Beauty Tip | How to clean make up brushes

Ok, admit it girlies? How many of you wash your make up brushes? I will admit that I didn’t wash my make up brushes of the longest time, until my Mum bought me some make up brush shampoo. And even then I didn’t use it often. But think about it – these brushes go all over you face; even when you’ve got a cold; even when you’ve got a spot; even when you’re putting it on top of old make up! They’re a breeding ground for germies. Yuck.

I have made a conscious effort to wash my brushes more often, but I actually found using the make up brush shampoo dried out my brushes, made the bristles fall out, and felt really bristely and rough on my skin when applying make up. However, a couple of months ago I went to a make up lesson in London with a Groupon and the woman giving the lesson said you could wash your make up brushes with olive oil. My Mum and I looked at each other surprised. Olive oil, really?

When I got home I googled it and sure enough there were plenty of people offering how to wash your brushes with olive oil.

You will need:

-Plate

-Olive oil

-Washing up liquid

-Warm running water

First thing you need to do is put some olive oil and washing up liquid on a plate together. You only need a little bit, and remember; You can add but you can’t take away.

 

Next up, get your brush and swirl it around in the mixture. If your brushes are dirty you will be shocked at the colour it becomes. I tend to add a little more olive oil and washing up liquid as I go along depending how dirty the brushes are. Personally I prefer a slightly higher ratio of olive oil:washing up liquid as I like my brushes to be soft. Your plate may look like a painters palate.

 

Look at how dirty my brushes were!! Then run the brushes under warm water with the tap until all the gunk and dirt washes out and the water runs clear. Place to dry on a cloth somewhere warm.

I normally clean my brushes in the evening so they have all night to dry out for the next morning. And after using the olive oil technique I’ve found my brushes to be so much softer. You really don’t need to spend a lot of money on fancy make up brush shampoos, honest!

Do you wash your make up brushes? How often? What do you use?

2012 in Review

2012 has been a fun year for me and I’ve had lots of great experiences. Here’s a few of my favourite things I did this year, in case you missed them!

A theatre trip to see the Wizard of Oz

A lazy, rainy weekend (and photos of a trip to Palermo)

La Dolce Vita Expo (where I met Gino D’Acampo) – Definitely going back next year!

Sports Relief 10K

Easter and a Cookie Exchange

A weekend in Berlin

My fear of driving

A weekend in Siena Part 1 and Part 2

A blogger meet up with the lovely Tam from Salad and Sequins

Reigate Summer 10K

A weekend in Montreux

A week in Crete

I signed up for a Triathlon in 2013

I saw Rufus Wainwright in concert

My blog celebrated it’s first birthday

I started a new job!

I turned 24! and saw Viva Forever

 

What were your favourite highlights of 2012?

2012 Goals | In Review

I set myself some goals in 2012, as opposed to resolutions. Here’s how I did!

 

• Continue with my running. I started 2011 a non-runner, but the year saw me run a 5K and a 10K! This year I’d like to beat both those times (~30mins and 1hr13), and I’d also like to build up to being able to run a half marathon distance.

I did really well with my running up until October. Then it just kind of stopped. I got up to 10 miles, which I am so unbelievably happy with! I’m not sure I could run that far now though…I don’t think I beat either of my times in races unfortunately (maybe just on the treadmill).

• Practice and experiment with my cooking. I can’t express how much I love cooking. It’s one of the reasons why I got into blogging in general! I have so many cook books I want to use them and experiment and grow as a cook. I want to buy more cooking materials and different ingredients this year, right now my resources are some what limited!

I think I did pretty well with this one. Although I may not have blogged about everything I cooked quite a lot of different things and I still love cooking. Onwards for 2012!

• Commit to working out 3-4 times a week. Since moving to Surrey I’ve definitely been exercising more regularly, but I want to commit to three times during the week and once at the weekend. Within this I’d really like to focus on strength training, and tone up my bingo wings!

This one did not happen!!! I definitely work out way more than I used to, and I’ve tried loads of different types of classes and massively fallen in love with yoga this year which has been my form of strength training of choice.

• Clean up the act with my nails. So this is a pretty gross habit that I’ve had for as long as I remember, and I won’t go into the details, but needless to say I want t o make 2012 the year I stop this icky habit!

Hmmm, I haven’t stopped this habit completely, but I’ve got loads better at it. I’m a lot more conscious when I do it and instead I try and put hand cream on. My nails look a lot better than they used to be.

• Commit to eating cleaner, greener foods. As I mentioned in my previous post Confessions of a Chocoholic I’m all about the sugary chocolately goodness. I really need to curb this habit, and I’m going to start by ordering a veg box from Riverford to get some yummy organic veggies into my body!

I have done really well at this. I rarely eat meat and I add veggies to all my meals and I was ordering Riverford boxes for a while until they got a bit much for me to eat on my own. However, I’m still a massive chocoholic!!

