Introducing Me...

Hey there! This is my 10th post so I thought a little introduction was in order. 

I'm Becky, 22 from Sheffield, England. 

Last year, November 2015 to be a bit more precise, I graduated from York St John University with a 2:1 in Film Studies and Media. I currently work in retail while I try and figure out what to do with my life! I really enjoy writing and expressing myself, so this was one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog.

Although I love writing, I've never been able to keep a diary, I can't even handle a 'One Line A Day' diary. I just find them so tedious and boring, I just basically ended up writing the same thing each day.

Whereas with this blog I get to talk about products and food and life in general, which is a lot more exciting to me!

I'm really looking forward to connecting with others bloggers, both near and far, and joining this amazing community of creative and like minded people.

I'm not sure what else to put here so if there's anything you want to know, feel free to ask in the comments :)

XO 

Go Emoji Crazy With Birchbox's August 2015 #Beautyjunkie Box

This is the cutest Birchbox I have received so far! It's got all these little beauty themed emoji's all over is and I just think it's so lovely and playful.

In the box you get the usual information booklet along with 6 beauty/hair products in a drawstring bag. Also in this month's box you get a set of emoji stickers, you can just see them peeping from behind the lid of the box in the picture above.

1. Rituals Rice Scrub - Organic Rice Milk and Cherry Blossom. 

This smells DIVINE. As soon as I smelt it I basically made my mum smell it too because it's just that good! It smells so fresh and clean, if that even makes sense. The scrub is quite coarse so will be good for exfoliating legs to get rid of any dead skin cells before hair removal. It states in the booklet that it can be used on sensitive skin and when it comes into contact with water it turns into a foaming cream. I can't wait to try this one out!

2. Kebelo Clarifying Shampoo.

To be honest, this doesn't really smell of anything. I don't mind that it doesn't have a scent because, on the bright side, at least it doesn't smell awful. I quite like clarifying shampoos because I have an oily scalp and they help to get rid of any excess oils and product buildup. It says to apply once or twice a month, I believe this is so you don't remove too much of your natural hair oils as this can cause your scalp to become dry and irritated. 

3. BioNike Cleansing Water.

This is a fragrance-free cleanser that is suitable for 'hypersensitive and intolerant skin'. It is meant to sooth spots and leave skin feeling smooth and soft. Apparently you massage this into your face and neck using your fingertips, afterwards you wipe off the excess with a cotton pad, sounds interesting! One thing I like about receiving these little samples from Birchbox is that they are great to use when travelling. My normal cleansing water/toner is in a largish bottle, so now I can just take this instead. 

4. thebalm Cosmetics Balm Desert Bronzer.

A teeny bronzer sample from thebalm. The last product I received in my Birchbox from thebalm (the Cindy-Lou Manizer) was really good so I'm looking forward to using this. It's a really subtle and natural shade, perfect for my pale skin! There's a tiny bit of shimmer but nothing too over the top. 

5. Lord & Berry Blush in the shade Lotus.

This is a gorgeous rosy pink coloured blush, perfect for giving you that natural rosy cheek look. The booklet says that this is buildable so you can either create a natural look or add a pop of colour to your cheeks buy building it up. The texture of this is lovely, very silky smooth.

6. L. Erickson Grab & Go Ponytail Holder.

To put it simply, this is a hair bobble (or hair tie, whatever you may call them). There is no metal on the bobble which means no snagging! I probably wouldn't go out with my hair in this because it's silver/grey and my hair is a darkish brown so it stands out a mile. However, it'll be perfect for bed or when I'm doing my make up. 

There you have it, that's this months Emoji crazy Birchbox in a nutshell!

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you want to be updated on my latest posts you can follow me on Bloglovin' by either clicking the widget to the right of this post or by clicking here :)

Becky

XO

Super Easy Australian Crunch Recipe

This is one of my families favourite things for me to bake and it's oh so simple! 

What You'll Need:

400G Margarine

300G Caster Sugar

150G Desiccated Coconut (Optional)

150G Crushed Cornflakes

2TBSP Coco Powder

300G Self Raising Flour

400G Melted Chocolate (Optional)

Baking Tray (10"x12")

Foil

1 Large Bowl

1 Medium Bowl

Tablespoon

Wooden Spoon

Weighing Scales

Sieve

First up, you'll need to set your oven to Gas Mark 4 or 180 C. You will also need to prepare a baking tray. The tray I'm using is 10"x12" and fits the mixture perfectly. To prepare your tray, line with foil and spread a small amount of butter on the foil, this will prevent the mixture from sticking. The foil and butter also help for easy removal.

