July Favourites

July has gone crazy fast I can't quite believe that the month is over already! With August brings a trip to Glasgow for Summer Sessions to see Paolo Nutini which I'm really looking forward to it but before August starts let's share our July favourites shall we? 

I've been really loving using my Instax Mini 8 Camera this past month and it's fast become one of my favourite things, I love that you snap a photo that can't be edited and your left with a single memory! It makes for some funny moments when you catch a genuine laugh or drunken face, I stocked up on film recently and I'm loving using it and taking it places with me.

I've gotten back into salt spray this month with it being my go to hair product and Bleach London Swap Spritz is on of my favourite affordable salt sprays. Bleach London have got this spray spot on with the quirky bottle, the smell, great price and it actually works my only little niggle is that spray comes out fast and straight and can reach the other side of the room (yes really). This salt spray gives my hair the texture I crave as well as added volume and height. 

This month I've really got in to Game of Thrones after starting it again, I've watched 3 seasons and I'm about to start season 4. It's funny, thrilling and gripping also it's an emotional roller coaster I've found myself gasping at episodes and shouting 'that's it I'm not watching any more' but of course I always do. 

This past month I've really gotten back into using my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge, I've had this for ages as you can probably tell by the photo - it might be time to get a new one! I've really got the hang of it lately and I love using it, it blends foundation and concealer like a dream especially heavier foundations.  

I'm rather lucky with my skin but this months my skin has had a bit of a rough patch with blemishes that won't shift and when I get proper spots once their dead I find they can take a while for the mark to leave so I used Korres Wild Rose & Vitamin C Dark Spot Correcting Treatment and after just one use I saw an amazing difference and I don't say that lightly. I had a blemish by my mouth that was easily covered with makeup but when I was makeup less it would really bug me, the mark had been there for a few weeks but I used this cream once and the next morning it was practically gone this treatment made such a difference.  

My favourite perfume this month has to be Hugo Boss Nuit I love the fruity floral smell as it works great for both day and night and I've been using it most days. The bottle is gorgeous too I like the black bottle with gold accents it looks really classy and it's really reasonably priced. The only downside is that the smell isn't that long lasting but I don't mind reapplying it as I love the smell so much.

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Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara

 Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara £10

 

I feel like I'm always searching for the perfect mascara I often find one I love use it for a while before getting bored and wanting a new mascara, recently I've been trying Soap & Glory's Thick & Fast mascara which claims to create 'amazingly, longer, fuller, fabulous lashes'. Lets start with the packaging it's pretty simple and not like the normal fun and quirky Soap & Glory packaging your use to seeing but don't judge a book by it's cover and all that eh? The brush is big and thick and the mascara is on the wet side, I find mascaras tend to be at their best a few weeks in when they've dried a little.

 

The big chunky brush makes it easy to grab and coat all your lashes at once and the mascara definitely makes them look longer and darker, it's easily built up with a few coats for a stronger finish. I found it lacked on volume unfortunately which is a shame and I wanted more thickness from it, after all it is called thick and fast. I had no issues with fall out for this mascara it stayed put all day until I washed it off but it did drop a little after a couple of hours wear. For me personally the mascara lives up to the fast in it's name but not the thick, if you like long natural lashes then you'll probably like it but I crave thick voluminous lashes .This mascara isn't the best mascara I've ever used but it's not all that bad it does an alright job but I don't think I'd repurchase it.

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Hugo Boss Nuit

I may have found my new favourite perfume, step forward Boss Nuit in all it's sleek black and gold glory. Boss Nuit was inspired by the little black dress and you can tell that from it's gorgeous elegant packaging and the fruity floral scent. You can wear this perfume day or night but I find it's more suited for an night time perfume because of it's strong smell, the base notes include sandalwood and crystal moss while the heart notes include violet, jasmine and white flowers. I love the musky smell it leaves which is strong at first but then settles, the wear time is average I don't find it that long lasting it wears off after a few hours but I love the smell so much I don't mind having to top it up. The smell reminds me slightly off the Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium but at a slightly cheaper price point.

