Sephora Haul

Like the rest of the beauty-obsessed world, I got SUPER excited when Sephora started to ship to the UK, and after a small amount of scouring I was left underwhelmed. Most of the brands weren't available for UK shipping, and not to mention the £75 spend to qualify for the £10 flat rate shipping. Then there's the tax... But finding out the delivery rate had been lowered; I caved. Yes, I do have very little willpower.

Being someone that reads a lot of American blogs and beauty sites I feel like I'd heard an absolute ton about this Japanese wonder-brand and the huge cult following in numerous countries. The Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation is something that boasts a lightweight, "aqua" formula, with light-medium coverage and still allows the skin to breathe. Think Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua but in a fancier bottle and much harder to get hold of. This foundation really is a thing of wonder and offers very lightweight coverage whilst staying put all day and not looking like you're caked in makeup. Not that I'd suggest buying foundation online and from America, I spent a good hour looking at colour swatches and definitely got lucky.

Being faithful to my Nars Pro Prime eyeshadow base, I felt like I was cheating a little buying Tarte's eye primer. I haven't actually used this yet, as for once I'm waiting till I've finished one before starting another. There's a first time for everything, right?

The LipSurgence lip pencils by Tarte dragged me in straight away given they have a matte finish, and how much I love applying lipstick in a pencil applicator. I bought the shade flush which is a highly-pigmented, deep berry pink that can be worn heavily or blotted down to a natural flush (no pun intended.) And stays put for a good 5-6 hours before needing reapplication. If you eat a ton of burgers however I'd give it a much shorter lifespan.

How sweet is the packaging on these pencils? Definitely want more! 

Seriously, believe the hype on this one. Anastasia Beverly Hills throws it out the ballpark once again with this stay-put formula. I bought one of the newest shades, Medium Brown, as all the others were too dark, and this is an ideal match for my brows, being not too dark or red. This dinky little pot packs a punch when it comes to pigmentation, and I find it best used with an angled brush once the excess has been wiped off. The best part? It completely stays put, like doesn't budge at all. They should have contemplated calling it Bulletproof pomade. Because it sets so quickly, you do have to work a lot quicker than you usually would with brow products. Something you can overlook for perfectly defined brows.

Hope you guys enjoyed a little nosey at what I bought. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my camera will be back within the next week and I can get busy on new posts. iPhone photography is definitely NOT my thing.

Guest Post | The Pyjama'd Traveller

I came across Ellie on Twitter via this article she did for Your Zen Life; I found her to be completely inspiring, and most definitely wise beyond her years. When I asked for guest posters on Twitter and Ellie replied I just knew she'd come up with something amazing. Instead of asking her to do a beauty post, I asked that she shine some of that amazing positivity over here, and she definitely delivered...

The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones that do that. UTA Hagen once said, “Overcome the notion that you must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary.” 

You don’t have to follow suit or conform to anything that you don’t want to be, to conform kills your creativity, that spark of who you are. Who is anyone else to judge you for what you want in life. Don’t put your self-esteem in the hands of strangers. Likelihood is that they’re just jealous that you have the courage to be real and go for your ambitions with a determination like no other.

Think about it like this, where would you rather be in ten years’ time; sat at home thinking of the ‘what ifs’ or be out doing something incredible? It’s okay to make mistakes along the way to figuring ourselves out but we live in a culture where our every move is under a microscope, every event goes onto Facebook and pictures are uploaded within seconds of anything happening. It makes life seem suffocating and like we have no room to mess up. But we learn so much from our mistakes, they teach us about ourselves and they tell us what we really want out of life so do the courageous thing and go for it anyway. You just have to be brave enough to know that other people’s opinions don’t matter and they shouldn’t affect us. Our journey through life and the mishaps along the way are our business and our business alone. Everyone always wants to be there during your successes but look around and take a note of those who are there when you fall flat down, they’re the ones you want to surround yourself with.

It’s not immodest to know who you are and know what you can do, once you believe in yourself you become unstoppable. Never limit yourself as to what you can achieve because you feel pressured by the world around you to be a certain way. Go for something and if it doesn’t work out, present your mistake to the world in all its glory because we’re humans and that’s just what we do, we make mistakes! Society has made us think we need to be 100% perfect beings who never screw up but that’s just not possible because that’s not how we’re made! Don’t be afraid to be a dreamer, a do-er or a try-er.

Be out there, be spectacular, be courageous, be inspiring, be different. 

You can follow Ellie on Twitter, here. And find her blog, here. 

Hope you all loved this post!