Tuesday 25 April 2017

Freedom Pro Blush palette bronze and baked palette review

Hey guys! Sorry this weeks post is a bit late but I'm super busy at the moment with exams and coursework and stuff. Today I am doing a review of this Freedom palette pro blush palette in bronzed and baked! If you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen that I bought this post not so long ago and I have been loving it ever since. This pallet comes with a range of super pigmented colours and it's only £6.



Here I have swatched the three colours on the left side.



These three colours I love so much. The first is such an amazing highlighter it's so pigmented and gorgeous. The other two I love for blush, they're such pretty colours and my favourite shades for blushes.

There are two big colours in the middle, a bronzer and a contour colour.



The shimmery bronzy colour I personally don't really use, I prefer a matte bronzer and I just don't really enjoy using this colour on my fave. However, I love the darker matte contour colour it's so amazing and a really good shade for me.

The three colours on the right I don't use so much.



The first colour I do like for a subtle highlight. It's matte and not blinding and I think it's nice for an everyday highlight! The pink colour is too dark for me to use as a highlight but I do love it for an eyeshadow. The last browny- gold colour I haven't really found a use for, again it's nice for an eyeshadow!

Overall I really do like this palette, it has a wide range of colours that would suit a lot of different skin tones. I think that the palette itself is really nice and has a wide mirror that is so useful. I definitely think this is the best palette to travel with as it could be used for blush, bronzer, contour, highlight and eyeshadow in one. This is the only thing I have ever tried by Freedom but I want to definitely try more now.
What do you think of this?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Friday 21 April 2017

Royal Coffee Scrub review

Hey guys! I am doing a surprise extra post this week since a product came in the post earlier this week for me to review and its the Royal coffee scrub from Naturelle cosmetics. This product retails for £9.95 and it is vegan and made with 100% natural ingredients.


You can get the scrub in lots of different scents, mine is in "Ylang Ylang" but to me it just smells like coffee I couldn't detect the other scent at all. I think it would be more prominent with the chocolate orange scented one for example. The product has a very very strong scent of coffee, if you don't like the smell I would give it a miss, it's powerful and not a discrete smell but luckily I do quite like the smell so I don't mind so much. One thing I did notice was that when you open the bag the product does not fill it, it's kind of like opening a bag of crisps, there is a lot of air in the bag. But you don't need too much of the product, I used about half a handful (I have small hands) and I probably didn't even need that much.

Actually, talking about the packaging I am not the biggest fan of it, I don't really like the paper bag it comes in and it was a bit of an ordeal to try not get the bag wet to get some product out. Next time I will definitely be pouring some into a little waterproof tub! I guess they are trying to go for a natural feel to the product which is why it's so minimalistic but for me it just looks a bit plain I guess!

The product looks to me like soil and it felt weird putting my hand into it! If you have long nails again I would recommend the tub and pour into hand method because it got stuck in my nails! It's a very abrasive scrub, which I really like. I think it would be amazing before fake tan and it really does feel like your body is getting super exfoliated! But if you have really sensitive skin I'm thinking it might be too harsh? I'm not sure. I followed up with my Dove purely pampering shea butter shower creme and moisturiser and as soon as I started to wash with the creme my skin just felt so soft. It makes your skin amazingly soft I could not stop feeling my arms!

For me, the biggest downfall is how messy it is! I got little black things all over my shower and I share my bathroom with others so I had to spend extra time cleaning the shower when I'd finished with it. But I do think that for special occasions it is worth it because the feeling I was left with was just so smooth and soft! But for me it's not something I would use everytime I showered or everyday as it's quite abrasive and it's a bit of a hassle to clean up. I have not used this on my face as I was worried it might be a bit to harsh for my skin which can get quite dry but if you have oily skin it could be really good on the face too.

Overall I love the naturalness of the product and it is one of the best body exfoliators I have used and it leaves you feeling so soft. But I'm not sure it is something I would use in a rush and definitely not every day!

Have you tried this? What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x


Monday 17 April 2017

The Rosie Project &The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion book review

Hey guys! Hope you are well! When this post goes up I will be back at university for my third term and into the swing of exams so for the next few weeks my posts may be quite short! But I do have some exciting posts coming up! Bit off topic but I am loving how my blog is going at the moment and I'm hitting some big milestones for me. Anyway on with the book review. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen I posted a few books that I ordered that I've been reading over easter and I wanted to review them! I'm a bit late to the party as I know "The Rosie Project" was a highly talked about book a while ago.



