ELLE Insider Mystery Serum || Day One

Hello, my lovelies!

I am sorry for straying away these past couple of months - university is getting hectic! On top of my course, I work one day a week at my local paper (ha, "one day a week"... I'm doing stuff for them most days).

I have a really exciting post today.

A while ago, I applied to receive a free sample of a mystery serum from ELLE magazine. Lucky me, it arrived today (December 8)! Five of the samplers will get the chance to go to London and meet the ELLE Beauty team - fingers crossed!

So here I am, fresh out of bed, with no makeup and horrible yellow hair (sorry for betraying you, Toni & Guy - I have learned my lesson). I washed my face this morning with Simple Moisturising Facial Wash as I wanted to keep it, well... Simple! I didn't want to exfoliate as I have quite dry skin at the moment and I find exfoliating more than once-a-week causes my skin to flake.

The mystery serum arrived in a clear glass bottle with a black, pipette-style applicator. ELLE have described this product as a "gel-serum that instantly firms, lifts and plumps the skin to leave it looking dramatically smoother, tighter and more youthful."

I'm going to be putting on my Clarins Daily Energizer Cream afterwards.

The way I applied this was the same as how I apply my current serum, the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II (click for review).

ELLE said to use two or three drops but as it is a gel, I found it harder to spread than a slightly more liquid-like serum. I popped a little blob on each of my four fingertips and touched them with the fingers on my other hand. Then I just massaged it into my face starting at the centre of my forehead, lightly drawing round to my temples and down towards my mouth. I then put my fingers on my nose and swept them out towards my ears. I'm not sure if this is the correct way to apply it but it works for me and I don't want to drag my skin too much.

I did not put this product around my eyes as the skin is about 40 per cent thinner and I'm not sure if this product is meant for that area so I avoided it.

Initial thoughts:  

This might sound a little crazy, but I swear I could feel the product working the second I put it on which is phenomenal. It felt as though my skin was being pulled just that little bit tighter. My moisturiser went on beautifully afterwards. I usually have to apply a fairly generous amount of my Clarins cream as my skin just absorbs it in seconds but I used half the amount today.

I know I am only 20 so my skin isn't exactly sagging but my forehead and cheeks definitely feel more plump.

I have sensitive skin and I have not reacted at all to this product.

I love the smell of the serum. Usually, I am not one to go for floral/rose-scented products but it so subtle and sweet that I actually like it. 

My only qualm with this serum is the texture. As a student, I feel I would go through a lot more of this than I would with my Estée Lauder because the gel does not spread as well. My bank account might struggle a little. However, the way it plumps my skin makes up for the fact I need an extra blob each time I apply it. I do not get that plumpness with the Advanced Night serum.

I have absolutely no clue who this product might be made by. Judging by the softness of the smell and the way it works so beautifully with my moisturiser, I would like to say Clarins but I could be completely off. I am also pretty sure that Clarins have already released a pretty good serum this year. I would not be surprised if it turned out to be Estée Lauder because their serums always work so well and this one would be like the next-gen thing for them.

Today, I decided to go make-up free because that is what I usually do and I wanted to see how this product would work for me on a regular day. I will be applying a full face tomorrow and I will even try applying the product over my make-up as it says you can do.

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow, folks!

MCM Comic Con | Birmingham 2014

If you were out and about in Birmingham this weekend, you were probably confused by all the Harley Quinns, Stormtroopers and Final Fantasy characters. No, your television hasn't exploded, spewing out all your favourite characters and no, they were not hired for a child's birthday party.

They were in fact going to MCM Comic Con...

On November 22-23, thousands of comic, science fiction, TV, film and game fans came together at the NEC, in Birmingham. I was finally a part of the horde in all our sweaty, geek-excitement.

The cosplay was amazing. There were characters from Star Trek, Attack on Titan, League of Legends, Star Wars, The Walking Dead and so many other TV shows and games that I was constantly tapping my friend, shouting "oh, look look!!"

I had not had time to put together an outfit and I did not want to go in my Halloween Bioshock Splicer outfit as I had no fake blood and the mask makes my makeup melt. Here some of my Halloween photos: 

I'm the one on the far right in the red dress and homemade rabbit mask

The hall was split into various sections but comic village had to be my favourite. There were so many artists there, showcasing their drawings, comics and offering commissions. I had my portrait done by two different artists (see below) and I swear I have never looked so goddamn good!

