Sweet Peach Pallet Review

For a very long time I have loved Too Faced makeup. I don't have bundles of it because I simply can't afford to; but there is something about their eye shadow pallets that grabs me. It's worth every single penny. I purchased the chocolate pallet when I was 16. It was the first piece of higher end makeup I bought and I have used it regularly since. Considering the fact that I have used it that much, I can speak for the quality of these products because hardly any of it is gone. The pallet still looks fairly new and hardly used despite the fact I've used it more than any other pallet since I bought it 2 years ago. 

 So, when the Sweet Peach pallet was released last year, I desperately wanted it. I have never wanted anything more. I think I talked about it to every person I know, going on and on about how much I wanted it. When I left my job a few weeks ago, I decided to buy myself a little present with the last of my wages, so I ordered the pallet.

 I'm going to be honest here, getting it was a bit of a nightmare. The Too Faced website states free shipping. When you check out of the website, it says you're not paying anything for shipping. But then a week later I got an email with my shipping conformation saying that I was paying over £18 for shipping and a further £9 for tax. I was pretty confused so I tried to cancel my order but they said it was too late. It took several emails and complaints until I was refunded only £16. So when it says free shipping, apparently they can still take however much money they want and they don't seem to think that's unacceptable! 

 So it was a shame, my favourite brand let me down a little bit. I would say, if you're from the UK and ordering Too Faced makeup, order from a department store like Selfridges or Debenhams, not directly from their website. 

 The quality of this pallet made up for this ordeal a little though, I have to say.

 It smells like peaches. I'm not the biggest fan of artificial fruit scents so I don't love the smell of this pallet that much; but some people seem to really like it! The colours are absolutely stunning. I think this is the only pallet I own in which I would use every single colour. I have dabbled with the majority of the shades now and I have been able to create some really different looks. I have managed to create a soft, nude look which is my comfort eye makeup. But also, I have been able to create some really pretty, pink looks. I feel like a fairy princess using this pallet. It's perfect for the spring time, it goes really well with summery outfits. 

 As always, the pigmentation is incredible! Too Faced have mastered the pigmentation of eye shadows perfectly. That, in conjunction with how incredibly these blend just make their pallets the best value for money. It's totally worth the higher price. 

 I'm glad a bought the pallet. I'm already getting so much use out of it and it was worth the shipping nightmare. While it's put me off buying from Too Faced directly, I am definitely looking to expand my collection. I desperately want to try their new Natural Love Eye Shadow Collection but I can't quite justify £52 at the minute. 

 I received two free samples with my order which I haven't had chance to try out yet; I may do a second post in a few weeks reviewing those. Let me know if you've used the sweet peach pallet and what you thought of it. Also let me know what your favourite eye shadow pallets are in general because I am always looking for new pallets to try. Thanks for reading, see you here next week!

My Skin Care Routine

I am in no way a skin care expert. If I'm completely honest, I can be really lazy with my skin care and so recently I've been looking for products that are quick, easy to use and on a budget. I don't use any expensive face masks, I don't have pricey cleansers or anything like that and my skin is fairly clear on a weekly basis. I had one awful breakout last summer which really prompted me to take better care of my skin and I haven't really had any problems since. I thought I would share with you how I care for my skin and what products I love using. Also, if you have any products you can recommend to me to enhance my skin care routine then please feel free to leave them in the comments section and I will check them out! 

 Daily:
In the mornings I simply wash my face with warm water and a wash flannel. If my skin feels extra oily then I sometimes use a face wash but usually it's just water. I then moisturise the face using my Simply Pure hydrating serum. This stuff is amazing if you have combination skin like I do. My skin is oily in places but it also gets really dried out if I'm wearing foundation regularly so a lot of cream based moisturisers can be too heavy for my skin. I love this product so much. It absorbs instantly so I can use it and then immediately move onto my makeup. It's also cruelty free which is amazing. I'm trying to use/promote more cruelty free products because, in my opinion, animal testing is completely needless in this day and age! I didn't realise this when I purchased it so it was an extra bonus on top of how great the product is. 

 When it comes to removing makeup, I never use makeup wipes! I've heard terrible things about what they do to your skin. I have makeup wipes to remove eye makeup but I hardly ever use them. I prefer to take my makeup off with micellar water. At the minute, I'm using the Garnier micellar water for combination and sensitive skin. I actually prefer Simple's micellar water; however, this is a much bigger bottle for the same kind of price so it's much better value and more specific to skin types. I just use a few cotton wool pads and a generous amount of the water and my makeup is off in less than a minute. 

