Friday 1 January 2016

My 2015 Favourites!


Happy New Year!
I hope you all had an amazing christmas and an amazing new year! 2015 was full of so many different events and memories for me and I hope that 2016 will do just the same! But for my first blog post of 2016, I thought I'd do my first ever favourites - yep, my 2015 favourites! There is a range of categories of items that I have chosen ranging from technology, TV shows, to make-up and skin care! It was very hard to pick out these items as there was so much I could of chose from! But maybe that just means I might have to start doing monthly favourites!

So, lets start with beauty! I have picked the EsteĆ© Lauder Extreme Sumptuous Lash Multiplying Volume mascara in black! I originally got this item as a sample with an ELLE magazine about a year ago and I just fell so in love with it that I needed to get the full product! I have very awkward eye lashes in the fact that it's very hard for to me find a mascara that works nicely with them and gives a good look, and thankfully this one does! and it does exactly what's in the title and lengthens my lashes. My eye lashes are about a medium length and are quite flat but this mascara really extends them and lifts them up. And it's an easy to build up mascara too so you can easily fit it to the rest of your make up! For example, if it's just a simple every day look you can just easily apply one or two coats and it'll be fine. But if you've got a bold going out sort of look, you can add a few more coats to thicken it up without it getting clumpy or look as if you've got too much on! So it's definitely my go to and this will forever be my favourite mascara!

My second beauty item is The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Power, in the shade 98313! This is their lighter shade and it's a matte one! I originally brought this item in August during my summer holiday as the bronzer I was using was a bit too dark for my skin tone so it came out a bit orange and it was waaay to shimmery for everyday which was what I wanted. So whilst I was on holiday I just went into The Body Shop to have a brows(without intending to buy a new bronzer) and I stumbled across them on the shelf and as I spotted them, one of the lovely sales assistance came across and asked if I needed any help. So I explained the situation to her about how I wanted an everyday matte bronzer so she sat me down and started comparing the colours to my face then sampled it on me. First she put the bronzer on then showed me how it looked without being blended, then she blended it in and showed me again and the results were amazing! So this is my definite everyday-go-to bronzer! Even I've been using it through out the winter to contour my face slightly as it's a very natural and soft kind of colour.

Third beauty item is my Real Techniques Exert Face brush. I first saw this brush being used in some YouTube make up tutorials and then they began creeping into some peoples favourites and I didn't really think much of it at the time, but then I started getting bored of my old foundation brush(which is one of the actual named foundation brushes which look like a paint brush) so I thought I might try this one out as it was on offer in Asda. And oh my, it did not disappoint! I can completely and utterly see the rave about them! They blend your foundation so nicely and it doesn't leave any streaky brush marks. also it really spreads your foundation out evenly, so I would definitely recommend this brush to anyone who wants a new foundation brush!

Speaking of foundation, my fourth beauty item is my NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in the shade Mont Blonc! I was using the Maybelline Fit Me foundation in the shade 115 and I got on really well with it but then when I went into the shop to get some more they no longer sold my shade, so I made the mistake in going for the next shade up as that was the lightest one they had. But now I regret it and realise it was a bad choice! For some reason, with that shade it just didn't agree with me at all. My face isn't oily or dry it's in-between but this one made my skin look extremely oily. The staying power was really bad and the coverage wasn't that great either. So then I decided it was time to change it because I hated how it worked on me. So whilst I was out in New York in December we went into Sephora in times square(it was a must) and I walked past the NARS section of the shop so I started looking at their foundations because I know loads of people talk so positively about them so I thought I'd give it ago. And now this foundation is the best one I've used in a while! It may be pricey but it's got such good coverage but it doesn't look cakey, it's staying power is so good and it doesn't make my skin look oily! It's just amazing and I will definitely be buying this product again!

My fifth beauty product is the Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Eau De Toilette. Until Summer,I had never tried or brought myself a branded perfume, and I thought that should change! I don't know why but the first one that came into my head to buy was this one. I had never smelt it before I brought it so I instantly wanted it because it had the word 'daisy' in it(daisies are my favourite flowers) and the bottle was extremely pretty. But once I found a shop that sold perfumes, I went straight in and looked for this one so I could smell it and see if I liked it. I was very nervous that I was going to be disappointed with it when I first smelt it but I really wasn't. It's such a fresh sweet scent and I began to love it instantly! So I picked up the 30ml box and took it too the counter! You're probably thinking that 30ml is very small, and it is! The reason I got the 30ml is that, if I smell a scent for too long then I begin to get bored of it and go of the scent and I didn't want to go off this one! So I thought that if I brought a smaller bottle, I would use it very sparingly and often that I don't get bored of it, as it's such a gorgeous perfume!

