Beauty for a Camping Trip

Okay, so I promise that this is absolutely my last post about Silverstone! However, how can any beauty blogger spend four nights without access to their stash without taking a little peek at what beauties accompanied them?

So, for my base I wanted long lasting and a little bit of extra SPF. I used my old faithful Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer in Ivory for dark circles and blemishes, and the Rimmel Matte BB Cream SPF15 as my base in the shade Very Light. I actually tried out Light originally, but I came out severely orange so back I went and picked up Very Light instead. In retrospect, I should have taken something with a bit of a sheerer finish. It was super warm for most of the time, and with the formula being quite matte, I found that it sort of melted off of my face. Not a good look. I also took my Bourjois Healthy Balance powder to set my makeup with.

To add a bit of colour and shape to my face, I took the No7 Instant Radiance Highlighter and my Tarte blush in Natural Beauty. Both quick, easy and a bit failsafe really. When you are putting on makeup in a cramped tent using a small compact mirror, ease of application and lack of mess is key.

For my eyes, ease and staying power were the name of the game. I took my L'Oreal Superliner Perfect Slim and my Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Waterproof mascara. Again, I didn't want to be fiddling around with complicated or messy products and I wanted it to stay on for as long as possible. I also took my Benefit Browzings pallet in Light as it is compact and very easy to use, and I find that it also has really good staying power.

For lips, I wanted a day option and an evening option, both of which needed to be easy to apply and not require lots of maintenance. For my both options I went with the Bourjois Colour Boost crayons, for daytime I chose Peach on the Beach, and for the evening I took Red Sunrise, which I'm ashamed to say I didn't even consider using once! Simplicity is clearly my preference for camping beauty!

What would you take for a camping trip?

Jen x

Formula 1 Weekend, an Update and a Spending Ban!

Sunset at Silverstone Woodlands

Stalking the Force India drivers during the pit walk

View from Luffield

View from Club Corner

Watching them set up the start of the race!

Hello! So I'm finally back after some time off where I went to the British Grand Prix in Silverstone and sat my final exams (fingers crossed waiting for the results please).

I thought my first post back would just be a mini-update type post. I had a fantastic time away with my friend Rachael, we were camping from the Wednesday through to the Sunday night, we had planned to stay until the Monday but we really needed a soft seat after four nights in a field!

There were so many events on this year as it was the 50th Grand Prix held at Silverstone, for the first time ever there was a pit walk on the Thursday, so we spent some time trying (and failing) to meet some of the drivers and then went to the Sky recording for the F1 show in the evening. Friday was full of practice sessions, and even though our seats in Club Corner were reserved for the full weekend, lots of grandstands are freely open on the Friday, so we took a walk around to Luffield for a different view. Saturday held the only bad weather of the weekend, so my new wellies were definitely a good investment! Made for a very interesting Qualifying and GP2 feature race in the wet though, and Club Corner is a covered grandstand, so we were protected from the worst of it. Sunday dawned and we went down early to watch the GP2 sprint race and the main event, the 2014 Formula One British Grand Prix.

All in all we had a fantastic weekend. We utterly failed in all attempts to meet drivers and teams but hey ho! It makes for some good memories and we can always try again next year.

So, for my own updates, you may notice that Curls & Collages has had a little makeover, nothing huge but I just wanted to make it look at bit cleaner. What do you think of the new layout? Feedback would be very useful! Also I went down to Cambridge for hopefully the last of my exams, it's exciting to think that I might be qualified by the end of the month!

I'm also putting myself on a spending ban. The time has come for me to stop absolutely haemorrhaging money each month. July ended on a much welcomed status-quo, I didn't manage to increase my (meagre) savings, but I didn't decrease them either. August's challenge is to build on that and actually save some money. I've got a few birthdays coming up, plus Christmas, so saving money really needs to be a priority over these new few months.

Well, thats me all up to date, how was your July?

