03 November 2018

Why I Quit Blogging




I haven't posted anything since last year so I am officially making a comeback (of some sort).
Since last year blogging has been somewhat of a difficult topic for myself. I have had so may changes in my life since last year. I got married, new job and I am now the proud owner of a beautiful cat.

I sort of 'quit' blogging for the year and deactivated my blog because I feel that it's become somewhat of a competition. When I started blogging like years back (possibly 6/7 years ago?!) it was the most amazing thing. It was my time to myself and it made me forgot about any worries I had. It was like therapy. We had such an amazing blogging community who helped and supported each other. There wasn't any sort of pressure to have your blog in some sort of way or even what sort of content we posted about. Overall it was really great. I used to blog as a hobby and to be honest I did miss doing this last year. I hadn't had a lot of time to blog but more importantly I didn't want to anymore. I didn't enjoy it because it become such a competition and almost very bitchy. I have literally seen women change in the blogging community. I have seen people not support the people they used to help and I feel I just didn't want to be in that sort of environment. I have even experienced people not being able to go to blogging meetups because they'd have a low follower count. Who even does that. 

When I look on YouTube or Instagram all I see is a follower competition or someone posting about how they have haters commenting or someone making a video about some sort of drama going on between bloggers or vloggers. If I ever scroll through the comments all I ever see is some sort of a comparison between bloggers or hateful comments. 

All a little negative. I am certainly not saying that there are no bloggers who still help and support other bloggers. They deffo are all still here but I just wish things would change a little. Blogging has become a job for many people which I think is great but I do feel that bloggers who are only blogging as a hobby don't get much appreciation no longer. 

But anywho, these are all just my opinions and that's all this is. I am certainly hoping to blog more and share many more beauty related reviews but also a lot more lifestyle posts too.  Many changes to come soon. 

Hareem 

14 February 2017

Estee Lauder - Skincare and Makeup

In January I was invited down to Debenhams Leicester where Estee Lauder were hosting an event. I am very familiar with Estee Lauder as a brand and adore their range of products and what they have to offer. I think my mum has been using Estee Lauder for as long as I can remember and that has clearly been passed down to me. I am an avid user of their Double Wear Foundation and their lipsticks not to mention perfumes. Double Wear is such a well known foundation that I don't think I even need to go into detail about it.

This was what I would describe as a very unique event to go to personally. I like events where the people behind the brand actually speak to you and what they represent as well as demonstrating the amount of hard work that goes into each and every product they develop, and I got all of that at this event. This was one of the 4 events in the UK I believe so I was very lucky to be there. Estee Lauder had actually brought their product development team with them where they almost demonstrated the science in beauty for all of us.

They team had brought and showed us guys how the imaging machines worked, where it would essentially take a photograph of your skin that then measures the tones, pigmentation and textures in your skin. This information is then used to develop products where aspects such as the varying tones and textures are considered. I remember one of the team members mentioning that this way they could even find new tones or textures that exist, that may not be on their database or that they may know off. I found this very informative and just felt that yeah this brand that I like using actually is putting so much effort into what they are offering to the various consumers and just to see what sort of research they do and how they decide to incorporate this research and results into their marketing and products.

After the science came the part we all love. Makeovers. I wanted to my foundation colour re-matched and one of Estee Lauder's global pro makeup artists, Blair Patterson assisted me through this. He has been with the brand for 15 years or so I believe (don't quote me). He was just amazing. I had a slight fan girl moment because I am a little bit of a fan of him and he helped me so much. I had been using 2 different shades of double wear mixing it together, and thanks to him it is a new shade and 1 bottle that is all. He helped me by telling me what my actual undertone is and in the end he actually just did a full makeover for me and I loved it.

I was kindly given a goody bag with some skincare and makeup bits in there which I will hopefully review soon. I feel as though their skincare needs a massive shout out because it really is amazing. I love their serums and moisturizers. I have a sheet mask that was in my goody bag that is amazing. The best. This was genuinely such a great little experience I had. It was so great to actually see and hear what a brand does when it comes to creating products and all the hard work and effort.

PS - I need to get my hands on their Bronze Goddess bronzer. I am very into my bronzer at the moment and I was in love with it. I have just purchased the double wear maximum coverage foundation. Amazing.

Hareem x

28 January 2017

Kylie Cosmetics Haul



Kylie Cosmetics has a lot of us on the path of being broke. 
I ordered some items to try out a while back now and these pictures have been sitting in my camera for ages so about time I blogged. My official first post of the year. And I hope everyone's start to the new year is going well!

I have ordered more products by Kylie Cosmetics after this order. The KoKo Collection ($40 back in stock) is amazing btw which was one of the other things I got. It was limited edition and was the item I had a terrible shipping experience with but my millions of angry blogger lady emails may have gotten them to sort it out and one day it appeared on my doorstep which I was surprised about because they stopped corresponding. lol. 

Anywho, if you are ordering from the UK there is a hefty shipping charge (free international delivery for over $60) and not to mention the even heftier custom charge. I paid about £25. But for some reason I really like the products. I have tried not to like them but not working guys. I can't wait to sit there again at 3 pm PST to order the Valentines day collection. What is life.








