Make-Up Haul | America Edition

Hey guys,

So as you probably all know by now, I went to California over summer (soz for the over-mention of this fact), so I thought that I would do a beauty haul of what I bought! I also bought other assorted things, such as stationary and THE coolest mug ever, so if you want to check out them then head on over to my YouTube channel, where I filmed my very first haul!!

Okay, enough of the self-promo.

This first product is something that I have wanted for ages, as I had heard great things and it's just so pretty! As you can tell, the palette is very well-loved (shown by the fact that none of them are untouched), and I know I should have taken photos before, but I just got too excited! Plus, I wanted to give my honest opinion on the products! So this is the very beautiful Anastasia Beverley Hills Glow Kit in That Glow.

I feel that the shades Bubbly and Dripping in Gold suit my skin tone the best, and, as you can see, these are the two shades that I use the most regularly. I love golden bronze, but as someone with very fair skin, I feel it's too dark for my skin tone, and I kinda feel like Sunburst is a bit too bright for me, but I do use this shade on occasion.

Next up, we have the Flatter Yourself Contour Brush Set, which is from the Sephora Collection. Apart from the fact that the gold packaging is super pretty, the brushes are pretty good too! My favourite is the angled blush brush, as I feel this is good to apply highlighter (I don't really wear much blush as I just feel that it doesn't suit my skin tone, but I guess that I haven't found the right one! However, if you have any recommendations, then please let me know in the comments!)

The set also includes a stippling brush and a flat top brush, which I use for blending in my contour. I love all these brushes, and was so happy to find them! I think this is the perfect set for beginners too, as it has a guide inside on how to use the brushes and where to use them on the face.

So now we are onto lip products. This shade has been my go-to lipstick for summer, and it's the Anastasia Beverley Hills Liquid Lipstick in the shade Dolce. I had never heard much about this shade (and I'm very surprised that I hadn't, as it's such a beautiful colour),so thought that I would try it, as normally corally-pinks suit me. I'm very happy that I did. It's super pigmented and has such a lovely creamy texture, so glides onto the lips effortlessly. I have heard quite a few people comment on the ABH liquid lipsticks and say that they are quite drying, yet I love them. I do feel that if my lips are particularly dry that day, then the product will be a bit more partial to flake, yet if I put on a lip balm or a primer before, it sits perfectly. Plus, I feel that the staying power is very good.

Last, but not least, we have the Dr. Paw Paw Tinted Peach Pink Balm. I have heard loads of bloggers rave about this product, so I had been on the hunt for it for a while. However, I ended up finding it in Urban Outfitters, which I was surprised at (don't know why, I just was). Okay, first things first, I love this product, it's great for my lips, is really moisturising, and you get a lot of product. However, (and this is such a weird comment, but I feel like I should make it) I don't like the applicator, as in the bit at the end where the product comes out of (I honestly don't know how to describe it, I'm so bad at this). But yeah, the bit at the end where you apply the product to your lips - I don't like it. I don't know if it's just my packaging or what, as I have never heard others comment on this before, but it really hurts my lips to apply.

Literally typing that, I realised how weird that sounds. But you get my drift.

So, to tackle this very strange problem, I just put the balm onto my finger and rub it in that way. Don't really know why I'm saying this as it's probably so obvious to everyone, but just in case you were wondering.

I'm honestly so strange, I apologise. And sorry for the innuendos.

But all in all, the balm itself is amazing, and I will be purchasing again, as it works wonders for my lips.

So, they are the beauty bits that I bought in California! I love all these products, and they are definitely all part of my current daily make-up routine. As a side note, you're probably sick of me talking about Cali now, but there will be more variation on my blog, I promise!! *sending a mental love heart as I don't know how to type one* (<3 maybe??)

What products are you loving at the moment? And have you tried any of these products, and if so,what did you think? I'd love to know in the comments!

I hope that you enjoyed this post, and I hope to see you all again soon!

Much love,

Grace x

Favourite Palette for Autumn: Urban Decay XX Vice Limited Reloaded Palette

Hey guys,

So, as it turns out, I haven't written a beauty post in a while, and that definitely needs to be sorted!

Even though I am someone who loves make up, I never really got into eye shadows, kinda because I was someone who went for a more natural look, but mostly because I was appalling at applying eyeshadow (obviously the best beauty blogger ever). So last Christmas, I stepped out of my comfort zone of just going for a eyeshadow-less eye and got the Naked 3 palette for Christmas.

When I got the Naked 3, I was honestly so happy, and have literally worn it for every night out this past year. I definitely think it is the best palette for a newbie eyeshadow-er (literally making up words left, right and centre here), as you can't go wrong with a nude eye, and there is even the odd shade that pushed me out of my comfort zone. For example, I didn't used to like to wear dark-ish colours on my eyes, but I have slowly gotten used to going a bit darker.

However, this summer, I thought that it was time to get a bit more adventurous with my eye looks, and decided to branch out and buy a more colourful palette.

Initially, I was on the search for the Anastasia Beverley Hills 'Modern Renaissance' palette, and scoured literally every Sephora that I saw on my travels down the West Coast of California. (Have I mentioned that I've been to California??) Unfortunately, everywhere was out of stock, but I am fortunate in the fact that I found this beauty instead.

