BEAUTY - Morphe X Jaclyn Hill.

When I saw that Jaclyn was launching a brush set with Morphe I was glad I had saved some of my wage to get them! The beautiful white and silver brushes and the silver glitter brush case, dreamy! I was refreshing the website and the minuet they launched I headed

straight for The Master Collection, the 24 piece brush set with the gorgeous brush case. There were some brushes in the set I knew I wasn't going to use, nevertheless the price for 24 brushes and a case was amazing and a chance to try some brushes I might never pick up.  The Master Collection is £160 (£144 with any of the 10% off discount codes beauty influencers have. I used Jaclyn's code JACATTACK) it's a £264 value, that's a £104 saving! And it works out around £6.60 a brush! If you didn't want the Master Collection there are two other sets available. The Eye Master Collection (£42) - 8 eye brushes and bag, and The Face Master Collection (£55)- 5 face brushes and bag. The Master Collection includes both of the Eye & Face Master sets and an additional 11 brushes. All the brushes are also sold separately on the Morphe website. I knew I would probably order a few on the single brushes but wanted to wait to have a play with the set so I could find out which brushes I loved and needed doubles of (I say need but it's more a want, plus I like to have several of the same brush). 

What's included in The Master Collection? 
(If it's in the Eye Master Collection I will mark with an E and for the Face Master Collection an F).
JH01- Power Brush (synthetic) 
JH02- Bronzer Brush (natural) F
JH03- Ride-or-Die Foundation Brush (synthetic) F
JH04- Blush Brush (synthetic) F
JH05- Perfect Contour Brush (natural)
JH06- My Everything Brush (natural)
JH07- Under-Eye Power Brush (synthetic) F
JH08- Anything Creamy Brush (synthetic)
JH09- Glow Baby Glow Brush (natural) F
JH10- Snatch Your Edges Brush (synthetic)
JH30- Beast Mode Blender Brush (natural) E
JH31- Fluffy Blender Brush (natural) 
JH32- Transition Blender Brush (natural) E
JH33- Universal Blender Brush (natural) E
JH34- Carve Your Crease Brush (natural)
JH35- Upper Crease Brush (natural)
JH36- Eye Buffer Brush (natural)
JH37- Buffer Blender Brush (natural)
JH38- Perfect Pencil Brush (natural)
JH39- Inner Corner Highlight Brush (synthetic) E
JH40- Precise Blender Brush (natural) E
JH41- All Over Lid Brush (blend of natural & synthetic) E
JH42- Brow Bone Highlight Brush (natural) E
JH43- Eyeliner Smudge Brush (synthetic) E
Master Case.

I now really appreciate natural hair brushes since Mac changed all there brushes to synthetic. With certain brushes synthetic is fine but with blending brushes it makes them so much harder to blend with/work with. I will only ever use natural hair blending brushes, gives a flawless blend. 

The set includes quite a few blending brushes which I love because I use so many. I do think there are a few brushes missing. There's no angled brush in the set or eyeliner brush, which i'm not fussed about but it would have been nice to have. Even though I said it includes a lot of blending brushes I wish there were a few smaller blender brushes in the set as they are mainly longer/crease brushes, that is me being picky though. There are only two brushes I haven't used (JH01 & JH10) which I expected not to use a lot of the face brushes, but I've had a play with them and the brush i'm most shocked about loving is the JH02 Bronzer Brush. I don't usually use a brush that big for my bronzer but I absolutely love it! 
I'd had my set for only a few days and I knew I was going to order a few doubles. I started just by ordering 3 but there are more brushes I'd like extras of. The 3 brushes I doubled up on we're the JH39- Inner Corner Highlight brush, I would usually use a different shaped brush for my inner corner but when I tried this I love how precise it was. The JH42- Brow Bone Highlight brush, I have so many brushes just like this and I use them for all different things so i can never have too many. Lastly the JH43- Eyeliner Smudge brush, I'd never had a brush like this before. I'd seen lots of people using brushes this shape it was just a brush I wasn't fussed about but when I use it I knew I needed an extra for another use, I love it. 

