Real Techniques Brush Review

Just about a month ago I purchased a full set of Real Techniques make up brushes so I thought I would do a review on them. I had been wanting to invest in some good quality make up brushes and did quite a bit of research into which ones would be the best to buy. I had looked at MAC brushes and whilst they were quite expensive, I thought to myself they will probably be of a really high quality and last me for ages. So I was set on buying some MAC brushes. However, I was browsing through make up posts and watching tonnes of make up videos on Youtube and I soon realised a repeating pattern- almost everyone had Real Techniques brushes. So I decided to go look into them a bit more.

 I was shocked by the affordable prices of these brushes. I also really liked the way you could purchase the 'core collection' for all your necessary base/foundation needs and also the 'starter kit' for your eyes. So I purchased them both and also got a few extra brushes.

The Core Collection contains:

• A detailer brush
• A pointed foundation brush
• A buffing brush
• A contour brush    

Buy it here: http://www.feelunique.com/p/Real-Techniques-Core-Collection-Kit


The Starter Kit contains:

• A base shadow brush
• A deluxe crease brush
• An accent brush
• A pixel point eyeliner brush
• A brow brush

Buy it here: http://www.feelunique.com/p/Real-Techniques-Starter-Kit


I also purchased:

• The Powder brush (http://www.feelunique.com/p/Real-Techniques-Powder-Brush)
• The Blush brush (http://www.feelunique.com/p/Real-Techniques-Blush-Brush)
• The Stippling brush (http://www.feelunique.com/p/Real-Techniques-Stippling-Brush)

The two kits were £21.99 each and all the other brushes were around £10, so extremely cheap for good quality brushes.
I have used all the brushes and love them all, I must admit I don't always use them for their exact purpose but there's no harm in that!
The only negative I have is that the powder brush isn't great, for me anyway. I personally prefer a more sturdier brush for applying powder as I feel it gives me more coverage. The powder brush is just a bit too flimsy for me, but that's just a personal thing. I use it instead for lightly dusting bronzer over my face and it works a treat!
Other than that I have nothing bad to say about these brushes. They do not shed hairs, the handles are long, comfortable and sturdy and I love them! I honestly would recommend these to anyone, especially if you are purchasing your first set of brushes as they are very affordable and great quality.
I also love the way the handles are colour co-ordinated, gold for the base brushes, purple for eye brushes and pink for finish brushes. I actually wasn't too keen on this idea at the start as I would ave preferred having them all the one colour. But now I love it, it makes it so much easier to know which brush is which and makes finding a brush for a certain thing much quicker and easier.

I purchased mine off http://www.feelunique.com/ and I was very impressed with their service. It was super fast delivery and they even sent me two free samples to try. It is now my favourite place to shop all things beauty, make up and skincare. So do go and check out their website. They have so many brands and sooo many products to choose from. High end and drugstore products all in the one place. What more could a girl want?

Love Yourself

No, I don't mean be full of yourself and act like a Queen B (Beyonce, Blair Waldorf or Regina George, whoever may pop into your head) I mean be kind to yourself and don't be harsh on yourself. I know it sounds pretty bizarre but its what you need to do.

This summer, I made a vow to myself that I would try and learn to love myself a little bit more. I'm forever putting myself down, I believe I can't do things and quit before I have even started. Girls seem to put themselves down a lot, maybe boys do too but I personally have no experience in being a boy, obviously! Girls are constantly trying to perfect their image, they go on diets because they think they aren't skinny enough, they believe they aren't pretty and sometimes they can really criticise themselves so much that it becomes a problem. Us girls seem to find every single flaw we could possibly find and most times blow it way out of proportion and exaggerate and make a big deal out of nothing. But for some of us, that incy wincy thing could be a big blow to our confidence. But focusing on these things on the outside doesn't help us in any way, we can criticise ourselves as much as we want about our appearance, but there are just some things you cannot change, like facial structure or height or boob size (unless you want to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a boob job) but focusing on these things saying you wish they were better or that you looked better isn't going to make a difference and you just have to accept this. I have come to realise this is what you need to do. Accept it. 

