It’s been 476 days since I last sat on the laptop and wrote a post. 

Cherishing Memories with Printiki

Sometimes we forget about all the amazing things we’ve done in life so we like to take pictures to treasure those memories. I have an Instax Mini Polaroid camera however it’s quite chunky and I don’t always like to carry it around with me wherever I go, instead I tend to just take pictures on my iPhone. Polaroid style pictures are everywhere right now, they have never gone out of fashion. Ever since I could remember I’ve been wanting to create a scrapbook full of all my favourite memories and life events which I can happily look back on through pictures. When the lovely lady Beatriz over at Printiki* contacted me, I jumped at the chance to work with them after seeing all the amazing reviews and the gorgeous prints.

If you haven’t guessed already, Printiki is a photo printing service which can link straight to your social media accounts so that you can print off some of your favourite pictures. Printiki offers many fashionable print styles to choose from such as:

• Retro Square M (4x4”)
• Retro Regular M (6x4”)
• Retro Square L (5x5”)
• Retro Regular L (7x5”)
• Retro Regular XL (8x6”)
• Square M (4x4”)
• Regular M (6x4”)
• Square L (5x5”)
• Regular L (7x5”)
• Regular XL (8x6”) 

As well as being able to create a variety of posters and photo books. The retro prints are more of a polaroid style whereas the square prints have a thin white boarder around them, making it a perfect fit for your Instagram photos.

I am very fussy when it comes down to the cost of prints which is why I don’t tend to use photo printing companies that much as I can find some to be very overpriced for what they are. Printiki is a service that I will never stop using as it’s only £5.50 for 20 M prints and you can add an extra 10 for just £2.75… such a huge bargain! Not to mention that my prints arrived just 3 days after I ordered them. This is such a great price point especially as the quality of the pictures are insanely good. You have the option to choose either a matte or glossy finish, I optioned for the gloss and it gave my photos a more professional look to them with the beautiful added shine.

There’s so much that you can do with your prints. I went for a scrapbook as I’ve always been a very creative person therefore I enjoy decorating and adding to a scrapbook but it also gives me a chance to constantly look back on some of my favourite moments. You could make DIY wall art, photo bunting or a photo collage, the options are endless.

If you’d like to have a look around and buy some prints for yourself or even as a gift to someone special then head straight over to the Printiki website. As a special little treat for you guys, I have an exclusive voucher code that first time buyers can use at the checkout to receive FREE SHIPPING which means you get 20 medium prints for just the price of £5.50!

Voucher Code: X77JNFE8

Also, don’t forget to follow Printiki on their social media platforms for some photo print inspiration:

• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• Faceook

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I hope you have tons of fun creating some super cute prints for yourself! 

Let's Talk: Body Confidence and Learning to Love Myself

*All photos were taken by Sarah: ohitssare 

Twitter: @ohitssare

Instagram: ohitssare_*

I’ve been sat here looking at a blank page for a while now. You know when you have so much that you want to say but you’re not sure how to put those thoughts into words? That’s me right this moment. I’m also quite anxious about writing this post as 1) it’s a lot different to what I normally write and 2) I have never been very open about this subject therefore the thought of sharing it on the internet seems daunting.

My body weight is something I have constantly struggled with back in school which was 5 years ago and it’s been an ongoing battle ever since. Let’s just say, I wasn’t exactly the slimmest of girls and I’m still not. I’ve lost weight since but I’m still not what you would consider as ‘slim’. During school, I got bullied about my weight in person and over social media. The words ‘fat’ came out of people’s mouths like word vomit and when someone starts saying something about you constantly, you start to believe it for yourself. That’s when the anxiety kicks in.

