NYX Glam Liner Aqua Luxe Review

Hola Amigas!

We’re so slack at this blog thing, but please forgive us for the absence we try to be frequent, but life is stressful (fml). HOWEVER! We do love doing this, so today I’m reviewing the NYX ‘Glam liner Aqua Luxe’ range.

I want to start off by saying that I wasn’t expecting much. I honestly thought they would be quite sheer and that I’d have to build it up to really get a pigment payoff—but, boy was I wrong. These are amazingly pigmented! The only one I really had any problems with was the purple one. I had to swatch it twice before it looked like the others, but I think I might put that down to it coming from a bad batch. The GLAM Gold (brown tube) is also sheer, but I prefer it that way. I feel like if the brown was more solid it would look tacky on the eye. 

I don’t want to sound like one of those people, but, I wasn’t expecting such great quality from a drug store brand. I think for their pricing they’re a steal, especially if you love doing dramatic looks.They apply smoothly and aren’t patchy at all and the brush applicator is easy to use. They do have quite a glittery finish, but I would say they’re more metallic than glittery—which is slightly disappointing, as it is marketed more as being a glamorous glitter liner.

(Left with flash, right without flash)
From bottom to top: GLAM Pink, GLAM Purple, GLAM Azure and GLAM Gold

This time round I only bought the colours I really wanted because I was slightly sceptical—however after experiencing just how well they work I think I’d go out and buy the rest of the range.

The liners come in 9 colours and if you live in Australia or New Zealand you can find them at Priceline or Target. They’re $9.95 each and currently there is no set including all of them. Here's a link to buy them online if I've managed to tickle your fancy. 

https://www.priceline.com.au/nyx-glam-liner-aqua-luxe-collection-3-g

Much love, Kimiz 

Happy New Year!

Loooooong time no see my friends. Hope you've all been well.

I'm back with a post about the new year. First piece of advice for 2016? Make. Things. Happen. We’re often down in the dumps about not achieving what we want to, but are we really doing anything to make things happen? If you’re like me, you’re probably shying away from this question and mentally cursing about your level of procrastination. Well this year, let's stop waiting around for things to just work out. Take the initiative and make those changes in your life! Don't wait for anyone, don’t slow down for anyone, make 2016 your bitch! This might be just the push you need. Get the boy or girl, get your grades up, get that job! I honestly believe we can do anything we set our mind to if we want it enough.

Leave toxic relationships in 2015. From first hand experience, I know how difficult it can be and sometimes I do wish we were still friends, but I honestly am happier. All they did was drag me down and sabotage my happiness. You won’t know how relieved you will be until you drift from those people. If you're not the confrontational type - I sure as hell am not, slowly drift away from them, reply slower, talk less. Your happiness is the most important thing in the world, and don’t you forget it.

Be organised! Organisation is key to less stress. Grab a diary, buy a calendar, clean your room, organise your school work, buy a bunch of folders and set of highlighters, clean out any unneeded junk, write down everything you need to do or buy! In doing so, you'll be be more prepared, avoid panicking and have more time for other people and hobbies. It makes a world of a difference to your health and wellbeing. Don't forget to not overpressure yourself, you're only human, bad things happen. You'll get through it.

Get your priorities straight. Focus on more important things, and be aware and less focused on the petty things. Life is short, enjoy it while you can - cliche I know, but most cliches are true, no? Go into bad situations you’re faced with, with an open mind. Don't be clouded with negativity, sadness or anger when you're attempting to solve an issue. Bad situations are only as bad as what you make them out to be. Sleep on it and make sure you're relaxed and rational. Your attitude towards a situation has the power to shape the outcome - psychologically proven ;).

These are the foundations of most New Year resolutions, whether that be eating healthy, exercising more, getting your grades up or being happier. Make 2016 yours. I wish you guys all the happiness and success in the world. Don't forget, we’re only human; the above things will take time to learn but keep at it. Happy New Year! Make 2016 your bitch.

Rama x

21 Things I've Learnt In 21 Years

It's been a long long twenty-one years and there are some of the more important things that I've some to learn as I stumbled and crawled my way through life. 

1. Don’t wear yourself thin

Life gets busy, trust me, I know. My assignments kept piling up, and exam period always seemed to be looming ‘round the corner, and my mum just wouldn’t stop nagging me to ‘clean your room’ or ‘wash the dishes’ or ‘you’re always in your room come and spend time with us’. And before I knew it I was stretched so thin that the slightest thing made me snap - In this case, my brother bumping into me and me bursting into tears.

So, now I take a moment and do something I enjoy.

I read a book, or watch a movie or a couple of episodes of my favourite show, I listen to music, or simply take a nap. I just do something to relieve the stress. I don’t let it build up.

2. Sleep is important

I cannot stress this point enough. A minimum of eight hours is recommended per night. And I suck at fitting it in. But I’m trying, and I think I’m getting there. But it’s a struggle and every time I have an assignment or an exam (or literally every weekend) I mess it up. But, maybe one day it won’t be so bad and I won’t be such a grouch, and those puffy bags/bruises under my eyes will be gone.

