Travel Make-Up: 5 Minute FOTD

If you missed my last post, or if you don't follow me on twitter (which you can do by clicking here if you want to), then you might not know that I'm currently in Amsterdam! Although, don't get too excited for me as I'll be flying back home to London tomorrow evening. Given that I'm only taking hand luggage with me on my trip there is very minimal space for beauty paraphernalia and I'm going to be wearing the same basic make-up for all of my trip. The look that I settled on was something that was really quick and simple (I can't be hogging the hostel bathroom - and there's every chance that I won't want to) but that would look like I'd made a bit more effort than I actually had. This is often the sort of make-up look that I feature on this blog so I'm sorry if you're getting bored of it! I'm now just going to give a little run down of what products I used and how I used them.

Beauty Travel Bag: Aeroplane Hand Luggage Friendly

About twelve days ago, in a fit of depressive reverie (inspired by pictorial interrail reminiscence), I casually requested my best friend's presence on Skype. Once he was firmly dislodged from whatever useful and productive thing that he had been doing, I informed him that we needed a holiday. Now, Tom isn't usually one to act all spontaneous (although, that being said he is usually more spontaneous than me) but with University over and no immediate plans a chorus of "why not" was too much to ignore. His next question had me stumped though, "where?" I had no idea, I just knew I had to get away for some period of time or else I'd go mad. So we began with the Eurostar - Paris? Brussels? Cologne? Almost immediately the prices dashed our hopes. Fear not though, we then hopped on over to Easyjet's website where I soon spotted that we could get each get a return flight to Amsterdam for approximately £40 (minus luggage and any other expense). Amsterdam was settled upon with alarming speed and Tom booked the flights within an hour, or maybe two, of our initial conversation. And then we had to get organised - choosing a hostel, buying Gatwick express tickets etc. Part of this organisation was also taking into consideration that we were only travelling with hand luggage. I am going to, am, even, (the time of writing this and the time of experiencing said holiday are, confusingly, not simultaneous) spending four days with only what can fit into a small rucksack. Terrifying stuff for a girl who likes to travel with everything. 

I won't be boring you with the details of everything that I've taken with me but I will be sharing with you the beauty stuff that made the shortlist and has come along with me to Amsterdam - it's all hand luggage friendly and for the first time ever I'm actually glad I was ever subscribed to beauty boxes.

On the Hunt for the Perfect Neutral Lip

Today's lipstick post is dedicated to the perfect neutral lip. By a neutral lip I don't exactly mean a 'nude' lip. No, today's post is about my hunt for that tantalizing my lips but better colour that could manifest itself in a hundred different shades with perfection lying in just one. The neutral lip will vary person to person but it is elusive and much sought after by pretty much every woman who's "into" lipstick. My best friend recently told me that she only really owns one lipstick and that certainly she only wears one lipstick because she was only interested in the one for her. Well, my hunt for a perfect neutral lipstick is similar to that desire. Only, in myself this interest has manifested itself in a trial and error process rather than the ruthless deduction that her shopping habits, or lack thereof, signify. I have five neutral lip shades to show you and these are the favourites among my collection, although I have a feeling that perfection is still a shade away...

Benefit Products Worth Trying

Often when people say something is worth trying they often mean that trying the product in question won't hurt you or seriously disappoint and therefore why not. Well, money is why not. I know it's not always "cool" to talk about money and to consider affordability when recommending products but as a student (and especially as a postgraduate student) my budget kind of rules my life. Budgeting can be considered as boring and somewhat of a fun-suck but for me it is essential to living an organised life in which I can look forward to my great pleasures - namely, travelling the world. So, today's post is not just about Benefit products that are worth trying, it's about the products that are genuinely worth their cost. The Benefit products I'm going to be mentioning today are all worthwhile investment pieces that make great presents (to give as well as receive) as they'll last a really long time. You'll also notice that a lot of the Benefit products I'm going to mention are sample sized or miniatures and there's a good reason for this - I purchase magazines with Benefit samples whenever I can because this makes not only affordable but practically cheap. And then they go and last forever and a day meaning that I haven't had to repurchase many of them yet. 

In short, if you live off a tight budget, if you're trying to save or if you rely on your pocket money to fund your beauty addiction then listen up because these are the Benefit products that are worth buying with your hard earned, or hard saved, money.