If you had asked me this question sometime in 2015, my reaction to make up would have gone something like, "OMG ew I hate that stuff, don't even come near me with that stuff." I remember on my sister's wedding, many moons ago, my Aunty had literally caked my face in Make Up, and when I say caked, I mean really really caked. The foundation shade wasn't even my shade, it was way too orange, the blusher was just too bright, the eye shadow wasn't even blended properly, it was a total disaster on my face. I was completely and utterly horrified at the sight of my face and the make up. I was completely put off make up and swore I would never go near that stuff.  I look back at the wedding photos and I still cringe at how bad and how ugly the make up looked.

And yet, here I am, a whole 2 years later, with a beauty related Instagram account and a newly started Blog.

So why make up you ask? Having grown up being called tom boy, I was never inclined towards make up and especially after the wedding disaster, I just couldn't stand the stuff. I may have grown out of the tomboy phase but I was never a girly girl either. Just your average plain Jane. Having lived in a boarding school for over 6 years, my knowledge of makeup/beauty/fashion was just on the absolute down low. I already had the basics though. Everyday I would wear eyeliner and mascara, those were the only two things I would allow anywhere near my face and would probably look dead without.
Coming to think about it, I don't really know where my obsession for make up started. I think maybe it was when I was on holiday in Burma in 2015 and I saw how my cousin had a large make up collection, I was just amazed by her talent and how she made it look so nice but yet so natural.  It was only when I came back to England, that my obsession began.

At the time I had zero knowledge of makeup but I did already own a few things, like a foundation (which I took off my mum, which by the way wasn't even the right shade), a MAC concealer which I now know is fake because we got it off a guy who used to do door to door selling, and an eye shadow palette called Stardust 88, along with 2 or 3 brushes.

It wasn't until I started watching all these different YouTube videos on Make Up tutorials that I realized the way I would do my makeup for occasions like Eid or weddings, was completely wrong. I used to apply foundation on my face with my fingers! Who even does that these days?  So that's when I started experimenting with the make up that I owned, to correct what I was doing.

I can't remember who, but someone on Instagram had asked what was the first actual make up product I bought. Apart from the above products, which were bought in my ignorance days of make up as weird as this is going to sound, my first official buy when my obsession started, my first buy in the make up department was the Sleek Contour Kit. Yes, a contour kit. Lord knows why, but I bought it. Even when at the time of buying it, the thought of slapping on some brown product on my white skin seemed so daunting at the time. But now, I understand the true value of contour. Haha.

And well I guess from there my love for make up increased where every now and then I would go crazy and spend lots on make up. Now here I am, putting a Make Up buying ban on myself. I may not own a lot of make up products compared to others, but the products I do have, I absolutely love it.

1. HAVE A BATH

2. READ A BOOK

3. SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY

4. GO FOR A WALK

5. HAVE A HOT DRINK

6. PAMPER

Having being born with and grown up with Eczema, I have always struggled to find the perfect products that I could use that wouldn't irritate my skin and trigger my eczema to flare up. So because of this, I was never into skincare because of the fear that if I use a certain product it would trigger it to come back. The only "skincare" I had incorporated into my everyday life was slapping on coconut oil, Aveeno and E45 all over my face.

I've never had any issues with spots or breakouts which is a good thing, but occasionally, on my bad skin days, I get cracks on my upper lip and around my mouth because of my eczema and till this day I don't know what the trigger is. Maybe it's something I'm eating, maybe it's the messed up England weather, I don't know.

But anyway, come 2017 when I finally meet Sophia (PhosBeauty) on Instagram, I decided I wanted to take a risk with the skincare and I'm not going to lie, my skincare game has stepped up to another level. I've learnt so much about skincare that I didn't know about before and already I feel a big difference with my skin. Yes of course, I still have bad skin days, but that's inevitable. So I thought I would dedicate this post to the skincare products I've purchased in the month of January, the ones which I've used and loved so far

Coming from someone who has absolutely no idea how to apply lashes, I've decided to do a first impressions post on the eBay £1.89 lashes. that I purchased recently. Can I just say that the delivery for these was super fast. I ordered them on a Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday morning they were posted through my letterbox. I was so happy, because usually my eBay orders take forever.

