Favourites: Drugstore Makeup

Hellooo guys! Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Australia Day! Wow, I haven’t blogged for absolutely ages, which I apologise for! So, this is my first post since I’ve finished school and so many things have happened over my 3 month holiday! It would literally take a novel for me to tell you everything that’s happened! So...I’m going to leave you wondering! Anyway, I’m going to get straight back into it and do a ‘Favourites’ post, this edition is going to include drugstore makeup products I’ve really enjoyed using these past couple of months! I hope you enjoy!

RIMMEL- Wake Me up Foundation

Rimmel’s ‘Wake Me Up’ foundation is amazing for everyday use! I had actually held off from buying it since it came out as I thought I’ve already got so many foundations and I don’t need any more. However, my inner ‘shopaholic’ side came through and I just had to purchase it! As soon as I applied it, I knew I was going to absolutely love it! As the bottle reads, it literally does make you look ‘woken up’! Instantly after applying I could notice my skin was glowing and radiant. The coverage I would say is medium, which is really perfect for everyday use, when you don’t want to look like you’ve got a face full of makeup! Once applied on your skin, it does appear to have tiny bits of shimmer in it, this isn’t extreme, but it does assist in the glowing effect the foundation promotes. The foundation also has SPF 15, which is perfect for everyday use as it is protects your skin from the harsh rays of the sun.

REVLON- Photoready Cream Blush

Revlon’s Cream blush from their Photoready range is a really beautiful product! The colour I purchased is called ‘Flushed Rougissant’, number 200. I love the fact that it is a cream blush because it leaves a really natural finish, whereas a powered blush can tend to leave a caked, layered finish on the skin. In the container the colour looks bright fuschia, however on the cheeks it looks like a really subtle, pretty colour. I also find the packaging really easy for travelling as it is very compound and as you can apply it with your fingers there is no need for a blush brush!

COVERGIRL- Intense Shadow Blast

Covergirl’s Intense Shadow Blast Primer has been a must have for me lately! The colour I purchased is 810. This Primer is absolutely magic! I don’t usually wear primers on my eyelids, as my eyeshadow’s usually last throughout the day. However, since purchasing this product, I’ve never gone back to my old ways. Every day I apply a smear with the dome applicator that it comes with, and then with my ring finger I wipe it across my entire eyelid. This then leaves a really thin shimmery base. I’ve noticed that since using this product that it has enhanced the colours of my eyeshadow’s, and it does last throughout the day with no smudges.

REVLON- Just Bitten Kissable, Balm Stain

Revlon’s Balm stain from the Just Bitten Kissable range has proven itself to be my all time favourite everyday lip product. I purchased the colour ‘Romantic’, number 045. Depending on how you apply it this colour can be used for a night out, to just everyday use. In the daytime I apply a thin layer and then rub it into my lips, this gives a really natural lip colour. Then for a night time look, I apply it heavily all over my lips, this gives a really dramatic look for going out at night. It also smells amazinggg, like mint candy canes, mmm! As it is balm stain, it does feel very moisturising on your lips and lasts throughout the day. The applicator makes it incredibly easy to apply, even without a mirror!

MAYBELLINE- Eye Studio

Maybelline’s Eye Studio gel pot eyeliner is a really great product! Firstly I thought I’d say I’ve always been a liquid eyeliner person and I’ve always been a little bit hesitant and scared to use the gel. However, I thought I would go out a purchase myself gel pot eyeliner; I decided to go with this one because I had heard really good reviews! It came with its own little brush to apply it with, however I use my ‘Nude, by nature’ angled brush instead as I find it easier.  So far I can’t say enough how much I’ve been enjoying using this product. You can use it to just thicken up your lash line, or you can create a really dramatic winged effect for a night out. I’ve been wearing this throughout the hot Australian summer, and I was really impressed that it had managed to stay all day without any smudges. So if any eyeliner is able to do that, in my books it deserves an A+!

The catch up over coffee

Hi Guys!

Sorry for the lack of posts about beauty, health and fashion I've just been extremely busy, and I know that's such a lame excuse, but it's true! So today I've decided to share with you what I've been doing recently and what I've got planned over the next few weeks, kind of like a catch up coffee date!

