EOTD: Sleek Storm Palette #2

I wasn't actually doing particularly exciting when I did this make up, I was just going shopping (click for haul!) but I just felt in the mood to wear some eyeshadow and went with it!  It ended up looking quite similar to the make up I did for my friend's wedding but never mind, I enjoy purple eyeshadow!  I even remembered to take photos of it before I went out, yayy!

I applied primer (I think I forgot to mention this in my last eyeshadow post but I always need to wear primer as my eyelids are quite oily, mmm...) and then used 1 in the outer 2/3s of my eye lid, then 2 in the inner 3rd and corner to highlight.  I the applied 3 to the other corner but it ended up looking a bit brown and muddy so I used Sugarpill Poison Plum over the top and also brought it down under my lower lash line.  Next I used a liquid liner to thinly line my top lash line, and finally applied my Bourjois Fast and Perfect mascara to top and bottom!

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Introducing My Cats: Theo

This is Theo and we got him when he was about 6 months old.  I bought him off my friend for £30 because she decided she was allergic to him (even though she already had a cat which she kept... I've no idea!) so my family said we would take him.  I'm not sure how old he is at the moment, I guess he is about 4?

When he was younger he was so playful and he actually did crazy back flips and could jump so high!  This seems insane now because he is huge!  Such a big lump of a cat, I'd like to weigh him and see how heavy he actually is!

Although he is big, the addition of our newest cat Hugo has really stressed him out.  You would think he would be able to handle himself, especially as he is bigger than Hugo, but he just runs when he sees him and so Hugo will chase him.  It's so sad, he gets himself into such a state, cats drool when they are stressed, there has been a lot of drooling!  He even had a wee bald tummy for a while because of all the fighting/stress it looked so pathetic, it seems to be growing back now thankfully!!

To avoid Hugo he has taken to hiding on top of the kitchen cupboards, like the ones really high up, no idea how he gets up there!  I also have to keep him in my room overnight (we had to change the latch on my door because Hugo was able to open it...) so most nights I need to lure him down from his cupboard with a piece of ham (boke), such fun!

We are hoping that eventually (preferably sooner rather than later!) Theo and Hugo will get along, it's actually chaos sometimes!

Next up is Tia :)

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Pre-Payday Shopping Trip!

I had the day off today and didn't really want to sit in the house all day so I ventured out to another town with a shopping centre 15 minutes away for a bit of a change.

I wanted to go to Wilkinsons because they usually have nice stationary but I was quite disappointed with their range today, I just ended up getting a recycled nu: notebook for £1.10.  But then I realised there was a b&m shop across the other side from the shopping centre so I decided to have a look in there.  It's so huge! I've never been in one before, it reminded me of the big shops in America!  So I found a couple of really cute notebooks for 99p each, one has cupcakes on it and the other has apples!  I also picked up one of those money tins which you need a tin opener to get into to stop you from taking money out if every time you're skint, this was 89p.

Make up wise I went into Superdrug as they have a 3 for 2 on, so tempting, wish I could shop there more often -.-  Anyway I got Barry M nail varnish in Silvery Lilac, Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti, Revlon Just Bitten stain in Frenzy and MUA eyeshadow in shade 16.

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Introducing My Cats: Kali

I've been thinking about doing this sort of post for a while but wasn't really sure how it would go down, but I know if someone else did it I would love to read it so here goes!

I have used a lot of photos of my cats throughout this blog so I thought I would do a post which introduces them all properly!  I am going to do them one at a time as I think I will probably get carried away and it'll end up super long if I don't!

This is our oldest cat, she will turn 20 this summer, only slightly younger than me!  We have had her all her life because her mum, Yoma, was our cat too.  Yoma was a stunning lilac torte Burmese and my parents wanted to try and breed her so they took her to where ever you go to breed your cat... however she obviously did not approve of the boy cat she had been put with a dug her way out of the enclosure!  Luckily they found her shortly after and took her home without putting her through that again.

However a wee while later she became pregnant with a tom cat (must've preferred the bad boys ;)) and Kali was the result of this!  She had 5 kittens but sadly for whatever reason only Kali survived, and she has deformed claws as a birth defect which means she can't retract them and some of them stick out at weird angles.  She was always quite anti-social and really quite vicious at times (probably because she is half feral!) until her mum died, when she started being more cuddly and less fierce.

