The body shop has been a brand I was very fond of as a teen with very normal skin. As i progressed on my skincare journey i began to use a more variety of products from different brands. I believe the bodyshop is a good place to begin if you're new to skincare as it has quite a diverse range of products.

I have come to be quite loyal to some of their products, the Himalayan clay mask ( which i believe is their most popular product). Is the only clay mask I have ever enjoyed using I've reviewed it before but its perfect for oily/congested skin and does not strip your skin in anyway. I often feel that I have had a facial every time I use this product.

New to me is their cleansing butter infused with chamomile I used this as a first step in my skincare routine. It breaks down all my makeup/spf and so on and honestly is so gentle. I only need to use a small amount and all my make up is off. Its so much better for you than face wipes.
Lastly I picked up the tea tree night lotion if I'm being brutally honest I find acids more useful if you're prone to breakouts. However I paired this with my Salicylic acid these last couple of nights and it works a treat.

Skincare favorites

Hello ,Beautiful people, It's been a long time since I wrote a blog post and honestly post uni life naturally made me fall off but I'm back nonetheless.

I thought it would be good to share what I have been currently using since my last blog post which was quite awhile ago my skin has changed a lot. I went from having combination skin to very hormonal skin and honestly it's been difficult navigating skincare. It's always just been something i've enjoyed doing but now my skincare needs have become more demanding which I guess means more blog posts !

The first product I have to mention is the paulas choice salicylic acid the is only the trial size and I do plan to purchase the full size. I honestly cannot explain how much this product has helped my skin. Salicylic acid is such a game changer its a gentle exfoliant which helps to penetrate the skin deeper. I feel like my skin is less congested when I use this and it also helps reduce the size of my spots and calms my skin down. I have a habit of picking at my skin and this honestly has eased the damage that I have done.

I'm still using glycolic acid from Nip+Fab I dont think I'll ever stop repurchasing this product its also always avaliable for cheaper at TK Maxx. Its just a great liquid exfoliant that helps to smooth and improve the texture of my skin.

Two Korean skincare products I've been using is the Cosrx Aloe vera gel and Klairs vitamin C. I've always loved Korean skincare products but having to buy from different websites has been off putting for me. The Klairs vitamin C is only  5% so its very gently i use it at night and always wake up with more glowy skin.With long term use i believe it will help get ride of all the scarring I have. The Cosrx moisturiser is great for people with oily skin its very hydrating but doesn't make you feel greasy.

Lastly I've always loved using tea tree water and if I wasn't lazy I could probably make it at home but will leave that for another day !

My top concealers for yellow undertones

I've realized concealers are honestly a godsend but also a nightmare like foundation to shop for *shock horror*
I have super dark under eyes and I know everyone says this but honestly the girls are badddd. I used to colour correct but gave up after I saw them peeking in pics :(. So I've come to  learn through trial and error that mixing concealers that are neutral-yellow undertoned works best to cover up my dark circles as well as give me that *bam i'm on 40k a year no stress bright under eye highlight*- a girl can dream,right !
Laura mercier flawless fusion concealer - shade 4N
This concealer is new to my stash but has been my go to. It's a little thick(we don't discriminate round these ends) but not like MAC thick is's somewhere in between a foundation and concealer. However I really like that because it means you don't have to use a lot. Consistency aside it super neutral which means I don't need to mix it with my other concealers and it also brightens my under eyes at the same time. My only complaint is whilst Mrs Laura killed the undertones it could do with a few more shades.

Maybelline fit me- shade 30
If you live in the UK then you know L'oreal and Maybelline are notorious for not stocking darker shades in store.I really wanna know why they feel the need to hold their darker shades hostage! but a couple of months ago I noticed the fit me range had 3-4 shades darker that I had not seen before(we praise god) and so I decided to pick it up, mostly though I use this to highlight since I'm in between and this shade was the most yellow out of the options available.

The fit me concealer is on the more wet/dewy/runny side which is why I like to pair it with my Laura mercier the two together give me the most flawless under eye pre-powder. Also the coverage is amazing and build able which is what I like with my concealers. And its under £10 which is great for my purse.

