DAILY MAKEUP BRUSHES

It's all very well owning brushes upon brushes of all different shapes and sizes in your collection, but when it comes to the daily makeup routine hunting around for a suitable brush begins to waste time, which is why I've narrowed it down to 8 brushes I use on a daily basis that seem to get me through the mornings.

FACE: When it comes to the face, only 3 brushes are really well loved. The first is the Real Techniques Contour Brush, which comes in handy for multiple uses, and for me, contouring, highlighting, and powdering (as well as cream and powder blush when I wear them) are the steps where I tend to reach for this brush. The Real Techniques Buffing Brush comes in handy for applying foundation and concealer, when I really want to spend time buffing in to create that photoshop finish on my skin. The Nanshy Round Buffer Brush is used for the same purposes, but as it's more dense and less flexible I find it quicker to slap on products using this offering when I'm in a rush.

EYES: Here's where things get a little bit more complex, with each brush doing something different. The Tiger Spoolie is used daily to comb and shape my brows, with this Ebay Fraulein angles brush to fill them in with my Elf Pebble Eyeshadow. The next brush along is the Nanshy Tapered Crease, which comes in handy when I'm applying and smudging shadow along the lower lashline for a sultry look. Then comes the Nanshy Blending Eyeshadow, which I tend to use for applying colour to the lid, and also working a warm matte into the crease. Finally, the No7 Blend and Contour Brush is one I always just to finish off any blending and make my eye shadow look seamless.

Now all I need is a good gel liner brush, perhaps a powder brush, and something a little smaller for precise concealer application. What brushes do you use daily?

BLACK LEATHER CONVERSE STYLE FLATS

Although I don't tend to make it very obvious nor scream and shout about it, I am quite a fan of Kanye West, and sometimes his clothing choices really appeal to me - mainly the all black outfits he sports, and when I spotted these black leather converse esque shoes in New Look for £12.99 I thought they were so Kanye that I couldn't put them back down.

First off, the price of these was nothing that needed serious justification, and for something short of 15 quid for a pair of stylish flats, you can't go wrong. These are very comfortable too, and I already know these will be a staple for the Autumn/Winter. With ripped jeans I can imagine these will look pretty darn good, and being all black they can slot into pretty much any outfit I own.

I literally have no regrets buying these shoes, and prepare to see them featured in numerous outfit posts to come. Now, I have my eyes on the  all white pair...

NEW LOOK, NEW START?

You may notice things are looking a little different here on what used to be known as 'The Beau Bow'. For a long time I wanted to tidy things up and get my own domain and finally get my blog how I wanted it, and this weekend was how things kicked off. I will now be known as 'Petite December', on www.petitedecember.co.uk, so I thought I'd do a little intro on what you can expect to see around these parts in the future.

Why the name change?
To be honest, I was getting a little tired of my old name, and I wanted something a little more unique. I am pretty small, hence the 'petite' and I was born in, you guessed it, 'December'. I think its pretty cool and a lot could be done with it banner-wise.

What will you be posting?
I had a strong routine of posting every other day for a solid 6 months or so, but I realised as my time to blog got cut shorter with school work, the quality of the posts was dropping quite dramatically. So, I will probably post 2-3 times a week balancing out beauty with fashion more or less and hopefully the pictures and content in general will be of a higher standard.

I hope you appreciate it might take me a week or so to get to grips with things and perfecting the layout may even take me a couple of months, so bear with the changes if you see any. If any of you know how I can change the URL on my bloglovin' account so I don't have to loose all my followers by claiming the new domain, that'd be very helpful too.

x

BOTANICS ALL BRIGHT - NIGHT AND DAY

I can't argue with budget skincare, especially if it works well for me. I adore my stash of Origins, but sometimes you can become a little heartbroken when something runs out and you are too broke to repurchase. I have resorted to finding drugstore staples that allow me to try even more products out and minimise the heartache.

The Botanics All Bright range is something Megan got me interested in, and as my day and night creams were hitting the last few days worth of product, I scoured the shelves Boots to locate the Hydrating Day and Night Creams, and it was worth it. They have that slight idea of a very gentle chemical exfoliant too, with the brightening hibiscus added in.

