Topshop's Kohl Eyeliner Pencil in Saddle - Review + Swatches!

I feel like all I ever do is review things, I swear I'll have a better variety of posts up soon, I have just been so busy and I have doing about 10 posts a day and then spreading them all out, I'm starting Uni soon and everything is a wee bit mental! I'm currently at my Freshers week in Glasgow so I'm never really at home, therefore all these posts are pretty much queued up, so bare with me whilst I start a new chapter in my life!

But onto why you are here, reading this post; Topshop's Kohl Eyeliner in Saddle! I bought this about 3 weeks ago and have used it a fair few times and have came to my final verdict on whether I like it or not.

First of all, the packaging is quite cute isn't it? I love the Topshop signature spots, I think they are adorable and are very aesthetically pleasing, for me anyway. It's just a plain pencil with a little white lid, which I am unsure on whether it is really that secure, I would watch if you are carrying it about with you, I feel like the lid could come off if something pushed against it.

The pencil is pretty self explanatory, it's just a plain brown pencil, this is it swatched onto my hand along with Maybelline's Color Tattoo in Eternal Gold and Maybelline's Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner in Black, as you can see I take my blog pictures all at once! On the hand it looks fine, the pigmentation is.. Alright, I suppose, I prefer it way more on the top of my lashline, as on the waterline it comes off quite easily. It is a little bit tricky to put on your top lashline though, it doesn't apply very smoothly and you have to keep your hand still or else it will smudge everywhere, which I don't really like again, I prefer my eyeliner to be a straight line.

As you can see the one time I actually take a picture of me wearing Saddle I have an extremely thin line making it barely noticeable, if you saw yesterdays blog post you will have seen that I like both my liquid eyeliner and my pencil eyeliner quite thick, however I was going for a rather natural look here. So yes, I do quite like it on the top of my lashline, I think it compliments my eyes well and is a lot more subtle and natural than a black line.

As I said earlier with the smudginess, that could be seen as a good thing if you smudge the outer corners of your eye to create an almost smokey eye effect with a pencil eyeliner which is quite good and saves you the hassle for doing a smokey eye using eyeshadow, it could be a quick alternative for a smokey eye.

Overall, for £4 I think it's alright. Not the best I hoped it would be, but not the worst. I don't think I will repurchase it after I have used it all, I will try Maybelline's brown eyeliner as I absolutely adore their liquid eyeliner so hopefully their pencil eyeliners are just the same.

Do you have any recommendations for brown pencil eyeliners, and if so, what are they, and what are your favourite eyeliners?

Thank you for reading, I hope you have a wonderful week and I will talk to you very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Maybelline Eyeshadow Quad in Coral Drama - Review + Swatches!

So Superdrug had a 2 for £10 on all Maybelline products.. Guess who got sucked in on this offer.. Not me.. Just kidding, course I was, you know I love offers! I am honestly going to end up with no money if all these offers continue, however I feel I'm going to be shopping in Boots a lot more for make-up as I get 4 points per £1 I spend compared to only 1 point per £1 in Superdrug.. But there is a Superdrug 5 minutes away from me, whereas Boots is a bus ride away.. LIFE IS SO DIFFICULT!

Anyway, onto the product. I bought this Maybelline Eye Studio Silky Glam Quad in Coral Drama. I picked this one up particularly because of the red and gold colours, I felt like it was quite a unique quad compared to either a neutral quad or a smokey eye quad.

The packaging is pretty nice, it is quite small though and for £7.19 I feel like you pay more for the packaging than for the actual product. I quite like the design of the lid and how it comes in to the middle, giving it a indentation which is different to a plain case. It comes with an applicator so you can easily reapply on the go.

As you can see, the colours you get are all very shimmery and metallic, the colours look pigmented and rich and I just really liked the combination of the colours. You get a light shimmery white colour, with the hint of beige in it, I used this for a highlight on my brow bone and in my inner corner of my eye. The gold shimmery colour I used all over the lid, and put the bright light coral colour at the outer corner of my eye/in the crease. The final dark burgundy colour I used on the outer corner.

However, when I first used this product I was really disappointed. It seemed like when I put it on my lid, it stayed on fine, but when I put another colour on top the original colour disappeared, along with the first colour. I feel like you definitely need a eye primer or a base eyeshadow or something underneath this eyeshadow to make it stay on the lid. I ended up using MUA's Eyeshadow in Matte as a base as I don't have a eye primer yet, which is at the top of my to do list to buy!

With a primer, the eyeshadows stay on reasonably well. I personally don't think the colours blend well together, I feel like when I put the light coral shade in the crease it just kind of disappeared into the gold. I have only used them all once though, so I may do an updated blogpost on this product once I know more about it, but this is my first impression.

