Tania Michele: April 2016

Friday, 29 April 2016

Crown Brush UK* Review

About two weeks ago, the lovely people from Crown Brush UK, got in contact with me via twitter about trying out some of their brushes for a review. I said yes, and was happy for them to pick whichever brush or two they'd like to send and then they arrived a few days later.

I was only expecting 2-3 brushes at the most from them, but they went above and beyond with the generosity and sent me 13 brushes AND, a 28 neutral eye shadow palette! In total, the brushes and the palette came to £120 (approx) and they are very worth the price.

How super kind of them is that!?

All of the brushes they so nicely sent me are for the face and eyes. I'm quite a religious user of Real Techniques, but these brushes are replacing some of my usual ones as these are such awesome quality.

Above are the brushes they sent me are all part of the Syntho range, and the ones I've used the most over the last ten days are in the second image. I've now had time to use all but three of the brushes, and I'm so happy to now own them.

The ones that I've used the most are the Jumbo Kabuki Fan, Duo Brow Brush, Medium Face Contour and the Foundation brush.

They have what I call the 'duo fibre' look as it's two toned. Each brush has a sturdy handle and good quality metal to hold the bristles in place. I'm quite rough with my brushes so I need them to be really sturdy - or I break them.

So far, no break and awesome results! The Kabuki fan brush isn't one I'd usually buy, but it's been my fave one to use as it's sooooo soft!

AND, until the end of May, you can get 10% off your order with the code 'Maybrushes'!

The palette they also sent me is incredible. This is the 28 Nude Palette for £20.99 (currently on sale for £16.99!) I don't have any palettes that are just neutral shade, so this is something I'm really excited about. I've so far only used this a couple of times with the brushes, and so far - all good impressions.

They're quite good for pigmentation, but I've struggled to get a good coverage with the lighter shade. I'm more into using the darker colours anyway, so this doesn't bother me too much!

You can also check out this cheeky little review I uploaded on Sunday of the brushes and palette if you want a better look at the other brushes I was sent!

I'm really enjoying the brushes and am so thankful that I was sent so much from them! Thanks Crown Brush!! You can also check them out on twitter, instagram, youtube and don't forget their website!

Have you tried this brand yet? If so, what did you try and what did you think? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Picture Perfect #3

Having had a pretty exhausting weekend of work and birthday celebrations, I decided it was time for another little 'life lately' post. I stopped doing my monthly overview posts as I felt they were getting too long winded, but I still want to share some snaps of my life with you now and then.

Here are some snap shots of my life and the things I've been up to, since the end of March! Hope you enjoy this pretty pic heavy post!

Got to see y sister for 3 weeks as she was back from Uni

The final Easter egg!

Spent a few days playing board games

Went bowling with my Dad and sister!

A BH Cosmetics Haul!

Started a bullet journal

Had a night out with Nicola

Bought the new Shaaanxo palette

Found this cheery sentence in a booklet from work

Spent a day in London

My new dress from Yours Clothing!

What have you been up to lately and how often do to take pictures for memories? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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Monday, 25 April 2016

I Went 9 Hours Without The Internet And I Didn't Die

I had a rare Saturday off work this weekend as I was up in London to celebrate a birthday! We walked around Charing Cross area, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly and Covent Garden, before having dinner at Big Easy.

It was also St. George's day and the day before the London Marathon, so it was crowded. We done a lot of walking and I tried to take some pictures, but I kinda forgot about my camera until we'd walked around for an hour and then again at the restaurant.

Here are some of the pictures I did manage to snap...

It wasn't until we were on the train back that I noticed I'd not touched my phone since we'd left home at lunchtime.

I'd not tweeted, done an Instagram, Facebook status, and not even a whatsapp to my sister. I didn't die from lack of internet!! What's even more unusual for me is that I didn't even care. Usually I'm constantly worrying that my social media is going quiet or my twitter feed is all promo tweets (which it was on Saturday!) But I didn't care at all.

I am a person who is always attached to a device of sorts and interacting with other bloggers and I thought that if I didn't do anything pro-active on the sites, then shit would go down. Well not exactly, but you know the feeling I'm on about??

It was just so nice to unhook for a while and not be refreshing timelines every 60 seconds in case I miss something. So I went a whole nine - nearly ten - hours away from social media and I didn't die. Nothing bad happened.

I think I'm going to try and do this more often as it was lovely to be away from it all and have a break!! Do you know the feeling I'm on about? When was the last time you were away from the internet all day? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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Friday, 22 April 2016

Yours Clothing Haul | Youtube

I'm going to level with you all.

I've not got a post planned properly for today.

I have a dozen products to review and take pictures of, as well as a few reviews for companies to go up over the next week. But when I was sat at my desk last night trying to come up with a post for you all, I didn't know what to do. I could either rush a half-ass post for you about a product with shitty pictures or I could have a cheat day and share with you a video off my YouTube channel that I posted a couple of weeks ago - one that I'm really happy and proud of.

So that's what I'm doing.

Here is a haul of the resent clothing items I picked up from Yours Clothing - and it's a try on video! Hope you enjoy!

If you enjoyed this, please go and subscribe to my channel as it would mean a lot! Plus, I'm trying to be a bit better with my channel and I'm uploading every Sunday evening between 5/6pm GMT, so regular content!