The Hydrating Day Cream SPF15 not only hydrates, but also protects the skin with the SPF incorporated in there. It is quite a light texture but when you work it into the skin you feel the hydration coming through - I'd say it'd work for most skin types. They are both quite salmony in colour and have quite a nice scent to them which I can't put my finger on, but nevertheless it gets some brownie points from me.

The Hydrating Night Cream ditches the SPF, is thicker, and is slightly darker in colour. The consistency of this is quite luxurious yet not too heavy at all, and you can definitely tell the difference between the day and night offerings.

For a mere £4.99 each (but often on some kind of offer), I would recommend trying these out for a purse-friendly kick of hydration, especially as the weather turns a little cooler.

EYEBROWS 101 - MY ROUTINE

The one where I show you all things brows. Unfortunately, the day of filming this was not a 'strong eyebrow game' kind of a day, so look forward to watching me attempt to groom some brows that aren't exactly on point. Nevertheless, enjoy my compilation of clips to jazzy music where hopefully you can gain some tips.

 

THE BODY SHOP CAMOMILE CLEANSERS

A few weeks back I started to run low of my Origins Clean Energy Cleansing Oil I was on the hunt for a replacement, as the price tag just wasn't selling a repurchase to me. Mum whipped out a £10 off body shop voucher so immediately I went and picked up two of their highly raved cleansing products.

The first was the Sumptuous Cleansing Butter, sort of like a balm. This one was £12 (but I only paid £2 and then the full price of the oil), for 90ml of product. I take this on dry skin and massage it in - it takes a matter of seconds to melt into an oil and then can take off all makeup (even waterproof) or just cleanses the skin really nicely if your makeup has already been removed. It's nourishing and just leaves my skin feeling clean, but by no means stripped.

The second offering is that of the Silky Cleansing Oil. This is quite a light consistency for an oil, not thick at all and one pump or so can cleanse my whole face - I did use waaaay to much the first use, but you get used to using the correct amount. This can remove all traces of waterproof makeup too, and seems to leave my skin feeling plumped and nourished too. This costs £10 for 200ml so is realy quite a good value product.

I was wary these would break me out as lots of new cleansers I try seem to do, but these actually have left me with no problems as it stands. I'm impressed, and could see these being repurchased in the future...

URBANVEDA SOOTHING FACIAL POLISH

I don't tend to use physical scrubs very regularly since the likes of Caroline Hirons steered us blemish-prone folk away from them, but every now and then I need a little something something to leave my skin polished, which is where the UrbanVeda Soothing Exfoliating Facial Polish* comes in.

It's a natural brand I believe, and the scent definitely smells quite herbal which I always think is nice in a face product. Whilst claiming to exfoliate it definitely isn't harsh product, its more of a creamy cleanser with some fine sand like grains put it, really nothing vigorous.

Although a short but sweet review, there's not a great deal more to this cleanser, and to be fair, I think simple is the best way forward with a scrub, and I look forward to using this more in the future, and perhaps even trying more from the range.

BEAUTY AND FASHION HAULING

I did some shopping over the past few weeks, so compiled into a video I made a haul.

Keep checking back to my channel as I have a brow routine uploading as we speak!

GOING FOR THE CHOP

After a very spur-of-the-moment decision on Saturday night (which entailed quite a lengthy session of scouring Google Images for pictures of every blogger who went for the chop), I decided to get my hair cut. Not professionally, just by my mum in the kitchen. Yep, you heard. My mum has been cutting my hair for me up until about the age of 12, and I have only been to the hairdressers for something short of 10 times maximum.

I was practically hyperventilating and as she hacked off the first chunk of hair off, it's safe to say I squealed and made a spectacle, but, there was no going back after that so she continued and I walked up to the mirror with hands over my eyes, and luckily absolutely loved the finished product. I started testing out styles, not even bothered by the hair left behind on the table that resembled a small rodent.

I did wake up Sunday morning with a minute feeling of regret but as soon as I looked in the mirror, saw where my hair used to look ratty and dead, and began waving and curling it, that feeling went away. I will say I like this curled, but very lightly with some texture enhancing spray through the lengths too - with this length of hair you really can go for the gritty look.

I look forward to celebrating how quick my hair takes to dry and wash, as well as enjoying the new look I have going on - honestly, who knew a trim (or a few more inches than the latter) could make me feel so fashionable?