FINAL THOUGHTS

This is only going to be a very brief post but this is my final thoughts after using only one lip product- Burt's Bees- for a whole month.

Whilst Burt's Bees is undoubtedly a very good lip balm, I hate to say that it's no better than other, cheaper brands and a few times during the month I found myself longing for my Body Shop Shea Lip Butter or the Nivea Hydrocare Stick.

That being said, my lips are super, duper, duper smooth and soft right now and, while I will go back to using multiple different brands and products at the same time, I think I can safely say that Burt's Bees will always be a permanent staple in my life.

NO.1 PARTY ANTHEM

So I haven't posted in a while and last night I went to my friends' 18th birthday party and really liked how I looked (I personally think I looked quite evil) so I though I'd share it with the internets.

Hair:
For my hair I simply washed it and then blow-dried it to get rid of most of the wetness. Then I put it in two plaits to finish drying and tah-dah: waves! I am really big on doing my hair like this at the moment.

Face:

I have spoken briefly about the wrong-concealer-shade-fiasco (more detail in a later post) but it has turned out that, now my face is more tanned, the to dark/orange shade is the right colour for me; I am currently using the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Shade 2 Cool Medium.

For my eyes I used my normal Body Shop Carbon Eye Definer in black (I really want the brown one too) and the Body Shop Colour Crush eyeshadow in Pink Crush (these are amazing I need more). I also used the No7 Extreme Length Sensitive mascara which does its job but I am feeling the need for a better one.

The eyshadow looks quite peachy here but in really it is a beautiful pale pink with a slight shimmer to it

For my lips I used my probable most favourite lipstick right now and that is the Rimmel Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in shade 107 which I think might be called 'Wine' but don't take my word on it. This is a red/pink lipstick and I am absolutely loving it, it's build-able for a darker shade and it just looks so good on (closer image below).

You can barely see my nails but I was wearing a Topshop one in Cloak and Dagger (a.k.a. black). Black nails to match black accessories, as my mother said.

Clothing:
The dress I wore is secretly very old, I was given it about two years ago but due to the colour and the cut it really did not suit me at the age of 15; now that I'm 17, though, I've found myself really liking this dress. If you can't see the picture clearly it's a bright lime green colour with a fairly low cut that is very tight and you can probably tell why I couldn't wear it two years ago. The dress is an H&M one (see top picture).
Bag-wise I bought a small black bag that I got from New Look yonks ago and won't picture here because it's pretty boring but quite good for carrying the essentials without having to walk round holding a clutch bag.

My accessories where rather 1990's themed as I wore my black jelly shoes (without socks, I am the bravest) and a black elastic choker that everyone is wearing nowadays but I think look really simple and cool and I couldn't find one anywhere. Then my mother suggested we look in River Island (which I never normally shop in) and low and behold I bought one in there for £3 (nice price).

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS

Since I am relatively new to the world of makeup brushes, that means I am also new to the world of cleaning them. I watched a few videos and read a lot of blog posts to find the best way of cleaning your brushes, and this is my version of most-of-those-mashed-into-one: 

(Brush set from Cath Kidston). The brushes I cleaned were the third and fourth brushes from the right which I use for concealer, and the brown brush which is my eyeshadow brush. I also cleaned my Body Shop 'Face and Body' brush which I use to blend my concealer in (pictured below).

1. Fill a bowl/sink with warm water.

2. Get a shampoo of your choice (I am using a Herbal Essences one) on the palm of your hand; you need enough to clean the brush efficiently but you should use too much. 

3. Dip your brush in the water and rub it in circular motions in the shampoo. 

4. Wash the shampoo off your brush and dry it (again in a circular motion) on a piece of kitchen roll. In the same way as painting as a child, if your brush is clean then no makeup will come off onto the kitchen roll. If any comes off, then you need to wash your brush again. 

5. Lie your brush flat on a towel to dry (as it's sunny at the moment I also leave mine in a sunny place so they dry quicker); you must make sure that your brush is flat and not upright otherwise the water will damage the ends of the brush inside the handle bit. 