LA girl- Shade Fawn
OG alert if you don't know about the LA girl pro concealers then you gotta leave. These concealers have been so good to me especially Fawn its a color I can use all year round its the perfect golden/warm tone that works really well around my mouth. Also I love how blend-able the concealers are they're the perfect balance between matte and dewy concealers.
Glossier-  Shade dark( glossier seems to be color blind this color is so light Tomi Lahren could wear it)

I've already reviewed this here so i'm not gonna go in depth but I love this for all over the face. It's a very moist concealer so I think if you have dry skin you'd love, it's kinda like if a tinted moisturizer was made into a concealer with more coverage. Again like every other base product it could do with a few more shades which I know glossier is capable off!

Glossier Haloscope and Cloud paint (Topaz x Haze)

I've ordered from glossier before and even if you aren't interested in the brand you gotta give props to their marketing team. They've capitalized very well of a much loved concept, clean,fresh and dewy skin I mean who can resist that!

My first purchase of glossier was the stretch concealer and I loved it albeit the rubbish shade range( I will rant about shade ranges till I die !). I decided to buy a blush and highlighter after hitting pan on my sleek Cleopatra kit,I love liquid highlighter like the body shop drops(my absolute favs) so I though the stick would be similar. 
I also really wanted to embrace blush this spring/summer because I adore other black gals who wear blush It just compliments your makeup and brings any look together.
Topaz is a nice dark bronze shade perfect for any black girl its very sheer and oily kinda like a lip balmy texture which at first I hated I felt like I was applying glue on my cheeks. What I came to learn was that haloscope is designed for fingers, It blended beautifully once i started to use my fingers instead of a sponge. However I still think the product could be better firstly the color and actual product is nice if it was in a liquid form and a bottle it would be worth the £18 that I spent.
I'd still recommend it if you can push past the texture and application ! especially on bare skin with a little concealer on my face it truly makes me feel like their models on their campaigns.
The blush is probably my favorite of the two,firstly it's liquid(Yay). You also get a lot of pigment which you have to be careful with and it blends out like a dream as well as setting into the skin. With pretty much little transfer which is great since I'm an oily gal.

Glossier can be found 
here

Tatcha Skincare (Brand overview)

Tatcha is a brand that has  received a lot of love from big  you-tubers. I've never been  drawn to the brand partly due  to the fact I like to spend more  money on treatments items  rather than cleansers and  moisturizers.But since my mother got me these I couldn't complain! I've been using the   moisturizer and cleanser for  the past week and have had mixed feelings.

let me me begin with the cleanser I was so confused with trying to squeeze this out it's thick and the packaging doesn't really suit the texture of the product. The cleanser itself also has small elements of beads to exfoliate. I personally like using acid toners to scrub but I didn't mind it. My skin felt pretty great after and super smooth but I decided it worked better as a PM cleanser after a full day of make up and I'm in need of a deep cleanse.

Moisturizers are very boring products for me to use as long my skin is hydrated and not ashy I'm good to go. I've never bought an expensive moisturizer and don't plan to either I find moisturizers for combination skin pretty straight forward;lightweight and matte!
This moisturizer made my skin so dewy and a gal loves to look dewy let me tell you that. I also found it made my makeup go on so nicely there's time were my moisturizer messes up my makeup making my foundation look odd and not skin like.
This one however made my skin hydrated whilst not too oily which is great for my combination skin. I would highly recommend it to my oily girls too.

Any more tatcha products I should try let me know !

the foundation struggle.

So after my latest foundation purchase I felt compelled to write about how hard it is to buy foundations when you're a non-white woman,up until 2 years ago I didn't realize how big of a problem it was.And with the Fenty launch it was pretty obvious that a lot of brands simply didn't care to make darker shades.
Although I somewhat have improved on my understanding on foundations especially how to pick out your shade and what formula works best.It's still not easy to buy. I know almost all of my black friends have some restrictions and have to spend twice as much. So I have put together a little guide to make it easier.
Undertones

The most important thing to know when buying foundations is learning your undertone. It took me a while to figure out but I have a yellow undertone with golden hues. There are many charts you can find on google but the best way I've found is to match foundations to your chest especially if you have uneven skin tones. Undertones are determined by the under layer of your skin there is also the whole checking your veins thing but I find that confusing this is the best chart I've found.

Formulas

Foundations just like skincare comes in different variations I've found what works best for me is dewy foundations that are lightweight.If you have oily or combination skin then opt for matte foundations like MAC studio fix, Estee lauders double wear and Urban decay. For dry skin then dewy foundations help to hydrate your skin whilst providing a tint , Bobbi brown and NARS are very popular for their dewy foundations as well as Giorgio Armani luminous silk.

