Life Lately: Spring

Hello to all of my sweeties, welcome back to my blog! And finally we have summer- only theoretically, sadly. The weather here on our little island is nowhere close to summer, but it's so good to finally have some freedom from school, tests and pressure. Today I'm going to be talking about the things I have been using and abusing over spring- when I think back now, spring was a hectic time for me. I got so much done, including travelling and work experience, but more on that later. 


Makeup

Benefit's Hoola Bronzer

I literally cannot say enough good things about this bronzer. I made my first ever visit to a Sephora in Paris in the Les Quatre Temps shopping centre and omg it is literally my heaven. It's a haven of overpriced, gleaming and smiley assistants, with flashy gold palettes and Kendall Jenner's face plastered all over the walls (whyyy Estee Lauder is working with her I will never understand). I want to be the women working at the counters (except not the orange lady that didn't understand my pronunciation of Nars), engulfed by makeup all day; and I also want to be the beautiful women that come in and buy bags of overpriced cosmetics, dewy skin and flawless lipstick. Actual goals.
  

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Hoola. I had a bit of money to spend and I knew I wanted to get something nice that would last me a while. I originally wanted to get Nars' Orgasm, but the pricetag shook me a little too much, so I strode towards a counter I know through and through, even though I hadn't actually purchased anything yet- Benefit. Everything I had tried, I loved, and so I went for a Benefit classic- Hoola bronzer. I cannot rave about it enough. It is creamy, yet just the right amount of dusty; it creates a beautiful appearance of shadow in your cheekbones, and it doubles as a bronzer or a contour powder. It has cool undertones, which means you won't look orange with it on. I even love the brush- it reminds me of the Nars Ita brush, as it has a similar slim, rectangular tip and carves out the hollows of the face effortlessly. It's just a win win, and it is worth every penny. I cannot wait to be making more investments from Benefit.


Mac Lipstick in Faux

Another Paris purchase! This wasn't as impromptu as Hoola, I spent forever trying to decide what my first shade of Mac lipstick should be. Obviously, I have fallen for Kylie Jenner's lips just like anybody else, and teamed with Mac's Whirl lipliner, she supposedly uses Faux on top. It's not so much the Kardashians that attracted me to this lipstick, it's how unusual the shade is. All my lipsticks are either berry, red or pink- so I knew I wanted someting different. Faux is a beautiful deep pink/mauve with blue undertones and even a somewhat brown finish. It has a satin finish, meaning it is semi-matte, a thick, creamy and pigmented lipstick that moisturises your lips but doesn't have a glossy, shiny finish. Satin is my favourite choice of finish for lipsticks- it's just the perfect balance between shiny and matte, and is very long lasting- it lasts a good few hours, and even after the feel of it wears off, the colour is still there. I have yet to invest in Whirl, but I've been sporting it with Essence's lipliner in 06 I'm Yours. The combo, or the lipstick alone, looks beautiful on the lips, and I love how different it is, from a sea of nudes and reds.

Diorskin Ultra Matt Foundation

I'm not going to lie, I picked this up at a charity shop. This has been discontinued for a while, but me and my beautiful friend Ailish spotted it in the back, and after discovering it was bang on my shade, I bought it- for a mere 2.50e. What made me love this most was that it was just the right shade for me, not too pink (as I have made the mistake too many times) and not too cool, as I have sallow, olive skin. It applied matte but it didn't stay matte as I have very oily skin, something I struggle with in all of my foundations, but it does have a nice coverage and conceals undereye bags and hyperpigmentation nicely. It's a bummer this is discontinued, but it was lovely to at least have a Diorskin in my makeup bag for a little while.

Fashion

All Things Rose Gold

As my good friend Samantha, with whom I share this obsession, will tell you- rose gold is in, and it is beautiful. Me and Sammy are so obsessed with rose gold it is unhealthy- all we do now is tag each other on rose gold related posts on Instagram (have you seen a rose gold bike tho) and buy all things rose gold related. We also plan on having copper/rose gold pots and pans when we go to collage. We have no shame.

It's funny, I actually haven't seen that much rose gold jewellery in high street shops, but I have picked up a a good few rose gold accented things- including shoes, makeup brushes, and home decorations.



Ripped Black Skinnies

I have been after a pair of black skinnies, ripped at the knee for forever- and I never found a pair, so I bought a pair from Penneys and attacked them with scissors. The way I rip my jeans is I make white chalk markings as to where I want the rips, and then I take the jeans off and cut along the markings. Alternatively, and if you're brave enough, you can even cut them with the jeans on- but be careful, of course. The strings will start to fray from the rips at first, but as you cut them off and wear the jeans more, they will even out and the holes will get a little bit bigger. You get the exact same, clean result as you would with a shop bought pair- the question is, are you brave enough? I love this new take on ripped jeans- ripping them at the knee only, I think that's such a refreshing twist, and also channels my inner Matty Healy (love forever).

White Cotton Tops



I actually didn't think to include this in my favourites- but as I was Snapchat'ting people (I finally got it! Add me xogaby98) I realized I was always wearing one of my two thick cotton tops. When I'm at home, I don't really bother to make an effort to what I wear, but recently I have been wearing cotton tops out as well- they're comfy and warm and white is always such a pretty colour to wear.


Random

Paris

I just finished 5th year, and usually 5th years get to go abroad- and we went to Paris for 4 days during the Easter holidays. We got a first look at Paris in those few short days- we visited Disneyland, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Montmatre and other places- it was so exhilarating to finally see a glimpse of one of the most famous cities in the world. It is so rich in history, architecture and is just in general so pretty, I cannot wait to return to it for a good week or two and photograph everything properly. A blog post on Paris will be up soon, once I get around to editing the remaining 200 photos *cries*.

Work Experience

I don't know if I've shared this before, but I hope to go on to be a fashion journalist when I'm older- and so I spent the remainder of my Easter holidays doing work experience in a local newspaper. It was such an insight as to what the world of journalism is really like, and I even got a few news articles published in three issues. The highlight for me was definitely writing a full page dedicated to spring trends, entitled 'Sweet Like Cinnamon', where I rambled on about rose gold, ripped denim and dewy skin, in order to give readers an idea of what my blog is like! And as if that isn't enough, the editor is kindly giving me a full-page column to write over the summer- on all things viral, beauty, fashion and lifestyle. It's so exciting, I'm going to be able to see what journalism is really like- keep your fingers crossed for me!

Tom Rosenthal's Bolu



I talked about Tom Rosenthal in my previous Life Lately, where I talked about how in love I am with his music- and recently he released an album, titled 'Bolu'. It is so good, I can't stop listening to it- combined with folk and indie vibes, it features catchy phrases and unbelievable beat. It's not just music, it sings you into nostalgia, onto paths we've all been down before. My favourites include 'To You Alone', 'Borrowing', 'I Got Myself a Finish', 'All of Them Dreams' and 'How Could I Not?'. His songs remind me of different times in my life, and I love how music can effortlessly do that.

And that's it! I hope all my sweeties are having a wonderful summer so far- it surely doesn't feel like summer here :(. I'll talk to you soon!


Thanks for reading!



Gaby x