THE LIEBSTER AWARD

Hey there Beautyholics, 

So I received The Liebster Award by the lovely Mari (Mari Talks Beauty) This award is a way to recognise and promote new up and coming blogs. To accept your award you should thank the Liebster Blog presenter who nominated you and link back to their blog. So a BIG thank you to Mari! :) 

I also think that this is a great opportunity for my readers to get to know more about me as I haven't spoken much about myself on this blog. 

Here are the rules for the Liebster Award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog here – done
2. Display the award on your blog – done
3. Answer the questions provided by the person who nominated you on your blog – below
4. Provide 11 facts about yourself – below
5. Nominate other new blogs who you think deserves the award and want to be recognized 

Here are my answers to Mari's Questions:

1. What is one make up item you couldn’t live without?
   Definitely, 100% has to be MASCARA!!!
2. What are your 3 favourite blogs/bloggers?
   Dizzybrunnette3, A girl obsessed and Essie Button
3. Where are you from?
   Originally born in Italy, but grew up in the UK since I was 6
4. Are you vegetarian or vegan?
   Nope 
5. Do you exercise, if so what type of sport / activity is your favourite?
   Yes I try to exercise 6 days a week. I enjoy weight training and running 
6. What is your evening and morning skincare routine?
   Clinique 3 Step system 
7. Is blogging your hobby or job?
   Blogging is my hobby
8. What type of industry are you in your job/studies?
   I'm studying International Business and French 
9. What is your most recommended beauty / skincare / make up trick?
   Most recommended "trick" is to blink when you apply mascara as it really helps to coat every single lash from the bottom to the end. I have seen so many of my friends not doing this and it's a trick I've always told them about and once they began doing it they said worked really well....So get blinking girls!
10. Do you talk about your blog with your ‘real life’ friends ?
    Yes, but not too much as no one else blogs and quite understands the concept... 

11 facts about me: 

1. I am 21
2. I'm graduating in July and still unsure as to what I'd like to do after uni

3. I forever lust over Chanel bags 

4. Well actually... I'm just a designer lable lover even if I dont own much designer myself though...

5. My favourite colour is Pink, always has been and always will be 

6. I always wanted a younger sister but I ended up with a younger brother...who's not so bad now (at least he can't steal my makeup ;))

7. My first job was working in a chip shop

8. My job after that was working in a perfume shop (Yep I went from smelling like fried fish to a cocktail of fragrances)

9. I speak 3 languages and I'd love to learn loads more!

10. I'm addicted to Instagram

11. When I was younger I actually got to visit some cool places like Thailand, Dominican Republic and most of the Mediterranean. 

I now nominate the following beauties: 

Katie- countrykatieuk.wordpress.com

Emma- dreamingoffithavenue.wordpress.com
Angela- bit.ly/1O3fx7n 
Debra- debrabow.com

My Questions for you girls are the following: 

1. What made you start blogging? 

2. Where do you look for inspiration when you're stuck on what to blog?

3. What's your favourite makeup brand? 

4. What's your favourite mascara and why?

5. What sort of blog posts do you like reading and why?

6. Do you enjoy travelling? If so, where have you been?

7. Would you consider doing Youtube? 

8. Name 4 of your favourite Youtubers

9. What's your favourite song at the moment?

10. Favourite Lip colours? 

Thank you so much for reading guys, I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and a huge thank you again to Mari for nominating me! (If you guy's would rather answer some of Mari's questions over mine then feel free). Have fun and if I don't blog until then...have a great Easter!!!! ;D

❤️

   Love, ML x

New Bloggers UK Community

Hello Beautyholics,

Today's post is going to be very short informing you on an Instagram page that Sophie from dreamdesiredo blog and myself have set up with the help and feedback from the lovely Alex from thelipstickladyblog.

This page was set up because we felt like there wasn't much on social platforms which would enable new beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers to connect. Our aim was thus to create a platform (Instagram is just the start), where we can all share our interests, meet one another and create a little bloggers community.

It is exclusive to the UK bloggers, in doing so it means that we could arrange meet-ups and arrange collaborations together.

Let us know what you guys think!

If you're a UK blogger and would like to join this community, click here and lets Network! :)

Thanks for reading and hope to meet you all soon!!