My verdict + experience 

For me I've trialed many foundations and what works best for my combination skin is dewy lightweight foundations. The Nars one scores highest for color match and formula. Often when I find a foundation that has great reviews and a winning formula it always falls short on the color range.So if you're a black girl opt for looking at the shade range first and the formula second it saves you heartbreak,trust me !

The ordinary foundation is pretty much a bargain not only is the formula beautiful and skin like/lightweight it also has pretty good shade range and is separated into undertones making it easier to buy online. 

New to me is the Milani foundation which I unfortunately messed up with shade selection (My fault for once again ordering online and getting overexcited) However in my defense this mixed with the ordinary foundation is workable and could possibly be my summer shade. The Milani is a lot thicker then the other two but it gives you the coverage you need.I don't want to say it's full coverage because I could still see some of my marks around my mouth.

Personally I don't mind because I always layer my foundations and use a lot of concealer to get the coverage I like. I don't like anything that's heavy or thick so no double wear for me.

Shades, NARS ADL- tahoe,The Ordinary 3.0Y, Milani,Golden Tan 10

Let me know some of your WOC approved foundations !

The beauty wardrobe#1

For the past 6 months my love affair with makeup and skincare  has been as inconsistent as UK politics. I've found my skin as it gets paler shows many signs of marks,blackheads and pigmentation things that I can happily forget during the summer months. Alongside the stress of university I've neglected my relaxing beauty rituals and swapped them for body lotion on my face and a second hand clay mask past down from my sister; I know I can sense the ''really'' sis vibes from every beauty lover across the globe.

Fear not my fellow beauty junkies this last two months I've been making an effort so much so that I'll be trying to do a seasonal post on my beauty wardrobe, I'll be sharing what I'm loving and why ,as well as some new purchases.
To kick off my first beauty wardrobe I'll begin with my never ending love affair for skincare !    
For skincare I've been using some new things from The Ordinary I picked up their vitamin C and lactic acid.  Last summer I had a really huge breakout around May which is unusual for me and was left with a lot of marks around my face the lactic acid worked for me last year so I knew where to go this year round. As for the vitamin C , winter has left me looking very pale and dull so I spend most my mornings trying to figure out how to fake the glow.  From the body shop again a repurchase is the holy grail *video vixen voice* ride or die and I mean in every sense of the term if I was to be sent to an island ( stares into the abase) I'd take this baby with me not only does it give me super smooth skin which is much needed for a makeup lover it also overtime has helped to exfoliate away my breakout scars. 

 A newbie to me is this toner from a Korean brand I instantly ordered it once I saw that it had salciylic acid. Bummer because the percentage for the salcylic acid is so low but so far I like,its a hydrating toner which I'm not used to but its important in the colder months to layer up on your skincare so in that case I won't say no.

For make up I purchased my first ever eye-shadow palette (the morphe 35O doesn't count since it did me dirty and I'd get more pigment out of the soil from my garden). The Huda Beauty minis is truly perfect for the Gals like me who a) can't do eye-shadow very well ,b) and as a result have commitment issues to palettes and are left finger wavering over the purchase tab on beauty bay !.
 The palette is super tiny but has all the colours I need for day-night not that I have much of a social life but hey I can pretend right !

For my lips I've been dying to find the perfect red I have two toned lips so I find red lipstick always looks orange on me. The Sephora lipstain in 01 had been on my list for a while and lucky for me my friend picked it up in Sephora. Its quite possibly the most comfortable lipstick I've ever worn.
To wrap it up I have to give a shout out to body oils its so much easier for me to lather myself in oil then body lotion and the garnier beauty oil is perfect it leave your skin moist and soft and smells beautiful too! 

The Ordinary - Full Coverage Foundation

Can we first get an Ameen for that fact that I manage to find a foundation online,order it and it matched all at the price of £5.90 *screams AMEEN* Okay so after my initial excitement I realized it's slightly a bit too light however it is Autumn so I can get away with it. Anyways excitement aside The Ordinary foundation launched quite a while back but due to it selling it out so quick I never ended up trying.

After applying the foundation I quickly realized despite it being high coverage it was super dewy and anyone who know me knows I love to glow. So my initial feeling was 'AYYYY' and this was with the first pump however one pump is not gonna give you full-coverage which is cool if you have clear skin but I used around two pumps and got the full-coverage I was satisfied with. Coverage and finish asideI was pretty happy with my shade and how they organised the shades it comes in undertones which makes it easier to buy online.