There were various other areas including; Robots Live where you could watch metal bots try smash each other to pieces but never quite achieving it; a Japanese area with food stalls, soft alpaca teddies and a bunch of cute manga and ears like Chii from Chobits; an MCM eSports section with computers set up to play League of Legends; an indie games area and a bunch of steampunk stalls with guest speakers. In between all of this were rows and rows of stalls selling signed scripts from popular TV shows, pokémon plushies and all the merchandise and comics you could possibly want. 

On the Sunday, I entered the huge blow-up tent, which largely resembled the Michelin Man, to listen to Vic Mignogna, a voice actor, give a Q&A. It was so inspirign but I won't ramble on about him. Unfortunately, I missed Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter) on the Saturday because it was so busy that there was a huge queue outside and I couldn't see or hear anything.

Price-wise, it was fairly reasonable. Each day ticket with early entry was £15 and a lot of the things offered inside have had a slight price cut so they will be far cheaper to buy at the convention than if you were to purchase them online.

I came home on the Sunday evening feeling a little miserable that I couldn't live in the hall and talk to other passionate nerds everyday of my life!

I plan on going to the May con in London next year and I have already sketched up a possible cosplay idea (Spyro, of course).

Mallzee - The Personal Shopper in Your Pocket

Once again, I've been AWOL. Sorry blog - I love you really.

Third year is really taking its toll on my sleeping pattern so I've been using up all my spare time by napping. It's beautiful but I definitely miss posting. Things are starting to settle now (especially the crazy nights out) so I should have time to get back into the swing of things over the coming week.

I have just downloaded a new app (on my snazzy iPhone 6!!) which I stumbled upon on The Blogger Programme. I haven't opened the app yet so I'm going to look through it whilst writing this post so you guys get an honest opinion from a Mallzee-newbie. I'm going to mainly focus on how easy it is to navigate, how aesthetically pleasing it is and anything else that catches my eye.

*opens app*

I've just set up my account which you can do via Facebook or email. The home page isn't too cluttered but it isn't boring and empty either. I can see a little slideshow of adverts from Reiss, River Island and Forever 21 - a nice combo as they all have different price ranges and in my opinion, target different people. The other links on the front page are "UK Student Scratchcard Competition", "Smokin' Sales", "New In", "Zip It Up" and "Laura Potter of Tiny Twist". I tried clicking on all these and it was super quick to load everything. What was even sweeter was how it offers both blogger and stylist fashion picks!

Along the bottom, there are 5 buttons. The middle one is the app logo and it takes you to the home page.

Style Feeds: This is the first button on the bottom bar. It says: "Personalised feeds of clothes tailored to your tastes and styles. Tap + to make one now!"

Ok, so I've tapped the + in the top corner and it asks you to select a gender, name for the feed and a photo. I've called mine "Halloween" just to be topical. Next, you're asked to select whether you want tops, dresses, bags etc. I'm starting to wonder if anything Halloween related will come up. Is this going to select things for me..? Then you pick colours. Orange... Black... What other colours are Halloween-y? Then brands (I think my Halloween idea was a little off). I think I'm most impressed by the number of brands on this site - Armani to Forever 21. Free People to Criminal Damage. 

Not too shabby, Mallzee. Not too shabby at all!

Then you pick a price range. For the purpose of this, I'm going to have £0 - £250+.

Ok, I've clicked save and it has brought up this screen:

Omg... It works like Tinder but with clothes! Ohhhh lordy. I'm basically on a clothes dating app. <3

If you swipe left, it shows a green thumbs up and if you swipe right, there is a red thumbs down. Not sure where these items go when you swipe them to the left though.

Saved: Right so if ou swipe left, they go into your "Saved" section. Mallzee gives you the option to be notified if the item goes down in price which is a nice touch for us students out there. It provides you with retailer and product information and an option to buy or share the item. Easy enough!

 

Brands: You can search all the brands on the website and either star them so they go into your favourite brands section or hide them. I just starred American Apparel and clicked on it. It brings up a page exactly like the one on the Style Feeds section. I actually love this because you can just sift through one brand.

The final button is Settings but I'm not going to bother talking you through that. It's pretty self-explanatory.

All in all?

It's easy to navigate, pretty to look at and an incredibly handy tool to have in your pocket.
I feel like I'm going to spend so much time on this app. It's so easy to whip out whilst walking to lectures, the gym or when I'm on my way to interview someone for Staffs Live.

