As you can see from the title, this post is going to be pretty self-explanatory. Usually when I finish a jar of Nutella, I get rid of the jar as quickly as possible and rush out to buy another. Only this time I decided to give it a purpose, and turned it into a cute makeup brush holder! This is super easy to do and requires no level of skill whatsoever, so I thought i'd share it with you guys :)

It really couldn't be simpler, all you need is a clean, empty Nutella jar! I left mine in soak overnight and then washed it out the following morning. 

It's quite surprising how many brushes this can hold, and it definitely makes a change from those plain, rather boring brush holders you see in some shops!

I'll admit this is probably not to everybody's taste, but personally I think it looks quite quirky and has a retro feel to it :)

What do you think? I'd love to know your thoughts! 

Chloe 

-x-

First off this is NOT a sponsored post, I just wanted to share my honest opinion of Graze with you :)

Just two days ago, I received an email from Graze telling me that my first ever Graze Box was in the post. This excited me massively, it's something I've been wanting to try for a very long time as the whole 'healthy snacking' idea really appeals to me. I think it's fair to say that in this day and age, when the majority of us feel peckish, we reach for the nearest, most convenient foods to satisfy our hunger, and often stop to think about what is actually going into our bodies. 

It requires a whole lot of willpower to steer your trolley past those aisles in the supermarket that are crammed with cakes and biscuits, and it can sometimes feel impossible to break those pesky sugar cravings. However there is a solution, and it comes in the form of a cardboard box that is only slightly bigger than A5 size. 

Upon signing up, you're free to select which box you'd like to receive from a variety of different types that contain snacks ranging from sweet to savoury. I opted for the 'nibblebox' which essentially means you get to try a little bit of everything. Within each box there are always four different portions of food, all packaged individually to allow you to simply pop them into your bag if you're on the move. I was particularly impressed with the amount of thought that must have been put in when designing the packaging. Not only is the box perfectly sized to fit through your letterbox, but the personalised welcome booklets that are included really make you feel like a valued customer and it makes each box feel especially tailored to you and your needs.

From the four snack packs I received, I found the 'Graze's Chocolate Orange' pack was by far my favourite. It included a mix of orange chocolate raisins, milk chocolate buttons and jumbo raisins... it was SO yummy.

As a lover of all things sweet, I would have to say that my second favourite was the 'Rhubarb & Pear Compote'. This pack included tiny bits of chopped up rhubarb along with dried pear and cranberries. I felt that the flavours all complemented each other really well and it was a perfect snack to  satisfy my sweet tooth.

If you're more of a fan of savoury snacks, you would probably really enjoy the 'Jalapeño Hot Chips', which contained flax tortilla chips and a jalapeño jam dip. I'm a bit of a wimp with anything hot and spicy, so I ended up finishing the tortilla chips before the dip... oops. On the plus side, I would definitely say that this snack is a perfect alternative to the saltier, unhealthy tortilla chips out there. There's no need to feel guilty afterwards as surprisingly this pack only contains 68 calories!

Last of all were the 'Black Pepper Pistachios'. The portion size is very generous if you're a fan of nuts (ha ha) but unfortunately I'm not too keen on pistachios, and adding black pepper to them didn't really appeal to me. However as with the rest of the snacks mentioned, this is yet another really inventive snack that has been well thought out and I feel that the whole 'nibblebox' in general definitely has a little something for everyone. Even those with allergies or intolerances can choose from a variety of snacks and you are given the option to 'bin' anything you don't want to try.

Graze also provide nutritional information with each of the snacks you receive which is both interesting and essential if you're on a calorie-controlled diet.

All in all I really enjoyed receiving my first ever Graze Box and think that anybody who is currently trying to watch their weight or simply wants to find healthier foods to snack on should give one a go. Instead of depriving yourself from snacking, Graze encourage you to do so by sending you these healthier alternatives that taste just as good (if not better) than those regular snacks that are loaded with hundreds of calories.

