New Make-up Tries from the Drugstore

It's been quite a while since I have had a little splurge in Boots and Superdrug, so one drizzly weekend day a few weeks ago I decided to go on one. There have been a few new releases that have looked really good, so I decided to pick some of them up to try!

The first one was the L'Oreal False Lash Superstar X Fiber Mascara. I love the concept of this mascara. It's has a duo wand, one side for lengthening and defining the lashes, and the other contains small fibres to add volume to the lashes in a natural way. This mascara is amazing! It does everything you could want a mascara to do. It creates am amazing false lash look, without the hassle of them! You could use either wand alone to create a different look as well. The fibres are so natural, and make lashes look so full. At £10.99 for essentially two mascaras, I think this is a bargain.

Another new release was the L'Oreal Infallible Total Cover Concealer Palette. I've never had a concealer palette, and seeing as I was going through a bad skin phase I decided to try it. I apply the green shade to any redness, the purple to counteract my dark circles, and then I use a skin tone concealer on top of this. The green and purple shades are slightly tricky to blend, but the other three blend in really nicely. The palette provides really good coverage, and at £12.99 it's not too pricey.

Another amazing new release from L'Oreal is the Infallible Eye Paint. I picked up one in the shade Khaki. I thought I would try a slightly different colour to one that I would usually go for. This is a lovely olive colour with gold shimmer running throughout. The product itself is so pigmented, creamy, and blends so well.The colour lasts all day without creasing, and dries super quick. This is such a lovely colour for dark eyes! I want every shade in these! 

Carrying on with eyeshadows, I picked up a Max Factor Excess Shimmer pot in Copper. This is a lovely cream eyeshadow, similar to the maybelline colour tattoo's, but this one is much creamier, and feels nicer on the eyelids. This colour is a rose gold shade, which I really love. Such a go to shade! The shadow blends in so well, and has really good staying power!

A new release from Maybelline is the Brow Precise Fiber Filler. This has the same concept as the L'Oreal X Fiber mascara. This works so well at making brows look so full and fluffy, while keeping all the hairs in place. The wand of this one is slightly strange, and maybe slightly big, so you have to try and be quite steady and precise with it. Another new product I love however!

Another product from Maybelline is the Master Precise Skinny Gel Eyeliner. Admittedly, I had high hopes for this product as I've never really got on with gel eyeliners before. This is the only product that I found disappointing! It's basically a kohl eyeliner, but one that screws up. It wasn't very precise at all, and you cannot sharpen it either!

I also picked up a palette from MUA called Starry Night. This has got some bright colours in which I liked the look of for spring! I love the MUA palettes, they are such good value for money. They are fairly pigmented, and blend really well. I'm looking forward to trying this palette!

The last product I purchased was the Natural Collection Blush in Sugar Plum. This is a lovely brown toned blush. I only really like brown toned blushes as I find they suit my skin tone better than others. The powder blends well and gives a really natural shade to the cheeks. It was an absolute bargain at £1.99!

 Top- Bottom= Max Factor Excess Shimmer Shadow in Copper, L'Oreal Infallible eye paint in Khaki, Natural Collection Blush in Sugar Plum.

February Glossybox

This months Glossybox was Valentines day themed. The products are supposed to help you prep for a night out or in with your loved one. The box contained four full-size products this month.

My favourite product in this months box is the Ciate London Paint Pot in Fade to Greige. This is worth £9. It's a lovely Taupe shade that goes with everything. The polish dries quickly, and gives a lovely shiny look. I haven't tried a Ciate nail polish before, so this was a nice new discovery.

A Garnier Ultimate Blends Honey Treasures Strength Restorer Balm was also in this months box. It's a hair mask designed to rehydrate hair. This has got such a lovely scent, like honey. I kept this on for about five minutes, and wrapped my hair in a towel. After washing this out and drying my hair, it left my hair feeling lovely and soft. My hair felt really nourished and shiny. I've already purchased the full size of this!

The main product in the box was a Jeanne Arthes perfume in the scent L'Eau de Rose. This is worth £20. This is very floral scented, which isn't a scent I tend to wear as I prefer sweeter scents. It's quite heavily scented. I will probably give this one away! I always think giving someone a perfume is a risky business as everyone likes unique scents!

Another product I received was the La Theorie Des Volcans Noir Eternae Youth Potion face scrub mask. I have never tried a mask scrub before so this was another discovery.This one is worth £26, this makes the box such a bargain at only £10. The mask applies white and dries into a charcoal mask. The mask has a light clean scent, which I really like. It contains scrub particles that you massage in before letting the mask dry. I've used this twice now and I really like it. It draws all the impurities out and exfoliates the dead skin off at the same time.

Lastly, I received a MeMeMe Beat the Blues illuminator in Oyster Gold. This can be used as a highlighter or as an illuminator. I prefer to mix a small amount of this in my foundation to give my skin a nice looking glow. I find if I use it as a highlighter it doesn't blend in very well on top of the foundation. 

I liked this months box, but I wasn't wowed with the products. I'm hoping the next box will be more impressive!

Things I Have Learnt From Being a Student Nurse

I'm in my final year of my Adult Nursing Degree now. I've loved every minute of my training and it has really changed me as a person and how I perceive things. I've learnt a lot over these three years and I thought I would share them.

