Update!

I haven't written an update post in months, so you would think I'd have loads to tell you. I don't. My life is a simple one. But here I am, updating you on the few things that have happened recently!

Lets back track to the end of July. I received my first year uni results and I was very happy with them. I achieved two 1sts and four 2:1s. I wish the first year of uni counted towards your overall grade now!

Since July, I've been ill. Two. Whole. Months. First of all, I had a throat infection, along with every other symptom you can think of. Once that eventually went, I acquired another bug or some kind of allergy, because I had this really bad mucus thing. I would go through a whole roll of tissue in 1-2 days. Gross, I know. Sorry about that. Being ill on top of Shadow dying in July means my Summer hasn't been the best. Anyway, it's starting to clear up now, so I think I'm going to be better in time for uni! 

Speaking of uni, again, I found out my timetable for next year today. I'm in 10am-2pm on Mondays and 9am-1pm on Thursdays and Fridays - Not bad! I didn't want any gaps in between my lectures (I didn't want to wait around) and I didn't want to finish late, so I'm happy with my times. I prefer having early lectures over late ones.

I dyed my eyebrows the other day. My mum was dying her hair a chocolate brown, so I borrowed a little and applied the dye with a small make-up brush. I dyed them because the base of the hairs were white, making my brows look sparser than they were. Now, they don't need to be filled in as much.

I had my hair cut on Saturday! 2-3 inches were taken off, so it feels quite short now. My hair's still in my lower back region though. I also had my layers shortened, so now my hair is flicking in every direction possible. They give my hair some shape though!

I've been online shopping a lot these past few days, especially on eBay. In the post, I have an NYX cream blush, a penguin memory stick, a duvet set, some bright leggings to wear around the house and to bed in the Winter, a couple of men's t-shirts to wear with the leggings and three Essie nail polishes from Fragrance Direct. They were only £1.99! I'll post about them when they arrive :)

I'm on a mission to find a simple, and slightly stylish, coat with a hood. I've looked at hundreds and still haven't found one I love! More coats on the British high street need hoods. The few I have found and like are £50+, but I don't want to spend over £50. Maybe if I stop looking, I'll actually find one. Fingers crossed!

On the 31st August, I will have had this little monkey for three years. I love Jessie so much!

Affordable Necklace Storage and eBay & Etsy Necklaces

Good evening! I thought I'd show you my new necklace storage I assembled today, which is practical and pretty. I used hardwall hooks, which are very affordable. I bought a pack of six from Wilkinson for just over a pound, but you can get them from a large range of stores. They are also quick and easy to put in. It took me just a few minutes to hammer them all in. They will leave small marks in the wall though, so you may want to consider that.

Half of my necklaces are from eBay and Etsy - They are great places to buy affordable jewellery from. Below are my eBay and Etsy necklaces with prices and links to the listings.

£1.47 - Here

£1.25 - Here

£1.38 - Here

I bought this one from Etsy. If you search 'bronze leaf necklace', a variety of similar necklaces appear. I've just had a look and may have to buy a few of them!

I bought this a few years ago for about a pound, but the seller is no longer selling it. There are some listings at similar prices, but the sellers' ratings aren't the best. Here is a Buy It Now listing from a top rated seller. It's a little more expensive, at £1.95, but it's still very affordable and it's from the UK. Also, this seller has a handful of listings which you can bid on.

Peacock necklace - Again, the seller I bought this from has stopped selling it! And the few listings I've found want £6-8 for it. If you don't mind paying that, here is a listing from a top rated seller (I only buy from top rated sellers) and here is an Etsy listing.

Watch necklace - You guessed it! I can't find a specific auction because I bought this years ago. I feel like such a failure haha. However, there are thousands and thousands of different watch necklaces on eBay and Etsy, and most of them are reasonably priced. This watch necklace is pretty and only £3.29.

Look what I just found on Etsy! The Hunger Games Mockingjay pocket watch necklace! And it's only £4.51.
Oooh, and look! A Harry Potter Golden Snitch pocket watch necklace! Okay, I'm getting too excited now.

I'm now off to buy some necklaces! First stop - Etsy.

