Q&A: 100th Blog Post ♡

This is my 100th blog post. What. This is my 100th blog post. That is insane. It feels like yesterday that I started my blog. Now this is my 100th post. It's crazy. So I thought I would celebrate with a Q&A post.

If you could choose one place on earth to had a massive meet up with all of your internet friends; where would it be?
Okay, first things first, having a meetup with all my internet friends would probably be the best day of my life.

Anyway, I would probably want it to be quite relaxed, so maybe just go for a Starbucks date and just spend ages chatting and then spend the day wandering around wherever we were (maybe Bluewater or London or something) and go shopping and just have a laugh together. Oooh and have a cheeky Nandos but bring Zoe and Joe and Caspar and Alfie with us. Then go back to one of our houses and have a fun girly night in.

If you had three wishes and it could be anything you wished, what would it be?
1. For the day I just talked about to come true.
2. Everyone in the world to be at peace, happy, and having enough food and clean water.
3. Good grades, happiness and blog keeps going well.
That really wasn't 3 wishes that was 8 but who really cares.

Fave Joe video?
Really. How am I meant to pick. I really loved his first and most recent reading my diary videos (I loved all of them but those two were just my favourite). I've also always loved his prank call videos but I think I might have to say my favourite ever is his prank call video with Zoe.

Favourite post you've ever written?
Hmmmmm. I was pretty proud of my summer lip picks post and I'm pretty proud of most of my reviews. But honestly, I think my favourite blog post I've ever written is my post about divorce as its so close to my heart and so personal, and I love the fact that I could be helping people.

How long have you been blogging for?
I'm not sure. Let me check. Around October 2013. So technically two years, although I never

Life advice in one sentence?
Be yourself and do what you want to do, but don't forget to think of others, don't let them change you but remember they could be going through tough times so smile at strangers.

Favourite small bloggers?
I have a lot. A few are:
Lauren
Grace
Emma

Best advice you've ever been given?
I honestly don't know. Maybe just to be yourself or Do More Of What Makes You Happy - Alfie Deyes.

Best advice to boost confidence?
This is a hard one. You have to be yourself and just think, you're so worried about people looking at you and judging you, but everyone is thinking that sams thing. We're all so worried about ourselves and people looking at us that we don't have time to look at other people.

Also, most people in the world are good people, and they want to make people happy and have fun, so even if people are looking at you they are most likely not judging you and just thinking how pretty you are, or some other compliment. If anyone does say anything rude about you, they are just jealous because you are amazing.

What advice do you have for others?

Ellie xoxo

Autumn Essentials | Berries, Baths & Bonfires ♡

I love autumn. A lot. So I am so excited to start my autumn posts. All my autumn posts will be part of the Baths, Berries & Bonfires series me and Emma are doing. We will be posting an autumn themed blog post every Friday and she has an amazing blog so I will link her social media at the bottom. We thought what better way to start our autumn series than to talk about our autumn essentials.

I'm only going to be talking about beauty and also some fashiony essentials in this post because I don't want it to be too long. Let's go.

Rimmel 9 In 1 Radiance BB Cream
I don't know what to say. Um. Basically. BB cream doesn't have too much coverage so it just perfects your skin and evens out any redness and can cover blemishes without looking like you have a thick layer of foundation on, because in autumn its a bit too cold (really don't know what I'm talking about!). I also love using this as a concealer under my eyes.

Benefit High Beam
If you think of highlighting you probably think of summer, right? Me too, but I think it's nice to highlight in the autumn and winter too and this is great. It's liquid and it sets really well on the face as well as just adding a nice little glow.

Collection Eyes Uncovered Nude Bronze Palette

Autumn eye looks consist of mostly bronze, bronze and what was the other one - bronze! It doesn't have to be this palette in particular but I think a bronzey toned palette is an essential for autumn and this one is only £4 (I recently posted a review of this so be sure to check that out if your interested in buying it).

Soap & Glory Supercat Eyeliner
What goes well with bronzey eyeshadows? Winged eyeliner. And this eyeliner is so black, glides on so well and stays on forever.

Clarins Satin Finish Lipstick - Woodrose
As well as that, dark lips are perfect for autumn and this lipstick is a gorgeous dark rosey berry kind of colour. It's not too dark but it is very autumnal and it is very creamy but pigmented so it stays on all day, although you do have to touch up if you eat or drink.