 I then like to wash my face thoroughly using the Garnier Pure active 3 in 1 Wash, Scrub & Face Mask. This is my holy grail skin care product. I actually don't know how I lived without it. In the evenings, I just use it as a quick face wash because my skin has already been cleansed with the Micellar water. This just leaves my skin feeling super soft and gives me a bit of confidence that all of my makeup is gone and my skin is clean. 




Weekly:
Once a week I use the same 3 in 1 wash but this time, I'll use it as a mask. I let the product dry on my face similar to how I would use a clay mask. Then I use the rough side of a bathing sponge to scrub the mask off after about 20 minutes. This really cleanses my skin and also works as an exfoliate because the products contains Pumice Volcanic Rock which is a natural exfoliant. 

 As far as I am aware, there is no cruelty free symbol on Garnier products; however, Simply Pure also do a really great face wash but it doesn't have the same natural ingredients and benefits as the Garnier one. It works as a temporary alternative. I'm on the lookout for a better cruelty free product; once I find one, I'll let you know! 

 Every other week I also use a black suction mask which is supposed to remove blackheads. I haven't seen massive results with this in terms of blackheads, but it does seem to remove dead skin and leave my face feeling really soft so I use it every now and again. It's not something I'll be repurchasing when I run out of it though so it's not a vital part of my skin care routine. 




 Body:
In terms of looking after the rest of my skin, I absolutely swear by Palmers coco-butter range. Not only is this brand also cruelty free but they're really good value in terms of the price and the quality of the product! I use their hand cream and body moisturiser as well as their fake tan moisturiser in the spring/summer time! 
 Palmers was also amazing for caring for my tattoo when that was healing so I've been using it religiously for months! It's such a great brand. 


Thanks for reading! See you next week:)

My Views on Social Media

It's common and accepted for people to shun my generation for our exploration of social media. We spend too long on our phones and not enough time 'living.' 
 I have to say, I switch off whenever anyone begins on that rant: the one about 'kids today,' because, of course there are negative impacts. Everything has negative impacts if you remain transfixed on them. Today I want to write about why I love specific social media platforms and why I believe they enhance my daily life. 

 I am a writer and a blogger. I am always looking for things to capture either in a picture for my blog or my Instagram or something that I could write about later. A lot of people would say I waste my time photographing what book I'm reading or what outfit I love wearing; but what would you rather I do instead? Stop documenting my everyday life and start 'living in the moment?' Because the way I see it, I'm more aware of 'the moment.' I'm capturing the moment and I have the selected moments online where I can look back on them any time I want. 

 I have been watching the Michalak vlogging channel on YouTube for just over 3 years now. I not only adore their gorgeous editing and motivational lifestyle, but I love what they stand for. Not making money or gathering fame, but documenting every day life. 

 If you'd rather carry on Keeping Up with the Kardashians then that's fine, but I'd rather fill my free time with real people living their real lives and consequently set myself goals that are achievable and don't involve lip fillers and cosmetic surgery. 

 I think I have been ridiculed a fair amount by my family and friends for my use of instagram and my blog. 

 People fail to understand why I post what I do, why I review every book I read or why I dedicated an entire blog post to getting a new coat. 

 I'll tell you why...

 It's because I love taking pictures. 

And I love writing.

And I post it all online because I love having an archive on my phone where I can scroll down and see exactly what my life looked like a year ago. I can see what book I was reading, how I was doing my makeup, what top I loved to wear, what earrings were my favourite. It's all right there within seconds. 

 And I've found that some people love seeing it. I love doing it so it works for me. It's not about showing off or trying to be famous. For me it's all about self expression. 

If you dislike social media; that's fine! 
If you love social media; that's fine. 

 If your passion is writing on paper and taking Polaroid pictures for the wall then that's amazing. If you want to express that online then I would encourage you to! Because what our generation has created is a way to take whatever you love and make a career of it online as well as creating an archive of memories. 

 We're not wasting our lives; we're documenting them. The same way you may have documented yours in an old photo album that's sunken into a shelf collecting dust. 

 On this note, I have been thinking a lot over the past couple of months about creating another YouTube channel. My channel is currently exclusively a music channel. In the future, I would love to make a second channel and invest some money into decent equipment. This channel would be similar to the content you see on my Instagram and blog; mainly book related with a few fashion and beauty bits thrown in. Let me know if that's something you would be interested in following and watching! 

