The Answer To My Liquid-Liner Prayers

Now I'm a self-confessed liquid eyeliner rookie. I've always been the girl who opts for a smokey eye for a night out because I just couldn't get the hang of eye liner, and I'd tried so many products and techniques. However recently I found something that has me on board with the winged liner: the Stile Stay-All-Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner.

It's one of those felt-tip style eyeliners and the nib is a little longer than some and comes to a really nice sharp point that makes doing liquid liner a breeze. The formula is great too, it's super black and smooth so it aids the application. I also find that when it dries down it's not too shiny so it gives amazing definition to the eyes. The waterproof claim seems to be pretty fair too, I haven't noticed any smudging with the formula and it doesn't flake off either so really long-wearing.

To apply the liner, I just lay the nib along my lash-line and press it down, then draw a little triangle flick on the end and colour it in if needed. Being an eyeliner novice I must admit I generally just do a three-quarter line (rather than starting the line from the very inner corner of my eye, I usually start it from where my iris starts if I'm looking straight forward. Generally I find the smaller you make the flick, the easier it is to keep both eyes relatively symmetrical. And trust me, If I can do it, anyone can.

Inside My “Womanhood Survival Kit”

Despite the somewhat ridiculous nickname I've given it, the collection of items that I've nicknamed my "Womanhood Survival Kit" has come in handy on many occasions since it's birth and I can't believe I went so long without one. It's basically a little makeup bag that I can move from bag to bag that houses useful things, and here's what's inside mine:

I have my top three most-used medicinal products in there: pain killers, flu capsules and throat lozenges. My job involves a lot of talking so I've found carrying throat lozenges to be a good move, I find myself needing these every now and then and it's nice to have them when you need them. I've also started carrying around flu capsules recently since there seems to be a lot of bugs going around at the moment and these are great since they have paracetamol and caffine in them. I've also got standard painkillers since I'm prone to headaches and get stomach cramps, speaking of stomach cramps...

I don't know many girls who don't carry around supplies for when mother natures monthly gift arrives. Toilets everywhere have them but they're so expensive in the machines and they're never anything good. I always have a few on hand just in case of an emergency.

I've got a small Soap & Glory Hand Maid Hand Sanitiser in there, it's my sanitiser of choice since it has that classic Soap & Glory scent to it that I love. Another hygiene-related item is a deodorant or body spray - the amount of times I've been to the gym and forgot to pack one is ridiculous so I've started carrying one in my handbag to avoid disasters.

For miscellaneous items I have a black biro pen (I like the Bic ones) and a bobble (hair tie for you folks in the States). When I decided that I wanted to get dieting I added in a travel-friendly container of sweeteners - I've been finding this great as it's meant I can cut back on sugar wherever I am. A few weeks back I had a dry-skin issue that was super uncomfortable so I've added a mini tube of the Pommade Divine Nature's Remedy Balm to the bag and that's been working great - after just one day of continuous use it eased off my dry skin almost completely.

I've actually got quite a few beauty products in there: I always keep a mascara in there for emergency teary eyed moments. A pressed powder and a concealer are always nice to keep in there for general touch ups. At the moment I'm carrying the Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Eraser Eye Perfect and cover Concealer which is nice if a little too dark for me (more shades please Maybelline!) and the Maybelline Fit Me Pressed Powder which I prefer for touch ups since it has a little coverage in there.

I always have at least one lip balm on hand, at the moment I have the Arrow Boost Color Enhancing Lip Balm which isn't the most hydrating lip balm out there but the hint of colour it gives the lips is nice. For actual hydration I've also got the Malin+Goetz Mojoito Lip Balm, can you tell I like my lip balms sweet?

The final thing I have in there is a couple of the Olay Daily Facials Cleansing Cloths. These are so travel friendly since they take up no room at all and you just add water and all you need to wash your face is in there. I have a few friends that live a little further away than I'd like them too and these are useful for times when I'm planning to go for a day visit but end up staying the night.

So there we have it - does anyone else have something like this? I can't be the only one.

Tips For Eating Healthier: Meal Planning

When I decided to start trying to get back into shape (and I know round is technically a shape) I looked to Slimming World to be the healthy-eating push that I needed but getting used to cooking from scratch most nights was difficult at first. I have a schedule that's all over the place (shout out to anyone on a shift rotation!) and some weeks traditional meal-times just wasn't working for me. That's when I started looking into meal planning.

