Since getting back into the swing of things and starting college, my life has been mad...but they, heres to not punishing myself too much and getting back into blogging again!

Here's a few little snippets of why I've been so awol...(sorry if you're squeamish!) 

I have to say, starting my SFX makeup training is one of the best decisions I've made so far!
Always put the hard work in, you can't cheat the grind! It knows how much you've invested and it won't give you anything you haven't worked for
xxx

Hey lovelies hope you're all well! 

Sorry it's been so long, stuff has been crazy over here, what with family life being slightly topsie tervy at the moment and starting a new course, its been a bit mad! 

But I'm finally super excited to let all of you know the winner to my 1000 follower giveaway! Now to be honest with you I've had a bit of trouble with this, the winners at the start that were randomly selected, after checking through you all, I noticed that most people hadn't actually met the criteria that the giveaway asked, IE: Didn't follow me etc. So alas, I had to keep doing it all over again. So here we are a few weeks late...BUT the winner is...

VICKI A SMITH 

Bloglovin': VICKS276 (yay!)

Thank you to everyone who entered and who takes the time to read my little beauty rambles! I hope you're all well and enter my CHRISTMAS STOCKING GIVEAWAY soon! 

Autumn is my favorite season without a doubt, I love the fashion, the layering, the weather, the long chilly walks on crunchy leaves, the colours, cups of tea, apple crumble, halloween, bonfire night, and of course my birthday! Not forgetting the lush candles and new costa releases (typical blogger comment...)

But most of all, I love the makeup, here's a selection of the eyeshadows I can see myself wearing during the next few months, handily picked from only 2 palettes, Urban Decay Naked Palette, and Sleek's Vintage Romance 141, which sadly I have lost the clear protective film that comes with the palette telling me all their names, but you'll get the gist of it! I really highly recommend Sleek Eyeshadows, their shadows have such a gorgeous silk, creamy feel to them, have great pigmentation and very affordable!

From left to right:

Urban Decay: Sidecar

Sleek Vintage Romance (Deep Plum with Shimmer)

Urban Decay: Toasted (My all time love)

Urban Decay: Hustle

Urban Decay: Smog

Sleek Vintage Romance (Matte Warm Brown)

Sleek Vintage Romance (Shimmer Rose Pink)

Sleek Vintage Romance (Shimmer Deep Pink)

Sleek Vintage Romance (Shimmer Rose Gold)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Primark is so with it at the moment, last time I popped in to pick up some hair bobbles I spotted so many things I think I'm going to have to purchase, those 2 gorgeous pairs of shoes being some of them! Does anyone else feel its okay as it's Primark, and Primark is guilt free right? Holographic shoes for £12...YES PLEASE.

I've seen a new foundation by Rimmel circling between bloggers and youtubers recently, I'm a big fan of Rimmel makeup, I don't really think I've had a bad experience with a product from them, so this foundation has definably sparked some interest with me, I'm all for long wearing foundations so I'm all for trying this to see if it's a hit or a miss! And what would a weekly wishlist be without a Mac lipstick? The name of 'Flat out Fabulous' drew me in alone, let alone that gorgeous purple-pink...we'll see if it makes it into my makeup bag in the next few weeks!

Beaded Top: H&M
Imitation Leather Shorts: H&M
Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation: House of Fraser
Flat out Fabulous: MAC
Holographic Shoe: Primark
Lasting Finish Foundation Serum: Rimmel London 
Cream Laser Cut Shoe: Primark

TRESemme Vibrant Naturals Nourishing and Replenishing Conditioner (Sulphate Free)

My answer to dry, damaged, thirsty, unloved and grumpy hair.

I've never been too bothered about using sulphate free hair care products, I cant say I even realised this was a sulphate free conditioner when I bought it. I've been using this now for around 3/4 washes and I'm in love. It smells divine and the forumala is so much thicker and creamier than most conditioners that I've tried in the past, and most importantly it actually works! 

