Holiday Favourites

I don't feel like I use enough new products each month to do a monthly favourites every month, so I thought I'd put a bit of a twist on it and do a holiday favourites instead because I feel that the products I use on holiday are slightly different to what I would use at home. 

So, I brought together all my favourite holiday go-tos and put them in a post for you so I hope you enjoy it!

2 things I found myself constantly reaching for while I was away were my 2 NAKED Palettes. I have the original and number 3 and I absolutely love them both to death. They each have 12 different shades mixing matte, shimmer and glitter all into one palette. They are super versatile and they fit into your luggage really easily. I'm thinking of doing a couple of posts with a bunch of different looks you can make from these palettes so let me know in the comments if that is something you would like to see.

Staying on with eyes I was also loving my Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo in 'Metallic Pomegranate'. I found that this was really easy to put all over my lid when I was in a bit more of a hurry and it still looked really lovely. That's what I like most about this product, it is so easy to use so it's perfect for when you're in a rush. I think I'm going to invest in getting some more colours of these because they are so quick and easy.

You may have seen in one of my recent Pink Parcel Box Opening posts that I received the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Excess mascara. I have honestly fallen head over heels in love with this product. I am a sucker for mascaras, I think I have more mascaras than any other makeup product in my collection. This mascara goes onto the lashes so easily and it creates a really full looking eye. It also isn't a very wet mascara. That sounds extremely weird but I know some of you will definitely know what I'm talking about. However, it is definitely NOT waterproof as I have discovered. Still, I have loved using this so far and I will continue to love it until I use it all up!

My one and only MAC lipstick, Candy Yum-Yum. I absolutely love this colour, however I have found it really hard to wear. I decided that I was going to take it on holiday with me because if you can't be bold and bright on holiday where can you? In the end I ended up loving the colour, however I wasn't applying it straight from the tip as I found the colour was too strong that way and so I used the brush that I am going to talk about below to give a more subtle coating. Other than the brightness, I love the consistency of the lipstick and the staying power is pretty good, not amazing for food and drink but it is good enough. I also love the smell of it. That's one thing I really like about MAC is that their products always seem to smell really nice.

And the brush that I have been enjoying using to apply my MAC lipstick is the Real Techniques Retractable Lip Brush. I hadn't really used this much until I decided to try it with my MAC lipstick because up until then I just applied the product straight from the tip with other lipsticks. Since trying this I have been loving using a brush to apply lipstick in general. It gives really accurate application of the product meaning there is a little less need for lip liner and it also applies the product evenly across the lips really well. The bristles on the brush are also really soft but very compact and dense to create the perfect application.

The final lip product I was really loving was my Revlon Colour Burst in 'Juicy Papaya'. I have loved this lip butter for a really long time now. The consistency is more like a gloss than a lipstick which I think is really nice because it has a nice glossy finish rather than a matte one. It's also a really lovely colour and isn't as bright as it appears. I find it is buildable to an extent but it can't be made completely opaque, or at least I haven't been able to do that with it. Still, a really lovely product and it's a perfect colour for holiday tans! 

I'm sure this foundation appears in every single favourites post I do... Sorry if you're bored of hearing about it but it has been my favourite foundation for a really long time now and other than my Bare Minerals Original SPF 15 foundation (which is too light now I have a tan) I haven't really found anything that matches up to it. I don't know if its the fruit extracts in it or what but this foundation doesn't break me out, it doesn't irritate my skin, it doesn't feel heavy on the skin and it gives pretty decent coverage if you layer it right. Overall I think it's one of the best drugstore foundations out there and if you haven't tried it I really suggest you do. Oh, and it's by Bourjois if you couldn't see the top.

Another product I received in one of my Pink Parcel boxes is this Bella Pierre pot of something. I'm not entirely sure what it's meant to be as it doesn't specify, however from the colour my first guess was a loose eyeshadow. However, I had it sat next to my Benefit High Beam and they are pretty much the same colour, just one is a powder and one is a liquid. So, as a result of this discovery I decided to try this as a highlighter and God forbid it works brilliantly! Whatever it is is in the shade 'Bubble Gum' and is a very glittery light pink powder. You don't need much of this at all to create a shimmery highlight. Too much will make you look like Edward Cullen in the sun.

Onto my fashion favourites of the holiday I was absolutely loving my TopShop cat-eye sunglasses. I bought these specifically for going away and I have been absolutely loving wearing them. I haven't had cat-eye sunglasses before but I really like they way they look and I feel they suit my face quite well. Brilliant for keeping those harmful rays out of your eyes whilst looking fabulous all at the same time!

This is something that I wear an awful lot at home as well as when I'm away but I wore this pretty much every night while I was away, give or take a few. It's so simple yet the sparkle adds something more to the outfit. It's by far my favourite necklace so well done Matt, you have good jewellery sense!

