Schoolbag Essentials

I love to have an organised schoolbag and I love having everything I could possibly need in it, so I thought I would share what my personal 'essentials' for my schoolbag are. 

The first thing I always carry is a powder. The powder I have been carrying recently is my Seventeen Miracle Matte powder. I have super oily skin and I haven't found a powder that will actually keep me matte all day so I have to take this to school with me to top up my skin.

This powder mattifies me for around 3-4 hours but not much longer so I usually re-powder at lunchtimes so by the time I get on the bus home, I'm not  looking like a complete greaseball.

Along with my powder I like to take a powder brush. This powder does come with a powdr puff but I personally hate powder puffs and prefer using brushes. This little brush was just £1 from Primark but it does the job nicely.

As you can see, in comparison to my hands (which are quite tiny) it is very small but it's perfect for throwing in my schoolbag.

Another makeup item I always have floating around in my bag is a lipgloss. The one that I most frequently have is my Model Co. Lipgloss in Strip Tease.

 This isn't my most favourite formula and colour of lip gloss that I own but it's the handiest as it has a little mirror on the side which is fab for them cheeky little top ups in the back of English;) (we've all done it). I usually put a bright lip colour on in the mornings but if I forget, I always have something to add a bit of an 'oomph' to my lips in my bag. I very rarely remember to use this though haha.

This lip gloss is barely visible on my hand but on the lips its a nudey, pinkey, sparkly colour. This formula is quite sticky, even though it claims not to be, but I do quite like it. I did get this free in a magazine a few months back so I'm not going to complain too much;)

The final makeup product I always have in my bag somewhere is a mascara. The one I usually have is my Maybelline the Falsies (an old tube) as when I've had PE I find my lashes droop a bit so I like to plump them up again with some mascara.

I prefer the original falsies to this version but I do still really like it. 

The next thing I always have in my schoolbag is a mini perfume sample. I have heaps of perfume samples and they're so handy for just throwing in your bag in case you're in need of a freshen up/fragrance boost. These are also life savers if you've by any chance forgotten to spritz on your favourite perfume before leaving the house. The one I'm currently trying to use up is DKNY's Be Delicious Intense perfume. I like this perfume as it's very fruity but I usually only use it if I've forgotten to put on my favourite perfume of all time, Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Enchanted. 

Keeping in the theme of 'scents', if I have PE, I like to throw in a body spray and a deodorant as I find body sprays refreshing as well as very nicely scented.

This is one of my many body sprays (I'm trying to use them all up) that I have and it's the current one I'm using. I'm terrible at describing scents but this one is quite feminine and floral. My favourite scent from the Charlie range is 'Pink' but when I went to pick it up last time I was in Boots they never had it so I picked up this one.

The deodorant I take to school is Palmolive's Soft and Gentle deodorant. Most people like to take spray deodorants to school but I'm not a fan of spray deodorants, I find that they always spray in the wrong direction and into your face etc, so I prefer to use roll on. I have used this deodorant for around 2 years and I just love it. It keeps me fresh all day (but I top up after PE because I hate feeling sweaty) and smells fab.

The last few things I always carry are, in my eyes, what everyone should carry in their schoolbags.

I always carry kirby grips/bobby pins/whatever you call them with me, you never know when you might need one;) 

I also carry bobbles/hair ties all the time. We have to tie our hair up in Chemistry and PE so it's always handy to have my own instead of borrowing off someone else.

Headphones are another permanent guest in my bag. These are the JVC Gummy headphones and they are the only headphones I've ever tried that stay in my ears comfortably. They also look cute too and they're great for just shoving in when doing revision etc as they block out sound.

I'm a clean freak. Anyone who knows me well know's that I always have my hand sanitiser with me. It's sooo handy for using just before eating as schools are jam packed with germs and they are not the cleanest. It's also fab for if you touch underneath a desk and accidentally touch some chewing gum (ewwww). 

And that is everything. I hope anyone who goes to school found this helpful and might take some ideas from this post and even if you don't go to school, that maybe you've got some ideas for handbag essentials.

October Favourites

So we've reached the end of October (whatttt?!) and it's time for me to share my favourite things of this month with you all. And without further ado, lets get started!

I'm going to start off with makeup, and the first product I've been really liking this month is my Seventeen Miracle Matte Pressed Powder. 

I mentioned in my 'My Daily Makeup' post that I was looking for another pressed powder that actually keeps me matte all day as I was disappointed with my Rimmel Stay Matte powder and someone tweeted me saying that this powder was their holy grail powder, so I went out and bought it.