Due to her age she is now a house cat out of choice and spends most of her time on my parents bed.  We bring her down to the living room in the evenings to give her some company and a change of scenery.  Certainly not a very exciting life but she is happy and comfortable so that's all that matters!  My dad took her out to the patio at the weekend when we had gorgeous weather, but she was not impressed, as soon as he laid her down she got up, walked back into the house and back up to her bed!  She can get up those stairs at some speed for a lady of her age!

Next up is Theo :)

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EOTD: Sleek Storm Palette

I usually get up an hour before starting work but recently since I've started at 11.45 a few days, I've been getting up at 10ish!  So I decided to actually wear eye make up to work.  On a normal work day my make up is usually concealer, brows, mascara and blusher which is just slapped on at the very last minute!  I still managed to run out of time and nearly forgot to make my lunch (I'd have cried!!) so I didn't take photos until about half 8 that night...  Hence it's not looking as smart as it did when first applied but hey ho!  Also excuse my bloodshot eye, you can't really see it in the photo but compared to my other eye it's noticeable, no idea what's wrong with it :(

I used the Sleek Storm palette simply because it was closest to hand.  I applied 1 all over my lid, then 2 in the crease and 3 in the outer corner of the crease.  I used Bootycall from the Naked 2 palette as a highlight, and I can't actually remember what I used in the inner corner!  Either Bootycall or the very pale one in the Storm palette...   I also ran 2 under my lower lashes.  Then applied some black liquid liner (it was black at some point, I swear, haha!) and Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect mascara to the top, and very gently to the bottom lashes.

I'm hoping now that I'm pretty much free for the summer I will be able to do more eye make up looks, and I will photograph them at the time so they don't look a mess lol!

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Animal Testing for Cosmetics

This is going to be a bit of a wordy one so please bear with me!  I will include some cute cat photos to add something fun to look at!

I'm sure it is quite obvious especially if you have followed me for a while that my blog is cruelty free.  I haven't really explained this too much - I touched on it in my About Me section if you have looked at that - so I thought I would kind of explain in a bit more about why exactly I choose to be very selective about what I buy and why it is important.

I can't be exactly sure about when I made the decision to go cruelty-free, or how I even find out that this testing was going on, I'd imagine I probably came across something on the internet!!  Obviously I was well aware of animals being used in medical research which I will not be going into, mainly because I don't know enough about it to have a fully-formed opinion (although I will say that I try my best to avoid charities which put funding into this sort of research), but it wasn't until later when I learned about their use in the cosmetics industry.

Without going into too much detail about what exactly happens (don't worry there won't be any pictures!) I am just going to outline what actually happens to the animals in laboratories, a lot of the time the products are not used for testing, it's more often the ingredients used.  This is why a lot of companies can get away with saying 'none of our finished products are tested on animals'.

Here are a few common processes the animals will be put through:

• Lethal Dosage testing to find out how much of a substance will kill a set ratio of animals.
• Substances dropped into animals eyes to see if any damage is caused.
• They are forced to ingest chemicals.
• Their fur is shaved and substances applied to skin.
• They are often killed after these tests and disected to find if there are any adverse effects to the body or bred to see if there are any birth defects.

On top of this these animals spend their entire lives in tiny cages, they receive no care or affection other than the bare minimum feeding and cleaning, never seeing the light of day.

I have made a page of these lists so you can easily find them but it occurred to me that quite a lot of people won't have visited these.  So here is a list of companies who I consider 'safe' to use, they do not test on animals, nor are their ingredients, or suppliers.  I urge you contact companies yourself to make up your own mind, and to get into the habit of doing it for any brands I haven't mentioned.  I do have a template email which you can find here or at the top of the page, this is what I use so please feel free to just copy and paste if you would like to contact a company about their stance.