Revolution Nail Polish

This doesn't have a colour name but it is a gorgeous dark purple which I feel like suits all skin tones as well as looking very quirky and cute. Obviously it's a dark colour so it's perfect for fall and it comes out seriously opaque and lasts a very long time. Obviously an essential for autumn, although I would definitely recommend using a base coat before you use dark colours as they tend to stain your nails.

Cosy Jumpers
To me when I think of autumn I think of big oversized cosy jumpers as they are so warm and fluffy and look really nice, so you can be warm, comfy and looking like you've put effort into your outfit.

Scarves & Beanies
To keep you warm, and look cute, I love big scarfs and beanies as they look very autumnal and are just a must.

Emma's Twitter
Emma's Instagram
Emma's Blog

What are your autumn essentials?

Ellie xoxo

My Holy Grail Products ♡

Right. There are some makeup products I'm honestly obsessed with. I use them almost every day and they are my holy grail products. So today I thought I would do a post talking about my holy grail products, or my top five products ever!

1. Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer
This concealer isn't the greatest for spots, but it is gorgeous light highlighting concealer for under your eyes. I have pretty bad under eye circles so this is a holy grail product that I use basically every day and I love it!

2. Sleek I-Divine Storm Palette
This was my first eyeshadow palette but it is my favourite. I use this so much as you can create so many looks, natural, smoky, neutral, colourful, its amazing. Also, the shadows are amazingly pigmented, they feel like they should be high end. You get 12 amazing eyeshadows, and a huge mirror, in the most Sleek packaging for £8. I don't know how you can't love this.

3. Soap & Glory Supercat Eyeliner
I haven't been using this for that long but it has easily overtaken my Collection Eyeliner and become my new holy grail. It is so black, so easy to apply and so long lasting. It's packaging is gorgeous and its the best eyeliner I've ever tried. And it's only £6!

4. Collection No Clumps Mascara
Well, where can I start with this. I literally use this every single day. It is the best mascara I've tried, even better than my mini Mac one. It is so lengthening and volumising, as well as separating. I usually just use one coat for natural, fluttery, long lashes, but if you use more, it honestly looks like you are wearing fake lashes. Should I add this is only £2.99.

5. MAC Hot Gossip Lipstick
This is the most expensive product out of my holy grails, at £15.50, but it is so worth it. This is my favourite ever lip product. It is so pigmented, applies smoothly and beautifully, and is a gorgeous dark pinky nude, your lips but better colour. It definitely isnt matte, it does have a bit of shimmer, but its so beautiful. I honestly love this so much.

And they were my favourite products EVER! I didn't write too much about them as I know I talk about them alot.

What are your holy grail products?

Ellie xoxo

Collection Eyes Uncovered Palette ♡

One of my favourite makeup products to experiment with is eyeshadow. Not that long ago I picked up the Collection Eyes Uncovered Nude Bronze Palette and now I have tried it out quite a lot I thought I would do a review of it.

Quality
So quality is the most important thing about makeup, in my opinion, if it isn't good quality, its just not good makeup. This, however, is insanely good quality. The eyeshadows are so pigmented, creamy and they blend into your eyes really well. I'm not going to make any huge claims as I can't be sure but I know these last a very very long time.

Colours
There are three palettes - Nude (basic cool and warm shadows), Nude Grey (more grey, cool toned shadows) and mine, Nude Bronze (warmer toned shadows.) They are mostly shimmery apart from the first shade: Ivory, which is a matte light creamy champagne colour, perfect for the inner corners or the brow bone. As well as that, the other five colours range from golds to bronzes to taupes.

Value
Being a drugstore product, this palette is very affordable, at only £3.99. There are six beautiful eyeshadows so it is about 67p for each shadow, amazing value!

Negatives
I mean obviously this palette isn't perfect, nothing is. But I am finding it hard to think of things I don't like about it. I think it could have one more matte shade as there is only one, although looking at imy pictures now,mI actually think the end one might be a matte too. Also the packaging could be better, but that's about it.

Swatches

Bottom to Top - Ivory, Mink, Ochre, Golden Brown, Ember, Nutty.

