Space Leggings OOTD

I don't think I have ever done a style related post on the blog, as lets face it, I spend most of my time in my comfy snuggle clothes or if I am getting dressed, I usually just throw on whatever is closest to me so I can get the pup out and walked.


I love easy comfy clothing! And this is an outfit that I have been going back to so much recently I had to share it with you. For me it's practical because you can layer lots under the jumper to keep you nice and warm on these cold winter days and because I feel that the space leggings amp it up enough for me to look like I have made the effort when really I am just going to be spending all my day running errands.

I kept my top and trainers more neutral so that the outfit isn't to out there for day to day wear.

I am wearing:

Sweatshirt- Zara

Leggings- Etsy- Green Galaxy Leggings

Trainers- New Balance 410

For a fun little touch I used similar colours in my eye makeup to the leggings. I have used my new LUSH liquid liner in motivation layered over the cream eyeshadow in intuitive.

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Sleek Makeup Brow Kit Tutorial

So I am back today with a really quick tutorial on the Sleek Makeup Brow Kit and how I use it to do my brows.

I am obsessed with the brow kit and have been using it for a long while now. With this product you can get anything from just a nice touch of colour to help to define your brow, to a really perfected drawn in brow.

For my personal taste, I like a defined brow but I do like to accentuate the hair that I do have there, so I feel it lies somewhere between the two.

For this tutorial I have used the brow kit in the shade dark and then to finish my brows at the end I use my Eyes Right mascara from LUSH as a substitute for a brow gel that you would run through your brows, a bit like the Gimme Brow by Benefit. Using the mascara is great because it is one less product I have to keep in my makeup bag as it doubles up for two. I have very dark hair naturally so I feel I can get away with a black mascara. The downside to doing this though is that mascara comes in a lot less shades then the products designed to do this with. So if you have anything from a medium brown to very fair eyebrows this probably wouldn't work for you.

As always I really hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial and that it maybe helped a little bit. If you have any questions please feel free to leave us a comment.

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Making The Move To Cruelty Free For The New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Typically I don't do a lot to see in the New Year and it is even less often that I set myself New Years resolutions. This year however I have set myself a few resolutions.

1) PASS MY DRIVING TEST. By the end of the year I would love to have my full driving license. I start taking practical lessons when I was in college as I was working two jobs and had a fair amount of disposable income. It did not go well to say the least. Driving just didn't click for me and I ended up spending a lot and never got round to taking my test. But I finish university in the summer of this year, and hopefully myself and/ or Jacob will be able to find some work, this will probably mean moving out of Cornwall and/ or having to commute. It would just be so much easier for both of us if I am not so reliant on Jacob for transport.

2) SAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO GO ON HOLIDAY NEXT CHRISTMAS. The driving one plays into this again. Myself and Jacob have been wanting to go away together for as long as we have known each other. Going away now is harder as we do not want to have to rely on anyone to look after Red or put him in a kennel (I'm not sure he would adjust well), but if we are both able to drive then we can drive and take ferry's to loss of different places in Europe and the benefit of this is we can travel WITH RED! 

3) TO ONLY USE CRUELTY FREE MAKEUP AND BEAUTY PRODUCTS. So by this I mean anything that I will be putting on my hair, skin and nails. I have already started my cruelty free journey and have been researching and trying products... And thats what I am going to share with you today.

There are a lot of things to consider when making the choice to go cruelty free. A lot of cruelty free bloggers use a similar set of questions when directly contacting companies to determine whether they are truly cruelty free. They are as follows:

1) Do you test on animals?

2) Do you use third party companies to test on animals?

3) Do you have any parent or sister companies that test on animals?

4) Have any of your ingredient, or any of your finished products been tested on animals?

5) Do you distribute in China?

BODY SHOP

When I first started transitioning my products I hadn't done a whole lot of research. I ended up purchasing a few product to try from the Body Shop under the impression they are a cruelty free company. Some time after I bought the products I found out some really disappointing news. Whilst the Body Shop does not test ingredients or finished products on animals, they were bought out in 2006 by L'oreal, who DO test on animals. This does make me uncomfortable because a percentage of my money still would have gone to a company who does test on animals. I therefore will not be purchasing any Body Shop products from now on and when the products I do own get used up, I will be looking for different products to replace them

LUSH

For myself right now I am really enjoying exploring LUSH products with the piece of mind that they are a truly cruelty free company who are an active figure in fighting against animal testing. I strongly urge you to follow this link and read up on their amazing policy on animal testing Lush animal testing policy

SLEEK MAKEUP 

I have been using and loving Sleek Makeup for a long time, and I can carry on enjoying them as they are a cruelty free brand! They have some amazing products that a really affordable so they are winning in all areas for me at the moment. Here is a link to a great blogger who first hand contacted them to get them to confirm there cruelty free status: Sleek Makeup animal testing policy.