I must admit, going into it I wasn't sure; I thought meal planning would be really restrictive and that I'd struggle with not fancying what I'd planned for that meal, but it's been a lot easier than I thought it would be. Here's how I've been making it work for me:

1. Work out your schedule. A pretty standard tip I'm sure you'll agree, but one that's so important. If it's not just you that you're meal planning for take their schedule into account too: there's no point planning a meal for 2 people if the other one isn't home for that meal. I find this helps especially if you don't really have a set work routine - I work a shift rotation and my mum (who I'm meal planning with) also has a job with varying working hours but we meal plan together where we can.

2. Have a consistent day of the week to actually do your meal plan, I do my planning on Sunday's. I start by looking at what I have that needs using up, find recipes that involve those ingredients and then make a list of the things I need that I don't already have. Simples. If you want to get clever with this step, you can work your plan to have things that you can switch up in there too. For instance I like getting full chicken breasts because while my meal plan may have been for chicken kievs, if when that meal arrives I don't fancy them, I can marinate and roast my chicken breast, or I can cut my chicken breast into small chunks and have peri peri chicken pieces. I find having a well stocked spice rack helps with spontaneity which can help keep you from getting bored with your meal planning.

3. Plan things that actually work realistically with your schedule. My first week on late shifts, I was planning a proper evening meal and taking it to work in a Tupperware. Which meant I was waking up earlier to cook and I actually ended up hungrier and more tired for it. Now I'm more realistic and have a big breakfast before I leave and take pre-prepared fruit, veg and maybe a packet of pre-cooked meat or pasta with me to snack on and that's working much better than a proper meal on those shifts. Similarly when I'm on early starts I try to pre-prepare my lunch the night before so I can throw it in my bag and go in the morning.

4. Work your food shops into your plan. This is another area where I was messing up initially with my meal planning. I'd plan to something with fresh ingredients 3-4 days after my initial food shop and then have to give up on that plan as I didn't have time to go out and re-stock mid-week. We generally do the main shop on a Sunday and try to nip out again on the Wednesday or Thursday to restock if I can. If you know you're not going to have time to nip out for fresh ingredients mid-week, maybe plan to have fresh things like salads earlier in the week, and get your veg in later in the week by cooking up and freezing meals for days 5-7.

5. The most important thing to remember with meal planning is to not be too hard on yourself if you don't stick to it 100%. Things change, plans get switched up. Don't beat yourself up if you meal planned to have a healthy breakfast every day this week but woke up on the weekend in need of pancakes: you still had the healthy breakfast 6 days that week which (if you're anything like I used to be) is probably more than you normally would have.

Hope this helps!

Makeup Tips for Glasses Wearers

I've always been a big fan of eye makeup, so when I got to the point in life where my eyesight had gotten bad enough to have to wear glasses all the time, I opted for contact lenses initially. After a few years of them not really working for me (I'd tried dailies, monthlies, only wearing them for a few days a week - my eyes just don't really like them) I resigned to actually wearing my glasses and have found ways to still make makeup work for me, so here's some quick tips for those of us who don't get on with contacts.

Choose your frames carefully. When I picked up my glasses I've gone for a shape that's really flattering on my face, they're oversized with thin pieces of metal surrounding the lenses in a burgundy colour ( I found black frames to be a bit too harsh for my features) and the actual shape of the frames is slightly cat-eye shaped. They're just like a larger version of the shape I normally wear my eyeshadow in. The frames I've got give me a lot of lid space for eyeshadow without having to blend outside of the frames - which brings me to my next tip:

Try to keep the colour within the frames. Eyeshadow on glasses wearers can start to look a little messy if it's blended outside of the frames. When you're doing your eye makeup, the easiest way to make it look polished is to treat the frames of your glasses as the frames for your eyes.

Keep things balanced. Like I said, my frames are quite oversized so they cover up a bit of my eyebrows, I always make sure that I fill my brows in as it offers some balance to the face. I also think a toned down eye and a really bold lip looks great with glasses, your frames are already giving your eyes definition so mascara and a bold lip always seems to work nicely.

And finally - beware of false eye lashes. I personally don't bother with falsies if I'm wearing glasses as they just end up brushing up against the lenses and going a bit wonky. If you are going for false lashes, I'd recommend going for shorter ones and using a really good glue to make sure they're 100% secure.