The Goodness of Skintone Eyeliners: UNE SkinGlow Pencils

I remember when I was completely addicted to black eyeliner - I didn't need or want anything else on my face, if I had this I was good to go! For better or for worse, those days are gone!

In its place, though to a much less degree of essential-ness than black eyeliners in the past, are skintone coloured eyeliners, and the one in particular is the UNE SkinGlow Pencil, which retails at around £7 from Boots or Superdrug. I chose this over white eyeliners for the obvious reason - it looks more natural, especially on medium-toned skintones like mine!

The reason why I got this was because I liked the idea of having brightened and awake eyes, and while it does do that, I think the best way to describe its function is to say that it defines your eyes without looking unnatural.

Black eyeliners really bring out your eyes, but it makes it 10x obvious that you're wearing make up, and on a darker skintone like mine, so do white eyeliners. Personally, this isn't a look I go for in the summer, so I wanted this definition without the obvious make-up.

Up close I suppose it's still a little bit obvious, even if this is G04, the darkest shade they have. In this pic I suppose it wouldn't make a difference if I'd gone for a white eyeliner instead!

But from afar, it really does do your eyes a favour - brightens, get rids of the redness on your waterline, and it defines your eyes.

I find that this particular eyeliner doesn't last very long - but unlike black eyeliners where you are constantly worried whether you look like a panda from melting eyeliner, this is a walk in the park because even if it melts it's not so obvious under your eyes, and the eyeliner is easy enough to carry around :) So no harm in being forgetful like me and forgetting to occassionally wipe under my eyes or top up on make up!

So yes - for the summer days atleast, I am a complete convert to skintone eyeliners. That being said, sometimes I do forget to put it on - I mean, it's fleshtone at the end of the day! But I think it's a great thing to have in general for that little oomph to your eyes, especially for days with really red or tired eyes!

How do you keep your eyes natural during the summer? :)

<3yu

P.S. Apologies for the lack of posting/tweeting - I've been on holiday with my family, as they are here in the UK to see me graduate on Friday! :) Will hopefully be back in business on Monday, from good old Japan :) I've got lots to show you, so I'm very excited! Keep in touch :)

What I Took To Malta: Beach/Pool Make-Up!

I'm back! Hello to the new followers, and a big I-missed-you hug to the old! Malta was absolutely gorgeous and the perfect wind-down from 3 years of uni. Ben and I also found out that we have graduated with a 2:1 on our degrees - so it was a great week in general!

Today I'll show you what I brought to Malta - hopefully you can take away what I think is great to have for a beach holiday, in case some of you are off on one soon! We had a 15kg limit so a lot of the stuff were compact :)

Before that, I'll show you some snaps of our week there :) We stayed at the Radisson Blu on Golden Bay, courtesy of Ben's aunt for his 21st - we were there with Gary Neville!

Mokka Bar - We always had after dinner drinks here :)

Our kitchen/dining room/living room - I KNOW! We had a suite! :D

TV in bathtub - very convenient for the Wimbledon season! :)

Golden Bay

The pool

The Malta busses - 54p to the capital! :O

Streets of Valetta

 Ben & I at the Grand Harbour

Honestly, I am struggling a bit with a lack of foundation/powder/concealer to match my skin! I also got my nails done, which was fun - OPI Glitzerland is very pretty! On days where we weren't by the pool or the beach, we went to other places like St. Julian's and Mdina - I think my favourite was Valetta - it is absolutely gorgeous!

On to the make-up!

I bought myself a brand new make-up bag for this holiday, and it's this baby from Glitzy Glam. It is so much fun to come up with your own bag, and it's absolutely massive! You can see more in my June Favourites video :) Anyway, this is great for if you're going anywhere for over a week. It also fitted my brushes, moisturizer, and my mini-shower stuff too.

I brought loads of make-up, but the ones I used were things that gave me the most natural and beachy look - here are the kinds of things I'd recommend to someone who is off on a sunny holiday :)

- NIVEA Stay Real Blush in Shades of Rose

This is a great summer shade because it's like a really tanned pink, so it's very natural and goes with the golden glow of a tan! :) Anything else felt too unnatural and unbeach-like because it was too much of a pop of colour.

- CANMAKE Gokubuto Mascara

Waterproof mascara is a must - this one is also natural, in that it separates and lengthens so it was good for a natural beachy look.

- MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque

I only wore this in the evening, just to add some colour on my eyes - it's a bright gold with a salmon duochrome, which again compliments a tan, and you don't need a brush!

- UNE SkinGlow Pencil in G04

I didn't really use this too much - it got too light as my tan grew! But it's still a great summer-time product that opens up your eyes and no worries about the black eyeliner melting :)

- Lipice Suncare SPF25

Somehow a lipstick seemed too unnatural, and I felt like with such a dark tan, a natural lip was best. So I used this lipbalm with SPF the most, and the lemon-scent is gorgeous! :)

- MAC Moisture Tint in Medium Dark SPF15

While the Bourjois Healthymix was light and natural enough for a beachy feel, I didn't need a lot of coverage because of the tan and my blemishes were going away with the healthy amount of sun! The SPF was a good reassurance too :)

For the bath essentials, I brought mini-things of my favourite body wash and cleanser - the Bodyshop Grapefruit Shower Gel and the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish. I also brought the BodyShop Grapefruit Body Butter, which helped a lot with dried out sunkissed skin!

The biggest difference from my usual routine was my shampoo and conditioner - the LUSH Godiva Shampoo/Conditioner Bar. I picked this because 1) it smells amazing and 2) it's a 2-in-1. It is far from the best haircare, and I felt my hair wasn't in the best condition, but it's definitely a good product for holiday :)

So there you go! I had an amazing time, and I'd definitely want to go back to see more of the country some time. The atmosphere, the architecture, the culture - everything was lovely! And I hope you got some good tips for products or what kinda stuff you might wanna bring to your holiday :)

Who else is off on holiday?
What are your beach holiday must-haves? :)

<3yu

June Favourites!

June was a weird month - the weather was weird, my schedule was weird, leaving uni has been weird - it's generally been weird.

My make-up habits has been unusual as well, as I started June with exams, went on holiday for a week, had breaks inbetween and am now off on a holiday in Malta (I should be on a plane atm, screaming obscenities at the turbulence.. as you do) - so lots of inconsistencies and not being in front of my vanity.

That being said, it's kinda shed light to what I have TRULY loved! This favourites is a bit unstructured for that reason, and is just a general bunch of products I've been really impressed by - not necessarily my favourite blush, my favourite eyeshadow, my favourite foundation etc., etc., :) Enjoy!

Here are some better pics of the individual products :)

MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque

Rimmel Sunshimmer Bronzer in Medium Matte

UNE SkinGlow Pencil in G04

MAC Eyeshadow in Patina

MAC Eyeshadow in Honesty

MAC Lipstick in Vegas Volt

Also, I've decided I'll start popping up some links to some blogs that I've discovered and/or loved that month, so here goes this month's selection :)

It's the Pretty Things

Oh So Fresh As A Daisy...

Gorgeous M.E.

All these bloggers are lovely people who I've had a chance to get to know on Twitter - definitely go check them out! :)

What were your favourite products this month? :)

<3yu