A New Perspective

This blog post has been on my mind for a little while now, and given that we are in a brand new year what better time to finally put my thoughts into action and write it down in a post. See I'm trying this new approach to things from now and it will as a result have an impact on my blog, hopefully I see it as quite a positive change. My blog here is almost a year old and it has been a space for me to ramble on about makeup and related subjects which for the most part I have enjoyed a lot - it was a good outlet for me. However I want my blog to be something else now, other than just another beauty blog.

 Now I'm not saying I'm never going to talk about makeup ever again on here because I am, its still a keen interest of mine, however I need to take a back step from all the makeup and all the beauty blogs and YouTube for a bit. I have a few reasons for needing this change of perspective. I used to blog years ago just for the pleasure of writing and documenting my life, and I'm at a stage now where so much is going on I think it would be good to go back to those old ways.

If you follow me on instagram you may have seen a recent picture I posted declaring that I need to 'buy less shit' this year, and really this couldn't be  a truer statement. By this I don't mean that I think what I buy is shit - I (mostly) buy lovely quality products and 50% of the time they are well researched and thought out purchases while the rest of the time I buy on impulse for the sheer thrill of it. I just want to try and be a little more savvy about my spending and control the never ending wanting and not let it control me. I also hope that in doing this I can just try and enjoy and use what I already have more - which is plenty to keep me going for now!

I know that if I'm totally honest, this time last year I wasn't in the best place with myself. I was unhappy in a retail job, on the brink of breaking away but just waiting for the right time. I was lonely and hung up on someone. Basically I was lost and didn't really know my place. In the end I was going out and buying nice things on a binge to make myself feel better - and while it sort of worked for a bit, it totally spiraled out of control and I was ignoring what the real issues were.

Fast forward to January 2015 current day Grace and I feel like my head is screwed on a little tighter now. Hopefully I've got most of that crap stuff out of my system and I'm ready to look forward to the bigger picture. I'm more driven than ever to continue growing my business, although a lot of that is out of my hands and will probably just come in time. I have quite a few long term goals and I'm driven to one day be able to achieve all of those.

So instead of every single post being about the newest lipstick or the newest nail polish, I'm going to be throwing in a lot more personal posts that come from the heart and speak honestly about the things that are going on in my life. Sure not everyone wants to hear about that and if I lose a few readers then so be it but I'm not afraid of change and I'm excited to see where this new perspective on my blog takes me.

Manicure Monday: Essie Cocktail Bling

My chosen manicure colour of choice for this Monday's post is from Essie and its their shade Cocktail Bling. I don't own many polishes from Essie (definitely a BarryM girl me) but I think I'm going to branch out this year and try a few more from the brand. I've had Essie's Cocktail Bling sitting in my collection for well over a year now but I've never really enjoyed it until late. Its quite an unusual shade to describe as I would say it sits somewhere between grey and pale blue with a hint of mauve in there too.

Its not what I would call the 'prettiest' colour in my collection, however lots of my clothes at the moment have hints of this shade in them and wearing this polish brings it out really subtly. Its definitely an appropriate colour for the winter as its not a pastel its pretty muted down but has
a trendy yet sophisticated edge to it. This is best worn with a bottom and top coat as the colour and shine lasts far longer!

QOTD; Have you tried Essie's Cocktail Bling?

Products I've Used Up | Empties #6

What better way to get into a year of blogging than to talk about a load of products that I've used up over the past few months. I've been getting through loads of products recently, and am still in the process of using up lots more so expect to see quite a few empties posts in 2015! As you can see this post (and the ones to follow) include quite a few seasonal bathing products from the likes of Lush and Philosophy - these types of posts are always quite satisfying to do as I like seeing all the products I've used up. For quite a lot of these products I have already written full reviews on them so they will be linked below if you want to check those out.

Philosophy Pumpkin Pie.
First up was a shower gel I loved using during late autumn/early winter from Philosophy and it was their Pumpkin Pie edition. This was a delicious shower cream to use and it really got me in quite a seasonal mood ready for the winter months where it was so spicy and richly scented. The texture of this was very silky and luxurious which is always a nice quality in a shower cream. I also used this as a bubble bath a few times but seen as though I tend to shower mostly its main job was as a body wash. Although I enjoyed this and it made a nice change I would say that generally speaking I prefer shower gels to be a bit more zingy and uplifting - I shower in the mornings so I like to have something that's invigorating rather than this which is more on the decadent, indulge-yourself side of things.

