The Daily Face: Cruelty Free Edition

Happy Tuesday darlings! It's been a wee bit longer than I'd hoped since my last blog post, but island life up in Shetland is treating me well and we are halfway through the shoot now. Only 10 more days and I'll be reunited with my furbabies and Pete. The anxiety has been rearing its ugly head a tad more than usual, but I'm lucky to be surrounded by a great team on this job who have been looking out for me and we've been having a really nice time together. Exploring all over Shetland (it is insanely beautiful, with scenery and white beaches to take your breath away) along with eating/drinking our body weight in seafood and Shetland Reel Gin. We've got this weekend off, so I'm hoping to take a wildlife boat trip on Saturday to spy a closer look at Puffins, Seals and Otters, and then Sunday I've got another horse riding trek booked. You can follow my adventures over on Instagram (click here) and I'm thinking of doing a travel post about Shetland once I'm home. It really is an absolutely stunning place! Anyways, it recently dawned on me that although I mention cruelty free makeup all the time on here, I've never done a full 'daily face' type post. So, here's a rundown of my absolute favourite cruelty free brands which I use on my face every single day.

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Cruelty free brands for gifting this Christmas

Since April this year I decided to make the switch to going completely cruelty free with my skincare, makeup and hair care products. It's been a really interesting process and I'm still learning something new every single day about animal testing and the different regulations (and often loopholes) which various companies adhere to. I'll only be doing one gift guide this year,  so I thought it would be apt to do a little round up of some of my favourite cruelty free brands which are all perfect for gifting your loved ones (or hey, yourself!) this Christmas and beyond.

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My eyebrow tattoo experience

Hats off to all my fellow millenials out there who spent most of their teenage years over plucking eyebrows within an inch of their life. It was the done thing, so many of us did it and now live to regret the aftermath 10 years later while feeling bushy in all the wrong places when it comes to the eyebrow department. Hells yeah I can grow little caterpillar brows! They grow down the way, and out the way, and slap bang in the middle... but never enough to merit a good, long shape. Just an interrupted monobrow of sorts. Alas, earlier this year I finally bit the bullet and decided to invest in a tattooed pair of brows. I say invest, because the money I would spend getting them tinted and waxed and buying products to fill them in would probably equate to the same amount of money over the same amount of time. However, I know it's a slightly bigger commitment than your average HD brow appointment, which is why I thought I'd share my experience so far.

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I got that red lip classic thing that you like

It's funny how after 7+ years I still never quite know how to start off a blog post without feeling slightly awkward, so I'll just begin by going HEYYY there! Again, I meant to be back into a posting routine sooner but I'm still feeling in a bit of a funk. My motivation levels are all over the place and often being sooked dry by work, but that's the constant battle I face trying to get the balance just right. I tend to get pangs of motivation at the most unlikely times (like yeah let's totally clear out and rearrange the contents of my makeup drawer at midnight because why not?!) rather than when I know I need to get shit done. So it's Sunday night, I'm feeling pretty rested from lots of sleep this weekend, and have decided to treat myself to a bubble bath once I hit publish on this blog post. BYE THEN, THE END. Just kidding, I have some lovely pictures I'd like to share with you from last weekend at wedding number four of 2016.

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Where you been, boo?

Oh hey you guuuuys. I took a little break from blogging for the last couple of weeks, mainly because I was mad busy and really wanted to focus on getting things wrapped up at work and a few other bits and bobs which have been happening. Thought I'd give you a run down on whats been going on recently, and what my plans are for the next little while now I'm finished up on my latest BBC job 'The Replacement' (which is hands down one of the most exciting scripts I've ever worked on, if you like thrillers then you are gonna love it. Along with Vicky McClure, she is one crazy talented actress)

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The Scottish Blogger Shop - Save The Date!

I'm super excited to announce that at in a couple of weeks time, myself and eight other Scottish Bloggers will be holding the first ever Scottish Blogger Shop! If you love a bargain and fancy shopping some of our wardrobes (or just wanna come hang and say hello) then on Sunday 21st August you can come down to Hillhead Book Club and do just that.