Next, you want to melt your margarine and half of your chocolate (200G) over a pan of boiling water. This is the safest way to melt your ingredients and will ensure they don't burn.

If you want to cut down on calories, you can make this without the chocolate, the recipe will work fine without it.

Whilst the chocolate and margarine are melting you can prepare your dry ingredients, so this is the flour, sugar and cocoa powder. It doesn't matter what order you prepare your dry ingredients, they will all be added to the rest of the mixture at the same time so can be kept altogether in one bowl. 

For Cocoa powder I'm using Cadbury's Bournville as it's quite rich tasting and perfect for baking, but you can use any brand you might have laying around or, if you're on a budget, whatever's cheapest at the store. 

Another ingredient you'll also need to prepare is the crushed Cornflakes. To do this, simply measure out 150G of cornflakes on your scales (preferably in a jug or bowl so not to make a mess everywhere!) and then crush them with your hands. If you don't like using your hands you could use the end of a rolling pin.

This is what the butter and chocolate should look like when they have melted, they won't be completely together, it's likely the butter will be floating on top of the chocolate. This is not an issue.

Next up, add your crushed Cornflakes into the melted ingredients and stir them together.

After your Cornflakes have been added you will need to sieve the dry ingredients into the mixture. Like I stated before, these can all be added at the same time so there is no need to try and separate them out. Just make sure you sieve these so no lumps are formed. 

Once you've stirred all the ingredients together your mixture will look something like this. 

Simply pour the mixture out of the bowl and into your baking tray or tin, make sure to even the mixture out so you don't get an uneven depth. 

The mixture will look quite 'boggy' but don't worry, this will disappear once the Australian Crunch has been fully baked. If you wish, you can remove some of the oil by tipping the tray to the side and draining with a spoon. 

Finally, pop the tray into the centre of your preheated oven and leave to cook for around 25 minutes. When you take it out of the oven it will appear to be gooey in the middle and may appear uncooked but as long as the top part looks cooked, the middle will settle and solidify when it cools down. 

If you want, you can melt down the rest of your chocolate (200G), in the same way we did in the first step, and then add this to the top of the cooled Australian Crunch. However, this is, again, totally optional. 

Happy Baking (and Eating)!

To keep updated with my blog posts follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking either here or on the '+Bloglovin'' button to the right of this post :)

Becky 

xo

How To Save Your Suede Shoes With One Little Tool

So I was having a bit of a clear out and I found out a pair of suede heels that I don't wear anymore so decided I was going to try and sell them on Depop. They were a bit worn and scuffed and needed sprucing up a bit. I asked my Mum if she had any ideas and she told me to try a suede brush. To cut a long story short, it worked amazingly, so much so that I went and used it on all of my other suede shoes. 

Today I pulled out this pair of heels and thought they were beyond hope, but as you'll soon see, they now look as good as new! So here's how to get your old looking heels and shoes back to their former glory.

What you'll need:

• Worn/Scuffed Suede Shoes
• Suede Brush 

This is the suede brush I used on my heels. It's nothing fancy, just some brass wire bristles on a wooden handle. You can get one similar here and they aren't expensive at all.

Once you've got your brush, you want to grab your shoe and hold it firmly so it won't slip out of your hand. I opted to put my hand inside mine as this allowed me to hold the shoe steady. When you have hold of your shoe, get brushing.

Tips:

• I find that swirling the brush in small circular motions works well.
• Brush 'against the grain', if your scuff is horizontal, brush vertical.
• Don't be afraid to be quite rough.
• Don't give up, it may take a good few minutes to get the desired result.

A scuff occurs when something has scrapped down the side of your shoe and, effectively, flattens the suede down. What using a brush does is fluff the suede back up. 

Before:

This is what my shoe looked like before using the suede brush. These scuffs were quite deep and at one point I didn't actually think they were going to come out.

After: 

This is the end result! As you can see the scuffs are invisible. The area where I've used the brush looks slightly difference to other areas of the shoe, but once you brush round the edges and flatten it out, it looks as good as new.

