Manicure Monday ♡

I haven't done one of these in months! Probably because my nails have been so basic for months.. I have been opting for just a simple one colour pastel since summer started, so I didn't think you all wanted to see your ordinary plain Jane nails. Now that its getting colder and we are drifting into autumn I can start going back to my regular black and white minimal nail art. 

I went for a basic look for minimal nail art that has been done a million times before and you've all probably already seen it, but I thought I would show you anyway!

Hope you're all having a wonderful bank holiday.

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MAC Rubenesque Paint Pot ♡

Im so sorry about how poor the content on m blog has been recently, I hate how much Ive neglected my blog the last two weeks. Now I feel a lot better and have so much content I cant wait to share with you all! The reason why I took such a long break from blogging was because it was my A level results day last week and sadly I didn't do as well I hoped. If you got your GCSE results today or A Levels last week I hope you all did well and if not, its not the end of the world which is what has taken me so long to realise. 

Anyway, back to the point of this blog post, I thought what would cheer my up more than anything after my bad results- MAKEUP! 

I have had my eye on this gorgeous paint pot for the longest time. I am a huge fan of paint pots, they are so quick and easy and speed up the eyeshadow process up so much. Invest in paint pots because they last forever on your eyelids and give a much better looking finish than eyeshadow in my opinion.

This is a pink/gold/orange mix of colours, I don't know how to describe it other than the fact its the most beautiful colour ever. Having no glitter in it  makes a huge difference, most paint pots have glitter in them making it look so clumpy on the eyes. Heres a swatch I got of it but sadly the photo doesn't do it any justice at all! This is a paint pot that you all need to go in stores and swatch and one I would put in my makeup 'must haves.'

 My go to look at the moment has been to do a golden smokey eye. I put this all over my lid, usually about 3 layers and then add 'mugshot' from the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I will try and do a picture tutorial at some point for you all to see what it looks like on the eye lids. 

I leave and go to Santorini on Sunday so all my beauty posts are going to have to be put on hold as i have decided i'm going to start travel blogging! I cant wait to share my trip with you all.

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The Best Photo Editing Apps For Instagram ♡

I always get asked how I edit my Instagram photos, not just by you guys but my friends too! I thought it was about time I shared with you all my holy grail editing apps. To start off with I take all my pictures on my phone, unless I am promoting a blog post I will use the picture taken from my blog which might have been taken by my camera. 

1) Viscocam

My most loved app would have to be Viscocam- My instagram life was complete after downloading this app. I love this app because the filters are really subtle but you can play around with them until you're satisfied with how it looks on your theme.

2) Afterlight

Afterlight is very similar to Viscocam but its more the lazy girl option, you can play around with the selected filters but they always look so perfect without you doing anything!

3)Snapseed

Snapseed is basically photoshop for your phone! This is amazing for altering brightness, highlights, shadows etc but the best thing is the select function; you get to choose the certain parts of the photos to edit the saturation or brightness.

Im off to Santorini in a week and I wanted to ask if you would be interested in me starting to do Travel blogging. I go away a couple times a year and would love to share my travels with you all!

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Gluten Free Buckwheat Banana Pancakes ♡

I posted a picture of these gorgeous banana pancakes I made on Instagram and thought I had to share them with you!

I am not allergic to gluten but I am currently on a Gluten free diet and vegan 5 days a week. This recipe is not vegan but all you would need to do is switch the eggs to an egg substitute. You can also switch buckwheat flour to regular flower. 

Ingredients:

1.  2 Ripe bananas 
2. 1 Egg
3. Coconut oil
4. Cinnamon (optional)
5. Desiccated coconut (optional)
6. Coconut milk/almond milk/ regular milk
7. 1 Cup Buckwheat flower
8. Porridge oats (optional)
9. Mushed berries (optional) 
10. Any fruit/seeds for decoration

Methord:

1. Mash up two bananas in a bowl with a fork. 
2. Add one egg and stir till you get a lumpy consistency.
3. Add your one cup of buckwheat flower (or regular flower) to your mixture and keep stirring till you get a batter like consistency.
4. Add the oats and mushed berries now if you choose to include them.
5. Add your coconut milk slowly into the mixture till you feel its the right consistency.
6. Add a pinch of cinnamon and your desiccated coconut.
7.  Add your oil into the pan and they are ready to go!