Along side ordering the three extra brushes I thought I'd give the Jaclyn Hill palette a try also by Morphe. I'd heard so many things about this palette and I was late to the party 100%. I really love the palette, it was the only eyeshadow palette I used on my holiday and I've used it everyday I've done my makeup since purchasing it. It's £37 for 35 eyeshadows! (£33.30 if you use a discount code). The eyeshadow pans are around the same size as a mac palette eyeshadow refill, and they are probably more pigmented and easier to blend! The mattes are amazingly pigmented and beautiful to blend the shimmers are stunning without wetting your brush with Fix +. I would recommend it to everyone, makeup artist or for personal use, it's made me want to try more of the Morphe palettes and I'd also love to try Jaclyn's Vault collection also! 

Overall i'm so impressed with everything, the quality of the brushes, how they look, the palette and how pigmented it is. I'm defiantly going to be purchasing some more of the single brushes to add to my collection! And Morphe have a UK site now with free delivery when you spend over £20! 
I hope you have found this post useful if you were thinking of getting any of the brushes. I would recommend giving the brushes a quick clean before using them to ‘puff’ them out a little and get them to their true shape! If there's anything else you would like me to review please leave a comment on this blog post or comment under the picture of this post on my Instagram (@ellietaylorrxx) and I can hopefully get around to doing that! 
X

TRAVEL - Italy. Venice, Verona & Milan.

If you have Italy on your list of travel destinations next year this blog post is the one for you. A little late (I went to Italy in July) but better late than never. We were in Italy for four days in total, this post will tell you all the sights to see and day trips also! Italy has so many beautiful places and things to see, I'd love to see more of this beautiful country. 

Our first stop was Venice. We were in Venice for 2 nights, one full day and just under a full day (we got to our hotel around 1/1.30). From the airport we had booked a water taxi (we pre booked this. As when I go away one of my many stresses is getting from the airport to the hotel, we've been burnt before and now it's a thing I see as a must do). There is a bus you can take from the airport into Venice, we did this on the way home, but it's really something beautiful seeing Venice for the first time from the water going down all the beautiful side streets. 
Our hotel was a less than five minute walk to the Rialto Bridge. This was my second favourite sight in Venice. Around Rialto bridge there's lots of restaurants, we didn't find the food prices expensive. We had a pizza & fries facing the bridge and it came to around €15 that's with drinks. 
What is there to see in Venice... 
I'm obsessed with seeing all the sights a place has to see and if I miss one I'd be desperate to go back (this happened in Rome, when using Google maps abroad would brake the bank). So I make a list of all the sights I want to see and tick them off as we go along. I spend a lot of time checking maps and making the list in order of where they are so we aren't walking to and from different areas. My FAVOURITE app is Visit a City, this app is a god send for travel lovers, type the place in, click sights and you have everything your destination has to offer! There was one thing I wanted to see that wasn't on the app, but i'm going to list everything you need to see when in Venice.

Piazza San Marco. 
St. Marks Square, dating back to the 12th century!

Basilica di San Marco.
Venice's most famous church, this you will find in St. Marks Square.

Campanile di San Marco. 
9th Century bell tower part of the Basilica di San Marco. 

Torre dell'Orologio. 
The clock tower on St. Marks Square. It's very beautiful.

Palazzo Ducale. 
The Doge's Palace. This was once home to the rulers of Venice. This building is so beautiful! It was also a prison which leads on to the next sight..

Ponte dei Sospiri. 
The bridge of sighs. The beautiful bridge connects the Doge's Palace to the old prison. So convicts could go straight to their prison cell from being sentenced. It's said to be called the Bridge of Sighs because the prisoners who crossed the bridge 'sighed' as they had their last look at the free world through the windows before going to their cell. 

Ponte di Rialto. 
The most beautiful & most famous of the 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal. 

Santa Maria della Salute. 
This is a beautiful church. We found it quite hard to get to as its on the other side of the canal and to view it from across the water you would have to go into the gorgeous (very expensive) hotels. We crossed the canal at Accademia bridge and google mapped it. 

Scala Contarini del Bovolo. 
My favourite sight in Venice. It's so beautiful and not as crowded as everywhere else, walking to it you will feel like you are in the wrong place but just follow your google maps and you will not be disappointed. You can also go to the top for a pretty view over Venice. There was probably only 5-6 people there when we visited. 