I’ve never been a confident person as it is, therefore being put down and made to feel small just makes everything worse. I’m the sort of person that tries to find the positive in every situation possible but sometimes that’s hard to do when you’re getting such nasty words thrown at you. I remember I would always try to just ignore them and brush it off but as soon as I got home, I’d break down and cry for hours on end. Thinking to myself “Why do I have to be so fat?” or “I need to stop eating” – thinking back to that point in my life makes me sad and angry. To think that I let such heartless people get to me like that just angers me. I was very shy and if I’m honest, I didn’t know how to stick up for myself back then and I didn’t really want to give them the light of day as I knew they were trying to get a reaction out of me. I wasn’t willing to give it to them.

For years I have battled with my weight shifting up and down due to contraceptive pills, stress and just generally eating either less or more. There was a point in my life where I wasn’t eating enough therefore I was always tired and would occasionally faint and it still scares me to this day that I let myself get like that. I am finally at a weight I’m comfortable with, I’m a happy size 12 and I have learnt to accept that I’m never going to be a size 8 but that’s okay. It does make me sad however that I feel like social media has played a huge part in making my self-esteem lower as I remember seeing so many magazines on how to achieve the “perfect” body or magazines ripping apart other celebrities just because they put a bit of weight on. It makes me so upset thinking younger girls are reading stuff like that probably thinking to themselves that they need to look a certain way.

With the support of my wonderful friends, family and fiancé, I have learnt to accept my body for what it is. Of course, I still get those days where I feel insecure (just like everyone has those days) but each day I try to think of the positives. I’m learning to love my stretch marks and embracing my curves, and I’m slowly learning not to give a crap about what other people think of me. I need to worry about loving myself first instead of loving the idea of other people loving me.

I guess what I’m trying to get across in this post is, you are all beautiful. No matter what shape or size you are. I think it’s time we all start appreciating how we look and learn to love ourselves instead of comparing ourselves to others. Never did I ever think I’d be sat here posting pictures of full body shots over the internet, it would be something I didn’t have the confidence for back in the day. It just goes to show how far I’ve come.

                                                                                                                                                                       

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“Self-confidence is the best outfit”

“To me, beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are”

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Making The Most Out of iPhone Photography

Guess what? I’ve been blogging for over 3 years and I still shoot blog photography with my trusty iPhone 6. I know that my photos aren’t the best and yes, I constantly find myself drooling over others blog photos wishing I had perfect pictures just like that but unfortunately I’m not that talented. Funny thing is, I actually have a perfectly fine Nikon L310 sitting around in my room but I refuse to use it as I find iPhone’s easier and quicker to use.

I believe a lot of people really underestimate the power of an iPhone/Android and I admit, sometimes at first glance the photos can look a little poor however with a ton of editing apps and bit of playing around with, you can end up achieving some awesome images. 

THE GRID OPTION

If I’m being completely honest here, I had no idea about this feature until I saw someone talking about it on social media. Cleaaaarly I’m not great with technology these days. This has completely changed my photography game for the better, the grid helps to make sure all your photos are level making sure the rules of third is applied with ease. This took a bit of practicing and bit of getting used to but in the end you can achieve visually pleasing photos. To enable this feature head to Settings > Photos & Camera > Grid and select it green.

TAP TO FOCUS

Probably my most used and useful feature when it comes to taking my photos. Simply tap the screen where you want the image to focus creating a clean and sharp image. Don’t worry about having shaky hands (I have the most unsteady hands ever) it will automatically focus to wherever you end up tapping without a problem. 

ALL ABOUT THAT LIGHTING

If you can, try and take photos in natural lighting which is for me personally the best. I find that with artificial lighting, my photos can look more on the yellow toned side and it becomes a lot harder to edit. I try to shoot my photos at around 10am-11am where the lighting is usually at its best and I also like to make sure the window is in front of me when taking them to get the best results as I possibly can. 

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT

I can never post a photo without editing it a bit beforehand, I always feel like my photos look somewhat ‘unfinished’ if it’s not edited. I understand that editing all comes down to personal preference however, here are some of the apps that I use to edit my photos with PLUS THEY’RE ALL FREE!

