August Favourites

I am actually a bit sad that August is over because that means that it is back to school, but on the plus side Autumn is just around the corner and I can't wait for the weather to get colder and closer to Christmas! ( I know, I know, I just said The C Word - but I get very excited about it!!)

JEMMA KIDD NOURISHING TINT// Since I have been off school, most days I have just been reaching for this as it is a really nice tinted moisturiser that just evens out my skin and adds a bit of coverage. Plus the best thing about this was that I found this for only £3 in my local Factory Shop. I would highly recommend going into one near you as they are a great place to find bargain beauty products!

BARE MINERALS LASH DOMINATIONS// Oh my gosh this stuff makes my lashes look so voluminous. I love the packaging and the lid is twisted so it is really funky when you twist the top off and the brush is massive, like possibly the biggest mascara brush I own. There's no fallout but it can clump a bit if you keep reapplying it and layering too much.

TOPSHOP JEWEL LIPSTICK// A did a review on this lipstick in May and somehow it ended up forgotten about at the back of my draw. Whilst having a tidy up I found it again and now I remember why I love it so much. This lipstick lives in my bag because I know I can throw it on and it will give me a really natural  pink colour that is noticeable but nothing extreme. Also what I love most is that it stains my lips and leaves such a pretty stain a while after you apply it. I have a review here if you fancy reading more! 

REAL TECHNIQUES EXPERT FACE BRUSH// Whilst I have been away this brush has been a life saver because I can literally do everything with it: foundation, concealer, powder, bronzer and blush. The brush is so soft and the perfect size for my face - I don't know what I would have done without it!

BARRY M GELLY HI SHINE ROSE HIP// I have worn loads of different polishes this month, but this one is one of my favourites that I wore. It is an off white pale pink that actually looks quite bright on my nails. I love the gelly formulas and this one looks so glossy on my nails. When I held my nails to the light you could just see how glossy it was!

MARY BERRY// In my eyes Mary Berry is the Queen of baking, every recipe of hers that I have tried have turned out beautiful and I love that her baking is old fashioned. She has true grace and elegance and I think it is amazing a women of her age is so active and she is great on the bake off! This month I have baked her Lemon Drizzle Cake and her Victoria Sandwich (recipe here!)  several times and both have been delicous and huge people pleaser's!

What have you been loving this month?

MissBeccaBeauty xo

The Reliable Ones

There are certain products that I always turn to when I don't know what makeup to do or when I need something I know will work and stay all day. I call these the reliable ones because like the name suggests they are the products I can always rely on to work well. I wouldn't call them holy grails because I don't necessarily use these everyday but they are the products I always find my self going back to! 

LIZ EARLE SIGNATURE FOUNDATION// My mum actually bought this foundation for herself but she didn't like the very matte finish that it had, however for me this foundation is perfect. It gives quite a high coverage and I like to wear this on days when I am out and about all day and need it to last all day. For example I went to two weddings this summer and wore this foundation on both days because it leaves my skin looking exactly like it did when I first applied it. Because it has a matte finish I don;t have to worry about powdering throughout the day - which is a plus! 

MAYBELLINE COLOUR TATTOO ON AND ON BRONZE// I think this product is a staple in most peoples make up collections and is is so cheap and so good. Most of the time I will just use this on it's own all over the lid as for me there is enough colour and shimmer on it's own. Like the name suggests it lasts all day and it never disappears like eye shadow sometimes can. The colour it's self is a really pretty bronze/ taupe shimmer shade that is very flattering. I wore this for the two weddings I went to this summer because it lasts all day and I can always rely on this! 

MAYBELLINE MASTER PRECISE EYELINER// This is my favourite black liquid liner and has been for a long time. The colour is super black and I never looks like a wishy washy grey colour. Application wise it is really easy because the nip is so long and the point is really thin. I like to wear this with the Maybelline on and on bronze colour tattoo on days when I am not really sure what makeup to wear or when I need something to last all day and not budge. Also I am getting into wearing a cat flick liner, but I am not very good at it!

