My Skincare Routine

I have tried many different skincare routines for my normal to oily blemish prone skin and mostly have been disappointed with the results. In the past I have tended to concentrate on finding products that are supposed to get rid of spots and I think this is where the problems lay for me. The products cleared up my existing blemishes (as it promised to do) but it didn't reduce the amount of blemishes I got in the future or how frequently I got them. It felt like I was going in a frustrating cycle of getting spots, treating and healing them, almost having clear skin and then BAM more spots!

 

Because of this, I decided a different tactic was needed and so I instead tried to concentrate on what I thought was causing my spots. Of course things like stress and THAT time of the month can't be avoided but there were some other causes that I thought contributed to my bad skin. Firstly, I have quite large pores on my face, especially my cheeks (where I get the majority of my spots) so I thought that maybe my spots were due to clogged pores. My face can also be quite shiny at times which suggests that it's a bit oily, this could also be another cause of the spots. With this in mind I headed to Boots to try and find a skincare routine that wouldn't break the bank but would address my problem areas.

 

 

Despite the apparent colour scheme, this is not a pre-made skincare set. We have Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Exfoliation Wash 150ml £4.29, Sanctuary Exfoliating Pore Refiner 100ml £10.50, Sanctuary Pore Refining Toner 150ml £9, Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Moisturiser 75ml £4.27 and Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clear Blemish Gel 15ml £14.

 

I decided on the Simple products because their products tend to be gentler on the skin and in the past I haven't been too nice to my skin. I was so pre-occupied with getting rid of my spots that I would use harsh chemicals on it so now I wanted to apologise and make up for my mistreatment of my skin by being kind to it for once. These products had oil-balancing qualities to them and also help to clear your skin so I thought they were perfect. Not to mention that the small price tag made them absolute winners in my eyes! The exfoliating wash is not very abrasive which makes it perfectly fine for everyday use, twice daily. You're face doesn't feel dry after using the scrub and looks and feels a lot cleaner and the moisturiser makes my skin feel soft but doesn't feel greasy at all.

 

The Sanctuary products were a bit more pricey but I was drawn in by the fact they focus on clearing and minimising pores which was a problem area for me. I use the Pore Refining Toner everyday after my Simple face wash, spraying it onto a cotton pad and sweeping it over my face. The toner is not strongly scented of alcohol like others I've tried and so doesn't sting my eyes or nose likes some have done in the past. It actually smells okay (although I could not for the life of me tell you what it smells like). The Sanctuary Exfoliating Pore Refiner is a bit of a luxury product for me. You can use it for up to 3 days a week but not on consecutive days and it smells quite good! This scrub is abrasive, which I like, and when it's on your skin it actually feels like it's doing something. It leaves it feeling tingly and rejuvenated and just a lot more open. It leaves me feeling squeaky clean and my skin feels super duper soft the next day.

 

The last product is Clinique's Blemish Gel, which I didn't actually buy in that Boots trip but already owned. It's the only product I use specifically designed to zap spots because old habits die hard and I still want all my spots to be gone as soon as humanly possible. This gel is very pricey but it just happens to be the one I already owned, I have used others including Clean & Clear Advantage Spot Treatment Gel 15ml and Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Spot Wand 3.5ml which both worked wonders for me and were considerably cheaper.

 

My skin has felt a lot clearer and brighter since I've been using this routine. People have commented on how great my skin looks and I have found that I can get away most days with not wearing foundation but just a dab of concealer under the eyes and some powder to set it. When I do get the odd break out (which are more infrequent now) they are dealt with very quickly and effectively. I have to admit I'm fairly impressed by the results and proud of myself for putting this routine together!

MAC Retro Matte Lipsticks

So every brand of make up has their 'elite' products which pretty much become celebrities in the make up world. NARS has its naughtily named Orgasm blush, Too Faced has its Shadow Insurance , OCC have their Lip Tars and MAC, among many of their celebrity products, have their Ruby Woo lipstick.

Ruby Woo is a lipstick shade much loved by many MAC fans because it's a gorgeous red shade that suits pretty much every skin tone. The website describes it as a 'very matte vivid blue-red' and I think they're spot on with the 'vivid' part. There is no way you wouldn't turn heads wearing this lipstick! I love how matte this shade is, it looks so classy and retro (duh, it's a retro matte!) and I feel like I could be in a 1950s gangster movie (channelling my inner Emma Stone in Gangster Squad) whenever I wear it. It never fails to get compliments!