I put myself down a lot for numerous things and beat myself up about things I can't change, so if you can't change it, what's the point in getting hung up about it and upsetting yourself? Learn to deal with it and trust me, you'll soon realise it makes you happier, maybe not a lot, but it helps. So now, when I look in the mirror and go to criticise something, I say to myself "Is there anyway you can change that?" and if the answer is no then I say to myself "Ok then, wise up and get over it". Also if you do feel you have flaws, don't point them out to anyone, chances are, they won't have even noticed and its just you being paranoid. 

Everyone just needs to chill out and stop caring about what other people think (easier said than done, I know!) but the less you care, the happier you will be. Of course, people will be nasty and you will feel hurt and upset if they do make a comment but if you are happy then you should just try your best to ignore them. 

PUT YOURSELF FIRST! If you want to do something, do it! If you don't want to do something but everyone else is doing it, don't do it! You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Don't follow the crowd. Be different. And most of all, LOVE YOURSELF!

Being the only single person out of my friends, I often get quite lonely and think to myself, why aren't guys interested in me? What's so wrong with me? And it is the latter question that makes me realise why I don't have a boyfriend. I question myself, I feel self concious, I'm shy around guys, I don't love myself. And so I realised if I'm not confident in myself and I don't feel good about myself then I'm not giving out a very positive vibe. I hide away and therefore no one is going to see me and guys won't even notice me. I'm my own worst enemy haha. I sit in my room most days watching Netflix so how do I expect to meet any guys (unless those guys are Chuck Bass, Nate Archibald or any hunks in the movies, and yes I am a huge Gossip Girl fan in case you hadn't noticed) I need to get up and give myself a shake and be the person I want to be and go out and do what I want to do and get what I want to get. Because no one else can do it for me.

All these thoughts have been clogging up my brain, its so good to finally get them out. Therefore this is an extremelyyyyyy long post. But it has helped a lot. More recently I have been 'loving myself' a lot more and have been treating myself. I've been having pamper evenings for myself which have included long hot baths with candles and facial masks, I've had girly nights in with my mum watching girly movies too. We watched "The Other Woman" last night and it was hilarious, we were still laughing at bits of it today so if you haven't seen it, be sure to go check it out. I also treated myself to some new make up brushes from Real Techniques among lots of other beauty buys. And I think I am starting to feel a little better about myself.

This blog alone was an improvement for myself. It was something I had wanted to do for a while and I finally thought 'Why not? What is holding you back? You want to do it so do it!' And I did, and it makes me happy. 

I hope this inspires you to love yourself a little too.

Bloglovin

Make sure you all head over and follow me on Bloglovin! I'm sure you all have it or have heard about it, but if not it is a site which allows you to follow all your favourite blogs and creates a feed so you have all the recent blogposts in one place. I have the app for my Iphone and it is a brilliant way to allow me to keep updated with all my favourite bloggers on the go. So while I'm sitting on the bus or even just at home I can easily scroll through the recent posts. So be sure to check it out and follow me!

Also here are a few of my favourite bloggers that I follow on Bloglovin, so be sure to check them out to.
I tend to follow more beauty, fashion and lifestyle blogs. Some of my favourites are:
Zoella
MsRosieBea
essiebutton
Fleur de Force
Kayture
Lauren Conrad
LLYMRS
Ring My Bell
Velvetgh0st (Gabriella)
Lady Smart
BritishBeautyBlogger

These are just a few haha! I also love on Bloglovin how it gives you a feed of all the unread blogposts (so most recent ones) and how you can quickly scroll through the list at the side of the app to quickly find a certain blog. If you haven't got the app, I would highly recommend it.

Aggravating Acne Jokes

So recently I was scrolling down my Facebook news feed and saw various pictures like the ones below that were basically mocking girls with acne.

These angered me a lot, to say the least! Do people not realise how much this can knock a girls confidence, especially one suffering from acne? Some people cannot get rid of acne no matter how they try. Even medication doesn't always help. There is also no medical evidence that diet or poor hygiene contribute to acne so just because someone suffers with acne and can't get rid of it, doesn't mean they aren't hygienic. Just pointing that out.