As you can see on my arm they look beautiful, they are extremely shimmery and I really do want to love these eyeshadows. I'm not saying this product isn't good, I'm just saying it isn't as good as I thought it would be. I will be working with it, trying new ways to apply it and seeing what it's like with a proper eye primer perhaps, when I eventually get one.

If you don't have really oily eyelids like me then this quad might give you no trouble at all, but for me personally, it just isn't doing me justice quite yet. I will do an up-to-date blogpost on this when I use it more and will let you know my final verdict, but don't let me put you off buying this, if you think it looks amazing then go for it, I think it does but it just didn't pay off as nicely on the lids as it does in the pan/on my arm.

I hope you are having a wonderful week, and I will talk to you very soon. :) 

Hannah, xx

Guess who passed their driving test?!

Meeeeee! Yaaaaaay!

Oh dear, it was so scary and nerve-wracking. For all you people who haven't taken your test in the UK, or if it's different outside the UK, basically you have a bunch of lessons with your driving instructor in their car, which for me I had 25 lessons, and then the day of your test you have an hour warm up with your driving instructor and then the driving test marker person comes along and you go out driving with them.

So I had my warm up, and I didn't do too bad. Made some silly mistakes, but overall was fine, I stalled once (basically means the engine cuts out, it's not really that good) but it's alright as long as you react quickly and don't cause problems for any other drivers.

But as I was coming into the test centre, I was really getting nervous. Like, I was shaking, and I tried reversing into a parking space and there were cars around me with people about to sit their test in them, and I wasn't doing too good under the pressure even though they probably weren't even looking at me.

And then I burst into tears.

Yep, I burst out crying. My driving instructor started freaking out, but I do cry a lot when I get nervous and I'm all under pressure and worried, so it was almost a good thing I did cry, to get it out my system before the actual test. So I went to the bathroom, had another cry then told myself to man up. Now, before I went to the bathroom there was no one in the test centre so I wasn't that bothered because no one would see my red and blotchy face.. However, when I came out, there were about 10 people sitting staring at me and I was so embarrassed.

I then met my driving test marker person, her name was Isabelle, and she checked my eyesight, then asked me to open the bonnet (which I couldn't do) then asked me about the engine oil and stuff (I froze and nearly forgot the answer, but I was fine) and then asked me about my head restraint and how to adjust it etc etc and away we went!

She basically took me all through the big town next to my wee town, through the countryside a bit and into a dual-carriageway, and I did stall on my turn in the road (basically a 3 point turn, where you face one side at the start and face the other side at the end) but it was fine because I fixed it super fast and didn't affect anyone.

I did all the horrible roundabouts I said I hated, I did the big town which I said I hated, and I only got two minors! (meaning I got two little faults) which were the stall on the turn in the road, and one for vehicle checking, which means I didn't check around my car properly once, and I passed! Yay!

My Dad is already looking at cars, we've seen a nice blue Toyota Aygo which I am slowly falling in love with, but we shall see.

But yay, go me! :) Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Hannah, xx

Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Review/Warning/Stay Away..

Today I am here to tell you that this shampoo.. Is horrible. Okay. I said it. It is nasty, horrible, does nothing but damage your hair.. Let's get into ripping this bad boy apart, shall we?!

This shampoo that I am about to complain bitterly about is the Herbal Essences Beautiful End Split End Protection Shampoo and Conditioner (as you can see in the picture below)

I originally got this shampoo a few weeks ago, I think my Mum bought it for me obviously because I have long hair and she thought it would be nice to help my hair. So I thought, why not, I'll just try it. I used it for about a week and I did notice a difference, but not a good difference. It made my hair heavier, which I thought, maybe it's just me changing shampoos as I had used the Herbal Essences Fresh Balance for a long time before that (much better)

However, when I went to the hairdressers about a week later to get my hair done, my hairdresser asked me if I had changed my shampoo, to which I obviously said yes. She then told me this shampoo was doing nothing but making my hair worse, it was making my hair extremely heavy and flat and then to top it all off, it was producing a layer of grease and chemical badness on the top of my head.. Yeah.. You can kind of work out how I reacted.

She told me that there isn't really a cure of split ends and that this shampoo/conditioner certainly wasn't helping, especially the shampoo, she said it was just making it worse. I then immediately changed my shampoo again, but this time to Herbal Essences Dazzling Shine and noticed a huge difference. My hair was bouncy, it was light and didn't feel greasy at all and it had a lovely natural shine to it.

So yes, if you see this shampoo in stores or know anyone who uses it or wants to try it, take it away from them! It does nothing good to your hair and just makes it more damaged than what it already is.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, have a wonderful week and I will talk to you very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Benefit Erase Paste - Review + Swatches!