The first book is about a scientist trying to find a wife, and the second book is all about his life with said wife. The main character, Don, is extremely logically and finds it difficult to empathise with others and often acts quite strange. He finds it difficult to understand sarcasm and has quite poor social skills. As noted, he has a few symptoms associated with Aspergers syndrome, however it is never completely stated that he does indeed have this. Don trying to navigate himself in this situation is highly amusing, and I honestly love him so much. It is quite unusual for me to love a protagonist so much but Don is just hilarious. I wasn't sure what I was expecting in these books but I loved the story lines in both books. Throughout the books you notice a change in Don as he gets better at social situations.

The first book I really loved, the story line and Don was just so quirky and like nothing, I had read before! If you want a funny read I would really recommend this! In the second book however I have to note that while I loved the story line, Rosie actually really started to irritate me. The second book is about Don settling down with Rosie, and within the first few chapter, it is revealed she's pregnant. Now, I know Don isn't the most socially competent but Rosie handles the situation so badly. I'm not sure who we are supposed to empathise with in this situation as they go through some marriage difficulties but Rosie pissed me off so much honestly it nearly ruined the book for me. If you guys have read this book let me know if you felt the same! This aside, I think the second book was actually funnier and it had me laughing out loud so many times!

All in all, I would say if you're looking for something that is a light read I would recommend these books! The characters really stuck with me and both books I just could not put down and could not stop thinking about between reading times! You could definitely read them separately but I think to read them both is best. I know a lot of people don't like the second book as much but I personally really liked it.
Have you read these? What do you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Friday 14 April 2017

Best places to eat in Leeds

Hey guys! So for those of you who didn't know, I live in Leeds and I thought it would be a good idea to tell you guys about some of the best restaurants to eat in Leeds that I like to go to! For those of you who live here or are coming to visit I would recommend these places. I have tried to cater for all tastes and types of places so I hope there's something here you would enjoy!


My own photo of the meal I had at Zaap Thai.


1) Little Tokyo.
This is a Japanese place tucked round behind House of Fraser and it's amazing! I went her for my birthday this year and it reminded me how much I loved it here. If you go here I would recommend getting the bento boxset meal with the mango because it's just gorgeous. The design of it is so nice too, and when we went we sat on cushions on the floor which was really cool and authentic. For dessert, I would recommend the marshmallow parcels.

2) Bulgogi Grill.
This is a Korean BBQ restaurant where you grill your own meat! It sounds pretty weird but it's really cool, there's a grill in the middle of the table and you get starters and then loads of meat to grill. You get unlimited rice and sides and lettuce leaves, and you fill the leaves with the rice ect and honestly, it's amazing! And you feel pretty cool as you feel a bit like you made your own meal! It is quite expensive per person, but you have to remember you get all of the extras completely unlimited and it's so worth it for a cool experience.

3) Fox and Hounds
This is a pub not in Leeds city centre but it's such a lovely place to go! The menu and food is so lovely and it has such a nice atmosphere.




4) Trinity Kitchen
I had to talk about Trinity Kitchen as the range of food is amazing! If you didn't know, Leeds (fairly) recently made the Trinity centre in the centre of Leeds and it's not only a great place to shop but to eat! If you're looking for somewhere to eat for lunch or a meal before seeing a show I would recommend going to have a look around. It has so many street food stalls that I would be surprised if you couldn't find something you wanted; including pizza, noodles, burritos salads and more.

5) Global Tribe Cafe
As someone who often eats vegan and vegetarian food I had to include my favourite veggie and vegan places to eat! This cafe I love so much, the food is cooked in the back of the room you are in and it is situated above a quirky shop. The food is vegan and healthy and delicious and I would recommend going here.




6) Roots and fruits
This is another veggie/ vegan cafe and another one of my favourites! I would recommend the rice pudding for afters too it's delicious!

7) Zaap Thai street food.
I recently went here the other day and I had to talk about it! It's quick and delicious and so hearty for a good lunch!

