Books I Read in June 2020

30 Jun 2020

June was an absolutely incredible reading month for me - so much so that I'm still not entirely sure how I pulled it off but I guess that's what graduating in the middle of a pandemic does for you! I read eight books this month and I read six books during the whole of last year. A lot of this spawned from my re-discovery of Overdrive and the Libby app which ignited my new found love of borrowing and reading ebooks and audiobooks from my local library. It was a ride! So here's the rundown of all the books I managed to read this month!


My Favourite Eyeshadow Palettes

25 Jun 2020

THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS

In 2014 I got my first ever PROPER eyeshadow palette. I had just finished my GCSEs and the Urban Decay Naked palette was all the talk of the time and I still actively remember little 16-year-old me plodding into Debenham's with my parents to pick it out. Since then, eye shadow palettes are still my absolute favourite make up item and out of my collection, I thought I'd share with you a few of my favourites. I am by no means a makeup artist. I'm always so amazed by what people can create with makeup because I tend to stick to very plain looks but it works for me!


Tarte

Rainforest of The Sea Volume II

Literally, just look at how pretty this is! I love me a neutral colour palette and this one is just the prettiest! I love the packaging as well as the fact that all the shades are beautiful! I literally use the shade sunset, which is a light shimmery gold colour, almost every day! I also love using pearl which is a nice shimmery white on my inner corners.


Tarte

Tartelette in Bloom

Sticking with Tarte, the first Tarte palette that I got was the Tartelette in bloom palette which is yet again another neutral palette (there's a bit of a theme developing here). I'd heard so much about this palette that I knew I needed it in my life. I'll sometimes mix and match these two Tarte palettes together as this palette has a few more matte shades and slightly darker tones. On the whole I find that Tarte shadows blend so so well together and will always give you a beautiful natural look no matter which shades from the palette you pick. 



Colourpop

Zoella Brunch Date

This was a limited edition palette and is no longer available but when I heard that Zoella was doing a collaboration with Colourpop I jumped at the chance to try it out. I love a lot of the products that Zoella puts out and I'd never tried Colourpop eyeshadows before so this was the perfect opportunity (especially since they launched free UK shipping with it). I love the colour range in this palette (yes it's neutrals again) as you can see the Champagne Toast colour is well and truly GONE and even that blue shade is delightful although the last time I wore it my mum asked what I'd done to my eyes and if I was really going out like that but hey that's what I get from branching out from my neutrals I guess! This palette has definitely inspired me to pick up some more Colourpop products in the future!


ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS

Subculture

This is a bit of a rogue choice because a lot of this palette I don't actually use and the shades that I do use I don't really use very often but when I do use them - particularly the yellows, the browns and the greens - I absolutely love them. The colours are quite intense so it's definitely not every day wear for me but I love incorporating some yellow into my eye makeup looks fairly regularly and it's always good for those special occasions. It is fairly messy though as you can tell from the absolute state of my palette.


Urban Decay

Naked Heat

Bringing it full circle and all the way back to the Urban Decay Naked palette but in this case it's the Naked Heat palette. Oh boy, this palette. This purchase spawned from me spending too much time in duty-free in a busy travel spell and then as soon as I got home I knew that I needed it in my life. This is by far my most used palette during the autumn and winter months and I just adore all the red shades so much. I also love the brushes that come with Urban Decay palettes which isn't something that I can say about other palettes.


So there we have it. Do you have a favourite eye shadow palette? There are definitely a few others that I can't wait to get my hands on!

Why You Need to Know About Madlug

17 Jun 2020

*THIS POST CONTAINS GIFTED ITEMS*

It was the summer of 2015 that I bought my first backpack from Madlug after hearing about them at a summer conference. I was going into my final year of school and I needed a new bag anyway so when I heard about Madlug I jumped on it. I purchased the classic grey backpack because back then there was a very limited choice, and it's still standing 5 years later.


What is Madlug? you may ask. Madlug stands for Make a Difference Luggage and it's a social enterprise which is based in Northern Ireland and works on a buy one give one premise where for every bag you buy, a bag is given to a child in the care system who doesn't have a bag. Many children in care have to transport their belongings from house to house in a binbag so Madlug's motto is Value, Worth, Dignity - swapping out the binbag for a real bag showing the child that they can have value, worth, and dignity. There are currently over 90,000 children in care in the UK and Ireland with one child entering the care system every 15 minutes.

Since purchasing my first bag 5 years ago at the launch I have continued to support the work of Madlug (I've literally got 9 different bags) and they've continued to grow. Long gone are the days of basic coloured backpacks only, there are now loads of colours and styles to choose from and you can even design your own!


Some of my favourites include the Burgundy Day Pack (pictured), the Teal Backpack, and the Classic Black Backpack but there are so many great ones to pick! I may just get myself a tenth!

First Time in the USA: Cape Cod

13 Jun 2020

This time three years ago I was just back from my first ever trip to the United States. Growing up America always seemed so far away and somewhere that I'd never get to see other than in movies and on TV but fast forward 20 years and a six-hour fight later there I was on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean. Since it's the anniversary of this trip I thought what better time than now to do a round-up of what we got up to starting with our week on Cape Cod!

PS This was the view from our beach house which was simply DIVINE

four black written novels that I've read and loved

4 Jun 2020

The Black Lives Matter movement is more alive today than ever and with so much focus being turned on supporting black-owned businesses and black creators I thought I would share a few of my favourite fictional books written by black authors.


24 Hours Without My Phone

3 Jun 2020

I'm always the first person to say that social media doesn't affect me negatively. I always claim that I only engage in positive media and know how to manage myself online. However on Monday, I got super absorbed in a whole spiel of drama that had nothing to do with me, it shouldn't have affected me in any way yet I just found myself getting further and further pulled into this big pool of negativity and hatred and it started to have a really bad effect on my mental health so I decided that the best thing to do was to switch off and fully unplug. I switched my phone off at lunchtime and didn't turn it back on until the following lunch. I did the same thing with my laptop and put it away under my bed. I knew I needed a full break from any kind of digital media because I know from experience that even if I'm just listening to music on Spotify or watching a movie on Netflix or Disney Plus, it ultimately ends up with me back on twitter and scrolling through my timeline which was exactly where I didn't want to be. I'm an internet person,  I have too many social accounts to count and my entire livelihood is made online I always said that taking time off social media would never be a thing that I would do yet doing it this once was actually so so refreshing I didn't even worry about my duolingo streak and the world didn't implode! I actually managed to get so much done and it was so lovely so here's a little bit about what I managed to get up to on my whole day digital free.

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