You may have guessed that I'm a huge fan of this lipstick but I'm not the only one, Rihanna has also confessed her love of the lipstick through the medium of social media. She loved it so much in fact, that she brought out her own version of it called RiRi Woo which is very similar to the original Ruby Woo but with fancier packaging. I don't own RiRi Woo because I couldn't justify paying for two nearly identical lipsticks so unfortunately you'll have to make do with one of MAC's photographs of this product underneath my own Ruby Woo.

They look quite different here but when swatched they look very similar, I promise!

Okay, I know the title of this post is not 'Ruby Woo Appreciation' but so far I'm just giving you a lengthy introduction to what I'm really going to be talking about.

Obviously, I've raved enough about how much I love the retro matte finish so I think you can understand how excited I was when I found out that MAC was giving Ruby Woo  some new retro matte friends! I HAD to get my hands on some and luckily my mum was going to Florida so she kindly brought me back four of the new shades which I had asked for.

Left to right: Ruby Woo, Dangerous, Relentlessly Red, All Fired Up and Flat Out Fabulous

My goodness, don't they look gorgeous?

Top to bottom, left to right: All Fired Up, Relentlessly Red, Dangerous, Ruby Woo and Flat Out Fabulous

Dangerous

This is a orange-toned bright red matte which looks amazing on tanned skin tones. Orange toned reds are my favourite to wear because they really stand out and look stunning on darker skin. The texture, as with all of these, are very similar to Ruby Woo in that they are very thick and matte but they have a great staying power. The colour is bright and made bolder by being matte so this is probably one for the brave although it could be sheered out if applied over a lip balm.

Relentlessly Red

Despite the name Relentlessly Red I feel like this lipstick has a definite pink tone. To me it looks like a true red lipstick and hot pink lipstick hybrid and MAC kind of agrees with me on this because they describe it as a 'bright pinkish coral matte' which I can totally see. Now this colour does look a bit scary and I must admit even I'm a bit concerned if I can pull it off or not but I'll definitely have a good go! I think it will look especially good on lighter skin tones.

All Fired Up

I'm very into the raspberry shades at the moment and so when I saw the retro matte one, I almost fell in love. Raspberry + Matte = a happy happy Kira. MAC calls it a 'bright fuchsia matte' which is pretty much the same thing, it's just that when I see this colour I automatically thing 'raspberry'. I honestly LOVE this colour right now, I cannot get enough! I just like how it's a bit different from the usual pink or red so people are more likely to take notice. I may do a post all about berry shade lipsticks soon so look out for that. But back to the lipstick: it's gorgeous, enough said. (p.s. I apologise for the crappy picture, it isn't this dark in person. The swatch gives a much more accurate representation of the colour.)

Flat Out Fabulous

This is such a fun colour! MAC describes it as a 'bright plum matte' and since I have no idea how to describe it, we'll go with that! It certainly is bright and purple but I always associate plum with being very dark so I probably wouldn't say that. I think I'd say it was a darker lilac colour instead (if that makes any sense) but again the swatch gives a better idea of the colour than this picture so you can decide for yourselves what colour it is. I know this shade would frighten a lot of people but actually for me I'd find this more wearable than the Relentlessly Red but that's purely because of my skin tone and what I'm used to wearing (I don't tend to wear bright pink lipsticks). I think this colour could work for a lot of skin tones and like all the lipsticks could be sheered out to make it more wearable for those who want a more conservative colour.

These lipsticks, like all MAC lipsticks, are priced at £15.

So what do you think about retro matte lipsticks? Let me know what shades were your favourite in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kira xx

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University Freshers! Part Two

I feel very guilty that it has taken me so long to get the second half of my freshers post up but as I hope you can all appreciate, it has been a pretty hectic time where I've had to cope with a lot of adjusting and new situations. It's now the last day of my first teaching week and so the end of all official freshers events (the last being on the Thursday just gone).