Alberto Culver
Almay
Arbonne
Anastasia - Beverly Hills
Barry M
Benefit Cosmetics
BM Beauty
The Body Shop - owned by L'Oreal but none of their profit goes towards animal testing
Boots own brands eg No7, 17, natural collection etc.
Bourjois
Butter LONDON
Chanel
Color Club (Forsythe Cosmetics Group) 
Deborah Lippman
E.L.F.
Eyeko
Front Cover
GOSH
Inglot*
Jemma Kidd Make Up
Laura Geller
Liz Earle - partnered with Avon but remain independent
Lush
Marks & Spencer’s
Models Own
Naked
NARS Cosmetics - owned by Shiseido but are independent
Nubar
NYX
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
Pure Face Care
PZ Cussons
Revlon
Sainsbury’s
Soap and Glory
Stila
Sugarpill
Superdrug own brands**
Too Faced
Une
Urban Decay
Yaby
Zoya

*Inglot say “To the best of our knowledge, the ingredients used for our cosmetics are not tested on animals.”
**See my here for more info on Superdrug.

If you want to be 100% safe then the best way is to only use BUAV approved companies as they put the brands under the spotlight and really make sure they are cruelty-free, unlike PETA who just rely on the company being honest with them.

And here is a list of companies who are not cruelty free:

Avon (lied about not testing)
Clarins
Diptyque (they are cruelty free but cannot speak for suppliers)
Elizabeth Arden
Estée Lauder inc. MAC, Bobbi Brown, Origins, Smashbox Cosmetics
John Frieda
L’oreal inc. Garnier and Essie
Max Factor
Maybelline
Olay
O.P.I. (Owned by Coty)
Pantene
Rimmel
Shiseido
Superdrug (BUAV approved but raising money to donate to charities which test on animals)
Yves Saint Laurent
Laura Mercier

I hope that I have given an insight to some people about the truth behind cosmetics and make you think twice about buying certain brands!  If you have made it this far, well done and thank you!!

I would love to know your thoughts on this controversial subject so if you do have any then leave me a comment :)

Here are photos of my cats to cheer you up haha!

Kali

Theo

Tia

Hugo

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China Glaze Fast Track and Color Club Covered in Diamonds

These are the two nail varnishes I bought from eBay, I've got some swatches to show you.

The first one I'm going to talk about is Fast Track by China Glaze, this is from The Hunger Games collection and represents District 6 which is transportation.  It is a soft beige with a lovely gold shimmer through it.  It actually doesn't suit my skin tone and looks a bit sickly against it but I am still going to wear it anyway, I love it!  It is opaque in 2 coats but on the nail wheel I have used 3 for good measure!

With flash

Without flash

The second one is Covered in Diamonds by Color Club which is a 'flaky' nail varnish, pieces of iridescent plastic mixed in with clear polish which makes an interesting top coat.  I had looked up swatches of this before I bought it so I didn't have high hopes for it and I was right, it is a wee bit shit compared to all the other wonderful ones out there!! However it was only about £4 including p&p - which cost more than the polish! - so for the money is isn't bad!

I applied it over 3 dark shades as I thought that would bring out the colour more, and then a light one:

With flash

Without flash

L to R: Nails Inc - Little Venice; Black; Sinful Colors - Rich in Heart; OPI - Russian Navy (not CF);

It does quite an interesting effect to a plain nail varnish but definitely not as good at the more expensive ones.  And it does indeed show up a lot more against a darker base, there are a lot of pretty colour reflects that show up as it moves in the light, the main ones being blue and orange.

Alone is it fairly unexciting but here is a swatch anyway!  For all the swatches I used 2 coats of Seche Vite over the top to try and smooth it out!

Application is kind of how you would expect when trying to apply little bits of plastic to your nail!  Some pieces stick up or hang off the side of the nail, and you need to be careful while applying so that they are nicely distributed and not all just stuck together in one area!

I've not tried removing this so not sure how that will go!

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Lush Goodies and New Nail Varnishes

This is just a little collection of things I got recently.  The nail varnishes I bought on payday but I got them from eBay (this shop) and they've only just arrived - which is fine, they were super cheap!  The lush items I bought after my last exam as my parents were going to the Apple shop so I tagged along and popped into Lush to buy toner, but came out with more...