Maybe.  

Oh No He Didn't

In which I ramble about boys and attempt to give empowering advice. 

Situation one:

So you’ve got a crush, he’s 6ft tall, has a good sense of humour and smells nice, WONDERFUL—except he doesn’t know you exist—oh no. DO NOT FRET I am here to save your day *really uncomfortable wink*

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my life it’s to live fast and do everything you’ve always wanted to. If you want something you need to go for it, you need to take leaps in your life that allow you to be happy. You really like this boy right? I mean you are stalking his instagram every two seconds and you are checking his facebook to see what he recently posted. If you can’t stop thinking about him and what he might be doing at this very moment THEN JUST TALK TO HIM GIRL.

Sit in front of the mirror for a second and ask yourself, what is the worst thing that can happen here? The only horrible thing I can think of occurring is him not replying and you know what, if that little snot nose boy doesn’t reply to you (excuse my French here) fuck him. If he chooses not to reply to a beautiful and confident young lady like yourself then he’s not worth your time. YOU TAKE YOUR BEAUTIFUL ASS AWAY FROM HIS INSTAGRAM AND GO FOCUS ON SCHOOL OR SOMETHING (you really should be focusing on school first lbr). 

A Letter to My 16-Year-Old Self

There was a time during our teenage lives where we were uncertain about almost everything – being unsure and desperate for guidance was how I carried myself during the first few years of teenager-dom. It wasn’t easy back then, and it still isn’t easy now. But I’d like to think that I’ve learnt a few things in the meagre three years between then and now.

Back then, I would’ve absolutely killed for someone older and more experienced to tell me what to do. And so I sought out other people for some advice – anything, really. But the thing is, I never actually took any of their advice. So in saying that, I’m doing myself a favour and sending out a letter to my 16-year-old self in hopes that she’ll take heed of it.

To my 16-year-old self,  

Sixteen. One of the most important ages a girl can turn – hell, there are even movies dedicated to teenagers turning the ultimate sweet sixteen. It’s the year everything seems to pile up, sometimes even threatening to overflow. There are times when you’ll sit in your room and just cry because everyone and everything seems to be so against you, but then there are other times where you’ll find yourself the happiest you’ve ever been and wishing you could relive that moment forever.

Turning sweet sixteen – the year you learn to drive a car (provided you get your license), the year parties and alcohol take over (for a select few, this might not be the case); it’s the year that exams start to take precedent, where friendships form and collapse; the year that you can legally have sex and discover things about yourself that you didn’t know before.

I’m not going to lie, turning sixteen was not easy for me. I cried, a lot – about everything you can imagine. Sixteen marked the end of my junior high school life, along with the start of that horrendous two senior years that you’re ultimately going to face. Sixteen was the year I lost some of my closest friends, but also formed a tight-knit friendship (that is sadly, now over). Your teenage years are all about trial and error. Remember that.

I made some stupid choices in my sixteenth year but that’s ok. Think of it as a learning experience; you’ll grow, you’ll mature, you’ll laugh at how stupid you were, but you wouldn’t be you if it weren’t for those particular experiences.

1.       Don’t let boys take over your world.

I’ve seen so many people crash and burn during the whole 15-17 year old age range. Sixteen is the year where you notice everything. You might’ve giggled over a few crushes back in the day with your friends, but this is the year where things get a little more serious. You’re more willing to experiment with your love life, which is absolutely ok. Talk to boys (or girls for that matter), get to know them, break hearts, have your heart broken. Just don’t let them take over your world. Don’t shut your friends out, don’t neglect your schooling, don’t abandon everything that makes you you, just for a boy.

Looming Grades!

Hello ladies and gents!
Sorry we've not been posting.. Been bogged down with exams, assignments and all. Hope everyone's well! This post was requested by an anonymous question on ask.fm.

Thought since I'm also waiting for my exam and assignment results, I'd share a bit of advice to hopefully assist anyone feeling anxious about their results!

Keep your thoughts positive. Having a negative mindset will really bring you down. You've already done the exam, there is no need to think about the "what ifs" and "I could have written more". In doing this, you will drive yourself crazy and there's just no need. You've already completed the exams, they're in the past now, as much as it sucks you cannot go back and re-do it, so it's best to accept it and move on.

What's On My Phone?

Hello friends!

Hope you’re all well.

We’re all bogged down with assignments and exams, so unfortunately haven’t had time to write for the blog as much as we’d like to. I received an ask.fm question with two suggestions – What’s on my Phone? And Favourite Beauty Bloggers! I’m going to go ahead and do the What’s on my Phone suggestion, will also do the Beauty Bloggers in near future!

-

I’ve only got two pages because I like everything in a folder, organised – looks cleaner. In the extras folder I’ve put all the apps I could not care less about. We should have the option to delete those, am I right ladies? 

OurTunes

Hello, so we’ve absolutely no clue as to what our next post would be, and we decided it would be our five favourite songs and one guilty pleasure – song wise.