Hello there! Today I am going to be reviewing a little pot known as Erase Paste by Benefit. It is said to be a brightening camouflage for eyes & face. I was originally introduced to this last year by my cousin who said it was amazing for hiding spots if you were going for a flawless finish, so for Christmas last year my Mum bought me the pack with the Erase Paste and The Porefessional. I use the shade fair, as there are only 3 shades which I think is a bit poor, everyone's skin tone and colour is different therefore they all cannot fit into 3 shades; fair, medium and deep.

The packaging is so cute, I absolutely love it! The pot has a lovely sheer pink pot and a purple lid, making the packaging colourful and more asthetically pleasing. You also get a lot of product inside the pot which is good, I hate when the packaging takes over and there is hardly any product. The price is £19.50 and the packaging definitely reflects that. Also, the pot does have a protective clear shield that goes between the concealer and the lid to keep them separated. Furthermore, the only bad side to the packaging is the fact that it is in a pot, make sure that your hands are clean before you dip your fingers in, germs are everywhere you know!

This concealer is very creamy and definitely full coverage, a tiny bit honestly goes a long long way. If you put too much on, yes you will look cakey and it will clump so be careful and use little, you will see the wonders! I love this for all over my face, as it cancels out any darkness under my eyes and brightens them, it cancels out any redness and the original reason why I bought it, if you have spots, they honestly disappear if you pop a tiny bit of this on top, it's like magic! As you can see from the photo below, I have had this concealer for ages, I think I got it at Christmas and that is all I have used.

As you can see from the photo below, it comes out slightly lighter than my natural skin which is fine as then it will definitely brighten up underneath my eyes and it won't look too light, if you get me, it blends in super nice either using your finger or brush, however I prefer using my finger (middle finger, your eye area is sensitive remember!)

Overall I really love this product, it is great quality and for every part of the face it works beautifully. It may be close to £20 in price, but it will last you months and months on end, it has lasted me 9 months and I've hardly made a dent. If you don't like full coverage then maybe this isn't the concealer for you as it is definitely full coverage but honestly, even if you don't, still give it a go or ask for a sample because it is a great product to have in your make-up bag!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and have a wonderful week, I will talk to you very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Benefit's The Porefessional PRO balm - Review + Swatches!

Today I am here to show you the wonders of Benefit's The Porefessional PRO balm, I absolutely love it. At first, I had no idea what it was or where I used it on my face/what it's purpose was, as I got it as a present, but after reading it on the website I understood exactly what it's purpose was, and I love it! It says it is oil-free, lightweight, translucent and silky. It is meant to minimise the appearance of pores and make your makeup stay put.

I really like the packaging, it's lightweight and easy to throw in your bag for touch ups throughout the day. It's a squeeze tube so beware of germs, but apart from that I really like it. However, for the price of £23.50, as much as it is a cute little bottle, they could have maybe made it look/feel more expensive.

The product comes out as a beige liquid, that is extremely soft to the touch, almost silky (which is what it said on the bottle, and it is totally right!) Once you blend it in it becomes literally invisible (as you can see in the picture below), you can hardly see it, if you were right in someone's face you might be able to notice it but from far away it just looks like your normal skin. It is not clumpy, or cakey, it is smooth, lightweight and very soft to the skin. Honestly, when you feel your skin with this on, it honestly does feel like silk, it is such a nice feeling!

It is a very good primer, once I put my foundation, concealer and powder over it the silky feeling is still there and you can even put it over your make-up for the added smooth effect. I really enjoy this product overall, and I use it every time I put make-up on as it makes such a difference.

However, I really don't know how it will work for super oily skin. I have normal skin, with dry patches and oily patches here and there, and as I only use this product on my nose and under my eyes, which for my skin are just normal areas, I can't say how well it works for dry or oily skin. For people with dry skin, moisturise before applying this and hopefully it should be fine, and for people with oily skin, it does say oil-free so they should be telling the truth if they put it on the bottle!

Overall I really do enjoy this product, I love the feeling it gives my skin and I love how it becomes invisible, I sometimes just only apply this and not foundation because even though it gives virtually no coverage, because it's not meant for that, I don't have particularly bad skin, I don't have acne *touchwood* or bad breakouts so I don't need to wear foundation everyday, I love letting my skin breathe and I can still do this with The Porefessional.

So, if you are looking for a new primer or just want to give it a go, I did link the website in the first paragraph. If you are scared about the price, just know this; it is the best selling primer in the UK and is highly rated everywhere I have looked, and I would rate it highly also.

I hope you are having a wonderful week, and I will talk to you very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Goodbye Summer 2012, hello the rest of my life.