There is obviously more to see in Venice these are just the most popular sights, the streets are a sight themselves with gondolas all over. We pretty much did all the sights on our first afternoon because on our second day we were doing a day trip to Burano. If you've not heard of Burano it's a beautiful island known for its brightly painted houses. It's stunning, you can't stay on the island. To get there you can do a day trip which you usually would go to Murano & Torcello. We decided to make our own way there by the water bus. We walked to Fondamente Nove and caught the boat there . It probably took around 30/40 minutes, but it doesn't feel that long as you get to see Venice and so many other beautiful things on the way over. Can't remember exactly how much tickets are for the water bus, maybe around €6. But it's so worth going and exploring it's tiny streets and seeing the houses you've seen on Instagram. 

Our next two days of our trip were in Verona. We caught the train for Venice into Verona which took around an hour and a half. Again we booked our train in advance because we were staying in Verona for two nights. 
We arrived in Verona around 1pm then headed straight out with my check list of sights Verona is most famous for Shakespeare's classic Romeo & Juliet. One of the main reasons I wanted to visit Verona is the film Letters to Juliet.
There's not an awful lot to see in Verona as it is quite small but it's so beautiful...

Casa do Giuletta. 
Juliet's house, where the entrance is full of letters to Juliet and the courtyard was so full with people taking their picture with the bronze statue of Juliet and on the famous balcony looking over into the courtyard. 

Arena di Verona. 
A 30AD arena. The arena is still used to this day for opera!

CastlVecchio Bridge. 
This was constructed in 1354. 

Piazza delle Erbe. 
A gorgeous market square dating back to the ancient roman era. 

Torre dei Lamberti. 
Piazza delle Erbe's 1172 bell tower. 

Arco dei Gavi. 
A triumphal arch from the first century. 

Verona Cathedral. 

Arche Scaligeri. 

5 Scaligeri family gothic burial monuments. The 14th century rulers. 

Piazzale Castel San Pietro. 

The beautiful Verona view point. Such amazing views over Verona. 

While we were at the viewpoint and had checked the final Verona sight off our list, we were thinking what are we going to do with our full day in Verona the day after when we had done everything within a few hours. We decided that we would go back to everything, if you can go in it then we will go in. We then heard someone saying they were on a day trip from Venice, so when we got back to our room we decided to see where was around 2 hours away on the train and that is how we stumbled on to our day trip to Milan. 

I had always wanted to go to Milan but I knew there wasn't a lot to see there and if we were ever going to go it would be a stop off on our next Italian adventure. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to go and see a city i'd always wanted to visit. So we woke up the day after walked to the train station and booked the train to Milan (1 and a half hour going with the €25 tickets and 2 hours coming home with the €12.50 tickets). We had to book a time to come back to Verona so we only had 3 hours in Milan! We got to Milan train station went to the metro and got off at the Duomo stop and there it was the INCREDIBLE... 
Milan Cathedral. 
Honestly one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. Its just stunning. You can go inside and up it but with our strict 3 hour schedule the outside we just enough. (I probably took around 100 pictures of this cathedral). I would say its in my top 3 of the most amazing sights I've ever seen.

Piazza del Duomo. 
This is the main square site of the Duomo and other historic buildings. 

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. 
A beautiful shopping mall. Pretty much every designer boutique and fabulous restaurants. 

Castello Sforzesco. 
A huge medieval-renaissance fortress. 

Porta Sempione. 
Triumphal arch within Parco Sempione. 

Im glad we did Milan on a day trip because there was not a lot to do. Im sure if we had a full day or one night we would have been fine and there are some amazing bars/restaurants that look onto the cathedral, I would have loved to have gone to one of them and watched the sun set over the Duomo. Im not sure I would recommend going for a full city break but I would 100% recommend going on a day trip, maybe giving yourself more than 3 hours so you can relax in the gorgeous bars facing the Duomo. In our three hours we wanted the check off the main sites so that's what we paid attention to. We managed to do everything in 2 hours which gave us time for lunch. NOW if your going to day trip I would recommend booking the tickets that were around €25 because the €12.50 train journey home was a packed full train with no aircon and it was a longer journey home, not to mention the temperature was 30 degrees! The train going was fast, air-coned, you were assigned a seat so it wasn't over packed. But we were on a budget because the trip was so last minuet!

