What Factors Influence You When Buying Cosmetics? | #LetsTalk

So if you’re anything like me you’ll have drawers and shelves full of endless make up and beauty products. From anti-aging lotions and potions that claim to be able to remove 10 years from your face, or foundations that promise you an airbrushed, “flawless” finish, I am a sucker for them all. But I wanted to find out WHY do I believe the hype? Why are there so many products in my collection? Have they ended up there due to clever marketing ploys and attractive packaging? What goes through my mind when I decided whether or not to add the new product launches to my basket? 

This is as much of a post to start a discussion with other beauty obsessed readers as an intervention for myself knowing I have way too many products and only one face.

Superdrug Face Masks | Review

Yeap, I’m such a sucker for a cosmetics offer so when I saw Superdrug had an offer on their own brand face masks I thought I’d get my hands on them and give myself a little pamper on a budget.

The two face masks I picked up from their range were:

Superdrug Vitamin E Moisture Mask
Superdrug Aloe Vera Mud Mask

One’s a huge hit and one’s a huge miss!

Why I Hate The #SocialMediaIsNotReal Movement. | Response to Essena O'Neill

#SocialMediaIsNotRealLife

So a week or so ago, Essena O’Neill, a 19 Year Old, Australian Model and Youtube personality released a video on her Youtube channel explaining why she has decided to “Quit Social Media”. She gave her reasons and stated all the negative influences it has had on her life, relationships and her own feeling of self-worth.

Manicure Monday | Barry M

Another Monday means time for another #ManicureMonday

Ah Thank God I got my nails done this weekend. After missing last weeks appointment I was getting through the week with 2 of my acrylic nails snapped off, chipped colour and crazy grow out but finally I have them back on top form and feeling like myself (Not to mention I can now type of my work laptop easily again)

Top 7 Beauty Advent Calendars 2015 | Gift Guide

It's not too long to go till Christmas (Yes I’m an eager beaver) I already am planning for my favourite time of year. Although all the lights and tinsel may not be up yet I know many of you are already planning on the items to include in your letter to Santa and thought I would share some of the best Beauty Advent Calendars on the market at the moment to get you in the spirit!

Malala Yousafzai Vs Kylie Jenner? | Stop Pitting Women Against Each Other!

Malala Yousafzai Vs Kylie Jenner?

So I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline the other night and came across something that sparked confusion and an opinion from me. You see I don’t know why I even go onto Facebook anymore, it’s like every single time I do I either see videos and pictures of babies and weddings that I really don’t care about or links to annoying articles like “10 Best things to do in life”. But obviously forgetting my headphones at home and trying to cope with my train commute home without being able to listen to the new Joe Budden album pushed me right to Facebook browsing and to seeing a bunch of bullshit.

Let's talk hair? | Hair

I will be the first to admit it, a couple months back my hair was not in good nick. After years of dying it and then going to the extreme of Jet Black again (which you can hear about here). Doing my hair in the morning was such a chore. Ask me to spend half hour or so to perfect my winged eyeliner and I'm a happy bunny but ask me to do something to this mop on my head and I will give not be so happy. 

Friday Favourite | #3

As if it's been 3 weeks already?! How are we already well into October? Well as its Friday it's time for another post in my #FridayFavourite series and today I wanted to share something a little bit different. So although I class myself as a "Beauty Blogger" I hate putting myself in a box and restricting the type of things I can speak about on here so this week I have a non-beauty, non-makeup, non-skincare item for you!

Liquid Diluent Mascara Care | BornPrettyStore

Yeap I've found the make up cure. So you're a mascara addict like me (you can tell from my greatest mascaras of all time post) and you just cannot help yourself and fall for every marketing trick and gimmick in the book and have ended up with WAAAY too many mascaras to even know what to use in the morning. So as your collection piles up you send some of your previous favourites to the back of your make up collection and forget about them until it's time for a spring clean. While uncovering gems you also pick up your old go to mascara which is need of some loving. You pick it up to remind yourself why you were once so obsessed and it has now dried up! *Insert destressed emoji here* But there is now a handy, affordable product out there that can give your mascaras some extra TLC! (As you can tell from the picture above my mascara has been battered and bruised)

Introducing the Liquid Diluent Mascara Care from BornPrettyStore!