When it comes to perfume I can be quite sensitive to them with strong smells often giving me headaches and making me sneeze but I find this one gives me the strong smell I want but without any of those annoying effects. I spent ages smelling lots of different perfumes in Boots before I stumbled across this one and I loved it straight away, if you're looking for a new perfume this is definitely worth having a sniff of.

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The Don't Judge Challenge

You many have noticed your social media pages have been flooded with short videos hashtagged as #dontjudgechallenge recently, where people are uploading videos of themselves with drawn on spots, acne, missing teeth and uni-brows before covering the camera with their hand and then revealing themselves all made up and looking 'beautiful'.  This challenge has come about after blogger Em Ford of My Pale Skin uploaded this video titled 'You Look Disgusting' the touching video shows both the positive and negative comments she receives depending on how she looks, with makeup she receive lovely comments such as 'you're so perfect' but when she uploads photos of herself without makeup the comments take a drastic change and she receives comments like 'WTF is wrong with her face?' and 'You look disgusting'. I found the you look disgusting video very moving it just shows how we are as society who are so use to seeing imagine of celebrities and people looking amazing and 'perfect' thanks to photoshop, airbrushing and people only showing the good in their life that it's normal to react that way when we see something that isn't 'perfect'.

Em's video has provoked the don't judge challenge which on one hand is great it remind us that everyone has flaws, nobody's perfect and reminds us that nasty comments and judging people helps no ones. It baffles me that society mocks and makes people feel bad for having normal things like acne and stretch marks because we all know that no one has those perfect contoured cheek bones and 'on fleek' eyebrows. What the don't judge challenge fails to do is address the big picture instead of accepting we all have flaws and that no ones 'perfect' I find it picks fun at people, as the 'ugly' at the start of the video is people drawing spots and a uni-brow on with sharpies and it's ridiculing people because they are not real flaws. The flaws they are creating are the problems that many teens and adults suffer with on a daily basis and are some of the reasons people suffer with confidence issues because the media and society dictate what is beautiful and that's not it.

The point of this post was not to moan about the challenge it was to remind people that it's about more than liking and laughing at a video of a person looking 'ugly' who then looks 'amazing', #youlookdisgusting and #dontjudgechallenge should be about challenging our society and media's idea of normal and accepting each other for who we are and what we look like.

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Dove Hair Oxygen Root Lift Spray

Dove Advanced Hair Series Oxygen Moisture Root Lift Spray £6.99

 

Another product with an insanely long name! I have fine flat hair and I'm always craving volume that stays around often many products give you great volume but after a few hours my hairs back to being flat again so I bought this while it was on offer to try it out. The spray claims to lift the roots giving volume and body to your hair leaving it looking fuller, you simply spray 10-12 pumps into your roots from ear to ear on dry or damp hair, massage it in then style as normal. I thought 10-12 pumps sounded like a lot but I went with it and it worked, the spray instantly gave my roots a boost and added volume to my hair.

Unlike a lot of products this didn't feel heavy or sticky in my hair but it did leave a bit of sticky feeling on my hands. I sprayed around 12 pumps on damp hair all over my roots and worked it in with my hands before brushing it through and blow drying, I could instantly see a difference my hair had more height and volume. The nozzle makes it easy for you to target your roots with the spray and it's scentless so you won't be left with a lingering smell all day. It's great for if you want a boost for your hair, especially if you have fine/flat hair as this wont weigh it down.
 

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5 Things I'm Loving Right Now #5

Welcome back to my blog you lovely lot and thanks for taking the one to read today's post. I've been MIA on the blog for a week now and it's the biggest 'break' I've had in a while, it's not really a break I just didn't schedule posts for after I went to T in the Park and I haven't been on the mood since to sit down and type up a post or two. On the blog today I'd thought I'd share what I'm loving you right now with you.

