*Review | Hippie Chic Sunglasses

Hello lovelies! 

Sixth form is very hectic as I'm sure many of you who are in the same position as me will agree. I've already dropped down from 4 subjects to 3 and I haven't even done a full week yet! But, I've done all my work for tonight so I thought I'd sit down and write a new post for you! 

I was given the opportunity to choose anything from the Hippie Chic website to review, and so I went for the pair of sunglasses I'm going to discuss in this post. These are the Maggie - Ladies Tortoise Shell and Gold Cat Eye Sunglasses (everything is linked for you). I picked these because they stood out to me as soon as I saw them on the screen in front of me. If you are a regular reader here, you may have seen that this summer I discovered I suit the cat eye shaped sunglasses. This is now my second pair of sunnies this shape and I'm loving them! 

Of course, being in the UK, I haven't had many opportunities to wear these but I have tested them out and had them on when I've been sat in the garden on the odd occasion where the sun has come out! So I think I can produce a decent review for you now! 

The shape is absolutely gorgeous. I don't think it is a shape that suits everyone, but if you can pull this off it looks amazing. It's really flattering to the face and, well, they just look fab in my opinion! 

I really love the gold hardware on these, because there isn't a lot, I think that the little bit that there is really stands out and looks really sleek and effective. Just adds something a little bit extra to the pretty tortoise shell pattern.

I've actually never had a pair of tortoise shell sunglasses before, and I was going to get some a while ago but being the boring person I am, I got the black pair instead. However, when I saw these I just had to go for it and I don't regret it one bit! I think it's a little bit more interesting than just plain ones and I also think the pattern and colour of them goes really nicely with a tan. Or in my case, a fading tan *cries*. 

For £13, I think these sunglasses are 110% worth the money and completely affordable. I spent the last 5 years of my life buying Primark sunglasses and Primark sunglasses only. There's nothing wrong with Primark's sunglasses style wise, but because they are so cheap I find they fall apart quite easily and I found myself replacing them a lot. However, I would buy Primark sunglasses as a last resort for something. But other than that I think spending those extra few pounds on a pair of sunglasses really pays off in the long run because I honestly think this particular pair feel like they are going to last me a really long time. 

I don't know about anyone else, but my sunglasses often spend more time on my head than they do on my eyes... However, let me tell you, these sunglasses aren't only fabulous for the sun, but they also make a great hairband!

Hippie Chic have a small range of sunglasses and they also have a really big jewelery range so make sure you go and check that out because everything is super cute and super affordable! Happy shopping!

I hope you enjoyed this review and I will see you very soon!

Do you have a favourite pair of sunglasses?

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Review | Girl Online

So when I went on holiday, I managed to read all 4 of the books I included in my 4 Summer Reads post within those 2 weeks – I know, I read really fast. And that post got a lot of comments about what people thought of some of the books I included and also that some of you wanted to know my opinion once I had finished them all. Now that I have done just that, I am starting to write my verdict for you, and Zoe’s novel is going to be the first.

Girl Online is everywhere, it was number 1 bestseller and I can totally understand why. Zoe Sugg syndrome is taking over the teenage girls of today, why? Who knows, she’s just a very likeable person I guess! This book sold more copies than that of J.K. Rowling I do believe, in a very short space of time. Again, I can completely understand why.

At first I was really unsure because a few of my friends had started to read this long before me and said they had struggled to get into it and thought it was aimed more at the younger spectrum of Zoe’s fandom. I was really disappointed when I heard this to be honest, but I went ahead and read it anyway because Zoe has been my idol for a really long time now and I really wanted to read her first novel because it was a really proud moment for me as someone who has followed her on this journey since pretty much the beginning.

I know I’m super late to the bandwagon on this book because the second one is coming out very, very soon, but I’ve had this book for ages I just never got round to reading it with revision and exams. However, now I have, here you go!

I absolutely loved it. It’s honestly one of the best books I’ve read, honest. And I’m not just saying that because I love Zoe so much, it was totally unexpected. The blurb says that Noah has a secret that could threaten Penny’s alias but I never imagined Noah’s secret being what it was and that made the book super exciting for me.

It is really your typical teen love novel but I’m a sucker for those! I always have been! I grew up reading Jaqueline Wilson and other authors like her so this book reminded me a lot of those. I think Zoe also read a lot of Jaqueline Wilson growing up if I remember rightly, so maybe she wanted to try and recreate that kind of style in her own way, I don’t know maybe she didn’t.

I think along with anyone else who has read this book fell in love with Noah. He is just the dream boy in a love story and I think most teenage girls would fall for that character. I also felt like I could relate to Penny in some ways. Of course Penny has extreme anxiety which is where her blog started and I am lucky to not suffer from anxiety to this extremity, but the blogging thing and her not wanting people to find out about it, I could really relate to that part. When I first started my blog I didn’t want anyone to find out, Penny didn’t want anyone to know about hers either. I think most people who are blog owners probably felt this way at the very begging, or even still now. So it’s very relatable to people of the blogging world. I think that allows you to get closer to the character and become more a part of the story than just someone sitting watching from a distance.