SNAPSEED: I mainly use this app for when I want to brighten the background of my pictures especially when I feel like I’ve taken some shots in awful lighting. This app contains a selective feature which allows you to select in detail where you want to either brighten, change the contrast or change the saturation. That’s not all though! It comes with a bunch of other features like tuning your image and changing the structure.

COLOURSTORY: This is pretty much similar to SnapSeed in terms of allowing to play around with the brightness, contrast and saturation. Completely changing the brightness of my whole photo is what I use this for. The app also contains a selection of effects such as flare and light leaks whilst giving you a variety of choices in the filter sections.

VSCO CAM: I feel like everyone and their mother has heard about this editing app as it’s so popular within the blogging community. I use this whenever I want to add a universal filter to my photos (A5, HB1 and HB2 all being my personal favourites). Like any other photo editing app, it also allows you to change the basics like sharpness and clarity to make your photos look more like they were taken off a DSLR camera, what a bonus! 

What do you use to take blog photos? 

A New Favourite Mascara?

When it comes to mascaras, I never really venture out to try new releases as I like to stick to the same ones that I know will always work for me. If I’m honest, I’m quite fussy with my mascaras which is probably why I haven’t tried a great deal of them. The lovely people over at Essence Cosmetics sent me a ton of goodies to try out and to my surprise, the I Love Extreme Waterproof mascara was my favourite of the bunch.

Before using this I did a bit of research for some reviews like I would normally do, however there wasn’t a wide variety of them, although I did manage to find some first impression videos on YouTube and some of them seemed a bit disappointing which meant I didn’t set my hopes up high for this one. Boy was I wrong! I love everything about this mascara from the formula, to the applicator and to how it made my eyelashes look. 

I like the blue and pink packaging that this product comes in and the tube seems a lot wider and ‘fatter’ than any of my other mascaras that I own. The bristles on the applicator are quite dense and thick which worried me at first because I thought it was going to clump my lashes together however it did the complete opposite – it separated my lashes beautifully whilst giving them a good amount of volume and lift (bearing in mind, I used an eyelash curler beforehand). It’s also waterproof which means you won’t need to worry about smudges, I wore this product for a good 10 hours the other day and it held up perfectly. The only thing I will address was that it took AGES to remove at the end of the day which is understandable considering it being waterproof. I used my regular Garnier Micellar Water and a good few cotton pads to get rid of it, but I sometimes found myself rubbing at my lashes too forcefully so I would highly recommend using something more oil based to help breakdown the product. 

You can find this mascara over at Wilkinson’s for just £2.80 which is possibly the cheapest mascara I own and it’s a bargain considering it works like a charm. I think it’s safe to say that I will defiantly be re-purchasing this product once I’ve ran out.

Have you tried any Essence products? What’s your go-to mascara?

8 Things That Happen When You Get Engaged

If you follow me on social media then you would’ve seen that I got engaged on Monday and yes, it still feels super weird to say that however it was honestly one of the best days of my life. What I thought was a normal day off work ended up being completely different, Alex surprised me with breakfast at the shard and then tickets to London Zoo to feed the cute little monkeys. After a walk around Regents Park, he got on one knee to propose and I cried so many happy tears. I feel like nobody talks about the things that happen right after you get engaged, even though we’re a newly engaged couple these are some of the things that happen after you get engaged (well, at least these are the things that have happened to me):

       1.      You over-use the word fiancé - An hour after he proposed, I couldn’t help but say ‘Oh hey Fiancé!’ multiple times until it got very annoying (but I secretly loved every minute of it). You find yourself constantly using this word all the time just because you can! I wake up every morning with a ‘Morning fiancé’ in the most girliest voice possible and he laughs at it and replies back but you can tell on his face that it gets a bit annoying after a while lol.

      2.      You want to tell EVERYONE – Yes, even strangers. I couldn’t stop showing off my ring to the whole world afterwards. I was paying in Primark and I handed over my money whilst showing off my ring as if to say “Yep. He put a ring on it”. You will want to put the news out there on everything whether that’s Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the most amount of engagement hashtags as possible. EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW.