 

I've been really into Game of Throne this past few weeks after finally starting to watch it again, after the first season came out I bought it on DVD but just couldn't get into it but I decided to try it again and I really like it. As soon as I finished season one I had to get the next season and that's me just started season three!

 

 

When I went to T in the Park I took one of these Robinsons Squash'd with me for when I wanted to add a bit more flavour to my cider and it worked a treat I expect this to be a little weak but it's surprisingly strong. I've since bought another one for putting in my work handbag as I'm always drinking bottles of water at work and this will in handy for when I fancy something with a bit more flavour.

 

Lately I've also been loving Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean £8 this cleanser melts always my makeup in one go and leaves my skin feeling soft, smooth and clean in the process. It's got a gorgeous peachy smell and you only need to use one or two pumps, it's reasonably priced and will hopefully last a while.

 

 

Another Soap & Glory product I'm loving right now is the Sugar Crush Body Wash £6.50 it's a big 500ml bottle with a handy pump, it's a body wash that can also double up as a bubble bath. The citrus scent wakes me up and makes me feel revitalised without it being overpowering and it foams up really well but the scent doesn't hang around on the skin after you wash it off -which I'm actually glad off.

 

My sister picked me up this gorgeous necklace from Forever 21 and I  love it, the round black and silver pendant design is something I've been wanting for a while but could never find the perfect one. What I love most is that it sits so nice on it doesn't fall too low down and the chain stays put and doesn't work it's way around throughout the day. That's everything I'm loving right now, thanks for reading my blog!

 

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T in the Park | Strathallan Castle | 10-12 July 2015

 

 

 

 

 

If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram or are a regular reader of my blog then you probably already know that I spent last weekend at T in the Park. If you don't know what T in the Park is let me fill you in its Scotland's largest music festival that takes place the second weekend of July every year, it recently moved home from Balado to Strathallan. Let's get the bad out of the way first with it being a new site there were a few teething problems at the festival with narrow roads leading to and from the festival, lots of delays, queuing and the roads had a one way system which made getting an ambulance or police to someone difficult with a long wait. A bus I was on had to wait over an hour for an ambulance for a man who had a seizure which isn't great. The site was on the small side for such a big festival with not much space between stages making for a fight through the crowd to get to where you wanted to go but saying all that over the weekend you could see that the TITP team were actively trying to sort the problems, hopefully come next year the festival wont seems so disorganised. Once in the arena the real fun began and I had an amazing time with my friends - I even braved the big wheel which is a big step for me!

Friday was a fun start to the festival when we arrived it was cloudy but dry so we grabbed some cider and wine then made our way to the main stage to catch some of The Wombats, we also saw Hozier. As Rudimental took to the stage my friends and I headed to the big wheel, this was a big deal for me as I'm scared of heights as we stood in the queue I got more and more nervous by we couldn't how many times it went round and most people were going round twice. I could deal with twice so we stepped into our carriage and I gripped on for my life at first I couldn't look out but I'm glad I did it was scary but the view was gorgeous, I counted as we went round SIX TIMES! After coming of the big wheel I was glad to have my feet on solid ground and we made our way over the slam tent for a dance then went to see Sam Smith play the main stage in the evening and he was so good, I've seen him before and didn't love him but this time he was great. His voice just melted over the crowd and he played a cover of Amy Winehouse and Elvis as well as his own hits. We also caught a bit of Fat Boy Slim in the packed King Tuts Wah Wah tent and it was insane, there was so much energy and everyone was having a great time. Lastly we ended the night seeing Kasabian headlining the main stage and they never disappoint I've seen them live a few times and they always put on a good show.