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The long lasting makeup must haves

Another weekend, another wedding! Tis the season and all that though, eh? Pete and I spent last Friday to Sunday at Carberry Tower out in the countryside near Mussleburgh to celebrate his cousin Louise's wedding. This time rather than getting super emotional blog post wise (sorry not sorry for that last one) I thought I'd try to be semi useful and share some tips for long lasting makeup, for a long day such as a wedding. My pores are feeling really clogged at the moment, just with months of working like mad and sort of (to be honest, COMPLETELY) neglecting my usual skincare regime. You can see it pretty badly on my nose in this picture, but I know it's down to my skin at the moment rather than the makeup I'm using. It gave me a kick up the backside after seeing this photo (my new Canon M3 is lovely but rather unforgiving) so I started a new skincare routine last Monday which I shall share on here soon. Pore-y noses aside, here are my long lasting makeup must haves.

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My Best Friend's Wedding

“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life. ” — Richard Bach

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My Summer Essentials

On the 11th of June I turned 27 (yikes!) and every year it feels like my birthday properly marks the start of summer. Even if the weather doesn't quite match up to it (I'm looking at you, Glasgow) This time of year is always really busy for me work wise, as the longer days are always used to their full advantage by film & tv crews. This current BBC job has been super busy, we started filming on Monday and surprisingly I've had quite a nice spring in my step all week. It's probably a lot down to my medication kicking in right about now (Thanks for all the nice messages after that last post ♥) but also to do with the extended daylight! It gives me such a good buzz and I feel like I get a lot out of my week. I've felt inspired to kick start my self care regime again properly, refresh my routine, and spring clean (in summer!) my clothes, makeup, and pretty much every nook and cranny of my house. Anyways, whether this summer ends up being filled with rain or not, my brain is in a much better place now so I really don't mind. Here are my top summer essentials while the season is upon us.

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Pastel Dreams and Braids 4EVA

I remember the first time when I was little and my Mum styled my hair into what can only be described as a pineapple pony tail (half up, half down, with the pony swinging about like nobody's business) and I made her put my hair like that every day for the whole summer. This is pretty much how I felt at my recent visit to Paddy for a colour refresh. I'm obsessed with anything Opal at the moment, and my new colour definitely fits the bill. Business in the front, braid party in the back!

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Coffee is always a good idea

A few weeks ago I took a little day trip through to Edinburgh with a handful of other Scottish Bloggers, for a coffee themed event with Curry's! My day actually began with a trip to see the fantastic Dale at Pixie Hair and Beauty for some brow tlc and makeup, but more on that later. You all know how much I love coffee (and my lil' death before decaf tattoo tribute) so I was super intrigued to try some Nespresso infused dishes. Coffee flavoured coffee, yes. Coffee flavoured food? Let's see how this goes...

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February Favourites

February already, say whaaaaat?! I can't get over how quickly the weeks are flying in, especially since I've just started a new telly job and each day feels like it's over in the blink of an eye. Which is good, because it's super busy! But it means that the weekends also pass by a little too quickly. At the weekend just there we celebrated mine and Pete's anniversary with cocktails and dinner at a local tapas restaurant which was DELICIOUS. We caught up on lots of sleep, I spent saturday afternoon at Cafe Strange Brew with Lori, Lynsay and her lovely pals for a Galentine's gathering, worked on my new blog layout (what d'ya think?) had pizza for dinner on sunday, and watched a few movies (Oh, and started on the new X-Files, holy smokes it's good!)  This has been a pretty great month so far, even though we're only half way through. So I thought I'd share a selection of my February favourites!

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Make me up! I get by with a little help from the internet...

