K-Beauty Haul!~ (Tony Moly, Etude House)

K-beauty is annoyingly hard to come by in the UK. I mean, there is some about, but when I think k-beauty I think about two brands in particular: Tony Moly and Etude House. Ever seen any of that stuff here? Nope! But you know where does (just about) have it?! Malaysia! And guess where I spent my summer…? Okay I’ll just stop now… xD

As you can see, I didn’t really buy a lot, as even though stuff in Malaysia is notoriously wayyy cheaper than the UK, make-up (in my experience) isn’t. But still, it’s much cheaper than a) buying online from and paying insane shipping and import, or b) going to South Korea and buying the stuff in person, so yeah. 

Panda’s Dream So Cool Eye Stick Serum

SOS Care Pink Clay Therapy Pack

Brightening White Colour Clay Therapy Pack

Tony Moly has some of the cutest packaging I’ve ever seen and every time I see their stuff I wanna buy something random just because it’s so damn cute. Saying that though, their skin care apparently is pretty great. Their Panda’s Dream So Cool Eye Stick for example, besides being freaking adorable, actually works quite nicely for puffy under-eyes and is also pretty damn soothing during hay fever season in particular! And as for the clay therapy packs, well… my face is having major issues at the moment and could use some help. PLUS, have you seen the packaging?! So simple but oh my gah, I was sold as soon as I saw it! <3

Matte Chic Lip Lacquer in RD302 Seulgi Burgundy

Dear My Lips-Talk Case in #16 and #18

Dear My Glass Tinting Lips-Talk in GR701

Ahh, the Etude House stuff was super on-a-whim purchasing. For example, the Matte Chic Lip Lacquer I’d seen be talked about on YouTube, so I know there’s some hype surrounding it, but what made me choose to buy it? Embarrassingly, the fact that it’s a Red Velvet collab colour. And I guess I like like, two of their songs? Ha, random, I know, but that kind of spurred me on to just giving in and buying it. Plus, the colour is very nice!

[feat. RevolutionxEmily 'The Wants' palette + Etude House Matte Chic Lip Lacquer in Seulgi Burgundy]

As for the other lip things… to be honest, I was entirely sold on the idea of being able to customise your lip colour and case to the point where you can even get engraving done as a complimentary service, like so:

(oh my gah how cool is that?!?!??)

Pretty damn cool, right?? I thought so too!! ;D

So that’s all the k-beauty products I bought this time! I did want to buy some sheet masks as well, but in the end didn’t see the point as, like I said, this stuff isn’t easy (or even possible?) to find in the UK, so I’d end up with like, a week of nice skin and then never again? Eh, can’t be bothered, maybe next time if I can afford to buy in bulk!

BONUS: Also I spent so much at the Etude House store that they gave me some skin care freebies! Yay! =D

-Philippa. x

Note: Ah. So, I just got reminded that you can get Tony Moly at Selfriges... but like, that hardly counts, right? Personally I think that it's so expensive there that you might as well fly to France and just get it from Sephora! xP

*more excited squeals* ... (#Revolution x The Emily Edit)~

Words cannot describe how excited I was when one of my favourite YouTubers announced that not only was she releasing a collab palette, but that it would be with one of the most affordable and, thank goodness for us UK folks, accessible make-up brands out there, Makeup Revolution! Congrats Emily! I'm so happy for you!

The Emily Edit 'The Wants' palette - £15 - available from Superdrug and Makeup Revolution

The launch of this actually happened while I was on holiday so I couldn't get to it as quickly as I would have liked, and while is was a bit of a bummer that I had to wait a bit to buy this as the initial release sold out basically immediately, I'm super glad for Emily that her palettes (this is one of two) were so well received and that the launch was such a success! And just to go a wee bit off-topic here, as you can see, this palette isn't my usual cup of tea, but I jumped to buy it anyway as if there's someone I feel I can trust to make a palette with genuine and honest care and that just works, it's Emily.

But anyway, on to the swatches:

As I mentioned earlier, the colour selection isn't really what I would naturally gravitate towards and so kinda scares me a bit, but there are definitely some shades that I'm super excited to play with and who knows? Maybe I'll even be inspired enough to experiment a bit? =D

Ugh. As you can probably tell, I haven't really been having any great skin days lately... but for the sake of this post, I sucked it up and took some try-on pics anyway! This was my first time trying out this palette and unsurprisingly I went straight for the purples! And the fact that it turned out fairly decently is another plus for the palette!