Rose Jam Shower Gel.
While I'm on the topic of shower gels I thought that I would talk about Rose Jam from Lush, another seasonal bathing item and this one was much more up my street! Rose Jam is a limited edition release over the festive period and I'm a little gutted I didn't stock up before it sold out in the sales - next year I will definitely be buying the size up as I only got this in the mini version. Rose Jam is absolutely gorgeous - it has a winning blend of floral and fruitiness to it which works so well together. If you like rosy scented products and didn't get round to picking this up at Lush I would definitely recommend it this winter if its released again!

Palmolive Almond Soap.
Last bath/shower product to mention today is just a bar of soap from Palmolive I picked this up on my holiday. Not really a bar of soap girl but I dabble in and out of them from time to time and this was pretty nice. Fresh smelling, does the job not much more to say on that one!

The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Lotion SPF 15.
If you've been reading my blog for a while you may already know that I'm a big fan of the Vitamin E range from TBS. I chose this moisturizer during the summer and on my holiday as it contains SPF 15 and it was a decent moisturizer and I just continued to use it up until it was empty, which took longer than you would think actually. The Vitamin E Moisture lotion is very light, quickly absorbs into the skin - it isn't sticky or greasy feeling on your face it has a pleasant, fresh smell to it and its affordable so its pretty win win really.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Hydrating Toner.
Another Vitamin E product emptied and this time in the form of a toner. To be honest I don't have a great deal to say about this, or toners in general really as I don't quite see the point of them or that they make any real difference in your skincare routine. Sure this is pleasant enough and I'd probably recommend it to someone who wants to try out a toner as its way cheaper than most high end skincare branded toners, but I doubt I will be picking another up as this is just for me an unnecessary step in my routine that I can probably afford to miss out on.

Cotton Pads.
Cotton pads: essential item, one that I'm always stocked up on and I always buy these from Aldi as they are cheap as chips and you get a double pack. Simples.

Snow Fairy Massage Bar.
My last seasonal beauty product for this empties post from Lush is the Snow Fairy Massage Bar. This is a nice addition for those days where you really want to indulge your skin in some oily TLC. Massage this into your body and the result will be sickly sweet smelling smooth skin. Not a product you would want to use on a day to day basis as it is greasy and requires a bit of a wait for it to sink in.

Garnier Soothing Eye Makeup Remover.
Garnier eye makeup remover has been my go-to product for years and years, I'm sure I've probably already mentioned one before in an empties post! Its so reliable that I just always go back to it. Its similar to a Micellar water in the way its very gentle yet effective at removing even the toughest of eye makeup products. I'm going to try something new for a change this time but I know I will be making a repurchase of this at some point!

Khiel's Creamy Avocado Eye Treatment Sample.
I asked for this sample from a Khiel's counter ages ago and once I used it up I did actually go out and buy a bigger sized pot of it. As sample sizes go this contained enough product for me to decide whether or not I actually liked it enough to buy it, I think it lasted about a week and that was using it twice daily.

QOTD: What products have you used up recently?

Clinique Haul

Hello 2015! I'm starting my year of blogging with surprise, surprise a haul post. But I'm being a tad cheeky with this one as I actually picked these bits up a few weeks ago - technically last year - while I was on my recent winter break, when we went for a little visit into Norwich for a spot of shopping. While we were there I made a quick stop at the Clinique counter in Boots.

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned that my skin has been really playing me up in the last few months, and my mum suggested that I go and try out some of Clinique's products as it might be a bit kinder to my skin. She also said that over the years Clinique have been some of her favourite foundations, so the first thing I was in search of was a foundation. As much as I love my Nars face products I do think that they have a tendency to make me break out a bit so I think that a new foundation could help in my skincare troubles.

It took a matter of seconds stood at the Clinique counter for me to feel utterly overwhelmed by all that they had to offer in the name of foundation. Thankfully I was quickly approached by a very helpful shop assistant and I told her all of my concerns, and the sort of foundation I was looking for - medium coverage nothing too cakey and she offered to try some on me so I could get a correct colour match. The foundation she recommended was the Clinique Even Better makeup, and she did an amazing job at applying the foundation and I loved how it looked - I won't say too much more as I plan on doing a full review shortly in the new year.

The next product I decided I would try was the Dramatically Different Moisturizer which was another family recommendation as quite a few of the women in my family use/have used it. I tried a little sample version of this moisturizer a while back and my skin got on with it so I hope that this will be a good safe option for me as a moisturizer. Lastly, I decided to try Take The Day Off balm to remove my makeup with. I've heard balms are meant to be one of the best types of cleansers to get every last scrap of makeup off your face and the shop assistant also said it was really good as a makeup remover.

Having been using these products for the last few weeks I'm already impressed with each one of them, as I mentioned I have a full review on the foundation on the way but if anyone would like a review of the other two products leave me a comment below :)