September Favourites 2014

Another month, another collection of favourite things for me to share with you all! This month is more weighted by beauty products than other things, mostly because this month I have been experimenting with different colours and textures daily. Also, this week was Freshers Week so I had a lot of free time to play around with makeup looks, plus there were a variety of events going on which required different kinds of looks from going out/party looks to wearable daytime looks to bolder colourful looks for work (makeup artists get away with a completely different sort of 'work make up' to regular folk). So without further ado, let's see what I have been loving for the month of September!

Makeup...

10 Amazing Music Video Makeup Looks From the 90's

The 90's are officially back in fashion and I could not be happier (although I do want the 00's to come back as well. It might be too soon for that though). I have been celebrating this by listening to some classic TLC, Destiny's Child, Blink-182 and Steps among other heroes of that era and let me tell you, it's been a good few days of reminiscing. I may have been born in the second half of the decade and spent most of that time unable to walk and talk but I did still grow up listening to 90's music so to me it still is my childhood. 

Now, we've all seen the pictures of Kylie Jenner's grungy eye makeup and the brown lip which for me is synonymous with the 90's and I know I am not alone in obsessing over this trend. I looove that 90's lip and I have Kylie to thank for it's re-emergence into the beauty-sphere. In bringing this trend back, Kylie has definitely put herself out there as a figure to watch and I'm sure we're going to see much more trend-setting with her in the future. I absolutely love her style and her ever-changing hair!

Having sufficiently established how much I love 90's makeup and music, I thought it would be a fun idea to combine the two in cataloguing my favourite beauty looks from famous music videos of that decade. These are in no particular order because if I had to decide between them I think I'd explode from my indecision. It was hard enough to cut this list down to ten videos.

My Illamasqua Make Up Course Experience

Okay so I know I  previously said that I wouldn't talk about the Illamasqua make up course I attended because I wanted to avoid annoying the company by talking about it without their permission BUT I doubt showing my own work from the course will get me in trouble. There were various tasks to complete, each developing critical skills necessary in the make up industry. This included precision line work, blending, colour application, the perfect lip, skin sculpture and lash application. I wasn't able to get a picture of every single task we completed but the following pictures are from the few tasks I did manage to take a cheeky snap.

August Favourites 2014

This month I have been keeping track of the things I have loved using to make it super easy when September came around and I could do an August Favourites post.

I'd like to include a range of different items in this post which are beauty and lifestyle related, since that's the style of my blog. It wouldn't feel right to only take about beauty products because I have been excited by so much more than just cosmetics this month.

Make Up...

My Thoughts On... No7 Stay Perfect Shade and Define (dupes for high end products?!)

Recently I have been on a bit of a cream eyeshadow kick, especially if they come in a handy, travel-friendly stick format. For a while now I have been crushing on both the By Terry Ombre Blackstar shadow sticks and the Laura Mercier Caviar sticks because the formula and colour pay off of those seem incredible. I swatched them in Space NK and seriously fell in love but I wasn't so head-over-heels about the price tags! So when a friend of mine (who is also a make up enthusiast) told me about the No7 range, I decided to check them out to see how they compared and whether these would do as a substitute. 

My Thoughts On... Revlon's Colorstay Moisture Stain

Revlon recently came out with their own take on the glossy lip stain and it has certainly got my attention. The idea of a stain which is also moisturising and glossy does seem like a bit of an oxymoron so I wanted to investigate whether it could be done. 

50 Random Facts About Me Tag

Hello Lovelies! The "50 Random Facts" tag sounded like a fun thing to do and a good way for you guys to get to know me a little better. I believe that everybody has interesting, quirky parts of themselves which makes them unique and worth knowing. There is not a single person on this entire overgrown football of a planet called 'Earth' who is "boring" or "normal" in my opinion, it is just a case of listening to their stories and hearing what they have to say about themselves. So hopefully proving my point, below is a list of random facts about me which hopefully you will find interesting!

1. My name (Kira) is a compromise. My dad wanted to call me Shakira and my mum disliked the name.

2. Every person I've ever told that to has proceeded to sing 'Hips Don't Lie' to me.

3. I am a very petite person which has earned me the nickname "Pixie". I'm 5 ft. 1

4. I dance, mainly street dance but I have dabbled in contemporary, jazz, hip hop, tap, ballroom and salsa.

5. When I was younger I kept changing what I wanted to be when I grew up. Among the career choices were: scientist, actress, writer, Egyptologist, forensic psychologist and make up artist.