Models Own Champagne

Natural light

Flash

Models Own Champagne is one of my favourite shades. The colour is subtle and elegant, while the metallic shimmer gives it an edge. It's a lot more sparkly in natural light than the first photo suggests. I also have the lilac shade (Mystic Mauve) from the collection, which is another polish I'm particularly fond of.

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday! I had to fill out a booklet of forms for the dentist, which was not fun! I also put some hooks in my wall for my necklaces to hang.  They look quite pretty hanging there, in my opinion. I'll probably show you in another post.

Good evening!

Louise xo

My Top 5 Nail Polishes

Hello! Today, I guest blogged over on the lovely Alison's blog - Rock and Glitter. You can view the post here. It discusses my current top 5 nail polishes (and a couple more!).

I hope you enjoy reading it!

Thank you, Alison, for asking me to feature on your blog :)

Nails of the Week!

Natural light

Flash

I wasn't going to blog about the nails I've been sporting this week, but I'm in a blogging mood! I couldn't decide on a colour, so went with four shades. On my baby finger and thumb I have OPI's No Room For The Blues, on my ring finger I have China Glaze's Make Some Noise, on my middle finger I have Barry M's Boots Limited Edition, and on my index finger I have OPI's Shorts Story. They don't exactly go together, but that's what I like about them.

I'm taking these polishes off tonight and will be painting my nails with Models Own Champagne. I haven't worn it for a while and it will make a nice change to the bright nails I've been wearing lately.

I hope you enjoy your Thursday evening! I'm going shopping tomorrow, so expect a haul. I'll be on a mission to find a nice coat with a hood. You would think that clothing stores in rainy Britain would stock more hooded coats than they do, wouldn't you? Silly sausages.

My Current, Daily Beauty Routine (Evening)

Hello, all! Welcome to the second part of my current, daily beauty routine. You can find my morning routine post here. 

I shower in the evenings because I leave my hair to dry naturally and prefer to have relaxed mornings. I've been washing my hair with TRESemme's Salon Silk Shampoo and Conditioner (Superdrug, £4.99 for a 900ml bottle) for a while now. I usually buy them when they're half price. They're so affordable and last for months! I've also been using Liz Earle's Botanical Shine Shampoo* and Conditioner for Dry and Damaged Hair* (Liz Earle, £8.50 each). The shampoo is SLS free and contains many natural ingredients, so I've been using it every couple of weeks to give my hair a deep cleanse. Every time I've used the conditioner, my hair has gone dry, which is weird considering its claims.

After I've shampooed and conditioned my hair, I've been washing my body with Treacle Moon's One Ginger Morning Shower Gel (Tesco, £2.99). I love it so much! It smells like Starbursts. I then shave, which isn't interesting! and then I've been washing my face with No7's Beautiful Skin Hot Cloth Cleanser (Boots, £9.95). It removes my make-up well and leaves it fairly soft. Not as soft as Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish though. I've also been trying out Nelsons Pure & Clear Purifying Daily Facial Wash* (Boots, £7.85). It removes my make-up well... that's all I have to say about it, really. It's not an exciting product, but it does the job.

I don't regularly moisturise my body, but I've been making an effort to do so more often. Once out of the shower, I've been using Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Moisturising Body Oil (Boots, £5.10) (Review here) or The Body Shop's Coconut Beautifying Oil (The Body Shop, £9) (Review here) to moisturise. If I don't use those, I'll use Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion (Boots, £3.77) or The Body Shop's Raspberry, Mango and Sweet Lemon Body Butters (The Body Shop, £12.50 each).

Once my body is moisturised, I moisturise my face with The Body Shop's Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream (The Body Shop, £11) (Review here) or Simple's Kind to Skin Sun-Kissed Moisture Cream (Boots, £4.99). The Simple cream gives my skin a light tan, making it look healthy and glowing.

Next up to receive some TLC is my hair. I use Aussie's Miracle Hair Insurance Leave-In Conditioner (Boots, £4.49) and/or TRESemme's Salon Silk Serum (Boots, £4-5) on the ends of my hair. I don't use these every night. I use them once or twice a week.

And that concludes my current, daily beauty routine!

Thank you for reading!

*PR samples

My Current, Daily Beauty Routine (Morning)

Good evening, everyone! Here are the products I am currently using every morning. They are mostly make-up items because I shower and use my body products in the evenings. A post for my evening beauty routine will be up shortly.