❤️

   Love, ML x

YSL mascara, shocking or original?

Hello beautyholics,

I hope you've all been well.

I'm back again after some time...

Today I thought I would give you a quick review and personal opinion on two mascara's that I could not pass on reviewing for you guys.

As you guys know from my previous post I am a sucker for long lashes, one can say that I'm pretty much OBSESSED with long lashes! For me, when it comes to eyelashes the longer is always better ;)

So, today, I thought I would give you a quick review about two mascara's that have been hyped about over the years that I have finally managed to compare!

The first one is the YSL-Original Faux Lash Effect.

I had originally tried this mascara many years back and I absolutely LOVED it, so, I decided to come back to it again recently and I remembered exactly why I loved it so much the first time round.

It comes in a sleek gold packaging that looks very luxurious like most of the YSL or other high end beauty products.

The wand is made out of fibres (my favourite type) and each fiber is very close to each other. This literally means that it coats each lash and does not leave huge clumps in between.

Personally, this mascara literally does what it says. It gives them that "false" lash effect by coating each lash, lengthening and separating them. It is not best for volume, but with some thick winged liner it looks very dainty....

As you can see by the side-by-side picture, this is the result I got after just one coat! And it is buildable...

For me the results speak for themselves. The eyelashes are separated and they look defined and not clumpy.

The second mascara for review is the Shocking version of the original YSL mascara. Now I don't know where to begin with this one... Let's just say it's "shocking" for the wrong reasons!

I purchased this following my purchase for the YSL original as I wanted something that would give me the same effect as the original but with a big more volume. Like the original it does come in a beautiful golden sleek packaging and it is advertised to "exaggerate your lash look with shocking volume from every angle"... However, I'll let you be the judges of that...

As you can see, this mascara was VERY clumpy and drying! From the day that I opened it it felt like it was 3 months old ;/ The formula isn't as soft and liquid like the original version and it just does not do what the packaging says!

I was very disappointed with the result. Not to mention that I was really looking forwards to making this one of my favourite mascaras but, unfortunately, it has made it to the bottom of the list :(

I thought it would be useful for you guys to have a look at the differences in the wands. They are both similar but unlike the Original version the Shocking bristles are slightly further apart which in my opinion does not help with the "clumpiness"

So, in a nutshell: I will highly recommend trying out the original version as it is definitely a winner and it is up there with my top 5 favourite mascaras of all time! :D

But unfortunately given that they both retail at the same price (£25) I will be passing up on the Shocking effect and I shall not be recommending it.

Have any of you had the chance to try them both too? Let me know what you guys thought :)

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed :)

❤️

   Love, ML x

NYX Nudes Soft matte lip creme glosses

Hello lovelies,

Ok, I know it's been a while! 

I started uni, got caught up with work, usual shebang which meant that I've neglect my blog. However, blogging is something that I love doing, it's the only thing I have to put my mind away from work, stress and everything else that's bothering me, so it's my aim to make sure that this doesn't happen again! 

You might also notice that I have also changed my blog name. I used to be "BeautyandlifestylebyML" but I have now become "TheBeautyholicGirl". I was never happy with the name of my blog, I thought that it wasn't easy for readers to remember and it was a little too long. During this past month changing the name of my blog was constantly on the back of my mind. I thought about it a lot, then suddenly one morning I woke up and thought of "TheBeautyholicGirl". Why this name? I'm a saddo, one of my only passions is beauty and make up. I'm literally a "Beautyholic", so what better name could I have chosen? 

I thought I'd keep this one short so that I could ease myself into it, but I really wanted to share with you my favourite NYX soft matte lip cremes. I recently ordered these from Selfridges and I was over the moon when I received them the following day. They are just GAWJUSSS :O 

I bought them in the shades Stockholm and Abu Dhabi, I love nudes and since I hadn't tried NYX products before I thought I couldn't go wrong with nudes! 

Here are a few things I love about them:

• The colours are very pigmented
• They smell really nice
• They go on smoothly and dry up matte 
• The packaging is small and compact - it's easy to fit into a small make-up bags 

Downsides: 

• Durability
• Also found that the texture between the two was slightly different. Abu Dhabi appeared to be more "clumpy" when I was applying it. I don't know of it's just because it's new though. I'd love to hear if you guys have found the same thing. 

