MY NIÇOISE SALAD RECIPE

If seeing the words ‘niçoise salad’ doesn’t immediately make you think of Heather and Megan Vandergeld from White Chicks, then please go, now, and watch White Chicks. We’ve been having a few really beautiful sunny days in February so far, and it’s making me crave ice lollies, Pimm’s and 99s with flakes. And for the first time in literal years, I’m starting to fancy a salad. Now, I completely live by the Bible passage that states: Thou Shalt Not Go Into A Restaurant And Order A Salad, because as eeevvvveeeryyyyone knows, it’s not real food; you’ll want to demolish a burger within an hour or so of polishing one off. And no salad on this earth is worth some of the prices you see on menus nowadays. However, I am definitely of the opinion that for about six or seven quid, you can make a family-size version of one of the most delicious salads around. 

SOME REALLY GOOD HIGH-STREET FACE MASKS

Between eating Scotch Eggs, crying over who was eliminated on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars last week and having various existential crises, I like to give myself ‘pamper nights’. These usually involve running a bath (at a comfortable hundred-degree temperature), a bath bomb, a true crime documentary and definitely a face mask. I’ve tried loads and loads of face masks in the past, and like to think of myself as a bit of connoisseur. My bathroom cupboard is filled to the brim with half-empty tubes of face masks; high end and high street ones. I thought I’d write a couple of posts on my favourite from each of these price points. These are the more affordable options, but ones I really love…

URBAN DECAY | NAKED CHERRY PALETTE REVIEW

After repping a particularly persistent case of conjunctivitis when I was about 12 years old - and running around with pink eyes for months because of it - I vowed never to wear pink or red eyeshadows. I managed to re-infect myself with it every week or so because I simply couldn’t face going into year 7 without my Dream Matte Mousse and Great Lash Mascara slathered on. The sore, weepy, crusty, bruised-looking state my peepers were in wasn’t a great look. So obviously, as soon as I kicked the conjunctivitis once and for all, I invested in the most fetching blue and green eyeshadow palette (alas, I cannot remember the name!). I was living. the. dream. 

But then when I started to get a little bit older, and began retiring the makeup products of yesteryear, I realised that maybe my white eyeliner/concealer-lips combo wasn’t the one. And maybe, just maybe, nudes, pinks and reds were actually supposed? to? look? good??? After much Instagram-based research, I made the exciting discovery that one didn’t have to appear to have an eye infection when wearing these colours on their lids. Who’d have thunk it?

So, since then, I’ve frittered what little money I have on eyeshadow palettes. Less of the ever-so fetching blue and green variety - and much much more of the neutrals, nudes, pinks, purples and reds. The first one I got was the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette (a cult favourite, and I definitely can see why), then I got the Naked 3 Palette, then the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette, some of the Zoeva Palettes…the list goes on and on (the last time I counted my eyeshadow palettes, I had 28. *erk*).

CODE VLM VOLUMISING LENGTHENING MASCARA* | REVIEW

I’m back with the never-ending quest for my favourite mascara. I’ve been around the block mascara-wise, and although I don’t have seven currently on-the-go like I do with foundations, I feel like I’m closing in on the best mascara for me. I’ve tried the big boys; Too Faced Better Than Sex and Urban Decay’s Perversion. I’ve tried the cheaper boys; NYX More To Love. And I’ve had a fair old go at the utter shite boys; *cough cough* L’Oreal Paradise Extatic *cough*. So when I was asked by the girls at CODE Beautiful if I’d like to give their VLM Volumising Lengthening Mascara a try, it’s safe to say I was keeeeen. 

LIZ EARLE DEEP CLEANSING MASK REVIEW

How do you even start a beauty blog post any more? 

“Hello, and welcome back to my blog!”

“Look what IIIIIIIIII’ve goooooottttt!”

“Wagwan bitches, check this out”

It’s been ages since I just wrote a beauty review, which is what I started this bloody blog for in the first place. I’m feeling like I do want to get back to basics a little bit. I felt my blog getting a bit confused over the last year; I had sooo much content I wanted to put in - university, travelling, food, eating out - that I ended up barely covering anything. If JasmineMcRae was supposed to be a beauty blog, it was literally the worst beauty blog on the face of the earth because I honestly think I only wrote a total of about three paragraphs on makeup or skincare this year, all in all. I felt so far removed from being a ‘beauty blogger’, and my identity as a blogger got a bit muddled. And I’d really like to know what in the heck is going on with my blog, my YouTube, my Instagram, etc etc etc. So, here we are with an  a c t u a l  beauty review on the Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask. *Gasp!*