I think it took me about 4 days to read this book in total, so you could say I enjoyed it a little bit. I honestly couldn’t take my head out of it! I don’t want to say too much about the story itself because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t yet read this incredible book, but if you haven’t I highly recommend you do.

As for the thing I said earlier about it being aimed at the younger spectrum of Zoe’s audience, I think she has had to be careful and very wary of the age of a lot of her viewers. Zoe’s videos are so popular and she has such a broad range of people watching, and a lot of them are very young. Zoe will have had to think a lot about this while she was writing this book because she can’t make it too mature as you can guarantee these younger viewers will want to read her book. However, she has still catered for the teenage viewers in my opinion, because in places it’s quite an adult/teenage love story, but not in a way that it’s inappropriate for her younger viewers. What I’m trying to say here is yes I can understand if you maybe found this book a little immature for your age if your about 15 or 16 like me, but she has of course had to be careful about the adult content she included.

As for Girl Online On Tour, I am super excited to read it and I honestly can’t wait for it to come out! Girl Online doesn’t end on a cliff-hanger as such, it just leaves you wanting to know more about the lives of Penny and Noah and what happens to them afterwards. Thank you Zoe for writing a second book and not leaving us clueless as to where the pair goes after Girl Online.

That’s about all I have to say about Girl Online but as I say, if you haven’t yet read it and you like a good teenage romance, I recommend this book to you because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Until next time!

Have you read Girl Online? What did you think? 

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

Review | e.l.f. Shimmer Gloss

I love e.l.f. so much and it really upsets me that I can’t go down to Superdrug or Boots and pick up as many products from the brand as I want because it is only in American stores. Of course, we can order it online here in the UK but I prefer to buy my makeup in the shop so this is upsetting for me.

However I’m quite lucky as I have a friend in America who bought me some e.l.f. products for my birthday which was really lovely of her and I’ve really been loving the products, hence why I am reviewing one of them for you today!

The Shimmer Gloss I am reviewing today is in the shade ‘make a wish’ and I would describe it as a really soft baby pink with a very subtle shimmer. I’m not a huge fan of having glittery lips but the shimmer in this product is so subtle I completely forget it’s there. It is visible when it’s in the bottle but you can’t see any shimmer at all once it’s on the lips.

I’ve been preferring to wear lip gloss rather than lipstick lately because I find lipstick more of a hassle personally but that’s just me! This colour has been perfect for me recently because it’s really neutral as it doesn’t add heaps of colour, it’s just a nice touch of pink to make them stand out a little more.

It’s also a really shiny gloss which I personally really like. It looks stunning on and I really like having a shine to my lips just as much as I love the matte look so it’s nice to be able to mix it up a little bit every now and again!

This doesn’t have the greatest staying power in the world I will admit but it’s very quick and easy to top up during the day so that doesn’t bother me at all. The other thing I like about wearing a lip gloss is that when it does wear off, it doesn’t leave much residue on the lips so it’s obvious you had something on and it’s come off, if you know what I mean. Once it wears off you can’t tell you had anything on basically is what I’m trying to say so if you didn’t want to top it off, you wouldn’t have to!

Finally, I really like the e.l.f. packaging because it’s so simple but it looks really nice and it actually looks more expensive than it is. Having simple packaging either works or it just looks tacky and e.l.f. definitely got it right with their simplicity, so well done to you e.l.f.

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Review | Estee Lauder All-Over Face Compact

Today I wanted to review a product I’ve been loving and using to death recently just because I’ve really enjoyed using it and I want to share it with you so you guys can try it too!

As you have seen by the title it is an Estee Lauder product – admittedly I don’t have many products from the higher end of things so this is one of my few which makes me quite happy to be able to review it!!

I received this as a Christmas gift I believe, it came in a huge set with lots of other Estee Lauder products which was a really nice present to receive and I’ve used all of the products in it quite a lot really! However, this palette has probably been one of my favourites out of the whole set I received.

I actually don’t think this is available to buy on its own because I can’t find it anywhere other than eBay, it could also have been discontinued but I don’t know enough about Estee Lauder to be able to give you any advice about that, sorry! Anyone who is an Estee Lauder expert please do leave a comment about where to purchase this product if you know to help everyone out!

Anyway, onto the review!

There are 3 blushes in this palette:

Pure Colour Blush in 08 ‘Peach Passion’

Pure Colour Blush in 10 ‘Lover’s Blush’

Pure Colour Blush in 02 ‘Pink Kiss’

And there is 1 bronzer:

Bronze Goddess Bronzer in 02 ‘Medium’

All 4 of these products get used on a regular basis and this has been my go-to bronzer for a couple of weeks now as well as going between the 3 blushes on a day-to-day basis.