I hope this blog post gave you some travel inspo and if your going to any of the places I had been to it gave you a nice easy itinerary! My MUST SEE spot is 1000% the Scala Contarini del Bovolo. I know people say its hard to find but that's why its a gem! I'm so happy I stumbled across a picture of it on Pintrest, otherwise i'd have never known of it. I love Italy and I can't wait to explore more of it!

Ciao for now Italia.

TRAVEL - First Trip of 2018. Reykjavik, Iceland.

I don't know about you but I get really nervous before I go away.
I'll worry about everything that can be worried about, and i'm a really nervous flyer. Yes, I am the person at airport security that takes everything off that I can. I would walk through in my underwear if I could. Then I like to have a little walk around the shops, buy myself a few magazines (which I usually don't read until i'm back home!) always buy way more snacks than needed so we have a few things in the hotel room for when I get peckish. 
I have a few trips this year and the first of them is REYKJAVIK, ICELAND. 

This trip was a very packed two days. Flying on 20th March, coming home on 22nd March. Now we don't mind a ram packed trip. We love to see everything the place has to offer. I like to take as many pictures as possible. There's nothing worse than going somewhere and not seeing all the sights it has to offer (trust me i'm still desperate to go back to a few places just to see one or two things we didn't come across). 
Iceland is a very small place. We stayed in Downtown Reykjavik, everything was a 5-10 min walk away. To read about where we stayed, what we saw and where we ate keep reading!



Where we stayed - Centric Guesthouse.
It is just a room. Very basic. But we knew we wouldn't be in the room much. It's the first time I've stayed somewhere where the bathroom was not in the same room, now for me I would rather stay in a hotel, but Reykjavik is know for being really expensive. We literally landed put our stuff in the room and went out, came back for a nap then went to find something to eat. The next morning we were picked up at 7 and didn't get back to the room until 8pm, went for food, went to sleep and we were out again for 6.30am to go to the airport so we didn't need to spend lots on a hotel room because we knew we wouldn't be in it. The location was really good though! We were so close to the main sights, each was around a 5 minute walk from our room! 

Things to do.

The first thing we went to see was the Hallgrímskirja. A beautiful church, built in 1945 and was completed in 1986,  with a 73 meter high steeple tower! You can go up to the top if you want to see the city from the sky! We didn't go up but it's beautiful to look at! We also went back at night and we could hear the choir singing inside! 

The next was the Sun Voyger. It's a steel sculpture of a Viking ship.  It was built to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the city in 1990. It's a lot bigger than I expected. We sat on a bench looking out to the sea by the Voyger! The sea is a beautiful colour and is so peaceful. 

Then we saw the Harpa Concert Hall. It's such a pretty building. We didn't get any sun but even without it the glass reflected beautiful shades of blue and purple! Construction on this building started in 2007 and was completed in 2011. 
The day after, our first stop was the Blue Lagoon. This place is beautiful. The walk up is
amazing the path leading to the main building is between natural black lava formations! The lava around the lagoon is said to be 800 years old! You walk in and you get a wristband which will open your locker, you purchase your drinks from the lagoon bar or them (you get your first drink for free) and if you eat in the cafe they scan your wristband and then at the end you would just pay for what you have had! This means you don't have to be walking in and out of the locker room/changing room. We was on the early tour so we got there when the lagoon opened so it was empty when we got in! It's a very strange experience! We obviously went in cold weather so you were in your swimwear in freezing temperatures and when you get in the water it's like being in a super warm bath outside surrounded by lava! It's definitely a must do when visiting Reykjavik. 

After the blue lagoon we got on our bus back to the bus station and had an hour wait until our Golden Circle tour. We did the express tour which was 6 hours long! on this tour we saw Þingvellir National Park where you can walk in between the European and North American tectonic plates and is full of beautiful views! Then we saw the beautiful Gullfoss 
Waterfall. This is such an amazing sight! Then lastly the Geysir hot spring area where the famous Strokkur erupts every few minutes and shoots hot water up to 20-40 meters into the air! The area is full of bubbling geysers, mud pits and hot springs.