.Also can we get a round of applause for the price tag it's cheaper then a lot of drug store foundations. So even with it being slightly light it still wont break the bank also it hurt a lot to think that 6 of these is the same price as my Nars foundation. Which just goes to highlight another problem in the beauty industry and how many WOC have to spend more on their makeup compared to their counterparts.

Also the Ordinary did pretty well considering it was their first release which begs the question that brands who have been in the industry longer are either lazy or don't care for their non-white market ( I have feeling its both)

My personal issues with foundation aside I'm very happy with this foundation it also held up pretty well after a gym session and has quickly become my go-to! If there are any other foundation recommendations let ya girl know because I'm always on the hunt for a new foundation.

Glossier stretch concealer - Dark

Ahhh so I succumbed and bought a Glossier product,it doesn't help that I read ITG religiously and the GRWM videos on YouTube don't help either. I am officially millennial trash , moving on I really have had the weirdest luck with concealers but that's due to the fact that I inherited my dads hooded/dark/sunken under eyes not exactly a feature I would've chosen had I had the option. So naturally most concealers get swallowed up by my under eyes BUT and this is a huge but I've finally figured the trick to concealing under eyes. Correct,conceal and banana powder it's the only way I can do my under eyes and it really does take practice. 

Now glossier's products didn't appeal to me I went back and forth debating on whether I need anything from the website and most the stuff was just regular stuff+had very mixed reviews. Seeing as I have to pay for shipping I really wanted to get something I would use often and that is concealer ! I don't really have the luxury of having bright under eyes so concealer can do wonders for ya girl.

Now the actual concealer itself is described by Glossier as ''A traditional concealer sets to a stiff, flat, dry finish—a dead giveaway that you’re wearing it. Ours is a new type of concealer with elastic micro waxes that move with your face instead of caking on top of it, and nourishing oils that give a dewy, glowing finish. The build able formula covers everything from dark circles to redness and blemishes. In five shades painstakingly developed to enhance, brighten, and—most importantly—completely disappear into the widest range of skin tones.''

Pros-

• Its a very moist concealer which I love so much because a lot of concealers can be very drying under the eyes and with winter fast approaching I can't afford to look like a ghoul.
• It's build-able a lot of base products will often claim they're buildable but tend to fail and your left with caked under eyes. The stretch concealer is build-able in a way that you will get more coverage and little creasing/cake/dry under eyes.
• I hate pot concealers usually but It's a nice kinda round so that I don't dig my whole finger in to the pot. 
• easy to travel with ! honestly who has the time to be cleaning concealer stains out their luggage

Cons-

•   THE SHADE RANGE, nah but for real what is it with brands and 50 shade of beige you do know the worlds population doesn't come in 5 shades. I know Glossier is a newish brand but considering that they're pro everything they can do a-lot better. I've seen them use many black women in their campaigns but it's not very reflective in their products so please for the love of god EXTEND YA RANGE.

Glossier is available online and now ships to the UK


Let me know what other glossier products I should buy x

End of summer favorites.

Ah, Summer has ended not that we had much of summer and with the end of summer comes Autumn *sighs* in seasonal depression. Whilst I'm somewhat ready to embrace Autumn I do want to share some products I loved during the summer and hold onto the fact that (very dry skin and looking ashy) season has approached.


I have to say that I am a face mist addict whenever I purchase one I tend to finish it within a week, its just a nice way to hydrate the face! My go to has changed over the years but I went back to a cult favorite the Mario Badescu Rosewater spray. This mist works really well to prep the skin and also sets makeup really nicely it helps to give me that dewy look that I adore. For my skin I've been enjoying using vitamin E Oil this one from Dr organics helps to keep my skin nice and soft without clogging my pore or sitting on top of the skin like some oils do. Aloe vera is a very popular skincare ingredient I bought a plant and loved it but sadly my very Somali mum decided it was taking up the fridge and dashed it in the bin.Luckily for me I managed to find one with tea tree which has been helping my blemishes ( shout out to the Holland&barett deals that saved me my coins !).