Lets go all the way back to the last week of my holidays. So I got back from Melbourne and had a week to do nothing much before I headed back to school! Seeing as we had just got back from Melbourne I had absolutely no money, I only had $15 which meant I couldn't even get that money out of the ATM because the minimum amount is only $20, boo! But luckily for me I only had to wait till Tuesday for my pay to come in, but even so I had to use it very sparingly. Anyway, so a few friends and I made a couple of visits to the city to go to our favourite cafe called 'The Brew', it's down an alley way and it has cheap food and good coffee, if you're from Brisbane definitely recommend you checking it out, it's in Burnett Lane, just of Queen St Mall. So we did that, then being cheapskates sun-baked in the park. On another day we decided to see a new movie out called 'Ruby Sparks', great movie! Then on the Friday arvo my favourite band Ball Park Music played a free gig in Queen St to celebrate the release of their new album 'Museum'. They also had a CD signing, so my friend and I got a CD signed and met them. They are the most chilled, down to earth people I've ever met! The rest of my holidays consisted of watching Pretty Little Liars and sitting in the oh so warm sun! 

Okay, so when I got back to school I was automatically bombarded with an assignment for each subject, yay! Still to this point I am yet to open the task sheets for any of them. So it reached the second week of term 4 and the grade 12 cohort headed of to Toowoomba (aka middle of nowhere) to attend a retreat. It was full of affirmations, fatty foods and crying. Though because I'm not an emotional person at all whist everyone was crying, I stood there being awkward trying to force a tear out of my eye, but it just didn't happen. We also had to hand in our baby picture for it to be presented on the last school assembly, which was a little bit sad (it's down below). 

So now that your up to date with my life, I'll share some exciting things coming up! The next few weeks are shaping up to be pretty damn decent! So on Tuesday night I've got my last awards night ever and I, Erin Hipwell, won an award, god knows what for but who cares! Then not the weekend coming, but the weekend after that, I've got the Last Dinosaurs and Jungle Giants concert then the week after that I've got the Ball Park Music and Loon Lake concert then the week after that is my last week of school ever, super excited! And then on that Saturday I head of to Schoolies, for all you that don't know what Schoolies is, it's when all year 12's of Queensland (and most of the rest of Australia) head to the Gold Coast and spend a week there partying it up to celebrate finishing 12 years of schooling! Then after that a solid 3 months of holidays before I start University! So, as you may have guessed I'm pretty keen! 

Sorry for the masssssive post, but I thought it was appropriate to catch up properly! I'd love to see what you guys have been upto! Anyway in a few days my 'herbal tea' review will be up! Catch you later! xx

P.S sorry for the crappy quality photos most are just from my phone!

Melbourne Trip part 2

Hi guys sorry the second Melbourne post has been a bit slow coming up, but here it is!

So now that we had arrived in Melbourne CBD we were ready to hit the city to shop and explore. Firstly we went and scoped the place out, whilst doing this we saw some iconic buildings (as shown below) such as the Parliament House, Hotel Esplanade- which is where an Australian show called Rock quiz is filmed, some massive churches and some other really fancy shmancy buildings. After doing the real touristy things we decided to hit up the shops and of course spend all our money in a short space of time. In Melbourne they have so many different shopping districts it’s ridiculous! Firstly there is Harbour Town, which is just a shopping outlet with heaps of sales. Then there is just the city centre which has all your ordinary shops you’d find in any Westfield store.  Then there is also Chapel St, which holds the high end stores. There are many more but I think you get the gist, it’s shopping central there. We also were lucky enough to experience the wild weather in Melbourne, it’s literally crazy, it’s raining one minute, sunny the next.  We loved going to all the cute little alley way shops to have a coffee and for dinners we enjoyed going to China Town as the meals were all around $10, I extremely satisfied with the Pad Thai. Overall, we had a fabulous time in Melbourne and I can’t wait to get back there next year! I highly recommend for anyone to go check it out; it’s a great place to go!