Some other brands I am currently researching and hope to try out in the future include:

Barry M

Superdrug own brand

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

Sugar Pill

Lime Crime

Elf

Ben Nye

Pixi

There are so many great resources and bloggers out there that are dedicating their time to listing and researching cruelty free brands and products. It's really as simple as googling cruelty free blogs, doing your own research and looking for multiple sources and doing first hand research by contacting companies yourself with questions and concerns. As my journey continues and I learn more about different brands and products, I will be sharing all of my finding with you!

Since this has been a pretty lengthy post today I thought it would be fun to do a little makeup tutorial using some of the new cruelty free products I am trying. This isn't a completely cruelty free makeup look as I am still transitioning a lot of my collection, however I will clearly label what is cruelty free and what is not cruelty free!

For this look I used:

LUSH Colour Supplement in Dark Pink

LUSH Colour Supplement in Dark Pink. CRUELTY FREE.

Sleek Makeup Contour Kit

SLEEK MAKEUP Bronzer from the Contour Kit in Medium. CRUELTY FREE.

Sleek Makeup Highlighter Palette

SLEEK MAKEUP Highlighter Palette in Precious Metals. CRUELTY FREE.

Sleek Makeup I-Devine Storm Palette

SLEEK MAKEUP I-Devine Storm Palette, I used the colour Firestorm. CRUELTY FREE.

Lush Eyes Right, Motivation, Happiness and Intuitive. The Body Shop Liquid Liner.

LUSH Eyes Right, Motivation, Happiness and Intuitive. CRUELTY FREE.

THE BODY SHOP Liquid Eyeliner. HAS A PARENT COMPANY WHO IS NOT CRUELTY FREE.

Sleek Makeup Brow Kit in Dark.

SLEEK MAKEUP Brow Kit in Dark. CRUELTY FREE.

Maybelline Hollywood Red Lipstick.

MAYBELLINE 540 Hollywood Red Lipstick. NOT CRUELTY FREE.

The Body Shop All In One Face Base.

THE BODY SHOP All In One Face Base 06. HAS A PARENT COMPANY WHO IS NOT CRUELTY FREE.

And here is how I put these products together:

I really enjoyed wearing this makeup look, and those Lush eye products are amazing, they just do not budge all day and the colours are just beautiful.

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Tips on Packing Light

Hi all!

So this Monday I will be travelling home to celebrate Christmas with my family. The last time that I went home was about 2 years ago! So I am really looking forward to seeing old friends and of course family.

I will be there for about a week, so I don't have too much to take with me. However it is hard to pack light when you have presents to get home too. I have a few tips on how to pack light and get organised to reduce the load that you will have to carry around with you on your journey back home.

1) Make a list of all of the days and what you will be doing on those days. This will help you plan outfits for each day, meaning you won't have to take your whole wardrobe with you just in case. Mine looks a little something like this:

MONDAY- Travelling all day, then dinner with mum.
TUESDAY- Catching up with friends.
WEDNESDAY- Catching up with friends in the evening.
THURSDAY- CHRISTMAS DAY over auntie Jo's.
FRIDAY- try and see everyone you didn't have time to.
SATURDAY- Travelling all day back to Falmouth.

Travelling outfit. Yoga pants are a must for me.

2) Using this list think about outfits for each day. Think about if you need it to transition to day to night, whether it is a casual day or a more dressed up day. I have packed almost completely dresses. They are perfect for packing light as they are almost your whole outfit in one item. I then pack tights and a couple of layers like cardigans that I can mix and match to keep me cosy.

Dresses are a life saver if you want to save space in your case.

3) Try to pick a couple of pairs of shoes that will go with everything you have planned outfit wise. Where your comfy plan on the days you are travelling. Then you only have one pair to fit in your case.

4) Roll your clothes up. Sounds strange but trust me it saves a lot of room.

Make sure you don't forget things like toiletries and makeup. Select your makeup based on your list, plan what you can use and will need. Remember you can always buy toiletries when you arrive. If you are only going to be there for a short time and don't want to have to bring full sized products with you, you can by travel sizes.

In total, for one week away I have a small suitcase with my clothes, makeup and toiletries and all of the presents I need to take back with me... And yes it does close :) I also have a second bag with everything I will need on the train, my laptop, chargers, phone, purse, tickets, headphones snacks etc.

So thats how I pack light for a trip home. I hope that there are some tips in here that will help you next time you have a trip planned. 

See you next time x

Christmas Tradition

In my house we have a few Christmas traditions that are a little bit unusual, but I just think it makes Christmas that much more special. Every year on Christmas Eve each member of the family receives a book and a tree ornament, when my brother and I were younger our parents would take us out for the evening to a local village and when we came back these presents from 'Father Christmas' would be there waiting for us.

So each year we add our new ornament to the tree on Christmas Eve, I think the books started out as a way to get us to actually go to bed so that our parents could actually put the presents under the tree. Now that my brother has moved out he has taken his decorations with him to start his own tree and I'll do the same when I move out. Every decoration has a memory attached and I actually cannot wait to get mine this year! 

My first tree decoration.