Unfortunately the main drawback that I found in these NYX lippy's is that they easily come off when eating. This is a really big downside for someone like me because I am constantly snacking or drinking and far too lazy to re-apply my lipstick's straight after. 

Neverthless, I still really love them! They were only £5.50 which is a fraction of what I'd pay for MAC or other High end lipsticks with similar finishes.

I thought I would share some pictures for you to show you how they look on the lips (excuse the lighting, it's always so dull in the UK)

Here is Stockholm :)

And here is Abu Dhabi

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post :) 

❤️

   Love, ML x

Billion Dollar Brows Review

Hello beautyholics,

I hope you've all had an amazing Christmas :) 

Today I am back to review two amazing eyebrow kit must-haves!

I recently applied for a Billion Dollar Brows campaign on Brandbacker and I was super lucky to be accepted and to have been sent two amazing kits to review for my lovely blog readers :) 

I'm all in when it comes to make up but one thing that I don't really do is my eyebrows. My eyebrows are naturally quite thin and with the occasional trip to the eyebrow salon they are pretty much good to go. Nevertheless, I must admit I do lust over Instagram posts with girls that have amazing eyebrows that are bang on "fleek". So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out some eyebrow products and to see how I got on. 

I received two kits to review, one of them was the Best Sellers Kit (right in the picture) which comes with 4 items: 

• Universal Brow Pencil: Formulated to work with all skin tones & hair colors, whether you are a blonde or a brunette. Best of all, The Billion Dollar Brow Pencil is automatic, it always stays sharp and requires no pencil sharpener
• Brow Duo Pencil: Brow Duo Highlighter allows you to highlight your brow bone to add gorgeous definition and warmth. Works with any skin tone. Plus, they've added a handy universal concealer to the opposite end of the pencil
• Brow Gel: Locks in your look, giving your eyebrows a long-lasting, radiant glow while keeping them perfectly in place all day
• Smudge Brush: A flat, synthetic brush which is ideal for applying creamy cosmetics like the Brow Duo Pencil

I thought it would be good for me to post pictures of my eyebrows before and after using each kit separately. So here we have the before and after picture of my eyebrows using the Best Sellers Kit:

As you can see the results are very natural and subtle. I'm not a fan of big sluggish eyebrows so I am actually really pleased with the result of this kit. The products do however allow you to build the results if you wish to have them thicker and darker. 

I then tested out the 60 seconds to beautiful brows. This kit only comes with a brush and a brow powder in taupe. 

Like I said I am far from a pro when it comes to eyebrows and I must say this really did take me 60 seconds to apply. It was super easy and it is buildable. As you can see I have very dark, almost black eyebrows, but I feel that the result is really nice and once again very natual looking :)

Billion Dollar Brows are actually stocked in Boots, and you can find the kits that I have reviewed "here", you can even buy each item individually for less! Alternatively, Billion Dollar Brows also have their own website where you can purchase these two kits as well as other products in their eyebrow range. 

Billion Dollar Brows are currently hosting a Give-away contest where 3 UK winners will receive a prize package consisting of the Billion Dollar Brows "Best Sellers Kit". I hope that one of you lovely readers will be amongst the lucky winners. You can enter it by clicking on the side banner or here.
So make sure you have entered! Good Luck! 

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a very happy new year!

❤️

   Love, ML x

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How I deal with stress at University

Hello lovelies,

Please please excuse my absence. Yes I've done it again! I've allowed myself to get carried away with uni work, friends and whatever else I have in my sad little life that I've neglected my blog. 

Anyway, I've come back home for the Christmas break and I am super excited to finally be able to take a few days to chill out and relax a bit from the stress and lectures. However, I mustn't get carried away because of course as it's probably the case for most of you at uni, when I go back in January I will have assessments and all that malarkey going on which means one thing ... I need to revise during the break! Oh joy! -__- 

Now, let me say that I HATE revising, no seriously, I hate it so much that I will put it off until the very last minute, then I will panic and cram and go into my exams and come out with the same feeling every year "FML why didn't I start revising earlier"? 

Tell me I'm not the only one to do this? 