How I Like To Wear It
There are a lot of different looks you can do with this palette, but I thought I would share with you all a few looks I like doing with it. The first look I like to do is to take Ivory all over my lid, then Nutty in my crease and outer corner, and finish with Ivory in my inner corners. I also love using Ochre all over my lid, then Golden Brown in my crease and outer corner, and a thin line of eyeliner with a little flick. There are loads of different looks you can do with this palette, some I am still yet to discover, but those are just two I really like doing.

Opinion
This palette is INCREDIBLE. The shadows are amazing quality, beautiful colours, very long lasting and all for only £4. I would definitely recommend this is you are a makeup addict like me. One of these palettes would also be good for a beginner as they have all the colours you really need when you are starting out at a very good price.

What is your favourite eyeshadow palette?

Ellie xoxo

Best of Maybelline ♡

So a little while back I posted a 'Best of Collection' post and I really enjoyed it so I have now started a series of these posts (you might have seen my post about Soap & Glory the other week), as I have using lots of Maybelline I thought I would do a post talking about my favourite Maybelline products and little reviews of them.

Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo - On and On Bronze
I have been talking about this a lot recently but this is probably my favourite Maybelline product. It is basically a cream eyeshadow but it looks stunning. It is a not too dark bronzey colour (hence the name).

Maybelline Baby Skin - Warm Apricot
There are a lot of mixed reviews of Baby Skin in the blogging world, some people swear by these and some people hate them but I really like this, I have the shade Warm Apricot and I feel like it doesn't give much coverage (which it isn't meant to as it is a primer) but it does even out your complexion and keep your makeup on for a while longer I think.

Maybelline Baby Lips - Peach Kiss
These are pretty good tinted lip balms and I do have an electro one, but this is the only normal baby lips I own, in Peach Kiss. I don't really feel like these do moisturise your lips that well but they do just give a nice sheen of colour, this one just gives a nice nice sheen.

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara
So this is an amazing mascara! I don't tend to use it on its own as it doesn't volumise that much but it does lengthen amazingingly and separate and define your lashes crazily. It is £8 which some people will say is expensive for a mascara but it is an amazing mascara and does last a very long time considering I have been using it so much since about February or March and it isn't dried out or run out.

Maybelline Matte Maker powder - 010
This is really good value for money as it is only £4 and I feel like this is just a great basic powder as it does everything it needs to do and nothing more. I got the shade 010 but it is basically transparent and it doesn't give much coverage but a little bit and just mattifies and stops your makeup from sliding off or being cakey.

What's your favourite product from Maybelline?

Ellie xoxo

Five Years Time ♡

I'd was racking my brains trying to think of a blog post to write, and I remembered back to the video Alfie Deyes did, and I thought it would be a nice post to do.

Five years time. Just thinking about that is scary. That's a long way away. Anything could happen in that time. I'm thirteen at the moment so in five years I would be eighteen.

I would have probably just got my freedom and be out of school. It would be September 2020 (that sounds weird! I hate it!) so I don't know where I would be. If I had got out of sixth form with the grades I wanted, I honestly don't know what I would do next. It's a long way ahead and its quite scary just thinking about it.

Anyway, as I was saying I would probably be making my next step into adulthood at this stage, whether it be a gap year, university, a job or anything. I honestly have no clue where I could be then but one thing I would love to do after I finish school is anything drama related. I would love to go to a performing arts college or something like that.

In five years time, I will be eighteen. That means I would be an adult. An adult. Me. An adult. They just don't add up.

Other than just education, in five years time I hope to still be really close with my family. And have some best friends I will stay communicating with for the rest of my life. I'm not that bothered about my love life. I will still be quite young and I want to be with someone who is truly perfect for me and I'm perfect for them, so if I'm not in a strong relationship at that age I wouldn't be surprised.

Five years. That is a long time. Who can predict what might happen in that time and where I might be.

What do you think you will be doing in five years time?

Ellie xoxo

Beginners Guide to Makeup ♡

I'm sitting in my kitchen with a cup of tea and my phone and I'm in the mood to write a blog post, so that's what I'm going to do.

A lot of times if I ask you guys what posts you want to see people have said drugstore makeup starter kit or beginners makeup bag or something along those lines, so today I thought I would do my 'Beginners Guide To Makeup'.