My hair isn't on its last legs or anything that extreme, but I do colour and heat style my hair, so of course, its in need of some TLC and drier than it should be. This conditioner is seriously the bees knees. My hair not only looks healthy, mouistuersed and replenished, it is. It feels brilliant after 2/3+ days, where as in my experience, most conditioners leave my hair silky smooth and frizz free for the first day, but I'll wake up the next morning and it feels like it needs a treatment again. Obviously there is no miracle cure, or any actual cure for split ends, the only thing you can do it have them cut off, BUT once you've got rid of as many split ends as you can, seriously, seriously give this stuff a go. My hair is in better condition since using this than it has been in a long time. This, paired with my beloved moroccan oil treatment is my hairs new best friend

You can pick Coconut Oil up from pretty much anywhere, I get mine from amazon for something like £3.30, which considering how many uses it has it a pretty darn good deal! It comes in solid form, and all I do to get it to its oily loveliness is rub is around in the palms of my hands for a few seconds and its all ready to go! 

Use Coconut Oil on your scalp: This ones a bit of a messy one! If you suffer with dry skin on your scalp, smoother it in coconut oil when you've got a spare hour before you need to jump into the shower, really make sure you wash it out properly as you can look like you've not washed in weeks, even if you leave the slightest bit at your scalp (learnt from past experience...) and hey presto, much less dry skin on your scalp, it should improve dandruff too

Use it as a Hair Mask: Melt it in the palms of your hands and generouslly apply it all over your hair, or as I personally do just to the dry and frizzy ends, I've found it to be a really nice deep repair treatment that actually works. It leaves your poor old ends looking and feeling much happier

Use it on your Skin: The smell might seem slightly sickly sweet to some, but again, melt this in your palms, or you could even melt a small amount in the microwave if you're putting it all over to save time and use the oil instead of your normal body lotion. It leaves my skin feeling really soft. I sometimes get really dry and itchy skin on the insides of my arms etc and I find it really helps soothe the dry skin there.

Use if before a night out: Or whenever you want super fit looking shiny legs!

Use it on your nails: After you've painted your nails, pop a bit of this on the cuticles, one it acts as a treatment for them, not that I can say I actually bother with all that...but it does look like you've just had your nails done professionally as it leaves that 'wet, shiny' look around your nails

Use it as a body scrub: Kinda sounds contradictory after me telling you how soft it makes you feel, but mix this with equal parts of sugar and lemon and you've got yourself a "free" body scrub, which will make you feel silky smooth in the long run!

Drink it? Maybe... I have read on many occasions that you can drink coconut oil alone, or add it to the blender when you're making a smoothie, personally I haven't tried this, but knock yourself out if you're not a wimp like me!

(Photo Credit: http://www.healthyfoodteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/7-Ways-To-Use-Coconut-Oil-For-Energy-Recoveryy.jpg)

I'm not opposed to a good ole' jumper, and these are seriously in risk of being added to my collection...

Is anyone else with me on that H&M is the best place going for finding that perfect jumper? 

Orange Ribbed Knit Jumper 

Mustard Cable Knit

Navy Cable Knit

Cream Rip-Knit

Navy and Cream Floral Jumper

Grey Slouch Jumper 

All can be found at New Look and H&M

*Queue the most personal post I will probably ever write*

Being okay with you, and who you are is something I'm sure we all come to terms with eventually, and as the wise of Rafiki would say, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it. 

Sometimes things happen, and somethings lots of things happen, and it may feel tempting to sit and dwell, to think up and make up reasons as to why these things happen, and why they happen to you. Sadly, cancer is paying its second, unwelcome visit into our house in the past 3 years again at the moment, it won't be here for long, and it sure as hell won't be here forever, but at the moment is here to stay. Some people say that you're given things in life to test you, or that you're dealt the hand you're dealt and thats just something you've got the learn to live with. In my eyes, things in life are thrown at you, good and bad and sometimes they can make you feel as low as low can get, and the temptation to give up and throw in the towel seems like a welcome idea, but shit doesn't work like that. If you change nothing, nothing will change, if you sit on the fence in life and use your past experiences as excuses not to be the best person you can be, wake up and make shit happen. 

The things life throws at you may shape you as a person, but happiness really does depend on you and only you, good things don't come to those who wait, good things come to those who get up when you seriously feel like sitting down, and making shit happen.

As like most people, I won't say no to a little bit of Soap and Glory but I can't say I've ever branched out from the realms of body butters and lotions, until now. I purchased the Peaches and Clean Cleanser after reading a few decent reviews and since getting so sick of the pesky little spots that just keep popping up uninvited on my face. 