1. The first thing that I have learnt is that no matter how bad you think things are for you, someone will ALWAYS have it worse. Just seeing and knowing this makes me feel really thankful for what I have, and not to take things for granted.
   
2. You can learn so much about life from elderly people, they have such a wide range of knowledge. I love working with elderly people, they are so wise, and have experienced so much. As a student I have had time to chat to a lot of elderly people and I find it fascinating learning about their pasts, and thoughts on things. Unfortunately, as a nurse I won't have a lot of time to do this.
   
3. There is always something new to be learnt. Just when you're feeling confident you know your stuff, something crops up that you have never seen or heard of. I love how new developments in medicine and healthcare means that there is always something new to be learnt. This keeps the career interesting, and I've always loved learning.
   
4. Don't get stressed about little things. Being a student nurse has taught me how to manage my stress. I like using the concept of referring to things as worries or problems. If its a problem, you have control of it and you can do something to solve that problem. If it's a worry, then there is nothing you can do about it and therefore, it is a waste of time to think and get anxious about it.
   
5. There is no better feeling than when a patient or a relative thanks you and you know you have helped them and made a difference to their stay, or even life.
   
6. How to communicate with a wide range of people using different tools and methods. How not being able to communicate effectively with someone can effect care and their experience.
   
7. Never assume anything, because 80% of the time the assumptions you make will be incorrect!

I'm very much looking forward to qualifying in July and having a lifetime of learning and development in my nursing career :)

New Skincare Tries

I love trying new skincare products as much as I love trying new makeup. Until I got to around the age of 16 I had never washed my face with a face wash before, and my skin was perfect. All of a sudden I started getting a fair amount of blackheads and imperfections. Ever since I have been trying to find new products to battle against blackheads, spots, and clogged pores, while trying to not strip my skin of all its oils completely.

The first thing I have been trying out is the No7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Lotion. This is such a good product for when I'm feeling lazy or I haven't worn any make up that day. You pump the lotion onto a pad and it removes all traces of make up and dirt. This has the same concept as micellar water apart from it is a lotion. With it being a lotion it keeps my skin feeling nice and soft. I'm really liking No7 skin care at the moment. It's all hypo-allergenic so I haven't had a problem with having any allergies to any of the products. They are all super affordable and of such good quality. 

Another skin care product I have been testing is the Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips for your nose. As I mentioned I get a lot of blackheads around my nose and chin area. They aren't really that obvious, but because I know they are there they are a problem to me. I've used these strips twice now. Honestly, I feel like they don't make that much difference. I mean they REALLY hurt when you pull them off, making you to think they are removing all the dirt from your blackheads, but they really don't. Nothing apart from hairs appeared on the removed strip, so I was a little let down with these. If anyone has any tips for getting rid of blackheads please let me know!

I have only ever tried the Kiko Cleansing Milk and Tone from their skincare range. I have loved this product since they released it. It smells of my favourite smell in the world- washing powder. I absolutely love washing my face with this, solely for the smell of it. On a recent trip to Kiko I got persuaded into buying a few more of their skincare bits. I purchased their Shine Refine Papers. I haven't ever tried blotting papers before as I thought they were a bit of a con and never really worked. After the sales assistant demonstrated to me that they don't remove your makeup, only the excess oil, I decided to give them a try. I've tried these on a couple of nights out and I actually really like them. They instantly reduce any oil or sweat you may have on your face. These would be perfect for an after gym session!

Another product I purchased from Kiko was their Pure Clean Milk and Tone. Now I'm not sure if this is just an updated version of my Cleansing Milk and Tone, but it definitely does not smell the same, so I hope they aren't replacing it with this. This is a small 50ml bottle that I thought would come in handy with travelling. I love these cleansing lotions, they make taking makeup off so easy and effortless.

I've also been trying out a face wash by L'Oreal. It's their Pure Clay Detox Wash. When I first picked this up I thought it was a face mask. I've never seen a charcoal face wash before, so this intrigued me. I liked the concept of this wash so I thought I would give it a try. I always buy charcoal face masks as I find they help when I'm going through a spotty period. This is a really nice face wash.It's consistency is like a watered down face mask. It has a subtle manly scent that I quite like. This left my skin feeling so so soft and I have noticed a difference with my skin not looking as oily at the moment. 

Carrying on with the charcoal theme I also purchased a Charcoal Panda Pod Face Mask from Topshop here. This is the most moisturising charcoal face mask I have ever used. It only cost me £3! The mask comes in a little pot and I easily got three uses out of it. The mask made my skin feel so clean and soft. I'm not sure if Topshop sell these anymore but I hope I can find more to buy!

Lastly, I have been trying the Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser. This one is for normal/combination skin. I absolutely love the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish, and the Boost Skin Tonic, but I was massively disappointed with this product. The main issue for me is the smell. It smells so so bad. It smells like stale milk. When I got in touch with Liz Earle I was told that the natural plant oils, depending on the harvesting season, can have an impact on the smell of the products. I've tried seeing past the smell, as the product itself is actually very moisturising and sinks in super quick, but I just can't. 

Liz Earle were very helpful and have offered to exchange this moisturiser for another. I'm hoping it was just a smelly batch and that when I exchange it I won't have the same issue with the next one!