Saturday saw massive queues and chaos to get into the arena but once in it turned calmer, after grabbing a few drinks we caught a little bit of Seasick Steve before exploring the festival. A few of my friends got their face painted and went on a ride before my friend Sam and I went to see Marina and the Diamonds in the King Tuts Wah Wah Tent, Marina looked and sounded amazing. From there we headed to the main stage to meet my friends Janelle and Toni and catch Years and Years set by this time the rain was on but that didn't dampen our spirits, we then caught George Ezra at the main stage and he sounded brilliant. With the rain still trickling down -you know that annoying stop start light rain - we went to see The Vaccines play the BBC Three/Radio 1 stage and they were great I don't think I stopped dancing the entire set! After the Vaccines we grabbed a bite to eat, I had yummy fajitas and spicy wedges washed down with a rain diluted cider lovely. Soon the rain became heavier and the tents were full so we caught a bit of Alt-J on the Radio 1 stage, I've wanted to see Alt-J for a while now but feared they'd be a little boring and they were which is a shame as I do like their music but they just aren't the most exciting live band. We finished the night by seeing Twin Atlantic headline the BBC Three/Radio 1 stage and the guys were bloomin' brilliant, I feel like each time I see them they get better and better. They interact well with the audience and the whole set was packed with energy, they are brilliant live and it's good to see them so high up the line up.

The traffic queues on Sunday trying to get in were the worst from the weekend but once off the bus it was the easiest day for getting into the arena. We started the afternoon by seeing James Bay, he was excellent and can I just say he has cheekbones for days! After James Bay we and what felt like the rest of TITP made our way over to the BBC Three/Radio 1 stage to see Catchfish and the Bottlemen and they pulled possibly the biggest crowd of the weekend (if not one of them) it was uncomfortably busy and made worse by the heat after that we went to see Paloma Faith and she looked fabulous and sounded great. The last act we saw before heading home was Stereophonics who played the main stage, the crowd was packed and it was a lovely evening with the sun beginning to set they played a great set filled their classic songs and new songs they ended on one of my all time favourite summer songs 'Dakota' it was the perfect ending to the weekend.

My friends and I had a brilliant time at T in the Park as did everyone we bumped into over the weekend, the festival got a bit of a hard time by fans and the press over the weekend as it hadn't run as smooth as it did in Balado, it's former location. But I've been going to T in the Park for 6 years and it didn't put me off going back again next year it just needs a few tweaks. I've seen so many negative things about T in the Park since the festival took place and I'm not saying it was perfect, staff needed better training, the roads and buses needed better management and the arena needs to be bigger and better laid out, but other issues like drug taking and stampedes are down to the people, it's the people who choose to act like that and do these things. People need to take responsibility for their actions and not blame the organisers, us festival goer need to look after ourselves and the other festival goers.

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Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection

I caved. After lusting over the gorgeous Real Techniques Bold Metals collection since they came out I finally caved in and bought some after Boots sent me a 25% off any beauty accessories voucher (it would be rude not to right?!). I bought myself the Flat Contour 301 Brush £22 and the Oval Shadow 200 Brush £15 as those were the two brushes I liked the look of most and would get the most use of. I'm a big Real Techniques fan I use RT brushes on a daily basis and they make up 90% of my brush collection. The Bold Metals collection is Real Techniques premium brush collection and is more expensive than their standard brushes. The brushes are beautiful they are weighted with an angled handle to stop them from rolling around and like their predecessors they are colour coded but this time in a much more chic colour scheme; silver, gold and rose gold. The brushes look and feel more luxurious to warrant the higher price tag. 

The flat contour brush was the brush I was most excited to try because I really liked the look of the brush. The bristles are tightly packed and dense making it easy to apply product into the hollows of your cheeks but I find this brush isn't the easiest to blend with so I prefer to add the product with this brush but blend it with another, the flat contour brush can also double up as a foundation brush as it's good at buffing the foundation in. I found the oval shadow brush to be larger than most eye shadow brushes but it covers the eyes in one sweep, the bristles are soft and the brush is great at applying and blending eye shadow.