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it. I'm a makeup wipe fiend, which I know is something I probably should have grown out of by now...about time I stop being so lazy and reaching for the trusty green simple packet! This cleanser claims to be 'deep purifying' which credit where credit it due, as it does remove all my makeup after a few scrubs. Don't get my wrong I do have to use a fair amount of product and have to repeat the step a few times in order to get all my makeup off, however I do wear quite a bit of eye makeup so what can you do! Just to note though, if you do like to rock fab eye makeup on an everyday basis, bare it in mind that you have to really work the cleanser in. Time wise, I can't say it's taking more time that a makeup wipe would, many a time have I used multiple makeup wipes to remove Benefit mascara! 

With regards to how it works for my actual skin, I have noticed it has been clearing up! I don't want to say its down to this, as what works for me may not work for you but so far so good on that front; which for me is a massive plus and I will be repurchasing this when I run out. I've only had peaches and clean now for about a week, which sadly isn't enough time to clear everything up...but we shall see!

The smell isn't a massive deal for me, the name kinda gives it away, it smells peachy. For me personally, I think it smells exactly like peach schnapps...which I try not to think about after the amount of peach schnapps I drank on my girls holiday earlier this summer...

Overall, this cleansing milk gets a big thumbs up from me, it feels lovely and soothing and creamy on my skin (please bare in mind me skin isn't too sensitive, I have read reviews that say this isn't the best for sensitive skin!) 

I'm really enjoying using it, and the work its doing on my skin. At £8.00 per bottle, it's not the cheapest cleanser on the market, but not the most expensive either.

I hope you're all well and staying lovely,

Alice xxx

Dupe Alert

I've been using Rimmel Stay Matte for a long long time now, since I was about 13/14, as I'm sure all of you know, its fab...but I think I've found something better!
The new(ish) Maybelline 24hr Stay Powder is seriously, seriously good. Amazing coverage for a powder, comparable to Studio Fix Powder from Mac, not so great range of colours, but brilliant staying powder and shine control. I can go out in the morning and my face makeup looks pretty much perfect when I get home. This stuff is great in the t-zone or all over if you want really full coverage that will last all day, this powder literally makes me look like a doll when I wear it all over I love it! Because of its great coverage, do be aware its not a very 'natural' looking powder, I would say it does feel heavier on the skin than Rimmel Stay Matte but for me, that feeling stops bothering me when all my makeup sets. I'm currently using Mac Pro Longwear Foundation and when paired with this powder, I'm good to go!

Boots £5.99

At the moment I'm having a naughty affair with my higher end products. I've only recently tried Mac's Pro Longwear foundation and concealer duo and oh my I love them! I'm going to do a follow up post of all drugstore dupes for the products mentioned which should be fun so keep your eyes peeled for that, as these are all quite high end! I'm really enjoying my Pro Longwear foundation, I work part time as a waitress at the moment so I'm often running around like a headless chicken. I can wear this foundation all day and it really doesn't budge. It's got a really good medium coverage and such a lovely 'demi matte' finish. 

Underneath my foundation I've been wearing my trusty Clinque Pore Minimizer as sadly, I've been 'blessed' with my mum's rather large pores, but this seriously does the trick, I seriously swear by this stuff, it's amazing. If you're not sure about using a primer, just grab a few samples next time you're at a counter to give them a whirl first, you'll be surprised on long they last you!

 I'm loving Rockateur on my fair skin tone for a really lush flush of rosy colour and sheen, although sadly so expensive, this is probably my holy grail blush...oops! As I'm sure you're all aware hoola is perfect for a little bit of contouring as it's completely matte...perfect! 

And just a little word to Mac's Soft and Gentle...Oh you beautiful thing!

What foundations are you loving at the moment?
Keep posted for a 'drugstore dupes' post of the products I'm using at the moment,

Stay lovely xxx

Mac Pro Longwear Concealer NC15
Mac Pro Longwear Foundation NC15
Clinque Pore Minimizer (sample size)
Mac Prep+Prime Skin Base (sample size)
Benefit Rockateur
Benefit Hoola
Mac Mineralize Skin Finish in 'Soft and Gentle'

  I was very kindly sent these products from Beauty UK to try out. I'm seriously impressed with what I was given!  I was sent the 'Posh Palette' in Galaxy. This retails at a really impressive price of £5.99. I was super impressed with these shawdows, they are a little 'dusty' but nothing you can't work with, they blend out really nicely and unlike most 'budget' palettes on the high street, theres a real vararity of colours in the palette so there's a fair few looks that you could make with this one. The shadows in the picture above have to be my favourite, bar from being slighly powdery they are super sparkly and just so gorgeous! I'm really looking forward to creating a few looks with these!  