#ManicureMonday | ft Elf Cosmetics

It’s Monday so time for another post in my #ManicureMonday series.

Friday Favourite #2 | Ft Urban Decay

Welcome to my second in the series of my Friday Favourites! You can read my first ever #FridayFavourite here.

So this week has been a pretty eventful one. With so much craziness going on at work I needed some time to let my hair down and have a little girl's night out with the bestie. After almost of YEAR of not really going clubbing I whacked out my favourite heels and clutch bag and made my way to Central. 

My make up for the night was pretty minimal and I opted to go heavier on my jewellery and accessories as opposed to my outfit or make up but one product kept me going all night and that is the Urban Decay - All Nighter Setting Spray.

This stuff really does the trick! I know many of you fellow beauty lovers would have heard about how great this is and most of you probably have one for your own make up collection but I would be the first to admit I was late to join the bandwagon on this one. I picked this up a few weeks ago when I went to Oxford Circus (I also got some amazing Lush products that day which you can read about here) and since then I have to actually try stop myself using this everyday so it doesn't run out.

This had my make up IN TACT throughout the whole evening. Girls you know what I mean when you go on a night out with your make up looking amazing before you leave (because you've spent over 2 hours on it) and a few hours into the night your face begins to shine and your make up looks a hot mess. Well that's what I was expecting when I went for a little touch up at around 1am but nope, my make up was looking as fresh and in place as it was before I even left the house.

That is why this weeks #FridayFavourite has to be the Urban Decay - All Nighter Setting Spray!

Have you tried this product yourself? Are you a fan? What have you been up to and been loving this week? Let me know below..

Before you leave you may be interested in some of my previous blog posts

FridayFavourite | #1

Mr Lista | Ultimate Wishlist Maker 

The Greatest Mascaras of ALL Time | Make Up

The Ultimate Wish List Maker | Mr.Lista

So any of my regular readers will know I am a huge fan of Wish Lists. I create one and post it on my blog any chance I get, just to have an excuse to put together a list of all the things I have been lusting over - with hopes that they will somehow magically appear in my post box! 

Friday Favourite | #1

Hello Lovelies,

I thought I would start a new weekly series on my blog where every Friday I can give you the full run down on anything I have been loving throughout the week. 

I wanted to branch out from only Make up and Skincare topics on my page so thought this would be a perfect way to shine some light on other random items I have been obsessed with! 

Ebay Make Up Brush Set | Make Up

I’ve done it again, just went and ordered myself even more make up brushes as if I actually need any. I’m sitting here trying to find at least one reason to justify this purchase but I really can’t apart from saying “I got the brushes to test out for my blog?” I’m going to run with that and give you the low down on my thoughts of the new additions to my brush collection.

Manicure Monday | Nails

As you may have been able to tell from some of my previous posts, I am fully in the Autumn spirit already and am obsessed with all the trends for this season.

So I’ve adapted my wardrobe and added some more mustardy colours and got my hands on some wolly scarfs and I’ve upped my smokey eyeshadow game too so I couldn’t forget to get my nails up to par.

Greatest Mascaras of All Time | Make Up

Are you a mascara junkie like me? All it takes is for me to see some fabulous lashes in an advert and be sold and need the product in my collection with hopes of recreating the look for myself.

Autumn Tag 2015 | Lifestyle

I don't know about you but I love doing Tags. So the new Season gives me just the excuse I needed to come up with a few questions and create a tag of my own. So let's begin:

Lush Top Picks | Skincare

Who doesn't love a little trip to Lush? So one day I decided to pull a sickie at work and make my way to Central with the Bestie for a well needed shopping spree (let's hope nobody at work reads this). One shop on our Hit List was the Lush Store in Oxford Street. As it's the flagship store we are more than excited to see what goodies we could get our hands on and give ourselves a little pamper. 

Current Wishlist | Lifestyle

A girl can dream can't she? 

Here are some of the items I've been lusting over recently.

