What's on my iPhone?

Hi everyone,

For today’s post I thought I would do something a bit different and do a ‘what’s on my iPhone’ post. I have seen these kinds of posts before and always find them interesting and a good way to discover new apps and ways of using your phone. I use my phone for absolutely everything; reminders, notes, alarms, calendar etc etc and have found some great apps for helping me to stay organised as well as some just for fun. So here are some of my most used things on my iPhone….

1)   Twitter (@beautybox_uk)

 

I use Twitter all the time and it is one of my favourite apps on my phone. I’m sure most of you know all about Twitter so I won’t go on too much but if I have a spare min I’ll usually head over to Twitter to catch up with what I have missed.

2)  WhatsApp

I use WhatsApp more than normal text messaging now as it is free to send pictures and videos as well as make phone calls. I love how you can set up group messages too and just feel like you’re having little chats with your friends.

3)  Wunderlist

One for those of you that like to stay organised, Wunderlist allows you to create different lists and tick things off once you’re done. I looked for ages for an app like this one but couldn’t find one that I liked until I came across Wunderlist. It’s really simple to use and you can sync your lists across different platforms so you can access them wherever you need to.

4)  Calm

I have really got into Mindfulness recently and love using this app whenever I need time to relax or a moment to myself. You can choose from a variety of different scenes and sounds such as rainfall or the beach and either use the guided meditation option or just spend a quiet moment with the timed meditation setting.

5)  Snapseed

I mainly used to use Instagram for editing photos until I came across Snapseed. This is an amazing photo editing app which allows you to improve your photos in so many different ways. This is one of the few apps that I have paid for but it was only a couple of pounds and definitely worth it.

6)  Sleep Cycle

I find this app really interesting as it records your sleep pattern and tells you how well you slept the night before. To use it you have to turn on the app and put your phone under your pillow for it to monitor your movements and tell you when you were in a deep sleep and when you were sleeping lighter. You can also set the alarm to wake you up when you are in your lightest sleep between a certain time period which is meant to wake you up more gently and help you get up easier.

Have you tried any of the apps I have mentioned? Which are your most used apps?

Thanks for reading,

Hannah xx

Benefit World Famous Neutrals Palette Review

Hi everyone,

This week I am so happy to get back to my usual beauty related posts! I have got no internet at the house at the moment which is driving me mad as we can’t even get a decent 3G signal on our phones. I am trying to get posts up when I can but I am missing reading and commenting on other blogs so much more than I thought I would. We should have it up and running again in a couple of weeks but the sooner the better for me!

Anyway on to today’s post where I am going to be looking at the Benefit World Famous Neutrals Palette. I’m not usually big on wearing eyeshadows and tend to focus more on lip products but I am trying to branch out more and trying out different looks so I thought this would be a good basics palette to have in my collection.

The set contains two cream eyeshadows, one which is a lovely metallic bronze shade called ‘Birthday Suit’ and one which is a copper shade called ‘My Two Cents’. Both have a gorgeous creamy texture and blend so well. Even though they are metallic shades, they aren’t too bright or in your face which I much prefer and you can create a really natural look with them. They don’t slide off throughout the day which is always a concern for me with cream based products and they don’t crease either.

There are also four powder shadows in the set, all of which have a slight shimmer to them. ‘Call My Bluff’ is the palest and great for using on the brow bone to create a bit of a highlight. The shade ‘It’s Complicated’ is my favourite in the palette and is a beautiful rose gold colour.  I am always a bit wary of red or pink toned eyeshadows as I worry about looking like I have some sort of eye infection! There is no chance of that with this eyeshadow though and it looks gorgeous blended with the gold shades in the set. ‘Gilt-y Pleasure’ is a shimmery gold and ‘Kiss Me I’m Tipsy’ is a darker brown shade which also has a subtle shimmer to it. All the shades in the palette complement each other really well and it’s easy to go for a more subtle day time look or use the darker shades to create a bit of a smoky eye. The staying power of all the eyeshadows is fantastic and has lasted me through a long girls’ night out recently. 

Included in the palette is a little tips and tricks booklet which I think is a fab idea and helps those that are like me that are not used to wearing eyeshadows. There is also a small mirror making this palette a good one for chucking in your handbag if you’re going out after work and want to create a day to night look. The packaging is cute too, as is always the case with Benefit, although my only tiny criticism would be that it could perhaps be a little slimmer. This would make it a bit more travel friendly but I am being really picky here.

Overall I love this palette and have been using it so much recently. I think it’s great for creating both a natural day look as well as adding a little more glamour for a night out and the colours work so well together that you can’t really go wrong.

Have you tried this palette from Benefit? Which other eyeshadows would you recommend?

Thanks for reading,

Hannah xxve

Spending ban!

Hi everyone!

I’m so glad everything is starting to settle down and I’m able to get back into my regular blogging routine. The last few weeks have been so hectic and unfortunately we don’t have internet at the new house yet, which is driving me crazy, but I’m still hoping to be able to schedule posts for my usual Sunday and Wednesday upload.

As we have just bought a house and I also made extremely good use of my staff discount before leaving my job last week, I have decided to put myself on a spending ban! I haven’t done one of these before but have seen other bloggers do them in the past and I think they are such a good idea for those times when you really need to save money. In case you haven’t come across a spending ban before, it is pretty self-explanatory but basically I will only allow myself to buy the essentials for the next month and all treats, beauty buys and clothes spending has to stop. I am going still to let myself buy things that I need for the house and socialising with friends is OK too, but I am going to keep a close eye on what I spend in these areas as well and just make sure I don’t spend unnecessarily.

I thought it would help to blog my progress with the spending ban so then I will feel like I can’t cheat and buy things as a ‘one off’ or that don’t count. If I had internet I would try and do daily updates, but for now I will just update when I can and also on Twitter as I can use my phone to tweet.

Wish me luck (I will definitely need it!) and if any of you are currently on a spending ban and are blogging your progress please let me know in the comments below. You never know, we might be able to help each other out and I would love to read your posts!

I think that’s everything for today! I will be back on Sunday with my usual beauty post :)

Thanks for reading,

Hannah xx

Photo taken from http://beautybykaris.com/tag/beauty-tips/