 As you can see from this picture, the lightest two colours in the palette seemed to sort of, clog up once layered, and I have to say that these were the most powdery colours in the palette. As the colours get darker in the palette the better they become.  The warm, purpley toned shadows are super pigmented and really nicely blendable. (seen in swatch below) I love the mixture of the matte and shimmery shadows in this palette and I would highly recommened to anyone, on a budget or not that wanted to experient with some galaxy themed colours.

 One coat 

 Two coats 

 Now onto the nail varnishes, I was able to choose the colours that I was sent and I went for some quite summery bright colours to get me in the mood for the sunny weather! Again, I'm really impressed with these nail polishes and how inexpensive they are; especially with the white, it was completly opaque in just two coats, I'm seriously seriously impressed with these. I've tried many a white polish and I've found myself just having to layer and layer on the product before I got anywhere near the colour pay off of these. I'm wearing the teal blue colour on all my nails at the moment and have had it on now for about 3 days and it's still looking perfect and shiny! (£2.99 each)

  I was given a gorgous red/purple/berry lipstick from their range. It was super creamy and mousiterising. I'm really picky with lipsticks but I'm enjoying this one so far. I haven't yet worn it out the house so I can't comment on the staying power of it but I'll be sure to feature it in a post very soon to let you all know! (£3.49 each)

Finally I was given a new product from Beauty UK which looks awesome, like a little brow bar to go, and the small tweezers and brush that's included are always useful! I'm really gutted that the shades were abit too dark for me as I'm a blondie! Although I do have my hair ombre'd so I have my natural root colour showing through, these colours just didn't really suit my skin tone. This doens't go to say though that it's not a good product, I've been using the colourless wax everyday before using my normal eyebrow powder and I've noticed a real difference in how 'groomed' my brows looked, they just seem to stay in place a lot more. I personally think putting powder on your brows look the best and if you're not a fellow blondie, this little brow kit might be worth trying! (£3.99)

I'd like to thank Beauty UK very much for kindly sending me these products to review and I hope that if you try any of these out yourselves you'll enjoy them as much as have. I'll leave the links below to where you can buy these products.

I hope you're all staying lovely! xxx

Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette
Nail Polishes in White Out
Under the Heather
Tealed With a Kiss
Pink You've had Enough
Eyebrow Kit

Lipstick in 'Plumalicious'

Beauty UK is also available at Superdrug 

Sorry for a few being a bit on the pricey side...I have included some near perfect dupes! (In particular Loreal's version of Mac's up the amp...perfecto!)...These are my summer lip picks, I can't say I'm one that only wears certain colours in summer, each to their own, if you wanna rock a vampy red this summer...knock yourself out girl!! 

Recenetly I find myself reaching for these colours over anything else, I'm loving pairing a statement lip at the moment with a nice dewy base, basic, subtle brown cut crease, winged liner and lashes! Mac's vegas volt is my most recent lipstick discovery and oh boy I love it! I've been wearing it everyday for about a week now and I just love how it pulls a lazy winged liner and lashes together and polishes it all off! 

And one little word for the lip butters...if you haven't tried them already, go go go! 

Hope you're all really well and staying lovely. Let me know what you're wearing on your lips! xxx

For more updates follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FairestBlog
Get to know me more by following me on Instagram: alicesnell

I'm currently using Mac Studio Fix Fluid as my foundation which I LOVE, however on the Mac website I was matched to Studio Sculpt as my 'perfect' foundation...which to me, is a perfectly rational excuse to want it right? On my post recent mac order (post to follow!) I was given a sample of the prep+prim skin base, and I love love love it!

I've been wanting to try the studio fix powder for yonks now, I've always been a fan of Rimmel stay matte, but the actual product never seems to last me that long, so I might have to give this a go first! 

Now for blushers, I'm a huge fan of both the benefit box blushers and Sleek blushers, Pixie Pink actually looks really similar to Benefit's bella bamba to me, so I think I'm going to give the Sleek blushers a try first and see if it looks as soon on my face as it does in the pan; especially since the Benefit blushers are £23 a pop!...Does this call for  a dupes post if all goes well?! I think Sleek has to be one of my favourite drugstore makeup brands, their blushers are defiantly one of my favourites, and the quality of them far out weights how little you pay for them, such good value for money!