They all have a great consistency, although my swatch picture doesn’t really do them much justice, when they are on your face they look amazing, especially the bronzer which I feel gives my face just the right amount of dimension when I use it in my cheekbones, T-zone etc.

They also all have really great staying power and I find they last most of the day which is always really good for me as I have combination dry/oily skin and my natural oils really do come out during the day so, to have a product that can stay on well through that is really a good thing for me.

I think the packaging is absolutely gorgeous, I could never fault Estee Lauder for their packaging, the gold always looks so stunning and I’ve had no problems with the quality of the packaging either. It looks really good in your makeup bag which is always a good feeling I think.

It does come with a small compact brush however, I don’t use it. I tend not to use the brushes that come with palettes because I often find they’re too small or not very good quality. With this one, quality isn’t an issue it’s simply just the size so I tend to use some of my Real Techniques or Bare Minerals brushes to apply these products.

All 4 products are shimmer which some people may not be too keen on and sometimes I’m not either. However, with these products I find I really like the shimmer it gives as it makes my skin look like it’s literally glowing which is always a nice feeling! It’s not like Edward Cullen in the sunlight though don’t worry it isn’t that extreme! It’s just enough to give a bit of extra light to your face and I suppose in some ways it saves you having to wear highlighter as I tend not to wear a highlighter if I am using these products.

And that’s all I have to say about it really! I would talk about the price but I don’t really know how much this would cost alone as I received it as a gift and it also came in a set so apologies for that but have a little hunt and see what you can find! 

See you all again on Friday! 

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Review | Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder

This is a product I think all beauty bloggers love and worship. I joined the bandwagon a little later than everyone else but I did join it about a year ago and I can honestly say I have never looked back since owning this product.

I have combination skin but when it gets oily, it really gets oily and it seeps right through my foundation (gross image, I know). So, a good powder is essential for me if I want my makeup to stay on all day.

I always buy this in the translucent shade because then it doesn’t change the colour of my foundation as I have a good match for my foundation at the moment. Using the translucent one also means that you can put quite a lot on without it looking too cakey.

For £3.99 I honestly don’t think you can go wrong with this product. I think I’m onto my 3^rd or 4^th pot of this and that shows that if you use a sensible amount it can last you quite a long time. I have of course tried other powders over the course of the time I have owned this one, but as of yet there haven’t been many that have come close to how much I love this one.

I only have one issue with the product and it’s not that big of an issue either. I don’t really like the packaging. As I said, I’ve had a few pots of this and I think 2 of the lids broke which made it a real pain to carry around in my makeup bag. That is the only flaw of this product so I highly suggest you give it a try if you haven’t already!

I have honestly used this product religiously since I bought it the first time and I’ve never seen a bad review of it. Rimmel really have hit the nail on the head with this one!

See you again on Friday! 

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Review: Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Hair and Scalp Treatment

As you may have seen in my first Pink Parcel box opening, I received the Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Hairand Scalp Treatment which I was very excited about! So, today I decided to review it since I’ve used up the 22ml sample Pink Parcel supplied me with!

Now obviously I received this product as part of a monthly subscription so I only received a sample of the product, not a whole size container of it. However, I think with this product a little really would go a long way. I only had a 22ml sachet and I think I got 5 or 6 uses out of it, and as you’ve seen in my photos, I have relatively long hair – and I did use it all over my hair every time.

Full price for a 500ml bottle of this is around £25-£30 and I have linked you to the product at the start of the post if you would like to shop this product. So, for the price you are paying for a full bottle of this, it has to be worth it.

So here’s my verdict.

I used the product all over my scalp and all the way down the rest of my hair. I didn’t actually massage it for the 3-5 minutes that it suggests but that’s just because I’m lazy. However, when I did rinse it off after about a minute and a half to two minutes of massaging, my hair felt noticeably different. It’s that really nice feeling you get after using a really good conditioner and it felt really good.

Tea tree for me always has a cooling effect on whatever area of my body I use it on and I found that after I had used this, my scalp felt very cool and refreshed. This sounds weird, and it was a weird feeling for me at first but once you get used to it it’s actually really nice. If you suffer with sensitive scalp, this may be of use to you. I found the cooling effect really refereshing because I often get an itchy scalp (it’s not nits, I promise I just have a really sensitive scalp) and using this product really cooled and soothed it which was really nice for me.

Another thing I noticed with this product was that it changed how my hair felt quite drastically really. I could see the improvement on the damaged ends of my hair and my hair honestly felt amazing. I was going round getting everyone in my family to feel it because it honestly felt so soft!

Overall, I thought this was a really good product and I really enjoyed using it! 

I hope you enjoyed this little review - I feel like it's been ages since I did a proper review for you! 

See you next time!

Love, Becca

-xoxo