For exfoliating I've been sticking to my acids in the form of lactic acid from The Ordinary and my trusty Nip+Fab pads for those sweaty nights/congested t-zone. And lastly a life saver for my hair has been JBCO* since I'm a somewhat newbie in the natural hair community I can only give my two cents but what I do know is JBCO fixes things in particularly my hair , hell I'd even recommend it to my neighbors rabbit that's how much I love it. My edges are growing back and its a temporary distraction from the lack of growth in other aspects of my life.


Let me know what your summer favorites were or not !

* Jamaican black castor oil

My ''No make-up'' Makeup.

I somewhat have become a pro at no ''makeup'' make-up and why you ask well it's a lot to do with the fact that my life isn't as baby girl as I would like it to be and doing contour and a snatched face for the supermarket and my nanas house seems a bit ludicrous. That and the fact that the British summer has been let down means I've somewhat mastered how to look like me but even better. I'm going to be honest I had pretty clear skin up until 2-3 years ago hyper-pigmentation, scarring and dark circles have been the bane of my existence. And whilst I'm quite a comfortable (she says as she spends £££ on beauty products) I still like to do a little bit of concealing here and there.

I'll start off with my base I've skipped foundation completely because no matter how lightweight the claims seem to be I just don't need it. I use my trusty combo of my LA girl concealer in warm honey and my Bobbi Brown corrector in deep peach. These two products under my eyes and around my mouth make my skin look a bit more even and my under eyes a lot more like I get some sleep.

After that I like to glow so I reach for my Sleek highlighting palette in Cleopatra's Kiss which by the way is the most beautiful and inexpensive highlighting kit I've ever seen. And dust sphinx on the high points of my cheek which gives me a natural inner *I drink green juice everyday* glow.

For my eyes I always wear eyeliner no matter how hard I try I can never neglect a cat eye and the best gal for the job is the essenceliquid ink liner shootout to my good twitter buddy Randa for introducing me to this. And what is a cat eye without lots of coating of mascara in all honesty any L’Oréal mascara is a win for me, closely followed by my precious whiteeyeliner and Voila your eyes are complete.

Lastly how can I ever leave the house without something on my lips I tend to layer my MAC verve with my NYX berlin. And i'm good to go.

Rosehip oil - the holy grail of face oils

Every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to know by now that one skincare item I swear by is Rose hip oil and yes it's my answer to the  ''what would you take on a desert island'' question.

Lets go back to when my love affair started,around two years ago when I was starting uni I experienced for the first time dry/lacklustre skin. Now up until then I had enough natural oils on my face for the US to raid but come winter,my skin had become almost snakeskin like. I decided that oils was the way forward now I had tried bio-oil,coconut oil and olive oil and found that they would sit on my skin thus cutting out oil completely. After a random whim on feelunique I came across Rosehip oil and since it was on offer (my student finance had just dropped) I thought why not.
Since then I've repurchased Rosehip oil 4 times I've tried so many different brands both high-end/budget friendly. With Rosehip oil and I'm confident enough to say that the brand doesn't matter and just that its pure.

 Some of the benefits of rosehip oil are

• it helps improve skin texture especially dry,flaky and uneven skin
• It absorbs into the skin better then other oils
•  Its a natural source of various vitamins especially vitamin A and high in antioxidants.
• It's also super great for scarring which has been the main reason I've used it and continue to do so.

The Ordinary- Caffeine solution

Hello hello beautiful people I am back, and I have another Ordinary product that I am going to be reviewing. I have completely fallen in love with The Ordinary mainly because its affordable and produces skincare products that are traditionally higher up in the price point. Their oils,acids and retinols have made it easier on us skincare addicts wallets and minds alike.

This time round I purchased the caffeine solution which promises to help reduce the look of puffy eyes and dark circles. Everyone and the grandma knows how my bad my dark circles are which stems from my allergies and often having very sore/irritated eyes often leaving me with dark under eyes and lids. Now I'm no idiot and know there is nothing on this planet that will permanently get rid of my dark circles however I do have hope that I might find a product that will slightly reduce them. And also stop people from asking if I'm ill *sighs*.
 The caffeine solution is a light weight product and sinks into the eyes straight away personally it didn't really leave my eyes dry or hydrated but then again it didn't claim that it would! I don't struggle with puffy eyes so I can't say it backs its claim however for dark circle I noticed a very small and I mean very small difference. My under eyes unfortunately are still dark and so not much changed but for someone who's under eyes may be dark due to environment etc it may work.

All in all I wouldn't recommend it purely because I didn't notice a huge difference,personally I'm just glad it didn't cost my kidneys to purchase.