One thing we all wear on holiday is flip flops! I picked up 2 pairs really cheap from Primark for just £1 each which of course is a complete bargain. I wasn't expecting too much from them due to the price but they have been the comfiest things ever for the past 2 weeks! The toe post doesn't rub at all and they take the shape of your feet really well making them extremely comfy. Flip flops in general are so easy to slip on making them perfect for holidays. Another thing they helped with was the hot floor, no one wants burnt feet!

Final fashion favorite is this playsuit from H&M. My mum picked this up for me in the sale a few days before we went away and I absolutely love it. I think I wore it 2 or 3 times through the whole holiday because it was super easy to put on and it looked like I'd put in a lot more effort than I actually had. My only issue with playsuits is the toilet issue and I'm sure we can all agree on that one!

My final favourite of my holiday in Mallorca is books. I read 4 books in the 2 weeks I was away (I'm a really quick reader) and I just really got into every single one of them and enjoyed being able to live in someone else's life for a little while. That's one thing I've enjoyed about being off school because I don't have time to read what I want to read during term time so it's nice to be able to read some good books and not have to think about school until September! 

And that's everything I was loving on holiday! I really hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you again very soon!

Have you been away on holiday? What are your holiday favourites?

Love, Becca

-xoxo

4 Summer Reads

I am a very quick reader and so I have to have a lot of books prepared to read when I go away to keep myself occupied. 

I picked 4 for this year, so I thought I'd share them with you and I will do full reviews of them when I've finished, if that is something you would all like to see! 

So the first 2 books are Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur and Girl Online by the one and only, Zoe Sugg. 

I have actually already read Love, Aubrey before but it was when I was in year 7 so that's 4 years ago now! I remember really loving the book so I wanted to take this long summer as an opportunity to re-read it, as well as reading some other books too. I would give you a brief overview of the story line but I can't actually remember too much about it other than it's about a girl who's mother left her alone, I think. Remember it really tugging on the heart strings, but I'm a sucker for sad books as you will be able to tell by the end of this post! 

Girl Online, I received this for Christmas last year and I've never got round to reading it because I wanted to finish The Maze Runner Sequel, so now I'm finished I'm going to read it! I believe this is about a girl with anxiety who starts a blog. If I'm right in thinking though, this person is not meant to be Zoe, it's just coincidental that she has chosen this plot line. I'm looking forward to reading this, ready for her second book coming out in October! 

The other 2 books I have purchased on my Kindle so I can't photograph them. 

The first one is If I Stay by Gayle Forman. I wanted to see the film really badly when it first came out, but I stopped myself because I wanted to read the book first as I have heard that the book makes it more real. However I never got round to buying it until now and I am so excited to read it! It's meant to be a weepy one, but as I said I like to have a good cry at a book. Will let you know my verdict once I'm done! 

The second one is All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I have heard amazing things about this book, and no I didn't just buy it because Zoe recommended it which seems to be what most people are saying about anyone who buys this book! I have only heard good things about this book, I have seen it all over recently and I really wanted to give it a try. I know I'm going to cry at this one as it is all about suicide, so there's guaranteed tears. But, it's meant to be amazing for people to be able to understand mental illness which I think is so important, and so I just had to see what all the noise was about! 

I will definitely be letting you guys know my verdict on these books once I have finished because I have a feeling I'm going to love them all! 

Let me know what you thought if you've read any of these, I would love to hear what you have to say about them! No spoilers though please! 

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Review | The Maze Runner Sequel

This is a post I've been promising to write since about Christmas? Which was when I received the first 3 books and so I promised a full review of the sequel once I had finished, so now I'm finished, here it is! 

So the sequel consists of 4 books, including the prequel:

The Maze Runner

The Scorch Trials

The Death Cure

The Kill Order (prequel)

They are written by James Dashner who honestly, I didn't know of before I read these books. However, now having read these 4 books I would definitely consider reading more of his work if the topic of the book interested me. 

At first I wasn't too sure if I was going to enjoy them, but I had heard so many good things about the first book more specifically, and of course I couldn't just leave it after the first book the way things end!

The books carry a really good, but realistically quite far fetched story line. But we all love a bit of far fetched stuff in books, that's the fun of fiction!

Anyway, enough rambling I'm going to discuss each book in a little bit of detail, but without giving the whole story away! 

The Maze Runner

Thomas has had all of his memories wiped, the only thing he knows is his name. He arrives in a place very unfamiliar where hundreds of other teenage boys are living, the Glade. Thomas goes through a lot to befriend the other boys in the Glade being the newbie and all. 

None of the other boys know where they are, or why they're there. All they know is they've been put there by someone and there's no way out unless you find your way out of the maze, but who can find their way out?