In this haul, I ordered both the palettes. I know there was another one that came out during Christmas time but I wasn't a fan of the shades. They were more on the cool toned side and I much prefer warmer tones. So featured above are the the Burgundy and Bronze palettes along with 3 liquid lipsticks in 22, Ginger and Pumpkin along with a complimentary  liquid metal which I haven't even opened yet. 

I have gotten so many compliments for 22 everytime I wear it. I recently went to an Estee Lauder event and everyone asked about my lip colour. Pumpkin and Ginger are very similar but equally really pretty shades. The palettes are both just so nice. 

I missed out on the Royal Peach Palette but I feel she might release it again. 
If you guys want reviews on any of these leave me a comment or tweet. 
The burgundy palette is still available retailing for $42 and the lip kits for $29. 

Hareem x

05 September 2016

Rush Hair Salon

A few backs back I went over to the brand new Rush* hair salon that has just opened here in Leicester; literally opposite High Cross, 50 High Street to be accurate. This was one of my more exciting trips to a salon, firstly because I've heard great things about Rush since I started blogging years ago however they never had a salon near by. Mostly in London is what I heard or read about but this is the first one here in the Midlands I believe so yeah exciting and secondly my hair needed some deep TLC. Badly. It got to a point where I couldn't make it look great any how. Haircut was needed.
They invited me over for a cut and finish a few weeks back which went really well. I didn't want a re-style or anything drastic at all. All he had to ask was how much shorter I'd like my hair to be and I think he saw the panic in my face. Yup. But I gotta tell you nothing like that happened and I actually felt really relaxed the whole time and it all goes to my stylist Shane who was so great. He did everything to make me be comfortable and I loved talking to him. I even got a coloring consultation with him which I haven't been able to make my mind up about but after talking to him I will be booking myself in to get a balayage done which I really excited about. He literally handed me the colour chart to look through.

He used Kerastase products on me which as always were fantastic. I will deffo be investing in their heat protectant that they do which is something I really need to add to my hair routine. Instead of getting a whole new cut I just wanted my layers that were already present to be blended in and any damaged hair to be gone and just something to frame my face. After blow drying my hair he actually decided to curl it as well and I loved it. My hair looked so good. It felt soft and nourished and had that whole bounce to it. So just a big thank you to Shane for all the hard work! It's been weeks now and my hair looks good still.

The salon itself is really spacious and really modern. I loved the decor and really liked how open it was.The salon had a great atmosphere which I really loved and the stylists there all provided really great customer service as well. Would I recommend it Yes. Deffo check it out if you are in need of a little hair pamper!

Hareem x

26 August 2016

East Midlands Bloggers Meetup

This is an overdue post and I'm not sure why its taken me this long to post it but here it is. I went along to the East Mids Meetup which was organised by Emmie, Kirstie and Lianne. It was held here in Leicester and a lot of planning and work had gone into this so I was pretty excited to finally go!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We all met up at Manhattan 34 here in Leicester which was a really nice place to hold an event like this. I think about 40 other bloggers were also there so sort of a mini bloggers party really and it was pretty good if I may say so myself.

Once we all got there we were all given a fact about another blogger and as an ice breaker we had to sort of ask around and find out who it was which I thought was a fun little thing to start off as most of us were nervous I bet but this was well a great ice breaker. We all had drinks etc and the lovely people from Bru were there as well who were so great to talk to. I am sure if you live in Leicester you've been to Bru. I love the cakes there and lucky us they brought a great selection of their cakes for all of us to try. Their Brownies are the best!

During this time we also had some great entertainment by a very talented young singer, Becky Bruce. Besides this the lovely ladies from Blogosphere Magazine were also there who talked about the magazine for bloggers written by us bloggers. I had a flick through the issues they had brought with them and they look really great and quiet informative yet a fun read. I think I will be subscribing very soon. If I do remember correctly there are 4 issues throughout the year for £25 I believe. Not bad at all.

Gabby from Cool as Leicester PR was also there who gave a really informative talk on the PR side of things when it comes to blogging. It gave a great insight as to how to form relationships with PR's as well as basic things to do when approaching them, keeping your blog up to date as well as knowing your stats. Danique Hair and Angel eyes were also their giving us bloggers lash extensions and hair consultations which was really great of them.

There was also a raffle where all the proceeds were going to Rainbows Hospice and Bowel Cancer UK. There were some really great prizes if I may say so. I think we all wanted the happiness planner! Also, the goody bags we all received at the end were so good! Thank You to Matalan for the lovely items. I loved the home-ware items as well as Witch and Merumaya Skincare, Vita Coco, Lush and Carex.

This was a really great meetup. It was organised really well and also really informative. I really liked that there was a lot of thought behind and I am sure everyone will agree with that. I really did pick up a lot of info and most importantly had a lot of fun and it was so great to meet so many other local bloggers! Thanks to all the girls who put this great meet up together!

Hareem x