As you all know, we are now in mid-September and it is definitely getting a bit chilly outside here in Scotland, I have a hoody on, my thickest t-shirt and wooly bed socks on my feet to keep the snug. Now, mid-September means a lot of things to people; the cold weather returns, back to school, back to work, but for me, it means starting a new chapter in my life.

University.

I officially start University on the 25th this month, which was scarily two weeks yesterday, but my Freshers starts this Saturday. If you don't know what Freshers is, it's basically a week of parties, meeting new people who might or might not be in your classes and enjoying your last scrap of freedom you have before a hellish year. Therefore, really, my Summer ends this Saturday, and really my childhood too.

I would just like to say, I am terrified. I am truly so nervous for it all it's unreal. Excited, but nervous. I have always been a nervous person, ever since the day I started Secondary School (basically since I was 11 or 12.) Tests, exams, talks in front of teachers, meeting new people, making friends.. They all do not come naturally to me. I have to study really hard to get the grades I want, I have to force myself to be sociable and not to shy away in a corner like my natural instincts tell me to do. I am also quite an unsociable person, I am extremely shy and do not like new things, like meeting new people. I feel like I'm quite a quirky, or to put it simply, a weird person. I'm afraid people judge me on things that aren't true, and that people find me weird and then don't like me. I try really hard to fit in and be normal but it makes me sad, I'm so scared of what other people think that it restricts me on what I want to do. I'm scared. It's going to be difficult I know, but it has been my dream for so long, to go to University, to further my education in things that fascinate me. 

You see, I was picked on a lot throughout the years, I was always called slow or stupid or blonde. Now, to most people those comments might have just been a joke, but it always hit me hard. I don't have a lot of common sense, I am clumsy yes, but I am clever. I am smart, I know my stuff, it's just people never see that. Even some of my best friends called me stupid. I struggled so long in school, especially in Maths. I would come home crying every night, I would cry in class during tests and I would cry in exams in front of a hundred people because my mind just went blank, the pressure was too much and I couldn't cope. My parents started getting worried about my mental state because I would torture myself over it, I eventually began to believe I was stupid and I started to give up on myself.

But I couldn't let this stop me, it would destroy me in the end. I got a tutor, I made myself do extra Maths every night and revise every night and eventually, my confidence picked up. When I say it picked up, I mean I didn't cry every night, but through my hard work and determination over 6 years of Maths in Secondary School, I got a B. That's been my biggest achievement yet. I don't care if it wasn't an A, I passed, I passed Maths. I still got extremely nervous before every class test and before every exam, but I worked so hard for them all and I passed, with a higher grade than I could have ever imagined. The look on my parents faces when I said I passed, was pure happiness. They knew I struggled. I never told anyone, because I didn't want them to take it as  a weakness against me and use it to make me feel worse.

The same happened for English, although this time I reacted a lot quicker. I got a tutor almost straight away, and worked ridiculously hard. I did past papers and essays almost every night, and I got an A. My teacher didn't even have hope for me, she said to one of the other students in my class that I tried hard, but never got anywhere.

So this is to all the people that didn't have faith in me, that didn't believe I was smart enough, clever enough, intelligent enough to get into University and do the thing I wanted to do. I did it. I got in without even needing anymore grades, but I sat an extra 4 exams so I could get more grades to fall back on. I got 5 A's and 4 B's. Let me just tell you that that sentence is my biggest success and achievement yet. That sentence gives me hope when I will feel down at University, when I'm struggling in lectures, when I have essays due in, when I have class tests and when I have my final exams, that sentence will show me that I can do whatever I want to do, and even through the tears, the nerves and the hard work and dedication, I will get to where I want to be in life, no matter what people do to try and hold me back.

I am saying goodbye to the girl that was pushed around, called stupid, called slow, called blonde. I am saying goodbye to the girl that was too afraid to go out of her comfort zone. I am saying goodbye to the girl that used to want to give up.

I am saying hello to the young woman who is dedicated, who will work as hard as she possibly can to achieve what she wants, who will go out and meet new people and will try her best to not care what other people say, and who will be the person she wants to be.

Hello Hannah Burrows.

Thick Eyeliner, Golden Eyes + Berry Lips = Autumn! FOTD 11/09/12

I would first of all like to say that my heart goes out to all the families and friends that have lost someone on this tragic day 11 years ago. Rest in peace to all those who sadly passed away that day, you will never be forgotten and you live long inside everyone's hearts. <3

Moving on, today I would like to show you what make-up I am wearing. I experimented with Maybelline's Eyeshadow Quad in Coral Drama which I have a blogpost coming up on in the next few days, all I can say now is that I didn't like it as much as I thought I would! I also chose to go with a darker, berry lip as we are transitioning into Autumn.