JEMMA KIDD HI-SHINE GLOSSSTICK 01 BRIDGETOWN// This lipstick is honestly the most perfect nude shade for me - it's not too brown or too pink, it's just right. Also the formula is very creamy so it feels like a moisturising balm. Jemma Kidd as a brand really impresses me and I love everything I have tried from the brand and this Lipstick is amazing. I wear this on days when I don't want anything bright but still want a bit of 'something'.

What are your reliable products that you always go back to?

MissBeccaBeauty xo

A Bit More About Me... | #TeenBlogSeries

Teen Bloggers Anouska Millar and Beth have decided to start a project called #TeenBlogSeries. Its aim is to bring together lots of the teens/young adults in the blogging community. For the next ten consecutive weeks, over 80 bloggers will be writing every Monday at 6:30pm about many different things, all beauty, lifestyle or fashion related. You can view everyone's posts by going to the hashtag on twitter "TeenBlogSeries". If you would like to get involved email: anouskateenblogger@googlemail.com. 

Every week your read my posts and I share with your beauty products that I love and recipes that I enjoy baking, but I wanted to share with you a bit more about me... Also thank you to Anouska and Beth for organising this amazing series for all of us teen bloggers!

>I love baking, this summer I have baked so much: lemon drizzle cake, old fashioned chocolate cake, many batches of cookie ( but those kind of went a bit wrong) and some million short bread which was incredible. 

>I love Autumn and Winter best, I cannot wait for the colder months to come around. 

>My middle name is Anne (after my mum!).

>I get very claustrophobic and I hate being confined in a small space with lots of people.

>I have a huge family and we all live far away from each other.

>When it comes to games I am very competitive, especially when I am playing against my family. Monopoly brings out the most competitive side of me and I love to play monopoly around Christmas with the family - I have played it that much I have my own secret recipe to success that will make the other players bankrupt. 

>Recently I have been getting a bit obsessed with monochrome clothes: plain black, white and grey t-shirts have been my staple clothes at the moment (even though it is technically summer, it doesn't feel like it because it is so cold and wet at the moment!). 

>One day I want to marry an English Nathan Scott with Nate Archibald's fashion sense. 

>I hate being late for things, it makes me very nervous and agitated. 

>So I have become obsessed with The Good Wife, it is an American series about this Wife who has to go back to work as a Lawyer because her husband gets caught in a scandal. The characters are amazing and I find it so interesting to learn about how American Law and Politics work. I have been watching it with my mum and sister this summer and would really recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different to watch. 

MissBeccaBeauty xo

Back To School Makeup Look

When the alarm goes for school, I will normally hit snooze three times before getting out of bed, then I will spend a few minuets reading Anna and Lily's blogs as they post daily and I check my twitter, YouTube and blog. By this point I have wasted lots of time and I only have a few minuets to do my makeup. Here is what I grab to wear for school. 

LAURA GELLER SPACKLE PRIMER// Primers are a lifesaver during school as they help to keep your makeup lasting longer so you don't have to worry about re-applying anything during the day at school. This is actually my second bottle of this primer and I find it also gives a great even base for my makeup to be applied onto. Don't be put off my the colour, it comes out completely clear when you apply to to your face.