Then there's the other obvious thing to do when visiting Iceland but the most difficult one which is to attempt to see the Northern Lights. We weren't lucky enough to see them unfortunately but it's not an easy thing to see. You have to have good skies and when we were there we had heavy and thick clouds. We did check the aroura forecast for days before we went and it looked like we had a chance to see them (we didn't have enough time to do a tour so we researched places where we could go ourselves) but unfortunately the weather was not in our favour and we didn't get to see them! We actually didn't go to see the lights though so we weren't too disappointed but once we were there we obviously wanted to see them! It's definitely on my list of things to see though! (Excuse to go on more trips to Norway or Finland).

Now I would strongly recommend booking a transfer to get you from the airport and back to the airport as its a very long way out! We booked our transfers and our Blue Lagoon & Golden Circle tour through a company called Gray Line. They were always on time! They offer lots of tours so I recommend you checking them out before you go! 

Now let's talk money! Everyone told us that it is expensive! I changed £114 and I got 15,000 Icelandic Króna (will vary on the rates) . Now I will say I didn't spend all my money (until we got to the airport and what I had left I tried to get rid of). If you drink you will definitely need more! We didn't find it overly expensive but we looked around to find restaurants! Your looking at a pizza being around 2,000 cheaper end, there is a good choice of places to eat, but like I said we had a look around at menus before we went out for food. We ate in the same restaurant both nights. It wasn't ovearly priced and the food was very good! On my first night I had a pizza the second night I had mozzarella dippers which both were very yummy! The place was called Kebabhúid. If you are going to Reykjavik I would definitely recommend it! Plus it was again around a 5 minute walk from our room! 

So that's a round up of my recent trip to Reykjavik! Iceland is a very beautiful place. If you are thinking of going I would definitely recommend it. Everything I've mentioned in this post I would go to see! If you have anymore questions feel free to leave a comment! 
I also hope you enjoyed my first travel post! If you think of any ways I can improve or you think of a section i'm missing and can improve on let me know! 

X 

Instagram- @ellietaylorrxx
Email- makeupbyelliex@gmail.com

TRAVEL - Whats In My Travel Bag - City Break Edition!

This post is about what I have in my travel bag. This is the only bag I will take on the trip with me! So it needs to be a good decision and go with everything i'm going to be wearing. (Usually I go on colder city breaks so you can't see my outfits at all, but it needs to make my coat look stylish!).

Copenhagen 2017. 

Bag of choice: Celine Nano Luggage. 

Reasons: small but mighty, fits more that expected and is durable. 

I purchased this bag last October and since then it's been on all of my city breaks with me. Riga, Edinburgh, Kraków, Copenhagen and most recently Reykjavik. 
It's such a good bag and there is much more room than you would expect. When I buy a bag I do lots of research and that was a fact that popped up every time. It fits in what you need. (If your a bag stuffer like the old me you might need something a little bigger). 


In the bag I have...

My passport and all other important travel items. (I keep them all in a clear travel bag they give you at the airport and I keep my travel insurance papers, my European health insurance card and then I will put my boarding pass in there so when i'm walking around the airport it's all together)  

My purse (wallet). Which is a full size purse! If I used a smaller purse or coin purse there would be even more room! I do have a card holder but when I go away I obviously take cash of the currency of the place Im visiting.

I always have bobbles (hair ties) because my hair always gets in the way so I like to have the option of getting it off my face if it becomes to annoying. 

Lip balm. I have learnt my lesson on previous city breaks! I always get dry lips and now I have lip balm with me wherever I go, but I find it such a must when I go travelling as the plane and the cold weather make them extra dry! My personal favourite is the Clarins lip balm. It's amazing! 

Headphones. For obvious reasons. I usually listen to music the whole flight if  there isn't TVs on the plane. (Which I have just realised I will have to take my adapter on flights now since I got the iPhone 8 as it's not got a normal earphone plug!) 