I hope you enjoyed this post! What are some of your favourite places to eat in Leeds? Tell me if you have tried or will try any of these!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Monday 10 April 2017

Spring/ Summer Lipsticks

Hey lovlies, I hope you've been enjoying the sunny weather! It's been cooling down a bit now but I hope you've all been doing something fun and not stuck inside and revising like me! Now that the sun is starting to show itself I have started to wear my spring and summer lipsticks a bit more and I thought I would show you some of my fave ones and the ones I have been loving.




From left to right, MUA shade 7, Loreal Blush Fever, Revlon Lip Butter Strawberry Shortcake, Beauty UK Corraly Incorrect, No7 Tangerine Twist, MUA lip Laquer Halycon. 

Firstly, a brand new lipstick that I absolutely adore for this time is the MUA lipstick in shade 7. If you had seen my little Superdrug haul over on my Instagram you would have seen this was something I picked up in my £20 haul. First of all this is only £1 which is insane and it's such a lovely pinky nude with a hint of coral and its just gorgeous, I would recommend definitely getting, for only £1 you can't go wrong! It doesn't have the longest staying power but it's not too bad and it's a lovely finish and not drying.



Secondly, my Loreal colour riche lipstick in the colour blush fever (256). It's a really similar colour to the MUA one (the swatches look identical in these pictures but this one is more pink and less coral).I adore for this season! I've missed wearing this over the Christmas period! It's a really pretty shimmery pink and it's so pretty! But I am disappointed with the wear for me thats the only downside with this product, it barely lasts for any time before it fades but it is still gorgeous.



Another one of my favourites that I only ever wear around this time is the Revlon lip butter in strawberry shortcake. The Revlon lip butters have actually discontinued this and my other favourite lip butter which is really annoying (boo you Revlon) but if you really want this you can get it on ebay or amazon. This is a really light pink sheen and its really pretty for the summer.



Another favourite which is quite difficult to get ahold of (Sorry I didn't realise so many of them are no longer made!) is the Beauty UK Posh pout lipstick in Corally Incorrect. Again you can get this for about £4 on amazon and I definitely will be repurchasing it! Okay this lipstick is quite special to me, if you guys have read some of my really old posts you might know that the Posh Pout lipsticks were the first lipsticks I ever got and I fell in love and I got three shades, all three of which I use still despite having them for an eternity! The lipsticks were on of the first beauty product I ever reviewed but I wrote it as a guest post and I can't remember whose blog I wrote it on gah! Anyway nostalgia aside, this is a lovely coral sheen and so lovely for this time of year. The staying power is quite good too!



My only lipgloss in this spring collection is the No7 high shine lipgloss in Tangerine twist. It's a really nice coral gloss and I like to put this on over the top of the Corally incorrect lipstick too.



Finally, the MUA velvet lip lacquer in Halcyon is such a lovely peachy nude which is lovely for this time of year! You guys know I love these lipsticks and I'll put a link to my review of them here! It's so lovely and definitely one of my favourite spring lipsticks (Although I wear it all year round because it's my fave)



I hope you enjoyed this post! What are some of your favourite spring lipsticks?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Friday 7 April 2017

My experience with... Shyness

Hey guys! So actually I am putting up two posts this week and hopefully next week since I am on my holidays! When I go back to uni I'll be in the middle of exam season and I do want to keep trying to upload once a week but bare with me incase I don't manage too or if my posts are quite short! Today I  am really excited to start a new series where I talk about my experiences with something. I am not sure how often I'll do these but when you're going through something I think it's nice to hear about other's experiences so that's what I aim to do with these! I have been wanting to do some more personal posts for a while. I started this blog in order to help people and I kind of want to go back to my roots a little and right some more personal posts. I will tag all of these posts under my "little thoughts" page which you can click on at the top of my blog!

So my first post is going to be all about my experiences with shyness. I wouldn't describe myself particularly as a "shy" person, in fact, when I was younger I was always known as being very chatty! But I ca be quite quiet before you get to know me and I don't always feel comfortable in social situations even when I seem to be. and I definitely have moments where I feel incredibly shy.



First of all, I thought I would tell you some of my most awkward shy moments! I think everyone has had some really awkward moments so I thought I'd tell you about some of mine so you can laugh and cringe with me and not feel so bad about your own! One of my most awkward moments was during a presentation last year. Now I hate presentations!! I am okay with them in front of small groups if I'm not being marked on them, but when I'm being assessed on them or there is a lot of people I really freeze up and I get the dreaded voice shake. My voice just absolutely will not stop shaking even if I'm not particularly that nervous it's ridiculous and I end up being worried that my voice will shake more than the presentation content! My first marked presentation at the university last year my voice shook so much I could just tell everyone was feeling awkward! Does anyone else get this? Let me know if its not just me!