6. I have a phobia of mould, I even have nightmares about it sometimes!

7. I try to live by the motto "Make your life a story worth telling". (I didn't steal that from anywhere, it's just how I feel I will get the best out of my life. It's much better than YOLO!)

8. The imagination is the most beautiful thing in the world to me.

9. I listen to pretty much all types of music. My iPod consists of R&B, hip hop, rap, pop, reggae, dubstep, drum and bass, Latin and classical among many other types of music.

10. I have naturally curly, unruly hair which has come to be my defining feature.

11. I wanted to be a Power Ranger when I was younger. I didn't want to be the pink or yellow girl rangers, I wanted to be a special ranger like the silver one (but the special ones were always male which I found very unfair!)

12. My favourite colours are green and lilac.

13. <= my lucky number

14. I dream of getting my own work of fiction published one day.

15. I currently live in London, but I was born and bred in Essex.

16. I have one younger brother who I love to bits.

17. My ethnic background is complicated: My mum is Portuguese Malaysian with Dutch ancestry too and my dad was born in England but his parents are from Gujarat, India. So basically I just say that I'm Eurasian, it's shorter.

18. <= is the age I was when I started this blog.

19. I've been told I have a 'crazy and cute' personality- make of that what you will.

20. Sherbet Dip Dabs are my weakness.

21. My family is so important to me, including my huge extended family. I have 18 first cousins and I get on well with each and every one of them.

22. I have the most bizarre dreams, especially when I'm tired. I started a dream journal to record the ones that I can remember.

23. Sometimes I get story ideas from my dreams. I'm not sure if that counts as cheating when it comes to creativity or not.

24. I once had the same deja vu twice but over a year apart, I'm not even sure how that is possible.

25. I am a DVD, CD and book collector. I love owning physical copies of things that I buy so I hardly ever download things online. I'm single-handedly trying to keep HMV alive!

26. My favourite song of all time is older than I am and not even in English! My parents used to play it when I was a child so I grew up listening to it and it now holds great significance for me. It's 'Lambada' by Kaoma and it's sung in Brazillian Portuguese.

27. I want to get two tattoos. I know what I want them to be, where they'll be and even which artist I want to do them but I'm determined to tone up my body before I get them done.

28. My zodiac sign is Cancer

29. I really want to learn the steel drums. I once tried them and was told I was a natural!

30. I would love to become a make up artist and professional beauty blogger when I am older.

31. I strongly dislike romantic comedy films because I can't watch cringey things, it actually hurts me to watch embarrassing things. I can't even sit through an entire episode of Britain's Got Talent, I have to leave the room for the bad ones because I feel so embarrassed for them.

32. I love Disney and Pixar films, especially Mulan, The Lion King, Hercules, Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo

33. My favourite non-animated films include The Shawshank Redemption, The Chorus, The Breakfast Club, Cool Runnings, Dirty Dancing and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I also really like superhero films.

34. My favourite books include The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Iliad by Homer

35. If I could have a holiday home abroad it would be on a Greek island like Chios or Mykonos. I love Greece so much. It has such amazing scenary, food and history and I have had many great experiences there in the past.

35. My name (Kira) means "beam of light" in Sanskrit, "like Ra (the Sun-god)" in Ancient Egyptian or "glitter" in Japanese!

36. I share my birthday with Tom Fletcher (member of the boyband Mcfly) and David Hasselhoff.

37. I can hold my breath underwater for a very long time. I love swimming underwater.

38. I really wish I could sing and draw well.

40. My favourite flowers are poppies, especially the Coral Reef, Victoria Louise and Oriental varieties.

41. I love people who have a passion for something. Just seeing the way their eyes light up when they talk about it is incredibly rewarding and instantly makes me like them more. 

42. I have very low confidence and self esteem which has really hindered me in the past. It stopped me talking to people I didn't think would like me because I wasn't as 'cool' or 'interesting' as them but I'm trying to overcome that now.

43. I love long car/train journeys. They give me time to listen to music and just think or daydream. 

44. I used to be a CCF Navy Cadet at my school. I worked my way up to the rank of Coxswain which I was very proud of. I really enjoyed being a cadet and even met the Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward) through it.

45. My favourite meal is my mum's lamb curry. I also really love lamb roasts, pizza and sushi. I have a soft spot for mum's crab curry too.

46. My reaction to shocking situations is either to laugh, cry or cover my face with my hands and collapse to the floor. None of these are usually deemed appropriate for the situation.