Boys and girls both suffer from acne and there are very few people who don't suffer with it at some point in their life. It is most common for it to occur during your teenage years due to changes in hormone levels. Generally, girls are a lot more self conscious about their looks than guys and for some girls acne can cause them some serious issues. Without make up, some girls may not even feel confident enough to leave their own house, and from personal experience, even with make up on, going outside to school or work can be just as hard as going with no make up. And seeing pictures like these certainly doesn't help resolve any of these issues.

For girls, make up is a saviour, whether they suffer from acne or not. Make up helps girls feel beautiful, even though they are just as beautiful without makeup. Make up helps empower girls. It gives us confidence and makes us feel that little bit happier about ourselves. And for girls with acne, it does so much more.

I am very aware that acne does sometimes look like these pictures when girls cover it up with make up, but why point that out? It would look even worse if it wasn't covered up. Some girls with acne can't even look in the mirror without their make up on because it upsets them so much. When they stay at a friends house, they can be afraid to take their make up off because it makes them feel so self conscious.Trust me, I know how it feels. And if it does look like in those pictures, don't you think they know that? When people are talking to them staring at their faces, don't you think they know what people are staring at?

Acne covered in make up is also most visible in pictures and when in bright lighting and girls can feel so crappy about themselves when they see them. Unfortunately for some people its just not curable.

So please, guys and girls, please show some respect. We all suffer from it. These girls covering their acne in make up are already self conscious enough. Don't make it even worse. Let them cover it in make up, and yes I know you can't help noticing it, but don't point it out and make matters worse by posting pictures like these.

A Poem Per Week-10 Things I Hate About You Poem

Ok, so I'm a week late with this poem. Off to a great start already! Anyway, today I have another poem, however it's slightly different considering it's from a movie. I just think this sums up the mixture of feelings regarding boys and love and all that soppy stuff. It mixes anger with love perfectly. And also the way Kat delivers the poem in the movie is brilliant. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie (where on earth have you been?!) you need to go watch it. Its definitely one of my all time favourites!

I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive my car, I hate it when you stare.
I hate your big, dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick — It even makes me rhyme.
I hate the way you're always right. I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh — Even worse when you make me cry.
I hate it when you're not around. And the fact that you didn't call.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you — Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all. 

A Poem Per Week - 'If'

To express my love for all things literary, I've decided to post a poem each week. I have studied poetry for the past 2 years at school, and in all honesty, most of the poems have bored the life out of me. This year I studied Robert Frost and Edward Thomas and after all the analysing and comparing, I'm far from enthusiastic about their poems. But I do still love poetry, surprisingly!

The first poem I want to share is 'If', by Rudyard Kipling. I feel it is a very encouraging and positive poem and always seems to reassure me. For what reason? I have no idea haha.


'If'

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Let the blogging commence!

Hi! Hello! Welcome!
I'm not quite sure what greeting to use to open this haha.

With the summer holidays beginning, I decided to create this blog. With a huge interest in the blogging world, I decided to take the plunge and start one myself. I am a young, teenage girl with a passion for almost anything, including all the usual things a teenage girl loves, such as beauty, fashion and make-up. There are a lot of beauty and fashion blogs already present on the blogging platform, which is why I want to try and incorporate even more into my blog. As well as the usual make up reviews, beauty tips, and fashion posts, I also want to share my love for English and literature by doing book reviews, magazine reviews, movie reviews or whatever comes to mind. Heck, I think this blog is just going to be a mish mash of my thoughts and experiences and really anything lurking in the corners of my mind. Not only do I want to try and provide an interesting and helpful blog for anyone who wants to read it, but I am hoping this blog will also help myself, to build confidence and express myself. I will more than likely end up projecting all kinds of things onto my blog.

I don't want this blog just being all about reviews and the usual stuff, I  also want to entwine my personal experiences throughout it, and vent my thoughts about, well, anything really! Like I said, it really will just be a mixture of things. Therefore, I don't really think I have a category that I could place my blog in just yet.

I will try not to make all my blogposts as wordy as this. What can i say? I study English at school, writing essays is just what I'm used to haha.

Stick around to see what weird and wonderful posts I make.