Here's a picture of my eyes, but more importantly, we have a cheeky little nostril shot going on there! No, please ignore my nose, I got a bit carried away with the angles but this picture of my eyes and my eyes only (lies, I want you all to see my nostril.. not) was the best one out of the pictures I took. My eyeliner is probably the main part of my eye, as I made the line bold and thick and I took it out a little bit in a wing, thick eyeliner is a trend this Autumn/Fall this year folks! My eyeshadow was meant to be a golden-coral almost smokey eye look, but instead it just looks golden, which disappointed me about this eyeshadow (look out for the blogpost in 2 days!)

 I just used a mini lipgloss I got as a present from Accessorise on the lips, it is a dark berry colour and it is the exact shade that is in for Autumn, I will definately be going out and buying a lipstick form of this shade extremely soon! Do you have any recommendations of good darker berry lipsticks?

Funny faces time.. I wore my hair in a simple side braid as I had a shower this morning and was meant to be working tonight but I got sent home, so I didn't do anything too fancy with it, it's actually still wet in these pictures, I am so lazy when it comes to drying my hair!

 Make-up I am wearing;

Benefit The Porefessional

A tiny bit of Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in "Believe in Me Ivory"

Benefit Erase Paste in Light

Mac Blush in Buff

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in 001 Translucent

MUA Eyeshadow in Matte

Maybelline Eyeshadow Quad in Coral Drama

Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara

Accessorise Lipgloss

I hope you enjoyed reading this, I really love the dark lip and thick black eyeliner combo, I will be wearing it a lot this Autumn. I hope you have a lovely week and I will talk to you very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Welcome Autumn!

It is now mid September, and in Scotland, that means Autumn is finally here! Meaning that the summer shorts are shoved up to the back of your wardrobe and you bring out and dust off the old pair of wooly tights and coats AND scarves that you have. I have a serious love/hate relationship with Autumn, as some days it will be FREEZING and you bring out the big wooly coat combined with a scarf, hat and a pair of gloves, but then half way through the day the sun will come out and you are boiling! You can never predict the weather in Autumn, but here is an outfit that I wore quite frequently in Autumn and Winter last year and I feel that it is still in for this year.

This jacket is my all-time favourite, I absolutely adore the colour, detail and shape of it. It's literally a bright orange, but don't mistake it for a neon orange as it is not that shade, it's more a bright orange with red undertones, but it is still more on the orange side. I love the puffed up shoulder detail, it gives the jacket immediately more elegance and class, and I also love how it comes in at the waist slightly to give your figure a curvy edge. The brown buckles at the front are also lovely, I really am so glad that the buckles are brown because they are neutral and mean I can wear a brown bag and it will look fine.

 I got this from a boutique called Yumi in York, I think they have stores only in England, but they have an online store (yay!) which you can see here :) My scarf is unfortunately does not have a tag on it to show where it is from and I can't remember what store it is, however I got it in Edinburgh this year and I love it, it's just a silky kind of material with white hearts all over it, it's quite thin so I wouldn't wear this in the dead of Winter as I would freeze :(

The pockets are just normal except the detail into the pockets is beautiful, it's a bow shape and it has the same material at the back (as you can see below) and I just think this, along with the shoulder detail, makes the jacket so so so so SO elegant and overall beautiful to wear on every occasion. The jacket also comes out a bit from the buckles down, as because the buckles stop quite high up the jacket just flows to each side, again creating a curve to your figure, and the slit from the buckle down doesn't really bother me, it doesn't let the cold or anything come in, the jacket usually does just stay put so it keeps all the warmth inside!

Along with this jacket I wore a cosy furry grey hoody from Mantaray in Debenhams which I don't think is on sale anymore as I bought it last year, sorry! I also wore my treasured black Vans and my converse bag which I got in Germany, to give the outfit the extra pop of colour, as the bag basically has lots of bright converses all over it (quite ironic when I'm wearing my vans.)

So that's about it! I love this jacket so much, I will be bringing it out very soon as for the first time in months I actually wore a hoodie, so soon it will be jacket time. I hope you enjoyed reading this and have a wonderful week. :)

Hannah, xx

South Africa in OOTD's!

I thought today I would do a cheeky little holiday OOTD since this summer I went to the beautiful South Africa, which is my favourite place to visit in the entire world, it's honestly just amazing, I love everything about it there. Now, I went in July which is Winter there and the weather varied from raining to hot and sunny, so you will see a variety of outfits here. Let's get started!

I'm sure this was one of my first days there (I should of mentioned I went for 3 weeks) and the view in the background is Llandudno, which has a gorgeous beach, it is one of my favourites around Hout Bay, which is where my family and I usually visit. I'm wearing one of my proud bargains of the summer, I bought this dress in Tesco (a British supermarket) for about £15 and absolutely ADORE it, it's just a straight down dress with lace detail all over, it is sleeveless and the colour is a pink peach which I love, it is so in this year! I paired it with a brown belt I bought years ago, black tights as it was still quite chilly, brown flats from Element, a cream cardigan from H&M and my bag is from Yumi (which is the only bag I brought so I won't repeat the bag over and over again.. Take note!)