JEMMA KIDD NOURISHING TINT SPF 20// Tinted moisturisers are great for school because they give a really nice light even coverage and this is good for if you are not really supposed to wear makeup as it just looks like really good skin. Also you can blend this out quickly with your fingers when you are in a rush.
BOI-ING CONCEALER// - A must to cover up those dark circles from nights of very little sleep!
JEMMA KIDD PERFECTING POWDER// Like all powders, it sets my makeup well and helps to keep any shine at bay as well as helping to keep my makeup lasting longer. If I do touch up my makeup at school, the main thing I do is powder as sometimes during the day I can get a bit shiny. As I have mentioned before this powder is great for carry around with you as the packaging is sturdy and has a huge mirror inside - which always comes in handy!
SLEEK ROSE GOLD BLUSH// This blush is my 'go-to' when I am not sure really what to do on my cheeks, it is a gorgeous coral shade with golden shimmery undertones (don't worry it doesn't make you resemble a glitter ball!) and is super flattering on my skintone. In fact from swatches I have seen it is flattering on lots of different skintones. The best part is that this blush makes you look fresh -faced and awake ; even though half the time I am ready to crawl back into bed!
SOAP & GLORY SMOULDER AND KOHL EYE-LINER COCOA BEAN// In the morning when I don't have time to be faffing around with choosing shadows that work well as a base, crease etc and spending ages blending the shades out until they are both even and then perfecting a liquid liner (which as we all know girls, liquid liner takes a day and a half to get right and even then I am never happy with it!). Anyway for school I like to define my eyes with this brown liner as it glides on quickly and adds subtle definition to the eyes.
BARE MINERALS LASH DOMINATION MASCARA// Wow this mascara is something else. In one stroke I can achieve so much volume and I love how my lashes look! Big thumbs up from me.
MAYBELLINE BABY LIPS PINK PUNCH// This summer I have been really getting into wearing lip products but when I go back to school I know I will not want to keep applying a high maintenance lipstick. But I always keep this baby lips in my blazer pocket as it is so easy to apply without a mirror and it adds a really nice colour without being too in your face!

What makeup will you be wearing when you go back to school?

MissBeccaBeauty xo

Food Diary #1 : Pancakes and Home-made Lasagne

I love food. I have always eaten proper meals since I could first eat and because of this I have a healthy ( by healthy I mean I eat my fair share of food!) appetite for food. This summer I have been helping my mum a lot more with the cooking and preparing meals for tea, I am actually quite surprised at how much I like it - though the washing up afterwards isn't my cup of tea. Anyway I thought I would show you, as like a little diary, the food I have been cooking and eating. This isn't all the food from one day - just the highlights!

Lets start with Pancakes. Pancakes are a great way to start the day - not necessarily the healthiest option - but they are fun to make and scrumptious to eat. When I am in the mood for American Breakfast Pancakes I will use this recipe from Nigella, Nigella is one of my favourite chefs/bakers and her cake/ dessert recipes are amazing, she never gets it wrong. Chinese food is very close to the top of my list of favourite types of food, so whilst flicking through the Queen of Baking's bible after an wave of inspiration from the Bake Off being back on, I spotted this Chicken and Sweetcorn Noodle soup recipe. I remembered having this a long time ago and really liking it - so I made it again. I used left over chicken from our roast dinner the night before and with a bit of help from my dad showing me the ropes of soup making, I managed to make this soup and it was delicous. I actually added more Chinese flavours than it said because it felt it needed more umph! I have to admit I didn't make the lasagne, this is all my dads handy work. Honestly, I think my dad make the best lasagne in the world and if I am a lucky girl I think he is going to be making it again this weekend. We had friends coming round for Sunday lunch, so dad made the lasagne and I made Mary Berry's (Again! I know, she is just the Queen of baking!) Lemon Drizzle Cake. The recipe said to make it in a square tray, but me being the rebel I am, made it in a loaf tin (just kidding, I only made it in the loaf tin because we didn't have a square tin big enough!). If i do say so myself the cake was delicous and it went down a treat with out guests. I am thinking of maybe doing a recipe post for the Lemon drizzle cake, let me know if you would like to see it!

MissBeccaBeauty xo

Embracing My Natural Hair

If you would have said to me 4 years ago that I would happily walk around in public with my hair down - not just down but completely natural with out any curling ,straightening or clips then I would have probably laughed at you and told you there was no way that would ever happen. Yet here I am today writing a post about wearing my hair down naturally. As you can probably guess I never used to like my natural hair : I thought it was too thick, too bushy, too frizzy, to big, too long, too short, too 'everything'. 