There were obviously various nights out during Freshers. The first 'proper' night out was a night called 'Fiesta' and a nightclub called Koko in Camden. The venue was pretty sweet as it was in a converted theatre and so had a really cool layout with the balcony and VIP boxes and the theatre still retained it's decor. However, it was so crowded on the dance floor that after a few hours of being pushed around and constantly separated from each other, my friends and I decided to go to the balcony where we could enjoy the music and also have room to breathe and dance properly. I'd made the schoolboy error of wearing heels (apparently wearing heels in London is pretty uncommon?) and we had walked all the way to Camden (about a half an hour walk from my accommodation) so my feet were feeling pretty fragile by the end of the night. Luckily though, there were some UCLU (our student union) staff outside the club offering slippers for heels-wearers to walk home in, which I thought was a brilliant idea!

The next day (I know I'm a party animal, right?) I went to a night called 'Chaos' which was held at the nightclub Fabric. Now do I have a Kira story for you... so we took the train to this club and there was a huge queue outside of people waiting to get in. I, unfortunately, needed the toilet very, very badly (spoiler alert: no I didn't wet myself). When we finally reached the front and the bouncer asked me for my ID I looked in my purse and it wasn't there! I had left it in my other purse! I had paid good money for that ticket so I decided that I was going to go back to my halls and get it since the train ride was only 3 stops. I ran back to the station (by the way I'm still desperate for the toilet, more desperate than I have ever been in my whole life, so that just made the whole experience particularly painful and uncomfortable) and I got the train home. Once I get my station I asked a member of staff on the platform when the next train is and he says in ten minutes. That's ten minutes to run back to my halls, go to the toilet, grab my ID and run back. It was such a narrow margin that I wasn't sure if I should even bother at all but I persevered and I (miraculously) made the train! My next obstacle was whether I'd be able to get in since my friend had my ticket on her phone and she had already gone in. Thankfully, it worked and I was allowed in but then I had another obstacle to face; I had to find a different group of friends from my halls who I was going home with! By sheer luck I bumped into one of them and one by one we rounded up the others. With all the chaos (geddit, because the event was called Chaos?), I did still end up having a great night. They had an RnB room which was playing some great old tunes which I just LOVED.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to show you from the first two nights because I was an absolute idiot and didn't take any!

I went to a school themed night called 'Detention' at a club called Pacha which was pretty much a standard night out with a bit of dressing up involved. There was an incident however where I did the splits just to prove to some guy that I could because he didn't believe me, i regretted that the next morning (note to self: do not attempt splits unless suitably stretched)

Goofy picture from before Pacha! We were waiting for another friend to finish getting ready.

By far my favourite night was at a club called Rise for their 'Born in the 90s' night. Now I love 90s music and so the music they played this night was just amazing and so much fun! You'll come to realise that for me a great night out is determined by the music, the people I'm with and any funny antics that happen (in that order). I went with two of my floormates and we pre-drank together in our kitchen so it was nice to get closer to them and have a girly night out. 

 My two floormates (Alex and Charlotte) and I

This next night out doesn't really count as a Freshers' event but it still happened this week so I'll add it in anyway (plus there's another Kira story...). It was my friend Danielle's birthday and since she's at the same university as me but at different halls I could actually make it to her birthday celebration. We all met at her halls to pre-drink and to meet some of her friends and then we moved off to a nightclub called Tiger Tiger. I was having a great night but my bag kept dropping on the floor and opening everywhere and although I thought I'd managed to reclaim all my bag's content, I lost my keys to my halls and my lipstain. I only figured this out on the way home however and so had to crash for the night in Danielle's small single room with three other people. The next day we went back to the club and found my keys so I could finally go home. I had to do the walk of shame (kinda) because as I hadn't planned to stay at Danielle's, I had no other clothes to change into. It was all very awkward and annoying. Just as a sidenote, I never found that lipstain and I'm still mourning its loss- it was my favourite lipstain!

Old school friends! Will, Louis and birthday girl Danielle!

Have another pic: Me with the beauty that is my friend Courtenay

The final Freshers event was 'The Freshers Ball' at Ministry of Sound which I went to yesterday. We had a fairly long pre-drinking session in a nice big group of about 11 people and then we all headed out to the nightclub. It was a fun night and Gemma Cairney from Radio 1 was DJing in one of the rooms which was pretty cool. I left quite early with two other people though because one of our friends was feeling ill and we had made a pact to leave together since we're from the same halls and knew it'd be safer to go home together. I didn't mind leaving though.

You can tell this was after an few vodka and cokes (with the odd shot thrown in for good measure)

So those are all the nights out that I've had this past fortnight, I think it's fairly obvious that I had an eventful and interesting time. Even the moments which were not exactly pleasing at the time have since become fond memories and have developed into great drunken stories.