I also get really shy around my boyfriend's friends, I guess because I want to make a good impression but I don't know there's just something that makes me freeze up around them! I always just seem to make some awkward comment and one of the worst was last summer when my boyfriend introduced me to someone new. Now I don't know if this is a me thing, but I find it so difficult to think of something to say when I'm being introduced and I was a bit distracted at the time replying to my friend on my phone when he did it. Instead of acting like a normal person I instead acted like an idiot and just briefly looked up from my phone and said very disinterestedly "oh" and looked at my phone again. I wasn't trying to be rude I just freaked out a bit! It was not my finest moment!



Given some of these events I had always thought other people thought a was shy but actually I was wrong! This year when we were thinking about who should do the massive debate with the other group as part of my seminar sequence, everyone said I should do it because I was the most confident. Me! That just shows how much further I have gotten and how much better at presentations. In fact someone actually described be as "confident" the other day too! I was amazed and I think that just goes to show that even though you feel like you look anxious, actually no one knows what you're feeling! Faking it till you make it really does work!

For my personal dealings with shyness, I have found a few tips! Firstly, for presentations, I have found that practising really helps! Saying it out loud really minimises my voice shaking! For music or dance or drama exams, I have found that really putting on a character really helps, the fake it till you make it trick I mentioned earlier really works for me in these situations! Truth be told in social situations when I come over really shy I still haven't found anything that works for me! But I think that overcoming shyness is a journey and I'm definitely still on it!

I hope you enjoyed this chatty post! I have some more of these "my experiences with..." posts planned so I hope you like this little series.
What tips do you have for shyness?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Monday 3 April 2017

Favourite books for all ages - Collab with Charlene McElhinney

Hey guys! Today I have a super exciting post which is a collab with Charlene! Today we are going to be talking about our favourite books in different categories! So Charlene is going to be writing this post and under each category, I will write my favourite books in the categories too! I hope you enjoy.



When the lovely Eleanor asked if I wanted to do a collaboration with her I immediately said yes! And what other topic would I rather participate in than some good ol’ book chat?

Over the past year I have become an avid reader. I’ve religiously been using the GoodReads app which I highly recommend to eager readers; it’s a great network and platform for bookworms (like me)!
I’m going to share with you some of my favourite books from the following categories: 12+, YA, adult and classics. So let’s just dive in…

12+
Charlene: I think every teenage girl, at some point, picked up a Cathy Cassidy book. The book covers were always so enticing that I don’t think we could resist. In fact, I remember attempting to draw Cathy Cassidy’s ‘Scarlett’ once for a school project in primary school which went horribly wrong (I’m a writer: Not an artist).
I’ll be 21 this year and I haven’t read a Cathy Cassidy book since primary school – so we are talking at least 9 years! Maybe 10? And yet Cathy Cassidy’s books stayed with me all this time. She had a way of reaching out to a younger audience and helping teenage girls’ resonate with the protagonist in some way within every book. I admire Cathy Cassidy’s style of writing. From what I remember, every book was easy-reading, fast paced and hooked the reader easily.
I think Dizzy by Cathy Cassidy will always be my favourite. Reminiscing on these books is making me want to go and purchase them all relive my childhood!

Eleanor: Charlene's fave books just reminded me how much I also used to love Cathy Cassidy! My favourite one is Scarlet, I used to love that book. My other favourite 12+ books include The Maze Runner series (James Dashner) which I read a few years ago and loved! So tense! Similarly, the Chaos Walking Trilogy (Parick Ness) which a read and reviewed a while ago I loved so much! I also have to say the confessions of Georgia Nicholson books (Louise Rennison) are probably my all time favourite series! And also I can't forget the Princess Diaries which I adore,  both those series are so funny and I would recommend for any age (My mum loves the confessions of Georgia Nicholson books). A little known series which I loved when I was younger is the Viral series by Kathy Reiches the author of Bones. I would really go and have a look at this book it's amazing, all about a group of kids that get superpowers.