If you haven't signed up for a Graze Box before, I have a code which entitles you to receive your first box for FREE (It isn't one of those sneaky scams, I promise!) The best part of all is that you don't have to pay for any more than one box if you don't want to, you can cancel at any time. It does sound too good to be true, (which is exactly what I thought at first) but I can assure you that you don't have to pay anything for your first box :)

Although if you do decide to try more than one box, the code below also allows you to receive your 5th box for free!

Code: C53NC4RHP

Chloe x

*This post is NOT sponsored in any way, I just wanted to share my honest opinions of Graze with you guys :)

I'm sure we all know how important it is to regularly keep our makeup brushes feeling fresh and free from the many products we paint our faces with on a daily basis, but when you have more than a handful of brushes to wash, it can turn into quite a monotonous task to say the least. 

I'll be the first to admit that I don't stick to a strict brush-washing schedule.. in fact, the majority of the time I just look at my brushes and think, "oo-err, these could do with a good wash". But in a bid to be more organised, I'd like to commit myself into washing my brushes every Sunday to keep any bacteria at bay.

Washing makeup brushes using shampoo and conditioner is my preferred method; believe it or not it can be rather satisfying seeing the  foundation-coloured lather make its way down the plug hole. Simply squirt a small amount of shampoo into the palm of your hand and swirl your brush around in small, circular motions. After it has started to lather up, place the end of the brush under the tap to rinse away the shampoo - being careful to avoid getting the ferrule wet (the metal bit containing the bristles, to put it simply!)

After rinsing away the shampoo, I like to use a small amount of conditioner to soften up the bristles and to make sure all of the makeup is thoroughly washed out of the brush. If you've used your brushes less than a handful of times, this step probably won't be needed, but I always like to give mine a through deep clean (and they smell amazing afterwards).

Voilà, the end result!

..You could say I'm quite the fan of Real Techniques brushes!

Once washed, your brushes are ready to be towel-dried and left to dry out. 

Top tip: If possible, it's best to leave your brushes in a vertical position to avoid any water getting into the ferrule and weakening the glue that holds the bristles together :)

Just three nights ago I was sat in a hotel lobby, becoming somewhat attached to using the free WiFi. Of course, this meant scrolling aimlessly through my Twitter, Instagram and YouTube feeds... which is when I stumbled across a new video from Tanya Burr. It instantly caught my attention as I was expecting a fashion or beauty-related video, but instead it was a recipe for a Healthy Green Smoothie. Now, seeing as I was in the middle of a Spanish hotel, I wasn't able to rush out and find the right ingredients and let alone find a blender, so I decided to save watching the video until I got home the following day. On arriving home, the cupboards were bare, the fridge was empty and the stack of fresh fruit in the fruit bowl was non-existent, so it became obvious that an emergency trip to Morrisons was going to have to be made ASAP. This gave me the perfect opportunity to stock up on the ingredients needed to make Tanya's green smoothie!

Once you've scouted your ingredients, it is best to chop it all up as finely as possible to help reduce the amount of work your blender has to do. After placing it all into the blender, you can begin blitzing!

When the ingredients have been completely blended, you can add juice or water to create a runnier consistency. If you prefer a thicker smoothie, simply use less liquid :)

In all honesty, I wouldn't say I was a great lover of smoothies.. the last one I made was quite revolting. But I decided to give this one a go and I'm so glad I did. It's so simple to make and most importantly, it is actually drinkable- it tastes great! 

Many thanks to Tanya for the recipe, be sure to check out her video here :)

I always find myself unable to resist buying Soap and Glory products. I mainly put this down to their cute, girly packaging that catches my eye whenever I go into Boots, but I suppose my terrible lack of self-control doesn't help either. Today was no different, and despite only buying a few products, I still felt somewhat guilty handing my money and Boots Advantage Card over to the cashier. I figured I wouldn't be feeling this way if I actually needed these items in my make up collection, but the 3 for 2 offer was on so you can hardly walk away with just one item... right?

