HOW I WORE: CIGARETTE PANTS

After about a month of searching, I am now a proud owner of a pair of dress trousers that actually suit my figure. I've never been the type of person that wears trousers and in the past I have literally always worn leggings or jeans so this comes as a bit of a revolution to my wardrobe.

The trousers in question are a lovely pair of cigarette pants I have bought from Topshop which cost £22.00. They are such good quality for how affordable they are which surprised me. I love these trousers because I think they're the perfect mix between smart and casual and they remind me of something Audrey Hepburn would wear. It was nice to have a change from my trademark black jeans from New Look.

I went for a meal at Nandos with a couple of my friends on Friday night and I wore my trousers for the first time, I paired them with a oversized jumper (also from Topshop) and my new bag which I bought a few days ago. I will be reviewing the bag shortly in a blog post - so keep an eye out. This outfit was so comfortable and it felt good to not have to wear a jacket as it wasn't as cold as usual. I feel like everything in my wardrobe is mainly monochrome which needs to be changed shortly as I always like to insert a little bit of colour into my wardrobe as it creeps into summer.

How do you style cigarette pants?

FIX +

Up until around a fortnight ago, I hadn't seen the hype in makeup setting sprays. I had seen a lot of people on youtube rave about them, but I just thought it was pointless to spend money on something that didn't seem to make a difference - but then I bought Fix +.

Fix + is literally a genie in a bottle. A bottle retails for £14.50 from MAC and it is designed to be sprayed onto skin before makeup application to create a longer lasting base or after makeup application to prolong the staying power of your makeup. When I bought this I was a bit worried because I have oily skin and I didn't think it would work as well with my skin type.. but I was totally wrong. I spray Fix + onto my skin when I am just about to apply foundation and it makes foundation application so much easier and I have found that my foundation blends so much better when I have used this spray. I have also used Fix + to apply eyeshadow, I sprayed some of it onto a eyeshadow brush and then picked some of the eyeshadow up with the brush and patted the shadow onto the eyelid as I would normally. I was amazed at how vibrant the eyeshadow looked on my eyes compared to how it normally looks and the shadow also stayed on my eyes for longer than normal.

One thing that annoyed me about Fix + is the pump on the bottle. I was fiddling around with the bottle when I first got it and I must of tried for about half an hour to unlock it in order to spray it but it just wouldn't budge! I took to twitter to vent my frustration and then after a few google searches, I finally unlocked it. It really annoys me when pumps on foundation bottles/spray bottles don't work, considering how much money the product retails for - but thankfully the problem was solved.

Have you ever tried Fix + or any other setting sprays? 

WHAT I BOUGHT FROM LUSH

I don't really buy things from Lush as much as I would like to because of how expensive their products are, so it's a massive deal to me when I actually do pluck up the courage to purchase a few things from them. I must spend an hour each week simply trawling Lush's website just to research potential products. One thing about Lush that I love is the fact that they don't test on animals.

The first thing I picked up was Cupcake which is a face mask designed for oily skin. My skin has  been oily since I hit puberty and it is one of the biggest banes of my life. I went into Lush and had my mind set on buying a face mask and as soon as I read the words 'helps absorb excess oil' I knew this mask was the one for me. Since buying, I've used this face mask twice and I am really happy with how it leaves my skin. You are supposed to keep it on for about ten minutes but I am rubbish at time keeping so I normally leave it on for a tiny bit longer. When I wash the mask off it leaves my normally very oily t-zone slightly less matte. I paid  £6.25 for this wonder and I love how it leaves my skin, you get 75g of product but don't be put off by the price compared to proportion of product as a little goes a long way.

The second product I purchased was a dry shampoo called No Drought. I love dry shampoo because sometimes I am just too lazy to wash my hair and sometimes I feel like my hair needs a break from being washed constantly. For the past year I have stuck to Batiste's dry shampoo range but recently I read that their products contain alcohol because of their aerosol packaging and alcohol is seriously damaging for hair so I decided that I needed an alternative that would be a bit friendlier to my hair.

As you can see from the picture above, I made the right choice when it came to picking a new dry shampoo. Instead of other dry shampoos which contain nasty things such as alcohol, No Drought contains a variety of ingredients such as cornflour which is known to absorb oil and eliminates grease. I have used this dry shampoo countless times since buying it and I love how refreshed it makes my hair feel. It also smells absolutely gorgeous thanks to the Grapefruit Oil it contains.

I paid £6.75 for the big version (115g) of this dry shampoo. One thing I don't like about this dry shampoo is how sometimes the bottle sometimes squeezes too much powder out which is highly annoying as there has been occasions when my trousers have been covered in powder.

What was the last thing you bought from Lush?

CLEANING MY MAKEUP BRUSHES

I'm not going to lie, I really don't like washing my makeup brushes. This is primarily because of the amount of effort it takes and how messy it leaves my bathroom sink. This is disgusting to admit, but I have had my Real Techniques stippling brush for about two years and I've only washed it twice. I'm very lazy when it comes to things like brush washing and this is definitely one of my biggest beauty sins. I made a decision yesterday that I would kick the habit of neglecting my brushes and I would step up my cleansing game. That is exactly what I did. Today I collected all of my brushes from my trusty white pot in which they live in my bedroom and held them hostage for about twenty minutes in the bathroom and gave them a damn good clean.

It took me around twenty minutes to wash all of my makeup brushes individually and I was really happy with how clean they were when I'd finished. They normally take forever to dry but I was actually surprised with how quickly they dried on this occasion. 

To wash my brushes, I follow three simple steps. Firstly, I wet the brush with warm water to roughly rinse it of product. This is the first part of the cleansing process because it makes sure excess liquid (such as foundation) is quickly squeezed out. Next, I pump some of No 7's Makeup Brush Cleanser directly onto the bristles of the brush and swirl the brush on the palm of my hand which allows the cleanser to get to work. I've noticed that when I swirl the brush around in my hand, the remaining product that has been collected on the brush is washed away which is a vital step in the process. This is when I actually saw my brush gradually become cleaner.

I really like the No 7 brush cleaner that I used to wash my brushes. It was a very spontaneous purchase when I bought it a few months ago. I have been wanting to try Mac's Brush Cleaner for a while now but I wanted to buy a cheaper product first just to get to grips with how to clean my brushes. Although, now I think about it, I wish I had paid an extra £2.00 and bought Mac's version. I paid £8.00 for this brush cleaner, I do think it is good value for money and it has boosted my confidence in No 7's brand. The only thing I have really used from No 7 before buying this brush cleaner is a powder foundation that my best friend Beth bought a few years ago and that was an absolutely amazing product.

Have you got a specific routine when it comes to washing your brushes?