MAY FAVOURITES

I was going to do a haul post as I have had a few mini shopping trips recently but I thought I'd do a favourites instead as I haven't done one of them in forever. I have A LOT of favourites this month...

Beauty:

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer- I won't go into too much detail about this as I will be making a whole post on it, but after the whole wrong-shade-fiasco I have come to really love this concealer. It covers spots, blemishes, dark circles and red patches really well and also has a bargainous price-tag of just over £4.

Makeup Brushes- For a long time the only face makeup I really wore was concealer and that was in stick form so could be blended in with your fingers. For my birthday I was given a beautiful set of Cath Kidston makeup brushes and that has inspired me to experiment more with makeup. I started by using a brush to blend in the Collection concealer and so far I am loving it, it gives much better coverage all over your face and I am thoroughly enjoying the world of makeup brushes.

This doesn't do justice to just how BRIGHT the colours are

Topshop Lipsticks- Now I must say with these is that you must always have super smooth and hydrated lips before you put these lipsticks on as they are quite drying (but that might only be the matte shades) but other than that they are some of the best high street lipsticks. I have three Topshop lipsticks and I currently have my eye on a couple more; my favourite shades this summer are Infrared which is an amazing bright neon-ish orange but you have to be quite brave to wear it out, and Rio Rio which is a bright red with orangey undertones. I don't know if this is just me but I also find Topshop lipsticks are easier to apply than other brands (bare in mind I am absolutely awful at applying lipstick) but I feel it's less messy and less hassle.

Boots Tea Tree Stick- Ever since I began getting spots six years ago or so, this is a product I have found myself coming back to time and time again. There isn't a post where I don't ramble on about how good tea tree is for your skin, and this will be no exception. This product has two sides, one of day and one for night, and it is probably one of the best spot treatments out there. This isn't a product for really bad skin, but it clears the odd few spots up perfectly in three or so days. Plus it has a super good price at just over £3 and you get a lot of product.

Body Shop Face Pack- here's another tea tree product for me to ramble on about, but basically this clears up your spots really well. I'll either do a whole face pack or do it just on the areas I want to clear up and it works a dream.

Mascara in General- For the past few months I haven't been bothering to wear mascara as I find it a pain to get off without pulling half your eyelashes out and I honestly can't tell whether I've got it out or not. When I've been going out recently I've just been putting on a little bit of mascara and I must say it does kind of finalise (right word?) or complete your eyes and it stops you looking bottom-heavy if you're only wearing eyeliner on your lower lash line.

Clothing/Accessories:

This is the skirt with Topshop Infrared lipstick- I am very unphotogenic and bloody awful at taking selfies

New Look Shirt- I was a big New Look fan from the ages of about 11-13, but after I discovered H&M I ignored it completely. Its been a good few years since I properly went into New Look and had a look around, but I was given a voucher for my birthday. This shirt is absolutely perfect, it is thin enough for summer wear and can be dressed up or down or worn with a jumper. I tend to wear it tucked into black jeans with black jelly shoes, but it looks equally as good not tucked in or worn with skirts.

Juju Jelly Shoes- throwback to the 90s here, these came back in fashion last summer but sadly I missed out on getting some (I was not a happy bunny about that). I decided to opt for the high-heeled black ones as they can be worn casually or dressed-up and the colour means they go with everything. I wear them either bare foot or with cute frilly socks (the only time it's acceptable to wear socks with sandals) and they are a must-have in the summer.

Satchel- I will go into more depth on my 'What's in my Bag' post with this, but this beautiful bag is from Accessorize and it has the magic of being larger on the inside than it looks.

Accessorize Midi Ring- I love rings, I love simple rings, and I love midi rings. I got this for my birthday and I have worn it more or less everyday since. In my opinion, it goes with literally everything and it just so pretty.

Here is the notebook with the shirt mentioned above

Other:
New Notebook- I am a sucker for a good notebook and this one is almost too pretty to use. There's a whole range of these with similar slogans on the front but this was my favourite because obviously I am an undiscovered genius.