When I was in primary school I wore my hair in a pony tail ,every single solitary day; it became like a religion. Then when I went to high school I discovered buns and soon after the bun became the new 'ponytail'. I tried every style of bun: high bun, ballerina bun, do-nought bun and of course the messy bun. When I was younger I lacked a lot of confidence when it came to my hair, I was never happy with how it looked and part of it was I worried too much about what other people thought of my hair - looking back I bet nobody was even paying attention to my hair anyway! In year 8 I used a lot more heat on my hair. I got sucked into the straight hair phase that made my hair very dry and straight hair just doesn't suit me to be honest. Then towards the end of 2013 I learnt how to properly use my curling iron and fell in love with my hair looking perfectly curled. Obviously I couldn't curl my hair everyday as it would completely ruin it but I reckon I curled my hair about once or twice a week. 

Recently I have been loving just leaving my hair down naturally. It looks best when wash my hair, towel dry it, blast the hair dryer through it for about a minuet and then just leave it to dry by its self. As it is drying I will run my hands through it and scrunch it up a bit so it dries curlier. I love the way my hair dries and especially since being on holiday I have worn my hair like this a lot and I just feel so confident and happy with it like this. The only trouble is that my hair does take a while to dry so I can't see myself doing this hair style for school other wise I will have to wake up a 5:30. But for the weekends and when I am off school I will enjoy wearing my hair like this and just embracing the natural, messy curls that is my hair.

What do you think of your natural hair? Do you style your hair completely differently or do you embrace your natural locks?

MissBeccaBeauty xo

Pizza In The Park

Last summer I did loads of out and about lifestyle posts but this summer I haven't - not sure why. At weekend I went to this really cool pizza place. It was in this village about 40 minuets from where I live and it was a community run event that was very family orientated. In the middle of a forest was a pizza oven, in the middle of the oven were pizzas cooking and in the middle of my belly were the scrummy pizzas! The pizzas have a good chance at running for the best pizzas I have ever eaten, the base was so thin and crisp. We went a little crazy and ordered 5 pizzas - mushroom, peperoni, 2x chicken and bacon and of course my favourite margarita.

Anyway I just wanted to share with you some of the pretty (well I think they are pretty!) photos that I took and if you are ever around Church Fentton on a Saturday evening in the summer maybe go and give this a whirl! I don't live in Church Fentton, we had to drive a good 45 minuets from where I live.

MissBeccaBeauty xo

What Makeup Brushes Do You Really Need?

I like makeup brushes. In fact - I find it quite hard to do my makeup without them to be honest. When I first started out using makeup properly, my makeup brushes were quite hard, scratchy and was just a mix of bits and bobs - no real set of range of brushes. Now if you were to look at my brushes you will see three main makeup brush lines that I love and own a fair few from them. Whilst away on holiday, I realised that as much as I love my brushes I can manage with only 4 brushes for a full face of makeup. Obviously I could use more brushes and at home I probably would... However here are the brushes that I actually need:

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush:

This brush is included in the Core Collection and was the main reason that I purchased this brush. Everything about this brush is just perfect, it blends out foundation perfectly, the size is great for travel and it washes really well. I use this brush for foundation and for blending out my concealer.

Real Techniques Blush Brush:

For me this brush is too big for blush but I do think it is a good size for applying powder to set my makeup and also for adding bronzer to the face as I like to use this in a swirling motion around my face.

eBay Tapered Kabuki Brush:

Considering this brush was so cheap, the quality is good and I have gotten a lot of use out of both of the eBay brushes in this post. I like to use this tapered kabuki brush to apply blush ( cream blush works best with this type of brush) onto the apples of my cheeks and to add a stronger contour to my cheeks. The taped brush sits really well under my cheek bones and I find it is quite easy to contour with this brush.

eBay Tapered Blending Brush:
I really like tapered brushes as you can use the whole brush or just the point where the taper ends if you want more control. A blending brush like this is essential if you want to use eye shadow, which I do most days, however it does mean that you can only really do quite simple eye looks with just one colour. For example I usually apply a base shade and use the more tapered part of the brush to apply a darker crease shade and then I will bend everything out.

What makeup brushes do you need to create a full face of makeup?