      3.      You will become super over-protective of the ring – It’s gotten to the point where I’ll take my ring off before bed and put it back into its perfect little box because I’m too scared in case it falls off whilst I’m asleep (even though it probably won’t). You will also get very paranoid if anyone wants to hold the ring, in the back of your mind you’ll be saying ‘omg please don’t drop it, ok that’s enough. Okay give it back now’ haha!

      4.      You will immediately start planning your wedding – Even though we don’t plan on getting married until a good few more years yet, I instantly took to Pinterest and made a wedding board so I could pin all the cute and quirky wedding ideas. Then you’ll share all your marvelous ideas with your fiancé to the point where he’ll get so bored and fed up of looking at wedding stuff when you’re nowhere near getting married yet lol. It’s just fun to do and omg let’s not forget about how many wedding dresses you’ll end up looking at.

      5.      You’ll tell the engagement story over and over again – At first, it’ll be fun and exciting to tell all your family and friends the famous story of how he proposed, but once you get asked for the thousandth time, it will start to get a tad annoying.

      6.      You will get excited every time you hear Beyoncé’s song – All the single ladies will start playing and you’ll end up doing some crazy dance whilst pointing to your ring with that hand flip move to show everyone that he did put a ring on it.

      7.      You’ll constantly keep up with painting your nails – I’m the type of girl who hates painting my nails and if you know me then you’d know that I always have chipped, ugly nails. Not anymore. I feel like a changed women and I constantly want to buy prettier nail varnish so I can get those perfect nails for when I show everyone the ring.

      8.      You will feel so overwhelmed yet super happy – At one point you will actually realise that you’re going to be marrying the person you love the most and spending the rest of your life with them. It’s such an overwhelming feeling of happiness and excitement. 

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Why I Love Makeup Sponges

Although I have an undying love for my flat top kabuki brush for giving me such a flawless finish with foundation, I will always have a place in my heart for beauty blenders/makeup sponges. The first makeup sponge I ever heard of was the beauty blender however I found a cheaper alternative and went for the Real Techniques Complexion Sponge and I’ve never looked back since. Nowadays, a variety of brands are bringing out different sized makeup sponges all for different uses and I have found they’ve made a huge difference in my makeup application. Here are a few reasons as to why I love makeup sponges and why I will continue to re-purchase them in the future:

They have unique shapes | Most beauty sponges will come in a sort of oval shape which makes the rounder side perfect for bouncing foundation over the main parts of your face, then you have the little point which makes it easier to get the foundation blended around your nose and underneath your eyes.

You can use them wet or dry | I like to use my complexion sponge when it’s a bit damp as I find it’s easier to blend my foundation out, also the sponge becomes softer and more flexible making it a whole lot easier to use. The only time I tend to use a dry beauty sponge is when I’m baking with loose powder, I like to pick up a good amount of product and bake underneath my eyes, my nose and my smile lines. It works perfectly and my makeup doesn’t budge for the rest of the day.

Cleaning them is super easy | Although makeup sponges claim to last a few months, they can actually last a lot longer if you take great care of them and clean them on a regular basis. I am the type of person who despises cleaning makeup brushes as I have way too many and I find it very time consuming, however I L O V E cleaning makeup sponges because they’re super easy to clean. Baby shampoo and a bit of olive oil works perfectly to deep clean and get out any staining that the makeup may have left.

Sponges give me the most natural yet flawless finish | My flat top kabuki brush will always be my favourite for foundation application however, it gives me a super full coverage that I don’t always want on a daily basis. Makeup sponges are for the days where I want a natural looking skin day but I still want to look healthy and flawless. It’s also great to use when my skin is dry as it doesn’t disrupt the skin as much as a brush would.

I spend less time applying foundation | Using a makeup sponge I found has been the quickest and most efficient way to apply foundation with especially if I’m in a rush. They blend out the foundation super quick without the worry of having to try and blend away brush strokes or any dry patches.