Snapchat photo of 'Strawberry Buttercream' after the wax explosion 

Yankee Candles- I currently have two favourite Yankee Candles that I got for my birthday in 'sample' from (the samples are great as they cost under £2 each and it's a great way to test if you like the scent before buying a larger and more expensive one). My current favourites are Strawberry Buttercream which I had always thought was too sickly but now I own it I want to eat it it smells so good, and Lovely Kiku which I'm not sure how to describe but there are no words for how good it smells. I keep candles like these on a saucer as I don't have anything to put them in and I think it makes them look pretty.

Pompeii Movie- We took a family trip to see this in May but oh my it was amazing. Kit Harrington (A.K.A. Game of Throne's Jon Snow) is beautiful, his body is so perfect that you want to die and I would 100% recommend seeing this. Bare in mind, it is possibly just down to him that the film is so good as it is very historically and geologically inaccurate (you shall learn that my family are big history nerds) but I am very excited for the DVD to come out.
Wombats- My friend got me the latest Wombat's CD and it is really, really good. It's not something I would normally have listened to but I am in love and it is the perfect soundtrack for summer.
Arctic Monkeys- I was always one of those people who was like 'I don't like the Arctic Monkeys, all their stuff sounds really samey and boring' but after I bought my Reading Festival ticket (moment of excitement here please) I decided I had to listen to them as they are headlining on Saturday and the whole world, their mum and their dog is obsessed. Arctic Monkeys still sound a bit samey to me but they have grown on me a lot, I wouldn't consider myself a big fan but 'No. 1 Party Anthem' from AM has got to be one of the best songs at the moment.
Game of Thrones- It's safe to say my whole family is obsessed my this. We are those people who read the book before watching the TV, and I would 100% recommend doing that as there is so much in the books that is missed out on the TV and the books are fantastic. The second book can get a bit long and boring as it is something of a transitional book, but it is so worth getting through it for the third which is amazing. Read before your watch.

JUNE GOALS

I saw this on someone else's blog and I loved the idea of it. Writing down your monthly goals is a great way to keep on top of things and these are mine for the upcoming month.

1) Now my AS exams are over, I want to go out more and enjoy myself as I have spent the past two months shut up in my room revising and my brother kindly told me the other day that I need to go outside as my skin is the same colour as the white shirt I was wearing.
2) In the UK, after Year 12 (AS) exams are over we have a couple of weeks off and then we go back to school for another month to start Year 13 (A2). My most major goal this month is to get a good start into A2 as that was not something I did in September and I was very, very unhappy for the first few months of school.
3) One of my New Years resolutions was to read more, but I had to put that on hold while I was revising. This month I would like to finish Game of Thrones book three part two (that's a mouthful) and start my new books which I am really excited for.
4) Creative writing is always something that I have enjoyed, and it was something that I was very good at when I was younger. I always start writing books with really good ideas, but I normally fizzle out after the first few chapters and give up on them. This month I would like to write a couple of chapters of a new book that have good content that I will be proud of and not give up on them so soon. Writing a book is difficult.

SIMMER DOWN AND PUCKER UP

When life hands you exams it is essential (in my view) to buy yourself rewards for all the work and stress you are put through (and I promise that is not an excuse to go shopping). Last summer I went to Florida where I bought some Burt's Bees Lip Balms as they are much cheaper over there than they are here in the UK.

(Cheeky reuse of old photos here)

The main point of this post is not solely to review this product, but to talk about a new thing I'm doing this month. This June I have decided to only use one lip balm for the whole of the month just because I can really, I have no other reasoning apart from that.

I did make a post on Burt's Bees waaaay back in September 2013 so I'm not going to spend too long writing about it again. But I will say that it smells minty and fresh and brings back good memories of last summer; I also use this as a base before applying lipstick as it is quite a hard product so it isn't greasy, it doesn't leave a residue and you can barely feel it on your lips so your lipstick doesn't go sliding straight off as it might with a thinner, greasier balm.

I'd like to end this post by saying that, as of tomorrow, I will be free from exams and that is more exciting than anything right now.