The whole house is looking festive now as me and Mom went slightly Christmas mad while decorating so there is something festive in every room.

Jasper enjoying the decorating!

Lots of love and Merry Christmas! -A

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Come and get Christmasy with me. Get snuggled, press play, and lets get decorating!

This weekend the mission for myself and Jacob was to get the Christmas Tree! We're only two weeks away from Christmas and it has taken us this long to get round to it. It took us a while to decide on what type of tree we were going to get. Did we want real? Did we want fake? Which would be safer for the dog to be around?

In the end we went with a fake tree as the place we were looking at was out of the size trees we were looking for. They only had the amazingly tall and expensive real ones left. So we settled on this one which only cost us £15. It's branches aren't the fullest, but this is mine and Jacobs first Christmas tree together and I have to say now that it is decorated with all of our personalised and homemade ornaments I think it's looking rather lovely.

We had all of the decorations already, some were gifts from last year and this year, some we already had and some we made. The lights we used were a strand of LED star lights that I already had running along the bookcase. The brighter fox and dear decorations were a gift from Abigail last year and the fox in the photo above was actually made for me by her mum this year (big thanks Jan, it has taken pride of place at the top of the tree!). I already had some small glass baubles that I had been using to decorate a houseplant that we have in our bedroom and lastly I made some personalised ornaments of myself, Jacob and RED a couple of weeks ago. 

If you would like to read how I made my own ornaments please go check out:

http://alifecompendium.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/personalised-christmas-ornaments.html

I have even managed to start wrapping some presents up and getting stockings ready! The paper, tags and ribbons are all from Wilkos and were really inexpensive. In total around £4 for everything and as I don't have a super huge amount of people to by for, this should do the majority, if not all of the presents.

Getting the tree and decorations up has really got me excited for Christmas now. It has given the front room such a nice homely warm feel to it that makes me so happy!

Now all I have to do is keep my fingers crossed that my mischievous pooch doesn't get into any "accidents" with the tree and that it will last until I am back from visiting family and celebrating a belated Christmas with my little family here in Falmouth.

Full Review- The Body Shop All in One Face Base

Hi all!

So for the first time that we started A Life Compendium, I failed to get a blog post up on Sunday! I have to admit it was just one of those things that I had completely forgotten to think about it that week, with it being my last and possibly busyness week at uni before Christmas.

But I plan to make it up to you with a review and then on this Sunday coming I will hopefully be getting up a post about getting the Christmas tree for myself, Jacob and RED's flat! That's right your going to get two posts this week to make up for my lack of blogging last week.

First of all lets talk about the product. It's by the Body Shop, which is fantastic because you know that  it has not been tested on animals and you also know that it is going to be a very nice looking product, which this definitely is. On the website it is sold for £14 which for me, someone who is always on a budget, is a bit much for me. In general for my everyday foundation I spend between £6- 8.

The Body Shop All In One Face Base

They also state on the website that you can 'Use dry for a light matte finish, or wet for high coverage.'

The Body Shop All In One Face Base

When I first applied it, I used it on a big brush on bare moisturised skin to see how it would handle taking away some shine. I have to say at first it felt very dry on my skin, but as I wore it, this did disappear somewhat. It did take away the shine however didn't leave me with much if any coverage.

The Body Shop All In One Face Base

After this I then tried applying it dry with the sponge inside of the compact. I did achieve some coverage with the sponge however I would still describe it as light. On the site next to the product they have a video showing you how you can apply this with a damp sponge to get the high coverage. I ran the sponge under the tap and then rang it out so the it was barely damp. I then took the product from the compact and applied it to my face. 

It caked up on my face, on the sponge and in the pan almost immediately. Whilst the coverage on my skin was much higher it looked cakey and chalky. And oh my life did it feel dry. I had noticed how drying it was when I was just dusting it on my face but with so much on I could feel it sucking every once of moisture out of my skin. I was not a fan! 

So here is my overall run down of the product. I tried to colour match online and this is always tricky however I do feel that when it arrived it was much lighter than the swatch on the website. I purchased shade 06 and it was much too light for my complexion. The price was a little bit of a spend for me and I would not be likely to spend that much again on an everyday foundation. I think it works well as a mattifying powder and does take away shine nicely, so if I were to purchase it again it would be to use as a powder over the top of a liquid foundation. If you are looking for a high coverage matte powder foundation, I would not recommend. I could not get it to apply nicely to my skin, you would have to use ALOT of product to do your whole face. I think it would be very drying if you were to use it like this every day. Lastly I would like to point out that I have been using this product 4/7 days a week for maybe about 3 months, never in a very heavy application,  and I have already HIT PAN! That really does not impress me. My go to liquid foundation that I will probably go back to last twice this amount of time easily.

For me this product is a no go. I will definitely be checking out some other products from the Body Shop as I am relatively new to their products but for me this one is definitely not going to be repurchased.

Hope some of you found this helpful, if you have any recommendations for product for me to try please leave them on our Facebook page, Google + or leave us a comment below.

Love as always!