Ambling around duty free, I decided that I wasn't going to give up on buying a new palette, so wandered over to the Urban Decay counter. And here I found my perfect palette: the XX Vice Limited Reloaded palette.

Well that was a mouthful.

I hadn't actually heard of this palette before, so when I found it I was in awe. And by the pictures, you can probably see why! The colours are beautiful, and it has a range of mattes and shimmers, which I find ideal.

Okay, so swatching was harder than I anticipated! On my first attempt I managed to smudge them all up my arm, which was not good. But I finally managed to do an all right job (I hope)!

I feel that the shimmers are more pigmented than the mattes, as I needed 2/3 goes to get the colour to come through, but I think that's just common with matte eyeshadows. So far, I have been loving Moonflower, Gash and Roadstripe for my inner corner. I feel like the shade Gash is the perfect shade for autumn, as when blended out, it is more of a dark-ish pink, so is perfect for using in your crease. Roadstripe looks just plain white initially (and in the photo), but it has an iridescent blue within it, but I couldn't get the right light to reflect the blue! And Moonflower is perfect for everyday, as it's a pretty, but subtle, shimmer.

I really want to get into using the gold shades more, such as Smog and Twice Baked, as I think that these would be perfect for a night out!

I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and try the more brighter shades such as UV-B and 501, but it may take a while for me to get used to them! I've tried Hot Pants and Asphyxia and love them (but I only use a bit, I'm not feeling that confident yet!).

The only colours that I'm hesitant to use are the greens (Mildew and Acid Rain), as I feel like greens wash me out, but I will give them a try!

So there we have it, my go-to palette for an autumnal look. Have you tried this palette? If so, what do you think? And what are your favourite palettes to use for the autumn?

Much love, and thank you for reading,

Grace x

Travel Diary: Monterey Bay

Hey guys, 

Today's post is the third in my series of posts about my travels to California (you can read my San Fran post  here and my Yosemite post). The next stop on our trip down the west coast was Monterey Bay! Here, we went whale watching and visited the world famous aquarium! Hope you enjoy reading!

It's fair to say that I do not look my most glamorous in these photos, as I am incredibly windswept and have minimal make up on, but I was having fun, so who cares!

On a side note, that woman is giving me the dirtiest look ever...

But here I am, shivering with my gloves on waiting to see some whales and we were lucky enough to see some humpback whales! You can see footage of this on my vlog on my YouTube channel, which I will link  here; it was pretty damn cool.

I'm proper buzzing on this like, but I think I'm just happy to have a hot drink after the freezing cold boat trip. 

I joke, I joke, it was actually cause we were in Ghirardelli's, and in the time that we spent in California, we ended up loving it here. The original factory was actually in San Francisco, and our hotel was next to it, so we ended up going in and trying some of the chocolate. Gonna be honest, it was bloomin' great. Plus, they give you a free little sample when you walk in. We walked in a lot.

Don't worry, we ended up buying a lot, so they definitely made their money back! 

Next place we visited was the aquarium, and it was probably one of the best aquariums that I have ever visited. Plus, it was good to know that all the birds and sea life were released back into the wild after they had been looked after, as they had been taken in injured or found abandoned when young.

Bloody love penguins

The otters were honestly adorable!

Can you tell that I like sea lions?

So as you can probably tell by the mass of pictures, I loved the aquarium!

For dinner, we stopped off at a restaurant on the pier, and had the most stunning view of the sunset!

Okay, I have kind of cheated on this next part, as these next photos were not actually taken in Monterey Bay. They were actually taken in Carmel, which is about a 20 mile drive from Monterey.

We decided to visit here as we had heard good things from many people (and my dad also wanted to visit as Clint Eastwood lives here. Unfortunately, we did not see or meet him, but the town of Carmel was well worth a visit!)

As you can see, the houses aren't stereotypical of an American village, and the buildings here were influenced by European architecture. I thought this was pretty cool, and it was actually really pretty!

Here, we did a bit of retail therapy and stopped off for breakfast and lunch. It was actually a really cute day.

So there you go, that was my trip to Monterey and Carmel! I hope that you have enjoyed this little travel post, and my next one (which will be all about Santa Monica and LA!!!) will be up soon, so keep a look out for that!

Thank you for reading!

Much love,

Grace x

30 Thoughts That All Freshers Have on Fresher's Week

Hey guys,

So this is something a bit different, but seeing as though it's that time of year again, where A-level students have received their results and uni is getting closer and closer, I thought that I would write a uni-themed post. And what better way to write a uni post than to write a 'thoughts of' post? I love reading these kind of posts, so thought that I would create one myself! So here you are, '30 Thoughts That All Freshers Have on Fresher's Week'!

1. 'Oh my god, I am so excited to meet my flat'

2. 'What if my flat all don't like me?'

3. 'Or what if I don't like them?'

4. 'Wow, my accent IS weird'

5. 'I have nothing to wear'

6. 'I need to take the whole contents of my bedroom, because I'll definitely need it'

7. 'Oh crap, I'm actually going to have to learn how to cook something other than pasta'

8. 'Meh, pasta is a healthy meal, I'll just put tomato sauce on it, that's a vegetable.'