I believe that everyone should have some sort of makeup sponge in their collection or at least try it, because I guarantee you’ll become obsessed with them just like I did. What are your thoughts on makeup sponges?

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5 Ways to Switch Off After a Stressful Week

Last week was full of stressful moments for me. I don’t deal with stress very well as I’m one of those people who tends to break down into tears the minute I get stressed about something and it truly is horrible. As I was casually scrolling through Pinterest one evening, I came across a short quote that completely stood out to me: 

                                                      

  “It is ok to take a break”

Sometimes we get so piled up with stuff that we feel like our heads may explode. It’s so important to pause and really think about what is most important at that moment in time. Yes. It’s okay to take a break from everything once in a while, to switch off from the world and focus on yourself for a change. How do we switch off? Well, everyone has their own ways of relaxing and winding down at the end of the day. Here are 6 things that I like to do: 

Read a book | Reading a book is one of the most relaxing things to do in my opinion. Getting stuck into a good story helps me to forget about all my worries and de-stresses my mind from any negativity. I recently picked up a new book to start reading called: Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland which is beautifully written Young Adult book about love and loss.

Switch off from Social Media | This is something I have been trying to add into my life recently. We use social media every single day for an excessive amount of hours (well, I do anyways) and that’s not a bad thing however it can become too much sometimes especially when it starts to affect your social life. It would get to the point where I’d come home from work and instead of spending time with my boyfriend who I haven’t seen for the day, we’d both end up on our phones for hours catching up. I’ve been starting to switch off from my social media for a few hours each day, and it honestly makes such a difference with my stress levels.

Talk to someone | I have always noticed that it’s much better to let your feelings out to someone you can trust rather than boxing them up on the inside and actually making you feel worse. It’s okay to get a second opinion sometimes and it’s also okay to ask for some help and advice when you need it the most. When I’m stressed, I’ll either turn to my boyfriend for help or I’ll end up ranting to my best friend over WhatsApp and that instantly makes me feel better.

Organising things |Bit of a strange one, but it’s always helped me. When I’m stressed and mind is completely puzzled, I like to organise my stuff. Whether that’d be my makeup drawers, my wardrobe or just cleaning around the house in general. I feel 100 times more organised afterwards and having some sort of order in my stuff makes me less stressed out in the future.

Go to bed early |When I’m tired, I tend to get a bit more ‘cranky’ and agitated which is where most of my stress comes into the picture. I used to go to sleep at around 2am which was never good as I would wake up and feel super irritated for the rest of the day. I’ve been trying to get into bed earlier than normal, probably around 9pm on work days or 8pm on my days off. I never force myself to sleep as that doesn’t work, I like to lay in bed until I feel tired – going to be earlier helps me to have a better and more productive day the next morning.

What are some of your favourite ways to switch off during a stressful day/week? 

A Round Up Of My Favourite Cream Contour Products

Oh I do love a good contour. It’s become part of my daily makeup routine and I genuinely feel ‘naked’ or ‘not put together’ if I skip this step. Don’t get me wrong, I still love powder products however I feel like cream products look more natural and gives my skin radiance rather than the matte look. During the spring and summer I like my skin to look glowy and healthy and these are some of my favourite cream contour products which help me to achieve that look:

Clinique Chubby Stick | This is one of the first cream contour products I ever purchased, and I also bought the highlighter chubby stick to go with it however I wasn’t a big fan of that one. Without even exaggerating here, this product has lasted me a good two years and it’s most likely out of date however I can’t bring myself to throw it away until I’ve used it all up. This sculpting contour contains no shimmer and the shade is more on the warmer side which I prefer as I don’t like grey, cool tone contours. The pigmentation is great and you only need to use the tiniest amount which is why it’s lasted me such a long time and its fab considering it cost £19. It blends into my skin nicely leaving me with natural looking sculpted cheek bones.

