what's in my washbag?

It's posts like this I wish I did You Tube videos ... However I decided I'd do a 'What's in my washbag' post as I'm off to Florida tomorrow(!!!) and I love nosing what people take with them! My wash bag is from Superdrug - They had a set of three for £5.99 which were ideal for what I wanted. This is the largest then the medium one is for my make up (post to come on that too!) and the smallest for my in-flight essentials. Anyway, on with my wash bag contents!

I'll start with my hair care bits and pieces! I won't use any bottled shampoo now as the LUSH shampoo bars work so well for my hair. I use the New one at home but I've bought Seanik as my 'holiday' one. This contains sea salt for volume and seaweed to soothe the scalp. It smells heavenly and leaves my hair feeling squeaky clean! My conditioner is Aussie's Beach Mate which is a stronger version of the miracle moist formula and helps to help your hair recover from over exposure to sun and sand. Batiste Dry Shampoo is my saviour all the time so it has to come with me! I've bought a mini size tropical scented one. And of course, my trusty Tangle Teezer which is literally the best hairbrush ever.

For styling, I'm leaving my straighteners and dryer at home and embracing beachy hair. I love the Paul Mitchell Ultimate Wave gel* for tousled hair that doesn't go frizzy. I've also got LUSH's Sea Spray with me which contains sea salt to add volume and refreshes the hair with a gorgeous scent. It contains some hair gel too so it holds the style too. Label M's Shine Spray* contains UV filters which is ideal for the sunny weather. I love my hair oil for an overnight treat but I don't want to take a big bottle so this Schwarzopf Miracle Oil* is ideal because its small!

Skin care naturally takes up the most room in my wash bag! For cleansing, I've got the & Other Stories Cleanse & Tone treat which smells uuuuhhhmazing. It leaves my skin feeling really soft and clean, though I always follow up with a proper cleanse. I decanted my Garnier 2 in 1 eye make up remover into a small bottle to save space. I've repurchased this so many times, I love it! You can get a pack of 3 100ml bottles from Primark for £1 which is the ones I've used. The Elemis Peachy Perfect Cleanser and Exfoliating Face Wash came in a set of 4 week samples with some other skincare (£18.00) I adore the exfoliating face wash so far, it's really cleared my skin up!

I love LUSH's Eau Roma Water as my toner, it leaves my skin feeling clean and relaxed. The Elemis Skin Clear Mattifying Moisturiser* came in my Company goodie bag and again, has helped clear my skin up considerably. The Elemis Softly Softly Daily Moisturiser and Dreamy Sleep Night Time Moisturiser were also in the Discovery Kit and are a really handy size for travelling! I've also popped a one use face mask sachet in there too. My Origins Spot Remover has to come with me in case of a skin care emergency!

Now for random things! The only deodorant I'll take with me is the Sure Maximum Protection. I never thought I'd have a favourite deodorant but this stuff really stops the sweat. It's going to hot in Florida, so this is a no brainer! For emergency dry skin moments I love Jergen's Ultra Healing body lotion as it gets rid of the itchy dryness and leaves the skin feeling really soft. I decided a facial SPF was a must due to being so pale, so this Ultra Sun SPF30 sample I had laying around is perfect! I've also got an SPF for my lips. I love Nivea's Sun Protect with SPF30 as it acts as a lip balm too.

This Radox Nourish shower gel has the most gorgeous scent - fresh and zesty, perfect for summer! I got these Soap & Glory minis in a set at Christmas, and I knew they'd come in handy at one point. I love the Righteous Butter and Scrub of Your Life as a 'smooth skin' pairing.

What's in your holiday washbag?

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review | clarins skin perfecting BB cream

Clarins Skin Perfecting BB Cream*, £22.50 via Escentual. 

I don't know about you, but I'm just about done with this whole BB phase. (However, I do want to try the Dior Nude skin offering ...) Every brand has it's finger in the BB cream pie with some not even making the cut for a 'BB cream'. I've been trailing this one from Clarins for a few weeks.

