Mental Health Diaries | All About Anxiety & My Experiences.

I thought I'd write about my experience with mental health & anxiety and what it did to my life.  This is very long and VERY personal so if you're not comfortable with personal posts head on over to a different post on my blog! I didn't know if this would sit well on this blog but who cares, I think it affects everyone from interview nerves to full blown panic and it can happen at different times in our lives, this is something we should talk about, I'm writing this to let others see my journey and hopefully relate to it so they know they aren't alone.  There is a massive stigma connected to the word 'Mental health' and everything surrounding it and it's very upsetting that some people are so narrow minded about these things. If you're here to judge me don't bother, I've heard it all but if you're going to read this please leave your judgements here and open your mind.

REVIEW | Rimmel | Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara

 Rimmel Lash Accelerator Black // £7.99

I seem to be a total mascara fiend, I can never find one I adore and I flit from tube to tube, I've settled on this Rimmel Lash Accelerator one and so far I really like it. It's priced at £7.99 but I found it in Savers for £4.89 and it swayed me to buy it.
The consistency of this is quite wet so it's very easy to apply and the reason I picked it out of the various ones on the stand because of the wand, I always go for a comb for length and a brush for volume. I like how combs really separate my lashes with minimal effort.
I have stubby but straight eyelashes and unless I curl them they don't curl a massive amount with just a mascara, this doesn't curl a great deal but it claims to extend lashes by up to 99%, I would say it extends mine a good amount and it also has micro fibres in, the formula is clump free and I agree I usually have clump free lashes!



I probably shouldn't have done my eyeliner in these pictures but as always I totally didn't think. This is with the mascara on alone with no curling and compared to my normal lashes with no mascara they are much longer and fuller looking. I like how it thickens yet separates my lashes, I like this product and overall I think it's great for everyday use but I'd like a bit more va va voom for when I'm heading out for the night!

Do you use this or have you tried it? What do you think?

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The Versatile Blogger Award

Hello!

So I was nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award by Rachel over at The Anxious Chapter 

I'm super excited as I feel I've been accepted with open arms here on blogger, after running a successful blog on tumblr trying to start again on here is really daunting!.

Thank you so much Rachel!

Rules:

If you're nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award, you've been awarded the award.

Thank the person who awarded you and include the link to their blog.

Nominate 15 bloggers who you think deserve the award, who you've recently discovered or read their blogs regularly. (You must include a link to their site).

Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself in your blog post.

Ashleigh Jo Grant

Under The Blush

Levinias Beauty Blog
Girly Copyright

Tastes Like Glitter

Rosie Mickhaiel
Miss Rose12

Mini Adventures
Shrewd Fox

Cherries In The Snow

What Taylor Buys

When Flowers Fall

Blush Feathers Lipstick

Tiny Apartment Makeover

I've recently started following all of these blogs and there's a few that I've followed even before I made my own blog as well as my best pal.

Here's my 7 things -

1. I'm the only girl and eldest out of 6 children.
2. I'm 26 and still don't know what I want to do with my life other than go to Make up school.
3. I have suffered with an anxiety disorder and depression for most of my adult life (I'm beating it!!)
4. I'm utterly petrified of moths, I got one in my ear when I was younger and it's literally traumatised me!
5. I didn't have my first kiss until I was 16, it was on my doorstep and I had no idea what I was doing, I nearly cried!
6. I never finish books, I can't think of a book I've read all the way through.
7. If I had to take 3 things to a desert island they would be my pugs, my iPad & an endless supply of chocolate.

Thanks for reading guys, I can't wait to find out more about you all! 

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From Brunette To Bright Red | How I Dye My Hair Bright Colours

Hey guys and dolls, I get asked a lot about how I dye my hair red and this is how I go about it without using lots of bleach!

PLEASE NOTE I AM NOT A HAIRDRESSER OR PROFESSIONAL AND THIS IS HOW I DID MY OWN HAIR AND HAVE DONE FOR THE PAST 6 YEARS!

These are the things I use to get to being a redhead! I have listed all the products in the post.

 

This was the first time I ever bleached my hair (cringey photo alert!) and went red, this was done using bleach and Schwarzkopf Live XXL Real Red 

This red has an orange base/undertone so when it fades out it will fade to an orange shade.

After around a year I went to black then changed my mind almost instantly and wanted to go back to red. I discovered Colour B4 This is a hair colour remover and it removes permanent dyes.

• Colour B4 shrinks the artificial dye molecules in the hair, enabling you to simply wash them away.
• Colour B4 does not touch your natural hair pigment so you are left with the colour which lay beneath your artificial shade
• It will return your hair to its natural colour if the artificial hair colour applied is darker than your natural level.
  
  
  

Beating Those Blues!

During January I find myself feeling glum, the month drags by and everyones already had more than enough of drinking and partying as well as spending all their hard earned cash. Sometimes little things can make a massive difference to my moods, here's a few things I do to cheer myself up.

REVIEW | L'Oreal | Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution

L'Oreal - Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution // £3.33 (On offer!)