47. When I was 11 I danced the lead role in a one-off performance at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, it was a very proud moment for me.

48. I have been studying Latin for eight years (with another possible two to go) and I'm still nowhere near as good as I should be! I have a love/hate relarionship with the subject.

49. I got 6A*s and 4As at GCSE and A*AA at A level :) 

50. I love making lists, I have them for absolutely everything! That said, I found this one quite hard to do! 

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, you rock!


Kira xxx

OOTD: Chilling with Tupac

Okay so I'm slightly cheating because this outfit was from last week BUT I really liked how it looked so I'm putting it up anyway! It was perfect for a sunny day at Camden Beach (I definitely you recommend you go and check that out). Make sure to click 'Read More' for a lost of the items I'm wearing.

Florida Haul 2014

Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I last posted something and I do not have a good excuse this time so I'm just going to apologise and hope you can all forgive me. I promise I am back now and aim to post a lot more frequently while I'm on my summer break and make the most of this time that I have off.

Part of the reason you guys haven't heard from me is because I went to Florida for just under two weeks. I would have warned you guys in advance about my absence but, well, I didn't know I was going until the day before I left. In fact, my tickets were not even booked until less than 24 hours before I caught my flight!

I won't go too far into why I went or what I did because this post would be incredibly long but basically I met my mum and godmother out there and we spent a week at a health spa and then another week at my godmother's house to relax and shop.  As you can imagine I went a bit crazy on the cosmetics since I find make up to be so much cheaper for me to buy in the U.S. and it's one of my favourite things to shop for.

All my lovely goodies...

Book Review: 'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern

I waited way too long to read this book. It lived up to, if not succeeded, all my expectations and delivered such a complete and magical world to me that I almost believed that such a world could exist. Morgenstern creates the most amazing images through her incredible descriptions and I was able to imagine the circus as a whole. The reader becomes as familiar with the circus as if you had actually been present and experienced it all first-hand. The switch between second and third person narrative helps to engage the reader and bring the circus to life.

Kiko's Life in Rio Collection

To celebrate that the 2014 FIFA World Cup is being held in Brazil, Kiko has jumped on the global marketing bandwagon by launching a Brazil-themed limited edition make up collection. The collection is surprisingly large with products includiing lipsticks, liquid eyeliners, nail lacquers, blushers and foundations. The Rio theme is expressed through the bright colours available, especially in terms of nail lacquers, eyeliners and lipsticks.

Post Exams Superdrug Splurge!

I went into Superdrug today solely to buy new shampoo and conditioner and somehow managed to spend over £40 on cosmetics as well. Isn't it always the way? I blame the 3 for 2 offer they are currently having on all cosmetics.

Someone got a bit excited by new make up...

OOTD: Rainy Post-Exam Cocktails

OOTD: Only Rainbows After Rain, The Sun Will Always Come Again

My Thoughts on... Real Techniques' Miracle Complexion Sponge

This product has been raved about for quite a while now and yet again I am behind the hype about it. I've known and wanted to try this product for months but never got around to buying it. However, after watching NikkieTutorials on YouTube rave about this product I decided that this product needed to be brought to the forefront of my 'to-buy' list and I don't regret that decision one bit. I bought mine about 3 weeks ago and have been using it every day in order to be able to give you a proper review of my experiences with it.

Bringing a Bit of Colour to a Monotonous Routine

The weather lately has been gorgeous. The sun has been smiling down on London this weekend and as much as I appreciate it, I can't enjoy it nearly as much as I would like to. Why? I'm stuck inside revising for exams. My days revolve around getting up at about 11am, revising all day and through the night until on average 3am, going to sleep and doing the whole thing all over again the next day. I have pretty much turned into a hermit and I don't like it whatsoever. 

So when I had to go out and do some quick shopping, I decided to try and liven up my life a bit by opting for some small splashes of colour on my face, which for the most part has been completely bare lately. 

My Summer Reading List

Exams are on the horizon which makes this the prime time for revising. Naturally, therefore, I want to do everything but sit and study. Mainly, I want to read. I want to read something for fun, something that does not involve big words or technical terms I have to Google the definitions of; something fictional. So I've sat here attempting to revise for the past few weeks (it's not been very successful in all honesty) and thinking about what books I cannot wait to read once all these rubbish exams are over! So in legendary Kira-style procrastination, I decided to write a list of them all. I'm a list person, I love lists.

