Beauty || Budget Moisturiser

I want to introduce you to one of my favourite moisturisers at the moment.

Lately I've been using Skin System's Young Skin Matte finish moisturiser, this is an Asda brand which I picked up after my sister tried a Tesco Skin Therapy Moisturiser which included Tea Tree that cleared my skin better than any other moisturiser I had used previously.

What I really like about this moisturiser is that it soaks in really quickly into my skin so I can apply it and then crack on with applying my make up. I've actually found it makes quite a good base for make up.

Just to add to my fascination with this moisturiser I've just discovered from looking at the label that it includes Aloe Vera, Willow and Papaya Natural extracts, it's always good if they include good old nature right? I've found it has a very calming effect on my skin which is a combination of normal and dry. Another thing I'd like to include is since using this moisturiser I haven't seen any dry patches on my face which means when I do wear foundation it is even,

This moisturiser cost £1 from Asda, for that price it's worth a go right?
However it's not a miracle worker and please remember that moisturisers take atleast a month to see a difference, you can read about why here.

Are you a fan of budget beauty?

Anything you'd recommend?

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March || Catch Up!

I'm I started March with tonsillitis which wasn't great but after it went and came back again I think I've finally cleared it.

I've been working hard this month on 3 aspects of my life. College, my bedroom and my social life. If you want to see more of my room my room tour is up on Elysian here. 

Trying to get on top of college work after not doing much work for the last two years was stressful, but I got there in the end and since the beginning of the month I've turned my Us and Ds into As and Bs!

So I've been keeping on top of my work. Handing in essays on time, revising hard, saying no to extra work hours.

But still working...

I also downloaded that 'fling' app which was boring, don't bother. 

We've shut down Qui Vive and have launched a new channel starring Hannah, Ness and myself. Come and check us out on Twitter and YouTube. 

Trying to keep my work:social life balance I went out for lunch with the girls where we had a lovely lunch at Wearherspoons.

I went for a walk with Charlotte and took in some fresh air for a change!

Amber picked a spot on my desk, this is known as Ambers spot. She will sit on anything placed in her spot.

I'm back on the lemon meringue pie 'diet'. Mum made the mistake of buying one and we ate it all.

Me and mum are currently discussing living arrangements for when I got to university in September. I want to live at home but mum says she can see herself coming down to visit and bringing me food so now I'm unsure...

This months favourites...

Person of Interest (TV Show)

I watched a few episodes of this when it first started but I didn't quite get into it, but then I caught mum ''series bombing'' it (that's what she thinks it's called) on Netflix and suddenly I was completely hooked on it. It's pretty mind boggling but exhilarating at the same time. I don't want to give anything away but if you like a puzzle and you like action I would recommend this TV show, it's awesome.

Hootsuite (Website)

Since I've pretty much been studying or watching Person of Interest I haven't had a lot of time for social media so Hootsuite has been a total life saver. I've also worked out how to schedule facebook posts.

The Vampire Diaries (TV Show)

I used to watch this A LONG time ago with my dad, but when I started working I couldn't keep up but I came across it on Netflix one evening and now I'm ''series bombing'' it. The first couple of series are boring because I've watched them before but I'm really looking forward to getting to the episodes I haven't seen.

Tea (Drink)

I think I'm addicted to tea again, especially with all the time I'm spending in front of Netflix tea has just become the drink of choice. At least it's not coke right?

Twitter (Website)

I've been loving twitter lately as I've been seeing so many wonderful things and getting so much support from you guys. I'm forever greatful.

#GIRLBOSS (Book)

I'm still trying to get through this book. I love it, it's awesome but finding the time is tricky. This book is such an inspiring book and I'm pretty sure this book is the reason I've all of a sudden become mega motivated with my college work and my life. I can't wait to finish it and put a review up on here.

Fish (Food)

Anyone ever tried those Birds Eye fish inspiration things? Yeah they're sooooo good and soooo easy to cook too. When I'm hungry these things are always my first choice because they're soooo tasty, but unfortunately I have to eat at least two to fill me up!

This Months Posts... The Blues Kitchen food review || Advances Esthetics || Another Seventeen Mascara review || Steak Of The Art review || Maybelline Dream Liquid Satin review || How to get organised 

That's about it for this month guys, over the next couple of months I expect to do less socialising and more studying so maybe when Aprils catch up post is up it may just be lots of photos of me and essays! 

What are your favourite things at the moment?

