The Glueless Scr4pbook.

An updated whats in my bag, because I have a new bag and a new make up bag so thought I would share the changes with you guys.

The bag is the Mini City Bag from Zara £39.99.

I have a few collected lip products from the last few days, the Maybelline nude lipstick, No7 BB Lips, No7 Lip Crayon and Korres Jasmine Lip Butter. Some Soap & Glory Hand Sanitizer, mini L'occitane Cherry Blossom hand cream, my Power Bank phone charger, my work keys, some Halo wipes and my   purse which I use for any cash, recipets, vouchers etc.

My make up bag (the full contents can be seen in my 'Make up I think I need' post), my card holder, my Mark Ryden diary, a Muji pen, YSL Manifesto perfume and my car keys.

I've recently been obsessing over skincare, probably since my friend told me that my skin is now classed as 'mature'. Great! I have been buying quite a few new bits to try out, the most expensive and most exciting being this little baby, the Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado (28g for £33).

"This creamy preparation with avocado oil gently moisturises the delicate eye area. Our unique concentrated texture does not migrate into your eyes."

Directions: Apply gently with fingertips along the orbital bone.

So it is in a plastic screw top tub, it is a really bright greeny yellow thick cream and is relatively scentless, it just smells of a standard face cream, very clean and pure smelling which I really like.

The key ingredients in this eye cream are obviously Avocado Oil which is known to be the most moisturising of any fruit oil and it helps to restore the skins natural moisture, and secondly Shea Butter which again is well known for its extremely hydrating properties.

This eye cream is purely targeted at moisturising the eye area, and isn't really aimed at puffiness or dark circles (there is another one that I have my eye on for that) but moisturising is the best for preventing fine lines and wrinkles. 

I mainly just use this eye cream at night because it is so intensely creamy, you literally need the smallest amount, so my tub is going to last forever (they do a small tub for £20, I would recommend that one instead), I think you could use it in the morning before your make up routine but you would have to leave a substantial amount of time before you could apply your make up over the top. I love this stuff and I really recommend it especially to those who suffer with dry skin under their eyes. Its really great and if I do ever run out I will definitely be buying a new one. 

I recently purchased the much talked about Benefit Gimme Brow (3g for £17.50), the newest brow technology to hit stores. I actually managed to get mine for a sneaky £15.75 using my Friends with Benefit card (I have done a post about this previously), so I was very pleased with myself.

Gimme Brow comes in only 2 shades which is fine for me because luckily I fit into one of the shades but its a real shame for those with very blond hair or black hair, maybe they will add more? At the moment though the shades available are Light/Medium and Medium/Dark, I chose Medium/Dark.

It is described as a "Volumising fibre gel", which basically means it it a brow gel which holds everything in shape but inside the gel are tiny little fibres that are designed to attach to skin and hair to create a fuller looking brow. Hello Cara Delivigne.

The full blurb on this is, brush on fibre gel adheres to skin and hairs for fuller looking brows, it's water resistant, long wearing, natural looking and buildable. Having tried it I would agree with all these points.

The instructions say that you should 'stroke the brush tip along the brow to define the shape, comb through to blend and build' but there is a Tips & Tricks leaflet inside which says you should use short pressing motions to add the product to the brow, I find this method to be the best.

I really like this product, I think it is a bit fiddly and therefore time consuming but I think that the speed will come with more practice. I have taken before and after photos for you below.

There was a slight hint of some sunshine the other day so I decided to venture out to an old village near me. It's perfect for a chilled day out, it has a Boots, Starbucks, Space NK, a WHSmiths (Magazines) and the best Lloyds Pharmacy I have ever seen (full of beauty stands, Dior, Lancome, Clinique, they have every perfume you could want, and a Korres stand!!), so everything a girl could ever need basically.

They also have a little store called Temptation, which is a gorgeous little store filled with cute ornaments, stationary, decorations, unique cards, a Cath Kidston section, a Yankee Candle section and plenty of other beautiful gifts and trinkets. Naturally I popped in to see what was new, and they had the prettiest Easter display ever... There were handmade ornaments, hand painted decorations, hand sewn egg cosies and all in the seasonal pastel colours. I just thought I'd share some of the pictures with you guys incase anybody needs a bit of inspiration for Easter.