This is in the V&A Waterfront, look at that elephant, it's made out of beads and wire, it's incredible! It was quite cloudy that day as you can see so I was sporting this loose stripy tank top from H&M, which was one of my personal favourites this summer, I love the combination of bright and neutral stripes. I paired this with a light brown cardigan from H&M, jeggings from Asda (they do great jeans) and my treasured Vans.

This picture was taken in Simon's Town at the beautiful harbour, honestly, it was stunning, I will do a South Africa memories post if you would like. I am wearing the same jeggings, shoes and bag from the last picture, but my Mickey Mouse sleeveless top and my denim shirt are both from Topshop and I love this combination, it is so cute and I will be wearing it this Autumn. I am also wearing a necklace form Topshop, which is gold and long and has sunglasses and a moustache (very in!) which again I love. My sunglasses are from Burberry. :)

As you can see from the background I was at Bloubergstrand which is the famous beach where you have the perfect view of Table Mountain. As you can see, this is the same dress I wore in the first picture but this one is bright green, I got 3 colours of this dress, I also have a white one because I loved it so much! I have paired this instead with a black belt and my black Vans, but everything else is the same.

Here I was at the Cape of Good Hope, this is after I climbed the huge hill/mountain by myself, I asked some random person to take a picture for me! It was extremely windy that day so I went with my navy blue jeans from Dorothy Perkins, my black Vans, my Yumi bag, my scarf from a stall at a market in South Africa, my leather jacket from Topshop and a white top.. which I can't remember what it is, but let's just say it was nice okay! What I love about this outfit is the leather jacket, as it isn't that heavy/warm so I can wear it throughout Summer and Autumn and it will do me just fine.

Look at all the pretty penguins! This was at Boulders Beach where all the penguins live, and I am wearing this lovely jumper from Topshop, and what I love about it is that it's quite short so it sits just on my jean line which I think is cute, and also that it is quite thin, so I can wear it in Summer and then layer it up in Winter. I paired it with my Burberry sunglasses, jeans (no idea what jeans as I can't see them/can't remember), the cutest moustache necklace from Topshop, and most likely my black vans.

This is my final outfit to show, which is one of my favourites. The view behind me is of Chapman's Peak, which is meant to be one of the most scenic drives in the world. This dotty dress is from Henry Holland in Debenhams and I bought it whilst it was on sale (bargain!) and I love that it can be either super dressy or super casual. I paired it with my brown flats from Element, a silver bird necklace from Fossil and my burgandy necklace from a boutique in Kalk Bay, the beads are meant to be lucky. I also paired this with my brown cardigan from H&M.

Just put this picture in because a) I love this picture, b) I love this view, c) I love my dress and d)... I just love everything.

And that's it from Timothy the penguin and I, also the accessories I have been wearing in all the pictures are either my Chanel J12 watch, my Fossil watch, my Daisy Chakra bracelet and a gold ring my Mum gave to me. I hope you enjoyed reading this, have a lovely week and I will speak to you all very soon.

Hannah, xx

Summer Days by the Beach - OOTD!

Hello everyone! Now that summer is unfortunately coming to a close *cries* I decided to show you all one of my favourite summer outfits for lounging at the beach with my friends or my boyfriend or just walking around town in when it's a super hot day!

First of all, ignore the blurry bit in the middle of the photo, something was on my lense that day and I never realised until when I got home! This playsuit was one of my personal favourite items to wear this summer, it was from Henry Holland in the Debenhams sale which I absolutely adore! Unfortunately this is not on sale anymore but any floral playsuit looks so cute for summer. 

My sunglasses are from Burberry, which my Dad bought me earlier on this year. My accessories are my Chanel White J12 watch, my yellow Chakra bracelet and a aqua hair tie. My shoes are from Melissa in Brazil, they are rubber light pink dolly shoes with a gold buckle and a light pink plastic bow at the front. My bag is from a boutique in York called Yumi which I love, it is very unique and has a vintage look to it, it is also not structured therefore you can fit a lot in it, which again I love, I use it for all occasions.

Look how nice Scotland looks! It was the one really hot day in summer, there was no clouds in the sky and the sea was so refreshing compared to the hot sand. Also, another reason why I love this playsuit is because of the super thin straps and the low back, there is also a belt that I tie in a loose bow at the back which you can see below. Overall the playsuit isn't tight, which is good for hot days so the air can flow through my outfit and not make me super sweaty and uncomfortable - a key essential for any outfit in summer, especially when it's hot!