Goodbye Dark Circles & Wrinkles | Skincare

Some of you may have read my previous post about my new business venture Face Up Beauty UK. If you haven’t had a read then go have a look as I have some great exciting opportunities for bloggers to get involved.

But in this post I wanted to focus on one of our products and treatments in particular and give you the full run down!

Roll On Fragrances - Under £5 | Fragrance

So here's the low down..
A few months ago I was perfume OBSESSED. I was buying the left right and center Some of you may have noticed when reading one of my very first posts Primark Fragrances - and during this time I got my hands on some amazing roll on perfumes at amazing prices and now that I've actually repurchased a lot of them I think it's about time I share them with you!

Back to Black | Hair

Back to Black

So I had been toying with the idea of a new hair colour for quite a while now and after spending 3 years as a certified brunette I thought I would go back to my roots and go back to black! I am always going back and forth between these two colours. (And if I’m being honest, I got a bit tired of touching up my roots) So it was most definitely time for me to go to the dark side.

Mastering Love? | Lifestyle

Reading has never been my favourite past time or hobby. I much rather turn the tele on, watch some reality shows and play some candy crush (I'm on level 1123.. #JustSaying) in the evenings after a long day, but before going on holiday I thought I’d find a book for me to get suck into and keep me occupied while I was laying besides the pool and the book I read was AMAZING. It has definitely got me into reading and exploring more literature and actually is one book that will stay with me.

My Results Day/University Experience | Lifestyle

As it’s A Level results day, I thought it would be fitting to share a little bit of my experience of my journey from becoming an A Level student to a Graduate.

Barely, Prep, Blot & Blend Sponge | Skincare

A beauty blender for your skincare? What a genius idea!

I was very pleasantly surprised when this little beauty was popped in my Birchbox (or shall I say Birchbag) this month. At first glance I thought it was just another make up application tool but after reading the handy booklet I found out it was to apply my skincare and prep my face! Who thinks of these things? Such a simple product but oh so handy!

The Body Shop | Skincare

I am almost 100% certain that you’ve all been in this situation. You’ve gone into a shop, a clear mission in mind, a certain product to purchase, a certain time frame to buy and you throw you’re whole plan out the window and spend hours in one shop, leaving with 10x the number of items you wanted spending ridiculously more than you anticipated?

Confessions of a Beauty Blogger | Lifestyle

You see that beauty rulebook? The one with all the do's and don't's when it comes to make up, skin care, hair care and everything else? Well it seems like I've thrown it right out of the window! Like many of you I have some terrible beauty habits that are in need of change. But the first step to resolution is acknowledgement so here we go..

1. I don't always remove my make up.

Yeap, Rule 1 of the handbook has already been broken. I don't always remove my make up before going to sleep because the majority of the time I'm just pure lazy. At university, after a night out all my friends would be reaching for their make up wipes and removers but me? I just jumped straight into bed and dealt with the breakouts a few days later!

2. I'm forever picking my mascara.

Let me try justify this.. I have really sensitive eyes, like really sensitive. If I sit on the computer for too long at work or if the sun is somewhere near my eye range you can expect some tears. So as my eyes begin to hurt I have a bad habit of sitting and picking at my mascara. I don't even realise I'm doing it half the time.. Well until I get a glimpse of myself and see little black dots around my under eyes. Not a good look.

3. I bite my nails.

Well I don't any more. But that's only down to the fact I constantly have fake nails on. But the moment one comes off.. That's it. I'm back to biting my nails! I don't know why I can't stop, I just find it so satisfying!

4. I don't think I've ever read the ingredients of a product.

Beauty bloggers are meant to read ingredients! We are expected to know so much about what's good and what's bad but frankly I never actually have a look or understand. My whole life is played out by trial and error and if a product has too many nasties.. I guess my skin will let me know a few days later.

5. I wash my hair too regularly and then regret it.

I cannot have a bath/shower and not washing my hair. Is it just me? But every single day I have to fight the temptation of washing my hair. I just love the feeling of fresh hair but I HATE drying my hair. Until the GHD AIR came into my life. But before this magic machinery I would wash my hair pretty much every evening and get straight into bed with wet hair. Meaning - Bad for my hair and Bad for my health.