I do want to mention some of the other parts of Freshers week that didn't involve partying. There was, of course, induction meetings and talks during the day throughout Freshers week which helped to introduce you to the university and your department as well as provide guidance in what to do now you had arrived at UCL. By far the most interesting thing to me that week was the Freshers Fair, where a thousand or so ambassadors tried to sell their  societies to you and boy were there some good/interesting/plain weird ones! We had: Harry Potter society, Surf society, RAG society, Dinosaur Appreciation society, Pole Fitness society, Chocolate society and so many more! I joined so many mailing lists for societies but I have decided to cut it down with Dance society, Salsa society, Make Up Artistry society (of course!) and Volsoc, which is the society for volunteering.

So that's all I have to say about my Freshers experience! I know that this is a hefty post and I thank anyone who has made the effort to read it all.

Lots of love, Kira x

University Freshers! Part one.

Sitting in my new twin room watching various undergraduate students roam around the corridors is something that I always thought of as some distant eventuality but here I am , doing just that. It is such a surreal feeling to be here, away from home and on my own, and I'm not quite sure how to react to it. I feel slightly lost if I'm being totally honest.

 

I arrived yesterday after a maximum of 5 hours sleep and got settled in as quickly as I could. I'm actually very proud of how I have managed to fit everything in my room. For a twin room I have a lot of space so my roommate and I are never in each other's way. I have one small wardrobe which somehow fits all my clothes, a desk and some shelves but the biggest godsend of all was the under the bed space to house all my food (plus other necessities such as my shoes and a rice cooker)!

 

My new bed! I love my fox cushion :)

Storage: My teeny tiny wardrobe, food stockpile and shelves. The white boxes are from IKEA and have DVDS/books in them and the Celebrations tin holds all my nail polishes. And yes, I do have apples on my shelves...

 

 I think it's safe to say the hardest part of making new friends was trying to find everyone! The closed doors to everyone's rooms makes it so hard to interact with anyone so I was glad to have a door stop so that at least I could say hi to people as they walked past. That is definitely something I would recommend everyone brings with them to university, it just makes you much more approachable! The kitchen is one of the only areas where people seem to congregate and is the only reason I've met most of my floor mates at all. I have made multiple cups of teas and snacks just for an excuse to go into the kitchen and see if there is anyone around to talk to!

 

We do also have a little garden at our halls and so I spent a lot of time down there meeting people and drinking (responsibly, obviously). It was decided that we'd go on a pub excursion as a group which had us going to two different pubs, the second of which was in Camden. Although it was nice to meet an abundance of new people at one time, there were so many people in the pubs that you couldn't move so a group of us decided to go back to our friend's halls for some (not so sensible) drinking games. In total there must have been about 12 of us crammed into a girl's tiny single room! It was very cramped but very funny. Unfortunately, some friends and I couldn't stay long because we had to make the 30-40 minute trek back to our own accommodation (which I was doing in heeled boots that I had been wearing all day-owww! ). If it was not for the other boy staying at my accommodation I think I would have gotten myself severely lost. I finally rolled into bed at about 2:30am.

 

I think it's fair to say that my first day as a uni student was eventful but I anticipate a lot of interesting things to happen in the coming days/nights. I'll keep you posted on them all!



Packing for university: Make Up

It's scary to think that I'm moving to London in less than a week to start my studies at University College London. It was also slightly worrying to think that I hadn't really started packing up my life at all yet so today that's what I started to do. Most of my stuff for university currently lives in the back room of my house but there are certain things which needed sorting and putting away properly, such as my make up (which of course is very important to me). 

Mum and I went to Dunelm mill and bought plastic storage drawers to house my make up and toiletries and I spent the night pain-stakingly rifling through my stuff trying to see what I could bear to part with! Of course the make up that doesn't make it to university with me will just be at home waiting for me when I come home for holidays, I could never throw it all away! 

 

So here is the finished product! It is still technically a lot of make up to bring with you to university but it's part of my identity to play with make up looks so I couldn't just have a small little make up bag- I'm sorry, I couldn't!

Okay this is my 'Eyes' drawer... It looks messy because I had to dump the eyelashes on top because they wouldn't fit any other way. I promise there is some rhyme and reason to everything's placement though!