Of course I couldn't leave without buying something, I chose a mini handcrafted wooden decoration, I had no idea what to do with it so it now lives on my dressing table. I also picked up one of the limited edition Easter Yankee Candles in the White Chocolate Bunnies scent, the other one, Bunny Cake has been released previously and my brother managed to track one down for me in December and its still going strong.

I really recommend the Temptation website, there are so many cute and unique things in the store it's a great place to buy an unusual gift, or just things for yourself (like me).

On a recent outing I finally picked up the Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine, I have gone to order this many times but having so many lip products already, and never having smelt it in real life I have always talked myself out of it. I decided to go for it this time since it was right in front of me and smelt so good.

So there are 6 flavours/scents to chose from, they are 6ml tubs and priced at £8. To be honest I was originally attracted to this one because of the pretty pink colour but having smelt it I can see why it is so popular. They come packaged in cute little boxes which I think is a nice touch considering its just a lip balm, I also think any form of extra packaging is a deterrent for illegal testing (when people ruin perfectly good products by sticking their fingers all over them) so even though they are 'a waste of paper' as such, I still think they serve some purpose.

It is in a screw top pot which a lot of people hate, I know it's not as hygienic or practical but I don't mind it really. The Lip Butter itself is actually a creamy consistency, not a gel/ balm like I first thought ( I have seen numerous reviews and pictures of this product and always thought it to be a tinted gel type but in reality it's a tinted butter, like the Body Shop lip butters but a lot creamier). It's not extremely long lasting if I am honest but it definitely feels moisturising on the lips, it's super creamy but not slippy which is perfect. As for the scent, I am truly rubbish at describing scents but I would just say, nothing floral or strong like I expected, it's more a sweet sugary scent, almost like candy floss but very faint and light.

I have been a huge fan of Philosophy products since I first learnt they made a perfume range by the name of Grace (my name) and it has spiralled into an obsession since then really. I think it was my auntie that actually bought me my first item from Philosophy and since then my nan has topped me up along the way, I've also found some bargains in TK Maxx every now and then so I now have quite the collection.

Yet again I visited my local nail bar for some much needed TLC, I used to be a biter and I have stopped now for a good few years but just recently I have bitten 4 of my nails down to the root, they were sore and bleeding and I thought the only way to save them was to cover them in acrylics so they are hidden away and cannot be bitten. I am aware that the acrylics themselves are harmful to my nails so I have only had them put on the 4 effected nails and I have extremely strong natural nails so when they grow out my natural nails will be fully restored to their non bitten state.

Of course I chose the shade Mod About You by OPI, because it is my favourite pink shade, a real Barbie pink, very very pale almost white, but so girly and pretty. It is so light that I know I would never be able to paint in on myself without creating a mess, this is pretty much the only shade that I get painted on at the nail bar because otherwise I consider it a waste of money because I can do it myself. This shade is very opaque so you can actually get a really full colour with just one coat which I love because it means it wouldn't be time consuming like some thinner pinks that take maybe 3 or 4 coats to get the true colour.

I got these done courtesy of my Nan who got me the vouchers for Christmas and luckily I still have enough left for a massage which is great because I have never had one and I really want to treat myself to a nice relaxing afternoon one day soon.

So I ordered me some Muji Beauty Storage, as it is now widely know, I'm pretty sure they were designed for office supplies, but have become ever popular with beauty bloggers over the last few years.

I was always happy with my piles of make up all over my dressing table in little vintage pots and bowls, but I've had a bit of an organising frenzy over the last few months and thought it was about time I grew up a bit with my storage. My dressing table is still very vintage and cutesy but now all my daily make up is tucked neatly in the Wide 2 Drawer Acrylic Box from Muji (£10.95).

On top I have just decided to keep my essentials, the MAC brush cleanser which I have decanted into my used up Philosophy Inner Grace spray (for three reasons, the MAC bottle does not have a spray, I did not want to throw the Inner Grace bottle away and I wanted to trade the original bottle in for a Back-to-MAC), my nail polish remover, my topcoat which I am really trying to use all the time because I never do (I'm lazy and it's time consuming), my magnifying mirror and lastly the Kiehls Creamy Eye Treatment which I have just recently bought and doesn't fit in the skincare draw.

