Rachel Sarah XO

Hi guys!

So recently I've been really into coming home from work and sticking my 'Calm Things' playlist on, I've got to stop listening to it on the bus on the way home though, as I always find myself drifting off to sleep, oops. This post will consist of my top 5 songs I listen to when I want to be chilled out and relaxed.

Let's go!

1. Andreas by Seahaven.

To be totally honest, this whole album by Seahaven is my favourite to listen to when I want to relax, but this is my favourite from the album.

2. Evelyn by Gregory Alan Isakov.

Just listen to that voice...

3. Santa Monica by The Front Bottoms.

Possibly the most upbeat song on this list.

4. Stuck On The Puzzle by Alex Turner.

Alex Turner is easily one of my favourite songwriters so he was going to be on this list in some way or another.

5. Hold Back The River by James Bay.

I don't think this needs a description, just listen to it, goddamnit.

A lot of these songs are actually quite sad, so this could also be a sad songs post (I can think of much sadder songs though, hahah) 

I hope I've introduced you to some music that you might not have heard before and I hope they make you as relaxed and sleepy as they do to me.

What do you do to relax?

That's all for now,

Rachel. xo

Hi guys!
It's been well over a year since I last did a post like this so I thought why not write another one as my makeup collection has definitely changed a fair bit.

This is my rather fabulous make up bag, it's covered in scenes from The Little Mermaid (which is my favourite movie ever)

It was £2/£2,50 (amazing, right?) from Primark and it was also available in a pouch type makeup bag.

It fits quite a lot in it and fits very nicely in your bag as it's in a pencil case shape and it's quite slim.

We'll start with the base and lip products. So I recently bought YSL's Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation and it's absolutely lovely, it gives a lovely dewy finish and it comes in lots of shades. I'm in the second lightest shade B10. It retails for £30.50 and can be bought here.

I've also been loving the Stila One Step Correct primer, it really does even out your skin tone and it's very hydrating. This primer contains three different shades, peach, green and lavender, when mixed together on the face, it helps any problem areas you may have (redness, dark circles, sallowness)
It really helps to make my makeup go on smoothly and it also helps my foundation last a lot longer. RRP: £24 and can be bought here.

Lips! So obviously I have my two all time favourite lipsticks. Diva and Rebel by MAC. I love a dark lip so these are essential and I always chuck them in my bag before I leave the house. I wear one of these almost everyday. They both retail for £15.50 and can be bought here.

So obviously, my favourite blush of all time is Rose Gold by Sleek Cosmetics (it's also a pretty close dupe for Nars' Orgasm blush) - I really love this blush because although it's very shimmery and obviously has gold tones running through it, I like that it's still very pink. Pink blushes are the only ones that suit my skin tone. It retails for £4.49 and can be bought here.

I've been liking this eyebrow kit by Sleek also, it's in the black shade as my hair's black (soon to be red, ooooh) I've been using the black cream side more than the powder, the cream is really pigmented, I've noticed it does smudge quite easily so I've started setting it with the black powder. It retails for £8.49 and can be bought here.

Another blush I really love 'Marshmallow' by MUA. I really love this shade, the only thing that bother me is it's quite chalky and it's very very pigmented so you need to have a light hand when using it or else you could end up looking like Coco the Clown. It retails for £1 and can be bought here.

My favourite bronzer of all time is the honey bronzer by The Body Shop in shade '2 Fair Matte', it's the perfect bronzer for pale skinned people like myself. It's a nice light brown colour and it doesn't make you look like a Dorito, which is always a good thing. It blends nicely and it's not too heavily pigmented so you don't end up with big brown lines on your face. It retails for £13 and can be bought from here.

You might be wondering, why must I need two concealers in very similar shades in my makeup bag? Well, one of them is to conceal blemishes and the other is to highlight under my eyes. Seventeen's Stay Time concealer is easily my favourite concealer ever. I really dislike Collection's Lasting Perfection concealer, I find it really drying under my eyes and it flakes like crazy. The Stay Time concealer is very creamy and dewy and reminds me a lot of the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, the good thing about this is that it dries to a dewy finish, which is always gooood. It retails for £4.49 and can be bought here.

One of my favourite highlighters is the Chanel Pearly Banner Iridescent Powder for Eyes and Cheeks, unfortunately it's discontinued now and was from the London Madness collection. It is very glittery, so you have to be sparing with it or else you'll end up looking like a glitter ball. It is a really lovely highlighter though.

My favourite mascara at the moment is the Perversion mascara by Urban Decay, I bought it in a set with a travel size version of the Subversion lash primer and it was such a good deal. The wand is really big and thick and isn't one of these horrible overly plasticky wands, it really lengthens and thickens your lashes. Although I do think that the Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara is an almost exact dupe for this, so once this is finished I'll probably just go back to my trusty old Thick & Fast mascara. It retails for £18 and it can be bought here.

Obviously, where would we all be without our trusty Real Techniques brushes? I'm not going to go into too much details as we all know how great they are. I use the Expert Face Brush for buffing in foundation and concealer and the contour brush, for well, contouring? The contour brush is part of the core collection which retails for £15.99 and can be bought here and the Expert Face Brush can be bought separately from here.

And last but not least, a rather lovely Shea Butter hand cream by L'Occitane. I own far too many L'Occitane hands creams, I own about 6 now, this one isn't my favourite but it is the most hydrating as it's made for people with very dry skin so it's perfect. My favourite L'Occitane hand cream is the Lime Zest one and it smells so lovely and feels so lovely, I just love it. This retails for £8 and can be bought from here.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been keeping in my make up bag lately.

Let me know what your favourite go-to makeup items are.

That's all for now,

Rachel. xo