So that's all I'm going to really say about the plot line because I don't want to give too much away! I really enjoyed this, I honestly couldn't put it down which for me is always a good thing about a book. I was constantly wanting to read on, every chapter leaves you on a huge cliffhanger making it impossible to read any less than "just one more".

There is also a huge plot twist at the end which I won't go into much detail about because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read it, but because of that plot twist I moved straight onto book 2 after finishing book 1 because I couldn't wait to find out more! 

This has of course been made into a film, which I actually haven't seen. I wanted to read all of the books before I let myself watch any of the films, I don't know why but if there's a book and a film the book always comes first with me. Anyone else like that? Let me know what the film is like if you've seen it! And if you have seen the film but you haven't read the book, give it a read. I always find things that are in the book are always missed out in the film so see what's different! 

The Scorch Trials

So they thought they'd finished when they escaped the maze, but then another challenge is thrown their way, but why? They spend most of their time travelling through the next challenge and wondering why and who put them there. 

They end up back in the real world, but it's not how they thought it would be because of the Sun Flares, and the Flare - an infection that is wiping out the human race, quickly. 

It's a matter of life and death, but all of the Gladers stick together to survive and protect each other. Frightened they're going to become just as mentally disturbed as the people infected by the Flare.

Again, I absolutely loved the second book. Kept me hooked all the way through and again I found it really hard to put down. There is always something new happening that keeps you right on the edge of your seat all the way through. 

All the way through you're trying to work it out yourself, which for some people may be frustrating but I actually like books where I actually have to try and get my head around the situation myself in order to understand what's going on. It makes me feel much more involved, and this book does just that. 

You begin to connect with Thomas and some of the other main characters, there are even some moments that tug on the heart strings, which I wasn't expecting for books like this. 

Some people say this book in the series dragged for them a little bit, and I can understand that in a way but I guess that all depends on how emotionally involved you are in the story and with the characters. In case you haven't already guessed, when I read a book I literally feel like I'm a character in it and I probably get into it a little bit too much sometimes...

The Death Cure

Now that the trials are over, the Gladers have the option to have their memories completely restored, but who will take the offer? However, after reading the other 2 books and this one, Thomas has already started to remember things from his life before the Glade and he remembers more than he can handle, though WICKED don't know that. 

How many of the Gladers will survive the Flare? How many are immune? Do they find a cure for the Flare? 

I wasn't as crazy about this book as I was about the last 2, but I did still really enjoy it. It pretty much answers all of the questions that you have had through the books so far, which is nice because I don't like it when questions are left unanswered. 

I think it ends the series really well by answering all of the questions and getting a happy ending, but I would've maybe liked something at the end like a year later or 10 years later, because it would be nice to know what happens to the characters after the grand finale.

For me, I felt this one out of the 3 dragged the most, but that was only because it took me so long to get through the books due to GCSEs I was starting to get impatient and wanted to know the answers. However, I guess that if you had the time to be reading this for a good length of time each day you'd probably be okay for this, I just get impatient and after 3 books, my patience was being tested a little! Although, having said this I think it was still quite gripping because I kept wanting to read it, I didn't give up on it which is what I do if I'm really just not enjoying a book so that says something I suppose.

The Kill Order (prequel)

So this is based 13 years before Thomas enters the Glade, and it is a story following 2 main characters, Mark and Trina, and some other people too. This is just when the Sun Flares are starting and the Flare has been released causing the virus to spread and get more devastating as it spreads from body to body.

It follows Mark and Trina in the quest to survive and try to help save the world from complete extinction, but how will they do it and how many people have to die before they get there?

This is the one that I just recently finished, as in this week. I honestly can't tell you how disappointed I was with this, that's my honest opinion. The fact that it was about completely different people to the other 3 books to start with really threw me off, but I wanted to keep reading because I wanted an explanation for everything. I assumed it was all going to become obvious like Thomas was Mark and Trina's son or something along those lines, no. I was wrong. 

I actually had to google the ending of this book because I really didn't get the ending of it at all. It skipped forward to when Thomas was taken from his mother but before that some characters went through a Flat Trans but it wasn't explained who they were in relevance to the other 3 books if you get what I mean? 

I now understand after googling it, but it wasn't obvious to me at all and in all honesty, a bit of a let down. It comes out that someone changes their name from The Kill Order to a different name, one of a character in the other 3 books. All very confusing but I guess that's the way he wanted to end his book. I personally was disappointed with it, just like I was with the end of Mockingjay but I guess life goes on, eh.

So that's my review and opinions on all 4 books of the sequel. I hope you enjoyed it. If you've read the books, let me know what you thought, whether you agree with the disappointing ending... If you haven't read them, I recommend you do if you're a bit of a thrill-seeker, but you may want to consider the last book before buying it because as I said, it's about completely different people really, although one of them turns out not to be in the end... Oh well. Give it a try if you fancy it!

Love, Becca

-xoxo