Jeez guys, I need to be honest. I literally have no idea what I'm doing these days when it comes to makeup! I love all of the products which I use, but I feel like I'm on autopilot when it comes to their actual application. I decided to film a video for the first time in aaaages, chatting about makeup and using some tutorials to see if I could mix up my routine a bit and improve my technique. It's a long one - sorry about that! It should only really last 10 minutes but I spend the last 5 addressing a little something which has made me feel a bit deflated this week. High five in advance if you manage to watch the whole thing! After making this one I definitely know what I would do differently next time, I'm extremely inexperienced when it comes to vlogging - I take my hats off to all of you who do it on a regular basis! You must have the patience of saints. Any suggestions or feedback would be much appreciated ^_^ Thinking of doing this once a month if there's anything in particular you'd like me to chat about?

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Winter Skin - From prep to party!

2015 has been the year of skincare obsession for me. After my skin took a turn for the worst (pretty much out of the blue) back in the spring, it has been a long and frustrating struggle to work out why it happened, and how to maintain the progress I have made so far. I last blogged about my skin back in September, so I thought I'd give you another update a few months on, and share what products I have been using.

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The most wonderful time of the year

I'm sorry about the post title, you're thinking Christmas - right? Not quite yet. But it is gonna be upon us very soon so I hope all the Bah Humbugs out there can stop resisting it angrily and just LET IT GOOO. (See what I did there? Frozen, Christmas... again, sorry!) Anyways, before I fully embrace the festive period into my warm bosom, this time of year has another reason to be wonderful. A week ago today, I got to watch one of my blogging besties get married.

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Put on your war paint - The Selfie Generation

I feel quite baffled at the contradicting advice constantly given to women.

The way we dress evokes "What a plain jane, she's so boring, I'd love to give her a makeover" to "Look at her wild dress sense. You call that fashion? What an attention seeker!"

Our choice to wear makeup goes from "Oh you look very pale today, are you tired? Are you feeling unwell?" to "You wear far too much makeup! Don't slap it on - embrace your natural beauty"

The expectation for us to have children starts with "Oh, you had a baby in your teens? That's very young..." to "SO, when will you two start trying for a baby?! You don't want kids? Why not?"

Talk of marriage is often met with "Oh don't rush into settling down, you've got plenty of time!" to "When will you two finally tie the knot? Hasn't he put a ring on it yet?"

Sex shaming is probably the biggest contradiction of them all "Oh you were still a virgin in your twenties? You're a late bloomer aren't you!" to "She has slept with HOW MANY guys/girls? What a SLUT"

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A mid-twenties skin crisis

"I've always been quite lucky when it comes to my skin" - are the words that I shall never utter again, EVER! As the last 4 months I've had a bloody tough time of it skin wise. Much worse than all of my teenage years combined. When I say I was lucky, I'd get the odd spot here and there, blackheads in the usual areas, but nothing that makeup couldn't cover or a few days of some skincare tlc wouldn't clear up. It all began the day we started filming on that last BBC job I worked on (note, this links to the very end of the post/story so keep that in mind) I came home from work, took my beanie hat off and noticed that my forehead was covered in lots of tiny bumps under the skin. They weren't sore or red, which you'd think would be okay with the addition of makeup... but that actually didn't help at all, as every little bump scattered across my forehead was still so clearly visible underneath. In certain lighting it looked absolutely awful.

I had no idea where this strange outbreak had came from, but I jumped straight in to finding a way to control/get rid of it. At first I wondered if it was my hat or hair that had been irritating my skin, so I went weeks without both and tried to pin my fringe out of the way when possible. I'm not a vain person (even if my instagram selfies beg to differ) and I would happily leave the house most days with no makeup on. But these spots really started to upset me and dent my confidence after a few weeks of absolutely no improvement whatsoever. The strangest thing of all was that they were just on my forehead, and the rest of my skin was still completely clear.

My skin under minimal face makeup 6 weeks ago

My skin under minimal face makeup now

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Getting Naked (finally)

I'm pretty bad for missing out on the hype as soon as they happen. Fancy fashion collaborations, makeup launches, TV shows - you name it! My finger tends to only be on the pulse for the few things I quite like to geek out over, and there's only a handful of events in recent years which I can say I've got myself worked up about or in the queue for early (most notably... Adventure Time X Dr Martens, Katy Perry tour tickets, and new episodes of The Walking Dead) While I am absolutely rubbish at staying 'down with the kids' (I apologise immediately for saying that) I recently got my hands on a product from a few years back that is definitely worth the hype. A classic makeup staple, if you will!