Jen x

Makeup Revolution Haul

L-R: Pink Lights, Golden Lights, Peach Lights

L-R: All I Think About Is You, Hot!, Sugar

L-R: Beloved, Sweetheart, Mystify

Sooooo... Yeah... About that posting three times a week thing..... Sorry about the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks, you'll (hopefully) be please to hear that my home move and workload issues are nearly over, and this week will be back to normal posting frequency. Yay!

I usually hold out on new the new releases that everyone HAS to try, I've been trying to be quite frugal recently and not make any impulse purchases. Then all of the Makeup Revolution haul posts started appearing and it was on 3 for 2 in Superdrug and then bad things happened..... I tried to be a little restrained though, so I picked three categories to try some products from and made the most of the offer.

First up, the Vivid Baked Highlighters. I've never tried a powder highlighter before, and the 3 for 2 made the decision pretty easy for me, so I got all three! They come in Peach Lights, Pink Lights and Golden Lights, They all look very pretty in the pan, I'm yet to try them on my skin so watch out for a swatch post coming soon.

Next, and you guys know me by now, I can never resist blusher. I went for a mix of the Baked Blusher in All I think About Is You and the Powder Blusher in Hot! and Sugar. Again, none of these have been tried on my skin yet (how retrained to take photos before I used any of them) so I will be doing a swatch post soon.

Finally, I wanted to try a few of the Amazing Lipstick range, I mean at £1 each. why not? I picked up Sweetheart, Beloved and Mystify and once again I will be doing a swatch post on these very soon.

Have you picked up anything from Makeup Revolution yet?

Jen x

Spotlight #1: White Foundation

Now don't panic, I've not gone all Addams Family on you, but I have been loving using a bright white foundation recently. Enter the Makeup Revolution One Foundation in Shade 1.

Now, I think all of us will have had the same problem at one time or another, a foundation that looks like a normal shade but comes out so much darker on your skin, Happy Light I'm looking at you.... Now, all of my (embarrassingly large amount of) too-dark foundations can be worn again by mixing them with a few drops of this beauty. It has a slightly matte finish, but mixes well with all formulations and I haven't noticed any adverse effect on lasting time. For £4.00, this stuff is really worth it for finally getting some use out of products that I've just had sitting in a drawer for ages. Money well spent.

Have you got any makeup hacks to rescue unused products?

Jen x

Essentials for Camping

Did I mention that I'm away camping for the British Grand Prix? Only about a hundred times, right?

So today I'm taking a look at the essentials I'm taking to get me through a week in a field. Now I'm quite lucky because Woodlands is an amazing campsite with great, clean shower facilities. However you only get five minutes of hot water each day so it has to be a really simple routine to keep time to  a minimum. Shower time will consist of slathering my hair with conditioner and a quick body wash before the water turns cold, and I'll just use a little bit of leave-in conditioner to style. It's a campsite so hopefully no-one will be that bothered if I end up looking like Cousin It for a few days!

For washing my face I'm going to pick up a travel-size face wash, and I'm also taking some Micellar Water and some baby wipes so that I'm covered for each washing possibility. I'm taking a small moisturiser sample as well as my SPF eye cream and 50+ facial SPF. Can't be too careful spending the whole day outside, if I'm lucky it might even be sunny. Continuing on with the SPF theme, I also have a separate sun cream for my body as well as an aftersun that can double as body lotion.

I've thrown a couple of miscellaneous items in as well, obviously I'm going to need a strong deodorant for the long days, plus eye drops because I use them everyday anyway, and being in a field during hayfever season without them does not sound like fun to me! I've also packed my SPF lip balm to ward off burnt lips, and a handy travel-sized toothpaste sample from a beauty box ages ago rounds the bag off. Speaking of the bag, I picked this beauty up for £4 from Primark! It has three waterproof compartments and a hook for hanging on the back of the shower door, perfect! I do hope I haven't forgotten anything!

What would you take camping with you?

Jen x