A wee cheeky close up of my playsuit, so you can see how bright and colourful the flowers are, it is honestly perfect for summer, I am so sad that summer is coming to a close as it'll be too cold to wear this in Autumn and Winter as I think it would look a bit silly with tights :( *cries again*

And that is about it! These photos were not intentionally taken for an OOTD, my boyfriend had my camera and he loves to take photos of everything and these were the actually sort of decent ones that he took of what I was wearing. I thought I would just make this post to say goodbye to summer as it is now September and is starting to get cold again.

So yes, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will speak to you all very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Benefit's Big Beautiful Eye Kit - Review + Swatches!

Today I am going to be reviewing an old faithful of mine - Benefit's Big Beautiful Eyes contour kit! I have used this kit for so long and absolutely love it, you can go full out and create a smokey eye or make it a lovely everyday, easily wearable look for a normal day.

As you can see mine is a little bit messy as I have used this a lot previously (and this is after I cleaned it, it was so mucky before with fingerprints and eyeshadow and concealer everywhere!) The first thing I like about this kit is the little leaflet it comes with, it basically shows you how and where to use the products you are given, which I think is super handy for people just starting to get into make-up. As you can see you are given a concealer, and 3 eyeshadows. I hardy use the concealer as it is too dark for my skin, so instead I use Benefit's Erase Paste in fair (blog post coming soon) but it is still a lovely bonus.

The first colour is a shimmery light pink, which is beautiful on the lid, application is so easy, you can just sweep it on and viola, your eyes already look amazing! This combined with the shimmery bronze again can make a lovely everyday look, as I usually sweep the pink colour across the lid and then apply the bronze colour to the outer corner of my lid and blend it into my crease, to give some definition to the eye. It is so subtle but at the same time really makes your eyes stand out more. The final brown colour is by far a billion times more matt than the other two, with a slight shimmer throughout it. I only use this if I want to create a smokey eye and I just put a little bit on the outer corner of my eye again and blend it in.

The pigmentation is great, and this kit will last you a long time. It also comes with two little brushes as well, which go in the little white box at the bottom, but I lost them a long time ago! It's basically two brushes and each end is for each product, which I think is so helpful! 

I have had this for over 6 months now and I still have not hit pan, it has lasted me so well and has become one of my favourite products. It may be a bit expensive, as it is £24.50, but honestly it is definitely worth the price tag in my opinion.

Benefit are slowly becoming one of my favourite brands for make-up, especially high end make-up, I have a lot of their products and I love all of them! I will be saving up my pennies to go back in some day soon.

Have you got any Benefit products? If so, what do you have, and do you like it? I hope you all are having a wonderful week and have a great weekend!

Hannah, xx

Comparison; Simple Purifying Cleansing Lotion vs Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes!

Recently I have been using both the Simple Purifying Cleansing Lotion and the Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes to take off my make-up, and I have discovered a huge comparison between them both. I actually accidentally came across the Cleansing Lotion, I picked it up instead of the Simple Moisturiser and I decided to try it out and I really like it, however I also like the cleansing wipes.. But which is better?!

Simple Purifying Cleansing Lotion

What the lotion looks like!

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

Now, for starters I will talk about the Simple Cleansing Face Wipes. I have used these wipes for years and I do really like them, they definitely get the MAJORITY of make-up off and it is soft on the skin. However, every time I try to take my eye make-up off with these wipes, I can NEVER get all of it off, I'm always left with eyeliner still on my eyes and no matter how much I scrub, it doesn't budge! Apart from this though, it gives my face a fresh feeling, all my other make-up is easily taken off and it only takes one wipe!

The Simple Purifying Cleansing Lotion, however, does the job! I use two cotton pads to take my make-up off, I simply apply the lotion on the cotton pads and then softly rub my face. I use one pad for my face make-up, like foundation etc, and one just for my eyes. It takes all my make-up off which I love, however, I don't like the feeling it leaves after I've used it on my face. It leaves a almost sticky and slimy residue on my face which I personally really dislike, I much prefer the way my face feels after using the cleansing wipes.

So, I have came up with a master plan! I am going to use the lotion first to take all my make-up off, then use the wipes to get any excess make-up off/give my skin the fresh feeling, which I think will be perfect!

Overall I really like both products, I don't love both as they do both have disadvantages. If you don't wear a lot of make-up, especially eye make-up, and don't like having residue left on your skin then the  refreshing cleansing wipes are for you. However, if you wear lots of make-up and you don't mind having a residue on your skin for a while, then the lotion is for you!

So that is about it, I thought I should let you guys know incase you were looking for a new cleansing lotion/make-up wipes. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will talk to you very soon. :)

Hannah, xx

Maybelline's Color Sensational Lipstick in Coral Tonic (422) - Review + Swatches!

Another review for you all today! I got sucked into the 3 for 2 offer at Maybelline so I ended up picking this bad boy up, and SPOILER ALERT - I love it!

First of all the packaging is lovely, I love how the colour changes for each colour of lipstick, so for a pink lipstick the lid would be pink but because this is more of a coral/red colour, the lid is red, which I love, it gives each lipstick a more unique packaging.

I am totally in love with this simple classical silver tube, with the square base; it makes storage a lot easier. It also just looks super pretty and it's easy to throw in your bag, without the worry of it opening and getting ruined.

On the lips it is a coral/red colour, it is super bright which I love and the colour pay off is incredible. The consistency is good and it is not sticky on the lips.. And it smells EXACTLY LIKE PLAYDO! I absolutely love the smell of playdo (I sound so weird right now) so if you don't like the scent of playdo then this isn't for you, but when it is on your lips the smell disappears. It stays on well, although you will have to bring it along with you if you are going out because it will wear off throughout the day, and I like my lipstick to be quite vibrant all day so I definitely need touch ups every now and then, which I don't mind; the pros outweigh the cons with this product!

Overall I am very happy with this product, I will be going back to Superdrug to purchase some other colours, I think there is a 2 for £10 deal on at the moment.. Tempting!! I hope you all have a wonderful day and I will talk to you very soon.

Hannah, xx

OOTE 01/09/12 - sHE was a Sk8er boi!

Hey everyone! So it's currently 2am and I am writing a blog post. What has happened to me, I should be sleeping! I'm considering doing an all-nighter so that come tomorrow I will be so tired I'll conk out early and then viola, sleeping pattern is back on target! 

Anyway, tonight I went to a party for my friend and boyfriend's joint 21st and I wore this outfit (I know the camera quality is so bad in the picture below, but it was getting late so the natural light just wasn't doing it in my room so this is my Mum's tiny mirror, but you get the picture (get it.. Get the picture.. Cause it's a picture.. ha ha ha!)) 

The dress I wore is from boohoo.com and unfortunately it is not on sale anymore as I got it in the sale last year, but if you google "burgundy skater dress" you will get TONS of replicas! This dress is adorable, and I love how you can either wear it really casually, or in this occasion, dress it up and be all fancy! It's just a t-shirt burgandy skater dress that goes in at the waist and flares out at the hips/legs, which makes your waist look thinner and your boobs bigger and generally make you look curvy, which is not a bad thing!

I decided to take a shower that morning and let my hair dry naturally, as my hair is naturally curly, but my curls are messy, which I wanted to achieve for this look as I feel curls would look better with this type of dress than with straight hair, as the dress is so simple and straight forward.

As from what I said earlier, this dress is designed to be tight around the chest, tight at the waist and then loosen up and flick out from the waist down, giving the illusion that your chest is bigger, your waist is thinner and that you overall are quite curvy.

I decided to wear this gorgeous black plaited belt with this dress as because the dress is just a plain burgundy colour with no pattern, I thought this belt would spice things up a bit! I got this belt at a local boutique when I was in South Africa and I unfortunately cannot remember the name of the shop, sorry. However, I'm sure if you google "black horseshoe buckle belts" you'll find something similar! What I love about this belt is the gold horseshoe buckle, it is very elegant and classic but at the same time bold and will make a plain dress a lot more interesting.

My shoes are just plain black shoes with not a huge heel, as I am nearly six foot without heels, but wearing heels on a formal night just makes the outfit for me. They have a strap to support my feet and a simple gold buckle, which matches my belt nicely.

I kept my accessories at a low as I wanted this outfit to be very simple, so I chose my Fossil rose gold/silver watch as I thought it would match perfectly and compliment the gold from my belt and the silver from my bag.

The bag I wore was actually my Mum's black quilted Chanel clutch, as I thought the straps were an exact match to the design of my belt, and even if the metal was silver, it still looked beautiful with my outfit.

The make-up look I was going for with this outfit was a bronzy smokey-eye, with subtle rosy cheeks and subtle pink lips.

Make-up;

Benefit's the Porefessional

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation

Benefit Erase Paste

Mac Powder Blush in Buff

MUA Eyeshadow in Matt (Shade 16)

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes kit

Topshop Smokey Eye Palette in Tawny

Barry M Fine Glitter Dust in Shade 21

Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Topshop Kohl Pencil Eyeliner in Saddle

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in 001 Translucent

Revlon's ColorBurst Lip Butter in 080 Strawberry Shortcake

And that's about it for my outfit last night! I absolutely love this combination of dress/bag/shoes/make-up and I will definitely use it again! I hope you enjoyed reading this and I will speak to you all very soon. Have a lovely day. :)

Hannah, xx