Saturday 13 February 2016

Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month

You may or may not be aware of this, but February is the month dedicated to spreading awareness on Marfan Syndrome. 

I am usually the type of person to not give any specific problem special limelight because, in my eyes, it's like saying hey, these problems are more important then others and deserve attention. It's just hard to sometimes pinpoint what problems I should focus on and what problems I should spend less focus on, and what problems I shouldn't talk about at all (if I was to talk about all of them, I would be here forever). 

I usually just opt for focusing on my own personal problems. ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), Social Anxiety and Depression among other things I have gone through or am going through whether good or bad so that other people can learn or be helped or educated on my experiences. Especially because I live it, I at least know a decent amount of information on it. 

I don't actually know anything about this topic, though. I'm here to share this blog post from a woman who actually has this syndrome and wants to share as much information about the topic as she can to the world. I'm simply a messenger she doesn't know she has wanting to spread the post out to anyone who is interested in how they can help or recognise people with Marfan Syndrome. I suggest you follow her for more informative, future posts on the syndrome and help spread the message yourselves so less people die/suffer from it, and can get the correct medical help they need a lot quicker. 

Thank you for reading. 

Loz x 

Friday 12 February 2016

A Mostly-Makeup-But-I-Was-Nervous-Happy-Sad-Heartbroken-Exited Haul

*be warned, this is a long post that is quite picture and word heavy*



I'm a bit of an over-spender, if you know me. If I have the money, then it's going to be gone. I don't have money until April at the earliest again and I just spent a good portion of that. Not today, but collectively over the past few weeks (I'll be showing you a couple items I got from that at the end of this post). I am just nervous about the fact that I have no money and nobody to talk to and ex-boyfriend problems (he was also the dude who used to run this blog with me and was much better at writing, lets be honest). Happy because some aspects of my life are at least running smoothly. Heartbroken because, again, ex-boyfriend. But exited of what my future life will hold. All in all, lots of emotions. I'm sure you care so much about that. 

Okay, let's start with the make-up. 

I've been eager for a while to buy something from Bourjois so I got two. The lip crayon was meant to be free but I'm stupid and didn't read the label correctly, if I spent £2 more on Bourjois the lip crayon would have been free. Bit bummed about that as I'm really nervous about spending this much money as it is. 




I got the Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in "Light Vanilla" and the Colour Boost Lip Crayon in "Orange Punch". I've only tested out the foundation once and even though the skin tone is ever so slightly off (if you want to see what it looks like on my skin, go check out Pink Princess) it's very thick and goes on smoothly. It's a lot more matte then my other foundations that I usually use and I have to say I do like it. 

As far as the lip crayon goes, I don't like it. It doesn't really give me any colour at all, it just gives me a slight gloss and particles get caught in parts of my lips so I end up with chunks of orange. All it really does it give my already existing lip colour a boost. Maybe that's what it was intended to do, I don't know. I like it in the sense that when I don't want to wear tonnes of make-up or maybe when I have a lot going on in my eyes I can use it, but otherwise it's a regret buy (and a buy I didn't know I was going to do). 

A couple other impulse buys are these two Benefit products (which are my first ever bought Benefit products) and I was very keen to give them a try. 



The first Benefit product I got was the every so highly raved about (especially by my mother) was the They're Real Mascara Mini (or travel sized, as I like to call it). I tried it out earlier and I was very impressed. It gave me a lot of length and volume and they certainly did resemble fake lashes. I probably would re-purchase this in the bigger size on a later date when I get paid again sometime in April. It was just as impressive as the hype told me it would be. 




The second product I got by Benefit was this Porefessional Face Primer Balm Mini and although this made by skin so smooth and so soft, it didn't really make the pores that I have any less visible which was a shame. They looked just as obvious and in your face as they usually did. It works wonderfully well as a primer but, unfortunately, doesn't do too well with doing what it says it does on the tin. On the bright side, you can use a tiny amount of this and it will go far and I don't believe it was a waste of money because it makes my skin feel great. 