  
(shades featured: 'the cream' [brow highlight], 'prayer' and 'apartment' [crease], 'belle violet' and 'cheer' [lid], 'family' [lower lash line])

In the past I've been perfectly happy with the Makeup Revolution eyeshadows that I've purchased and so far I'm not disappointed in the slightest with how this palette is performing. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that I'm actually a little bit impressed by how high-end the whole palette feels! Everything was easy to blend (great for when you're rushing your makeup like i did...), went on nice and opaque and just performed well in general, so another well done and good job to Emily!

So I guess overall I'd say that this palette is worth going for for the number of shades and the quality of the eyeshadows at such a great price point, plus, the HUGE mirror included (which i'm sure i've already put many fingerprints all over) and you get to support a really awesome and special lady whilst looking fabulous doing so. So what are you waiting for? Go grab it before it sells out again! ;D

-Philippa. x

PS.: goes without saying, but if you haven't already, go check out emily on youtube for honest make up reviews, fotd inspo and super heart-warming family vlogs.
PPS.: obvs not sponsored. ha. i wish. =P
PPPS.: oh yeah, forgot to mention as well, loving how chic the packaging is! trés classy! 

Stuff I don’t wear enough! ~Jewellery Edition~

Thankfully, there isn’t a lot to mention in this post, because thing is, I’ve accumulated a lot of jewellery over the last few years and it would be a crying shame if most of it ended up neglected in a drawer. However, a few pieces have fallen victim to such a sad fate and so I figured it was time to give them the spotlight (at least briefly) before they are once again condemned to the darkness… (lol, dramatic much?) 

Let's start with the rings:

River Song Faux Snow Opal Ring by Shop Dixi

Excalibur Amethyst Ring by Shop Dixi

So, even without these two I already have quite a few rings from Shop Dixi. Which then begs the question: ‘umm, if you have so many and never wear these ones, then why did you even bother wasting money on them in the first place?’. Well, dear critical reader, that is an excellent question, except… did you see the rings?? They’re so freaking gorgeous! Particularly the snow opal one, UGH, it is such a beauty! Sadly though, seeing as it is quite the statement piece (compared to all my other rings, that is) and as I don’t ever have an occasion these days to be, well, making statements, it just sits around, very neglected but never forgotten. Sigh.

As for the other ring, well… it’s not just a matter of having no occasion to wear it, but also due to the style of ring (wrap around) I find myself conflicted over whether or not I should be wearing it due to it maybe clashing too much with my very religiously worn wrap-around piece from Bloody Mary Metal (which can be vaguely seen in just about every ootd post i have…). Hmm… what do you think? Is it just me who’s making issues out of nothing?

Celeste Necklace by The Serpent's Club

(worn higher for photographing purposes, but actually falls somewhere around the boob/sternum area)

Oh my gosh I absolutely fell in love with this piece from The Serpent’s Club when I saw it being worn by the beautiful Olivia Emily and knew instantly that I just had to have it! However, as it is such a delicate and, once again, statement piece, I find it both difficult to find the occasion to wear it, and also the willingness to potentially bring it to harm. For example, the first and so far only time I did wear it was when I first got my hands on it, and what did I stupidly do? Knock it against a cupboard door. Well done, me. And while there doesn’t seem to be any damage, I’m just super paranoid, you know? It’s such a precious piece and I can’t bear to potentially put it in harm’s way!

Lovegood Choker by Black Moon Shop

I think this is the oldest piece out of all the ones I’ve featured in this post, which will then also mean that it is the most neglected piece of all, seeing as how I don’t think I’ve ever worn it. Wow. That’s terrible. Again, the issue is not really finding a good occasion for wearing it, which is stupid because I could so easily do an ootd with this at the forefront. Which in fact I might just do. Yeah, I think that’ll have to be the way to go, because it’s too pretty to be kept in hiding forever and there’s also no way I’m passing it on to anyone because not only is it no longer available, but it’s also one of the first presents I got for myself when I first started working way back when! Ah, nostalgia…

Dark Bloom Black Mother Of Pearl Choker by Regal Rose

Lastly, we have this stunning choker by Regal Rose. Regal Rose has so many beautiful pieces that I'm always drooling over, but this ended up being the one I snatched up after much debate as I figured it would be easy to wear with a lot of outfits. Which is it. But, once again, I have that stupid issue of ‘but i want to protect it and keep it in pristine condition forever!’, which is stupid, because for reals, why then even bother buying pretty things like this in the first place?? I will say though, that I think out of all the pieces in this post this is the one that I’ve worn the most, which is good, but… still not good enough!!