6. I leave make up everywhere.

So I mean this in two ways. Firstly, if I look inside my bag right now best believe I have about 4 powders, 2 brushes and a dumb amount of mascaras in there. Why? Because I'm lazy and just leave things everywhere! Then they suddenly appear again once I've convinced myself they're lost and I've repurchased new ones. And secondly, my boyfriend will vouch for how much my make up transfers! Just everything white around me seems to turn orange. So I touch my face, then a piece of paper.. The paper is now orange. I hug someone wearing white, well now half of my face is on your shirt. It's not technically a bad habit but annoying none the less!

Can you relate to any of these? Please don't tell me it's just me! What are you bad beauty habits? Let me know below.

Don't Be A Clown: Juggling Blogging and A Full Time Job | Lifestyle

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So as you can see from my last publish date I have been neglecting my little hub on the Internet for a little while now and haven’t posted in what seems like AGES! Truthfully this was down to two reasons. 

Firstly, I know I haven’t been blogging for long now (I started earlier this year) but I already found myself in a bit of a rut. I had a bit of a battle with myself about what direction I wanted to take my blog in. Have you ever had that? So instead of just posting for the sake of posting I thought a little break would do me good and ignite my passion for blogging again. And it has!

Five Reasons I Love The GHD Air | Hair

A month or so back this was one of my featured items on my wishlist. I had been eyeing this up for a while now and when my hair drying suddenly decided to blow up on me I felt like it was a sign from the Hair Gods to get my hands on this bad boy.

Caribou - Long Lasting Make Up Brush Collection | Make Up

So here's the low down most of you can all relate to. You fork out a ridiculous amount of money on a application tool or brush, you stick to the status quo and buy from a well known huge brand and you receive a lovely well sculpted brush, thinking it is the make up savour you've been waiting for. It plays that role  a few weeks/months but then it just doesn't cut it any more. Hair starts falling out, the handle becomes loose and now you're forced to repurchase or find a cheap alternative.

Maybelline Top Picks | Make Up

This may come as no secret to you regular readers of mine but my most favourite drugstore make up brand has got to be Maybelline! From the new innovative foundations to the almost always apparent 3 for 2 offer.. I just have developed an obsession with the brand and it's taken over my make up collection!

Are You Beach Body Ready? : Protein World Ad | Lifestyle

Unless you’ve been living under a social media rock or simply don’t care; you would have heard about the recent uproar surrounding the Protein World “Beach-Body-Ready” Advert which has been seen plastered all around the London Underground.

The Joys of Graduate Job Hunting | Lifestyle

It's a bit of a long one..

Current Empties | Lifestyle

I have a love hate relationship with my empties. One side of me is so happy that I've actually finished a product and got my money’s worth and the other side is annoyed that this means I may have to fork out and buy them again!

Ebay Beauty Finds | Haul

How do you clean your make up brushes?

So that time has come again, no not that time.. Time to give my make up brushes a deep clean!

 I've seen so many posts and videos about how different people get rid of all that gunk from their brushes and thought I'd share my fool proof, easy, quick and effective method of getting my brushes back to as good as new.

R.I.P EyesLipsFace.co.uk - Haul

Anyone who is a lover of ELF Cosmetics and received that "End of an Era" email must have felt the same shock and panic as I did. I was shocked that ELF was no longer selling in the UK as I know so many beauty addicts here are obsessed with their products and the first thing that came into my head was the need for a panic buy when I saw "70% OFF". 

Monthly TV Favourites

So I know a lot of people opt for monthly favourites revolving around beauty and fashion on their blogs but I thought I’d add a little something different this month. Something I actually think I've been loving more than make up this month (feel so bad saying that) is TV.

There have been so many series’ I've been hooked to this month and I love coming home after a long day at work and getting into my PJs and binge watching for a few hours before bed.

Beauty Hack #3 - Pencil to Gel in 10 Seconds

If you’re anything like me you will have a whole bundle of pencil eyeliners floating around somewhere in your make up collection. Why not make some use of them?

Birthday Reflection - Blogging, Career and Forgiveness

BIRTHDAY WEEEEK.

