7 Deadly Sins of Beauty Tag

I remember watching YouTube videos of this tag ages ago before I had even started my blog and I've always wanted to do it myself, so here it is! Read on to see the questions and my responses.

(1) Greed: What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

Barry M Nail Paints (£2.99) are really cheap but I find them to be one of the best formulations of nail polish out there. I even prefer these to the gelly version. There are such a huge range of colours available - I have: Cappucino, Berry Cosmo, Red Wine and Red Black.

I have The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder (£13.00) in the shade 02 fair matte and I really like it for contouring as it’s not too fair and also, more importantly, not too orange. I think you can probably find something better for cheaper though (if you have any recommendations leave them below!)


(2) Wrath: What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I used to love the Maybelline Colour Tattoo gel-cream eyeshadows (£4.99) but I haven’t been reaching for them as much recently. They tend to crease on my lids, but I do sometimes use them as a base for matte eyeshadows. I have these in the colours (25) Everlasting Navy, (35) On and on Bronze, (65) Pink Gold, (70) Metallic Pomegranate and (75) 24K Gold.


(3) Gluttony: What are your most delicious beauty products?

Burt’s Bees lip balms (£3.99) smell amazing, I have the Honey one and the Pink Grapefruit one and I really want to pick up other scents.


(4) Sloth: What beauty products do you neglect due to laziness?

I rarely wear lipstick during the day, unless I’m doing something special. I just can’t be bothered to check it after every meal to make sure that I haven’t smudged it or gotten any on my teeth.


(5) Pride: What beauty product gives you the most self-confidence?

I’m prone to the odd blemish and I always have a red chin so I would have to say concealer. I particularly love Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer (£4.19) in the shade 1 Fair for blemishes and redness and Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer (£5.49) in the shade 10 Ivory for under my eyes.

(6) Lust: What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?

Having pretty eyes is really attractive to me.

(7) Envy: What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

I'm not entirely sure - I think perfume because I don't have one at the moment and because I'd never buy perfume for myself.

I really enjoyed this tag! I tag anyone reading this who wants to try this tag to do it!

Thanks for reading.

Liebster Award (2)

Today was meant to be a room tour with loads of lovely photos and lots of close ups of some cute things in my room but unfortunately I have had so many deadlines this week that I haven't got around to tidying/hoovering/dusting my room let alone taking photos! So I'll delay that post until next week.

I know that I did the Liebster award a few weeks ago (if you missed it you can find it here) but I was tagged again by the wonderful Raashi to do it with her set of questions, so here it is. Thank you so much for the nomination!

(1) What is your favourite quote?
I am a complete sucker for quotes. There is no way I could pick just one. I have a lot of quotes on my bedroom wall, which I'm sure will feature in my room tour next week as it's sort of a major focus in my room. One of my favourites at the moment from my quote wall is: "I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me".

(2) What's your favourite song (or a few favourite songs) at the moment?
I'm loving "Hello" by Adele, "Wasn't Expecting That" by Jamie Lawson and "Lump Sum" by Bon Iver at the moment.

(3) What was the last photo you took with your phone?
Oh God, it was a horrific selfie from when I was getting ready for Bonfire Night on Thursday. I'd post it here but my hair is scraped into such a tight bun that I'm just all forehead!

(4) Who was the last person who sent you a text message?
Hahahahaha it was Royal Mail telling me that my parcel wasn't delivered because no-one was in. That's so sad. I have mates I promise....

(5) Has October been a good month for you so far?
October was a really good month for me, I had fairly low expectations for Halloween which ended up being a really good weekend. And I have been managing to (just about) stay on top of my coursework and juggle my social life.

(6) Do you have any nicknames?
My flatmates sometimes call me Emjem and my boyfriend sometimes calls me hunny bun (bleugh feel free to throw up at that haha).