I actually did need some eye brushes so at least this was one thing that I went out to buy and actually got. These are the Ecotools Eye Enhancing Duo Brush Set . What got me about these brushes is that they are so soft, cruelty-free and made from recycled materials. Y'all know I'm big at preaching on how to be more environmentally friendly and respect the welfare of animals so these were a seller instantly for me. After using them once, they're amazing, they pick up a lot of powder and spread it really well and I don't know how to explain it. I just recommend them. 

The last make-up product I purchased was the cheapest, I got it from a discount store for just £1. 

(taken with no flash, natural window light)

(taken with bedroom lights, no flash or natural light)


As you can probably tell from the packaging, this product was from a place similar to Poundland and The 99p Store, etc. I was expecting something to be wrong with it like it was out of date or it was previously used as a tester or something like that, but no. It was like brand new. The only thing wrong with it is that it wasn't sealed properly like lip products usually are, it was sealed with tape but other then that it was in brand new condition.

This (if you didn't guess already) is the Rimmel London Apocalips in "Nova", which is a non-matte bright pink gloss - but not the sticky kind! As you can tell from the picture below, it has a really nice and practical applicator. The only real problem I have with it is that they test on animals (and as you can tell from how much money I spent, I was not thinking clearly at the time of this purchase) and it picks up way too much product so I end up getting a lot of 'wasted' gloss around the rim. I really like the colour though and when I get more confident in wearing make-up, this will certainly be on my lips a lot.


This was not make-up but was bought in Boots as a last-second pick up. They were on offer for £5 down from £8.99 and they were leopard print. How could I resist?! 


I'm not sure how they work yet, as I haven't ever used fake nails before but they were easy and cheap so I figured if I was going to start these would be a good thing to start off with. They come with instructions, and two nail things and the actual nails themselves are all in different sizes. They are the Elegant Touch Express nail set. I couldn't find them online but I did find these really cute cat ones that you might like! ;)

And later on last night, I made a new discovery of what the packaging was like inside: 

(tilted because it was glaring from my window)
The inside packaging looks like a little nail polish bottle! How cute! Anyway, I thought I would share that too because it was such a nice little detail. I haven't used these yet because I don't know why I bought them but I will eventually find a use for them. Maybe when I go out, on one of the very rare occasions that I do. 

Next, I popped into TKMaxx (which, by the way, I found Too Faced bronzer/blush mixes that were made for Valentines Day I do believe - Ross and Rachel which was quite dark, and another one called Carrie something which was really light and if I used bronzer/blushes in my make-up routine I would have purchased them as they were only £10). 

I actually completely forgot to get headphones when I did have enough money to get them and still have the extra money for emergencies but I found these beauties for £15. Just fifteen pound, and in one of my favourite colours too (I believe it's called Rose Pink). 



I don't know what the specific type of headphone these are but head over to Amazon and search Sony Headphones and you can find plenty similar or more advanced to these ones (and cheaper, because it's Amazon!). I'm going on a little "bus adventure" (a fourteen hour long bus adventure with four different stops...) later next week and it seemed like the perfect time to invest in some. Though they weren't really an investment. I just can't wait to try them out, listen to some music and hopefully not space out because I need to be aware of when my stop is (if you would like me to do a main blog post on that, ask, but otherwise it's going to be on another blog). 


And the last thing I got from this shopping experience is Fruit Bowl Jelly Belly's. I know that these are kind of popular in America but in the UK they are very, very dear. They're just so expensive for jelly beans that I always say "nah" whenever I think about getting them. I saw this box for £2 at my local TKMaxx (love it so much). I wasn't intending to get them but they were by the checkout and I was like hey I'm going through a lot right now, why not? I hated them all those years ago that I tried them but either they changed or I did because these are delicious. 


(from the right to left, I don't know why I swatched them that way)
Someone who I follow on blogger, Vinny, consistently raved about how amazing this brand is and because it's so cheap and being a student with no real income I can always do with some good ol' cheap makeup. I like matte colours, but I always find them to be a bit boring so I went with this palette (Makeup Revolution Redemption Palette Iconic 2) It has a mixture of shimmer and matte shades, and my favourite are obviously the pink toned ones (and again, self promotion,  this palette is featured in my upcoming makeup look post Pink Princess). 