So it's the week of my birthday and everyone who knows me knows how much of a deal this is in my house and family. Somehow this rule has been invented in the Tanna household, where whenever it's anyone's birthday week they have to do absolutely no work. They don't have to set the table for dinner, don't need to do the washing, don't have to make their own bed - Don't even have to share their birthday cake! So this week is my time to put my feet up and relax! (This "birthday week" thing doesn't technically work though, because when I stop doing these things it doesn't mean my brothers do them for me - My mum is left with the brunt of it and I feel bad and do them myself anyway..  But the thought is nice)

Anywayy.. Whenever my birthday comes around I always seem to get pretty reflective and sentimental and end up taking a look back on my last year and seeing what's changed and stayed the same and also reminding myself of all the things I have learned throughout the year. Usually this is just something I do in my own head, but seeing as I now do have this blog I thought I might as well share it for anyone who is interested..

Current Wishlist

Here are a few item's I've been lusting over this month and am seriously considering purchasing. 

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

The day is readily approaching. Mother’s Day is just round the corner and if you’re stuck on what to get for the most important woman in your life then here are a few suggestions that may help you decide!

Feeling blue ... Eyeliner?

Blue eye-liner is something like Marmite in the blogging community. I hear some people absolutely adore it and some people cannot stand it! Personally, I'm a huge fan.

Back when I was in high school I used to love experimenting with different eye-liner looks, I feel I've warn them all.. From blue to black, green to purple.. My trusty coloured eye-liners were a great way to spark some individually into my look at school.

On the odd occasion I have worn this look recently I get so many compliments on how fresh my face looks and how my eyes stand out - As well as comments on how young I look (but I'm not sure if that's a compliment lol)

So I think it's time to relight the flame and bring my blue eyeliner look back! 

India's Daughter?

I know this is something different to what I usually post about but..

NB: The term “India” is used to represent the governance and legal system in India and not a generalisation of the population.

Superdrug Haulling.

Superdrug Haul

Everyone's been there. Go into a drugstore to buy one simple essential item and you come out with a whole bag of goodies and a suffering bank balance.

Well that's exactly what happened to me last weekend, popped in to get something so simple and ended up getting sucked into some of the current offers. So much so that the woman at the counter swiped my Beautycard and was amazed at the amount of points I've racked up!

I thought I'd share a few of the items I picked up on my latest visit.

Beauty Hack #2 - Tame Those Fly Aways + Story Confession

Beauty Hack /2

So this one time when I was younger I was obsessed with that half down - half up + quiff look. You all know which one I'm talking about. But the only problem was my hair was not cut right for me to take part in this "cool" fashion statement. So one morning while getting ready for school I attempted the look as usual and found a lot of my fringe was too short to mould into a quiff so I decided "Obviously, the best thing to do right now is to just cut off all this hair that doesn't quiff and my problem is solved. Right?." 

Wrong. 

What's On My Face? // Everyday Make Up Routine

What's On My Face? // Everyday Make Up Routine

I am a woman of routine and habits. Waking up early every day to get to work on time means during the week I have very little time to experiment with the bundle of make-up I own; so I always reach for my usual Holy Grail products that I know can do me no wrong.

I thought I’d share some of my favourite products that I find easy and quick to apply for those weekdays where I have no time to make a huge effort, but still want to look somewhat acceptable.

Liebster Award - Get To Know Me

I’m fairly new to blogging so when Sophie Perry from Beautysbug nominated me to do the Liebster Award tag I was more than delighted. Not only is it lovely to be recognised I guess the questions and answers help my readers find out a little more about me so here we go..

Soap and Glory - Offer Review

Land of Soap and Glory

Over the Christmas break, me and my mum were doing our usual boxing day sale shopping (which can I just say was a huge disappointment) and we went into boots. 

My mum being the saver that she is (nice way to put it) loves going into boots on boxing day and stocking up on gift sets we may need throughout the year.. So whilst she was looking at silly bath sets nobody would ever want, I popped down the makeup aisle .. Obviously and found an offer on Soap and Glory Cosmetics.

I’m a pretty newbie to Soap and Glory make up but am a huge fan of their body butters and shower creams that I decided to give it a go.