Happy Christmas guys!!! Its been a few days now but I hope everyone had a fab Christmas!!

Being in winter, the air is cold and makes my skin ten times more dry then it usually is which sucks because it so then get really hard to maintain a day of makeup on skin that likes to flake.  Although my favourite season is winter and I love everything about it, my skin is very dry and winter and dry skin really do not get along. So I've been trying out some new products recently that hopefully will rescue my skin and I have found a few that have worked wonders for my skin. Heres a quick summary of my skin, it's very dry all around especially around my nose, chin and forehead, I have A LOT of redness primarily on my cheeks. my chin and upper lip is are the major places on my face that spots tend to appear, my skin scars very very easily once I have one spot a red mark will be there for ages, I still have red marks from spots from being in senior school. Theres no moister in my skin and can sometimes feel really tight, so I really need products thats going to help give my skin a deep moisturise and help make my skin feel less tight. The products that I have mentioned are the main ones that make my skin feel amazing, I still switch my routine up now and again but these products I know benefit my skin during the winter season.

Morning skin routine. 
To prep my skin for the day I start with some Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water, on a cotton pad to wipe around my face to freshen up my skin and pick up any dust that my face could have pick up during the night, if you're buying on a budget or want to try a new cleansing water I highly recommend this product, it is so smooth on the face and its dries really quickly so you're not waiting for it to dry, it also has no scent which is my favourite thing because poorly scented products ruin them for me! After, if my skin feels a little rough I will use the St Ives Apricot Scrub, I don't have a photo to show you as I brought this one from America and need to pick up another tube, but his product is another God send, it has a thick consistency with a rough texture but isn't harsh in the skin at all, it makes my skin feel so soft as it removes rough and dry skin from the face. After I then use the Eucerin Replenish Face Cream, this product is a little more pricey then the first two products I mentioned but worth every penny, its a moisturiser made for very dry skin, this moisturiser picks my skin up and makes it feel like it as so much moister in it, the product doesn't make your skin feel greasy which it so handy when you are going to be applying a face of makeup next.

Evening skin routine.
After a day of wearing makeup or a day of not wearing any makeup I will still do this routine, using my Micellar Water again with a fair few cotton pads I take my makeup off starting with my eyes, then brows and then face, if I have any stubborn eye makeup on ill use a face wipe to take the rest off, its very rarely I need extra help with taking off eye makeup as the Micellar water is amazing and picking up every piece of makeup from your face. I will then use my Nip + Fab Glycolic Scrub Fix on my face to give it a little exfoliate, I use my Soap and Glory silicone face exfoliator mit to help work the scrub into my face, this scrub has 3% glycolic acid that exfoliates and retextures the face and salicylic acid that cleanses your pores. If I used an exfoliator in the morning this scrub isn't too rough to damage or 'over exfoliate' my skin.  I will then use Nip + Fab Bee Sting Fix Eye around my eye and on my brow bone, when I first saw this I was drawn into the name of the product 'Bee sting' then I looked into the ingredient benefits of the product that then made me to instantly buy it! The ingredients include: Bee venom which control the facial muscles and increase the blood circulation which gently plumps out the look of wrinkles and makes the skin appear more firm, Propolis extract which is a skin healer, anti-oxidant and antiseptic, cocoa-butter which improves the skins moister, Tegocosmo makes the skin appear brighter and lastly Elestan makes the skin firmer. The two ingredients that stood out to me the most was the Bee venom, and all though I'm 19 and not prone to wrinkles just yet, I have extremely puffy under eyes and my makeup creases really easily and the Tegocosmo brightens the under eye which is amazing as I have really dark circles, what even is sleep? Finishing with my Eucerin face cream again all over including my neck. If my skin is at a bad peak and I can feel some spots forming or some appeared through out the day I will use Lush Grease Lighting on the area that needs a little help, or if my skin is feeling really bad I mix two pumps of the Grease Lighting into my moisturiser and apply over the face. This product comes everywhere with me if I know I'm staying out more then one night, applying this to a spot that you can feel forming or a spot thats near the popping stage or even a really red spot this gel works wonders, with calming the spots down! Then I apply some lip balm and then I'm good to go!

Thank you for reading, Happy New Year!!

Hayley x

Earlier on this year, myself and two friends took a little trip to Amsterdam. It was planned a year ahead as we brought tickets for a concert, but didn't book anything until a few weeks before, that's the fun of it right? We flew with Easy Jet, the flight was extremely short 1 hour max, we had an early flight so we had an extra day to spend in the city. Last year we took an extremely shorter trip to Berlin, with only a return flight booked and 50 euros each, we had no plans but we all agree that's how the adventure begins. Our trip to Amsterdam consisted of two nights in a hotel, about 15 minutes away from the center of the city and just 2 stops on the metro to the arena we were going to on the second night. We each had 100 euros to take us through 3 days and no plans, just a concert ticket and a list of sights we planned to see.