(7) What's your favourite dessert?
THIS IS SUCH A DIFFICULT QUESTION ummmmm let's go with cheesecake. Particularly chocolate cheesecake or lemon cheesecake.

(8) If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
I know that it would probably be as much an annoyance as it would be convenient but I would love to be able to read minds. 

(9) Has there been one blogging experience that you're particularly proud of?
I can't think of one really stand out post so I suppose I'd have to say designing my blog - I'm still wanting to tweak some bits and completely change others but I'm really happy with the progress of its design and that I'm doing it all myself!

(10) How would you like to be remembered by others?
I would love to be remembered for having contributed to the world in some way.



I'm not going to nominate anyone because I did this award post a few weeks ago but I hope you enjoyed reading anyway!

If you feel like it, answer one of the questions in the comments!

My nighttime routine

I was going to skip blogging today because I have got so so much work to do for uni this week, but then this afternoon I got blogger's guilt that I hadn't stuck to my Wednesday/Saturday schedule: so here is the post I had always intended to write anyway!

This is the second part of my routines - if you missed my morning routine post you can check it out here.

I've actually been really naughty recently and I haven't been sticking to this routine as well as I should have. I've really noticed the difference with my skin and so I'm determined to get back on track (you can read about this and my other goals for the remained of 2015 here).

I always try to be in bed by 12am, and often I'm in bed at 11pm! It really depends on how tired I feel.

The first thing I do is take off the majority of my makeup with some cotton wool pads (triple pack £3.00) and Garnier Cleansing Micellar Water (£4.99), focussing on my eye makeup. I use about between one and four cotton pads depending on how much makeup I'm wearing that day.

Next, for my second cleanse, I use The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil (£11.00) with a lukewarm, damp face cloth or muslin cloth (the same one as the morning, I then put it in my laundry bag and take a clean one the next day). I can't recommend this cleanser enough. It's really gentle, but at the same time it does an amazing job at breaking down whatever makeup you're wearing - particularly good after nights out, if I'm not too tired. It has removed all the paint from underneath where it sits on the shelf in my bathroom - I'm pretty sure this is because the type of paint is oil based, and this oil cleanser dissolves oil... anyway, it's heavy duty but doesn't irritate my skin.

If I'm too tired to take my makeup off after a night out, or I'm staying at my boyfriend's flat, I use the B. Pure Micellar Cleansing Wipes (£1.00). I got these free after spending a certain amount of money on Superdrug and I have to say I'm really impressed. Face wipes that I've used in the past have never left my skin feeling all that clean. These are obviously not as good as a proper double cleanse, but definitely do the job in a pinch.

Following on from cleanser, I use an acid toner. I'm currently using and loving the Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Exfoliating Facial Pads (£12.95 but often on offer). These pads contain glycolic acid and hyaluronic acid which act as an exfoliator. I honestly can't recommend switching to an acid toner instead of an exfoliator and a regular toner enough! I've raved about these before but let me just say that I didn't use these for a week and I noticed a huge difference in the texture of my skin!

To finish off in the bathroom I brush my teeth and use mouthwash - I've mentioned these products in my morning routine so I won't go into any more detail here.

I head upstairs next and use a stick deodorant: Sure Women Maximum Protection Cream Deodorant in Clean Scent (£4.99). This is a new product for me and the first twist up deodorant I've ever used but I have to say I really like it and I don't think I'll be going back to aerosols any time soon! It also smells like fresh laundry which is one of my favourite scents!

Next, moisturiser. I love The Body Shop Drops Of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask (£24.00). This seems really expensive and I thought long and hard about it before I purchased it. It's a huge tub that I've barely made a dent in as you need so little! I feel like I've spoken about this product before but I can't think when. The texture of this is, as the name suggests, bouncy. It does sit on the skin for a while and so if you're not careful you can end up stuck to your pillow but it's honestly worth it because it does such amazing things to your skin. I don't use this every night, maybe a few times a week.