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel | If you haven’t heard of this product then where the heck have you been?! This was all the hype a few years back and I feel like pretty much everyone had this in their makeup collection. With the price range being £32, is it really worth it? YES. You can use this product underneath foundation for a bronzing base or use it on top as a cream bronzer. The velvety finish of this product keeps your skin looking radiant and sun kissed. It’s a light cream-gel formula which blends beautifully into the skin. It’s a very subtle product however it’s super buildable and just like the Clinique Chubby Stick, it has a warm undertone and lasts a very long time.

Technic Contour Stix | This contour stick comes in a set of three alongside a pink champagne cream highlighter and a yellow toned concealer. Technic is one of the more affordable brands with the set only costing around £7 and even cheaper on some sites such as eBay or Amazon. I was hesitant at first as I wasn’t sure if I like the colour of the contour itself, it’s more on the cooler side of things however it seems to work perfectly for my skin tone which I was super happy about. The product blends into my skin seamlessly and has amazing longevity power as it doesn’t seem to budge throughout the day. I also own Technic’s cream contour palette which insists of 8 shades to help you get the perfect contour, it retails for £5 and all the shades are super creamy and pigmented.

Benefit Dew the Hoola | I received this mini Dew the Hoola product in a Birchbox one month and of course, I was super excited about it. For someone who is a huge fan of the original Hoola bronzer I also cannot get enough of this product either. It’s unlike any of the other cream products I’ve mentioned so far as this one is a full on liquid bronzer… Yep, it’s a liquid. The consistency is not runny yet not too thick either. I like to apply one pump onto the back on my hand and then get a flat brush to apply it into the hollows of my cheeks, I like to blend it in with my Real Techniques expert face brush or sometimes I just like using the warmth of my fingers. It’s a warm toned shade, exactly the same shade as the original Hoola bronzer but just in a liquid form. This is a sample size however the real deal costs £24.50.

I am wanting to try out more cream contour products that are on the market today as I feel that more and more brands are starting to come out with them. I’d love to know some of your recommendations.

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Current Non-Beauty Favourites

Before we get started with the post, can we just take a minute to realise that we are nearly at the end of March!? It’s been something that has crossed my mind a lot recently and its crazy how quickly time flies. Moving on, I can’t even remember the last time I did a favourites post. I usually write about what sort of beauty products I am currently loving however for today’s post, I want to write about some non-beauty favourites that I have been obsessing over recently and I feel like this would be an awesome way of getting to know me better on a more personal level.

H&M STRIPED JUMPER

I went to Chichester not too long ago and I saw a girl wearing this exact jumper with a cute black denim dungarees and I was completely obsessed with the whole outfit. Of course, me being me I was too anxious to go over to her and ask where it was from (lol) so I ended up spending what seemed like f o r e v e r online trying to find that exact jumper. I had no luck until the other day; I took a trip into Brighton with the boyfriend and I found the jumper sitting in the sale section and there was only two left. I grabbed it as soon as my eyes caught it and I did a little excited squeak and told my boyfriend how I’ve been wanting this for ages! As you can imagine, I cannot stop wearing it. I’m obsessed and it’s the comfiest jumper ever AND for £10, who’s complaining? Not me.

HOOP EARRINGS

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to my best friend Taylor (tmaemakeup) for getting me into hoop earrings. I’ve had my ears pierced since I was 2 yet I have just never really been an earring kind of gal. My friend wears the prettiest earrings and I love when she wears hoops as they look amazing on her. We went shopping a while back and I decided to pick up a pack of 5 different sized hoops for just £1 in Primark (oh Primark, you absolute gem) and I have been wearing them non-stop. I don’t know why I was too scared to wear them, I guess it was because they were very out of my comfort zone and I was nervous in case they didn’t suit me but at the moment, I’m very happy with them.

RIVERDALE

If you haven’t heard about this new show then WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? Riverdale is without a doubt one of my favourite shows on Netflix at the moment although I am a bit annoyed by the fact that we have to wait until the 31^st until the next episode. Nevertheless, I still love it. The show is set in a small American town and it follows the murder of Jason Blossom, a football captain at Riverdale high school. That’s literally all I’m going to say about it because I think that EVERYONE needs to watch this show and find out how amazing it is for themselves, it’s full of twists and turns. If you love Pretty Little Liars then you’ll definitely love this.