For a while now I've found myself having a love/hate relationship with my eyebrows. For starters, I find it almost impossible to get them looking remotely similar on both sides, and I must spend a good 20 minutes on them some days which really isn't ideal. Today I decided enough was enough, and after spending hours last night watching endless beauty gurus rave on about the Soap and Glory Archery Bow Tint and Pencil, I decided I had to go and purchase it.

Having medium to dark brown hair, I always struggle to decide what colour brow products to buy, but luckily for me this pencil only comes in two shades; Love is Blonde and Brownie Points, so you can probably tell which one I opted for. The thing I like most about this product is that it is double ended, consisting of a fine-tipped brow tint on the left and a pencil on the right. The packaging instructs you to use the left side first, using light, feathery strokes to fill in any gaps in your brows. To add more 'oomph' and definition you can use the pencil over the top. I've found that combining the two is definitely the most effective way to achieve perfect brows, and after just one use I feel like I may have finally found my Holy Grail brow product!

Before discovering this little gem, I was convinced that the only way to have perfectly defined brows was to jump on the bandwagon and buy a Mac 266 brush and fill my brows in with a powder. Of course this doesn't come cheap, which is why I plummeted for the £10 option from Soap and Glory. I'll admit that for a brow product it is priced a little steep, but it's incredibly difficult to find a decent brow product for anything less, so for me it's definitely worth it.

I must already own close to a trillion-and-one concealers, but I've heard so many things about this one that I simply couldn't not try it out for myself. I may have only used this once so far, but I already feel that this really lives up to it's name- it honestly does kick ass. First of all there are two shades; one peach-toned designed for under-eye circles and one yellow-toned to use for concealing spots. Not only this, but there's also a secret compartment at the top containing a translucent setting powder to set everything in place. The concealers have a creamy consistency making them easy to blend and so far I've found that a little goes a long way. With many people comparing this to the £29 Laura Mercier Undercover Pot, this is definitely a great alternative at a fraction of the price! (Available here).

Having swooned over the Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Sticks for quite long enough, I decide it was finally time to try one out. I picked Bashful- a super-glossy light pink shade. I used to shy away from lip glosses as I used to find them quite drying, but if anything, this is the exact opposite. It glides effortlessly onto the lips leaving them feeling instantly moisturised, and it smells incredible. With the warmer weather coming, I think these would be a perfect alternative to ordinary lip glosses as they provide moisture as well as a pop of colour.

What are your favourite products from Soap and Glory? :)

 

This Wednesday it was my birthday. Unlike many people who write little lists of all the things they'd like and organise fun parties and fancy meals, I found myself doing what I do best: lounging around most of the day refreshing my Twitter every 2 minutes. In all honesty it felt like a pretty ordinary day for me. I woke up, (felt completely the same as I did the previous day) and sauntered into the kitchen for my daily fix of porridge. I then had to go to a lecture for English Literature in the middle of the afternoon, so it didn't leave me with much time to begin opening the delicately-wrapped presents and stack of cards that greeted me in the lounge. Seeing as it has been forever and a day since my last blog post, I thought I'd share a few pictures of a few of the things people bought me for my birthday. I hope people don't take this the wrong way and see it as me 'bragging'; that is really not my intention at all. I also have a few extra little bits and pieces I picked up throughout the week from Boots, and if you've read my previous blog posts you'll understand by now that I simply CANNOT bring myself to walk past without having a little nosy around at the latest offers.

When it comes to gifts and presents, I'll be the first to admit that I'm quite fussy and tricky to buy for, so I often have my friends and family having to ask me what it is that I'd like. This being said, my brother decided to do his own thing this year and did pretty well! I had a voucher for Topshop and a cute little box from Paperchase containing recipe cards that can be easily organised and filed neatly away. Although I'm not greatly skilled in the culinary department, I do like to try my hand at baking every so often so I'm sure I'll be putting these recipe cards to good use!

