Handmade items are a new thing bought from the past when new discoveries were made and the only method was to make your own natural remedies. It seems as though this type of thinking and actions are now a popular and more demanding market. People want to know exactly what they're buying and how it's sourced and produced.

I love beauty products and since making my blog earlier this year, I have gained a lot of knowledge along the way.. For the first time this year I tried a Salt Scrub and I was so impressed. They can cost a lot of money so I decided to experiment and make my own. I love the idea of sharing this so I decided to open up an Etsy shop and now I sell a couple. I'm hoping to expand on this in the future.

See my Etsy shop Here
See my Twitter Here
See my Instagram Here


xx

 Hello! So.. I've decided that I will do a monthly update on the beauty stuff that I use, new and old! I find it super interesting to know what people use and how they find the products as all skin types and preferences vary.

Today I'm showing you into my make up, it's pretty basic but I have left out my foundation as it is new and want to give it time to use before a review. I always stress out about my hair, it's my main worry in the morning because it's fluffy and annoying and so very time consuming. I love John Freda, all the products work on my hair which is great. I purchased this little gem 'Miraculous Recovery Serum' you can use this while the hair is wet or before and after styling when dry so it's very multi purpose. As you can see my hair is pretty frizzy and out of control..seriously it's like this every morning!! I use the serum before straightening to add moisture which I think works best for me.

In the morning, before I apply any makeup I moisturise with my Olay cream, it's almost gone now but it's so lovely! It's gentle and not harsh on the skin at all - it also works as a primer so I think double points is in order?!
When I know that I am going to wear eyeliner I wear a really light eye shadow just to give my eye lids a glow and a base colour. I really like this eye shadow palette its very delicate in colours and it's handy for adding just a hint of colour to your lids. My liquid eyeliner from Collection is a little bargain that was hiding in Superdrug, its easy to apply and you can get a really thin line as you can see from my photographs.

One thing that I always have to do is my brows. I have to draw them on every day and I am still trying to find a solution to make them fuller and darker but I do not want to dye them!
I came across this hair spray a few years ago, the writing on it says 'FAT HAIR' and I thought it would come in handy when you need a bounce added into your hairstyle.

x

I love black tea, I drink it all day and every day.. I never get bored, it's my lifesaver in the morning and a relaxation in the evening. I've always pushed away herbal tea, it's never been a friend of mine until most recently. I got into the TeaTox phase last month where I tried out BooTea and I didn't have a great experience with it. After the BooTea ran out I decided I would adventure into Green Tea. Of course, Green Tea has a load of benefits and the main reason I wanted to try it was because of the 'weight loss' myth. Green Tea is suppose to speed up your metabolism and burn calories quicker, so why not - it is healthy and full of antioxidants.

Last week was my first week and the first sign I got from the tea was that I wasn't as hungry, or having any temptations to hunt down the nearest snack. When I started the Green Tea I was being healthy before hand so that was a big help, as we all know it's tough when cutting down your favourite packet of crisps or that cheeky dark chocolate digestive (yummm).

I'm into my second full week now and it's going good, I have a Green Tea every day (well I try my best at weekends) and I feel better when exercising, I feel like I have more power and push into the workout.
At home, I already had the Tetley Green Tea With Lemon so I decided to carry on with that box. The flavour is nice, it's not that powerful so it's almost having warm water with a hint of something (bearable than some beverages). I have been doing quite a bit of herbal tea research and because of my love for Black Tea I wanted to see if they did a blend with Green Tea and Twining's actually do! Sadly, I couldn't find it in a near by shop (my hunt is still on) so I saw a 'Detox' Tea by Twinings, and decided to give that a go. It's a powerful herbal tea, I have it on a Sunday because it's just right. It has 3 ingredients; Lemon Peel, Lemon Myrtle and Milk Thistle so from that you an probably tell, it's pretty lemon-ey. It does have a strong taste but it's a little helping hand from nature promising to purify and restore (so suck it up).

I started to run out of my Tetley Green Tea and decided that I wanted a stronger Green Tea. I read up that you can get stronger Tea's and they contain more goodness, but the taste will be more bitter. I opted for Clipper Pure Green Tea as it was only £1 at Asda :) The taste is most definitely stronger so hopefully thats more antioxidants for me :)

What do you think of my super cute teapot and mugs, I'm really in love with them x

FUDGE ONE SHOT + SPRAY - £6.81
My hair is exposed to hair dryers and straighteners every single day. I know that this is bad but I hate my natural curly, knotted, thick hair. This leave in home detox is for dry and chemically damaged hair and it says that it will revive and reconstruct my hair which I definitely need. This product would be handy to have as a one week thing, as we all know that when you use a product continuously you don't appreciate the results. I definitely want to give this a try.