Anyway I'm in my final year this year so back in September I told myself that I wouldn't allow myself to do what I always do and that I would stay on top of things. Did this happen?! Nope, well actually, I was slightly better than usual but I could have been a LOT better. 

So here I am already knowing that although I'm allowing myself the next couple of days to relax, at the back of my mind I will not actually be relaxing because I'll be feeling guilty about not doing work etc. 

Recognise this feeling?

Nevertheless, there have been a few things this year that have helped me to be that tad bit better, in particular with the way that I've dealt with stress and everything else. So I thought it would be a good idea to share these things with you (even if the majority are common sense) because maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to help one of you guys reading this. 

First things first, make a separate timetable from your lectures. 

This timetable will be based around your "free" time which you will dedicate to studying as well as personal breaks for you to do what you love. 

What worked well with me this year was having a planner and for once actually using it! What I did was I took a note of all the work that I needed to do by the end of the week and every day I'd schedule myself 3/4 of those tasks to do, be it reading, research for dissertation, essay writing and whatever else. I then would tick off the exercises I'd completed as I went along. 

Now let me say that the feeling I'd get when I finally ticked something off the list was great. For someone like me who struggled in the past years to stay on top of things. Ticking things off is an achievement in itself. 

Do be aware that the only down side about this is that if you do not manage to complete the tasks you set yourself that "guilt" feeling can easily kick in. You need to stay head strong and fight it off. Realise that it's completely normal to have less productive days, or even, that some tasks naturally take longer than you expected hence leaving you no time to finish off whatever else you had planned. The beauty in this is that if you try to keep on top of things, it doesn't matter too much if you can't finish something off one day because you'll have time at some point in the week to catch up and still be on top ;). 

Secondly it's important to stay active. 

During first and second year of uni, I allowed myself to eat and eat and eat without ever thinking about what I was actually doing to my body. Every time I'd feel guilty about not doing work or felt stressed out by the work load, I'd eat. My solution to everything was to go out and have a McDonald's or order a Chinese with my flat mates. It took very little time before I started to pile on the weight and by the end of my second year I'd gained a whopping stone! I'm 5ft so a whole stone made a HUGE difference to my appearance and I soon started to feel even more demotivated and wanted to eat even more. This had a knock on effect on my studies because that de motivation and horrible feeling inside me started to show through my work as I became less and less interested in actually doing the work. 

Then came results day and I got a hit in the face and realised that I needed to change this because it was not what I had come to uni for. 

So mid way through second year I started to make baby steps by signing up to the gym and working out a bit. However I'd been unhealthy for so long that my stamina and endurance level was so low that I really struggled with any form of exercise which was longer than 10 mins. Nevertheless,I kept at it and I was lucky enough to then move to Paris during my third year and this is where I was able to change things around. During my placement I made effort to eat healthy and cut down the take outs and boy did I start seeing results! This slowly started to gain confidence back in myself and I started to work out  everyday and managed to get into a routine with my flat mate and by the end of the year I had lost the stone that I'd gained in the previous years at uni. 

This for me was a little milestone because it helped me bring that positivity back in my life. 

So of course, this year, I've kept at it. The first thing I did when I got to uni was sign up to the gym. I make effort to go 6 times a week for about 40-60 mins each time. This for me is a time where I let ALL the stress out. When I'm stressed out I go there and I just think of all the crap that's bothering me and let it out whilst I'm working out. Yes it's painful and I hate it there and then. Whilst I'm doing it I'm usually thinking "Why did I come"?

But let me tell you, not once have I ever come out of the gym and continued to think that. I know how important it is for me and how good it is for my body that when I come out I'm always so GLAD that I went. 

In turn makes me feel positive and helps me to stay motivated. 

Thirdly, make time for yourself. 

Whether it be going out, partying, hanging out with friends, shopping, practicing make up tutorials etc. It's important that you do it!

One of the things that always used to bother me, particularly during first and second year was that I felt that I didn't have time for myself. At the back of my mind I'd always be thinking about all the bits of work that I had which needed doing. This meant that when I did chill out, I didn't really relax and at times, I'd feel more stressed than I did before. 

