D I S C U S S I O N | L U S H – M I C R O B E A D S A R E C A U S I NG P R O B L E M S*

I recently bought a facial scrub from The Body Shop and have been using physical exfoliators for years, but recently have been unhappy with the results and the damage they do to the texture of my skin. A couple of months ago I made the move towards muslin cloths and facial loofas as an alternative. After seeing this video I’m so glad I did. I’m saying no to microbeads and micro plastics.

B E A U T Y | U P D A T E #2 S P E N D I N G B A N*

Makeup Spending Ban Update - February

You probably know by now that in January I started four month spending ban since my makeup purchasing had gotten out of hand. Today I’m updating on what is day 64 of the spending ban.

No. of makeup purchases: 0.

That’s a lie, I did buy the new B. Beauty foundation but I allowed myself foundations in the original challenges seen as we’d all be kinda screwed if that ran out during the four months.

The point is that even though I said that I could buy one makeup product this month, I haven’t done so. I’m slowly learning about necessity. I’m not saying I’ll never treat myself to makeup again, I’m just saying that I’m getting more in tune with what I need, what I don’t need and what I can wait for.

S T Y L E | B R I T A W A R D F A V O U R I T E S*

Top Five Red Carpet Looks | The Brit Awards 2015

Last night at the Brits saw Kim K take selfies on stage while she was introducing Kanye, Take That make fools of themselves and Madonna take flight in spectacular fashion as she was dragged down a flight of stairs by her dancers during her ‘big return’ to the biggest music awards ceremony in the UK. The red carpet however was far more subdued than all of that. There really wasn’t much glitz and glam at the Brit awards so there wasn’t very much to choose from in terms of favourite fashions. There was no Margo Robbie, JLo or Zendaya but there were these guys. Let’s take a look at my personal top five.

1 | Paloma Faith

The most put together and polished look on the red carpet came from Paloma Faith. The combination of red hair, red lips, red nails and red dress worked so well together and you have to admire the winged liner and bold brows. Paloma looked absolutely glorious in Armani. 

B E A U T Y | U P D A T E #1 S P E N D I N G B A N*

Makeup Spending Ban Update - January

So you may have seen in a previous post I started a four month spending ban. For the first month (January), the task was not to buy any make up whatsoever. I managed this so much more easily than I first thought I would. I realised quite quickly that I had already purchased an unnatural amount of make up and therefore I really, really needed to work with what I already had. So, I try not to go into Boots or Superdrug and if I do its only for essentials and/or a bottle of water. I don’t even go to the make up aisle any more and trying to avoid promotions as well. I’ve walked past Kiko and Selfridge’s on Oxford Street so many times and have not even stepped in. To be honest, I’m pretty proud of myself!

D I S C U S S I O N | M O R P H E – J A C A T T A C K*

Jaclyn Hill Favourites Update/Rant

This is Lauren reporting from a duvet fort on the floor three and a half hours after the Jaclyn Hill & Morphe Brushes palette collaboration launch. The time is 11:24 GMT and I am exhausted but my palette has been ordered.

Sources tell me that the website is still down with thousands loading and reloading webpages across laptops, desktops, ipads, and smart phones.

Twitter is in full blown uproar, Morphe are not responding and makeup lovers everywhere are angry. Morphe are gonna have a full blown JACATTACK on heir hands. (If you manage to get to the checkout use JACATTACK (all in caps) for 10% off. It does work).

D I S C U S S I O N | I N T H E N E W S*

NEW Series - In the News

During the brief death of my laptop I got heavily into listening to the radio which I used to do every morning but was overtaken by YouTube videos. Vanessa Feltz has a fantastic show on BBC London 94.9 9am-12pm (now 7am-10am) where she has great discussions with members of the public based around the news headlines of the day. Now, you can text, email, Facebook or call to give your opinion and I’d really love to call in as I’m finding that I have a whole lot to say when I listen. However, I’m a scardey cat and will probably get dry mouth live on air so I’m going to start a new ‘In the News’ series here so I can give my two cents.

I write this or course as I sit here listening to a lively bit of chat about how ethnic minorities do better in school because their parents encourage them more than white working class parents do and as a result it has pushed London GCSE grades up to high levels, by far outstripping those in any other region of the country. Now, I have a lot to say about that, but I’ll save it for another post!

I really hope that you guys will join in too as all opinions are welcome and help others learn.

D I S C U S S I O N | T H E B A D S I D E O F B E A U T Y*

The Bad Side of Beauty – Drastic Weight Loss & Surgical Enhancements in the Beauty Community

I’m not one for downer posts but over the recent months, this has been really bugging me and no one knows what I’m talking about when I mention BeautyCrush or Helen MelonLady so I feel a blog post is warranted.

What I’m getting at is weight loss.

YouTube guys/girls are loved by us (usually) because they’re so real. Obviously as they become more well known and become bigger faces in industry they begin to change a little. Everyone changes as they grow up. But the people who watch their videos and support them don’t watch because they’re now super skinny or because they’ve had their boobs done. We support them because they are who they are. Or at least, they were.

It’s quite sad really that normal people, who for years filmed videos, written blog posts and were happy in themselves suddenly find the desire to drop four dress sizes and go under the knife. Would they have done the same if they weren’t feeling pressured by the fact that there’s always someone watching??

D I S C U S S I O N | S T O P A S K I N G M E T O T W E R K*

A response to people who constantly ask me to twerk

twerk

Syllabification: twerk

VERB

informal

Dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.

Even the definition sounds vulgar. Now sure, I have quite a potty mouth, wear trousers and am sometimes out at night without a chaperon (har har) but I still maintain that I am a woman with a great many ladylike qualities. No self respecting lady however, would, in my opinion, make a conscious effort to not only learn to twerk but to then go out and do it in public.

This image summarises a lot for me. I’m not pointing fingers or attempting to cause controversy but when I hear ‘Twerk, Lauren, Twerk’ It makes me want to actually rip someones eyes out. The most upsetting thing about it is that it’s my friends that say it. My partner. People that I’m close to. And even if it’s a joke to them, it’s not a joke to me.

These people are making assumptions based on the colour of my skin. They assume that not only am I capable of ‘twerking’ but that I actually want to and that it’s no big deal. It is a big deal and no, I don’t want to. I have no desire to ‘make it clap‘ for your entertainment. 

B L O G G I N G F R O M A – Z*

For April I’ve decided to team up with a number of different bloggers on a number of different platforms and stay committed to writing one post every day throughout April. Call me crazy but it sounded fun to me! Each post will be based on a letter of the alphabet. I’m sure you get the point. Each post can have its own theme or the month of April can have a theme. For example, For ‘A’ I could write a post on air brushing and for ‘B’, a post on Blogging. The two aren’t linked by a theme. However, April could have a Beauty theme and then ‘A’ could be for Acne and ‘B’ for Bobbi Brown. I’m undecided which route I’ll take but am already planning a few blog posts two months early! (I have exams during that period but still wish to take part).

D I S C U S S I O N | A N I M A L T E S T I N G*

My thoughts on animal testing and the 2013 LUSH campaign

The ironic thing is that if it was a beagle in the window and we were doing all these things to it, we’d have the police and RSPCA here in minutes. But somewhere in the world, this kind of thing is happening to an animal every few seconds on average. The difference is, it’s normally hidden. We need to remind people it is still going on.