Sorry to have a little blog cheat day! Usual blogging service will resume on Monday!

Like any of the clothes or have something similar? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Barry M Nail Corrector Pen

I love painting my nails and it's inevitable that me, being speedy with the process, is going to get it everywhere. Cuticles, my desk and once or twice even my laptop...

I usually use a cotton bud dipped in polish remover to tidy up, but sometimes it's a bit fiddly and I end up wiping off half a freshly done nail. However, I spotted this beauty from Barry M last week, and thought I'd give it a shot and see if it was any good. You can get this from Superdrug for £4.99!

It's a blue tube with two ends. One end is the pointed end with the formula already over it so it's ready to go. The other end has two spare nibs so you can swap them out when the other is too far gone for proper use. I love that it has spares so you can get a good amount of use out of this.

As you can see I used it straight away before taking pictures (the blogger horror!) and I didn't really care as you can see the nib a bit better!

It was super easy to use and removed the polish off my fingers and cuticles! It has a melon scent to it and doesn't irritate the skin at all - all in all I love it!!

I will happily buy this again when I need to as it's so good and really easy to use! Have you tried this before or anything similar? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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Monday, 18 April 2016

Jewellery Box*

Last week the lovely Gemma from JewelleryBox.co.uk contacted me about trying out some of their products for review and I was super excited about this as I was able to pick a few items that I'd like! How nice of them is that!?

There's such a range of necklaces, rings, earrings, anklets and other items to pick from - all sterling silver and of a super high quality and I was stuck for choice!! I eventually chose two anklets, some rings and a few necklaces so that Gemma could have a range of ideas of what I liked and I was sent an anklet and two of the rings!

They arrived a couple of days later in the CUTEST packaging I've ever seen (it's super Insta worthy!) and I had to stop myself ripping it open just to get the above pictures! Inside was a Star Charm Anklet* which retails at £24, a Love Heart Ring* for £5.15 and White Topaz Gemstone Ring* for £12.20!

I've got really into anklets recently, and I'm a sucker for things with stars and moons on - so this was ideal! I can't believe I was lucky enough to be sent this as it's not one of the cheaper options off the site, so I'm super thankful!!

It has little star charms dangling off the chain which is so pretty, and doesn't feel weird to walk about with for the day. It also has a small bell-like charm on the end which rattles a bit as you move!

I usually have issues with ring sizes as a lot of stores have odd sizing, but these two rings fit me perfectly, and are so comfortable to wear! I've received a lot of compliments about the love heart ring over the weekend, and I recommend the site to a few work buddies! Rings are the one item of jewellery that I always wear, so these have been so nice to change up my usual ones.

Have you every tried any of the JewelleryBox products, and if you have, let me know which ones!! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

Friday, 15 April 2016

15 Fonts For Bloggers

I love making images and manips with fancy fonts, and Dafont.com is fave place to find and download new fonts to use on my blog or for other activities!

Blogging means I do a lot of header images, my own blog header and sometimes for image captioning - but I always want the fonts to look good. I must have tried nearly 30 fonts over three years of blogging to find two that I love. I use French Kiss for my header, images and signature. The other I use is a more 'formal' font called The Princess and the Frog (aka the Disney film's font) which is quite like the plain Ariel & Georgia fonts, but I love it!

It took me ages to find these and below are some other fonts I've tried and loved a lot over the past year for various things! Of the below, French Kiss is for my blog and Edo is for my YouTube channel!

Click below to find the font page and download links!

I love all of these as they each have a different look and can be used for a variety of things and I use these so often!! Hope you liked these 15 fonts to try out!

If you use any or have any you want to share, let me know with a comment or on twitter! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

April Playlist

I've been listening to a lot of music as usual this month, so thought I would create this little list off all the songs I am loving right now! Click any of the titles to get taken to a YouTube video, so you can check them out for yourself :)

Jason Derulo - Get Ugly
Coldplay - Adventure Of a Lifetime
Justin Beiber - Sorry
Jonas Blue ft. Dakota - Fast Car
Phillip George - Wish You Were Mine
Justin Beiber - Love Yourself
Hans Zimmer ft. Junkie XL - Is She With You?
Ellie Goulding - Army
Fifth Harmony - Work From Home
Rihanna ft Drake - Work

Like these songs? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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Friday, 8 April 2016

Pride + Prejudice + Zombies Palette Review

My love and obsession with BH Cosmetics is getting worse with each passing week, and right now I'm working my way through all the goodies I've purchased from them since Christmas!! I saw back in late February that they had teamed up with the Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (PPZ) movie, and released two products connected with it - this eye and cheek palette and a lip gloss set.

I just had to buy they eye and cheek set, and I've been using it quite often for the past month. I purchased it for $12.50 which is approximately £9. I love the dark packing with the floral decals that are shiny on the matte black, and the mirror is a decent size - and features a quote from the movie underneath it.

There are 12 eye shadow colours, and 3 blusher colours. All are really pigmented like the other products I've tried so far, and I love it!. It takes very little product to get a desired effect, and you can do so many amazing looks with it. You can use a dry or wet brush for this as well and both look amazing!

The best thing is that with such variety and high quality of product, I know this will last a really long time, which I am super happy about as I can do a variety of looks with this singular palette!

You can see some more of the palette in a cheeky little video I done last month!

Have you tried this before or any other BH Cosmetics products? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

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