My last beauty item isn't one you use on you. It's the No.7 Illuminated Make-up Mirror. I'm the type of person who suddenly gets the urge to try out new make up at 9-10 o'clock at night, and obviously by then, it's pitch black outside so I have to put my bedroom light on. But my bedroom light is one of them annoying energy saver light bulbs so it gradually gets brighter the longer you keep it on. But the light it gives when I'm trying to experiment with make up is rubbish as it's too dark for me to properly see what I'm doing. So when me and my mum were walking past boots the other day we saw it on offer so we went in and she so lovingly brought it for me. It's got a white/cold light around the rim of the mirror so you can turn it on whilst you're doing your make up so you can see properly what you're doing and it does it's job so well! Testing and experimenting with make up has become so much more easier and accurate now that I have this extra light that shines directly onto my face without leaving shadows! So if you're like me and have a light bulb problem whilst wanting to experiment with make up when you should be in bed, then this is the mirror for you! You can get it online and in-store in boots!

Skin care! I'm very lucky with my skin in that I don't get spots often and I don't have any reactions to anything, but that doesn't stop me looking after it! There are two products from the Clean & Clear range which are a god send! This is the Deep Cleaning Astringent and the Advantage Spot Treatment Gel! I started using the Deep Cleaning one back in 2010, this is when I was beginning to become a spotty teenager! and it worked wonders for me! I apply it every morning and every night before I go to bed and it's just amazing. It obviously doesn't stop spots or whatever completely but it really reduces the amount of times you get them and the redness of them, so I absolutely love this idem! But the idem I love more than this is the Advantage Spot Treatment Gel. This is one that I tried whist I was in New York because my room mate had it. I was saying to her how I was having a massive spot beginning to appear and she told me to put some of this on it and it'll be gone. So I put some on before I went to bed and I woke up the next morning and it had completely gone! Once I got home from New York I went straight to Asda to buy this item and it hasn't let me down since! Both of these products you can get in nearly every supermarket or drug store and they're not that expensive!


As some people know I love photography and hope to one day be a successful photographer.. so these next 3 items are photography technology related. But first one is my Fuji Film Instax mini 8 in the light blue colour. This is a small version of a polaroid, meaning it instantly prints out the pictures once you've taken them. I've always wanted a polaroid kind of camera as I love how the images are printed instead of saved digitally. It gives the photo such a vintage look to it and makes them look really pretty when they're up. For example, I currently have mind clipped onto a Light Up Peg Photo string! The camera itself is rather expensive and then it's very pricey to maintain as the film for it costs quite a lot! So I only recommend getting one of these if you're willing to pay out for it and use it wisely as you only get one chance for a good picture. But I take this camera around with me quite a lot incase I see anything that's worth instantly printing out. For example, when me and 2 of my friends when to Brighton we got a typically picture on the Brighton Pier and it looks so cool and I got lots of amazing shots of the New York City Skyline too!


My second photography item is my Canon 75mm-300mm Telephoto lens. For those who don't know what Telephoto means, it's basically a lens that zooms in quite a lot. I brought this item because I was sort of getting bored in how restricting my normal lens is. I mean it does a good job but I just wanted something more for the quality for my photos. So I went into a shop and brought a Canon magazine which told you all about the different lens' and it said that this one was very good for wildlife photography and some portraiture and for those who know me, I love portraiture photography! Most of my course work at college is all about pictures of people. I instantly fell heels deep for this lens once I had tried it. It gave the images such a good and professional quality to them. Only problem with it is, you have to be very far away to take the picture so you can't do anything up close. But because of the outcome it gives, I don't mind that! It's also fairly heavy too but it's copeable! It's also an expensive lens depending where you buy it from but you can get them so much cheaper on amazon!


My final technology item is my MacBook Air with the 13" screen. I have wanted a MacBook for absolutely ages and I'm so grateful that I've finally got one! I first started using the iMac in my first year of college for photography and my love for them just grew. I'm now in my second year of college which means I'm doing my A-Levels and I got one of these to help benefit me more for them as I use Photoshop and Final Cut Pro on mac at college for work - so being have to have these utilities at home makes homework so much more easier! It's so lightweight so it's easy to carry around with you and do work on the go, and the battery life lasts so much longer than a standard laptop and that's just a couple of reasons why I love it! This, again, is a pricey item but it is definitely worth the money! Only disadvantage of it, is that the memory is quite low. But you can always sort that out by buying an external hard-drive!


That's it for my 2015 favourites!  Apologise that it's very wordy and lengthy but I hope you had a wonderful 2015 and hope everyone has an amazing 2016!