Phone charger. If my phone ever gets to even 50% I go into panic mode! Plus if you ever get delayed its good to have with you in case you need to top your charge up.

That's mainly it. That's what I would have with me when I go to the airport. When I get to the destination I would take a few items out that I don't need. If it's too full I will only panic if I can't see my passport so I try to keep it organised, everything has its place. And a plus for this bag is it has a zip closure so nothing falls out and people can't get in! With it being a small bag it also doesn't take up much leg room under the seat so you don't have to be uncomfortable on the flight with a bag taking up that precious leg room! (Because if your like me I don't really like putting things in the over head compartments unless it's my hand luggage case. I like to have all of my things by me!)

This post is kinda a little review of this bag also! This is my second most used handbag (behind my Louis Vuitton Neverfull, if you would like a review on that bag just let me know!) it was my first smaller bag as I was always a big bag person which has definitely changed, this bag fits even more in it than what I listed above, that's just the items I put in when i'm going away. The pebbled leather makes it really durable from scratches, so if your someone that worries about your bags, if you can get a textured leather so you don't have to worry as much! This bag has seen all weather conditions! In Kraków it poured down to the point I could have probably rung the bag out! (I know your not meant to get leather that wet so it was a little worry of mine but there's no problem at all with the bag!)
Overall I really love this bag for when i'm travelling and when i'm not! If you were thinking about this bag I would definitely go for it (especially since the price goes up every few months to a year!). 

My next post will be about my recent trip to Reykjavik, Iceland! All about what there is to see, where we stayed, how much money I took, if we found it expensive and all that good stuff so if you have any questions about the trip please send me your questions! 

X 

Instagram - @ellietaylorrxx
Email - makeupbyelliex@gmail.com 

FASHION - Entry Level Designer Bags!

If you are wanting to get into the designer bag game and are buying your first bag but don't want to spend too much money on one bag, here are 18 of my top pics for under £1000. 
There are 9 in the £500-£800 category and 9 in the £810-£1000 category. There are obviously more than 18 bags and there are some brands that have bags under £500 these are just a few of the bags I would pick from the top brands which I think are great prices for the designer. 

£500-£800

- Mulberry Darley Small Textured Leather Shoulder Bag £550.
This bag is a great size and sold in lots of colours, the size up isn't too much more if you were wanting a bigger bag. 
- Saint Laurent Shopper Leather Tote £685. 
I love this bag and I do consider purchasing this bag but it is too similar to my Louis Vuitton Neverfull (which is also under £1000! Bonus bag there!). It comes in so many colours!
- Prada Textured Leather Shoulder Bag £700.
Another bag which comes in lots of colours, perfect for going on holiday, or someone who doesn't carry lots around! 
- Gucci Marmont Mini Quilted Shoulder Bag £715.
For Gucci this is an amazing price I just recently just went looking at this bag and last minute changed my mind to another bag in this category. Available in so many colours and is a really beautiful bag. 
- Valentino The Rockstud Leather Shoulder Bag £740.
A bag that is on my wish list and has been for a while as I have some Valentino heels that this bag would match, again comes in so many colours. 
- Prada Quilted Leather Camera Bag £765. 
Quite a new bag I think but this bag is so pretty. I love the silver chain. 
- Saint Laurent Monogram Leather Shoulder Bag £770.
This bag is on my wish list also. I think I want it in white.. I also love the burgundy colour on the picture! 
- Givenchy Mini Pandora Bag (washed leather) £790. 
A last minute entry to this post as I was searching through my favourite designers and saw this. I love givenchy, the first handbag I bought myself was the Givenchy Antigona!
- Gucci Soho Disco Bag £805.
£5 over the £800 mark but this bag is a classic. I purchased this bag just yesterday in the red leather! I can't wait to start using it. Such a great price and a beautiful bag!  