I hope this helps some of you, if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below!

To be updated on my new blog posts, follow me on Bloglovin' :)

Becky
XO

Best Highstreet Make-up Buys

Most of the make up products I use are from either Boots or Superdrug and are high-street brands, I only use one high-end product in my daily make-up routine, so I thought this would be the perfect post for me to do. The reason I only really use high-street products is because I don't see the point in spending loads of money on make-up when brands such as Maybelline and Revlon are just as good. 

A lot of the face products featured in the post are geared towards oily/sensitive/combination skin, so if you fall into that category, these should be perfect for you.

May have cheated slightly by using a Ted Baker make-up bag, but it was a gift, so no harm done!
Unfortunately, it's last season so it's no longer available.

Face Products

From Left to Right:
Boujois Healthy Mix Serum / L'Oreal Paris Infallible Mattifying Primer / Revlon Colourstay Concealer

L'Oreal Mattifying Primer:
Primer isn't a product I use every day. I use it when I know I'll be out a while and there'll be lots of pictures being taken so I want my skin to look flawless, such as special occasions or nights out. This primer is the best one I've ever used, I'd tried a few before this but they always seem to go 'bobbly' when I put my foundation on top. The reason I like this one is that it's very smooth, doesn't feel heavy on the skin and, best of all, it's mattifying. I've talked before about my oily skin and this definitely makes the oil stay away and keep my make up looking shine free.

Boujois Healthy Mix Serum:
I also don't use foundation every day, but this is definitely the one I reach for when I do. I'm sure a lot of you will have heard about this foundation before as it has been raved about a lot! This is a Gel Foundation, which is something I'd never heard of before I tried this, and let me tell you, I'm so glad I decided to try it, it is by far the best foundation I've ever used. Due to the gel formula it's glides on skin and isn't heavy in the slightest. It's quite runny when you first pump it out but then when you start to apply it, it seems to thicken and create a beautiful finish on the skin. I've used a large range of foundations in my time and never before stuck with one as long as I've stuck with this. My shade is '52 Vanilla'.

Revlon Colourstay Concealer:
This concealer is one of my everyday products (by everyday I mean when I'm leaving the house for longer than 15 mins!). I tried the Collection concealer that's mentioned everywhere but found it was too thick and didn't blend well, also the shades didn't match my skin well, one was too light and the other too dark. That's when I came across this beauty. I'm shade '02 Pale' and it matches my skin perfectly. It's light on the skin but easily covers blemishes and dark circles.

Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot Powder

Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot:
This is a translucent powder designed to get rid of excess shine and oil and mattify the skin. As use this powder as it allows for your skins natural colour to come through, I only use this in the summer when I have been on holiday and got a bit of a tan. In the winter I switch to a coloured powder to add a bit of warmth to my skin. This powder does what it says on the tin(?), mattifies the skin and gives a 'ultra-light, smooth velvety finish'.

Seventeen Define and Conquer Contour Kit

Seventeen Contour Kit:
Next up is this Contour Kit by Seventeen. I started using this because I needed a new bronzer, saw this and thought I might as well try it out as Seventeen products are usually pretty good. This comes in different shades, mine is in 'Fair'. In all honesty, I don't often use the highlighter side, only because I tried it and didn't think it did much for me. As for the bronzer side, I find it is great for my skin tone as it's doesn't go on too heavy and is matt (no shimmer) so looks natural.

Natural Collection Blusher

Natural Collection Blusher:

This is probably the cheapest product out of all the ones featured in this post, at only £1.99, it's a steal! The colour I use is 'Peach Melba'. I use this all year round as it gives a very warm peach tone to the cheeks and looks extremely natural. 

Eye/Eyebrow Products

Left to Right:
Revlon Lash Potion / Soap & Glory Supercat Liner / GOSH Kohl Liner / Soap & Glory Archery Eyebrow 2-in-1

Revlon Lash Potion:
My eyelashes are very straight with barely any curl in them so I've tried countless mascaras to try and make my eyelashes curl and stay curled. This mascara does just that. It gives eyelashes amazing lift and volume, helps them to stay curled all day. The brush is quite big and has bristles (not plastic) so it grabs every lash.