Young Adult
Charlene: This is my favourite category at the moment. I can’t get enough YA in my life. I’m excited to share with you some of my favourite YA books. Here goes nothing: The Mortal Instrument Series (every. single. one.), All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, and The Lunar Chronicles Series by Marrisa Meyer. I’ve currently only read 2 out of 4 of the Lunar Chronicles Series but I’ve got the next 2 by my bedside which I plan on reading ASAP. I’ve just finished reading Me Before You and After You by Jojo Moyes and I am not emotionally ready to start reading anything else yet. I need a day or two to recover…

Eleanor: Some of my favourite YA novels include all of the John Green novels apart from Looking for Alaska which I didn't like! I know people don't like his work for a lot of reasons but I honestly have enjoyed all the other of his books so I have to put them all here! I would also say that More Than This (Patrick Ness) is an amazing book! The Divergent trilogy and the Hunger Games trilogy I have to put here too I really loved them! I am reading The Rosie Project (Graeme Stinson) at the moment and loving that. 

Adult
Charlene: I always find this category rather similar to that of Young Adult. I mean, I can still see myself in 10-20 years’ time still enjoying books from the YA category. I guess when we think ‘Adult’ books we automatically start thinking fifty of Grey and all that jazz (just me?) but anyway here are a few that I would consider ‘Adult’ books which I have enjoyed reading recently: Girl on The Train (I think this is more of a thriller/crime kind of genre but I’m popping it in here anyway), The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Sisters on Bread Street by Frances Brody and Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. Each of these are pretty decent reads and I reviewed them all on my blog if you want to go and hear my thoughts on them all!

Eleanor: My all time favourite adult books are the Millenium trilogy (Stieg Larsson) which is potentially one of my all time favourite book series! They are quite dark but I love them and if you like crime and thrillers I would go and check them out! The Cormoron Strike (Robert Galbraith or JK Rowling) series I am loving and I am eagerly waiting for the next book. Still Alice (Lisa Genova) is quite a sad book but it's amazing and it's now a film on Netflix too! Versions of Us (Laura Barnett) and The Quality of Silence (Rosamund Lupton) I talked about in my annual book round-up as being two of my favourite books last year and I would recommend going to read them! Finally the Time-Travelers wife I loved and have to put that in here too. 




Classics
Charlene: I’m probably a bit of a let-down when it comes to the classics. There aren’t many classic books that I have read because I’ve only become a really interested reader over the past year or so and I’ve been totally drawn in by the YA category and my to be read list has been huge! However, I did study 1984 by George Orwell for my Higher English at school and it’s definitely up there with the classics – it’ll stay with me forever. I also aim to read The Great Gatsby in the near future following seeing the film (I’ve heard the book is miles better: It usually is, right?). I’ve also read and studied The Time Machine by H.G Wells in my college course this year which is also a notorious classic read! One more classic book which I read only a week ago and have been ranting and raving about (and mentioned earlier) was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I’ve even started reading Plath’s poetry now – you have to read The Bell Jar, guys! It’s Sylvia’s only novel.

Eleanor: One of my favourites also includes 1984! I love that book. I also adore the Moonstone (Wilkie Colins) which is a classic mystery book which I loved reading so much, Wilkie Colins is one of my favourite writers. My all time favourite books, The Colour Purple (Alice Walker) and The catcher in the rye (J.D Salinger) come into this category. If you haven't already read these you totally should, they're my favourite books and I love them. Finally, the Handmaids Tale (Margret Attwood) I love too. 


Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned in this post? Do you use the GoodReads app? I love love love discussing books with people so feel free to contact me!
I recently became a published author myself, last month, publishing a poetry collection called ‘Melancholy Mind’. It is a collection of poetry on Mental Health covering all different aspects of the illness: Reality, causes, symptoms, medication, insomnia, loving with depression, coping and ‘recovery’. You can get it on amazon by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1543245765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491158140&sr=8-1&keywords=melancholy+mind (available on paperback & kindle).

Thank you so much for having me, Eleanor, it’s always a pleasure chatting books and it’s a privilege to feature on your blog doing so!
You guys can follow me at @blogabtnothing1 or pop me an email at charlenemcelhinney@icloud.com if you want to chat about anything I’ve mentioned in the post – or just to say hello! I love a good chinwag!
Thanks again, Eleanor!

I hoped you enjoyed this post! If you did go and give Charlene a check out and go and see her new book which looks amazing!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x