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How To || Organise Your Life

I've never been organised. I've never been organised when it comes to birthdays, school work, application forms, deadlines. I've always got a constant to do list that could make twelve chapters in a book and if you had asked me two weeks ago what my bedroom was like I'd say it was like hoarder heaven. However, I have dealt with that and over a period of two days I started to make a change, a change that I'm still currently working on: I organised my life, my college work and my bedroom.
Now I'm going to try and convince you to do the same.

Have you ever tidied your house or your room and instantly felt at least 50 times better? I have, and here's how I got started..

BEDROOM

I've always loved a clean and tidy room but hated the process of doing it but now it's spotless I want to keep it that way.

1. Pick up things you want to keep from the floor. DVDs, make up, clothes....and put them away.

2. Pick up the rubbish from the floor and sweep.

3. Clear everything off your bed and put your sheets in the wash (Fresh sheets are the best)

Ok so your floor is clean,  your bed is clean....

4. Start putting things that aren't in their places....in their places. Clothes, books etc. If it hasn't got a place then make a place or throw it out.

If you want too have a sneaky look at my room then there's a room tour up on Elysian's youtube channel which you can watch here.

WORK/COLLEGE

1. Create a clear space for you to begin, either a desk or a table.

2. What's the one thing that's due to be handed in in the next 3 days? Do it.

3. Create a to do list of everything else you need to get done.

4. Write down the deadlines next to them.

Before I got organised I never knew what homework I had, or when it was due but now I keep all my homework in one little notebook.

You now know what needs to be done now and what can wait a little. I instantly feel more productive when I've completed something on my to do list, no matter how big or small. Once you've ticked one thing off you'll want to tick another thing off.
Something that really brings my productivity to a hault is television, I can't just watch one episode I have to watch 2 or 3 and by the time I've watched two or three that's a few hours wasted and I don't feel like doing anything then, so instead of coming home or getting up and thinking 'I'll watch an hour of television and then get started, complete the tasks you wanted to do first and then watch television.

LIFE

Something I struggled with before getting organised was the social side of life. I spend so much time in work and in college I was missing out on time spent with my family and friends.

1. Organise to meet up with friends at least once a month, be it for lunch or a walk.

2. Visit family often, make it a priority to visit your parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins.

If you're like me your very focused on work and sometimes I make the mistake of putting it before my education, my health, family and friends.

I hope this little 'How To' has helped you a little bit to get started on organising your life.

What's your top tip for organisation?
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Beauty || Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid

E.l.fs HD Mattifying Foundation is always going to be my favourite but I set out on a journey to find some other alternatives to my favourite foundation, so a few of you made some recommendations on twitter and I picked this up (even though nobody recommended it).

Now I was a little bit nervous trying this out as I haven't used a liquid foundation in forever so I took baby steps.

I've never used a light subtle foundation before but I kind of like it. This foundation is very light and very natural, it covers the red blotches without looking cakey.
After a full day in college the Dream Satin Liquid foundation is still very natural and smooth, with other foundations I've tried after a few hours it goes dry and flakey but not this.

If you're looking for a light natural foundation then I'd recommend Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation!

Have you tried Dream Satin Liquid?

What did you think?

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Food || Steak Of The Art Cardiff

Not long ago Robyn and I decided we wanted to try out the new Steak Of The Art restaurant in Cardiff. We saw a couple of articles online and decided we wanted to go and try it out for ourselves. 

The concept of Steak of The Art is different to any other restaurant I've been to before, it's art inside a steakhouse, everything from the booths, to the chairs to the floor is beautifully crafted. 

They also have a range of different themed booths, we were lucky enough to be put in the Willy Wonka booth.

The seats were made of really comfortable material, not plastic! And had really interesting pop art featuring quotes related to Willy Wonka on them. So cool. We were soooo impressed with the decor.

The menu was mainly steak but there was an option to double up  or add on pulled pork or brisket.

STARTER
For starter we picked from the specials. I had the french onion soup and Robyn had the goats cheese salad. Both starters were around £4 each.

Both starters were delicious, although I was slightly envious of Robyn's salad, she gave me a little taste and it was delicious.

MAINS
We both opted for Rump Steak (Medium) at £14 each. I'm not a huge steak fan so I was a little iffy about if I'd eat it all. Robyn had it with sweet potato fries added brisket, I had it with home cooked chips and added pulled pork for an extra £1 and we also ordered peppercorn sauce and onion rings.