TOBY CARVERY

Who doesn’t love a good roast dinner? I have no regrets when I say that I went to Toby Carvery 3 times in the space of a week and a half lol please don’t judge me. Whenever there’s an opportunity for a roast or even just food in that matter, I can’t resist. Plus it’s a cheap alternative as it only costs like £7 for a massive plate of meats and crispy potatoes and that huge Yorkshire pudding you get and just ugh, I’m getting way too ahead of myself now. Just go to Toby’s yourself and then you’ll realise why I’m so in love.

What have been your current non-beauty favourites?

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Double Cleansing With PIXI + Caroline Hirons

I have been following Caroline Hirons for a good year and a half now. When it comes down to skincare tips and advice, her blog is my go to place. Caroline and a few other influencers have teamed up with Pixi to create a bunch of fabulous collaborations which you can find over here on their “what’s new” section. As soon as I heard that Caroline was bringing out a double cleanser I was shook and so frickin’ excited to say the least.

What is double cleansing?

I found out about double cleansing through Caroline’s blog and it’s something that I have been using in my skincare routine a lot more often. I use cleansers anyways as I don’t like the feel of makeup wipes, they seem to be harsh and rough on my sensitive skin and it just doesn’t work out well for me. You start off with your first cleanser, preferably something oil based to help remove the bulk of your makeup and to help get rid of any sweat and dirt. Oil based cleansers are becoming very popular recently and they’re also generally safe and gentle to use around your eyes. After rinsing that away, you move onto the second step which is cleansing your face again but with a cream cleanser to actually cleanse your skin. Caroline recommends to massage a cream cleanser into your skin for a good few minutes and I believe she has a post on how to massage your face properly.

“If you’ve spent time putting it on, then take time taking it off”

-         Caroline Hirons

       My initial thoughts about this product was ‘what a flipping great idea’ I’m surprised that no one thought of doing a double cleanser in one tub before?! Genius. The packaging is absolutely beautiful. The plastic tub feels sturdy yet not too heavy and the design is simple yet tells you exactly what the product is all about from the first glance. Inside the tub contains two separate compartments: one for the oil cleanser and then one for the cream cleanser. Both sides contain 50ml of product each. I immediately noticed how this product doesn’t have any scent to it, which is perfect for me as I suffer with sensitive skin. Too much fragrance can actually break me out more and my skin can become very irritated. The product claims to be suitable for ALL skin types which is great!

The solid cleansing oil instantly melted into my fingers from the warmth of my hands, making it easier to apply to my skin. I massaged this into my dry, makeup caked face and simply watched the magic happen as it dissolved and melted all of my makeup away within seconds. I’m talking the stubborn mascara, the matte liquid lipstick and those layers of foundation, cream contour and powder – literally the whole ‘shebang’. I mean, I looked ridiculous afterwards with all this melted makeup on my face but after rinsing it away with a cloth and some warm water, my skin felt tremendously soft. Moving onto the cleansing cream side of things, this was definitely my favourite part mainly because I prefer using creams rather than oil cleansers. Whilst massaging this cream into my skin, it felt very luxurious and silky smooth. I like to massage it into my skin for a good few minutes so that the product has enough time to sink into my skin before rinsing away.

I can honestly say that my skin has never felt so soft and clean in its entire 20 years of life. The cream didn’t leave any leftover residue on my skin and I felt like I didn’t need to moisturise afterwards because my skin already felt super hydrated. I believe having a good skincare regime helps massively with how your makeup applies and looks on the skin, I would 100% recommend everyone to try out double cleansing at least once in their lifetime and see how it works out. I am certainly never going to stop it.

This product retails for £24 online at Cult Beauty or in stores at Marks and Spencer.

Have you tried out this product yet?

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