I'm not too keen on eyeshadows yet so I'm just testing out what I like and what I don't like and if I even like eyeshadow at all (because I'm not always one to do bold. I do like it sometimes, but going natural is more my thing). They're quite powdery and I don't use a primer at all yet so they crease an awful lot, especially the matte shades. But, they're really pretty colours and it works wonders for the budget so I do recommend them. 

Around £12/13 discounted from £16
 Completely forgot about the clothes I bought from the Peacocks sale. I have been looking for one of these weird blanket/shawl type things (I'm not a fashion person, can't you tell) for what feels like forever. Plaid, as you know, is one of my favourite prints and I saw it and it was on sale and I had the money in my hand - well, it was calling my name! I don't feel guilty for it at all though because I really did need some new clothes. Excuse the hair in my face.

£8 discounted 
This jumped was from the mans section, and it's so soft and cosy! I can't wait to wear this more until the cold weather dies down (I love cold weather so I'm rather sad about that). The sleeves are long and it's long to cover a bit of my bottom and it makes me look a little smaller then I am. It's in a nice brown shade, too. It covers all of me up, and I prefer to be modest (not that there's anything wrong with not being modest, I am guilty of posting the odd non-modest picture rarely on @thatweirdfatchick on Instagram but even if I didn't, I would still say nothing at all wrong with not being modest! #BanSlutShaming!) so I was rather thrilled about that. It's not too warm though, it is quite thin so I'm probably going to wear a vest/tank top underneath just for an extra layer of warmth. 

So, onto the videos! I did a Shopkins season three and four unboxing video, and a recently uploaded video of a Yummy Nummies box. They're all videos without my voice or face, filmed on a phone camera so they are terrible quality but I really enjoy doing them do I don't see why I should stop. 


These are from the Season Three blind baskets that I managed to find in a couple of local stores nearby me for £2.50 per basket that contains two shopkins. I was absolutely thrilled with the outcome of this, I think they are just so so cute! 

So from left to right, we have:

1. Macca Roon
2. Sneaky Sally 
3. Vicky Vac 
4.Toni Topper. 
5. Suzzie Sushi 
6. Queen of Tarts. 


They also kind of stack and I think I prefer this way of stacking rather then this series (Season Four). It's just easier to store but I don't really know if I want to keep them because I don't know what to do with them, and I'm not sure what a kid who gets them at a charity shop would do with them either. 


Apart from one that I got at another store, these are around £2.50 each also. I already have the tree in a different colour so I'm really exited that these are all more or less brand new to me. So, again, from left to right: 

1. I couldn't find her name, I thought she was Cindy Bon (who I have two of) but she's ever so slightly different so I'm not sure honestly. If you do know, please tell me.
2. Fish Flake Jake
3.Tiny Tree
4. Cheeky Cherries.
5. Drinky Drink
6. Comfy Chair. 


I do like how these look when they stack a lot more but I don't have room for it so I didn't want to stack it like this and would prefer to put them into storage which you can understand why that's hard to do! 

But if you want to check out the video for this unboxing, check it out by clicking here.

And finally I have the Yummy Nummies boxes as pictured below which were on sale at my local supermarket for £4 per box. Earlier on today, I tried out the Pizza Party Maker and it didn't go to well. Not that I expected it to go well, but hey. They didn't taste half as bad as I thought they would. They smelt pretty bad though. 


I am going to do the first kit shown in this photo for sure next week or maybe even this weekend because I have nothing to do so stay tuned for that nightmare...I mean, wonderful experience! 

If you want to watch that, then you can click here.  I also did just notice that the whole video is sideways...oops. Noted for next time. 

If you made this far, then congratulations, you get so many gold stars. If you even clicked on this post at all, you also get many gold stars. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you in my next post, Pink Princess make-up look featuring Makeup Revolution, Baby Lips and Bourjois.

Follow me! Please! Not desperate! At all! Nope!