Day 1 was an early morning and flight from Luton to Schiphol, arriving around 10 am we figured our way from the airport to our hotel, after getting lost, caught in the rain and trying to ask people directions who didn't know where to direct us, we finally found the hotel where we discovered the gift of free, fast, working WiFi! We settled in unpacked and took our self's back on the metro to the center and grabbed some dinner. We found the ' IAMSTERDAM' sign which was on our list of places to see whilst we were there, after a little walk we sat down and ate at an Italian restaurant, we all had an amazing pizza and a retro bottle of coke all for about 12 euros each, as it was spring it was still light at around 6pm, so we continued walking and walking where we found a hill of grass, at the top it overlooked the town and a park, after a while of sitting on the hill we went to the park and sat on a the bench, and I've got to say it was one of the most happiest hours of my life. Sitting on the bench with my best friend, in a city I've never been before, watching people walk past in their own town was so peaceful, an hour of feeling content with your friends, finding your self being in the moment with no worries on your mind; I would gift this feeling to everyone if I could. A few hours later the sky was no longer lit so we made our way back to the hotel, to rest to prepare for our next day.

Day 2 was our only full day in Amsterdam so we decided to make the most of it, sleeping over our alarm made the morning a bit more hectic then planned. Traveling back to the center we visited Amsterdam central which is the Amsterdam version of Trafalgar/Leicester Square, just walking around looking all the shops was an amazing experience, we walked over canals, through the red light district, and visited the Sex Museum - yes take it as you want, but this was one of my highlights of the trip. It'll be a controversial attraction but for me and my friends it suited our humor as was a great hour to our trip. As we started the day late couldn't tick off everything of our 'sight seeing list' but we made our way back to get ready for the concert. Listening to the album of the band we were about to see, showering, straightening and curling our hair applying makeup we was ready for the concert. A 5 minute journey and we arrived at the Ziggo Dome Arena. Enjoying the night with my best friend, listening to the music of my favourite band performing, it then ended around 11 pm when the concert finished and made our way back to the hotel. With midnight cigarettes, watching our videos back and talking about how amazing the trip has been, it was now our last night in the amazing city of Amsterdam.























Day 3 morning came, packing our bags we checked out our and made our way back to central where we caught the train back to the airport. As we didn't need to be at the airport till about 4 pm we decided to just walk through the town and see where it'll take us, finding our self's in a Nutella Cafe; which was one of the best cafes I've been to! Ate the most amazing chips with a tone of mayonnaise and sat on the edge of a canal thinking about what adventure we should take up next. The day came to an end and we was back on the plane landing in England.

This trip was by far in my top 5 countries to visit, the buildings and scenery were so picturesque, the food was amazing and the people were so friendly. One of the highlights of the trip were the amounts of bikes! Bikes were everywhere for 1 person there must have been 10 bikes, walking across the road was an experience to remember.

Thank you for reading,

Hayley x

Recently I got the opportunity to work as a makeup assistant on a film, unfortunately on set there was no makeup rooms so we had to work out of our bags. A week before the job I was stuck thinking what bag shall I use? I have multiple clear makeup bags with handles that would be somewhat suitable but it would only hold half as much as I'll need to take with me. I recently saw a girl on my course carrying a really stunning set bag, later that night I happened to find the Instagram of the company that designed and sold the kit bags I saw earlier on that day. The emJ Company stocks a range of makeup and hair holders and accessories, ranging from set bags, brush rolls and brush belts that are all made in the UK.

Looking through their website I knew I was looking for a kit bag, but what design was the question. They stock different collections or different colours and patterns, at first my eye darted straight to the 'Classic Kit Bag' which is a plain black kit bag, and then 'Aura Kit Bag' then caught my attention. A metallic, iridescent covered kit bag with a strip of black material at the top of the bag. After 3 days of ordering from the online store it was delivered. When I placed my order there was no details of shipping time, or an estimated delivery date but I was very impressed on the delivery speed.

Working with this bag is amazing, its so easy to use, so comfortable and holds a lot. Using it on the 12 hour day on set I need quite a few products, and I can say this bag holds a lot! With me I brought a simple hair kit: multiple brushes and combs, a box of different hair pins and a full size hair spray, I also brought multiple primers and moisturisers, a cleanser and a brush cleaner which all fitted into the pocket around the bag with a few spare! I then brought a standard makeup kit including 4 foundations, multiple powders, eye shadow palette and more! With enough space to hold a little clutch with my personal belonging. After adding all the products into the bag it became a little heavy and traveling an hour to and from the set, then standing up with the kit bag for a solid 8 hours I was a little anxious how comfortable the bag would be, but with two thick straps doubled with material it was very very comfortable to wear I couldn't give it enough praise.

This stunning kit bag is my new favourite purchase, would defiantly recommend it to anyone looking into a suitable long term investment, as it is quite pricey at £62, but I personally think it is totally worth it!

Thank you for reading!

Hayley x

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