Clarins have packed a lot of skincare benefits into this little bottle - with kiwi extracts to boost anti-fatigue benefits, vitamin E to improve skins condition and a high SPF25 to prevent the damaging effects of UV rays. It has a satiny finish when applied and feels fairly comfortable on the skin. It's quite a thick texture bit this is easily blended out.

I have nothing to fault with the formula and I don't doubt the skincare benefits packed into the product. I'm just beyond confused at the shade?! This is the shade light, which as you can see below, is pretty dark for my skin tone. I'm the palest MAC shade, and always the lightest in most brands but this is more like a medium shade in my eyes. I have to apply the smallest amount of product and buff it into the skin after applying with my fingers. I don't think this would be too bad if I had a tan on my face but until then I'll be mixing this with lighter foundations to lighten the shade.

That said I do really enjoy the formula and the skincare benefits in this are undeniable!

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DIY studded shorts

I'm so excited to post this DIY! Hopefully it will come just in time for a lot of you if you're off to various festivals or holidays this summer. I love studded clothing; they look so edgy and cool yet can still be pulled off in a feminine way by teaming them with florals or lace. I'm going to show you how to customise a pair of old jeans into something you'll want to wear more. It costs barely anything and the best part is, you can buy a pair of these from somewhere like Topshop for ridiculous £££.

- An old pair of jeans. Mine are just faded black skinny ones from Primark.
- Studs. I'm using pyramid silver 7mm ones. Buy them here.
- Sharp scissors so you're not hacking away at the fabric. These are dressmaking ones.
- Dress making chalk.
- Ruler/tape measure.

STEP ONE: Using the ruler, draw a line with the dress making chalk where you want to cut off the fabric. I did mine about 8cm down from the crotch.

STEP TWO: Cut along the line. If it's a nice clean cut then the jeans will fray a little at the bottom which will make the shorts look a little more distressed.

STEP THREE: Pick where you want to put the studs. I'm doing this pair along the top of the pockets. The studs have four little spikes on which will push through the fabric. Use something like a blunt knife to push the little spikes down so it looks like the picture above.

STEP 4: Carry on studding until you've got your desired look. I used the tape measure to have a 2mm gap in between my studs so they were evenly spaced.

I'm really pleased with how this pair turned out! I now have a 'new' pair of shorts to wear this summer. I rolled the hem up on these. You can choose to properly hem the shorts or leave the cut edge free - I think the frayed-ness of the bottom looks pretty cool! The blue denim shorts are a pair I made last summer from a pair of Primark jeans too. I just studded one side and made sure the studs were evenly spaced. I wore these to Reading last year so things like this are perfect for festivals! Studding is endless - they work through most medium thickness fabrics, so you could stud shirt collars, bags, canvas shoes ... the possibilites are endless! Plus you can now buy lots of different shaped studs in circles or stars!

Will you be giving these a go?

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everyday make up #7

I used to do these sorts of posts a lot, but for some reason I stopped doing them! Seeing as I have my new camera, I thought I'd start doing them again, so consider this the 'new look' every day make up posts.

I'd had a pretty bad nights sleep prior to taking these photos, so in comes in the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation. This is perhaps my favourite drugstore foundation ever; I just love the coverage, the colour match and the fact that it truly does wake up your skin. I always use this when I'm feeling a little less that awake! I've been loving the Soap & Glory Kick Ass concealer too. The pink toned concealer goes straight under my eyes to cover up any dark circles and to help brighten the area.

On my cheeks I'm wearing the new Bourjois cream blush in 02 Healthy Glow which is a really pretty coral. I love the formula of the new blushers and this shade is idea for everyday wear. I've also got Soap & Glory's Glow All Out highlighter which is a gorgeous shimmery pink highlighter, ideal for use on top of cream blushers.