- Loz 


Saturday 6 February 2016

My Before Make-Up Bag

I've recently been feeling really shit and this feeling like shit period of my life threw me back into loving make-up products again. Unfortunately, a few of these products are not cruelty-free/vegan because I bought them before I was really aware or completely on board of buying cruelty-free/vegan make-up products. I thought I would show you what I have in there anyway, because money was already spent on them so I might as well use them instead of throwing them away and not re-purchase. The "after" make-up bag is going to be full of vegan and/or cruelty-free starter products only. Some of them may have parent companies that test on animals, though.





First of all, I have this Jimmy Choo make-up bag which I adore so much. I've had it for years. My mother bought a perfume and this came free with it, I can't see myself ever changing my make-up bag because it's made of that kind of material where you can wipe it down and it's black. Most of the wipe-down make-up bags you can purchase nowadays are super "girly" (I'm not into gender roles, I just don't know what else I can call it) with pink and fluffy animals and pokka-dots and things like that, and it's just not my thing. It's also nice and squishy. :3 

Disclaimer: (ish) I don't use all of these products on my face at once. I'm nineteen, I'm old enough to live all on my own but I don't like wearing a lot of make-up because I'm not confident in doing so yet. And I'm still testing out what looks good on me and what doesn't and what works with me and what doesn't, hence why this is a starter kit. Continue! 

Let's start with the moisturiser''s first.





I use this Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturiser (currently on sale) which I do love quite a lot. It's quite cheap at £3.99, smells of summer and is nice and creamy and not too oily like my Nivea pots are. I have quite dry skin so it works pretty well for me. My only oily parts are my nose and parts of my cheeks. I love Simple products so much. According to the FAQ, their products are suitable for vegans and don't test on animals but their parent company does who are trying to invest in non-animal testing methods.





Next is something I haven't used much but I got for Christmas from a family friend, it's a Shea lip butter from Marks and Spencers Nature's Ingredients range. The website said that it's not testing on animals and their products are vegetarian. It's creamy, it smells delicious. It doesn't have a colour tint so it's good to put underneath other lip colours. The packaging is really nice. The only thing I don't like is that it's in a pot and not in a stick.






The third one I have is by ELF.  I believe ELF doesn't test on animals but I'm unsure about it's vegetarian/vegan status. This is the Elf Conditioning Lip Balm SPF 15 in Blissful Berry. I've had this for what feels like forever. Certainly over a year. It still smells good, it still works, so I don't see reason for getting rid of it. The tint might have changed a bit over time (on the website, it hasn't in my pot). It's just a dark pink/nude colour. I bought it to put under lip colours, but it works pretty well on it's own too. It's not super moisturising but it's pretty good.




Not really a face product but it's on the before list for sure is my ever so loved Elf Zit Zapper. I don't think they sell it anymore (and I'm fairly sure it's bad for your skin anyway), but they do sell this and this as similar products. I do love is so very much, though, as it does it's job. Not as affectively as it used to, but on small spots they can be gone overnight and on the bigger one it dulls down the redness and their size.





Now onto face products, I have this Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfecter for Sensitive Skin in Light. As you can see from the image above, it's certainly not light. It's quite dark. It's currently on sale for half price, which is what I got for it because I wouldn't pay full price for it and probably wouldn't buy it again. There's nothing wrong with it, I'm just too pale and not the right skin tone but otherwise it works fine. It kind of turns orange on my skin after a short while. I don't want to waste it so I'm going to use it all up and maybe by the time I've finished with it, I'll have a different opinion on it. Otherwise, it's very creamy and not too thick but certainly thicker then other BB creams that I've tried.




I couldn't find it online, but you can find it in stores and if you want to find the rest of it's collection, it's called Undress Your Skin.  This is called the MUA Undress Your Skin Illuminating Foundation. It's a great dupe for another foundation I have, the Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation. I own both of those shades in Porcelain, but obviously even though it's such a good foundation they do test on animals and the dupe is cheaper too so there's a plus. MUA does not test on animals. Which should be obvious, considering Superdrug is against animal-testing and all products by Superdrug are not testing on animals (but not all of them are vegan). 




As far as the actual product is, it's great. It's a bit too liquid-y, though, it gets everywhere. It dries slowly, too. It's build able, though. It matches my skin tone (as much as a high street brand can match your skin tone). It does make me look a little less dead. I do like it a lot. It retails for about £5, but in stores is very often on sale for £3. It's an awesome foundation if you're just starting off with make-up so you don't have to go through the I'm-Orange stage.