Before I apply my make-up, I quickly wipe my face with a facial wipe to get rid of any excess oil and then use a light moisturiser. I'm currently using the Nelsons Pure & Clear Purifying Daily Facial Wipes* (Boots, £5.49) and Nelsons Pure & Clear Balancing Moisturiser* (Boots, £8.49). The moisturiser is light and absorbs into my skin well, which is just what I need before I apply my make-up. The facial wipes have a plastic lid on them - I wish more brands did this! Before I started using the Nelsons products, I was using Skin Therapy's Facial Wipes (Wilkinson, 2 for £1) and The Body Shop's Vitamin E Moisture Cream (The Body Shop, £9).  Once I've finished using my current face wipes, I'm going to buy a big packet of baby wipes because you get more for your money.

Once my moisturiser has sunk in, I apply my Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (Boots, £4.19) to any blemishes. Before applying it around my eyes, I use Witch's Anti Blemish Skin Clearing Primer (It's not showing up on Boots' or Superdrug's websites, but I know they stock it. I think it's around £5) because I have oily eyelids. I also sometimes use ELF's Eyelid Primer (ELF, £1.50). My skin normally looks quite even by this stage, so I just use ELF's Mineral Booster (ELF, £5) to keep any shine at bay. I then use my trusty ELF Studio Eyebrow Kit in Medium (ELF, £3.75) (Review can be found here) to fill in my eyebrows.

Blusher is one of the only products that I change daily. Above is some of my most used. At the back, you have Sleek's Pixie Pink, Flamingo and Rose Gold (Superdrug, £4.49), Natural Collection's Pink Cloud and Peach Melba (Boots, £1.99), 17's First Kiss (Boots, £3.49), Revlon's PhotoReady Cream Blush in Flushed (Boots, £5.99) and NYX's Cream Blush in Glow (Joy017, £6-7, including P&P). As you can see, most of them are warm toned. They look the most natural with my freckles and ginger hair.

For months and months now, I've lined my eyes with NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha (Joy017, £4-5, including P&P) (Review can be found here). Recently, I've been using the NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Campo de' Fiori* (NARS, £17), which is a beautiful gold. It is strongly pigmented and lasts for hours. This is great for someone like me who cannot be bothered to touch up my make-up throughout the day. I then curl my lashes with ELF's Eyelash Curlers (ELF, £1.50) and use Maybelline's One by One Mascara (Boots, £8.49). I've repurchased this mascara so many times. It has a plastic brush, so I was sceptical at first, but I was pleasantly surprised and haven't looked back since. I love it because it separates every last eyelash, making them look natural. If I want to wear an eyeshadow, I've recently been opting for Maybelline's 24HR Colour Tattoo Gel Cream Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze (Boots, £4.99), and if I want to use a liquid eyeliner, I've been using Collection 2000's Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner in Black (Boots, £2.99). Both the eyeshadow and felt tip liner do not budge once dry - I love them.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced mocha, NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Campo de' Fiori and Maybelline 24HR Colour Tattoo Gel Cream Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze

Like the rest of my make-up, I like my lip products to be fuss free and last most of the day. The shades I've been wearing the most are Collection 2000's Cream Puff Moisturising Lip Creams in Fairy Cake and Cotton Candy (Boots, £2.99) (Review can be found here), NYX's Soft Matte Lip Cream in Milan (Joy017, £5-6, including P&P) and Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Sweetheart. Sweetheart is not available in the UK, but you can buy other shades in Superdrug and Boots for £5.99 at the moment (Normally £7.99). The Balm Stain is quite bright, so I like to sheer it out with my finger.

Collection 2000 Cream Puff Moisturising Lip Cream in Fairy Cake, Collection 2000 Cream Puff Moisturising Lip Cream in Cotton Candy, NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Milan and Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Sweetheart

That's it for my make-up! I'm left with a natural look. The brushes I use are by ELF Studio and Ecotools.

I don't use any products on my hair in the mornings. I just straighten or curl my hair using my Remington Pearl appliances. The Remington Pearl Curling Wand (Review can be found here) makes the curls in your hair last for days, so I don't need to use any hairspray to keep them in place.

And that's me ready for the day! Holy Moly, this post is long. It's because of the make-up products. My evening routine post shouldn't be as long!

*PR samples