I will do a proper review with swatches of these later on but for now here are some (slightly out of focus... oops!) photos of the bottles.  The first one is Covered in Diamonds by Color Club (BUAV approved, awesome!).  I didn't really have high hopes for this one to be honest but it didn't cost very much and I just wanted a flaky top coat to play with!

This is Fast Track by China Glaze from The Hunger Games collection.  You can see it's got a lovely gold shimmer to it.

Dorothy is my favourite bubble bar and hadn't used one in ages and they're only £2.99 so I picked one up.  Link here.

I also got The Comforter because I've been hearing so many good things about it!  I'm looking forward to using it, it smells really nice.  It was more expensive at £4.15 but it's huge!  Should probably get 3 uses out of it if you are careful breaking it up.  Link here.

Lastly, the item I actually went in for!  I needed a new toner so I got Breath of Fresh Air (I did take a photo of the front but it was really blurry, so here is one of the back...), from the description I think this one is meant for 'normal' skin.  I had Eau Roma before which is more for sensitive skin, and there is a Tea Tree one for spot-prone skin.  I wasn't sure what it would smell like because the testers in the shop are always off and smell fusty, but it actually smells really good!  This was £3.75/100g.  Link here.

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Collection: Facial Scrubs

A couple of days ago it suddenly occurred to me that over the, ahem, years, I have managed to gather quite a few facial scrubs...

I am on a bit of a 'use everything up and start again' kick recently so I am now on a mission to try and finish these!  It is also partly because none of them are cruelty free!  It shows you how long I've had some of them for, I probably technically shouldn't be using a couple but they all smell fine to me haha!

I have two of these, one I got in a set along with a 30ml VitaZing and GinZing eye cream (For £25 I think, what a bargain, eye cream itself is £21!) and the other I got as a free sample - questionable!  I've not opened either of yet so I can't comment, however I'm not doing this as a review post anyway due to them all (not sure about St Ives to be honest...) having animal testing connections.  This is more of a 'why the hell do I have this many scrubs?!' post...

I have actually had this for so long!  Thank goodness I only got the sample size!  I bought this after seeing Fafinettex3 (I think that was her username, anyone else used to watch her?) or Aubrey on Youtube raving about it.  However I don't particularly like this as it has a very strong smell and the particles are quite rough and are not regular spheres so it is quite harsh on the skin.  It does leave my skin feeling soft afterwards but during it isn't very pleasant!

I think I bought this to help with blackheads on my nose.  I keep this one in my shower so it gets used slightly more often than the others!

I bought this one because I have what are called 'milk spots' under my eyes which are just like teeny white spots but they don't heal themselves and they just stay there always :( I read that salicylic acid is good for helping them and this one contained a higher percentage.  I don't even know if it works to be honest I only stuck with it for like 3 days...  So you never know, once I've finished this I may be milk spot free!

If anyone has any suggestions for cruelty-free scrubs when I (eventually) finish this lot please let me know!  I was thinking Soap and Glory?

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The Liebster Award

I have been awarded the Liebster Award by Hayley from Water Painted Dreams!  Thank you!

These are the rules: 
1. Link to the person who awarded you.
2. Choose 5 blogs with under 200 followers to award.
3. Let them know!

Here are the blogs I have awarded:
Amiiee
Alex
Caroline
Melissa and Rebekah
Morag

Hope you have a look at these blogs!!

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E.L.F. Mineral Moisturising Lip Tint SPF 8 in Berry Review

I was ordering some bits on E.L.F. a month or so ago and I decided to try out their new Mineral Moisturising Lip Tint from the Studio line which is £3.50.  I thought that it may be similar to the infamous Revlon Lip Butters, although I don't actually own any so I can't compare them!

I got mine in the shade Berry - I tend to be drawn to things which have that name!  First of all, I was really quite impressed with the pigmentation.  My lips are a very strong colour naturally (may sound good but it's the bane of my life!) and it was pretty much opaque!  I only got the one colour so I can't say whether or not it is the same for the other shades.  They smell really good, however they actually taste horrible!  Obviously you're not supposed to eat them but while wearing something on your lips it's usually going to find a way into your mouth!