I am still currently working on my video so that should be up soon! Below are a few more photos for you guys to check out! Thanks all, talk again soon xx

  

Melbourne Trip

Hi guys! So as you know I'm in Victoria this week, and so far it's been absolutely fabulous! For the people that don't know, Victoria is a state here in Australia. So I arrived here on Sunday and for the past few days my mum and I have been staying with a friend (Karen) that lives in a place called Bendigo. We were there to celebrate her 50th birthday. The past few days have been full of celebration, including multiple dinners with friends and family and lots of presents. Bendigo is such a lovely place, it's full of beautiful old, vintage buildings and lovely parks with tones of colourful tulips. So today my mum and I have said good-bye to Karen and her son Ziggy and caught the country train from Bendigo to Melbourne CBD. As soon as we got here we were overwhelmed by the rush of things in the city. We then checked into our backpackers hostel (which to add is surprisingly tasteful and clean?!?). Anyway, at around 6pm we went out to explore a little and pick up some dinner. It became evident quite quickly that the people of Melbourne held much more style and life compared to Brisbane. It was also quite strange to see that Melbourne city was way busier on a Wednesday night than Brisbane city is on a Friday or Saturday night. So, after exploring we picked up some Indian curry and took it up to our room to enjoy whilst watching a long awaited episode of Big Brother. The next few days we intend to shop (till we drop, lol) and explore the city in greater depth. I am making a video of my time here, so if everything goes to plan, it will be up in a week or so. But for now I will leave you with an assortment of photographs taken over the past few days!

Looking forward to posting again soon!
xx

Birthday Picnic

Hi Guys,

I've finally finished all my exams and assignments for this term, yippie! This means that I will be dedicating much more time to this blog! So, it was my birthday yesterday and as you already know I got a camera! To celebrate my birthday I went down to the local park with my friends for a casual picnic as it was such a beautiful and sunny day. Me being eger to use my new camera, I decided to film snippets of the picnic and then later make them into a little video. This was my first time making a video, I usually tend to just stick to photography, however if you guys enjoy it I may start to do videos every now and then :) Also, on Sunday I am going to Melbourne for a week with my mum, so I may make a video out of that aswell :)

Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RP9ZwxqjiU&feature=plcp

Hope you guys enjoy xx

Good & Bad News

Hey Guys!

So today I have some bad news and some good news.

I think I'll start with the bad news, so I can end on a good note!

So, the bad news is that for the next couple of weeks I will not be posting every Monday and Thursday, due to massive amounts of school work. However, I will try my best to upload something interesting every now and then. I do promise in 2 weeks time, the usual blogging will be back to normal!

Now, onto my good news. In around 2 weeks it is my birthday, woo! I know I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, but I am getting a camera. This therefore means that I will be posting photographs taken by myself! There is also a second piece of exciting news. As you may know, I have two blogs- my personal blog and my body and soul blog. I was soon to find out, that it's quite a lot of maintenance updating two blogs. So I have come to the conclusion to 'mash' both blogs together. So, this is the blog that I will keep, though the name will be changed to EKH. Don't stress, I still will be posting  body and soul tips, though I will also be posting about my personal life, this will include pictures and videos!

Sorry that post was so long.

Anyway, I hope you continue to stick around!

I assure you that when I come back in 2 weeks, my blog will be better than ever!

Thanks for hearing me out :)

EKH 

Sleep deprivation

So, for all the Aussie's it's term 3, the most dreaded term and for all people from the US and UK, I know you guys are starting back at school, so this advice may be useful for you guys later on in the year! 

So as you may have noticed, school does tend to cause alot of stress. This stress often leads to sleep deprivation. Being able to concentrate throughout a 6 hour school day can be hard enough without the extra exhaustion and tiredness, caused from stress and sleep deprivation. 

Teenager's need around 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep per night, however I do totally understand that this sometimes is hard to get due to other commitments or assignment overloads. Though, it is important that you, as a teenager, should be getting at least an 8 hour sleep per night. Another common issue that is causing sleep deprivation amongst teenagers is stress. Something that happens alot is once you get into bed, you tend to just lie there thinking about everything that is stressing you out, from assignments to friendship problems, and before you know it you've been lying there for 2 hours. 

A way to help you to get in the right frame of mind before going to sleep is to meditate. This relaxes your body and mind, getting you ready to go to sleep. All you need to do is shut your bedroom door so there are no distractions, turn your phone notifications off and find a cushion to sit on. If you wish to, you can also burn some incense. Then you are to sit there crossed legged, with a straight back, focusing on your breathing, in and out. Do this for around 20 minutes. This will ensure you are relaxed and in for a good nights sleep.