Recently I've been addicted to using glittery topcoats over my regular nail polish, and it seems that one of my friends must have noticed this as she bought me the Rimmel Lasting Finish Nail Polish in 'Disco Ball'.. you really can't get much glittery-er than that, right?! Last but by no means least, I thought I'd give these super-cute earrings a mention. I tend to wear a lot of studs and most of them are silver, so the two sets above will make a really nice change :)

The products I snapped up in Boots are rather random, and in all honestly, I don't think I physically needed any of them. For some reason or other I love to buy skincare products, so when I stumbled across Boots' own range I thought I'd try out their Vitamin E Eye Cream and Vitamin E Night Cream. I actually really like these, and it just so happened that they were on special offer at under £2 each when I bought them; for that price you really can't go wrong.

Much to my surprise, it was actually sunny the other day when I was in town... who'd have thought it?? I think it may have been the sudden burst of sunshine that influenced me to buy these two Rimmel Nail polishes in the shades 'Instyle Coral' and 'Tangy Tangerine'. Both colours verge towards being classed as pastel shades, and I think these will look especially great with a tan in the summer.

The Rimmel 9 in 1 BB Cream caught my attention with claims that it primes, moisturises, minimises pores, conceals, covers, smooths, mattifies, brightens and helps protect the skin. For any product, that is certainly a lot to live up to. I've only used this once, and I found the consistency very liquid-y (I didn't have to apply any pressure to the tube at all). The finish itself is definitely matte, and it reminded me a lot of the Rimmel Stay Matte foundation that I wasn't a very big fan of (let's just say that the Ivory shade used to make me look somewhat like an Oompa  Loompa- eek!) This BB Cream comes in two shades: Light and Medium, so I opted for the Light and still found it a bit too dark for me. Perhaps it's because I am rather light-skinned, but I had hoped it would blend in a little better so it wasn't obvious to tell that my face was a different colour to my neck (definite rookie error on my behalf there).

Maybelline's Fit Me Foundation Stick is definitely one of my favourite products from my mini Boots haul. I picked this up entirely by chance as it was in the clearance and the only shade left was 'Sun Beige'. Yes, from the name you can tell straight away that it isn't going to be the lightest shade, and you're probably thinking why on earth would you buy a product waaay darker than your actual skin tone??? Well of course I knew this, but it was £1.. who can resist that?! To cut a long story short, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this blended amazingly well into my skin. In some ways it reminds me of a slightly large concealer, so I like to use this as a primer before my foundation because it helps control shine. The packaging is ideal too, it's small and compact enough for you to carry around and use if you need to touch up during the day.

I don't tend to use a lot of lip products, but the other day I found an extremely red Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in one of my old make up bags and obviously had to try it out. I'm not too certain that bright red suits me, (just think MirandaSings on Youtube) so I thought I'd try a pink shade instead. I bought the Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipstick in Shade 16 which is a lovely orange-y/ pink-y coral colour which I think would compliment all skin tones. The pigmentation is great and the formula is very creamy and moisturising, which is an added bonus as some products tend to leave your lips feeling extremely dry and unnourished. They also smell soooo great; slightly sweet and no where near chemical-like.

Have you come across any beauty-related hidden gems recently? :)

Despite feeling quite content with my skincare and make up products at the moment, I simply cannot walk past Boots without popping in and having a little nosey around to check out the latest offers and bargains. Over the past week alone I must have gone into Boots more than a handful of times, and of course I couldn't walk away empty handed when there's a 3 for 2 on. I thought I'd compile a few recent purchases into one blog post instead of reviewing everything separately, so here we go!