In the top drawer I have my current typical daily make up, I might occasionally grab something else to use, but generally all these items are being used on a daily basis at the moment. So I have my foundation (MAC Studio Fix Fluid), a couple of concealers (MAC Pro Longwear and Maybelline Fit Me), an under eye concealer (L'oreal Lumi Magique), a couple of lip balms (Lanolips 101 Ointment, By Terry Baume de Rose and MAC Lip Conditioner), a lipgloss (Nars Turkish Delight), a couple of eyebrow products (MAC Veluxe Brow Liner and Benefit Gimme Brow), an eyeshadow base (MAC Paint Pot in Painterly), my eyeshadow palette (Urban Decay Naked Basics), a blusher (MAC Mineralise Blush in Giggly), bronzer (Bourjois Delice De Poudre), face powder (Soap&Glory One Heck Of A Blot) and highlighter (Benefit High Beam).

In the bottom drawer I have my daily skincare, so an eye make up remover (L'oreal Absolute Make Up Remover Eye & Lip), a toner (Lush Tea Tree Water which I have decanted into a smaller spray so that it fits inside the drawer), a cleanser (Garnier Micellar Water, also decanted into a smaller container), a primer (Rimmel Stay Matte), an eye cream (Body Shop Vitamin E eye cream), a day moisturiser (Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream), a night moisturiser (Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream) and a spot treatment (Lush Grease Lightening).

The rest of my desk has had a clear out too, I now have 3 pink jars holding my cotton balls, my cotton buds and one for earrings and hair grips/elastics. A pretty bottle I saved from my dinner at Bills with a wooden rose, a white Ikea plant pot to house my make up brushes, a little Cath Kidston floral cup for my tweezers, sharpeners, files, scissors, eyelash curlers, nail clippers etc. a pump bottle of Soap & Glory Hand Food, the Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist and my current nail polish which is Models Own in the shade Buff Pink.

Today's post is my February favourites, I only have 7 this month, but these 7 have definitely had the most use out of everything for the last 28 days so here we go...

1. MAC Studio Fix Fluid foundation £21.50

This has been my go-to, most used foundation of the month, hands down, the coverage is great, it doesn't feel heavy or cakey and the finish is matte but natural. I really have been loving it.

2. Maybelline Fit Me concealer £5.99

This is a relatively new one, but it was a love-at-first-use moment for me, its really creamy, very pigmented but not thick and very easy to blend. I have been using this over my Nars Radiant Creamy concealer (which I thought I would be using every day since buying it) and over my beloved Pro Longwear by MAC too.

3. L'oreal Miss Manga mascara £8.99

The new release from L'oreal, which I have heard a lot of negative things about, but I for one, have nothing to complain about, I really like it and I haven't even looked at another mascara since buying this one last month.

4. The Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying day cream £10

This is definitely holy grail for me now, and I'm nearly running out. I love the smell for a start, its such a refreshing scent to put on your face first thing in the morning, wakes me right up! On more important matters it really is mattifying but not drying by any means, my face doesn't feel stiff, just hydrated and smooth. Perfect.

5. Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot powder £12

This was a purchase from last month too and one I have used everyday, it has totally taken over from my Rimmel Stay Matte powder, which I do still love but I have found this one to be just that little bit lighter on the skin, no cake feel no matter what.

6. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick highlighter £32

I have had this little gem for a very long time, but after seeing the new Revlon versions released I figured I really should get more use out of it, so I did, I have been using it on my cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose very lightly for a nice but natural glow.

7. Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy anti-breakage serum £6.99

This wonderful little bottle full of beautiful smelling serum has been great for my fly aways. I don't straighten my hair too much these days, mainly because I'm lazy but I have used this every time and its so good, not greasy at all, it applies like a super light weight oil and frizz and fly aways are a thing of the past. Usually I would get frizzy just by looking at the rain, but with this, nuh-uh!!