Whats on your recent makeup wish list, I'd love for you to let me know down below!

Hope you're all feeling lovely,

Alice xxx

Products listed above:

Mac Studio Fix Powder
Mac Studio Sculpt Foundation
Mac Prep+Prim Skin Base
Benefit Bella Bamba
Sleek Blush in Pixie Pink
Sleek 'Blush by 3' in Lace

I can't believe I haven't blogged in SO long...there is only one thing that is to blame though.. A-levels!!

Darn A-levels, alongside my part time job have just taken over my life. Thankfully yesterday, I had my A2 art exam, which means no more coursework EVER! Hopefully now all that is out of the way, I only have to revise for my other exams that start in June, so I'm positive blogging on here will be a thing for me again!

After A-levels I'm planning on going to a local college to study media and SFX makeup, so I'm sure after summer I'll have some more exciting things to blog about;  so please don't mistake my absence as a lack in interest, merely a shift of priorities! 

Thank you for those who have stuck with me on this one, let the queue of posts commence!

Hope you're all okay and staying fabulous! 

Alice xxx

This palette..is £4! Yes you read that right £4 for pigmentation like that! This wasn't a palette that I would have picked up straight away because I didn't really think I'd use all the colours but I'm defiantly getting use out of them all! The brighter blue was certainly a colour I thought I wouldn't use but I've been putting a small amount of this under my lower lash line for a pop of colour!

The deepest colours in the palette are so so gorgeous and are by far my favourite eyeshadows at the moment! They have a beautiful metallic finish, (I mean, look at that purple!) - perfect for a night out!

I'm super impressed with this palette and the consistency of the shadows is super creamy! This palette is amazing full stop, not just for the price, I would pay a lot more money than what I did for this palette, MUA are on a winner with this one! Give this one a whirl for yourself, I'm sure you won't be disappointed! You can buy MUA makeup at Superdrug and MUA's website.  

For those of you who don't know, Fragrance Direct is an online company offering unmissable savings on gorgeous brands. Fragrance direct offer makeup, hair and beauty products for as low as 99 pence! Yep...you read that right, makeup for 99p! 

Here are a few of my picks from their online store.

Daisy by Marc Jacobs £53.95

Rimmel Glam Eyes 0.99. One in every colour please! 

Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick £1.99 

Calvin Klien Luxury Creme Lipstick £1.99 

Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr Eyeshadow £1.50 

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Hand Treatment, great for these cold days we're getting this January! £3.99 

Rimmel Duo Eyeshadow £0.99

All those with a purse friendly saving of £48.06! 

Why don't you check out the gorgeous products and savings for yourself?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I recently won a Mac Lipstick from the gorgeous Amy (give her a follow!) at http://notanotheroneamy.blogspot.co.uk/ and it made me super, super happy so she inspired me to do one of my own!
I've been super lucky last year with my blog, and its finally taking shape and taking off! Heres to a successful blog year in 2014! Just to say a little thank you for the followers I have already and followers I may gain in the future, I'm giving away a MAC Lipstick of your choice, good luck!

Tip 1: I've been avoiding makeup wipes and making an effort to use a hydrating makeup remover, and man I'm never going back to wipes! I'm currently using Nivea Double Effect!  In the past, I've used Clinque 'Take the day off' which is nice too...does this call for a comparison post?

Tip 2: Drink some nice fruit tea! I hate Green Tea, which sucks because it's super good for you! So I've tried to drink more green tea..but with some nicer fruiter flavours!

Tip 3: Drink more water!!

Tip 4: Putting a really thick layer of a rich mousiter on just before a showering has made my skin super soft and hydrated

Tip 5: Lush's Cosmic Warrior..I have never been so impressed with a product after only one use! I'll be doing a whole review on this so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Tip 6: Make your own exfoliant. I make mine with sugar, lemon juice and garlic puree. I don't know if its the fact it's got no crappy chemicals in..but this has really been working for me! 

Tip 7: Pore strips! I don't quite know why I've never tried this before! 

Keep your eyes peeled for some more 'skin care' posts coming up very soon!