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Somewhere in between

It's got to that point in the year for me where I am craving an image refresh in time for Summer. I have been so busy on this 5 month TV gig that I've not really had the chance to look after myself much. My skin has broken out and won't seem to clear up, my hair majorly needs done, and my mind and body are desperate for a holiday! Did I mention my nails are a mess too, and I've put back on all the weight I lost last year? Yeah... this girl needs to get her shit together - putting it politely!

The skin breakout only seems to be on my forehead, and a shame I don't have a fringe to cover it with anymore! I have been using the new Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue recently as to not irritate my face any further. Most days I try to not wear any makeup at all, but when I do I use this as it's light and hydrating with a nice coverage. Definitely perfect for summer! You can still see my blemishes through it but I'm not so fussed as I don't want to overload my skin, even though you can build this up in gradual layers quite nicely for a heavier coverage. Any ideas or nice products you could suggest in zapping these and getting my clear skin back again? I would prefer one angry spot over a rash situation like this. It just doesn't seem to be budging! Most mornings before work I have been favoring an extra 20 mins in bed over a face full of makeup, but when I can be bothered it usually consists of this quick and easy magic 10:

BareMinerals Complexion Rescue in Vanilla 02
Soap & Glory The Fab Pore Moisture Lotion
Estee Lauder Double Wear Mineral Rich Powder in 2.0
Mac eyeshadow quad containing Prized, Burmese Beauty, Skintone 2, Showstopper.
Mac Lip Pencil in Boldly Bare
BareMinerals Stroke Of Light
BareMinerals Lash Domination in Intense Black
Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel in Glimpse
Mac Lipstickin Bare Again
Clinique blusher in Bashful Plum

I am wearing everything above in the first photo. Special mention to the Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel. I finally bought it the other week and it is such a nice product. Goes on really smoothly and easily, is long lasting, and if it doesn't start to dry up in the jar after a couple of months (which every similar product I've bought in the past has done) then it will receive a strong 10/10 from me!

Now onto my hair. As most of you might know, I had blonde, pink and then blue hair last year. I have given my locks an absolute beating so decided it was time for a break. I went dark brown over the blue as it turned out to be the only safe way to get rid of it, and now you can see how much my natural colour has came in since I used that brown dye.

I have been using these absolute saviors from Bumble and Bumble to prep my hair for it's next dye session after the break I've had. The Creme De Coco Shampoo and Conditioner make my hair feel so clean and moisturised, not to mention they smell absolutely amazing (do you like pina coladas?!) I've only been using these for a couple of weeks, but a little bit goes quite far and it lathers up rather nicely (I am quite a naughty person who washes my hair every day) I am keeping my natural colour as a base for the direction I want to go in, and since taking the photos for this post my Mum had a go at lightening up the ends of my hair at the weekend. It went pretty well and lifted a lot better than what she thought it would! With my hair still being in good condition thankfully. I'll share photos of my new colour soon, I'll probably need one or two more visits to get the result I am looking for. In the meantime I'll keep on using this shampoo and conditioner combo to hopefully maintain healthy hair while I get back on the hair dye wagon.

Apart from work being stressful, and me looking like I have rolled out of a hedge into work every day, life is actually pretty good. I finally changed my room around after showing you the first photos a few posts back! My dust sheet curtain is no longer, and I picked up this teal coloured set from Tesco. I had been eyeing up all the beautiful fabrics from Hillarys Blinds after I was invited to their Craft Roadshow a while ago, but hopefully I can update little aspects of my house when I have more time and money. My boyfriend has just moved in with me too, so we are in the process of having a massive spring clean and shuffling the contents of cupboards and rooms about. I finish this job mid July so we have been looking into a couple of weeks in the sun to celebrate. My ideal location would be somewhere tropical like the Caribbean (hello Barbados!) Majorly jealous over Rosie's amazing honeymoon in Bali right now. My Uncle has just moved to Singapore too, so we were talking about a big holiday like that for next year. I think in August we will end up in the Algarve at my Aunty's flat in Alvor. I can't think of anything better right now than lying on the beach with a good book, swimming in the sea, eating fresh seafood and not having to worry about anything else.