 Thanks for reading. See you next Sunday!   

February Book Haul

I feel as though February came and went and I missed it. 28 days isn't nearly enough to fit life into and I haven't read nearly as much as I planned to! This month has been filled with some stressful events and I wish I'd been able to escape more into my books; alas, I'm back again with a smaller book collection but there are some incredible ones here so I hope you can find something that makes you want to pick up a story.

 The reason my collection is shorter this month is that I began February with half of A Discovery Of Witches to finish. Having already wrote about this last month, I won't go on for too long; however, I have a better understanding of the book now having finished it. I love the idea of it and I admire how much research was put into it regarding the alchemy etc. The thing that lets it down is that there's very little attention paid to the main events in the story line. I'm not sure if it's an intentional use of bathos, but it seems as though every time things start to build up, it just drops. The friend who lent me the book gave me the second one today and said she was really disappointed with it, but I'm not one who can leave a series unfinished so I'll give it a go.


 The second book I read last month absolutely broke me. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler tells such a beautiful story of family and ethics. I have never been one to cry at a book. I tend to always be aware of the fictional element to a novel; but this had me choking up in the college cafe.This was recommended to me by a friend in my Creative Writing group and I was gripped from the first few pages. I finished it in under a week and was so moved. I can't explain much about it without ruining the effect but any one who loves twists would love this book! It's so good and is guaranteed to move anybody who loves someone.

 I have a lot to read for college and so I tend to have to schedule my reading each month to make sure I get everything in. Seeing as I had spent so long reading my own selections, I figured it was time to get started on the pile of Sharon Penman books I have to read for History. Time and Chance is a fictional account of the events that are known as the dispute between Henry II and Thomas Beckett. Chilling stuff... 

 It is actually really interesting; however, in my opinion, this book was not. Sorry Sharon. I didn't really get much from it that I didn't already know or couldn't have revised in about an hour, as opposed to two weeks worth of reading. Regardless, I pride myself on being able to read anything and I did get through it. It made me feel better about the fact that I will probably fail A Level History. 

 To reward myself, I decided to get into some Angela Carter seeing as my Creative Writing coursework is based on her short story collection The Bloody Chamber. I was drawn to The Magic Toyshop because the title reminded me of the Enid Blyton Amelia Jane collection which I used to read when I was little. Really, this is nothing like that. It's a stunning, coming of age novel with a few twisted elements. It was shocking and beautifully written. I absolutely adore her writing and while this is the kind of story I can see a lot of people not enjoying, I really did. The cover also reminded me of The Night Circus which I desperately want to read again. 



 I'm sorry that I don't have more to share this month but I am planning a lot of reading for March already. 

Resolutions

This past New Years was the first year I've ever made serious resolutions. If you haven't already read my 2017 post this may be a little new to you, but the series of resolutions I made were much needed and all working towards me taking better care of myself. I wanted to document here, a couple of months on, how I've been doing and what progress I have made in the hope that it will keep me motivated and, perhaps, motivate you with any goals you have recently made. 

 I have tried to make subtle changes in the early months of this year in order to keep myself on track. These have been goals such as, drinking at least a litre of water a day and posting on my blog once a week. Other changes working towards my resolutions have been the use of notebooks and listing to keep myself organised. I have very little free time at the minute and so keeping what free time I do have timetabled to include everything I want to achieve is crucial. I pencil in time for music, writing and reading as well as studying into my little weekly planner. I don't always stick to it completely, but it's really helpful having everything written down rather than in my head and I'm less likely to get overwhelmed and stressed over how little time I have. 

 Drinking water has always been difficult for me. I'm not sure why, I just can forget to drink all day and then suddenly realise in the evening that I'm pretty thirsty. I try to carry a litre of water with me all day everyday and remain disciplined in getting the whole thing down. I do this by refusing to let myself get a coffee before I've drank my water first. I'm a pretty big fan of coffee so this seems to work for me! However, no amount of notebooks or listing can help with this one unfortunately, self discipline is the way forward. 

 Blogging every week has actually been so helpful for me. It's been easier than I thought. I've gone from feeling like I have nothing to say to finding inspiration from everything I do. I have this blue notebook from Coconut-Lane which is very compact and has blank pages. I never leave the house without it and it slips easily into any bag. It's perfect for planning my blog posts. I have months worth of ideas jotted down and it's making it so much easier to find something to write about every week. It's been so crucial to this process. I lost touch with my blog as my life got busier and I've felt so much more like myself now that I have things to write about and I know what direction I want to take.