So this year, as well as setting myself tasks and times to do work. I've also noted times where I allow myself to free my mind and relax. What I like to do is usually work until around 8pm and then stop. 8-10 it's ME time. I do whatever I want, I watch series, hang out with my flatmates, read, watch YouTube videos just ANYTHING that I want. 

This really helps me to get through the day! I also feel like I'm not neglecting myself which is extremely important. I also allow myself 1 day a week (usually my gym rest day) to completely chill out and only really do about 2-3 hours of work max if I feel like it. This works well for me as it helps me to stay sane and be acknowledge that I do have a life and that not all of it evolves around uni work. 

Finally, something I've only started to do since the beginning of this year is to stay positive and be in touch with my spiritual inner self. 

Now let's not over analyse the word "spiritual" here. What I mean is my inner thoughts and the energies that I allow myself to take in. 

I think that the main thing which has helped me to do better this year is that I've managed to stay positive. I've cut out all the negative thoughts like "I can't do this" , "why did I come to uni"? , "I'm never going to get this". Whenever I even catch myself thinking anything negative like that, I stop myself and think of the reason why I initially went to uni (to have a good future) and primarily to prove to myself that I CAN do things and that I'm capable of achieving great things. This my lovelies is the most important thing you need to do. 

In my opinion clearing my mind from all negativity and only allowing myself to hold on to positive things has helped me the most so far this term. I've still a long way to go and so much to learn. Sometimes I stop and think about the beauty of the world and everything that there is to discover and to see that I start to see that my silly little worries about uni work or stressing are minuscule things that I really should not be wasting my energies on.  

The truth is that you CAN do it. Just remember that the majority of the times it's all just in your head! 

So there you have it :) (sorry for such a rambly post) but here you have my little tips on what has helped me to have a better attitude this year and most of all to TAME that stress and paranoia from getting the best of me. 

I hope you enjoyed and that I was able to help some of you! 

Please share your personal experiences and also what you like to do to relieve stress :) 

❤️

   Love, ML x

Make-up Bargain hunting? Bornpretty Store Review

Hello again beauties,

Today I have another Bornpretty store post for you. 

If you have read my "previous" Bornpretty store post, you would have known that back in September I was sent 2 lipsticks to swatch and review for you guys. 

Recently I was contacted my Bornpretty store again and I was sent another lipstick and beauty blender to review for you. 

I was so excited about this because to this day I was yet to try a beauty blender (I know I'm so late right?) but I just wasn't sure if it was an actual necessity in my make-up bag. 

Gosh, I was wrong! I cannot believe I didn't try this earlier. Applying my concealer has never been this easy! I would normally use the concealer wand and my pinkie finger to apply it and smooth it out in the corners of my eye. This has always worked fine for me. However at the moment I have quite long nails, so applying concealer under my eyes is a bit difficult, particularly in the corners. This is where the beauty blender has come in so so handy! 

I can really get into the corners of my eyes and ensure that its all applied smoothly. It's also a plus as it stops me from getting concealer all over my fingers. 

Here is the beauty blender I was sent: 

Bornpretty store sell these for just $2.34. Great bargain for anyone who wishes to try it out for the first time :) They also come in a range of pretty pastel colours which of course, if you're like me and love pastels it's a bonus! 

Next I was sent this gorgeous lipstick in shade 16 of their "Moisturising lip stain" collection which was a winter colour that I was missing in my lipstick collection.  

Here is how it looks on :) 

Ahh I love it and I cannot believe how inexpensive it is! 

Bornpretty have a huge selection of colours which you can view "here" and they are just $3.99. That works out to be around £2.50 for those of you living in the UK- A fraction of the price that a MAC or Nars would cost you! 

If I were to give these two products a rating out of 10 I would say they are both an 8.5/10. This is mainly because for just a few pounds/ dollars you're getting pretty good quality products. I have also noted that the lipsticks remind me a lot of the Topshop range. I don't know what it is, but the formula and feeling on the lips is very similar to the Topshop lippy's that I own. 

So, for those of you who are looking for a good bargain, cheap and great value for money, check out Bornpretty store! I hear they are doing great reductions for Black Friday too ;)

Before you do, take a note of the code below so that you can get yourself an additional 10% off your order at the end :) 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned! :) 

❤️

   Love, ML x