How did you do on your goals and resolutions for 2012?

Stupendamente Perfetto in Ogni Minimo Difetto

Stupendamente perfetto in ogni minimo difetto.

Superbly perfect in every minute flaw.

This mantra was inside one of my favourite Italian chocolates – Baci (which mean kisses). Inside they have the most beautiful mantras and thoughts. I think they’re lovely.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone, hope you’re all having a fantastic day!

Back home and a film quiz

Hi everyone! Are you all excited for Christmas? I’m back in Devon now after a long train journey from Surrey on Thursday. I’m lucky I came down when I did because the flooding has been awful south of Taunton since Friday, and I may not have made it down quite as easily. It’s been great to be at home and reunited with the family. We haven’t been together just the four of us in the longest time!

My days down here so far have consisted of catching up with my best friend Tara for pizza and cinema. It’s our tradition. We went and saw Life of Pi. It is the most beautiful film, I highly recommend you watch it! I’m definitely going to read the book next.

 

On Saturday night we had some family round for a Chinese takeaway to sort of celebrate my birthday. I love having my Aunt and Uncle round, we always put the worlds to right, drink too much and have such a laugh! This time we played a made up film game that my Dad invented, which I highly recommend it was so much fun.

Each person has to write down their Top 5/10 films ever. This isn’t which films they think are critically the best etc., just their most favourite. Then you look up the scores of each film on IMDB and the person who has the highest score has the best taste in films!

We ended up each choosing 11 films, and I lost. I had the very worst score out of everyone. D’oh!

My top 10 were (in no particular order):

1. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
2. Some Like It Hot
3. The Hangover
4. Bridesmaids
5. Bridget Jones
6. Singin’ In The Rain
7. High Society
8. RV
9. Moulin Rouge
10. Grease
11. Dirty Dancing

Sunday is going to be a bit of a lazy day for us all, getting outfits ready for NYE, playing games, baking and stealing all the TV shows my brother has on his hard drive. Apparently their is 4 days to go….

 

What would your top 10 films be?

Christmas Tag

Hey everyone! Can you believe it’s less than a week until Christmas. Eeek! I’m still not feeling particularly festive, so I thought after seeing this on a couple of blogs maybe it would get me in the Christmassy mood.

1. What is your favourite thing about Christmas?

I love spending time with all my family together. My brother and I both live away from home, so it’s great to spend some quality time with all the family. Plus I love that Christmassy smell, of oranges, cinnamon and mulling spices. Yum.

2. What is your favourite makeup look for the festive season?

I wear a lot of gold make up, particularly around my eyes, so as with most festive seasons I’ll probably keep my make up pretty simple, gold eye shadows, glimmering gold bronzing colours for my cheeks and maybe a hint of colour to my lips. Simple. I’ve gone all out on Chritsmasses in the past, and done the opposite and made no effort at all. Both of which I’ve come to regret!

3. Real or fake tree?

In my little flat we have no Christmas decorations up. No sparkles, no tinsel, no glitter, nada. So when I go home to my parents house for winter I love a good tree. My parents have always had fake trees, and I think that they are the most environmentally friendly. There is something quite consumer-ish about buying a tree to last three or four weeks. But a fake tree doesn’t drop needs, is purse friendly and keeps the environment a bit greener. A win win situation in my books.

4. Giving or receiving presents?

I’m not a big Christmas shopper. None of my family are really, to be honest. Instead of going all out on Christmas presents we prefer to do things things together. A weekend away with a show? Yup! A city break? Yup! I’m not great at giving presents either, I tend to over-think things and worry I won’t get the perfect gift. So much pressure!!! Next year I have vowed to get a bit more organised with my spending and Christmas shopping, but we’ll see if it actually happens!!!

5. Do you open your presents in the morning or evening?

For as long as I can remember my brother and I have been made to wait to open our Christmas presents. We usually have family drive over to see us on Christmas day, so we weren’t allowed to open up any presents until they arrived, normally at 11. So by the time everyone got there, had a coffee etc., it was normally more like midday for us to open presents. But we do get to enjoy a lazy morning, a yummy breakfast and a catch up with the family which is nice.

6. Handmade or bought Christmas cards?

I am a huge fan of cards, although I don’t send all that many. Have you seen the price of stamps lately???? I try to always get nice cards for close family, but for everyone else I normally get a big box of mixed cards from the supermarket. It’s normally not too religious, just a wintery scene. Polar bears, robins, fires….You get the picture. Next year I think it would be great  to make handmade Christmas cards. It’s definitely something I’d like to do if I remember!!

7. What is your favourite Christmas film?

My favourite Christmas films are Love Actually and Serendipity. Both of those films can’t help but get me Christmassy. I love everything about Love Actually and you really can’t help but get in the mood with that film. It almost feels wrong to watch it at another time of the year, don’t you think? And Serendipity is so lovely, and such a beautiful love story. Falling in love over a pair of gloves in a Chritmassy department store. Awesome!