Well there you have it. Bonafide evidence that I am very much a hoarder. Of pretty things. Of shiny things. So basically I’m a dragon. Or maybe a magpie... but I prefer dragon. 

I think I will try taking my own advice for once and at least strive to pull these out once in a while for ootd’s, though we’ll have to wait and see how that one goes. At least I’ve now shared them with the public so that maybe you all, my lovely readers, can call me out after, say, a year if I haven’t featured at least one of these jewels in another post!? Hopefully that won’t be necessary…

And now lastly, as a bonus (which maybe i’ll tack on to the end of every post from now on?!), here’s a crappy selfie I took after playing around with KvD’s MetalMatte palette (see my earlier post about it here) and Kiko liquid lipstick! Enjoy! xD 

(yes, i know my lips are wonky, no need to further point it out... xP)

-Philippa. x

PS.: again, another wordy post! is everyone okay with this?? because i find it very hard to restrain myself from writing essays unless explicitly told not to... =/

Reflections...~

Can we get a bit deep and serious and what-not for a sec? Yeah? Cool? Great, let's go then!

Around the time leading up to my birthday I took some time to reflect upon the life choices which brought me to where I am today, and while I'm not exactly in a terrible place, I do regret wasting so much time procrastinating and being, simply put, a bit of a quitter. Because many years ago, when I was younger and even smaller than I am today, I had a dream that I was desperate to one day come true: to be a singer. And it wasn't a small, fleeting dream either. It was what caused me to spend just about the entirety of my teenage years fully determined to become a musician, from participating in choirs for over 10 years to forming bands and writing music, and even studying Music Technology during my A-levels.

I was so sure that that was going to be my future, that one day a friend and former bandmate of mine decided we should 'practice' what it would be like when we finally made it and made our own 'Songs That Change My Life' features, just like the ones that we would read regularly in Kerrang! magazine. It's been about 11 years since we made those and I'm just about 100% sure that they're lost somewhere in a probably long-since-disposed-of computer, so rather than hope to find those again and laugh at how adorably cute and cringey we once were, I commissioned a friend of mine to help me make an updated version to remind me of what had once meant the entire world to me, as well as to show me that my dream does not have to take a backseat and fade away. That this could still be my future one day, if only I take a page out of 15-year-old me's book and once again work my hardest to make this my reality.

Click to zoom - I know the writing is tiny! And a HUGE thanks to Ama for pulling this off! Just... how cool does that look?? Ahhhh!

Phew! So this has been quite an emotional journey for me. It has taken me so long to put this together, not just due to the sheer meticulousness of my dear friend Ama who deserves all the credit in the world for pulling off this amazing, near-authentic looking feature, but also because when you're sharing something so personal, you want to make sure that it comes out just right, you know?

Thank you for visiting my blog, this post, and for reading this far (you are awesome!) and I hope this has maybe inspired you to reminisce a little about your own childhood dreams. Did you achieve them? Do you still have the same dreams? Let me know!

-Philippa. x

PS.: oh, and in case the earlier links didn't make it glaringly obvious, go check out ama's page! now! she's super amazing! and clearly magic! go, go, go!!

Behind the scenes, she's such a tease... (bloopers!)~

Like the title suggests, consider this a behind-the-scenes / teaser / blooper reel for an upcoming post.

So, today is my birthday (yay me! i'm old!) and to mark the occasion falling on a Sunday (what is supposed to be my usual upload day) I was going to make an extra special post, BUT, turns out I was a little ambitious and it's not quite ready yet, SO, instead, here are some blooper pics from the shoot!

What. In. The. Heck. Oh em gee sooo cringe! Why am I showing these on the internet?! xP

... and an actual behind-the-scenes pic in which you can barely see the make-up look I did for the shoot. Thanks, front camera.

Okay, so not really very telling, particularly interesting, or a lot to go by, but hey, I wanted to make a post on my birthday, so boom!, mission accomplished! And yes, there were a LOT more bloopers I could have posted, but... I'm already so embarrassed over these, I don't think I could handle the shame of showing any others, so yeah... you can just imagine how bad those were...

Until next week!! ^^

-Philippa. x

Often ill-prepared...~

Top - H&M

Jeans - Topshop

Jacket - Miss Selfridge

Scarf - Miss Selfridge (<--- my favourite scarf!)

Necklace - Lovisa

Beanie - Tally Weijl

Boots - ASOS

Photo credit - Ama Charles-Adarkwa

So... welcome to my first OOTD of 2018! Woo!