The packaging is super thin but perfect for holding these lashes, and on the plus side, the colour of the tray is teal, and I absolutely love teal! The lashes themselves are very full and wispy. I don't own any Ardell Demi Wispies, but apparently these lashes are the perfect dupe for them but just a lot more fuller and wispier.

For my eyes the lashes were quite big, so I had to cut off a little from the outer corner until they were the perfect size. I used the Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive glue, let the glue get a little tacky and using a tweezer to get them on. So I'm no expert when it comes to wearing lashes, so these lashes took a good few attempts before I managed to get them on. The lash band, I'd like to say, is a clear band and it's quite thin, so it is so easy to apply very close to your natural lash line. They blend in nicely with your own lashes and make it look as though you have no lashes on.

When I finally managed to get them, they honestly did not feel heavy on the eyes. I always imagined lashes to feel heavy on the eyes, but my goodness these lashes are so lightweight you can't even tell you've got any on. Honestly at one point, I had to look in the mirror to make sure I still had them on. I never realized how much of a difference lashes made to a make up look until I tried them on for myself. It makes such a difference. These lashes honestly opens up your eyes to make them look more awake. For someone trying lashes for the first, I have to say, I was pretty impressed.

We all know and have probably grown up to our parents telling us that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I couldn't agree more. But what about those days where we're in a rush and don't have time to stand around and make ourselves a nice toast and a hot cup of tea. Well, I have you sorted. These breakfast ideas are so easy to prepare and can be done the night before and kept in the fridge. What's better than waking up and finding your breakfast ready to eat? And to make things even better, they're also healthy too! No more rushing around and shoving a chocolate bar or biscuits into your mouths during your morning rush.

I want to sort out my diet and start "Clean Eating" because everyone who knows me knows that I love my food and I eat almost anything. I have so many "Clean Eating meal ideas, that I've decided to slowly start incorporating these meals into my daily life and of course I decided to start off with breakfast, as breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Whilst searching for different "Clean Eating" meal ideas, I came across something which to be honest I never really knew about. It was something quite small but it was that, to ensure a healthy metabolism, breakfast should be eaten within the first hour after awakening, so of course this made me want to jump out of bed as soon as soon and get my breakfast in my belly.

1. Compliment a stranger
2. Leave a random rose and note on someone's car saying, "Smile, have a  nice day."
3. Cook dinner for a friend
4. Make cupcakes and distribute to neighbors
5. Visit a care home
6. Give flowers to the elderly
7. Gift a box of clothes, food, blanket to  a homeless person
8. Volunteer at a charity event
9. Donate money to a charity
10. Teach someone how to cook one dish
11. Go litter picking in one area of town
12. Buy someone a book
13. Pass along a great book that you've just finished reading
14. Bring a box of doughnuts for the staff at work
15. Bring someone a souvenir from somewhere
16. Leave positive notes in colleagues work spaces
17. Send a note of appreciation
18. Write a poem for someone special
19. Offer someone food on public transport
20. Give an unexpected gift to someone
21. Leave a happy note on bathroom mirror saying "You look beautiful."
22. Leave change in a vending machine
23. Renew an old friendship
24. Leave a note in a random book at a bookshop
25. Buy a neighbor a really nice gift

I had fun writing this list, and I hope that I will be able to carry out these random acts of kindness in aid to make other people happy and smile. People deserve to be treated with love and kindness. Taking care of yourself is important but taking care of others is also important. Everyone is fighting some kind of internal battle and it's always important to be kind. A simple smile at a stranger could make someone's day. 

Be kind, always. Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Feel free to create your own list of Random Acts Of Kindness and feel free to share your ideas. Spread kindness and inspire others to spread kindness too. 

As my first official post, I have decided to talk about my best beauty products of 2016. Since I've really only been into make up for about a year I don't have much make up, but from what I do have, I do have a few favorites. So here they are: