The Beauty Blogger Tag

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?

My hair is naturally pretty straight but not dead straight. However, it's straight enough for me to not usually bother straightening it. It's pretty fine so doesn't take long to straighten with GHDs if I want to do so.

2. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?

I don't usually have my hair dyed, despite having a pretty boring natural hair colour (mousey brown) but if I do dye it then i've always done it myself. I wouldn't mind going and having it done properly one time though!

3. Do you wear the same style everyday, or do you change it?

I tend to change it although there are some styles I go to more than others. If I cant really be bothered then it gets pulled back into a high ponytail, if i'm wanting a casual look then i'll do a messy bun and typically if i'm having it done i'll do something to clip back some of the front bits.

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?

I paint my own nails but I don't know that i'd call it a mani... It is literally just painting, no removing of cuticles and things like that - which is probably bad I know! I reckon i've had maybe 3 professional mani/pedi's 

5. How often do you change your nail polish?

I'd say probably weekly but I do try to have periods when I don't have any on to give my nails some respite. Also, I have a current part-time job waitressing where i'm not allowed to have them painted.

6. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just the summer?

I tend to only really do it in the summer but I find that polish on my toe nails lasts for aaaaaages so can go on into the winter, in which case I may end up topping it up.

7. How long does it take for you to put on makeup?

 I'd say if i'm doing a full-face then it takes me maybe 15mins or so? I've not really time it to be honest!

8. What do you do first? Face or eyes?

I do face first, though perhaps if i'm doing full eyes with shadows etc I should do them first but i've just always started with face and think it's now just habit

9. Do you collect makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?

I'd say I used to pretty much just buy what I need but since getting into blogs i've certainly bought a lot more than I need and so am starting to collect...

10. How often do you wear false eyelashes?

Never! I have never worn them... I would quite like to, although it would still be quite natural ones... But i'm kinda too scared to try because I reckon I would be rubbish at applying them.

11. Do you do a full face of makeup everyday?

Nope, usually i'll just do foundation, concealer, mascara and a bit of powder. Full face is usually reserved for nights out.

12. Do you wear makeup when you're home alone or with family?

Most of the time if i'm home alone and not going out then I won't bother with makeup because I think it's good to give your skin some time off from it. However, if i'm going to be seeing people I will usually put just a little bit on.

13. Will you leave the house without makeup?

Yes...I used to a lot more but currently have some red marks that I think are pretty obvious and because i'm self-conscious about them I don't like going out with them covered up at least. And then usually I feel my eyes look pretty tired so they need mascara on too...

14. How many high-end products do you have?

I own a couple of high-end products. Chanel powder, eyeliner, dior mascara, laura mercier eyeliner and lancome foundation. I think that's it...

15. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you're getting dressed?

 I decide when i'm getting dressed. I'll sometimes think about it the night before but often end up changing my mind in the morning anyway!

16. How often do you change your handbag?

 I have 2 main bags I switch between fairly often and then a couple of others i'll swap into occasionally.

17. What time do you wake up and go to sleep?

Usually wake up about 9-10am when my boyfriend is getting up for work and go to sleep probably between 12-1.

18. How often or when do you workout?

My boyfriend and I have just rejoined the gym and are trying to go at least twice a week.

19. Left handed or right handed?

Left!

20. How tall are you?

5'4" 

21. Do you speak any foreign languages?

Sadly no. I think it would be nice to be able to but although I did do French at school I wouldn't say I can really speak it all that well now.

22. How many pets do you have?

None right now. I'm living in accommodation where we're not allowed pets. When I was younger we used to have guinea-pigs, a rabbit and hamster and I loved that!

23. How often are you on Blogger?

I read blogs on Bloglovin' every day but must admit i'm pretty bad at coming blogger to blog (as you can probably tell!)

24. Do you read comments posted on blogs?

I always read comments posted on my blog and fairly often read them on others posts. Quite often if it's a review of a product its nice to see the comments to see if others agree/disagree.

25. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?

 Oh definitely! Mine is huge right now so I don't think i'm going to get through it!

26. How did you come up with your blog name?

I actually started this up quite a long time ago so I can't actually remember but i'd say just because I think i'm pretty much just an ordinary girl!

27. What kind of camera do you use for your photographs?

Currently my iphone because it's actually better than my camera. I'm hoping at some point I will get a new camera though!

28. How often do you clean your house?

I end up doing little bits here and there pretty much every day i'd say.

29. What's your favorite color?

Purple

30. Do you swear?

Not very often

31. What are you doing with the rest of your day?

Just chilling out watching some tv before having a friend over for dinner =)

Bloggers reccommendations

So after so many beauty blogs my wishlist was starting to grow and grow. Unfortunately quite a few of the products were high end or possibly more expensive than my student budget wanted me to spend. But of course I had to just buy a couple of things! So here is a couple of my budget picks.

Firstly I bought the Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in shade 51 - Light Vanilla.
Bourjois claim: "16 hour radiance booster & instant anti-fatigue result! Give your skin a radiance boost and leave it looking flawless for up to 16 hours! Enriched with a fruit therapy formula; Apricot for radiance, Melon for hydration and Apple to protect your youth. It also contains crystalline pigments for an even complexion and healthy glow. "

I had seen so many bloggers trying and recommending this that I just had to try it. Especially as at £9.99 it's a fair bit cheaper than my current go-to foundation (Lancome Teint Miracle foundation £27.50).
I quite liked this foundation, it felt fairly thick and perhaps slightly darker than my natural skin tone but not dark enough to make me look orange. Once applied it gives a pretty good coverage and leaves you with a rather dewy looking complexion. Despite the colour not being perfect I still think it works for me and I do quite like it, but it doesn't beat my Lancome one. I would say they could do with a few more shades in order to work for more people because their range is fairly limited.
I think i'm still looking for my holy-grail foundation so if you have any recommendations please let me know!

Next up was another Bourjois product. This time their Magic Nail Polish Remover costing £4.99.

This claims to remove nail polish in just 1 second per nail. Of course I didn't think it was going to be as quick as that but I had hoped it would speed up the often laborious process of removing nail varnish. The pot has a  sponge type material at the opening that you simply put your finger into and twist your finger around. I'd say you need to twist a couple of times to fully remove all of the nail varnish but it's still a lot quicker than the usual process and no need for cotton wool! I really like this product and am going to be using it a lot!

A third product I ended up buying was Lush's Lip Scrub in Bubblegum. It also comes in Popcorn and Mint Julips but after going and trying (i.e. tasting) them all I knew I wanted Bubblegum.

This lip scrub is essentially flavoured, coloured sugar that you rub onto your lips and then lick off. I love this concept! It smells really nice and tastes good too! I find it works pretty well at smoothing out my lips and removing dead/dry skin but you then need to add a balm after wards really I think and the effect doesn't last for a hugely long time. But seeing as it's so nice/tastey to use I don't mind having to use it a lot! At £5.25 its possibly not the cheapest product but I think it'll last a long time and is lovely to use so I don't really mind.

Finally, I caved in and bought the Real Techniques Core Collection Kit after I found them being sold for just £8.99 on Amazon! Although it appears they've now changed the price to £17.85, which is still a slight discount.

This collection consists of a contour brush, pointed foundation brush, detailer brush and buffing brush and comes in a little carry case. I bought these after everyone seemed to be raving about them, particularly the buffing brush. So far i've only actually used the buffing brush and pointed foundation brush but have very much liked using them! The first couple of times using the buffing brush for applying my foundation I must admit I wasn't a massive fan and couldn't see what everyone was raving about but on the third try I tried to be a bit gentler and found this a much better finish. It gave me good coverage with less product and still left a fairly dewy complexion. It perhaps takes slightly longer to fully buff it all in than using fingers but I think its worth it! I've also been using the foundation brush to apply concealer under my eyes and think it works pretty well to give good coverage and blend well.

So these are my purchases i've bought and reading lots of bloggers reviews of them. Are there any products you're craving after reading beauty blogs?