MissBeccaBeauty xo

3 Things : Some Product Reviews

I feel like I haven't written a 'proper' review in a while and I wanted to write a review on all of these products so thought I would mix all the reviews into one post. Never done this before so lets just see how it goes. 

I like perfume, I like smelling good in the morning when applying it and I love the look of perfume bottles on my dressing table. Rose Quartz* is the first perfume in Alesha Dixon's Crystal Fragrance Collection. I think it is great that Alesha has released her own fragrance collection and I would love to try more from her collection. Firstly lets just talk about this b-e-a-u-tiful packaging - just look at it! Does anyone else think it is so cool that the pink ombre bottle resembles a crystal. As you can see Alesha's name is engraved into the silver bottle top and I think this is really cute and personal. I am going to give it a go at trying to explain this perfumes scent (wish me luck!)... I would say it is quite a floral perfume however I can also smell notes of rose, grapefruit and musk. Musky and Floral perfumes are actually right up my street as I think the balance of the two is great for an everyday perfume as it is never too sweet or too strong. When my mum saw and smelt this perfume she said it reminded her of the Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb perfume, there you go guys it could be a potential dupe! At only £25 I think this perfume is great value for money and if you ever see it in a shop -go and give it a smell as not only does it  look really pretty, it also smells really pretty!

Last year I did a review on the MUA Heaven and Earth Palette but I was rooting through some of my forgotten makeup products - mainly palettes because I just love nude shadows - and I started using this again.There is a great range of neutral shades and they are pretty much all shimmer shadows. I don't know about you but I much prefer shimmery eyes in the summer, I'm not sure why but I think it looks so much prettier in summer! It is a tad annoying that there are no names on any of the shades but my favourite at the moment are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th from the left on the bottom row and the last shade on the right from the bottom row. You can read the review I did here if you want to know more about this palette and what I think. 

What can I say... I think that Bourjois Colour Boost in Peach on The Beach might just be becoming my favourite lip product. I have worn it nearly everyday and mentioned it quite a bit, but never actually reviewed it. I will say I hate the packaging of all the Colour Boosts because the writing rubs off so quickly and then makes it look awful. But aside from that it is amazing. The colour is the perfect mix of pink and peach that enhances my natural (aka 'non existence pale girl') tan. Surprisingly the formula is really moisturising and very very pigmented. I like to apply a light coat of this and then pat it down with my finger to blend it out a bit and make it more natural. 

Let me know if you like this post with a couple of reviews in one post? 

MissBeccaBeauty xo

TOP TEN TAG

I love a good tag and last week I was tagged by the ever so lovely Zoe from Classic Rouge. As you can probably tell from the title, I will be showing you my top 10 beauty products from each category (mascara, foundation, lip product etc) and this tag was created by  Jessica Vannan at Pretty Chit Chat. Anyway I will start off by naming all the people I have tagged!

Lauren from Curiously Quinn 

Katie from Katie's World of Beauty

Megan from Beautiful You

Lucy from Loves of Lucy

Chloe from The Chloe Look

Foundation

I thought long and hard about this as I have quite a few foundations that I love and use on a daily basis. But there one foundation that I always go back to because I know the colour matches me perfectly, it gives me a flawless finish and lasts really well on my all day. *Drum roll please!* Liz Earle Signature Foundation has been a firm favourite for over a year and I don;t use it on an everyday basis because it is quite a high coverage but I love it so much but I never really hear many people talking about this foundation or any Liz Earle makeup. However I would recommend this a lot.

Powder

Powder is just powder to me and all the powders I have tried have worked the same but there is one that I prefer... Jemma Kidd Bio-Mineral Perfecting Powder. What tips this over the edge is that it is great for taking with me in my bag as I know it won't smash and also the packaging is so pretty like all Jemma Kidd products!

Concealer

This will come as no surprise, my favourite concealer has to be the Collection Lasting Perfection. It ticks every box for me : high coverage, doesn't crease and is super affordable. I have not really got much else to say about this!

