink lipstick is perfect for all you bold pink lovers! It's glossy and one of the nicest colour finishes I've seen in a lipstick. As much as I love this colour I must warn you; don't get this on your skin as it stains!

I hope you're all looking forward to summer, if you are let me know what lipstick you like wearing in the summer! Have a great week.

Love from Bethan

xox

Random Post & Catch up // Jan/Feb

Mood: Chilled

Listening to: Ellie Goulding- Explosions

Hello beautiful bloggers!

I've had a bit of a whirlwind two months and haven't had chance to blog properly. I have some great beauty posts coming up very soon, I just need to photograph a few products etc. Meanwhile I thought it would be a nice idea to let you know what I've been up to and what's going on in my life at the moment and let you know what non-beauty things I've been enjoying this month.

Even though January was supposed to be the most depressing month of the year, it was suprisingly good for me. My friend at work managed to get tickets to watch Celebrity Big Brother's Live Eviction and you could briefly see me and the girls from work on TV! I spoke to Made in Chelsea's Ollie Locke's sister and Lee Ryan from Blue's mum. Even though it was absolutely tipping down I had such a good evening and it was one of my favourite days in January.

Me and Lee Ryan's mum having a chat. I'm on the left of the circle she's on the right.

As some of you may know my sister was expecting a baby girl in February and on the 10th of February at 11.01am, my gorgeous niece Eliza was born weighing 7lb 13oz. Both baby and mother are doing really well, and I'm so happy to have another little niece! Some more fantastic news is that my other sister is having a baby in May AND my brother and girlfriend are expecting in July! So I will have four nieces/nephews by the end of the year!

Isabelle meeting her baby sister for the first time.

I would also like to wish Isabelle a happy 4th birthday as it was her birthday on February the 15th! Being the amazing Auntie I am, I volunteered to make her birthday cake this year and the theme was the film Tangled. I would like to mention I am no professional baker and I've never made a cake before so I was really happy with how it turned out!

Hard work!

Random Favourites This Month

Twinings Mint Green Tea

Lotus Crunchy Biscuit Spread

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 

My Dolce Gusto Melody 3 coffee machine

These Boots (£80 from Topshop)

Lastly I just want to mention one beauty favourite. I've been using the Revlon lip butter in the colour Juicy Papaya so much lately. It's such a gorgeous everyday colour and I've loved using it for so many different looks. Here's a makeup look I've been using a lot lately using Juicy Papaya.

Other make-up used

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in Nude
Nars Blusher in Orgasm
MAC's Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skin Finish as a highlighter
Naked 3 Palette using the shades Dust and Nooner
Elf eyebrow kit in Ash
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara
Bourjois Liner Feutre in Ultra black

I hope you've all had a great few weeks, let me know what you've been up to lately.

Love from Bethan

xox

e.l.f Haul! // February

Mood: Cheery 

Listening to: Pitbull ft Ke$ha- Timber

Hi beautiful bloggers!

(Before I start writing this post I want to say I purchased all of these products myself and have not been asked to promote any of these items or the brand itself.)

Recently I went in to the new e.l.f shop in Cardiff, it's currently the only store in Europe and I'm very lucky to live so close to it. I've only recently begun trying out e.l.f products, but oh my...I do really love some of their things and they are such good value for money!

After looking around the shop briefly, (I was short for time) I had to rush off to meet my brother for lunch and I had to leave the shop empty-handed. Fortunately I went to the online-store when I got home and I was able to purchase all of the lovely things I saw in-store.

L-R: Gypsy, Charming and Voodoo.

 Okay, so the packaging for these lipsticks may be a little tacky and flimsy and look pretty cheap. But these lipsticks are only £1.50 so you do get what you pay for with the packaging. The lipstick itself is actually pretty good. They have a variety of lovely colours, and they all smell different but very pleasant. The formula is quite creamy and they glide on easily. The colours are buildable and you can get a great pigmented lipstick after a few coats (3-4).

L-R: Charming, Voodoo and Gypsy.

The three colours I chose are very beautiful, Gypsy is a rosie pink/red and has blue undertones in it. Charming is a natural beige/pink and is great for everyday use. Lastly the colour Voodoo is a deep brown/red and is a great autumn/winter colour. I will happily purchase these again.

Blusher in Pink Passion

I am very impressed with this blush from e.l.f, it's matte, beautiful and I would compare it to blushes from Nars in texture. The packaging is also very similar to Nars as they both have the clean and simple black packaging. I paid around £3.75 for this and I can't wait to try other colours.

e.l.f baked blush in Pinktastic.

 So this is probably my favourite purchase, it's supposed to be a blush but I use it as a highlighter. It's so pigmented and shimmery it's gorgeous! It's almost the same as MAC's Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skin Finish but this is slightly more pink. I recently bought MAC'S Soft and Gentle and if I had found this before I would have saved myself a lot of money because it's only £3.75!