You can get the app here:

http://app.adjust.io/umerqp

Or get it by simply typing Mallzee into your app store search. 

Mallzee on The Blogger Programme: http://www.thebloggerprogramme.co.uk/profile/Mallzee/

This competition is in association with ebuyer.com and London College of Fashion.
All you have to do to enter is mention Mallzee on your blog.
The prizes: an iPad air, a Canon wireless printer, a blogging short course at the world-renowned London College of Fashion, where you’ll learn (from industry pros) about how to develop your blog’s effectiveness and £250 to spend on your favourite brand through Mallzee.

I encourage everyone to try this app out. It's unlike anything I've ever used!

I'm about 90% feminist!

The whole world has turned feminist with the like of Lena Dunham leading the way. I love Dunham and I love her TV show, "Girls" (if you haven't seen it, where the hell have you been?). I also think women should have equal rights and opportunities - to a point. I know what you're probably thinking because Lena has already said it in an interview with Metro U.K:

“Women saying ‘I’m not a feminist’ is my greatest pet peeve. Do you believe that women should be paid the same for doing the same jobs? Do you believe that women should be allowed to leave the house? Do you think that women and men both deserve equal rights? Great, then you’re a feminist. People think there is something taboo about speaking up for feminism.”

Let's look at firefighters.

I had this debate with one of my housemates at the start of 2014. She's a huge feminist and to her, women should be able to have any job they want.

My dad went for a job as a firefighter many years ago. He passed all the physical tests but walked out of his interview. He was asked why it is important to have women, people of different ethnic backgrounds and differently-abled people in the service. If I was asked this question, I wouldn't have an answer. I don't think it is important to have a variety of people at all. In fact, if that is how the fire service employ people, then I'm definitely worried. Shouldn't it be whoever is most capable..? If an Asian man is better than an English man, then he should get the job. If a deaf woman is better than a black bodybuilder, she should be employed. 

 So I'm 90% feminist. Equal opportunities and all that jazz...

What my friend argued was that there should be an equal number of men and women which I think is totally wrong.

In general, women aren't as physically strong as men. Firefighters go into burning buildings in pairs. Let's imagine a man and woman going in as a pair. If the man were to faint, most women would struggle carrying him out to safety, especially with all the smoke and the heavy gear. I appreciate that some women are physically able in these circumstances but the majority of us aren't and we shouldn't get the job just because we are women. 

I've voiced my opinion to many of my friends, both male and female, and only one person (a male) has ever agreed with me. 

Maybe I'm old fashioned or maybe my dad has been slowly twisting my thoughts over the years (he hasn't), but if my life was on the line and I was about to be engulfed in flames, I'd want the best person possible carrying me out and I'm pretty sure all the feminists out there would too.

Let me know your views, please. I find people's opinions on feminism really interesting!

Have a beautiful day <3

Instagram Snaps

Here's a little bit of shameless self-promotion...

I love Instagram. It's my favourite social media site by far. If you fancy checking out my account, that's cool if not, that's also cool...

@fluxandflo

Hope you're all having a lovely day! I'll be back to posting regularly soon! <3

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Mrs. Mia Wallace lipstick review

Like most people, I've been itching to get my hands on the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction range which hit America months ago. 

I went into my local Debenhams today to visit the Urban Decay counter and found that they had completely run out of the Mrs. Mia Wallace Revolution Lipstick which I the item I had most been looking forward to! The woman was new on the job and she tried to offer me similar colours from their normal range but I have to admit, I didn't want to even consider them. I love Pulp Fiction. It's definitely in my top 3 favourite films (along with A Clockwork Orange and all of the Lord of the Rings films... Or does that make it my top 5?).

Whilst she was looking at other colours, she came across one final lipstick which had fallen to the bottom of the drawer! Of course, I instantly bought it.

The lipstick retails at £15 and it is one of those "get it before it's gone" items - they won't be making any more once stock has gone, which is unfortunate because I would definitely buy this again.

The packaging is amazing. I really should have taken some more photos to show you the shimmery black tube. Never mind.

It's a very classic shade of dark red but somehow, it definitely has the edge over all other dark red lippies that Urban Decay sell (or maybe I'm just biased). I don't like glossy looks and this certainly isn't glossy but it does have a nice shine and the pigmentation is incredible. I have only just bought this item but I have had it on my lips for the past 2 hours and it hasn't budged despite me dunking biscuits in my tea.