Rama –

Anastasia – I’m Outta Love

Chris Brown ft. Kendrick Lamar – Autumn Leaves
Rihanna – Towards the Sun

Tinashe – All Hands on Deck

San Cisco – Awkward

Guilty pleasure: High School Musical - Scream

Kimerah –

The 1975 - You

One Direction – Happily

One Direction – 18

The Killers - Human

Chris Brown - X

Guilty pleasure: Gunday Soundtrack - Jiya

Ayshe -

Sam Smith – Leave Your Lover

Sia ft. The Weeknd – Elastic Heart

Maroon 5 - Feelings

The 1975 – Medicine

Kodaline – All I Want

Guilty pleasure: High School Musical – Gotta Go My Own Way

Tina –

The Weeknd – Earned It

The Weeknd – Often

Ed Sheeran – Photograph
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – See You Again

Taylor Swift - Style

Guilty pleasure: One Direction – I Want

Degrees, Degrees, Degrees.

Ciao. 
I am actually running out of different ways to greet you guys, I’m going to start speaking different languages.

Here, we thought it’d be good to give you guys a look into our university degrees, what it entails and our thoughts on our degree. Hopefully it might be of assistance to those who are unsure of what they want to do! 
We wish you the best of luck with whatever you’ve chosen/chose to do!

I’m doing a Bachelor of Psychology; I chose to do this because I want to help people, to make a positive impact on their life. In starting the course, I didn’t realize there was so much biology and maths involved. These are my major weaknesses, but they weren’t any pre-requisites for the course. Apart from those—I really enjoy doing the course. I’ve learnt about how humans work, why humans behave in a way, about psychology theorists, how to write research papers, the different stages we go through cognitively and behaviourly different types of therapy and all about logical thinking. It’s really interesting to learn about how all the things we do but don’t think about, are actually conditioned responses we’ve learnt. With any subject in university, comes a lot of content, lectures, tutorials and readings (if I'm honest, I don't do half of them), you can always ask for help if needed. If you’ve got any questions about my course, I will be happy to answer them! Just comment below, or send me a question here. Rama x

University Bag Essentials

Salutations my friends.

As some (all? most?) of you may know, I’m in my second year of university. And although we’ve already started, I thought I’d do a “what’s in my university bag/university bag essentials” post, thought it’d be fun. I love seeing what other people carry in their bags (is that odd?) so, I thought you guys might too. How many times have I said thought? Way too many.. Enjoy!

Let me start by showing you the bag I carry. My mum, bless her, bought it for me. I actually love it so much. It was bought from strandbags, but I looked on the website and can’t find it, so it must not be sold anymore. I suggest buying a bag that is able to carry a good amount of weight, one with lots of compartments and if you carry your laptop, a section for that. Most importantly, make sure it’s comfortable.

Positivity

Hiyaaaa. In reply to my question on our next post, someone asked it to be on positivity! And because we are all about the readers, here it is.

Being positive in some situations is extremely difficult; I get that. You have those days where nothing goes right and those weeks were nothing is looking up. It’s easier to be negative about a situation, than to be positive. However, as some of you may know, I’m currently studying psychology, and what I’ve learnt is that you can condition and control yourself more than you think. It’s amazing, really.

When you find yourself in an unpleasant situation, instead of being irrational, take a few minutes to clear your mind or sleep on it and come back to it when you’re no longer consumed by anger, sadness etcetera, etcetera. This helps eliminate irrational thoughts, helps you come to better terms with the situation and whilst you’re asleep, your unconscious mind and brain is still working on the problem (this is why the random “oh I’ve got the answer!” thoughts pop up in your mind, learnt it in psychology too :P).

Another tip, although so painfully obvious, is think positive thoughts. I can hear collective groans, but I cannot stress how much this actually helps. When you catch yourself thinking negatively about a situation or an outcome, change those thoughts, train yourself to start thinking good thoughts. Your brain and body rely on you to give it directions and believe me when I say; you can change how you feel. Train your thoughts— it’s all in your head. Be mindful, when thinking about the situation or outcome, live in the present, make no judgments just let yourself be consciously aware of what’s going on, then move on to problem solving.

Finally, I know this is getting annoying, but I learnt about a therapy in psychology that I really like and thought it would be the perfect time to share it. It’s called the Acceptance and Commitment therapy. I’ll just give you a brief run down of the theoretical implications. The acceptance part of this theory is allowing yourself to accept and acknowledge your emotions and allowing yourself to feel them. Accept the past unwanted, unwelcomed experiences and then make a commitment towards fulfilling a meaningful life, accepting the pain that is inevitable.

Nooooooow, I know this wasn’t a big bowl of positive sunshine that some of you might have expected, but I thought that a post like this would be better than the generic stuff other people usually pull out. I hope this helps you guys with any issues that you may have gone through, or are still, going through. I think these concepts can be applied to just about any given situation. I wish you guys all the happiness in the world, and remember, to be positive, just be positive! Was that lame? That was lame, hahaha.

Rama xx