Studio Eyebrow Kit in Ash

 I saw this and I thought it would be great for my eyebrows. I bought it in the colour Ash as my brows and hair are naturally dark blonde but still pretty fair, plus I'm not quite convinced a darker, heavy brow suits me. I've used this a few few times but still not sure how I feel about it. The gel part of the product is a lot nicer than the powder. But I'm going to give it a go and try it out for a little while longer! Again this product was only £3.75 and is great value for money.

e.l.f Studio Lip Liner and Blending Brush in Wine and Pink Grapefruit.

Well I've purchased these lip liners before and they're honestly the best! I bought them in two different colours this time and they are so beautiful. I can see myself using the colour Pink Grapefruit a LOT throughout the summer! They look great used as a matte lipstick and they last for hours on your lips! Again they are around the £3.75 mark and I honestly can't say a bad word about them.

L-R:  Wine and Pink Grapefruit.

Here are the swatches of the lip liners, they are such beautiful colours! I will definitely be wearing Wine for nights out and for more of a vampy look and Pink Grapefruit is a beautiful coral pink colour and matches beautifully with MAC's lipstick in Crosswires.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and let me know if you've tried any of these products or if you recommend any other e.l.f products!

Love from Bethan

xox 

2014 Resolutions & What's in My Make-up Bag // January

Mood: Cheerful

Listening to: Ben Howard- Keep Your Head Up

Hello beautiful bloggers!

Firstly, I'd like to begin by saying I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year, so here's to 2014 and I hope you all have a fabulous year!
As you may or may not have noticed I've been a terrible blogger the last few months and have only been posting once a month! One of my new years resolutions is to change this habit and post at least once a fortnight (Hopefully it will be more often than that but I'm going to just say a fortnight for now!)

Another resolution of mine is to get active and keep fit. So far it's not going great, but I am going to toughen up and wake up earlier to fit in a bit of exercise or even just go for a long walk after work, even if I don't feel like. So fingers crossed I will sort this resolution out by the end of January!

Moving swiftly on from new years resolutions to make-up! I wanted to do a What's in My Make-up Bag for quite a while and I thought since I had a new make-up bag for my birthday (December 23rd) I would finally make a post and show everyone what I currently have in my make-up bag.

Thank you to my sister for my gorgeous Cath Kidston make-up bag!

So I'll admit it, since the end of last year I rarely used a make-up bag and just threw my things into my handbag for work. But now I've learnt my lesson and I've become more organised by placing all of my things in make-up bag to prevent make-up breakages and spillages (I learnt the hard way!)

Some of my beauty favourites.

So here are a few face products I currently enjoy using, going from left to right they are:

1. Garnier 5 Second Perfect Blur Primer.
2. Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Translucent.
3. Bourjois Happy Light Foundation in #51 Rose Vanilla.
4. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in Vanilla.
5. Bourjois Cream Blush in Healthy Glow.
6. Nars Blush in Orgasm.

I seem to be loving Bourjois a lot lately, and I'm in love with their new cream blushes! I only bought this a few days ago and it's literally the perfect peachy colour and it looks so pretty on.

My favourite lip product of 2013!

Okay, so I may not need all three of these in my make-up bag but I love them so much I like to have a choice of which one I'm going to use. The three colours I have are:

1.Candy Apple
2. Juicy Papaya
3. Pink Truffle

More essentials!

Just before Christmas I went to boots and saw prettiest face powder I have ever seen! It was shimmering beautifully on the shelf and there was no way I was leaving boots without it! This product is the L'Oreal Paris Lumi Magique Pearl Powder in Rose Boudoir. Unfortunately the shimmer was only a dusting on top of the product and you can't see it in the picture. But if you're ever out and about I recommend to go and see how pretty they look! Product number two in this picture is the trustworthy Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in shade number 2 light. I honestly swear by it, it's the best concealer I've ever used!

My favourite mascara of 2013.

1. Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara.
2. Bourjois Liner Feutre in Ultra Black.
3. Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo in Pink-Gold.

So here are the last three items in my make-up bag. I was going to add in all of my brushes but I thought I'd just stick to make-up. I hope you've enjoyed looking at what's currently in my make-up bag. I always change different products and don't tend to stick to one product unless I absolutely love it.

Let me know if you've used any of these products and if you have any products you'd like to recommend. Hope you all have a great week!

Love from Bethan

xox

Beauty Favourites & Winter Catch-Up // December

Mood: Festive

Listening to: Michael Buble-It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Hey beautiful bloggers!

It's been forever since I've posted last, but honestly I've been so busy/enjoying everything festive I've not had the time or inspiration to do anything. I hope you've all have a great few weeks!

So while I've been away, I have actually completed my Christmas shopping! For anyone who actually knows me, this is a huge deal because I'm always last minute! (I've even wrapped most of them!)

Favourite candles lit

My Christmas tree in my room

Getting back to all things beauty, I haven't done a monthly favourites in so long, so I'm just going to show you my favourite winter items and things I've recently purchased. This is going to be quite a long post so please bear with me!