Blush

Topshop Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea has been a favourite of mine for a couple of months now and I absolutely love it. The rosy shade of pink complements my skin tone really well and I find because it is a cream blush, that it lasts on me all day.

Bronzer

I have mentioned this lots on my blog this summer and up until this summer the thought of wearing bronzer never even crossed my mind because I was so worried about looking like I had 'smeared orange mud around my face'. Anyway Laura Geller Balance N Bronze is my favourite bronzer as there are no orange undertones so I don't look at all muddy. 

Highlighter

I actually don't ever wear highlighter as I feel like a bit of a disco ball - so no favourite there I am afraid.

Mascara

Last year Elle Magazine has Benefits They're Real Mascara as a freebie, I fell in love with this mascara and ended up buying 4 or 5 of the sample sizes. I have now pretty much finished my stock but it is my favourite mascara and I would love to re purchase it, but it is quite pricey. 

Eye-shadow

I know it is not technically an eye-shadow, more of a cream product, however I would choose my Maybelline Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze. I wear this a couple of times a week and love it for my school makeup routine because you can swipe it on and go. 

Brows

I am not really a brow girl, but if you read my brow tip post here then you will know that I like to use a mix of Naked 2 and Faint from my Naked Basics Palette. Also, cheating a bit here too, I also like to use this palette as eyeshadows on an everyday basis. 

Lip Product

There was no way I could pick just one, so I went for two lip crayon ranges that I love. I find lip crayons so much easier than lipsticks or glosses as they take very little hassle to apply and usually feel quite balm-like which I love. So I chose the Bourjois Colour Boosts, especially the shade Peach On The Beach and Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Sticks and Nudist is my favourite shade.

Feel free to have a go at this tag - even if you haven't been tagged! What are your top 10 products in each category? Do you agree with me on any of my top picks!  

MissBeccaBeauty xo

The Best Victoria Sandwich Recipe

There is nothing better than eating a Victoria Sponge outside with your friends and family at some kind of BBQ or garden party under the gorgeous summer sun! Mary Berry is the queen of baking and no body makes a better Victoria Sponge cakes than her - in my opinion her recipe for the classic sponge is by far the best so I wanted to share with it with you. I make Victoria Sandwiches a lot (in fact as I type this my Victoria Sandwich is baking away in the oven ready to be eaten tomorrow at a Garden Party!) and I would definitely say they are more of a summer cake.

The Ingredients

4 free-range eggs

225g/8oz caster sugar, plus a little extra for dusting the finished cake

225g/8oz self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

225g/8oz baking spread, margarine or soft butter at room temperature, plus a little extra to grease the tins

The Method

1.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2.Grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins. Draw around the base of the tins to get a perfect circle that will fit inside the tins to line them. Use a small bit of butter on the tops of your fingers to rub around the greaseproof paper on the base and around the sides. 

3.Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. I use a free standing mixer as I find it is the quickest and easiest way to make sure all the ingredients are combined. 

4.Mix everything until combined. Be careful not to over mix - as soon as everything is combined you should stop mixing. To know if you have the right consistency, the mixture should drop easily off the spoon. 

5.Divide the mixture evenly between the tins: you can weigh the filled tins if you want, but I find the best technique is to use a soup ladle and keeping adding spoon by spoon to each tin so that they are even. Use a spatula to remove all of the mixture from the bowl and gently smooth the surface of the cakes.

6.Bake the cakes for 25 minuets on the middle shelf and don't be tempted to open the door while they're cooking. Only check on the after 20 minuets. 

7.You can tell when the cakes are done because they will be golden brown in colour and coming away from the sides of the tin. Leave them to cool for around 10 minuets and then run a knife around the edges of the tin, before turning the cakes out of the tins onto a wire rack to cool. 