I have always been a face wipes and hit the pillow kinda girl when it comes to removing my make up, over the years its been fine but as I'm getting older my skins getting a bit more sensitive to what I do and don't do to it, spots clearly aren't just for those teen years.

I saw this in Boots at Christmas time and I've used it most days since, I always think cotton pads, cleansing and toner is such a long winded process but it really doesn't take much time at all and the pay off for me is worth it. I've noticed a slight change in my skin since using it, I think using a face wipe really wasn't helping me get rid of any of the deep down dirt so after using a wipe I used this. Now I thought there can't be much left on my skin right? Wrong, the amount of grime that would come off even after using a wipe was shocking! Since using this my skin has felt a lot 'cleaner', I won't put it down to just this as I've changed my whole skin routine but it's made big difference.
Its hypo-allergenic and suitable for sensitive skin, it leaves my face feeling soothed and toned, it also gets rid of my waterproof mascara a treat, I end up pulling half my eyelashes out when cleaning my eyelashes with wipes!

I just pop it on some cotton pads and sweep over my face, I'll hold it over my lips or eyes if I've used product on them and it does really well at removing everything. It's also a firm favourite for spot cleaning my brushes and putting on cotton buds for mistake correcting (pesky winged eyeliner!!)

I'm very pleased with this product especially as it's being called a dupe for Bioderma's Sensibio H2O Solution Micellaire at a fraction of the cost.

Have you tried this, what did you think? And is it really a good dupe for Bioderma?

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Inspired | The Little Mermaid

This evening my creative side came out and I decided to take the first step towards one of my goals. The Little Mermaid has always been my favourite film and I decided to channel my inner Ariel.


(I apologise about the photo quality, it only occured to me after I'd rubbed half my face off that I should have used my Canon to photograph this instead of my iphone in unnatural light!)

Firstly I did my foundation as normal using Illamasqua Skin Base, I then prepped my eye using Mac Prep & Prime Eye Base and patted on a purple eyeshadow shade 13 from the MUA Immaculate Collection over my lid. I went in with an Elf crease brush in my crease and ran it backwards and forwards until the colour intensified with shade 24 and blended it out further with a Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, I then used a very light pink colour on my brow bone in shade 9.
With shade shade 1 and 15 I ran it under my lower lash line and in the inner corner of my eye with a Real Techniques Accent Brush. I then just lined my eye with Eyeko's Skinny Liquid Liner as I normally do, popped some Benefit Bad Gal in my waterline and added a coat of Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless mascara and some Eyelure Naturalites Super Full lashes to make the eye look more finished. But in true Kyleigh style I forgot to curl them so they don't look as good as they normally do! I also did my brows as normal using Illamasqua Brow Cake in Thunder




For my lips I lined them and filled them in with Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses in Tiramisu and added MAC Snob all over then dabbed a small amount of Rimmel Lasting Finish Matte By Kate Moss in 101 and blended to create a dusky red.

I really enjoyed being creative, I usually do the same make up day in day out and I probably wouldn't ever venture out of my house looking like a mermaid it was fun in my own little world! I'm going to do a series of Disney inspired looks and I really hope you enjoyed this post even though reading it back sounds like a whole lot of waffle for something that anyone can recreate!

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OLD FEARS | NEW FRONTIERS

I didn't even really address the fact that it's a whole new year and that means we all make silly resolutions to do tonnes of things that we never do, or try to do and fail. Well that's how it is for me anyway. I thought I'd just post about what I want to do for the whole 350 odd days left of 2014! I'm not going to set myself unrealistic goals or ban things I think it's healthy to set goals that are achievable so then you actually want to do them!

Goal 1 is to stay on track and keep up with my slimming world journey. 

I know how you feel Barbie. // Just before I got to my heaviest on the left & 1 stone down on the right.

REVIEW | Foxy Locks Hair Extensions

EDIT - I purchased a new set in a slightly darker shade and there were so many synthetic hairs mixed in with the hair they melted to my GHD's so please be aware as of mid 2014 the hair isn't the same quality as when I posted this review!

Foxylocks Deluxe Extensions // Caramel Blonde // £76

I've been wearing hair extensions for probably about 5 years now until I was around 19 I had long hair, didn't care about what I did to it, hacked into it, bleached it, dyed it and totally took it for granted until one day I had a super bright idea to have it all cut off to a bob. Worst mistake I've ever made.
Now extensions are super popular and it's not frowned upon to give your hair some extra oomph and sass any more, I used to think it was almost cringeworthy that I wore them but I can't think of a famous person that doesn't use wigs, hairpieces or extensions now so no more shall I feel extension shame!

REVIEW | W7 In The Buff Palette - Urban Decay Naked 2 Dupe

(This is going to be a super quick post as I'm on my phone waiting to hop on a train back to sunny Eastbourne and I just couldn't wait to post as so many people asked me on Instagram where I got this palette, I hopefully will update it a bit more too!)

After looking at the Naked 2 palette I was also like everyone else lusting after one but I seriously can't justify the best part of £40 on eyeshadow when I don't always use a lot. I'm a winged eyeliner and clean eye kinda girl during the day but I stumbled upon this amazing dupe when roaming amazon and I couldn't resist ordering it.

This is the W7 In the buff palette