Book Review: 'Love and Misadventure' by Lang Leav

This is a post I have wanted to do for a long time but alas, there are not enough hours in the day for me to do all the things I want to. I know it is an excuse I give too often but I honestly didn't realise how hard maintaining a blog whilst studying for a degree would be. But leaving that aside, I shall get straight into what we are all here for (hopefully!), my thoughts on Lang Leav's book.

I will admit it, I first heard about this through the countless posts I encounted on Tumblr (go follow me!) quoting Leav's poems but even before I knew about the hype around this book, I was intrigued by all the snippets of her poems that I had heard. I searched through countless Waterstones stores on multiple occasions and at last I managed to find one copy of this book.

OOTN: House Party at Halls

Calling all Illamasqua fans!

At least once in our lifetimes we have all experienced that marvelous feeling of saving yourself some money. You walk with your head a little higher, your purse feels comfortably heavy and there is a peculiar thrill that originates from the notion that you have cheated the system.

This is how I felt when I ordered 5 full-sized products from Illamasqua for £27 (plus free shipping for UK orders,- international free shipping is available for orders of over £50). Considering that the cheapest item I purchased was originally priced at £14.50, this is a huge saving (essentially, buy 2 get 3 free)!

The sale items are split into 4 categories: £5 items, £7 items, £10 items and fragrances (which range from £15-£25).

I did want to wait until my items had arrived to give you an idea of what things could be bought from their sale picks but alas, my items are not here yet and I cannot leave this any longer.

My Christmas Haul 2013

Hey everyone! I know this is a very late Christmas haul but I wanted to includes all the things that I bought during the Christmas period into this post as well which meant I had to wait for everything to arrive (and I've also been delaying it because I left my camera at university like the fool I am and I originally wanted to film it). I haven't include all my Christmas gifts because most of them were little bits and pieces but I've chosen a few favourite ones to show you now.

Rimmel Space Dust

Hey Everyone! So today I want to do a quick 'ohmygodIlovethis' type rant over a new product I've recently tried. It's the Rimmel Space Dust nail polish in 'Aurora' which is a love dusty pink with silver glitter running through it. The polish is packed with chunky glitter which I find a lot more rewarding than other nail polishes because it makes a much bigger impression. You will not be able to stop looking at your nails. It gives a texturised finish which I personally like because it makes it even more fascinating on the nails, but if you prefer smooth, glossy finishes then this isn't going to be for you. It is also super opaque. After one coat my nails looked better than how some nail varnishes struggle to look after two and there were no streak marks because of this. It also dries very quickly which is a winner for someone who is as impatient and as fidgety as I am.

The colour is actually slightly more pink in real life and definitely looks a lot more sparkly but you can get an idea of how glittery it is by how textured it looks.

Lush dragon's egg bath bomb

Today has been a very hard day for me. I won't bore you with the details but it's fair to say that I was feeling very down and exhausted by it.

I decided the best way to lift my mood and rejuvenate myself was to have a nice relaxing bath. It was also a good opportunity to take advantage of the fact I actually had a bathtub for once (you really miss them in student digs). 

I chose to use Lush's Dragon Egg which is a large white bath bomb with coloured blobs in it. It smells like lemon sherbet which I love. 

It turns the bathwater a golden colour and smells citrusy, which is so uplifting. And the best part... It's full of gold glitter! 

I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved the glitter. I felt like an angel surrounded by a magical, heavenly aura! I just wanted the gold glitter to follow me everywhere forever. That glitter really helped to make me feel special and a lot better after my horrible day. Another plus was that the glitter was not difficult to clear from the bathtub at all, just a quick rinse with the shower head will do it.

If you love lemon sherbet and glitter as much as I do you have to check this out. They cost £3.35 each.

Rocket Volum' Express by Maybelline

Let's play a game...

I spy with my little eye a new favourite high street/drugstore mascara beginning with R

Rocket Volum' Express by Maybelline 

This mascara really surprised me with how good it is. I have owned it for ages but didn't open it because I had so many other open mascaras which needed to be used up first. It is sensational at adding length and building volume and is one of the better ones I've used at separating the lashes. It is a wet formula so it can take a little bit of playing around with to make your lashes fan out nicely but it is still easy to work with. It even made my rebellious outer lashes fan out the correct way, which is a hard task indeed! I would recommend always starting from the very root of the eyelashes and wiggle the wand through the lashes to avoid clumping.

It costs £7.99 at Boots, which to me is a very good price for lashes this good.