 In the following months I'm going to be writing a lot about books seeing as I read so much and those posts seem to be my most popular at the minute! I also want to dabble a little more with beauty posts and I have a list of products I want to try and things to talk about so I'm very excited about the direction I'm taking with my blog this year and I hope you are too!

 In terms of music, my passion for singing and performing was also something I lost touch with after losing so much of my free time. I have set myself the goal of uploading a YouTube video a month. I have noticed that meeting deadlines is actually a quality of mine. So, by setting myself a deadline each month I can make sure I am motivated to dedicate time to playing guitar and learning new music. It's not that I don't want to do it, I love music more than anything! It can sometimes be a little difficult to have a spare hour where I can sit and play and this goal has really helped me in making sure I have that time every now and then.

 I noticed last year that all of my passions were being lost to work and studying, including my social circle and my general enjoyment of each passing day. That was a scary place to be in as well as a daunting cycle to get out of. We're moving house soon and when things have been at their most difficult, I have used that as a milestone to reach where I told myself everything would change, and everything would get better. I have taken this as an opportunity to leave the job that was taking up so much of my own time. My last shifts are next weekend. I will be finding a job that leaves me at least one day off a week and with that, all of these little goals should get easier to reach. 

 That was the one big decision I have made to stay true to myself and put my well being first and I'm sure there will be plenty more made over the next year. 

 Hopefully you've taken something from this post and have been inspired to prioritise what makes you happy. I am a huge advocate of keeping a diary, be it a personal diary or a planner. It's so important to reflect on whats going on and make sure you can manage everything. 

 You can receive 20% off at Coconut-Lane using the code chloehanks20. As I said, their notebooks are the reason my blog is doing so well at the moment so please go and check them out. I'm sure they could help anyone keep their creativity flowing. 

 See you next week for something cosy and book related... thank you for reading. 

Instagram Giveaway | Coconut-Lane

One thing that caught my eye when I received the email asking me to work with Coconut-Lane was the opportunity to hold Giveaways. Giveaways are a lot of fun and I see a lot of them around on Instagram. It seems like a great way to connect with your followers and to give back to the people that support your art. I have never done one before; although, I have entered many. Today marks my first ever Giveaway; depending how this goes, I'd love to do more in the future, hopefully bigger and better. 

 First things first, I want to state that this giveaway is UK only and I will be taking entries until 8pm on Wednesday the 22nd Feb. The winner will be announced on Friday 24th. 

 I want to tell you a little bit about the products I'm giving away. Firstly, I'm including 2 of the Coconut-Lane A5 notebooks. I absolutely love these. I've found mine so useful for planning blog posts, making lists and otherwise general organisation. Not only are the designs so cute but they're also very petite and lightweight making it so easy to slip one in your bag. If I get an idea for a blog post at college or at work, it's so easy for me to just grab my notebook from my bag and write it down. It was so hard to choose just 2 designs to include but I really love the ones I selected; hopefully you do too!

 Secondly, I have included these adorable gold-plated, seashell earrings. I love wearing stud earrings to work or college and I'm always looking out for more interesting designs. I loved these because they're simple, quirky and so pretty! 

 Just to note, the products photographed are my own, the winner of the giveaway will received their own, packaged and unopened products! 

 To enter this giveaway, head over to my Instagram @ChloeHanks23. Screenshot and repost the image on my feed and tag both my account and @coconutlaneuk. Mention me in the comment as well and leave the post up for at least 24 hours in order for me to process the entries. You must be following me to enter. 

 I will be announcing the winner on Friday on my Instagram story and will then post the winner's package as soon as possible!
 I am really excited about this, I hope you are too! Good luck! 

Winter Favourites

When deciding what I wanted to write about this week, I realised I had probably missed the window for posting a January Favourites. Also, the few products I have that I'd like to share have been favourites for much longer than a month, in fact, a few of these have probably featured in favourites before. Never the less, there are so many products I want to talk about. I've avoiding including anything I have talked about recently so there are a few books and beauty items missing. Thus, I have decided to do a more general Winter favourites for you today rather than a January favourites. I love watching favourites videos and reading about what people love using, I hope you do too! 