Soap & Glory Supercat Felt Liner:

If you're a felt liner kind of person, this is definitely one you should check out. It stays on all day and dries quickly so it never smudges. The nib has a fine tip so you can create really thin lines or super thick ones, you only have to draw the line once to get a jet black finish.

GOSH Kohl Liner:

This liner glides on so smooth, it doesn't drag the eye lid at all. It stays on all night without transferring onto the upper lid, but if you wanted it's creamy enough to smudge out and create a dramatic smokey eye. I've used this for years and never found another eyeliner that lives up to it. 

Soap & Glory Archery 2-in-1:

As you can see from the image, this product is so well loved all the information has come off the tube. One end of this is an eyebrow pencil which is a twist up, so no need to sharpen, and the other end is an eyebrow brush. I use this very lightly to define my eyebrows and then brush out to make them look natural. The colour I use is 'Hot Chocolate'.

Maybelline The Nudes Eyeshadow Pallette

Maybelline The Nudes:
I bought this last month whilst I was in the airport as I wanted a powder to use to fill my eyebrows and thought this would be perfect as I can use it for both my brows and my eyes. The reason I pencil and then also fill my brows is because my eyebrow hairs are quite thin and can look sparse, so I use both to create a fuller look. You can probably tell the ones i usually use for my brows are the two at the top right and the second one in from bottom left. There are also some beautiful shimmer colours to create a lovely bronzed eyeshadow look. These eyeshadows are very pigmented and have amazing staying power.

What are your favourite high-street beauty products?

If you'd like to be updated on my latest blog posts you can follow my blog on Bloglovin' by clicking the '+Bloglovin'' tab to the right or by clicking here.

Becky
XO

Blow Away Your Holiday Hair Blues

I don't usually take travel sized hair tools with me on holiday, I just put up with the crappy hair dryer in the hotel and take my normal sized straighteners. However, just before I went on holiday a few weeks ago, I saw this set on offer in Boots and thought it was about time I invested in some travel sized tools.

Ego Trip Special Edition Gold Travel Set

This is the box that the items come in, it's a really sturdy box so I've actually kept it and now store other things in it. I believe it's Special Edition because it's gold and also comes with a brush, the normal one is red and doesn't include a brush.

Everything is really neatly packaged inside the box. As you can see it comes with straighteners, a hairdryer with two different attachments, a diffuser and a regular nozzle, and also a 'medium contours hair brush'. Both of the electric hair tools come in Gold and Black with an ombre effect.

Ego Travel Hair Straightener

The straightener is super easy to use, there's just one heat setting so you just flick the on switch and wait for it to heat up. It literally takes about 15-20 seconds to heat up (I timed it on my phone!), although there is no indicator as to when it is completely heated up, there's just a little red light letting you know it's turned on. I just figured that when it's really hot, it's ready for you to use! 

It features a 2.5m swivel cord, this to me is a really good length, it isn't too short or too long. There's also a little velcro strap so it is easy to wrap up ready to put in your case.

Ego Travel Hair Dryer

The 1200W hair dryer has two heat settings and you can also change what voltage you want it to be, either 230V or 120V, it comes set to 230V so I've just left it at that. As previously stated, the hair dryer comes with two attachments, I've only ever used the diffuser once but it seems to do the job, and so does the regular nozzle which is the one I always use. 

I think one reason I've often been wary of buying a travel hair dryer is that I didn't think they'd be any better than the ones you'd get in a hotel but this one is actually really good. I'd even go as far as saying it drys my hair just as well and just as fast as my regular hair dryer I use at home. 

The cord on the hair dryer is the same length as the straightener (2.5m) and also features the velcro strap.

Ego Medium Contours Hair Brush

Finally, we come to the hair brush, I don't usually use a hair brush and dry my hair at the same time (if that even makes sense). I part dry my hair, turn the dryer off, brush, then dry again, brush...etc etc until it's dry. I know you're supposed to use a brush like this one whilst drying to create volume at the roots and to smoothen your hair but, to be honest, I can never get the technique right and just end up with the brush matted in my hair. So I haven't really used this brush, I think I used it once but just gave up in the end because, unfortunately, I obviously don't have the knack for drying and brushing at the same time!

I hope you enjoyed this review of these travel tools, if you want any further information on them please don't hesitate to leave a comment.