So we did expect the presentation to be a little bit more creative and interesting but there's not much you can do with steak and chips. Both were delicious, and I was really impressed with the steak as I'm really fussy with my meat. The onion rings (not pictured above because I ate them all very quickly) were fabulous! I both potato options were delicious but I preferred the sweet potato fries.

However the pulled pork was a let down but I think that's because I've only ever eaten BBQ pulled pork but the brisket was pretty delicious and something I'd never tasted before.

DESSERT
There were a wide variety of delicious desserts but I chose lemon posset because you can't beat a good lemon dessert, I had mine without the coulis though.

Here's some more photos I took.
The balloon booths look awesome!

Even the Toilets were pretty magical.

When the cubicle is in use the door lights up as an animal, every cubicle is a different animal.

We had a great time at Steak of The Art and racked up a bill of £72 however for what we had we thought this was pretty reasonable and will be returning soon! HUGE thank you to the guy at the door for showing us around and telling us all about the place and also to the amazing Georgina who made sure we had a fantastic time and even came to find us when our food was ready and we'd wandered off!

There's only one thing I didn't take pictures of and that's the gallery which I think needs to be experienced in person in all it's glory. It features local talent and you can even buy some of the art work which ranges from £350 to over £1,000.

What do you think? Is this somewhere you would eat?

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Beauty || SEVENTEEN Back Lash

I love a good mascara and so far Seventeen's wide collection of mascaras have been a hit with me, my favourite being the Falsifeye HD mascara which I wrote a cracking review about here.

I picked this mascara up in Boots when I was feeling a little wild and wanted to try something new. I actually really like it! It's not quite as good as the Seventeen Falsifeye HD mascara but the lashes are spread out well, the only thing I feel that's lacking is the curl.

So if we consider the pictures above Seventeen Falsifeye HD is still better than Seventeen Back Lash mascara but not by much, they're both very good at spacing out your lashes and making them appear longer.

What do you prefer Falsifeye HD or Back Lash?

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Advanced Esthetics Solutions || Alternatives to Cosmetic Surgery

Here's a post for any of you guys who are thinking about getting cosmetic surgery or are interested in finding out if there are any alternatives to cosmetic surgery out there. I introduce to you Advanced Esthetics Solutions.

Advanced Esthetics Solutions (AES) is a Cardiff based company born from a passion and true dedication of providing effective treatments for the medical, cosmetic and beauty industry with realistic and affordable opportunities for results driven treatments. One thing that I really liked about Advanced Esthetics is they only choose machinery that they know gives results and therefore they pick the best machinery from several different companies.

I got to test out two of their brand new machines, the first one was a face machine Geneo+ which works by exfoliating, oxygenating and infusing the product into your skin. This machine works really well on older people with wrinkles because it uses a radio frequency to enhance the dermis. Before I had the treatment done I was given a skin consultation which helps tailor the treatment and product for you. Something I noticed from the off was that the girls were very driven to making sure your treatment was tailored as well as how to look after your skin.

Because this product is mainly for reducing wrinkles I didn't expect to see any sort of result on my skin as I am only nineteen however for weeks and weeks afterwards my skin looked and felt in much better condition. My spots had reduced significantly and my skin is still as soft as the day I had the treatments.

The second machine I got to try out was the Lipofirm Pro for fat reduction, body sculpting & skin tightening. The Lipofirm Pro works using heat to target the subcutaneous fat layer, to speed up the natural process.

I had this treatment on the back of my legs and the lower of my bum where I have a little pockets of excess fat which makes my legs look funny. I did take before and after photos but I don't really fancy flashing my bum right now. I lost 3 and a half inches in total from my legs and my bums shape was more rounded, I could definitely see the difference, but what amazed me was the little pockets of fat below my bum were smoothed out.

It's safe to say although I've thought about booking myself an appointment for this sort of clinic before but machines are scary right? After my experience it's safe to say if there was a flaw I really wanted fixing then I'd give this a go before having any surgery done. It's not abnormal, all these machines do is speed up your natural processes, and they don't hurt!

*One thing I'd like to add is that these treatments are carried out over a series of weeks/months but even after one treatment I saw a difference, imagine the difference after several?

I'd like to think if any of you ladies (or gents) have any issues that you're thinking about going under the knife for you'll give Advanced Esthetics Solutions a call to see if there's anything they can do.
They're highly trained and are so friendly!

Although I cannot promise that the machines were  previously tested on animals I can promise that the solutions they use are not tested on animals.

If you have any questions then please leave a comment,

if I am unable to answer the question I'll refer it to the girls at AES!