For eyes, I've been going pretty simple. My Urban Decay Naked Basics palette has been used a lot since I bought it. I usually use W.O.S, a cream colour, all over my lid with Naked 2, a dusky brown, in the crease. I then put Venus in the inner corners of my eye as a highlight. These shadows don't budge with the help of Urban Decay's Primer Potion! I got the Benefit They're Real! mascara in the issue of ELLE magazine; I know some people dislike it but this really works for me. It's definitely more of a lengthening mascara that volume but for the day time I like it, it makes me feel like I don't have to wear as much eye make up as my eyes naturally look more defined.

The No7 BB lips in Blush Coral has taken pride of place in my lip products collection. This gloss-balm hybrid isn't sticky at all and gives a gorgeous tint of colour. It has SPF15 in it too, so this is perfect for my holiday bag!

I hope to be getting back into blogging a bit more this week - my exams are nearly over hooray! I am off to Florida next Tuesday so expect a few travel related posts. Have a lovely week! xo

 

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review | soap & glory powders - glow all out, solar powder, one heck of a blot

Soap & Glory Solar Powder, £11 | Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot, £12 | Soap & Glory Glow All Out, £11

Soap & Glory and I are having a bit of a moment. Usually, i walk past their make up stand, but since purchasing their Kick Ass concealer (review here), and now I hold it up as close to 'holy grail', I've been eager to try more products. Lily from What I Heart Today reviewed these three powders on her blog ... so I bought them. They were on 3 for 2 may I hasten to add, so my purchase was somewhat justified. I was going to review each of them separately but one will probably end up not getting published so I've piled them into one post!

"Famously bronzed-beauty's gorgeous glow fuelled by SOLAR POWDER."

Being pale and interesting (ha) means I find it pretty difficult to find a bronzer that doesn't look too orange or dark on my skin tone and has just the right effect of giving a bit of a glow and a bit of contouring. Solar Powder by Soap & Glory is a bronzing duo which comes with a light brown shade with a hint of shimmer and a darker brown bronze which is matte. The S&G has an iridescent over spray which disappears within first use. I love how this looked on my skin; it's very flattering and it didn't look too overdone. I swirled my Real Techniques contour brush around and applied it in a '3' shape on the sides of my face. I would say this isn't deep enough for medium-darker skin tones as it's fairly subtle on me, but it's easily built up. I love that you can pick the level of 'bronzeness' as there's two colours in the pan. This lasts about 6 hours on my skin.

"Why just shimmer a little when with a dust of a brush you can 

GLOW ALL OUT?"

And my quest for a perfect powder highlighter may just be over. Glow All Out is a pinky-champagne highlighter with a really good level of pigmentation. It doesn't give you glittering Edward Cullen skin, but picks up the light when applied. It gives a really flawless finish and gives a beautiful glow to the skin. This is best applied with a small brush such as a fluffy eye shadow brush or the Real Techniques setting brush. I apply this along the cheekbones, under and above the brow bone and lightly dust it down my nose. It is subtle enough but then it's still really shimmery and actually HIGHLIGHTS your features. It lasts a long while too - It still looked good after 6 hours! 

"A T-zone that shiny requires ONE HECK OF A BLOT."

I love the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, but I do find it gets a little cakey sometimes and the fact it's coloured can sometimes add too much coverage when I don't need it. Hello, One Heck of a Blot! This 'super-translucent mattifying powder' really helps to get rid of excess shine. I find I need this on my forehead, nose and chin. It helps my make up last that little bit longer without adding any cakeyness or colour. If you have oily skin this may be your saviour this summer! It's a little on the pricey side, but it actually works!! This comes with a puff and is in a plastic case unlike the other two powders, making it very ideal for chucking in your bag for touch ups. 

I'm pretty chuffed that these three powders are in my make up bag now! Definitely worth picking up if you haven't already. Will you pick these up? 

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