10 ways to really annoy your barista

Warning: there may be some minor vulagrities below. If you are easily offended, I advise not reading on.

I've been a Starbucks barista for two and a half years now. I am a "button-pusher". My job is "cushty". But despite everyone slating the "tax-evading" company I work for (just leave if you're that bothered), I'm pretty sure they would all stop functioning if their caffeine was taken away from them. I need a doppio espresso to kick start my day just as much as you need yours.

So, if you're heading to a coffee shop tomorrow and fancy being an arse, then the list below is a sure-fire way to get your coffee poisoned with urn cleaner. Enjoy.

10. Don't collect your drink
Your barista spent time making your drink and if they are like me, they actually put some effort into it. If you do decide to leave it on the counter for five minutes, don't moan if your cappuccino froth has sunk or your latte isn't quite hot enough. Certainly don't demand a new drink be made - we don't have time to correct your laziness.

9. Forget your order
 I have placed two drinks on the end of the bar. One is a decaf latte. The other is an iced mocha. Apart from these two drinks being completely different, it only took about 30 seconds from you being at the till before your drink was ready. How in the hell did you forget what you ordered that quickly?!

8. Complain about the price

Yes, I know a small latte is £2.65 and yes, that is more expensive than the Starbucks in the town centre. You have come to a Starbucks in a 4-star hotel with free parking. If you're that bothered, walk away. Don't spend five minutes looking at the board and then complain once I tell you the total cost. I agree, it's very expensive but your barista does put some effort into making it (this isn't your soluble instant coffee at home) and we can't change the price.

7. Bark orders to clean your table

I often get customers telling me their table is a mess and asking me to come clean it but a couple of weeks ago, a woman actually clicked her fingers at me and said: "CLEAN THIS!" I received no thanks or smiles. Sorry, did you want me to poison your coffee after I've cleaned your table?

6. Order a "dry cappuccino... Like, really dry - just foam."
Just foam? That's not really a cappuccino, mate. It's kind of more like a really large espresso macchiato..? Either way, it's a pain in the arse to make so once I have dirtied a spoon so I could stop any liquid from falling into your beverage, please PLEASE don't do the "weight test". The fact you even know how heavy your drink should feel is strange.

 5. Think you're above everyone because of your order
Omg. You drink a filter with no milk?! Fuck... You are badass.  Now, can you please stop shouting your order and looking around to make sure everyone can hear you..? And your friend should be able to drink her half shot latte without feeling belittled by you, you coffe snob.

4. Talk on the phone whilst ordering
I understand that your phone call is important but do you have to be so rude as to continue talking on it whilst trying to order? No offence, but I can't tell what you're mouthing at me. Would it be such a crime to tell them to hold for two seconds or wait until you have finished talking? And please don't give me a dirty look when I ask you what size you'd like - it's not my fault that you're on the phone.

3. Say you "don't care" when given options
"Erm, I'll have one of the frappuccinos."
"Which flavour would you like?"
"Oh... I don't care."
"Well do you like coffee or would you prefer it without the coffee?"
"I don't care."
"My personal favourite is the caramel coffee but if you don't want the coffee then the strawberries and cream is really refreshing."
"I really don't care. You pick."
"Okay... Medium size?"
*getting angry at me now* "I don't care!"
"Whipped cream?"
"Oh my god... There are too many questions. I don't care. Anything."
 
You get my frustration?

2. Flirt with your barista
I came to work to work not to have you sit at the end of the bar and tell me you'll "keep me safe at night" and ask if my mum is "as fit" as I am. I also know that I have put makeup on today and yes, I know I look good. In fact, I look sassy as fuck so you can stop telling me and winking at me. Let me do my job.

1. Ask us to do extra things to your order
"Sorry, can you put these sugars in the cup before you make it?"
No, I've already fucking made it. Get a stirring stick like everyone else.
"Can you stir my drink whilst you're pouring it?"
What difference will that even make?!
"Can you just cut that sandwich in half once it has toasted?"
We give you a knife and fork for a reason.
"Can I have a free shot of caramel?"
No.
"Come onnnn... I come in every week! Just a little caramel?"
Again, no.
"Can I have a mug of hot water and a spoon as well?"
I have a shortage of cups right now and I know you've brought your own porridge, you cheapskate.



  This post was inspired by a similar post that my old boss shared with me at the start of the year. I'd link you to it but I deleted all my texts at the start of summer.