The weeks and weekends are flying in so quickly at the moment, which is great as I only have 3 months left on this job, but also quite scary as I feel like life is flashing before my eyes. I definitely need to factor in some more 'me' time, and look after my body and mind a little better as I have been quite complacent lately. Sticking in at the gym, more sleep, eating well and switching off from 'work mode' when I am spending quality time with friends and family are at the top of my priority list at the moment. I am a happy little lady, I just wish there were more hours in the day to achieve everything I want to do. Or a Bernard's Watch, for those who remember the show? That would do rather nicely right about now.

The Daily Face

Hello Sunday, my old friend. It feels like this time of the week comes around far too quickly. It's good during the week for the days to fly in when I'm working 8am-7pm, but when the weekend goes in just as quick I feel a bit sad come Sunday night! But hey ho, I'm chilling on the couch while Pete plays Fifa, dinner is in the oven and once we've rearranged the bedroom I shall have a bath before we settle down for the night. That's what lazy Sundays should be about after all. That and the 'I don't want to go to School tomorrowww' phase which normally kicks in around 9pm...

This is my standard weekend 'running errands' face. I tend to not wear too much makeup to work during the week, and normally tie my hair up so it's nice to take a bit of time to get ready come Saturday. You can see my natural hair colour is coming in thick and fast, which I'm trying to embrace! I'd love to have a lighter set of locks come summer. But going dark over winter was the only way to get rid of my blue hair (which I now miss dearly!)

I got a lovely new pair of Glasses from the new London Retro collection, Retrospective. I've always been one for the square shaped 'geeky' glasses, but I'd been looking to try some more vintage style frames as a wee treat for starting my new job. I ordered my top 4 choices and did the Glasses Direct home trial, which is totally free and means you get to try before you buy. I think it's a great idea for people wanting to buy glasses online and solves the problem of not getting to try them on like you would in the shop. I'm glad I did the home trial because the frames which were my first choice actually didn't suit my face shape at all. I ended up going for the 'Presley' frame.

I love a bit of extra time in bed in the mornings, so it's a quick makeup face for me which literally just consists of mascara, a tiny bit of brown eyeshadow on my brows, the Urban Decay Ultra Definition Powder Foundation and Naked Concealer. I normally always wear liquid foundation with a powder on the top, so a pressed powder foundation is a bit different for me! But this new one from Urban Decay plus the concealer (around my eyes, cheeks and chin) has a fantastic coverage that still feels light to wear. It's quite matte too which is great as I don't have time to top up my makeup during the day, and normally start to go a bit oily across my t-zone come lunch time. In the first photo I am wearing the medium light neutral shade in both, but I think next time I will go for the fair neutral as I don't wear fake tan as much these days. The medium light is probably as dark as I would ever get away with! The foundation comes in 14 different shades and the concealer comes in 8. The only other Urban Decay products I had tried before this was their eyeshadows, but they are standing pretty strong with their Face game now too. I'm intrigued to try their prep spray, primer and setting spray next as I've heard very good things.

Apart from running errands and doing lots of life admin the last couple of weekends, I've also managed to squeeze in a couple of new tattoos! The top one is by Darryl Mullen at Irezumi in Glasgow, and the second one was done by Keely Rutherford at the Scottish Tattoo Convention through in Edinburgh yesterday. She's based in London so I was chuffed to get a space with her while she was up here. I was thinking of doing a tattoo post soon, as I 'wear' them on my body every single day, just like my glasses and a bit of makeup... but they are a slightly more permanent commitment mind you ;) Hope you are having a lovely Sunday whatever you are upto ♥