Next I have this highly hyped powder, Rimmel London Stay Matte in Transparent. Like I said in the introduction, I did not know this brand tested on animals and it was bought before I was informed about it. I do hope Rimmel goes to the cruelty-free side in my lifetime because this powder is amazing. It's thick, it does what it says on the tin. I love it very much. And it's very cheap and good as a starter powder, it retails for about £4 so it's cheap too. I don't wear make-up very often and when I do I wear a light layer, so it's going to take a while to get through it. It's going to be fairly difficult to find a dupe for it too that's cruelty-free/vegan (but I did have one by Elf that was amazing so maybe I should make another purchase from their store soon...).




I went on their website and was very happy to know that Collection does not test on animals and I love love love their products. I adore them. They work so well, they're cheap and they have such a variety and they're always long lasting, whether it says so on the product or not. Because I needed a concealer and it was raved about on YouTube so much, I bought a Collection Lasting Perfection Ultimate Wear Concealer in Fair. I've only used this once, it was a purchase from yesterday. I love it a lot, as you can see from the pictures it does hide my dark under-eye circles and rids of red spots. Because I don't want to waste it, I won't use it on my red cheeks and hope that foundation will do that for me but if not I will be on the hunt for make-up to hide my red cheeks. 






I have been eye-ing this one up for a while and was thrilled in myself to finally purchase it. It's the Collection Matt Lip Butter in Marshmallow Pink. I was originally going to go for the coral colour, but it wasn't close to my lip colour and it's a lot more orange then it is coral. It might have looked different on my lips, I don't know, I might get it though because again I've only used this once but I adore it. The colour is so good. It's drying, considering that it's a matte lip colour, but it doesn't bother me much. It looks a little bright for me only because I'm not comfortable in calling attention to myself, but because I do like my lips a lot I'll be fine with that. I wore it in the rain yesterday and it didn't come off at all. I love it a lot. The packaging is cute but, because it's so cheap, the lipstick broke off from the actual tube thing inside and now I have to be really careful with it which is a huge bummer but I love the colour so I'm going to try to make it work. Maybe it was me not being careful or buying a faulty product.







Another product that is tested on animals but was bought before I knew that is the Maybelline Baby Lips in Electric Pink. The colour looks vibrant in the packaging but obviously is not because of what it's used for and I do like that. I like how it adds a little bit of colour without being too bright. I wear this with concealer and that's about it, just to make me feel good. I won't be re-purchasing because, obviously, I don't want to buy a product tested on animals due to my personal morals.







I don't really wear blush because I'm not a huge fan of blush, but I do own a nice glittery coral colour by MUA in the shade Lolly. It's very pretty, and if I use a very light brushing of this I will use it. I also don't want to waste it. I know now that I don't really like using blusher so I won't use it in the future. But once all my make-up is on and my red is gone from my face, I do look pale and without colour but I notice that when I use lip colours it's fine and I actually like the pale complexion look. I'm still trying stuff out, so I'm certainly no pro at this. It's very...oh words, why do you abandon me so. The powder goes everywhere is what I'm trying to say. It makes a bloody mess!

I only have two products left, they're both brushes. I don't have a mascara because I haven't found a mascara that I like yet. All the recommendations have been from brands that test on animals so if you have one that you like that is also cruelty-free, please do direct my way.





First, I have my ever so adored Elf Kabuki Face Brush. I bought this so long ago and it needs a wash but otherwise it's wonderful and soft and does the job, and it looks so nice. I can't imagine using a brush of any other. It's fantastic. My second brush is a stippling brush from Wilkinson's new brush range. It's okay, it does the job and it was a cheap brush but the hairs do come out. I tried this once on the back of my hand and it blends it out nicely but I don't want brush hairs on my face. Sorry! I'm going to use it anyway and see what I can do or if it improves in time, but it's getting replaced. Which is a shame because I bought another brush from them (which is lost) that I absolutely loved and now I can't find. 

So that's all I have in my make-up bag. Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you in my next post.