8. When I am ready to assemble the cake, I check to make sure that the cakes are fully cool. Then I will add whipped cream into the middle of the cakes along with some jam - usually strawberry! In the photo above I also added some strawberries and blueberries to the middle of the cake. This looked really good, but when it came to cutting the cake - it was a nightmare. If you want to use fruit to decorate your cake then I would suggest putting the fruit on top. Sometimes I will do a union jack with the fruit as this is really summery and British! You can also sprinkle the cake with icing sugar as this looks really pretty and 'put together'. 

If you have a go at making this cake, you can tweet me at @missbeccabeauty with some photos!

MissBeccaBeauty xo

A Better Manicure.

Nails, one of my favourite topics to talk about and today I want to share with you some of the things I do to help and pamper my nails.I never sit down and give myself a full blown manicure but, being a complete nail polish fanatic, there are some things I like to do to my nails to help and treat them. 

Before painting my nails I always like to file them so they are smooth and a good shape, I am trying to keep my thumbs a shorter length because when they get too long they go very weak and flaky. So I will cut those down with some nail scissors - obviously! To elongate my nails I push back the dead skin around my cuticles as this makes my nails look longer. Keeping with the cuticle them, I have a few treatments to help my cuticles. The first is the Cuticle and Nail Refiner by Sally Hanson and describes its self as an intensive treatment for dry and rough cuticles, it works by massaging it into your cuticles and leaving it for 60 seconds before washing it off. Another cuticle treatment, that is better on the go or when I am in a rush and want something quick, is the Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. It is a wax-like cream that you massage around your nails and just wait to let it sink in.

Now onto the nail polishes and I use on my nails to treat them. I like to use the Nail HD All In One Treatment (*) before applying a colour vanish, it is full of great products like argon oil and minerals. Overall it does a bit of everything to help your nails and I find my nails always feel a lot better and healthier after using this. Then I will go on to applying a base coat, which at the moment is the Orly Top 2 Bottom, but any base coat works well. I have chose two very 'manicure - esk' polishes by sticking to the natural baby pink shades - I have the Rimmel French Manicure Pro in French Rose and the Chanel Nail Colour in Flamme Rose. Finally I have my favourite top coat, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, I won't talk about it too much as I have done a review here.  After my manicure I will use the Soap and Glory Hand Food to keep my hands feeling soft and pampered between nail painting sessions!

What treatments/manicure do you like to give to your hands and nails?

MissBeccaBeauty xo

*PR Gifted Sample

Rimmel & Sally Hanson Bargains

As much as I love wandering in Boots and Superdrug and buying everything that catches my eye, unfortunately my purse doesn't always stretch that far. As a result I have found a few shops that sell products in Boots and Superdrug at a really good discounted price. Some times the pound shops have beauty products and in the past I have picked up some of the L'Oreal Colour Infallible eye shadows for only £1! My local Factory Shop is amazing when it comes to discount beauty gems. A while ago they had some Jemma Kidd products in there for only £3 and I picked up the Bio-Mineral Perfecting Powder and 2 of the Mineral Skin Nourishing Tints. Which are just perfect for summer.  Anyway onto the haul...

I'll start of with the three products that I am most excited about- the Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquers. When I saw these at the back of the shelf I nearly squealed with joy and then I searched the whole beauty section for top to toe looking for all the shades I could find as they were only £2 each. There were about 5 shades and I picked up three - however I regret not getting all 5 because I now love the shades I have. Aurora is a muted berry coral that appears a lot bolder on the lips than in the packaging, Stellar is the brightest of all the shades I have because it is a bright coral pink shade that has red undertones. Luna is my favourite shade of the three and the shade that I wasn't expecting to like as much, it is a gorgeous warm peach shade. 

Now onto the nails polishes that ended up falling into my hand and being scanned through the till! They are all from Sally Hanson, a brand I surprisingly haven't tried anything from. The first shade, Frozen Solid,  is a metallic tropical ocean blue and is from the hard as nails range, this was £1. I then have two polishes from the complete salon manicure range - a teal green turquoise in the shade New Wave Blue and then the prettiest pink coral in Frutti Petutie. Both of these were £1.50. I fell in love with this pink coral instantly because it matches the Apocalips in Stellar really well and I also have a jacket (post here) that is almost identical. And I thought it would be really cool to have matching lips, nails and jacket - sad, I know!