If you've read my first ever blog post, it'll come as no surprise to you to know that I am slightly obsessed with making sure all traces of make up are successfully removed from my face. When I was prowling down the aisle in Boots I came across this: the  Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I believe this may have been on offer when I bought it but I'm not 100% sure, although at full price it retails at £4.99 for 400ml which I think is very reasonable. The bottle states that it removes make up, cleanses and soothes, which I definitely agree with. It's incredibly gentle on the skin and it doesn't leave your face feeling dehydrated afterwards, which I used to find with other 'water-like' cleansers. I cannot compare this to the likes of Taaj or Bioderma as this is the first Micellar Water I have used, but I'm pretty sure it does the same job at a fraction of the price. It's interesting to note that if you use 2ml of product at a time, you'll get a whopping 200 uses from just one bottle... perfect if you're looking for an effective make up remover on a budget!

Another skincare product I bought was the Eucerin DermatoCLEAN Calrifying Toner. I've owned a number of different toners in the past as I really like how they leave your skin feeling refreshed after cleansing. This was a bit of an impulse buy as I do already have a Garnier toner stashed away in a drawer somewhere, but recently my skin has gone rather dry in patches so I wanted something gentle enough to cleanse my skin without causing further irritation. This has been doing the job perfectly, it soothes your skin as opposed to stinging it and leaves it feeling super clean and refreshed, what more could you want?

This last skincare-related product was placed on the clearance shelf in Boots for the extraordinary price of £1... and of course I just couldn't resist. After having a quick browse on Google I've come to the conclusion that Boots no longer sell this or it's unavailable; it isn't being sold on their website any more which perhaps explains why it was reduced in-store. Anyway, this is the Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer. I've started using a primer more recently to prevent any oil building up throughout the day, so I thought I'd try this one out to see how it compares to the one I've been using from Seventeen (featured in this blog post.) Consistency-wise, it feels more like a moisturiser than a primer, but that could be because I'm used to the feel of silicone primers. It absorbs quickly into the skin leaving your face feeling smooth and ready for foundation, and I particularly like that it's oil and fragrance free meaning there are no nasty chemicals going to irritate your skin. In all honesty, I have only used this once or twice since I got it so I don't really have an opinion on it as of yet, but i'm sure it'll grow on me the more I use it. Despite it being unavailable at Boots, it is still being sold at Superdrug and I believe at full price it costs around £6.99.

Ahh, now onto the 3 for 2 beauty bargains. First of all, I really LOVE the plain old pressed powders from Collection. I'll admit they don't look anything special, but for the price of £1.99 they do a pretty good job of reducing shine. I'm particularly fond of the shade 'Translucent', as it's very yellow-toned and I like to counteract some of the pink in my skin. Funnily enough I actually picked up the wrong shade in this, as I thought their other shade 'Candlelight' was the one I was looking for with the yellow undertones, but for some reason it contrasts entirely with the name and is in fact lighter than the one in 'Translucent' (verrry bizarre). 

The next thing I bought was this Collection 'Intense Colour' eyeliner  in the colour 'Birdy Song' (how cute is the name?!) I was after a brown eyeliner for a while, as I think it really compliments blue eyes and isn't as full-on and dramatic as black... perfect for days when you want to wear less make-up. I have to say, I'm actually very impressed with this. I've had hundreds of inexpensive eyeliners in the past that have all felt scratchy, so I didn't hold out much hope for this one. It's pleasantly surprised me though, as it's very pigmented, applies smoothly and can be blended out easily for a more smoky look. (£1.99, available here.)

Last but by no means least is this Natural Collection Colour Corrector. I've never tried one of these before, but it caught my eye while I was mooching around looking for something to make up (excuse the pun) my 3 items in order to only pay for 2. From what I know, the green counteracts the redness in your skin, so I've been dabbing this over any areas prone to redness and blending it in, adding a little bit of concealer over the top before applying foundation. Now, it is a little scary at first, (I looked somewhat like Casper the Friendly Ghost the first time I used this) but after adding some concealer over the top and blending it in, I do think it makes a difference in reducing redness, and at £1.99 it's an absolute bargain.

Have you bought any beauty bargains recently?