9. 'What is this questionable stain on my bedside cabinet?'

10. 'Wow, my course looks shit. Maybe I should just get pissed the whole time and hope for the best'

11. 'Haha, I won't need to use the library' (just a side note, yes, yes you will)

12. 'Who is this random person in my flat?'

13. 'Okay, so my washing is in the washing machine and I am adulting like a pro' *1 hour later* 'Oh crap, my red sock was in with the whites'

14. 'If I don't look at my phone, then maybe those texts I sent last night to my ex/friends/everyone I've ever met won't exist?'

15. 'Where am I, lol?'

16. 'That is the last time I'll ever drink Frosty Jacks'

17. 'What is the cheapest drink with the highest percentage of alcohol?'

18. 'Probably should ring my parents'

19. 'Meh, I'll ring them next week and let them worry for a couple more days'

20. 'I won't fail my course if I miss one 9am' (this then turns into every 9am)

21. 'TEQUILA!'

22. 'Okay, now I know what they all meant by "fresher's flu"'

23. 'Why do hangovers exist? Why Lord?!'

24. 'Pizza is life'

25. 'This is absolutely class, I hope the rest of uni is this good'

26. 'Lol, I hope my liver survives. Pass me the vodka #yolo' (You think this whilst drunk and hate yourself for it when you're sober)

27. 'I can't remember last night, and I'm glad' (You probably embarrassed yourself, let's be honest)

28. 'Oh my goodness, we are going to be best friends forever!' (You will probably never see this person ever again)

29. 'My loan will definitely last me until December, who needs an overdraft?'

30. 'Overdraft, where you at??'

So there you have it, 30 Thoughts That All Freshers Have on Fresher's Week. I know that the majority are centred around alcohol, but if you've been a fresher, you'll know what I mean.

In all seriousness, being a fresher is absolutely amazing, and as I am going into my second year of university, I'm really going to miss it!

Are you a soon-to-be fresher? Have you experienced any of these thoughts, or got any more to add to the list? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Much love,

Grace x

Travel Diary: Yosemite

Hey guys, 

So this is the second post in my 'California Travel Diary' series, and focuses upon one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited: Yosemite.

I'm not going to lie, I had never heard of Yosemite before (and my first attempt at pronouncing it was pretty poor). All that I knew was that it was a national park, so that in itself got me excited to visit. However, I was not expecting what I saw when I arrived.

Yosemite was honestly one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited. 

On our first day of visiting, we decided to get a tour around the national park, and visited places such as Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point and Bridalveil Falls. 

However, our tour guide told us that she could only show us 2% of the national park, as the rest can only be viewed if you walk to it. It's fair to say that I was pretty astounded at how much 2% was.

I thought that I would feature a couple of photos that I took at Yosemite, as it was honestly one of the most amazing places that I have ever visited. (Have I mentioned how it was one of the best places that I have visited?)

First things first, ignore my gormless face, I obviously got confused as to what was going on. But that view is just something else. Yosemite Valley one of the first main stops on our tour around the park, and I was pretty much left speechless. Honestly breathtaking.

Okay, so you can't really see what my camera is aimed at, as we were pretty far away at this point. I also got pictures when I was underneath the falls, yet the sun was behind it so you couldn't see anything. However, you can see footage of Bridalveil Falls over on my new YouTube video, as I show what it fully looks like and explain more about what we did during our time exploring Yosemite. I'll leave a link to my YouTube channel here. (Cheeky promo lol)

So here we have Glacier Point. I don't really know what else to say, other than wow.

I have featured a picture of El Capitan, as it was pretty cool! This is known as the tallest granite rock face in the world. Also, it's known as a bit of a bitch to climb, and can take days, maybe even longer to climb! Bet it's worth it though, imagine the feeling of accomplishment afterwards? Saying that, I could never do it, it would probably be my worst nightmare. But, maybe for others it would be great.

Not gonna lie, can't remember the name of this (actually don't think we were told), but it's just such a pretty view! 

So this is known as McGurk Meadows, and the colours of the leaves and the meadow were just so so pretty. (guys, I'm running out of adjectives, but you get me, it was pretty amazing!)

*Cue emoji with heart eyes*

Cheeky family photo because I thought it was cute.

Whilst we were here, we also went to something called the 'Sugar Pine Railroad'. This was basically an old fashioned train that took you through the forest to a campfire. We then all sat around the campfire and sang songs, and it was honestly such a fun experience! I have grown up watching American films where they have camps and they all sing around a campfire, and I genuinely never thought that I would ever go to one! But honestly, it was so good. We also had a barbecue, which was fab.

So anyway, that is the end of my Yosemite Travel Diary! I will have my next travel post up soon, which will focus on Monterey Bay, and will show what we got up to there (spoiler, we saw some whales!!) I have also written a post about my visit to San Francisco, which was the first stop on our adventure around California! You can read my San Francisco post here.

Don't forget to follow me on all my social media links! 

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I hope that you have enjoyed it, and thank you for reading.

Much love, 

Grace x