Other nights I use a regular moisturiser: Nivea Visage Pure & Natural Regenerating Night Cream (£5.35). If I feel like my skin needs a little shot of moisture I will use The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-In-Oil (£15.00). Again, this is quite pricey for such a small bottle but you only need about two drops to cover your entire face.

I finish off my nighttime routine by applying some hand cream - I've currently got a miniature Soap&Glory Sugar Crush Hand Food (£2.50) sat beside my bed. I also use Burt's Bees Lip Balm with Honey (£3.99).

Wow that was a long one! Congratulations if you made it to the end.

What's one product you can't go to sleep without using?

Goals for the rest of 2015

Yes, it might be the last day of October. Yes, there might only be two months left of this year. But in my mind, that is still plenty of time to make and achieve a few goals for 2015. I don't want to waste these next two months by keeping my goals until the start of the new year - I want to start working towards them right away.

Continue preparing healthier home-cooked meals

This is something that I've been trying to do a lot more this year - it's a lot easier now that I'm back at university where I'm completely in charge of my own diet. I've never been the biggest eater of red meat so that's basically been cut out completely. Similarly, I rarely eat chicken - I've almost become a pescatarian without really realising it! I've been eating a lot of fish recently and I want to keep this up. I also want to increase how much fruit and vegetables I eat per day - it drives me bananas when I don't get my 5-a-day (hehe so punny).

Get back on the skincare wagon

I've been really really naughty recently and I haven't been sticking to my night time skincare routine at all. Being in a new relationship I feel a bit awkward getting out all of my "lotions and potions" before bed so I've just been using either micellar water or makeup wipes and then a bit of moisturiser, and my skin is definitely suffering as a result. I'm going to post my night time skincare routine next week (so keep an eye out) and so hopefully posting that will give me the motivation to get back into my proper routine!

Save money every month

Last year I kept a detailed record of everything that I was spending my money on and I always had more than enough to get me through each month. This year I haven't been doing that at all, and I have definitely been living outwith my means. I really want to start budgeting again - especially with Christmas coming up!

Achieve good exam results

I've got my first term exams coming up in December and I really want to do well in them. In these exams last year I got AAAB and so I really want to try to match those results! I don't know that I will, seeing as the difficulty has really increased this year, but it's a good goal to have!

 

Continue blogging twice weekly

I like to think that this is me back into blogging! I've been really good at posting recently and every post has gone up on the planned days (Wednesdays and Saturdays). I want to continue this for the rest of the year - even into exam time, I'll hopefully have posts scheduled.

What's one goal you have for 2015?

MEET MY: Cath Kidston purse

Welcome back to My Slice! I've decided to start a new series of posts entitled "MEET MY:" where I talk about a key item that I own. I've got a couple of these in my mind, so I hope that you like them!

Above you can see my Cath Kidston purse. My parents bought me this for my 18th birthday in April this year so unfortunately this exact print is discontinued however they have several other prints available (Global Wallet - £38, here). I would also highly recommend the slightly smaller size of this purse (Folded Zip Wallet - £28, here).

Inside, you can see that there are 15 card slots and one slot for a photo (or for a shopping list). Down the left side I have important cards like my bank card, my driving license and other forms of ID and on the right I keep loyalty cards and gift cards. I love how there is a slot for all of my cards!

Inside the zipped section there is another zipped part and on either side there are several little pockets. I don't really see the use in all of these - maybe for keeping receipts in? I don't tend to keep receipts in my purse though as it is a bit untidy looking. I just keep my notes in the large section at the back and coins in the bottom. One thing I will say about this purse is it bulges and can be really hard to close with just a few coins in it!

I really love this purse but it is also really bulky. I didn't realise how bulky it would be and sometimes I do wish I had gone for the smaller sized one. However, this size is good to just take out by itself, sort of like a clutch bag! It also matches my backpack that I use for university (keep an eye out for a post about it!).

Thanks for reading!