 The first on my list is a hair product. I have always tried to take pride in my hair. I invest a fair bit into keeping my hair healthy and strong. This has involved some big hair cuts over the last couple of years so I'm always on the lookout for products that will help me keep my hair healthy without having to keep cutting loads off! I picked this up in Boots one day without really thinking about it. I'd ran out of my old oil which I can't buy from regular drugstores; after trying this, I won't be going back to my old one! This is a conditioning oil by Aussie (my favourite hair brand) called the 3 Miracle Oil. It's a leave in oil designed to repair damaged hair. I wouldn't describe my hair as damaged because all of the colour damage has been cut out now. However, I like to use this to act as a deterrent to any of the things that could damage my hair, eg. heat, sunlight etc. Whilst I steer away from using anything that could damage my hair, every day life can be testing on fine hair like mine so every little helps. This oil is amazing. It smells so lovely and it has such a perfect consistency. I used to use Moroccan oil a lot but it can be quite thick and sometimes too much for my thin hair. This product is clear and much less viscous leaving such a lovely finish. My hair looks shinier if I use this, it combs more easily and smoothly and feels so much stronger. I would recommend this to anyone looking to breathe some life back into their hair! It's also perfect for anyone on a budget who can't afford the price of the Moroccan oil range. 

 Next up is the Palmers Cocobutter daily skin therapy. This is a really rich moisturiser. It comes out really thick and creamy and it smells divine. I always use this after shaving my legs and coherently throughout the week and I just love the way it makes my skin feel. My skin is soft, smooth and shiny. The hydration payoff is amazing. I love using body butters but I often find they can take so long to dry; this is fairly quick to dry considering the thickness of it. The whole range is wonderful. Throughout the summer I was using their tanning moisturiser almost daily and I am also loving the hand cream. They are really affordable products and so worth the price! I love it all so much and I love smelling like chocolate! 

 My third favourite is the Pil'Aten black suction mask. I use this weekly and my skin has never felt cleaner. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the videos going around social media of these amazing black face masks that remove every blackhead. This is a similar deal; however, you have to have realistic expectations. A lot of people leave bad reviews of these masks because, lets face it, they don't really have the results that the video suggest. I don't think it's possible for a mask to do what the video suggests. I have to say, the first time I used this I was a little disappointed. It didn't seem to remove any blackheads at all. I have used it weekly regardless and, with time, I'm seeing much better results. I find the longer the mask is left on, the more evidence you see of it working. Moreover, I like to apply a second layer after the first dries which also seems to make it work better. Overall, for the price of this product (around £4-5) it works really well. My skin feels so clean after I use it and my skin has been clearer than it has ever been since using this. I do use it in conjunction with other products as a part of my skin care routine; however, the results are clear to me and I would advise anyone trying these masks to just persevere and figure out what method works best with your skin before judging the product. 

 Before I move on to makeup, I want to share my last general beauty favourite. It's Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck fragrance. I wore this religiously when I was 14-16. It's a beautiful scent. Everyone always compliments me when I wear it. I ran out ages ago and didn't get around to replacing it but I got this miniature bottle for Christmas. It's a really lovely, floral smell and the bottle is so cute! I think this has been a favourite of mine for many years but I've been wearing it a lot in the last couple of months!

 Moving on to makeup, this mascara is another product that I picked up without really thinking about it and it has honestly changed my life. It's the Rimmel Volume Colourist mascara. I always hated my eyelashes. I'm still not the best at curling eyelashes or applying mascara and I struggle to make my lashes any more noticeable. This product is the first mascara I have used, since trying an abundance of higher end products and Zoella recommended products, to actually do something to my eyelashes. I just love it. My eyelashes are showing up in pictures, they stay curled for much longer. I do notice that this product can flake off a lot throughout the day but I don't really mind when it does such a good job! 

 My last favourite is a brand that I have only found in Superdrug so far. I was trying to save money on makeup; so, when I discovered this brand I fell head over heels. They make some really amazing products for really low prices. I absolutely adore this foundation. It's the MUA Skin Define Hydro foundation. 1 bottle costs £4. I love this because it's water based and it has worked wonders for my skin. I had a horrible breakout over the summer and my whole face went so dry and flaky that I often couldn't wear any makeup. When I found this, I was sold. Not only because of the price but because it is so kind to your skin as you're wearing it. It keeps my skin moisturised and has surprisingly good coverage considering the price. The MUA brand is fantastic. I'm also loving their concealer and their liquid lipsticks. Budget makeup isn't always cheap. 

 That brings us to the end of my Winter Favourites. Let me know what you've been loving and what you think of these products if you've tried them! I'll see you next week.