It has been absolutely ages since I did a "tutorial" style post, so today I thought I would share my take on a simple smokey neutral eye using the Urban Decay Naked palette. This only uses four colours and is mega easy, I love doing it.


First of all, I primed my eyelid with concealer and set with Foxy from the Naked Basics palette. Then I put the shade Naked from the Naked palette all over my lid.

Then I went in with the shade Buck on my crease to add some definition.

After that I darkened the outer corner and crease more with Darkhorse, and blended the colours up. I also highlighted my brow with Venus. (I feel like this photo doesn't show the darker shade too well, but trust me it's there!)

I then added eyeliner to my top lid, without creating too much of a wing. I smudged Buck very lightly under my eye and used eyeliner on my waterline, finishing it off with mascara.

Thanks for reading!

Layla x

Just a little post on some cool graffiti in Bristol today (I have a weird obsession, and if it's done right, I see it as art). This also features Thailand Elephants, an amazing charity which helps raise awareness for the cruelness towards elephants in Thailand, so go check them out too!

Just some photos I took inspired by Nicolas Bruno.

Layla x

So recently, there's been quite a hype about Makeup Revolution, and here's why: the company is brilliant. Finally an affordable brand that dupes high end makeup, without losing a tonne of quality. When I first heard about Makeup Revolution, I wasn't sure, but as they gained popularity I began to get more and more curious, so I decided to buy one of their 32 eyeshadow palettes for £8. Yes, you read that right, only £8.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect as there were no testers available, but when I opened the palette, I was pleasantly surprised. The colours are laid out from dark to light, and there is a wide range of shades. On top of the colours is a plastic film pointing out the colour of each shade (although photographing this proved more difficult than it should have been so I labelled the photo instead).

The pigmentation of the shades is a lot better than I expected, although it is difficult to see the lighter shades such as "Flawless" and "Dove", and "Blackest" isn't really the darkest of shades and needs some building. But for £8, the quality overall isn't too shabby.

My favourite shades have to be "Pug", and has nothing to do with the fact that I love pugs... And I also like "Bistre", and I think it is quite similar to "Hustle" from the Urban Decay Naked Palette, and I like to mix the two shades together.

Overall, I am very impressed with this palette, and I have recently purchased the Sugar and Spice blush palette. I would like to try the matte eyeshadow palette next I think as I do tend to wear more matte than shimmer, although these shades make a nice change to what I usually wear.

Layla x

From Day 1, the "norm" is drilled into us. Finish primary school, aged 11 with great SATs grades. Start secondary school, leave when you're 16 with great GCSEs. Go to college or sixth form and leave when you're 18 with great A-Levels. Go to uni and leave with a great degree when you're 21. Anything that differs from this will be questioned and scrutinised relentlessly.

Which is exactly what happened to me when I decided to repeat college. When I was 16, I was toying between being a Lawyer, a History teacher or and English teacher. So I took these three subjects along with Classical Civilisation with the hope of finding out what path I wanted to be on. But after my first year, I got some not so great results and I was completely miserable. But, determined to try hard, I stayed on at the same college for a second year, something that I regret from time to time.

However, as my peers decided to start their lives at university and were applying and writing personal statements and having interviews, I was lost. Watching everyone else know what they wanted to do with their lives and feeling so helpless about my own was almost heartbreaking. Was there something wrong with me? What was everyone else doing right that I was doing wrong? The answer was, of course, nothing. I'm very much a late bloomer, and this was just another aspect of my life that I was behind in.

I realised that I couldn't sit around and do nothing once I'd left college, and the idea of a full time job didn't seem too appealing to me. So I gave it a long hard thought, that actually took me a few months, before deciding that I wanted to repeat college. Two more years, but at a different college taking different subjects. I've always had an interest in photography and I slowly began to realise that it was a realistic job prospect, all I had to do was get there.

So I applied, had an interview and got my place, all the usual things. And when it came around to starting last year, I was incredibly nervous. Meeting new people seemed terrifying and being in a college much bigger than my last was quite daunting. Luckily, I knew some people there already, and I've also met some amazing people along the way. But soon enough I fell into the routine and I'm much happier than before.

Watching my friends move on to bigger and better things while I was still stuck in the same rut was, and still is, hard. But I wouldn't change my decision for the world. When I left my first college, I came out with terrible results and no chance of taking a degree. But after just one year at my new college I achieved my first A grade in two years, which was insane. And now I have a realistic chance of getting into a university of my choice and living my life constantly attached to my camera, which I am so excited for.

I guess the meaning of this post is to share my experience of not following what is drilled into you. The plenty of people find that A Levels or further study in general isn't for them, and it's never too late to change your mind. I'm definitely of the opinion that choosing your life path at 16, 17, 18 is far too much pressure and teenagers aren't always sure what they want. But there is always an option. And while I am currently 2 years older than those in my class, and a year or two behind those my age, I don't care. I am finally in the right place and it was the right choice for me.