Where do you shop for discount beauty products? What have been your best finds?  

MissBeccaBeauty xo

Bad Beauty Habits

As much as I love makeup and beauty there are some things I do and some habits I have acquired over the past few years as a result of being a beauty addict. Bad habits are just a part of being human so I thought, like with everything else I do, I would share it on here with you.

Brushes... I use you everyday and I couldn't be without you as you help my makeup look flawless but when it comes to cleaning you I am the worlds biggest procrastinator. I hate washing my brushes, I always like to do it in an evening but then I am too tired and usually can't be bothered. Having said that I love the feeling of using freshly cleaned brushes... Why can't someone invent a way for brushes to clean themselves?! Especially in summer hairy legs are on every girls mind, lets face it - it tends to be any body hair that girls worry about in summer. In winter I couldn't care less about my legs becuase jeans make a daily appearance on them and no body ( besides me!) sees them. But in summer we I forget to shave, I over - shave or I cut my self whilst shaving. Bad habits all round really when it comes to hair! I don't know id this is verging on TMI but my toe nails grow really really fast and I always forget to cut my nails down to a reasonable length - I usually remember when my nail polish has grown out... whoops. The same goes for my thumbs, my thumbs grow really fast as well and I never get round to cutting them so they go all weak and snap off if I let them get too long... another whoops. In a morning when I leave myself only 5 minuets to do my makeup ( usually because I have had a bit longer in bed!) primer gets skipped and then I have to keep topping up during the day which is a waste of time and product when I should just use a primer. Note to self... use a primer so your makeup will last.

Finally I have a few bad habits related to nail polish. When I notice that my polish has chipped slightly, I will then go and pick the rest of that nail off and in turn I will have picked away at my whole manicure. My last bad habit - which could possibly be the worst, I am not too sure though - is that I always have polish on my nails. I hate the look of my nails when they are bear and as an ex- nail bitter I will try and bite my nails if they are polish free; so that is why I like to always have polish. Also it means I am making the most of all my polishes in my extensive nail polish collection ( let me know if you would like to see a polish collection!) if I am always wearing it. But I know that becuase of this my nails don't see much oxygen and after a while they might go a bit yellow. I don't want this to happen - but I also don't want to have to have bear nails.

There you have it, some of my bad beauty habits. I do have a few more so if you like I can do another post in a few months time. 

MissBeccaBeauty xo

Through My iPhone | July

I didn't do a Through My iPhone last month as I didn't do that much and didn't take many photos on my phone, but July has been a really busy yet amazing month and my iPhone camera had quite a workout recording everything I got up to. I have decided that I will do these posts when I think I have got enough photos to share with you, so it might be every month or only every few months... lets just wait and see! 

I went to London with school and this is me and my bestest chummy outside the Harry Potter shop in Kings Cross Station // Whilst in Ireland we went to visit the Butlers chocolate factory and how could I not try one of their chocolate milkshakes, it was really nice but I couldn't finish it because the chocolate was really rich // Pretty flowers in my Nana and Granddads garden - I think they are red roses // At the start of July my mum and I went on a mega hunt looking for all the Clinique freebies in the Glamour magazine, I am particularly loving the Clinique High Impact Mascara // Mary Berry does the best Victoria Sandwiches in my opinion and I whipped up her cake for a family BBQ which was so lovely // Mexican! Mexican night is becoming a regular thing in my house and whilst at my Aunties we had a mega Mexican night // Summer Wedding OOTD, dress from Debenhams, shoes from New Look and Bag from Primark. I love this dress, it is a real wow dress and I felt so comfortable in it all day // A new handbag arrive - A black celine inspired tote bag! // The nicest Chinese food I have ever eaten, from a little buffet style shop in the middle of China Town // My chocolate elephant that I got to decorate whilst in the Butlers Chocolate Factory - it is so cute, it broke my heart to eat it!

MissBeccaBeauty xo