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Jessup Flat Kabuki Brushes ♡

Im not sure how long these brushes have been around but I recently noticed them in a Youtube makeup tutorial, I loved the way they were applying makeup so I did some further research and read loads of reviews on the brushes. I heard really good things about these Ebay brushes and ordered them. I personally would never get cosmetic brushes on Ebay just because chances are they would probably shed hair and not very good quality etc.

I got the white flat top kabuki brushes here on their online sale for $15 which is about £10, insanely cheap for 10 good quality brushes. I got the white and silver colour which i'm regretting now because they're getting so dirty, but they have a wide range of colours for you to select from. The brushes came from China (I think) and took about two weeks to come which was sooner than the estimated delivery time they gave me, I was supposed to be waiting till the middle of August! 

I tried them out as soon as I got them and it didn't take more than one use for me to love them. My favourite brush is the slanted Kabuki brush which I have been using to apply my foundation, which it does flawlessly! I love the finish on my foundation with this brush over my beauty blender and thats saying something! I haven't used the eyeshadow brushes yet just because I don't wear eye shadow on a day to day basis but I have very high hopes for them. 

I will definitely be purchasing more Jessup brushes in the future when i'm in need of some but right now I have so many I don't know where to keep them! These brushes are so cheap and worth the buy!

If any of you have tried any Jessup brushes please let me know which ones you like so I can get them in my next order!

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MAC Velvet Teddy ♡

I wanted to wait till I had bought a few more MAC products as I don't really like to do reviews on one lipstick, but I had to for this one! If you have been reading my blog for a while or follow me on Twitter you would know I have been looking for this lipstick since December and have had no luck at all. I was on the verge of giving up the hunt until 3 days ago the best day of my beauty blogger life came, I found the famous Velvet Teddy.

This is the lipstick that Kylie Jenner is rumoured to wear, and it looks great on her! Sadly though, my lips look nothing like hers with this on but they still look good. I think this is a perfect nude colour for any skin colour. I have still not found a MAC lipliner to go under it so if you have a recommendation let me know! MAC lipsticks are great in general but I think they are so good with matte colours, I don't find them drying at all and they last all day without needing to touch up. I have always said they should call their matte lipsticks a lip stain because they do not budge all day!

As you can all see I am very happy about this purchase, and if you are lucky enough to have this in stock at your nearest MAC counter then you need to go and try it, I guarantee you will love it.

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Garnier Ultimate Blends Honey Treasures ♡

So the other day whilst I was doing the weekly shop at Tesco with my mum, I went to go and pick up some new shampoo. The Garnier Ultimate Blends range is the one I always reach to in stores as they work so great for me and my hair type. I noticed they had bought out a new honey range, and I had to try it! I picked up the shampoo, conditioner, treatment and hair serum. 

Let me start off with the shampoo and conditioner, they both smell so gorgeous and it actually looks like honey too! You can instantly feel how soft your hair is when you first apply it, you see instant results in the shower! I have now used this about 3 times and my hair does shine a lot more, Im not too sure yet about if strength has been restored but my hair does look a lot healthier than it did 3 showers ago. 

The treatment is a lot thicker than the conditioner but I would say that they both are really the same thing, apart from the fact that the treatment works as a hair mask. I felt they both do the same thing, making the hair softer and shiner. I think I could have done without this product and probably wont repurchase it, I could just keep my conditioner in my hair longer for the same effect.

The serum is divine! I also use another serum mixed in with it which I have a review on, also from the ultimate blends collection. I mix two pumps of the coconut serum and one pump of this honey one. I know that seems like a lot of product but I have crazy thick hair so I need that much product. I have noticed that some of my split ends are no longer split! My hair is full of split ends and i've been trying to schedule a trim this week but I don't think I will need to if I keep using this product religiously. It smells great and leaves my hair feeling amazing and glowy afterwards. 

All in all I think this is a great addition to the line and one I will definitely be repurchasing.

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