If you'd like to follow my blog, all you have to do is click the '+Bloglovin'' button to the right of this post or you can just click here :)

Becky 

XO

Is Epilation For The Faint Hearted?

I think epilation is a form of hair removal that is often over looked. It seems that shaving and waxing are the methods that most people gravitate towards. When I tell people I epilate they instantly ask 'does it not hurt?!' but I don't really see how it could hurt any more than waxing does. I first started epliating around 4 years ago I think, I only epilate my lower legs and under arms as I find the hairs on the tops of my legs are too fine to be grabbed by the epilator and my bikini line too sensitive.

I decided to try epilation as I saw a video on YouTube about it and how it helps to get rid of hair for a longer period of time and also reduces the amount of hair that grows back. I'm not going to lie, when I first started it was quite uncomfortable and took a while to get used to, but believe me, it's worth it for the results you get.

Braun Silk Epil 7 Wet and Dry Epilator (similar here)

The epilator I use is the Braun Silk Epil 7 Wet and Dry, this epilator comes with 3 interchangeable heads, a brush to clear out the hairs, a bag to store it in and the charger. Mine also came with some 'Pre-Epilation Wipes' but I'm unsure as to whether these are included as standard or they were an added extra at the time, I've only used the wipes once and didn't notice a difference so haven't used them since. This epilator has a light which comes in very useful for spotting really small hairs. 

Before Epilation 

It is advisable to exfoliate the skin before starting to epilate as this gets rid of any dead skin cells and will ensure the skin is completely clean. Any exfoliator with large grains will work, I use Soap and Glory's Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub, or some exfoliating gloves and just normal body wash. 

Soap & Glory Breakfast Smoothie Scrub / Exfoliating Gloves (The ones shown are 99p from B&M but you can find similar here)

Once you've scrubbed your skin you can select which head you would like to use and start the hair removal process. I tend to use the normal white head (shown on the epilator in the image above) as I feel it gets closest to the skin and, therefore, removes the most hairs. The black and white head has small 'massaging' nodules on it, but I feel this lifts the small tweezers on the epilator further from the skin so isn't as efficient. The smaller white head it used for the under arms and bikini area (if you're that brave!).

How to Epilate

Once you've selected your desired attachment it's pretty straight forward. All you have to do is turn the epilator on and use it as you would if you were shaving. My epilator is wet and dry so have the choice of using it in or out of the shower, but please check first to see if your epilator is water resistant. 

When you first start epilating it may feel a bit uncomfortable, that's totally normal and you'll soon get used to it.

After Epilation

Some people, me being one of them, experience ingrowing hairs after epilating. To prevent these you will need to keep exfoliating in the same way that was discussed in the 'Before Epilation' section and also make sure to moisturise. If you have dry skin, when the hairs grow back they will not be able to push through the top layer of skin so will become ingrown. Although these are not always difficult to remove, they can sometimes be painful so prevention is better than cure. 

Vaseline Spray & Go Moisturiser / Tend Skin / Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter

The image above shows two of my favourite moisturisers. Vaseline Spray & Go is perfect if you're in a hurry as you can quickly spray it on, rub it in and it will be dry in seconds. However, if you have more time, or feel like your skin is really dehydrated, you can opt for a body butter such as this Soap & Glory one, this will leave your skin feeling moisturised for days but doesn't dry as quickly as the other moisturiser.

A product I recently discovered for ingrowing hairs is 'Tend Skin', this can also be used for razor burn/bumps as well. I haven't been using it for long but so far it seems to be reducing any red bumps on my skin and also the amount of ingrowing hairs I get. It's for both men and women and can be used on the legs, face, neck, bikini line and under arms.

The more you epilate, the slower and sparser the hairs will grow back. If you decide to go back to shaving for a while, which I did for about a year, don't expect the hairs to stay like they were when you epilated. They will most likely go back to their normal state and start growing normally again, so when/if you decide to epilate again it will probably be like starting back at square one.

I hope you enjoyed this post about epilation, although I'm not an expert, if you have any questions feel free to ask :)

Now sit back and enjoy you're beautifully smooth and hair free skin!

To get updated on my latest blog posts, you can follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking either here or on the '+Bloglovin'' button to the right of this post :)

Becky
XO