SEXY HAIR FRIZZ ELIMINATOR - £11.66
This eliminates frizz! That's all I really need to know to be honest. I love that it's called 'Sexy Hair Frizz Eliminator' because obviously, having frizz is not attractive at all! I suffer really badly with frizz, my hair can't be in a humid temperature for too long otherwise my hair starts to look like a science experiment gone wrong (seriously). The frizz eliminator states that this won't give me a greasy finish which is music to my ears. The amount of products that I have used where I finish styling and my hair is left greasy and it also ruins your straighteners.

I have been thinking about getting some nice lipstick for a while. I don't ever wear it so I didn't know what to choose or where to go. I don't really know how to apply it either ( I call myself a girl?). But you know, we can all change and improve..

This week I visited Superdrug: with the intention of finding a nice natural eye shadow. As you do, you always get distracted by all the lovely girly necessities, your brain goes overload in everything you could possibly want. Containing myself I headed over to the Rimmel stand. Rimmel have a lovely 2 for 3 offer on at the moment, so obviously you can't just get one item.. (Go Check it out)
Looking through the lipstick shades I wanted one that was as natural that can be but will still give me a peachy glow for everyday wear. The shade I chose was from Kate and it's number 16 called 'Rossetto / Rouge A Levres'. I guess that I subconsciously chose this colour for valentines day without slapping on the Clique Red Lipstick. It's a really pretty colour, I am happy from the outcome and can see me loving this the more that I wear it. I hope you can see clearly in the photos as it is a more pink rose colour.

Moving on to the Rimmel Eye Shadow that I went in the store for. I love my natural Rimmel palette that I already own but it's wearing thin now - sad times! I love these five shades, they are all a bit shimmery but I like this about it. I was daring on my first go using the middle shade - a bronze/red shade. I do love it, its striking and I think it matches my top nicely. Overall, happy with these colours and I'm excited to try the next one, I'm thinking to be less daring and go for the bottom right shade x

Lastly, I really need some new blusher, my old one from The Body Shop has been used up and I really loved it. I chose to go for pretty much the same pale pink shade but I got this from Collection. I love the pretty pattern on the blush which makes not want to use it, but I have too...
The blusher is perfect, I love the shade and it takes to my skin well.

All in all, my beauty shop went fantastically well! x

Recently I have been having trouble waking up in the mornings. It's not because I haven't had enough sleep because generally I do get around 6-7 hours and I've been getting up at quarter to six in the morning for a long time due to work. I bought some herbal sleeping tablets a while back for my boyfriend as he suffers from insomnia but as he assured me that they will not work for him - I decided to use them. Waking up in the morning is recently a big challenge, I will wake feeling like I have not had a minutes sleep and I crave sleep (thats all I can think of). My eyes feel heavy and unhealthy and I mentally can't move (someone please push me outta bed?). Natrasleep tablets are packaged in separate foil batches which reassures me that they won't be bashed about in a container and it is taken more seriously. The tablet is a little bigger than an Ibuprofen tablet, its smells really horrible and tastes just as bad - but hey, I didn't buy them for that! You get 50 tablets in the box and I take 2 (you can take up to three) just before bed to make them last through to the morning. After my first ever try of these tablets I was so shocked how amazing I felt in the morning, at first I thought 'could this be a placebo effect?' because I wanted them to work so badly. But, after a week of using them on and off I knew that they worked for me. 

The Natrasleep made me feel more alive and happy in the morning, I felt as though I did awake from a sleep and I was rested. Using this herbal remedy is the best tablet I have taken in a long time and will continue using it with confidence. After using this product it has shaped my mind about herbal remedies as before I wasn't too sure if something natural would work so instantly and consistently. I obviously need help to have a peaceful sleep ready for the day ahead and I am so thrilled I tried these tablets. 

Natrasleep contains an ingredient called 'Hops' and this is used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer. The second ingredient in this product is Valerian that were used as a perfume in the sixteenth century. Interesting facts for something I take daily :)