Now this powder is better than the Rimmel Stay Matte, but it's still not amazing. I find that I get 1-2 more hours of shine control when I use this but for me it's still not enough. The reason this is in my favourites is that despite it not keeping me matte all day, I have actually really enjoyed using it, as it is way better than the Rimmel Stay Matte, and I love the packaging. 

I have this powder in the shade 'Ivory Porcelain' which I believe is the lightest shade. I don't really know why this isn't marketed as 'Translucent' because it leaves no colour on the skin and you wouldn't even know I had it on.

I love the packaging on this powder, it's really handy for taking to school as I don't need to take a separate mirror for touch ups. This powder also comes with a powder puff but I prefer applying it with a brush as the powder puff uses too much product. This isn't my holy grail powder but I have been really enjoying using it this month. I would recommend this powder to anyone who has oily-ish (not super oily, like mine), normal or combination skin. If anyone has any suggestions on mattifying powders that will keep me matte ALL DAY, and I mean all day, then please leave a comment as I am still on the search for one.

The next makeup item I have been loving is my Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'. I actually only purchased this towards the end of the month but I love it so much that I just couldn't leave it out of my favourites/wait until my November Favourites.

I have absolutely no idea why I never tried this sooner. It's incredible! It stays on all day and the pigmentation is amazing (see photo below). Once it dries, it stays EXACTLY where it was applied and doesn't budge an inch. 

The above pictures show the product, unblended (is that even a word?) and blended. I tend to wear it blended out as I don't want to wear anything too shimmery/over the top to school.

I love love love this and I'm super glad that I picked this little gem up.

The third and final makeup product that I have been loving this month is my Max Factor Masterpiece Max mascara.

This is actually just a sample size that I got in a Max Factor gift box a while back (anyone else get one of them?), but it's lasted me for ages. It's one of those mascara's that I forget about for a while, then use it again and remember why I loved it so much in the first place. It makes my lashes so long and fluttery yet thick (does that even make sense?) and oh my word it's just amazing. I will definitely buy the full size when this runs out.

This mascara has a plastic brush, and I'm not usually a fan of plastic brushes but this one is just amazing. I would highly highly recommend this to anyone who wishes for voluminous, lengthened lashes.

This month I have only been loving one facial skincare item as it's the only thing in my routine that has changed in months. And that product is my Nivea Daily Essentials Double Effect Eye Makeup Remover.

Now I'm not going to blab too much about this as I raved about it in my 'My Bedtime Skincare Routine' post. All I can say is that this is incredible. If you want to read all my thoughts on this, click here.

My favourite nail polish and he colour I have been wearing on my nails most of this month is a polish from Barry M called 'Raspberry'.

I love this colour. To me it's the perfect autumnal colour and I've been wearing this on my nails A LOT. It lasts for a good few days, but I never have the chance to wear it for longer than a few days as I do cooking at school and I'm not allowed to wear nail polish.

Barry M nail polishes are some of my favourites. They are so cheap yet the formulation is amazing and there is a HUGE (I mean huge) shade/formulation range (matte, gelly etc), there is definitely something for everyone.

The next item I have been loving this month is my Aussie Dual Personality hair serum.

I have used this hair serum for a few months now but since the weather has been getting colder, I find that my already unruly, curly hair gets ever more unruly and curly. I don't know why this is but I do know that this keeps frizz under control and my curls look a lot more 'tamed' and defined when I use this.

This smells like peaches and oh my word I love it.  After years of testing hair mousses, gels, serums and sprays, I've finally found one that does exactly what it says and works with my hair. I would recommend this to anyone with curly/frizzy/unruly hair.

My second last favourite of this month has been my white and silver infinity bracelet. 

I picked this bracelet up whilst I was in France in Summer for around 2.50€. I wear this every day as it goes with everything and I just love it. Infinity also has a special meaning to me, so this bracelet is super special.
I'm sure you can get bracelets similar for around £1.50 on Amazon/eBay so I will try and find a link and link it at the end of this post.

My final favourite this month is a book. And that book is (from what I've seen and heard) the most famous book in existence, The Fault in our Stars.

This book is, hands down, the best book I have ever read. Yes, it made me cry like a baby, but the story it tells is just amazing. I am terrible at describing books without giving away the whole story so I'm just going to insert a photo of the blurb.

I'm not even going to say anything else about this book, just go and read it now. But a word of warning, try not to get too attached to the characters.

So that is it for my monthly favourites. There weren't actually that many this month as I haven't really tried that many new things etc but from what there was, I hope you enjoyed reading about them. 
I'd like to apologise for this post being up a day late, I had a few problems with blogger but I hope you can all forgive me.