£810-£1000

- Saint Laurent Lou Lou Quilted Leather Shoulder Bag £815. 
Another bag I've been loving recently! They have this in so many colours and also black velvet which i'm loving and have my eye on!
- Valentino Rockstud Small Leather Shoulder Bag £830. 
A bag I own and I love! I have it in nude and it's such a beautiful bag. It's like a piece of jewellery because the cross body strap is covered in the gold studs! Love this bag. 
- Saint Laurent Lou Medium Leather Shoulder Bag £850. 
Pretty sure this is a new style bag for YSL as I've only seen it in the past couple of months. It also comes in a smaller style and can get it with the YSL stitched into the bag. 
- Balenciaga Classic Reporter Grained Leather Crossbody Bag £855. 
If you like the classic Balenciaga bags but don't want to spend over £1000 for it this is perfect for you! Same look but different!
- Gucci Marmont Small Leather Shoulder Bag £885. 
This is just the size bigger that the Gucci Marmont mentioned in the other category. The mini is quite small and the cross body strap isn't adjustable! So if you want something a little bigger this is for you. 
- Jimmy Choo Lockett Petite Leather Shoulder Bag £904. 
This bag comes in a size smaller and also bigger (I think). I love this bag it's to chic. And it comes in different materials and colours! 
- Dolce & Gabanna Sicily Small Embellished Textured Leather Tote £925. 
Such a classy bag, comes in other colours, this one the top handle is embellished you can also get the handle plain. 
- Chloe Faye Small Suede & Leather Shoulder Bag £930.
Dare I say it but i'm not a huge fan of the Chloe Faye bags, it comes in a smaller size which is just over £500. I included this bag because I know people are obsessed with Chloe Faye bags. 
- JW Anderson Pierce Mini Leather Bag £975. 
When I first saw this bag and the size up I really didn't like it but the more I look at it I like it (the mini).

There we have it! There are obviously more bags that fit this criteria there are also brand that have bags for £200 + just depends on your personal preference and some people may also prefer their first designer handbag to be an investment piece or just a bag they love the look of! If you would like another post on bags to make money on write a comment down below of if you have any other ideas also let me know! 

Instagram- @ellietaylorrxx 

BEAUTY - 2017 Beauty Obsessions.

2017 saw lots of new makeup products. Some which stayed in my makeup bag and some that didn't. 
Not only will this post tell you about the products I discovered in 2017 but the products from 2016 that made the whole year in my makeup bag but also products that will probably never change and if you've read previous monthly favourites on my blog, some of these products might be familiar to you. 

2017 Beauty Finds. 
Some of these products I had to give 2 or 3 chances to realise how much I loved them. 

First up Lilly Lashes Ela. I have always been a fan of Lilly Lashes, they are my favourite lashes ever. I decided to break away from my usual Miamis/Hollywoods and try Ela's and they are my faaavourites. They are bandless and fluffy and perfect. I get mine off falseeyelashes.co.uk they always have a 10% off discount code (I used the code EYES at checkout) and occasionally they have 20% off PLUS it's free next day delivery! 

Huda Beauty Faux Filter Foundation. This one was something I wanted to try before I bought. Luckily the HudaBeauty counter faced the MAC counter so I could get a few samples. I tried Shortbread, Chai, Macaroon. I am very fair, usually I would use NC15 in Studio Fix Fluid. I liked all 3 shades and if I could I'd purchases them all.. Chai is a little dark for me, more like NC20 and Macaroon was slightly pinker in the undertone so I purchased Shortbread. I absolutely Love this foundation. At first I was a little unsure. I'm very oily and I actually didn't like it when I first applied it, it was very matte. Also the first time I used it I used it with my usual foundation brush, the 168 from Mac and I really didn't get a good first impression of the foundation. It was drying before I could even blend it in and it's an extremely full coverage. The next time I used it I used a Beauty Blender and I've been obsessed ever since, I ran out of my sample and went back to studio fix and it made SF look like a light coverage in comparison! Also the foundation is really long lasting which is a must have for myself as I wear my makeup for over 12 hours a day. 

A product which I bought used around 4 times and didn't like it at first was the Stila Magnificent Metals Glitter & Glow Liquid shadow. I found it flaky and messy and I found it was all over my face by the end of the day. I would look at it all the time and I thought i'm gunna try it with a brush, not just putting it on from the applicator. And I loved it, I wore it on Christmas Day, New Years Eve, I actually went on to use it on a lot of my freelance's on NYE. I even had a girl who had it and said she didn't like it and I told her that I felt the same but since using it with a brush, I use either a Mac 242 or then Colourpop flat shader, that I loved it and I even purchased it in a different shade and would absolutely love the whole collection. Stila have also brought out ones that have no glitter in them I would really love to try those also!