Overall the bold metals collection is beautiful and I'm happy with the brushes I've bought, I can't comment on how they wash or wear but I've had no problems with the Real Techniques collections so I can't imagine having any issues with these brushes. I'll be honest they are very pricey for a high street/drugstore brand so I think unless you're really into your make-up and make-up accessories then there not a must as the the regular Real Techniques brushes are just as good.

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Whats In My Bag | Festival Essentials



 

Hello lovely people! Thanks for dropping by my blog and stopping to read, today's post is all about what you'll find in my bag at a festival. Let's start with the essentials, you'll find my festival purse that I got years ago and have taken to every festival I've gone to it's a cute cassette tape denim purse from Accessorize and in it you'll find my ID, money and beer tokens. Tissues, hand sanitizer and an emergency poncho are always in my bag too they're just as important as my purse! These clear emergency poncho from Asda are only around £1 but they keep you dry and warm and are much more waterproof than the pack a macs from Primark (I found out the hard way). 

Also in my bag you'll find plasters, chewing gum and a portable charger. iPhone batteries aren't exactly the longest lasting especially if you're going to be snapping photos all day and trying to get a hold of your lost friends, so it's handy to have a portable charger to keep your phone on all day. I'll also pack a sun cream that has high SPF like factor 50 because you're outdoors in a field even if it's not sunny it's best to protect yourself from sun damage. Makeup wise I don't take a lot because I can never be bothered to top up/fix my make up I always pack a lip balm with SPF like these Carmex ones photographed and I'll maybe throw in a powder and some mascara. Some festivals don't let you into the arena with deodorant or perfume but I've managed to sneak in a body spray before, I like my Ted Baker Body Spray as it was a nice fruity flora scent that's no over powering but is surprisingly long laying for a body spray also it's really cooling when the cold spray hits your skin. 

This year I'll also be taking my Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Camera with me and hopefully capturing some fun, crazy festival memories over the weekend.  Lastly I pack a pair of sunglasses and a cover up like a kimono, oversized shirt or jacket if I'm not wearing one out to the festival encase it gets cold or rainy. T in the Park is only two days away now and I'm really excited, check out my top 20 festival tips here. Are you going to a festival this year? What makes it into your festival bag? Follow me Instagram at @terriswan to see my festival photos first!

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Carmex Tinted Lip Balm

Carmex Tinted Lip Balm £4.99

I think I may have found the best tinted lip balm ever, bold statement I know but I've finally found a tinted lip balm that I love. Tinted lip balms are a hard thing to get right because you want a decent colour pay off but you still want the balm effect and at this time of year I'm always looking for one with SPF and I think I've found the perfect all rounder. I recently discovered Carmexs range of tinted lip balms on offer in Superdrug at just £2.99 and thought what the hell I'll give it a try, I'd been searching around Boots and Superdrug looking for a tinted lip balm with SPF that would see my through summer and festivals for ages now and had no luck - it's harder to find than you think.

The Carmex Tinted Lip Balms retail at £4.49 so still affordable when not on offer, the lip balms come in a plastic cylinder case that's not that sturdy but we'll let that slide and they have the signature Carmex smell and tingle. The two shades I picked up are berry and peach, the berry shade is a red that packs a punch for a tinted lip balm and the peach that leaves a sheer peach tint to the lips. The formal of these lip balms are great they contain vitamin e, aloe, shea butter and contain SPF 15 so protect your lips from the sun as well as giving you a hint of moisture, colour and shine.

These lip balms are great for easily slotting into your pocket or makeup bag and will be really handy for festivals because they contain SPF, they have a slanted tip so it's easy to apply and the formula makes for it just to glide on. As it's a tinted lip balm the colour doesn't last a long as a lipstick which is to be expected but that's nothing to grumble about, the berry shades leaves slight lip liner effect when it wears off but that soon goes when you reapply. You can probably tell that I love these tinted lip balms as I can't stop raving about them, good job Carmex!

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