Overall I did like this product however I would not use it as a moisturising 'balm', I found it really didn't do much for me on that front.  It wasn't drying but I definitely didn't find it particularly moisturising either.  So I like this as a lipstick which is semi-moisturising rather than a moisturising product with a tint - if that makes any sense at all!!  I won't be buying any more of these I don't think, just because none of the other colours really take my fancy, but I do enjoy this one!

Bare lips

After application

Wear after about an hour

Sorry for the dodgy photos, these were all taken under different lighting conditions - rookie mistake!  Hopefully my photography skills will improve as time goes on haha...

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I Made My Own Nail Varnish!

Sort of...

I got bored of studying so I decided to try and make my own nail varnish - as you do!

All I did was pour some clear nail varnish into a little pot and then I mixed in a couple of little scoops of a loose eyeshadow.  The one I used is a combination of two, a Barry M Dazzle Dust (Gold Green I think?) and some really old Avon loose eyeshadow (a green colour again) which I just poured in at some point!

I used one of those weird synthetic eyeshadow brushes which are quite useless for actually applying eyeshadow to your eyes!  I used the end of it to mix the powder into the nail varnish, then wiped it and used the brush side to apply it.

Obviously it wasn't the best application and I ended up with quite a few tiny bubbles (or maybe it is just powder particles?) so it doesn't look very smooth but overall I am quite pleased how it turned out!  I've got another pot of two purples I combined so I can't wait to use that and see how it turns out!

What do you think?  If you have tried this or plan on trying it I'd love to see photos!

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Treating Myself!

Today was my first exam and it did not go well... I had expected this so I'm feeling okay, and more positive about the other 3!  We went to Boots afterwards and I had a wee list in my head of things I wanted to buy so I just took that opportunity to get them sooner rather than later as I'd thought.

I got the No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser as I've heard good things about about it, and that it is a cheaper alternative to Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish.  I had the Liz Earle one a few years ago but I was a bit young to fully appreciate it to be honest.  I did love their moisturiser but it just got a bit expensive as my mum would use it too!  So I thought I would try this as it is a lot cheaper at £10, and huge too!  However I got this as a sort of incentive to cleanse more (I am terrible!) and use up the cheapo Avon (not CF) one I have at the moment before I can use this one!

I also got the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation as I'm running low on the one I use normally (another Avon one, can you tell I used to be a rep? haha!) and thought I'd try this one.  It was £9.99.

I got the concealer to match as I've been getting a few more spots recently and I can't use my Mac Studio Finish (not CF) that I use under my eyes as it's the wrong colour, so hopefully this one will be good!  I got them both in colour 51 and the concealer cost £7.49.

So there you have it!  That's cheered me up a bit.  I also wanted one of those doughnut things for making hair buns but it was £4.69 - FOUR SIXTY-NINE?!  So sack that, I'm sure I can find it cheaper elsewhere!

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Kitty Face Shoes!

I've seen this style of shoe making the rounds quite a lot recently and I fell in love as soon as I saw them, they are just adorable!  They were originally designed by Charlotte Olympia and you can see those particular ones here.  At nearly £500 they are extremely exprensive!  However, the good old high street got to work and there are now a few copies floating about the internet if you can get your hands on them.

I got my pair from Daisy Street Shoes for a mere £21, with free delivery!  I had to pre-order them and wait a wee while for them but they arrived much quicker than I had expected, it was so exciting!  I think that Missguided are also selling them for slightly more.

The shoes have a velveteen feel to them and the stitching is in a pewter colour rather than gold which the original pair are embroidered with, and the little ears are floppy!  They also don't have a heel unlike the originals but I definitely prefer them without. 

As much as I love these they have taken rather a lot of breaking in!  They were very stiff when they arrived, so I just put a pair of thick socks on and wore them around my house.  They are much better now but not exactly comfy just yet!  Hopefully they will soften up soon, I still love them anyway!

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NOTD: Models Own Combo

Boooo it's exam time, don't think I've ever been as stressed out as I was on Thursday, but it's gone the other way and now I am too laid back...  My first exam is on Tuesday and I don't think it'll go very well but I'm feeling more positive about the others so fingers crossed!

Here I am wearing Models Own Tropical Sun with Ibiza Mix as an accent.

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