I attempted to start the year looking a little more put together than usual, and I'm sure I would have almost pulled it off, had it not been severely raining during the shoot, thus, resulting in a sort of I'm-nuts-and-awkward-as-hell me instead. However, no hate on the outfit at all, the downfall is all my terrible posing!

Now, for the most part, I'm not typically a jeans/trousers kinda person. In fact, come to think about it, I'm pretty sure this will be my first OOTD featuring jeans! Well, I do love my shorts... 

There is something to be said about a good pair of black skinny jeans, however, in the sense that they are very easy to dress up or down, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this post I was going for a more put together, almost mature look, which is sometimes a bit tricky with shorts.

Do expect the shorts to be back in my next OOTD though! xD

-Philippa. x

PS.: mind the soft photos, btw; as i said, it was raining, plus we were kind of on a tight schedule, PLUS ama was holding a lot of things (including the umbrella to protect my precious camera!) whilst trying to shoot me being stupid, so yeah... sorry, not sorry?!

Let's Talk... Must-Have Lip Balms!~

Can one ever have too many lip balms? You tell me...

For a few years now I have been on a relentless quest to find the best lip balms out there to slather all over my extremely pathetically weak and delicate lips, and I believe after much searching, much travelling, much research and much, much spending, I have finally found them!

So, with that said, rather than talk about the insaaane collection of lip balms I have accumulated over the years, I will instead only be talking about my essential, cannot possibly live without, must-have lip balms (plus a couple of honourable mentions!) and without further ado, here we go!

Rose & Co. Rose Petal Lip Salve - £3.99 - via Superdrug

The Body Shop Hemp Heavy Duty Lip Care - £4.50 - via The Body Shop

Nivea Hydro Care Lip Balm - £0.99 - via Superdrug

Let's talk about the Rose & Co. one first. This, I first discovered a few years ago when ASOS was carrying them and I bought it as one of those little things to push your basket total just enough for free shipping. As it says literally on the tin it is 'the celebrated beauty balm' and while I had never heard of it until that moment, I have never regretted the purchase and have been singing its praises to anyone and everyone ever since! Need a balm that soothes, protects, moisturises, stays put for ages AND smells good? This is your winner. And at £3.99 for 20g? Bargain!

Next, The Body Shop. When I saw the words 'Heavy Duty Lip Care', I knew I had to try it out as when my lips get bad, they get BAD. While not as prettily packaged or as pleasant to smell, it certainly works as advertised, having helped bring my lips back from the cusp of flaky, cracking doom many times. It's not as slippery as other moisturising lip balms, but it seeps straight into the skin and gets to business better than just about any other, so despite its high price point, I just can't say no!

Lastly, an oldy but a goody, Nivea Hydro Care. I've tried a few Nivea lip products over the years, but this has been the only one I have gone back to time and time again. It may not be the fanciest lip balm Nivea has to offer, but regardless of its simplicity it is the perfect light, moisturising lip balm I have tried. Doesn't hurt that it's only 99p either! 

Aaand now for our honourable mentions!

Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lip Therapy - £1.95 - via Superdrug / Boots

Nivea Raspberry Rosé Lip Butter - £1.50 - via Tesco

Of course, how could I make a lip balm list without mentioning Vaseline? Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of Vaseline, as there's something about the consistency I'm not too game with, but undeniably, the Cocoa Butter Lip Therapy in particular is a must-have, particularly for those of you who like a good, affordable lip balm that works. Plus, it works quite well in helping to remove stubborn lip products! My main gripe with this however, and the reason that this is only an honourable mention, is that the longevity in effectiveness isn't really there and after application it stays quite thick and slippery for too long (in my opinion). So yeah.

And to round it all off, another Nivea mention! With this, I've only had it for a little while, having purchased this just before Christmas, but so far I am LOVING what I am getting out of this little tin and while it might be a little too early to call it yet, it's feeling like this could become a must-have for me! And the smell? Oh my goodness, that alone was the reason I bought it, it's sooo yummy!

So there we have it! My first post of the year and damn, was it a wordy one! Hope this has been a helpful read and if anyone has any other suggestions of lip balms I just HAVE to try, give me a shout!

-Philippa. x

PS.: other honourable mentions not included in this post as i just could not bloody find them are chapstick medicated and a blistex one that i tried about 5 years ago, loved, lost and have never seen anywhere since. =(

PPS.: btw, yes, i do use / have used most of the lip balms in the first picture, minus the sealed ones obvs. i generally have at least one lip balm in every bag and jacket so that i can try out several at the same time to compare without too much bias.