Makeup is a great thing and I am obsessed with it, but when your starting out it can be quite scary as you are faced with so many different brands and types of products, you don't know where to start.

Brushes
Brushes can make your makeup apply much better and there are a lot of brushes to choose from. If you are on a budget I wouldn't say brushes are the most important thing, but if you have the money it is definitely worth investing in some good brushes. My favourite is by far Real Techniques. They do separate brushes or sets (for example, they have a face set, an eye set, a sculpting set and some other sets) and are amazing quality, they really make your makeup glide on nicely, as well as having an amazing design and feel to them.

If you look in Boots Real Techniques can be very expensive, at around £20 a set and £7-11 for a single brush. But if you look on Amazon, they are always on offer, normally the sets are around £13 instead of £20 so you can get them for an absolute bargain on there.

If you can't stretch to that but really want some brushes, one of my friends has the Professional Cosmetics 32 piece set from Ebay. The brushes are very good quality for around £7 so that may be a better option for some people.

Face
You don't have to wear anything on your face if you don't want to or don't feel you need it but if you do I would opt for just concealer. If you really need the coverage you could go for a BB Cream too but I would recommend keeping it quite light and simple when you start off. The concealers I would recommend are the Collection Lasting Perfection if you have spots you need covering and want quite a heavy concealer but if you just want something lightweight and highlighting for under your eyes, I would recommend the Rimmel Match Perfection.

If you have oily skin and wanted to powder (which isn't essential but some people like to look more matte) I would recommend the Maybelline Matte Maker.

Eyes
The first step to eye makeup would be eye shadow. Obviously if you are only starting out you might want to skip that step but if you do fancy putting on some eyeshadow, I would go for an eyeshadow palette. The Sleek ones are great if you want to try out lots of different looks but £8 could be quite expensive if you are starting out so an alternative to that would be a Collection Eyes Uncovered palette. I picked one up the other day for £4 and I am really loving it, it has six colours in and is quite neutral so that might be a better option for beginners.

Eyeliner is one of my favourite steps but if your starting out you might not want to use an eyeliner. It's quite hard to get the hang of and can look quite harsh if it is applied badly. (Not that I'm saying there's a specific way to do it, there's no right or wrong way to be honest.) I wouldn't recommend you use Eyeliner straight away when you start using makeup.

Mascara is an essential for me. Mascara opens the eyes up and really finishes off a look. If you are starting out and can only buy one product, I would say go for mascara. My holy grail mascara is amazing and for so cheap - only £3! The Collection No Clumps Mascara is the one to go for.

Lips
Baby Lips. I wouldn't recommend wearing bright or dark lipsticks when you are starting out, although you can if you want, I would recommend nude lipsticks or tinted lip balms that give moisturise and a sheen of colour. There are a lot of Baby Lips to choose from, more natural colours and brighter colours in the Electro range, they look nice and give a bit of colour, but not too much, which is nice for starting out with makeup, especially as they are only £2.99.

That is my opinions on starting out with makeup, what you should pick and what to steer clear of for the time being. If you can pick three items I would go for concealer, mascara and lip balm as the three together can make you look put together but still natural so it doesn't look like you are wearing much makeup.

How old were you when you started wearing makeup?

Ellie xoxo

Summer OOTW ♡

Aloha! Still in Spain! Being in such a hot climate and a different place than usual has made me stop wearing pyjamas the whole time and start trying to wear cute outfits so here is my outfit of the week.

Saturday

Top - New Look

Shorts - New Look

Sunday

Top - New Look

Leggings - M&S

Cardigan - H&M

Monday

Top - New Look

Shorts - New Look

Tuesday

Top - ???

Shorts - New Look

Wednesday

Top - H&M

Shorts - New Look

I need to buy clothes from places other than New Look honestly!

So that was my OOTW from the 5th to the 9th of September. The weather in Spain is so hot at the moment! On Sunday it had been stormy in the morning but when we went out in the afternoon it was actually really hot so I didn't need to be wearing leggings.

I've been really liking doing fashiony style posts recently, what other style posts do you want to see? I was planning on doing a series called Style Staples where I pick one of my style staples (for example, patterned leggings) and talk about how I like to style them and a few different outfits wearing them. Would you guys want to see that kind of post?

Which outfit was your favourite?

Ellie xoxo