8. What is your favourite Christmas food?

Swede! Bet you didn’t expect that, right??? I love a good turkey with all the trimmings, but I always insist on some buttery mashed swede. I force my Mum to buy it for me every year, and I absolutely love it. Although I think I’m the only one in the family who eats it! I also love those German biscuits, Leberkukan. Gingery iced biscuits, yum yum!

So that’s a snapshot into my Christmas at home. I’ve never spent a Christmas away from my family, although one year we did spend Christmas Day in Disneyland Paris. It was so magical, with Reindeer and the Disney Magic even made it snow!!!

What are your favourite bits of this time of year? Tell me something about your Christmas!

Magic Song | December Edition #2

I know I previously said that I can be a bit of a scrooge, but I thought I would share one Christmassy song with you all, that I love at this time of year!

 

 

Obvious choice, right?

What’s your favourite Christmas song?

Book Review | MWF Seeking BFF

 

As you may know, since I moved to my sleepy Surrey town I’ve been trying to make friends. I’ve gone looking for them everywhere, joining the gym, going to Yoga classes, googling any clubs that might be going on, letting pretty much anyone I meet know I’m in the market for new friends, and joining the WI. So when I saw someone mention MWF Seeking BFF on their blog (sorry can’t remember who), I thought I better read that – I might get some tips!

The book follows Rachel, who moves to Chicago when she gets married and misses the connection she has with her BFFs back in New York. Instead of feeling lonely, she decides to do something about it and goes on 52 friend dates in a year.

I loved reading the book, and hearing about all the dates she went on. Some went well, some not so well. But I genuinely wanted her to find her BFF. As the year progresses Rachel tries hard to keep making new friends and keep up with new friends she made along the way. She tried some pretty interesting activities as a means to make friends which I admired too.

One of the other aspects of the book I really enjoyed was the theoretical part of friendship. Rachel undertook a lot of research for the book and her journey and she documents interesting parts of friendship theories and science, which I really enjoyed reading.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, absolutely. I enjoy non-fiction books and I found I could really relate to Rachel. I’m currently looking for a book club of my own to join. Or a cooking class. Or something.

Have you read any good books lately I should know about? Or any tips for making friends?

Viva Forever

Last weekend I went to London with my friend to watch Viva Forever as part of my birthday celebrations. We booked the tickets way back in June when they announced the show, so needless to say I had been looking forward to it for ages!!!

We got up into London around lunchtime and headed to Picadilly Circus for lunch and a mooch round the shops. We ended up having lunch in the health foodies mecca – Wholefoods. Yum! I had a chicken burrito and it was yummy. It really filled me up.

Then we got ready to go and watch the show!

 

I know that the show hasn’t had the best reviews but I really enjoyed it. I thought the singing and choreography was brilliant as were the costumes.

The storyline was a little weak in places, I’ll be honest and at times it felt a bit panto-y with lots of cheap jokes, but it was so much fun! At the end everyone got up and danced. They covered pretty much all the hits and a few album tracks and solo numbers too, so I was impressed. Plus I scarily remembered pretty much all the words!!! 

 

 

After the show we headed to Covent Garden to have a mooch round the market and get some dinner. Covent Garden was looking so beautiful, it really got me feeling Christmassy. Although it was so busy, but that’s not surprising.

 

 

We went for drinks in Dirty Martini. I went there a month ago for a friends birthday and really loved it. They serve Plymouth Gin – a winner in my eyes! Plus from 5-8pm on a Saturday it’s happy hour and very cheap. Well, cheap for London! I had a Sloe Berry Martini and it was delish!

What’s going on with my arm???? It looks like I’m a bit jolly hockey sticks – hooray!

For dinner we decided to go to Byron in Covent Garden. I’ve seen a lot of people having burgers in blogs and on instagram lately and it was totally what I was craving. The burger was absolutely delicious, and the onion rings were incredible. God I love Byron. Yum!

 

The photo does not do this burger justice. I need to get back there and take better photos, obviously .

Once we got home we both crashed out and ended up sleeping for 13 hours. Two very tired girlies indeed, but a great end to my birthday celebrations!

 

Do you like the Spice Girls? What’s your favourite Spice Girl song?

My Magic Song | December Edition

This month’s magic song is a delight! You’re probably expecting something festive, as it’s coming up to Christmas, right? Well, it has been said that I can be a bit of a scrooge, so I’m bucking the trend and posting a non-Christmas song.

This song gets played at my Monday night yoga class every week when we do our Sun Salutation. Every week I tried to remember what it was so I could go home and download it afterwards, but by the end of my class I am always so zen and chilled out I can never remember. Luckily I heard it on the radio and downloaded it straight away.

Happy listening – George Harrison – My Sweet Lord!