Next we have my 'Lips and Face' drawer which I am so proud of because it actually looks somewhat organised and because this drawer really shows you how much I've cut back on my make up. That small container at the front would usually not even fit all my lipsticks in and yet I've fit lipsticks and lip glosses in it together! Plus my lip products used to take up a whole drawer altogether but now fit nicely with my face products! 

This last drawer is an eclectic mix of toiletries (minus shower stuff which will live in a toiletry bag ready for shower use). This drawer is also very messy but that's because I haven't packed it properly since I still need a lot of this stuff before I leave, it will look a lot nicer when I get to UCL. This drawer is mainly hair products (a lot of hair = a lot of products) and my face routine plus a million boxes of contact lenses for good measure.

So there you have my make up storage in a nutshell. I do feel very guilty about bringing so much... Let me know if you think that this is an acceptable amount to bring or if I'm bringing way too much. Also leave a comment if you're going to university and tell me how you're feeling about it! Have you overpacked too? Are you sharing a room like me? Are you nervous? Get in touch! Lots of love, Kira x

New York Make Up Haul!

As promised today I intend to show you all the wonderful products that I picked up while in New York. Most of these I have wanted for absolutely ages and others I picked up because they were just too good to leave behind. So first off here is an overview of all the make up I bought (all from Sephora with the exception of the MAC items). There was another OCC lip tar in 'Strumpet' but it exploded in transit which caused me much distress as you can imagine.

 

Ta da! Doesn't it all look beautiful?

 

We have: Benefit's 'They're Real' Mascara ~ Smashbox Megatint long wear lip colour in 'Punch ~ Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in 'Catfight' ~ MAC lipsticks in 'Rebel' and 'Lustering' ~ OCC lip tar in 'Lydia' ~ MAC lipliner in 'Nightmoth' ~ Urban Decay Naked palette ~ Anastasia Brow Wiz in 'Brunette' ~ Urban Decay 24/7 glide-on eye pencil in 'Deep End', 'Smog' and 'Mildew' ~ NARS eyeshadow duos in 'Dogon', 'Habanera', 'Rated R' and 'Mad Mad World' ~

 

Here are some swatches. From left to right, top to bottom we have the Urban Decay pencils in 'Smog' (golden brown), 'Deep End' (bright blue) and 'Mildew' (forest green). These felt very nice and creamy when I swatched them. The first lipstick is the Smashbox Megatint in 'Punch' and is a beautiful bright pink that I think could suit most skintones. The next colour is 'Catfight' by Urban Decay. Although it looks almost identical to 'Punch' in this photo, it is actually darker than it looks in the picture but it's another brilliant shade. MAC's 'Rebel' is next and it's a gorgeous berry purple colour. 'Lustering', also by MAC, is a lovely light pink colour that will suit every skin colour. I was drawn to it because I wanted a lighter, more everyday pink colour but I usually have trouble finding one that suits my dark skin- but this one works! It's a lustre so it naturally has a softer finish than other formulas. The beautiful lilac swatch beneath is OCC's 'Lydia' lip tar. Lilac and green are my favourite colours so this caught my eye straight away. The lip liner beneath 'Lydia' is MAC's 'Nightmoth' which was recommended to me by the nice MAC lady in the store to give it a more vampy look perfect for the colder months!

 

 

I don't think I need to tell you what this is. The Naked palette by Urban Decay has become a bit of a make up product celebrity and is used by pretty much everyone nowadays. It was about time I got my hands on it, don't you think?! Most of the make up artists and consumers that I've spoken to swear by this thing. It's a great product to splurge on if you just want one eyeshadow palette and you like your neutrals

 

Ahh NARS... somehow you had managed to evade me all these years but not any more! I finally own some duo eyeshadows and I could not be more excited about that! Just look how amazing they look in their packaging!

The order above corresponds with the swatches below. In order we have: 'Dogon' (metallic taupe/charcoal black), 'Habanera' (silver/ glittery plum), 'Rated R' (glittery yellow-green/glittery cobalt blue) and 'Mad Mad World' (pacific blue/glittery green)

These are all so beautiful and I can't stop staring at 'Mad Mad World' because I just can't find the words to describe the green colour! Unfortunately the taupe side of 'Dogon' didn't swatch very well on me because my skin is too dark, but it is a nice neutral colour.

 

So that was all the make up I bought, I hope you enjoyed snooping around my purchases!