Another product I used once, didn't like, put it down and then came back to it a few months later and that is the Tom Ford Cream & Powder eyeshadow duo/Cream Colour For Eyes. 
I have a few shades now but the one in particular i'm talking about its Naked Bronze 01. I have worn this probably near enough every day throughout December. It was quick, easy so when I was waking up at 5am to get ready for work I knew the product I wanted, I didn't really use the shimmer powder eyeshadow that comes with it more so Nillionare Super Shoch eyeshadow from Colourpop. Again I even did this look on a freelance because it looks super amazing! I use them with a Mac brush which I think has been discontinued! I want them in every colour. 

Lastly, this seems like a very basic one but the Clarins Moisture Replenishing Lip Balm. OBSESSED. My lips get so dry and sore. From traveling and daily life but especially when I go on a plane. I need a good lip balm this I have been choosing over lipstick or lipgloss! Add a lip liner and cover my lips in this. Makes your lips feel amazing, I get very addicted to putting it on. 100% a travel/life essential..

2016 - 2017. 

I've always loved Anastasia Beverly Hills eyeshadows but last year I used Burnt Orange near enough everyday. Still love my Jouer Highlighter in Citrine, I've had 2 I will say they 
break very easy! My first one broke in my bag my second lasted longer but once I hit pan it broke but I don't care because I love the product, how I like to use it leads on to another product which made it, the Mac Cream Colour Base in Pearl. I apply this first then my Jouer highlighter. A product which I bought probably in 2015 and picked it up again this year is the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow. I don't use the highlight in the palette but I love the bronzer I wish they would bring it out singular because I don't want to repurchase the palette just for the bronzer! 

Products I've always loved..

Natural Radiance Primer (Mac), Prep & Prime Light Boost Highlight Pen (Mac), Soft Ochre (Mac), Fix + (Mac), Emphasize Shaping Powder (Mac), Deep Dark Brunette Brow Fluidline (Mac), Margin Blush (Mac). 

Well there we have it! The products that were in my makeup bag last year, i'm very much a creature of habit so I like what I like and I rarely change it up. One thing I can't find is a concealer so if you have suggestions let me know! 

Instagram @@ellietaylorrxx 

2018 WANDERLUST.

My first post of 2018!
I know I say this all the time but I really want to blog more this year! It's very hard between working full time and creating content!
So here we go on my first 2018 post, kicking it off with one of my favourite things TRAVEL.

I've been on lots of trips the past 4 years and there are SO MANY places I want to go to, I have a whole list in my diary including all the places to visit in the country! 
Starting with where I have been.. 
Dublin, London, Paris, Rome, Turkey, Prauge, New York, Paris (again, and always planning on going back), Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Riga, Edinburgh, Kraków, Paphos, Copenhagen & Malmö. 
And 2018 is looking to be a fun packed year for travelling! I'm starting off in Iceland - Reykjavik in March, then July going to the place my stomach is from.. Italy! So excited to explore Venice then from Venice to Verona! The scene for Romeo and Juliet! Wanted to visit Verona ever since I watched the film Letters to Juliet! Then September will take me to Morocco - Marrakech. All these places require lots of outfit planning! I'm so excited for all of this trips and i'm hoping to maybe squeeze 1 more trip in maybe 2! 
Other than the places i'm heading to this year I have a whole list of places i'm desperate to go to! The list includes most of Italy, lots of France, Spain and lots more! 
I've started to make a travel 'scrapbook'. It's just a book full of pictures I've taken from all the places I've been and i'm actually obsessed with it. It becomes very obsessive printing pictures off and making sure I've taken enough pictures, and if I haven't I will go on a crazy hunt to find more things to take pictures of! 
I'm so excited to go exploring this year! Take lots of pictures and see even more beautiful places. 
I think my top 5 places to visit next (very very hard to choose). 
-Florence. 
-Milan. 
-Barcelona. 
-Budapest. 
-Positano.