Top Winter Items/Purchases

1. Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I finally bought this and then found out about the Naked 3 palette...Typical. Ah well, I love this little beauty so much. I practically use it everyday. It has a lot of taupe and neutral colours to suit all. My two favourites colours are Bootycall and Busted. Although I love the look of the rose coloured Naked 3 palette, I am still very happy with this one.

2. Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Jilted

It was love at first sight with this lipstick. I went to Debenhams with the intention of buying the Naked 2 Palette and nothing else, and then I saw this lipstick and had to buy it. The lovely lady at the Urban Decay counter tested it on me first and said it looked great on me. The colour jilted is a rich fuchsia colour with blue undertones. It has a creamy texture and the colour pigmentation is spectacular! I really recommend these lipsticks.

3+4. Kate Spade for nails inc. in Big Apple Red and BarryM Limited Edition Glitter Nail Paint in Silver Lights

I picked up Glamour Magazine(UK) and I was overjoyed to see a free nail polish I have been eyeing up for ages! I wanted Big Apple Red by Kate Spade for nails inc. for ages but never got round to buying it, and it's such a pretty red perfect for Christmas! The BarryM nail glitter was also a sparkling surprise purchase, I went into Boots and when I saw it, I thought it would look great for my work's Christmas Party next week. I love both of these nail polishes and both are perfect for the festive season.

5. Brazened Honey Fresh Face Mask from Lush

My skin is always at it's worst during winter and I've also been suffering from monthly breakouts, and they've been worse than usual lately. I've been drinking plenty of water and sticking to my skin routine every morning and night but I thought I would add a mask in there to see how my skin would benefit from it. I had great advice and recommendations from the lady who worked in Lush, and in the end I settled on this mask. It contains lime and ginger plus many other beneficial things your skin needs. I've only used this twice but it's left my skin feeling hydrated and soft.

6+7.  La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo & Liz Earle Skin Moisuriser

I haven't long bought the Effaclar Duo but so far I'm loving it and I can see a difference in skin already. I use it twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. It's an anti-imperfection moisturiser that helps unclog pores and helps smooth out your skin. The smell of it is amazing and it doesn't leave your skin feeling greasy at all. I know I've raved about the Liz Earle Moisturiser time after time, but I've just re-purchased it again and I really love how it quenches my thirsty skin. If you haven't tried any of these products I really can't recommend enough.

8. Bourjois Radiance Reveal Healthy Mix Foundation

I bought this foundation on offer when I ran out of my Benefit one. I love radiance enhancing foundations and this one is one of my favourites so far. The smell is so fruity and it actually smells good for your skin. It's a medium coverage but you can use as much or as little as you need and it still gives and even complextion. The colour I had was Vanilla and it's the second lightest one. The only problem I had was it only came in 8 different shades and I think people could have trouble colour matching with their skin. Apart from that I love it!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and hopefully I will be posting a lot more throughout December! Hope you have a great day/night!

Love from Bethan

xox

How Much Is My Face Worth?

Mood: Tired

Listening to: Booyah- Showtek

Hello beautiful bloggers!

I've had a little bit of writers block lately and have found it hard to come up with different post ideas, but I saw this tag and had to do it! Basically all you do is add up all the amount of money of all the make-up/skincare you're wearing on your face. I bet most of you will be surprised with the amount we spend on our faces, so I challenge anyone who wants to try this tag to do it.

So here goes nothing!

Foundation: Benefit's Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow = £25.50
Concealer: Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in 02 light = £3.99

Mascara: Le Volume De Chanel = £24.00

Skin Brightener: MAC Strobe Cream (Travel Size) = £12.50

Moisturiser: Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser = £19.25

Eyeshadows: MAC's Satin Taupe & Naked Lunch = £25.00 

Eyebrows: Matte Eyeshadow used from Sleek, Storm Palette = £7.99

Bronzer: Bourjois' Delice de Poudre = £6.99

Blusher: MAC's Mineralize blusher in Dainty = £20.00

Eyeliner: Maybelline Gel Eyeliner = £7.99

Lipstick: elf Lipliner and Blend Brush in Fuchsia = £3.75
Lips: Vaseline Pocket Size Tin = £1.99

Powder: Rimmel Stay Matte Powder = £3.99

Total Amount = £162.94

I actually can't believe how much make-up costs and when it's all added together it looks even worse! I used a range of high end and high street/drugstore products today and it's still a hefty amount of money with a mixture of both.
I understand that you don't use all of the product in one use, so it doesn't cost that much every time you use it, but it does put in to perspective of how much you actually spend on make-up. I for one, spend far too much money each month on make-up and beauty products and it's not until the end of the month and I look at all of my products I've realised I've spent around £200 on beauty items.

I've tried to be good this month and resisted buying so many products but I have to say even though I've bought a few products I haven't gone overboard like I usually do.

I hope you've all had a great week, and I encourage you all to do the How Much Is My Face Worth Tag.

Love from Bethan

xox